Speaker 1: We are back with a brand new, never reported account
Speaker 1: of the alleged assassination of Congressman Nick Beget and Hail Bogs,
Speaker 1: an account we uncovered in part because of your help
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 Wallzac. At the end of episode six,
Speaker 1: I gave you an important task. Help me figure out
Speaker 1: the identity of a tipster who forwarded mysterious letters to
Speaker 1: the FBI. In these letters apparently contained important information about
Speaker 1: the alleged bombing of the missing plane. I learned about
Speaker 1: them via Freedom of Information Act request I filed with
Speaker 1: the FBI, but I got back from the f I
Speaker 1: was minimal and heavily redacted. The names of everyone involved.
Speaker 1: The two people who exchanged the letters and the tipster
Speaker 1: who forwarded their correspondence were blacked out for some reason,
Speaker 1: though the FBI did not blackout the tipsters work, address,
Speaker 1: phone number, or facts. So I gave that information to you,
Speaker 1: and I asked you to help me identify the tipster.
Speaker 1: One astute listener quickly realized that I made a small mistake.
Speaker 1: I gave you the wrong number. My bad. I was
Speaker 1: off by a single digit. The FBI gave me a
Speaker 1: poor quality copy of the facts, and I mistook an
Speaker 1: eight for a six. Anyway, the listener, who doesn't want
Speaker 1: to be named, dug up CD rom phone directories from
Speaker 1: the nineties. She booted up an old computer, black screen,
Speaker 1: green letters and numbers, the type my parents had when
Speaker 1: I was a kid. She punched in the number and Wola.
Speaker 1: She figured out where the tipster worked, the First Amendment
Speaker 1: Center at Vanderbilt University. Several other listen nurs later figured
Speaker 1: this out too, but she was the first with that clue.
Speaker 1: I made an educated guest about the tipster's identity. I
Speaker 1: guess that the tipster was, in fact John segin Thaller,
Speaker 1: a journalist and political activist who founded the First Amendment Center. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: segen Faller died. I tried to reach his son and
Speaker 1: his secretary, but no luck, no response. So I turned
Speaker 1: once more to my favorite research tool archives. Segen Thaller
Speaker 1: was important, so I figured, hey, maybe his papers are
Speaker 1: preserved and they are lucky for me. A Vanderbilt archivist
Speaker 1: named Zack Johnson had just finished processing them. Zach told
Speaker 1: me he would dig around to see what he could find.
Speaker 1: Two weeks later he emailed me. Amazingly, Zack found the letter,
Speaker 1: the blacked out letter the FBI gave me, except he
Speaker 1: found the original, confirming that John segin Thaller was the tipster,
Speaker 1: the person I asked you to help me find. Zach
Speaker 1: sent me a PDF of the letter. Here. It is January.
Speaker 1: Mr Tommy Boggs, fifty North Street, Northwest, Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: To zero zero three seven. Dear Tommy, I apologize for
Speaker 1: the delay in getting this information to you. Dolores fell
Speaker 1: and injured her shoulder, and I've been out of the
Speaker 1: office since we talked. Enclosed is the correspondence. The two
Speaker 1: people involved are William Scott Day, the author of the letters.
Speaker 1: He is a serial killer who, as I mentioned to you,
Speaker 1: murdered my brother's mother in law several years ago. Lyle Jackson,
Speaker 1: the recipient of the letters, a photojournalist who until recently
Speaker 1: worked for our center. While did a television story on
Speaker 1: day after he was captured, and since then they have
Speaker 1: exchanged occasional letters. Lyle, knowing of my interest in Day,
Speaker 1: shared these letters on the day before I phoned you.
Speaker 1: The Hoover angle sounds far fetched to me. A convict
Speaker 1: conning a convict. On the other hand, however, the insurance
Speaker 1: motive obviously could have some basis in fact. At any rate,
Speaker 1: I will keep you informed if there are any subsequent letters.
Speaker 1: Best regards, John Seagan Thaller. So Segan Thaller first sent
Speaker 1: the letters to Tommy Boggs hail Son, not the FBI.
