Tyrannosaurus Sue-- The Extraordinary Saga of the Largest, Most Fought Over T. Rex Ever Found

by Steve Fiffer

Duffy was Sacrison's latest find, a Tyrannosaurus rex w h o m Larson

  named in h o n o r of the institute's "tenacious" lawyer.

  Over the Fourth of July weekend, Sacrison had been h u n t i n g

  dinosaurs on the private ranch where he had found Stan. There, on top

  of a steep butte, he had spied some ribs and vertebrae and a pelvic b o n e

  within shouting distance of the cliff where he had discovered the

  dinosaur w h o bore his n a m e . Certain this time that the bones were not

  Triceratops, he had quickly called Larson. Within a week, a crew of 12

  was excavating the institute's third T. rex in just over two years.

  Larson noted that the institute's good fortune in finding Sue, Stan,

  and now Duffy suggested that T. rex may not have been so rare as s o m e

  scientists speculated. He added that if the institute could afford to send

  a crew into the field for an entire summer, it could find a new T. rex

  every year.

  Heavy t h u n d e r s t o r m s h a m p e r e d the crew, as did the m u d the

  storms beget. Still, after about a week, Neal Larson a n n o u n c e d that they

  had already found about 25 percent of the skeleton, including s o m e

  skull bones, half of its backbone, and both of its shoulder blades. Duffy,

  therefore, qualified as a major find—the fifteenth T. rex ever unearthed.

  Peter Larson was quick to point out that only o n e of these significant

  discoveries had been m a d e by a degreed paleontologist, a not-so-subtle

  dig at the SVP's efforts to restrict amateurs and others associated with

  commercial collectors.

  Duffy the dinosaur, like Duffy the lawyer, attracted a good deal of

  media attention. Writers from Holland and Scandinavia came to Buffalo.

  Japan's Gakken Dinosaur Magazine also sent a team led by Yoshio Ito of

  the National Science Museum to cover the excavation. This magazine had

  already published a story by Ito about Sue, as had magazines throughout

  Europe. "Sue ou l'Affaire du Tyrannosaure," read one French headline.

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  "Dinosaurier in 'Lebensgefahr': Rechsstreit um Besitzanspruche an 65

  Millionen Jahre altem Fossil," trumpeted a German paper. "Steen des

  Aanstots uit de Prehistoric," reported a Dutch newspaper; a photograph

  of Wentz standing behind Sues skull accompanied the article.

  All m a n n e r of the American press was equally engaged. Nova, the

  award-winning Public Broadcasting System science show, sent a film

  crew to the dig, as did the less highbrow Hard Copy. Publications rang-

  ing from National Geographic to the National Enquirer also ran stories

  on dinosaurs.

  "Grave Robbers Are Stealing America's Dinosaur Treasures," warned

  the Enquirer. The article that followed began: "The hit movie Jurassic

  Park has boosted public interest in dinosaurs to an all-time high—and

  has also spawned a multimillion dollar crime wave! G u n - t o t i n g

  dinosaur rustlers are illegally digging up and selling fossils to private

  collectors for up to $5 million apiece." Neither Sue nor the Larsons were

  m e n t i o n e d , but the Enquirer quoted a paleontologist from the Utah

  State Bureau of Land M a n a g e m e n t w h o said, "It was r u m o r e d recently

  that a large carnivorous dinosaur was offered to a Japanese bank for $5

  million." T h e Enquirer also reported the sale of a stegosaurus to a

  "Japanese interest" for m o r e than $1 million. This was m o r e than

  r u m o r . In July 1993 the Associated Press reported that a Utah company,

  Western Paleo Lab, acknowledged that it had shipped a complete

  stegosaurus skeleton to Asia. According to the company's Jeff Parker, "a

  g r o u p of individuals" had hired Western Paleo Lab to prepare the spec-

  imen, which had been found on private land in Wyoming. Parker said

  that a Japanese c o m p a n y had purchased it for a m u s e u m that it spon-

  sored—the Hayashibara M u s e u m in Okayama. Under the terms of the

  sale, the specimen was to be m a d e available for scientific description.

