Editing David Miscavige (section)

===Family and relatives===
In 2012, after gaining access to the full Internet via [[Amazon Kindle|Kindle]], Ron Miscavige discovered new information about the church and subsequently left the Church of Scientology. The ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' reported that he was put under surveillance by the Church, which was said to have paid two private investigators to watch him around the clock for 18 months for $10,000 a week. The surveillance was said to have been "all because [David] Miscavige feared that his father would divulge too much about the organisation's activities." At one point, the investigators were said to have phoned David Miscavige when they thought his father was having a heart attack and were allegedly told not to intervene: "If it was Ron's time to die, to let him die and not intervene in any way." David Miscavige denied having ordered the surveillance or speaking to one of the investigators.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-scientology-private-eyes-20150409-story.html|title=Scientology head's father was spied on, police report says|last=Christensen|first=Kim|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=April 8, 2015|accessdate=April 29, 2016}}</ref> Subsequently, Ron published a book in 2016, titled ''[[Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me]]''.<ref>{{multiref2 |1={{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-scientology-private-eyes-20150409-story.html |title=Exclusive: Scientology head's father was spied on, police report says |date=April 18, 2015 |first=Kim |last=Christensen |website=[[Los Angeles Times]]}} |2={{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-ron-miscavige-20160906-snap-story.html |title=Life after Scientology is contentious for church leader's father |date=September 15, 2016 |first=Kim |last=Christensen |website=[[Los Angeles Times]]}} |3={{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/27/scientology-leader-david-miscavige-threatens-to-sue-uk-publisher-over-fathers-memoir |title=Scientology leader David Miscavige threatens to sue UK publisher over father's memoir |date=April 27, 2016 |first=Alison |last=Flood |website=[[The Guardian]]}} |4={{cite book |last=Miscavige |first=Ron |author-link=Ron Miscavige |title=Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me |title-link=Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me |isbn=9781250096937 |date=2016 |publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]}} }}</ref>

Thomas Tobin of the ''[[Tampa Bay Times]]'' reviewed the book, writing that the author "describ[es] his son as a tyrant who has turned the organization into a destructive influence." Tobin wrote that Ron Miscavige said the church had "morphed into an immoral organization that hides a long list of abuses behind First Amendment protections, spends millions to investigate and harass its critics, and has destroyed families—including his own—through its practice of disconnection."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/father-of-scientology-leader-church-is-manipulative-coercive-and-my-mind/2275745/|title=Father of Scientology leader: Church is 'manipulative, coercive and, in my mind, evil' |work=[[Tampa Bay Times]]|access-date=April 19, 2017 |first=Thomas |last=Tobin |date=May 4, 2016}}</ref>

Ronald "Ronnie" Miscavige Jr., David Miscavige's older brother by seven years, served in CMO in the Sea Org for a time,{{r|atack|page=264}} but left Scientology in 2000.<ref name=niece>{{Cite news|first=Jonny |last=Jacobsen |title=Niece of Scientology's leader backs Cruise biography |url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5heELOXbk_8qWowwJGtd3RrEXdqgQ |agency=[[Agence France-Presse]] |date=January 28, 2008 |access-date=March 11, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307065203/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5heELOXbk_8qWowwJGtd3RrEXdqgQ |archive-date=March 7, 2008 |quote=[Jenna Miscavige] Hill's father is Ron Miscavige, the older brother of David Miscavige ... [Hill's] parents officially left the church when [she] was 16 in 2000.}}</ref><ref name="jennatampabay"/> [[Jenna Miscavige Hill]], Ronnie Miscavige's daughter and David Miscavige's niece, remained in the Sea Org until 2005; she subsequently became an outspoken critic of Scientology and published a book in 2013 titled ''Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology And My Harrowing Escape''.<ref name="jennatampabay">{{cite news|title=Niece of Scientology leader describes rocky youth in church|url=https://www.tampabay.com/news/scientology/niece-of-scientology-leader-describes-rocky-youth-in-church-harrowing/1274490/|access-date=November 6, 2013|newspaper=[[Tampa Bay Times]]|date=February 8, 2013|first1=Joe |last1=Childs|first2=Thomas C|last2=Tobin}}</ref> [[Denise Licciardi]], Miscavige's twin sister, was hired by major Scientology donor Bryan Zwan as a top executive for the Clearwater-based company Digital Lightwave, where she was linked to an [[accounting scandal]].<ref>{{Multiref2 |1={{Cite news |title=The CEO and his church: How Bryan Zwan and Fellow Scientologists Shaped Digital Lightwave |first1=Deborah |last1=O'Neill |first2=Jeff |last2=Harrington |url=https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/documents/areas/adm/loeb/03b2.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210628054133/https://www.anderson.ucla.edu/documents/areas/adm/loeb/03b2.pdf |archive-date=June 28, 2021 |work=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |via=[[UCLA Anderson School of Management]]}} |2=Shorter web version: {{Cite news |title=The CEO and his Church |first1=Deborah |last1=O'Neill |first2=Jeff |last2=Harrington |work=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |date=June 2, 2002 |url=http://www.sptimes.com/2002/06/02/TampaBay/The_CEO_and_his_churc.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020606021938/http://www.sptimes.com/2002/06/02/TampaBay/The_CEO_and_his_churc.shtml |archive-date=June 6, 2002}} }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Harrington |first=Jeff |title=Digital Whistleblower Finally Wins |work=[[St. Petersburg Times]] |publisher=St. Petersburg Times |date=May 10, 2003 |url=http://www.sptimes.com/2003/05/10/Business/Digital_whistleblower.shtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031203140411/http://www.sptimes.com/2003/05/10/Business/Digital_whistleblower.shtml |archive-date=December 3, 2003 |access-date=June 11, 2011}}</ref>