Speaker 1: Then either Segan Thaller, Boggs, or both. But I think
Speaker 1: Segan Thaller gave the FBI copies of the letters exchanged
Speaker 1: between William Scott Day, the serial killer and Lyle Jackson,
Speaker 1: the journalist. Yes, this new account of the alleged assassination
Speaker 1: comes from newly uncovered letters written by a serial killer.
Speaker 1: Here's the deal. Day was in prison for multiple murders.
Speaker 1: He stabbed, strangled, smashed in heads and slit throats. Violent guy.
Speaker 1: He escaped prison multiple times and killed people in Tennessee, Texas,
Speaker 1: and Arizona. Because of the Arizona mur Day ended up
Speaker 1: for a while in a cell next to Jerry Paisley,
Speaker 1: of all people. And that brings me to the second
Speaker 1: PDF that Zach the Vanderbilt archivists. Sent Zach also found
Speaker 1: copies of the letters Day sent Jackson. I'm about to
Speaker 1: read them to you, but first let me note that
Speaker 1: while I am reading most of the contents of the letters,
Speaker 1: I'm not sharing them in their entirety. There are personal details,
Speaker 1: mainly about Jackson the journalist, that are not pertinent to
Speaker 1: this story, so I'm leaving them out. Otherwise, here you go, September,
Speaker 1: dear lyle it's good to hear from you. Reset your
Speaker 1: calendar to November seven. That's when my sentence sing will
Speaker 1: take place. My lawyer wants more time to prepare for
Speaker 1: my sentence saying November God, I'm never going to get
Speaker 1: out of here. My sentencing hearing will take place on September.
Speaker 1: My family will be here and friends too, but actual
Speaker 1: sentence saying won't be till November seven. Your life sounds
Speaker 1: exciting New Mexico one day, l A the next, I
Speaker 1: have a fantastic story for you. My neighbor is a
Speaker 1: small time mafia dude. He killed a big time Arian
Speaker 1: brotherhood dude and there's a contract out on him by
Speaker 1: the A B. Guido. My neighbor is fifty four years old.
Speaker 1: And looking for a way out. He's talking to the
Speaker 1: FEDS about the plane that was carrying US Congressman Hail
Speaker 1: bogs that went down in nineteen seventy two. Cokey Roberts
Speaker 1: his Hail Boggs, his daughter. Boggs was chairman of the
Speaker 1: House Ways and Means Committee and wanted to cut the
Speaker 1: budget of the FBI. Guido claims he placed the bomb
Speaker 1: on the plane on the orders of his boss, who
Speaker 1: was doing a favor for Hoover. That's the sticky part
Speaker 1: for the FEDS. They believe a bomb was on the plane,
Speaker 1: but don't want to believe Hoover had it done. If
Speaker 1: and when this breaks, it will be national news. Guido
Speaker 1: and the FEDS are dickering this thing out. It's pretty wild.
Speaker 1: Guido told me the EDS would accept the story and
Speaker 1: him if he'll drop the Hoover part. He's thinking it over.
Speaker 1: He wants to go to federal prison instead of state prison.
Speaker 1: It's a pretty incredible story, and I don't know how
Speaker 1: much to believe, but I don't put anything past Hoover.
Speaker 1: Remember you heard it here first, smile. I've been listening
Speaker 1: to how the West was Lost by Ken Burns on
Speaker 1: the local PBS station. It's outstanding. Well, my friend, I'll go.
Speaker 1: I'll keep you posted, Take care, peace, be a good
Speaker 1: human right when you can as always. Scott, October two,
Speaker 1: dear Lyle, thanks for writing. It's always good to hear
Speaker 1: from you. Before getting into the Guido story, let me
Speaker 1: catch you up on my never ending saga. My sentencing
Speaker 1: hearing has been reset for November six and seven, and
Speaker 1: actual sentencing for the November. I won't see my family
Speaker 1: till then. I was very bummed out over the last
Speaker 1: second delay, but I'm over it now. I'll keep you
Speaker 1: pos stood. Now onto Guido. He is a walking and
Speaker 1: talking story. My problem is I don't know how much
Speaker 1: is truth and how much is macho. We have to
Speaker 1: talk through our air events, all very prison like. He
Speaker 1: told me last night that he wasn't at liberty to say,
Speaker 1: but the ship was going to hit the fans soon.
