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Today, I will begin the story of how the American government takes innocent victims, uses them in some nefarious scheme and then destroys the victim.I have changed all the names and people involved in these heinous crimes to protect the innocent and to prevent any lawsuits. So here it goes:

Torture and Terrorism In America Chapter I

It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents men from living freely and nobly. - Bertrand Russell

In January 1976, I answered an employment wanted advertisement in the chemist's trademagazine, Chemical and Engineering News. At the time I could never have realized whata dramatic effect that single action would have on my life. Since I was unhappy in mypresent position, I was actively seeking employment elsewhere and I would frequently sendoff a form letter to any company that advertised a potentially promising opening. Thus,when I routinely answered the Gamma Supplies' advertisement for a research chemist, I had no great expectations.

I had lived in Florida and taught at the University of Florida prior to my present position witha northeast coast chemical company. The drastic change in lifestyle and job responsibilities frommy Florida teaching position were a major contributor to my discontentment with my current job and I wanted to make a change before I became too settled in my present position. So after a little more that a year and a half with my present company, I had made the decision to moveon. The longer I spent in my present position, the harder it would become to move on. Since thejob market for PhD Chemists with industrial experience in plastics was becoming strong in thespring of 1976, I felt no real urgency to leave my present job, but I also didn't want to spend any more time there than necessary.

One evening in March, 1976, I received a call from Ravi Sardess, who described himself asthe Technical Director with Gamma Supplies. We primarily discussed my background and qualification and after a lengthy conversation, he told me he would like to pursue employment opportunities further. Ravi suggested we meet at the American Chemical Society (ACS) national meeting which was being held in New York City a few weeks later. I agreed to meet with him there and he said he would call me back with complete details on how I was to meetwith him. A couple of days later, I received another call from Ravi and he gave thedirections and time to meet him at a hotel in Manhattan instead of meeting him at the ACSemployment clearing house site.

The scheduled interview with Gamma Supplies representatives fit well into my plans since I had already made arrangements to attend the ACS meeting in order to use their EmploymentClearing House. The Employment Clearing House is a service provided by the ACSwhich allows prospective employers to browse through hundreds of resumes and thenschedule interviews with prospectives employees in a gymnasium type atmosphere over aperiod of two or three days. An interested employer can interview numerous candidatesfor any number of openings and the potential employees can talk to representatives fromseveral companies, large and small, from all over the country in the span of several hours.I had always felt this was one of the more useful services the ACS provided for itsmembers, and I used it whenever necessary.

One evening in March, 1976, I received a call from Ravi Sardess, who described himself asthe Technical Director with Gamma Supplies. We primarily discussed my background and qualifications and after a lengthy conversation, he told me he would like to pursue employment opportunities further. Ravi suggested we meet at the American Chemical Society (ACS) national meeting which was being held in New York City a few weeks later. I agreed to meet with him there and he said he would call me back with complete details on how I was to meetwith him. A couple of days later, I received another call from Ravi and he gave thedirections and time to meet him at a hotel in Manhattan instead of meeting him at the ACSemployment clearing house site.

The scheduled interview with Gamma Supplies representatives fit well into my plans since I had already made arrangements to attend the ACS meeting in order to use their EmploymentClearing House. The Employment Clearing House is a service provided by the ACSwhich allows prospective employers to browse through hundreds of resumes and thenschedule interviews with prospectives employees in a gymnasium type atmosphere over aperiod of two or three days. An interested employer can interview numerous candidatesfor any number of openings and the potential employees can talk to representatives fromseveral companies, large and small, from all over the country in the span of several hours.I had always felt this was one of the more useful services the ACS provided for itsmembers, and I used it whenever necessary.

I went to New York feeling very optimistic. First, I had just been given a performancerating by my present company and I was told I had received the second highest rating outof more than 50 employees evaluated. Second, the evaluations had been done at a timewhen the company was having financial difficulties, and the company was asking people toleave based on their poor performance.. The high performance rating would make memore attractive to other companies and the financial problems my present company washaving gave me a legitimate reason for wanting to leave. Third, the job market wasimproving rapidly and I already had Gamma Supplies expressing interest in me. Things were really looking up.

