The Harvard Crimson's Summer Postcards

Postscript: Israel Cuffed

NEW YORK — Law-abiding citizens everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief: America’s most wanted fugitive, whom I wrote about this week, has been brought to justice.  Or rather, he brought himself to justice.  All justice had to do was slap the handcuffs onto Samuel Israel III when the no-longer-missing former hedge fund manager showed up at a police station in Southwick, Mass. yesterday, bringing an end to a three-week long manhunt.

The utter lack of romance that has pervaded Israel’s flight lasted to the end.  There was no car chase.  No heated hostage negotiation.  No shootout.  Instead, when the not-so-smooth criminal got tired of living out of his RV in a campground, he unceremoniously rode his scooter up to the nearest police station he could find and told the cops he’d had enough.

What made him finally surrender?  Perhaps he discovered that debilitating chronic back pain and pacemakers don’t mix well with a life on the run.  But more importantly, he talked to his mom.  Right before turning himself in, Israel called his mother, who encouraged him to end to his flight, and then alerted federal marshals that her son was done even before he could get the scooter over to the station to do it himself.

What an appropriate conclusion to this peculiar tale.  Israel, a man who has blundered through life in a futile attempt to live up to his prominent family’s formidable legacy, finally called an end to his last hurrah when mommy told him it was time to go home. —Daniel E. Herz-Roiphe