20. The Hostage (Tony Kiritsis)
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Before we get started, I want to give a special thanks to Alan Barry and Mark Enoch, the directors of Dead Man's Line: The True Story of Tony Kiritsis. It's a documentary about the subject of this episode. Alan and Mark have given Swindled full access to the resources they use to make their film, including audio which has never been available anywhere else until now. You can thank Alan and Mark by streaming their incredible documentary on iTunes or Amazon.

Hearing the audio is one thing, but seeing the actual footage of the situation as it plays out and hearing firsthand from people who were at the scene was a whole different experience. You'll see what I mean. For more information about the film, visit Deadman'sLine.com. Enjoy the show. Everybody in this room...

The December 14, 2010 Panama City, Florida school board meeting was proceeding according to plan. The first half was spent honoring local students for their achievements during the school year before the floor was opened up to questions from the general public.

one member of the small group of citizens in attendance, 56-year-old Lynn Haven resident Clay Allen Duke, proclaimed that he had a motion. Duke stood up from his seat and walked calmly to the closest wall and spray-painted the letter V in red with a circle around it. It was the same symbol used in the movie V for Vendetta, in which an anarchist freedom fighter attempts to ignite a revolution through terrorist acts against a fascist regime. Clay Duke fancied himself somewhat of an anarchist,

He was very anti-government and he was what people sometimes referred to as a prepper, a lifestyle that he had been practicing since their irrational panic of Y2K. Duke kept a stockpile of weapons and ammunition at his mobile home, convinced or hoping that civilized society was on its last leg. Clay Duke was also a convicted felon. He had served three years in prison for aggravated stalking after he was arrested in 1999 when he attempted to ambush his ex-wife at her home.

Duke was spotted by his ex-wife while he was hiding in the woods between the trees wearing a mask and a bulletproof vest. When she confronted him, Duke threatened to kill her, whoever else was in the house, and himself. She jumped in her car and tried to drive away, and he shot out her rear tire with a rifle. While in prison, Clay Duke was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but he was determined not to let it hold him back.

After his release in 2004, Duke enrolled in a massage school and became a licensed massage therapist. But for some strange reason, he had trouble finding and keeping clients. He was soon unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. He became completely reliant on the income of his new wife Rebecca, which is why Clay Duke found himself at the school board meeting that day. He had the date circled on his calendar at home. Clay Duke had a bone to pick.

After putting the final touches on his work of art, Duke set the can of spray paint on the podium, reached into his pants, and pulled out a 9mm pistol. He approached the front of the room and ordered everyone to leave except for the six "assholes" sitting on the school board dais. Duke aimed the pistol at Superintendent Bill Hussfeldt and told him, "I'm gonna die today." "You see, uh, our benefits are right. We're broke. You see what I'm saying?"

While Clay Duke's back was turned, Ginger Littleton, one of the female board members who had been ordered to leave, pokes her head back into the room. In the video, you can see Ginger twisting the handle of her purse tightly around her hand while quietly approaching Duke from behind. When she gets in range, she swings her purse at Duke's right hand that is holding the gun. Ginger, not you, Ginger.

She misses, and Clay Duke angrily pushes her to the ground and calls her a stupid bitch, but he doesn't shoot her. He lets her escape the room again and refocuses his attention to Superintendent Hussfeldt. Tell me what she did. You're called with police injuries. I know that, but tell me what your wife did. I'm going to die. Tell me what your wife did. If you're going to kill yourself or kill us or whatever, at least let us know what's going on, because I'll be very honest with you. I swear, I don't know who your wife is or what she did.

Rebecca Duke was a Panama City school teacher. She taught English to children with special needs. She was fired after a 97-day probationary period for not performing up to standards.

and Superintendent Bill Hussfeldt signed off on it, which Clay Duke felt was contradictory to Hussfeldt's campaign promises. Duke accused the superintendent of gutting the school system, which led to people like his wife being laid off. Hussfeldt had also re-implemented a sales tax, which Duke felt created a heavier burden for the poor. And Clay Duke was poor, now that neither he nor his wife had jobs. The couple had been living on Rebecca's unemployment benefits. Unemployment benefits, which according to Duke, had just run out.

The holidays were approaching and Clay Duke was frustrated and angry and he could no longer afford his bipolar medication. A week before the school board meeting, Duke posted what he referred to as his testament on Facebook. It read quote: "Some people will say I was evil, a monster. No, I was just born in a country where the wealthy manipulate, use, abuse, and economically enslave 95% of the population.

