foreign lures a businessman across state lines with the promise of a lucrative deal when he vanishes authorities turn to the FBI for help [Music] suspicions point to a bitter business rival but the suspect's stonewall's investigators agents would use state-of-the-art technology to find friends and lovers who might be willing to reveal the truth [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] a wealthy businessman went to Florida to make one last deal before he retired but he never returned home to his millions authorities examined who was closest to the victim and who stood to gain from his disappearance but this time conventional rules did not apply I'm Jim calstrom former head of the FBI's New York office in a case that spanned the entire East Coast agents would have to untangle a web of sex money and Vengeance that led to murder Newark International Airport in New Jersey on Saturday February 24 1996 kiwi Airlines Flight 45 took off for West Palm Beach Florida [Applause] 58-year-old Frank Black was on board black owned and operated a successful school bus and transportation company in Andover New Jersey thank you he had made millions and was on his way to Florida to meet a new industry contact black told his family and co-workers he would be home Monday in time for another meeting [Music] he also told them that his contact in Florida a woman named Mia Giordano was to pick him up at the airport you doing good good she would take him to meet others involved in a lucrative business deal privately black hoped to retire after closing the deal [Music] when black failed to return on Monday his family contacted the New Jersey State Police detective Sergeant Lee Liddy was one of the state detectives assigned the missing person's case he was the kind of guy that he would always phone home he always wanted to know what was going on with his business he was a Hands-On type of guy without Frank the business really didn't run and that's why they were concerned when they didn't hear from him all of a sudden he disappeared because Frank wasn't the kind of guy who would just walk away from his business Jersey investigators interviewed Black's daughter lyanna and his girlfriend and office manager Sally Roberts lyanna said her father had missed an important meeting with her to discuss the sale of his business he also had not answered calls to his cell phone [Music] the call that the woman from Florida Mia Giordano had phoned the office many times recently but never left her number Florida woman claimed to represent a company named Valdez exporting Giordano provided a description of herself so black could recognize her at the airport she said she was five foot one and blonde foreign visited the travel agent who booked Black's trip [Music] the agent confirmed that black purchased a one-way ticket to Florida he didn't bother to rent a car since his contact had arranged to pick him up Airline records corroborated that black had boarded the flight but he had not registered at any hotels upon his arrival in West Palm Beach an examination of Black's records revealed that his credit cards had been used after his arrival in Florida [Music] to follow the credit card Trail New Jersey detectives contacted the Fort Pierce Office of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement FDLE special agent Michael Driscoll was assigned the case Frank Black's credit card was used at the Embassy Suites in Riviera Beach between approximately one in the morning and two in the morning okay now we're talking about from February 24th into February 25th and then at four o'clock in the morning his credit card a different credit card but his Frank Black's credit card was used to purchase gas at a gasoline station in North Miami to investigators this seemed odd since he hadn't rented a car the state agent interviewed the employee who had worked on February 25th [Music] when shown a photo of black the attendant said he didn't recognize him the station's pumps all had credit card slots no one would have had contact with black or whoever was using his credit card the employee didn't recall seeing anyone fitting me a Giordano's description Driscoll contacted the Florida Secretary of State Corporation division to get an address for Valdez exporting Mia Giordano's company okay he found no such company registered in the state he also attempted to locate Mia Giordano herself we did a very extensive search to identify any Mia Giordano in Florida and we couldn't find any I believe Amia Giordano's in Florida or any that would even come remotely close and we checked Florida as well as New Jersey and with negative results on March 1st a detective from the New Jersey State Police traveled to Florida where Frank Black's Trail ended nobody had heard from black in five days detectives now believe the millionaire had met with Foul Play [Music] their most likely suspect a woman calling herself Mia Giordano was untraceable investigators Focus turned to the phone calls black received on the days leading up to his trip to Florida we obtained the phone records of Frank Black which identified phone calls from a residence in Jupiter and the residents in Jupiter was rented it was a town home rented by a girl identified as Lisa Costello [Music] she wasn't blonde but she was five foot one Mia Giordano had described herself as being exactly that height the calls from Lisa Costello matched the times when Mia Giordano allegedly phoned black to set up the meeting