Greg Stejskal served as an FBI agent for 31 years and retired as resident agent in charge of the Ann Arbor office.
Santa’s Helper, a Giant Elf, a Cuban Inmate Uprising and the Salvation Army
By Greg Stejskal ticklethewire.com This is a Christmas story, but it really began just before Thanksgiving in 1987, at the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta. The Cuban inmates had rioted and had taken control of a sizeable portion of the penitentiary. The catalyst for the riots happened years before that in 1980. The Mariel boatlift, a…
Doing the Right Thing in the Penn State Scandal
As head of the FBI’s Ann Arbor office, Greg Stejskal got to know well the legendary University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler. Stejskal, who has retired from the FBI, gives his insights into the Penn State scandal and discusses how he thought Schembechler, who died in 2006, might have handled it. By Greg Stejskal…
Ex-FBI Agent and Prolific Author Paul Lindsay: He Did It His Way
Paul Lindsay, the hard-digging ex-Detroit FBI agent who became a prolific author, and wrote seven novels — the last two of which were N.Y. Times best sellers — died peacefully Thursday night at a Boston hospital of pneumonia with his family by his side. He had been battling leukemia. By Greg Stejskal ticklethewire.com Paul Lindsay…
Forget About Clemens and Bonds; Get The Big Fish in the Steroid Mess
Greg Stejskal was an FBI agent for nearly 32 years before retiring in 2006. He was the Senior Resident Agent of the Ann Arbor FBI office and spearheaded Operation Equine with former FBI agent Bill Randall — an operation that focused on steroids. By Greg Stejskal ticklethewire.com It’s generally accepted doctrine, at least when I…
FBI Dir. Mueller, Steroids and Getting Stranded on 3rd Base
By Greg Stejskal ticklethewire.com I recently read the “Time” magazine profile of FBI Director Robert Mueller noting that his 10-year statutory term was coming to an end. It was mentioned that the Director is a big baseball fan especially of the Boston Red Sox. I have also read speculation about what may be in Dir….
The Murders at Ann Arbor’s Veterans Hospital; What Went Right and What Ultimately Went Wrong in the Case
By Greg Stejskal ticklethewire.com ANN ARBOR, Mi. — In 1977, two nurses, Filipina Narciso and Leonora Perez, were convicted of poisoning patients at the Ann Arbor (Michigan) Veterans Administration Hospital (VAH) after one of the longest trials in U.S. history. The prosecution and verdict became a cause celebre in Ann Arbor, across the nation and…
Steroids Had Plenty of Victims
By Greg Stejskal ticklethewire.com “Say it ain’t so, Rocket.” (“Say it ain’t so, Joe.” Reported words of a young fan to Shoeless Joe Jackson after the Black Sox gambling scandal.) Roger Clemens may have lied under oath in front of a Congressional committee regarding the use of steroids during his baseball career, but so what?…
Kidnapping For Ransom: Bad Business Model
By Greg Stejskal ticklethewire.com It was February, 1980 in Detroit. I was assigned to the FBI surveillance squad (with apologies to Jack Webb and his introductions to “Dragnet”). It was very cold in the back of the van. We hadn’t yet installed a heater that would work when the van wasn’t running. I had been…
A Detroit Mob Photo by the FBI Surveillance Squad Captures History
I joined the Detroit FBI surveillance squad in 1977. Two years later, on June 11, 1979 , we witnessed an event- its historical significance and ramifications would not be clear until many years later. But before I get to that, a little history. In the early 1970s, the FBI’s Detroit Field Office established the FBI’s…
The History of April 19th: American Revolution, Waco, Oklahoma Bombing
Listen my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy Five…. Longfellow’s poem forever immortalized Paul Revere’s ride. What the poem does not say is that Revere’s mission that night was to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British soldiers were coming to…