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May 28, 2021 18 mins

“Dateline N.B.C.” commissions a secret report.

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Speaker 1 (00:05):
From my Heart Media. This is Missing in Alaska, the
story of two congressmen who vanished in nineteen seventy two
and my quest to figure out what happened to them.
I'm your host, John Waalzac. After Chris steal the Dateline,

(00:27):
NBC producer heard Jerry Paisley's claimed that the plane carrying
the missing congressman may have been bombed in nineteen seventy two.
He hired a private investigator in Arizona named Robert Annenberg
to assist him with his investigation. Annenberg was a veteran
who served in both the Air Force and Army. In
the Air Force, he worked in the Office of Special Investigations.
In the Army, he was an intelligence officer, so basically

(00:51):
a smart, disciplined, experienced guy. On Augustenburg penned of five
page memo detailing its fine anks. He sent it to Shoul.
I want to be clear, Shoul, who's now an executive
at NBC News, did not provide this report to me directly.
I got it from another source. It makes for a

(01:11):
fascinating read. Here it is voiced verbatim by Mike Smith
of New Orleans. Jerry Max Paisley a criminal history one.
The following information was derived from the case file CR
four ADE zero to four, interviews with the defendant, news

(01:34):
reports in my own investigation February twenty second to date two.
In nineteen sixty two, Jerry Max Paisley was discharged from
the U. S. Navy and returned to Detroit, where he
became associated with the Pete Lickavoli crime family. Likavoli operated

(01:57):
one of the biggest policy houses numbers operations in the
South Michigan Northern Ohio region. Licavoli also had properties and
business enterprises in Arizona, and Paisley fluctuated between Detroit and Tucson,
conducting strong arm and extortion activities and doing gun running

(02:17):
between Tucson and Detroit. Three. In nineteen sixty four, Licovoli
introduced Paisley to the Joe Bonano Joe Banana's crime operation.
In Tucson, a new criminal enterprise had been formed, Tucson
Vending Machine Inc. Fronted by Sal Spinelli and operated by

(02:38):
Charles Battaglia. Charlie Batts, a Banano lieutenant working for Tucson
Vending Machines, Paisley used strong arm and intimidation to get
vending machine locations in various establishments. If the establishment said no,
he and his associates would tear the place up or
blow it up. One of the places he blew up

(03:00):
was Polo Z's Restaurant and lounge on Speedway. Because of
Paisley's good work for the Banano Organization, he met Joe
Bonano Jr. And they became good friends. Four By nineteen
sixty six sixty seven, Paisley's extortion activities had netted him
control of several bars in Tucson, and his bombing activities continued.

(03:25):
He blew up JP's bar on South Craycroft. Also in
this time frame, he was introduced to Louis Marconi, a
South Tucson policeman. He was introduced by Roy Rico, a
low level Detroit mobster. Marconi said he could be a
source of good quality liquor at cheap prices. This would

(03:47):
be a valuable benefit to the bars that had been
taken over. Paisley and Marconi were to form a criminal
alliance that lasted many years. Paisley was told by Marconi
that he had been doing some on duty burglaries with
Ernie Mahea and Tom Vera, also South Tucsson policeman Paisley

(04:07):
and Marconi did some burglaries together, trafficked in narcotics and
ripped off a number of individuals. They ripped off Ken
Humor and it was to cost him his life. Paisley
and Marconi were both involved in the murder of drug
dealer Charlie Knewell in that incident is the matter presently

(04:28):
before the Court Cr. Four eight zero to four. They
also pulled off the arm robbery of the Posh Jewelry store.
Although long separated from police duties now, Marconi maintains inside
connections with the Tucson Police. Ernie Mahia active service. Dick
Navarro retired five. Paisley's activities came to the attention of

(04:53):
the FBI, and after a long vetting period, he was
finally recruited as a paid in form for a salary
of two hundred dollars per month. His recruiter and handler
was Special Agent David Hale. Strangely enough, under Essay Hale's direction,
his extortion and bombing activities did not decrease. They intensified

(05:16):
with higher profile targets. He bombed Judge Evo Dicincini's house
in the Whig Beauty salon with essay Hale's approval, Joe
Bonano's patio wall got blown up and Licovoli's ranch got bombed,
but not by Paisley. It appeared essay Hale was trying
to incite a gang war between Licavoli and Banano. He

(05:40):
gave Paisley ten thousand dollars to do a hit on
Joe Bonano himself, but for some reason Hale called it off.
When Paisley started working for Essay Hale, he believed his
activities were being sanctioned by the FBI. Now he thought otherwise,
believing Hale was some kind of renegade nut, Paisley called

