WEBVTT - "You Guys Will Never Take Him Alive" 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.320 I want to give a quick warning before we get started. 0:00:02.759 --> 0:00:07.600 This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence. Listener discretion is advised. 0:00:13.600 --> 0:00:17.720 The whole neighborhood was definitely quiet and dark. This part 0:00:17.720 --> 0:00:20.279 of our story takes place in the late eighties in 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:25.160 a sleepy bedroom community in the Midwest. It was kind 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:30.320 of eerie because typically in that neighborhood there's multiple street lights, 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:34.479 people's lights on under front porches and so on. There 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:38.800 was none of that. Steve Smith was a captain of 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:42.760 the local police department, and that night around two am, 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:45.280 he was awoken by a call from the communications center. 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:49.920 Something unusual had happened out on a subdivision and he 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:52.519 needed to get out there quick. He was met by 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:57.320 now retired Sergeant Rusty James. It was really eerie because 0:00:57.360 --> 0:00:59.760 it knocked the street lights and everything out in the 0:00:59.760 --> 0:01:04.680 air you and everywhere you walked it crunched, and there 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:09.080 was a strong smell of the dynamite and burnt flesh 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:14.160 in the air. Rusty and his partner Sarah Vogelsberg had 0:01:14.200 --> 0:01:17.200 been the first who arrived that night. As I pulled up, 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:20.600 uh there was still smoke in the air, and a 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:23.679 neighbor came over and told me that that he had 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:26.560 found where it occurred. It was at the swimming pool 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:30.400 for a residential area there. In the early morning hours, 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:32.600 someone had parked their car in the lot next to 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:38.280 the swimming pool and proceeded to blow themselves up. He said, so, Officer, 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:40.319 I think that's a head laying over on the sidewalk 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:42.080 over there, but I'm not going to check. I said, no, 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:47.280 just going back, the crime scene was bizarre and gruesome. 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:49.840 I mean, it's hard enough to hear about something like this, 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:54.240 let alone experience it. We were trying to figure out 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.080 where this young man was because we knew where his 0:01:56.120 --> 0:02:00.480 head was, but there wasn't anything else, and so we 0:02:00.520 --> 0:02:03.360 started looking around fly slights, and there was one leg 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.240 from the knee down in a tree. We probably didn't 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:12.440 locate more than about forty maybe fifty pounds of identifiable 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:14.959 body of hearts because they were spread out throughout the 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:22.000 neighborhood and the woods close by. It was pretty horrific. Essentially, 0:02:22.040 --> 0:02:24.639 from his knees to his neck, he was just gone. 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.200 When I first started reporting the story five years ago, 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:35.959 there really wasn't a lot of information about the book 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.600 hit Man, which just led to a lot of questions, 0:02:39.160 --> 0:02:42.040 most of all, why would this author, a woman who 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:44.640 claims she never owned a gun, write a how to 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:48.080 guide on killing people and getting away with it. I 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:50.120 figured there had to be a story behind this book 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:55.160 of nonfiction. It turns out there is, and it's stranger 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:59.200 than fiction. This is the story of who I believe 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:01.800 to be the real Rex Ferrell, not the woman who 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:04.320 apparently wrote the book, but the man who may have 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:07.799 inspired it or been inspired by it, a man who 0:03:07.880 --> 0:03:11.600 left an extraordinary amount of wreckage in his wake, like 0:03:11.639 --> 0:03:15.600 an explosion on a quiet night in a small Midwestern town. 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.880 From my Heart Radio and Hit Home Media, I'm Jasmine 0:03:29.880 --> 0:04:02.480 Morris and MS is hit Map. Just the whole circumstance 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:05.400 was one of those things that bothered me for some time. 0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:07.840 And now you know, I've gotten past that. But it 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:12.160 involved psychologists and many trips to them to get past that. 