The Raid | Episode 1

Jake Halpern (0:09)

Pushkin. Jay Calpern. Here, before we get into this episode, I want to let you know that you can hear all episodes of deep Cover The Family Man ad free right now. By signing up for Pushkin Plus.

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Marissa Giammanco (0:57)

I remember it was late at night, like after we had gone to bed.

Jake Halpern (1:03)

For Marissa Giamanco, September eighteenth, two thousand and eight was the moment that everything changed, the last day of one life and the first day of another.

Marissa Giammanco (1:17)

I was sleeping in a big sweater, like one of my dad's sweaters actually, and I remember being like, I need to put some pants on. Before I entered the door.

Jake Halpern (1:26)

She had heard voices outside and then pounding on the front door.

The Giamanco family lived in a cozy, one story shoe box of a house. There were only two bedrooms. Their dad, Keith, slept on a couch in the living room so that each of his daughters could have their own bedroom. Marissa and her twin sister were both seventeen years old seniors in high school, and on this particular night, they were worried about their dad. He hadn't come home or called or left any kind of message. The girls tried texting him but got no answer.

Marissa Giammanco (2:06)

It was weird.

Jake Halpern (2:08)

The family's dog, Lucky, peered out the window, and then late in the night came that pounding on the front door.

Marissa Giammanco (2:19)

So I'm all like scrambling to find some pajama pants to put on. They're all like knocking really loud, like, oh, well, the door. You know.

I'm like, hold on, I need to find some pants. And my sister's like, who is that? And I'm like, I don't know. Do you know who it is? Because all we could see were flash lights, Like it was a very bright light, like that's that's what I remember. You could even see like the flashlight light coming underneath the wooden door before I even opened it, and you could just feel the pressure like dude, they're gonna open this door if we don't open this door.

Jake Halpern (2:55)

So Marissa opens the door and sees a whole lot of eyes with badges and flashlights. They asked to come in, and Marissa asks for a warrant, which I find kind of bold, Like how did you even think to do that at seventeen years old?

Marissa Giammanco (3:12)

I think it might have just been watching Law and Order, Like, honestly, if I'm being dead ass, like, you got to tell me why you come into my house, dude. So they handed us the warrant, which was a lot of language that I didn't understand at that time.

Jake Halpern (3:30)

And then a whole parade of law enforcement officials starts coming into their house.

Marissa Giammanco (3:36)

And it wasn't just the Floorsent police, it was the FBI, it was the county police. And I remember one of them saying, your dad is in a safe place.

You don't have to worry about that. He's just in some trouble. Like that's literally what they said to me, Like nothing more than that some.

Jake Halpern (3:59)

Trouble's like WTF, Like what could Dad have possibly done to warrant all of this?

Meanwhile, Lucky, the family dog, he's on the offensive, lunging in all of these intruders. One of the cops asked Marissa to control her dog, so she takes Lucky to the backyard. It was a hot, sticky night, the last bits of summer lingered. Marissa prided herself as a moody, rebellious, aspiring writer and so very much on brand. Marissa lights a cigarette and then she just stands there processing the chaos she just witnessed in her house.

Marissa Giammanco (4:45)

They are flipping over the couch cushions and looking in the vents and opening the closets, and I'm standing there smoking a cigarette and I'm just thinking, I'm like, damn, I hope they don't find my weed in my room. I had weed in the closet, so I you know, I was like, Damn, I don't want to get in trouble too. And Dad's going to be mad at me if he finds, you know what.

Jake Halpern (5:07)

I mean, Because at this point, Marissa is still assuming that her dad is coming home, that he's still going to be the one she has to answer to about school and walking the dog and the weed in her closet. But as this raid on her house continues, Marissa starts to scratch her head a bit.