Former Jewel Thief Helps to Right Wrongs through Support of Missing Children

Tuesday, March 18, 2003

Liberty News Online Magazine was pleased to attend a Press Conference sponsored by Public Relations Firm--TRANSMEDIA Group. In a very posh and elegant setting at the exclusive St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan, Walter T. Shaw, former cat-burglar extraordinaire and Sherry Friedlander, founder of the not-for-profit organization, A Child is Missing, collaborated to educate the public about very pertinent information on home security and missing child and persons issues.

On hand to lend their support were some of HBO’s hit series “The Sopranos” cast members: Vincent Pastore, “Big Pussy Bonpensiero” who said, ”he’d show up anytime to support a good cause”; Tony Ray Rossi, “Fred Peters (aka Fabio Patchullo)” who appeared in the Emmy winning “College Episode 5” last season and fellow Soprano cast member Robert Funaro “Eugene Pontecorvo” who’s currently ready to direct the play “Etta Jinks” staring Maureen Van Zandt fellow actress from the Sopranos.

Also in appearance were actor Chuck Zito from another HBO hit series “Oz”; Frank Vincent who starred in the movies “Goodfellows and Casino” and actors, Nick Puccia and Joe Palumbo.

These television and movie “wise guys” showed up to sing the praises of a bad guy gone good!

Walter Shaw, who has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show; TV news magazine, Inside Edition and in various print media, including Reader’s Digest, is described as the “best of the best” in his former profession. Shaw a.k.a. the Ninja, is purported to have founded the infamous Dinner Set Gang of jewel thieves, (which had been around South Florida since 1968) - so aptly named for their ability to burglarize residences at the dinner hour while unsuspecting individuals were at home.

Shaw who has left the criminal life behind and now uses his skill and knowledge to teach homeowners how to protect themselves from home invasion and theft, gave praise to “A Child Is Missing” and, along with his lovely wife, Diana, presented Ms. Friedlander with a $2000.00 check from the proceeds from the sale of his DVD, “It Took A Thief To Stop A Thief“, which was released in January. He tells homeowners valuable information about what criminals know about alarm systems, lighting, window and other security issues that can them protect their homes. Shaw said, “The children are the jewels of the world; that’s why I support this cause.”

Sherry Friedlander established the “A Child Is Missing” in January 1997, and for the past six and one half years, has been providing Florida law enforcement and other states, namely, Rhode Island, Alaska, Ohio and Colorado, with a first responder program for the recovery of missing children, the elderly and the disabled. She says they’ll be going into twenty more states by October 2004.

So far, thirty-seven missing children and Alzheimer’s patients have been recovered in the last 18 months. This was usually done within 1- ½ hours of law enforcement activation of the program. The program is simple: an officer calls the office of ACIM, gives them the pertinent information about the missing child, such as: description, clothes worn, place missing from and time last seen.

An individually recorded message is made by ACIM technicians and phoned out to the area the child was last seen in. A Child is Missing is able to place up to 1000 calls in less than 5 minutes. There is a 98% listen rate by residents who answer their phones. Residents or businesses are asked to call police with information they may have witnessed about the missing person.

A Child is Missing is used 90% more than the Amber Alert for the missing. It is a first responder to the missing, where Amber Alert must meet the stranger alert criteria before activation. As recent events concerning the Elizabeth Smart abduction has pointed out, a rapid response to numerous individuals is critical.

Ms. Friedlander gave an example of a 3 year- old child abducted from her home bedroom on a Sunday morning at 9:00 am. After the call was made and dispatched, the captor released the child at 11:00am. An eleven -block search, including kids on bikes, was responsible for the quick and timely rescue of this child.

In another case, an 89-year-old elderly women in Brighton, wandered into a warehouse in 90-degree heat. Within a short time she was found and safely returned home. The phone calls are the alarm system.

She also stated that the 24 to 48 hour wait time is a myth. “If police don’t listen, call the sheriff’s department or the Attorney General.” She says, “ 1 out of 42 children who are abducted, are murdered in the first 2 to 3 hours “.

For the safe return of our missing loved ones, time is of critical importance, indeed. ACIM stands ready 24/7, 365 days to assist law enforcement agencies, both large and small, in the search and early recovery of missing children, disabled and elderly, suffering from Alzheimer’s.

This is the only program of its kind in the country given to law enforcement by a non-profit organization. Please visit A Child Is Missing website: www.achildismissing.org.

Walter Shaw ‘s contribution will go a long way to helping our missing children and elderly be found safe and unharmed.

The presentation was followed by a question and answer session where Mr. Shaw fielded questions by the Press.

Walter Shaw truly has what Oprah Winfrey described as a “Sopranos thing going on”. Attired in a dapper pin-striped suit; his hair combed back and hands graced with fine diamond gold rings, at age 55, appeared quite a dashing figure as he was flanked on either side by two seemingly mafia-esque, young capos attired in sharp, black suits, black shirt and white ties. If you think of him as possessing the same charm and dazzle of a real life mobster, ”wise guy” or dapper don--you’ll know what I mean. With the debonair of a John Gotti, this man is both a “wise guy and street-wise”.