Speaker 1: Here's what I know. Guido took the making of a
Speaker 1: bomb to Alaska in nineteen seventy two. He and Danny
Speaker 1: Zivinich put it together and placed aboard the plane Hail
Speaker 1: Boggs was in. There was also a state congressman on
Speaker 1: the plane. Guido says he got two birds with one stone.
Speaker 1: Guido married the widow of the state congressman within a
Speaker 1: year of the crash. The insurance policy paid off about
Speaker 1: the time they married. He says she knew nothing about
Speaker 1: the hit. I asked how he met her, and he
Speaker 1: refuses to say. When the pipeline started. In seventy three,
Speaker 1: he and some friends started a coke pipeline from Tucson
Speaker 1: to Alaska. Guido bought a bar and sold coke along
Speaker 1: with booze. He also bought a house in Alaska and Tusson.
Speaker 1: This is where the motive gets murky. There was a
Speaker 1: big insurance policy on the state congressman. Plus he was
Speaker 1: very law in order, and some people wanted to run
Speaker 1: their own man against him, or to fill his seat
Speaker 1: in case of his demise. Guido is tight lipped when
Speaker 1: it comes to his marriage or the motive for killing
Speaker 1: the state congressman. He is very emphatic about Hoover wanting
Speaker 1: Bog's taken out. He said the order came from Pete Lacavoli,
Speaker 1: who was the head mafia guy in Tucson at the time.
Speaker 1: Didn't Hoover die in nineteen seventy two, I can't remember
Speaker 1: Guido has no reason to bullshit me. I'm an old
Speaker 1: head and stories don't impress me. He is consistent in
Speaker 1: telling me the story. He doesn't get his facts screwed up,
Speaker 1: so I believe him. On the hill Bogg's part, his
Speaker 1: marriage to the widow and the big insurance policy leaves
Speaker 1: me wondering. The people who wanted to run their candidate
Speaker 1: did and one. Guido stayed in Alaska till the pipeline
Speaker 1: was almost finished. He got into a shooting war with
Speaker 1: the Cross Brothers out of Vegas over territory for coke sales.
Speaker 1: That's when it got too hot for him and his
Speaker 1: marriage was over. By then, he came back to Hussan
Speaker 1: and began blowing up businesses who wouldn't take their vending machines.
Speaker 1: I know that is true because my investigator in the
Speaker 1: Public Defender's office was a cop back then and says
Speaker 1: he remembers the places being hit. A bar called Pj's,
Speaker 1: a place called Paulo's Prime Rib and several beauty shops.
Speaker 1: It was called the Dynamite Wars. The Banano family was
Speaker 1: running Tucson by then. Guido is at court this morning,
Speaker 1: so I can't ask him about Dateline NBC. Yet wouldn't
Speaker 1: it be a scoop on ABC and Coke Roberts if
Speaker 1: NBC broke the story? After all, Cokey was hail boss
Speaker 1: daughter smile. Guido and me talk very clandestinely through the
Speaker 1: air vents. We're not supposed to do that. We're neighbors,
Speaker 1: so if we talk quietly we can get away with it.
Speaker 1: By the way, Guido is being tried for a seventeen
Speaker 1: year old murder. The guy he killed lost eighteen hundred
Speaker 1: pounds of coke in an airplane crash, so Guido shot
Speaker 1: him three times in the head. Nice guy, huh. Guido
Speaker 1: is back and I told him about Dateline NBC and
Speaker 1: he wants to talk it over with his investigator, who
Speaker 1: has his own agenda, like writing a book. I'll let
Speaker 1: you know what he decides as soon as possible. Until then,
Speaker 1: take care, peace, be a good human, Be cool as always. Scott,
Speaker 1: October three, dear lyle Guido passes on the Dateline NBC project.
