1 00:00:01,720 --> 00:00:02,920 Speaker 1: Col Zone Media. 2 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,399 Speaker 2: This is a story that begins and ends in bank 3 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 2: parking lots, more or less in the way that stories 4 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 2: can really begin or end. 5 00:00:17,880 --> 00:00:19,759 Speaker 1: Our subject today was alive. 6 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 2: Before the story begins, and as I'm writing this, he's 7 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:25,640 Speaker 2: still alive. But for the purposes of this telling, we'll 8 00:00:25,680 --> 00:00:29,320 Speaker 2: start outside the Palisade Trust Company Bank in Englewood, New Jersey, 9 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,920 Speaker 2: on February twenty third, nineteen sixty two, when an eighteen 10 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,559 Speaker 2: year old member of the American Nazi Party was arrested 11 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:37,640 Speaker 2: after skipping school to try to rob a bank with 12 00:00:37,800 --> 00:00:40,559 Speaker 2: a toy gun, and will mark the beginning of the 13 00:00:40,640 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 2: end of his story in a Wells Fargo parking lot 14 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:47,440 Speaker 2: in Garden City, Idaho, on October thirteenth, twenty eighteen, when 15 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 2: an elderly ex con was caught on security cam footage 16 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 2: getting into an altercation with a couple who didn't move 17 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 2: forward quickly enough at the drive up atm In the 18 00:00:56,720 --> 00:00:59,639 Speaker 2: decades in between, Frank Sweeney went to prison at least 19 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 2: half a day times bought as a foreign mercenary, got 20 00:01:02,840 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 2: deported from both Rhodesia and South Africa, helped an escaped 21 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 2: spy of ade U S Marshals turned state's witness against 22 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 2: a Hitler worshiping serial killer, tried to help the mob, 23 00:01:13,319 --> 00:01:16,640 Speaker 2: and waged a three year campaign of terror and harassment 24 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:19,960 Speaker 2: against a woman who made a passing comment about how 25 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 2: he was parked outside the post office. I'm Molly Conger, 26 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:43,759 Speaker 2: and this is brune, little guys, this. 27 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:45,480 Speaker 1: Is a strange one. 28 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 2: The first few episodes of this show were stories I 29 00:01:48,760 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 2: already knew and thought you should know too. Kevin Strom 30 00:01:52,880 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 2: was a prominent figure in the white supremacist movement for decades, 31 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,120 Speaker 2: and it was big local news here in Charlesville when 32 00:01:58,120 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 2: he was arrested twenty years ago. The Gerald Drake case 33 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:04,440 Speaker 2: was something I read about when it happened. The cases 34 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 2: against the gun trafficking Nazi paramilitary group was a story 35 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 2: I spent years reading, paying ten cents a page, one 36 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:12,799 Speaker 2: court filing at a time as it wound its way 37 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:17,519 Speaker 2: through the system. But this one, this one is brand 38 00:02:17,600 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 2: new to me, and I think he will be brand 39 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,640 Speaker 2: new to just about everybody, because for as many times 40 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:26,079 Speaker 2: as this man shows up in the newspaper over the 41 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:30,280 Speaker 2: last sixty years, I haven't found any one's source that's 42 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:34,000 Speaker 2: gathered together the threads of his life and tried to 43 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 2: make sense of how one man's name could appear in 44 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 2: so many other people's stories, because that's where I found him. 45 00:02:43,240 --> 00:02:48,200 Speaker 2: In someone else's story. I was reading a biography of 46 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 2: a particularly nasty little guy one will definitely get to 47 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 2: eventually in another episode when my weird little guide detector 48 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 2: went off. Call it a gut feeling, but this passing 49 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:03,840 Speaker 2: mention of a side character in the life of a 50 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 2: serial killer was enough to get me to put that 51 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:11,120 Speaker 2: book down and spend days digging through newspaper archives trying 52 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:12,799 Speaker 2: to figure out Frank. 53 00:03:14,440 --> 00:03:15,840 Speaker 1: And what I found was kind of. 54 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:20,919 Speaker 2: A bizarro world Forest Gump, one man whose life keeps 55 00:03:20,960 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 2: intersecting with major historical events, just wandering in and out 56 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:29,280 Speaker 2: of the lives of gullible reporters, frustrated federal agents and 57 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:35,560 Speaker 2: the innocent bystanders who accidentally became his targets, just bumbling 58 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:39,760 Speaker 2: his way through history, but without any of Tom Hanks's charm. 59 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 2: I know we don't really know each other yet. I 60 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 2: haven't earned the trust it takes to know you'll believe 61 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 2: me when I promise you a two parter is worth 62 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 2: the weight in between. 63 00:03:48,320 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: But I think you'll agree. 64 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 2: Frank's story is weird enough for two episodes. Frank Abbott 65 00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 2: Sweeney Junior was born in August of nineteen forty three 66 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 2: in New Jersey, to Frank Abbott Sweeney Senior, a realtor, 67 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 2: and Marie Gleeson Sweeney, a homemaker who taught violin lessons 68 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 2: and volunteered with the Red Cross. As a lifelong con artist, 69 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:12,720 Speaker 2: a lot of what he's told reporters about his own 70 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:16,920 Speaker 2: life is self serving fiction, which would sometimes get published 71 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,920 Speaker 2: without fact checking and then reappear in later accounts as fact. 72 00:04:20,560 --> 00:04:22,040 Speaker 1: It was in the newspaper, after all. 73 00:04:22,960 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 2: So I've taken great pains to verify what I can, 74 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 2: debunk what I can, and take note of the things 75 00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 2: I can only offer you with a grain of salt. 76 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:36,560 Speaker 2: Some of Frank's own lies are easily disproved, like the 77 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,719 Speaker 2: resume he gave a Rhodesian Army recruiter on it. He 78 00:04:39,760 --> 00:04:43,159 Speaker 2: claimed he graduated from Georgetown University in nineteen sixty five 79 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,839 Speaker 2: at the degree in psychology, but he couldn't possibly have 80 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 2: matriculated at Georgetown in nineteen sixty one. He was a 81 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 2: senior at Tenafly High School in nineteen sixty two when 82 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:55,160 Speaker 2: he was sent to the Annandell Reformatory for two and 83 00:04:55,200 --> 00:04:59,599 Speaker 2: a half years. He never finished high school. His claim 84 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 2: that has as Francis Shellhammer derives from his mother's maiden 85 00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:06,800 Speaker 2: name also fails to hold up to scrutiny. His mother 86 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:10,080 Speaker 2: was born Marie Gleeson to John Gleeson, a fireman, and 87 00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 2: Lottie Gross Gleason in Chicago, and I was generous here. 88 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:18,240 Speaker 2: I wasted a lot of time. I even checked his grandparents. 89 00:05:18,440 --> 00:05:21,920 Speaker 2: His middle name, Abbott was his paternal grandmother Martha's maiden name. 90 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,040 Speaker 2: I went as far as to track his family treat 91 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:28,160 Speaker 2: all the way back to Ireland, giving him the benefit 92 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:30,280 Speaker 2: of the doubt that maybe there's a shell Hammer in 93 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 2: there somewhere. 94 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:32,599 Speaker 1: I didn't find one. 95 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:36,839 Speaker 2: It's possible that I started mixing up my Martha's, Mary's, 96 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 2: John's and Francis's by the time I was cross referencing 97 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 2: marriage records from the eighteen seventies. 98 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: But he probably just made it up. 99 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:47,599 Speaker 2: He does a lot of that and other aspects of 100 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 2: Frank's story would require a trip to the National Archive 101 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:54,000 Speaker 2: to sift through dusty boxes of ancient court transcripts, and 102 00:05:54,640 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 2: an unlikely degree of transparency from the Central Intelligence Agency 103 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:01,719 Speaker 2: or a deathbed confession from mobster, or a few tell 104 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:05,560 Speaker 2: all memoirs from US marshalls to ever hope to sort out. 105 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:11,600 Speaker 2: The rest is somewhere in between. But I'll stick with 106 00:06:11,640 --> 00:06:14,480 Speaker 2: what we do know to be true. And I said 107 00:06:14,480 --> 00:06:18,600 Speaker 2: this story begins outside of a bank. On February twenty third, 108 00:06:18,680 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 2: nineteen sixty two, Frank Sweeney skipped school. Shortly after nine am. 109 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:27,000 Speaker 2: He walked into a bank in Englewood, New Jersey, approached 110 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:29,680 Speaker 2: the teller and slid a plastic toy gun that he'd 111 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:33,719 Speaker 2: painted black out of a Manila envelope. I'd like to 112 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:36,719 Speaker 2: make a withdrawal, he told the teller as he cocked 113 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 2: the toy pistol. I don't know if the teller could 114 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:43,880 Speaker 2: tell the gun was fake, or if she just didn't 115 00:06:43,880 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 2: think this gangly, redheaded teenager had it in him to 116 00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:49,840 Speaker 2: shoot her, or maybe she just was having a bad 117 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:54,440 Speaker 2: day and didn't care anymore, because, according to local news reports, 118 00:06:55,000 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 