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:14.200 Where I where I would even answer a call in 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:18.120 that area, I wouldn't even drive there. When I first 0:04:18.120 --> 0:04:21.080 reached out to Stephen Rusty, they were both pretty surprised. 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.080 It been twenty five years since this explosion happened. But 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:27.360 as soon as I called it kind of all came 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:31.280 flooding back in and I remember almost like it had 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:33.760 just occurred within you know, the last day or two. 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.680 First responders see a lot of trauma, But when talking 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:41.000 to these guys, especially Rusty, I mean, this was on 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:44.279 a whole other level. I asked him if he was 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:46.440 sure he even wanted to go through with the interview. 0:04:46.839 --> 0:04:49.240 You have to understand that incident was a little traumatic 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:52.279 on me. This was the days before you got post 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:56.159 traumatic stress assistance or anything. And with me and Sarah 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:58.240 and we showed weakness over this, at which we did, 0:04:58.440 --> 0:05:05.640 I don't consider weakness, but everybod what else did really 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:10.479 just imagine that day. It's a tight knit community. So 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:14.960 when officers arrived, they recognized the car involved immediately they 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:18.800 knew who the victim was, a sixteen year old named Gregory. 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:23.080 His car the hood was blown off of it, and 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:26.520 as we walked around the area we ended up finding 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.880 some of his dismembered body parts. In the front seat 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:35.440 of his car was boom box with the cassette tape 0:05:35.440 --> 0:05:38.240 in it that Gregory would have been listening to. He 0:05:38.360 --> 0:05:40.640 was not a bad kid, but he was just somebody 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:42.440 that we had our eyes on. We had a couple 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:45.360 of runnings with him, and but again not a bad kid, 0:05:46.000 --> 0:05:48.840 but he was very familiar to us, out and about 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:51.520 in the community at odd hours for somebody his age. 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:54.560 Steve and I, you know, we had had hard heart 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:56.680 talks with Greg, trying to get him straightened up, you know, 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:58.280 and we tried to do what we could for him 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:00.279 and tried to keep him out of trouble, you know, 0:06:00.600 --> 0:06:04.840 protect him from himself. Stephen Rusty both said it sort 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:08.320 of looked like an accident. What he did was he 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:13.800 touched the blasting cap on that was attached to the dynamite. 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:16.960 He didn't quite understand how dynamite works. I don't believe 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:20.200 he touched the blasting cap on the battery terminals of 0:06:20.320 --> 0:06:23.680 his car and that was it. So he drove the 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:26.240 car out with dynamite. But what was he hoping to 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.520 do with it? You know, we really don't know, and 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.920 the only two people that really know are no longer here, 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:35.320 you know. So who is the other person that would 0:06:35.320 --> 0:06:37.440 be the mom's boyfriend. I don't know if that was 0:06:37.480 --> 0:06:39.160 just his name or not, but I do remember the 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:47.400 name Rex. Rex. I mean, when I first heard that, 0:06:47.920 --> 0:06:50.600 you can imagine my reaction. It's probably the same one 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:55.120 you're having. Ultimately, the teen's death was ruled a suicide, 0:06:55.760 --> 0:06:59.159 but the investigation had just begun. Well, any time somebody 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:03.039 blows himself up dynamite, I would call it suspicious. Steve's 0:07:03.080 --> 0:07:05.479 first order of business was to try to figure out 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:08.359 where this dynamite came from. So they reached out to 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:11.280 local businesses and other police departments to see if any 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:15.760 construction sites had been robbed. Eventually, in our investigation located 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:20.760 a empty box that had some identifiers on it the 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:22.960 Bureau of Alcohol to back when Farms did the follow 0:07:23.040 --> 0:07:24.640 up on that to fare out where it came from. 