Speaker 1: He has so many irons in the fire it's mind boggling.
Speaker 1: He is being investigated for murder in Alaska and elsewhere.
Speaker 1: He says the FEDS want him to be low profile
Speaker 1: and quiet about the bombing of Hail Boggs's plane in
Speaker 1: exchange for letting him serve his time in another state
Speaker 1: where the Arian Brotherhood doesn't want to kill him. Lyle,
Speaker 1: the guy is involved up to his ass in crime,
Speaker 1: but he also bullshits too. He says the FEDS want
Speaker 1: to keep the Hoover connection quiet. Personally, I think he's
Speaker 1: making deals with them on more stuff than just the
Speaker 1: Bog's situation. He is fifty four, in bad health and
Speaker 1: looking for a safe place to serve his time. He
Speaker 1: has a hundred and sixteen years to serve right now,
Speaker 1: so no big scoop here. I believe the Box situation
Speaker 1: can't be kept quiet. Have your friend from Dateline NBC
Speaker 1: called the U S attorney in Tucson and confront him
Speaker 1: on the plane bombing. Who knows it might work. I'll
Speaker 1: go now, take care, be a good human, Scott. Maybe
Speaker 1: your friend can break the story. Guido's real name is
Speaker 1: Jerome Max Paisley. October Dear Lyle, how goes the war?
Speaker 1: Hope You're winning? Guido is pressing me about when someone
Speaker 1: from NBC will contact him or his investigator. He is
Speaker 1: one of those immediate gratification kind of people. He's collecting
Speaker 1: newspaper articles from here in Alaska to show the producer.
Speaker 1: He's biting at the bit to tell his story, and
Speaker 1: even his lawyer and investigator are behind him. He's hoping
Speaker 1: if he goes national it will help him out of
Speaker 1: this state's prison system, where his life is worth about
Speaker 1: two cents. He already has a hundred and sixteen years
Speaker 1: to do and the state is trying to give him
Speaker 1: another twenty five to life. He's fifty four, so he's
Speaker 1: never getting out. It's a matter of where he does
Speaker 1: the time. I'll keep this brief. I've been writing you
Speaker 1: a lot lately. Right if you get the chance, take
Speaker 1: care peace. I get sentenced November. My lawyer is cautiously optimistic.
Speaker 1: I'm scared to hope, so I'm looking for the worst.
Speaker 1: Be a good human later, Scott October, Dear Lyle, it's
Speaker 1: good to hear from you. Guido is no longer my neighbor.
Speaker 1: Damn it. They moved him to the pod next door. Nevertheless,
Speaker 1: I can still get the facts to him. Your friend
Speaker 1: at Dateline acts like a bomb would be right in
Speaker 1: front of his face. The balls in Guido's court now,
Speaker 1: so we'll see what happens. Guido showed me news clippings
Speaker 1: of some of his exploits, so he's not just telling
Speaker 1: jail house stories. He's for real. We'll see if this
Speaker 1: pans out or not. I turned forty four on Saturday
Speaker 1: and feel damn lucky. My heart feels twenty one, but
Speaker 1: my body cracks, pops and creeks every time I move.
Speaker 1: I've given up on pop music. I only listened to
Speaker 1: the oldiest station now, much like Al Bundy. Well, that
Speaker 1: covers my end. I'll keep you posted on Guido. I
Speaker 1: don't think he's lying. Take care, peace, be a good
Speaker 1: human Zen is my motto now as always. Scott, October
Speaker 1: thirty one, dear lyle, Happy Halloween. I heard from Guido today,
Speaker 1: so I thought i'd update you. His investigator, Bob Annenberg,
Speaker 1: is in touch with Chris. Chris asked for more info
Speaker 1: and Guido complied. It occurred to me that Chris depends
Speaker 1: on Nexus too much. If it was already news old news,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't be new news, duh. Guido wouldn't have a
Speaker 1: story if it was common knowledge. This has been a
Speaker 1: secret for a long time. Guido is now using it
Speaker 1: to get out of the Arizona prison system. After all,
Speaker 1: he is snitching on other people. We'll see where it goes.
Speaker 1: I'll keep you posted. My aggravation slash mitigation hearing begins
Speaker 1: next Monday. That's where the prosecutor presents to the judge
Speaker 1: reasons why I should be killed, and my side presents
Speaker 1: reasons why I shouldn't. My family is going to be
Speaker 1: here from the fourth through the eight and I'm really
Speaker 1: excited about seeing them. My sister has a sixteen week
Speaker 1: old newborn I'll get to see. I'm a sucker for babies.
Speaker 1: I'll keep you posted on Guido and my legal woes.
Speaker 1: I already know my November sentencing day is going to
Speaker 1: be postponed. Man, living with this type of uncertainty is
Speaker 1: killing me. Literally, Take care, peace, Be a good human
Speaker 1: as always, Scott, and that's it. I don't have any
Speaker 1: more letters. Neither does Lyle Jackson, the journalist who confirmed
Speaker 1: to me that he did correspond with Day for about
Speaker 1: a year. After that, he said he stopped. The letters
Speaker 1: got too creepy and manipulative. He tossed them in the trash.
Speaker 1: Jackson said he has no memory of discussing the bombing
Speaker 1: allegations with Day. Day died in two thousand and six. Okay,
Speaker 1: so a ton to digest here first and foremost, via
Speaker 1: William Scott Day, a serial killer, we now have the
Speaker 1: third known recorded account of Paisley's bombing claim. The other
Speaker 1: two are the transcript of the jail house interview Paisley
Speaker 1: did with investigators in November and the report prepared by
Speaker 1: private investigator Robert Annenberg in August. All three accounts share similarities,
Speaker 1: but there are also major discrepancies between what Paisley told
Speaker 1: investigators and what he told Day, a fellow prisoner. In
Speaker 1: every account, Paisley said that he transported a suitcase to
Speaker 1: Alaska and that the missing congressman's plane was bombed. He
Speaker 1: also repeatedly cited the large life insurance payout Peggy Beggett's
Speaker 1: received after Nick Beggett disappeared. But like I said, there
Speaker 1: are major discrepancies. First, it's important to state the obvious.
Speaker 1: Two accounts were recorded by professional investigators. The third was
Speaker 1: recorded by a fellow prisoner, William Scott Day, who spoke
Speaker 1: to Paisley through an air vent. While Day's letters contain
Speaker 1: details he couldn't possibly have known without speaking to Paisley.
Speaker 1: They also contain minor errors that seemed to be his fault,
Speaker 1: not Paisley's. For example, Dave repeatedly refers to Nick Beggett
Speaker 1: as quote a state congressman. Obviously Beggatte was a US congressman.
Speaker 1: My best guess is that Paisley used the phrase Alaska
Speaker 1: congressman and Dave misinterpreted it. Now that said, onto the discrepancies,
Speaker 1: we have A the suitcase. B Paisley's role see Peggy
Speaker 1: Beggatt's role and d which mob boss was behind the
Speaker 1: bombing A the suitcase. In the first two accounts, Paisley
Speaker 1: claimed that he did not know what was in the
Speaker 1: suitcase he transported to Anchorage in nineteen seventy two until later.
Speaker 1: In the third account, he obviously knew early on that
Speaker 1: it contained explosives. B. Paisley's role. In the first two accounts,
Speaker 1: Paisley said that all he did was fly the suitcase
Speaker 1: to Anchorage. In the third account, he stated that he
Speaker 1: helped piece together a bomb and that he and Danny
Speaker 1: z Ivanitch put it on the congressman's plane See Peggy
Speaker 1: Beggatt's role. In the first two accounts, Paisley said Peggy
Speaker 1: visited Tucson around August nineteen seventy two and knew about
Speaker 1: the plot. In the third, he said she had no
Speaker 1: knowledge of the plot and d which mob boss was
Speaker 1: behind the bombing. In the first two accounts, Paisley implicated
Speaker 1: Joe Bonano. In the third, he said Pete Lacavoli ordered
Speaker 1: the hit. So why the discrepancies? Which version is true?
