How Redskins tickets and the Super Bowl led to 101 fugitive arrests 50 years ago

It’s been 50 years since Operation Flagship on December 15, 1985. The famous sting operation that resulted in the arrest of 101 fugitives using the lure of Washington Redskins tickets and the Super Bowl is being remembered now five decades later.

In 1985, around 3,000 fugitives in the Washington D.C. area were offered complimentary tickets to watch the then Redskins (now the Commanders) in a crucial Week 15 matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals. They were also told they had a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Super Bowl XX on January 26, 1986, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The temptation of a Redskins game and a chance to go to the big game was too much for more than 100 fugitives as they turned up in what was a trap laid by the U.S. Marshals and DC metropolitan police.

U.S. Marshals and DC metro police take down fugitives in Operation Flagship. | USMM

How it came together

As part of the Fugitive Investigation Strike Team (F.I.S.T.) which was nine operations over 1981-1986, invitations were sent to the last known addresses of the fugitives with more than 5000 outstanding warrants between all of them using a fictitious TV company called Flagship International Sports Television, Inc. to celebrate “the hottest cable station in America.” The stage was then set at the Washington Convention Center for the bust.

Operation Flagship letter — Invite letter for the fake Flagship International Sports Television, INC. | USMM

In the fugitives’ minds, all they had to do was show up to a free brunch beginning at 9:00am to claim their free tickets and free transportation to the game. With the Redskins winning back-to-back Super Bowls heading into that season, they were the hottest thing in town and getting tickets to a game at then RFK Stadium was tough.

When the fugitives showed up to the convention center, they were greeted by over 100 staff members disguised as ushers dressed in tuxedos, cheerleaders, emcees, caterers, mascots, and maintenance staff. A total of 166 marshals and police were involved.

To make the scene more believable, the undercover officers sang Redskins cheers and even had a mascot in a knock-off famous San Diego Chicken suit.

Marshals went all out in disguise like the San Diego Chicken mascot. | USMM

It’s now memorialized in a museum

The operation has been hailed as one of the largest and most successful mass arrests in U.S. law-enforcement history. Today, Operation Flagship is permanently memorialized at the United States Marshals Museum in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where original artifacts, undercover materials, and rare photographs from the sting are displayed prominently.

Ben Johnson, President & CEO of the museum talked about its importance in history:

“Flagship wasn’t just a clever operation — it was a defining moment in Marshals Service history. It showed the world that the Marshals could outthink, outmaneuver, and outsmart some of the most elusive fugitives in America. Preserving that story is preserving a chapter of American ingenuity.”

Some sports history

The Redskins won the 1985 game against the Bengals, with a final score of 27-24. The victory came after the Redskins overcame a 17-point deficit to win the game played on December 15, 1985.

While most people don’t remember that game, it is forever tied to the historic date of “Operation Flagship” 50 years ago.

The Chicago Bears would end up winning Super Bowl XX over the New England Patriots, 46-10, and there was no three-peat for Washington that season.

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