2: she sneered at him, got up and walked away, leading 119 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:02,480 Speaker 2: him standing there alone at the counter with his toy 120 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:06,880 Speaker 2: gun and bewildered by the teller's apparent disinterest in being 121 00:07:06,920 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 2: held at gunpoint, he just put the plastic pistol back 122 00:07:10,480 --> 00:07:14,160 Speaker 2: in his pocket, turned around and walked out the front door, 123 00:07:15,240 --> 00:07:17,720 Speaker 2: and as he was leaving, an off duty policeman just 124 00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 2: happened to be walking into the bank. An employee told 125 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 2: the officer what had just happened, and he turned right 126 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 2: around and caught Frank just outside. He dragged him back 127 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:29,840 Speaker 2: inside the bank to be identified by the teller, and 128 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:35,520 Speaker 2: as the patrolman is making the arrest, Frank says to him. 129 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:35,760 Speaker 1: Well, I guess it didn't work. 130 00:07:37,200 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 2: Later, under interrogation, he would tell the officers that his 131 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 2: plan had been to support the movement to use the 132 00:07:43,520 --> 00:07:45,840 Speaker 2: money from the bank robbery to support the activities of 133 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:50,440 Speaker 2: the American Nazi Party under George Lincoln Rockwell. At his arraignment, 134 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 2: the judge asked, Frank, aren't you the fellow who's been 135 00:07:53,400 --> 00:07:58,120 Speaker 2: painting swastikas on synagogues around here. Frank denied this, and 136 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:01,080 Speaker 2: he told the judge I never did anything illegal in 137 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 2: my life, and then he pleaded guilty to the attempted 138 00:08:05,200 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 2: bank robbery. There's no other mention of Frank in connection 139 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:11,320 Speaker 2: with that anti Semitic vandalism the judge mentioned, But I 140 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:14,200 Speaker 2: did find several newspaper articles about incidents of that sort 141 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:16,720 Speaker 2: from the prior to years when Frank would have still 142 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 2: been a minor. In January nineteen sixty three, unnamed teenage 143 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:24,120 Speaker 2: boys were accused of painting swastikas on parked cars in Emerson, 144 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 2: just eight miles away. In February of nineteen sixty one, 145 00:08:27,960 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 2: someone hung a swastika banner over the entrance of the 146 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:33,920 Speaker 2: synagogue in Tenafly. Newspaper articles about that banner reference a 147 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 2: similar recent incident at the synagogue in nearby Englewood. A 148 00:08:38,120 --> 00:08:41,160 Speaker 2: few days later, someone painted a swastika over a plaque nearby. 149 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 2: In June, two teenage boys respotted fleeing the scene after 150 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:47,679 Speaker 2: two trailers belonging to a contract or were broken into 151 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 2: and left a swastika painted on the floor inside. In 152 00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:53,640 Speaker 2: all these incidents, police told the papers of the time 153 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,400 Speaker 2: that they had referred the cases to the juvenile Division. 154 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:00,400 Speaker 2: It's not like anti Semitic incidents are so rare that 155 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 2: I'm saying that Frank is the only possible suspect here. 156 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:07,160 Speaker 2: In every nineteen sixties Bergen County News article about a swastika, 157 00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:10,680 Speaker 2: I found plenty of other newspaper reports during those same 158 00:09:10,760 --> 00:09:13,760 Speaker 2: two years about a local man flying a Swastika flag 159 00:09:13,760 --> 00:09:16,760 Speaker 2: outside of his home, about attacks on Jewish businesses and 160 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:20,280 Speaker 2: synagogues and neighboring cities, and other incidents that just don't 161 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:25,240 Speaker 2: fit this particular pattern of teenage Nazi vandalism, and the 162 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:27,959 Speaker 2: comment the judge made makes it sound like Frank had 163 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:31,319 Speaker 2: been there before. But any appearance he'd made in court 164 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:33,560 Speaker 2: as a miner wouldn't have been reported with his name 165 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:36,320 Speaker 2: attached to it. And it's hard enough to get any 166 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:39,160 Speaker 2: information about a juvenile case in twenty twenty four, so 167 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:42,080 Speaker 2: forget figuring out what how about in nineteen sixty one, 168 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:46,240 Speaker 2: But it does seem pretty likely he'd at least been 169 00:09:46,280 --> 00:09:49,319 Speaker 2: a suspect in some of those incidents, because at the 170 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:51,760 Speaker 2: hearing where he pled guilty to the attempt at bank robbery, 171 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:54,559 Speaker 2: Frank did admit that the police had spoken to him 172 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:59,600 Speaker 2: on numerous occasions, specifically concerning his involvement in George Lincoln 173 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:04,240 Speaker 2: Rockwell American Nazi Party. For the attempted bank robbery, Frank 174 00:10:04,320 --> 00:10:08,840 Speaker 2: was sentenced to an indeterminate term at a boy's reformatory, 175 00:10:09,480 --> 00:10:11,760 Speaker 2: and he was released on October of nineteen sixty four, 176 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:15,000 Speaker 2: shortly after his twenty first birthday after serving About two 177 00:10:15,040 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 2: and a half years after his first stint in jail, 178 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 2: Frank returned to his parents' home in New Jersey. He 179 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:25,000 Speaker 2: worked occasionally as a shipping clerk, but it doesn't seem 180 00:10:25,040 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 2: like he was holding down a steady job. One afternoon 181 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:32,480 Speaker 2: in July of nineteen sixty seven, neighbors reported hearing gunshots 182 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:35,400 Speaker 2: in the woods. An officer drove by to check it 183 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:37,040 Speaker 2: out and saw a car parked on the side of 184 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 2: the road. The car looked empty, so the officer kept 185 00:10:39,840 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 2: driving without stopping to investigate. Suddenly, the car pulled out 186 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:46,000 Speaker 2: behind him and tried to run the officer off the road. 187 00:10:46,559 --> 00:10:49,040 Speaker 2: A brief vehicle chase ensued, with the officer following the 188 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,920 Speaker 2: vehicle for about a mile before the driver. Frank parked 189 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:56,440 Speaker 2: outside of his parents' home, got out and walked toward 190 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:57,040 Speaker 2: the front door. 191 00:10:58,240 --> 00:10:59,120 Speaker 1: The officer asked. 192 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:00,839 Speaker 2: Frank if he'd been shooting guns in the woods, to 193 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:05,079 Speaker 2: which Frank replied only no, and then warned the officer 194 00:11:05,120 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 2: that he was on private property for walking away and 195 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 2: into the house. But Frank left something on the front 196 00:11:12,920 --> 00:11:16,960 Speaker 2: seat of the car, unfortunately, and it was a Thompson 197 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:21,200 Speaker 2: submachine gun that he'd been firing in the woods. The 198 00:11:21,240 --> 00:11:23,920 Speaker 2: officer saw the gun and called for backup, and when 199 00:11:23,960 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 2: they arrived, Frank opened fire on them from inside the home, 200 00:11:28,080 --> 00:11:30,719 Speaker 2: kicking off a seventy five minute gun battle, with more 201 00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:33,520 Speaker 2: than a dozen cops firing shots at the house. As 202 00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:37,720 Speaker 2: Frank fired at them through the windows, Frank's father and 203 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:40,320 Speaker 2: brother pleaded with him to come out, or at least 204 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:44,120 Speaker 2: to send the family dog out. After police Captain Peter 205 00:11:44,200 --> 00:11:47,080 Speaker 2: Zurla was shot in the arm, the officers lobbed four 206 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 2: canisters of tear gas through the windows, finally driving Frank 207 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:51,840 Speaker 2: out into the front yard, where he was arrested without 208 00:11:51,840 --> 00:11:55,120 Speaker 2: further incident. And as they put the handcuffs on him, 209 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:58,360 Speaker 2: he turned to Captain Zerla, who's still standing there in 210 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:01,680 Speaker 2: the front yard bleeding from a gun shot wound, and 211 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 2: Frank says, some shot when I got you through the window. 212 00:12:05,000 --> 00:12:06,679 Speaker 1: Huh. 213 00:12:06,760 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 2: There's no follow up I can find about whether the 214 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:11,240 Speaker 2: dog was heard, or how missus Sweeney got the tear 215 00:12:11,280 --> 00:12:14,400 Speaker 2: gas out of her upholstery. It was the sixties, so 216 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:17,440 Speaker 2: maybe her sofa was safely scotch guarded or wrapped up 217 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:19,800 Speaker 2: in one of those weird plastic covers. That were popular 218 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,680 Speaker 2: back then, but you have to figure she at least 219 00:12:22,679 --> 00:12:26,600 Speaker 2: had to replace the curtains. Frank entered a not guilty 220 00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 2: plea and unsuccessfully tried to suppress the evidence of the 221 00:12:29,360 --> 00:12:31,400 Speaker 2: gun found on the front seat of the car, with 222 00:12:31,520 --> 00:12:33,920 Speaker 2: his attorney arguing that it was discovered in an illegal 223 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:36,719 Speaker 2: search because the cop didn't have probable cause to look 224 00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:40,199 Speaker 2: through the window of the parked car. That's not how 225 00:12:40,240 --> 00:12:44,520 Speaker 2: that works. At trial, the defense put on three psychiatrists 226 00:12:44,559 --> 00:12:46,959 Speaker 2: to argue for insanity, and the state put on two 227 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:50,400 Speaker 2: of their own, who testified that Frank was certainly disturbed, 228 00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:54,800 Speaker 2: but not legally insane. The jury deliberated for just three 229 00:12:54,880 --> 00:12:58,720 Speaker 2: hours before finding Frank guilty of attempted homicide, assault with 230 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:02,080 Speaker 2: the intent to kill, possession of a machine gun, and 231 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:06,599 Speaker 2: something called atrocious assault that I've never heard of. We 232 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:09,360 Speaker 2: don't have that here in Virginia, but in New Jersey, 233 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:12,960 Speaker 2: atrocious assault is an assault and battery, savage and cruel 234 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:16,240 Speaker 2: in character which results in maiming or wounding. 