Criminology - The Miami FBI Shootout

Episode Date: June 27, 2020

In 1986, a shootout took place in Miami, Florida between FBI agents and two bank robbers. Despite outnumbering the bank robbers, the FBI agents were seriously outgunned and suffered massive casualties. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss this infamous 1986 Miami FBI shootout. Two agents lost their lives and five others were wounded. In the aftermath of the shooting, officials had to examine what went wrong. The conclusion was that the agents, most of them carrying .38 caliber revolvers, were no match for the robbers, one who fired a large number of shots from a semi-automatic rifle. The shootout was a major factor in law enforcement officials around the country switching to more powerful weapons and more powerful cartridges. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital Production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you love chilling mysteries, unsolved cases, and a touch of mom-style humor, moms and mysteries is the podcast you've been searching for. Hey guys, I'm Mandy. And I'm Melissa. Join us every Tuesday for moms and mysteries, your gateway to gripping, well-researched true crime stories. Each week, we deep dive into a variety of mind-boggling cases as we shed light on everything from heist to whodunit.

We're your go-to podcast for Mysteries with a Motherly Touch. Subscribe now to moms and mysteries wherever you get your podcast. Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Hello everyone and welcome to episode 117 of the Criminology Podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And I'm Mike Morford. Mike, how are you doing today?

I'm doing pretty good trying to get through the day and mix up some work with some relaxing time and try and de-stress and going about my business. How about you? Yeah, you got to do that, man. can't be all work and no play, right? There has to be worked or has to be downtime. Yeah, with me, if I get too much downtime, though, then I sort of fall into a rut where I want to, instead of watching one episode of a show, I want to binge like three or four episodes and then I went up not getting worked on. So I try. Oh, yeah, it can go downhill real quickly.

No doubt about it. All right, buddy. Let's give some Patreon shoutouts. We've had some great new support. We had Amelia Owens, Cat Jorgantus. Kelly France, Ivy Lee, Megan Houghton, Chris Barker, and Kaylee Burkett. So big thanks to all of our new supporters. Thanks for all of your support.

It goes a long way to helping put out the show, and we appreciate it. I can't say that enough. And anyone that's thinking about supporting criminology on Patreon, they can do so by going to patreon.com slash criminology. All right, buddy, let's jump right into this case. In this episode, we're talking about an infamous and bloody shootout between eight FBI agents and two bank robbers. The 1986 shootout, which took place in Miami, Florida, lasted barely 10 minutes.

But when the shooting finally stopped, both of the bank robbers were dead, as well as two FBI agents and five other agents lay wounded. What started out as a typical morning of surveillance for the agents in, as the deadliest day in the history of the FBI. The short and violent shootout in which the agents were outgunned led to the introduction of more powerful handguns and ammunition in numerous police departments nationwide, including more powerful semi-automatic weapons for FBI agents. In this episode, we're going to talk about the brave agents who took on these two criminals

and how their worlds collided on that deadly day in 1980. Agent Benjamin Pete Grogan was born on February 26, 1933. He taught Latin in biology at Marist College in Atlanta, before deciding to alter his career path, joining the FBI in the early 1960s. He married his wife Sandra in 1970. Sandra worked as a clerk before finding employment as an investigative employee in the Fort Lauderdale FBI office.

Cops and lawyers, familiar with Grogan's investigative work, called him the doctor. He had an eye for detail and often took the jobs nobody else wanted or could do. For example, when a secret listening device had to be installed in an unusually difficult situation, other agents knew who to call. They called the doctor. Grogan became South Florida's top expert on bank robberies, extortions, and kidnappings. He taught firearms courses and headed the FBI SWAT teams in the Miami office. He also trained with the Army's elite Delta Force.

Agent Gerald Jerry Dove was born on January 19, 1956, in Charleston, West Virginia. He attended Marshall University in West Virginia and earned a law degree from West Virginia University. Dove practiced law with the state attorney general's office and became a legal instructor for the state police. After joining the FBI in 1982, Dove spent time in the Huntington, West Virginia in San Diego offices. In 1984, Dove transferred to Miami, where he was assigned to work bank robberies and extortion cases. He was an only child and stayed in touch with his mother, Patricia, in West Virginia. Dove was single and living the bachelor's life. Both agents Grogan and Dove loved the excitement of working in South Florida,

and they believe their work made a difference in an area where crime was ever expanding. In April 1986, Agent Grogan, who was 56, and Agent Dove, who was 30, were part of a joint FBI Metro police investigation of bank and armored car robberies. At 9.30 a.m. Friday, April 11th, 1986, Dove and Grogan and over a dozen other FBI agents were staking out several South Dade banks, expecting members of the Rock Pit gang to rob one. The Rock Pit Gang were suspected to be an organized group of criminals who had possible ties to neo-Nazis and that the money stolen from the heist could be used to finance any number of illegal activities. The gang liked to hit banks on Fridays when the banks were the busiest. As they surveilled the area that they had staked out, agents Dove and Grogan saw a black Chevrolet Monte Carlo pass by several times.

