Master Plan | FULL EPISODE | The FBI Files

organized crime tore through the suburbs of chicago leaving violence and corruption prominent officials were seduced by greed and power doing whatever was necessary to protect their interests [Music] business everyone was on the table fbi call on the fbi to weed out the corruption and to find the killer of an innocent woman [Applause] [Music] [Music] willow springs illinois seemed like any other quiet midwestern community but it was really one of the most corrupt places in the nation this tiny village nestled just outside of chicago was in the hip pocket of organized crime i'm jim calstrom former head of the fbi's new york office it was only a matter of time before corruption led to assassination and conspiracy to end it required a federal sting operation of astounding complexity [Music] the bank of a sanitary canal in a remote industrial area became the site of a gruesome crime [Music] the killers were quick and thorough nearby two police officers were out on night patrol when they heard the shots fired they became alarmed [Music] one of the officers drove towards the canal to investigate he found nothing as he searched the desolate area also on the scene was willow springs illinois police chief michael clinton i heard it earlier myself and i've already checked the area so he too saw i got a cup the following day a prominent local attorney called police to report that his wife was missing [Music] oh mr masters we'd like to ask a few questions about your wife lieutenant howard of the cook county sheriff's department and his partner responded to the call attorney alan masters said that his wife diane had been out the night before with colleagues and friends from a local college where she worked she never came home there was no sign of her yellow account i believe he said he made calls trying to locate her until two in the morning but finally gave up for the officers the information offered little insight excuse me lieutenant james keating of the cook county sheriff's department joined the office sir we were just asking mr masters questions about his wives he asked masters if he could have a look around the house sure he had nothing to hide [Music] the officers continued their questioning anything else you can tell us as far as reluctantly masters offered some new information he suspected that his wife diane had been having an affair maybe the two lovers had run off together i don't know who he is or what he looks like i just have my suspicions excuse me guys i think we need to wrap this up lieutenant vanek wanted to investigate further and look around the house himself sir i think we need to take another look around in here husbands are always suspects when their wives there's nothing nothing sir we need to look around it's time to get those lieutenant keating intervened he wouldn't believe two investigators always check out the scene in his mind everything is checked out now let's go now vanek was upset he didn't know why keating would undermine his investigation [Music] outside keating confronted lieutenant vanna telling him to back off as far as he was concerned masters was not a suspect but vanick didn't buy it and he let keating know just as the two men were about to explode willow springs police chief michael corbett arrived at the scene that's easy come on guys [ __ ] you on the same side come on keita would have the final you're off the case forget it you're off the case man you got that the question still remained where was diane masters her disappearance grabbed the media's attention and diane if you would please she had been very active in the local community diane had worked hard to help open a shelter for battered women she was also involved in local politics and sat on the board of the moraine valley community college she did not appear to have any animals hard work and her dedication in opening this crisis center something that is needed desperately in this community but investigators began uncovering other details it was reported by diane's friends that her husband was controlling and abusive and that diane was planning to file for divorce assistant u.s attorney tom scorsa followed the case we were pretty certain that what had happened here was that diane and alan in a regular had a regular marital dispute sort of ordinary dispute but that it had escalated into something much worse go ahead and send them in scores's investigation soon revealed that alan masters was more than just a bad husband [Music] it was rumored that allen masters had bribed local officials and police officers to secure favorable outcomes for his clients let it go very well very well nothing aware right to the top of law enforcement allegedly masters frequently enlisted the help of chief corbyn [Music] it was also rumored that masters in chief corporal were involved in safeguarding some of the chicago mob's bedding and prostitution rings which were run out of show clubs throughout suburban cook county [Music] but investigators were focused only on diane's disappearance with no evidence and few leads that investigation stole unaware of alan masters or his wife's disappearance the fbi had already begun an independent investigation into the mob controlled rackets of the chicago area u.s attorney david stetler worked with the fbi to help unravel the prostitution operation at that time there were a number of topless bottomless joints that one could go to and many of them were undercover fronts for prostitution so you could go in you could watch the naked girls dancing on the stage and for a price you could retreat to the back either to a booth or a back room and engage in one form of sexual activity or another with the dancers the club owners knew their customers would spend more on drinks and prospects if they could use their