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Real Crime Profile

#16: Interview with James R. Fitzgerald on arresting the Unabomber

Real Crime Profile

Real Crime Profile / Wondery

Exhibit C, Society & Culture, Documentary, True Crime

4.210.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2016

⏱️ 60 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jim Clemente interviews his fellow retired FBI Profiler, James R. Fitzgerald on his role in the arrest and prosecution of Ted Kaczynski also known as the infamous serial killer/bomber - The UNABOMBER. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0

You're listening at free on Wondry Plus.

0:04.0

Hello, welcome to Real Crime Profile. Today I'm really excited to have a amazing

0:33.6

guest and it's actually an anniversary that we're going to talk about. My best friend from

0:41.2

the FBI, my longtime colleague and buddy in law enforcement, James Fitzgerald, retired

0:50.3

super advisory special agent is my guest today on Real Crime Profile. How you doing, Jim?

0:57.6

Jim, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me in your studios for this. Well, glad

1:03.5

to have you and you just pointed out something that we're going to have to deal with in that

1:07.5

we're both named Jim. So I'm going to call you Fitz if you're going to call me Jim and

1:11.9

I think that'll work out pretty well. I've been noticed Fitz just about my whole life,

1:15.5

so this will work for today. Great. All right, well, can you please tell our listening audience

1:22.7

what the significance of today is? Well, first of all, today is April 3rd, 2016 and probably

1:32.0

just about everybody in the world, maybe happy once they realize what this anniversary date is,

1:37.0

except for one guy. And that is it's a 20 year anniversary of the arrest of Theodore J. Kaczynski,

1:44.8

better known as the Unibomber. And I was played in a pivotal role in that particular investigation.

1:53.5

And I was glad to say that I was part of that team that helped put him behind bars where he is

1:58.7

right now. So just so people who weren't around or weren't aware of it at the time,

2:03.7

will understand the significance of that. Ted Kaczynski was one of the longest running

2:09.5

serial murderers and serial bombers in US history. He was engaging in a campaign of destruction

2:18.1

that spanned over 17 years. And Jim Fitzgerald was actually the guy who ultimately was responsible

2:28.0

for getting law enforcement into that cabin so they could arrest him.

2:33.4

Yeah, I was a brand new profiler and I was a seasoned investigator, a police officer for 11 years,

2:39.3

and certainly an agent in New York for seven years after that. And the next thing you know,

...

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