They became suspicious and fell in behind the car. and followed it. The agents radioed in and checked records confirming that the Monte Carlo belonged to a man named Jose Colazo, who had been attacked while target shooting. Both his car and gun had been stolen during the attack. The agents then radioed for backup. As Grogan shouted directions over the radio, Special Agent Edmundo Ed Morellis Jr., who was 33 years old, loaded his shotgun while riding in a car driven by 48-year-old special agent John Jake Hanlon. Morellis and Hanlon slipped in behind agents Grogan and Dove and the Black Monte Carlo. Behind them was another agent, Richard Manazi.

When they reached Southwest 82nd Avenue, Grogan yelled out over the radio. Felony car stop. Let's do it. Morales heard Grogan and Dove turn on their car siren. Manazi caught up to the Monte Carlo and rammed it from behind. causing his door to swing open. As the suspects began to make a U-turn, Manazi rammed the Monte Carlo again. The suspect's car crashed against a tree, wedged in by Manazi's sedan. In the front yard of a house on southwest 82nd Avenue in a suburban middle-class Kendall community called Sunnaland. Before the black Monte Carlo came to rest, trapping the two men inside, Morellis and Hanlon had swerved to the right to avoid a collision

and slammed into a brick wall at a Florida power and light substation. When the cars finally came to a stop, Agent Manazi desperately searched for his gun. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Monte Carlo driver's door open in the large barrel of a shotgun pointing right at him. Unarmed, he attempted to save himself by, rolling out of the car. Right away, he heard a loud explosion and felt something hit him in the back. At the time, he didn't realize it, but he had been shot. He got up and crossed the street,

still looking down for his gun, which he thought had fallen out of his car when his door opened. Then Manazi was hit again, on his left arm inside. Agent Grogan had pulled behind the Monte Carlo, and Agent Gordon McNeil's car had stopped purpose. perpendicular to the rear of Manazi's car. It seemed as if by the car's positions that the FBI agents had the upper hand and would be able to surround the two men inside the Monte Carlo. Morales jumped out of his vehicle, shotgun in his right hand, and peered through the dust cloud that had filled the air.

Hanlon ran to the rear of Grogan's car. He saw Agent Grogan standing by the driver's side door with his right arm outstretched, shooting towards the Monte Carlo. Hanlon aimed his 38 revolver at the rear of the rearman. rear window of the Monte Carlo, where he saw two silhouettes in the front seat. After firing several times, he got on his elbows and knees to reload. Unbeknownst to Hanlon, both men inside the car had made their way out and began to open fire. Hanlon later indicated in a report. Regarding the first shot he heard, he said, quote, I felt a concussion of a blast, go by my right hand and arm. I don't believe I was hit by

that blast, but because of the blast, I moved my arms slightly to the left. Then a second shot hit its mark, striking Hanlon. He said, at this point, my hand, my right hand exploded. Blood was also pouring from the back of Hanlon's arm. He rolled over on his back and heard Agent Grogan scream out, where is everybody? Agent McNeil fired four rounds from his 38 revolver before he T2 was struck in the hand. There was a large amount of blood pouring from his hand, and the flesh had been knocked back, according to McNeil, who later described the injury by saying it looked like his knuckle had been blown away.

He only glanced at his wound for a second, before he raised his weapon once again and fired the remaining two shots into the driver's side window of the Monte Carlo. He reloaded and crawled on his stomach for about 10 feet, away from his car's side trying to take cover, while keeping his eye on the shooters in the Monte Carlo. Before he could react, he spotted one of the suspects standing behind Agent Menazi's car. The suspect looked at McNeil and kind of had a cocky half smile on his face.

