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The Mayflower Madam analogy

John Kiriakou's argument, borrowed from the 1980s Mayflower Madam case, that the Epstein 'list' will disappoint anyone expecting a schedule of clients — because address books contain the dry cleaner and the Chinese takeaway alongside everyone else, and nobody keeps a spreadsheet of their crimes.

The Mayflower Madam analogy is the comparison John Kiriakou draws between the Epstein files and the 1980s prostitution case whose defendant’s address book — unlike the Epstein material — actually reached the public.

The book that did become public

What Kiriakou finds instructive about the Mayflower Madam’s “very famous little black book” is not the clients it named but the company they kept in it. “Yeah, she had her johns in there and she had her girls in there, but she had her dry cleaner in there and she had her Chinese food in there. I mean, the point is that’s what people do.”[1]

An address book, in other words, records everyone a person deals with, and appearing in one establishes nothing on its own. The conclusion he draws for the Epstein material is blunt: anyone “looking for a spreadsheet that says ‘my child sex client XLS’ — it’s not in there.”[2]

Why that is not the end of it

Kiriakou does not use the point to dismiss the question, and says so immediately: “but that’s not really the issue.”[2] The issue remains the identity of the men who committed crimes against children, which a name-by-name reading of an address book will not settle either way.

His judgement on the government’s handling is deliberately non-partisan. The administration is “playing it too cute” — and, he adds, “like all administrations” do.[2]

See also

References

  1. DeProgram Show with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas, 2025-07-2546:47 on YouTube · Transcript
  2. DeProgram Show with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas, 2025-07-2547:19 on YouTube · Transcript

Sourced from John Kiriakou's on-record public statements. See his profile for the full body of his interviews, podcast appearances, and short-form video.