Scientology

Tom Cruise has been pulled into the middle of a police investigation surrounding a potential suicide bomber who made alarming threats to the Church of Scientology.

Cops say the man called the Church back in April asking, "Are there any bombings I can do?" The man, who ID'd himself as a Muslim, said he "liked to do suicide bombings."

According to police docs, the caller began singing, "Allah Akbar, Tom Cruise" ... the phrase some terrorists have used as they attack. He then hung up.

The guy who allegedly threatened to kill Scientology leader David Miscavige is a free man ... after pleading no contest to making death threats and stalking the church leader.

Andre Barkanov, a 47-year-old Illinois resident, was sentenced to 1 year in county jail, but got credit for time served and won't have to spend another day behind bars.

Barkanov was also hit with five years of formal probation and a 10 year protective order, requiring him to stay clear of Miscavige and the church. He also has to complete a 1 year substance abuse program.

The father of Scientology leader David Miscavige appeared on 20/20 Friday night as a victim of his son's wrath, but sources connected with the Church say his dad is the real bad guy.

Church sources tout this pic of Ronald Miscavige in a Nazi uniform, taken a few years back. They also point to several letters sent to a publisher of a book Ronald wrote about his time in Scientology, warning them Ronald was a racist who was not afraid to hurl the n-word. One of the musicians claims one of Ronald's favorite lines was to sing and chant, "There is a n***** in the alley with a hard-on, spread the lard on, rub it in." They say he'd sing it to the tune of the National Emblem March.

Ron's people tell us the letters were sent at the behest of the Church to block publication of the book.

A rep for the church tells TMZ "The behavior exhibited in this photo and described in the letters is an anathema to David Miscavige and was what compelled him to try to find a way to keep his father in check." The rep says David has now disowned his dad.

Scientology honcho David Miscavige had reason to fear a guy who threatened to kill him, because we've learned the guy was armed with ammo and pretended to be a cop.

According to a search warrant obtained by TMZ, Andre Barkanov had been convicted twice for impersonating a cop and he was undeterred, because when his home was raided in the Miscavige case, police found live ammo, a holster, badge holder and a magazine ... and we're not talking People.

As we reported, Barkanov allegedly made numerous death threats by phone, threatening to "assassinate" Miscavige. In one call Barkanov allegedly said, "I forgot to mention that we are going after you! ... all your people ... including your jagoff, motherf*****, c***sucker, David Miscavige, OK?"

The man who allegedly threatened to kill Scientology leader David Miscavige in a series of phone calls just got hit with a slew of felonies, and his bail is set at $600k.

Andre Barkanov, a 47-year-old man from Illinois, pled not guilty to 12 felony counts of making criminal threats and one of stalking. Barkanov was arrested in November when police tracked him down in Wisconsin. He's been in custody since December.

A police investigation was launched after Barkanov allegedly phoned the church's Hollywood offices repeatedly, and at one point said he'd "assassinate Miscavige and every single one of you," among other threats.

Tony Dovolani says the Church of Scientology was hot on his tail during his stint with Leah Remini on "Dancing with the Stars" ... looking for any dirt they could find to discredit her ... even by association.

Dovolani was at LAX, toting around Leah's book, 'Troublemaker,' -- when our photog asked if the Church harassed him. Tony unloaded.

The tone of Leah Remini's feud with Scientology sounds a little different this morning ... as in, way less mention of Tom Cruise.

We got Leah outside the 'Howard Stern Show' in NYC, where she's been promoting her tell-all book "Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood & Scientology." In her "20/20" interview about the book ... Remini's run-ins with Cruise were a hot topic.

But watch what happened when our photog asked if she'd ever work with Cruise in the future.

It's pretty clear, Leah's backing down on all the Tom talk. His name only came up a couple of times during her Stern interview, and never in a negative way. She made one more stop in NYC today ... at "The View" and explained the shift in rhetoric.

Katie Holmes feels badly about some things that happened years ago when Leah Remini first started challenging Tom Cruise and the Church of Scientology.

Holmes responded to Remini when ABC sought a comment about Remini's claims about meeting Tom when he was dating Katie. Apparently, Remini makes several comments about that incident and about Tom's place in the Church during her 20/20 special airing tonight.

In one clip 20/20 released, Leah says Tom and Katie engaged in some serious PDA during the visit ... prompting Leah to say, "Hey, get a friggin’ room.”

A rep for Katie says they gave 20/20 the following statement: “I regret having upset Leah in the past and wish her only the best in the future."

We're told Katie's statement was not specifically referring to the kissing, but to many things Leah says on 20/20.

By the way, Remini says her crack about Tom and Katie kissing got her "written up" by high ranking Scientology officials.

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Leah Remini isn't just taking on Scientology, she's going squarely after Tom Cruise in a new interview about her departure from the church.