He then fired his gun at McNeil, hitting him in the upper shoulder and chest area. The shot caused McNeil to suffer temporary paralysis. Agent Morellas started running across the street to the rear of McNeil's vehicle to get a better shot. That's when he felt a tremendous blow in his left forearm. and it knocked him to the ground. Morellus had been shot. He saw McNeil get into a barricaded position with both hands on his revolver

shooting in the direction of the Monte Carlo. He then saw McNeil get shot, grab his chest, and stagger back around Morellus and fall to the ground. Morellus was on his back behind McNeil's car and had not yet spotted the two gunmen who were firing at the agents.

But he could hear shooting going on to both the left and right of him, so he remained where he was. There was a momentary halt to the gunfire as both agents and the gunmen tried to assess their situations. They also tried to move to better positions. By this point, several nearby residents had called police to tell them that it sounded like a war zone outside. One caller told the 911 operator that he thought, thought the shooting was over. The callers had no idea who any of the shooters were. A witness named Pam Johnson, who was working in a gallery across from the shootout, later told the Miami News that she saw a man dressed in all of fatigues, run across a lawn

holding a weapon. She said, quote, like a submachine gun. Then he just started firing. The other guys behind the car started shooting at him, and then it was a gun battle. Johnson also saw two cars crash ending up in a V formation behind another car. When she saw one of the men coming toward her, she ducked behind her 1973 BMW. She added, quote, I've never seen gunfire before. I've never seen men die. At first, I didn't believe it. I've been so television conditioned that I didn't know what danger I was in.

And then it hit me. I thought, my God, I'm ducking behind my car for my life. The pause in the shooting was only temporary. After a few minutes, it started back up to Agent Morales's right. He crawled on his back and worked his way around the back of McNeil's car, looking from under the bumper just in time to see Agent Grogan get shot and fall face down by the left rear of his car. As agents Grogan and Dove got out of their car, they tried to take cover by crouching behind their vehicle. Unfortunately, one of the men in the Monte Carlo had a very good view of the two agents. Grogan and Dove were both shot. One of the agents heard Grogan scream out in pain. As he was struck, the volley of gunfire killed both agents, Grogan and Dove.

As responding police sirens blared in the distance, Agent Morales crawled to the right rear bumper of the car he was hiding behind and looked around the corner. The two sons, the two sons suspects had made their way from their Monte Carlo and were now sitting in Agent Grogan's car. One of them was trying to start the vehicle. They had only one way out. If they had been able to start the car, they would have driven over agents Hanlon, Grogan, and Dove, who were all lying directly in the path of the car. Using his right arm, Merlis rested the 12-gauge 870 Remington shotgun he was holding on the car's bumper and fired. The blast hit the left front fender of Agent Grogan's car. He could see the unfazed suspect still trying to start the car.

Morellis struggled with his injury to rack the next round into the chamber of the pump-action shotgun. But when he finally got a round into the chamber, he took aim again and shot, shattering the windshield with buckshot. He fired once more and then was out of ammunition. So he dropped his shotgun to the ground. Agent Morellis rolled over and looked to his right. He saw agents Ron Rizner and Gil Arancia and he began waving at them, motioning for them to come help. He yelled out, come help, Ben, and these guys, they're hurt. The agents told Morellus to get down and stay down, but he again told them to help. They continued to stay down, unable to approach safely.

So Morellas feeling at that moment like he was on his own, took. his revolver and stood up. But he was badly injured and he started to lose consciousness, but he still managed to put three rounds into the suspect that was sitting in the passenger seat's chest. Morales turned around and put his last bullet into the suspect in the driver's seat. Both suspects were severely wounded and the shootout was over. And more if I think this is a good place to talk about how amazing it is what Morellus was able to do. A lot of shots fired by the suspects. This guy was gravely injured, but he wouldn't give up. He was able to take a few shots with the shotgun, even though it must have been pretty tough to, you know, rack a new round

into the chamber. And then the courage that it must have taken to stand. And then, the courage that it must have taken to stand up, leaving the safety of the car, and, you know, make some tough shots using his revolver and shoot both of these suspects. I mean, it really is kind of amazing if you think about it. And you mentioned it. He felt like he was all alone. And I think he realized that if he didn't do something, he might not make it. So he, maybe it was adrenaline, maybe it was just a share will. But he made his way to that car. and was able to stop those two shooters once and for all. Well, and I also think he was probably worried about his fellow agents.

