September 26, 2025 • 40 mins
we will discuss the real-life story of the biggest FBI corruption scandal in history! The late Roger Wheeler, businessman and former owner of the World of Jai Alai, was murdered by the mob after uncovering an embezzlement scheme at the World of Jai Alai. How? By speaking with his head of security, Paul Rico, who unbeknownst to Wheeler was a former corrupt FBI agent with ties to the mob, about his embezzlement discovery. Dan was joined by the retired Tulsa police detective Mike Huff, who investigated Wheeler’s murder and took down Rico for his involvement, as well as David Wheeler, the son of Roger, who spent years fighting for justice.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's night Side with Dan Ray on w Beazy Cooston's
Meat Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
All right, thank you very much, Elle for keeping us
posted on that. My name is Dan Ray, host of Nightside.
We are not talking baseball tonight. We are going to
tell you about a new book that is out killing
my father, the inside story of the biggest FBI corruption
scandal in history. That FBI corruption scandal started here in Boston.
(00:29):
I think many of you know the story of White
bowlser and Stevie Flemy and his brother Vinnie Flemy, and
Joe Barbosa and the four men who spent a lot
of time in prison, Joe Salvadi, Peter Lamoni, Luis Greco,
Henry Timelio and others innocent individuals who were killed and
buried in beaches and places around Boston. And they did
(00:52):
it with the knowledge and participation in support of a
series of corrupt FBI agents, none more corrupt than a
guy named h Paul Rico, who was considered to be
Jaguo Hoover's favorite FBI agent. With us, we have two guests.
They are co authors of the book with a third
man named Lawrence Ya Dawn David Wheeler and Sergeant Mike Huff,
(01:15):
formerly of the Telsa Police Department. David and Mike, I
know both of you. Thank you for this book, and
thank you for joining us tonight on night, sire. Good evening, gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Thank you for having us. I really appreciate it, especially
being interviewed by you because you know what you're talking about.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Well.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Thank you very much. Mike Uff enjoyed our conversation this afternoon.
We'll get to that in a minute. I want to start,
Mike with David Wheeler. David, your dad is the victim here.
He was shot to death, assassinated if you will, in
the parking lot of Southern Hills Country Club in tels For, Oklahoma.
That's a country club that is on the same level
(01:55):
as what we call the country club here in Boston
and Brookline. It's been the side of the US Open.
So your dad owned a business called Telex, a computer
equipment business, and he bought a company called World Highlight
back in the late nineteen seventies. And you knew your
(02:17):
dad very well, good businessman. He was doing well with
his life financially, worked hard, spent time up here in Massachusetts,
sometimes on a vacation out in Nantucket. That you remember
as a small boy.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Correct, Oh, absolutely, I absolutely love that.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Okay. So he buys World Highlight, which was a game
it was still as around in which men competed at
what they called frontines, both in Connecticut where it was
legal and Miami in Florida where it was legal. And
it's a game where they're in a court. It's almost
(02:57):
like handball, but handball. It's actually a faster game than
he involved. And people bet a lot of money on it.
They paid to attend the matches. Uh. And your dad,
who was a pretty sharp businessman, began to realize that
money was disappearing. There was money going out the back door.
(03:18):
The guy who was in charge of security of his
company that he bought, he didn't hire him, but he
bought happened to be former FBI agent H. Paul Rico,
the guy up here who led a in my opinion,
a life of corruption as an FBI agent. What did
your dad do? Your dad went to Rico and said, hey,
(03:39):
we got a problem where we got money going out
of here. It's not being accounted for. That was a
huge mistake.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Well it was. It was not a little more interesting
than that. But by the way, Dad was from ready.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Uh, okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
He was the son of a newspaper street forad for
Christian Science Monitor, so they didn't have any money and
Dad made it all competing with monopolies like Dall and
my Kneesy Metal and IBM and computers. But Dad bought
HIGHLIGHTE because it was run by retired FBI agents and
he trusted the FBI, And that was a big mistake
(04:15):
in those days.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Everybody did, Rob, I'm hearing a radio in the background.
Are you picking that noise up? Okay? If you could
just do some work maybe with Mike to make sure
there's not a radio on in his background, and then
we can we can adjust this at the break. But
I want to continue Mike.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Uh, check on Mike because I don't have any noise here.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Okay, that's fine. Yeah, well we'll figure it out. We'll
figure it out, but I want to continue my conversation
with you. So your dad goes to Rico and says,
we got to figure out what's going on. But Rico
was the guy that knew what was going on. And
I think your dad signed his death warrant today that
he went to Rico and said, we got a problem.
Would would you agree with that?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Well, largely Rico found out that Dad was playing to
replace management with the guy that used to run World Highlight.
That was an honest businessman, and he knew not to
trust Rico and his buddies. Enrico was at that point
the general manager, so on a day to day basis,
(05:16):
he actually ran World high Line.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Okay, So what happened was that as a result of
this conversation, two guys from Boston traveled to Tulsa. Rico
because he reanted, and because he was at the security
he knew exactly where your dad was every day, and
(05:38):
so he set your dad up to be murdered. These
two guys from Boston, John Moderano and Joe McDonald, had
the weapons shipped separately. They drove to Telsa and one
day they waited for him in the parking lot in
the afternoon after he finished a round of golf, and
they assassinated him parking lot.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Of the Yes, the son, that's correct, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
How old were you at that time, David? Were you
still you know, a teenager or how old were you
at that time? Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:13):
No, no, I was twenty nine. And my misfortune, if
you want to classify as such was their rule world highlight.
They were doing everything possible to keep Dad from putting
his own man in there. And I was the only
one that got in there well that was on Dad's side,
and that the excuse was that they needed me to
(06:34):
do some programming. Yeah, yeah, so you know.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
So so at that point you had no idea, the
family had no idea who had set up the killing
of your dad and a young detective like huff like,
you're still with us on the line, right, yes, I am.
So how did this case come to you? You were
(07:01):
the other the day that Roger Wheeler was assassinated as
a young detective.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Yes, I was. I had just got into work. I
worked the evening shift in the homicide squad and I
just got there and they put up a call and
was shooting at Southern Hills, So they asked for all
the homicide cars to have down that way. So I went.
We spent six or seven hours working in the crime
(07:28):
scene and locating witnesses and so forth, and then came
back into the station to start on reports and her work,
and the two supervisors pulled me over and told me
they were putting together a task force and they knew
(07:51):
I probably wanted to be on it, so I definitely
couldn't turn that down. So I said, yes, I would
like to put on it. So they warned me that
this was going to change my life and I need
to think longer and hard about it, because I was
kind of up and coming police department. And so when
(08:12):
I said yes, the the legendary homicide supervisor Roy hunt
Ball whiskey and two shot glasses and we drink to it,
and they were sure right, my life did change.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
A bit, A bit a bit, I would say. Uh,
it basically encompassed virtually all of your career. When did
you first realize that this was more than just, you know,
some sort of a personal grudge that somebody had with
with the victim. When did you realize it was? It
(08:47):
was larger than probably anything that you would see in
your career, meaning and eventually was going to involve you know,
corrupt FBI agents, and it was going to trace its
way back to Boston. Uh. How long did it take
for you guys to realize we got a tiger by
the tail here, and we have no idea how big
this tiger is.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Well in May of nineteen eighty two when Brian Halarn
or Michael Donahue got gunned down on the wharf in Boston,
and that kind of took the FBI by surprise a bit.
