[FIND] Vice

Thomas Sullivan Magnum

Okay, so you either love him or hate him. There doesn’t seem to be much in the way of, “Well, he’s alright.” Either pure affection or pure vitriol. Wherever you stand, it’s clear that Magnum has earned his place in history. (I hate to admit it, but I fall into the adoration column. Seriously, I grew up on this show. It is, in large part, responsible for me being a private investigator today. Seriously…does that make me a geek?)

Magnum, our self-effacing hero, was one of TV’s most likeable characters, which is, some would say, his biggest flaw. There was no real “dark side” to Magnum. He was simply a hapless

gadabout who spent his days solving mysteries and hanging out at the King Kamehameha club with his two best pals, Rick and TC. When not on the job or at the club playing volleyball or surf-paddling, Magnum frittered away an inordinate amount of time at what can only be described as theworld’s coolest bachelor pad, Robin's Nest, where he continually agitated and annoyed Jonathan Quail Higgins (aka - Higgins, Higgy-baby, etc.).

No man has ever come close to doing as much for the Hawaiian shirt as Magnum. His shorts are still the unrivaled gold standard for men’s summer fashion. And the Ray Ban Shooters sunglasses…well… they’re on the way back. As for style, let us just ponder the one accoutrement that we all remember best: the Ferrari.

Aah, the Ferrari 308 GTS, tag # ROBIN 1. That candy-apple-red-steel-bodied-mid-engine-rear-wheel-drive babe-magnet. (Trivia: Due to Selleck’s rangy 6’4” frame, all of the cars used in the show had to have the seat cushions removed and the seat rails repositioned as far back as possible…and still his head sticks up over the windscreen.)

Magnum’s fondness for cigars and Coop’s beer are well known, but there were enough umbrella drinks in his hand over the 8 seasons Magnum, P. I. was on the air to consider Magnum a bit of a cocktail man as well, which brings us to the fun part…pairing Thomas Sullivan Magnum with a cocktail.

The Cocktail

We turn once again to our resident expert in spirits, Josh Habiger, manager of The Patterson House, Nashville’s very own speakeasy. Josh says, “Well, the man is living in Hawaii, so I had to go with something tropical.” Unable to find a concoction that, of its own accord, was worthy of Magnum, Josh created this month's tipple, the Jungle Bird (named after the bright red bird pattern on Magnum’s Hawaiian Shirt. Editor’s note: I actually own one of these.)

“This is a riff on a Cuban drink called a ‘Hotel Nacional,’” says Habiger, “subbing out the classic apricot brandy for a bit of Saigon Cinnamon syrup, to represent Magnum’s time in Vietnam.” Habiger calls this, “The perfect drink for a perfect Hawaiian day.” Here’s the recipe. Stay thirsty my friends.

The Jungle Bird

2 oz. Flor de Cana 4yr Rum

1 oz. Fresh Pineapple Juice

.75 oz Fresh Lime juice

.5 oz Saigon Cinnamon Syrup

.25 oz Simple Syrup

and 2 dashes of Regan's Orange Bitters #6

Place all ingredients in a shaker, add ice, shake, and strain into a rocks glass over ice.

Advice to Clients: Don't Sabotage Your Case

A lot of our fellow PIs on the criminal investigations side of things eschew the very idea of taking on domestic cases. For some, spending hours, days, or weeks tracking a straying wife or husband feels less important than interviewing prosecution witnesses, and a few seem to think there's a tawdriness to divorce cases and domestic disputes that leaves them feeling a bit....dirty.

But domestic cases, if approached with understanding and respect, are not only good business, but can also be important, rewarding work. After all, what matters more in people's lives than family? Generally, domestic clients hire us because they and their loved ones are at some kind of painful crossroads. They suspect that a family member is surreptitiously buying illegal drugs, associating with criminals, having an affair, or neglecting children. Some clients are so filled with fear, insecurity, and suspicion that they need an objective outsider to collect solid evidence for them, to illuminate the darkness of those raging emotions with the cold, hard light of irrefutable facts.

A professional, ethical investigator has a responsibility in cases like these to speak candidly with clients, whose minds are often clouded by anger or feelings of betrayal and helplessness. It's crucial to clearly define the scope of each job before beginning. What is the client looking for? What specific facts will establish the truth? And how does the client intend to use those facts after the investigation is over?

Here are a few basic ideas we try to communicate to clients, to make sure we are giving them exactly what they need, to avoid wasting people's money on unnecessary surveillance, and to prevent people from sabotaging their own cases:

1. We are not therapists. Although we will listen with empathy and respect, you should consider speaking to a professional counselor about the trauma you're experiencing, whether it's a divorce, an affair, a spouse's addiction, or a child custody battle. A great counselor is well worth his fee.