Rich Republicans, rich Democrats, same, same, rich. They take turns fleecing us, our few dollars, pyramiding the wealth for themselves, the 95%. The "us" and "US of A" are the neo-slaves of the global south. Our masters, the wealthy, do as they like to us. Superintendent Bill Hussfeldt denied breaking his campaign promises, but he did take sole responsibility for terminating Rebecca Duke, and he pleaded with Clay Duke to let the others go.

A request that fell on deaf ears. Just a warning, what you're about to hear is violent and disturbing. I don't remember and I don't know who she is. But let them go. I'm the one that did it. I mean, they don't sign the papers. I'm the only one that signs them. Will you let them go? I mean, but you're obviously upset at me. So why are they here? Let's see. Here's what I don't want to happen.

Clay Allen Duke fired his gun four times, standing only a few feet in front of Bill Hussfeldt.

The other board members dove for cover behind the dais. In the midst of the chaos, Duke had not noticed that Mike Jones, the school security officer, had snuck into the back of the room and taken position behind a table. Jones opened fire on Clay Duke and hit him twice, which made him fall to the ground, incapacitated but conscious enough to return fire. Duke shot six rounds in the direction of the security officer before putting the barrel of the gun against his temple and taking his own life.

This is school security officer Mike Jones describing the emotions he experienced during the incident. I think that the thing that sticks in my mind most of all is was during the gun battle I tried to get this gentleman to come outside with me and to draw him away from the school board and superintendent and that didn't work and when I was planning my engagement and

I saw that first shot and I knew the superintendent fell backwards and all the board members fell backwards and then he and I engaged in a gun battle that I'd lost the superintendent and I'd let him down. And I love him and the board and I love the school system and that was the only thing that came to my mind. And when the superintendent came up from behind that counter and Franklin Harrison and he came and hugged my neck, that's when I lost it. Like I am now, I could just cry and I cry at chick flicks too, y'all.

But just to see him, it was like seeing a newborn baby for the first time. A mad newborn baby. I'm not lying to you, and I can't get that out of my mind. That's the picture that I see the most. I don't see the shots being fired. I don't see the bullets. I see him, and they're coming from behind that desk. And I knew that it was okay. And, you know, I'm not a hero, folks. I've just done my job. Yes, you are.

In total, Clay Duke fired 11 bullets at the school board members and the security officer. He missed every single one of them. There were no injuries, a fact that Clay Duke's wife Rebecca points to as proof that it wasn't Clay's intention to hurt anyone. She revealed that Clay was a trained shooter and an excellent marksman, and suggested that he must have missed on purpose just to scare them. Rebecca also referred to Clay as a loving husband and family man who was only trying to stand up for his wife.

She said Clay was fed up with the complacency of the working class and disgusted by the ever-growing wealth inequality between the haves and the have-nots. He was upbeat. He was, you know, he was happy. You know, the holidays, like everybody else, he gets blue. I talked to him Sunday night on the phone because I have, I was down here for,

Well, today would make a week in a day because I was down here trying to fill out applications and trying to get in some interviews so that I could actually say, honey, guess what? I got a job. Everything's going to be okay. But evidently, I didn't get that chance. And I'm sorry about that because I love my husband. He's really a gentle giant. He's actually...

He's tender and he's loving. His actions, the way that what he did was, you know, wrong in the eyes of the law, society probably. But basically, he loved me. He loved his family. And he was just trying to have people stop, as he would say, dump on me and get me an answer so that I can move on, so we can move on. That's what he was trying to tell everybody, is that...

The world is focusing too much on money, and we've stopped caring about one another. We're intelligent people. Let's just stop being little zombies and just going along with the flow. He wants the other, as he calls them, the other 95% of us to actually work together so we can have our middle class back because we deserve it.

Clay Duke's story is a familiar story, one in which a man at his wit's end fights back against a perceived oppressor, even if the perceived slights exist only in the mind of the slighted. It's a story in which the little guy finally stands up to the man, even when the most likely outcome is self-destruction.

That's the story of Clay Allen Duke and the overwhelming pressure of being poor in America. And it's the story of Anthony G. Karitsis and his dying American dream. A former car salesman seeks vengeance for a real estate deal gone sour by taking the president of a mortgage company hostage at gunpoint on this episode of Swindled.

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Thousand Seat Arena, which is the base for the three professional sporting teams. A beautiful art museum. The world's largest children's museum. And of course, the well-known Indianapolis 500 mile speedway. Richard Hall was running late for work on the morning of Tuesday, February 8th, 1977. Dick, as his friends called him, had an 8 a.m. meeting with a lone customer named Tony Karitsis. And Tony was not someone that you wanted to keep waiting.

