FBI Case File Review

Retired agent Keith Mularski reviews the online undercover investigation of the "DarkMarket" forum, which sold stolen identities, credit card data, usernames and passwords, and electronic equipment used to carry out financial crimes. The case proactively targeted international cybercrime by penetrating English-speaking internet cybercrime forums. Keith infiltrated the forum using the alias Master...

Retired agent Shayne Buchwald-Nickoles reviews a violent crime case developed through a confidential source. The task force investigation involved stolen firearms, a conspiracy to commit home invasions and jewelry store robberies, a fake police stop, and the kidnapping of the owner of a jewelry store. The successful investigation and prosecution resulted in the guilty plea and conviction of seven...

Retired agent Ellen Glasser reviews the criminal investigation of the Iran-Contra Affair, the secret sale of U.S. arms to Iran and the illegal diversion of funds to Nicaraguan Contra rebels. The case was code-named "Operation Front Door." Ellen investigated and testified about the almost 6,000 messages that were deleted from John Poindexter's and Oliver North's computer files. Poindexter and North...

Retired agent Dr. John Pi, MD, reviews his investigation of the RaisetheFist website, a landmark cyber intrusion investigation that tested the boundaries of digital evidence, constitutional protections, and national security law enforcement. Sherman Austin was charged and convicted of the distribution of information relating to explosives, destructive devices, and weapons of mass destruction with...

Retired agent Wayne Barnes reviews a 1998 espionage investigation where he was assigned to ferret out a suspected mole within the FBI who was spying for the former Soviet Union and Russia. This involved recruiting "Ivan," a former Soviet intelligence operative who was believed to be aware of the mole's identity. Ivan, who was seeking American backers for a film project, was going to be at the Amer...

Retired agent John Kingston reviews how he unraveled a murder-for-hire conspiracy which resulted in the 1985 killing of Atlanta entrepreneur Richard Braun, who was ambushed and killed in his driveway. The hit was brokered through a Soldier of Fortune magazine classified ad. Four men were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. After filing a lawsuit, the  victim's family won a landmark civil ver...

Retired agent Sheldon Fung reviews the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Sacramento Division investigation of James Christopher Malcolm, who used the online moniker "Dark_Mart." Malcolm was charged and convicted for possessing abrin, a deadly biological toxin similar to ricin found in the seed of the rosary pea, a tropical plant. He knowingly sold vials of abrin to individuals planning to use the...

R etired agent and veteran polygraph examiner Barry Colvert reviews the over 20 polygraph exams he conducted on the John Walker spy ring case, beginning with Barbara Walker, John's ex-wife who was almost dismissed as a drunken spouse seeking revenge for unpaid child support money and alimony, when she claimed John had been selling military secrets to the Soviet Union. That quirky beginning led to...

Retired agent Tom Ropel reviews his fugitive investigation of Adam Gadahn, who was indicted in October 2004 for treason and was the first American indicted for treason since the 1950s. California-born Gadahn, who moved to Pakistan to join Al Qaeda, was also charged with providing aid and comfort and material support to the terrorist organization for making propaganda videos supporting Al Qaeda. He...

Retired agent Kerri Reifel reviews her work with the Fort Wayne Police Department on the investigation into the murder of 8-year-old April Tinsley, who disappeared on April 1, 1988. Her body was found three days later. But the murder went unsolved for over thirty years. Kerri worked closely with Fort Wayne PD Detective Brian Martin and others on the case for 16 years, first as an agent assigned to...

Retired agent Shawn Johnson reviews his investigation of serial bank robber Scott Scurlock, aka the Hollywood Bandit. Steven Meyers, who was Scurlock's lookout and getaway driver, also takes part in this case review. Steven Meyers and Scurlock staged takeover heists in the Seattle area during a four-year period in the 1990s. Before entering the bank, Meyers would help Scurlock disguise himself wit...

Retired agent Eric Robinson reviews a case where the subject provided thousands of dollars to a terrorist organization to support violent jihad. After he was arrested, the subject solicited the murder of the federal judge presiding over his case. Eric led the undercover operation where an agent posed as a "hitman" to record the plot to kill the judge. Eric received the U.S. Attorney General's Awar...

