Football Sting

The authentic-looking invitations promised two free tickets to the Washington Redskins-Cincinnati Bengals football game. The recipients had only to show up for a pregame brunch at the Washington Convention Center. A wary reader, though, might have noticed that the sponsor, "Flagship International Sports Television, Inc.," had the same initials as the Fugitive Investigative Strike Team (FIST) of the U.S. Marshals Service. The guest list, it turned out, consisted of 3,000 Washington-area fugitives.

When the eager fans reached the center, tuxedoed U.S. marshals escorted them to an upstairs room. Playing on a giant screen were videotapes of the Redskins' 1983 Super Bowl victory. Deputy Marshal Louis McKinney, wearing top hat and tails, greeted the guests, then announced: "We have one big surprise for you. You're all under arrest." The stunned revelers were handcuffed, then jailed, the latest victims of a series of stings FIST has used to catch crooks from scofflaws to hardened felons. Yield from the Redskins ruse: 37 fugitives sought for parole and probation violations, and 61 others wanted for such offenses as armed robbery, narcotics violations and embezzlement.