AMAZING! I'm really late to discover this book, but the depth of research and investigation behind it is incredible. It's written in a clear and accessible way, making it easy to read—I'm already done in just one day. I was pleasantly surprised that it addressed the acceptance scandal, as it connected all the corruption happening at USC. Thanks to NetGalley and Celadon Books for providing me with an ARC to review. All thoughts expressed are my own.

SO GOOD! i am so late to the party on this one but wow the amount of research and investigating that went into this book is insane. It is not too wordy/intellectual and was easy to read. I finished it in one day. I did not know it was going to touch on the gyno and the acceptance scandal but was glad it did, it really tied together all of the corruption going on at USC.

I received this as a e-galley from NetGalley.

I tore through this book because it was so bonkers heh. The only criticism I have is that it felt like the author focused on his personal antagonistic relationship with his editor a little too much.

This book is extremely readable and fascinating, if a bit of a bummer, especially considering that my alma mater is at the center of the scandals described in the book.

There are some parts where the writing is a little stilted. And while the overall newsroom politics and undue influence of powerful people on editorial decisions was really important to cover, sometimes it got a little bit in the weeds in a way that might only be interesting to a journalist.

The author clearly did incredible investigative reporting and it was really interesting to see the process and results of that reporting. If you liked Bad Blood or Catch and Kill you’ll probably enjoy this.

Many thanks to both Celadon Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of Bad City.

It all started with a tip to the LA Times newsroom in 2016, which led to the first of three eye-opening investigations to rock the University of Southern California.

A supervisor at a Pasadena hotel (a true hero) called the police and paramedics to say a young woman was unconscious in a room registered to Carmen Puliafito. The woman had apparently overdosed and the room was filled with drugs and drug paraphernalia. When Mr. Kahn tried to follow up on the story with the local news and news websites, he was confused when there was nothing to be found about the arrest of "the fool of an old man" or the drug overdose of the young woman. He was then stunned to discover that Carmen Puliafito was DOCTOR Carmen Puliafito and the dean of USC. Secondly, the entire incident had been swept under the rug!

Mr. Kahn tried to let it go but nothing about the handling of the incident felt right. After hitting a brick wall in every direction he turned, he contacted L.A . Times reporter Paul Pringle. From there the story spins into a "truth is stranger than fiction" investigation that is as fascinating as it is disturbing.

Paul Pringle’s Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels is a hard-hitting account of a scandal involving USC’s Dean of Medicine Dr. Carmen Puliafito. Puliafito was caught in a Los Angeles hotel surrounded by illegal drugs and most alarmingly, in the company of a young woman who had clearly overdosed and was non-responsive. A horrific situation became even more horrific when hotel staff insisted on calling paramedics and Puliafito—a medical doctor—attempted to convince them not to. Staff called the police and paramedics anyway, setting in motion a series of events that would implicate the City of Los Angeles, USC, and The Los Angeles Times.
When a tip about this event was passed on to Pringle, a veteran Times reporter, he was skeptical but soon learned of the information’s veracity. What made the story even more scandalous was that Puliafito “resigned” from his position at USC shortly after the overdose. Pringle was convinced that these two events were connected and went about digging for any information he could find. What he found was disturbing to say the least. The Pasadena Police Department and USC went out of their way to deny him the information he needed, and in some cases deliberately misguided and misinformed him. All of this was not overly surprising to me: my dissertation work involves Los Angeles literature and I have had to learn about the politics and governing intuitions of Los Angeles as a result. Los Angeles is a city where, as Pringle puts it, “people didn’t look too hard at things—if they looked at all.” L.A.’s major institutions protect themselves and each other. This is something that is explored thoroughly in Pringle’s book, because he had to fight The Times tooth and nail to get his Puliafito piece published.
The paper’s masthead editors had personal relationships with both USC and its president, and they did everything humanly possible to sanitize the article to alleviate the responsibility of both USC’s president and the institution generally for their part in the Puliafito scandal. The problem was not just that Puliafito had been at the site of an overdose. The problem, as Pringle discovered, was that Puliafito was found to be at the center of a circle of drug users who depended on him for drugs. He provided drugs to minors, and to his girlfriend while she was in rehab. Complaints had been made to the school previously about Puliafito and his behaviour, but these concerns were shushed and kept out of sight. What I found most compelling about this book was not even the Puliafito scandal but the way The Times dealt with Pringle and his story internally. Pringle’s editors actively attempted to kill the story, so much so that Pringle had to compile a secret team of reporters at The Times to make sure that the story made it to print. The egregious ethical concerns that were raised by Pringle’s editor’s behaviour come to head at what appears to be the book’s exciting climax. But as one situation is resolved, another scandal pops up at USC. The reporting that Pringle and his team eventually publish on this secondary scandal wins them a Pulitzer Prize.
This is a fast-paced, maliciously researched, and beautifully written account of two major L.A. scandals. However, Bad City goes beyond these scandals to survey a city, its institutions, and the deep and unavoidable corruption that is a part of the city’s DNA. Rarely in a text like this do we get a happy ending, but here, the nice guys finish first.

