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Gun used to kill prosecutor is focus of massive search
The Seattle Times ^ | Thursday, July 17, 2003 | Steve Miletich

Posted on 07/20/2003 2:34:28 PM PDT by archy

Gun used to kill prosecutor is focus of massive search

By Steve Miletich
Seattle Times staff reporter

FBI agents are conducting an unusually sweeping search for a customized gun used in the killing of Seattle federal prosecutor Thomas Wales, according to the owner of a Minnesota arms company and sources familiar with the investigation.

The gun, an Eastern European-made semiautomatic pistol called a Makarov, had been fitted with a replacement barrel that leaves telltale marks on bullets. The search, one of the most laborious gun sweeps in FBI history, is taking place in all 50 states, as agents track down more than 3,500 barrels sold to gun owners and dealers.

Agents hope to tie the gun barrel to the killer. A Bellevue airline pilot has emerged as the lead suspect, according to court records, but no charges have been filed.

Wales, 49, who worked in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle, was shot to death in his Queen Anne home late on Oct. 11, 2001, as he sat at a basement computer.

The Minnesota company, Federal Arms Corporation, received a federal grand-jury subpoena for the names of all customers who bought the custom gun barrels before Wales' death, company president and owner Tim Gow said yesterday.

Gow said his company got "a lot of flak from our customer base," people who were upset about invasions of privacy after FBI agents contacted them.

Gow said he complied with the subpoena because "we really had no choice" and because he felt a moral obligation "to cooperate and help in any way we can to catch this individual."

"I've never seen such a large net being cast in the 15 years I've been in the business," Gow said.

The U.S. Justice Department and the FBI have made the Wales case a top priority and are offering a $1 million reward for information.

Charles Mandigo, the FBI special agent in charge in Seattle, would not comment specifically on the ongoing search. "We are pursing many different avenues in this investigation and ... an avenue of this nature is one we would pursue," Mandigo said.

The gun search began after spent casings were recovered outside Wales' home. The casings contained distinctive marks identifying the weapon as a Makarov pistol, sources said.

Further, several bullet slugs removed from Wales' body and from the scene were traced to the type of replacement barrels made only by Federal Arms.

These recovered slugs displayed rifling marks, "lands and grooves" left as the bullet passes through the barrel. Those marks identified the barrel as a replacement instead of the original Makarov barrel.

The Makarov, a rare collector's item until after the fall of the Soviet Union, requires an unusual size of bullet. Many owners modify the weapon so they can use common, less-expensive ammunition.

Wales, however, was shot with .380-caliber bullets fired through the slightly larger 9-mm replacement barrel.

The killer might have believed that smaller bullets would not pick up the distinctive lands and grooves as they moved through the barrel.

But one source said that if the gun is recovered, the FBI will be able to match the weapon to the ballistic evidence.

"It's not that sloppy a fit," the source said.

A national firearms expert, Lucien Haag, of Carefree, Ariz., who has conducted tests on .380-caliber bullets fired in a 9-mm Makarov, said "the strong likelihood is you'd never be able to match" the mismatched rounds to the murder weapon, even if it were found.

But with the recovered casings, he said, "you should be able to match it."

FBI agents began the search last fall and have tracked down hundreds of people who bought the barrels directly from Federal Arms or from dealers.

Dealers have been asked to provide the names of customers from sales records.

But the task has been complicated because dealers are not required to keep sales records for gun parts. Under federal law, dealers are required only to keep records of gun sales.

Every pistol and barrel obtained by agents is being test-fired, and the bullets are sent to the FBI lab in Washington, D.C.

Owners of the barrels are being eliminated one by one in hopes of narrowing the pool to a small group that can be investigated in depth.

Agents hope the gun can be found but believe it has already been disposed of.

A more-likely result, sources say, is finding someone who sold the barrel or the customized gun to a person who turns out to be the killer.

Authorities liken this search to the sweeping FBI hunt in the Unabomber case, in which agents, after finding "Nathan R" on a piece of evidence, tried to locate every Nathan R in the country.

Before the search was exhausted, a suspect of different name, Theodore Kaczynski, was turned in by his brother.

In the current search, each FBI field office is participating. Agents tried to keep the project secret by not mentioning Wales' name when they questioned people, but Makarov owners began sharing information in Internet chat rooms on gun topics. Gun Week magazine published an article in its most-recent edition about the searches.