(06:01):
Wes Malden, an Arizona DPS agent, and told him what
had been going on. An investigation ensued. A grand jury
was convened against ssay Hale, but was torpedoed, presumably by
the FBI. Hale was allowed to resign and left the state.
Much of this fiasco got into the media nineteen sixty

(06:24):
nine and seventy, but most was covered up. Paisley's identity
was never revealed, so after going on ice in Las
Vegas for two years, he returned to Tucson and began
anew his work for the Crime Families six. In late
August or September nineteen seventy two, joe Aya Tarola Joey

(06:46):
the Eye, a Banano lieutenant, said he wanted an unregistered
room for someone who was coming into Tucson from out
of town. No check in, no name. Paisley got the
room and the next day they drove to the airport
where they picked up a woman. Joey introduced her as Margaret.

(07:07):
That night, Paisley was instructed to bring Margaret to the
Kontiqui restaurant for dinner. Meeting them there was joe Bonano.
The three of them had dinner and nothing important was discussed,
just small talk. Then Joey gave Paisley the high sign.
The two of them went to the bar and left

(07:27):
Margaret and Banano alone together. Those two talked for about
half an hour. Joey and Bonano left and Paisley left
with Margaret. They hit a couple of nightclubs and then
returned to the motel where they have sex. The next day,
both Paisley and Joey saw Margaret off at the airport.

(07:47):
Paisley tried to get some information about Margaret, but Joey
said nothing he never found out her full name. H seven.

(08:22):
Two weeks later, Joey asked Paisley to take a trip
for the organization. He was to go to Anchorage, Alaska.
He was instructed to bring a suit bag for carry
on baggage, but not a suitcase. Two days later, Joey
picked up Paisley in a different car to drive him
to the airport. At the airport, Joey gave Paisley a

(08:45):
bag and told him not to carry it on the aircraft.
He was to check it through baggage. Paisley flew to
Anchorage and was met at the airport by Gene Fowler,
accompanied by a stranger who was introduced as Danny. He
was taken by them to an apartment which was apparently
not the residence of either of the men, and Paisley

(09:06):
gave them the bag he had gotten from Joey. That night,
Paisley met Fowler's brother Larry, and they went out on
the town. Larry hinted about the bomb Paisley had brought
from Tucson and asked him if he had made it.
Paisley replied, he doesn't make bombs, he just uses them.
During the course of the evening, Larry said, the pipeline

(09:28):
is coming to Alaska and the state is going wild.
Larry revealed they were getting ready to make a big move,
but he did not say what it was. Eight the
next day, Paisley returned to Tucson. A few weeks later,
on October sixteenth, nineteen seventy two, a light aircraft carrying

(09:49):
two US Congressman Hale Boggs Louisiana and Nick Begets Alaska,
was reported missing on a flight between Anchorage and Juno.
No trace of the aircraft was ever found. Nine Margaret Beggetch,
widow of Congressman Nick Beggett, ran for the congressional seat
vacated by the death of her husband. She was defeated

(10:15):
in nineteen seventy three. Paisley was lured to Alaska by
the construction of the Alaskan Pipeline and the furious gold
rush atmosphere it had created. In Anchorage. Larry Folla introduced
him to the local gambling gangsters, and he went to
work for Harry Cardinoff, who ran a gambling operation. While working,

(10:37):
one day, he ran into a woman who looked familiar.
They start talking and he realized it was the Margaret
he had met in Tucson through Joey the Eye. They
renew their relationship and he learned she was Margaret Beggatt,
widow of the congressman, and she had lots of money.
She began to lavish some of her wealth on Paisley.

(11:00):
He liked all of that in By nine seventy four
they decided to marry. They married in Tucson at the
El Dorado, and it's a fancy affair attended by Pete Licavoli,
Louis Marconi, sal Spinelli, Rtie Smith, Charlie Cuccio, Ari Walsh,
and several undercover cops who were there monitoring the activities

(11:22):
of the mob. The Paisley's honeymooned at Mazat Lawn, and Margaret,
who has lots of insurance money, continues to bestow on
Paisley the proceeds of her wealth, new Cadillac, new Jaguar
x K E and jewelry. She also bought him a
nightclub called the Green Dragon for a hundred and thirty

(11:43):
thousand dollars, but insisted he take in a partner, Danny Zivinich.
Danny was with Foller when he brought the bomb from Tucson.
The three of them formed a corporation, Max Inc. With
Margaret as president, Danny as VP, and Paisley has scretary treasurer.
They did business with the First National Bank of Anchorage

