Page 2 The Sun Bay Paper April 15, 2026 The FBI I Knew — cont’d. Cont. from pg. 1 In my first office, Columbia, SC, for “orientation”, Charleston RA for 13 months, I solved a homicide by lifting prints (nobody else believed it would yield anything, and it yielded the palm print of the killer). That was my first 30 days. In the next 13 months, three of us teamed up and arrested over 200…that’s correct …200 fugitive deserters and escape federal prisoners. I arrested a bank robber by out guessing his escape route with a little arithmetic! My partner, Dennis Wick, and I nailed him with two hostages, a shotgun and $18,000. I extracted him with a choke hold, and he outweighed me by 100 pounds!! That works…that’s why it must be trained and used!! With another Agent, Ray, on late duty we rescued a 5-year-old little girl, Tondalaya Jones, front page news on all three TV stations, as well as most newspapers. Kidnapped from Brooklyn she jumped into my arms and said, “Please don’t let me go”! I’ll never forget how that made me feel! Years later, I, Steve Gilkerson and Doc Coulson rescued a 7-year-old kidnap victim! When we made it back to the RA, the phones were jumping off the hook and Walter Cronkite got through to the Resident Agency (RA for short) and asked me if it was true, we rescued that little girl...yes! That’s what I called “Wired”! Our SAC was so emotional ...he could not believe it! But the BIGGEST case, as a rookie, was a cold case, an armed robbery of a Bronx NY Deli where a stick-up guy, who was wanted all over the South, unknown to me that he was listed as an IO Fugitive… shot it out with a NY uniform officer who died from his wounds. IO fugitives are so dangerous that First Office Agents are not allowed to work them. My partner Dennis was shot point blank with a 45, as was his partner, in their second office (both survived, thank God) …however …the SAC, Roland Trent, was so happy with my work he allowed me to keep the case! Unknown to me, that was a big deal as Director Hoover had called the SAC after we arrested him …the IO Fugitive went for a gun, and the fight was on …he and I fought …he lost. Director Hoover followed ALL police killings and didn’t believe this case would ever be solved …it was a year old. So …my second office was the NYO. Fifteen Agents report to the NYO every Monday and ALL 15 are usually sent for orientation and how to stay alive in the Big Apple! ADIC John Malone sent 14 Agents to the Security Squads and me to the Truck Squad, John Gotti’s Crew. Malone dismissed all 14 and asked me to stay. He then had his secretary put a three-way call into the speaker, John Malone, me and Director Hoover...wow...what an honor!!! The Director wanted to know how I did what I did. I said I developed, on a totally unrelated case, an informant. I helped him out of a jam, and he repaid me, by helping me solve an armed robbery, police killing, by an IO Fugitive! A little leg work, record checks, NCIC, and the IO flyers, a year after the Crime and 1500 miles away from the crime scene! The photo spread in NYO, as was the IO Fugitive Flyer...an IO Fugitive is 1 step away from Top 10! I really didn’t think it was that big of a deal, but I was wrong. He, the Director, said he follows all police killings, but never had a first office Agent that successful! He went on, a 25-year Agent dreams about arresting a bank robber or rescuing a kidnap victim …and you scored five major cases. He told Malone to put me on the BEST squad in the FBI, and he did! Just a side note …four days on the Truck Squad, the squad hit a John Gotti drop in the Bronx! While covering the front door with a senior Agent, I spotted a very suspicious 26’ rental van, overloaded, scoping out the drop and I hollered to John to get help as I tried to stop the driver. He tried to run me down and took off. I had the car keys and gave chase. He bailed after a few blocks and took a shot at me. I returned fire. An Agent ran 3-4 blocks from the drop and hollered for me to stop chasing…so I did! He said we have rules about foot chases … “WE DON’T DO IT; YOU’LL LIKELY GET SHOT!” Do you think so...!? Director Patel, there are no FBI Agents working the cases they need to become real Agents ...it’s that simple ...follow what Hoover did ...he was very successful! Your Agents need to be retrained and weeded out...no slackers! They MUST work to become real FBI Agents if you do not retrieve ALL those Title 18 USC Criminal Violations, you will NEVER