They didn't want to share that information and we finally,
(09:30):
you know, got that. That was a day before the internet.
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
My understanding was that Hallerin was was anticipating ratting, you know,
obviously writing out some information which would have told the story,
and that's why he had to be executed.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Right. He had information that Paul Rico set it up
and that Whitey Bulger and Steve Fleming were were involved
in it also, And so we started working on that
angle and started making pretty regular trips for the next
couple of decades to Boston every few weeks. And we
(10:15):
did so in latter July of nineteen eighty two, and
we got involved with the Strikeforce. Prosecutor Jeremiah Sullivan got
to fit crossways with him, and he made some statements
about Paul Rico being connected with Winter Hill and things
(10:39):
that I don't believe he understood he was saying. But
we wrote down every word he mentioned, which later came
back to haunting years later when I was testifying before Congress,
and he was lying before Congress.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
I remember, I remember that those those hearings very well
in the early two thousands. Let me pause here, gentlemen,
because I got to take a quick commercial break. When
I come back, I want to continue the story, and
I know it's a complicated story, but I know my
audience knows enough about the structure the framework that they'll
(11:19):
be able to follow us. And again, the book, if
you really want to read a great book, it's called
Killing My Father, The inside story of the biggest FBI
corruption scandal in history, written co written by David Wheeler,
Seargeant Mike Hoff, and Lawrence Edone. Obviously, David Wheeler lost
(11:42):
his dad. Mike Hoff dedicated his life and his career
in large part to solving this crime, which he did
solve eventually. I'm not sure what role, mister you don't played,
but I do know what a critical role David Wheeler
and Sergeant Mike Houff played. And we're going to continue
our conversation with them. Uh And if you'd like to
(12:03):
join and ask any question as we go along and
help us tell the story, you welcome. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten,
thirty six, one seven, nine, thirty coming right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
We're talking about an incredible story that began here in
Boston and its technacle stretched all the way to tellsa Oklahoma,
ended up in the assassination of a very successful businessman,
Roger Wheeler, who had purchased World Highlight, and unfortunately the
folks who were in positions of authority with the company
the person purchased for former FBI agents, including completely corrupt
(12:43):
FBI agent H. Paul Rico. So with us is David Wheeler,
Who's who Obviously the title of the book Killing My
Father is in very large part david story, but it's
also Sergeant Mike Hoff's story, a Tulsa detective who worked
this story for over twenty years before justice was accomplished. David,
let me let me just come back to you. When
(13:06):
did you and Mike first get together? Obviously I'm sure
you met him early, But when did you realize that
you had a detective here who was intent on solving
this crime that that really was so disruptive to you,
so horrible for your family.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Let me let me ask Mike if Mike do you
think that you would be better positioned to explain that,
because that's really quite a story. Uh, in short brief words,
is he there? Okay, well let me try.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I'm here, He's there, Go ahead, Mike.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Uh. The FBI made arrangement with the Tulsa place that
they would investigate all out of state leads and we'd
handle the in state follow up. And so they informed
us that David Wheeler would be their source of information
and uh for us to honor, and so they kept
(14:03):
David from me and and then several months that's it.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
That is very interesting. That's very interesting, Mike. I never
knew that, So I've learned something already tonight. Boy, is
that interesting. It goes on.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
David came charging into the detective division and demanding to
see who was working his father's day. And after we
talked to David for about two days straight, we all
figured that we were all getting screwed by the FBI.
So that was a rude awakening right there.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Wow. So so over time, now there's story's going on
in Boston and at a you know, the Weddy Bogeer,
Stevie Flemy thing, John Conley the also a corrupt FBI
agent and other corrupt FBI agents. All of a sudden,
this ball of string or yarn, whatever you want to
(15:01):
call it. Everybody's pulling in different directions on different pieces,
and uh and things are are kind of come together.
I get a chance to meet up with Victor Garrow,
the lawyer for Joe Salvadi. I came to understand you,
Mike existed, and we we chatted a little bit, but
I knew nothing about the Wheeler murder per se. But
(15:23):
then there was the h the indictments of Flemy and
Seleemi and Maderrano, and in court in federal court. Another
real hero in this case, in my opinion, was Judge
Mark Wolfe, and he ran these hearings and this trial,
(15:46):
which in my opinion, produced a lot of evidence, and
the most important part of that evidence, in my opinion,
was the deal that was struck with John Moderano. I
know I'm moving this story along a few years here,
but well, but uh, I hope that you you guys
(16:09):
can can backfill for of me here. I assumed that
the deal that was struck with Moderano, and I give
a lot of credit to Judge Mark Wolfe. I hope
both of you feel the same way towards him as
I do.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Well, there's there's you know, from my perspective. Okay, again
this from my perspective. Uh, it was a sealed deal.
The uh they had the government which was highly corrupt
in this case, uh, trying to prostcute the bad guys
who were their partners. And uh, you know, Mike asked, uh,
(16:48):
whyshack if he would ask a question or two that
would help our tastes?
Speaker 2 (16:54):
And why whyshack was a guy named Fred Weishak who
was the the federal prosecutor on the SOLEMMI flebby a
bunch of about a rhino prosecution.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Go ahead, right, and so this is to get information,
you know, for the judge to know about. So Mike,
this is kind of your your thing. I'm I'm kind
of just bringing it up because I think it's important.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Go ahead, Mike, if you want to pick up the
story from there.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Yes, I just asked if they would ask a few
questions while they were going through the witnesses on the
stand that could maybe help our case. And I was
told that I didn't have an advocate in that courtroom,
and uh so, uh, you know, they didn't want to
(17:41):
get to the truth. They didn't want me anywhere around
anything they were doing in Boston because I was kind
of a wild card.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah. I remember one day seeing you in the in
the the card is of the Federal Court in Boston,
one of these hearings and this trial was going on,
and I could we talked a little bit that day,
I remembered pretty clearly, but I could sense that you
were being treated as an outsider.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Absolutely, I was an outsider. And let me back fill
just a tiny bit of the story. Yeah, go Ahead
had told O'Sullivan that we identified a week link as
the former president of World Highlight, a guy named John Callahan,
and I told him we were going to track him
down because he's a weak link. So we spent a
(18:32):
week trying to track him down and we were unable
to do so. And I was literally walking in the
door from the airport when I came back home and
my phone was ringing, and I picked it up and
somebody said, Hey, is this detective my Cup And I
said yeah, and he said he was from the Metro
(18:54):
Dave Police Department. He says, I understand you're looking for
John Callahan. I said, yeah, you have him he goes, see,
I got him. He's in the trunk of a car
at Miami Airport. Shot did And then I really realized that, Wow,
I was right in the middle of the hurricane here
(19:16):
literally literally.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
So you got Callahan, Dad, you got Hallarin and the
other guy with Hallarin who was just collateral damage. And
a lot of that activity involved the same folks who
had killed Roger Wheeler, and that is John Moderano and
Joe McDonald. Correct.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
Yes, And in going back to your story about Mardrono's indictment,
Judge Wolf did did have a hardline there with the
Department of Justice, and they were trying very hard to
keep any damaging information out of the courtroom, it appeared.
