Operation Flagship

Operation Flagship
Part of Fugitive Investigative Strike Team (FIST)
Black and white photo of a banner that says "Welcome to Flagship International Sports TV" with a line of people in the background and a man wearing a war bonnet in the foreground
Banner welcoming the fugitives to the convention center. The man wearing a war bonnet is a disguised deputy marshal.
Operation NameOperation Flagship
part ofFugitive Investigative Strike Team (FIST)
TypeSting operation
ScopeDomestic
Roster
Planned byU.S. Marshals Service
Executed byU.S. Marshals Service,
Metropolitan Police Department
Mission
TargetFugitives
ObjectiveTo lure and arrest wanted people with outstanding arrest warrants in the D.C. area to an NFL game at RFK Stadium.
MethodHoneypot - wanted fugitives were sent invitations with free tickets to a game at RFK Stadium between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Washington Redskins.
Timeline
Date executedDecember 15, 1985
Results
Arrests101
Accounting

Operation Flagship was a sting operation jointly organized by the United States Marshals Service and the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C. that resulted in the arrest of 101 wanted fugitives on December 15, 1985.

The fugitives voluntarily went to the Washington Convention Center, responding to an invite sent by a fictitious television company, to claim two free tickets to watch the Washington Redskins American football home game against the Cincinnati Bengals and for a chance to win tickets to Super Bowl XX. A total of 166 marshals and police officers were involved in the operation, with undercover personnel posing as tuxedo-wearing ushers, cheerleaders, emcees, caterers, mascots, and maintenance staff.

The operation has been hailed as one of the largest and most successful mass arrests of fugitives by U.S. law enforcement.[1][2][3]

  1. ^ "Redskins Ticket Sting Nets 101 Fugitives". AP NEWS. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  2. ^ "Top hat tells story of 'Operation Flagship'". Southwest Times Record. Retrieved March 7, 2023.
  3. ^ Clark, Jerry; Palattella, Ed (2019). On the Lam: A History of Hunting Fugitives in America. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 135–137. ISBN 9781442262591.