The X-rated film “Caligula” appeared in theaters in this country in 1980 and I went to see it with graduate school friends because I thought it made me seem daring. And cool.
It was beyond grotesque with scenes of pedophilia, salacious incest, multiple partners of various engaging on screen in noticeably real life (not simulated) sex. A parade of nymphs—naked young girls– slid past the Roman emperor’s accessories of gold phalluses and chalices of poison. Naked bodies like grapes on the vine.
I left early.
But this was fiction, a historical movie based on a tumultuous reign of the Roman Empire nearly 2,000 years earlier, bankrolled by a then-king of pornography, Penthouse magazine founder Bob Guccione.
No one is this evil, I reassured myself. It’s not real. And it was a very long time ago.
Until Jeffery Epstein. The depth, breadth and reach of the evil of Epstein’s empire known for decades and recently made public in the 3.5 million pages of evidence represent an enormously more expansive global presence of lewd criminal violence than many ever imagined possible.
The United Nations human rights council is calling for an investigation into the Epstein files saying: “So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character, and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls, that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity.”
It reaches a level of debauchery even darker, farther, and more widespread, touching more victims and protecting more perpetrators than Caligula imagined.
Interestingly, newly released files also show that in 2011 Epstein commissioned an oil reproduction of the 1591 painting, “Massacre of The Innocents,” depicting naked Roman soldiers killing children. He displayed the 9 X 9- foot painting in the entry to his Zorro Ranch outside of Santa Fe.
Former Prince Andrew was arrested in England for his connections to Epstein for possible “misconduct” during the time of active royal duties. Microsoft co-founder billionaire Bill Gates withdrew from an AI conference in India.
The pages released each day reveal high profile entanglements with elites who not only tolerated the sex trafficking and lewd crimes, but in many cases, engaged in it. President Donald Trump is mentioned one million times in the files.
The hundreds of prominent men –and women–across the world involved with this sex trafficking operation have been parading as upstanding individuals personally and professionally for more than 20 years, without consequence.
But that is now changing. According to a new CNN poll, more than 75% of Americans say the federal government is intentionally withholding information about the Epstein files and it should be released. Only 6% of Americans say they are satisfied with how the government is handling the release of the documents.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s cousin, Thomas Pritzker, executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels, resigned over his association with Epstein. Also prominent in the files are Victoria’s Secret founder billionaire Les Wexner (who testified about his innocence to Democratic lawmakers), Elon Musk, Ahmed bin Sulayem, Kathryn Ruemmler, Jack Lang, Woody Allen, Brad Karp, Larry Summers, Peter Attia, Steve Bannon, Noam Chomsky, Leon Black, Casey Wasserman, Howard Lutnick, former Prince Andrew, Dr. Mehmet Oz and so many more.
Certainly, there is a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. But they must all be investigated.
I am further repulsed that Epstein acquaintance Richard Branson’s airline and music empire is called The Virgin Group. Is that a coincidence or a joke about the young recruits? Dr. Mark Landon, chair of Ohio State University’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology was paid a retainer of $75,000 a year to provide for the girls and women.
A new poll shows that 52% of Americans say Trump is trying to cover up Epstein’s crimes, while 30% say he is not. Half of Americans think Trump was involved in Epstein’s crimes. A whopping majority of 85% of Americans agree: “There are powerful elites who helped Epstein target and abuse young girls. They protected him and need to be investigated.”
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, at a recent Congressional hearing refused to look at the named victims present or promise any form of justice to be rendered. I could not have imagined that at any other time in history. That the people whose lives were scarred could be treated so callously.
What the grotesque communications about countless sadistic acts on more than 1,000 victims demonstrate has upended what I believed existed in the world, a world that until now I defined as more good than not.
My naïvety may come from a lifetime of white privilege shelter, but I believed the march through history of despots, tyrants, murderers, rapists, slaveowners and depraved souls were not the norm. My father and two brothers were kind, moral men. My three sons I believe are ethical people. Most of the men and women I encounter are good people.
These Epstein documents shatter my core belief that evildoers could be the exception, and that the deceptive practices of so many may be more the rule.
Now that the hundreds of names across decades, continents, legacies, institutions, organizations, philanthropy, academia, medicine, finance, retail, real estate, tech, education, sports, philosophy, politics, entertainment and royalty have emerged, I no longer feel the default in humanity is goodness.
The shock for me is that the women and girls in the orbits of these predators were expendable, seen as universally disposable objects of their malintent. The institutions did not protect them. Those who caused them harm had no ill consequence in a system designed to protect the elite.
The reported sexual assault rate in this country in 2025 was 65.5 assaults per100,000 individuals, the same rate as 2024, but a decrease from 2019, according to The Council on Criminal Justice. The Epstein files demonstrate that thousands of cases are not reported, when a person of power is involved.
Yes, I know the world has seen and condemned the heinous crimes of Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, the Ku Klux Klan, Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein, John Wayne Gacy, Harvey Weinstein, Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Sean Diddy, and what are likely millions of other tormentors exposed throughout history. I believe the accounts of every child, woman and man who witnessed and suffered at the whims of their assailant.
But until now I did not comprehend these primetime players in sexual, financial, physical, mental and emotional abuse were the core framework of the historic systems of power in this country—and across the globe.
Maybe it was attending Catholic schools where kindness was professed, ironically even as I was unaware that the system itself protected men who harmed children in a supreme moral contradiction.
Perhaps it was the rosary we said as a family in the living room every night after dinner, with prayers for specific intentions. I believed the world was held together by faith, trust, hope and goodwill.
My world view until now was that the broadest stretch of humanity is full of inspiration, generosity; most people operate for the chance to show the best in themselves for the benefit of all.
Today I am no longer surprised by any discovered diabolic sexual cruelty, or intentional viciousness. Perhaps it was always there, but today’s methods of data exposure and far-reaching accountability for such grotesque depravity were not readily available then. They are now. So there is no excuse for tolerance or dismissal.
The outcome of this vile unveiling of human history must be to assign consequence to all those who were allies in these evils. Justice and goodness must prevail.
Does good always conquer evil? Are there more good people in power than the kind of character displayed in the emails, videos, photos, letters and journals across the headlines today?
Perhaps this is just a tempest for the ages that shows what people are capable of, and that efforts to create a culture of fairness and kindness will bloom from these horrific crimes.
I certainly hope so. But I am not so sure anymore.
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Image Stephen Ogilvy on Wikimedia
This image was published in 1980 without a copyright notice. The image was part of a personal ad, not the magazine, so the copyright for the overall magazine does not cover it. A search of copyright records reveals no registration notice.
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