My first interview was with Gamma Supplies. I met with Ravi Sardess, the TechnicalDirector and Darth Korey, the Executive Vice President. Ravi was an Indian citizen,who had moved to the U. S., worked for a major oil company and then had become a consultantbefore finally joining Gamma Supplies. He was aggressive and obviously had a large ego, but helet Darth do most of the talking. Darth was a short stocky man who did not fit theexecutive role. He had a nervous laugh as if he was uneasy and it become immediatelyapparent that he had a very condescending attitude toward people. This attitude wasevidenced when I mentioned how much I disliked writing memos as a routine practice inlarge corporations. He proceeded to give me a lecture on why people wrote memos andused a crude analogy about people building fences. It wasn't so much what he said, butrather how he talked down to me in a manner which implied I did not know the purpose ofwriting memos. Otherwise, the interview went well and I was invited to visit Gamma Supplies in Chicago in April.

I approached my trip to Chicago as I did any other interview trip except that I was alittle more enthusiastic than usual. I had already talked to the two people who would bemaking the decision on whether I should be hired, and they apparently had been impressed.Upon my arrival at the Chicago airport, I was met by Darth Korey and Arnold Cline, the company President.. Arnold was a young man in his mid 30s, good lookingand had the appearance of someone who came from a wealthy family. In many ways hesharply contrasted the almost mobster like appearance of his vice president Darth. Aftera short exchange of pleasantries, Arnold said he would talk to me later and that Darth wouldtake me to the Gamma Supplies plant.

The day was clear and warm by Chicago standards. On the trip from the airport toGamma Supplies, we drove through the impressive, exclusive neighborhood of Blue Fish Bay on the shores of Lake Michigan. I was shown the impressive house that Arnold Cline lived inand was told that his father George T. Cline was also a resident of the community. Iwas very impressed by the magnificent homes in the area and remarked about how muchmore extravagant and diversified the homes looked compared to exclusive areas of eastcoast cities. I also commented about the nice weather because I knew what a pronouncedpsychological effect an areas weather can have on people and their life. I had seen vast differences in peoples' behavior when I lived consecutively in Seattle, Washington, a cityknown for its cloudy, cool climate and Gainesville, Florida, a Sunbelt city. I definitely didnot like the overcast Seattle weather. Darth assured me that although Chicago hadcold winters, it was free from overcast skies and it was sunny most of the time.

That day at Gamma Supplies was to be the first of many unusual ones to occur while I wasassociated with the company. First, I was told all the laboratory personnel were inChicago preparing for a foundry show at the McCormick building, and Darth talked atgreat length about their exhibit called the Gamma Show Boat. However, during the day while Iwas touring the laboratory, a couple of workers stuck their head in the door, starred at meand then went on their way. I later learned that those two men were laboratory personnel whom would later be reporting to me. But Darth did not even acknowledge the presence of the two men and made no attempt to introduce me to them. In fact, other than my briefintroduction to Arnold Cline at the airport, I only spoke with Darth and Ravi.

While on my tour of Gamma Supplies, I was told that Darth had planned to build up thecompany and Ravi and been hired to help in that program. The position that I was applying for was a first level management position with the title, Group Leader – Polymers. I was to be the only Ph. D. level personnel besides Ravi, and would be responsible for all laboratory work. I was to report directly to Ravi who in turn reported to Darth.

Since I had scheduled my return flight from Chicago for late that afternoon, Darth decided to take me to the McCormick building first to see the Gamma Show Boat exhibit. Whenwe arrived, we were greeted at the door by a man who said there had been a fire at theGamma Show Boatexhibit, and that Carl Host, the Gamma employee responsible for theaccident had been taken to the hospital seriously injured. After viewing the considerabledamage to the exhibit, Darth made a call to the hospital. He informed me that Carlwould be OK, but that he had some serious burns. We then went on the tour of the exhibithall, and as we talked I asked Darth who their major competitors were in the foundry industry. He was reluctant to tell me at first, but after more questions which indicated Iwanted an answer, he said Best Supplies Company. was the largest supplier of foundry binders. At the time, I couldn't understand his reluctance to answer such a seemingly harmless but highly relevant question.