Although Shaw described how easy it might have been to enter a home and in less than eight minutes, make off with a stash of jewels and minks which later amounted to an estimated career haul total of almost seventy million dollars, he clearly told how homeowners could have prevented theft by taking steps to ensure that their homes were secured--by turning on the alarm system while at home, installing motion detectors, better lighting and more secure locks.

Our Liberty News Magazine Editor, Abbey Muneer, poignantly asked Shaw what motivated him to change his life around. Shaw said that the turning point came fifteen years ago when his father told him “You don’t have to continue your vendetta to society”.

Walter Shaw’s life is also being made into a feature film called, “All for Nothin”. Conceived 14 years ago by his father, it was originally to be filmed in Canada, but Shaw felt obligated to make it in Florida where all the events happened.

The film honors the life of his father, Walter L. Shaw, the telecommunications pioneer. The film deals with Walter T. Shaw as a young man, seeing his father go unaccredited for his brilliant inventions, which included the technology for conference calling, call forwarding, speed dialing and the speakerphone during the 1930’s and 1940’s, thirty years before anyone else.

It chronicles how the younger Shaw set out to right the score through a career in crime for which he has clearly atoned. And how he spent 11-1/2 years in prison, although he was never caught and was convicted solely on circumstantial evidence.

“I got into the gang because of the injustice committed to my dad”, he said, explaining that his father was an inventor who was cheated out of the profits of his patents by corporate robber barons. He said he also got out of it because of his dad.

Behind every good man is a great woman. The woman in Shaw’s life is his lovely supportive wife, Diana. When asked what has made the difference in her husband’s turn-around in his life, she too pointed out his father’s legacy.

Walter L. Shaw Sr. should have been able to live out the American Dream. He had all the right tools of genius and inventiveness to achieve untold wealth. However, it’s been revealed that greedy corporate hucksters, who, not unlike what we’ve seen these days, cheated him and his son out of their rightful place of wealth in the telecommunications industry.

I can only think of what could have been, if not for this travesty. Imagine--Walter T. Shaw--a brilliant mind in his own right, who, at the age of seven, was taking apart alarm systems that his father invented and was putting them back together again, heading a telecommunications company that generated a billion dollar revenue earner per year. Imagine--being featured in Fortune magazine’s top billionaires club. Imagine--all the trappings of wealth life as a captain of industry could have afforded him. And what about untold prosperity to successive generations? The question begs to be answered. Who indeed robbed whom?

After speaking with Shaw, I was left with the impression that although he has dealt with the lifelong pain of a society who once cheated his father out of his rightful due to fame, fortune and renown as an inventor, he has now made peace with the adversarial ghosts of the past. And although he was once estranged from his father, they too settled their peace before his father passed away in 1996 from cancer.

For Walter Shaw, in the telling of his brilliant father’s story and through his own notorious and then reformed and atoned life, his father’s legacy leaves untold wealth in the hearts and minds of those of us who’ve stopped to hear and appreciate his story.

Shaw exudes a genuiness and goodness that one would reserve for someone who has always lived an exemplary life. I sensed at the heart of Walter T. Shaw is a sincerity and decency that will always shine above his once infamous life in crime.

We can only hope that history will repeat itself in Shaw’s reconciliation with his own adult son who has, just as he did, found his own way to notoriety.

What a jewel of a man. He sparkles from the heart brighter than the million dollar diamonds he had been accustomed to purlioning. We wish you much success with your movie and if not Ben Kingsley portraying you, then definitely consider Kevin Spacey to play the lead role. I believe there is a striking resemblance.

How many of us have felt cheated from the call of our rightful place in life. None should judge. But should be wholly inspired as I am by the ability of one man to turn around what was meant for bad to a life of extraordinary good.

Walter Shaw’s story is one of inspiration and hope. To paraphrase what was once said on an Audrey Cohen College advertisement placard that graced New York subways--“ It is never too late to be what you always might have been”.

Walter Shaw, Liberty News Online’s staff wishes you God Speed and God Bless! May you continue to have the Midas touch and may everything you do turn to 24K gold!

To purchase the DVD “It Took A Thief To Stop A Thief”, check out website: www.allfornothin.com. Or contact Carolina Lammersdorf or Andrienne Mazzone of TRANSMEDIA Group at website: www.Transmediagroup.com for further information or bookings of Walter T. Shaw.

Abbey H. Muneer is the Executive Director of H.A.D. Organization of New York City, Inc., a world-famous athlete, author and, above all, a humanitarian. Abbey will write articles about charity events, benefits, fundraisers and galas which are raising money for humantiarian causes. If you are interested in having Abbey and one his staff members cover one of your charity events, benefits, fundraisers or galas, feel free to notify us one week in advance, at LNEvents@hadofnyc.org, or telephone us at (718) 507-7616, between the hours of 8:00am and 8:00pm e.s.t. and ask to speak to Abbey or Maria. If you would like more information, or would like to have Liberty News Online Magazine consult your next charitable event, please feel free to visit our website, at http://www.hadofnyc.org/store/success.html, email us at humanitarians@hadofnyc.org, or telephone our hotline, at (718) 507-7616, between the hours of 8:00am and 8:00pm e.s.t. (U.S.A.)