  Many American scientists were outraged by the sale. "It would be

  totally unthinkable for us to sell bones to Japan," D o n Burge of the

  College of Eastern Utah's Prehistoric M u s e u m told the AP.

  The scientific community's criticism of the sale of one-of-a-kind

  fossils to private collectors at h o m e or abroad was understandable; in

  such hands, these specimens might never be studied. But why the out-

  cry if a fossil went from America to a foreign museum? For decades

  American m u s e u m s had been digging and collecting abroad, often in

  third-world countries. In recent years, these m u s e u m s had entered into

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  contracts that assured those countries retention of ownership of the

  specimens. Still, the bones often ended up in the United States for years

  so they could be studied and, often, displayed. Should U.S. m u s e u m s be

  criticized for robbing these nations of their national treasures?

  "There's definitely a double standard here," says Robert Bakker.

  Why? "Can you spell 'jingoism'?" he asks. "The high priests of American

  paleontology see a 'yellow peril.'" Bakker notes that Jim Madsen, a Utah-

  based paleontologist, m a d e sure his allosaur finds went to m u s e u m s in

  several countries. "They're being studied in 20 languages," Bakker says.

  "And that's good."

  In the meantime, tons and tons of bones discovered in America sit in

  museum or university storage facilities here, says Bakker. "The institutions

  simply don't have the funds to prepare them or the space to display them,"

  Bakker explains. He notes that it takes about 20 days to prepare a specimen

  in the lab for every day spent in the field finding and excavating it.

  The cost versus benefit of keeping a crew in Buffalo eventually

  forced Larson to make a tough decision. By the end of the second week

  at the site, the crew had not found Duffy's legs, pelvis, and large tail-

  bones. Most of the skull remained missing as well. The inability to find

  these bones was particularly frustrating because all signs pointed to

  their presence at the site. For example, the discovery of large teeth, c o m -

  plete with roots, indicated that the skull was somewhere nearby.

  Larson reluctantly halted the dig. "The rest of the dinosaur could be

  1 inch from where we stopped digging or 50 feet," he told the Associated

  Press. He stressed that he wasn't giving up. He h o p e d to enlist an oil

  company to provide special e q u i p m e n t that used electronic imagery to

  measure differences in the density of the soil. "Bone is generally less

  dense than rock," he said. "We just need to have something that gives us

  a direction to go in."

  Larson had hoped that he could refine his theories about sexual

  dimorphism in T. rex by studying Duffy and Stan together. Duffy

  appeared to be a subadult and even smaller than the gracile Stan, w h o m

  Larson believed was a male. At this point, however, Duffy was too

  incomplete to shed m u c h light on the subject.

  Incomplete as he or she was, Duffy did shed light on Larson's theo-

  ry about the social habits of T. rex. T h e fossil ha
d been found within a

  quarter of a mile of Stan. The two dinosaurs' positions in the strata were

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  TYRANNOSAURUS S U E

  similar, indicating that they could have lived at the same time. This

  appeared to support the theory that T. rex was not a solitary predator

  b u t rather lived in a family unit.

  Duffy's discovery came at the same time that Jurassic Park was

  breaking box office records and triggering even greater interest in

  dinosaurs. In the movie, scientists use 65-million-year-old dinosaur

  DNA to bring back the long-extinct creatures. This raises the question:

  Could Larson have taken DNA samples from Stan and Duffy or from

  Sue and Dad and Junior and Baby to determine if they were actually

  family? "It is possible to get DNA from some of the bones," Larson says.

  "We h a d talked about doing that with Sue. There are some labs that

  would do it. But Sue was seized before we had a chance."