Speaker 1: Or again, is the entire story falls? Was everything? Paisley said,
Speaker 1: a lie. My best guess is that the truth lies
Speaker 1: somewhere in the middle, but that the third account, the
Speaker 1: unfiltered account shared with a fellow prisoner, not law enforcement,
Speaker 1: is closer to the truth. In the third account, Paisley
Speaker 1: knew the suitcase contained explosives. That makes more sense to
Speaker 1: me than his previous oh shucks, guys, I didn't know
Speaker 1: what was in it statements and notice. In the third account,
Speaker 1: Paisley was very specific, more nuanced, and saying he transported
Speaker 1: the making of a bomb to Alaska, not already to
Speaker 1: go bomb. That makes more sense to me. In the
Speaker 1: third account, William Scott Day wrote that Paisley and Danny
Speaker 1: Zivinich put the bomb together and quote placed aboard the plane.
Speaker 1: Hail Boggs was in Paisley helping to finalize the bomb.
Speaker 1: I can see Paisley helping to put it on the
Speaker 1: missing plane. No, to my knowledge, he was in Arizona,
Speaker 1: not Alaska when the plane disappeared. My best guess is
Speaker 1: that Day misheard part of what Paisley said, but it's
Speaker 1: just as likely that Day heard Paisley correctly and Paisley lied.
Speaker 1: Most importantly, in the third account, Paisley claimed that mob
Speaker 1: boss Pete Lacavoli senor not Joe Bonano, ordered the hit.
Speaker 1: That lines up with what I speculated in episode eleven
Speaker 1: tail end, And let me be clear, we finalized the
Speaker 1: script for episode eleven, which was supposed to be our
Speaker 1: last episode, before we got copies of the third account
Speaker 1: Day's letters. In episode eleven, I cited several pieces of
Speaker 1: information to support my speculation that Paisley subbed in Joe
Speaker 1: Bonano for Pete laka Oli. In the first two accounts,
Speaker 1: one all of the mob connected men in the Peggy
Speaker 1: Paisley wedding photos the red Dot photos were primarily tied
Speaker 1: to the lick of OLiS, not the bananas, and Paisley
Speaker 1: and Peggy honeymoons in Mexico with two of Pete look
Speaker 1: of Oli seniors kids, Pete Jr. And Cathy. Two. The
Speaker 1: Conti KI, where Paisley claimed Peggy met with mob boss
Speaker 1: Joe Bonano, was actually owned in part at least by
Speaker 1: the lick of OLiS, not the Bananas. And three at
Speaker 1: least one FBI informant witnessed Paisley with Pete lick of
Speaker 1: Oli Sr. Only twenty seven days before the congressman disappeared,
Speaker 1: around the same time Paisley said he flew the suitcase
Speaker 1: to Anchorage. Now there's one final discrepancy to examine, and
Speaker 1: that's Peggy Beggett's alleged role in the plot. In this case,
Speaker 1: I tend to believe the first two accounts, and I
Speaker 1: know that seems extremely unfair. But here's why. Something in
Speaker 1: the third account Day's letters strikes me as odd. Here
Speaker 1: two quotes. Quote Guido is tight lipped when it comes
Speaker 1: to his marriage or the motive for killing the state
Speaker 1: congressman end quote, and quote I asked how he met her,
Speaker 1: and he refuses to say end quote. The official story
Speaker 1: is that Paisley and Peggy met at the holiday in
Speaker 1: an Anchorage in late nineteen If true, Why wouldn't Paisley
Speaker 1: just tell that today? Why would he refuse to say
Speaker 1: how he met Peggy? Why would he be quote tight
Speaker 1: lipped about their marriage because usually there's nothing to hide
Speaker 1: about meeting someone at a holiday inn, and he was
Speaker 1: spilling all the other details. On the other hand, if
Speaker 1: Paisley made up the entire thing, well still, why would
Speaker 1: he refuse to say how he met Peggy? If everything
Speaker 1: was a lie? If he wanted to tell Day the
Speaker 1: most colorful story flip it around, wouldn't he just tell
Speaker 1: Day what he told investigators that Peggy met with a
Speaker 1: mob boss at the Contiki. I think Paisley regretted dragging
Speaker 1: Peggy into the story at all, because after the first
Speaker 1: two accounts, he never again claimed that she had any
Speaker 1: role in the alleged bomb plot. It is possible that
Speaker 1: Peggy had no knowledge of or incomplete knowledge of the
Speaker 1: alleged plot. It is possible she was manipulated and used.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Next, I need to address Paisley's allegations
Speaker 1: about j Edgar Hoover. Paisley told Day that Hoover wanted
Speaker 1: hail Bog's dead, but Hoover died in May nineteen seventy two,
Speaker 1: five months before Boggs disappeared, something even William Scott Day
Speaker 1: noted in his letters to me and John Seagan Dollar
Speaker 1: this part sounds off. What makes sense to me is
Speaker 1: that Paisley was entirely sure why the congressman's plane was bombed.
