Bank Vault Mystery, How The FBI Intercepted A Sophisticated Heist | The FBI Files S6 Ep15 | Retold

foreign traffic a terrorist organization plots to overthrow the government a member of law enforcement guns down an innocent woman an armed bank robber strikes again and again and a man of ducks and kills a 17 year old girl as violent crime terrorizes the nation the FBI must stop these criminals before they strike again [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] in over 100 episodes of the FBI Files we've witnessed criminals not only terrorizing their victims with violence but plaguing our society with fear we'll look to both the experience and the courage of law enforcement to protect us and provide us with the hope that Justice can and will prevail I'm Jim calstrom from ahead of the FBI's New York office in this special episode we take a closer look at cases previously featured on this series our goal is to explore more fully some of the investigative methods and techniques that have made the Federal Bureau of Investigation the premier law enforcement agency in the world FBI director Robert S Muller the FBI was originally established to address crime that covered cities counties and spread across state lines a country needed a federal law enforcement entity to do those investigations and over the years as the country has grown and as the World by the same token has grown smaller the FBI's Mission has changed to meet the various threats October 1995 the shaw family finds itself in the middle of a nightmare three masked gunmen have broken into their South Carolina home two holds several family members hostage while the leader forces Amy Shaw to let him into the vault at the bank where she works as a teller he gets away with eighty thousand dollars allowing Amy to remain unharmed before leaving he calls his accomplices to tell him the job is done and that they should flee once their captors are gone the Shahs call the police patrolling the neighborhood police find two young men who they eventually take into custody since the gunman were masked during the crime and left no fingerprints police cannot tie these men to the scene the two suspects give statements to the local police in which they deny taking part in the crime but authorities doubt they are being truthful FBI agents know they must try to get a confession interrogation techniques which require special training executive assistant director for law enforcement Services Grant Ashley we graduate from a training school knowing a lot but the real education starts when you get out and start working cases that's when you learn about people and you learn to ask questions a certain way and whether the answer is truthful or not special agent Jerry Jones chooses a suspect and Begins the interrogation like most agents he starts by interviewing the suspect about matters that do not pertain to the case at hand this helps him to choose an appropriate interrogation strategy it just becomes instinct while talking to these people you are able to develop a a concept of what their greatest fear is some weakness they may have in their their past or or their their family or something of that sort and in this particular case it was fear of the death penalty knowing that the suspect is unaware that the teller Amy Shaw is now safe agent Jones sees his opportunity and decides to exploit it and what I told him was that my main concern was the safety and well-being of the victim teller I want her back alive if your friend killed her had a third robber killed her you're going to the electric chair they would both have faced the death penalty Jones knows that his choice to use this common technique must be measured it could backfire it may strengthen the suspect's resolve not to speak at all come out and tell me the truth but the agent's plan works faced with the prospect of his worst fear coming true the suspect admits his involvement in the crime and names the lead gunman Christopher jaberk police quickly arrested Burke at his mother's house just over the state line in Georgia he is convicted on all charges but jaberk's crime spree has just begotten [Music] before he can be sentenced he escapes from jail with a bank robber named Jerome Frierson Bay authorities immediately locked down the area despite a massive Manhunt they find no sign of the two escapees agent Jones knows that when tracking a fugitive personal information provides important Clues as to where the fugitive may go or what he may do next during several interviews prior to trial Jones senses a special bond in jaberg's life giving him an idea it became evident to me the only real thing in the world that he cared about was his mother I was convinced that at some point in time he would come back to the mother we established 24-hour surveillance but your Burke doesn't show [Music] numerous bank robberies committed by the two fugitives as they move up the East Coast in New Jersey authorities finally locate and apprehend Frierson Bay agents are disappointed Jim Burke is no longer with them but agent Jones has a hunch I always believed that would come back home [Music] The Fugitive is located in Atlanta staying under a false name [Music] is arrested without incident return to jail and later sentenced to life in prison over the years you just develop an expertise where you can sense things about a person in his family relationships and things like that agent Jones individual Instinct and experience were critical to bringing this case to a close sometimes it takes the efforts of an entire team to bring criminals to Justice [Music] unwielding man commits a string of