Late Wednesday night, news broke that Jeffrey Epstein, the not-quite-billionaire alleged to have sexually assaulted and raped minors, was found sprawled out on the floor of his cell in Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), with marks on his neck. The injuries may be the result of a genuine suicide attempt or a staged one, a bid to be transferred to a facility more of his liking, perhaps something closer to the private wing he enjoyed in his brief incarceration after Trump’s now-disgraced labor secretary Alex Acosta, then a federal prosecutor in Florida, cut Epstein a sweetheart deal in 2007 (Acosta’s comment that he was told Epstein “belonged to intelligence” remains a mystery).

Or maybe another inmate was responsible for the injuries. WNBC-TV reported authorities had spoken to Nicholas Tartaglione, an ex-cop who may as well have been plucked from central casting for the role of hired hitman: Tartaglione is accused of killing four men and burying their bodies in his yard in Otisville, New York. While the facts about what happened in MCC continue to trickle out, questions of possible conspiracy abound. Were Epstein’s rich and powerful friends — Clinton, Trump, royalty, celebrities, and billionaires — in on the crimes? Did one of them put Tartaglione up to killing Epstein? (Tartaglione’s lawyer says, “Any insinuation that [Tartaglione] assaulted Mr. Epstein is a complete and utter fabrication.”) Or was Epstein just trying to cut his suffering short?

Whatever the answers, it’s hard to look away from the Epstein case — here it is, the rot at the heart of the ruling class garishly, sickeningly displayed; they protect one another, even if that means perpetuating the serial abuse of children. The masters of the universe are not only losers — they’re sexual predators. But away from the Epstein headlines, the flip side of this conspiracy, the reality of what happens beyond the sacred bonds of wealth, is playing out just a few hundred miles away.