Retired agent Brian O'Hare and former Chattanooga Police Lieutenant Sean O'Brien review the July 16, 2015, attack by a lone terrorist, who opened fire on two military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He first committed a drive-by shooting at a recruiting center, where one Marine was injured by gunfire. He then traveled to a U.S. Navy reserve center where he continued firing. Four U.S. Mari...

Retired agent Lara Burns reviews her investigation of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, a Texas-based charitable organization, which led to the conviction of some of Hamas' top fundraisers in the United States. The government charged that HLF was created for the sole purpose of acting as a financing arm for Hamas. It has been illegal to provide financial support to Hamas, a desi...

Retired agent Vito Roselli reviews the biggest but still unsolved case of his FBI career, the missing-persons investigation of Richard Petrone Jr. and Danielle Imbo, who were last seen leaving a bar in Philadelphia on February 19, 2005, never to be seen again. Over two decades later, the case remains open and active. Also taking part in the case review are Christine Girardi, Richard Petrone's sist...

Retired agent Larry Guerin reviews a health care fraud investigation involving an emergency medical technician (EMT) who stole Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protected patient information, such as Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, and phone numbers, and then tried to sell it back to managers of private ambulance companies. The case would have been onl...

Retired agent Al Scudieri and former Assistant United States attorney (AUSA) Judy Hoyer review the Allen Wolfson case, initiated as an FBI investigation of a $600,000 Tampa bankruptcy fraud that should have taken only months to resolve. Three years later, the case had led to the discovery of two nationwide Ponzi schemes and the failure of the Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company of Tampa, with abou...

Retired agent James Page reviews his investigation of John Mark Collins, a former Florida sheriff's deputy, and his accomplices in a jewelry store burglary ring and supermarket break-ins which took place in North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The thieves would break into businesses and empty the contents of safes and display cases. The men are accused of stealing $1.3 mi...

Retired agent Dawn Norris Doak reviews her undercover role in the investment fraud investigation of Joseph LaForte, the founder of Par Funding, which took in money from investors promised high returns to provide cash advances to small businesses that could not qualify for loans from banks. Par Funding then charged the small business owners exorbitant interest rates, and when they failed to make th...

Retired agent Michael De La Pena reviews a case where he, as a rookie agent, was assigned to investigate two armored car robberies in West Hartford, Connecticut, where a total of $1.8 million was stolen. During one of the robberies, one of the subjects wore a full Santa Claus costume as a disguise and later had  one of the robbers  killed  to stop him from talking about the crime . Check out the e...

Retired agent Ed Mireles reviews several true stories from his 15-plus years of undercover work using the alias Lalo. He recounts his assignments posing as a notorious drug trafficker, transporter, and money launderer in Miami, El Paso, Tucson, and other areas along the Southwest border between Mexico and the United States. Ed, aka Lalo, managed several warehouses in Miami, Florida, and he expande...

In part two of this two-part episode, retired agent and FBI certified polygraph examiner George Olivo continues his review of the FBI's polygraph program, interview skills he's developed over his more than a decade as an FBI certified polygraph examiner, and of two of the cases he worked. The first case review covers his examination of Fernando Vazquez Garcia, suspected of possessing child sexual...

Former agent Larry Wansley, one of the FBI's first long-term deep undercover agents, reviews the early years of the FBI's undercover program when, starting in1973 he and a handful of agents, including the equally legendary Joe Pistone, began using the investigative technique forbidden by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. They were part of a behavioral sciences study to establish standards for UC Agent...

Retired agent 4erry Bianchi reviews several investigations he worked as a technically trained agent in the Philadelphia Division, including surreptitious entries into a mob attorney's law office, Philly mob boss John Stanfa's luncheonette, Philly mob boss Ralph Natale's penthouse apartment and the former Garden State racetrack to install court-authorized electronic surveillance recording devices....

Retired agent Geoffrey Kelly reviews his 22-year investigation of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist where 13 masterpieces worth over $500 million were stolen and have never been recovered. He shares his insights and theories about the infamous theft, and his thoughts about armchair detectives and journalists with their own speculations involving international culprits and government conspi...