Plot Synopsis

WACO: MADMAN OR MESSIAH is a two-part, four-hour documentary that explores the Branch Davidians and their leader David Koresh, who nobody ever heard of until February 28, 1993 when a raid by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on their center close to Waco, Texas, left four agents and six of the religious sect dead. It led to a 51-day stand-off with the FBI, the longest in US law-enforcement history, ending in a tragic fire which killed an additional 76 members of the Branch Davidian community including 22 children. Who was David Koresh and why were many Branch Davidians prepared to die for him? Was he a con man or an anointed messenger of God sent to warn his followers of the imminent end of the world? With Koresh's own voice taken from many previously never-before-seen FBI negotiation tapes, nine Branch Davidians will now tell their emotional story from the inside. A&E premiered WACO: MADMAN OR MESSIAH from 9-11pm ET/PT on back-to-back nights: Sunday, January 28 and Monday, January 29, 2018.