be successful. We, FBI Agents, NEED bank robbery cases, we need UFAP Cases, especially UFAP they are just dangerous enough to really get into the case! That’s on the job “training”. Science has advanced so much that you can follow a vehicle from New York to California by satellite, you can show a picture of a bad guy coming out of a house in Florida, and get it shown to the victim of the crime before he gets into the car. You have a source of the most highly trained and intelligent pool to choose from ...former Military, Special Ops, Delta, Green Berets, Seal Team, Rangers, Marines ...look to them. They do not need the most difficult part of their training. They are well disciplined... give them 6 weeks of training and you’ll have very qualified FBI Agents! What I am telling you is, your Agents have not worked criminal cases in 25 f—n years. How can they know how to arrest somebody …they don’t know how to draw up an arrest warrant, don’t know how to get a search warrant…don’t know how to execute a search warrant. They don’t know the Elements of Title 18 nor the Federal Rules ...many stopped carrying guns! Under Hoover, that is ground for dismissal! Mar-a-Lago is the perfect example. They have no idea what the Laws say, what the Federal Rules of Criminal procedure, Rule 41, require …the subject CAN witness the search, CAN video (as long as he’s not intrusive), you MUST provide a “detailed” inventory to the subject BEFORE you leave …you MAY not rearrange top secret papers or ANY evidence to create a stronger appearance for a photo op …THAT’S TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE … and PHOTOGRAPH the freaking top secret papers (what a great f—n idea) …that is several felonies, instant removal! IDIOTS …who the hell was in charge. I participated in more search warrants than you can imagine …the Truck Squad handled about 275 -300 truck hijackings per year, and we solved about 60% …do the math …we inventoried all that we recovered. How about doing a Search Warrant on a DOD Nuclear Waste Disposal Site in West Valley, NY? In the NYO, on the BR Squad, we handled 500 BRs per year. That’s two every working day. We handled and solved 60%, that’s 300 cases. That was more than LA had …along with BR fugitives from other offices, kidnapping, and skyjackings. The BR squad also handled the BLA…Coulson handled most of that! When I transferred to Buffalo, I was asked by the ASAC John Shanley, who showed me my personnel file and noted, I made 57 bank robbery arrests the last year alone …is that correct? I said I didn’t know exactly how many I had but would have guessed there was more than that. He replied, that is more than the entire Buffalo Division made in the last two years combined. He also asked about several shootings noting the last shooting was last Thursday …is that true? Yes, he was a fugitive bank robber out of LA and was very dangerous … he knocked my partner out, was armed and was a light heavyweight contender some years ago. He took a hostage after a foot chase. I was shot at during the chase when I ran past the “boys” who are Harlem dead beats doing what Harlem hoods do. The chase came to a stop when he raised a gun to fire… I shot first causing him to take cover. That’s when he ran upstairs and took a 12-year-old little girl hostage. That’s when my partner showed up and we rushed him. I grabbed the girl and my partner grabbed the subject and down the stairs they went! After a struggle…fight…I knocked him out with a choke hold! That was my last week in the Apple!! The Shooting Review Board ruled justified shooting. There was a wealth of knowledge…just from working cases! My partner and I solved BRs every way possible …forensic, photos, we handled bombing cases, where one detonated in the bank …no injuries …6 skyjacking cases, including the Dog Day Afternoon where my academy classmate took out the subject. We surveilled dozens of trucks being hijacked and several bank robberies… witnessing the robberies and some running gunfights. Ask current Agents how many of them testified as a witness to a robbery! Director, please recover all those violations and start training. Dump as many do nothing Agents, just look at their files, it’s all there and replace them with retired SOG, Seal, Delta, Rangers. They are all well trained. They just need to learn the law…law is common sense. The only way you will get to interview any of Cont. on pg. 3
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