You know, he probably knew that they were in front of the car. Okay, if this guy gets this car started, he doesn't know what condition all of the agents are in, I'm sure. He had to have been thinking, I can't let this guy run over my fellow agents. I just can't do it. After the shooting finally ended, dozens of FBI agents, Metro Dade, and Miami police officers swarmed the area. Agent Rizner walked to the passenger side of Agent Grogan's car. The two suspects were unconscious but still breathing.

Rizner reached in and grabbed a shotgun and another gun and put them on the ground. He then pulled the driver out of the Monte Carlo. On the other side of the car, Agent Robert Ross and a Metro police officer pulled the other suspect out. As they did, a Ruger Mini-14 fell out onto the sidewalk. A witness named Bob Stebbins, who lived three doors from the shootout, was working on the tulips in his garden. When the shooting started, he later said, it looked like a visit to Tammiami Gun Shop. When you look at what these robbers had in the way of guns, I feel that

our law enforcement officers are at a tremendous disadvantage. Geez, they could have taken Fort Knox with what they had. At 9.42 a.m., EMTS and rescue units began arriving, and an air rescue helicopter arrived at 951 and took two of the seriously injured agents to Baptist Hospital. Paramedics could not revive the two suspects. Agents Grogan and Dove were declared dead. at the scene, and their bodies were covered with yellow plastic sheets. The suspect's bodies were left out in the sun uncovered. Two witnesses reported seeing two different law enforcement

officials walk over to the suspect's bodies and repeatedly kick them. The shootout lasted less than 10 minutes. There were eight FBI agents on the scene. Dove and Grogan were killed. Five others were shot. Of the five injured, three had severe injuries, and two suffered minor wounds. Only agent Ron Rizner was left unscathed. At 1255 p.m., the two slain agents were picked up in separate black hurses. The bodies of the suspects were loaded into a blue van and taken to the medical examiner. The agents who survived were Gordon McNeil, a father of two, and a 19-year FBI veteran, and supervisory special agent. He was the lead agent in the bank robbery investigation that resulted in the shootout. Special Agent John Hanlon suffered a gunshot wound to his groin. He had been with the FBI

since 1963, and he didn't mind the long days and crazy hours that came with the job. He managed to get a law degree. And just a few months before the shootout, he had taken the Florida bar exam. Both he and McNeil were taken to Baptist Hospital, enlisted in stable condition. Special Agent Ed Morales, agents since September 1979 had worked with Benjamin Grogan in several kidnapping investigations. His most significant case was the 1983 kidnapping of the wife of a former ambassador to the United States. Morellas served as the lead agent of the Washington. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency.

We just walked in the door and there's blood in the fourth. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020, Blood and Water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. D.C. field office in that investigation. He was listed in critical but stable condition after being shot in his left forearm. Richard Menazzi was 43 years old. He had been. with the FBI for 15 years. Gilbert Arancia was 27 years old and had been with the FBI for four years. Both Manasi and Aranthia suffered only surface wounds and were treated at Jackson Memorial Hospital and released soon after. If you love chilling mysteries, unsolved cases and a touch of mom style humor,

Moms and Mysteries is the podcast you've been searching for. Hey guys, I'm Mandy and I'm Melissa. Join us every Tuesday for Moms and Mysteries, your gateway to gripping, well-researched true crime stories. Each week, we deep dive into a variety of mind-boggling cases as we shed light on everything from heist to who donnets. We're your go-to podcast for Mysteries with a motherly touch. Subscribe now to Moms and Mysteries wherever you get your podcast. If you love chilling mysteries, unsolved cases, and a touch of mom-style humor, Moms and Mysteries is the podcast you've been searching for. Hey guys, I'm Mandy. And I'm Melissa. Join us every Tuesday for Moms and Mysteries, your gateway to gripping, well-researched true crime stories. Each week, we deep dive into a variety of mind-boggling cases as we shed light on everything from

heist to whodunit. We're your go-to podcast for Mysteries with a motherly touch. Subscribe now to Moms and Mysteries wherever you get your podcast. The FBI director in Washington, D.C., William Webster, called it the darkest day in the agency's history. Never before had so many agents been killed or wounded in one incident. President Ronald Reagan called the Grogan and Dove families the day after the shootout and joined agents, friends, and relatives in mourning the agents. The shooting deaths of Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove brought the total of agents killed in the line of duty to 29 since the Bureau began in 2008, and it was the first time since 1979 that two agents were killed in a single incident.