2. Do not attempt to do your own PI work. Once you've hired us, do not follow, photograph, stake out, or surveille the person you've hired us to investigate, and do not send your friends to eyeball his driveway. He knows your car (and theirs) and all your moves, and you will most likely tip him off to the fact that he's being watched. That puts him on his guard, makes our job ten times harder, and costs you lots more money in surveillance fees in the long run.

3. Do not confront her. Until the case is closed, resist the urge to call her out on the information we've just delivered to you about her suspicious whereabouts last night. "How did you know that?" she'll say. For the repercussions of this, refer to the latter half of #2. Confronting is your lawyer's job. You're paying your lawyer a lot of money, so don't sabotage their work by showing your hand too early.

4. Keep your distance. While the investigation is in progress, it's best not to call him, drive by his house late at night, or rifle through his trash bin, no matter how crazy your obsessive thoughts are driving you. Keep your contact with him as minimal as possible, and keep it low-drama. Again, see #2.

5. Be honest and realistic about what you want from us. If possible, think in specifics about what exact information you want and what you will do with it. Often, clients become so emotional about their cases that they aren't sure when to quit. Once we collect the damning piece of evidence, or a series of facts that establish a behavior pattern, stop while you're ahead. And then make a concrete plan with your attorney about how you will use the information to achieve your goals, whether they be gaining legal custody of kids, gaining an advantage in mediation, or confronting a spouse in a measured way about a troubling behavior.

6. Micromanaging doesn't work. We do this for a living, let us apply our expertise. If we suggest 2 or 3 investigators for a complicated moving surveillance one day, it's because we really do need them. We absolutely will not nickel-and-dime you. We want to apply the proper tools and techniques to the job at hand, and sometimes that costs a bit of money. Paying three investigators for one productive night's surveillance is often less expensive than paying one investigator for several days of solo (read burned) surveillance. What you don't want is to waste your money by paying someone to perform a futile task. And believe me, moving surveillance through downtown at rush hour is (at the very best) difficult with three investigators and entirely futile with just one.

7. Offer us full disclosure. The more useful information you give us, the easier our jobs become, and the more efficiently we can work. (And the more money you save.) Be sure and get us any information you can about our subject and anyone else we need to observe: full name, physical description, photographs, SS#, vehicle make and model, plate numbers, personal habits, workout schedule, favorite haunts, work location and hours--all that helps us find the subject and make an educated guess about where they are going next.

In summary, we're more than happy to handle domestic cases. But in order to do the job you need us to do, it's essential that you let us do our work. We always tell our clients, "Let your lawyer handle the legal stuff, talk to a therapist about the emotional stuff, and let us take care of the snooping." Do this..and you'll spend less money overall and will be far more likely to find the answers your were looking for in the first place.

Storied New York PI May Have Solved 1971 Hijacking Mystery

On AARP's "Prime Time Radio" program, public radio producer Jon Kalish tells the story of New York private investigator Skipp Porteous. The former evangelical minister became disillusioned with religion, and in his twenties, started doing skip traces with the LA Dept. of Water and Power, looking for customers who hadn't paid their bills.

The 66-year-old Porteus has since infiltrated neo-Nazi groups for the FBI, crusaded against religious-right extremists, and believes he may have discovered the true identity of a notorious aircraft hijacker who was never brought to justice.

Click here to hear the full radio feature.

New York Magazine profiled Porteus in a 2007 feature and tells the story of that legendary 1971 hijacking, the hijacker's subsequent disappearance, and Porteus's drive to crack the case. Read the story here.

San Francisco PD Outsources Police Work to Civilian Investigators

Today, NPR's Morning Edition host interviewed San Francisco Police Chief George Gascon about a pilot program the SFPD is launching which will train civilian investigators to respond to low-level crimes not in progress, such as burglaries and auto thefts.

Chief Gascon hopes that letting non-police investigators do some of the legwork on these non-violent crimes will speed the process of responding to and collecting evidence at lower-priority crime scenes, will take some of the pressure off dwindling city funds for law enforcement, and will free up police officers to respond to more urgent calls and to investigate violent and other serious crimes, such as gang-related activity.

"So at the end of the day, you end up with a better preliminary investigation with a collection of evidence," says Gascon, who admits that busy officers often take hours to respond to burglary and theft calls. "...Civilians are just as able to be trained to have a great level of skills and handle evidence in court as well as sworn." (courtesy of NPR)

Chief Gascon hopes the program will be up and running by early next year.

Click here to read a transcript or to hear the full audio feature.

For an AP brief on this topic from the New York Times, go here.