A Virginia man, John Grove, said he initially refused to turn over his pistol with a replacement barrel but did so when he was given a subpoena, the magazine reported.

"It's not right," Grove was quoted as saying. He said his pistol was returned but not its barrel. "It's not the right way to go about any investigation at all."

Most people have voluntarily surrendered their pistols, a source said, but a few have been brought before a grand jury in Seattle and required to surrender their weapons.

The grand jury is focusing on the Bellevue pilot, according to court documents filed in Seattle earlier this year. The pilot had been prosecuted by Wales in a fraud case involving a military-helicopter-rebuilding business.

The charges were dropped against the pilot, but a company with which he was associated pleaded guilty.

The pilot subsequently accused the government of wrongfully targeting him and sought more than $125,000 in legal fees. His request was denied by a federal judge in Seattle but is pending before an appeals court.

The Seattle Times is not naming the pilot because the newspaper's general policy is to not name a suspect until criminal charges are filed.

In the Seattle field office, eight FBI agents are working full time on the case, along with a Seattle police detective and support staff.

"I am confident we are going to turn the corner on this," said Mandigo, the FBI official in Seattle.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia; US: Washington
KEYWORDS: assassination; bang; banglist; bobrikov; cac22; ceasefire; cheka; fac; intendedconsequences; makarov; paradigm; pm; pochemu; rhodesia; soininen; tomwales; wales; wife
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1 posted on 07/20/2003 2:34:28 PM PDT by archy
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To: archy; *bang_list
Bobrikov and Eliel Soisalon-Soininen: "Pochemu..? Pochemu..?" ("Why..? Why..?").


2 posted on 07/20/2003 2:40:05 PM PDT by archy (Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)
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To: archy
"I've never seen such a large net being cast in the 15 years I've been in the business," Gow said.

That's because employees of the federal goobermint are much, much more important than ordinary... sniff... citizens.

3 posted on 07/20/2003 2:43:23 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Drug prohibition laws help support terrorism.)
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To: archy
Why, so they can melt down the gun and make sure it never shoots anyone again?
4 posted on 07/20/2003 2:52:28 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: archy
From the Thomas Wales Foundation website:

Uncle Tom also taught me that in life we must have passions. When I was elected to go the YMCA Youth and Government Conference on National Affairs in NC, I again called my Uncle. I told him that I needed to write a proposal regarding issues at the Federal level. He mentioned gun control. This did not surprise me because he was an ardent advocate of gun control. He was the president of Washington CeaseFire, a Seattle based group that lobbies for gun control.

From the Washington Ceasefire website:

ACTION ALERT!

The Bush Administration has told the US Supreme Court for the first time that it believes the Constitution protects an individual's right to possess firearms, reversing the government's longstanding interpretation of the Second Amendment.

Call the White House today to protest the Bush Administration's new interpretation of the 2nd Amendment: (202) 456-1414!

Washington CeaseFire is asking the State Legislature to address the following critical areas of concern:

Improving our background check system by closing the gun show loophole

Requiring ballistic imaging as a condition of sale for all new firearms

Implementing the Child Access Prevention law - also known as the Whitney Graves bill

On October 11th, 2001, Tom Wales, a federal prosecutor and the courageous president of CeaseFire was shot to death in his home in what law enforcement officials called an "assassination." In coordination with his family, CeaseFire established the Tom Wales Endowment Fund to serve as a lasting memorial to an outspoken gun safety advocate and community leader.

5 posted on 07/20/2003 3:02:31 PM PDT by AdamSelene235 (Like all the jolly good fellows, I drink my whiskey clear....)
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To: archy
The way this article is written is somewhat confusing.

The .380 uses a bullet diameter of .355"

The 9mm makarow bullet is .364" diameter

The 9mm makarov case is approx 1mm longer than the .380 as it is a copy of the german 9mm ultra cartridge, which used the .355" bullet

6 posted on 07/20/2003 3:15:11 PM PDT by Ford Fairlane
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
That's because employees of the federal goobermint are much, much more important than ordinary... sniff... citizens.

Well, without the ruling class to guide and provide an example for us, society would quickly descend into chaos. So you can see why they get special service. Besides, they're just nicer!