After we completed the tour of the exhibit hall, Darth drove me directly to the airport. It was unfortunate for reasons other than the serious nature of Carl Host'sinjuries that I did not get to meet or talk with Carl. Carl Host was a tall, angular man in his 30s. He was a pleasant, non-aggressive person whom I nicknamed “the Klutz”. If an accident were possible, Carl would make it happen and be responsible for it. Years after I left Gamma Supplies, I learned that he was responsible for an explosion in Youngstown, OH which caused considerable damage to a newly acquired plant and the surrounding area. Ironically, the explosion was caused by a process and product that I had developed while I was at Gamma Supplies. Despite his obvious shortcomings, Carl had been with Gamma Supplies about ten years and was Darth's right-hand man. In fact, I believe it was Carl's non-aggressive, non-threatening nature that allowed a man like Darth to trust Carl. The reason it was unfortunate that I did not get to meet him is that if I had known Carl's stature in the company, I might have been curious as to why such a small company would need threetechnical managers – Rave, Carl and myself. But without directly talking to Carl, I hadto take Darth's word that Carl was just another laboratory worker I did not get to meet.

A few days after I returned home, Ravi called me and said they wanted to offer me thejob and asked what I would like for a starting salary. His inquiry about the salary was surprising to me for two reasons. First, on the ride to Chicago, Darth had mentioned that the salary for the position would be in the twenty six to twenty seven thousand dollars range. Second, I felt they should offer me what they thought was a fair, competitive salary. After much bickering, I said I would not accept the position for less that twentyfive thousand a year, and I would also like my wife, Anita to visit the area before I made any decision. Ravi acted startled by my salary demand, but he reluctantly agreed. A couple of days later I received a written offer containing these four major points: 1) The starting salary would be twenty five thousand dollars a year; 2) My title would be GroupLeader/Polymers; 3) My major responsibility would be to “build a laboratory group” and my wife and I were invited to visit Chicago for a house-hunting trip.

In mid April my wife and I went to Chicago to tour the area. Ravi, who was to be my immediate supervisor, acted as tour guide. The weather that day was a harbinger of things to come. The flight into Chicago was delayed be inclement weather and later inthe day, the airport was closed down for a period of time due to poor visibility. Driving was equally hazardous as visibility was reduced to no more than 25 to 30 feet. Anita was obviously upset by the inclement conditions, and I spent the rest of the day assuring herthat on my previous visit, the weather had been beautiful.

We were given plush accommodations at the Hilton where both my wife and I were hoping we would have dinner. However, when Ravi dropped us off at the hotel that afternoon, he told us Darth would pick us up for dinner and that we would be going to awedding dinner party! I was surprised and somewhat disappointed, but I said nothing.That evening, Darth accompanied by his wife and some relatives picked us up at the hotel. He proceeded to tell me and my wife that we were going to a testimonial dinner for a retired labor leader and that he was going to be the keynote speaker at the function. He made no mention of a wedding party.

At the banquet hall my wife and I were introduced to Arnold Cline, his wife Sharon and to George T. Cline and his wife. G. T. Cline, as he was called, was an elderly man with sharp features and was obviously the builder of the family fortune. His wife seemed like the stereotype of a business tycoon's wife. She was quiet, stayed in the background and probably spent her time as president of the Beautify Chicago Campaign or someother such worthy civic function. One thing was certain; G. T. was the power and controller behind the Cline enterprises. As the dinner commenced, the Cline family sat at one table and Darth, his wife and relatives and Anita and I were at another table. Ravi and his wife had not been invited.

By the time Darth was to give his speech, the crowd was throughly polluted with alcohol that had been flowing freely, and the people were loud and becoming obnoxious. No one seemed to care what Darth had to say, but he went on and read a speech called“Who Shot Santa Claus?”. I immediately recognized the speech as a recent editorial from Chemical and Engineering News. I sat there amazed and somewhat amused by the whole circus like atmosphere of the moment. Darth was so nervous he could hardly read the speech and he almost had to shout to be heard over all of the noise. He could have recited “Mary Had A Little Lamb” and no one would have known the difference. Yet,Darth was visibly nervous. I thought it was strange that an executive vice president would be so nervous reading a prepared text in front of such an uninterested audience. It seemed so amateurish.

After Darth concluded his speech, he sat back down next to me. I complimented him on his presentation, and then the conversation digressed to frivolous subjects. At one point Darth pulled out of his pocket a “for sale” advertisement for an elephant and explained how he was planning to buy one for his farm in Franklin, WI.

When the dinner concluded, the Clines congratulated Darth on his fine speech and then Arnold came over to me and proudly proclaimed , “ I wrote that speech, you know”. I was momentarily stunned because I had recognized the text as someone else's writing. I just mumbled something about how significant the message was and left it at that. Anita and I were driven back to the Hilton . We both felt relieved that the whole circus atmosphere of the evening was over.

