The Gas Man: Episode 3 - The escape

Elon's Spies | Tortoise Investigates

Tortoise Media

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.6 • 5.4K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2024

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The team persuades The Gas Man to step out from the shadows. He reveals the first big clue in the investigation to how he got away with it – and makes a surprising claim about his role in the case

To find out more about Tortoise:

Download the Tortoise app - for a listening experience curated by our journalists

Subscribe to Tortoise+ on Apple Podcasts for early access and ad-free content

Become a member and get access to all of Tortoise's premium audio offerings and more

If you want to get in touch with us directly about a story, or tell us more about the stories you want to hear about contact [email protected]

Reporter: Chloe Hadjimatheou

Producer: Claudia Williams

Editor: Jasper Corbett

Narrative editor: Gary Marshall

Sound design: Hannah Varrall

Original theme music: Tom Kinsella

Original artwork: Jon Hill

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Tortoise. I mean did you did you have an inkling that he might
0:14.4	You know what in the line of work I was in you suspect everybody's going to do something
0:19.2	like that you don't trust any criminals I I sure didn't trust him. He was a slimy sort of guy you could tell from the minute I met him.
0:31.6	The operation to get Peter Valischek behind bars in the summer of 1988 was massive.
0:38.0	It involved a global investigation,
0:41.0	cooperation between enforcement agencies in the US, Pakistan and Germany,
0:46.6	two separate sting operations and months of sifting through piles of documents.
0:51.4	When the German through piles of documents.
0:54.4	When the German finally pleaded guilty to selling chemicals that could be used to make mustard
0:59.1	gas, he also agreed to help prosecutors nail his handlers in Iran.
1:05.0	It was ambitious, but Special Agent Dennis Bass could almost smell the win.
1:12.0	He just needed a few more months to tie up the investigation.
1:20.3	By December he was getting close. But then,
1:24.4	It was all over in a phone call.
1:30.0	Yeah, the halfway house, you know, reported it. He's going.
1:34.0	Peter Valischek had disappeared from the halfway house he was living in while waiting to be sentenced.
1:41.0	The authorities had lost him. I was more than pissed if I can say it that way. I was beyond belief.
1:53.4	It's been three decades, but clearly it still gets to Dennis Bass.
1:59.3	And losing him like that.
2:01.2	It hurt.
2:10.4	And even now, he has no idea how Peter Valestec escaped. There's only one person who can answer that question?
2:21.0	When Special Agent Bass wanted answers from Peter Valaestec, he tricked him into coming to the US. And then a few nights in Baltimore jail help persuade him to talk.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -254 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tortoise Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Tortoise Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.