235 00:13:16,760 --> 00:13:18,640 Speaker 1: So that definitely qualifies. 236 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:24,959 Speaker 2: And he was sentenced to six years, which, honestly, that's 237 00:13:25,040 --> 00:13:28,360 Speaker 2: kind of remarkable, right. I'm not going to bat for 238 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:30,560 Speaker 2: the corsoral state here. Far from it, you know more, 239 00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:34,960 Speaker 2: jail time doesn't really fix anybody, and we'll come to 240 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:38,200 Speaker 2: see that jail never comes close to fixing Frank. But 241 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,280 Speaker 2: reading those sixties news stories about this event was fascinating. 242 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:45,200 Speaker 2: This cop who got shot by a Nazi with a 243 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:50,319 Speaker 2: Tommy gun is described in every article as quote lightly wounded. 244 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 2: I mean, he does seem to have not been seriously injured. 245 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:56,559 Speaker 2: He was shot, you know, in the upper arm. I 246 00:13:56,600 --> 00:13:58,240 Speaker 2: don't think it went through the bone, so it really 247 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:01,920 Speaker 2: he was lightly wounded. But that's not what they would 248 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:05,440 Speaker 2: put in the newspaper today, you know it. And the 249 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:07,360 Speaker 2: cops didn't drive a tank through the front of this 250 00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,320 Speaker 2: suburban home or unload their guns into him when he 251 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:13,679 Speaker 2: came out. There's been such a massive culture shift over 252 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:16,520 Speaker 2: the years and the way we justify aggressive police response 253 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:20,080 Speaker 2: and the way that we talk about the risk to police. 254 00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:25,120 Speaker 2: It's just interesting to see that it wasn't always that way. 255 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,560 Speaker 2: But there's another unanswered question in the story of this 256 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:32,800 Speaker 2: siege in this New York suburb. What was he doing 257 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:36,239 Speaker 2: that day? I mean shooting guns in the woods, obviously, 258 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:40,720 Speaker 2: but why did he panic when that cop drove by 259 00:14:40,800 --> 00:14:45,400 Speaker 2: and why those woods in particular, We'll never really know. 260 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:48,320 Speaker 2: Even if he told us, we wouldn't know. He's a liar. 261 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:53,160 Speaker 2: But the newspaper articles at the time do say that 262 00:14:53,200 --> 00:14:56,000 Speaker 2: the officer initially saw Frank's car parked at the intersection 263 00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:58,880 Speaker 2: of East Clinton Avenue and Woodland Street, about a mile 264 00:14:58,920 --> 00:14:59,760 Speaker 2: from where Frank lived. 265 00:14:59,760 --> 00:15:03,040 Speaker 1: At the time. They used to put everything in the newspaper. 266 00:15:03,080 --> 00:15:07,840 Speaker 2: It's so beautiful, every detail, every boring little bit in 267 00:15:07,920 --> 00:15:08,320 Speaker 2: which they. 268 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:08,800 Speaker 1: Still did that. 269 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:14,160 Speaker 2: And I'm eternally curious about details that probably won't end 270 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:16,480 Speaker 2: up mattering. But I pulled up a map of ten 271 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:19,440 Speaker 2: of Flying, New Jersey, and there is a large wooded 272 00:15:19,480 --> 00:15:21,640 Speaker 2: area you could walk straight into if you parked your 273 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:25,400 Speaker 2: car at that intersection, And those woods surround a large 274 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:28,960 Speaker 2: building that first opened its doors in nineteen fifty, the 275 00:15:29,040 --> 00:15:46,720 Speaker 2: Kaplan Jewish Community Center. The clearest account of the next 276 00:15:46,720 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 2: phase of Frank's life comes from an essay written in 277 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:54,720 Speaker 2: twenty nineteen by a retired Rhodesian military policeman. Despite being 278 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:58,840 Speaker 2: the most likely to be more or less true, it's 279 00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:02,960 Speaker 2: still riddled with obvious factual inaccuracies, things that just can't 280 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:06,680 Speaker 2: be true. Maybe because it was written as a humorous 281 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 2: recollection meant to be read by his fellow former Rhodesian soldiers, 282 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:12,320 Speaker 2: and maybe his memory has faded a bit in the 283 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,760 Speaker 2: nearly fifty years since the event in question, but it 284 00:16:15,760 --> 00:16:19,040 Speaker 2: does at the very least substantiate Frank's own claim about 285 00:16:19,040 --> 00:16:21,800 Speaker 2: having enlisted in the Rhodesian Light Infantry in the early 286 00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:26,120 Speaker 2: nineteen seventies. I'll try to walk the tight rope here 287 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 2: of providing a little more context than just Rhodesia was 288 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:33,160 Speaker 2: very bad and white supremacists from other countries were obsessed 289 00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 2: with the idea that they could travel there to kill 290 00:16:34,920 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 2: black people with impunity, while still stopping short of taking 291 00:16:38,080 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 2: us down the long road of the history and consequences 292 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:44,800 Speaker 2: of European colonization in Africa. That's far from my area 293 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:47,240 Speaker 2: of expertise, and it's not why you're here. 294 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: Now. 295 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 2: Even if you're coming into this with a completely blank 296 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:56,240 Speaker 2: slate for some reason, you're probably thinking there's no country 297 00:16:56,280 --> 00:17:02,080 Speaker 2: called Rhodesia, and you're right, there is. There never really was. 298 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:06,600 Speaker 2: Rhodesia was never recognized as a sovereign state. But we're 299 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:09,640 Speaker 2: calling Rhodesia here as the present day state of Zimbabwe 300 00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:13,159 Speaker 2: in southern Africa. In the early twentieth century, Rhodesia was 301 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,439 Speaker 2: a British territory. The legacy of Cecil Roads is British 302 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:19,919 Speaker 2: South Africa Company. The area was effectively ruled by the 303 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:22,280 Speaker 2: company until the nineteen twenties, when it became a self 304 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:25,840 Speaker 2: governing colony of the UK, and by the nineteen fifties 305 00:17:25,880 --> 00:17:30,520 Speaker 2: decolonization was happening all across the African continent. These fading 306 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:34,480 Speaker 2: European empires couldn't or didn't want to hold on to 307 00:17:34,560 --> 00:17:37,560 Speaker 2: all the colonies they'd collected during the previous centuries scramble 308 00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 2: for Africa. In nineteen sixty British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan 309 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,359 Speaker 2: gave his Wind of Change speech in an address to 310 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:47,720 Speaker 2: the South African Parliament about the political necessity of moving 311 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:53,440 Speaker 2: toward decolonization. The wind of change is blowing through this continent, 312 00:17:54,680 --> 00:18:00,320 Speaker 2: whether we like it or not. This growth national consciousness 313 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:05,760 Speaker 2: is a political fact. We was all accepted as a fact. 314 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:09,680 Speaker 3: Our national policies must take a contribute. 315 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 2: He'd actually given the same speech a few weeks earlier 316 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:15,480 Speaker 2: in Ghana, but the press didn't pick it up the 317 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:19,199 Speaker 2: first time. And I think the whether we like it 318 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:21,840 Speaker 2: or not part of that statement matters a lot. 319 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:25,639 Speaker 1: Here. He wasn't advocating for decolonization out of the goodness 320 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:26,200 Speaker 1: of his heart. 321 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:30,960 Speaker 2: He was reluctantly acknowledging the expensive and bloody political reality 322 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,320 Speaker 2: of trying to hold on to these colonies at any cost. 323 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:36,600 Speaker 2: He could see the Belgians and Congo, and the French 324 00:18:36,600 --> 00:18:39,800 Speaker 2: in Algeria fighting these costly wars with Africans who wanted 325 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:44,040 Speaker 2: an end to European colonial rule, and as they worked 326 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:47,440 Speaker 2: towards extricating themselves from these colonial arrangements, the British government 327 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:52,320 Speaker 2: adopted a policy called no independence before majority rule, meaning 328 00:18:52,320 --> 00:18:55,000 Speaker 2: they wouldn't hand over sovereignty to a colony still run 329 00:18:55,040 --> 00:18:59,919 Speaker 2: exclusively by the white colonial minority. Now, obviously, this is 330 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:03,600 Speaker 2: an immensely complicated bit of political history that I'm stripping 331 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:06,280 Speaker 2: down to the studs and explaining badly so we get 332 00:19:06,280 --> 00:19:08,679 Speaker 2: through it quickly. So don't think I'm giving the British 333 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:12,720 Speaker 2: Empire any kind of credit here. This policy did not 334 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:15,520 Speaker 2: arise out of a genuine desire to undo the harms 335 00:19:15,520 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 2: of colonialism and address racism or anything like that. That 336 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:23,280 Speaker 2: was not on their minds. But I think they knew 337 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:27,000 Speaker 2: what it would look like if their decolonization looked exactly 338 00:19:27,040 --> 00:19:29,679 Speaker 2: like their colony. And we're not talking about a pr 339 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:30,280 Speaker 2: loss here. 340 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:31,359 Speaker 1: This is the Cold War. 341 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:34,280 Speaker 2: They don't want to give the Soviets an opportunity to 342 00:19:34,280 --> 00:19:38,040 Speaker 2: come in behind them. But it was this policy, or 343 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:41,199 Speaker 2: rather defiance of it, that led Rhodesia under Ian Smith 344 00:19:41,280 --> 00:19:45,440 Speaker 2: to make the unilateral declaration of independence in nineteen sixty five. 345 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:49,400 Speaker 2: White colonists made up just five percent of the population 346 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:51,800 Speaker 2: of the territory, but they were unwilling to accept that 347 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:54,760 Speaker 2: the UK would only grant Rhodesian independence if they shared 348 00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:58,679 Speaker 2: even a crumb of political power with the other ninety 349 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 2: five percent of Rhodesia. And apologies again for these digressions. 350 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:06,680 Speaker 2: I just love the context. I think it's so important. 351 00:20:07,880 --> 00:20:10,520 Speaker 2: But that brings us to where we were going. The 352 00:20:10,600 --> 00:20:14,200 Speaker 2: Rhodesian Bush War a fifteen year period of civil conflict 353 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:17,240 Speaker 2: between the white minority led government and the African nationalist 354 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:22,440 Speaker 2: guerrilla forces. The number of foreign mercenaries who actually traveled 355 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:26,520 Speaker 2: to Rhodesia during the war remains up for debate. Most 356 00:20:26,560 --> 00:20:29,760 Speaker 2: of the countries the mercenaries came from were embarrassed by 357 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:33,600 Speaker 2: the whole affair. International sanctions levied against the territory after 358 00:20:33,600 --> 00:20:37,440 Speaker 2: the illegal declaration of independence made it illegal for citizens 359 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:40,479 Speaker 2: of many countries to participate in the conflict, even in 360 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:44,000 Speaker 2: countries that didn't have their own domestic laws banning mercenary activity. 361 00:20:45,359 --> 00:20:48,080 Speaker 2: And there was some discomfort within Rhodesia too about this 362 00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:50,679 Speaker 2: perception that they needed foreigners to help with what they 363 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:56,360 Speaker 2: saw as their war for independence. So, for deeply unflattering 364 00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:00,520 Speaker 2: and regrettable reasons, no one was very investing and getting 365 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:04,000 Speaker 2: a thorough accounting of the situation, right, nobody benefits from 366 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:08,199 Speaker 2: knowing what happened here. But at the high end, it 367 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:12,080 Speaker 2: was really only a few thousand mercenaries over the total 368 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:15,359 Speaker 2: course of the conflict, with best estimates for the number 369 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:18,800 Speaker 2: of them who were Americans being somewhere in the low hundreds. 370 00:21:19,640 --> 00:21:23,960 Speaker 2: So a lot of guys talked about it, but not 371 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:28,240 Speaker 2: very many of them actually did it. This idea of 372 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:32,280 Speaker 2: American extremists traveling to Africa to violently enforce white rule 373 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:36,320 Speaker 2: over black Africans is one that modern white supremacists still 374 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:40,880 Speaker 2: cherish and celebrate. Dylan Rufe, who was welcomed with open 375 00:21:41,000 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 2: arms at an evening Bible study at a manual African 376 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 2: Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina registered the domain 377 00:21:48,359 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 2: last Rhodesian dot com a few months before he murdered 378 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 2: nine of the parishioners who thought he was joining them 379 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:57,520 Speaker 2: for prayer that night. Rufe made his final edit to 380 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:01,119 Speaker 2: that site his digital manifesto, just out before carrying out 381 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:06,000 Speaker 2: that attack. In twenty fifteen. The cultural moment where magazines 382 00:22:06,040 --> 00:22:09,680 Speaker 2: like Soldier of Fortune ran full page advertisements for opportunities 383 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,159 Speaker 2: to be a man among men in the African bush 384 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:16,960 Speaker 2: looms large in our memories, But the reality is there 385 00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:20,159 Speaker 2: weren't many men who actually heeded the call, and their 386 00:22:20,240 --> 00:22:25,439 Speaker 2: role in the conflict was insignificant. But unlike many of 387 00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:28,600 Speaker 2: those Americans who did end up in Rhodesia in the seventies, 388 00:22:29,080 --> 00:22:32,920 Speaker 2: Frank Sweeney didn't see an advertisement in Soldier of Fortune. 389 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:35,959 Speaker 2: That magazine's first issue, bearing a cover story about American 390 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:39,280 Speaker 2: mercenaries in Africa, was published in the summer of nineteen 391 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:42,399 Speaker 2: seventy five, just as Frank Sweeney was already on his 392 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:47,200 Speaker 2: way home. According to Frank, which is a dangerous way 393 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:50,119 Speaker 2: to start an assertion of fact. He walked into the 394 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:53,879 Speaker 2: Rhodesian Information Center in Washington, d C. In nineteen seventy 395 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:58,240 Speaker 2: two and asked how to join up. The information center 396 00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:02,639 Speaker 2: was not technical a diplomatic office because Rhodesia was not 397 00:23:03,160 --> 00:23:06,080 Speaker 2: technically a country, the fact that would get them into 398 00:23:06,080 --> 00:23:08,960 Speaker 2: some trouble in Australia, but they claimed that they were 399 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,960 Speaker 2: just offering information about tourism. Frank says he was offered 400 00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:17,040 Speaker 2: the contact information for Major Nick Lamprecht, the Rhodesian Army's 401 00:23:17,119 --> 00:23:21,280 Speaker 2: chief recruiter. David Annibl, a reporter for the Christian Science 402 00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,560 Speaker 2: Monitor who interviewed Frank in nineteen seventy five, wrote that 403 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:27,200 Speaker 2: he'd spoken to another recent visitor to that office. After 404 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:30,679 Speaker 2: talking to Frank, this visitor walked into the office and 405 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:33,119 Speaker 2: was given a brochure printed by the Rhodesian Department of 406 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:38,119 Speaker 2: Labor about careers in Rhodesia, And after a thirty minute 407 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:41,360 Speaker 2: presentation about Americans already fighting in the conflict and the 408 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:45,119 Speaker 2: pay and benefits a mercenary could expect, including paid airfare, 409 00:23:45,720 --> 00:23:49,639 Speaker 2: all violations of international sanctions in US federal law, the 410 00:23:49,720 --> 00:23:54,920 Speaker 2: visitor was offered Major Lamprek's contact information that recruiter Nick 411 00:23:55,000 --> 00:23:58,080 Speaker 2: lamprect worked closely with Soldier of Fortune founder Robert K. 412 00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:00,760 Speaker 2: Brown to strategize how the magazine can be used to 413 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:03,359 Speaker 2: convince more Americans to make the trip. In the latter 414 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:06,720 Speaker 2: years of the conflict, Lampreck himself even wrote an article 415 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:09,800 Speaker 2: for the magazine promising young American soldiers of fortune that 416 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,840 Speaker 2: it would be easy for them to find a beautiful 417 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:17,399 Speaker 2: white Rhodesian wife. I think Lamprek knew he was lying 418 00:24:17,440 --> 00:24:19,399 Speaker 2: about how much fun you could have fighting in the 419 00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:22,720 Speaker 2: Bush War. His own son, Vincent, had already fled to 420 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:27,560 Speaker 2: South Africa to avoid military service. In what you may 421 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:30,160 Speaker 2: be sensing as a theme here, the details of frank 422 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:33,480 Speaker 2: service in Rhodesia are a little murky. 423 00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: The details of. 424 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:36,920 Speaker 2: A lot of what was going on in Rhodesia during 425 00:24:36,920 --> 00:24:40,600 Speaker 2: those years is not totally settled, and Frank's own involvement 426 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:44,280 Speaker 2: far less so. He told reporter David Annibal in that 427 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:47,159 Speaker 2: nineteen seventy five interview that as a corporal in the 428 00:24:47,200 --> 00:24:51,320 Speaker 2: Rhodesian Light Infantry, his detachment had taken many prisoners, but 429 00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:56,119 Speaker 2: when instructed to do so, they just executed people, saying 430 00:24:56,400 --> 00:24:58,320 Speaker 2: we shot him right there in the bush when we 431 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:02,480 Speaker 2: were told not to take prisoners. He also admitted that 432 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:04,600 Speaker 2: his unit had taken part in raids over the border 433 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:06,080 Speaker 2: into neighboring Mozambique. 434 00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:07,480 Speaker 1: He claimed that. 435 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:10,520 Speaker 2: Sometimes these trips over the border were to assist Portuguese troops, 436 00:25:11,359 --> 00:25:14,399 Speaker 2: and until late nineteen seventy four, Portuguese troops were in 437 00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:18,080 Speaker 2: Mozambique fighting to put down the Mozambique War of Independence, 438 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 2: and Frank said sometimes they'd go over the border to 439 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:24,879 Speaker 2: raide gorilla camps, perhaps those belonging to the Zimbabwe African 440 00:25:24,960 --> 00:25:27,879 Speaker 2: National Liberation Army, which had strong ties to the groups 441 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:32,159 Speaker 2: fighting for independence in Mozambique. These Rhodesian raids over the 442 00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:35,480 Speaker 2: border into Mozambique continued even after that nation gained sovereignty 443 00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:38,560 Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy five. But it's hard to pin down 444 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:43,359 Speaker 2: when Frank would have been doing this, if he even did, 445 00:25:44,000 --> 00:25:46,000 Speaker 2: I can at least say that Frank was no longer 446 00:25:46,040 --> 00:25:49,399 Speaker 2: in Rhodesia. During one of the war's worst atrocities, a 447 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,360 Speaker 2: Rhodesian raid on a refugee camp in Mozambique killed over 448 00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 2: one thousand civilians. David Animal published a couple of articles 449 00:25:57,640 --> 00:25:59,919 Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy five and nineteen seventy six about Rode, 450 00:26:00,760 --> 00:26:03,320 Speaker 2: and he often quoted Frank Sweeney about his time there. 