Daring bank robberies threatening to kill anyone who gets in his way agents named The Thief Hollywood for his use of theatrical makeup and disguises in his heists over the next three years the gunman robs 12 Banks taking nearly a million dollars and leaving behind a few Clues take down this elusive criminal the Seattle police and the FBI must join several other law enforcement agencies in a unique investigative environment known as a task force executive assistant director Grant Ashley we bring together the resources of our state and local partners with the FBI and some of our federal Partners so that we can get the unique skills and abilities of these agencies focused on a particular threat to get the maximum results but local law enforcement and federal agents do not always see eye to eye FBI officials named special agent Ellen Glasser is the supervisor of the Puget Sound task force we had about a dozen different agencies all of whom came with different missions different intentions and it was very interesting because we have different philosophies of how we do things we have different policies so it was very challenging to have everybody work together for the common good Seattle police detective Mike Megan is also a member of the task force but it myself as being a guest in the FBI's house you know there's a lot of respect given to them but there was hurdles to be broken down in the pre-formed opinions or judging a book by its cover we had to put things aside such as Egos and attitudes and who is going to always take the lead and who is going to be the point man and you know Are the officers going to play second fiddle and we had to to come to an understanding the task force cannot expect to accomplish their mission if they cannot work as a team we had to work on Communications between task force members every day they were very strong-willed people that were on the task force and My Philosophy has always been that you put relationships first and work on relationships with people working together then the mission will take care of itself with this philosophy Glasser brings cohesion to the group the task force is now working as one together they determine the pattern and frequency of Hollywood's crimes so they will be prepared to react quickly the next time he strikes the effort pays off on November 27 1996 Hollywood is the prime suspect in an armed bank robbery through the combined efforts of the Task Force Police locate and Corner him in a camper [Music] tragically he ends his own life with a single shot to the Head even though people brought different experiences in different expertise to the task force they were all able to blend and work extremely effectively together FBI field agents often receive the glory for solving cases but the highly skilled technicians at the FBI crime lab in Quantico Virginia deserve much of the credit they are more than scientists in lab coats they are creative detectives whose tireless work will often decide whether or not a case is resolved Dr Dwight Adams is the assistant director in charge of the lab I knew I wanted to be a part of the FBI laboratory because it is a world-class facility and you can look in the eyes of any individual in this building and you will see people who are very dedicated to performing at the very highest levels and our only interest is in providing the truth providing the most accurate reliable and unassailable results that we can [Music] January 11 1982 a fornia highway patrol officer George Gwaltney calls in a possible suicide off Interstate 15 near Barstow when backup officers arrive they find 23-year-old Robin Bishop dead from a single gunshot wound to the Head police cannot find a gun at the scene but they do find handcuff marks on the young woman's wrists clearly this was no suicide this was murder [Music] I think that's an interesting thing this one piece will make 52 layers watch on mobile devices or the big screen all for free no subscription of Fire in 1982 California highway patrol officer George Gwaltney reports the discovery of a suicide victim on the side of the road but since the victim was shot in the back of the head investigators on the scene conclude that it was murder the victim's driver's license and registration are visible as if they had been taken out for some reason to rule out the possibility that a police officer killed the young woman the lead investigated orders all area officers to hand in their service weapons for ballistics comparisons one officer fails to do so George Washington who insists his gun has been stolen waltney becomes a suspect when investigators find the dismantled frame of his police issued 357 in his truck someone has removed the barrel the one piece that Drew ballistics testing can forensically tie the gun to the book that killed Robin Bishop police also find a box of ammunition in waltney's bedroom closet it is the same brand of bullet that killed Robin in late 1982 the state of California charges George Gwaltney with murder but a deadlocked jury results in a mistrial a second trial in Superior Court also ends in Deadlock investigators are convinced guordan is guilty but they can no longer charge him at the state level [Music] they look to Federal authorities for help special agent Michael Randolph reviews the case and recognizes that Gwaltney is so cunning Prosecuting and will be difficult if not impossible getting a conviction will take extraordinary tenacity from both the agents in the field and from the specialized examiners at the FBI's crime lab executive assistant director Grant Ashley technology has been a great tool but what still is the most