CRIMINAL MIND > FORENSICS & INVESTIGATION

Beverly Hills Cop

Billionaire Boys Club

The first characteristic a forensic handwriting expert looks for is the author's initial stroke, the point when the pen first hits the paper. What direction is the pen moving? Is it angular, is it curved? Is it perpendicular, horizontal—what is it? Cursive is much easier to identify than hand printing. In the El Segundo case, Paul was working with two samples of printing. So although it took him more time to study, he was sure the two samples—written more than forty years apart—were from the same hand.

"In all those years," Paul said later, "the suspect's handwriting had not changed one bit. It was remarkable."

Based on what Paul found, Darren Levine wanted to press charges against the suspect. Paul had called Levine and explained that he was sure they had their man.

"Darren was thrilled," Paul recalled.

Paul was no stranger to high-profile cases. He was part of a large team responsible for taking down the infamous "Billionaire Boys Club."

Ron Levin

At the time, Paul was a fraud detective. He got involved with members of the Billionaire Boys Club when one of them, Ron Levin, became involved in the so-called production of a movie in which he ultimately reported all the equipment stolen. The entire production was a scam from day one, a con job Levin had devised. He had convinced a production company to loan him the equipment and then insured it under his name. After he had it supposedly stolen, he collected the insurance money and never paid the company back. Paul had set up a sting to buy the stolen equipment when he got word on the street that it was for sale (Levin had apparently gotten greedy)—but some time later, Levin was murdered, which opened up the investigation into the Billionaire Boys Club.