Prior to the Miami shootout, the worst day of violence in FBI history occurred on August 9th, 1979, when three agents were killed in two separate shootings. 36-year-old agent Johnny Oliver was shot in Cleveland by a fleeing kidnapper and robbery suspect on the same day. In El Centro, California, a former social worker broke into an FBI office and gunned down two agents, 45-year-old Robert Porter, and Charles Elmore, who was 35. The shooter was wounded by one of the fallen agents who returned fire, and before other agents could apprehend him, the shooter took his own life. The FBI poured all of their available resources in investigating the Miami shootout and the two

gunmen at the center of it. The dead suspects were identified through fingerprints as 34-year-old William Maddox and 32-year-old Michael Lee Platt. Both men lived in South Dade, Florida. The men were suspects in two robberies of the Barnett Bank Branch on South Dixie Highway earlier that year. Police said Maddox and Platt were members of the Rock Pit Gang, a small ruthless group of criminals whose robberies had terrorized armored car drivers, bank customers, and target range shooters in Dade County since at least October 1985. Authorities estimated that the take from their robberies was more than $100,000, but the exact amount is unknown.

Ballistic tests and analysis coupled with autopsy reports showed that Michael Platt killed agents Grogan and Dove and that Platt wounded at least one agent with a 12-gauge shotgun. Special Agent Ed Morellis was seriously injured in his left forearm by Maddox. It was also determined that Agent Morellus shot Platt in the foot with shotgun. Then, severely wounded, and with a shotgun empty, he charged the two gunmen with his 38 revolver. Each man was hit in the spine with slugs from Morellis' six shots, Smith and Wesson. Both of the gunmen, Maddox and Platt, were paralyzed instantly from the neck down. Maddox was also hit in the face at least once by a bullet from Morellis' handgun. The facial wound wasn't immediately fatal, but Maddox would have drowned several minutes later in his own blood.

According to reports, FBI agents and the two suspects exchanged at least 131 shots during the shootout. 40 of the bullets were fired by Platt, who carried a 223 caliber Ruger mini 14 rifle and two 357 revolvers. He fired the two revolvers three times each without hitting any of the agents directly. The investigation revealed that Platt did practically all of the shooting. Maddox was armed with a shotgun loaded with birdshot. He fired only once, hitting the front of an FBI car. Four of Platt's shots killed agents Benjamin Grogan and Jerry Dove at near point-blank range as they crouch behind an FBI car.

Another bullet hit Dove's 9mm service pistol, destroying it. Platt shot Dove once in the back. When Dove collapsed to the pavement, Platt shot him twice in the head. One bullet grazed his forehead, and the second entered his brain above his right eyebrow. Grogan was shot once.

The bullet perforated both lungs and cut his aorta, the main artery carrying blood from. the heart, another bullet grazed his left leg. Special Agent Ed Morellis shot Platt a total of 12 times and Maddox six times. Platt was hit in the chest, the right arm, and leg, and both feet. One bullet lodged in his spine. Agent Morales hit Maddox in the face and neck and another entered under his right eye and struck his spot. He had also been shot in the face, jaw, and right form. Test showed no evidence of drugs or alcohol in either of the gunman's blood. At the time of the shootout, police were on the lookout for another stolen vehicle, a white 1984

Ford F-150 pickup with an armed striped down the side. It had been driven by Maddox and Platt and stolen by members of the Rock Pit gang. Five days later, an anonymous tip led them to the truck, located just a few blocks from the shooting scene. Investigators concluded, that the two planned to dump the Monte Carlo after the bank robbery and flee in the pickup truck. Agents briefly looked into the possibility that Maddox and Platt were part of a terrorist group, but they found no evidence linking them to any such group. In the days after the deadly shootout, FBI agents showed up at Maddox's home with a search warrant. They seized several guns, including a 38-cali-Smith-and-Weston revolver that was stolen from Jose Colazo,

the owner of the stolen Monte Carlo that Maddox and Platt were driving when the shootout happened. They also found a fully loaded 357 magnum revolver, a 12-gauge savage shotgun with a sawed off barrel, and a Glenfield Model 60 Marlin 22 caliber rifle. Agents also confiscated ammunition, gun cleaning equipment, two walkie-talkie-style radios, a canvas bag containing a small machete and clothing that may have been used in some local robberies. Agents seized four weapons from Platt's house, but they didn't release information about what exactly those weapons were. Those who knew Maddox and Platt were surprised when they found out they were violent criminals. The two most definitely lived dual eyes. Maddox and Platt were best friends.

