Operation Flagship was a

sting operation In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative member of the public play a rol ...

jointly organized by the

United States Marshals Service The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The Marshals Service serves as the enforcement and security arm of the United States federal judi ...

and the

Metropolitan Police Department The Metropolitan Police is the police force serving Greater London, England (excluding the City of London). Metropolitan Police may also refer to: Bangladesh * Metropolitan Police (Bangladesh), including: ** Barisal Metropolitan Police ** Chatto ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

that resulted in the arrest of 101 wanted fugitives on December 15, 1985. The fugitives voluntarily went to the

Washington Convention Center The Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. was a convention center located at 909 H Street NW, occupying the city block bounded by New York Avenue (Washington, D.C.), New York Avenue, 9th Street, H Street, and 11th Street.Fugitive Investigative Strike Team) to claim two free tickets to watch the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

home game against the

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and for a chance to win tickets to

Super Bowl XX Super Bowl XX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

. A total of 166 marshals and police officers were involved in the operation, with undercover personnel posing as tuxedo-wearing ushers, cheerleaders, emcees, caterers, mascots, and maintenance staff. The operation has been hailed as one of the largest and most successful mass arrests of fugitives by U.S. law enforcement.

Background

From 1981 to 1986, the U.S. Marshals Service conducted a series of nine operations called Fugitive Investigative Strike Team (FIST) operations, with the aim of capturing thousands of wanted fugitives in the United States. One tactic the U.S. Marshals used to lure fugitives were "get-something-for-nothing" schemes which were often quite successful. This was demonstrated in 1984 when U.S. Marshals conducted FIST VII, a large-scale operation spanning over two months and eight states that resulted in the arrest of 3,309 fugitives. In

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, fugitives were sent a notice from the fictitious Brooklyn Bridge Delivery Service to pick up their "valuable" packages. In

Buffalo Buffalo most commonly refers to: * True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...

, fugitives were notified that they had won between $250 and $10,000 in a lottery. In

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

younger fugitives were notified that they had won two free tickets to a

Boy George George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer-songwriter and DJ who rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham a ...

concert, including dinner for two and the use of a limousine. In all cases, the fugitives were arrested when they tried to claim their packages or prizes at specified locations. For the marshals, arresting fugitives while away from home was significantly safer as they are often caught unarmed and off-guard. At least half of the 3,309 fugitives arrested in FIST VII were later released on bail.

Preparations

For Operation Flagship, while having dinner, Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Tobias P. Roche (District of Columbia) and U.S. Marshal Herbert M. Rutherford III (District of Columbia) noted the uproar of support for the Washington Redskins, particularly the difficulty in acquiring tickets for their sold-out home games and the fact that the waiting list for season tickets lasted several years. They particularly focused on the much-anticipated December 15 game between the Redskins and the Bengals, the winner of which would determine who would go to the playoffs. In November 1985, Roche with the approval of Rutherford, instructed deputy U.S. Marshals and fugitive task force members of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department to mail invitations to the last known addresses of approximately 3,000 wanted persons. The invitations were sent by the fictitious firm Flagship International Sports Television, which shares the same acronym with Fugitive Investigative Strike Team. The recipients were told that as part of the firm's promotional offer, they had won two complimentary tickets to the Redskins-Bengals game and that they were invited to a pre-game brunch at the Washington Convention Center on the morning of December 15, 1985. The recipients were also told they could enter a raffle draw to win 10 season tickets for the Washington Redskins and the grand prize of a week-long, all expenses paid trip to

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

to watch Super Bowl XX. The fugitives were wanted for various felonies including assault, robbery, burglary, escape, narcotics violations, rape, arson, fraud, or a combination thereof. Of the 3,000 people who were sent invitations, 167 replied positively to the invitation. Various clues were left by Roche, who authored the ruse. For example, the invitation letters sent by the marshals were signed by "I. Michael Detnaw" ("wanted" spelled backwards) and when the fugitives called the specified telephone number to confirm their attendance, an operator would redirect them to Flagship's business manager "Markus Cran" (" narc" spelled backwards) while the song "

I Fought the Law "I Fought the Law" is a song written by Sonny Curtis of the Crickets and popularized by a cover by the Bobby Fuller Four, becoming a top-ten hit for the band in 1966. Their version of the song was ranked No. 175 on the ''Rolling Stone'' li ...

" played in the background. Still, the ruse was convincing enough that on the morning of December 15, a lawyer representing the actual local broadcaster for the Redskins game went to the police command post to issue a

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent by one party, often a business, to warn another party that they believe the other party is committing an unlawful act, such as copyright infringement, and that they will take legal action if the oth ...

order, complaining that Flagship International did not have the appropriate license to operate in the district. The marshals and officers spent six weeks training for the operation, including three dress rehearsals so that assigned undercover officers could acclimate to their roles. Deputy marshals were brought in from outside Washington D.C. as the planners feared that some of the fugitives might recognize the local marshals who had guarded them in courtrooms or taken them to jail.