Dick Hall was the president of a real estate and insurance agency and mortgage company named Meridian Mortgage that his father Millard had founded 45 years earlier during the Great Depression. Millard was still involved with the business but had migrated south to Florida for the winter, leaving his son in complete control. Dick finally made it to work after trudging through the freezing cold and the piles of snow on the ground.

he found tony waiting for him in the reception area of the hall management corporation's offices in the heart of downtown indianapolis he noticed that tony had a roll of site plans in one hand his other arm was in the sling and he was wearing a short sleeve shirt with no coat a curious choice considering the weather on the table in front of tony set a white box that was about five feet long dick assumed that it must have contained additional development plans for tony's property

Dick Hall led Tony into his father's office to spread the site plans across the large conference room table. Tony shut the door behind them and told Hall that he needed some privacy to adjust his underwear. Dick understood, as any human being that wears underwear would. He turned his back to Tony and focused his attention on the plans in front of him. The plans were for the commercial development of 17 acres of land on the northwest corner of Lynnhurst Drive and Rockville Road.

Tony Karitsis had purchased the land with a $110,000 commercial loan he had secured from the Halls about five years earlier. Dick Hall looked up from the plants to see Tony with a wild look in his eyes, and he was pointing a small silver handgun in his face. Tony told Dick that he had done him wrong, and he told him that he planned to let the whole world know about it. Tony Karitsis handcuffed Hall's hands in front of him.

and he pulled a sawed-off shotgun from the white box and wired the muzzle to Hall's neck, which was wired to the trigger by way of a ring on Tony's index finger, a system that Tony referred to as a dead man's line, which he had learned about from an episode of Hawaii Five-0. It was a system that would ensure instant death for Dick Hall if something happened to Tony. The dead man's line ensured that no snipers could take Tony out. There would be no ambushes, no hostage running away. Tony Karitsis was in complete control.

He dialed 911 to begin the next phase of his plan. Hello? Yes, sir. You'll have to speak up. Is this the police? Yes, it is. Sir, this is a dire emergency. A real serious thing. I've just taken a prisoner. It's not a crank call. I'm a man that these people are trying to bankrupt. They have fucked me around for four years. Now...

I want you to send two police officers to this address and I'll tell you what you can tell them. I've got a 12-gauge sawed-off automatic shotgun, I've got a dead man right on the trigger, there's three shells and a fucking gun, there's one in the chamber and a man with a gun on his neck wrapped around it with a cable that's holding the fucking safety in his hand.

If anybody yanks on me, yanks that gun, makes a fast fucking move, we'll die right here. My name is Tony Caritas. I'm going to have my fucking revenge. They fucked me around for four years. A deliberate setup. They're getting their fucking dollars involved, and they know it.

Let me tell you something, sir. You tell those guys to play it cool, because this is the real fucking McCoy. Say hi, Dick. Say you're okay. Don't do me. You want to say you're okay? You want to get about it? Say you're okay. I'm all right, Arthur. Now, let me tell you something. I don't want to die. There's a fucking suicidal cell in my fucking body.

But I'm a mad, mean motherfucker. If I had time, I'd tell you, you'd be mad too. I'll put it to you this way. If somebody sets you up to take everything you've got, every fucking thing you've got, like the fucking mafia, I'm worse. Now they put you in a hole and you don't know how to get out of it. No, they didn't put me in a fucking hole. They set me up. There's a fucking difference. Man climbs down a fucking hole himself, but anybody can be lied to. I've got to tell you how fucking badly I feel about...

Okay, we just want you to kind of keep calm as you can because you don't get that. Hey, let me tell you, I know I'm on a fucking long, one-way, dead-end fucking street.

In the 25-minute phone call with the Indianapolis Police Department, Tony Karitsis did his best to explain the situation, and he requested two officers meet him on the fourth floor of the office building at 129 East Market Street to discuss his demands. Tony also tried to explain to the officer on the phone his reasoning for taking Dick Hall hostage. He insinuated that Dick and his father had screwed him over on the loan.

Tony's theory was that the Halls had been sabotaging potential purchases of the land so that they could eventually foreclose on the property and keep it for themselves. Tony accused the Halls of luring interested developers away from his land in favor of other locations on the market, an accusation based more in paranoia than fact. The truth was that the Halls were only interested in getting their money back. The company had already extended the two-year loan more than once when it became apparent that Tony could not afford to repay it.

Tony refinanced the loan a final time in February 1976, which required him to pay $130,000 on the original $110,000, an agreement that Tony could have easily satisfied if he had sold the land, which had been appraised for almost $600,000 in October 1975, and there were willing buyers, but for some unknown reason, Tony Karitsis refused to sell.