The next day the fog had lifted somewhat and we could now see some of the area andhouses available in our price range. As we were driving around, Ravi asked me how was the weeding reception. I told him we went to a testimonial dinner instead and he reacted surprised. He then asked who else was there, and I proceeded somewhat reluctantly to tell him I had met the entire Cline family. Ravi asked a couple of more questions which I avoided and then the subject was dropped. This was the second time Ravi appeared to bein the dark about actions Darth had taken. The reason this struck me as being peculiar is that Darth had told me Ravi had a medical problem and that one on the reasons for hiring me was to be a back-up if anything should happen to him. Surely, if were being hired for potentially filling such an important position in the company, I would be expected to meetand talk with the owners. Also, Darth had said he had discussed the situation with Ravi and that Ravi was aware of the need for hiring me. But Ravi's apparent uneasiness with the situation puzzled me. I was not certain what was going on.

A few days later, after returning to my job on the east coast, I decided to accept the Delta offer. I had several other companies interested in hiring me, but none had met as many of my requirements as did the Gamma Supplies job. Gamma Supplies was offering me in writing a responsible management position, a good salary, a small company atmosphere and a new technology field that would provide a base for fulfilling my longer term objectives even if the Gamma position fizzled out. I took the position knowing there was a calculated risk involved concerning my career future, but the advantages far out-weighed the disadvantages. Besides, in my almost two years in my current position I had made a lot of outside contacts , and I knew I could always get a job just by contacting some of those friends. In fact, several of my outside contacts had discreetly inquired about switching companies while I was in my current position. If things did not work out at Gamma, I couldalways get another job and my career would suffer only a minor setback.

In June 1976, after my wife and I watched our belongings loaded onto a truck, we hopped in our car with our dog Fluffy, and headed for Chicago. We arrived two days latter at our temporary accommodations at the Holiday Inn. This location was convenient to my work place and was in the northern section of the city. Since we had decided on our previous trip that we would seek a house in the northern suburbs, the accommodations were also convenient for seeking a new residence. The next day I went to work and Anita commenced looking for a house.

The first day at work I moved into my office and Ravi gave me some literature to read about the foundry industry. I was totally ignorant about the foundry industry and knew only that Gamma Supplies supplied products to that industry. I had been told little abut the actual product lines sold by Gamma Supplies, but I had gone to the library at my former company and copied several reviews concerning the chemistry involved in foundry binders which was the major product line of Gamma Supplies.

The first few days I read and educated myself abut thepractices of the foundry industry. Interestingly, and somewhat disturbing to me was thefact that during my first week I was not introduced to a single Gamma employee; I came to my office, read, learned, asked Ravi questions, and when the day was over, I went home. It is highly unusual for a company to hire someone into a management position when hehas no experience in that field, but I naively rationalized that Gamma Supplies was not a major research center, and I felt they were fortunate to have someone of my educational background and ability to fill the position.

Among the deficiencies at Gamma Supplies was the lack of any library and an absence of sophisticated instrumentation. The former need was partially satisfied by the use of the Chicago Public Library which has an amazingly complete selection of chemistry books and a fairly complete set of U. S. patents. The need for sophisticated research equipment was primarily satisfied by the use of equipment at two State Universities – TheUniversity of Wisconsin, Blackwater, and the Chicago State University. Fate had placed my former office partner at the University of Florida on the faculty at Blackwater and a former student of mine at Florida was now a graduate student at Chicago State University. As a result, I was able to gain access to the research instruments at those institutions. I also had access to their technical libraries. Access to the facilities at these two universities was a major asset and coupe for me since chemical analysis done by outside laboratories can be very expensive and a small company like Gamma Supplies could not afford it.

The second week on the job provided even more surprises. First, Ravi came in myoffice and explained that Gamma Supplies was involved in a lawsuit with Better Supplies and told me to study a six inch thick patent file that had been prepared by a Chicago law firm. Now the significance of why Jordan had refused to talk abut Better Supplies during our tour of the McCormick exhibition hall was obvious; he didn't want me probing or digging into their relationship with them. Second, Ravi explained that he was going into the hospital the following week for open heart surgery, and he would be out of work for at least six weeks.The latter revelation was the first major news I was told that didn't come as a shock to me. Finally, Ravi suggested that I get busy in the laboratory and do some hands-on work.

