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sexually molested as they rode their bikes on the popular Burke-Gilman
trail near the University of Washington. The precinct commander assigned
the day-watch bicycle officers to stakeout the trail. The next day, Mike
was riding the trail when he spotted a man who had removed half of his
clothes. When he tried to question the man, he fled.
Mike caught him. The suspect admitted to the Burke-Gilman assaults and
to an extensive criminal history of indecent exposure, burglary,
resisting and obstructing officers. Mike Magan's file in the Chiefss
office was thick with commendation letters from the public and from
other police agencies, and he was grateful for that. He loved his job,
but he was thirty-one years old and he had the roaring energy and drive
that young cops have. The adrenaline of a police chase is a strong
motivator, and he found that he thrived in that edgy milieu. Mike didn't
take unnecessary risks, but he was never more alive than when he was
responding to an emergency. His wife, Lisa, knew that. She knew that he
wouldn't be happy if she worried or put a guilt trip on him.
They had met in November 1990, at Nordstrom's, where Lisa was in charge
of the cosmetics department. Mike approached her as directly as he would
have any suspect, and she found herself accepting a date. He had a
forceful personality, but she was as independent as he. They made a
great pair. Sometimes, Lisa grew impatient when Mike called off their
plans because he had to meet an informant or somebody in trouble, but
she always forgave him.
If she worried about him and she did she never let him know it.
Being a cop was who Mike was. That was part of why she loved him.
Shawn Johnson would be assigned to the Puget Sound Violent Crimes Task
Force almost from the beginning. His style was very different from Mike
Magan'she was more low key and reflective. If Mike got the assignment he
longed for, that would be a plus, investigators stalking a common enemy
work together more effectively when their personalities are not similar.
They bring more to an investigation. Although FBSPECIAL Agent Shawn
Johnson and Seattle Police Officer Mike Magan might someday find
themselves tracking the same suspect, they would come at him from a
different angle. But, first, Mike Magan had to find a way to get on the
task force. It was nearing November 1994. Like every cop on the Seattle
Police Department, Mike Magan and Chris Gough began to hear radio
reports of bank robberies. "We'd pedal up on our bikes, " Mike laughed,
"and arrive ten minutes after the fact, not exactly in a position to do
much good. I said to Chris, You know I've never caught a bank robber.
Chris had about ten years on me on the force, and he said, I've caught
two or three, and he went into this long spiel telling me how great it
was chasing them down."
"Let's work on this, " Mike said. "Let's get some surveillance
photographs from the FBI agents." Mike Magan knew that the FBI was
looking for take-charge bank robbers who all had nicknames. There was
someone called Abe Lincoln and Partners and someone dubbed Hollywood who
worked with at least one other guy.
Mike made a few notes on the most likely suspects. Sooner or later, it
seemed as if all the bad guys in the western half of the United States
would show up along the Aurora corridor and he and Chris had a huge
network of friends and informants. They decided to see what they could
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do to catch themselves a bank robber or two.
After the Key Bank in Northgate was robbed, Mike and Chris talked to two
special agents. Mike gave them his card and asked if he could have some
FBI bulletins describing the suspects. At about the same time, their
supervisor, Sergeant Mont, asked Mike and Chris if they'd like to work
plainclothes for a while and investigate a bank robbery in the tiny
north end suburb of Mukilteo. It was November, the winter rains had
begun, and working plainclothes in an unmarked squad car was preferable
to riding their bikes through mud puddles and pelting rain.
They assured Mont that they would be delighted to look for the Mukilteo
bank robbers. "Sure, we will, " Mike said. "But who are we looking for?
" Howard Mont gave them the name of a suspect, Nick Donteri, * who was
believed to be living in Ballard. They obtained a picture of Donteri and
went to the residence where he was supposed to be, but it turned out he
had only been using the address. Nobody knew where he was. Chris and
Mike had no luck at all locating Donteri. They told the resident FBI
agent in charge of the bank robbery investigation that they had run out
of leads.
Even so, Mike Magan's eerie knack for snaring bank robbers had begun.
He and Chris Gough drove to the Starbuck's on Aurora Avenue to get a cup
of coffee. They strolled in, and Mike locked eyes with a man standing
several feet away. "I knew him, but I didn't know from where, " he
recalled. "We just kept staring at each other over the sugar and cream."
Mike whispered to Chris to go to the car and check the "Wants" bulletin.
Chris did and gave him a thumbs down gesture. The familiar-looking man
was getting into his truck when Mike and Chris strolled over and
identified themselves as police officers and asked him what his name
was. "Nick ..
." he said, a bit nervously. Immediately, Mike Magan knew.
This was Nick Donteri. "Donteri! " Magan yelled, drawing his gun. It had
been two years since Donteri had posed for the booking photo they were [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]