credit cards the patrons were reluctant they did not want bills arriving at their homes or businesses with charges incurred from nightclubs with cd news the club owners found credit card transaction companies that were willing to process the charges using false but respectable business names special agent ivan harris of the fbi's chicago field office was assigned to help bring down the illegal businesses the scam was using various companies in order to launder credit cards through their business to make it appear that businessmen were actually eating at a restaurant or using a limousine service to incur the charges when in fact there were charges for prostitution larry wright was one of the credit card transaction company owners wright would pick up the week's transactions from the clubs and process them through his company national credit service or ncs one of his clients was a club owner named joseph maron whose club was a front for a mob controlled prostitution house wright wanted to expand his own operations he approached marin about setting up an illegal betting club marin was willing to help out the man who made his money [Music] wright would first need to pay protection money to local police in order not to be exposed and arrested [Music] marin was the man who could arrange that protection right he's more than willing to pay okay [Music] marin arranged the meeting at the willow springs police department [Music] it was to take place with police chief michael corbett it was believed that corbett had been hand-picked by the chicago mob boss to oversee and protect their interests in and around willow springs [Music] the word on the street of course was that no one could do anything in willow springs without the permission of the chief of police mike corbett the message also was from virtually anyone you would talk to that he was so powerful that he was so well connected that nothing could ever be done about him i just want to make sure i don't get any unexpected visits corbett agreed to help larry wright set up the new betting operation for a price not quite yet in return corbett assured him he wouldn't get any hate from his officers larry wright was well on his way he returned to his office at national credit service operated out of a nondescript office park location wright worked with two other staff members doing great very great but these were not ordinary employees [Music] ncs was not just a credit card transaction service for illegal activities it was a front for the fbi larry wright was actually undercover special agent larry damron and he and the fbi were using ncs to work their way into the heart of the corruption in willow springs while local investigators struggled to unravel the disappearance of a prominent attorney's wife the fbi had set up an undercover operation in the town of willow springs just outside of chicago [Music] their target organized crime and the corrupt police who protected them from prosecution the undercover work was often painstaking and frustrating fbi special agent larry damron explains the difficulties inherent in undercover work during the course of the undercover operation you try to immerse yourself in what you're doing and you and you try to assume that role because it's necessary for you to do that in order to accomplish anything oftentimes you'll hear people make comments or you'll see people do things that in any other circumstance they would be arrested for immediately and so what you have to remember is you're in a role and you play that role out dameron had heard stories about how the mob resolved problems they were swift and violent and their signature was unmistakable two bullets land there was no room for mistakes victor spelatro the player in chicago's organized crime approached damron at ncs victor himself wielded little power his brothers held tremendous influence within the mob's hierarchy damron was starting to move into the center of the violent chicago underworld the splattros were one of the best-known names of mobsters in chicago the older brother tony was the boss in las vegas he represented the chicago outfit for their interest in las vegas had been a prominent figure and had been widely mentioned in the papers having been involved in murders and extortions and things like that agent damron quickly developed a reputation as an effective businessman in laundering money for mob operations well we got everything back here that you need all right come on back sure everything's all right spillatro knew of ncs's activities with the local nightclubs they were under his control [Music] good everything's going good with the business he told damron he would have to pay him a cut to stay in business i'm glad you appreciate what we do for you okay well that's really good damron had no objection [Music] the level that we had there is we were paying protection to a fairly important uh aspect of the mob the splatro family and so that gave us a little bit of status if you will but we had absolutely no authority or anything like that in the mob we were just workers and our value was we made them money agent damron traveled to a remote hotel where he met with fbi special agent gordon brooks who oversaw the undercover operation to ensure that damron's real identity was not compromised the two met infrequently to exchange information [Music] brooks vigilantly kept tabs on damron the investigation was as dangerous as it was complex the agent cautiously moved forward he wanted to continue expanding the fbi's undercover operations [Music] he used every opportunity he could to sell the idea of opening more betting and prostitution houses throughout suburban chicago even with a go ahead from the spelatrums damron would still need permission and protection from the police he met with nightclub owner joseph marin to hash