(20:00):
And uh but Wolf's uh uh, I guess tick took
nine months hearing that motion, and in that the end
result was, uh, this house of cards was starting to fall.
Mardrono wound up wanting to explore making a deal, and
(20:20):
uh uh. You know, I had spent a lot of
time looking at the back of Marrono's head. And while
I was sitting in the courtroom, and he knew I
was there, and I knew he was there, I was
talking to his lawyer, and uh so he got to
know that, you know that I was pretty serious about
(20:41):
this case. And so when it came time for for
us to kind of test drive his information and see,
uh see if it was good corroborating uh information. Uh
we uh uh we got together and talked and uh,
I guess we both showed each other respect. And you know,
(21:07):
he carried the ball down field quite a bit, and
you know, I started working on the kind of the
offshoot leads on that, which brought in another witness or
two and cooperator from the Boston area that firmed up
our case a bit and coroborated what Maron was telling me.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Right when we get we're going to take a news
break here. When we come back, I want to explain
how that this deal was struck at Madorano, who I
believe in his career, it was believed killed more than
a dozen, maybe as much as as many as twenty people.
He was able to get a sweetheart deal by providing
information on other murders that he knew about. Judge Wolfe
(21:55):
was criticized for that by the Boston Globe. If I
recall correctly, I do think that what the judge did
was courageous and the right thing to do. Marderano, now
you told me today lives in Florida. We'll get to
that part of the story later. But his information was
critical in getting you being able to put the handcuffs
(22:20):
on the killer of David's dad, Roger Wheeler. And that
person was, of course, none other than H. Paul Rico,
because he had set up the murder that Marnerano and
Joe McDonald implemented in the Southern Hills Country Club parking lot.
Just this is an incredible story. I'm hoping we're telling
(22:41):
it in a way that people can follow it and
they'll have some interest in the book Killing My Father,
The Inside Story the Biggest FBI corruption Scandal in History,
by David Wheeler, Sergeant Mike Cuff and Lawrence Edon. We'll
take a quick break. I'm late for the newscast, but
I want to break it here at this point and
we'll move on to the next. Uh part of the story,
(23:01):
which I think tells you the story. But he is
going to whet your appetite to read the book. UH.
If you want to join the conversation and ask a question,
you must have a question. Six one, seven, two, five,
four to ten thirty six, one, seven, nine, ten thirty
Coming right back on night Side.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
It's Night Side with Ray Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
My guest David Wheeler and Sergeant Mike Hoffer the Telsa
retired Sergeant Mike Houff at the Tulsa Police Department. The
book is Killing My Father, The inside story of the
biggest FBI corruption scalal in history. Gentlemen, let me get
back to where we were, and I want to get
both of your reactions when the deal was struck with
Maderano where he was able to I think he served
(23:50):
something like six years in prison for the crimes that
that he played guilty to am I close to correct.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
On that, Mike, I'd like another year or two in there.
Harbor was. It was a great deal, but he he
held the big, big deck cards and he had a
lot to leverage.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
And of course the biggest, the biggest card in that
deck was the murder of Roger Wheeler. How long after
he cut his deal. And by the way, again all
credit to Mark Wolfe, Judge Mark wolf for making that happen,
because he could have put Moderano away for the rest
of his life, but there would have been no closure
in this case or others? How many cases? Roughly? If
(24:36):
you know, Mike, did Moderano help the government bring some
closure to for for family, for victim families, uh and
justice for individuals? Besides the Rico.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Case, it was close to twenty So there's twenty families
out there that got some answers.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Okay. So, David, when when you found out from Mike
Huff that they were going to arrest your father's killer,
did did he give you some advanced notice on that
or did you just hear it on the radio or
on television like that?
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Mike and I worked together on this case, so I
was I was very aware of what what in general
was going on. There's he kept a firewall between the
two of us where needed, but you know, I knew
what was happening now, Okay from that standpoint, So.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Mike, what with the information from Moderano, you took that
to a judge. I guess in Oklahoma issued an arrest
warrant for Paul Rico, and then it was up to
you and another detective to go and and get Monorano
before he tried to flee. Get you actually get not
(25:52):
get Maneron, to get Rico before you know, you had
to do this quickly. He was a guy who probably
did not want to be arrested. I'm sure that you
figured that out.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Yes, we got sworn in as Deputy U S. Marshals
and we we went to Miami and hooked up with
some day county to take this down there. And uh
we set a steak out of his house all night,
making sure he didn't get up, because the plan was
(26:23):
to arrest him at the break of dawn, which uh,
which we did, and it was came as a real
surprise to him. And so the one secret that was
the act that that was kept in this case. So uh,
he he was quite surprised when he opened the door
(26:44):
and I was standing there because we had met many
times over the years, and he always was very condescending
to me, thinking it was just a small town cop
and I can never touch him. That he got touched.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Well, what was his reaction in his wife's reaction that
morning when when their world came tumbling down after years
of public corruption.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Well, they were in their pajamas, and so I told
him that we'd go in the bedroom and get dressed,
and so her her comment was that he needed to
wear his world highlight Kashmir or sweater pink pink slutter, yes,
and so, uh, you know, we we got him dressed
(27:34):
and I told her to uh, we'd wait for her
to feed him breakfast in case he had to be
taking some food with his medicine. And so we got
him taken care of and she she asked what he
wanted for dinner that night, and I said, man, he's
not coming back home for dinner. You might not ever
cooking dinner again. Uh. So, you know, she thought it
(27:58):
was a joke. She said, we've taken care of this.
Our lawyer who's taking care of this. And I said,
your lawyer hasn't taken care of a first degree murder
warrant that we have in our hands. So you know,
she was quite shocked. And and he fell backwards into
a kitchen chair.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
And you know the enormity of it he understood at
that point. And yet that morning he still implicitly threatened
you and your family. Correct, yes, he did.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
When we were filling out the paperwork for his booking
into jail, I'm sitting there and he says, how old
are your kids? And I said, what did you say
to me? And he said, how old are your FM kids?
And I said, look, oh man, there's no joking about
(28:54):
my kids are my safety. So we had a short
talk there, and you know it had an effect on him.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Yes, so yeah, so let's let's take a break here.