important aspect for the FBI is The Human Side FBI examiner Jim cadigan from the lab's firearms and toolmarts unit tries to find a link between the evidence and the suspect normally he would compare the striations in the murder weapons Barrel to those on the Fatal bullet but the barrel is missing cadigan will need to think outside the box to find another way to the truth he knows that investigators at confiscated vice grips and wrenches when they found the revolver's frame the question was could one of these tools have been used to hold the frame while the barrel of the firearm was being removed cadigan decides to use a technique known as toolmark analysis he notices a small impression on the gun frame then checks each of gwaltney's tools until he finds a pipe wrench with a broken tooth and that looked very similar to the mark that was on the frame so using that as a pivot point I started making Impressions with that tool and comparing those Impressions under a microscope I was able to come to a conclusion that that particular tool was used to the exclusion of any other tool to make the marks that were found on the frame although this points to guelton is having removed the barrel of his gun it is not enough to prove he killed Robin Bishop investigators will have a case if they can find a link between the Fatal bullet and the box of ammunition from gwaltney's closet in an unprecedented move the lab decides to employ a new technique they've been developing which matches the molecular content of the bullets [Music] FBI special agent Michael Randolph when a manufacturer of lead like Remington Arms makes a batch of lead they throw things in much as you would when you're making meatloaf that makes each batch of lead unique in the FBI's very first nuclear ballistics examination scientists place a fragment of one of gwaltney's bullets in a nuclear reactor where it absorbs neutrons and becomes Radioactive when measured the radioactivity reveals the precise amount of each element in the lead an atomic fingerprint examiners then repeat the process with a piece of the Fatal bullet and lo and behold we find approximately 27 rounds that are the exact match as the lead taken from the head of our victim [Music] in January of 1984 George Gwaltney goes on trial this time in federal court waltney is found guilty and sentenced to 90 years in prison 12 years later George Gwaltney died in prison of a heart attack executive assistant director for law enforcement Services Grant Ashley there's the unsung heroes that you never hear of the people sitting back in the laboratory that make sense of this this takes an awful lot of time and it takes extraordinarily talented patient people proving a case using hard scientific evidence is an essential tool of every law enforcement agency authorities have no clear suspects and very little physical evidence the FBI must rely on one of their most unique and least understood disciplines profiling [Music] May 31st 1985. on a Lonely Road in Lexington South Carolina seventeen-year-old Sherry Fay Smith checks her mailbox before disappearing Without a Trace searching leads investigators to early the next morning their fears are realized when the missing girls family receives a call from the kidnapper he explains they will eventually get their daughter back and tells them that they will receive a letter later that day when the letter finally arrives the family is horrified written in Shari's handwriting the document is entitled last will and testament in South Carolina a young woman has been abducted her life is on the line and investigators have no idea who the suspect is in an effort to identify what sort of man would have kidnapped Sherry Faye investigators call upon FBI profilers at the investigative support unit in Quantico Virginia profilers are veteran agents who receive specialized training in criminology and applied psychology retired FBI special agent John Douglas Advanced the art of Behavioral profiling for the FBI for over a decade he and others conducted interviews with convicted Killers arsonists rapists and kidnappers in various prisons around the country through that memory of theirs that no one has ever tapped into before when they were perpetrating the crime it takes time but once I'm in there I get tremendous information Douglas and others cataloged and categorized their findings creating a statistical database from which profilers can draw inferences about criminals based on patterns of behavior I'm very much like a a doctorate in medicine where I'm trying to come up with a diagnosis and I'm going to rely on the thousands of cases that I've worked I'm going to rely on the hundreds and hundreds of of interviews of offenders who committed similar types of crimes when creating a profile Douglas needs to review all investigative materials including preliminary police reports and crime scene photographs you really need to have the all the information I uh relative to the victim you have to do an analysis to profile of the victim you ask yourself the question why was this victim the victim of this crime crime and then you look at the way the crime was was perpetrated the low risk crime or high-risk crime when someone asks your profile what they're looking for are physical and behavioral characteristics which includes age race sometimes body typing educational level occupational type sometimes it may include the write down to the type of vehicle the person will be driving may include the overall behavior of the subject whether or not he's he's very very rigid obsessive compulsive on one extreme to being very sloppy and careless on the on the