7 posted on 07/20/2003 3:20:02 PM PDT by Grut
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To: archy
What would happen if everyone who was asked to turn in their Makarov's simply told the feds to piss up a rope unless they had a legal search warrant?
8 posted on 07/20/2003 3:22:14 PM PDT by Mulder (Live Free or die)
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To: archy
a customized gun

LOL...com block Walther rip off
cheap but durable
custom?....hardly...compared to what a Valtro worked over by John Jardine
Jardine Custom 1911

9 posted on 07/20/2003 3:23:32 PM PDT by joesnuffy (Moderate Islam Is For Dilettantes)
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To: archy
I wish they went to this much trouble when someones grandmother got shot. One standard for them another for us.
10 posted on 07/20/2003 3:24:56 PM PDT by Nov3
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To: archy
It's sad and bad for someone (anyone) to be murdered. But I have to believe that if you came sneaking up behind me - I'd shoot a hole in your belly big enough to drop a golf ball through. There is a lesson here.
11 posted on 07/20/2003 3:39:07 PM PDT by sandydipper (Never quit - never surrender!)
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To: Ford Fairlane
Because the 9mm Markov ammunition is more difficult to get than .380 ammo, there have been replacement barrels available for some time. No gunsmithing is required. Just strip down the gun like you were cleaning it and reassemble with the new barrel.

It is somewhat similar to the Russian 7.62 Nagant revolver. Since the ammunition is difficult and expensive for that, there are replacement cylinders available for them in .32ACP. There are also special dies available to use the existing cylinder, but to reform the brass from 32-20 brass (it is a little short, but works).

And no, I don't have one if any gubbiment agents are out there. However, I have formed several different types of brass that is no longer available from readily available brass.
12 posted on 07/20/2003 3:42:05 PM PDT by jim_trent
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To: archy
I was just going to purchase a .40 conversion barrel from Federal Arms for my 10mm Glock 29. Not any more considering how Federal Arms bent over and spread their cheeks, screwing their customer base in the process. They should have destroyed their customer list.

From this day forward, any firearms accessories I purchase will be paid for with an anonymous money order, and sent to a PO Box.

13 posted on 07/20/2003 3:43:09 PM PDT by 10mm
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To: jim_trent
Wales, however, was shot with .380-caliber bullets fired through the slightly larger 9-mm replacement barrel.

I understand that 9mm makarov used to be hard to get.

I dont understand the above statement, however, if they are looking for someone who bought a replacement .380 barrel, as the .380 is a smaller diameter

14 posted on 07/20/2003 3:51:08 PM PDT by Ford Fairlane
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To: Ford Fairlane
as far as i know, federal does not sell replacement barrels chambered for 9mm makarov (unless they started doing so recently)
15 posted on 07/20/2003 3:52:48 PM PDT by Ford Fairlane
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To: archy
Owners of the barrels are being eliminated one by one in hopes of narrowing the pool to a small group that can be investigated in depth.

Guilty until proven innocent. Registration leads to confiscation.

16 posted on 07/20/2003 3:55:21 PM PDT by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: archy
The murder of a grandmother who is a prosecutor would probably be pursued in like manner. A government worker who is an IRS tax examiner would not be pursued so vigorously. I perceive that the point here is that an alleged bad guy killed an individual charged with ensuring the progress of justice. We are mature enough to realize that one person’s justice is not necessarily that of another’s. What is the difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist? Depends, does it not? Archy’s concern about the ease in which the government is identifying the owners of the modified weapons is most focused and important. Irrational gun control, outside the parameters of the 2nd Amendment, must be quashed. We must regain the legitimate process of the Courts.
17 posted on 07/20/2003 3:56:09 PM PDT by ASA.Ranger (Is it time to take our Governments back?)
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To: Nov3
I wish they went to this much trouble when someones grandmother got shot. One standard for them another for us.

Always been like that. If a police officer is shot, the entire police dept is on the case and looking. Can't say I blame them. It's the way it is.......

18 posted on 07/20/2003 4:02:27 PM PDT by Joe Hadenuf (Are these people for real?)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
I guess the new rule is if a girl is raped and the suspect is seen running into a suburban neighborhood to escape, all males from maybe 20 square block area should be hauled into jail and have their DNA taken to see if there is match with the rape suspect? OK, now I get it. Big brother is watching!
19 posted on 07/20/2003 4:03:29 PM PDT by Lockbar
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To: archy
Why don't they just announce this on the local news in every state so the perp can just dispose of the weapon, if it hasn't been disposed of already.....
20 posted on 07/20/2003 4:04:30 PM PDT by Joe Hadenuf (Are these people for real?)
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