This is our last break, and I want to This
guy never stood trial. He died shortly thereafter. But this
is a guy who lived a life that was disgrace
(29:28):
to the FBI, disgrace to his badge, disgrace to the
to the FBI agents who actually were honorable agents, which
I think is important. There was a pack of dishonorable
agents here in Massachusetts, but hopefully that has been rectified.
But I think again, this book Killing My Father, the
(29:49):
inside story of the biggest FBI corruption scandal in history,
just shows the impact that the corruption in the Boston
office of the FBI, which was in the sixties and
the seventies, then into the eighties. I don't know if
it actually slopped over into the nineties or if it
if it got squared away at some point, but there
were a lot of people's lives, including the life of
(30:12):
Roger Wheeler which would change forever, and of course the
life of David Wheeler. His dad was a very successful businessman,
and he would have continued to be a successful businessman
if his life hadn't been snuffed out by corrupt. By
the work of corrupt, he was killed by Monerano and
McDonald actually killed by Mattrano. We'll tell that story in
(30:35):
a second. We'll take a quick break. Coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray Foston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
We are talking about FBI corruption. Talking with David Wheeler,
whose dad, Roger Wheeler, was murdered with help from FBI
by Boston mobsters at the country club in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
in the late nineteen seventies, and sarch in Mike Coffee. So, Mike,
when you transported East Paul Rico back to Oklahoma, how'd
(31:09):
you get into Did you put him on a commercial airplane?
I'm kind of curious about that, or did you drive him?
How did was he driven? How did he get back
to Oklahoma? Uh?
Speaker 3 (31:18):
He was.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
He was having some health problems in the day county jail.
So our county jail brought him back in the air
amblance with a counting deputy transporting him for security. So
let's I get back Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
My understanding was that his first night in the Miami
County jail, he was roughed up by a lot of
the inmates in there once they figured out who he
was as well. I don't know, if you've heard that story,
you probably know more about it than I drew. But
I don't think he had a great first night in
the Miami County jail.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
I cannot least sure.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Maybe so yeah. Anyway, so he gets back to Tulsa
and he complains of heart problems and his moved to
the hospital.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Yes, he was in the hospital, had a deputy garden
him and I don't know how many days, I can't remember,
just a short number of days. And did he.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Ever get it reigned in in Tulsa or or did
his medical problems interfere with that.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
No, he got arraigned and we started a preliminary hearing.
And his lawyer was a lawyer on a very famous
Oklahoma case where three young girl scouts were murdered at
their summer camp. His name was Garden Isaac's. So I
(32:57):
think we got through a couple hours working question from
May and it was cut short by Rico's health and
he went to the hospital later that day.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
And he died shortly after.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
Yes, within several days.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
He had been visited by his family the night before
his death, as I understand.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
It, Yes, it was he was visited by his family.
Of course they had to check in through the the guard,
but they did have some quiet time with him.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Yeah. Well, I still am a little suspicious of the
circumstances of his death and the timing of his death.
You have maintained a relationship with John Monnerano's the man
who killed David Wheeler's dad, Roger Wheeler. When you first
(33:59):
establed is that relationship. Moderano asked you to pass a
message to David Wheeler about his father. Can you share
that with us?
Speaker 4 (34:09):
Yes. The very first time I saw him was prior
to any this. It was our first first trip to
meet with him about it, and he wanted to tell
me right off that. He asked me if I was
close friends with David, and I said yes, or was?
(34:32):
And he said to give him a message, And said sure,
And he said, just telling you this is this business.
It wasn't personal, and you know it was just my
job to do.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
So It's amazing that people can have that mindset. David
when you got that message. I'd love to know what
you thought.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
Well, I was conflicted because I had uh I had
often said for years, uh since my first time we
were interviewed. Uh, so I was interviewed really that Uh
you know what mattered to me most was it wasn't
the trigger man as much as the people who ordered it.
(35:20):
Referring to h H. Paul Rico and and so you
know this has been my statement, you know, uh from
day one, it's uh, this this corruption leads heavily to
the FBI. You talked about the FBI in Boston, but
the FBI office in Miami was uh, in my book, uh,
(35:40):
you know, pretty corrupt to uh, very disappointing. And so
you know, this is where you really end up in
a conflicted situation. Who are you gonna worry about most?
If if a mobster who killed your dad helps review
(36:00):
a subtle corruption that's far more dangerous, you know, who
are you going to be burst up set with?
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (36:08):
I don't know how to put us.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Well, you put it very well, and I think people
can hear it, hear it in your voice. Mike. You
talked with Manorano yesterday. You told me you still maintained
a relationship, although you were responsible for his capture.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
That's yeah. When we were working on this, we knew
early on that we need to get the publicity on
this and get some daylight on it. And I was
contacted by the very first true crime reality show called
(36:48):
Unsolved Mysteries, and that was, you know, the very first one,
and they wanted to feature the Wheeler case on the
pilot program, and they did. And I later found out
from Marno that that he was on vacation in Hawaii
(37:11):
when he saw that that initial airing of the program,
which got a huge Nielsen rating that year, which rivaled
the Super Bowl. And so I said, how to ruin
your vacation? He said, well, you showed a picture of me.
He was a fugitive at the time, and so we
(37:33):
said he was a person of interest and showed this
picture on the show and said, you know, we were
we were looking to talk to you about this case.
And he said, I knew right then that I was
going to meet you, and he said, it really bothered
me the rest of the rest of the time we
(37:53):
did meet. He told me that story on our first meeting,
and you know, he uh, he treated me with respect.
He did not lie to me. You know, he wasn't
proud of what he did, but he did it, and
you know he can't change the facts.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Unbelievable, gentlemen, this is an amazing story, an amazing effort
by both of you, David Wheeler to help find the
killer of your dad. Mike Houff, your career dedicated to this.
The book is Killing My Father, the inside story of
the biggest FBI corruption scandal in history. I recommend it highly.
(38:36):
I hope that people consider getting it. I wish I
had five hours to talk to you, but unfortunately time
is always a problem. But thank you for telling this
story as raw as it was tonight. It's I think,
an amazing story, and I hope that people learn about
(38:57):
it and hope that it nothing like this ever happens
to another family like the Wheelers. David and Mike, your
time tonight was invaluable. I can't thank you enough.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Thank you, Thank you so much, man, Thank you. And
I hate to mention this at this point, but the
only place you can get it right now is on Amazon,
So I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
No, that's fine. People are going to want to know that, David.
People who know that killing My Father, The inside story
of the biggest FBI corruption scandal in history. It is
available on Amazon. Gentlemen, thank you very much for the
work you've done on this, and Mike, thank you for
your career in law enforcement. I wish there were more
people in law enforcement. For your dedication and courage. Thank you, David,
(39:42):
thank you, Mike.
Speaker 4 (39:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
When we get back, we're going to wrap the week
and we're going to go to our famous twentieth hour,
and you know what I want to hear from people,
and we're going to do my favorite You're brush with celebrity.
