In 1976, the movie Rocky went big at the box office and won Best Picture at the Academy Awards, James Earl (Jimmy) Carter beat incumbent Gerald Ford to become the President of the United States and Farrah Fawcett, Kate Jackson and Jaclyn Smith became television's hottest detectives. During this year, the City of Las Vegas, Nevada celebrated its seventy-first birthday and John "Jack" Miller was working for the Clark County District Attorney's Office assigned to white collar and conspiratorial crimes.
Along with the perpetual light of neon signs, Las Vegas was plagued by thieves and burglars. The public was scared and law enforcement was fed up. All having a stake in the reduction of these crimes, several agencies decided to put their differences aside and work together. The FBI had three guys close to retirement who needed a job to do. The DA's Office had money. The Las Vegas Metro Police wanted to clean up their streets. Together, they began the first collaborative sting in the state: Operation Switch.
For six months, Operation Switch ran out of an old pawn shop. Burglars and thieves would come in and the officers at the counter would buy their stuff. Miller was positioned at the Safe House where he did the record keeping. "My job was to pick up the theft and burglary reports in the morning, take them to the Safe House and review the tapes from the preceding day to match up the items with the victims," he says. "I'd take photos off the screen to give to the Metro officers to identify. We didn't want to ask (the criminals) their names in the store. So, Metro would ID." Miller wasn't always stuck paper-pushing. "When someone was sick, I would go with the troops in the morning, lying down in the van taking up a shotgun position." As time went on crooks continued to come in and sell their ill-gotten goods. In November, a group came in and the stakes got too high; the acquisition of the stolen item too sinister.
"One evening, late, we got a call from one of our regular customers. They said they had a car and were bringing it by to sell," Miller states. "We gave them the go-ahead." The four men arrived. "Three kids came in. One we knew–William McKinney. His street-name was Babra. They came in and Babra said these kids have this car and want to sell it. It was a beautiful Cadillac." A Metro officer working the counter went out to look at the car. He couldn't find anything wrong with it. Regardless, the officer had a feeling about it. "He asked, 'Is there anything wrong with this car? Is there any heat behind it?'" Miller explains. "The guy said, 'No, It's cool. We got it from valet parking at one of the casinos.'" They bought the car, drove it to the storage area and covered it with a parachute.
"The following Monday, we picked up the crime reports and there was still nothing about the Cadillac," Miller says. That was about to change. "On the news, we saw a story of a missing person. He was a Cadillac salesman and the license plate of the car he drove matched the plate on the car we bought. My hackles went up." The body of Bob Brooker, the owner of the car was found in the desert. Now the officers of Operation Switch were no longer faced with a property crime, but a homicide.
"We had been in business for about five months at that point and we were all getting pretty much burned. Eddie, who was in charge of the operation, said, 'we cannot hold this car. We have photos of the guys and evidence of possession of this victim's car.' So, Upper Management and Eddie got with the Sheriff and the attorneys who knew the operation and they agreed we had to shut it down." Not wanting to go out with a fizzle, the players began planning the Party.
"It took us two weeks from the time we found out about the murder until we had the party," Miller says. "Mostly to get the word out on the street." And get the word out they did. Each person who came into the Operation Switch's store was invited to the party. "Our clients would go up to the counter and do the transactions and they would be invited to the party at that time. We told them we were going to have some coke and broads and the big boss would be around." There was a picture of a corvette on the wall and the counter man would point to it and tell them they were going to give it away at the party. "It's a little warm, but will have good, clean, cold paper on it," Miller says they told each guest. They were also encouraged to bring anyone else who had been a customer. Little did they know, the coke they were promised was soda and the broads were female police officers. By word of mouth, the news of the party spread throughout the streets of Las Vegas and on November 29th, the festivities began.
The day of the party, Operation Switch's store opened like any other day. Clients had been told they couldn't just walk up to the door, but they had to call first. As each person arrived, they got buzzed through the first door just like in a jail. "Eddie told them he was going to frisk them for the safety of the Boss." Then they were led inside and buzzed through the second door which led to the counter. "Bobbie was sitting at the counter wearing a down vest and the guy would come in and they would talk for a bit," Miller says. "Then Bobbie would tell the guy there was a picture of the Boss on the door behind them. It was a picture of the Sheriff. The guy would turn and look. Then the wall would fall out and away and two or three of the biggest cops in the world would come out from the wall, spin him around, take him in the back, advise him of his rights and tape his mouth." The wall would be put back up and they would wait for the next call.
The murder victim's Cadillac wasn't the only thing Babra had to sell and Operation Switch's party was one he wasn't going to miss. His reaction to the picture of the Sheriff has stuck with Miller over the years. "When Babra came in, he did a triple take. He turned and looked at the door, then looked back at Bobbie, then turned and looked at the door, then back at Bobbie, then at the door and back at Bobbie. He tried to back into a concrete wall when the wall came down." Miller still thinks about Babra's reaction and has played it over in his mind many times since the day of the party.
Operation Switch was a huge success. "22 came to the party and were arrested," Miller states. "Some 58 were charged after being lured into the trap and 13 names were made public." The public's reaction was positive. "They were quite impressed," says Miller. "It even went onto the floor of the U.S. Senate. On January 6, 1977, the congressional record reflects the Senator said it was a joint effort which netted half a million dollar recovery and the arrest of 58 people." Several agencies working together on an undercover operation was almost unheard of in 1976. "It can happen with ingenuity on the part of the police and the spirit of cooperation in the agencies," Miller explains. "It was fun, but it was so exhausting. It was boring and terrorizing all at the same time." The most amazing thing about the Operation according to Miller, "We had three FBI guys, one DA and two from Metro; all with weapons and super-egos and no one killed each other."