451 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:05,040 Speaker 1: After all, there weren't. 452 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:07,399 Speaker 2: Many Americans who'd been there, and even fewer who were 453 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,359 Speaker 2: easy to find, and Frank was easy to find. He 454 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 2: was very public about his stint as a mercenary. After 455 00:26:15,320 --> 00:26:18,119 Speaker 2: returning home in nineteen seventy five, Frank placed ads in 456 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:22,000 Speaker 2: magazines like Shotgun News and Gun Week that read. 457 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:28,280 Speaker 3: The Rhodesian Army offers excitement and adventure. I know I've 458 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:31,879 Speaker 3: been there. Young Americans of European ancestry, write to me 459 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:36,080 Speaker 3: for free. Details pertaining to recruiting Frank Abbott Sweeney seven 460 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:39,439 Speaker 3: to two Creston Avenue, Tenafly, New Jersey, zero seven six 461 00:26:39,600 --> 00:26:40,200 Speaker 3: seven zero. 462 00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:44,760 Speaker 2: When speaking with the reporter about his efforts to recruit 463 00:26:44,760 --> 00:26:47,480 Speaker 2: others to make the trip, Frank spoke warmly of Major 464 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:50,639 Speaker 2: Lampreckt and claimed that it was Lamprecked himself who instructed 465 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:54,200 Speaker 2: Frank to get in touch with as many white applicants 466 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:59,560 Speaker 2: as possible, which is honestly probably not true, but who knows. 467 00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:03,479 Speaker 2: Frank is described as a fan of Ian Smith, of 468 00:27:03,520 --> 00:27:08,000 Speaker 2: white superiority, and of the need to defend both, and 469 00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:11,040 Speaker 2: is quoted as saying, if I could do anything to 470 00:27:11,080 --> 00:27:14,320 Speaker 2: preserve Western civilization in the area, I would do it. 471 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:18,960 Speaker 2: Frank told Annabel that he'd received hundreds of letters in 472 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:22,280 Speaker 2: response to his ads and responded to all of them. 473 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,159 Speaker 2: But then again, he also told Annabel he was a 474 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:29,280 Speaker 2: college graduate, and we know that's not true. An Annibal 475 00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:32,440 Speaker 2: claims Frank showed him his discharge papers from the Rhodesian 476 00:27:32,520 --> 00:27:36,280 Speaker 2: Light Infantry, which were quote in order according to the article, 477 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:39,120 Speaker 2: and showed three years of good service and a rank 478 00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:44,280 Speaker 2: of corporal, and that's definitely not true. I'm sure Frank 479 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:48,000 Speaker 2: did show Annibl something. He probably did show him papers 480 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:50,800 Speaker 2: that indicated as much, and I don't fault him for 481 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:56,000 Speaker 2: reporting it. It turns out Frank was quite skilled at forgery. 482 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 2: Frank claims he was in Washington, d c. Getting rid 483 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,639 Speaker 2: recruited into the Rhodesian Army in nineteen seventy two, but 484 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:05,439 Speaker 2: he may have actually still been in prison in nineteen 485 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:08,800 Speaker 2: seventy two for shooting that cop. It's hard to pin 486 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:13,160 Speaker 2: down exactly when he was released. One newspaper article years 487 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:16,240 Speaker 2: later puts his parole date for that conviction at nineteen 488 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:19,520 Speaker 2: seventy four. But I have a bad feeling that was 489 00:28:19,560 --> 00:28:21,960 Speaker 2: just a reporter on a deadline who did the math 490 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,160 Speaker 2: on a six year sentence and assumed Frank served all 491 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:29,400 Speaker 2: of it, which probably didn't. When Frank was later arrested 492 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:31,399 Speaker 2: for his role in the escape of a Soviet spy, 493 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,560 Speaker 2: an FBI agent puts his date of enlistment at nineteen 494 00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:37,600 Speaker 2: seventy three, so the truth is in there somewhere. 495 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:39,480 Speaker 1: Either way. 496 00:28:39,600 --> 00:28:42,920 Speaker 2: He wasn't in Rhodesia for very long before he really 497 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:50,320 Speaker 2: really wanted to go home. A war as hell for everybody. 498 00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:56,680 Speaker 2: And here we have another unreliable narrator, Anthony Hickman. Hickman 499 00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,640 Speaker 2: is a retired officer in the British South Africa Police, 500 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:04,520 Speaker 2: which no longer exists, and confusingly was neither British nor 501 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,640 Speaker 2: South African, and they weren't always really just police, but 502 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:10,480 Speaker 2: it bore that name because it grew out of the 503 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:14,680 Speaker 2: paramilitary force run directly by Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa 504 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:19,240 Speaker 2: Company in the nineteenth century. The BSAP was Rhodesia's regular 505 00:29:19,320 --> 00:29:22,640 Speaker 2: police force, but the line between regular policing and military 506 00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:27,560 Speaker 2: operations was blurry, and during the Bush War there were 507 00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:31,800 Speaker 2: military units made up of BSAP officers and they developed 508 00:29:31,840 --> 00:29:36,280 Speaker 2: counterinsurgency and counter terrorism units. They oversaw the intelligence gathering 509 00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:41,320 Speaker 2: arm of the infamously brutal Selu Scouts, and they killed 510 00:29:41,640 --> 00:29:45,280 Speaker 2: hundreds of people by introducing poisoned food and medicine into 511 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:49,440 Speaker 2: the supply lines for the insurgent forces. I don't know 512 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:52,280 Speaker 2: exactly what Hickman was doing for most of the war. 513 00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:56,080 Speaker 2: Maybe he didn't do any of that. But these days 514 00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:59,680 Speaker 2: he's retired in Johannesburg, South Africa and makes detailed models 515 00:29:59,720 --> 00:30:03,840 Speaker 2: of trains and farmhouses. In the early nineteen seventies, he 516 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:07,960 Speaker 2: was assigned to the homicide unit of bsap's Criminal Investigative Division, 517 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:11,360 Speaker 2: and in twenty nineteen he wrote down his recollections of 518 00:30:11,400 --> 00:30:15,400 Speaker 2: Frank Sweeney for a newsletter published by his Veterans Association. 519 00:30:17,320 --> 00:30:19,920 Speaker 2: Like any account of Frank's life, Hickman's essay can't be 520 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:23,480 Speaker 2: taken as gospel truth between the lies Frank told him 521 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:25,680 Speaker 2: and his own fading memory of the seventies. 522 00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:27,360 Speaker 1: It's not perfect. 523 00:30:28,200 --> 00:30:32,080 Speaker 2: Honestly, I almost discarded it without reading past the first page. 524 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 2: Who's off to a pretty bad start When the first 525 00:30:35,360 --> 00:30:39,520 Speaker 2: paragraph placed these events in September of nineteen seventy seven, 526 00:30:40,600 --> 00:30:44,959 Speaker 2: which would of course be entirely impossible. Frank could not 527 00:30:45,000 --> 00:30:47,320 Speaker 2: have been in a Rhodesian Army barracks in September of 528 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:51,640 Speaker 2: nineteen seventy seven, because according to the US Marshalls, the FBI, 529 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,480 Speaker 2: the DOJ, the CIA in the New York Times, Frank 530 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:57,000 Speaker 2: was hanging out with a Soviet spy in the exercise 531 00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:00,240 Speaker 2: yard at a federal prison in Los Angeles in September 532 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:04,080 Speaker 2: of nineteen seventy seven. But I'll cut Hickman some slack 533 00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:07,520 Speaker 2: here on that faltering start, because there's ample evidence within 534 00:31:07,640 --> 00:31:11,080 Speaker 2: the story that puts these events somewhere in the springtime 535 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:14,880 Speaker 2: of nineteen seventy five, and the data side, there is 536 00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:18,240 Speaker 2: enough meat to Hickman's account and the supporting primary documentation 537 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:22,040 Speaker 2: he provided that supports the idea that the story is 538 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:27,680 Speaker 2: more or less true. As a homicide detective, Hickman was 539 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:31,280 Speaker 2: involved in an investigation into Frank Sweeney for attempted murder 540 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:36,720 Speaker 2: at a Rhodesian military barracks. One evening sometime in early 541 00:31:36,840 --> 00:31:41,000 Speaker 2: nineteen seventy five, probably Frank went to the bathroom at 542 00:31:41,000 --> 00:31:44,480 Speaker 2: the barracks he was living in. Inside the shared facilities, 543 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:48,040 Speaker 2: two infantrymen who had been drinking were laughing and joking around. 544 00:31:48,800 --> 00:31:52,560 Speaker 2: One was quite drunk, undressed and got into the shower 545 00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:55,160 Speaker 2: to try to sober up a little bit. Three men 546 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:59,560 Speaker 2: were chatting pleasantly enough, but Frank was humorless and sober, 547 00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:03,840 Speaker 2: and he was outraged when the drunk man splashed shower. 548 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:04,880 Speaker 1: Water on him. 549 00:32:05,240 --> 00:32:07,600 Speaker 2: The men argued, and one of them called Frank a 550 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 2: bloody yank. And Frank's not a guy who turns the 551 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:17,480 Speaker 2: other cheek. He takes every insult very personally. So a 552 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:20,720 Speaker 2: little bit damp, and with his pride wounded, he runs 553 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:22,800 Speaker 2: back to his bunk and comes right back with a 554 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,880 Speaker 2: seven inch dagger and pulls the shower curtain aside and 555 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:32,440 Speaker 2: stabs this naked drunk man in the lower abdomen. The 556 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:35,480 Speaker 2: other soldier ran for help, and Frank was quickly arrested, 557 00:32:36,880 --> 00:32:40,760 Speaker 2: and while he sat in custody, a mysterious letter arrived 558 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:43,760 Speaker 2: in the mail. The postmark indicated that it had been 559 00:32:43,800 --> 00:32:48,680 Speaker 2: mailed from nearby Salisbury weeks earlier. The anonymous letter writer 560 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:52,600 Speaker 2: said that a private Fa Sweeney had been convicted of 561 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:55,120 Speaker 2: the attempted murder of a policeman in the United States. 