Confronting

Meet Ray Trapani: a kid from New York who became one of the 21st Century’s most prolific con artists. In this sneak peek of Creating a Con: The Story of Bitconned, his best friend goes inside Ray’s mind to learn why he dreamed of being a criminal and how he had a knack for exploiting the exploitable. From a prescription pad hustle to cashing in on a glitch in a popular payment app, Ray’s small-time scams were the stepping stones to his biggest scam yet, Centra Tech. 

At 26 years old, Ray Trapani and his two partners founded one of the hottest tech startups: Centra Tech. The company touted partnerships with some of the biggest banks, had the endorsements of DJ Khaled and Floyd Mayweather, and was fronted by a Harvard-educated CEO. Centra Tech was about to take over the world…until it didn’t. 

Ray’s company was a giant lie built on empty promises, fake executives, and fraudulent contracts. All the while, Ray took millions of dollars from unsuspecting investors and was living the high life until it all came crashing down. 

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We’ve heard a lot of stories from this group about when they were young and back in high school. Now we hear about adult life. What is it like to date a survivor of gun violence? We hear a bit of their dark humor and feel the bond that has lasted through relationships, marriages, heartbreaks and life changes. Amy reflects on how this podcast has helped to heal her. Even while it was being produced, a community close to home, Boulder, Colorado, experienced a mass shooting. It's yet another sad but clear confirmation; the non-profit that Amy fundraises for, The Rebels Project, will need to continue to support survivors of mass trauma with no respite to mass shootings in sight.  

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Amy reconnects with a high school friend who grew up with Greg Barnes and delights in telling stories about his childhood antics. Landon explains how Greg still inspires him today. 

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Greg Barnes was a star athlete, model student and beloved by friends and family. He brought pride and excitement to Columbine, the Littleton community and Colorado as a rising basketball star in the state. Greg witnessed Dave Sanders get shot and was one of the students who tried to save him. Shortly after the one-year anniversary of the massacre, Greg committed suicide. Amy has held onto her feelings about Greg and her last interaction with him for 20 years. She meets with Columbine’s basketball coach Rudy Martin whose unresolved pain over Greg also still lingers.

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Mass shootings have become terrifyingly commonplace. There’s one almost every day. They often trigger PTSD. But Parkland was particularly difficult for Amy. Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School teacher, Kim Krawczyk goes on the record with Amy, in an unfiltered interview, to address the Broward County Public Schools' failures, the need for a more robust mental health response to these types of traumas, and the warning signs the district missed before the killer's rampage. Dr. Peter Langman, a renowned expert on school shooters, weighs in on what he’s learned by studying them and the one thing they all have in common. 

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Columbine had a ripple effect across the country to how law enforcement responded to and engaged with an active shooter. One first responder, Officer Omar Delgado, who was first on the scene at the 2016 Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, explains to Amy what training can’t teach you when you’re confronted with an active shooter. 

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Kate Battan was the newest member of the investigative team in Jefferson County but that didn’t stop her boss from handing her the Columbine case. The eyes of the country, the victims and other law enforcement were all on her. Amy finally has the opportunity to ask Kate about the rumored hit list.  Then Amy confronts AJ DeAndrea, one of the first responders who was on the scene, about why Coach Sanders wasn’t rescued sooner.  

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Addiction, suicide, jail, financial ruin. Those are just some of the problems that two of Amy’s nearest and dearest confronted after Columbine. Two fellow survivors, Zack Rissmiller and Zach Cartaya give Amy a detailed account of their experience on April 20th, 1999. Then they candidly talk about the repercussions of the trauma they experienced that horrific day. Both men share the journey of hitting rock bottom and fighting their way back. 

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Quantico comes to Columbine when Mary Ellen O’Toole arrives in Littleton nearly a year after the massacre. The perpetrators knew they would die on Judgement Day so they left videos to explain their actions. Mary Ellen O’Toole was the FBI profiler who analyzed those tapes and shares her impressions with Amy. Then Amy talks with best-selling Columbine author Dave Cullen. Dave sets the record straight about myths surrounding Columbine’s social dynamics, which continue to be perpetuated 21 years after the massacre. 

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Amy brings together her old basketball team for this first time since high school. Her teammates recount good times. And they talk about the hero who saved so many of them on April 20, Dave Sanders.  Then we meet Coach Sanders’ daughters, Coni Sanders. Her sense of humor belies a deep hurt over the loss of her father. Coni recalls the frantic day they searched for information about her father’s whereabouts at hospitals and through law enforcement, only to finally learn the truth from a newspaper reporter seeking a comment. And Coni tells Amy what “dad” was really like when he wasn’t being a coach.  

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