  At the same time Larson told the Associated Press that he was tem-

  porarily a b a n d o n i n g the Duffy dig, he vented his frustration over the

  criminal investigation. "They're going to arrest us. They're going to

  bring charges in the next couple of months," Larson told the reporter

  whose n a m e , perhaps fittingly, was Kafka (Joe, that is). "And then we'll

  have o u r day in court. O u r fate will rest with 12 h u m a n beings at least."

  Larson added that he had been optimistic that Karen Schreier's

  n o m i n a t i o n as U.S. attorney would have put an end to the investigation.

  But the June raid had destroyed the hope that Kevin Schieffer's departure

  would stop the nonsense. "What's happened is they've spent so m u c h

  m o n e y on this n o w that they can't back out," Larson continued. "They're

  out for blood. They've got to get us because their jobs are on the line."

  T h e n for one of the few times in the 16 m o n t h s since the seizure,

  Larson revealed his emotions in public. "I'm so tired of all this," he con-

  fessed. "It'll be a relief when they bring charges. This back r o o m innu-

  endo a n d all this other crap is really getting old."

  The institute conducted about 20 percent of its business with

  Japanese m u s e u m s , so perhaps it was inevitable that the i n n u e n d o

  would eventually extend to Asia. In late September 1993, Assistant U.S.

  A t t o r n e y Ted McBride, Laurie Bryant, a paleontologist for the

  D e p a r t m e n t of the Interior, and Douglas Rand, of the U.S. Customs

  Service flew to Japan. There they spent 11 days talking with institute

  clients a n d the Japanese authorities. T h e trip infuriated the Larsons and

  Duffy. N o t only was it unnecessary, they argued, it was punitive—a

  frightening example of the government using its vast resources to

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  destroy the little guy by intimidating those on w h o m he relies to con-

  duct his business.

  By chance Neal Larson had been in Japan setting up a dinosaur dis-

  play at a museum when the government investigators arrived in Tokyo.

  He saw faxes regarding the investigation and contacted his brother back

  h o m e . About the same time, a Japanese client sent Peter Larson a copy of

  a 17-page U.S. Justice D e p a r t m e n t m e m o r a n d u m introducing the

  McBride team to the Japanese Ministry of Justice. "Fossils, which are p r o -

  tected under the law as cultural objects, were stolen from America and

  Peru," the m e m o asserted. The Justice Department noted three suspect

  specimens sold by the institute to Japanese customers—a Triceratops

  found on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, a Triceratops found on

  the Standing Rock Reservation, and a baleen whale found in Peru.

  Duffy called the m e m o "a lie, a wicked fabrication" and then let

  loose a litany of p o p culture references. "Robert Ludlum couldn't keep

  up with this conspiracy," he told the Journal. "There isn't a criminal

  m i n d short of Lex Luthor w h o could keep up with this." He added: "It's

  a perfect meld of Jurassic Park and Rising Sun What it boils d o w n to

  is that Ted McBride thinks he's Wesley Snipes." In the newly released

  movie Rising Sun, actor Snipes played a Los Angeles cop w h o went to

  Japan to investigate a murder.

  Duffy was incensed that someone had leaked the m e m o to one of the

  institute's customers. "If that isn't defamation, I don't know what is," he

  said. "My clients have never had the chance to defend themselves against

  this international smear campaign. It's paleontological McCarthyism,

  plain and simple This is the way people are put out of business by the

  Department of Justice." After being contacted by the McBride team, one

  Japanese client had already told Larson that it was wary of continuing to

  buy fossils from him with this cloud hanging overhead.

  For the second time in a little m o r e than a m o n t h , Larson publicly

  aired his anger. He told the Pierre Capitol Journal that there was no need

  for the McBride party's costly trip overseas. "We a n d the Japanese have

  already provided the U.S. government with information on all the spec-

  imens they are supposedly investigating in Japan," he said. "It's like they

  [the government] k n o w we're bad. They k n o w we're evil. They just want

  to destroy us any way they can. But they aren't charging us with any-

  thing because once they do, then we have rights—to see their allega-

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  tions, to look at their alleged evidence. If we go down, we're going to go

  d o w n fighting. But they're never going to destroy us."