out the details of the new clubs and secure police protection but there was a problem had been removed by the willow spring city council under suspicion of corruption marin knew another high-ranking law enforcement official who could provide the same protection as corbett lieutenant james keating cook county's vice squad supervisor tell you what he deals with u.s attorney tom scorser was not surprised by the development keating's reputation was well known you feel pretty confident about this jim keating was a lieutenant in the cook county sheriff's police department but if anything the rank understated his influence he was a very well connected officer in a very corrupt department he had connections with people of higher rank who were also corrupt and so he was a key figure with corbett out of the picture the fbi shifted their focus to keating damron met with him at a restaurant outside of willow springs it allows me to really concentrate on my job heating said he'd have no problem helping damron expand his one thing we need operations understand is if there's a situation that comes up but any move damron made would have to be approved by him he warned damron to play it straight with him and his people he told us that the one thing that he wouldn't tolerate was if someone double-crossed him and he said if if that happened that we'd find us with our legs on one of the streets in the area in our head on another street in the area as instructed by the fbi damron proposed another operation a club that would be a front for prostitution he gave the lieutenant the first of many payments to ensure police protection looks like a bonus for the guys before he left keating said he knew someone who might be able to help him a lawyer named alan though he had no direct dealings with alan masters damron had heard the name mentioned by chief corbett well i knew that masters was a well-known attorney on the south side of chicago that he had a tremendous reputation for being able to get things done particularly in the in the local court system and the uh the scuttlebutt was that that he wasn't reluctant to pay bribes or to deal with people however he needed to damron continued his meetings with his case supervisor special agent gordon brooks damron needed to know everything he could about alan masters and his relationship with keating and corbett the fbi and u.s attorneys quickly established a hierarchy within this ring of corruption okay you're making your way up to keating right i want you to corbett was the king in willow springs but anytime he had to do something that involved the broader cook county he needed to get the permission of keating and keating always had to check with the ultimate fixer alan masters to make sure everything could be handled at the court level as the extent of alan master's criminal activity became clearer the fbi began looking closer at his possible role in his wife's disappearance the two distinct cases were beginning to overlap and damron's objectives were broadening authorities he was a suspect in the disappearance of his wife it was thought that if we could develop a relationship with him there might be something there that would come come to light and and might be of some benefit to that investigation damron learned that alan masters allegedly made payoffs to several area judges in exchange for favorable decisions now we need to have that hearing on this anderson case needs to go our way we have an understanding of that judge agents speculated that diane might have witnessed her husband's illegal activity and threatened to expose him [Music] i think now trying to elicit information about diane's disappearance damron continued his efforts to make inroads into the corruption around willow springs [Music] he met with keating several weeks later to follow up on his plan to open a show club a good manager lined up again keating mentioned that his friend alan westerman can take care of that he's a real fixer damron took the opportunity to bring up allen's wife keating said little but then added an unusual comment the same plan we had with the other one we talked about master's wife turning up missing and keating said well she turned up missing like the day before the divorce was going to be filed that was convenient it was convenient and chuckled about what a what a good circumstance that was damron was cautious not to probe too far fearing that keating might grow suspicious you've known this fella for a long time you've known me for a while i've worked with him before sure he can do as the meeting ended keating handed over alan master's phone number saying the lawyer [Music] he proceeded to set up the meeting with alan masters hello mr masters how are you this is larry wright speaking the attorney agreed to help push through all the necessary permits and legal documents which meant bribing officials in securing protection we've been working uh pretty hard on it for a while now also i think it'd be masters suggested they get together the meeting was set for the following week monday december 13th okay i'll look forward to meeting you then i think we can maybe do some business okay thanks bye before the meeting would take place however a police officer on routine patrol near the sanitary canal area in willow springs noticed something unusual tire tracks led directly into the canal he immediately called for assistance little did he know that the lid was about to come off the underworld in willow springs trucks while the fbi continued their undercover operation in the chicago suburb of willow springs an officer out on routine patrol made an alarming discovery tire tracks leading directly into the sanitary canal police officers and a dive team responded to the site overseeing the investigation was james ross an honest cop appointed by city council