12 Tribes’ Founder Died. Yellow Deli Didn’t Close for a Day.

Gene Spriggs built the Twelve Tribes into a movement spanning four continents, approximately forty communities, and at least thirty-three Yellow Deli locations. He reportedly controlled what his followers ate, wore, read, and believed. He assigned marriages and forbade divorce. His teachings on race have been documented by the SPLC as white supremacist.

And then his wife allegedly broke the one rule the community considered unforgivable.

In this episode, Tony Brueski traces Spriggs’ arc from carnival worker to cult founder to the scandal that should have ended the Twelve Tribes — and the death that should have ende...