  With the Justice D e p a r t m e n t already u n d e r fire for its raid on the

  Branch Davidian c o m p o u n d in Waco, Texas, Duffy intoned: "I do not

  want Peter Larson to become the David Koresh of paleontology." He

  echoed his client's sentiments that it was time for the U.S. attorney to

  end the investigation and bring the inevitable indictments. "I just wish

  we could get t h e m into court," Duffy said. "Let t h e m bring their best

  lawyers from Washington—by the Greyhound busload if that's what

  they want. Right n o w we're stuck in a nether world."

  So was Sue. Thus, on October 11, the three-judge panel from the

  Eighth Circuit heard oral arguments in the institute's appeal of Judge

  Battey's ownership ruling. Three years a n d two m o n t h s had passed since

  Sue had been discovered. Eighteen m o n t h s had passed since she had

  been seized a n d stored at the School of Mines. "Regardless of what hap-

  pens, paleontologists on b o t h sides agree that this is a tragedy," Duffy

  told the court.

  Six weeks later the grand jury ended the institute's stay in the nether

  world. "Hill City Fossil Hunters Indicted," a n n o u n c e d the Journal on the

  day before Thanksgiving, 1993.

  T h e 33-page, 39-count indictment n a m e d the Black Hills Institute

  itself, Peter Larson, Neal Larson, Bob Farrar, and Terry Wentz as defen-

  dants. Eddie Cole, the Utah fossil collector, and his wife Ava were also

  charged for their alleged role in one transaction, as was a Californian

  with w h o m the institute had d o n e business. O n e
h u n d r e d fifty four sep-

  arate offenses—148 felonies and 6 misdemeanors—were alleged. If con-

  victed of all crimes, Peter Larson faced up to 353 years in prison and

  $13.35 million in fines.

  What had Larson and his partners done? On its cover page, the

  indictment listed the following crimes in capital letters: "CONSPIRACY,

  ENTRY OF G O O D S BY MEANS OF FALSE STATEMENT, THEFT OF

  G O V E R N M E N T PROPERTY, FALSE STATEMENTS, WIRE FRAUD,

  OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE, M O N E Y LAUNDERING, INTERSTATE

  TRANSPORTATION O F STOLEN G O O D S , S T R U C T U R I N G and

  C M I R [Currency or Monetary Instruments Reporting] VIOLATION."

  The fossil hunters may not have worn suits and ties to the office, but

  as Mandel would later say, "This was basically white-collar crime." The

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  institute defendants were charged with 14 separate instances of illegally

  collecting fossils. But the majority of the alleged offenses were related to

  what the Larsons and their partners did after they collected the fossils. As

  portrayed by the government, the defendants engaged in a sophisticated

  conspiracy to commit fraudulent criminal activity that included every-

  thing from falsifying documents about where the fossils had been obtained

  to laundering money gained from the sale of fossils to violating customs

  regulations. The conspiracy extended from Hill City to Peru and Japan.

  How many of these counts were related to Sue? None. Sue was not

  even mentioned in the indictment.

  The irony of this was not lost on Larson. The government had justi-

  fied seizing Sue because she constituted evidence necessary for its crim-

  inal investigation. In its first opinion the Eighth Circuit had clearly stat-

  ed that the government didn't need the bones to carry out that investi-

  gation. Then the government had admitted that the Antiquities Act—the

  statute it had principally relied on in securing the initial warrant—did

  not apply to this case. Now the prosecutors themselves were acknowl-

  edging that there was no criminal wrongdoing with respect to the col-

  lection of the celebrated fossil. Larson could only wonder what would

  have happened if the government had never taken Sue. Would Williams

  or the Department of the Interior or the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe