by David Howard
“You won’t let me”: Paul Presbrey, “Kitzer Jr. Charges Truth Not Wanted,” Minneapolis Star, June 8, 1967; and Finlay Lewis, “Kitzer Jr. Claims State Insurance Division Defrauded Him,” Minneapolis Tribune, June 8, 1967.
“erupted into tears”: Finlay Lewis, “Joyous Tears Greet Verdict,” Minneapolis Tribune, June 24, 1967. After the verdict, the question lingered about how much criminal activity Kitzer had actually engaged in. In Louisville he testified (U.S. v. Kaye and Calandrella) that those kickbacks to the Chicago bank were the only illegal activity he participated in at the time. But at other points he conceded that the federal government had botched its case against him.
fined him $100: Jim Shoop, “Kitzer Jr. Fined $100 for Making Illegal Donation,” Minneapolis Star, July 18, 1967.
lawsuits and millions: Paul Presbrey, “Insurance Firm’s Assets Listed,” Minneapolis Star, March 13, 1969.
wrecked a rental car: “Kitzer Jr. Accused of Drunken Driving,” Minneapolis Tribune, April 27, 1967.
folks in the jury box: Paul Presbrey, “Allied Jurors Believed ‘Politics,’ Acquitted 4,” Minneapolis Star, June 24, 1967.
In those pioneering days: Joe Pistone with Richard Woodley, Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia (New York: New American Library, 1987), p. 20.
Chapter 14: The Ha-Ha Certificate
Kitzer, Brennan, and Wedick testified extensively about the Frankfurt trip during the Louisville trial (U.S. v. Kaye and Calandrella).
“Did you ever find”: Kitzer’s testimony in Louisville (U.S. v. Kaye and Calandrella).
City of Los Angeles: For background, see two stories by William Farr in the Los Angeles Times: “Check Plot Suspect Seized,” November 14, 1975; and “L.A. Check Fugitive’s Border Incident Told,” January 22, 1975. Wedick and Brennan furnished the $300,000 figure.
A distinguished-looking: Among other instances, Brennan testified to Cornaz’s background in Louisville (U.S. v. Kaye and Calandrella).
sleek five-hundred-room Intercontinental: From a brochure of Intercontinental Frankfurt published during that era.
“two-for-one deal”: Brennan describes this in his Louisville testimony (U.S. v. Kaye and Calandrella).
“It killed us”: Bryan Burrough, Days of Rage: America’s Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence (New York: Penguin Press, 2015), p. 377.
“We can’t just leave”: Kitzer’s testimony in Hawaii (U.S. v. Iuteri).
“I knew what happened”: Kitzer’s expert testimony in U.S. v. Gerhardt and Adornato.
consultant for the United Nations: For background on this and other elements of Kitzer’s career, see his expert testimony in both U.S. v. Martell and U.S. v. Gerhardt and Adornato.
“I have the capability”: From Kitzer’s expert testimony in U.S. v. Gerhardt and Adornato.
“provide insulation from you”: Ibid.
“Have you talked to D’Amato?”: From a recorded phone call transcribed into the record during Kitzer’s testimony in Hawaii (U.S. v. Iuteri).
Chapter 15: Pilgrims in the Mayflower
Fred Pro was one of the most colorful witnesses in any of the trials related to Operation Fountain Pen. Much of this chapter is built around his testimony in Kansas City (U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis) and in Memphis (United States v. Frederick P. Pro et al., Docket No. 77-20201). The trial involving the scam of Elvis Presley’s jet has garnered much attention over the years, for obvious reasons. For primary sources, see the trial transcript and materials in the FBI Vault (https://vault.fbi.gov), available by searching for “Elvis Presley.”
the Mayflower: David W. Dunlap, “An Old and Comfortable Face Is Leaving the Park’s Side,” New York Times, November 4, 2004.
“a good place to keep”: Ibid.
Pro claimed to have graduated: Much of Pro’s background is from p. 22 of an FBI report dated January 18, 1977, and posted online in the Elvis Presley section of the FBI Vault. Pro also discussed it in his Memphis trial testimony (U.S. v. Pro et al.).
called Parker West: Tom Huser, “Firm to Add Classic ’37 Cord to Their Line of Model A’s,” Miami Herald, June 11, 1973.
“I had a severe emotional”: Pro’s testimony in Kansas City (U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis).