562 00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:57,360 Speaker 1: It was Hickman, our. 563 00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:00,320 Speaker 2: Essayist, who first suspected that Frank may actually have written 564 00:33:00,320 --> 00:33:04,400 Speaker 2: this letter himself. And when he pressed Frank for a 565 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:09,960 Speaker 2: handwriting sample to prove it, he cracked immediately. He'd sent 566 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,720 Speaker 2: the letter himself, hoping that it would be his ticket home, 567 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:15,400 Speaker 2: that they would kick him out and deport him when 568 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:17,440 Speaker 2: they found out he lied about not having a criminal 569 00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:19,880 Speaker 2: history and that he would get a free flight back 570 00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:22,600 Speaker 2: to New Jersey without having to finish his term of service. 571 00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:24,760 Speaker 1: And if that letter had. 572 00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:29,200 Speaker 2: Only arrived a few days earlier, they probably would have 573 00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:34,960 Speaker 2: done just that before anybody had to get stabbed. The 574 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:39,680 Speaker 2: story Frank then told Hickman has elements of truth, but 575 00:33:39,760 --> 00:33:43,680 Speaker 2: it's not quite right. He told Hickman that the shootout 576 00:33:43,680 --> 00:33:46,160 Speaker 2: at his parents' house had happened just the year prior, 577 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:49,160 Speaker 2: and that he'd fled the country prior to being sentenced. 578 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:52,160 Speaker 2: So he's cutting out this six year period that he 579 00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:54,920 Speaker 2: spent in prison for the shooting and pretending that he 580 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:58,400 Speaker 2: had just arrived there in Rhodesia immediately after the events 581 00:33:58,440 --> 00:34:01,640 Speaker 2: that we know took place in July of nineteen sixty seven. 582 00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:05,479 Speaker 2: And the timeline isn't the only thing that's off in 583 00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:09,000 Speaker 2: this version. Frank says the shootout only lasted ten minutes, 584 00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:12,160 Speaker 2: not over an hour, and he had decided to end 585 00:34:12,239 --> 00:34:14,560 Speaker 2: the incident on his own terms when he saw that 586 00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:17,719 Speaker 2: his father had arrived, rather than the truth, which was 587 00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:20,200 Speaker 2: that he argued with his distraught father for an hour 588 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:22,400 Speaker 2: while continuing to shoot through the windows until he was 589 00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:26,239 Speaker 2: smoked out by tear gas. But the inciting incident in 590 00:34:26,239 --> 00:34:29,840 Speaker 2: this version is similar. He told Hickman about shooting guns 591 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:31,960 Speaker 2: in the woods and the neighbors reporting the noise and 592 00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:35,440 Speaker 2: the officer arriving in the car chase, but he claimed 593 00:34:35,480 --> 00:34:37,000 Speaker 2: the gun he was shooting in the woods was one 594 00:34:37,040 --> 00:34:40,160 Speaker 2: he purchased from an advertisement and soldier of Fortune magazine, 595 00:34:40,200 --> 00:34:44,040 Speaker 2: which is obviously not possible because that magazine didn't exist 596 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:45,200 Speaker 2: in nineteen sixty seven. 597 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:46,160 Speaker 1: I don't know. 598 00:34:46,200 --> 00:34:48,799 Speaker 2: Maybe he was just updating the story so it would 599 00:34:48,840 --> 00:34:52,280 Speaker 2: sound more current. But Frank said he'd purchased the Tommy 600 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:54,800 Speaker 2: gun from the magazine, but it was missing some parts. 601 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:58,400 Speaker 2: It didn't have a firing pin in something else, so 602 00:34:58,480 --> 00:35:02,640 Speaker 2: it didn't work. He manufactured the necessary replacement parts, but 603 00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:05,840 Speaker 2: he was concerned that in his modification of the weapon 604 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:08,800 Speaker 2: maybe things weren't one hundred percent, and he was worried 605 00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:11,800 Speaker 2: that it would explode when fired, so he lashed it 606 00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:13,880 Speaker 2: to a tree and set it to fully automatic and 607 00:35:14,120 --> 00:35:17,160 Speaker 2: rigged a string to the trigger and hid behind another 608 00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:18,240 Speaker 2: tree for cover. 609 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:20,160 Speaker 1: This sounds so Looney Tunes to me. 610 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:24,319 Speaker 2: Like of literal Looney Tunes cartoon, right, this is this 611 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:25,640 Speaker 2: is daffy duck behavior. 612 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:28,279 Speaker 1: But he tells this story to. 613 00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:33,040 Speaker 2: Hickman, and in his essay Hickman writes true or false, 614 00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:37,719 Speaker 2: impossible to believe Sweeney had the uncanny ability to sound 615 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:41,160 Speaker 2: totally convincing. But it is significant to note that a 616 00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:46,759 Speaker 2: search undertaken based on Sweeney's fingerprint records revealed no such incident, 617 00:35:49,120 --> 00:35:54,919 Speaker 2: which doesn't say much for the state of Rhodesian intelligence. Because, yeah, 618 00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:57,920 Speaker 2: Frank's taking a little creative license here. The story he's 619 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:02,040 Speaker 2: telling is not one hundred percent, but he is admitting 620 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:05,720 Speaker 2: to almost all of the real details for the real 621 00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:09,440 Speaker 2: crime he really did go to prison for. So you 622 00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:12,279 Speaker 2: probably should have figured that out before he told you, 623 00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:14,360 Speaker 2: and you definitely should have been able to figure it 624 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:19,400 Speaker 2: out after he told you. They could have contacted a 625 00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:24,919 Speaker 2: police department or a courthouse in New Jersey and just asked, Hell. 626 00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:27,239 Speaker 2: They probably could have called any resident of ten tofly 627 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:31,080 Speaker 2: New Jersey at random and just asked, do you remember 628 00:36:31,120 --> 00:36:33,360 Speaker 2: the teenage Nazi bank robber who shot a cop in 629 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:36,760 Speaker 2: his mom's front yard. It's kind of a small town. 630 00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:41,880 Speaker 2: I bet everybody remembered, but I guess they didn't do that. 631 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:45,600 Speaker 2: They weren't even a real country, so maybe they didn't 632 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:47,640 Speaker 2: have a guy who knew how to do a background check. 633 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:52,520 Speaker 2: The Rhodesian police continued to hold Frank in custody, and 634 00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:54,239 Speaker 2: while he was waiting to find out if they were 635 00:36:54,239 --> 00:36:57,279 Speaker 2: going to try him for attempted murder, got some mail 636 00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:01,240 Speaker 2: an envelope containing two United States pasports and three hundred 637 00:37:01,239 --> 00:37:06,040 Speaker 2: dollars in cash. Both passports bore Frank's photo in Frank's 638 00:37:06,040 --> 00:37:09,759 Speaker 2: birth date, but only one had Frank's name on it. 639 00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:14,640 Speaker 2: The other was for Francis August Schellhammer, a man who 640 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:17,840 Speaker 2: doesn't exist. He explained to the officers that he was 641 00:37:17,960 --> 00:37:20,640 Speaker 2: quite good at making such things and even offered to 642 00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:23,440 Speaker 2: forge a pair of US passports. Were Hickman and the 643 00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:29,799 Speaker 2: other detective. Hickman says that they declined the offer. Remarkably, 644 00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:32,960 Speaker 2: the Rhodesian government opted to drop the charges and just 645 00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:36,520 Speaker 2: send Frank home. Can you court martial a mercenary? I 646 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:39,080 Speaker 2: don't That's not something I've ever needed to wonder about. 647 00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:41,000 Speaker 2: I don't know really what the options were here, but 648 00:37:41,440 --> 00:37:43,879 Speaker 2: it wasn't worth it to them. They sent him home. 649 00:37:45,360 --> 00:37:48,319 Speaker 2: So sometime in the summer of nineteen seventy five, Frank 650 00:37:48,360 --> 00:37:51,239 Speaker 2: Sweeney was kicked out at the Rhodesian Light Infantry and 651 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:55,919 Speaker 2: deported from Rhodesia. He got his free flight home after all, 652 00:37:56,800 --> 00:38:14,239 Speaker 2: and was permanently banned from a country that never existed. 653 00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:17,200 Speaker 2: Shortly after he got home to New Jersey, he wrote 654 00:38:17,200 --> 00:38:20,640 Speaker 2: a letter to Hickman. Frank's mother had mailed him some 655 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,160 Speaker 2: more cash before all this trouble got started, and it 656 00:38:23,239 --> 00:38:26,040 Speaker 2: arrived in Rhodesia after he was already gone, and he 657 00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:28,760 Speaker 2: wanted Hickman to put it back in the mail for him. 658 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:32,000 Speaker 2: His letter, which Hickman has actually held on to all 659 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:35,959 Speaker 2: these years, is dated August twenty second, nineteen seventy five. 660 00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:39,520 Speaker 2: So if he's already home and realizing his mail is missing, 661 00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:41,600 Speaker 2: and writing the letter in August of seventy five, that 662 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:45,959 Speaker 2: all the events before that happened earlier in nineteen seventy. 663 00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:47,040 Speaker 1: Five, you get it. 664 00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:50,479 Speaker 2: In addition to asking Hickman to mail back the money 665 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:54,000 Speaker 2: from his mother, Frank tells the investigator that life in 666 00:38:54,040 --> 00:39:00,239 Speaker 2: America is loathsome compared to the time he spent in Rhodesia. 667 00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:04,440 Speaker 3: It's one big racial cesspool where the worst elements looked 668 00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:07,680 Speaker 3: on and held in high esteem. With my RLI training 669 00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:10,239 Speaker 3: to back me up, I've seriously thought of forming my 670 00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:13,359 Speaker 3: own anti terrorism unit here in the land of the Red, White, 671 00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:16,759 Speaker 3: and Blue. The real problem is finding enough devoted men 672 00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:20,160 Speaker 3: to form a small cadre. If you ever do visit America, 673 00:39:20,239 --> 00:39:22,960 Speaker 3: I would genuinely enjoy meeting with you again, and I'm 674 00:39:22,960 --> 00:39:25,560 Speaker 3: sure my family would like to meet you too. Even 675 00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:28,000 Speaker 3: though my service in the military was cut short, my 676 00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:30,920 Speaker 3: loyalty to Rhodesia remains as strong as ever. 677 00:39:33,880 --> 00:39:35,879 Speaker 2: So now he's back in the United States, and this 678 00:39:35,920 --> 00:39:38,319 Speaker 2: is during the same time period that he's placing those 679 00:39:38,320 --> 00:39:43,399 Speaker 2: ads in gun magazines to recruit other Rhodesian mercenaries. He's 680 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:48,279 Speaker 2: also placing some other classified ads. So he's engaging in 681 00:39:48,320 --> 00:39:52,399 Speaker 2: this federal crime of recruiting foreign mercenaries using his own 682 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:56,000 Speaker 2: legal name and his parents' address. That's not a problem. 