Recently in a Barry “The Key” Wel’s blog entry, he describes a German Discovery channel show featuring FBI agent Ed Tickel. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Mr. Tickel was the ‘go-to’ guy anytime the FBI needed entry into a locked area. In the video (an excerpt is available on Barry’s blog) Mr. Tickel not only talks about his adventures fighting crime but also demonstrates his favorite lock opening method “impressioning”. Using skills like these he legally broke into various Mafia strongholds allowing agents to gather information and plant bugs without anyone knowing.
Unfortunately it appears that Mr. Tickel didn’t limit his activities to using his impressioning skills to helping bring the Mafia down. Instead suspicion over a possible attempted FBI credit union break-in and a luxurious lifestyle featuring a $10,000 boat and multiple sports cars caused Mr. Tickel to become a suspect of the FBI himself. Eventually he was convicted of transporting stolen diamonds across state lines. Mr Tickel himself denied any wrongdoing during his trial and suggested that it was a vendetta against him to cover up illegal surveillance he had conducted for the FBI. To find out more about the adventures of Mr. Tickel and his eventual downfall, check out the following book references/news articles:
Here is a link to a summary of the Washing Post story:
Former FBI Agent Gets 8 Year Term
An excerpt from “The Bureau: The Secret History of the FBI” that has a little more detail than the Post story:
The Bureau: Secret History of the FBI excerpt
And finally, after being convicted he claimed that the FBI used his talents illegally in several cases and this was used by a couple of Mafia members to file appeals:
Time Magazine Article
i have researched Tickels background extensively and have also interviewed him and many people who knew him well.Tickel did have about a dozen horses and about ten luxury cars
I have never seen any reference to him having a boat of any kind.
I would be interested in the source of that information
Also if you are implying that Tickel obtained the cars and boat through theft,that doesn’t jibe with my info.I was told by a person directly involved that all of Tickels cars were run through NCIC and none were found to be stolen.
As for the horses we know who the previous owners were
Bob Dwyer
Robert thanks for your post that pointed out some overly loose paraphrasing from the sources sited in the article.
The reference to the boat was made in “The Bureau” by Ronald Kessler and I have changed the article above to reference his description as a $10,000 boat instead of “large” (that was a subjective statement on my part).
In addition, I have clarified the body of the article to reflect that his lifestyle was, in part, a cause of eventual suspicion by the FBI (along with a possible attempted credit union breaking) and to include that his only conviction was for transporting stolen diamonds across state lines.