[FIND] VICE

Assignment: Pair a cocktail and a cigar with a fictional PI

Subject: Joe Mannix

Quote: "If you're not gonna pull that trigger immediately, mind if I have a cigarette?" From the episode, "To the Swiftest Death"

Joe Mannix paved the way for all of the TV private eyes we grew up with. He was tough, bull-headed, good-looking, and had a flair for cool cars and fantastic sports coats. We can see traces of Mannix in Rockford (think bright plaid and patterned sports jackets). Magnum took the cool car theme to a whole new level, but it was Mannix who first pulled surveillance in a hey-look-at-me-stand-out-in-a-crowd car.

A Korean War veteran, Mannix knew how to maintain a level head. Whether he was careening down a dirt road in a snazzy convertible or engaged in gun-play with mobsters in ill-fitting, wide-collared, poly-blend suits, Mannix was solid. He’d readily throw a punch, rely on a hunch, and more often than not eschew technology and gadgets for a good old confrontation.

This rough-and-tumble Armenian-American detective was, in short, what every woman in the early seventies wanted, needed. And yet, despite the passel of hot polyester-clad babes that strolled in and out of his life, Mannix, it seemed, was a bachelor’s bachelor, doomed to fly solo. Sharing his most intimate moments with his trusty and (as the website thrillingdetective.com puts it) “oft-kidnapped” secretary Peggy.

Mannix put a modern face on the private eye of the postwar-noir era, bringing the fictional detective into the seventies with a clear nod to the genre. Mike Connors, the actor who brought Mannix to life, once said that somewhere out there "Mannix is still working...There was a decency and a dignity about the man."

Assignment: The Cigar

Operative: Scott Partridge, General Manager

Uptown's Smoke Shop

4001 Hillsboro Road

Nashville, TN 37215

Pairing: After giving the matter a lot of thought, our cigar expert Scott Partridge said, “I would pair him up with a CAO GOLD VINTAGE.” Partridge, general manager of Uptown’s Smoke Shop in Green Hills, argues that the CAO Gold Vintage is possibly one of the best “smooth, medium-bodied cigars” on the market. Like Mannix, the Gold Vintage is dressed to attract, but built tough. Partridge describes the Gold Vintage as having “a silky wrapper that entices with a leathery pre-light nose. Each pull delivers layers of buttery notes backed by a definitive spicy core, attributed to the Habano seed-filler tobaccos from Honduras and Nicaragua.”

Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m on my way over to Uptown’s to pick up my CAO Gold Vintage this afternoon. Maybe, we’ll run into each other. Or maybe I’ll see you, and you’ll never even know I was in the room.

Assignment: The Cocktail

Operative: Josh Habiger, Manager

The Patterson House

1711 Division Street

Nashville, TN 37203

Pairing: Josh Habiger has earned his chef chops in venerable eateries around the world. Prior to taking the reins at The Patterson House, he worked the kitchen at The Fat Duck in London, cooked at Craft in New York, and refined his skills in molecular gastronomy at Alinea in Chicago. He’s a chef, a scholar, and knows his way around a bar. Habiger says, “I believe that Mr. Mannix should be paired with a Rusty Nail cocktail.” He describes the concoction as, “a simple drink containing a blended scotch that is sweetened with just a touch of Drambuie.” Habiger goes on to say that, “Mannix is known for his appreciation of drinking scotch neat, but this little elixir will round out the corners of the whisky and demonstrate the beauty of balance in a cocktail.” Nicely said.

Habiger’s Recipe: Mix 2 oz of your favorite blended scotch with 1/2 oz of Drambuie in a large mixing glass. Stir for about 20 seconds to get the drink cold, then pour into a chilled glass. If you prefer it on the rocks, just build the drink in the glass. Either way, garnish it with a lemon twist and enjoy it while reading your favorite spy novel.

Get yourself to The Patterson House sometime in the next two weeks. We know a guy there, name of Josh. Tell him [FIND] Investigations sent you.

Due Diligence and Deep Research

An article in this month’s PI Magazine called, “Evolving Background Checks into a Reputational Due Diligence Model,” while severely over-titled, is a fairly comprehensive outline of how to start a standard background investigation.

The very idea of trying to market something called a Reputational Due Diligence Model to clients is preposterous, and, I believe, even redundant. In the context of business intelligence, a background investigation should be included in the due diligence process.

[FIND] Lexicon

due diligence - noun 1 : the care that a reasonable person exercises under the circumstances to avoid harm to other persons or their property; 2 : research and analysis of a company or organization done in preparation for a business transaction (as a corporate merger or purchase of securities)

Now that we have the phrase defined, let’s break it down. Note the words I’ve highlighted: first, we’re defining the term based on what a “reasonable person” would do under “…the circumstances.” Second is the “research and analysis” component -- not just a gathering of facts, but analysis of the information.