683 00:39:56,360 --> 00:39:59,600 Speaker 2: The United States government had no real appetite for enforcing 684 00:39:59,640 --> 00:40:03,640 Speaker 2: these statute prohibiting him from recruiting people into a foreign army. 685 00:40:04,800 --> 00:40:08,480 Speaker 2: But when he placed ads offering four MP forty Schmeiser 686 00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:11,960 Speaker 2: submachine guns for sale, he didn't use his own name. 687 00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:17,319 Speaker 2: He used the name Francis August Shellhammer, the name from 688 00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:20,279 Speaker 2: the forged passport, and he listed a commercial address in 689 00:40:20,280 --> 00:40:24,920 Speaker 2: Fort Lee, New Jersey. It seems Frank never actually had 690 00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:28,000 Speaker 2: these Nazi submachine guns, but he did collect the money 691 00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:31,480 Speaker 2: sent by many interested collectors who thought they were buying 692 00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:35,080 Speaker 2: these imaginary guns. It seems like a great hack to 693 00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:39,320 Speaker 2: make free money, but unfortunately for Frank, that is mail fraud. 694 00:40:40,480 --> 00:40:43,440 Speaker 2: So in March of nineteen seventy six, he's being interviewed 695 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:46,080 Speaker 2: by a reporter from the La Times and he's telling 696 00:40:46,080 --> 00:40:49,040 Speaker 2: this reporter he's enjoyed his time in Rhodesia so much 697 00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:52,320 Speaker 2: that he's actually planning to move back to South Africa. 698 00:40:51,920 --> 00:40:54,480 Speaker 1: In just a few weeks. Notice he's moving to South. 699 00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:58,879 Speaker 2: Africa, not Rhodesia, because he is not allowed in Rhodesia. 700 00:40:58,960 --> 00:41:01,240 Speaker 2: But he's planning this big move. He's telling this reporter 701 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:05,080 Speaker 2: about it. He's bragging about his time in Rhodesia. But 702 00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:08,000 Speaker 2: at the same time, in March of nineteen seventy six, 703 00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:10,759 Speaker 2: he's also entering a guilty plead to that federal mail 704 00:41:10,760 --> 00:41:15,120 Speaker 2: fraud charge. The La Times article, which doesn't make any 705 00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:18,680 Speaker 2: mention of his former or current criminal charges, does say 706 00:41:18,719 --> 00:41:21,920 Speaker 2: that Frank said that he'd recently been visited by the FBI, 707 00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:24,480 Speaker 2: and Frank says they came to his house to try 708 00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:28,560 Speaker 2: to pressure him to provide information about other mercenaries. It 709 00:41:28,640 --> 00:41:31,720 Speaker 2: seems a little more likely that he's a compulsive liar 710 00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:34,600 Speaker 2: who got a thrill out of working in this kernel 711 00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:38,640 Speaker 2: of truth because the FBI had just been to his house, 712 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:43,160 Speaker 2: That part's true, but they were there to arrest him 713 00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:47,720 Speaker 2: for mail fraud, but he wasn't lying about his plans 714 00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:51,040 Speaker 2: for an upcoming move. After pleading guilty to the mail 715 00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:54,640 Speaker 2: fraud charge, he skipped out on his sentencing hearing. He 716 00:41:54,680 --> 00:41:56,799 Speaker 2: packed his bags and he caught a flight to Johannesburg, 717 00:41:56,920 --> 00:42:00,680 Speaker 2: but South Africa sent him right back and he was 718 00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:02,920 Speaker 2: arrested by US marshals as he was getting off the 719 00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:07,120 Speaker 2: plane at JFK in June of nineteen seventy six. And 720 00:42:07,200 --> 00:42:10,120 Speaker 2: while marshals were arresting him, his suitcase was loaded off 721 00:42:10,120 --> 00:42:13,800 Speaker 2: the plane and it went through customs without him. Customs 722 00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:17,280 Speaker 2: officials seized a nine millimeters lugar pistol because he lacked 723 00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:19,680 Speaker 2: the proper paperwork to bring the firearm into the US 724 00:42:19,719 --> 00:42:24,920 Speaker 2: from a foreign country, and inexplicably there were no additional 725 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:29,680 Speaker 2: charges brought for any of that. He wasn't supposed to 726 00:42:29,680 --> 00:42:32,120 Speaker 2: have a gun at all, and he certainly wasn't supposed 727 00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:34,520 Speaker 2: to try to flee the continent while awaiting sentencing for 728 00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:37,520 Speaker 2: a federal crime. I know the seventies were a different 729 00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:39,279 Speaker 2: time and it wasn't a big deal to bring a 730 00:42:39,280 --> 00:42:42,360 Speaker 2: gun to the airport, but fleeing the country to avoid 731 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:46,000 Speaker 2: going to prison is always been illegal, I'm pretty. 732 00:42:45,719 --> 00:42:46,200 Speaker 1: Sure of it. 733 00:42:47,480 --> 00:42:50,040 Speaker 2: I found a couple of cheeky little articles written a 734 00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:52,920 Speaker 2: few years later about how the government ended up accidentally 735 00:42:52,960 --> 00:42:56,680 Speaker 2: giving him that gun back. It was seized by accustoms 736 00:42:56,719 --> 00:42:58,880 Speaker 2: and put into storage while he was in prison, and 737 00:42:58,960 --> 00:43:00,640 Speaker 2: when he got out of prison, he wrote to the 738 00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:03,360 Speaker 2: Customs office in New York to inquire about it, and 739 00:43:03,600 --> 00:43:06,200 Speaker 2: they told him they'd return his property if he paid 740 00:43:06,200 --> 00:43:09,000 Speaker 2: a two hundred and forty four dollars storage fee. I 741 00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:10,759 Speaker 2: don't know what that comes out to per month for 742 00:43:10,760 --> 00:43:12,880 Speaker 2: the four years he was in prison, but that seems steep, 743 00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:17,400 Speaker 2: and so Frank claims he walked right into the Customs 744 00:43:17,400 --> 00:43:20,520 Speaker 2: office inside the World Trade Center in May of nineteen eighty, 745 00:43:21,160 --> 00:43:24,279 Speaker 2: paid the fee, failed out a form, and they gave 746 00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:27,800 Speaker 2: him back his gun. A spokesman for the US Customs 747 00:43:27,840 --> 00:43:30,480 Speaker 2: Service said they had no way of knowing he was 748 00:43:30,520 --> 00:43:33,799 Speaker 2: a felon. Frank said it was all just a half 749 00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:36,920 Speaker 2: hearted joke, telling a reporter all I really wanted to 750 00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:38,960 Speaker 2: do was test the gun laws to show there really 751 00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:42,319 Speaker 2: is a need for federal gun legislation. The Feds are 752 00:43:42,320 --> 00:43:44,400 Speaker 2: giving criminals like me our guns back in New York 753 00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:48,520 Speaker 2: City just for the asking. Federal gun laws are versical. 754 00:43:51,360 --> 00:43:53,239 Speaker 2: You know, he's not a great guy, but he does 755 00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:54,120 Speaker 2: have some quips. 756 00:43:54,680 --> 00:43:57,200 Speaker 1: You know, he's just out there doing bits. 757 00:43:58,320 --> 00:43:59,920 Speaker 2: And he ended up handing the gun back over to 758 00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:04,080 Speaker 2: the ATF without incident a few months later, but back 759 00:44:04,080 --> 00:44:07,040 Speaker 2: to the mail fraud. He got the four years for 760 00:44:07,040 --> 00:44:09,840 Speaker 2: the mail fraud and was sent to federal prison. And 761 00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:12,560 Speaker 2: it was in prison this time around that Frank would 762 00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:16,920 Speaker 2: meet Christopher Boyce, a young defense contractor who'd recently been 763 00:44:16,960 --> 00:44:21,920 Speaker 2: convicted of espionage in nineteen seventy four. A twenty one 764 00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:24,959 Speaker 2: year old college dropout in Christopher Boyce got a job 765 00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:30,160 Speaker 2: at TRW, an aerospace company with a lot of government contracts. 766 00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:33,680 Speaker 2: He wasn't really qualified for the role, having never worked 767 00:44:33,719 --> 00:44:36,120 Speaker 2: in an office before, but he started as a low 768 00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:39,799 Speaker 2: level clerk. It helped that his retired FBI agent father 769 00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:42,759 Speaker 2: was the head of security at McDonald Douglas, another aerospace 770 00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:46,080 Speaker 2: and defense contracting company, and he had connections at TRW. 771 00:44:47,440 --> 00:44:53,239 Speaker 2: But TRW didn't just make satellites and jet engines. In 772 00:44:53,280 --> 00:44:56,480 Speaker 2: his own later testimony before a Congressional committee, Boyce described 773 00:44:56,520 --> 00:45:00,880 Speaker 2: the company as a CIA contractor, something he'd had no 774 00:45:01,000 --> 00:45:04,080 Speaker 2: idea about. For his promotion to a highly sensitive position 775 00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:09,240 Speaker 2: working on special projects from inside the company's black vault 776 00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:13,120 Speaker 2: and with a top secret CIA clearance, Boyce had access 777 00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:18,040 Speaker 2: to the company's encrypted teletype connection with Langley. On at 778 00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:20,719 Speaker 2: least a dozen occasions, he removed documents from the vault 779 00:45:20,760 --> 00:45:24,560 Speaker 2: and photographed them. On at least six occasions he photographed 780 00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:30,600 Speaker 2: documents inside the vault. He later told Congress. Obviously, neither 781 00:45:30,719 --> 00:45:35,600 Speaker 2: the government's clearance procedures nor the company's security procedures worked 782 00:45:35,719 --> 00:45:42,960 Speaker 2: very well, I'll say. In his new position inside the vault, 783 00:45:43,320 --> 00:45:48,920 Speaker 2: Boyce monitored satellite communications between the CIA, his employer TRW 784 00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:54,160 Speaker 2: and other CIA contacts around the world. In his congressional testimony, 785 00:45:54,239 --> 00:45:59,480 Speaker 2: Boyce describes a shockingly lax approach to security for this 786 00:45:59,560 --> 00:46:04,279 Speaker 2: alleged super secure black vault. He would come back to 787 00:46:04,360 --> 00:46:07,320 Speaker 2: work late at night to return the documents he'd stolen, 788 00:46:07,400 --> 00:46:10,320 Speaker 2: and no one questioned why a junior employee was opening 789 00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:14,040 Speaker 2: the vault at four am. He made deliveries to secure 790 00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:17,000 Speaker 2: CIA sites without having the proper clearance to enter them, 791 00:46:17,480 --> 00:46:20,359 Speaker 2: and on one occasion, he wandered into a CIA code room, 792 00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:23,200 Speaker 2: picked up a clipboard and was flipping through the pages 793 00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:28,960 Speaker 2: before someone politely asked him to leave. Employees in the 794 00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:31,880 Speaker 2: vault were supposed to destroy the code cards used in 795 00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:33,080 Speaker 2: the teletype machine at. 796 00:46:32,960 --> 00:46:34,000 Speaker 1: The end of each workday. 