FBI Case File Review

Retired agent Doug Davis reviews five different fugitive cases, explains the Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution (UFAP) warrant process, and the differences in having a fugitive deported or extradited from Mexico back to the US to face justice.  Check out episode show notes, photos, and related articles. https://jerriwilliams.com/episode-196-doug-davis-fbi-fugitives-in-mexico-ufap/     Buy me a c...

Retired agent Joe Bushner reviews his investigation of Congressman James Traficant, who was indicted on 10 charges, including bribery, racketeering and tax evasion. This was the second time Traficant was charged with being corrupt. Although not a lawyer, Traficant, a colorful public official known for his outrageous behavior and language, represented himself during both federal trials. The first t...

Retired agents Bob Burda and Tim Gannon review a Fayetteville, North Carolina bank robbery case that, based on information received from a confidential source, morphed into a murder-for-hire investigation. After the arrest and subsequent confession of one of the bank robbers, the murder victim's body was recovered from a shallow grave on the wooded reserves of Fort Bragg, an Army base near Fayette...

Retired agent Peter Ahearn reviews the Lackawanna Six terrorism case and provides insight into the challenges of managing a major international terrorism investigation started just a few months before the terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001. The case was initiated after an anonymous letter was received claiming that several individuals residing in Lackawanna, New York, had attended training c...

Retired agent Kenneth Williams reviews the events that led him to write what is now known as the "Phoenix Memo," his work on the Phoenix Mountain Arsonist case, and the aftermath of 9/11. Ken authored the Phoenix Memo prior to the September 11, 2001 terror attacks. The five-page communication issued a warning to the intelligence community that Al-Qaeda members were training in the civil aviation c...

Retired agent Q. John Tamm reviews his investigation of Teamster Union Official Frank Sheeran for racketeering and the movie The Irishman , directed by Martin Scorsese with Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci, and starring Robert DeNiro as Frank Sheeran. Tamm specifically addresses Sheeran's claims he killed Jimmy Hoffa and was a mob hitman. John Tamm is a recognized expert on labor racketeering matters. Che...

Happy New Year. I recorded this bonus episode because I'm thrilled to report that, as predicted in episode 182, FBI Retired Case File Review surpassed 3 million downloads earlier this week. Woo hoo! For an independent show where the host still does all the things, I'm doing pretty good and, if you don't mind me saying so, I'm super proud of achieving this milestone. In this episode of FBI Retired...

Retired agent John Pistole served in the FBI for twenty-six years, climbing through the ranks to become Deputy Director (the second highest position in the Bureau). He reviews the time, early in his career, that he worked in the New York FBI Office on an Organized Crime Task Force investigating illegal mob ties to the Teamsters Union. Check out episode show notes, photos, and related articles. htt...

Retired agent Michael Harrigan reviews his assignment as the Supervisory Senior Resident Agent in Farmington and Gallup offices of the Albuquerque Division where he conducted and supervised criminal investigations involving homicide, sexual assault, kidnapping, missing persons and unidentified human remains and was responsible for all federal investigations on three Native American reservations. H...

Retired agent Ron Hosko reviews the abduction and hostage rescue case, known as the boy in the bunker where Jimmy Lee Dykes boarded a school bus, killed the driver, and took a five-year-old boy hostage. At the time of this incident, Ron was the Assistant Director of the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, responsible for oversight of the FBI's largest program worldwide. He provides a detailed o...

Retired agent Dr. John Glover, Ph. D., who became Executive Assistant Director, one of three direct reports to the FBI Director and highest-ranking African American in the FBI,  reviews the Atlanta Child Murders case. As Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta Division, he oversaw the FBI investigation of the killings of black youths in Atlanta and led the joint state-federal task force, which resu...

Retired Agent Dr. John Glover, Ph. D., who became an Executive Assistant Director, one of three direct reports to the FBI Director and highest-ranking African American in the FBI, reviews the history of African American special agents in the FBI from 1919 through 2019, why diversity, especially in law enforcement, matters, and recounts stories from his extraordinary career in the FBI.  Check out e...

