Speaker 1: From my Heart Media. This is Missing in Alaska, the
Speaker 1: story of two congressmen who vanished in nineteen seventy two
Speaker 1: and my quest to figure out what happened to them.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, John Waalzac. After Chris steal the Dateline,
Speaker 1: NBC producer heard Jerry Paisley's claimed that the plane carrying
Speaker 1: the missing congressman may have been bombed in nineteen seventy two.
Speaker 1: He hired a private investigator in Arizona named Robert Annenberg
Speaker 1: to assist him with his investigation. Annenberg was a veteran
Speaker 1: who served in both the Air Force and Army. In
Speaker 1: the Air Force, he worked in the Office of Special Investigations.
Speaker 1: In the Army, he was an intelligence officer, so basically
Speaker 1: a smart, disciplined, experienced guy. On Augustenburg penned of five
Speaker 1: page memo detailing its fine anks. He sent it to Shoul.
Speaker 1: I want to be clear, Shoul, who's now an executive
Speaker 1: at NBC News, did not provide this report to me directly.
Speaker 1: I got it from another source. It makes for a
Speaker 1: fascinating read. Here it is voiced verbatim by Mike Smith
Speaker 1: of New Orleans. Jerry Max Paisley a criminal history one.
Speaker 1: The following information was derived from the case file CR
Speaker 1: four ADE zero to four, interviews with the defendant, news
Speaker 1: reports in my own investigation February twenty second to date two.
Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty two, Jerry Max Paisley was discharged from
Speaker 1: the U. S. Navy and returned to Detroit, where he
Speaker 1: became associated with the Pete Lickavoli crime family. Likavoli operated
Speaker 1: one of the biggest policy houses numbers operations in the
Speaker 1: South Michigan Northern Ohio region. Licavoli also had properties and
Speaker 1: business enterprises in Arizona, and Paisley fluctuated between Detroit and Tucson,
Speaker 1: conducting strong arm and extortion activities and doing gun running
Speaker 1: between Tucson and Detroit. Three. In nineteen sixty four, Licovoli
Speaker 1: introduced Paisley to the Joe Bonano Joe Banana's crime operation.
Speaker 1: In Tucson, a new criminal enterprise had been formed, Tucson
Speaker 1: Vending Machine Inc. Fronted by Sal Spinelli and operated by
Speaker 1: Charles Battaglia. Charlie Batts, a Banano lieutenant working for Tucson
Speaker 1: Vending Machines, Paisley used strong arm and intimidation to get
Speaker 1: vending machine locations in various establishments. If the establishment said no,
Speaker 1: he and his associates would tear the place up or
Speaker 1: blow it up. One of the places he blew up
Speaker 1: was Polo Z's Restaurant and lounge on Speedway. Because of
Speaker 1: Paisley's good work for the Banano Organization, he met Joe
Speaker 1: Bonano Jr. And they became good friends. Four By nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty six sixty seven, Paisley's extortion activities had netted him
Speaker 1: control of several bars in Tucson, and his bombing activities continued.
Speaker 1: He blew up JP's bar on South Craycroft. Also in
Speaker 1: this time frame, he was introduced to Louis Marconi, a
Speaker 1: South Tucson policeman. He was introduced by Roy Rico, a
Speaker 1: low level Detroit mobster. Marconi said he could be a
Speaker 1: source of good quality liquor at cheap prices. This would
Speaker 1: be a valuable benefit to the bars that had been
Speaker 1: taken over. Paisley and Marconi were to form a criminal
Speaker 1: alliance that lasted many years. Paisley was told by Marconi
Speaker 1: that he had been doing some on duty burglaries with
Speaker 1: Ernie Mahea and Tom Vera, also South Tucsson policeman Paisley
Speaker 1: and Marconi did some burglaries together, trafficked in narcotics and
Speaker 1: ripped off a number of individuals. They ripped off Ken
Speaker 1: Humor and it was to cost him his life. Paisley
Speaker 1: and Marconi were both involved in the murder of drug
Speaker 1: dealer Charlie Knewell in that incident is the matter presently
Speaker 1: before the Court Cr. Four eight zero to four. They
Speaker 1: also pulled off the arm robbery of the Posh Jewelry store.
