Bob further explained, “We also have a companion chemical that we can use to bring out or enhance the underlying compound if it has degraded. It works like a catalyst, bolstering any reflective chemical residue of the main compound.”
The men discussed various applications and uses for the next hour. Pisano liked what he heard. It was no surprise when he asked Jeff, “Can we get some of this for the operation? I have some ideas about how we can use it.”
“Sure, just let me know what you need.”
Jeff and Jake thanked Bob, and they left the FBI facility and headed back to the airport and their flight home. On the way, Pisano said, “I’m going to keep the BD-7 information close to the vest and just let a few of my operatives know about it. I can see some application to tracing parts from various locations, including out-of-state facilities where we can work together on this thing.”
Jeff said “I agree.”
Jake replied, “I think we’re going to need some kind of coded inventory system to keep track of everything, though. It could get complicated with all the different parts.”
“I know some of our forensic accountants in the D.C. office. Let me see if I can get one of those guys to design a system for you.”
“That would be great, but it has to be simple enough for my guys to understand.”
Jeff agreed to follow up when they got back to New Orleans.
Within a few weeks, Pisano had a coding system and supplies of Blue Dye Seven in his hands and began applying it on a test basis. He had operatives working in several of Coletta’s yards and repair shops. They would mark a part, then follow it as it travelled through the crime distribution system. Early results were good, and Pisano was ready to expand the parts marking system.
During these tests, Pisano was surprised to find that many of the dyed parts ended up being sold to the service departments of licensed retail auto dealers trying to make an extra buck on the side. Pisano saw the auto dealers as another avenue he would pursue in the future, but for now he wanted to keep his eye on the ball.
Only a very few members of Pisano team were ever told about Blue Dye Seven. Ed Langer and Wade Hanna were never told anything about the dye. Unfortunately as the dye’s use expanded, Coletta’s organization somehow got wind of it. In a parts undercover buying operation, one of Pisano’s operatives heard Blue Dye mentioned. To make matters worse, he heard it mentioned in connection with Ed Langer’s name.
18
Luke was the Pisano operative who heard Ed Langer’s name mentioned in connection with the Blue Dye Seven marker. A meeting had been held between Luke and a Coletta underboss by the name of Sam. The two men had met before in another parts purchase. The purpose of this meeting was for Luke to take delivery of parts he’d ordered from Sam’s division for cash. They met in a large chain link fenced yard just outside the city. The yard’s surface was covered with crushed oyster shells. The yard had a covered, open shed in one corner, where Sam kept the forklift.
Sam had arrived first in a silver-gray sedan and had parked his car over by the forklift shed and waited for his truck and for Luke to arrive. The driver of Luke’s truck pulled in first, turned around at the far end of the yard, and then backed up so the end could be easily loaded by the fork lift. Sam’s truck arrived with the parts and parked parallel to Luke’s truck, about 30 feet away.
In this parking configuration, the forklift had easy access to both trucks. The two drivers unlocked and rolled up their rear doors. Luke soon arrived in a dark blue sedan and parks between the two trucks. Luke and Sam began walking toward the center of the big yard. Luke held a gym bag in one hand. The two men greeted each other behind the trucks and shook hands.
Pisano didn’t like his men being wired for sound, except in very specialized and controlled circumstances. It was just too dangerous. For capturing evidence of transactions, Pisano preferred cameras.
The truck Luke had brought in had a 24-foot, dual axel body, with double rear wheels on each axle for carrying heavy loads. The truck, like all of Pisano’s parts trucks, came from the NOPD seized vehicle pool, modified to his specifications. Each truck had a false ceiling with a 5" gap between the actual truck roof and the interior ceiling. The interior ceiling was covered in distressed three-eighths inch plywood scraped and beat up to match the side walls and floor. Installed in the false ceiling space were three cameras.
Two cameras were mounted at the top of the truck, facing the rear, and a third camera was mounted just above the cab, facing forward. The rear camera lenses were mounted behind small holes alongside the running light fixtures. There were five hidden switches at various locations along the underside of the truck body and inside the cab, so the cameras could be easily activated without calling attention to the flipping of the on-off switch. The cameras and film or video recording devices were long-running and set to automatically shut off when the recording reached the end of the reel. Most tapes ran three to four hours, depending on the cassette.
Unloading and loading of the trucks was accomplished through the rear roll-up doors, which provided easy access to a forklift. Each camera came with a wide-angle lens and, being mounted fourteen feet above the ground, gave a good birds-eye view of all activity taking place at the rear of the truck. The two cameras at the back overlapped images so that a full 180 degrees of activity could be recorded. The camera in the front covered meetings and sometimes money exchanges that occurred at night when headlights were used to light the area in remote locations. The truck camera setup was ideal for Pisano, and his men were very good at moving the suspect and activities into the right position to be captured by the cameras. By this time, Pisano had hundreds of hours of recorded Coletta transactions which would eventually be reduced to evidence stills and tape or film for trial.
Luke’s driver, another undercover operative, stood in the empty cavity of his truck, waiting for the forklift to start loading Sam’s parts.
Pisano’s male undercover agents, unlike his female operatives, were not a pretty lot. Luke was barrel-chested, just over six feet tall, with large biceps and a slender waist. He had a ten-day beard and medium length hair. He wore a black undershirt under a faded green, plaid, long-sleeved shirt, which was unbuttoned and hanging outside his pants. He wore denim jeans and worn work boots. He also wore a black watch cap and carried a .45 caliber automatic in a back holster with an extra clip under his plaid over-shirt.
Luke also carried a small stub-nose .38 revolver in a calf holster strapped to the inside of his left leg. Pisano didn’t like his agents carrying government or departmental issued weapons for their own protection in case they were ever captured. Luke’s .45 was an older model that had been modified. Most of the bluing on the weapon was gone and bare metal showed through in several places. The serial number had been ground off, and the handles were old, inexpensive, plastic, aftermarket replacements. One handle had a crack and was held together with white medical tape. The appearance of Luke’s weapon might have given the wrong impression to anyone who happened to see it. Luke was one of the top ranked marksmen in the force and held the highest shooting score with this weapon at the police academy training facility.
The transfer that afternoon was to include three complete engines, four transmissions, two rear and front-end axel assemblies, and two fenders.
Luke asked “Do you have everything we discussed?”
Sam answered, “Of course — you got the cash?”
Luke opened his gym bag and showed Sam the large stacks of small bills, Coletta’s preferred form of payment. Sam motioned his forklift driver to start transferring parts from his truck to Luke’s truck. The forklift truck positioned itself at the back of Sam’s truck and started lifting the first palette of parts.