Retired agent Joe Navarro reviews the case of Rod Ramsay, an Army veteran living in Tampa, Florida, suspected of committing espionage while stationed in Germany. While interviewing Ramsay forty-two times, Joe recorded the evidence to prove that the spy handed the Soviets vital military secrets that could destroy the US.  In this episode, Joe Navarro also reveals some myths about reading body langu...

Retired agent Eileen Roemer reviews her methods for training her FBI cadaver dogs, Riley and Bailey, both Golden Retrievers. She discusses the search and recovery work she and her dogs were assigned, locating human remains at crime sites, including at the Pentagon, where she responded with her dogs for twelve days immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  After her retirement, Eileen has...

Retired agent Keith Tolhurst reviews an extortion case where the subjects threatened to kidnap and cut off the arm or leg of the 12-year-old son of an Arizona millionaire businessman unless he paid them $250,000. Through a series of phone calls and notes, the scheme provided directions to the victim on where to drop the money. Frank Alber was arrested, convicted of conspiracy and mailing threateni...

Host Jerri Williams shares updates about her nonfiction book, FBI Myths and Misconceptions: A Manual for Armchair Detectives , how and why to start a podcast, download stats for FBI Retired Case File Review , and reveal changes to the podcast release schedule. She's interviewed by her friend and fellow podcaster, Javier Leiva, host of Pretend Radio , a show featuring stories about people pretendin...

Recorded live show at the RESPECT: Women's Podcast Festival on Saturday, August 24, with special guest Special Agent Cerena Coughlin, the Applicant Coordinator and recruiter for the FBI's Philadelphia Division. She and podcast host Jerri Williams answer questions from the audience regarding the FBI recruitment process. The event was sponsored by the Black Tribbles and held at at Amalgam Comics & C...

Retired agent Phil Coghlan reviews his investigation of a sophisticated and complex two-year crime spree involving bank robberies, bombs/IEDs, and murder, and the highly controversial book, Hit Man: A Technical Manual For Independent Contractors that his bank robbery subjects read and used to commit their crimes. Phil also provides historical insight into the famously heated debate between Hustler...

Retired agent Michael E. Anderson reviews his investigation of German national Georg Dudov, for a money-laundering scheme that netted $2.3 million from people who thought they were investing in oil wells. In furtherance of the scam, Dudov participated in passport fraud when he attempted to bribe an immigration official to issue him a fraudulent American passport and tried to hire a hitman to have...

Retired agent Scott Duffey reviews his years-long investigation of what started out as a rumor that Thomas Gibison had whispered to high school classmates while attending his senior prom. He and a friend claimed that their new spider web tattoos were symbols of their allegiance to white-supremacist Skinhead dogma and were "earned" by them shooting a black man. This nearly 2-decade-old racially mot...

Retired agent Russell Atkinson reviews the first trade secret theft investigation and prosecution in California under the federal Economic Espionage Act of 1996. The case centered on the theft of radiological device technology and encrypted materials by David Kern, the former employee of a Silicon Valley tech firm. David Kern pleaded guilty to one count of trade secret theft. He was sentenced to a...

Retired agent Michael Harrigan reviews the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP), the largest repository of serial violent crime cases in the country, and the Highway Serial Killings Initiative. He was the unit's chief and oversaw the development of the web database, which allows client law enforcement agencies direct access to conduct independent analysis. He also provides case studies of...

Retired agent Michael Harrigan reviews the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP), the largest repository of serial violent crime cases in the country, and the Highway Serial Killings Initiative. He was the unit's chief and oversaw the development of the web database, which allows client law enforcement agencies direct access to conduct independent analysis. He also provides case studies of...

Retired agent Norman Wight reviews the Stanley Mark Rifkin bank theft case. Rifkin embezzled $10 million from a bank in LA, via a wire transfer to Switzerland, where he converted the money to diamonds before smuggling them into the United States. Based on a tip, Wight and Los Angeles Division agent Robin Brown arrested Rifkin and recovered the diamonds. The case, followed closely by the media, tes...

Retired agent Jane Mason reviews a case she worked with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where the subject was hired for asbestos abatement at 26 Federal Plaza in New York. Workers used illegal removal methods and then dumped grates and bags of asbestos at scattered locations throughout New York City, exposing anyone who unknowingly came in contact with the hazardous materials. Check out...