When their parents ripped two young sisters from their privileged lives, gave them fake names, and took them on the lam, they thought it was because their father was in trouble with the IRS. It would be years before they learned the truth about his life of crime. By Barry Meier
Barry Meier is an investigative reporter who worked for more than twenty-five years at the New York Times , where he specialized in coverage of business and public health. He was a member of the reporting team that received the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, and is a recipient of two George Polk Awards. He is the author of the book Pain Killer: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America’s Opioid Epidemic .
Editor: Seyward Darby Art Director: Ed Johnson Copy Editor: Sean Cooper Fact Checker: Darya Marchenkova Illustrator: Vanessa Saba Published in May 2026.
Erin McCann raced along the Pennsylvania Turnpike at seventy-five miles per hour, desperate to reach her mother’s house before it was too late. Erin, a lawyer, had left Philadelphia soon after the call came, and as she drove past the farms of Pennsylvania Dutch country, she could still hear her mother’s voice: “They’re out there. I’m done.”
Erin’s mother, Leah, had called to tell her a secret. Years earlier, she had hidden away two boxes filled with government documents connected to a series of extraordinary crimes. She told Erin that she couldn’t bear to keep the records any longer, so they were now at the curb with the trash. Erin, who had not been aware that the documents existed, asked her mother to bring them back inside. Leah refused. Now Erin’s only hope of learning the truth about the events that had shattered her childhood was getting the boxes before the garbage collectors did.
Back in 1984, when Erin was 13, her life seemed perfect. Her father, John H. McCann III, was successful, charming, and funny. Leah was beautiful and elegant. Erin and her younger sister, Meredith, who was ten, lived in a Tudor-style mansion in Fox Chapel, a wealthy suburb of Pittsburgh. The family had two golden retrievers, Ginger and Nutmeg, and Erin took riding lessons on a horse named Super Pony. There was a swimming pool in their backyard, along with a zip line, a tree house, and a playhouse from FAO Schwarz that looked like a log cabin.