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.480 Whatever they found, they linked it back to a construction 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.720 site burglary and I can't remember for sure where it was, 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.400 but it didn't help us and trying to identify anything 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:37.240 about the story with the way it occurred, why it occurred, 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:41.320 and so on. So detectives started asking around, interviewing people 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:46.800 who knew Greg. That's when they discovered the boyfriend, rex Read. 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:52.440 And we tried to identify rex Read, but we couldn't 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:55.920 find any driver's license or anything that would match up 0:07:56.000 --> 0:08:00.440 with the description as far as height weight. Agents wanted 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:03.720 this guy. Um, I thought that was kind of odd. Plus, 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:06.920 if I remember correctly, Rex Reid was the name of 0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:10.680 a character in a TV show, there's a renowned American 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:14.000 film critic an occasional actor named Rex Reid. It was 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:18.239 definitely not that Rex. Read. When you can't identify somebody 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:21.640 and they've got some TV name, it kind of raises 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:26.080 a flag. So detectives had a name or an alias 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:29.800 and a lot of questions. Steve says they were discouraged 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.800 from making contact with Greg's mother until after his funeral, 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:36.240 but Rex was there for all of it, even when 0:08:36.280 --> 0:08:39.040 they notified Greg's mom about what had happened to her son. 0:08:39.880 --> 0:08:42.760 I just remember that, you know, he was close to her, 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:45.760 being supportive in those things. He didn't want to talk 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:48.040 to anybody, but he made it look like he was 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.200 a stand up guy at the end and was there 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:52.280 for the mom at the funeral and all that, and 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:57.520 then at right after the funeral he was gone. But eventually, 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:00.160 after speaking with Greg's mom and some of his friend end, 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:02.840 they started to learn more. You know, Greg really didn't 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.520 have a father figure, and I think Rex came into 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:09.920 the picture, and you know, he was doing the karate stuff. 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:14.319 This guy Rex Reid, supposedly had a black belt in karate. 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:19.440 He and Rex had become close. He liked being around Rex, 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:23.600 and I'm sure it's because just his attitude and he 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:25.880 was a guy that didn't take any crap off anybody. 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:28.360 And I believe that Greg was looking for anything at 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:35.040 that time, and and Rex certainly fit the bill. And 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:38.080 the fact that this guy was a little bit different 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:43.200 than most you know, dad's or boyfriends or whatever. I 0:09:43.240 --> 0:09:45.480 think was attractive to him. That this guy is, you know, 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:47.520 out there living on the edge, and you know, he's 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.840 really cool. And I think that Greg may have been 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:54.559 trying to emulate some of those things. Detectives determined the 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:57.320 dynamite that Greg had used that had been stolen from 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:00.440 a construction site had been taken by this boyfriend. Rex 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:04.360 were both Rex and Greg, but other than that, they 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.560 had no idea why the dynamite was stolen, let alone 0:10:07.640 --> 0:10:11.200 who this guy really was. We never identified, like, you know, 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:14.160 he came here for a job, or he had family 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:16.200 in the area or anything like that. He seemed to 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:20.840 be a loner. People told us that they didn't know 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:23.040 who he really was anyway, but they just said that 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:25.840 Rex Reid was a bad guy. And that if anybody 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:28.000 tried some mess with them that you guys will never 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:30.920 take him alive, and you know, some officers might get 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:35.600 hurt in the process. Greg's friends literally warned them about 0:10:35.640 --> 0:10:39.040 this guy from the very beginning. We were aggressive. If 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:41.800 somebody needed to be found, we were going to find him. 