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Episode: Operation Flagship

Author: Vox Media Podcast Network
Duration: 00:31:38

Episode Shownotes

In 1985, 160 people were sent letters saying they’d won free tickets to an NFL football game. They were told to pick up their tickets at the Washington Convention Center. When they arrived, they were greeted by cheerleaders, men in tuxedos, and team mascots. But then, they found out there

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Full Transcript

00:00:00 Speaker_07
In the fall of 1984, a television station in Hartford, Connecticut, held a contest.

00:00:10 Speaker_07
If you won, you'd be picked up in a limo and taken to see Boy George and the Culture Club perform at the Hartford Civic Center.

00:00:19 Speaker_07
One of the winners was a 22-year-old named Robert Harris. The television station said they would send a camera crew to film him getting picked up by the president of the station. Well, this is going to be an exciting day.

00:00:31 Speaker_01
After picking up Robert, the limo drove a few blocks and then suddenly it stopped. The driver said he had a flat tire.

00:00:41 Speaker_01
And the driver pulled over and we were filming this. This is Toby Roach. He organized the contest.

00:00:52 Speaker_01
A group of men surrounded the limo.

00:00:57 Speaker_07
They opened the car door and arrested Robert Harris. There wasn't a flat tire, there wasn't a television station, and there wasn't a breakfast with boy George. The whole thing had been a sting.

00:01:12 Speaker_07
I'm Phoebe Judge, this is Criminal.

00:01:27 Speaker_07
Robert Harris, the man who was arrested, was wanted for burglary and had been on the run for 17 months. The U.S.

00:01:36 Speaker_10
Marshals had been having trouble finding him, so they came up with a way to get Robert Harris to come to them.

00:01:41 Speaker_07
At the time, Boy George was so popular, The Guardian described his concert tickets as rare as gold dust. And that gave a U.S. Marshal named Toby Roach an idea. He made up a fake television station modeled on MTV called W Rock Video 66.

00:02:00 Speaker_07
He named the president of the station I Am Detnaw. Which is I Am Wanted spelt backwards. The US Marshal sent letters to relatives of Robert Harris saying that a brand new television station was having the contest and that Robert Harris had been picked as the winner. Robert Harris wasn't the only target.

00:02:25 Speaker_07
There were a total of eight people arrested that day, all who believed they'd won tickets to see Boy George. Some of the US Marshals heard that when Boy George found out about the sting operation, he filed a complaint with the Department of Justice. He didn't want anything to do with it.

00:02:43 Speaker_07
The Boy George Sting was one of a series of stings that were all organized by a special task force in the U.S. Marshals. It was called the Fugitive Investigative Strike Teams, nicknamed FIST.

00:03:02 Speaker_07
They specialized in finding ways to get hard-to-find people to come to them. This wasn't always the U.S. Marshals' job. For years, it had been part of the FBI's job to track down federal fugitives.

00:03:18 Speaker_07
But the 1980 budget cut some of the FBI's funding, and the Attorney General announced that the U.S. Marshals would now take on finding fugitives. The U.S. Marshals Service was first created in 1789 by Congress as officers of the court. They served warrants and subpoenas and handled federal prisoners.

00:03:35 Speaker_07
Through 1870, they also took the national census. In the 1800s, they filled in as law enforcement in Western territories where there was no federal government.

00:03:53 Speaker_07
They enforced the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and Prohibition in the 1920s. In the 60s, they were assigned to guard students integrating segregated schools. And in 1981, the Marshals Service created the Fugitive Investigative Strike Teams, or FIST.

00:04:08 Speaker_07
The fact that they're coming to us, basically we called it arrest by appointment only. In 1985, they created a fake airline in Miami called Puno Airlines. Puno means fist in Spanish.

00:04:25 Speaker_07
The marshals made their own Puno airline stationery and sent letters to the last known addresses of people they were looking for, congratulating them on winning a free trip. It included a fake boarding pass to the Bahamas.