Pub date: 7/19/22- out now!
Thanks @celadonbooks for my ARC; I also checked out the audiobook from my library.

If you enjoy true crime, you NEED to read this book. I would like to thank author Paul Pringle and narrator Robert Petkoff for motivating me to do my chores while listening to this masterpiece. I also made quite a bit of headway on our 1500-piece puzzle. The text was great, but the audio was so hard-hitting as Pringle wrestled with the large-scale corruption at USC - and his own paper's efforts to stymie his reporting. Readers who loved EMPIRE OF PAIN and CATCH AND KILL will love this one too.

If you like your crime stories multi-layered, this true crime investigation narrative will keep you peeling back the layers. Paul Pringle, a Pulitzer-winning investigative reporter for The Los Angeles Times, unfolds the corruption of several high -ranking and powerful individuals at the University of Southern California. In the process, he ties this together with
the lies and cover-ups of police forces in both Pasadena and Los Angeles, as well as within his own newsroom. With the pacing of a successful crime novel and a sensitivity to individuals whose lives were affected, often ruined by the deceits, Pringle captures the danger, desperation, and rhythm of the City of Angels.

This is a compelling story of corruption and scandals at the University of Southern California. If that isn’t bad enough, the coverups by not only the university but the police and the newspaper show how so many are complicit in this bad behavior.
Paul Pringle does a superb job pf detailing his investigation.

A nonfiction page turner corruption at the highest levels of the medical schoolA story of drugs affairs shocking corruption.The author a well known investigative reporter does an excellent job in bringing this story alive.#netgalley #celadon

I have recently taken a liking to non-fiction reads and this one really taught me a lot. I didn’t realize how interesting this topic was until I finished reading and had to sit with what I had just learned. I definitely would read more from this author.

This started a little slow for me but once I was into it, I was fully into it. It's really multiple stories in one, the investigation by the author of various USC failures and the behind the scenes story of the paper and the internal battle to do good work. The uniting theme from all the stories is the failure of powerful people to do the right thing and the willingness of less powerful to risk everything to expose that!

I could not put this book down! This book is a great example of investigative reporting (which unfortunately as pointed out in Pringle's book) is a dying occupation due to the takeovers of the free press by big business. What begins as a mystery surrounding a Dean at USC spirals into even more scandals at this entrenched and powerful institution that only mirrors the scandals and the barriers Pringle faced trying to publish his findings in the LA Times. Pringle writes brilliantly about the scandals as well as what he had to deal with to even get answers or access to information from the police, the university and within his own editorial staff. This book gives more details and background and first-hand interviews to what you may have read in the newspapers about these stories. I hope to see even more top notch investigative reporting from Paul Pringle and hopefully future books! I highly recommend this book.

A real treat for any fan of investigative journalism.

Shocking and engaging, this book is similar in many ways to the instant classic Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill – in the subject of the investigation, as both Harvey Weinstein and Carmen Puliafit are the same kinds of villains, praying on young and vulnerable women, as well as in the manner of storytelling, as both authors carefully recreate their steps leading to groundbreaking publication and they both have to fight their own bosses to publish an important story. I loved all the details of the editorial process described by Pringle and his commitment to doing what is right.

This book vividly shows why the free press and investigative journalism are so important and need our support - without it the world would be a worse place and people in power would abuse it even more.

Thanks to the publisher, Celadon Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC of this book.I was an a bit of a slump and then I started to read this. Bad City is a very interesting book about a drug dealing Dr. Carmen Puliafito from USC. And the cover up.

This one is a must-read! Paul Pringle is an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times and this is a powerful piece that highlights his skill and tenacity as a reporter. Pringle masterfully tells of the frustration, shock, and anger involved in trying to unearth a scandalous story that powerful people are determined to keep buried. He begins by uncovering a horrifying story of Carmen Puliafito, who was the dean of the medical school at USC, and his criminal double life. Pringle uncovers shocking stories of wild, drug-infused parties, funneling drugs to a former prostitute while she's in rehab, and controlling minors with drugs and money, all while continuing to perform delicate surgeries on patients and leading the country's future medical providers. As Pringle's story continues to get sidelined by the higher-up at the LA Times, he refuses to let the story die. In spite of directives to let the story go, he and his relentless team of like-minded reporters dig deeper and tease out a second reprehensible scandal. This one involves a long-time gynecologist at the university who sexually assaulted his patients for years before his termination, costing the university over $1 billion in damages. Both of these grisly stories were uncovered while the college admissions bribery scandal was coming to light, in which coaches and parents faced criminal charges for paying university leaders for their children to gain admission to the prestigious university. In spite of all the ugly details, this is a story of triumph. The dark underbelly of privilege and power are laid bare by the brilliant persistence and courage of investigative reporting. This type of persistent, fearless reporting wields great impact!