to replace michael corbett as the police chief in willow springs though corbett had been hosted from the department his legacy of corruption remained below the surface divers found a virtual underwater parking lot 82 cars lined the bottom of the polluted canal u.s attorney tom scorser believed he knew why the cars were there and who could make a profit by allowing it to be dumped without a police investigation [Music] those are known as insurance give-ups people who want to collect money on their car when the car is not worth very much anymore we'll find a way of losing the car and then reporting it stolen and collecting insurance my belief was that corbett had been the approver of all of the dumping of the cars in the wall springs canal by nighttime a third car had been dredged up a yellow cattleman the license plate on the vehicle dgm 19 was well known in willow springs it was the tag registered to diane masters lieutenant keating the cook county sheriff's department arrived at the scene chief ross was surprised that keating a vice cop had been notified he asked keating why he was there heating had no response officers continued examining the cattle when they cried open the trunk they discovered a decomposed pot [Music] ross immediately ordered that the car and the body be taken back to a city garage where they could be thoroughly examined for clues [Music] the decision not to use the police garage was well reasoned chief ross knew this case potentially had far-reaching implications and he couldn't trust his own officers the fewer people nosing around the better state police began to scour the car in the body for evidence [Music] they found 22 caliber shell casings in the trunk the keys were still in the ignition eerily the watch on the deceased body and the dashboard clock had stopped at exactly the same time 150. they removed the body for further forensic investigation the forensic team examining the body found the skull had been crushed they also discovered two bullet hole entries in the left cheekbone the bullet fragments inside the skull were removed and sent off to the fbi lab for ballistic evaluation [Music] dental records confirmed what everyone believed the body found in the trunk was diane masters the nine-month investigation into diane's disappearance was now a homicide investigation [Music] chief ross called in cook county detective john reed to work the homicide he was to team up with the fbi who was now taking over the murder investigation detective reed was not to trust even his closest friends in the department he was told that through the fbi undercover operation run out of ncs law enforcement officers were being investigated for corruption and some had ties to alan masters who is now a firm suspect in diane's murder [Music] as agent harris and detective reed initiated their murder investigation agent dameron continued his undercover uh today to set up a time and place for our meeting he called allen masters to confirm their meeting to set up the show club i expect to be in court all day tomorrow i'm sorry busters was evasive and seemed distracted that's okay with you maybe we can maybe we can work something out then just yeah give me some time all right he canceled the meeting okay thanks damron immediately called keating with the conversation being recorded by the fbi he hoped keating would explain why masters was being evasive as i said he's pretty busy uh how about if you give me a call on three or four weeks but keating was cryptic maybe work something out then he instructed damron not to bother masters he had too many problems to deal with okay fine [Music] the new show club would have to wait [Music] what do you got for me damron met with agent brooks masters in keating both appeared nervous since diane's body had been discovered but that was hardly enough evidence to prosecute either of them for murder perhaps damron had overlooked something he handed over his tape recorded conversations with right keating is gonna nail him we're gonna get him can you play that again please over the next several months the u.s attorney's office the cook county sheriff's department and the fbi began the process of merging the various investigations all right well the link between them was alan cook county lieutenant james keating and former willow springs police chief michael corbin if that's the case if we can put if we could it would fall on prosecutors to begin constructing a case proving that the three men and all of their activities represented an ongoing organized criminal enterprise and what we had to do in order to prosecute masters and corbett and keating for a collection of their activities including the homicide we had to show that they made up a criminal organization a mini mafia i appreciate you meeting with us tonight mrs capps staff well if you guys detective reed and agent harris's first step was to question diane's friends who had been with her on the night she disappeared you said that you uh followed her home that night one of diane's colleagues genevieve capstaff had actually followed diane home that evening after a board meeting and so i just wanted to see so i followed her capstaff claimed everyone on the moraine community college board who worked with diane suspected that she was having an affair with an economics professor she admitted that she wanted to see if the two were going to rendezvous she followed diane to her street when diane turned to go home capstaff continued on [Music] is there anything else that you can tell further questioning revealed that all of the community college board members including diana were given a 100 000 life insurance policy as part of their employment benefits a hundred thousand dollars right right but that only covers the policy specifically stated that proceeds would be paid if a board