other and so it can include sometimes as many as as a hundred characteristics the overall profile at the request of South Carolina authorities Douglas turns his attention to the Sherry Fay Smith case and reviews all the case materials what made the case unique was that we have a subject who's communicating with with the family which is very very rare very very unusual I felt good about it because when you have a communique whether it's a written communique or a verbal communique you can do an analysis of that and it begins to paint a pretty nice picture of the type of person we should be looking for it was just he followed a script that was that was written out beforehand here is someone who will be very very rigid very very orderly uh very very tight after scrutinizing every detail of the abduction Douglas generates a 22 Point profile the subject is likely a male with a prior criminal record and lives locally the nature of the criminal Beast is that they will perpetrate crimes as well as dispose of crimes in areas where there's some type of familiarity Douglas also believes the abductor has feelings of inadequacy and compensates for that through violent actions feels like nothing he feels like a nobody and how can there's nobody this personality this person who's probably overweight low self-esteem doesn't unattractive how can he become somebody he'll go after victims that there was no chance that he would ever come in contact with someone like like a Sherry face Smith and so for the first time in their life they can be be powerful two days after the kidnapper's last communication he calls the family with specific directions to where they can find their daughter [Music] take Highway 378 West to Traffic Circle turn left and why frame building go to Backyard six feet Beyond we're waiting God chose us investigators race to the location hoping to find the young girl alive when they arrive their worst fears are confirmed Sherry Fay Smith is dead the body having been exposed to the extreme heat and elements for several days is so decomposed it makes determining the exact cause in time of death impossible to the profiler the detailed directions to Sherry's body as well as the condition of the crime scene provides further insight into the suspect's mind they told me that he had been out to that crime scene on several different occasions because he was very specific as to the number of miles and tens of miles and number of feet where where she can be found it also told me that he had some criminal sophistication because I believe what he did is he waited for her to go into advanced stages of decomposition which would make it more difficult for law enforcement to determine cause and method of death on the evening of Shari's funeral the killer calls again and asks to speak to her sister Dawn hello everybody in a chilling moment the killer uses Dawn's name in place of Sherry's investigators brace themselves for the possibility that this killer may be turning his murderous obsessions towards Dawn [Music] oh my investigators are searching for the man who murdered seventeen-year-old Sherry Fay Smith FBI profiler John Douglas assists the investigation by providing a profile of the suspect after two weeks spent underground the Killer resurfaces in a bold move he snatches nine-year-old Deborah May helmet from her front yard in plain view of another child for profiler John Douglas the Killer's shift to a riskier crime is a sign that he is under duress the crime does not reflect the stress at that time however what happens when you start putting it together from experience of other cases I.E the Ted Bundy case kills women at the Kyle Mega house and then he goes after a young a young child he's totally is trying to break down under the stress of being under the scrutiny of law enforcement trying to hunt them down after kidnapping Sherry Faye Smith the killer had repeatedly called the family but this time he remained silent Douglas must devise a plan to draw him out he knows that Killers will often follow their crimes in the media so he decides to organize a memorial service that he knows will be reported in the newspapers he hopes this will rekindle the Killer's fascination with Sherry Faye's sister Dawn [Music] the kidnapper takes the bait and makes a call to dawn [Music] just a matter of time then before hanging up the killer gives Dawn a series of directions God forgive us all investigators follow the directions there they find the body of nine-year-old Deborah May helmick Douglass suspects the killer will likely try to abduct Dawn meanwhile forensic scientists use a process known as electrostatic detection to read invisible indentations on Sherry Faye's last will and testament the information leads investigators to a suspect Larry Gene Bell a local blue collar worker police interview people who know Bell in learning about him investigators find that he matches Douglas's profile exactly Authority's arrest bill forensic evidence and Douglas's profile helped convict Belle of both murders he is executed on October 4th 1996. in this case Douglas was instrumental in identifying an unknown killer profilers can also confirm suspicions about known suspects [Music] in 1983 Alaska State Troopers are investigating the state's first serial killer dozens of women mostly exotic dancers and prostitutes have disappeared many are never seen again but some turn up in Shallow Graves with two 23 caliber shell casings nearby the state troopers have a suspect a local Family Man Robert Hansen a year earlier a prostitute had told the local Anchorage police that she'd been abducted and tortured by Hanson