Ski Masks, Grappling Hooks Optional

By Matt Wood in News on Oct 18, 2006 11:24AM

Chicagoist used to watch a lot of G.I. Joe cartoons and spy movies when we were a kid (okay, maybe we still do), and whenever Snake-Eyes or 007 had to do any reconnoissance, he mostly got by on his wits and maybe a slick belt-buckle camera. We figured these days, scoping some documents from an old rival would be as easy as using a digital camera. But police say two men in the Canaryville neighborhood had something quite different in mind.

Two alert beat cops pulled over a van driven by Jack Lewandowski and Bruce Tucker-Harrington, and found it full of fake FBI and Department of Defense credentials, fake search warrants, guns, ammunition, pepper spray, and handcuffs. The two suspects say they were just trying to get documents from a former business partner who owed them over three million bucks, but police believe they may have been planning a kidnapping. They also found detailed surveillance logs of the activities of the said ex-partner and his family.

Tucker-Harrington told CBS that the police are all wrong, and the fake IDs and warrants were to be used to gain access to the business so they could swipe the documents. The guns and handcuffs were just for funsies, you know, gotta sell that fake FBI raid. Even if that story holds up, they're still in a lot of trouble for the forgeries, and are due in court next month.