Let's lighten up here. Okay, this was the heavy hour.
We'll be back right after the eleven o'clock News
It's night Side with Dan Ray on w Beazy Cooston's
Meat Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
All right, thank you very much, Elle for keeping us
posted on that. My name is Dan Ray, host of Nightside.
We are not talking baseball tonight. We are going to
tell you about a new book that is out killing
my father, the inside story of the biggest FBI corruption
scandal in history. That FBI corruption scandal started here in Boston.
(00:29):
I think many of you know the story of White
bowlser and Stevie Flemy and his brother Vinnie Flemy, and
Joe Barbosa and the four men who spent a lot
of time in prison, Joe Salvadi, Peter Lamoni, Luis Greco,
Henry Timelio and others innocent individuals who were killed and
buried in beaches and places around Boston. And they did
(00:52):
it with the knowledge and participation in support of a
series of corrupt FBI agents, none more corrupt than a
guy named h Paul Rico, who was considered to be
Jaguo Hoover's favorite FBI agent. With us, we have two guests.
They are co authors of the book with a third
man named Lawrence Ya Dawn David Wheeler and Sergeant Mike Huff,
(01:15):
formerly of the Telsa Police Department. David and Mike, I
know both of you. Thank you for this book, and
thank you for joining us tonight on night, sire. Good evening, gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Thank you for having us. I really appreciate it, especially
being interviewed by you because you know what you're talking about.
Speaker 4 (01:33):
Well.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Thank you very much. Mike Uff enjoyed our conversation this afternoon.
We'll get to that in a minute. I want to start,
Mike with David Wheeler. David, your dad is the victim here.
He was shot to death, assassinated if you will, in
the parking lot of Southern Hills Country Club in tels For, Oklahoma.
That's a country club that is on the same level
(01:55):
as what we call the country club here in Boston
and Brookline. It's been the side of the US Open.
So your dad owned a business called Telex, a computer
equipment business, and he bought a company called World Highlight
back in the late nineteen seventies. And you knew your
(02:17):
dad very well, good businessman. He was doing well with
his life financially, worked hard, spent time up here in Massachusetts,
sometimes on a vacation out in Nantucket. That you remember
as a small boy.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Correct, Oh, absolutely, I absolutely love that.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Okay. So he buys World Highlight, which was a game
it was still as around in which men competed at
what they called frontines, both in Connecticut where it was
legal and Miami in Florida where it was legal. And
it's a game where they're in a court. It's almost
(02:57):
like handball, but handball. It's actually a faster game than
he involved. And people bet a lot of money on it.
They paid to attend the matches. Uh. And your dad,
who was a pretty sharp businessman, began to realize that
money was disappearing. There was money going out the back door.
(03:18):
The guy who was in charge of security of his
company that he bought, he didn't hire him, but he
bought happened to be former FBI agent H. Paul Rico,
the guy up here who led a in my opinion,
a life of corruption as an FBI agent. What did
your dad do? Your dad went to Rico and said, hey,
(03:39):
we got a problem where we got money going out
of here. It's not being accounted for. That was a
huge mistake.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Well it was. It was not a little more interesting
than that. But by the way, Dad was from ready.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Uh, okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
He was the son of a newspaper street forad for
Christian Science Monitor, so they didn't have any money and
Dad made it all competing with monopolies like Dall and
my Kneesy Metal and IBM and computers. But Dad bought
HIGHLIGHTE because it was run by retired FBI agents and
he trusted the FBI, And that was a big mistake
(04:15):
in those days.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Everybody did, Rob, I'm hearing a radio in the background.
Are you picking that noise up? Okay? If you could
just do some work maybe with Mike to make sure
there's not a radio on in his background, and then
we can we can adjust this at the break. But
I want to continue Mike.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
Uh, check on Mike because I don't have any noise here.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Okay, that's fine. Yeah, well we'll figure it out. We'll
figure it out, but I want to continue my conversation
with you. So your dad goes to Rico and says,
we got to figure out what's going on. But Rico
was the guy that knew what was going on. And
I think your dad signed his death warrant today that
he went to Rico and said, we got a problem.
Would would you agree with that?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Well, largely Rico found out that Dad was playing to
replace management with the guy that used to run World Highlight.
That was an honest businessman, and he knew not to
trust Rico and his buddies. Enrico was at that point
the general manager, so on a day to day basis,
(05:16):
he actually ran World high Line.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
Okay, So what happened was that as a result of
this conversation, two guys from Boston traveled to Tulsa. Rico
because he reanted, and because he was at the security
he knew exactly where your dad was every day, and
(05:38):
so he set your dad up to be murdered. These
two guys from Boston, John Moderano and Joe McDonald, had
the weapons shipped separately. They drove to Telsa and one
day they waited for him in the parking lot in
the afternoon after he finished a round of golf, and
they assassinated him parking lot.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
Of the Yes, the son, that's correct, that's correct.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
How old were you at that time, David? Were you
still you know, a teenager or how old were you
at that time? Oh?
Speaker 3 (06:13):
No, no, I was twenty nine. And my misfortune, if
you want to classify as such was their rule world highlight.
They were doing everything possible to keep Dad from putting
his own man in there. And I was the only
one that got in there well that was on Dad's side,
and that the excuse was that they needed me to
(06:34):
do some programming. Yeah, yeah, so you know.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
So so at that point you had no idea, the
family had no idea who had set up the killing
of your dad and a young detective like huff like,
you're still with us on the line, right, yes, I am.
So how did this case come to you? You were
(07:01):
the other the day that Roger Wheeler was assassinated as
a young detective.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Yes, I was. I had just got into work. I
worked the evening shift in the homicide squad and I
just got there and they put up a call and
was shooting at Southern Hills, So they asked for all
the homicide cars to have down that way. So I went.
We spent six or seven hours working in the crime
(07:28):
scene and locating witnesses and so forth, and then came
back into the station to start on reports and her work,
and the two supervisors pulled me over and told me
they were putting together a task force and they knew
(07:51):
I probably wanted to be on it, so I definitely
couldn't turn that down. So I said, yes, I would
like to put on it. So they warned me that
this was going to change my life and I need
to think longer and hard about it, because I was
kind of up and coming police department. And so when
(08:12):
I said yes, the the legendary homicide supervisor Roy hunt
Ball whiskey and two shot glasses and we drink to it,
and they were sure right, my life did change.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
A bit, A bit a bit, I would say. Uh,
it basically encompassed virtually all of your career. When did
you first realize that this was more than just, you know,
some sort of a personal grudge that somebody had with
with the victim. When did you realize it was? It
(08:47):
was larger than probably anything that you would see in
your career, meaning and eventually was going to involve you know,
corrupt FBI agents, and it was going to trace its
way back to Boston. Uh. How long did it take
for you guys to realize we got a tiger by
the tail here, and we have no idea how big
this tiger is.
Speaker 4 (09:08):
Well in May of nineteen eighty two when Brian Halarn
or Michael Donahue got gunned down on the wharf in Boston,
and that kind of took the FBI by surprise a bit.
