Orsini began investigating the Church of Scientology and its expansion into Clearwater, Florida, in the middle of the 1970s. Over three years of investigating, she and Stafford published fourteen stories that criticized the church, investigating its belief system and corrupt practices. By 1976, a church memo was issued that deemed Stafford and Orsini 'enemies' of the church, and stated that their ranks should be infiltrated. In an obituary published in the Tampa Bay Times, she was called the "prime source of stories about Scientology's financial and social structure". The church repeatedly attempted to get Orsini fired, and otherwise attempted to stop her reporting. For this series of articles, she won the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting in 1980. She died on March 26, 2011.[2][3][7]