Pisano was pleased with the divisional clashes, as the mob members were taking each other out. At one point, Pisano was called in by his boss to explain the increased violence and killings. Pisano shrugged his shoulders, hid his smile, and said, “Fundamentally they’re just a brutal gang. They turn on themselves. They can’t help it. Considering they are killing only each other in these attacks, these are statistics we should be able to live with.”
Suspicions ran high within Coletta’s crime syndicate. Coletta personally believed they had a leak and started his own investigation and purging campaign. Times were very tense if you were inside the Coletta organization. Pisano realized this, and in an effort to protect his operatives, he backed off of purchases for a while and let their internal pot just simmer. Pisano knew all too well the devil was always in the details, and details are what kept him alive when he was undercover.
Pisano’s undercover operation had grown in proportion to the growing complexity of the Coletta crime organization. By this time, cars were being dismantled in at least 25 fronted junk yards and auto repair shops which were owned or controlled by Coletta. Parts were being sent to at least three states outside Louisiana going as far south as Florida. Louisiana was still the center of operation for the ring. Similar but smaller operations controlled by Coletta’s network appeared in Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. These out-of-state operations were small by comparison to Louisiana, but employed the same acquisition, dismantling, and reselling systems developed and perfected by the Louisiana operation.
As Coletta’s operations got larger, they became more complex and difficult to manage. Some got a little sloppy. In one of Coletta’s dismantling operations, Pisano’s undercover operatives found one important inconsistency. One particular yard failed to completely remove all of the VIN, engine, and ID numbers on parts leaving the yard. Most major parts from this yard had two or three of the original numbers left intact and readable. By matching up the original parts numbers and comparing those numbers with theft reports, they were able to trace the parts to the stolen vehicles. Pisano’s men were also able to trace the readable numbers through the reselling hands. In this way, they were able to trace a part from the original vehicle stolen through Coletta’s distribution system to the ultimate buyer. Even with only two numbers in a sequence visible on a part, Pisano’s team was able to match it with one of several specific locations where certain parts were sourced for several out-of-state operations. This led to sting operations and arrests that put intermediate bosses in custody, but those arrests were never tied directly to the top of the organization.
Shortly after the Coletta’s operation became involved in out-of-state theft and transactions, the FBI became involved. An FBI team was assigned to Pisano to review his operation. They came away very impressed. In fact, they came away so impressed they let Pisano maintain the lead role. Since there weren’t any out-of-state organized bosses involved at that time, the FBI was content to concentrate on the out — of-state connections and operations. One of the contributions of the FBI involvement in Pisano’s operation came from the FBI technology lab.
Pisano’s FBI counterpart was Jeff Sims. One day the two were discussing the complexity of Coletta’s operation, and Sims told Pisano about a new invisible paint product the FBI lab had developed for marking and tracing materials in the hands of criminals. Pisano was interested and asked Sims how he could learn more about it. Sims contacted FBI headquarters and was put in touch with a lead chemist at the FBI lab just outside Atlanta. Sims told Pisano he could take him up to the lab to talk to one of the supervising chemist.
Sims and Pisano flew to Atlanta the following week. They arrived at a small building outside a much larger facility where they were processed and given identity tags. They were met in the lobby of the large building by an FBI crime lab chemist who introduced himself as Bob. The three men went through one of the doors and down a hallway, passing several chemical laboratories along the way. They stopped to get some coffee from a machine in the hallway before being ushered to a small conference room just outside one of the labs. Bob left Sims and Pisano in the room and said, “I’ll be right back.”
Bob soon returned with several sample materials in his hand and said, “These have all been marked with the tracing compound.” He passed the samples around and continued, “In these samples, you have the tracing compound applied to paper, fabric, plastic, and metal.”
Jake and Jeff carefully looked at each sample from different angles and held them each one up to the overhead light to see if they could find any indication of the marking. They rubbed their fingers across the samples, feeling to see if there was a raised indication of a substance being applied.
Pisano was impressed. “You can’t see or feel anything.”
Bob reached back across his chair and pulled out a small blue-black light made with a special wave-length bulb developed by the FBI. Bob shined it on the materials. Each sample suddenly lit up with electric blue glowing numbers and notations. On the metal piece Pisano was holding, the marker read, “You can’t see me.”
Jake thought, Obviously an inside chemist joke.
Bob went on to explain that the key to the compound was its durability. “We’ve had disappearing ink since as far back as the early 1800’s. The problem with those chemicals was that they wouldn’t stand up on multiple surfaces or survive the elements. Our compound is stable and durable and has been tested to stand up to sub-zero cold and high heat. That’s because our compound uses a state-of-the art polymer reflective materials.”
Pisano, as usual, had questions. “Have you tested the product in the field?”
Bob answered, “Yes, we used it in both a kidnapping and in a money laundering case.”
“How did it hold up as evidence?”
“It held up fine. We just had to explain to the court how it worked and how you are able to take pictures of the compound under the light with Tungsten film and a special filter.”
“Is it paint or what?”
“It’s really more like a dye or stain. It actually goes into the pores of the surface instead of sitting on top.”
Pisano wasn’t done asking questions. “Is there a name for this stuff?”
“I’m sure the FBI will eventually come out with an official name for it, but around here we just call it Blue Dye Seven or BD-7 for short.”
“Where did the ‘seven’ come from?”
“It was the seventh chemical experiment in a series. The one where we finally got the formulas right to make the final compound.”
“How do you apply the stuff?” Pisano’s thoughts had taken a turn in the direction of practical interest.
“Let’s go into the lab, and I’ll give you a demonstration. To answer your question though, we have large and small hand-held applicators with sponge tips. We also have marking pens where the solution is in the cylinder for marking small items. We have the compound in aerosol spray cans and we have it in regular paint cans so that it can also be applied with a brush or roller. We usually use the paint cans or rollers for large objects on building rooftops to aid in helicopter surveillance.”
Pisano said, “I like the pen applicators.”
The three men went into the laboratory, and Bob demonstrated the application process using all three methods. Bob let Jake and Jeff each do their own application and explained, “It takes from 12 to 30 seconds to dry, typically, depending on temperature and humidity.”