The terms of the refinance required the loan to be paid in full on March 1, 1977, which was less than a month away. In the four years since the loan's inception, Tony had paid nothing on the principal. He was staring foreclosure in the face, and he had no intention of letting the Halls and Meridian Mortgage take from him what he believed was rightfully his. Even though he admitted to being afraid, Dick Hall had remained calm in the office with a shotgun pressing against his skull.

he tried to persuade tony to give up on the plan a few times but stayed quiet for the most part only speaking when it was demanded of him partly consoled by the fact that tony kept repeating that it wasn't his intention for anybody to get hurt including himself still dick had never seen anyone as angry as tony karitsis and dick didn't feel like he had done anything wrong to cause that anger and there was nothing he could do or say to convince tony otherwise

so he would just have to wait and see how it all played out. More than an hour and a half would pass before Tony Kiritsis would make his next move. The cops never came into the building, so Tony marched Hall out of his office onto the streets of downtown Indianapolis. Tony originally intended for him and his hostage to escape in the car that he drove to the office, but that plan was derailed when Tony accidentally broke the key off in his ignition earlier that morning.

Instead, Tony aimlessly paraded Dick Hall for over five city blocks while trying to come up with another idea. This is Officer David Kaufman sharing his first-hand observations from the scene. It was right around his fingers and around his arm, so if he let go of it, it would still pull the trigger. He had

had a cable around a man's throat attached to the shotgun so there's no way to get the shotgun away from the man's head. So I told him, whatever you want, just let me know. He didn't say anything about his intentions? He said that he was going to get everything he wanted or he would shoot the man. That's about all. He never did tell me exactly what he wanted. He just kept walking. Did Mr. Hull say anything as you were walking along the road? No.

The juxtaposition between the two men was striking. Dick Hall was quiet and reserved, tall and slender. Tony was short and stocky with a fiery temper and a dirty mouth.

He was verbally berating and abusing the onlooking police officers who were trying to maintain their distance, all the while demanding the use of one of their police cruisers. At one point during their stroll, both Tony and Dick slipped on the ice and fell to their knees, almost activating the dead man's line. Tony couldn't believe that the gun didn't go off. His contraption had not worked as intended, which only made him more angry. As the two men approached an empty cop car to make their getaway,

A loud bang startled the already nervous crowd that had gathered. A rubbernecker driving a Lincoln Continental east on Washington Street had driven directly into a telephone pole. Even Dick Hall had to keep himself from laughing at the comedic tragedy of it all. Tony crawled into the passenger seat of the police car from the driver's side and pulled Dick Hall in behind him. With the shotgun pointed directly in his face, Dick was ordered to drive west on Washington Street with the lights flashing.

Well, Tom, right now the suspect and his victim are proceeding westbound on Washington Street in an Indianapolis police car with red lights flashing. The car is number 2-132. It was proceeding west on demand from the kidnapper, apparently, as a consequence in part of the hostage situation that developed about an hour ago.

Around 9:30 a.m., eight miles west of downtown, the police car driven by hostage Dick Hall pulled into the entrance of Crestwood Village, a red brick apartment community where Tony Karitsis lived. Dick parked the car and Tony led him up the stairs to his third floor apartment. Inside, Tony set Dick at his dining room table opposite of the shotgun, which was propped up on phone books and pointed directly at him.

Tony began making phone calls to seemingly almost everyone he knew. He called brothers and half-brothers, friends and family. He even called Dick Hall's wife, Ibby, to let her talk to her husband, maybe for the last time. Eventually, Tony removed the wire from Dick's neck and moved him to the bathroom floor where he was handcuffed to a long, heavy chain. Hours passed before Tony slid a plate of salami and cheese under the bathroom door and said, quote,

Dick, eat up off the plate like the goddamn dog that you are. From outside, a complex set of wires could be seen dangling in the window of Tony's apartment. Police were negotiating with Tony through his front door when he alerted them to the fact that the whole place was booby-trapped. We are back in contact with Doug O'Brien. And Doug, you say you have gotten a recent advisory from Chief of Police Eugene Gallagher. Can you give us that situation? Yes.

That's correct. Gallagher tells us that the apartment apparently is wired somehow to be set off by nitroglycerin and they're advising everybody to stay away from the east side of this building because if the nitro is in fact there and if in fact it does go, it's going to blow out the east side of this three-story apartment building. There are officers trying to negotiate with the gunmen and there is a SWAT team right outside the building waiting for any eventuality.