They didn't want to share that information and we finally,
(09:30):
you know, got that. That was a day before the internet.
You know.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
My understanding was that Hallerin was was anticipating ratting, you know,
obviously writing out some information which would have told the story,
and that's why he had to be executed.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Right. He had information that Paul Rico set it up
and that Whitey Bulger and Steve Fleming were were involved
in it also, And so we started working on that
angle and started making pretty regular trips for the next
couple of decades to Boston every few weeks. And we
(10:15):
did so in latter July of nineteen eighty two, and
we got involved with the Strikeforce. Prosecutor Jeremiah Sullivan got
to fit crossways with him, and he made some statements
about Paul Rico being connected with Winter Hill and things
(10:39):
that I don't believe he understood he was saying. But
we wrote down every word he mentioned, which later came
back to haunting years later when I was testifying before Congress,
and he was lying before Congress.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
I remember, I remember that those those hearings very well
in the early two thousands. Let me pause here, gentlemen,
because I got to take a quick commercial break. When
I come back, I want to continue the story, and
I know it's a complicated story, but I know my
audience knows enough about the structure the framework that they'll
(11:19):
be able to follow us. And again, the book, if
you really want to read a great book, it's called
Killing My Father, The inside story of the biggest FBI
corruption scandal in history, written co written by David Wheeler,
Seargeant Mike Hoff, and Lawrence Edone. Obviously, David Wheeler lost
(11:42):
his dad. Mike Hoff dedicated his life and his career
in large part to solving this crime, which he did
solve eventually. I'm not sure what role, mister you don't played,
but I do know what a critical role David Wheeler
and Sergeant Mike Houff played. And we're going to continue
our conversation with them. Uh And if you'd like to
(12:03):
join and ask any question as we go along and
help us tell the story, you welcome. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten,
thirty six, one seven, nine, thirty coming right back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z,
Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
We're talking about an incredible story that began here in
Boston and its technacle stretched all the way to tellsa Oklahoma,
ended up in the assassination of a very successful businessman,
Roger Wheeler, who had purchased World Highlight, and unfortunately the
folks who were in positions of authority with the company
the person purchased for former FBI agents, including completely corrupt
(12:43):
FBI agent H. Paul Rico. So with us is David Wheeler,
Who's who Obviously the title of the book Killing My
Father is in very large part david story, but it's
also Sergeant Mike Hoff's story, a Tulsa detective who worked
this story for over twenty years before justice was accomplished. David,
let me let me just come back to you. When
(13:06):
did you and Mike first get together? Obviously I'm sure
you met him early, But when did you realize that
you had a detective here who was intent on solving
this crime that that really was so disruptive to you,
so horrible for your family.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Let me let me ask Mike if Mike do you
think that you would be better positioned to explain that,
because that's really quite a story. Uh, in short brief words,
is he there? Okay, well let me try.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I'm here, He's there, Go ahead, Mike.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Uh. The FBI made arrangement with the Tulsa place that
they would investigate all out of state leads and we'd
handle the in state follow up. And so they informed
us that David Wheeler would be their source of information
and uh for us to honor, and so they kept
(14:03):
David from me and and then several months that's it.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
That is very interesting. That's very interesting, Mike. I never
knew that, So I've learned something already tonight. Boy, is
that interesting. It goes on.
Speaker 4 (14:19):
David came charging into the detective division and demanding to
see who was working his father's day. And after we
talked to David for about two days straight, we all
figured that we were all getting screwed by the FBI.
So that was a rude awakening right there.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Wow. So so over time, now there's story's going on
in Boston and at a you know, the Weddy Bogeer,
Stevie Flemy thing, John Conley the also a corrupt FBI
agent and other corrupt FBI agents. All of a sudden,
this ball of string or yarn, whatever you want to
(15:01):
call it. Everybody's pulling in different directions on different pieces,
and uh and things are are kind of come together.
I get a chance to meet up with Victor Garrow,
the lawyer for Joe Salvadi. I came to understand you,
Mike existed, and we we chatted a little bit, but
I knew nothing about the Wheeler murder per se. But
(15:23):
then there was the h the indictments of Flemy and
Seleemi and Maderrano, and in court in federal court. Another
real hero in this case, in my opinion, was Judge
Mark Wolfe, and he ran these hearings and this trial,
(15:46):
which in my opinion, produced a lot of evidence, and
the most important part of that evidence, in my opinion,
was the deal that was struck with John Moderano. I
know I'm moving this story along a few years here,
but well, but uh, I hope that you you guys
(16:09):
can can backfill for of me here. I assumed that
the deal that was struck with Moderano, and I give
a lot of credit to Judge Mark Wolfe. I hope
both of you feel the same way towards him as
I do.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
Well, there's there's you know, from my perspective. Okay, again
this from my perspective. Uh, it was a sealed deal.
The uh they had the government which was highly corrupt
in this case, uh, trying to prostcute the bad guys
who were their partners. And uh, you know, Mike asked, uh,
(16:48):
whyshack if he would ask a question or two that
would help our tastes?
Speaker 2 (16:54):
And why whyshack was a guy named Fred Weishak who
was the the federal prosecutor on the SOLEMMI flebby a
bunch of about a rhino prosecution.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Go ahead, right, and so this is to get information,
you know, for the judge to know about. So Mike,
this is kind of your your thing. I'm I'm kind
of just bringing it up because I think it's important.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Go ahead, Mike, if you want to pick up the
story from there.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
Yes, I just asked if they would ask a few
questions while they were going through the witnesses on the
stand that could maybe help our case. And I was
told that I didn't have an advocate in that courtroom,
and uh so, uh, you know, they didn't want to
(17:41):
get to the truth. They didn't want me anywhere around
anything they were doing in Boston because I was kind
of a wild card.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Yeah. I remember one day seeing you in the in
the the card is of the Federal Court in Boston,
one of these hearings and this trial was going on,
and I could we talked a little bit that day,
I remembered pretty clearly, but I could sense that you
were being treated as an outsider.
Speaker 4 (18:10):
Absolutely, I was an outsider. And let me back fill
just a tiny bit of the story. Yeah, go Ahead
had told O'Sullivan that we identified a week link as
the former president of World Highlight, a guy named John Callahan,
and I told him we were going to track him
down because he's a weak link. So we spent a
(18:32):
week trying to track him down and we were unable
to do so. And I was literally walking in the
door from the airport when I came back home and
my phone was ringing, and I picked it up and
somebody said, Hey, is this detective my Cup And I
said yeah, and he said he was from the Metro
(18:54):
Dave Police Department. He says, I understand you're looking for
John Callahan. I said, yeah, you have him he goes, see,
I got him. He's in the trunk of a car
at Miami Airport. Shot did And then I really realized that, Wow,
I was right in the middle of the hurricane here
(19:16):
literally literally.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
So you got Callahan, Dad, you got Hallarin and the
other guy with Hallarin who was just collateral damage. And
a lot of that activity involved the same folks who
had killed Roger Wheeler, and that is John Moderano and
Joe McDonald. Correct.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
Yes, And in going back to your story about Mardrono's indictment,
Judge Wolf did did have a hardline there with the
Department of Justice, and they were trying very hard to
keep any damaging information out of the courtroom, it appeared.
(20:00):
And uh but Wolf's uh uh, I guess tick took
nine months hearing that motion, and in that the end
result was, uh, this house of cards was starting to fall.
Mardrono wound up wanting to explore making a deal, and
(20:20):
uh uh. You know, I had spent a lot of
time looking at the back of Marrono's head. And while
I was sitting in the courtroom, and he knew I
was there, and I knew he was there, I was
talking to his lawyer, and uh so he got to
know that, you know that I was pretty serious about
(20:41):
this case. And so when it came time for for
us to kind of test drive his information and see,
uh see if it was good corroborating uh information. Uh
we uh uh we got together and talked and uh,
I guess we both showed each other respect. And you know,
(21:07):
he carried the ball down field quite a bit, and
you know, I started working on the kind of the
offshoot leads on that, which brought in another witness or
two and cooperator from the Boston area that firmed up
our case a bit and coroborated what Maron was telling me.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Right when we get we're going to take a news
break here. When we come back, I want to explain
how that this deal was struck at Madorano, who I
believe in his career, it was believed killed more than
a dozen, maybe as much as as many as twenty people.
He was able to get a sweetheart deal by providing
information on other murders that he knew about. Judge Wolfe
(21:55):
was criticized for that by the Boston Globe. If I
recall correctly, I do think that what the judge did
was courageous and the right thing to do. Marderano, now
you told me today lives in Florida. We'll get to
that part of the story later. But his information was
critical in getting you being able to put the handcuffs
(22:20):
on the killer of David's dad, Roger Wheeler. And that
person was, of course, none other than H. Paul Rico,
because he had set up the murder that Marnerano and
Joe McDonald implemented in the Southern Hills Country Club parking lot.
Just this is an incredible story. I'm hoping we're telling
(22:41):
it in a way that people can follow it and
they'll have some interest in the book Killing My Father,
The Inside Story the Biggest FBI corruption Scandal in History,
by David Wheeler, Sergeant Mike Cuff and Lawrence Edon. We'll
take a quick break. I'm late for the newscast, but
I want to break it here at this point and
we'll move on to the next. Uh part of the story,
(23:01):
which I think tells you the story. But he is
going to whet your appetite to read the book. UH.
If you want to join the conversation and ask a question,
you must have a question. Six one, seven, two, five,
four to ten thirty six, one, seven, nine, ten thirty
Coming right back on night Side.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
It's Night Side with Ray Boston's News Radio.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
My guest David Wheeler and Sergeant Mike Hoffer the Telsa
retired Sergeant Mike Houff at the Tulsa Police Department. The
book is Killing My Father, The inside story of the
biggest FBI corruption scalal in history. Gentlemen, let me get
back to where we were, and I want to get
both of your reactions when the deal was struck with
Maderano where he was able to I think he served
(23:50):
something like six years in prison for the crimes that
that he played guilty to am I close to correct.
Speaker 4 (23:56):
On that, Mike, I'd like another year or two in there.
Harbor was. It was a great deal, but he he
held the big, big deck cards and he had a
lot to leverage.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
And of course the biggest, the biggest card in that
deck was the murder of Roger Wheeler. How long after
he cut his deal. And by the way, again all
credit to Mark Wolfe, Judge Mark wolf for making that happen,
because he could have put Moderano away for the rest
of his life, but there would have been no closure
in this case or others? How many cases? Roughly? If
(24:36):
you know, Mike, did Moderano help the government bring some
closure to for for family, for victim families, uh and
justice for individuals? Besides the Rico.
Speaker 4 (24:47):
Case, it was close to twenty So there's twenty families
out there that got some answers.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Okay. So, David, when when you found out from Mike
Huff that they were going to arrest your father's killer,
did did he give you some advanced notice on that
or did you just hear it on the radio or
on television like that?
Speaker 3 (25:13):
Mike and I worked together on this case, so I
was I was very aware of what what in general
was going on. There's he kept a firewall between the
two of us where needed, but you know, I knew
what was happening now, Okay from that standpoint, So.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Mike, what with the information from Moderano, you took that
to a judge. I guess in Oklahoma issued an arrest
warrant for Paul Rico, and then it was up to
you and another detective to go and and get Monorano
before he tried to flee. Get you actually get not
(25:52):
get Maneron, to get Rico before you know, you had
to do this quickly. He was a guy who probably
did not want to be arrested. I'm sure that you
figured that out.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
Yes, we got sworn in as Deputy U S. Marshals
and we we went to Miami and hooked up with
some day county to take this down there. And uh
we set a steak out of his house all night,
making sure he didn't get up, because the plan was
(26:23):
to arrest him at the break of dawn, which uh,
which we did, and it was came as a real
surprise to him. And so the one secret that was
the act that that was kept in this case. So uh,
he he was quite surprised when he opened the door
(26:44):
and I was standing there because we had met many
times over the years, and he always was very condescending
to me, thinking it was just a small town cop
and I can never touch him. That he got touched.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Well, what was his reaction in his wife's reaction that
morning when when their world came tumbling down after years
of public corruption.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
Well, they were in their pajamas, and so I told
him that we'd go in the bedroom and get dressed,
and so her her comment was that he needed to
wear his world highlight Kashmir or sweater pink pink slutter, yes,
and so, uh, you know, we we got him dressed
(27:34):
and I told her to uh, we'd wait for her
to feed him breakfast in case he had to be
taking some food with his medicine. And so we got
him taken care of and she she asked what he
wanted for dinner that night, and I said, man, he's
not coming back home for dinner. You might not ever
cooking dinner again. Uh. So, you know, she thought it
(27:58):
was a joke. She said, we've taken care of this.
Our lawyer who's taking care of this. And I said,
your lawyer hasn't taken care of a first degree murder
warrant that we have in our hands. So you know,
she was quite shocked. And and he fell backwards into
a kitchen chair.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
And you know the enormity of it he understood at
that point. And yet that morning he still implicitly threatened
you and your family. Correct, yes, he did.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
When we were filling out the paperwork for his booking
into jail, I'm sitting there and he says, how old
are your kids? And I said, what did you say
to me? And he said, how old are your FM kids?
And I said, look, oh man, there's no joking about
(28:54):
my kids are my safety. So we had a short
talk there, and you know it had an effect on him.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Yes, so yeah, so let's let's take a break here.
This is our last break, and I want to This
guy never stood trial. He died shortly thereafter. But this
is a guy who lived a life that was disgrace
(29:28):
to the FBI, disgrace to his badge, disgrace to the
to the FBI agents who actually were honorable agents, which
I think is important. There was a pack of dishonorable
agents here in Massachusetts, but hopefully that has been rectified.