Also, during a visit: Interview with Myron Fuller.
“basically my teacher”: Pro’s testimony in U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis.
“Phil, we got it”: Kitzer’s testimony in U.S. v. Pro et al.
“I didn’t put one nut”: Pro’s testimony ibid. Also see “Dade Men Defrauded Elvis, Prosecutors Say,” Associated Press (Miami News), August 22, 1978. The Elvis connection to the case has triggered enduring fascination and not a few conspiracy theories. These are chronicled in, among many other places, Stephanie McKinnon’s “Dead or Maybe Alive, Elvis King of Rumors,” in USA Today, August 15, 1991.
room 1103A: FBI report dated May 21, 1977, the Elvis Presley section of the FBI Vault.
“You want me to answer”: Howard’s testimony in Hammond (U.S. v. Chovanec).
“playing this game of trying”: Joseph D. Pistone with Richard Woodley, Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia (New York: New American Library, 1987), p. 48.
the omertà: For a riveting elaboration on this, see Selwyn Raab, Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005), pp. 5–12.
“You can’t expect to collect”: Kitzer’s testimony in Louisville (U.S. v. Kaye and Calandrella).
There was also a kitchenette: Descriptions of Pro’s offices come from Kitzer’s testimony in U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis.
“In the five-hour flight”: Kitzer’s testimony in Kansas City (U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis).
The check would total $500: Robert Hodierne, “A Con Man Gets Stung at His Own Game,” Charlotte Observer, December 24, 1978.
a Denver-based real estate: From Bernard Baker’s testimony in Kansas City (U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis).
“Nowhere, Indiana”: Tom Baker’s phrase in a history he wrote about Operation Fountain Pen and Abscam and furnished to the author.
Myron Fuller was still: Interviews with Fuller.
a “knuckle dragger”: Interviews with Fuller.
Trocchio had been arrested: Pete Bowles, “Four Indicted in Bid for Mob Take-over,” Newsday, March 24, 1982.
Chapter 16: The Rhinestone Cowboys
This chapter was drawn almost entirely from testimony in federal court in Kansas City (U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis) from Kitzer, Pro, Bendis, Mucci, Guthrie, and Cleveland Trust assistant manager David Sipari. The material involving Fuller’s investigations came from interviews with Fuller.
Chapter 17: Kick the Can
This chapter largely relies on Kansas City testimony (U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis), specifically from Kitzer, Wedick, Guthrie, and Pro.
“It was really a good”: Interviews with Bowen Johnson.
“The FBI was magical”: Jebb Johnston, “Training Center Boosting Law Enforcement,” Daily Corinthian, March 25, 2011.
“Dear Mr. D’Amato”: This letter was read into the record during Pro’s testimony in Kansas City (U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis).
“almost like an addiction”: Mark Gladstone and Paul Jacobs, “The G-man, the Shrimp Scam, and Sacramento’s Big Sting,” Los Angeles Times, December 11, 1994.
Chapter 18: The Hit Man
Fred Pro denied in court putting out a hit on Armand Mucci, but the contract was common knowledge in Kitzer’s circle and over Myron Fuller’s wiretap. It also appeared, as noted below, in Robert W. Greene’s book about Mel Weinberg, which was, decades later, adapted into the movie American Hustle.
Pro had put out a contract: Robert W. Greene, Sting Man: Inside Abscam (New York: Elsevier-Dutton, 1981), p. 100.
amazed at the jumbled: Wedick’s testimony in Louisville (U.S. v. Kaye and Calandrella).
Phil and Packman had long ago spent: Ibid.
“arrest quotas were used”: Selwyn Raab, Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005), p. 221.
“Really it just shocked me”: Interview with Tom Baker.
“Now, come on”: Interview with Brennan.
“a cross-country tour”: Pro in Kansas City (U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis).
Chapter 19: The Blackout
This chapter encompasses two of the big stories on either coast during the summer of 1977: the phony armed robbery in Los Angeles and the New York City blackout and subsequent riots.
“Keep moving and don’t”: From Statement of Facts in State of California v. Vincent Carrano, Jack Fulton, et al., Docket No. C-39065, held in Superior Court in Santa Ana, California.
“The gun looked nine feet”: Richard O’Reilly, “Clues in $1.1 Million Bullion Theft Sought,” Los Angeles Times, July 11, 1977.
