Their were 2 FCC busts that I know of. There was one in the Little Falls/Singac area in approx 1974. Little Bit, Potlicker, and I think Ringmaster got hit. When the FCC (Popkins) was in “Little Bits” house, he took a right angle connector according to Little Bit. Ringmaster said “He must have been playing 1.3.5”.
This is a particular and coincidental happening in 1977 when the FCC was in the Clifton. The 2nd FCC bust happened around 1977-78. We used to have coffee breaks in Roy Rogers in Clifton on Rt. 46 every Saturday morning. A lot of CB’ers would go there. We all had our shirts on with our handles printed on them. One Saturday Sadie came running in and told everyone to go home and hide all your equipment "The FCC is here!!". She named a few people who got busted already. She described the FCC as in a gray van with the FCC insignia on the side. One guy had on a gray suit with a beard. The other guy was in a brown suit and holds a flash camera. The place was empty in minutes! Egg Shell, Sadie, Lost horizon, and some others got hit. I went home and wondered where am I going to hide all of my equipment. I lived on the 3rd floor of an old doctors house at that time. My landlord lived on the 1st & 2nd floor. The only way to get to me was if he opened the front door and let them in. When I came home to hide my equipment, I also got on the phone to tell Oscar. While I was on the phone, I was looking out the window at the street. As I was telling Oscar everything that was told to me, it actually happened in that order to me. I didn’t even realize that it was happening to me as I was telling Oscar .... “Doug, the FCC is around! Sadie and some others got hit already. They have a gray van”. At that particular time when I said that, a gray van pulled up in front of my house. I continued with…… “Then there’s a guy with a gray suit with a beard”. At that exact time, a guy in a gray suit gets out of the van. “There’s another guy in a brown suit with a camera”. At that exact time a guy in a brown suit gets out of the van. I didn’t realize it yet as I was telling Oscar all this. It’s actually happening. When I realized it, I told Oscar – “Doug, I can’t believe what’s happening now. As I’m telling you this, it’s actually happening to me. I just realized it now! I got to go!” Where am I going to go? I was trapped in my own apartment. The FCC rang the bell for 15 minutes straight. I was wondering when the landlord was going to open the door. The door never opened. He wasn’t home. The FCC finally left but a month later I got a letter in the mail from the FCC. They said that I was using pseudonyms of “Shadow 7” instead of using my calls. They wanted my calls. My calls expired but I didn’t tell them that. I gave them my old calls. They sent me another letter telling me that I can’t transmit unless I have a current license. I said ok and got new calls. Actually, I never got busted.
Not long after that the FCC also hit Fox-Car Electronics where I was working. Richie put all of his linears in a small room that had a dead lock. The FCC came in and wanted to search the whole building and they did. They checked out everything except that small room in the back. They asked Rich ……. "What’s in this room?" Rich told them that there’s nothing in there except maybe some paint cans and that he never went into that room and that it had always been locked ever since he moved into this store. The FCC wanted Rich to open the door. Rich didn’t know what to do at first. The FCC started yelling loudly to open the door. Rich said, he’ll try to find the key. He went to the front of the store and made like he was looking for the key. He bought back a lot of keys but none of them fit. The FCC tried them all. The FCC was pissed!!! They started yelling at Rich “I want this door open now!!!”. Rich told them "I don't know what else you want me to do. I don’t have the key”. The FCC had nothing else they could say and left. After they were gone Rich opened the door and all of the linears were safe.