But I think again, this book Killing My Father, the
(29:49):
inside story of the biggest FBI corruption scandal in history,
just shows the impact that the corruption in the Boston
office of the FBI, which was in the sixties and
the seventies, then into the eighties. I don't know if
it actually slopped over into the nineties or if it
if it got squared away at some point, but there
were a lot of people's lives, including the life of
(30:12):
Roger Wheeler which would change forever, and of course the
life of David Wheeler. His dad was a very successful businessman,
and he would have continued to be a successful businessman
if his life hadn't been snuffed out by corrupt. By
the work of corrupt, he was killed by Monerano and
McDonald actually killed by Mattrano. We'll tell that story in
(30:35):
a second. We'll take a quick break. Coming back on Nightside.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray Foston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
We are talking about FBI corruption. Talking with David Wheeler,
whose dad, Roger Wheeler, was murdered with help from FBI
by Boston mobsters at the country club in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
in the late nineteen seventies, and sarch in Mike Coffee. So, Mike,
when you transported East Paul Rico back to Oklahoma, how'd
(31:09):
you get into Did you put him on a commercial airplane?
I'm kind of curious about that, or did you drive him?
How did was he driven? How did he get back
to Oklahoma? Uh?
Speaker 3 (31:18):
He was.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
He was having some health problems in the day county jail.
So our county jail brought him back in the air
amblance with a counting deputy transporting him for security. So
let's I get back Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
My understanding was that his first night in the Miami
County jail, he was roughed up by a lot of
the inmates in there once they figured out who he
was as well. I don't know, if you've heard that story,
you probably know more about it than I drew. But
I don't think he had a great first night in
the Miami County jail.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
I cannot least sure.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Maybe so yeah. Anyway, so he gets back to Tulsa
and he complains of heart problems and his moved to
the hospital.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Yes, he was in the hospital, had a deputy garden
him and I don't know how many days, I can't remember,
just a short number of days. And did he.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Ever get it reigned in in Tulsa or or did
his medical problems interfere with that.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
No, he got arraigned and we started a preliminary hearing.
And his lawyer was a lawyer on a very famous
Oklahoma case where three young girl scouts were murdered at
their summer camp. His name was Garden Isaac's. So I
(32:57):
think we got through a couple hours working question from
May and it was cut short by Rico's health and
he went to the hospital later that day.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
And he died shortly after.
Speaker 4 (33:12):
Yes, within several days.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
He had been visited by his family the night before
his death, as I understand.
Speaker 4 (33:19):
It, Yes, it was he was visited by his family.
Of course they had to check in through the the guard,
but they did have some quiet time with him.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Yeah. Well, I still am a little suspicious of the
circumstances of his death and the timing of his death.
You have maintained a relationship with John Monnerano's the man
who killed David Wheeler's dad, Roger Wheeler. When you first
(33:59):
establed is that relationship. Moderano asked you to pass a
message to David Wheeler about his father. Can you share
that with us?
Speaker 4 (34:09):
Yes. The very first time I saw him was prior
to any this. It was our first first trip to
meet with him about it, and he wanted to tell
me right off that. He asked me if I was
close friends with David, and I said yes, or was?
(34:32):
And he said to give him a message, And said sure,
And he said, just telling you this is this business.
It wasn't personal, and you know it was just my
job to do.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
So It's amazing that people can have that mindset. David
when you got that message. I'd love to know what
you thought.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
Well, I was conflicted because I had uh I had
often said for years, uh since my first time we
were interviewed. Uh, so I was interviewed really that Uh
you know what mattered to me most was it wasn't
the trigger man as much as the people who ordered it.
(35:20):
Referring to h H. Paul Rico and and so you
know this has been my statement, you know, uh from
day one, it's uh, this this corruption leads heavily to
the FBI. You talked about the FBI in Boston, but
the FBI office in Miami was uh, in my book, uh,
(35:40):
you know, pretty corrupt to uh, very disappointing. And so
you know, this is where you really end up in
a conflicted situation. Who are you gonna worry about most?
If if a mobster who killed your dad helps review
(36:00):
a subtle corruption that's far more dangerous, you know, who
are you going to be burst up set with?
Speaker 2 (36:07):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (36:08):
I don't know how to put us.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
Well, you put it very well, and I think people
can hear it, hear it in your voice. Mike. You
talked with Manorano yesterday. You told me you still maintained
a relationship, although you were responsible for his capture.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
That's yeah. When we were working on this, we knew
early on that we need to get the publicity on
this and get some daylight on it. And I was
contacted by the very first true crime reality show called
(36:48):
Unsolved Mysteries, and that was, you know, the very first one,
and they wanted to feature the Wheeler case on the
pilot program, and they did. And I later found out
from Marno that that he was on vacation in Hawaii
(37:11):
when he saw that that initial airing of the program,
which got a huge Nielsen rating that year, which rivaled
the Super Bowl. And so I said, how to ruin
your vacation? He said, well, you showed a picture of me.
He was a fugitive at the time, and so we
(37:33):
said he was a person of interest and showed this
picture on the show and said, you know, we were
we were looking to talk to you about this case.
And he said, I knew right then that I was
going to meet you, and he said, it really bothered
me the rest of the rest of the time we
(37:53):
did meet. He told me that story on our first meeting,
and you know, he uh, he treated me with respect.
He did not lie to me. You know, he wasn't
proud of what he did, but he did it, and
you know he can't change the facts.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Unbelievable, gentlemen, this is an amazing story, an amazing effort
by both of you, David Wheeler to help find the
killer of your dad. Mike Houff, your career dedicated to this.
The book is Killing My Father, the inside story of
the biggest FBI corruption scandal in history. I recommend it highly.
(38:36):
I hope that people consider getting it. I wish I
had five hours to talk to you, but unfortunately time
is always a problem. But thank you for telling this
story as raw as it was tonight. It's I think,
an amazing story, and I hope that people learn about
(38:57):
it and hope that it nothing like this ever happens
to another family like the Wheelers. David and Mike, your
time tonight was invaluable. I can't thank you enough.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Thank you, Thank you so much, man, Thank you. And
I hate to mention this at this point, but the
only place you can get it right now is on Amazon,
So I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
No, that's fine. People are going to want to know that, David.
People who know that killing My Father, The inside story
of the biggest FBI corruption scandal in history. It is
available on Amazon. Gentlemen, thank you very much for the
work you've done on this, and Mike, thank you for
your career in law enforcement. I wish there were more
people in law enforcement. For your dedication and courage. Thank you, David,
(39:42):
thank you, Mike.
Speaker 4 (39:44):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
When we get back, we're going to wrap the week
and we're going to go to our famous twentieth hour,
and you know what I want to hear from people,
and we're going to do my favorite You're brush with celebrity.
Let's lighten up here. Okay, this was the heavy hour.
We'll be back right after the eleven o'clock News
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