Target Manhattan

By “this nut” you mean Harold Craycroft?

No. Craycroft was the one in the airplane. The one in the bank was Charles Ryterband, but we didn’t know that at first. He’d given his name as something else-William Roberts, something like that.

According to Deputy Commissioner Toombes’ log, the call to your office was placed at eleven minutes past twelve. Does that jibe with your recollection? Just now you said it was about twelve twenty.

It probably took a few minutes to get through to my desk. I had a lot of calls that morning.

What I’m trying to get at, Mr. Swarthout, didn’t your switchboard break in and tell you there was an emergency?

No.

No? That’s all-just no?

Nobody said anything about an emergency. When Andy Toombes came on the line, he said just what I’ve told you. He said, “We’ve got a nut on our hands, Phil.”

In other words nobody seemed to be taking it very seriously at that point, is that right?

Mr. Ski

Then you’re saying neither you nor Deputy Commissioner Toombes took the threat seriously.

We take every threat seriously, Mr. Ski

Isn’t that a contradiction to what you just told me?

Not at all. Toombes took Ryterband seriously. Seriously enough to call me.

But not seriously enough to instruct his secretary to make it an emergency call?

It wasn’t an emergency yet. Look, every time there’s a parade down Fifth Avenue we get crank calls threatening to snipe at the parade from the rooftops. We have to sift every call, post men on every rooftop sometimes. But it’s not an emergency unless you actually find a guy up there with a rifle. Do you see what I’m trying to get at?

In other words you’d heard Ryterband’s threat but you didn’t know whether there was any truth in it.

We didn’t have any confirmation. Not that early. It was just another crank at that stage. Every business day somebody walks up to a bank teller in New York City and hands over a note saying, “I’ve got a gun in my pocket. Clean out your cash drawer.” Ninety-nine percent of the time there’s no gun in his pocket.

But it’s standard procedure for the tellers to hand over the money anyway, isn’t it?

Sure. He might turn but to be the one percent who’s got a real gun. We’ve got camera surveillance in the banks. Silent alarms. It’s SOP to let the guy walk out with the money. Nine times out of ten he’s nabbed before he gets across the sidewalk, or identified from the photograph and arrested within twelve hours. We’d have done the same thing with Ryterband except his demands were so outrageous.

Could you explain that a bit more?

If a guy walks up to the teller’s window and hands over a note that says, “I’ve got a gun in my pocket. Give me five million dollars in cash,” I mean, let’s face it, you’re going to have to see the gun before you think about handing over that much money, even if you were able to. And you couldn’t anyway, obviously, because nobody’s got five million dollars in cash lying around, have they? You’ve got to be certifiably crazy to make demands that can’t possibly be met.

All right, let’s move ahead. The Deputy Commissioner called you. What action did you take?

Well, the first thing I did was to ask him what action he’d taken. There’s no point in duplicating effort. Toombes told me he’d already notified the FBI, and he’d dispatched a team from Special Investigations down to the Merchants Trust to talk to Ryterband. The bank’s own security guards were holding Ryterband in custody in Maitland’s office. He wasn’t going anywhere. I told Toombes I’d get back to him, and he said he’d get back to me as soon as he had further word from the SI sergeant on the Ryterband interrogation. Then I got on the horn to the Port Authority security office and told them to check out the airplane.

By “check out the airplane” you mean give it a close looking over?

No, Mr. Ski

Couldn’t you see it? Hear it?

We work in sealed offices you know. Like this one. Air-conditioning, climate-control ventilation systems. The windows don’t open. They’re double-pane thermal glass. Look out that window, Mr. Ski

Tell me this. How much time passed between Ryterband’s first appearance on the scene and the Deputy Commissioner’s call to you?

That would be hearsay, wouldn’t it?

We’re not in court.

I know. But I also know what you’re getting at.

I’m not trying to trick you, Mr. Swarthoui.

You’re doing your job, Mr. Ski

Would you like a cup of coffee?

Yes, thanks.

Maitland

Could you give us your name and title please, for the record?

Paul Bankhead Maitland. I’m fifty-four. I maintain residences in Brewster in Putnam County, and at Sixty-two Sutton Place. I’m the president and chief executive officer of the Merchants Trust Bank. Our head offices are at Sixty Beaver Street.

In the Wall Street area.

Yes, certainly.

I mention that because the threat must have been particularly menacing to you in that area, where so many tall densely populated buildings are crowded so close together.

It would have been menacing enough in an open cornfield, I can assure you.

We’re very grateful you volunteered your time to assist in this inquiry. Can you tell me what happened on May the twenty-second, begi

Actually it would be better to start at the begi

Excuse me. I thought that was the begi

I’d rather be precise about it. The man made an appointment with me for that morning, but the appointment had been made two days earlier-on the Monday. Indicating, you see, that they had pla

I see.

Someone-I assume it was Ryterband-called our public-relations office on the Monday. The twentieth of May that was. He gave his name as Willard Roberts and identified himself as a journalist with Business Week.