00:04:42 Speaker_07
They even set up a fake ticket counter in the Miami International Airport. Here's audio from NBC in 1985. Last Thursday, Linda Cox of Miami, the woman with the hat, packed her bags for an all-expense paid trip to the Bahamas. After being notified, her name had been selected at random by a new airline company.

00:05:02 Speaker_10
There was even a limousine ride to the airport. Off to the Bahamas for the weekend.

00:05:10 Speaker_07
But what Mrs. Cox didn't know was that the airline company was a phony. And so was the trip, all set up by United States Marshals to lure hard-to-find fugitives out of their hiding places.

00:05:19 Speaker_07
And instead of being taken to the Bahamas, Mrs. Cox, wanted on bad check charges, was taken to jail. The sting resulted in 14 arrests.

00:05:34 Speaker_07
In another operation in Virginia, the marshal sent out invitations to a special event at a Playboy club.

00:05:43 Speaker_05
When they arrived, attendees were invited to board a black bus decorated with a giant bunny logo. They were going to meet a bunch of Playboy bunnies and hang out and get pictures taken and all that.

00:05:57 Speaker_00
When they got on the bus, they were arrested by undercover agents dressed like Playboy bunnies.

00:06:00 Speaker_05
More than once, the Marshall set up fake delivery companies.

00:06:11 Speaker_05
One was called the Fist Bonded Delivery Service, which, according to the New York Times, sent out letters saying, quote, large packages worth $2,000 of undescribed goods were ready to be delivered.

00:06:20 Speaker_07
When people tried to claim the valuable packages, they were arrested. Toby Roach says that part of what was appealing about the Sting operations was that they were less confrontational. They weren't going to people's homes, which he says was safer for the U.S. Marshals.

00:06:38 Speaker_10
One of the first large-scale police stings in the United States happened in D.C. in the 1970s.

00:06:47 Speaker_07
They called it Operation Sting because the police officers liked the Paul Newman and Robert Redford movie The Sting.

00:06:58 Speaker_07
DC police worked with the FBI to try to do something about a recent increase in stolen office equipment. They rented a warehouse and pretended to be the DC outpost of a New York mob family, and spread the word that they would buy stolen office equipment.

00:07:12 Speaker_07
And they paid good prices for all kinds of things, so good that one man went to a department store, bought a gun, and sold it to the undercover officers for twice the price.

00:07:24 Speaker_07
The police officers dyed their hair black and tried to talk with Italian accents, but they didn't speak Italian. They could say ciao and arrivederci, but they mostly just made up words.

00:07:38 Speaker_07
They served meatballs and would offer you a Chianti or a whiskey and then get your fingerprints off the glass. One officer introduced himself as Angelo Lasagna. Another was Rico Ricchettoni.

00:08:06 Speaker_07
After a few months of doing this, the police threw a party inviting people they'd done business with to meet the head of the Bob family, who was actually just a police officer dressed up as the Don and sitting in a high-back chair. So many people were arrested that night that the city jail ran out of space for everyone.

00:08:18 Speaker_07
One detective said, we played a game with them. We were romance, the mob, the greatest thing that ever happened to them.

00:08:32 Speaker_07
After it was all over, the police received letters complaining about the way the officers represented Italian Americans during the operation. One of the officers said, we meant no harm except to the thieves.

00:08:47 Speaker_07
The New York Times reported that it was plain that the police had had some fun. We'll be right back.

00:09:03 Speaker_07
In 1985, U.S. Marshal Toby Roach moved to Washington, D.C. He'd just been promoted to the Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia.

00:09:19 Speaker_07
At the time, there were over 3,000 wanted persons in the D.C. area and over 5,000 outstanding warrants. Toby invited his new boss, a U.S. Marshal named Herb Rutherford, over for dinner.

00:09:35 Speaker_07
So he came over the house, and we started talking football. So he was telling me, for the NFL, for the NFC, for the Washington Redskins, there was a seven-year wait to get nosebleeds tickets.

