Ed continues to take great pride in his newspaper work and cherishes the awards he has won for investigative reporting. He was the one who dubbed Gilbert Galvan the Flying Bandit and was the first reporter to break Galvan’s story over the news wire in North America. Once he sent the story out, the media went into a frenzy. Calls flooded in to Arnold at his desk at the Examiner. They came from every conceivable international source, including the National Enquirer. Everyone wanted more information and photographs of Galvan and his betrayed wife; all of them sought immediate access to Gilbert and Janice for interviews and video footage. The Flying Bandit was the hottest story of the day and to his credit Ed Arnold was the newspaper man who got the story first.
Does Galvan have any of the money or the jewels stashed away so he can live off them once he gets out of jail? Lyle MacCharles thinks he may.
“I think he was like a squirrel ... stuffing the cash into his cheeks.”
George Snider says, “I don’t think he’s got anything left because he could have turned it in, especially the jewellery, to get himself a lighter sentence. But he had nothing to offer.”
Janice Whiteman says no.
“If he still has any, he’s not telling me about it. I’m certainly not getting any of it.” Her modest lifestyle seems to support her contention. She admits that sometimes she has had a hard time managing alone; for a while Tommy Craig helped her out by giving her cash.
Tommy Craig says, “No, he’s got nothing left. I never met a man who could go through money as fast as Robert Whiteman. He put most of his money up his nose, then he gambled, went on a lot of expensive trips, treated his friends like he was a king. Shit, he’d take a lot of money with him on a trip and I’d still have to wire him more. I told him over and over to put his money away for a rainy day, but he lived life to the hilt, spent every Goddamn cent he had. Nah, he’s got nothing left. It’s a shame, but that’s Robert.”
At the end of the CBC television interview on the Fifth Estate, host Victor Malarek asked Galvan: “With a straight face, you can say you have no money left?”
Galvan answered with a grin, “I can say it with a straight face or one with a smile on it; I don’t have any money.”
Galvan seemingly contradicted that position in a prison interview with Ed Arnold. Arnold asked him, “Do you still have some of the jewels?”
Galvan smiled coyly, but said nothing.
That’s Gilbert Galvan: always the rogue, always the con man, always wanting to be in control. Even as he languishes in prison he’d like you to think he was so clever that he still has some of the loot hidden away.
And maybe he has.
UPDATE
To the best of my knowledge, as of 2003, Gilbert Galvan is out of jail and living in the United States. After he finished his sentence in Canada, he had time owing in several other American jurisdictions. The last of these he served at a federal penitentiary near Oxford, Wisconsin.
I tried to arrange a visit with him there but under tough U.S. federal prison regulations I was refused permission. This was because I had not known Gilbert personally prior to his U.S. federal incarceration.
After he was released from Oxford, Gilbert phoned and emailed me several times and eventually we developed a rather friendly relationship. At his request I agreed to send him copies of several of my books.
When I spoke to him last, he was operating his own painting firm that serviced gas stations and other commercial buildings of this type. From the sound of things, he was doing quite well. Gilbert also made it clear to me that he was absolutely convinced he would never do anything again that would jeopardize his freedom.
The last time I spoke to him he was raising one of his daughters–under his very strict but caring regime I must add.
Although I knew Gilbert’s contact phone numbers, we didn’t connect for quite a while. Then, in December 2002, I tried to reach him but both of his phones were no longer in service. Consequently, I’ve lost contact with him. Nevertheless, I somehow have confidence that I’ll hear from him again.
Until I do, because he is such a beguiling and capable person, I can only hope he’s doing well and staying out of trouble.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Robert Knuckle won an Actra award for writing the stage drama I Am Not a Legend, the story of football’s Vince Lombardi. He later adapted this play for radio and television where it played on the ESPN network across the United States.
Prior to completing The Flying Bandit, he wrote In the Line of Duty which chronicles the lives and deaths of the 188 police officers who comprise the RCMP Honour Roll. These are the Mounties who have died in the line of duty since the inception of the Force in 1873.
Originally from Windsor, Ontario, Robert is a graduate of the University of Windsor and has a Masters in Education from the University of Toronto.
He and his wife, Elizabeth reside in Dundas, Ontario. Their extended family includes Richard, Leeanne, Laura, Bob, Mark, Scott and Kelly.
The Flying Bandit Page 30