The two met in Korea as military policeman with the U.S. Army elite. Rangers. They had a lot in common. Both got married and had children. Both lived in nice homes a few blocks from each other in Miami. And both lost wives to violent deaths almost exactly a year apart. William Maddox was a born-again Christian who enjoyed giving testimony in church to the memory of his deceased wife. In 1985, he was profiled in a local Christian family magazine called home life. And he said, quote, from all of this, I've learned to live one day at a time. Maddox dated a woman in 1985 who described him as a gentleman who read magazines and treasured his two-year-old daughter. She had met Maddox in church and was shocked to find out he was involved

in the shootout. The woman who never gave her name said Maddox had an obsession for marrying a woman who could take his deceased wife's place. The woman told the Miami Herald, quote, one of the first things he did was show me this clipping about her. The only thing was he dated a lot and he wanted to get married. He would date someone a few times and right away want to make a commitment. I felt sorry for him. I thought he wanted to replace his wife because he was hurt so bad. Patricia Maddox was brutally murdered on December 30th, 1983 in Columbus, Ohio. She was a hospital research assistant. She was bound and gagged with white adhesive tape and stabbed 16 times in the chest and neck. Another woman was killed along with her inside the first floor medical research lab at Riverside

Hospital. Both women's ring fingers had been removed and were missing. Columbus police found inconsistencies in William Maddox's statements and followed him for a time, but he was never charged in his wife's murder, and he soon moved to Florida. Michael Lee Platt's wife, Regina, died from a shotgun blast to the head in December 1984 in Miami. The shooting was ruled a suicide. But after the shootout with FBI agents, investigators felt that the murders of these two wives might be more than just a coincidence. Columbus, Ohio detectives flew to Miami to begin digging for Cleveland. in Patricia Maddox's murder.

Investigators came to the conclusion that Maddox and Platt quite possibly killed each other's wives. However, investigators didn't have enough evidence to prove their theory, and the killing of Patricia Maddox remains officially unsolved to this day. In the case of Regina Platt, investigators found no evidence of murder. Her manner of death remained a suicide, and the case was permanently. permanently closed. William Maddox was left alone to care for the couple's three-month-old daughter, Melissa, after his wife's death. That's when he moved to South Florida to be closer to his friend,

Michael Platt. Maddox settled into a three-bedroom home on Southwest 85th Avenue in an older neighborhood called Southwood in Southwest Aid County. The house had a screened in swimming pool, and he was able to hire a housekeeper who also helped to take care of his daughter. Michael Platt lived in a cul-de-sac on Southwest 88th Lane in the Spicewood section of an upper middle-class development in Southwest Dade County called the Hammocks, about 10 miles away from Maddox. He had a lot of expensive items and several vehicles such as a brown jaguar, a Jeep Renegade, a pickup truck, a motorcycle, and a white Chevy Blazer. Platt had remarried to his second wife, named Brenda, and they lived in the house with four children. Both men worked for Platt's brother, Tim Platt, at his landscaping business called Blade Cutters, Inc. Following their investigation in searches, investigators came up with evidence that linked Maddox and Platt to several crimes.

These included murder, among other things. The first case was the murder of Emilio Briel. On October 4, 1985, 25-year-old Emilio Brill disappeared after telling his mother who was going to the rock pit to shoot cans. He was driving his father's gold, 1977 Chevy Monte Carlo. Both Bril and the Monte Carlo he was driving went missing. Five months later, his body was found on March 1, 1988, by two men hunting for cactus in the Everglades. On October 16th, 1985, 12 days after Emilio Briel vanished, a Wells Fargo armored truck guard was wounded in the left thigh during a shootout with a robber outside a Wind Dixie store on Southwest 104th Street.

The robber escaped without the cash in a green American-made car driven by another man. Investigators linked Maddox and Platt to this robbery. On January 10, 1986, a Brinks armored truck was robbed by two masked men outside a Barnett bank at 135-93 South Dixie Highway. One of the robbers shot the guard at close range with a shotgun. As the guard lay on the ground, the other robber shot him twice with a rifle. The robbers threw two Brinks bags into a gold Monte Carlo and fled the scene. The guard survived the shooting. Later that day, police found Emilio Brill's missing Monte Carlo, a bank.

and in the parking of a Brudeen's warehouse. Perhaps the easiest case investigators tied Maddox and Platt to was the attack and robbery of Jose Colazo, who we mentioned a couple of times so far in this episode. On March 12, 1986, 30-year-old Colazo, who was a target shooter, was at the rock pit, located south of Tamiami Trail at 157th Avenue when he was held up by, two white males in their late 20s or early 30s. The men ordered him at gunpoint into a nearby canal, shot him four times, then stole his car and the gun that he had been shooting.

