Page 107 of Billion-Dollar Ransom

Partial transcript of US House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing

MR. ROACHE, CHAIR [ Heated ]: Isn’t it true, Agent Gordon, that you ignored Bureau protocol just so you could advance your precious career?

SAC GORDON: No, Mr. Chairman.

ROACHE: Then why did you ignore protocol with the Schraeder family kidnappings, putting dozens of lives at risk? The American people demand to know!

GORDON: [ Inaudible ]

ROACHE: Let the record reflect that the special agent has muttered something profane under her breath.

MR. ASHENbrENNER, RANKING MEMBER: Come on, Howard. Gordon was merely clearing her throat.

ROACHE: She’s avoiding the question!

ASHENbrENNER: And you’re attacking the witness!

GORDON: Apologies, Mr. Chairman. I was indeed clearing my throat. It’s been a long morning.

[ Broad laughter in the House Chamber. ]

GORDON: Let me start from the beginning. I noticed a disturbing pattern of kidnappings and believed the individuals responsible were gearing up for a much larger crime.

ROACHE: Do you have psychic powers, Agent Gordon?

GORDON: No. But I had a suspect, Rubin Padilla, who I believed was part of this kidnapping ring. I asked an agent with a deep background in undercover work to approach and befriend him as a potential accomplice.

ROACHE: Did you receive official authorization for this operation?

GORDON: Mr. Chairman, that would defeat the purpose of placing an operative in the kidnappers’ organization. Especially since I had good reason to believe the kidnappers had a member of law enforcement in their ranks.

[ Laughter. ]

ROACHE: So you took it upon yourself to act unilaterally.

GORDON: I took it upon myself to apprehend the kidnappers with the tools at my disposal.

ROACHE: Who is this undercover operative?

GORDON: Her name is Cynthia Parker. We came up together as trainees at Quantico.

ASHENbrENNER: How did this work, Agent Gordon? And please be specific.

GORDON: Of course. Agent Parker spent a year working her way into the ring. First, she gained Padilla’s sympathy with a hard-luck story, and he told her about an easy way to make some cash. This was how she met Ramiro Flores, who was later known as Five.

ROACHE: I’m sorry—Five?

GORDON: All the kidnappers were assigned code numbers, Mr. Chairman.

No real names were used. The leader of the ring identified himself as One.

So as the Schraeder plot came together, Agent Parker stuck close to Five and was able to share certain details.

The kidnapper known as Three met Five in prison.

Three was apparently a family man, doing all this for a sick daughter.

When Three’s wife was brought into the plot, she became known as Four.

They seemed like the perfect pair to take the Schraeder children.

ROACHE: All of these numbers, and I forgot to bring my calculator.

[ Scant polite laughter. ]

ASHENbrENNER: Please continue, Agent Gordon.

GORDON: Another kidnapper, Two, was rumored to be ex-LAPD, but nobody except One knew his real identity as former LAPD officer Tim Dowd.

Agent Parker proved herself so helpful to Five that he mentioned her to One, who thought she’d be useful for a side element to the main kidnapping plot. Agent Parker became Six.

ROACHE: And what was Six’s task?

GORDON: To kidnap my daughter.

[ Astonished gasps. ]

ROACHE [ Banging on desk ]: That’s enough of that!

GORDON: The idea was that my daughter would be taken at just the right moment to hobble the task force and distract me.

ROACHE: But your daughter was never in any real danger.

GORDON: No. But my daughter didn’t know that until later that night. [ Pause. ] She’s still pretty sore at me.

[ Warm laughter. ]

GORDON: There was no other way to play it. It had to look real to the mole in the task force. To my daughter. And, most important, to One.

ASHENbrENNER: Apologies, but I’m trying to keep track here.

We know the dual identities of One—Captain Jeffrey Penney and Mr. Virgil Tighe, both deceased.

We also know the true identities of Two, Five, and, now, Six.

But what about the kidnappers known as Three and Four?

I’ve read your reports very carefully, but I don’t see any names.

GORDON: Unfortunately, we have not identified them yet.

ROACHE: That’s mighty tough for me to swallow. What about the Schraeder children? Uh… [ Flips through pages. ] Calvin and Finnegan? Didn’t they give you a detailed description of the perpetrators?

GORDON: The children were vague about their captors. We consulted with the top child psychologists at UCLA, and they believe the shock of the kidnapping made it difficult for them to remember specifics.

ROACHE: As I said, Agent Gordon, I find that very difficult to swallow.

GORDON: Do you have children, Mr. Chairman? No? Maybe if you did, you’d have an easier time understanding.