Speaker 1: If his story is true, either version of it. His
Speaker 1: role was at the least to transport a suitcase to
Speaker 1: anchorage and at the most to help build a bomb.
Speaker 1: But I doubt mob leaders would have looped him in
Speaker 1: on their inner thinking their exact motives. Paisley wasn't omnipotent
Speaker 1: if the story is true, It's not like he would
Speaker 1: know every single detail. He wasn't the mastermind. He didn't
Speaker 1: claim to be the mastermind. But obviously if he transported
Speaker 1: a suitcase to anchorage, if he knew the missing plane
Speaker 1: was bombed, of course he would have wondered why, which
Speaker 1: could explain the Hoover angle speculation. Or again, maybe it's
Speaker 1: all bs. Despite flaws, I still think the third account
Speaker 1: via William Scott Day is closer to the truth than
Speaker 1: the first two accounts. And doesn't that make sense to you?
Speaker 1: Tube This was Jerry Paisley speaking with a fellow prisoner
Speaker 1: through an air vent, not to investigators with a tape
Speaker 1: recorder rolling. We don't even know whether or not Paisley
Speaker 1: was aware that Day wrote everything down. Now that said,
Speaker 1: the fact that there are discrepancies between the three accounts
Speaker 1: that can't be explained away as transcription errors immediately and
Speaker 1: understandably calls into question Paisley's integrity. But no surprise here.
Speaker 1: It's not shocking at all to learn that Paisley was
Speaker 1: a liar. The question, obviously, is how much of what
Speaker 1: Paisley said in this particular case is true, how much
Speaker 1: is false? Is it all false? Is it all true
Speaker 1: or at least one version of it? Does the answer
Speaker 1: lie somewhere in the middle. Something else we get from
Speaker 1: the third account a reason why, whether or not he
Speaker 1: told the truth, Paisley spoke at all, a motive. Day
Speaker 1: wrote that Paisley wanted to transfer to a federal prison,
Speaker 1: that he wanted to get out of the Arizona prison system,
Speaker 1: but that never happened. Paisley remained incarcerated in Arizona until
Speaker 1: he died in Nevertheless, we have, for the first time
Speaker 1: a reason why Paisley either snitched or told a fairy tale. Finally,
Speaker 1: we know Paisley spoke with three Arizona and Alaska investigators
Speaker 1: plus one journalist. But did Paisley speak directly with the FBI.
Speaker 1: Did the FBI interview Paisley? The answer here is still unclear.
Speaker 1: Tom Davis, the Arizona investigator who knew Paisley for decades,
Speaker 1: observed his wedding to Peggy Baggage and helped interview him
Speaker 1: in is certain Paisley did speak with the FBI, and
Speaker 1: Paisley himself said he was speaking with quote, the Feds.
Speaker 1: But in the FBI documents I obtained, there's no proof
Speaker 1: that the bureau interviewed Paisley directly. That said, the FBI
Speaker 1: also excluded copies of William Scott Day's letters, which I
Speaker 1: only obtained thanks to a diligent archivists. If the FBI
Speaker 1: did interview Paisley, then the bureau has yet another account
Speaker 1: of the alleged assassination, a fourth account. Now, obviously I
Speaker 1: don't have the power to compel the FBI to reveal anything,
Speaker 1: but Congress does. So if you're a lawmaker, or you
Speaker 1: work on Capitol Hill or in national media, do something.
