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Pizza Spy (TRUE STORY)
FBI agents holed up in a psychiatric hospital attempt to order pizza delivery.
FBI agents conducted a "search and seizure" at the Southwood Psychiatric Hospital in San Diego, which was under investigation for medical insurance fraud. After hours of poring over many rooms of financial records, some sixty FBI agents worked up quite an appetite. The case agent in charge of the investigation called a local pizza parlor with delivery service to order a quick dinner for his colleagues.
The following telephone conversation took place:
Agent: Hello. I would like to order nineteen large pizzas and sixty-seven cans of soda.
Pizza man: And where would you like them delivered?
Agent: To the Southwood Psychiatric Hospital.
Pizza man: To the psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's right. I'm an FBI agent.
Pizza man: You're an FBI agent?
Agent: That's correct. Just about everybody here is.
Pizza man: And you're at the psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's correct. And make sure you don't go through the front doors. We have them locked. You'll have to go around to the back to the service entrance to deliver the pizzas.
Pizza man: And you say you're all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?
Pizza man: And you're over at Southwood?
Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?
Pizza man: And everyone at Southwood is an FBI agent?
Agent: That's right. We've been here all day and we're starving.
Pizza man: How are you going to pay for this?
Agent: I have my check book right here.
Pizza man: And you are all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right, everyone here is an FBI agent. Can you remember to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance in the rear? We have the front doors locked.
Pizza man: I don't think so. Click.
Origins: This is one of those pieces that keeps us on our toes by reminding us that the far-fetched is sometimes true. Often attributed to a "Center for Strategic and International Studies report on GLOBAL ORGANIZED CRIME" or "a talk by R. James Woolsey, Director of Central Intelligence, given at a conference on global organized crime," this anecdote really is true, and we're indebted to Special Agent Wayne A. Barnes of the FBI for supplying us with the details.
In 1993, the FBI was assisting the Department of Health and Human Services in investigating health care fraud. A medical organization that ran psychiatric hospitals in nine different cities was under suspicion, and coordinated raids on all nine facilities were scheduled for the same day so that none of the hospitals could tip off the others. The unexpected bulk of records seized meant the morning raid at Southwood Psychiatric Hospital in Chula Vista turned into an all-day affair, and when the agent in charge of the investigation realized his men were running on empty, he attempted to order pizza from a local delivery outfit, placing the call now immortalized in this piece. (Contrary to what is stated in most versions, the FBI was not taping all the hospital's calls that day; the conversation was reconstructed from the memories of those present.)
And yes, they did get their pizzas -- but several agents had to drive over and pick them up.
Submitted by Richard
FBI agents holed up in a psychiatric hospital attempt to order pizza delivery.
FBI agents conducted a "search and seizure" at the Southwood Psychiatric Hospital in San Diego, which was under investigation for medical insurance fraud. After hours of poring over many rooms of financial records, some sixty FBI agents worked up quite an appetite. The case agent in charge of the investigation called a local pizza parlor with delivery service to order a quick dinner for his colleagues.
The following telephone conversation took place:
Agent: Hello. I would like to order nineteen large pizzas and sixty-seven cans of soda.
Pizza man: And where would you like them delivered?
Agent: To the Southwood Psychiatric Hospital.
Pizza man: To the psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's right. I'm an FBI agent.
Pizza man: You're an FBI agent?
Agent: That's correct. Just about everybody here is.
Pizza man: And you're at the psychiatric hospital?
Agent: That's correct. And make sure you don't go through the front doors. We have them locked. You'll have to go around to the back to the service entrance to deliver the pizzas.
Pizza man: And you say you're all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?
Pizza man: And you're over at Southwood?
Agent: That's right. How soon can you have them here?
Pizza man: And everyone at Southwood is an FBI agent?
Agent: That's right. We've been here all day and we're starving.
Pizza man: How are you going to pay for this?
Agent: I have my check book right here.
Pizza man: And you are all FBI agents?
Agent: That's right, everyone here is an FBI agent. Can you remember to bring the pizzas and sodas to the service entrance in the rear? We have the front doors locked.
Pizza man: I don't think so. Click.
Origins: This is one of those pieces that keeps us on our toes by reminding us that the far-fetched is sometimes true. Often attributed to a "Center for Strategic and International Studies report on GLOBAL ORGANIZED CRIME" or "a talk by R. James Woolsey, Director of Central Intelligence, given at a conference on global organized crime," this anecdote really is true, and we're indebted to Special Agent Wayne A. Barnes of the FBI for supplying us with the details.
In 1993, the FBI was assisting the Department of Health and Human Services in investigating health care fraud. A medical organization that ran psychiatric hospitals in nine different cities was under suspicion, and coordinated raids on all nine facilities were scheduled for the same day so that none of the hospitals could tip off the others. The unexpected bulk of records seized meant the morning raid at Southwood Psychiatric Hospital in Chula Vista turned into an all-day affair, and when the agent in charge of the investigation realized his men were running on empty, he attempted to order pizza from a local delivery outfit, placing the call now immortalized in this piece. (Contrary to what is stated in most versions, the FBI was not taping all the hospital's calls that day; the conversation was reconstructed from the memories of those present.)
And yes, they did get their pizzas -- but several agents had to drive over and pick them up.
Submitted by Richard