before she was able to escape [Music] Anchorage police officers interviewed Hanson's friends confirming his alibi they searched his house and car but found no evidence and suspended the investigation investigators felt that Hanson who owns a local bakery was too unlikely a suspect but when the state troopers learn of the prostitute's report they believe he may be the serial killer they are searching for investigators contact FBI special agent John Douglas for help and this wasn't really to do a profile here they have a suspect so what you do is you do a personality assessment of this of this individual and some of the circumstances around him to see whether or not this person has the capability the capacity the propensity to for violence the fact that the killer had murdered so many meant to Douglas that he has the means to function unnoticed in the community someone who works independently since the bodies were recovered in remote areas of wilderness the killer could possibly be an avid Outdoorsman Hanson fits the profile he is both a small business owner and a recreational Hunter since he preyed on prostitutes and exotic dances Douglas concludes the killer would have low self-esteem and it probably grown up feeling like an outcast [Music] was unattractive space was all pot marked impediment a lot of problems as a kid growing up after reviewing all the case materials Douglas concludes that Hanson was indeed capable of murder if investigators are to prove Hanson's guilt they'll need physical evidence [Music] to obtain a search warrant for Hanson's home they'll have to convince a judge of what they will find there the profiler's role now switches from confirming suspicions about a suspect to helping investigators develop a search warrant authorities know they need to look for the gun that left the 223 caliber shell casings found near the bodies they asked Douglas if there is anything else to list in the wand we're dealing here with a serial killer it starts off as fantasy and one of the things to keep the fantasy going after the crime is they take some type of memento we call them either souvenirs or trophies something belonged to the victims it doesn't have to be anything expensive it could be a cheap watch or costume jewelry and what they'll do is is that they'll they'll keep this they'll not they're not going to keep this out in open view they're going to secrete this in places within the house you know under a crawl space that they have it or up in the in the Attic under installation Douglas helps prosecutors write the affidavit which swells to 48 pages a judge approves the warrant during the search of Hansen's house investigators find the trophies Douglas suggested would be there including the business cards of some of the victims they also find several weapons among them is a 223 Ruger rifle ballistics testing proves it is the gun that fired the shells found near several of the crime scenes [Music] confronted with all the evidence Hanson finally breaks he confesses to murdering Four Women and is sentenced to 461 years with no chance of parole [Music] provides a psychological picture of a criminal agents in the field use their instincts experience in deductive reasoning to get inside the mind of a suspect to uncover motive on the morning of January 25th 1993 alone Thunder opens fire in front of CIA headquarters in Langley Virginia killing two CIA employees and injuring several others foreign unleashes his Fury with an AK-47 outside CIA headquarters killing two and wounding others in a hail of gunfire FBI special agent Brad Garrett arrives on the scene and attempts to piece together a motive for the attack the first thing you do when you walk into crime scene is what's the obvious well the obvious is this appears to be directed towards the CIA it might be directed towards the individuals that were shot but it was clearly somebody who wanted to make a public statement during a rush hour traffic so that sort of gives you a shell at least to start from in any case you investigate you always look for a link between the victim and the subject because if you have a link it tends to make it a lot easier in solving the case versus strangers who commit crimes against other individuals but once we started looking at the backgrounds of the individuals that were shot and we looked at the circumstances as to why they were at that intersection it didn't appear at least to me that there probably was a link between those particular individuals being shot and the person that shot them so we immediately started looking at who within the CIA in other words discarded employees present employees that may have had a relationship with these people that could have retaliated for whatever reason but after spending some time doing that there was really nothing in there that jumped at us either so I said Where Do We Go From Here we start looking at The Logical things you have a description of an individual who did this shooting bought an assault rifle up the shoulder and started shooting down range and so you're looking for somebody that appears to have a real issue with the CIA by cross-referencing the Killer's physical description with a database of recent purchases of AK-47s investigators identify as suspect he is 28 year old mayor Amal kanzi a Pakistani immigrant Garrett's initial assessment of motive is confirmed during interviews with people who know kanzi including his roommate they revealed that he was becoming enraged by U.S foreign policy and was planning something sinister against the CIA White House or the Israeli Embassy unfortunately kanzi has fled to either Pakistan or