00:10:01 Speaker_08
This gave Toby an idea. I talked with him about the boy George Sting and that, and I said, you know, Herb, we could have people for Redskin tickets and create a new sports video like ESPN or something like that. They would get a buffet brunch and we joked around and said, okay, let's do this on Monday. Let's do this tomorrow. And they did it.

00:10:17 Speaker_08
They got to work on the biggest fist operation yet. They called it Operation Flagship.

00:10:29 Speaker_08
They named their fake television station Flagship International Sports Television, another FIST acronym. The Marshalls sent out more than 3,000 invitations offering free tickets to see the Redskins, now called the Commanders, and a chance to win a trip to Super Bowl XX.

00:10:44 Speaker_08
To claim the tickets, you had to come to a brunch at the Washington Convention Center. The invitation included a phone number to RSVP, The Marshall set up a phone bank and waited for the calls to come in.

00:11:00 Speaker_07
As Toby Roach was preparing Operation Flagship, a young television producer named Alan Goldberg was working on a new CBS News show called West 57th. I read an article about sting operations that the U.S. Marshal Service were conducting around the country.

00:11:20 Speaker_07
And they were getting a lot of media attention. And I thought, well, this is interesting. Maybe we could get inside one of these stings. And I reached out to the U.S. Marshal Service.

00:11:25 Speaker_10
I talked to Toby. And sure enough, they were beginning their largest operation, or sting, in Washington, D.C. I mean, how did you get the marshals to tell you about an upcoming sting?

00:11:42 Speaker_10
I mean, you'd think that that would be something that they wouldn't want anyone to know. Right. Look, they wanted the attention. They were getting a lot of great headlines around the country. And we came to them and said, look, we'd like to get inside one of your stings. This is great for you. It tells the public that the U.S.

00:12:00 Speaker_10
Marshal Service is out there chasing the bad guys. And so we sold them on that.

00:12:10 Speaker_07
Allen Goldberg and a CBS television crew were brought into Operation Flagship's phone bank room. The correspondent for the piece was Meredith Vieira. What do you guys think about all this? It's good operation. We wired everybody up.

00:12:26 Speaker_07
Phone calls came in. Flagship International Sports Channel. Hold on. One of the marshals would take the information. Good afternoon, Mr. Cran.

00:12:37 Speaker_07
I received a letter from you for a brunch on December 15th. Yes, sir. Did it say that you had won two complimentary tickets to the Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals game? Yes, sir. Well, very good.

00:12:52 Speaker_07
Congratulations. And sure enough, you know, a good number of them called in and we captured it all on videotape. And bring also some positive identification so that we know you're the winner.

00:13:03 Speaker_09
About 160 people called to say they'd come to the brunch, scheduled for December 15, 1985. Very early that morning, CBS filmed the marshals preparing.

00:13:17 Speaker_09
Sunday, 5.30 a.m., Washington's Convention Center. The morning of the sting. We do not want any excessive force. Only the force necessary will be used in this operation, as always.

00:13:29 Speaker_07
Going over the PA system. What's going to go over there is, welcome to Flagship International. And now we have a special surprise.

00:13:37 Speaker_09
You're under arrest, put your hands on your head. So unsurprised, you're going. Remember, bandits are greedy. We're going to play on their greed. The hook is already in. Now we want to sink the hook. And remember one thing, we're cops and we have to smile today. We don't normally smile at bandits. Today we have to smile. We have to kill them with smiles.

00:13:58 Speaker_07
The marshal said that two of the fugitives who'd RSVP'd were on DC's top 10 most wanted list. Their names were Charles Watkins and Lloyd Golden.

00:14:13 Speaker_02
In 1983, Charles Watkins was convicted of second-degree murder.

00:14:16 Speaker_09
While he was in the D.C. jail, he was somehow able to get a prison guard uniform and escape.

00:14:19 Speaker_02
He'd been on the run for more than a year.

