Little background: I never knew much about my father. I was given a story which explained things, shown photos and let it go. Basically I was told he was a petty criminal who nonetheless cared about me, which explained why he wasn't around.

Well that was till tonight. Someone asked me about my father and I gave them the same story I was given. They pulled at a thread, which I was probably always subconsciously aware of, so i Google his name. What I found... well lets just say "petty" isn't a word that applies. DEA, Federal appellate court documents, the name in a book detailing an organization.... if its him. The things that say its him are dates of some very significant events that mesh with vague time frames I was given (with the events severely downplayed).

Enter the dilemna. Do I keep digging? I already pulled the archived newspaper article, which lacks the one thing I'd be able to confirm on my own: a photo. My aunt is probably the only family member in contact that knows the truth. But seriously, she's had 29 years to spill it and hasn't. And depending if it is him and is true, there could be a tiny tiny bit of danger. Reopening ancient wounds, large sums of cash, etc...

So opinions?

 

if you keep digging, you will find things out and probably not like what you find. do you really want to know?

if it were me, i'd go on with my life. you are who you are, not who he is. you've gotten this far in life just fine, continue on...

 

Your story is vague enough to be interested, but not specific enough to offer help.

My biological dad was a deadbeat and wasnt a nice person, but decades after the divorce, he was a 9/11 responder on the front page of a state publication (read: hero).

That doesnt make him being a deadbeat go away.

If you are just doing a material pull, trying to gather information for historical purposes, go for it.

If you are trying to get answers to long lost questions about personal history with the man, let it go.

 

Its intentionally vague. I've prolly woken up some FBI intern somewhere with my internet searches and shared last name

From a personal standpoint, the only history I have of him are a few of those vague childhood memories we tend to have. All sensory with no real substance. Hell we're talking about age 0-10 after all. Finding out might explain a couple things that are ancient history and cannot be reversed without a time machine.

From a historical standpoint the possible sources are sketchy. Some in their veracity. Others in the "not a good idea to go ask" perspective. Not quite a dead end. But possibly difficult to navigate to the destination. Not even sure the public library would have a fiche of the newspaper articles which might contain a photo. Which I could verify.

 

Sent you a PM Kuro - photo's no but quite a bit more detail.
I wouldn't worry about "skeletons in the closet" - every family has at least one.........
mine probably has a bunch hiding in there.

 

Heh thanks Pete. I hear ya one the skeletons. But ya gotta admit we might be talking Elephant Size here

In all seriousness, what I did get from my father was a man loves his son and takes care of him as best he can. If these two men are one in the same, all I can be is even more impressed by what he did for me under some very difficult circumstances.

Not exactly a bad thing, no?

 

An apparent contradiction even a dichotomy......................
It is often so that men are split into two halves, one when dealing with family and one with "business", especially when the "business" involves criminal behaviour. The love of a man for his son and his wish to care for him is one world, the other is one which he would attempt to keep from you to protect you from it's evils. He did not wish to see you on that road, or discover the truth about his "other side" - often to keep your love and esteem as a father.
The world has judged him for his actions in one "world"
You are free to decide how you wish to remember him.
I think I , as a father, know how he would want you to remember him.

 

You're related to DB Cooper? Cool!

 

Things got slightly wierder. My aunt of course ain't answering her phone (must think I'm a bill collector). So i called my cousin. She, of course, is clueless to anything. But when I give her some of the background... Her husband's cousin ties into the whole shennagins.

Apparently her husband's cousin is (as in present tense) deeply involved in some of the things that went on. Still a dead end since my cousin-in-law, quite sensibly, turned tail and ran for the hills. But its very strange that my family and his ties in together

 

if your looking at it as similar to researching your great great great grandfather was at the alamo, and stabbed davey crocket in a drunken bar fight, keep on digging.

if its for the reason i think you are looking, everyone in that world is a little crazy, and not every customer can be satisfied, and there are no police to go cry to. the smart ones dont advertise, and when you start flipping over rocks you are a threat. if he was/involved such a big fish, the police will shake your extended family down worse than the criminals. the money was long ago spent or reinvested.

if you are positive you can stop at a published photograph go ahead.

I would drop it and leave the research to your kid (if interested) when the involved are dead./when your retired and crippled, with too much time.