in Florida Mia Giordano was a fictitious figure she never existed and she was supposed to set up the deal with Frank Black Mia Giordano was actually Lisa Costello investigators took Costello's photo to the hotel where Black's credit card had been used on February 25th the resort was on the Strip at Riviera Beach the state agent asked to speak to the clerk who had been on duty the morning in question amount of time while he waited he checked the phone that had been used with Black's credit card like the gas pump the phone required no signature from the customer just a credit card anyone could have made the calls Karen Voorhees had worked the front desk on the morning in question but she did not recognize a photo of Frank Black she did recall waiting on another customer that morning and around 2 A.M a dark-haired woman asked for a room the hotel was booked so she used a pay phone several times to query other hotels [Music] new time Frank Black's credit card was used at the phone Voorhees described the woman as being in her 30s with brown hair and standing a little over five feet tall thank you Driscoll showed Voorhees a photographic lineup of Six Women without hesitation the clerk picked out Lisa Costello Lisa Costello was now really the primary suspect I mean we did have some evidence on her that then we checked the car rental agencies by the West Palm Beach airport and found out that Lisa Costello rented a car just shortly before the time that Frank Black's flight arrived investigators found the car at the airport rental lot [Music] search by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement but examiners would find no trace of Frank Black in the car there was no physical evidence linking Lisa Costello to the missing businessman let's get down here Florida investigators began covert surveillance on Lisa Costello they followed the suspect for days to establish a routine and determine her contacts they soon learned that Costello was dating a man named Alan mackerly foreign [Music] like Frank Black he also owned a bus company in New Jersey but was now living in Florida the two men had known each other most of their lives over the years Alan macerly and Frank Black built up a rivalry the two bus companies are about 10 miles apart so even though they each had their own contracts in their own business they were always vying for the same contracts in the same business own records indicated recent calls to Black from Macer Lee's Florida home seemed strange since the two men were Fierce rivals [Music] detectives went to speak with the manager of Black's bus company Sally Roberts said black and mcerly used to be friends but their business rivalry had made them enemies [Music] she detailed the last time she had seen the men together it was at an industry banquet in January of 1996. she and Frank were talking with friends when she saw mcalee approaching angry that black had stolen one of his major bus contracts mcerly threatened his rival foreign he said he was going to get him and put him under that could mean put him out of business and it could also possibly mean he was going to kill him someday black took the threat seriously afterwards he wouldn't go to any meeting that mcalee might attend unless he had someone with him investigators contacted mcalee to ask him if he had seen or spoken to Frank Black recently mcalee flatly denied calling him in the day's preceding Black's trip to Florida him denying that and US knowing phone phone calls have been made from his house to Frank Black's business obviously uh indicated something was wrong [Music] investigators believe that mcalee and Costello had probably killed Frank Black but they needed stronger proof [Music] they turned to assistant state attorney Robert balangee one of the first investigative tools that the FDLE wanted to use was wiretaps so you have to show a really compelling reason for listening to someone's telephone conversations so we drafted those applications and orders and obtained an order allowing us to listen to Alan macerley's telephone conversations fortunately investigators heard very few phone conversations between mcaleen Costello this was because Costello was now living with mcalee if they were talking about Black's disappearance it wasn't over the phone in order to record any incriminating conversations investigators would have to bug macarlee's house assistant State Attorney Lawrence merman hoped they had enough probable cause to get inside being able to actually enter someone's home and plant a listening device is extremely restrictive and in a probable cause that's required is very high the situations that would warrant that are very limited this case actually presented that situation a judge signed the warrant and investigators planted listening devices in mcalee's home they set up outside watching and listening got it hopefully the couple would discuss what happened to Frank Black Alan mcarly and Lisa Costello were extremely cautious investigators believe the couple knew they were listening and every time that we would uh hear them starting to talk they would turn the radio up in the kitchen loud so we probably have several hundred hours of tapes with nothing with put music on it once again investigators came up empty-handed our chief assistant State Attorney Dave Morgan had even commented to me after we failed to get anything on the wiretaps it looks like Alan mcalee's gotten away with murder Alan what are you doing with Black's