The Tampa Division investigated numerous bank robberies, interstate thefts of stolen property and vehicles, and conspiracies during this time. The division also participated in one of the most infamous kidnapping cases in Bureau history. In 1968, Gary Steven Krist and Ruth Eisemann-Schier abducted heiress Barbara Jane Mackle and buried her—alive—in a ventilated box in Georgia. Mackle’s father, a wealthy Florida land developer, paid a half-a-million dollars in ransom, and Krist provided vague directions about Mackle’s location. Flooding southern Georgia with personnel, the division worked with agents from Miami and Atlanta to rescue the heiress, who had been buried for three days. Krist and Schier were immediately placed on the Ten Most Wanted list; Schier was the first woman ever added. Tampa personnel received a tip that Krist was hiding in a nearby mangrove swamp. Led by Special Agent in Charge Santoiana, they took off after him, still in their business suits. They were helicoptered to the scene and dropped into waist-high mucky swamp water, which was infested with rattlesnakes, alligators, and even sharks. They searched night and day until Krist started to move out. Agents set up roadblocks and caught him at Hog Island, recovering the ransom money and a boat he had bought with the money. Krist was sentenced to life in prison, but was later paroled. Schier was captured in Norman, Oklahoma.

1970s

Organized crime figures have been attracted to the Tampa region as well, including Santo Trafficante and members of his family. The Tampa Division tracked these criminals for more than a decade, and in 1972, agents arrested Trafficante’s brother, Henry, and 62 associates on illegal gambling charges—the office’s largest mob takedown at the time. They later arrested Frank Diecidue—a Trafficante underboss—and Harlan Blackburn—a racketeer who had Trafficante backing in running illegal Latin American lotteries.

Using new racketeering laws and undercover agents, the division continued to target the Mob. In 1977, 23 subjects were indicted for racketeering and arson following an insurance fraud case in which numerous citizens torched 150 commercial and residential dwellings. Agents analyzed thousands of insurance documents, histories of ownership, and appraisals of burned properties. The culprits ended up including the Tampa fire marshal, fire captain, and lieutenant; prominent realtors; insurance adjusters; and Trafficante mob associates.

As more retirees settled in the Tampa region, Medicare and Medicaid fraud and related violations grew. Other fraud investigations included POWERCHAIN, which involved price manipulation by large companies during the 1970s oil crisis; a major auto theft ring case called GATORBAIT worked in concert with the Florida Highway Patrol; and GULFSTREAM, a stolen property fencing sting.

1980s and 1990s

The Tampa Division also ran a number of counterintelligence and espionage cases in the 1980s. For example, after a skillfully planned and sensitive investigation, Tampa agents arrested an East German spy named Ernst Forbrich at Clearwater Beach, Florida in 1984 after he paid an undercover agent posing as an Army intelligence officer for a classified document. He later admitted selling documents to East German intelligence over a 17-year period. Forbrich was convicted of espionage and sentenced to prison.

The scope and number of illegal drug enterprise investigations grew during the 1980s. In one high-profile case, FBI Tampa led the investigation of Manuel Noriega, military dictator of Panama. Noriega had attempted to import over one million pounds of marijuana into the United States. Tampa agents built the criminal case against him and participated in his arrest when the U.S. Army deposed him from Panama—then an American protectorate—in 1989. Noriega was tried on charges of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering and received a 40-year sentence; he was released after serving 15 years.

In another significant narcotics case, the division worked to prove that well-established organizations were facilitating each other’s international drug trafficking. The Tampa Division’s CAT’S EYE case targeted the Italian organized crime group ‘Ndrangeta, which had begun to extend its influence into the Sarasota, Florida area. The Northeast Mafia associates—a high level Colombian drug organization—and Chinese suppliers were also involved, cooperating with ‘Ndrangeta in its drug operations. In 1993, 23 individuals were arrested for racketeering, drug trafficking, and money laundering. Agents also seized high-quality heroin, cash, and property.

Tampa’s work load and personnel complement grew slowly but steadily through the 1980s and into the 1990s. By 1992, Tampa’s agent force had grown to 146. The division averaged 2,000 cases a month, with continued increases in white-collar crime, violent crime, organized crime, and fraud.

In the early 1990s, the Tampa Division tackled one of the Bureau’s largest real estate fraud cases. It also handled a major health care probe, which revealed that hospital managers were forcing marketers to “broker patients” through bribes, kickbacks, and referrals to psychiatric care hospitals. Another health care fraud case led to an even wider investigation when the subjects were found to be linked to organized crime. Mobsters—this time from the Genovese family—were coercing a diagnostic testing business owner to sign over his company’s interest and were extorting doctors to refer clients. The case involved court authorized wiretapping, cooperating witnesses, voluminous document reviews, and even the investigation of a murder contract taken on the owner of the diagnostic company targeted by the Mob. As a result of the division’s work, crime family members—including a Mafia boss—were convicted in 1995 on charges of threats, violence, and racketeering.

Post-9/11

Following the events of 9/11, FBI Tampa joined the rest of the Bureau in reorganizing its priorities, making preventing terrorist attacks its overriding mission. The division strengthened its Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) and created a Field Intelligence Group (FIG) to more proactively gather information on key threats.

The Tampa JTTF and FIG were instrumental in one key terrorism investigation. In 2007, Ahmed Abdellatif Sherif Mohamed—a native of Egypt and a Tampa resident—was stopped for speeding in South Carolina. In a search of his car trunk, deputy sheriffs found several interesting items: PVC pipe filled with a potassium nitrate mixture; containers of gasoline and the nitrate substance; safety fuses; and computer files and videos with information on bombs, rockets, and devices to attack manned U.S. military vehicles. Mohamed later admitted uploading some of these videos to YouTube to benefit “martyrdoms and suiciders.” In another video, he demonstrated how toy components could be converted into a detonator. As a result of the FBI investigation and the work of the Berkley County, South Carolina Sheriff’s Office, Mohamed pled guilty to providing material support to terrorists in June 2008. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The division also continued to pursue a host of criminal matters, from public corruption to “car cloning”—stealing the identity of a legitimately owned vehicle and placing it on a stolen one.

In January 2009, the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida and the Tampa Division launched a “Mortgage Fraud Surge” to tackle an epidemic of such cases. In November, more than 100 individuals were charged in schemes involving more than $400 million in fraudulent loans and over 700 properties.

The division has put greater focus on cyber crime as well, including the online exploitation of children. In partnership with numerous state, local, and other federal agencies, the Tampa Division joined Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to protect children from Internet exploitation and abuse. This initiative has been highly successful. During fiscal year 2009, 86 of these cases were brought in the Tampa area, involving charges of conspiring to travel in interstate commerce to engage in illicit sexual conduct and producing, distributing, and possessing child pornography.

As the FBI enters its second century of service, the Tampa Division remains committed to protecting its communities and defending the nation.