797 00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:37,480 Speaker 2: Boyce says they just tossed the cards in a canvas 798 00:46:37,480 --> 00:46:40,600 Speaker 2: bag in the corner, and they used the document destruction 799 00:46:40,719 --> 00:46:43,400 Speaker 2: blender to make my ties with the Bacardi that they 800 00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:47,920 Speaker 2: kept hidden behind the cryptography machines. He claims it was 801 00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:50,400 Speaker 2: common for the vault to receive transmissions from Langley that 802 00:46:50,840 --> 00:46:56,320 Speaker 2: weren't actually meant for them, misdirected communications. These CIA cables 803 00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:58,839 Speaker 2: that had nothing to do with trw or their work 804 00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:02,160 Speaker 2: with the agency, but no one really cared, and there 805 00:47:02,280 --> 00:47:06,800 Speaker 2: was no clear accountability process for ensuring that these top 806 00:47:06,840 --> 00:47:09,319 Speaker 2: secret CAIA documents that had been sent to them by 807 00:47:09,400 --> 00:47:15,600 Speaker 2: mistake were actually destroyed. And these are the documents that 808 00:47:15,680 --> 00:47:20,359 Speaker 2: Boyce stole. Okay, I know Frank's not even in this part, 809 00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:22,680 Speaker 2: but I have to tell you just a little bit 810 00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:27,000 Speaker 2: about the nineteen seventy five constitutional crisis in Australia. I know, 811 00:47:27,160 --> 00:47:29,799 Speaker 2: I know, this is an even more egregious digression than 812 00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:32,640 Speaker 2: the history of Rhodesia. But look at the show art. 813 00:47:33,040 --> 00:47:35,120 Speaker 2: It's not just cool to look at. We are living 814 00:47:35,200 --> 00:47:38,279 Speaker 2: on my red string board and I've got to put 815 00:47:38,280 --> 00:47:42,680 Speaker 2: this pushpin in somewhere. Now. I know even less about 816 00:47:42,680 --> 00:47:45,480 Speaker 2: Australia that I know about the decolonization of Africa in 817 00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:49,920 Speaker 2: the twentieth century, which is to say, like not very much. 818 00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:54,680 Speaker 1: I think they still have the Queen. I guess it's 819 00:47:54,719 --> 00:47:55,800 Speaker 1: the king. Now. 820 00:47:56,520 --> 00:47:58,840 Speaker 2: Did they have to print new money after the Queen died? 821 00:48:00,000 --> 00:48:00,399 Speaker 2: A matter? 822 00:48:00,800 --> 00:48:01,520 Speaker 1: It doesn't matter. 823 00:48:02,320 --> 00:48:06,040 Speaker 2: But I was delighted to discover that CIA meddling in 824 00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:09,640 Speaker 2: an Australian political crisis was even a possibility. 825 00:48:10,239 --> 00:48:12,160 Speaker 1: How intriguing you know. 826 00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:14,239 Speaker 2: I know they like to keep it south of the equator, 827 00:48:14,280 --> 00:48:16,960 Speaker 2: but I thought that was just a Western Hemisphere thing. 828 00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:18,279 Speaker 1: Now. 829 00:48:18,320 --> 00:48:21,880 Speaker 2: Of course, of course, the United States government maintains that 830 00:48:21,960 --> 00:48:26,040 Speaker 2: the CIA had no role in pushing Prime Minister GoF 831 00:48:26,040 --> 00:48:29,560 Speaker 2: Whitlam out of office in nineteen seventy five, but Christopher 832 00:48:29,600 --> 00:48:34,399 Speaker 2: Boyce went to prison claiming otherwise. In the seventies, GoF 833 00:48:34,440 --> 00:48:36,759 Speaker 2: Whitlam was the head of the Australian Labor Party and 834 00:48:36,880 --> 00:48:42,000 Speaker 2: his administration was fairly socially progressive. He was also considering 835 00:48:42,120 --> 00:48:46,440 Speaker 2: closing Pine Gap, a US signals intelligence surveillance base in 836 00:48:46,480 --> 00:48:51,439 Speaker 2: central Australia run by the CIA. In nineteen seventy five, 837 00:48:51,520 --> 00:48:54,600 Speaker 2: the Opposition party, which controlled the Senate deferred the passage 838 00:48:54,600 --> 00:48:55,839 Speaker 2: of an appropriations bill. 839 00:48:56,840 --> 00:48:58,440 Speaker 1: I don't know and. 840 00:48:58,560 --> 00:49:01,640 Speaker 2: Am not going to find out the Australian government functions, 841 00:49:02,440 --> 00:49:04,799 Speaker 2: but this sounds like the silly little crisis we seem 842 00:49:04,840 --> 00:49:07,400 Speaker 2: to have every year where someone refuses to pass the 843 00:49:07,400 --> 00:49:10,000 Speaker 2: bill that keeps the lights on at the government. And 844 00:49:10,120 --> 00:49:12,799 Speaker 2: Australia's Governor General, John Kerr used the fallout of this 845 00:49:12,880 --> 00:49:16,160 Speaker 2: crisis as a justification to dismiss Whitlam as Prime Minister, 846 00:49:16,920 --> 00:49:20,319 Speaker 2: which is apparently the thing he had the power to do. 847 00:49:20,440 --> 00:49:22,640 Speaker 2: It's like they have a guy that can fire the president. 848 00:49:23,120 --> 00:49:23,560 Speaker 1: I don't know. 849 00:49:23,719 --> 00:49:27,040 Speaker 2: I just thought my business what happens in Australia. And 850 00:49:27,120 --> 00:49:31,000 Speaker 2: at the time Whitlam dismissed allegations of CIA involvement, saying 851 00:49:31,640 --> 00:49:35,320 Speaker 2: Kerr didn't need any encouragement from anybody to fire him, 852 00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:38,480 Speaker 2: But in his memoirs published decades later, he wrote that 853 00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:42,400 Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy seven, President Jimmy Carter sent Warren Christopher, 854 00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:45,880 Speaker 2: the Deputy Secretary of State, to Australia to meet with Whitlam, 855 00:49:46,920 --> 00:49:50,840 Speaker 2: and Christopher told Whitlam that the United States quote would 856 00:49:50,880 --> 00:50:02,160 Speaker 2: never again interfere with Australia's democratic processes, never again, never again. 857 00:50:03,600 --> 00:50:06,319 Speaker 2: And Whitlam's personal secretary backs up this recollection of the 858 00:50:06,400 --> 00:50:10,440 Speaker 2: use of the word again. But I'll reiterate. The CIA 859 00:50:10,640 --> 00:50:12,400 Speaker 2: says they were not involved. 860 00:50:13,040 --> 00:50:17,279 Speaker 1: They said they didn't do it. All that to say, though. 861 00:50:17,360 --> 00:50:21,680 Speaker 2: Our pot smoking, disaffected college dropout who was getting drunk 862 00:50:21,719 --> 00:50:24,160 Speaker 2: at lunch most days and making paper airplanes out of 863 00:50:24,200 --> 00:50:28,360 Speaker 2: CIA encryption code cards, probably didn't know anything about the 864 00:50:28,400 --> 00:50:33,480 Speaker 2: Australian Senate blocking an appropriations bill. But by his account. 865 00:50:33,600 --> 00:50:37,960 Speaker 2: He did sometimes read those misdirected CIA cables that he 866 00:50:38,000 --> 00:50:41,759 Speaker 2: was supposed to destroy, and some of those messages were 867 00:50:41,760 --> 00:50:45,040 Speaker 2: about a growing desire within the CIA to have Whitlam 868 00:50:45,080 --> 00:50:49,160 Speaker 2: removed from office, referring to the Australian Governor General as 869 00:50:49,760 --> 00:50:55,799 Speaker 2: our man cur So he stole them, and instead of 870 00:50:55,800 --> 00:50:58,279 Speaker 2: going to the press, he and his childhood friend, a 871 00:50:58,320 --> 00:51:02,360 Speaker 2: cocaine dealer named Dalton Lee, decided to sell the documents 872 00:51:02,360 --> 00:51:05,520 Speaker 2: to the Soviets. Lee would take the documents down to 873 00:51:05,560 --> 00:51:08,280 Speaker 2: Mexico and deliver them to the Soviet embassy and return 874 00:51:08,360 --> 00:51:12,800 Speaker 2: with cash which they split. And maybe it would have worked, 875 00:51:13,440 --> 00:51:16,080 Speaker 2: Maybe not forever, but would have worked for a while, 876 00:51:17,120 --> 00:51:21,319 Speaker 2: if not for a little mistake, a tiny careless act 877 00:51:22,000 --> 00:51:25,560 Speaker 2: in an absolutely absurd turn of history, Dalton Lee was 878 00:51:25,640 --> 00:51:28,840 Speaker 2: arrested in nineteen seventy seven outside the Soviet Embassy. 879 00:51:28,400 --> 00:51:29,240 Speaker 1: In Mexico City. 880 00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:34,720 Speaker 2: He wasn't arrested for espionage or drug trafficking, two things 881 00:51:34,719 --> 00:51:38,880 Speaker 2: he was definitely doing. He was arrested by Mexican police 882 00:51:38,960 --> 00:51:44,840 Speaker 2: for littering, but under interrogation about the drugs and documents 883 00:51:44,840 --> 00:51:49,799 Speaker 2: they subsequently found on him, he admitted everything. Christopher Boyce 884 00:51:49,880 --> 00:51:52,480 Speaker 2: was arrested by authorities in the US just ten days later, 885 00:51:53,440 --> 00:51:55,759 Speaker 2: and accounts vary as to whether or not Dalton Lee 886 00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:58,840 Speaker 2: gave Boys up. In that initial interview, he says he 887 00:51:58,880 --> 00:52:02,919 Speaker 2: didn't and he probably didn't need to. The authorities would 888 00:52:02,920 --> 00:52:04,960 Speaker 2: have arrived at the conclusion that it was Boyce who 889 00:52:04,960 --> 00:52:07,359 Speaker 2: had stolen those documents, whether Dalton Lee gave him up 890 00:52:07,400 --> 00:52:13,000 Speaker 2: or not. So you know, we'll never know. But this 891 00:52:13,080 --> 00:52:15,759 Speaker 2: is where Frank comes back. This is where Frank reappears 892 00:52:15,760 --> 00:52:19,719 Speaker 2: in his own story. I haven't forgotten him because while 893 00:52:19,760 --> 00:52:23,839 Speaker 2: all this CIA skullduggery and Cold War espionage is going on, 894 00:52:24,800 --> 00:52:27,200 Speaker 2: Frank is sitting in a jail cell on Terminal Island, 895 00:52:27,320 --> 00:52:31,319 Speaker 2: a low security federal corrections facility in Los Angeles. I 896 00:52:31,400 --> 00:52:33,840 Speaker 2: can't find a good reason for why he would have 897 00:52:33,840 --> 00:52:36,680 Speaker 2: been transported to a prison in California after being arrested 898 00:52:36,719 --> 00:52:41,080 Speaker 2: in New York, but government inefficiency is as likely an 899 00:52:41,120 --> 00:52:46,000 Speaker 2: explanation as anything else. Christopher Boyce was ultimately convicted of 900 00:52:46,000 --> 00:52:48,640 Speaker 2: eight counts of espionage in nineteen seventy seven and sentenced 901 00:52:48,680 --> 00:52:52,319 Speaker 2: to forty years in prison, and for several months in 902 00:52:52,520 --> 00:52:55,960 Speaker 2: late seventy seven to early seventy eight, the two men 903 00:52:55,960 --> 00:52:59,200 Speaker 2: were on the same cell block at Terminal Island. Much 904 00:52:59,200 --> 00:53:01,920 Speaker 2: has been made of the apparent in congruity of Frank, 905 00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:04,840 Speaker 2: a man who fought as a mercenary against Communist gorillas, 906 00:53:05,440 --> 00:53:09,200 Speaker 2: befriending Boyce, a man convicted of aiding the Soviet Union. 907 00:53:09,239 --> 00:53:11,920 Speaker 2: But I don't think either of them had a fully 908 00:53:11,960 --> 00:53:16,839 Speaker 2: formed set of political beliefs at the time. Boyce's mother 909 00:53:16,880 --> 00:53:19,120 Speaker 2: would later say that the two became quite close in 910 00:53:19,160 --> 00:53:24,359 Speaker 2: those months. Frank was, for reasons I spent way too 911 00:53:24,400 --> 00:53:27,840 Speaker 2: long unsuccessfully trying to figure out, transferred to a prison 912 00:53:27,880 --> 00:53:31,640 Speaker 2: in Maine sometime in early nineteen seventy eight. Boyce would 913 00:53:31,640 --> 00:53:34,360 Speaker 2: eventually be transferred to Lompoc, a prison a few hours 914 00:53:34,360 --> 00:53:37,720 Speaker 2: north of Los Angeles, and in January of nineteen eighty, 915 00:53:38,680 --> 00:53:45,200 Speaker 2: Christopher Boyce escaped from prison. The ensuing manhunt for the 916 00:53:45,200 --> 00:53:48,880 Speaker 2: missing spy would last nearly two years, in part because 917 00:53:48,920 --> 00:53:53,279 Speaker 2: Frank was planting false clues from Cape Town to California 918 00:53:53,360 --> 00:53:55,320 Speaker 2: to lead investigators in the long direction. 919 00:53:56,880 --> 00:53:59,160 Speaker 1: And that's where I have to leave you today. 920 00:53:59,400 --> 00:54:01,120 Speaker 2: I do hope I'll come back next week for the 921 00:54:01,120 --> 00:54:04,680 Speaker 2: second half of Frank's story. There's a serial killer, a 922 00:54:04,840 --> 00:54:08,640 Speaker 2: mob boss, a jailhouse letter from his wife's boyfriend, Frank 923 00:54:08,680 --> 00:54:12,960 Speaker 2: Stabs another guy and for Resince, I'm still not a 924 00:54:13,360 --> 00:54:20,480 Speaker 2: hundle On. There're a bunch of snakes. 925 00:54:21,560 --> 00:54:22,360 Speaker 1: Weird little guys. 926 00:54:22,400 --> 00:54:25,000 Speaker 2: The production of cool Zone Media were more from cool 927 00:54:25,040 --> 00:54:28,960 Speaker 2: Zone Media. Visit our website coolzonmedia dot com, or check 928 00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:32,120 Speaker 2: us out on the iHeartRadio app or Wherever Again Here 929 00:54:32,200 --> 00:54:32,719 Speaker 2: podcast