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:45.319 And Steve Smith is a great detective. He put a 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:47.080 lot of time in on this case because we wanted 0:10:47.120 --> 0:10:50.360 that guy. He was obviously good at concealing his identity. 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:52.679 He literally just kind of fell off the face of 0:10:52.679 --> 0:11:02.640 the earth. Eventually, the hunt for Rex led them to 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:05.120 a boarding house where he had been staying, about thirty 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:09.480 minutes away. We went to the house, made contact with 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:11.800 the lady there, told her what was going on. She 0:11:11.920 --> 0:11:15.400 told me that Rex had disappeared the day before, she said, 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:17.000 and we asked, you know, if he was going to 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:19.000 be back she knew anything. She says, no, I think 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:21.520 he's gone. He cleared out his room and they asked 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.000 her for her permission to search his room. In the 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:26.760 trash can, we located what turned out to be a 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:30.000 driver's license had been cut up into fifty sixty little 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:34.920 tiny pieces that one of the detectives, Alan Harris, very 0:11:34.960 --> 0:11:37.920 methodically putting back together, and then when he had it 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:39.719 back together, we could get a name and a date 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:42.880 of birth. He entered that in the computer and we 0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:45.599 immediately got an n C I s hit n C 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:49.280 i C stands for the National Crime Information Center. They 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.439 learned this guy who went by the name Rex Reid, 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:55.440 had several warrants out of the state of Florida for 0:11:55.520 --> 0:11:59.520 a variety of serious felony crimes. And in order to 0:11:59.520 --> 0:12:02.520 protect the identity of the woman who I believe wrote Hitman, 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.240 we're going to obscure his real name at times and 0:12:05.320 --> 0:12:08.319 call him by one of his alias is at others, Randall, 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.760 Wayne Phelps. We did the computer work in lo and 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:17.240 behold there he was the federal fugitive. Sometimes we'll hear 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:20.000 Stephen Rusty called this guy Rex because that's what they 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:22.720 initially knew him as, and it would be thirty two 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:27.679 years before they finally learned the whole truth about him. 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:30.600 All while reporting this story, I've talked to dozens of 0:12:30.679 --> 0:12:32.720 people who know a thing or two about a thing 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:35.120 or two, but no one I've talked to knows the 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:39.640 entire story, including Steven Rusty. They've never even heard of 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:43.000 Hitman until I called, and then I told Rusty and 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:45.760 Steve the book was linked to a triple murder. Did 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:47.959 you know that? No, I did not know that until 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:51.439 you had mentioned it. And then I, yeah, gone online 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:54.920 and started looking at things and saw it, and I thought, well, no, great, big, 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:58.880 giant surprise that he would author a book and somebody 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.679 would think that would be the manual to go about 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:06.840 doing bad things to good people. Even now, I keep 0:13:06.880 --> 0:13:10.080 finding new things. Just this week, as I was writing 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.880 this episode, I stumbled onto a passage and hit man 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:16.120 I didn't remember seeing before, probably because it wasn't relevant 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:21.440 until now. Rex Ferrell says, quote dynamite is nice and 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:23.959 can be picked up from many building sites or roads 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:27.560 under construction, but during storage the sticks have to be 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:30.920 turned over regularly to prevent settling of the nitro, and 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:34.040 the blasting caps necessary to make it go off are 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:37.440 so tricky that just by walking across the carpet enough 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:41.719 static electricity could be created to blow you away. As 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:44.160 