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Various clues were left by Roche, who authored the ruse. For example, the invitation letters sent by the marshals were signed by "I. Michael Detnaw" ("wanted" spelled backwards) and when the fugitives called the specified telephone number to confirm their attendance, an operator would redirect them to Flagship's business manager "Markus Cran" ("narc" spelled backwards) while the song "I Fought the Law" played in the background.

I find it insane that with such a big operation they would take unnecessary risks to effectiveness like this for no reason whatsoever.

On the other hand, I definitely have seen some of this trolling before in the cat-and-mouse games between criminals and their pursuers.

Title should be `Operation Flagship`, not `Operation Flapship`.

I thought it was going to be about a project to build an ornithopter

This is so goofy - it's crazy that it worked so well.

Marshalls dressed as cheerleaders and emcees? Getting fugitives in by offering them free tickets? Incredible

Edit: "one marshal wore a Redskins war bonnet while another wore a knock-off San Diego Chicken suit to parade around the convention center while also monitoring if the fugitives were becoming suspicious. Every officer involved was armed underneath their costume.[8][10][13]"

Just keeps getting better