Over 500 residents were evacuated from their homes and put up in hotels, which allowed the police department and the media, who were venturing into unknown territory, to set up their bases in unoccupied apartments. The evacuation also allowed the police to continue negotiating with Tony Karitsis from a safe distance of the explosive material. Instead of communicating with Tony through the doorway of his apartment, they began talking to him through the television and the radio, which he was constantly monitoring.

and Tony talked back through repeated phone calls with a well-known Indianapolis talk show personality named Fred Heckman at WBIC. In his first conversation with Heckman, it would be broadcasted over the airwaves. Tony listed his grievances and began making his demands. I've been an angry man for 44 years. Nobody...

has had the adversity that I've had. But in spite of that, and without arrogance, and without putting my friends down, and without being egotistical, I am the strongest man mentally that I know. The average guy that would have gone through this would have already had a heart attack and/or a stroke. These guys are lucky they're dealing with me, because some nervous Norman would have already shot him.

Now I'll tell you what these people tried to do, sir. It's almost indescribable. To the average man, he will not be, he will be unable to comprehend it. These people betrayed, they set me up, they schemed to ruin a life, a human life, my life.

You've got 100 armed officers around here trying to get a shot at me. They had a couple hundred down on the street yesterday morning. I dared them to shoot me. I didn't go down there to be a buffoon. I went down there for vengeance. And by God, I'll have vengeance. And I'll tell you something while we're on here. They made that statement last night. Not bad, but completely and totally inadequate. They're going to say we had to do this because he had our son with a gun on his head. He was going to blow him up.

Now let me tell you something. I'm going to walk out of here a free man. They're not going to book me, they're not going to mug me, they're not going to print me, and they're not going to take me to the psychiatrist because I don't need one. Now, you're goddamn right I planned it. I planned it the first day I signed that mortgage in 1972, December the 19th. I told this man and his father in their office over a period of four years repeatedly

almost explicitly, that I would kill any man that set me up with this kind of greed. I'm not a rich man. I'm a poor man. I never wanted to be rich. It didn't bother me. I could go plodding along here, being poor, working like a dog, and baking even and be happy as a dog in dog heaven.

But nobody, sir, nobody is going to set me up and take everything that I own. I've made a lot of sacrifices in my time. I'm a 44-year-old man. I've never been drunk. I've never been married. I've never been engaged. I've never gone steady. I forsook marriage because I had a lot of responsibility. Fuck these people. They played God lost. I'm a man that's fighting for everything that I own, sir. Do you have a wife and family, Fred?

I sure do, Tony. How many kids you got? We have five. How old are they, Fred? Oh, they range in age between 12 and 28. Do you love them? You better believe I do. They said they set you up, and they said, we're going to take your car, and we're going to take your house, and we're going to take your wife, and we're going to take your children, and then they're going to laugh at you. Would you be ready to kill, Heckman? Be awfully mad, sir. Would you be ready to kill, Heckman? I don't know what I'd be ready to kill, but I'd...

Don't lie, I don't lie. Why do you lie? You'll get it in a minute. They have ruined my life.

But I'm a mean motherfucker. They aren't going to intimidate me, and they aren't going to humiliate me. I've been a goddamn patsy all my life. I told this motherfucker up here, after all he's done, that I still couldn't hate him, but I could sure as hell kill him. Now, as I say, they're going to document everything that they have done. Okay, Tony, I'll tell you what. We're going to stop the tape here. What I will do, and you can listen if you want, I'm going to play your tape.

In an earlier phone call with Deputy County Prosecutor George Martz, Tony outlined exactly what his demands were. 1. He wanted an immediate cancellation of the $130,000 loan held by Meridian Mortgage, accompanied with an admission of wrongdoing and a sincere public apology. 2. Tony wanted a signed document from Meridian Mortgage promising him $5 million. 3.

and three, he wanted a guarantee of full immunity from any prosecution or psychiatric evaluation. The first two were easy. Meridian had agreed to cancel the loan, and they were willing to give the man anything he wanted in exchange for Dick's life. They even had a personal friend of Tony's read the public apology for Meridian on television. The immunity deal, however, was going to take some work. Work that would have to continue into the next day. Support for Swindled comes from Rocket Money.

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In Indianapolis, a man named Anthony Kiritsis is still holding hostage a real estate executive. The drama is in its second day and our man, Mike Jackson, is there.

What kind of a man is Anthony Karitsis? Friends of his who have come out to the apartment complex to dissuade him from doing anything rash say he is an emotional man, a man prone to anger. Police say he has a record mainly for beating people up. One policeman who didn't want to be identified, a man who said he grew up with Karitsis, says he is a good friend and a bad enemy.

On the second day, Dick Hall was brought back into the dining room by Tony, who was becoming more erratic and paranoid by the minute. Sometimes he would become overcome with anger and unable to control his emotions. Other times he was comfortable enough to leave Dick at the table unattended. He would be screaming threats of murder and revenge one minute, small talk and friendly conversation the next. The two men were killing time and listening to the radio for any new developments.