I said in the beginning, unless you know what you 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:47.680 are doing, stay away from requests for this type of 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:56.000 extermination or the life you take, maybe your own. We'll 0:13:56.000 --> 0:14:13.760 be right back. I truly thought I'd reach the end 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:15.920 of the Rex Feral story. I learned it was a 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:19.080 woman now a grandmother in her seventies who originally wrote 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:21.520 a book of fiction and wanted it pulled after it 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:25.160 was associated with the triple murder in Maryland. But then 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:27.760 late one night I decided to just plug a few 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:31.080 names and dates I had into some archives, and there 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:34.240 it was the story I knew had to be there. 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:37.600 I mean, I've had some similar moments of discovery while 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:41.960 making this podcast, but this was where I uncovered something huge, 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.240 A part of this story that literally no one, not 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:49.360 even Tiffany Horn, Bob Dean, Howard Siegel, I mean, no 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:53.520 one knew about. And the more I read, the more 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:56.280 I found about this guy, Randall Wayne Phelps, the more 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:59.360 I really began to understand the genesis of this book. 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:04.760 Remember what the author said to Pellatan editor Virginia Thomas. 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.320 By the way, in answer to your question and that 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:15.160 of Mr. Land, I get my materials from books, television, movies, newspapers, 0:15:15.320 --> 0:15:22.000 police officers, my karate instructor. Back in the early eighties, 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:25.080 right around the time Hitman was written, Phelps was training 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:28.320 to be a police officer in Florida, I got his 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:30.760 personnel records and was able to learn a little bit 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:33.920 more about him. Apparently, he was five ten and weighed 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:37.000 one forty pounds. He was a U. S citizen and 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:39.760 was engaged to be married. I assumed to the woman 0:15:39.760 --> 0:15:43.360 who I've been told authored hitman, because the emergency contact 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:46.400 listed on his new higher payroll notice and the first 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:51.400 name listed in his personal references that same name. Anyway, 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.520 according to his application for employment, he says he got 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:57.359 his g e d In attended community college in the seventies, 0:15:57.960 --> 0:15:59.920 and in his employment record he says he was a 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:04.440 harpet installation mechanic and converted to a carpet salesman. He 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.960 goes on to say, during this time, I have also 0:16:08.040 --> 0:16:12.280 taught classes in self defense and martial arts to perfect 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:19.240 and maintain my skills for personal enjoyment and for additional income. Again, 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:23.880 our Rex Ferrell actor, he cites his fifteen years of experience, 0:16:23.960 --> 0:16:27.040 is a fifth degree black belt karate instructor as a 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:30.240 skill or qualification that would make him fit for the role. 0:16:31.280 --> 0:16:34.880 I hold belts in five styles, last being my own style, 0:16:35.200 --> 0:16:39.760 American Combat Karate, which is the layman's no nonsense approach 0:16:39.800 --> 0:16:43.680 to self defense and street fighting. As grand master of 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:47.120 this style, I've taught many law enforcement officers. He goes 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:50.440 on to list several local police departments and a narcotic squad, 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:55.800 saying law enforcement agencies have always received training from me 0:16:55.880 --> 0:16:59.840 and no charge as a public service. A public affairs 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:02.120 off sir from this department told us that back then 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:04.719 the field training would have involved riding in a patrol 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:07.000 car with an officer for a few days, and so 0:17:07.040 --> 0:17:10.840 there's a couple evaluation reports in these files. At the 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:14.040 time his final evaluation report was issued, he was on 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:16.879 probation and had been training for five and a half months. 