The first revelation almost floored me and it caused me great concern. No mention hadbeen made of a lawsuit with a giant corporation like Better Supplies. I could see were a lawsuit could have major ramifications on a small company like Gamma Supplies. And Ravi's medical problem, which had been casually mentioned during an interview conversation, was obviously serious, but not necessarily life threatening. More importantly, his surgeryhad to have been expected and well planned in advance of my arrival.

His third revelation, that I was expected to work in the laboratory bothered me the most. I had been hired as a manager, and while managers in small companies frequently do hands on work, I had not been introduced to anyone as a manager and I still hadn't been introduced to any of the other laboratory personnel. I was really having second thoughts about the job, but I didn't want to leave a job in the second week. From a practical point ofview, it would have been difficult to do. My personal possessions were in Chicago and the shipping and storage charges were being paid by Gamma Supplies. I was living in accommodations paid for by Gamma Supplies, and I had just spent six months looking for a position and had notified all other potential employers that I had accepted another position.

Rejection of a job offer is taken very personally by companies, and my chances of reestablishing relations with one of the previously interested companies was nil. And although I didn't know it at the time, probably any attempt by me to extricated myself from my situation would have been futile!

Later that week, Ravi ushered me into the laboratory and introduced me to Jeff Tellerand John Mason. John was a slender, balding, energetic man in his early 40s. He had previously worked for Ravi at Wonder Oil. He had retained close personal ties with Ravi and had been recruited by Ravi to work for Gamma. His loyalty to Ravi and his know-it- allattitude was to become a major obstacle for me.

Jeff was a young, nice-looking man, a recent college graduate, and as I was to learn in time, one of the most immature people I had ever met. He was the type of person who would laugh if he saw someone run over by a truck. Jeff was instructed to assist me in learning the laboratory test procedures for evaluating foundry binder systems. He demonstrated the correct technique for making “dog bones” specimens for testing and he instructed me in the use of the testing equipment. Watching Jeff do the testing andevaluation of different binder products, showed me that there were major scientific procedural problems in practice in the lab.

Ravi then instructed me to practice the testing techniques by evaluating the Gamma Supplies “Rapid Set” system which was the object of the Better Supplies' lawsuit. It did not take melong to learn that the Gamma Oil “Rapid Set” system was significantly inferior to the Better Supplies “Fast Set” system. My results were in direct conflict with data John Mason had generated which showed the two systems to be competitive. At first, I attributed the difference to my poor beginners technique, but repeated efforts produced the same results. When I asked Jeff to see his data, I found Jeff's positive results were a product of an activeimagination and a poor interpretation of data. I began to understand why he had resisted so vehemently to show me his data. When I confronted Jeff with the conflicting data results, he rationalized the discrepancy as a result of batch to batch variation in the products components. This new revelation lead me to inquire into the source of the phenolic resincomponent of the Gamma Supplies system.

Ravi informed me that Tenneland Corporation manufactured some of Gamma Supply products because Gamma did not have adequate facilities to manufacture the phenolic resinportion of the “Rapid Set” binder system. I was to fly to Summerfield, Ohio with John Mason and to observe the manufacture on the phenolic component at the Tennelandplant. Ravi and John went on to explain that there was a problem with “Rapid Set”, and the problem appeared to be related to the phenolic resin component. According to them, attimes “Rapid Set” did not work at all compared to the Better Supplies “Fast Set, but sometimes the “Rapid Set” worked well. The difference in performance depended upon which Tenneland manufactured lot of phenolic resin was used. A cursory visual inspection of the phenolic lots from Tenneland quickly verified that the lots were not consistent and there was a great deal of product variation.

Most of the time, I saw very little of Ravi because he was busy writing a patent application based on the Gamma Supplies “Rapid Set” formulation. Later when I read the application, I was amazed to see the magnitude of the numbers reported in the application. Apparently John's active imagination numbers were being used in the application. Enhancing data data is a common practice in research laboratories in large corporations where there is plenty of places to hide and other people to blame when the product ultimately fails in the market place. John had apparently learned this lesson well at Wonder Oil and had continued this practice at Gamma Supplies. And now his inflated numbers were being used in the patent application.


In reflection, I was inundated with information and surprises during my first two weeks at Gamma. This was to become a pattern while I was there and it had a well defined purpose as I was to find out about a year later.