Good evening. I'm in a room near the police headquarters outside the apartment of Tony Karitsis where he's holding Dick Hall hostage. We've been requested airtime by the Marion County Public Prosecutor's Office in order to give an address by Deputy County Prosecutor George Martz, an address apparently aimed at Tony Karitsis himself. Now here's Mr. Martz. Thank you. At this time I would like to read a letter from the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney of Marion County, James F. Kelly, Prosecutor.

This document is dated February 9, 1977. It's entitled, Letter of Immunity Granted to Anthony George Karistus. Mr. Anthony George Karistus, the Marion County Prosecutor, James F. Kelly, does hereby confer and grant to Anthony George Karistus immunity from prosecution with reference to the abduction of Richard Hall.

and all subsequent acts done or alleged to have been done are caused by the said Anthony George Karistus. This document is signed James F. Kelly, authorized by David L. Rimstead. Mr. Kelly has been contacted by myself on two occasions today. The last time approximately 10 minutes ago. He is fully aware of this agreement.

And you have his assurance that the terms of this agreement will be strictly enforced. Tony Kiritsis had received a public apology, a promise of $5 million, and now full immunity from prosecution under the condition that Dick Hall would be released without incident. Tony Kiritsis had gotten exactly what he wanted. Tony Kiritsis had won.

The immunity agreement was sent to Tony's lawyer for review, and whenever Tony received word that it was legit, Dick Hall would be released. But just as things seemed to be progressing towards a non-violent solution, there was a moment later that night when all progress seemed to be lost. On the radio, Tony heard a news anchor say something that made him believe that the cops were planning to take him out.

Tony picked up his phone and dialed a sleeping Fred Heckman.

I don't know. I heard you. No, I didn't, Tony. I was sound asleep. Hey, you know I don't lie to you now. I don't lie to you. I haven't lied to you yet.

Yeah. Hey, Tony, really? Mr. Hedman, please. I respect you. You've been a hell of a man. Thank you, sir. Those cocksuckers are on us. Tell them to get two of them across the fucking hall now. Right now. Okay. Let's get out of here. It's God damn sharp. I'll have pictures if nothing else. And I ain't gonna take a chance on it. Wow. Okay, Tony, listen.

Hello. Yeah, this is Fred. Yeah. Uh, very agitated. No kidding. Yeah. What is it we said? Well, I don't know. Obey actually said it. Perhaps he can tell you. Can I speak to Obey? Yeah, okay. Yeah. What was it she said?

Tensions heightened as Tony Kiritsis went silent for the rest of the night and the hostage situation moved into its third day. The only people who knew what was happening in that apartment were Tony Kiritsis and Dick Hall.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief the following morning when Tony called Fred Heckman to apologize for his anger the day before. Tony said he was fed up with the media talking about how to save Dick Hall without any concern for Tony Kiritsis. Tony also expressed concern for the pending immunity deal. I'm very apprehensive about what they might drum up on this immunity thing and give me some kind of a...

After the deal was given a thumbs up by his lawyer, Tony rewired the shotgun to Dick Hall's neck and prepared for his victory speech. A press conference would be televised from the apartment complex's clubhouse. The media and law enforcement were already swarming the place, waiting for the man of the hour to arrive.

At about 10:20 p.m., the door to Tony's apartment opened. The two men emerged in the same formation as a few days before on the streets of Indianapolis, with Dick Hall walking slowly in front, with Tony close behind, prodding him with the barrel of his gun.

As soon as Tony entered the crowded room, he demanded that the cameras be turned on. He wanted everyone he knew to see him relish in his victory. He handed a prepared statement to Dick Hall and demanded him to read.

national channels. I've got friends all over the country. You read it. February 10th. Where are the cameras? I want them to see this guy. God damn it, you guys are those...

Go that way! You guys be good and quiet. We'll let this gentleman read that. They goddamn near made me blow his goddamn brains out. Jimmy? I'm the only motherfucker mean enough to have withstood this without having a goddamn stroke or a heart attack. Jimmy? Okay, read it. February 10th, 1977.

This statement is being made to try and state the items that Mr. Corinthians alludes to as being the illegal... Hold it. Hold it. I want this goddamn thing understood. I'll read it. February 10th, 1977. I want a glass of water. This statement is being made to try and state the items that Mr. Corinthians alludes... I don't like that word. I charge... What followed was a 20-minute rant that featured every human emotion known to man.

Tony anointed himself a quote, Goddamn national hero. He remained angry and defiant as he refuted the Hall statement line by line. He called Dick and his father names and repeated the claim that they had fucked him over. Minutes later, Tony was teary-eyed and apologetic and greeted members of the audience whom he recognized.