(12:05):
and People's Bank of Alaska. Margaret and Paisley bought a
new two hundred thousand dollar home, and Paisley took junkets
to Acapulco, Honolulu, Las Vegas, and other place spots whenever
he felt the urge. It was a nice life living
off Margaret's money. Eleven, Paisley and Danny had Margaret put

(12:27):
up her apartment building as collateral for a hundred and
sixty thousand dollar loan so they can remodel the Green Dragon.
They fix it up and rename it the Alaska Mining Company.
They're working together got them closer. One day, on a
fishing trip, the two of them were drinking, Paisley asked
Danny why Margaret wanted him as a partner. Danny replied

(12:51):
that it was because he blew an old man out
of the sky. That he and Margaret had been friends
for a long time. She was paying him back for
services rendered twelve. By late nineteen, Paisley was fifty three
and was serving several prison sentences exceeding one hundred years
for murder and other crimes unrelated to the incidents mentioned above.

(13:15):
He made a decision to wipe the slate clean by
facing up to all the things he had done in
his life. He began exposing every one of them. There
was no attempt to get a deal, nor was this
a religious transformation that had taken place. It was an
effort to get a measure of atonement by letting it
all hang out once and for all. Paisley is not

(13:39):
proud of his life, but he accepts what has become
of it as a natural and inevitable outcome of the
lifestyle he chose for himself. He never had to get
up early in the morning for a regular job, never
had to carry a lunchbox or punch a time clock.
The life of a wise guy was exciting and glamorous,

(13:59):
and he had a lot of pretty girls, took some
nice trips, had a lot of dope. But with that
lifestyle comes risks. He assumed those risks, but eventually his
luck ran out. He has resigned himself to spending the
rest of his life in prison, so in late nineteen

(14:20):
he reported the murders of the congressman to an Arizona
DPS agent in the Anchorage Police. At the same time,
he reported killing three other persons in Alaska, Art Sutherland,
Greg Overton, and a black man whose name he never learned.
He also reported to DPS his participation in a murder

(14:40):
in Tucson in nineteen seventy seven, during which his partner
Louis Marconi pulled the trigger instant case CR. Four eight
zero to four. Additionally, he reported the nineteen sixty eight
armed robbery of the Posh Jewelry Store, data which included
Marconi's setting up of the high as well as the

(15:01):
names of all the other participants, including the fence. He
also blew the whistle on two dirty cops with the
Tucson Police, one retired but one still on active service.
Fourteen Paisley's reports on the above have been met with
a wall of silence. DPS turned over the data on

(15:22):
the murdered congressman to the FBI. The FBI did nothing,
indicating the case was closed. The aircraft had gone down
because of bad weather, and the pilot's company had been
sued for negligence in a civil action. The murders of
the other men in Alaska were not pursued by the
police in Alaska because of Paisley's status already serving sentences

(15:44):
over a hundred years, and the Tucson police have done
nothing on the armed robbery and dirty Cops information for
reasons that could be corruption at a high level. Fifteen,
no one has indicated that Paisley is a liar, a screwball,
or has an axe to grind. DPS agent West Malden,

(16:05):
now retired, who exposed renegade FBI agent David Hale through
Paisley's efforts, as described Paisley as a reliable and accurate
source of information when he worked with him. Moreover, during
recent contacts with law enforcement officials, no one has yet
to produce any evidence of fabrication on Paisley's part. Robert Annenberg, Tucson, Arizona,

(16:31):
August one. You can reach us by phone at one
eight three three m I A tips that's one eight
three three six four two eight four seven seven again
one eight three three six four two eight four seven seven,

(16:55):
Or you can reach us via email at tips at
iHeart media dot com. That's tips t I P s
at iHeart media dot com. An important note, none of
the people Paisley claimed took part in or had knowledge
of the alleged bombing. Joe Banano, Joeya Tarrola, Danny Zivinitt,
Gene Fowler, Larry Fowler, or Peggy Baggett, whose first name

(17:18):
is actually Margaret, were ever charged with or convicted of
crimes tied to any of Paisley's allegations. Louis Marconi, named
by Paisley, is an alleged accomplice in and or perpetrator
of certain crimes, was also never charged with or convicted
of any crimes based on Paisley's allegations. Ben Bolan is
our executive producer. Paul Deckan is our supervising producer. Chris

(17:42):
Brown is our assistant producer. Seth Nicholas Johnson is our producer.
Sam T. Garden is our research assistant. And I'm your
host and executive producer, John Wallzac. You can find me
on Twitter at at John Wallzac. J O n W
A l c z A K special thank to Mike
Smith of New Orleans, who voiced the report. Missing in

(18:03):
Alaska is a co production of iHeartMedia and Greenfork Media.
H
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