body still missing mcerally and Costello could elude authorities as long as they maintain their silence in June of 1996 Florida State agents believe that Alan Macomb and his girlfriend Lisa Costello had murdered 58-year-old millionaire Frank Black but investigators had little evidence against the couple and Black's body was still missing [Music] um they checked morgues in Palm Beach Broward and Dade counties where black was last known to have traveled there were no unidentified bodies matching Frank Black's description if macerally and Costello had killed black they had covered their tracks well foreign Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent Michael Driscoll expressed his frustration to his friend FBI special agent Jay Miller we used to play racquetball together and he'd ask me about how this case was going and I tell them you know a little bit about it not not a whole lot and he'd say well if you ever need a hand and I'd be happy to help out in June of 1996 special agent Jay Miller asked to be assigned the case out of the FBI's Fort Pierce resident agency and even though we were close friends initially I did not know a lot of the details about uh Frank Black's disappearance but as I could sense his frustration I was able to elicit more information about the case and uh we were able then to come to an understanding that we needed to look at this thing again from the start [Music] they'll investigators believed mcalee killed black over a disputed buzzing contract wiretaps and listening devices had failed to tie him to any crime investigators best lead was still Black's alleged meeting with Costello perhaps if subpoenaed and confronted with the evidence she would turn automatically it was a gamble that could jeopardize their entire case by giving anyone in this case Lisa Costello a subpoena it compels her to come in and give information and it gives her immunity hypothetically if she came in and admitted she killed Frank Black she would be immune from that statement you could not use that statement against her foreign on June 13 1996 Lisa Costello appeared before a Florida grand jury when questioned by state attorneys she was uncooperative and hostile the judge cautioned her that if she did not answer she would be jailed for contempt [Music] Costello ignored his warnings [Music] investigators believed her refusal to cooperate confirmed she was involved in Black's disappearance but it would take more than a hunch to solve the case [Music] the gamble to subpoena Costello backfired now that mcalee's closest Ally was sitting behind bars investigators had no potential witnesses to turn on the suspected murderer lacking further leads or physical evidence the case against mcerly might never make it to trial special agent Michael Driscoll and his team were determined to keep this from happening we heard information that let's just say from a confidential source that there was a witness who wanted to talk but was concerned about one that Witnesses own involvement into Alan mcalee's violence felt that Alan macley was a violent person and that maybe there'd be retaliation if this unknown and unidentified witness would talk that witness was Bill Anderson a former Marine pilot Anderson was one of Alan mcalee's closest friends agents interviewed him at his home in Florida just down the street from mcalee Anderson had also owned a bus company in New Jersey and had been a commercial pilot after a decade of military service so now we had two investigators Driscoll and myself and a prosecutor a Land Jake all being Marines and then the person who we believe could be the key to solving the case Bill Anderson being a marine and so I think there was some camaraderie right there from the start investigators felt that Bond would help them develop Anderson as a witness he told the agents his friendship with mcalee had been strained recently but he was reluctant to detail mcalee's relationship with Frank Black the agents felt Anderson knew something that could break the case wide open there was a little hesitancy on his part we took it easy on and gave him a little space gave him the opportunity to do whatever he needed to do to confer with counsel or whatever in our minds we knew that we were talking to the man that had the answers and he wasn't telling us the agents met with Anderson on many occasions and slowly won his confidence they knew he was loyal to his friend Alan mcalee but they felt his sense of Honor would eventually cause him to turn [Music] despite Anderson's lingering doubts agents believed he was ready to talk by early August they suspected a subpoena would help him justify turning against his friend in my experience good honest hard-working people that that flew fighter jets in the Marine Corps would have a difficult time going under oath before the whole world and God and lying about it investigators had to take the chance like Costello if Anderson had any part in the crime his statements could not be used to prosecute him for murder [Music] uh five months after The Disappearance of millionaire Frank Black investigators had little evidence to support their theory that black was murdered by his business rival Alan mcalee looking for a fresh lead investigators subpoenaed macherly's close friend Bill Anderson [Music] Anderson had been reluctant to talk but after a month the former Marine's sense of Honor prevailed he began by telling investigators that Alan mcalee had purchased a plane earlier