Shelly Miscavige's mother, Mary Florence "Flo" Fike Barnett, was a long-time Scientologist<ref name="sptimes1998">{{cite web |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1998/10/25/the-man-behind-scientology/ |title=The Man Behind Scientology |first=Thomas C |last=Tobin |date=October 25, 1998 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991112103750/http://www.sptimes.com/TampaBay/102598/scientologypart1.html |archive-date=November 12, 1999 |publisher=[[St Petersburg Times]] }} [https://web.archive.org/web/20000708004553/http://www.sptimes.com/TampaBay/102598/scientologypart2.html Archive page 2], [https://web.archive.org/web/20000307050557/http://www.sptimes.com/TampaBay/102598/scientologypart3.html page 3], [https://web.archive.org/web/19991112150417/http://www.sptimes.com/TampaBay/102598/scientologypart4.html page 4]</ref> who later resigned, taking with her copies of "confidential upper-level materials." She joined David Mayo's [[Advanced Ability Center]], an independent Scientology organization considered [[Heterodoxy|heterodox]] by the Church of Scientology.<ref name=vvoice>{{cite web|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/news/the-strange-death-of-flo-barnett-mother-in-law-to-scientology-leader-david-miscavige-6667918|title=The Strange Death of Flo Barnett, Mother-in-Law to Scientology Leader David Miscavige|first=Tony |last=Ortega|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510195606/http://www.villagevoice.com/news/the-strange-death-of-flo-barnett-mother-in-law-to-scientology-leader-david-miscavige-6667918|archive-date=May 10, 2016|date=January 25, 2012|location=New York|author-link=Tony Ortega|work=[[Village Voice]]}}</ref> According to testimony by former high-ranking church executive [[Vicki Aznaran]]: "The fact that David Miscavige was linked to [Barnett] by familial ties was extremely repugnant to him and to his wife."<ref name=vvoice /> On September 8, 1985, Barnett was found dead at age 52 from a shot to the head from a [[Ruger 10/22]] rifle. 

The body also had three rifle shot wounds to the chest (one surface wound, one through a breast implant, and one that passed through the left lung and fractured a rib), and there were superficial slash marks on her wrists that were identified in the autopsy report as possibly having been several days old.<ref name=vvoice /> Despite the admittedly "very, very, very unusual" circumstances of multiple gunshot wounds and the unwieldy nature of the weapon, her death was ruled as consistent with suicide.<ref name=vvoice /> David Miscavige strongly denied any part in his mother-in-law's death in an affidavit on the case, calling it a "personal tragedy in my family's life."<ref name=vvoice /> However, in the presence of other witnesses he was reported to exclaim: "That bitch got what she deserved."<ref name=vvoice />

{{Miscavige family tree}}