Leah sat down with "20/20" and revealed her fears about taking on Scientology, saying ... "Being critical of Tom Cruise is being critical of Scientolgy itself. You are evil."

She also says it's "giving up everything you've worked for your whole life" -- if you decide to leave Scientology. Remini's been very vocal about her issues with the church since leaving in 2013. She's said she left because she didn't want to raise her daughter as a Scientologist.

Tom Cruise did not go to his daughter's wedding, but we found out he was nobody special, because none of the parents -- on either side -- were invited.

There are reports Tom snubbed 22-year-old Bella, who married Max Parker last month. Sources connected with Tom and Bella tell TMZ, she and Max wanted a super small wedding in London with a few friends and that was it ... no parents were invited.

We're told Tom was not only cool with the decision, he footed the bill for the wedding and party at the fancy schmancy Dorchester hotel.

The Church of Scientology is firing back at accusations it had anything to do with Jim Carrey's girlfriend killing herself -- saying no one blames the Bible when a Christian commits suicide.

Cathriona White was reportedly very active in the Church of Scientology ... taking part in a program called the "Purification Rundown" -- a controversial drug and alcohol detox program combining exercise, medication, and sauna sessions.

But a Scientology spokeswoman tells TMZ any reports connecting White's death to the church are a "sad and reprehensible" way to exploit the tragedy of her death. She also calls it "outright bigotry" because it's "like saying a person who previously studied the Bible committed suicide."

Law enforcement sources tell us investigators will question church officials about Cathriona's involvement in the detox -- but at this point they strongly believe her death had nothing to do with Scientology.

Someone is out to kill Scientology honcho David Miscavige ... or so the guy vows, and it's triggered a big police investigation.

A man repeatedly called the main number for Scientology in Hollywood in July, making very direct threats:

"Tell David that we are going to kill him."

"We are going to assassinate Mr. Miscavige and every single one of you."

"You tell your leader, who is an a**hole and a motherf*****, he is going to be shot pretty soon."

We're told the operator kept the man on the phone during the last call for 2 hours and 55 minutes and got identifying information, including his Skype address.

Scientology forwarded the info to LAPD's Major Crimes Unit, which launched an investigation and executed a search warrant last month. The person the LAPD closed in on is a Jewish businessman.

The private investigators who were tailing the father of Scientology leader David Miscavige were carrying a shocking stash of guns and ammo, including an ominous silencer.

As TMZ reported, Ronald Miscavige -- who claims David kicked him out of the Church -- was tailed for a year-and-a-half by a father/son P.I. team. Cops arrested the father, Dwayne Powell, and found the weapons in his car.

Powell and his son claim they were hired by the Church to follow and even harass Ronald to make sure he didn't do anything to embarrass Scientology. David Miscavige denies he hired the P.I.s or even knew them.

David Miscavige and his Church of Scientology are on a mission -- to "dig up dirt" on people who talk crap on them -- so claims the private investigator who says he was hired to keep David's dad in line. The audio is pretty amazing.

TMZ obtained police audio in which P.I. Daniel Powell told Wisconsin detectives he and his dad were paid $10k a week from the Church to shadow Ronald Miscavige ... to follow him, see who he's talking to, monitor his emails and most of all make sure he's not bad-mouthing David.

Daniel says Ronald used to be the Musical Director of the Church, until David decided his stuff was outdated and put him out to pasture. Daniel says Ronald started going after David, and that's when they were hired to unrelentingly control the elder Miscavige.

Daniel says David paid Ronald off on numerous occasions to keep him quiet.

And Daniel says David has reason to fear Ronald ... because dad has the goods and David is "a terrible person."

Chilling audio ... the father of Scientology leader David Miscavige appeared to be having a heart attack, and his son ordered his people to stand clear and just let him die ... so claims the P.I. who was tailing David's dad.

P.I. Daniel Powell recounted during a police interview in 2013 how he and his dad were following Ronald Miscavige, who left the church, when Ronald suddenly slumped over and appeared to be having a coronary.

Powell says his dad, Dwayne, called the people who hired him on behalf of Scientology and informed them of the situation. He says a short time later David called Dwayne and instructed him not to render aid ... if he died, he died.

We're told it ended up just being a case of the cramps.

David Miscavige's lawyer denies his client hired the P.I.s or even knew them.

Tom Cruise underwrites so much of Scientology, people connected with the Church root for the success of his movies, even when they suck.

P.I. Daniel Powell, who claims to have been hired by the Church to tail the father of Scientology leader David Miscavige, joked with cops ... Tom was the biggest moneymaker by far in the Church.

In fact, Powell wisecracks that Tom is probably paying the $10k a week salary to keep tabs on and harass Ronald Miscavige.