| | Ronald | Butkiewicz | PA - Pittsburgh; NY - New York; NJ – Newark, Franklin RA | 1973 - 2001 | FALN, Parkway Bandits, Fraunces Tavern Bombing, Unabomber | Bombing, terrorism, Ed Fleming , FALN, Ronald Williams, fugitive, Jim Casciano | For the FBI Oral History Heritage Project sponsored by the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, Inc., which holds the copyright to the material.
Special Agent Ronald Butkiewicz served in the FBI from 1973 to 2001. This interview took place on March 23, 2009. Interviewed by Brian R. Hollstein
Born in rural New Jersey, SA Butkiewicz went to New Jersey schools including Seton Hall for college and law school. He was in one of the first classes at the new FBI Academy in Quantico, VA, and also one of the first classes with women. (He notes that one of the women, Burdena (DeWaard) Pasenelli, shot a “possible” during training.)
SA Butkiewicz’s first assignment was in Pittsburgh for a routine tour, followed by a transfer to New York. There, he started out in Domestic Intelligence, working the FALN bombing case. He then transferred to the Newark Field Office before transferring to the Newark Division’s Franklin Township Resident Agency in 1981. He remained at the Franklin Township RA until his retirement.
SA Butkiewicz expands on the Fraunces Tavern Bombing case from his volunteering for the special, investigating physical evidence, and the people identified. There was one incident in New Jersey involving the Unabomber that SA Butkiewicz worked on as well. He speaks of a Top Ten fugitive investigation and arrest, which resulted in his shooting the man and the effect that had on him both immediately and years afterward. (Some years later, he was awarded the FBI’s Medal of Valor.)
He finishes the interview with the story of a gang of bank robbers known as the “Parkway Bandits.” | Download PDF 1 | | |