Afghanistan back to the United States for trial Garrett must utilize what is arguably an agent's most important skill his ability to anticipate obstacles and to devise ways around them after four and a half years of pursuit agent Garrett receives information that kanzi is hiding in a Pakistani Hotel but when they apprehend him there is a problem one of the fears I had when we went in the room and looked at him is that he didn't look like his picture he gained weight he had a beard and so I looked at the other three agents and I said you know I'm not sure if this is the right guy agent Garrett must be absolutely positive without properly identifying the suspect he cannot bring him back to the United States I did not want to leave that room without being convinced in my own mind that the individual that was handcuffed on the bed was in effect mere among kanzi the only way for agent Garrett to make a positive ID is through fingerprint analysis typically the job of Highly skilled lab Specialists who are thousands of miles away in Washington fortunately agent Garrett had thought ahead I went to FBI headquarters to the light and fingerprint section and worked with one of the experienced light and fingerprint examiners who actually took the 10 finger prints of Mr kansi than we actually studied them over several days and learned all the unique characteristics so that I would be able to identify him by fingerprints once we found him now Garrett must put that training to use this handcuffed face down on the bed and I took a fingerprint ink pad and hit his thumb with the ink then I took a white piece of paper and then hit his thumb onto the white piece of paper so then I had his thumb print I got on the floor of the hotel with a flashlight a magnifying glass and his Prince it's a match it's two agent Garrett's foresight he can now bring a suspected terrorist back to the United States for prosecution is found guilty of murder malicious shooting and using a firearm in the commission of a felony he is sentenced to death and is executed in 2002. special agent Brad Garrett's unique training and experience helped him close this case but sometimes an agent's greatest asset is his ability to adapt to new situations and think on his feet executive assistant director Grant Ashley these are people that want to win they aren't here just to get a paycheck [Music] 1985. in the hills of Arkansas an army of extremists plot to overthrow the U.S government they spread a doctrine of hate murder and genocide launching deathbeds on churches and synagogues federal agents must dismantle this heavily armed militia without igniting a bloody war the FBI follows a trail to the compound of the Covenant The Sword and the arm of the Lord or CSA a violent group of white supremacists the compound is heavily fortified and the men inside are armed With Grenades dozens of automatic weapons and even a powerful anti-tank rocket investigators need to serve arrest in search warrants but unlike most circumstances where a SWAT team would be utilized this situation is more delicate reports confirm that innocent women and children are inside the compound with hundreds of lives in the balance there can be no margin for error authorities working the case due to take on the CSA [Music] and the U.S Constitution bars the military from aiding in a civil investigation the FBI decides to send a highly trained tactical group called the hostage Rescue Team or HRT the bureau's equivalent of the Army's Delta Force [Music] HRT acts as a counter-terrorism unit within the borders of the United States in 1985 special agent Danny Coulson is the commander of the HRT the HRT basically are assaulters it's their job to go into a crisis point and neutralize terrorists and rescue hostages but this was not that type of situation these people are very well armed they were very formidable and we wanted to avoid a shootout we serve the arrest and search warrants safely Coulson needs to adapt to the circumstances with their traditional method of attack out of the question they devise a different approach they're very reputation of the FBI who is dependent upon this case and we believe that without any doubt the best way to do this was to surreptitiously set a perimeter which would be very dangerous and difficult but certainly less dangerous and difficult than doing an assault on that compound during the first phase of the operation reconnaissance teams penetrate the compound's perimeter in the dead of night using handheld and airplane-based sensors they avoid roaming CSA Patrols after 10 days of scouting an HRT sniper team reports a CSA Patrol is about to unwittingly stumble across their position as team leader Coulson must make a split-second decision that could affect the lives of hundreds of people in 1985 the FBI is closing in on the CSA a right-wing paramilitary organization based in Arkansas over 200 agents secretly surround their compound [Music] FBI snipers report a CSA Patrol is about to discover them FBI hostage rescue team leader Danny Coulson must act quickly he knows if he makes the wrong move a bloody war could ensue his decision is surprisingly bold I said you hail them you yell at them and tell them you're the FBI and tell them to go back inside and everybody kind of looked at me like Why Don't We grab these two guys and I didn't want to do that colson's tactic is calculated for maximum effectiveness I wanted to scare the Daylights out of these guys but I also wanted them to understand that if I gave them an order they had to follow it I wanted to get in the habit of following my orders or the orders of my team and secondly and