member died while traveling to and from board meetings the policy was void when the board member entered their home that's all but we appreciate it alan masters claimed diane never arrived home that night he was therefore eligible to collect the insurance money several months before diane's body was discovered in the trunk of her car masters filed a claim with the insurance company after filling out all the paperwork he sent it off though diane's fate at that time was unclear masters had a judge declare her legally dead as a result he was about to receive 100 000. alan masters was fast becoming the fbi's prime suspect in the murder of his wife diane shortly after her body was discovered investigators learned that he had filed a claim with his wife's insurance company within a few months two checks appeared in the amount of fifty thousand dollars each federal agents and prosecutors could prove masters was responsible for his wife's death and that he profited from it it would be one more element that showed that he and his accomplices were involved in an ongoing criminal enterprise homicide in a federal racketeering case carries much more jail time than a state charge as the investigation began to take on a clearer focus fbi agents working the undercover case received bad news listen we're gonna have to move rather quickly the washington post had gotten word of the operation we're almost at the point where we can really make some impact on the whole [Music] for u.s attorney david stetler the timing couldn't have been better all right the project had run its course and the bulk of the information anybody was ever going to get had been retrieved and to make the operation go on go on longer would have resulted in additional evidence but it also would have resulted in the evidence that had been gathered becoming more and more stale agents had meticulously pieced together the web of corruption that extended to the nightclubs under mob control now it was time to shut them down several hundred officers and agents raided over a dozen clubs throughout cook county including those in willow springs stay right here please stay right here all right inside the clubs federal agents were able to collect volumes of incriminating evidence 55 people were indicted including club owner joseph merritt tony spilatro and his brother victor they were prosecuted in both the state and federal courts for extortion prostitution bribery and racketeering several deputies from the cook county sheriff's department and officers from the willow springs police department were also indicted and convicted for protecting these businesses [Music] after three years of undercover work the sting operation was now officially closed for undercover special agent larry damron it was finally time to leave the role of larry wright i would say the finish was elation and disappointment at the same time disappointment that there were so many opportunities out there to to identify other criminal activity we knew that that it was a good job that we had gathered tremendous amounts of evidence and that we had a real insight into some of the criminal activity that was taking place that we hadn't had before allen masters local authorities the fbi and prosecutors could now focus exclusively on the diane masters murder investigation [Music] they continued questioning her friends and associates including the man with whom she was allegedly having an affair oh there were other things that happened economics professor jim caselnian he confirmed that he and diane had a relationship he also claimed that masters had abused diane physically mentally also had reason to fear alan masters one night kuselniak and diane had met for drinks at a local bar he recalled that diane called home to check on her daughter instead of getting the babysitter on the phone allen unexpectedly answered alan he suspected she was with her lover um i didn't know you were he was irate and began to think i was calling to check he vowed to destroy her [Music] kriscelniak said diane returned from the phone call and was very upset he went to the bar for more drinks there a man suddenly confronted him and began firing off a series of questions oh yes i did the man never identified himself 10 12 years ago what's your name he asked where he worked [Music] well the man said little else celniac felt he had just received a threat stay away from diane [Music] and celnia he said that on the night of diane's disappearance she had called him and warned him not to meet her for drinks so this was an unusual move on her part i usually got together after her college board meetings lately she had been troubled by allen's behavior that they were going to another restaurant took her advice and canceled their plans he never saw diane again [Music] agent harris and detective reed continued to develop witnesses come by they discovered that masters had hired a private investigator to keep tests we subsequently developed a cooperating individual named ted nakaza who was a private investigator with alan masters masters had requested ted nakaza to place a bug on his home telephone number because he suspected his wife diane uh was having an affair i got a few tapes okay what do you guys got for me mike told investigators the bug was successful in exposing diana and kuselniak's favorite good news ted nycaster played back a telephone conversation captioned on tape where diane was talking in highly sexual way with the boyfriend jim caselnian according to naikaza after playing the tape allen masters declared his intention to kill diane and to get keating to make it look like an accident allen masters wanted his wife murdered and he had the resources to get away with it [Music] fbi and local authorities continue to uncover evidence against alan masters and his associates that pointed