00:14:28 Speaker_02
Here's Toby Roach on the morning of the sting, talking about Charles Watkins and Lloyd Golden. Some of the people we got coming, we have two of the top ten fugitives here in D.C. One's wanted for murder, another for armed robbery. So these people, even though it's going to be a carnival-like atmosphere, we have to take them seriously.

00:14:45 Speaker_09
They'd been training for six weeks and had done three dress rehearsals.

00:14:51 Speaker_02
We looked at it as a Hollywood production. That's the best way to describe it.

00:14:57 Speaker_07
We dressed the people at the dais in tuxedos. Marshals are brought in from all over the country, so there was no chance the guests would see someone who'd arrested them before.

00:15:16 Speaker_03
When the fugitives came in, they were greeted by cheerleaders who were female police officers for the District of Columbia Police or Deputy U.S.

00:15:22 Speaker_00
Marshals, you know, patting them on the back and the small of the back to make sure there wasn't a gun or a knife back there. Ellen Goldberg had two CBS crews filming everything.

00:15:34 Speaker_03
Downstairs, under every black tie, is a bulletproof vest. And sprinkled throughout the building are armed undercover cops. Congratulations. Sure. Congratulations. So we were just their part of the scenery, if you will.

00:15:46 Speaker_03
You're lucky today. Yes, I do.

00:15:50 Speaker_07
Today's your lucky day. You don't even know it, do you? I'll see you in the Super Bowl, Hawaii. Four tickets, big go, front row. It was easy for us to basically pose as a television crew. We were just part of the whole affair, right?

00:16:09 Speaker_07
And fortunately, nobody ever asked us, you know, who are you? That was always, that was kind of an ethical issue for us that we discussed before we went down. Like if somebody actually asked us upfront, who are we with? What were we going to say?

00:16:23 Speaker_11
There was a video screen. There was a U.S. Marshal who was in a tuxedo. We'd like to welcome you to the Flagship International Sports Television and Audible Celebration.

00:16:39 Speaker_07
His name was Louie McKinney. He wore a top hat and played the role of master of ceremonies.

00:16:43 Speaker_10
Congratulations to all of you winners. There was an announcement that a car was parked illegally. This was a cue to the SWAT team to get into position outside of the door.

00:16:53 Speaker_07
Then they waited. there was a code word that we have a surprise for you.

00:17:12 Speaker_10
And when the SWAT teams in the background heard the key word, that's when they, you know, opened the doors and actually surprised them.

00:17:19 Speaker_07
Command all units, trap has been sprung.

00:17:34 Speaker_09
And then when they, you know, picked them up and took them out into the hall and threw them down to the ground and handcuffed them, they realized, all right, this was, you know, this is something else. This was clearly a sting.

00:17:39 Speaker_04
The people arrested were put in buses waiting outside the convention center. A U.S.

00:17:49 Speaker_09
marshal, described by the Washington Post as exuberant, said, they were totally caught off guard. CBS reported that Operation Flagship arrested 94 people. The head of the U.S.

00:18:05 Speaker_09
Marshals Service, the director, is a guy named Stanley Morris, and he announced to the media that they had this very successful sting operation and had in fact had captured two top ten fugitives. But then, Allen Goldberg started to look at what they'd taped that day.

00:18:24 Speaker_09
What happens after any story is you go back and you review all of the footage.

00:18:31 Speaker_07
So while it all looked great, the truth was that it wasn't quite what they made it out to be.

00:18:39 Speaker_07
We'll be right back.

00:18:48 Speaker_09
Reviewing his footage, CBS producer Alan Goldberg watched and re-watched the moment that one of the Top 10 Most Wanted fugitives, Charles Watkins, was put onto a police bus. And he noticed Charles Watkins saying they had the wrong guy. This is Charles Watkins, believed to be a DC Top 10, a murderer.

00:19:20 Speaker_09
Do you know my name is Charles Watkins? He's my son and I'm on this bus. I'm 50 years old, my son is 20. I'm Charles Watkins Sr. The marshals had arrested the wrong Charles Watkins.

