This presentation is an in-depth study of the 1980s pension fund scandal that occurred in the city of St. Louis and the hostage-taking event involving a St. Louis police officer as the hostage taker and a police commissioner who was the hostage. This event inspired the movie "The Negotiator." The study has been a three-year project involving interviews with the hostage-taker, the on-scene commander, four of the five negotiators, the hostage's sons, the newspaper reporter who conducted an interview immediately following the incident and several hostage rescue team members. Research included police reports and newspaper and television news footage.