I wasn’t sure if this was my type of read or not, but it turned out to be a page turner. A reporter starts checking into a tip and it tuns into a wild investigation. He uncovers some pretty shocking information that keeps growing. The problem is all of the places involved seem to be intertwined and shutting him out or covering up for them. Even his own newspaper was interfering, shutting the story down totally at one point. Bizarre but true story.

If reporters or the little man’s last line of defense, then Paul Pringle is a Green Beret. He not only stood up to the bigwigs at USC, but he also stood up to his own editors an in the end got all of them fired or dismissed. Devin Kahn was a manager at the Continental Hotel in Pasadena California. When he was called to a room on the third floor and found a 20-year-old girl unconscious and then a wheelchair with her 65-year-old boyfriend asking if they could switch rooms and refusing emergency medical help because as he said he was a doctor. Mr. Khan didn’t want to be derelict in his duty so he called 911 on behalf of the girl. But when he found out later that week that her older boyfriend who he found out was really a doctor and as a matter fact the dean of the medical school at USC and oh yes he wasn’t arrested he was flabbergasted. Is Captain Pringle started to investigate the story he kept getting one know after another not only was the president of the school not calling him back but neither was the doctor and he also had another nagging question… Who was this girl Sarah who was unconscious did she live or die of her overdose while the doctor stood by? Like most superheroes captain Pringle didn’t give up and when he finally got most of the story together he went to his bosses at the LA Times but because they were also secret villains they kept delaying the story. They kept sending it for rewrites and also hated it may be buried beyond the first page, but Paul Pringle is a can-do man and he did and that wasn’t his Only heroic action he slays mini villains in this book ,Bad City. It is the best nonfiction book I have ever ever read! And I have read a lot of good books. None of them even come close to Mr. Pringles, it’s because of men like him that the truth comes out. I received this book from NetGalleyShelf and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are definitely my own.

This book is like a bombardment of missives and missiles launched all at once from one relatively slim package. “Bad City” isn’t the longest investigative, true-crime novel I’ve ever read, but it sure does pack one heck of a punch for the words it contains.

But that’s what you get when you put a lifelong, seriously-dedicated investigative reporter who relishes the world of newspaper journalism (me too, for that matter) behind a keyboard and leave it to them to tell the story of how they came about catching and then publishing two of the biggest stories of their career (and the careers of several other people, too), both being intrinsically tied to the beleaguered University of Southern California (for the record, I’ve lived in California all my life and although I live in NorCal it’s kind of considered common knowledge around these parts that USC is corrupt. Sorry, but it’s true).

Journalists learn to pack as much of a message into as few words as they can. Column inches cost money, people! If you want the front page headline, you had better be sure your story is worth the extra inches those large, attention-attracting letters are going to cost the paper. This concise manner of writing is something I value greatly when I read investigative true-crime books like this. It reads like some of my favorite long-form investigative reports from Reveal News, but without the hyperlinks and infographics. It’s better for that, I think, because it allows someone like me (hello ADD) to stick solely to the words, to sink into the story and really inhale the inherent corruption that is Los Angeles (which is more Sin City than Las Vegas is, in my opinion) without any distractions. Not even a single picture graces the pages of this book and I am completely grateful.

Pringle may not be a creature born and bred in Los Angeles, but he understands the smog isn’t something that only hovers over the basin like a sickly miasma: Los Angeles is sickly, sallow city full of predators, prey, monsters, angels, the debased, and the innocent. Most of all, it’s full of the hilariously rich and the heartbreakingly poor. Los Angeles is a city full of symbiotic and parasitic relationships. It’s a beautiful city, full of beautiful people, but just like every Hollywood special effect, makeup design, or period costume, it’s all superficial. At its heart, Los Angeles is just like every other major metropolitan area in the world: an asphalt jungle full of people hungry for more of something: pick your poison. Pringle gets that, and that makes him an incredibly effective reporter. Well, that, and persistence: one of the most important weapons in a reporter’s arsenal. Pringle leaves no doubt in the writing of this book how doggedly persistent he and his fellow writers were while investigating and writing this story: persistent to the point of turning their entire paper upside down in pursuit of publishing their report without it being ripped apart by upper muckity-mucks who were obviously under the sway of conflict of interest from USC officials.

If I had a single complaint about this book it would be including, even if it was briefly, a small section on Operation Varsity Blues, the DOJ-FBI case that stretched across the country and implicated several private universities (including, most prominently, USC) and many rich (and sometimes famous) parents who used a “recruiter” middleman to bribe universities into accepting their children into their desired schools when their test scores weren’t up to par under the guise of them being athletes (even if they weren’t athletes at all). This book had more than enough scandal, sleaze, and salaciousness to cover between the two major cases it had already covered. Including Operation Varsity Blues not only seemed like overkill, but it also felt very tacked on. It felt like a puzzle piece that just doesn’t fit right. Like you think you have the right piece but it’s just a little too loose or a little too tight. It just should’ve been left out.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and Celadon Books for granting me access to this title. It should be noted this review was written for a finished copy of the book sent to be by Celadon Books in exchange for a fair and honest review should I decide to read the book.