shoot to show them that we weren't there to hurt them the sniper alerts the roaming Patrol and orders them back inside they comply but now the CSA knows the FBI is outside their compound the standoff begins now someone must negotiate the surrender of the csa's leader well the HRT doesn't have a negotiating element but they work very closely with the Behavioral Science group at Quantico the FBI tries to determine the most effective way to deal with the CSA leader who they suspect will be unwilling to speak with a negotiator he would only talk to the HRT Commander it would be Commander to Commander or general to general the FBI's policy on negotiations has always been the leaders never negotiate the leader of the HRT a non-same commander never ever ever negotiates to have the leader negotiates takes away some of your techniques you can't stall for time you can't play good guy and bad guy between the negotiator and the and the commander nevertheless the FBI decides they want Coulson to take on the role of negotiator since that is their only option I wasn't comfortable with that I'm a tactical person I've been a sniper I've been a SWAT team member and a SWAT team later and trained as an operator and I was not trained to be a negotiator and I didn't know that I could pull that off I had much more comfortable going in after the guide than trying to talk him out and but they were adamant that it had to be done like that through his experience in observing negotiations and some quick on-site training Coulson is able to adapt to his new position the CSA leader makes first Contact when he calls the FBI's command post and speaks with Agent Coulson we talked on the phone for a few minutes about things we wanted to do he offered to me that he'd be allowed to come out because he wanted to personally talk to me and see me but he also be allowed to go back in which I agreed to which was total departure from FBI policy and we made a quick contact with FBI headquarters because I was getting ready to violate FBI policy by having a a badly wanted fugitive a terrorist in my hands essentially and to let him leave and went up then went to the assistant director of the Criminal Division in a word he approved it said yes do it after a series of face-to-face meetings the CSA leader emerges from the compound he tells Coulson that while he and many of his followers are ready to surrender there are those who wish to fight and he cannot control them and he said to me I need help he said there's a man that that's our spiritual leader and I need his advice and I need I need his help to convince people that's the thing to do to come out and I said who is this he said it's Robert Millar this again is is something totally against FBI policy to bring in a Confederate into a crisis situation not just to negotiate but to go inside they've never been done in the rest of the FBI they never allowed that to happen to allow a third party individual who was sympathetic to the people we're dealing with to go inside to be a part of the negotiation whether or not they came out this is a huge risk and I thought it was worth taking Coulson gets approval to allow Mr Millar to negotiate with CSA members he remains inside the compound for nearly 24 hours [Music] the next morning day four of the siege milar and the CSA leadership finally emerge they came out and they said we have an agreement that we will surrender we will come out and we'll give up our arms and walk out peacefully as commander of HRT Coulson receives the news with guarded optimism you're constantly thinking about the worst case scenario even good things have to be looked at with with some suspicion was it a diversion to get to get out the backside and start a firefight so um we had to be very careful Coulson gives the leader 15 minutes to gather his people and bring them out and very shortly after I get a communication from a sniper team that they're coming they're coming out the snipers report that their civilian attire there's no Camis there's no Battle Gear there's no weapons they can see miraculously the HRT accomplishes its Mission without a single shot fired it was it was an ending that we had all prayed for and one that we were very fortunate that we had if not for agent coulson's quick thinking and ability to adapt in tense situations the standoff would likely have had a much bloodier conclusion it shows what the FBI can do in a major crisis situation it shows the number of different disciplines it has as its disposal how they can bring unlimited resources on the focus of a problem it's a great big machine it grinds you up if you're a bad guy and it's what happened here this wasn't an HRT story it's an FBI story we have seen just a few of the many ways in which the FBI Works to solve cases with each new investigative challenge they face we can rest assured that the bureau will dedicate itself to doing whatever it takes the American public [Music] [Music]

Channel: Retold - Documentaries & Reconstructions

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Keywords: True crime - topic, Retold channel, history documentaries, documentary movies - topic, crime history documentary, Reenactments, true crime documentaries, best documentaries on youtube, real stories, FBI, FBI files, true crime, full episode, crime movie, full tv show, true crime show, true crime marathon, fbi movie, crime tv, murderer, 1980s, crime history, murder mystery, conspiracy, retold, reenactment, police drama, victims, justice, bank robbery, heist, investigate, bank

Id: USjBFF02XsE

Length: 50min 13sec (3013 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 21 2023