that year mcalee asked Anderson to become his Private Pilot since Anderson had experienced flying fighter jets and commercial airliners in exchange Anderson could use mcalee's plane as he wished [Music] in March of 1996 while staying at a hotel in Leesburg Florida to supervise repairs on the plane Anderson was contacted by mcalee his friend said he needed him to take the plane out over the ocean Anderson explained that the aircraft would be grounded for several more days he suggested they rent another plane mcalee insisted on using his own plane he didn't want anybody else to know about the flight Anderson asked why mackerly told Bill that he had shot Frank Black and that they had wrapped his body up in plastic that they had taken the body out in the ocean and thrown it out in the ocean and that the the bag did not sink and he went on to tell Bill that it didn't sink so he took a knife and stuck some holes in it and uh the body did sink [Music] Mercury told Anderson he was worried that the body had surfaced he wanted to fly over the area to make sure it hadn't [Music] Anderson refused Anderson was shocked I mean I I think he was truly shocked Anderson again was in the bus business as was mackerly in Black and uh Anderson and black were not friends Anderson did not like black in the least either but still over a business rivalry you don't kill somebody according to Anderson mcalee murdered black in the foyer of his house [Music] the former Marine pilot confirmed what investigators had suspected all along it was The Big Break in the case I mean this was the moment we were all waiting for and I remember explaining to him right away that Bill we're going to have to do covert recording of you rehashing this conversation with Alan Mercury without a body or murder weapon they would need mcalee's confession on tape Anderson's testimony was good but in court it would be his word against mcaleese Anderson told prosecutor Robert Belanger that he was reluctant to wear a wire he was afraid of mcalee because he admitted that he had just killed someone and mackerly had also told him about a an acquaintance up in New Jersey that got convicted of a crime because someone wore a wire and he told Bill Anderson if anyone ever wore a wire on me I'd kill them the investigators promised Anderson Police Protection he agreed to wear the wire the plan was to lure mackerly to Anderson's house you'll be okay don't worry about it yeah FBI techs wired Anderson for sound and hit a video camera in the kitchen when the equipment was in place Anderson called mcalee he told him he'd been served as a peanut and wanted to talk about what he should do mcarly said he would be right over [Music] in case something went wrong agent Driscoll would remain hidden in the house to protect Anderson when the team outside saw mcerly approaching they would radio Driscoll to hide well in a minute while waiting investigators spotted telephone repairman [Music] mcalee was paranoid about being bugged if he saw the workers he might think they were undercover agents we knew that if he came to that house and saw these Telephone Company trucks that it would have been all over as far as the investigation macerly would be there any minute the investigators quickly ordered the repairman to leave they then concealed the dig site the investigators made it back to the car just before mcalee pulled up the investigators tried to alert the men in the house but they received no response they radioed again still nothing [Music] they had no way to know if Driscoll had received their call [Music] he hadn't the agent had seconds to hide come in [Music] Anderson led mackerly to the kitchen and sat down at the table as planned [Music] he showed mcalee the subpoena [Music] immacalee was hesitant to talk [Music] he wouldn't talk loudly he was pointing to the walls and saying Whispering like this no nobody know but enough Whispering so that he couldn't be heard in Anderson's house not that he suspected Bill Anderson but because he expected that the police were everywhere [Music] they were detective lyddie and the others listened to mcaleen Anderson from the car they had a discussion about what Bill Anderson was to testify to and whether or not Bill Anderson should lie for Alan macerley Bill Anderson even asked Alan macerley that if he did refuse to testify and was put in jail if Alan macerley would come forward and then tell the truth and Alan mackerly assured him that he would mcalee didn't want to continue talking in the house he led Anderson outside this whole thing was supposed to take place at Billy Anderson's kitchen table and no place else and so when he heard Alan mackerley say let's take a walk we were concerned that he was walking Bill Anderson out somewhere to eliminate him you told anyone else what he told me no nobody the property was lost covered with dense foliage will you come they could have walked anywhere but McKelly unknowingly walked Anderson close to the surveillance team my car is parked only a matter of probably 80 or 100 feet from mcarly and Anderson and we could hear distinctly on the transmitter their footsteps as they walk through the gravel and they walk closer to my vehicle with very little coverage concealing my uh my vehicle the four of us sat there Frozen in our car wondering is this whole thing going to be blown because he's going to see us their case and their cooperating witness were in Jeopardy I'm sorry if the investigators were discovered