“Take care of that fat”: There was some discrepancy as to which pejorative term the perpetrator claimed to have used to describe Carrano. I went with the one on page 36 of the Statement of Facts in California v. Carrano et al.
“Silver and gold, no problem”: Mike Runzler, “Few Clues Left to Solve $1 Million Bullion Heist,” Orange County Register, July 12, 1977.
he’d been indicted on twenty-seven: “FBI Can’t Unlock Safe Holders’ Lips,” News-Pilot (San Pedro, California), July 21, 1977.
“getting lumber and hammers”: Interview with Fuller.
“I’ll send out a hit”: Robert W. Greene, Sting Man: Inside Abscam (New York: Elsevier-Dutton, 1981), pp. 101–2.
“Oh, didn’t you hear?”: Interview with Fuller.
“I think the problem”: Testimony of Jack Elliott (California v. Carrano et al.).
“Hell, that shit’s been gone”: Ibid.
“That son of a bitch”: Ibid.
In January, Carrano had asked Phil: Summary of facts in decision of Court of Appeals of California, Fourth Appellate District, Division Three, in California v. Carrano et al., April 30, 1984.
Koenig would purchase Swiss: Evan Maxwell, “This Fairy Tale Doesn’t End ‘Happily Ever After,’ ” Los Angeles Times, July 23, 1978.
“Well, maybe I’ll come down”: Elliott testimony in California v. Carrano et al.
They invented tales of wilderness: Brennan’s testimony in Louisville (U.S. v. Kaye and Calandrella).
Arsonists set more than a thousand: Sewell Chan, “Remembering the ’77 Blackout,” New York Times, July 9, 2007.
“even the looters were”: Leonard Greene, “Lights Out for Suffering City,” New York Post, July 9, 2007. For more on the riots and New York’s struggles in that era, also see Bryan Burrough, Days of Rage: America’s Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence (New York: Penguin Press, 2015), p. 398.
John Quinn, a Long Island resident: This paragraph is drawn from an FBI case summary on Joseph Trocchio and others dated April 8, 1980, courtesy of Myron Fuller.
“I really…think a lot”: Pro’s testimony in Kansas City (U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis). See also the coverage of the trial in the Kansas City Times, in particular Greg Edwards’s “Witness Details Investment Swindle” on December 6, 1978, and “Fraud Trial Witness Says Defendant Out to Kill Him,” December 7, 1978.
Guthrie was also now talking: From Guthrie’s testimony in Kansas City (U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis).
Historically the mob: This paragraph is largely drawn from James O. Finckenauer, “La Cosa Nostra in the United States,” a United Nations Activities paper published on December 6, 2007: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/218555.pdf. I also consulted Selwyn Raab’s Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America’s Most Powerful Mafia Empires (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2005).
“Can you imagine Vinnie”: Interview with Fuller.
shell corporation named Elinvest: From summary of U.S. Court of Appeals decision for the Second Circuit, in New York City, in United States v. Eric Blitz, Peter Horvat, Richard Orpheus, and William Drew, Docket No. 75-1237.
“We spent enough time”: From United States v. Sonny Santini and Richard Strum, U.S. Court of Appeals decision, Southern District of New York, Docket Nos. 81-1249 and 81-1250.
appendicitis or had a heart attack: Ibid.
“Ten billion in assets?”: Interview with Wedick.
“I couldn’t say that I felt”: Bernard Baker testimony in Kansas City (U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis).
“Okay, when we sign”: Brennan’s testimony in Hawaii (U.S. v. Iuteri).
Chapter 20: Fool’s Gold
ten-story, 293-room behemoth: Leslie Berkman, “O.C. Investors Buy Registry Hotel in Irvine, to Reopen as Radisson,” Los Angeles Times, July 7, 1989.
purportedly owned a small airline: From Elliott’s testimony in California v. Carrano et al.
He’d recently run into trouble: Joe Cordero, “OC Man Charged in London Forgery Case,” Orange County Register, October 23, 1977.
twenty-six thousand metal washers: Joe Cordero, “Swiss Vaults Trio Faces Embezzling Complaints,” Orange County Register, September 4, 1977.
disconnected and rewired: Evan Maxwell, “Swiss Vaults Operators Plead Not Guilty in Theft,” Los Angeles Times, January 7, 1978.
