Secrets Behind Gas Station Kidnapping-This Day In Norwood History-March 16, 1979

It was a short story, one that may have been passed over by most readers — a story in the Evening Globe of March 16, 1978, about the kidnapping of a suburban gas station attendant.

Yet the story that could not be written at the time was that it also was one of the best-kept secrets in recent police history.

The incident began at 4:40 a.m that March morning when three men drove up in a van into the Ro-Jo Mobil gas station on Providence Highway in Norwood

The attendant. 60-year-old Michael F Rindini of Norwood, was at the gas pump when one of the men pulled a gun and ordered him into the back of the van.

The gunman then assumed Rindini’s duties at the pump.

A short time later, two security guards. John W. Cherry Jr. and Francis Grandone, both of Norwood, pulled into the station.

The pair normally patrolled the many car dealers’ lots along the busy roadway.

One of the guards asked the phony attendant, “Where’s Mike?” The attendant muttered an excuse about Mike not being around, but the guards became suspicious.

When they continued to ask questions, the man suddenly panicked, pulled his gun and disarmed the pair. He told the two men in the van with Rindini to drive off and then jumped into the guards’ car and fled.

At that point, the guards ran into the office and notified Norwood police of the kidnapping.

Rindini was driven to Shawmut Road, Canton, where he was dropped off and the van abandoned. The gunman in the van fled in the security guards’ car which had followed the van.

Rindini ran to Dedham street, stopped a passing truck driver and was driven to the Dedham police station, where he reported the incident.

However, the real story is not so simple to unravel.

It began months before in December 1977, when an FBI undercover agent taking part in Operation Lobster learned that a Polaroid truck loaded with film valued at $1 million would be hijacked on its way from Norwood to New Jersey.

The plan called for the Polaroid driver and an armed guard, who normally followed the van in a private car, to be kidnaped and later dropped off.

Under its security program, the Polaroid Corp, had an armed guard not in uniform follow each truck over the road to its delivery point to forestall hijack attempts.

The hijackers told the undercover agent they were after the film. “If you get it, and we can peddle it, we may be able to use it,” they were told.

The agent learned later that the shipment was to be hijacked the morning of March 16.

At that point, James Shea, head of security for Polaroid Corp., was called in. Shea noted Polaroid has some 20 plants along Rte. 128 and that the firm would have to determine which plant was shipping film that particular morning

A quick check revealed that the shipment was being made from the Norwood plant.

Protection for the shipment was being provided by a guard who, as part of a regular routine, would be driving up from New Jersey. Shea told the undercover agents that the guard usually stopped at the Ro-Jo station to fill his gas tank and would then drive to the plant.

The procedure at that time had the guard drive into the plant yard — where his car would be recognized — and then swing right around, following the truck out onto the road.

(Polaroid has since changed its security measures in this regard.)

The hijackers knew of the procedure and planned to kidnap the guard, put their own man in his car and follow through, later halting the truck and taking it to a “drop” where its contents would be sold. FBI agents and state police worked out a plan to foil the hijack.

Shortly before 1 a.m. on March 16, an unmarked van carrying an FBI agent, a state trooper and a photographer, pulled into the gas station.

They told Rindini they had been driving over the road for several hours and asked him if they could sleep in the station’s parking lot.

Rindini granted permission, and they drove the van to a spot where they could film everything that happened at the station later in the morning.

The photographer filmed the arrival of the gunmen and the capture of Rindini.

“The attendant was at the pumps and had a can of gas in his hand when they grabbed him. We were afraid that if we came down on them, someone would start shooting * and the attendant could be killed,” one investigator said.

If an errant bullet had hit a gas pump, the investigator continued, “We’d have all gone up together.”

“We felt he was a lot safer in the van out of the way than involved in a possible shootout. Besides, these men (the hijackers) are pros. Historically, they haven’t harmed anyone. They usually just took the driver’s license and threatened him,” the investigator said.

“In fact,” he added, “while in the van, Rindini was told ‘Don’t worry, we’re not going to harm you. We’re after someone else.’ ”

Rindini never saw the faces of the men who kidnaped him, according to a day attendant at the Ro-Jo station. He was aggravated by the experience, but was not hurt or harassed during the ordeal.

Instead, “he was treated like a gentleman ” by his kidnapers, said Jimmy Kilroy, who said he has talked with Rindini about the incident.

“Mike never saw the men. The people who did see anything were the two security guards,” Kilroy said. Rindini told Kilroy he was blindfolded when he was carried away from the station that night.

The undercover men reported the van was pulling out of the station lot and other unmarked police cruisers approached the scene, keeping the van in constant view as it traveled over Rte. 1 and onto Rte. 128.

“In each car was an FBI agent and a trooper. During the ride, the cars constantly drove up and passed the van and later dropped back again.

“In fact, Rindini was the best-protected kidnap victim in history,” the investigator said later.

As he was being dropped from the gunmen’s van, a cruiser was moving into the area to pick him up, but Rindini hailed the truck just before it arrived at the scene.

Meanwhile, Norwood police, who heard of a van being used in the kidnap, stopped the undercover agents’ van on Rte. 1.

Wielding shotguns, the Norwood officers ordered the three agents out of the van and told them to “spread eagle” themselves on the roadway.

As they stood over the men, one Norwood officer said he heard one of the three say, “Don’t shoot. We’re police.”

“When they did identify themselves,” the Norwood officer said, “it just didn’t make sense. I didn’t understand why they would watch a kidnap and make no move to stop it.”

Maybe now, with this story, he’ll understand what did happen that morning.

One of the Norwood patrolmen who responded to the call said he did not know the full extent of the incident until he walked into work yesterday.

“This morning (yesterday) when I came in they (other police officers) said, ‘Remember that incident last year?’ ” said officer Philip Devine. They told him the kidnaping was connected to the extensive roundup of hijackers that was cracked this morning, Devine said.

“I didn’t think that it would take this long,” he said about the investigation he was told then that federal agents were conducting.

“In the beginning, we were upset we may have fouled something up,” Devine said. “But they (federal agents) were very understanding and said from the information they received they knew we acted properly.”

Norwood Police Chief James F. Curran said he and about five other persons in Norwood knew about “Operation Lobster” last year when the kidnapping occurred.

In this type of extensive investigation “security is the biggest factor.” Although Norwood police didn’t know of the clandestine operation the night of the kidnapping. Curran said there was “excellent cooperation” between his department, the state police and the FBI.

But, it was essential that as few people as possible, even those in his department, knew about the invitation.

What was important for a successful roundup, he said was “security with all capital letters.”

By Paul P Feeney
Globe Staff

(All articles originally published in the Norwood Messenger)