My problem with simple due diligence as defined here is the idea that we have to limit ourselves to the research and analysis and level of care that a reasonable person would exercise. I, personally, like the idea of research and analysis being conducted by an unreasonably anal person who pays attention to detail in approximately the same infuriating manner that my tenth-grade English teacher graded my essays. A background investigation should be at least thorough, if not exhaustive. That said, common sense must be employed. You don’t want to spend valuable time chasing down obviously erroneous tangents.

Many investigators think a background investigation is simply a reporting of facts, when it should always include thorough and thoughtful analysis of the information. Granted, any licensed professional investigator with a basic level of competency can query the various databases available to him or her and get a quick list of criminal, civil, and other publically available records. But a worthy investigator should always dig deeper.

Deep Research

One standard we that must employ as a matter of practice is Deep Research. The objective of deep research is discerning observation and smart analysis. Discernment in observation calls to mind the notion of not just sensitivity, but also intelligent, wise, and judicious thought. Smart connotes sharp, shrewd, and clever, with a touch of brash and sass for good measure. The entire premise of this method is based on investigators being astute, which comes from the Latin astus, which has both the positive sense of adroitness or dexterity and the… more ambiguous, shall we say, concept of craft or cunning.

Once the initial database inquiries have been made, the basic information is compiled for further study. At this point, look to some proprietary data services that offer more information. Sources like LexusNexis and Westlaw allow natural language and Boolean queries and gather more data from a broader set of sources. This is the second phase of deep research and it involves discernment. Again don’t waste valuable investigative time chasing useless tangents.

Once the basic information and more extensive details available through various data providers are compiled, it’s time to be astute: adroit, dexterous. A dose of cunning is often useful as well. Now we’re down to…craft, or as it’s known in our circles, tradecraft.

Initial Probe

An investigator places a call, either direct or under pretext, to all references. Verify as much information as possible from the subject’s own character witnesses. Confirm all employment, education, and associations. Any claims of advanced degrees, professional designations, and awards should be authenticated. Create a synopsis of the universities attended, professional organizations, and sources of awards. If the subject attended Phoenix University and earned that MBA via the post office, let the client know. If the Association of Bank Managers is made up of four guys and a poker table, the association is most likely of no real value. If the Frank Stevens Award for Legal Letters was conferred by the next-door neighbor, your subject has been creating fiction. Investigate the veracity of all claims.

Digging Deeper

A thorough and exhaustive background investigation should include, but should not be limited to, on-site courthouse research, visits to colleges, interviews with professors, chats with neighbors and old friends, and other methods of tradecraft. The last two methods of gathering primary reference materials are straight out of the world of spycraft and almost always yield valuable insights.

It is almost always useful to place the subject under surveillance for a period of time. Get an idea of lifestyle, character, and habits. This is a chance to expand the list of associates and friends. Often an investigator can identify the subject’s true associates and check this list against the references listed. Actual physical surveillance affords the investigator a chance to get to know the subject, to study his daily routines. With physical surveillance, the investigator can develop a more intimate and realistic picture of the subject’s lifestyle.

The last piece of tradecraft discussed is arguably one of the most underhanded methods available to the field operative. Trash Cover, refuse audit, pulling trash, dumpster diving…whatever an investigator chooses to call it, it’s a messy job, but almost always produces results. The legality of this method is fairly well established. In most states, once a person has placed their rubbish in the bin and rolled it to a publically accessible place, the trash is fair game. One month of garbage usually generates a clear profile of the subject. Groceries, prescriptions, movie/theater tickets, alcohol, illicit drugs, porn, letters to girlfriends, notes to boyfriends, retail receipts, credit card statements, and on, and on, and on…To muster this information into a cohesive portrait of the subject simply takes time, rubber gloves, evidence sleeves, a few notebooks, and meticulous organizational skills.

Summary

A background investigation for due diligence should be a thorough exploration of the facts and a thoughtful rendering of those facts into a portrait of the subject. The subject provides a head shot, their best side in the nicest possible light. Our objective should not be to destroy that ideal, but to augment it with a serious dose of reality. Many investigators approach this type of work with a broad-brush methodology. They simply gather computer-generated information and report that under their letterhead with no verification or support. (Actually, a lot of investigators will just copy and paste the database information into their report.) A worthy investigator will dig deeper. They will corroborate their initial research with several sources. They will contact the original source of information and verify in person or via telephone the virtue of all claims. The true professional will take it even further. He will conduct primary research in the form of observation and evidence gathering.

The “reputational due diligence model” sounds a bit pedantic and purposefully overwrought. A quality background investigation should be thorough and thoughtful and doesn’t need a long meaningless name. Spies have been doing this work for ages. I think they simply call it a dossier.

Ashley Madison - in the news...again.

Came across this on twitter. A fellow PI in NYC posted it. We've been aware of Ashley Madison for some time now. Not sure what to think of the premise behind the site. Noel Biderman, founder of the site, makes some interesting arguments. Check out the interview here.