The Generals: Power, Deception and a Cover-Up that Goes to the Top

The feds interview Baca’s flinty man and heir apparent, Paul Tanaka, who professes ignorance about who gave the order to hide Anthony Brown. In 2013, as the FBI probe enters its fifth year, feds finally get a chance to grill Baca. He touts his achievements as a reformer but admits he resents that the FBI excluded him from the jail probe and snuck in the cell phone. His answers are evasive and riddled with falsehoods. In Jan. 2014, as the feds close in, he resigns after 15 years as sheriff. Tanaka is convicted of conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Baca enters a plea that will give him a maximum of six months in prison, but a judge deems it too lenient, setting the stage for the sheriff’s trial. Their questioning showed how politics and power shaped Los Angeles law enforcement. What began as a probe into jailhouse abuse had reached the top of the nation’s largest sheriff’s department. Chris Goffard, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and host of Dirty John, explains how the scandal unraveled the careers of two of the county’s most powerful figures. Topics in this episode include: Sheriff Lee Baca, Paul Tanaka conviction, FBI interrogation, Los Angeles jail scandal, obstruction of justice.

You can listen to The Generals: Power, Deception and a Cover-Up that Goes to the Top online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Generals: Power, Deception and a Cover-Up that Goes to the Top is an episode from Dirty John by L.A. Times Studios.

This episode is 00:27:36 long.

This episode was published on Oct 7, 2025.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Dirty John when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.