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Former
FBI agent Gerald Clark, along with investigative reporter
Ed Palattella, wrote a book, Pizza Bomber,
about one of his most important cases. The book
unravels the twists and turns of a plot conceived by
eight emotionally unstable and devious people. The
authors give interesting insider details on how the
investigation unfolded and why it took so long to solve.
This is one of the most ingenious bank robbery schemes
in history, known as the “Collarbomb,” by
the FBI.
The
plot was conceived on August 28, 2003 in the suburbs
of Erie, Pennsylvania. A pizza deliveryman, Brian
Wells, with a time bomb locked around his neck, was
ordered to rob a bank. After delivering the money
he would receive clues to disarm the bomb. The
police surrounded Wells shortly after the robbery. Special
FBI Agent Clark came on the scene, standing thirty feet
away as the police interrogated Wells. To Clark’s
horror the bomb exploded, killing Wells. The Agent
spent the next seven years investigating the incident,
identifying and charging those responsible.
Clark
told blackfive.net he wrote
it “for the educational component. I wanted
people to understand the pitfalls that were involved.
If you break this case down it is really about eight
characters that found each other. They called
themselves the ‘fractural individuals’ because
they could not relate to anyone outside the group.”
The
book also discusses the personality traits of each of
the eight. Clark, who has a PhD in criminology
and a Masters degree in Forensic Psychology, believes
four of the eight had an anti-social personality disorder,
psychopaths. The instigator was Marjorie Diehl
Armstrong, who developed the idea to rob the bank to
get money to pay for someone to murder her father for
his inheritance. Clark felt “Diehl was one
of those who had the anti-social personality disorder.
She is one of the most unique, manipulative, really
bright individuals I ever talked with.”
The
person who had a major part in making the bomb was Bill
Rothstein, also a psychopath. He came up with
the plan to put a bomb on someone and to make sure they
died so there would be no witnesses. On his deathbed
Clark tried to get him to “cleanse his soul”.
However, he refused to talk. The bottom line is
he would not give us the satisfaction of telling us
what happened. He once told me “I am the
smartest guy in this room.” He believed
he was smarter than anybody and as he was dying he had
the attitude, ‘the joke is on you.’ He was
such an arrogant guy, who had a really dark side.
The
chapter in the book where Clark conducts this interview
is fascinating since the reader gets a glimpse of how
an interrogator is able to find details as they interview
a suspect. Clark commented, “I massaged his ego
and talked to him in hypothetical terms. He responded
in hypothetical terms since he thought I could not use
the evidence against him.”
The
authors also explained how they were able to connect
some clues through the FBI profiler, Mary Ellen O’Toole. “She
was great and was able to come up with ideas as to the
personalities behind the bomb maker. Just from
examining all the pieces she was able to come up with
a very accurate profile and her facts were right on.
This case involved a lot of circumstantial evidence
since there was no forensic evidence.”
Clark
wants readers to understand that many cases take a toll
on those trying to find the perpetrators. “There
was a lot of pressure. It was intense. We
had to have a lot of perseverance because this took
a long time to get resolved. The information had
to be developed to know what facts are related and how
they can be pinned on the defendants. At the end
of the case I was honored to get a letter and a phone
call from FBI Director Mueller who congratulated me
on sticking with and solving the case.”
Pizza
Bomber is
a true crime book that is informative and insightful. The
characters are described in such a way that the reader
will understand how their behavior allowed them to conceive
and initiate such a horrific act. Having it written
from the perspective of FBI Agent Clark makes the book
interesting because it traces the investigative process
and the passion he had for making sure justice would
prevail.
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