63°
By Jerry DeMarco (Publisher/Editor)
VIDEO: They were slick as the oil rigged to pour from behind their souped-up BMW, their cleverness as blinding as the license-plate halogens that baffled police pursuers.
But members of the crew known as the “James Bond Gang” found themselves stirred AND shaken after a group of Bergen County detectives pooled their intelligence with the FBI.
I covered the story. Thanks to great contacts and years of building trust, investigators confided in me to keep my yap shut while they assembled their case against the infamous crew, a tight group of friends headed by Teaneck High School classmates Terence Lawton and David Kirkland.
When it came time, the authorities scooped up the gang members — all but Lawton.
One of the investigators then came up with an amazingly simple ruse, one that quickly had Lawton driving right himself right into custody.
A Court TV program called “Masterminds” interviewed me for a show about the case. I’m not going to critique the production values — the bamboo furniture in what’s supposed to be a Bergen County mansion; the mimeographed Benjamins; the “cops” (one of whom looks to be a granddad) in baggy BLACK uniforms, driving a “HIGHWAY PATROL” car; or the infamous Beamer itself — which was midnight blue and not cherry red.
(Look closely near the end and you’ll see mugshots of the actual gang members.)
I will say participating in the show was a blast, although honestly not as much fun as watching a squad of local detectives from different towns (who met under the auspices of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office) team up with the feds. I also got a private kick out of attending a major Manhattan news conference announcing the arrests to the New York metropolitan-area media at large — after I’d already written most of my story.
Here’s the episode, in two segments:
From COURT TV’s “Masterminds”
Pt. II:
POSTSCRIPT: No sooner were they released than the “James Bond Gang” was at it again. During his 2009 trial in U.S. District Court in Newark, it was revealed that co-founder David Kirkland had tried to get a film made about the crew’s exploits but discovered that Court TV beat him to the punch. Using a pair of widescreen TVs, federal prosecutors played the program (above) for the jury. In exchange for immunity, Lawton testified against Kirkland, who was convicted and later sentenced to 18 years in prison.
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