Foul Play

Quite a catch in California

The gang's modus operandi was direct and effective: two young men, disguised with wigs, hats, glasses, false beards and mustaches, and black stage makeup, would enter the banks wielding guns. While one commandeered the lobby, shouting profanities and racial slurs, the other would leap over the counter and scoop up the money. Outside, a man in a business suit waited calmly in the getaway car, a gray Mercedes. Said Sacramento Police Sergeant Jim Rodenbaugh: "They were the most intimidating, sophisticated, active group I've ever dealt with."

The break for police in this unusual case came last June, after a 16-year-old bungled a holdup of a Chinese restaurant. He was shot by the owner and, once captured, told police a tale with a twist straight out of Charles Dickens. He said the leader of the gang of some 20 young men, ranging in age from 15 to 25, was Spencer Sawyer, 31, a maintenance supervisor. An imposing figure at 6 ft., 230 Ibs., with a full beard and shaven head, Sawyer had formed the nucleus of his gang while coaching a Little League team about seven years ago. The gang members said he plied them, when they were only ten to twelve years old, with cash and drugs. By 1981 a growing circle of young men felt obliged to repay Sawyer's largesse. Working out of his apartment, Sawyer organized them into a roving gang responsible for at least 23 holdups in 18 months that netted more than $81,000. FBI agents and police finally closed in during a savings-and-loan robbery last August.

Sawyer's lawyer, Lloyd Riley, argued that the prosecution's portrayal of his client as a latter-day Fagin was "absurd. He doesn't have the mental capacity to execute such schemes." But U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton decided last week that the coach had indeed taught his team to steal more than bases. He sentenced Sawyer, who had pleaded guilty to two counts of unarmed robbery, to a maximum 30 years in prison. Ten gang members had earlier received four to 24 years. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.