towards a conspiracy to murder allen's wife diane through a private investigator hired by alan masters diane's affair had been exposed allen's rage was out of control but investigators had no hard evidence to charge him with murder after an exhaustive five-year investigation that was about to change he intended to have diane killed they uncovered a cook county sheriff's deputy who was willing to talk ancient paris deputy jack bachman had startling information keaney brought me into bachmann had been too afraid of the consequences of coming forward on his own he claimed that he had been approached to kill diane the offer had come through lieutenant james keaton bachmann had a series of conversations with keating and ultimately keating asked bachmann if bachmann would be interested in the job of actually stalking and killing diane masters bachmann said keating offered him 25 000 to carry out the hit and michael corbett the chief of police had already agreed to dispose of the body [Music] buckland declined the offer no sir i'm sorry i can't get involved or anything like that no no sir through keating masters had clearly solicited [Music] he said he wanted to eliminate her i said what do you mean what we were able to show is that when alan masters decided to kill his wife he simply was able to turn to the two police officers that he'd already been working with on corrupt activities and criminal activities and that made the homicide and the planning of it and the solicitation of it it made it an activity of the criminal enterprise the pieces had finally come together and diane investigators put together a likely scenario of diane master's murder allen masters had found a hitman to kill diane and her boyfriend when they met for the usual drinks after her college board meeting however diane didn't meet with kuselniak that evening you're homely tonight meeting ran late [Music] furious masters took matters into his own hands [Music] alan masses was at home babysitting their young daughter he was setting up his alibi by making long distance calls all night to prove that he was home he never expected his wife to walk in the door she did she began the process of getting undressed and he hit her with a blunt instrument two blows to the head [Music] masters then called chief corbett who came with an unknown accomplice to dispose of the body [Music] they dumped diane's body in the trunk of her cadillac corbett then drove away with the accomplice following him masters remained at home with his daughter [Music] they drove to the remote sanitary canal diane's watch was reset to throw investigators off the trail should her body ever be found they then fired two shots into her head they wanted to look like a mob hit they also reset the dashboard clocked to 150. allen masters made sure that he was on the phone for time to corroborate his alibi corbett and the accomplice dumped the cadillac in june of 1988 six years after diane's murder investigators brought charges against the three conspirators former police chief michael corbett was the first arrested on federal charges of racketeering bribery and conspiracy to solicit and cover up the murder of diane masters special agent ivan harris tried to elicit a confession mike corbett subsequently confessed that he was in fact the person that had put diane master's car in the canal he disavowed any knowledge knowing that she was in the trunk of the car at that time cook county lieutenant james keaton was arrested next on the same federal charges he too denied involvement in diane's murder [Music] and fbi alan masters in addition to racketeering and bribery the indictment against ali masters charged that he planned solicited and aided and abetted the murder of his wife if you wish one prosecutors would not have enough hard evidence to charge any of the conspirators with the actual murder of diane prosecutor tom skorza was able to successfully tie all of their criminal activities together for the jury masters was convicted on all counts collecting the 100 000 insurance money after having his wife murdered also made him guilty of mail fraud he received a total of 40 years effectively to the end of his life former chief michael corbett received 20 years james keating was convicted and sentenced to over 30 years the master's case was special in my experience because there was no one single piece of evidence proving guilt what there were were a thousand little pieces that made him mosaic that was made the case intriguing it made it very difficult to present and made it a challenge to present to the jury but it made a terrific story because in the end the jury could see how one little plate piece from over here and one little piece from over there made a picture and the picture was a plot among three fellows who had been involved in a lot of criminal activity to do their ultimate criminal act murder diane masters [Music] the undercover investigation that agent damron oversaw and the work of several other fbi agents exposed a deeply rooted corruption throughout cook county and brought it to its ultimate demise by weeding out these pockets of corruption the people living in the suburbs of chicago no longer have to live with the lawlessness that threaten to destroy [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: The FBI Files

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Keywords: FBI, FBI Files, FBI Documentary, Documentary, Crime, Crime Documentary, Crime Patrol, True Crime, True crime daily, Unsolved, Crime Stories, Crime Documentaries Full Episodes, Full Episode, unsolved true crime, fbi files full episodes, we got him, mystery, solved, investigation, police, criminal, prison, jail

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Length: 49min 53sec (2993 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 01 2020