they might not be able to protect Anderson from macerley's Rage investigators in Florida watched as cooperating witness Bill Anderson met with murder suspect Alan mcalee Anderson was wearing a wire trying to get mcalee to discuss the murder of Frank Black [Music] New Jersey Detective Lee Liddy feared what macerly might do if he caught a glimpse of the nearby investigators the two of them walked outside which was very tense for all the investigators involved because at this point we have no control over what happens or where they go or what they say and because they were walking and because of the pant leg of Bill Anderson rubbing in the movement of the clothes it was very difficult to pick up conversation so at that point we really weren't sure what was happening before mcalee could spot the surveillance team Anderson steered him away investigators now had incriminating statements on tape but not a direct confession they needed more mcalee's alleged accomplice Lisa Costello remained in jail she had been charged with contempt of court three months earlier for refusing to honor her subpoena agents would seek information from a friend to increase the pressure on the Hostile Witness [Music] they interviewed Costello's former roommate she said Costello used to deal cocaine [Music] sedative Roofing which is odorless and tasteless depending on the dose rufinol can relax a person or render them unconscious FDLE special agent Michael Driscoll believed Costello sedated Frank Black with the drug we suspected matter of fact from day one that at some point Lisa and Frank Black may have gone to dinner or for drinks and she was able to do that because he would not he Frank Black would not willingly unknowingly go into Alan mcalee's house hoping this information might pressure her into talking a prosecutor met with Lisa Costello in jail he told her that if she didn't cooperate she would not have immunity she could be charged with murder Costello remained silent despite the warnings of prosecutor Robert Belanger and Lisa Costello could have walked out of that jail cell any day simply by coming out and honoring that subpoena and telling us what she knew about the case but she was a tough enough witness that she sat in jail on a civil contempt despite Costello's silence investigators pressed on assistant State Attorney Lawrence merman felt they were ready to arrest we had a an ear witness to a confession who was a very close friend of the defendant we had a motive we had circumstantial evidence it was a very strong case on August 29th agents began aerial surveillance on Alan mcalee Brown team assembled around the perimeter of the suspect's house they made sure he was alone inside that evening the arrest team positioned themselves by his door [Music] they would wait until he emerged to take him down in the open when he stepped out with his dog the team struck his stun suspect offered no resistance seven months after Frank Black vanished Alan mcalee was arrested for kidnapping and murder with no physical evidence prosecutors prepared for a difficult trial when mcalee's arrest hit the news they received a call from a man with information on the case the man agreed to give a statement but sanitation was Alan mcalee's son-in-law said he'd received a call from mcalee on February 25th the day after black arrived in Florida mcalee asked him to come over to help him clean his house [Music] [Applause] [Music] nadasian arrived on Monday February 26th he saw that machalee and Costello had already begun major Renovations in the foyer the carpet had been ripped up and parts of the wall had been removed zero the first thing to do is we need to take this man sanitation told prosecutor Robert balangee that mcalee explained why Alan macerley told Rob sanandasian Frank Black was at my home last Saturday and even San andasian knew the relationship between Alan macley and Frank Black and expressed some surprise why would why would Frank Black be at your home and Alan clearly didn't want to talk about it he just said given the O.J Simpson trial DNA evidence we got to make sure there's not even a hair of Frank blacks found in this home sanitation swore that he never saw any blood special agent Miller asked if sanitation had questioned McKelly about what had happened his response was something to the effect that he didn't have to ask his father-in-law that he knew something really bad it occurred there in the house and that they were in fact cleaning up a mess they used an industrial vacuum cleaner to clean the entire area then mcalee asked sanitation to help him haul the debris to the local dump [Music] sanitation told investigators that he and McAuley discarded sheetrock Carpeting and even the vacuum cleaner in the Martin County landfill his statement corroborated Bill Anderson's story Anderson told us that mcalee had told him that he had killed Frank Black in the entry to his house and now we had sand Asian telling us that immediately after Frank Black's disappearance he was summoned to that house to do a remodeling job or a makeover of the foyer area right where Anderson States immaculati said he shot Frank Black in the middle of August an Evidence recovery team arrived at the landfill based on records investigators were able to determine where the items were likely dumped six months earlier on February 26th the recovery team searched for anything that could be traced back to mcalee's home for three hot days investigators scoured a specific