00:19:33 Speaker_07
They had arrested the father instead of the son. The LA Times reported that later, Charles Watkins Sr. produced identification and convinced the police that they had the wrong man.

00:19:52 Speaker_09
And as we learned more and more about what happened that day, it became clear that while the marshals had trumpeted this sting operation as a huge success, that the results of the sting were not what they seemed.

00:20:09 Speaker_09
Allen Goldberg learned that the other top 10 fugitive, Lloyd Golden, was not actually a top 10 fugitive either. He was wanted for the sale of narcotics, not armed robbery. Among the arrested, there was one attempted murderer, three escapees, and seven robbers. But 55 were wanted only on misdemeanors, including six traffic offenders.

00:20:33 Speaker_07
Allen Goldberg and his colleagues started looking more into the F.I.S.T. program and re-interviewed the director of the U.S. Marshals, Stanley Morris. You told me the Marshals had apprehended two of the top ten fugitives in Washington, D.C. What happened to those two? We were wrong. Both cases? Yeah. Both cases. Do you think that the sting operation in D.C. was a success or a failure? Oh, I think it was a success. I mean, it did a number of things.

00:21:00 Speaker_07
I mean, it arrested nearly a hundred people in a fairly inexpensive way without any injury.

00:21:07 Speaker_06
And those people, if we hadn't run it, would still be out on the street.

00:21:22 Speaker_07
Allen Goldberg remembers thinking that Operation Flagship was supposed to focus on really big, quote, high-value people. And so when he learned that it mostly brought in people with misdemeanors, he felt misled. This is a pretty big deal and a lot of trouble just to catch a lot of small fish.

00:21:56 Speaker_07
And I think for them to make as big a deal out of it wasn't completely honest because, again, when you're talking about parking violations and other minor offenses, to be thrown to the ground and handcuffed and treated in that fashion, it does seem certainly excessive and I think you could argue unfair. Was this process totally legal? Yes.

00:22:07 Speaker_06
You can use ruse and trickery to apprehend somebody. They came to us voluntarily. We didn't go into their houses or do anything like that.

00:22:20 Speaker_07
Whether it's legal, do you think it's ethical to trick people into something like this? Well, it's not tricking. It's doing a ruse.

00:22:29 Speaker_06
It's not, you know, when you arrest them, you identify yourself, who you are.

00:22:39 Speaker_06
And I think it's very safe for the public.

00:22:43 Speaker_06
I think it's the safest way to get dangerous criminals off the street.

00:22:47 Speaker_12
Do I think it's ethical what they did? Wow. I think the fact that a lot of the people that were arrested were petty... I don't even want to call them criminals. They were petty offenses.

00:23:08 Speaker_07
You know, you might have been arrested that day because you didn't answer a summons for a parking ticket. It could have been me. Three weeks after Operation Flagship, 72 of the 94 people who were captured had been let go.

00:23:22 Speaker_09
Here's how Alan Goldberg's 1986 CBS piece ended.

00:23:28 Speaker_09
That day in December, the Redskins won their game, but went on to lose the season. The same might be said of the Marshals. CBS reported that of the 10,000 people the Marshals had arrested in the past four years of the F.I.S.T. program, half were released within a week. In 1986, FIST operations came to an end.

00:23:54 Speaker_07
We contacted the U.S.

00:23:57 Speaker_10
Marshals, and their historian told us that to his knowledge, undercover operations on this scale aren't done today. But he said, the concept continues.

00:24:17 Speaker_10
Criminal is created by Lauren Spohr and me. Nadia Wilson is our senior producer. Katie Bishop is our supervising producer. Our producers are Susanna Robertson, Jackie Sajico, Lily Clark, Lena Sillison, and Megan Kinane. This episode was also produced by Sam Kim. Our show is mixed and engineered by Veronica Simonetti.

00:24:41 Speaker_09
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00:24:59 Speaker_09
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00:25:07 Speaker_07
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00:25:21 Speaker_06
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00:25:29 Speaker_07
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