A
BYTE OUT OF HISTORY
A 1986 Prevention: The Foiled Takeover of a Foreign Government
07/28/04
More
than a dozen U.S. citizens were on the tarmac, decked out in business suits,
ready to board a private plane just outside New Orleans and head out of
the country. Inside their bags were a large cache of weapons and ammunition,
thousands of dollars in cash, and a how-to manual called "Ambush and
Counter Ambush."
They were on
their way to Suriname to take over the country.
The date was July 28,
1986. It would be another 15 months before Wall Street movie character
Gordon Gekko would deliver his infamous line, "Greed is good." But
this band of criminals had already taken that message to heart in their
own twisted way.
The ringleader
of the group--one Tommy Lynn Denley, aka "Tango"--had cooked
up an illegal plan to make them all instant millionaires.
Earlier, a Netherlands
café owner named George Baker--originally from Suriname--had supposedly
agreed to pay Denley some $300 million to overthrow the country. Denley
had promised to pay his hired guns a million dollars a piece for their
help.
How exactly
did Denley plan to take over an entire country?
- Posing as a banker,
Denley asked the government of Suriname to set up a secret off-shore
bank account in return for a small commission.Denley
then arranged for a meeting with Suriname President Desi Bouterse in
late July to seal the deal.
- During the meeting,
Denley planned to take Bouterse prisoner by force, and then have him
call in other top government leaders, who would also be taken hostage.
- Then, high-ranking
members of the Suriname military would call for a military coup to complete
the overthrow of the government.
The takeover
never happened, of course, thanks to a proactive joint investigation
of the FBI and what was then the U.S. Customs Service.
In June and July of
1986, the FBI and Customs learned of the plot through separate sources.
Working in tandem, investigators contacted Denley and his associates, masquerading
as investors and fellow mercenaries willing to help. Denley laid out his
plan in a series of meetings with his "team" (including the undercover
agents) in the days leading up to July 28. That morning, FBI and Customs
agents arrested the 13 criminals at the airport. Another conspirator was
arrested the next day.
The upshot. Denley
and three others pled guilty to violating the Neutrality Act, which bans
the attempted overthrow of foreign nations. The rest pled guilty to lesser
charges. Most got jail time. Case closed, and a potentially serious international
crime prevented.
Link: FBI
History website