Speaker 1: Although long separated from police duties now, Marconi maintains inside
Speaker 1: connections with the Tucson Police. Ernie Mahia active service. Dick
Speaker 1: Navarro retired five. Paisley's activities came to the attention of
Speaker 1: the FBI, and after a long vetting period, he was
Speaker 1: finally recruited as a paid in form for a salary
Speaker 1: of two hundred dollars per month. His recruiter and handler
Speaker 1: was Special Agent David Hale. Strangely enough, under Essay Hale's direction,
Speaker 1: his extortion and bombing activities did not decrease. They intensified
Speaker 1: with higher profile targets. He bombed Judge Evo Dicincini's house
Speaker 1: in the Whig Beauty salon with essay Hale's approval, Joe
Speaker 1: Bonano's patio wall got blown up and Licovoli's ranch got bombed,
Speaker 1: but not by Paisley. It appeared essay Hale was trying
Speaker 1: to incite a gang war between Licavoli and Banano. He
Speaker 1: gave Paisley ten thousand dollars to do a hit on
Speaker 1: Joe Bonano himself, but for some reason Hale called it off.
Speaker 1: When Paisley started working for Essay Hale, he believed his
Speaker 1: activities were being sanctioned by the FBI. Now he thought otherwise,
Speaker 1: believing Hale was some kind of renegade nut, Paisley called
Speaker 1: Wes Malden, an Arizona DPS agent, and told him what
Speaker 1: had been going on. An investigation ensued. A grand jury
Speaker 1: was convened against ssay Hale, but was torpedoed, presumably by
Speaker 1: the FBI. Hale was allowed to resign and left the state.
Speaker 1: Much of this fiasco got into the media nineteen sixty
Speaker 1: nine and seventy, but most was covered up. Paisley's identity
Speaker 1: was never revealed, so after going on ice in Las
Speaker 1: Vegas for two years, he returned to Tucson and began
Speaker 1: anew his work for the Crime Families six. In late
Speaker 1: August or September nineteen seventy two, joe Aya Tarola Joey
Speaker 1: the Eye, a Banano lieutenant, said he wanted an unregistered
Speaker 1: room for someone who was coming into Tucson from out
Speaker 1: of town. No check in, no name. Paisley got the
Speaker 1: room and the next day they drove to the airport
Speaker 1: where they picked up a woman. Joey introduced her as Margaret.
Speaker 1: That night, Paisley was instructed to bring Margaret to the
Speaker 1: Kontiqui restaurant for dinner. Meeting them there was joe Bonano.
Speaker 1: The three of them had dinner and nothing important was discussed,
Speaker 1: just small talk. Then Joey gave Paisley the high sign.
Speaker 1: The two of them went to the bar and left
Speaker 1: Margaret and Banano alone together. Those two talked for about
Speaker 1: half an hour. Joey and Bonano left and Paisley left
Speaker 1: with Margaret. They hit a couple of nightclubs and then
Speaker 1: returned to the motel where they have sex. The next day,
Speaker 1: both Paisley and Joey saw Margaret off at the airport.
Speaker 1: Paisley tried to get some information about Margaret, but Joey
Speaker 1: said nothing he never found out her full name. H seven.
Speaker 1: Two weeks later, Joey asked Paisley to take a trip
Speaker 1: for the organization. He was to go to Anchorage, Alaska.
Speaker 1: He was instructed to bring a suit bag for carry
Speaker 1: on baggage, but not a suitcase. Two days later, Joey
Speaker 1: picked up Paisley in a different car to drive him
Speaker 1: to the airport. At the airport, Joey gave Paisley a
Speaker 1: bag and told him not to carry it on the aircraft.
Speaker 1: He was to check it through baggage. Paisley flew to
Speaker 1: Anchorage and was met at the airport by Gene Fowler,
Speaker 1: accompanied by a stranger who was introduced as Danny. He
Speaker 1: was taken by them to an apartment which was apparently
Speaker 1: not the residence of either of the men, and Paisley
Speaker 1: gave them the bag he had gotten from Joey. That night,
Speaker 1: Paisley met Fowler's brother Larry, and they went out on
Speaker 1: the town. Larry hinted about the bomb Paisley had brought
Speaker 1: from Tucson and asked him if he had made it.
Speaker 1: Paisley replied, he doesn't make bombs, he just uses them.
Speaker 1: During the course of the evening, Larry said, the pipeline
Speaker 1: is coming to Alaska and the state is going wild.
