Gerald Blanchard could hack any bank, swipe any jewel. On ... - Wired

the Boss demanded. “They got pulled in!”“I have no idea,” Blanchard said softly.“But it’s too much of a coincidence that customsknew. The phones must be tapped.”The Boss pressed on, asking for newsabout Kashongwe, but Blanchard interrupted.“I’m looking down. There’s asecurity guard down there right now,” hebreathed. He was deep into the building,making it hard to shimmy his way out incase he needed an emergency escape. “Ihave too much invested in this job,” he said.“I have to go.”“We need to fix this, Danny,” the Boss said.As Blanchard whispered back, McCormickand Levasseur were triangulating thecall’s location. Now they knew Blanchardwas targeting Chilliwack’s Bank of NovaScotia. In late January, investigators fromToronto, Edmonton, and Vancouver as wellas provincial police and the Mounties hadjoined McCormick and Levasseur’s smalloperation. “Project Kite was ready to bereeled in,” McCormick says.At 4 am on January 23, 2007, more thana dozen SWAT team members swarmedBlanchard’s Vancouver condo, where theyfound Blanchard and Tien. Several othersearch warrants were executed simultaneouslyacross Canada, turning up half a dozenaccomplices, including Angela James andBlanchard’s cousin Dale Fedoruk.Blanchard was busted. At his variousresidences and storage facilities, policeconfiscated 10 pallets of material: 60,000documents, cash in various currencies,smoke bombs, firearms, and 300 electronicdevices, including commercial card printers,card readers, and all manner of surveillanceequipment. In his condo, police discovereda hidden room stocked with burglary kitsand well- organized, itemized documentationof all Blanchard’s fake identities. Hewas initially charged with 41 crimes, rangingfrom fraud to possession of instrumentsfor forging credit cards.The Boss called Blanchard in jail on theprison phone. “Why you, Danny?” he asked.“Why would little Winnipeg go to all thattrouble? You must have upset the establishment.It’s like we say in England: You fuckwith the Queen, and they fuck with you.”As McCormick and Levasseur listened in,Blanchard said it wasn’t the establishment,or the Queen. “It was these Keystone Kopsout here in Winnipeg.”Blanchard says that he could have escapedfrom jail again, but there was no point. Thepolice had all the evidence, including 120video- and audio tapes detailing everything.They’d just find him again, and he was tiredof running anyhow.Blanchard refused to make statementsabout any of his associates, but he eventuallydecided to cooperate with authoritiesabout his own case. “He’s a flamboyantguy,” McCormick says. “And an extrovert,recording everything. Some part of him justwanted to tell his story.” He had anotherincentive, too: Revealing his methods,which would help the banking industryimprove its security practices, could earnhim a lighter prison sentence.The first day that Levasseur sat down withBlanchard in Vancouver, the investigator feltlike he “was talking to a wall.” But in laterinterviews, Blanchard became more courteousand helpful. Finally, after some negotiationsthrough his lawyer, Blanchard offeredto take them to the Sisi Star. “It’s right here inmy grandmother’s basement in Winnipeg,”he said. Blanchard had tried to steer clearof his family since his arrest; he didn’t wantto embarrass them further. But now he hadto call. “I need to come to the house,” he said.“And I’m bringing the police.”Blanchard, in handcuffs and leg shackles,hugged his grand mother at the door and tookMcCormick and Levasseur directly into thebasement. He disappeared into a crawl spacewith Levasseur. It was quiet except for thesound of them grappling with the insulation.Eventually, Levasseur removed a square ofStyrofoam and pulled out the star.They brought it out into the light, wherethe detectives marveled at the beauty ofthe piece. They’d never seen anything likeit. That kicked off nearly a month of debriefing.The cops had gotten some stuff right,but Blanchard set them straight on the rest.“Never in policing does the bad guy tell you,‘Here’s how I did it, down to the last detail,’”McCormick says. “And that’s what he did.”After spending so much time chasingBlanchard—and then talking to him—McCormick and Levasseur developeda grudging regard for his abilities. AndBlanchard grew to admire their relentlessinvestigation. Like a cornered hacker whotrades his black hat for white, Blanchardtook on a new challenge: working the systemfrom the inside. He provided such goodinformation that McCormick and Levasseurwere able to put together an eight-hour presentationfor law enforcement and bankingprofessionals. “When those guys hear whatBlanchard told us,” McCormick says, “youcan hear their assholes pucker shut.”Blanchard’s full participation came underconsideration when he pled guilty to 16charges on November 7, 2007. He agreed tosell his four condos and pay restitution tothe Canadian government. And he was willingto take a longer sentence for himself inexchange for leniency toward his co accused,whom he refused to testify against. Noneof his partners served jail time.Blanchard also surprised the court byhaving his lawyer issue an unusual statement:an expression of gratitude for beingarrested. “My client wishes to recognizethat this huge lie that he had been livingcould now finally fall apart.” It added thatBlanchard was looking forward to movingon. “He recognizes that the men and womenof the Winnipeg Police Service made thatall possible.”Instead of the maximum of 164 years,Blanchard got eight. And then last summer,after serving less than two, he was releasedinto carefully guarded probation. He nowlives in a Vancouver halfway house, wherehe is prohibited from going anywhere nearcertain types of surveillance equipment andtalking to any of his former associates. Oneof the people he can call is Randy Flanagan,his old mentor from high school.“He filled me in about the past 10 years,”Flanagan says. “I was surprised, but not thatsurprised, about what our little former sonhad been up to.” Blanchard told Flanagan hewanted to turn his life around. Working withMcCormick and Levasseur had convincedhim that he could become a consultant tothe banks. “Who knows?” Flanagan says.“Maybe he will get that security business hetalked about off the ground after all.”The judge had a similar thought duringBlanchard’s plea hearing. The banks “shouldhire him and pay him a million dollars ayear,” he said. And right before sentencing,the judge turned directly to Blanchard. “Ithink that you have a great future ahead ofyou if you wish to pursue an honest style oflife,” he said. “Although I’m not prepared tosign a letter of reference.” joshuah bearman (joshuah_bearman@hotmail.com) wrote about rescuingAmerican hostages from Iran in issue 15.05.1 1 2 APR 2010