Operation Flagship
| Operation Flagship | |
|---|---|
| Part of Fugitive Investigative Strike Team (FIST) | |
Banner welcoming the fugitives to the convention center. The man wearing a war bonnet is a disguised deputy marshal. | |
| Operation name | Operation Flagship |
| Part of | Fugitive Investigative Strike Team (FIST) |
| Type | Sting operation |
| Scope | Domestic |
| Roster | |
| Planned by | U.S. Marshals Service |
| Executed by | U.S. Marshals Service, Metropolitan Police Department |
| Mission | |
| Target | Fugitives |
| Objective | To lure and arrest wanted people with outstanding arrest warrants in the D.C. area to an NFL game at RFK Stadium. |
| Method | Honeypot - wanted fugitives were sent invitations with free tickets to a game at RFK Stadium between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Washington Redskins. |
| Timeline | |
| Date executed | December 15, 1985 |
| Results | |
| Arrests | 101 |
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 invitation sent by the fictitious television company Flagship International Sports Television, (which had the same initials, F.I.S.T., as Fugitive Investigative Strike Team) 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.