Speaker 1: If you work in Alaska media and a shout out
Speaker 1: again to the Anchorage Daily News, which still hasn't reported
Speaker 1: this story. Do something. If you want us to search
Speaker 1: port edges again with better equipment, do something. We need
Speaker 1: your help this week. Your task is to listen to
Speaker 1: all three accounts of the alleged bombing and compare them.
Speaker 1: Go back and re listen to episode five the transcript
Speaker 1: and to one of our bonuses, the p I Report.
Speaker 1: Then re listen to this episode. Take notes, compare the accounts,
Speaker 1: tell us what you think. You can reach us by
Speaker 1: phone at one eight three three m I A tips
Speaker 1: that's one eight three three six four two eight four
Speaker 1: seven seven again one eight three three six four two
Speaker 1: eight four seven seven, or you can reach us via
Speaker 1: email at tips at iHeart media dot com. That's tips
Speaker 1: t I P S at I heeart media dot com.
Speaker 1: An important note, none of the people Jerry Paisley claimed
Speaker 1: took part in or had knowledge of the alleged bombing,
Speaker 1: Joe Binano, Pete Lakavoli, Joey A. Tarola, Danny Zivanich, Geene Fowler,
Speaker 1: Larry Fowler, or Peggy Baggage were ever charged with or
Speaker 1: convicted of any crimes tied to any of Paisley's allegations.
Speaker 1: Peggy Baggat and Danny Zavinich declined multiple requests for an
Speaker 1: on the record interview. Gene Fowler was unavailable for an interview.
Speaker 1: Joe Binano, Pete Lakavoli, Joe Iya Tarrola, and Larry Fowler
Speaker 1: are dead. Finally, I want to clarify something about which
Speaker 1: there has been a good deal of confusion. In one
Speaker 1: of our bonus episodes, The Last Ham, I interviewed Joe Tatum,
Speaker 1: the only person alive who heard the mysterious radio transmission
Speaker 1: the day the Congressman disappeared, the transmission in which a
Speaker 1: man claimed to be the missing planes pilot. Twice during
Speaker 1: the course of this show, I stated that the Air
Speaker 1: Force believed the transmission to be a hoax. But still
Speaker 1: we've heard from a flood of people who want to
Speaker 1: know what I think. To be clear, I agree with
Speaker 1: the Air Force. I think the transmission was a hoax.
Speaker 1: Like the Air Force, I do believe that the HAM
Speaker 1: operators heard a transmission, but the transmission itself was likely fake.
Speaker 1: Ben Bowen is our executive producer. Paul Decan is our
Speaker 1: supervising producer. Chris Brown is our assistant producer. Seth Nicholas
Speaker 1: Johnson is our producer. Sam T. Garden is our research assistant,
Speaker 1: and I'm your host and executive producer, John Wallzac. You
Speaker 1: can find me on Twitter at at John Wallzac j
Speaker 1: O n W A L e z A K special
Speaker 1: thanks to Zach Johnson, the archivists who processed John Seagan
Speaker 1: Thaler's papers, and to the special Collections and University Archives
Speaker 1: at Vanderbilt University. Archives are amazing, y'all. This show would
Speaker 1: be a hollow shell without them, and like nearly everything else,
Speaker 1: they're facing huge financial shortfalls as a result of pandemic
Speaker 1: budget cuts. So when possible, please support archives, either directly
Speaker 1: through donations or vocally to your elected officials and university leaders.
Speaker 1: Archives preserve history. They're important. I'm not sure when we
Speaker 1: will be back, but trust me, we are still pursuing
Speaker 1: this story so again, and I know you'll probably hate
Speaker 1: me for saying this. Stay tuned. Missing in Alaska is
Speaker 1: a co production of I Heart Media and Greenfork Media.