Genius on Hold Page #8

conditions being

discriminated against

would, uh, find organized

crime attractive

as...economically.

I was very bitter

at my dad's...

lack of business sense

and lack of sticking up

for himself.

And I knew he could

cause you,

I've seen it before.

He was angry at daddy,

he was angry at the world,

he was angry at the rich,

why shouldn't,

why can't that be us?

My dad deserves that,

you know, well...

I think one of the,

the biggest effects

on my brother's life that

changed, changed him so

was to have this wonderful

man that had taught us

the true meaning of

integrity.

He lied to, to us.

He lied to my brother

and it changed him.

The Dinner Set gang

becomes well-known

to the police when Pete

Salerno, Dominick Latella,

and their crew including

Thiel Shaw,

commence robbing

hundreds of homes

across America.

The Dinner Set Gang.

You know we were

professional high rise,

you know, second story...

high line thieves.

Thiel drops his nickname

and takes the name Walter.

What the Dinner Set Gang

would do was uh,

after reading these

architectural magazines

or getting information

from various jewelers

and fences in the area from

Atlanta to, uh, to Miami

about the comings and

goings of these individuals.

They would, uh, they would

go surveil these locations

and they would set up, uh,

why they say dinner set,

they would set up

around dinner time

and observe the comings

and goings

of that, of that

particular location.

And one time he, um, he

had uh, ran with

the older guys in the group,

Peter Salerno,

Dominick Latella, um, and

Walter had split off with them

when they found out what

they were stealing from him,

portions of the profits and

the proceeds that they made

from the burglaries

they did together.

Thiel leaves dinner set

to form his own

younger band of thieves

using the same method

he learned from them.

Walter was a little more

sophisticated.

He was a little bit more

dedicated

just to doing burglaries.

He had a younger squad.

He had a crew

that he had trained.

Shaw confronts his son

about the direction

his life has taken.

He says, Thiel, what are you

doing here?

And I said well, I'm

straightening out

what you should have done

years ago.

He says, what's that?

I said, we got into it anyhow

and he says,

well uh, if you if you're

doing what I think,

I'll turn you in myself.

I said, we're through.

I said, because see,

I don't see me

in the way you do.

I see...a man slaps me

on one cheek,

I'm gonna slap him on his.

You know, it's like

the old verbiage...

you don't go to

a gunfight with a knife.

So that's the, my philosophy.

So we just...we pull away

totally at that point.

We were, we were done.

MCI files an antitrust suit

against AT&T in 1974.

While Walter Shaw

is in prison,

the most important event

in the history

of telecommunications

has happened.

The department of justice

is convinced

MCI is right in their claims

and they follow suit.

They also file against AT&T.

The fatal anti-trust case was

filed by MCI in 1974.

And MCI stood for

Microwave

Communications Inc.

It was simply, wanted to

create a link

between St. Louis and

Chicago using microwave

and then interconnect into

the AT&T system.

Uh, so...

you got not only a change in

the economic climate

and the interest groups

involved,

but you also got a change

in a political climate,

uh, the whole deregulation

theory,

the deregulation of the

airlines,

the, both the democrats and

the republicans at that time

were pro-deregulation.

And uh, before you knew it,

you had the justice

department

supporting this

anti-trust case

and eventually ordering

the breakup of AT&T.

While Walter Shaw serves

his time in federal prison,

others make attempts

to enter the telephone

business.

I was thumbing through the

paper one day

and found a telephone

answering bureau for sale.

Uh, it was in the town

of Bel, Air Maryland

and they had, accumulated

about 75 customers.

At that time,

they provided, um...

telephone answering

services, which is uh,

essentially messaging

services for doctors

and people that needed

emergency communications.

Ottensmeyer knows

Bell is a monopoly.

How is it safe to enter

a telephone business

which requires attachment to

Bell telephone lines?

Well, it was uh...

a business that was

sanctioned by, uh, AT&T.

They provided the

equipment, meaning,

switchboards, operator

switchboards that we used.

They provided all the lines,

and it was an area that

apparently they did not want

to serve,

uh, because of probably

the liability associated

with emergency services.

So it became a niche

business that...

uh...

other entrepreneurs stepped

up to, to fill the shoes.

Ottensmeyer's business

begins to increase.

He leases more equipment

from Bell to accommodate

his growing customer base.

In March of 1979,

they resided my premise

with the Maryland

state police

and telephone company

AT&T security personnel.

They came in armed with a

search warrant

and uh...

the door was open

so they just walked right in

and...

one of my operators, uh,

came back and got me.

It was early in the morning

and said there's a whole

bunch of people

and policemen

here to see you.

They said they were there

to...

uh, that I had been operating

an illegal telephone service

with illegal equipment.

Um, I knew what they were

talking about

because we had openly

provided this service

at that time, uh, and what

they ultimately did

was walk out with

the eight diverters,

uh, the equipment that we

used to provide the service.

Suddenly his life

is upside down.

If Ottensmeyer's company

was a Bell telephone

customer,

why would they raid his

home and business?

It's a mystery to me.

They they could have asked

me about it at any time.

They were in the answering

service premise

maybe three or four times

a week repairing lines,

hooking up new customers,

you know, making

adjustments

to the switchboards.

The final judgment allows

the sanctioned emergency

switchboard to continue

provided Ottensmeyer

does not operate it

or enter the premises.

The problem is, the

premises for his business

happens to be in his home.

Ottensmeyer is never

allowed

to set foot there again.

They did not want me

to compete with them

and they were...

afraid they were,

would lose revenue.

I was considered

a competitor.

It will take another four

years for Bell's monopoly

to be undone.

After his release from

prison,

Walter Shaw goes

on the road from city to city

with his inventions

under his arm.

He maintains his faith

that life will turn around.

He tells his wife over

and over again,

I only need one deal

and our life will be better.

He had people that would

represent his,

quote, his office,

and sell the servers

and have people

sign the agreement

to subscribe to the service.

But I got the impression

that he,

it attracted a lot of people

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