He survived by playing dead, then crawled out and walked three miles for help. Since Colazo's gun was found in Maddox's home and the shooters were driving his stolen vehicle, I think more if this was really kind of a no-brainer. for agents to tie platin Maddox to this robbery. Yeah, imagine being shot multiple times having to play dead and then walk miles to get help. I can imagine it. I sure as heck don't ever want to go through it. But I would say it has to take a lot of, you know, intestinal fortitude.

I mean, to be shot four times knowing that, okay, I can't just lay here. I'm going to die. I have to crawl, walk, get up, whatever I have to do. I've got to get to help. Luckily, he was able to survive those injuries and tell police what happened to him. Maddox and Platt were also suspected in an unsuccessful attempt to rob a bank teller at the Florida National Bank on South Dixie Highway on November 8, 1985. They were also suspected of an October 10th robbery of a Loomis armored car at the steak and ale restaurant on Southwest 97th Avenue, and the failed robbery of an armored vehicle behind Daltz Restaurant

on North Kendall Drive on October 17th. Following the April shootout with FBI agents, the police issued a statement saying that neither William Maddox or Michael Platt had ever been arrested in Dade County or anywhere else in the nation. The shootout with the agents and the other violent crimes that were connected to Maddox and Platt were sort of an enigma for investigators. They were shocked to see two ruthless and cold-blooded killers not have a criminal background. In October 1986, Agent Ed Morellus Jr. was honored in Nashville, Tennessee, by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and named Policeman of the year for his heroism during the bloody shootout on April 11th. Near the fourth anniversary of the shooting,

in April 1990, Morales received the FBI Medal of Valor for exceptional heroism in the face of death. Morella said of the honor, it's a nice way to commemorate the anniversary of the shootout, but I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I'm not sure why I'm getting honored, but I'll accept this on behalf of all the people who were there. The deadly 1986 shootout is infamous in FBI history and is well studied in law enforcement groups. Despite the agents outnumbering the suspects four.

The agents were pinned down by semi-automatic gunfire and unable to react adequately due to their small-scale service handguns. The violent shootout led to the introduction of more powerful handguns in many police departments nationwide, as well as more powerful semi-automatic weapons for FBI agents. The round that hit Michael Platt's right upper arm and went on to penetrate his chest stopped an inch away from his heart. This was the shot that would have eventually led to Platt's death, but it didn't kill him immediately and he was able to go on shooting. This suggested that a heavier caliber weapon or a stronger round may have further penetrated Michael Platt striking his heart and killing him instantly. And more of it, I think you've seen this throughout the years. I mean,

you can go back to the gangster days of the, you know, what? what, 1930s, when gangsters were running around using Tommy guns. The police didn't have anything to combat these Tommy guns. So they had to get the same type of submachine guns that the gangsters were using. So here we have in this shootout, you know, a guy is using a 223 rifle. On the other side, Morales is using a 38 revolver that held at most. six shots. 38's not a horrible round, but back then bullets were a little different than they are today, right? There has been so many advances in technology when it comes to bullets. So you have the FBI

saying, we've got to do something different. You know, this guy's carrying a revolver that only holds six shots while the bad guy has a two, two three rifle that probably held 30, right? rounds. That's not a gunfight that you want to be involved in. You're at a severe disadvantage. So I think what you've seen since then, and we've mentioned some of it, right, FBI agents, police supplied with more firepower, you know, carbines that hold 30 rounds, semi-automatic handguns that hold more rounds and are quicker to reload. And then when you talk about the caliber of bullets. They stepped up to 40-Cal because they thought, okay, we need more stopping power.

Now, it's interesting today, they've gone back to using what people consider a smaller round in the 9mm, but the advances in the bullets and the ballistics and all of that have made it a very lethal round, much more so than it was 20, 30 years ago. I mean, when you talk about a 9 millimeter today versus back then, they're different bullets. They're much more lethal today. There's just no doubt about it in the way that they're designed, constructed, the powders, everything. Yeah, I remember back in the 80s that 38 was a standard issue police gun. Just about every police officer carried them.

