They kidnapped a fortune, but this crime didn't pay
Posted on 01/31/2003 6:35:01 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
They kidnapped a fortune, but this crime didn't pay
Wealthy captive's cool, captors' bungling leads to freedom, arrests
01/31/2003
GREENWICH, Conn. - Three weeks ago, one of the richest men in America was abducted from a parking garage in this wealthy New York suburb after leaving work at his $5 billion hedge fund.
The kidnappers were clearly out of their league.
Authorities said Edward Lampert's abductors were from crime-ridden New Haven neighborhoods, a world away from Greenwich. Two had drug convictions; one was an eighth-grade dropout who, his lawyer says, can't read or write.
The man they seized and held for ransom was a tightfisted figure with a reputation for coolness under fire and a penchant for calling the shots when it comes to money.
And the plot they hatched was B-movie quality, executed with such comic ineptitude that they used their captive's credit cards while they were still holding him, investigators say.
"They're like misguided soldiers of fortune," said Michael Sherman, a well-known lawyer in Greenwich who is not involved in the case. "They seemed to be making the plan as they went along."
After being held hostage in a motel room for just over a day, the 40-year-old Mr. Lampert was dropped off unharmed - and without losing a cent - near the Greenwich police station. According to news reports, he was set free after promising his abductors $5 million in ransom.
Within days, four men were arrested in the scheme.
Except for a statement of thanks to the authorities, friends and business partners, Mr. Lampert hasn't discussed his ordeal.
Mr. Lampert, chairman of ESL Investments, is worth an estimated $800 million, good for No. 288 on Forbes magazine's list of wealthiest Americans. He built his fortune by investing in companies such as AutoNation, Office Depot and Payless Shoes.
By 28, he was a part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team along with George W. Bush.
"What I have always wanted to do, and the reason I set up my own business, is to make the investment decisions in whatever areas I thought I understood and made sense," Mr. Lampert told The Washington Post in 1995. "If I was the quarterback, I didn't want the coach calling the plays."
On the evening of Jan. 10, four young men toting a shotgun jumped him in a parking garage. He was taken to a Days Inn outside New Haven and, according to news reports, spent 30 hours trying to make a deal with his captors.
Not long after Mr. Lampert's release, three suspects were arrested at the motel, where authorities found a shotgun and a mask. Shemone Gordon, 23, and Devon Harris, 19, were charged under federal extortion law. The third suspect is 17. The alleged ringleader, 23-year-old ex-Marine Renaldo Rose, was captured Jan. 18 in Canada.
Then how did he get in the eighth grade?
Isn't public schooling great.
Hehe, maybe if i 'promise' to give them the Brooklyn bridge if they pay me cash upfront they may agree!
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