Word: ransoms
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Under a searing African sun last July, Eritrean rebels burst into a U.S. naval radio station near Asmara, Ethiopia, and seized Steven Campbell, 27, a civilian technician, and another American, James Harrell, 41. The kidnapers' apparent motives: extort ransom from the U.S. and end American aid to Ethiopia. They dragged both men across 100 miles of desert in twelve days to a tent outpost. There the guerrillas held them virtually incommunicado on a diet of rice and canned vegetables...
...works as a parts Inspector at an International Harvester tractor plant, Len Campbell first prodded the State Department to negotiate for his son's release. Officials told him of the U.S. Government's policy of not bargaining directly with or paying ransom to terrorists, but assured him that everything possible was being done. This was not enough for Campbell, who now says: "I never thought the State Department would do anything...
...made four personal pleas to the rebels, including a radio appeal that Radio Ethiopia never broadcast. He went on U.S. local television more than 30 times for interviews and personal entreaties. When the rebels threatened to execute his son last fall unless the U.S. handed over $5 million ransom and dismantled its military bases in Ethiopia, he stepped up his appeals to the State Department, but it would...
...help pay for a trip for himself and another son to the Sudan, where he hoped to meet with the rebels. He speeded up his plans when the guerrillas announced that they would kill both captives at the end of April unless they got $3 million in ransom. Campbell finally reached Khartoum late in the month accompanied by two British journalists, who had befriended Steve in captivity, while covering the rebels. The newsmen brought along a documentary film they had made on the Eritreans. Campbell's bargaining ploy was a promise of publicity for the rebels...
...track down the heir, there is a pretty piece of change in it for her As Blanche and Lumley pursue the loot they discover that the Rainbird heir is a prosperous young jeweler named Adamson (William Devane), who combines his passion for gems with a taste for kidnaping. Ransom for his victims is demanded-and delivered-in the form of precious stones. The profit margin is high, and Adamson's personal life flourishes too: criminality sharpens his carnal appetites, which are centered mostly around Fran (Karen Black), his partner in bed and crime...