6 Boards Busted By FBI   by Quicksilver BBS

FBI BUSTS 6 BOARDS IN TEXAS!!! ------------------------------ (why don't they stay in Dunkin Donuts where they belong?) Well, I just talked to The Chairman, ex-sysop of a board once called Suburbia. The feds just got their jollies and took down the following boards: Agents of Fortune [409] (Sysop: Butcher [LEGEND]) Suburbia [214] (Sysop: The Chairman [RZR], Co: Black Light [TiDT/DOM]) The Network [214] (Sysop: Masterblaster) The Depths [214] (Sysop: Maelstrom ex-[RZR/iCE]) Elm Street [214] (Sysop: Freddy Krueger) User to User [214] (Sysop: William Pendergast) As you can see, the busts were primarly in 214 (Dallas, TX) with one other in 409, also in Texas. I called The Chairman himself, so what follows is not rumor, only what came from somebody who had a not-so-enjoyable 6am chat with the FBI yesterday morning. At this point in time, there is no reason to believe that Clarke Development (PCBoard developers) was the source of the busts. All of the boards that went down ran PCBoard 15.x, but that seems to be only a coincidence. Why would Clarke only bust unregged PCBoards in one part of Texas? Basically, the authorities had been on The Chairman's board watching for some period of time. Nobody knows for how long or under what handles. I would assume that they did the same for the other boards they raided. The Chairman has not been charged with anything as of yet. The morning mystery guests did inform him that they were going to charge him with three felonies: mail fraud, transmission of copyrighted material across state lines, and some other legal bullshit like that. Anyway, they weren't dicking around. They sat him down in another room and proceeded to confiscate all of his equipment. However, they were not completely clueless as to what to take because they left his old Amiga and a VIC-20 that weren't even plugged in. He said they were somewhat tough at the beginning, but then they were pretty cool. If you've ever met The Chairman, well, he is just a normal looking guy, not some type of thug, so I guess they realized he wasn't going to bolt or anything. After leaving TC's house, the fibbies went to Black Light's house (his main cosysop). According to TC, they went with the intent to find some backup tapes of the board. Seems these guys were pretty well informed.. hmmm.. Anyway nobody has heard from Black Light since. He lives with his parents, and as you might imagine, I doubt they were very happy about the sunrise FBI pow-wow. Supposedly Black Light will be charged with the same three felonies as The Chairman. TC said that his parents probably have him "locked down pretty tight." I don't think phone privileges are even near the top of the list of Black Light's concerns. Well, that is pretty much what happened to Suburbia, and the same basic thing went on with the other boards. The FBI knocked on everybody's door at 6am sharp and took all their computer equipment. (Supposedly they even knocked down Masterblaster's door in their oh-so-elegant style when nobody answered the doorbell.) Why did this have to happen to these select few boards? There are other boards in 214 that have a much heavier flow of wares than some of those that were busted. The selection of boards seems random... User to User was even a PUBLIC DOMAIN board with a pirate underground section. The pirate section sucked, I only saw it once, but the funny thing is, it was exclusive. I heard rumours about its existence, but never believed it until I saw the files for myself. The point is, hardly anyone had access on there. Only old timers who were friends of the sysop had access, and very few knew it existed. This was merely a pirated section of a legit board with a registered 10 node copy of PCB, and it was really lame on top of that (slow and small flow of files). Very strange.. how they found out about this one is intriguing. What happens next is unknown. TC has a lawyer and as already talked with him and is going in for a meeting tomorrow. He doesn't know what the FBI plans to do him and everyone else - fine them or what. For all the sysops' sake, I hope they don't want to make an example of somebody. I just can't imagine The Chairman getting busted... it's like my grandfather getting busted for selling pot. It just doesn't happen. TC has always been THE coolest sysop I have ever known. He is always cool and doesn't get all bent out of shape about shit. Nice is an understatement for this guy... I never heard anybody say anything negative about him, and knowing the scene that says a lot. I just can't believe it - he never even phreaked or anything. Talk about somebody who doesn't deserve it.. having three felonies on a criminal record? No way, not this guy. And what is this shit about charging the cosysop with the same thing? Black Light was supposed to be having a big party Labor Day weekend - don't think he wants to invite the feds. Not only have we lost the best board in 214, but we have great guys and friends in serious trouble. Well, the feds fucked us over this time. I don't know what it was, but something triggered it. Maybe some anal pd sysop saw something he shouldn't have, but there is no way to tell... yet. Some people are screaming "narc," as usual, and although it sounds like it might make sense, good luck in finding out who is really to blame. How does this effect the rest of the pirate scene? Not too much I would say. If they wanted to take the whole system down, they would have busted a lot more boards and done it nation-wide. Just remember though, it could happen to YOU. I never really knew of anybody who got busted just for running a pirate board. Now I do. I have some good friends who I know are good people that are facing some serious problems. To sum it all up, this sucks. If you want to get in touch with me, email me on Mirage. White Viper [8/24/94, 11pm]