Operation

The marshals and the police officers arrived at the convention center at 5:30 a.m. on December 15 to set up the operation. To minimize risk, the planners set up two separate areas in the convention center: one area to greet the "guests" and another area where they could separate the fugitives in smaller batches to make the arrests. Although the invitations indicated guests should arrive at 9:00 a.m., many of the excited guests arrived as early as 8:00 a.m. Football-FIST-Arrests-3

To make the scene more believable, undercover officers carried balloons, sang Redskins cheers, served buffet brunch, and played videos from the Redskins' first Super Bowl win on the convention center screens. Officers dressed as maintenance workers and ushers; one marshal wore a Redskins

war bonnet file:Native American PowWow 9488.jpg, A modern-day Cheyenne Dog Soldiers, dog soldier wearing a feathered headdress during a pow wow at the Indian Summer festival in Henry Maier Festival Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 2008 War bonnets (also called ...

while another wore a knock-off San Diego Chicken suit to parade around the convention center while also monitoring if the fugitives were becoming suspicious. Every officer involved carried a concealed firearm. Football-FIST-Arrests-2

Upon the fugitives' arrival, deputy marshals posing as Flagship International employees checked their IDs, verified their identities through phone calls with backroom staff, and gave them color-coded name tags. Code words such as "double winner" were used to identify fugitives considered especially dangerous. Female officers disguised as cheerleaders were used to discreetly frisk the fugitives for concealed weapons by offering hugs and putting their arms around their waists. Louie McKinney, chief of enforcement operations for the U.S. Marshals, posed as the top hat-wearing master of ceremonies for the program exclusive for the "winners". Each group of fugitives, approximately 10-20 per batch, were told to sit down in an auditorium to listen to a few remarks from McKinney before receiving their prizes. Upon mentioning the signal word "surprise", 25 members of the Special Operations Group commanded by Deputy U.S. Marshal William F. Degan, Jr. wearing tactical gear would storm the auditorium and quickly surround the fugitives. They were then handcuffed and escorted outside to awaiting buses. A total of 101 fugitives were arrested by the end of the operation.

Aftermath and legacy

Reporters from

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and the ''

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'' were specifically invited by the marshals to document and publicize the operation. Stanley Morris, the director of the U.S. Marshals Service at the time, credited the media coverage for boosting the organization's profile with the general public. Two days after the operation, an editorial by ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' enumerated the criminal records of the arrested fugitives: "15 warrants for assault, five for robbery, six for burglary, four for escape, 19 for bond default or bail violation, 18 for narcotics violations, 59 for probation or parole violation and 41 for a variety of charges from rape to arson to forgery." The total cost for Operation Flagship amounted to $22,100, or approximately $218.81 per arrest (). In comparison, the U.S. Marshals Service typically spent an average of $1,295 per arrest in 1985 (). Two of the marshals involved in the operation, Louie McKinney (the "master of ceremonies") and Stacia Hylton (one of the "cheerleaders"), went on to become directors of the U.S. Marshals Service. In 2016,

NFL Films NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces advertisement film, commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentary film, documentaries ...

produced a short documentary featuring interviews with McKinney, Hylton, Roche, and Rutherford. In 2017, ESPN produced a

30 for 30 ''30 for 30'' is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes four "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series und ...

documentary short about the operation called "Strike Team". Writing in 2019, authors Jerry Clark and Ed Palattella described Operation Flagship as "one of the most legendary and effective in the history of the U.S. Marshals Service." They attributed its "double success" to the sheer number of fugitives caught in a single operation while also avoiding the dangers typically associated with capturing them at home or on the streets. Operation Flagship inspired a scene in the 1989 film '' Sea of Love'', starring

Al Pacino Alfredo James Pacino ( ; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Known for his intense performances on stage and screen, Pacino is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. His career spans more than five decades, duri ...

. In the film, the

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stages a similar sting operation, luring 45 wanted criminals with outstanding warrants to a ballroom, where they were told they could have breakfast with members of the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

. Once inside, Detective Frank Keller, played by Pacino, informs the criminals that they are under arrest, as police officers wearing Yankees shirts flood into the ballroom.

M. Night Shyamalan Manoj Nelliyattu M. Night Shyamalan ( ; born August 6, 1970) is an American filmmaker. His films often employ supernatural plots and twist endings. The cumulative gross of his films exceeds $3.3 billion globally. Shyamalan has received vario ...

drew inspiration from Operation Flagship for his 2024 film '' Trap''. In a season 9

episode An episode is a narrative unit within a larger dramatic work or documentary production, such as a serial (radio and television), series intended for radio, television or Streaming media, streaming consumption. Etymology The noun ''episode'' is ...

of ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'', a similar sting captures

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

for unpaid parking fines.

References

External links