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:22.200 This report gives him an overall performance grade of not satisfactory, 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:26.520 especially in the categories of public relations, knowledge of work, 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:31.240 work judgments, jobs, skill level, quality of work accepts, direction, 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:36.320 physical limitations, job attitude, etcetera. The field training officer giving 0:17:36.359 --> 0:17:40.720 this evaluation elaborates in the comments section by saying, quote 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:45.840 two lacks in confronting suspects, traffic violation and field safety. 0:17:45.880 --> 0:17:50.960 Example standing in traffic while issuing traffic summons, hair length 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:54.399 needs some attention, tends to be cold and indifferent to 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:59.200 people in their problems, Cold and indifferent to coworkers, does 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:05.760 not mingle into group. This comment section wasn't big enough. 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:10.200 The evaluation continues onto an additional sheet of paper, going 0:18:10.240 --> 0:18:13.439 on to say things like recruit is very slow in 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:18.280 writing reports and has many spelling mistakes. Recruit does assigned tasks, 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:21.840 but acts as if he's board stiff doing them, very 0:18:21.880 --> 0:18:25.359 slow to accept changes and wants a detailed explanation for 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:29.800 the changes. Cannot control interviews with I rate persons. Intends 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:33.399 to become flustered and confused as to what actions to take. 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:39.639 Apparently Phelps was color blind and he kept reading maps wrong, 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:43.199 getting confused and ending up in the wrong area. The 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:47.320 evaluation says he has quote very poor driving habits and 0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:52.000 kept nearly getting into accidents. And then there's this comment 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:56.320 quote has told this FTO he is only interested in 0:18:56.400 --> 0:19:00.400 major cases, especially drug pushers, and he has his own 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:06.280 definite opinion as to how they should be treated. Remember 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:11.840 that this evaluation goes on and on. There are twenty 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:16.800 nine different comments. Again, retired Captain Steve Smith. He didn't 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:22.440 last very long. I think they got suspicious of his integrity. 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:28.080 Helps His resignation letter dated June one reads, I find 0:19:28.080 --> 0:19:31.080 that I disagree with many of the practices and techniques 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:36.720 advocated in my training period. Unwilling to compromise my views 0:19:36.920 --> 0:19:40.360 on the duties of a police officer as a public servant, 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:44.399 I wish to be free to offer my services elsewhere. 0:19:45.119 --> 0:19:48.080 It was a short time after that that I believe 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:52.879 him and his companions started doing the drug dealer rip offs. 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:56.560 So I'm going to tell you about this book I 0:19:56.640 --> 0:20:00.640 found sounds familiar, but I'm talking about the other book. 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:04.159 Rex Ferrell wrote. It looks like a comic book or 0:20:04.200 --> 0:20:08.280 a silly pulp novel, same as Hitman. The cover is 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:11.160 orange and there's a masked man bursting into the room 0:20:11.240 --> 0:20:15.040 with a machine gun. He surprised two guys. They're jumping 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:17.439 up from a table covered in money and drugs and 0:20:17.520 --> 0:20:22.000 open cans of beer. The book's title is just as ridiculous. 0:20:22.560 --> 0:20:25.840 It's called How to Rip Off a Drug Dealer and 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:29.760 it was published in by Paladin. In the first chapter, 0:20:30.040 --> 0:20:34.399 Ferrell rights, ripping off or stealing the merchandise of drug 0:20:34.440 --> 0:20:39.240 dealers can be a very profitable business among the outlaws 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:44.440 who grow, import and manufacture these illegal substances for distribution. 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:49.080 There exists the law of the jungle survival of the strongest. 0:20:49.960 --> 0:20:54.280 Any outlaw who can outthink, out maneuver, or out fox 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:58.199 any other outlaw is entitled to the bounty he appropriates. 0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:02.160 The author pitched this book before Hitman was even released. 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:07.040 In her deposition, Paladin editor Virginia Thomas recounted something the 0:21:07.080 --> 0:21:10.320 author wrote in a letter. I'm anxious that Rex Savage 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:13.640 established himself with Paladin readers as a top quality writer 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:17.320 who knows his stuff. I have ideas for additional books, 0:21:17.320 --> 0:21:20.600 which we touched on briefly during our last phone conversation. 