“I found him to be very keen”: From Elliott’s testimony in California v. Carrano et al.
prepared sham assay reports: From U.S. v. Santini and Strum, U.S. Court of Appeals decision. There were a couple of variations on Elliott’s gold-bar scam, as described by Wedick and Brennan and summarized in Bill Osinski’s “Government Witness Ends Fraud-Trial Testimony,” Louisville Courier-Journal, February 22, 1978.
Chapter 21: Sonny’s Mentality
Some of Wedick’s and Brennan’s most vivid recollections involve Santini, because of the threat he represented. The first section of this chapter was crafted through interviews with both retired agents.
phoning “the alphabet”: From Kitzer’s expert testimony in U.S. v. Gerhardt and Adornato.
“When you say stole”: This exchange took place during Kitzer’s testimony in Hawaii (U.S. v. Iuteri).
“That was part of the business”: From Kitzer’s testimony in U.S. v. Martell.
“[I]f somebody had a need”: Kitzer’s testimony in Kansas City (U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis).
“We have letters of credit”: Kitzer’s testimony in Louisville (U.S. v. Kaye and Calandrella).
“[W]hether it’s an outright”: Ibid.
not good for Bernard Baker: From Baker’s testimony in Kansas City (U.S. v. D’Amato, Mucci, and Bendis).
“a good Italian boy”: This and the rest of this passage are from interviews with Brennan and Wedick.
a lunatic made national: As described in Terri Jentz, Strange Piece of Paradise (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006).
“all leads set out”: From a teletype issued by the FBI on August 4, 1977, available in the Elvis Presley section of the FBI’s online Vault. The Reid memo referenced in the next paragraph is also stored in that location.
Chapter 22: The Game Is Rigged
Nick Coleman’s story in the Minneapolis Tribune, mentioned below, provided some rare insight into Kitzer’s home life. As much as Kitzer opened up to Brennan and Wedick, he rarely delved into life in Ellendale.
Paint was curling: Nick Coleman, “Ellendale Wondered About Phil Kitzer,” Minneapolis Tribune, March 12, 1978.
“a very friendly atmosphere”: Donald Schlaefer testified about the search in Louisville (U.S. v. Kaye and Calandrella).
emptied Trident Consortium: FBI report 87-16994, in the Elvis Presley section of the online FBI Vault.
“What about that fucking Calandrella?”: From the transcript of the Louisville trial (U.S. v. Kaye and Calandrella).
“Guys, listen,” he said: This conversation was recounted by Wedick and Brennan.
> Phil had rented space: Oliver described his version of his history with Kitzer in an affidavit given on July 18, 1978, and filed in federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina, as part of U.S. v. Chovanec et al.
Oliver would turn up: Ray Gibson, “Missing Porn-Theater Owner Found Dead in Car Trunk,” Chicago Tribune, July 27, 1985. In general, headline writers loved Oliver. Two others from the Tribune: “Key Witness in Bungled Mob Hit Attacked as ‘Scum, Loser’ ” (November 7, 1984) and “Simple Trial Turns Diabolical, With Judge Labeled the Devil” (September 16, 1983).
“one of the most feared”: Maurice Possley, “Frank W. Oliver: 1920–2006,” Chicago Tribune, October 5, 2006.
“As a result of activities”: Memo to FBI director dated October 3, 1977, courtesy of Wedick.
“so as to preclude any”: FBI teletype 87-143601, available in the Elvis Presley section of the bureau’s online Vault.
Chapter 23: You Have to Believe It to See It
walked off a Braniff International: FBI report 87-16994, FBI Vault.
boarded the flight ready: Affidavit from Kitzer’s attorney, Robert Zeman, November 22, 1977, filed in Louisville (U.S. v. Kaye and Calandrella).
“white-collar crime of a high”: Jim Adams, “Dozens Are Indicted in What FBI Calls Broad Scheme with Louisville Links,” Louisville Courier-Journal, October 19, 1977.
between $3 million and $5 million: FBI memo on OpFoPen and Abscam dated July 17, 1980. Pro worked a plea deal in the aftermath, while D’Amato was among the defendants to plead guilty. See Tom Condon’s “U.S. Won’t Prosecute Case Against Onetime Promoter” in the February 21, 1979, edition of the Hartford Courant.
