The Mr. Big sting is an extraordinary creation of Canadian police.
When they think someone did a crime, but don’t have evidence that would stand up in court, police create a fantasy world and lure the suspect in. Undercover officers become actors, playing carefully scripted roles. They find a way to befriend the suspect, and create trust, renting limos, picking up big bar and restaurant bills.
Then they gradually reveal that they are, in fact, criminals, and slowly lure the suspect deeper into a web of artfully faked crimes.
When the imaginary world is made real and trust created, they give the suspect the chance to make a lot of money in some big crime.
But only after Mr. Big, the pretend boss, vets them. He then tries to coax or coerce a confession as part of the process. We’ve checked you and hear you’ve killed, Mr. Big says. If you want us to trust you, and let you in on the big score, you have to tell us what happened.
It worked with Jean Ann James, one of the cases I write about in Dead Ends.
In 2007, the Cold Case squad pulled the file on the 15-year-old murder of Gladys Wakabayshi, the beautiful 41-year-old daughter of a Taiwanese billionaire found with her throat cut in a Shaughnessy mansion.
Police thought James, 12 years older, did it. She and her husband had been friends with Wakabayshi; her husband had been too friendly.
The Mr. Big sting they set up unfolded slowly, an amazing work of theatre.
And in a Montreal hotel room, as James faced a man she thought was an organized crime leader, it produced a chilling confession.
The Mr. Big sting is a controversial tactic. In July, the Supreme Court of Canada, hearing the appeal of a Newfoundland case, ruled that courts should assume, as a starting point, that evidence from Mr. Big stings is inadmissible.
Prosecutors, and police, have to show that the sting itself doesn’t prejudice a jury against the accused, given his or her participation in imaginary crimes.
And more importantly, they need to produce evidence that supports the confession - details of the crime that only the killer could know, or physical evidence.
The court noted suspects could offer false confessions because they thought it was a way to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars from crime. Or they could be intimidated by the police officer pretending to be a ruthless leader of a criminal gang.
Canada’s police chiefs met in Victoria last week, and Vancouver Chief Jimmy Chu, the outgoing president of their association, defended the Mr. Big sting tactic. Most police departments are already making efforts to avoid false confessions, he said.
In the Jean Ann James case, the police hatched a wonderfully creative plan to befriend her, build trust and exploit her weaknesses.
I’m not sure if the case meets the Supreme Court test. But I watched the video as James, looking like a kindly grandmother, coldly described killing Wakabayshi and hiding the evidence. It would have convinced me if I was a juror.
You can read about the case in Dead Ends and decide what you think.
When they think someone did a crime, but don’t have evidence that would stand up in court, police create a fantasy world and lure the suspect in. Undercover officers become actors, playing carefully scripted roles. They find a way to befriend the suspect, and create trust, renting limos, picking up big bar and restaurant bills.
Then they gradually reveal that they are, in fact, criminals, and slowly lure the suspect deeper into a web of artfully faked crimes.
When the imaginary world is made real and trust created, they give the suspect the chance to make a lot of money in some big crime.
But only after Mr. Big, the pretend boss, vets them. He then tries to coax or coerce a confession as part of the process. We’ve checked you and hear you’ve killed, Mr. Big says. If you want us to trust you, and let you in on the big score, you have to tell us what happened.
It worked with Jean Ann James, one of the cases I write about in Dead Ends.
In 2007, the Cold Case squad pulled the file on the 15-year-old murder of Gladys Wakabayshi, the beautiful 41-year-old daughter of a Taiwanese billionaire found with her throat cut in a Shaughnessy mansion.
Police thought James, 12 years older, did it. She and her husband had been friends with Wakabayshi; her husband had been too friendly.
The Mr. Big sting they set up unfolded slowly, an amazing work of theatre.
And in a Montreal hotel room, as James faced a man she thought was an organized crime leader, it produced a chilling confession.
The Mr. Big sting is a controversial tactic. In July, the Supreme Court of Canada, hearing the appeal of a Newfoundland case, ruled that courts should assume, as a starting point, that evidence from Mr. Big stings is inadmissible.
Prosecutors, and police, have to show that the sting itself doesn’t prejudice a jury against the accused, given his or her participation in imaginary crimes.
And more importantly, they need to produce evidence that supports the confession - details of the crime that only the killer could know, or physical evidence.
The court noted suspects could offer false confessions because they thought it was a way to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars from crime. Or they could be intimidated by the police officer pretending to be a ruthless leader of a criminal gang.
Canada’s police chiefs met in Victoria last week, and Vancouver Chief Jimmy Chu, the outgoing president of their association, defended the Mr. Big sting tactic. Most police departments are already making efforts to avoid false confessions, he said.
In the Jean Ann James case, the police hatched a wonderfully creative plan to befriend her, build trust and exploit her weaknesses.
I’m not sure if the case meets the Supreme Court test. But I watched the video as James, looking like a kindly grandmother, coldly described killing Wakabayshi and hiding the evidence. It would have convinced me if I was a juror.
You can read about the case in Dead Ends and decide what you think.