0:21:21.080 --> 0:21:24.159 And again that's our actor reading the author's words. I 0:21:24.200 --> 0:21:27.760 should have the first two chapters on popping drug dealers 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:30.560 ready to send to you soon. I think it will 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:33.359 be better than The hit Man. It is, in a 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:36.880 weird way better than Hitman. Some of the hard boiled 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:39.280 fantasy has been stripped away, and most of the book 0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:43.560 is straightforward, practical, actionable. How to assemble a team, how 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:46.119 to train them, how to storm a room, how to 0:21:46.160 --> 0:21:50.399 dispose of the merchandise. Actually it's pretty scary the level 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:53.560 of sophistication laid out in the book. The equipment and 0:21:53.600 --> 0:21:57.600 tactics are all military. Great Two Way Radio's bulletproof vests 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:01.200 and infrared scopes. Rex Ferrell advises to use a fully 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:06.000 automatic Mac ten, which would later fall under assault weapons ban, 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:10.520 and votes a whole chapter to marksmanship too. Of course, 0:22:10.720 --> 0:22:14.720 this being a rex Feral book, there are totally absurd moments, 0:22:14.760 --> 0:22:17.439 like the long passage about why dressing up as a 0:22:17.480 --> 0:22:21.679 woman is the perfect disguise. You will need a method 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:25.960 for very close removal of facial and maybe even leg 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:30.480 hair in order to effectively portray a woman. Get your 0:22:30.560 --> 0:22:34.680 wife or girlfriend to help you. Select some inexpensive makeup, 0:22:35.560 --> 0:22:39.280 then practice applying the makeup until you achieve a natural look. 0:22:40.200 --> 0:22:43.240 Women's magazines tell you how you don't want to appear 0:22:43.560 --> 0:22:47.040 clownish or garish. You want your target to really think 0:22:47.040 --> 0:22:51.359 that you are female. He suggests picking up quote hard 0:22:51.440 --> 0:22:55.280 plastic breasts with nipples and other novelty items from party 0:22:55.320 --> 0:22:58.439 shops to complete the look, and he consoles the reader, 0:22:59.000 --> 0:23:01.520 so why you stand in front of the mirror feeling 0:23:01.680 --> 0:23:05.159 just a little bit queer? Keep in mind why you 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:09.000 are playing in makeup if it bothers your macho self 0:23:09.040 --> 0:23:12.040 image so you can't sleep at night. Instead of counting sheep, 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:21.560 try counting stacks of hundred dollar bills. The book How 0:23:21.560 --> 0:23:23.760 to rip Off a Drug Dealer is dedicated to this 0:23:23.840 --> 0:23:27.920 guy and quote to men of courage everywhere who dared 0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:30.879 to take a chance, and to all those outlaws. I 0:23:31.080 --> 0:23:36.920 dare not mention by name outlaw. There's a lot of 0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:40.040 hyperbole in these two books, but this is a detail 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:44.919 that is not an exaggeration, because Phelps apparently wasn't just 0:23:45.160 --> 0:23:48.399 ripping off dealers. He was doing it while pretending to 0:23:48.440 --> 0:23:51.399 be a cop. There's a whole section on how to 0:23:51.440 --> 0:23:54.280 do this in the book. It's called the police assault. 0:23:54.880 --> 0:23:58.200 This method of entry is probably the safest and most 0:23:58.240 --> 0:24:02.680 profitable of all or the serious and well equipped team. 0:24:02.760 --> 0:24:07.399 It consists of entering the location by flashing seemingly legitimate 0:24:07.440 --> 0:24:11.280 police credentials and making the mark think he is under arrest. 0:24:11.760 --> 0:24:16.040 If handled correctly, the entire procedure will go smoothly and 0:24:16.160 --> 0:24:20.360 one job will possibly lead to future jobs without resistance 0:24:20.560 --> 0:24:25.760 or violence. This method requires one special skill, says Rex. 0:24:26.640 --> 0:24:29.200 At least one of the inside men should be capable 0:24:29.240 --> 0:24:33.399 of playing the part of a seasoned, knowledgeable, hardened cop. 0:24:33.920 --> 0:24:36.520 Randall Wayne Phelps, of course, had been training to be 0:24:36.560 --> 0:24:39.679 a police officer. Maybe he was better at playing a 0:24:39.680 --> 0:24:44.280 cop than he was at being a cop, So Phelps 0:24:44.320 --> 0:24:47.879 resigned from the police department in three started ripping off 0:24:47.960 --> 0:24:51.480 drug dealers the following year, and then the explosion happened 0:24:51.520 --> 0:24:55.480 three years later. So when Rusty and Steve started investigating 0:24:55.520 --> 0:24:58.720 that explosion, Phelps had already been on the run from 0:24:58.720 --> 0:25:02.520 the Feds. An investigator for a state's attorney's office in 0:25:02.560 --> 0:25:05.160 Florida actually hopped on a plane as soon as he 0:25:05.160 --> 0:25:09.680 heard about the explosion Steve was investigating. The guy's name 0:25:09.720 --> 0:25:12.239 was ed Boone. His nickname was Boomer, and he had 0:25:12.240 --> 0:25:16.080 a very booming voice, so it was appropriate I tried 0:25:16.080 --> 0:25:19.080 to reach ed Boone. Unfortunately he died in two thousand fourteen. 0:25:20.880 --> 0:25:24.320 Ed Boone ended up telling us that this had been 0:25:24.359 --> 0:25:27.480 involved in a number of crimes. They were ripping off 0:25:27.920 --> 0:25:31.320 drug dealers acting like they were the police. They would 0:25:31.400 --> 0:25:35.480 do their search warrants supposedly and confiscate the drugs and money. 0:25:35.480 --> 0:25:37.800