And then they made that move to the 9mm. And I remember that getting popular. I actually bought a Glock back then, a 9mm Glock. But then they sort of got a bad rap because the knockdown power, quote-unquote, knock-down power wasn't strong enough. And that's when that switched to the higher caliber of guns came in. But from what you're saying, it sounds like it's not so much the gun necessarily, but the bullets that are coming out of it that really make the difference. Yeah, definitely the bullets, but I just think the technology has increased so much.

that they can get much more stopping power in a smaller bullet like a 9mm today than they could back then. Plus, if you think about it, you can carry more 9mm bullets in a gun than you can, a 40 or a 45 because they're smaller. In 1988, Benjamin Grogan's widow, Sandra Grogan, filed a lawsuit against William Platt's wife, Brenda Platt. But the lawsuit was dismissed. That same year, NBC produced a made-for-television movie based on the 1986 FBI shootout, called In the Line of Duty, the FBI murders. The film received mixed reviews, because, number one, it wasn't filmed in Miami. They shot it in Tampa, and the colors of the FBI cars during the chase and shootout were not the same colors as the actual vehicles. The movie starred David Sol from Starsky and Hutch, and Michael Gross, the dad from Family Ties, as the bad guy.

guys. Not two of the guys you think of right away when picturing ruthless gunman, but I thought they were pretty good in the movie. Did you see it, Mike? No, I didn't see it. And to be honest with you, I don't watch a lot of made for TV movies. But that, you know, okay, David's soul, I can kind of see. Michael Gross seems so far removed from the ruthless bad guy. Because all I can think about is the dad in from family ties when every time I see him that's all I can think about. Yeah, the casting was definitely not one you would think of right away when you're thinking of that kind of role. But it was I thought it was pretty well done for a TV movie myself. So if you can find it, maybe check it out. In 2001, the village of Pinecrest, Florida, honored agents Benjamin

Grogan and Jerry Dove by co-designating a portion of Southwest 82nd Avenue as Agent Benjamin Benjamin Grogan Avenue and Agent Jerry Dove Avenue, a historical marker and street signs commemorate the naming of the road in their honor. After the 1986 shootout, Ed Morella spent two and a half years teaching at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. He returned to the Miami office in the fall of He wrote a book on the deadly shootout titled FBI Miami Firefight and five minutes that changed the bureau. And I kind of touched on it a little bit earlier more. I think in reaction to the shootout, obviously the FBI and police departments across the country, they changed some of their protocols. And that's what seems like always happens, right? It happened back when the gangster

were running wild. They had faster cars than the police. They had better weapons than the police. So the police and the FBI, they had to change things up in order to combat these criminals. The other thing I often think of is that criminals, they don't care about the law. So if the law says, okay, you cannot own this type of weapon. What does a criminal care about that? If they can get their hands on that type of weapon and it's more powerful than what the police have, they're going to do it. Yeah, especially if they're hell-bent on causing massive destruction or their ultimate goal is the deaths of who they're shooting against.

They want the best weapons. And just because they're not allowed to have them isn't going to stop them. No, it's definitely not. And I think, you know, that's why you see right now the FBI, police, different. types of agencies, they are allowed to carry weapons that the public can't purchase or are not supposed to be allowed to have because they have that advantage of having more firepower than the criminals should be able to have. One thing from this episode that really blew me away was the amount of FBI agents that have been killed in the line of duty up until this point,

what was it, 29? Yeah, 29 from what, 1909 to 1985? Yeah, it was a lower number than I thought. Thankfully, it was a lower number. But you just think of all the interactions across the country and all the bad guys that the FBI deals with that you would think that number might be higher. I was shocked by that number as well. I mean, it's a good thing that it's low.

but you know in that span of time, just think about how many police officers have lost their lives. You know the number is astronomically higher. I was really shocked by that. Thanks goes up to Debbie Buck at TruecrimeDiva.com for writing and research assistants in this episode. If you love the show and you haven't done so yet, take a minute. Go out, give us a five-star rating. Keep telling your friends. Word of mouth goes a long way towards helping out the show.

If you want to find us on social media, we're on Twitter with the handle at Criminology Pod. You can also find us on Facebook by searching for Criminology Podcast or by joining our Facebook discussion group, Criminology Podcast Discussion and Fans. All right, Morf, that is it for another episode of Criminology. But we'll be back with everyone next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So until then, for Mike. And Morph. We'll talk to you next week.

Take care, everyone.