Speaker 1: Larry revealed they were getting ready to make a big move,
Speaker 1: but he did not say what it was. Eight the
Speaker 1: next day, Paisley returned to Tucson. A few weeks later,
Speaker 1: on October sixteenth, nineteen seventy two, a light aircraft carrying
Speaker 1: two US Congressman Hale Boggs Louisiana and Nick Begets Alaska,
Speaker 1: was reported missing on a flight between Anchorage and Juno.
Speaker 1: No trace of the aircraft was ever found. Nine Margaret Beggetch,
Speaker 1: widow of Congressman Nick Beggett, ran for the congressional seat
Speaker 1: vacated by the death of her husband. She was defeated
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy three. Paisley was lured to Alaska by
Speaker 1: the construction of the Alaskan Pipeline and the furious gold
Speaker 1: rush atmosphere it had created. In Anchorage. Larry Folla introduced
Speaker 1: him to the local gambling gangsters, and he went to
Speaker 1: work for Harry Cardinoff, who ran a gambling operation. While working,
Speaker 1: one day, he ran into a woman who looked familiar.
Speaker 1: They start talking and he realized it was the Margaret
Speaker 1: he had met in Tucson through Joey the Eye. They
Speaker 1: renew their relationship and he learned she was Margaret Beggatt,
Speaker 1: widow of the congressman, and she had lots of money.
Speaker 1: She began to lavish some of her wealth on Paisley.
Speaker 1: He liked all of that in By nine seventy four
Speaker 1: they decided to marry. They married in Tucson at the
Speaker 1: El Dorado, and it's a fancy affair attended by Pete Licavoli,
Speaker 1: Louis Marconi, sal Spinelli, Rtie Smith, Charlie Cuccio, Ari Walsh,
Speaker 1: and several undercover cops who were there monitoring the activities
Speaker 1: of the mob. The Paisley's honeymooned at Mazat Lawn, and Margaret,
Speaker 1: who has lots of insurance money, continues to bestow on
Speaker 1: Paisley the proceeds of her wealth, new Cadillac, new Jaguar
Speaker 1: x K E and jewelry. She also bought him a
Speaker 1: nightclub called the Green Dragon for a hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: thousand dollars, but insisted he take in a partner, Danny Zivinich.
Speaker 1: Danny was with Foller when he brought the bomb from Tucson.
Speaker 1: The three of them formed a corporation, Max Inc. With
Speaker 1: Margaret as president, Danny as VP, and Paisley has scretary treasurer.
Speaker 1: They did business with the First National Bank of Anchorage
Speaker 1: and People's Bank of Alaska. Margaret and Paisley bought a
Speaker 1: new two hundred thousand dollar home, and Paisley took junkets
Speaker 1: to Acapulco, Honolulu, Las Vegas, and other place spots whenever
Speaker 1: he felt the urge. It was a nice life living
Speaker 1: off Margaret's money. Eleven, Paisley and Danny had Margaret put
Speaker 1: up her apartment building as collateral for a hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty thousand dollar loan so they can remodel the Green Dragon.
Speaker 1: They fix it up and rename it the Alaska Mining Company.
Speaker 1: They're working together got them closer. One day, on a
Speaker 1: fishing trip, the two of them were drinking, Paisley asked
Speaker 1: Danny why Margaret wanted him as a partner. Danny replied
Speaker 1: that it was because he blew an old man out
Speaker 1: of the sky. That he and Margaret had been friends
Speaker 1: for a long time. She was paying him back for
Speaker 1: services rendered twelve. By late nineteen, Paisley was fifty three
Speaker 1: and was serving several prison sentences exceeding one hundred years
Speaker 1: for murder and other crimes unrelated to the incidents mentioned above.
Speaker 1: He made a decision to wipe the slate clean by
Speaker 1: facing up to all the things he had done in
Speaker 1: his life. He began exposing every one of them. There
Speaker 1: was no attempt to get a deal, nor was this
Speaker 1: a religious transformation that had taken place. It was an
Speaker 1: effort to get a measure of atonement by letting it
Speaker 1: all hang out once and for all. Paisley is not
Speaker 1: proud of his life, but he accepts what has become
Speaker 1: of it as a natural and inevitable outcome of the
Speaker 1: lifestyle he chose for himself. He never had to get
Speaker 1: up early in the morning for a regular job, never
Speaker 1: had to carry a lunchbox or punch a time clock.