He also revealed that the bombs in his apartment were nothing more than two jugs of gasoline. At times, it seemed like Tony was preparing to blow Hall's head off on national TV. In fact, many of the networks covering the event ended their broadcasts prematurely to prevent airing the inevitable. Police Chief Eugene Gallagher, who was standing next to Tony throughout the duration of his statement, had a concealed firearm in his pocket and a plan to intervene.

Gallagher revealed later that he had a handkerchief in his other pocket that he would pull out to signify of his intention to take the shot. Gallagher claimed that he had started to reach for the handkerchief multiple times before Tony's speech was over. Luckily, the press conference ended without incident and Dick Hall was unwired from the shotgun.

Tony used the opportunity to prove that the gun was actually loaded by shooting it into the sky through an open door. Nice and cool in here. Here's what I tell you. I stuck one of these in your ear for three days and you had one in mine for four and a half years. I'm sorry, man. Harry? Harry, baby. Just got the signed paper. It's all over, man. I got five million dollars. You tell Maul and I'll be down there. Just don't worry about it. You okay? You...

No, hell, I'm free, man. I'm free. Chuck, baby. Are we done, honey? Get him off of there, Mark. Now it's time. Jesus Christ, I've seen Boy Scouts work quicker than that. Hold that for me. Hold it. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Watch that. Now tip it back around there. There you go. Watch it off your hand, Tony.

Of course, the media waiting outside heard the shot and feared the worst.

They weren't sure if the story had just taken a tragic turn until prosecutor George Martz appeared to deliver the good news. Is Paul out of danger? Sure, we got him. We got him, he's okay. Where's Tony? I have no idea. I don't know, I don't give a shit. I don't know, I can't explain the shot. Did you go find out for us? I'll find out. The hostage is out, he's okay! The hostage is...

After 63 grueling hours, the hostage was free. Dick Hall's nightmare was over, with nothing worse than a little blood on his collar and a lack of sleep. Dick was loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital for evaluation before he was allowed to return home to his family. It's been a long ordeal. My family and I are extremely grateful to God for a safe solution in this ordeal. And we're most appreciative of all those thoughts and prayers that we've made.

that were with us and we can't express enough our gratitude. Tony Karitsis, on the other hand, was not free. He was arrested immediately after his speech and charged with 11 counts that included kidnapping, armed robbery, and intent to kill. Get me out of this goddamn place. I'm sorry, man. Are you arresting me? We'll help you, Tony.

You did it, Tony. I talked to you and we had our plan, right? You talk about a cheap shot. No, Tony, you... I talked to you on the phone and I told you I was going to bring that man out and you said okay. No, Tony, you told me you were going to lay that shotgun down up there facing the wall and bring him down without it. You talk about a cheap shot. Now, didn't you? You talk about a cheap shot. No, that's what you told me, Tony.

The immunity agreement between Tony and the prosecutor's office turned out to be worth less than the paper it was printed on. Karitsis found out the hard way that any promises made under the threat of a gun are not legally binding. Immunity cannot be granted to an accused. A document was typed up and given to him which would have granted him immunity so long as the prosecutor's office honored the terms.

I'll say this, there was never any intention on the part of the prosecutor's office to honor the terms. Why was he given a grant? Was this just a ruse to get him out of the room? That's pure and simply it. What's his status at this point? What's his bail? Is he going to be suspended? He's presently in jail. The total bond is $850,000.

Meridian Mortgage also released a statement to publicly announce that any promises or comments made by the company during the hostage crisis were false and were only intended to save Dick Hall's life. Tony Kiritsis had been screwed over by the man once again.

I did to Dick Hall was a terrible thing, a horrible thing. I didn't want to do it, and I tried not to do it. At that point, he burst into tears. Defense attorney Niles Stanton then led him through a narration about his early family life. His voice quivering, Kiritsa said he loved his father in spite of his strictness. He began pushing an ice cream cart 12 hours a day at the age of nine.

At times he broke down completely and needed time to compose himself. Kiritsis told a different story of the abduction of his sister, saying he was being pushed out by the family. Things became very cruel. He was very hurt by what Effie and his brothers did. The jury stared at the defendant as he told of a vow he made over his mother's casket, promising to take care of the family. He dropped a class ring in the coffin. He said he made a cross on the wall in his own blood the day he broke the oath. That was the day the family threw him out of the trailer park.

And we might add, Clyde, that the courtroom was packed all day. I'll bet. The Caritas trial began on October 3rd, 1977. Witness after witness took the stand to reveal the checkered past of the man responsible for the kidnapping. Although he had never been convicted of a crime, Tony had a history of violence. A few years earlier, Tony had pulled a gun on two of his brothers and he had terrorized his sister with an axe and held her captive for two days while he negotiated with his family.

