“I made a phone call, but I dialed the wrong number. Instead of calling an attorney to protect myself, I called the FBI.”
July 3rd, 1958. Two young men, suit jackets off, ties askew, on their knees scrambling to organize the piles of paper that littered the dark Berber rug in the otherwise unfurnished room. Pittsburgh’s newest office building, the Porter Building at Sixth & Grant, was a 17-story aluminum skinned structure. It was the short-lived home of General Kinetics, a company founded by Pitt student Earl Belle, who, at 25 years old, shot to financial fame in just 18 months.
He and Mitch Ostwind, his assistant, were frantically collecting the piles of paper and stuffing them into briefcases when a young, harried man walked in carrying a wrinkled brown paper bag filled with $30,000 cash.
“Oh, Rok, glad you made it. Did you bring the money?”
Ron Kaiser raised the bag so Earl could see it. “Good, just set it — well, here I’ll take it. We’re making a cash bid for a new company in a few hours, so excuse the rush. I’ll call you tomorrow.” Earl went back to stacking papers. Ostwind didn’t even say hello.
Earl Belle would not call the next day. He would leave a note.
What Mr. Kaiser didn’t know was that the very next day, Independence Day 1958, Belle and his blonde escort would board a plane for Brazil with 27 suitcases — filled with other people’s money.