Speaker 1: The life of a wise guy was exciting and glamorous,
Speaker 1: and he had a lot of pretty girls, took some
Speaker 1: nice trips, had a lot of dope. But with that
Speaker 1: lifestyle comes risks. He assumed those risks, but eventually his
Speaker 1: luck ran out. He has resigned himself to spending the
Speaker 1: rest of his life in prison, so in late nineteen
Speaker 1: he reported the murders of the congressman to an Arizona
Speaker 1: DPS agent in the Anchorage Police. At the same time,
Speaker 1: he reported killing three other persons in Alaska, Art Sutherland,
Speaker 1: Greg Overton, and a black man whose name he never learned.
Speaker 1: He also reported to DPS his participation in a murder
Speaker 1: in Tucson in nineteen seventy seven, during which his partner
Speaker 1: Louis Marconi pulled the trigger instant case CR. Four eight
Speaker 1: zero to four. Additionally, he reported the nineteen sixty eight
Speaker 1: armed robbery of the Posh Jewelry Store, data which included
Speaker 1: Marconi's setting up of the high as well as the
Speaker 1: names of all the other participants, including the fence. He
Speaker 1: also blew the whistle on two dirty cops with the
Speaker 1: Tucson Police, one retired but one still on active service.
Speaker 1: Fourteen Paisley's reports on the above have been met with
Speaker 1: a wall of silence. DPS turned over the data on
Speaker 1: the murdered congressman to the FBI. The FBI did nothing,
Speaker 1: indicating the case was closed. The aircraft had gone down
Speaker 1: because of bad weather, and the pilot's company had been
Speaker 1: sued for negligence in a civil action. The murders of
Speaker 1: the other men in Alaska were not pursued by the
Speaker 1: police in Alaska because of Paisley's status already serving sentences
Speaker 1: over a hundred years, and the Tucson police have done
Speaker 1: nothing on the armed robbery and dirty Cops information for
Speaker 1: reasons that could be corruption at a high level. Fifteen,
Speaker 1: no one has indicated that Paisley is a liar, a screwball,
Speaker 1: or has an axe to grind. DPS agent West Malden,
Speaker 1: now retired, who exposed renegade FBI agent David Hale through
Speaker 1: Paisley's efforts, as described Paisley as a reliable and accurate
Speaker 1: source of information when he worked with him. Moreover, during
Speaker 1: recent contacts with law enforcement officials, no one has yet
Speaker 1: to produce any evidence of fabrication on Paisley's part. Robert Annenberg, Tucson, Arizona,
Speaker 1: August one. You can reach us by phone at one
Speaker 1: eight three three m I A tips that's one eight
Speaker 1: three three six four two eight four seven seven again
Speaker 1: one eight three three six four two eight four seven seven,
Speaker 1: Or you can reach us via email at tips at
Speaker 1: iHeart media dot com. That's tips t I P s
Speaker 1: at iHeart media dot com. An important note, none of
Speaker 1: the people Paisley claimed took part in or had knowledge
Speaker 1: of the alleged bombing. Joe Banano, Joeya Tarrola, Danny Zivinitt,
Speaker 1: Gene Fowler, Larry Fowler, or Peggy Baggett, whose first name
Speaker 1: is actually Margaret, were ever charged with or convicted of
Speaker 1: crimes tied to any of Paisley's allegations. Louis Marconi, named
Speaker 1: by Paisley, is an alleged accomplice in and or perpetrator
Speaker 1: of certain crimes, was also never charged with or convicted
Speaker 1: of any crimes based on Paisley's allegations. Ben Bolan is
Speaker 1: our executive producer. Paul Deckan is our supervising producer. Chris
Speaker 1: Brown is our assistant producer. Seth Nicholas Johnson is our producer.
Speaker 1: Sam T. Garden is our research assistant. And I'm your
Speaker 1: host and executive producer, John Wallzac. You can find me
Speaker 1: on Twitter at at John Wallzac. J O n W
Speaker 1: A l c z A K special thank to Mike
Speaker 1: Smith of New Orleans, who voiced the report. Missing in
Speaker 1: Alaska is a co production of iHeartMedia and Greenfork Media.
Speaker 1: H