area of the landfill the landfill management was able to determine by the date exactly where it was and it was in a spot that was actually feasible and possible that we'd find it so we did that we got the equipment with the Sheriff's Office crime scene and so forth and we dug it up and we found carpeting that we believed was from mcalee's residence investigators found portions of sheetrock and a vacuum cleaner that matched the description sanitation had given they brought the items to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement forensics laboratory for analysis despite their strong suspicions lab analysts were unable to conclusively match any of the items to mcalee's house technicians also processed macary's foyer and retrieved traces of what appeared to be blood unfortunately DNA markers found in the samples could not be exclusively matched to Frank Black's DNA it was another dead end investigators still had no physical evidence agents pressed on continuing to build a strong circumstantial case for State prosecutor Belanger by further corroborating sanitation story about the cleanup the FBI went to Walmarts and Kmarts and got receipts where Alan mackerly was buying bleach and Comet and cleaning supplies and trash bags and duct tape and all the tools and implements he needed to clean up a crime scene just before trial investigators received disturbing news Martin County jail inmates claimed that mcalee had hired someone to Kill Bill Anderson mcerly knew that if he could prevent Anderson from testifying prosecutors would have to drop their case early in 1997 murder suspect Alan mackerley was held without bond for the murder of Frank Black while he was behind bars investigators learned he had ordered the murder of witness Bill Anderson as of that point Curie for Bill innocent tremendously increased and we began making arrangements to have pillow and his wife go into the federal witness protection program mcalee's would-be Hitman would not be a reliable witness in court so attempted murder for higher charges against mcalee were dropped Alan mcalee's trial began on January 20th 1998. [Music] even without the victim's body Florida State prosecutor Robert Belanger was confident in the case there is case law going back to Old England where murders have been prosecuted without a body successfully and the courts have said that we don't reward people because they successfully disposed of the body you can still prove death through circumstantial evidence like any other fact in the case by persons habits and routines by the fact that they didn't pack for a long trip by Declarations of intent I'm going to go to Florida all these things combined demonstrated pretty conclusively that Frank Black was dead nevertheless that is a source of frustration the prosecution's main witness Bill Anderson recalled what he knew about Frank Black's murder prosecutors filled in the gaps and detailed the events of February 24 1996. the last day black was seen alive [Music] 's lover Lisa Costello picked up Frank Black at the West Palm Beach airport that evening she took him to mcalee's house on the pretense of meeting other business partners black was unaware that he had just stepped into the home of his bitter rival [Music] while Costello and black discussed the lucrative business deal prosecutors believed Costello dropped a capsule of rufinol into his drink came down for downfall if you'd like I'd be happy to Black would not have noticed the powerful sedative is odorless colorless and tasteless [Music] the two talked while Costello waited for the drug to take effect [Music] as planned mcalee took over at that point he had Costello remove Black's wallet hey why don't you go get changed later they would use his credit cards to create a false Trail for police black was powerless due to the heavy sedative finally in control of his rival mcalee's hatred boiled over in the foyer he put a gun to Black's head [Music] mackerly had to get rid of the evidence he wrapped the body and murder weapon in plastic using one of his power boats he would later dump the body about 16 miles offshore took the body out about 20 miles Anderson testified that mcarly said he had to stab through the plastic and Black's body several times to get it to sink he then returned home to finish cleaning up he tore out anything that had been stained by blood or human tissue foreign using bleach they scrub the entire area clean [Music] Anderson's testimony was bolstered by powerful circumstantial evidence [Music] phone calls linking macerally in Black Robert sanadasian's story of the cleanup and covert recordings from Anderson's house I thought it will rise how do you find a dependent it was enough to convince [Music] on February 4th 1998 they found Alan mcalee guilty of kidnapping and murder [Music] after mcalee's trial prosecutors turned to Lisa Costello faced with murder charges she finally gave a full statement as to the events that led to Frank Black's death ultimately she entered a plea to third degree murder and false imprisonment which are lesser included offenses she was sentenced to 10 years in the Florida State Prison [Music] an appeals court overturned macerly's kidnapping conviction finding that Frank Black traveled to Florida on his own volition but the murder conviction stood Alan mcalee was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole Frank Black's body has not yet been recovered his killer Alan mcaleen will never go free [Music]