Although he was initially resistant to the idea, Tony's defense team convinced him that the easiest path to acquittal was to plead insanity. The prosecution argued that the Halls had behaved honorably in their dealings with Tony, and the defense never disputed that argument. In fact, they agreed with that argument and suggested that only a crazy person would believe otherwise. The defense's case was helped further when Tony Karitsis took the stand.

He apologized for his actions, but it was obvious that he sincerely believed that Dick Hall and his father had cheated him. It was obvious that he was extremely paranoid. "Defendant Mr. Koritsis, please rise and face the bench, sir. The form of the verdict is: we, the jury, find the defendant Anthony G. Koritsis not guilty by reason of..." "I've got the same room as you." "Just a minute, Mr. Koritsis. Just a minute, please."

We further find that the defendant, Anthony G. Karitsis, committed the act charged in count three of the information, and that at the time the defendant was insane and is therefore not guilty by reason of insanity. Please be seated. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Your Honor. The Tony Karitsis verdict marked the first time that an acquittal had been broadcast live on national television.

The verdict was also announced over the public address system during an Indiana Pacers basketball game at Market Square Arena, and the majority of the crowd started cheering when they heard it. Tony Kiritsis had become a cult of personality. His entertaining rants and relatable misfortunes had elicited empathy from the public. Nobody likes bankers, and everybody loves an underdog, even if the underdog is a misguided madman who was ruled legally insane.

The public support and idolization of Tony Kiritsis continues to this day. Read the comments of any YouTube video about the case and you will find the prevailing sentiment to be that Dick Hall had it coming. Even though Tony Kiritsis had been found not guilty, he was not free to go home. After refusing to submit to a psychological evaluation, he was held in contempt of court and incarcerated in various mental health facilities for the next 11 years.

The land that he had fought to protect was eventually foreclosed on and sold at a public auction where it was purchased for $180,000 by a loan bidder named Meridian Mortgage. Tony was released from the Central State Hospital in January 1988. He went on to live a fairly quiet life with the exception of the 101 lawsuits he filed against former Indiana governors and other administrators related to his 11 years of detention.

Tony was also arrested in 1997 for attacking a neighbor with a baseball bat in a dispute over a driveway, but other than that, he mostly kept to himself. On January 28th, 2005, Tony Kiritsis was found dead in his apartment. He was 71 years old. In response to the Kiritsis verdict and the similar John Hinckley trial for the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan,

In cases where the defendant pleads not guilty by reason of insanity, the burden of proof was shifted from the prosecution to the defense. In other words, instead of requiring the prosecution to prove that the defendant is sane, the defense would now be required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is legitimately insane. Throughout the early 80s, nearly every state in the Union adopted this new law.

Soon after Dick Hall returned to the normal routine of his life, everything seemed to fall apart. Within three years of the kidnapping, his father and both of his older brothers died. Dick started drinking again. He was arrested for driving while intoxicated. His businesses collapsed due to a financial recession and a cooling real estate market. He nearly lost the family home, and his wife, Ibi, filed for divorce in '92.

Yet, Dick Hall has said that the most difficult moment of the whole ordeal for him was when his 7-year-old daughter came home from school one day and told him that her friend's mother said Dick Caritzas should have, quote, Dick Hall tried to put the hostage event behind him. He rarely talked about it with Ibi or his children, a decision that he says he still regrets to this day. He ignored the media coverage of the Caritzas trial, but was kept abreast of the happenings from people who recognized him in public.

Dick Hall did not speak about the event publicly until he released his memoir in 2017 at 81 years old. He says at this point, those three days as a hostage are little more than a blur in his memory, but he does admit that every now and then, in his mind, he can still see the wild eyes of Tony Kiritsis. Let me say something. We all live in the greatest country on earth, but this is the type of thing that...

Swindled is written, researched, produced, and hosted by me, a concerned citizen, with music by Ethan Helfrich.

Thanks again to Alan Barry and Mark Enoch, the directors of Dead Man's Line. Visit deadmansline.com for more information about their fantastic documentary. For more information about Swindled, you can visit swindledpodcast.com and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at swindledpodcast. If you want to support the show, you can do so by going to patreon.com slash swindled. For five bucks a month, you will get early access to new episodes and exclusive access to bonus episodes.

We are about to embark on a new bonus episode series called the Corruption World Tour, where each month we will examine a different country from around the world and share some of its most infamous cases of corruption and greed that is plaguing society. That will be fun, for lack of a better term. And it will only be available to Patreon supporters, so go check that out. Also, Swindle donates 5% of our Patreon proceeds to a different charity each month.

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