Most good journalists have a story they canât let go of, and my former Riverfront Times colleague Danny Wicentowski is lucky that his is one heck of a yarn. The 1972 hijacking that he first plumbed in a 2017 RFT cover story became a top-rated podcast and now a film. Read all about St. Louis' latest Hollywood closeup below.
One story Ryan Krull keeps coming back to is the way ridesharing companies have failed to protect local drivers from people with ill intentâand some St. Louis teens wrote the latest chapter to that story last week. Get up to speed on the latest today, and donât miss Ryanâs scoop on a questionable no-bid city contract now seeing new attention.
Follow me on Bluesky to keep up with the latest. Have a story idea? Reply to this email, or send a message to sfenske@stlmag.com.
KNOW SOMEONE WHO'D ENJOY THIS EMAIL? DIRECT THEM HERE TO SIGN UP.
American Skyjacker uses both actors and real-life participants to dramatize the 1972 hijacking of a flight out of Lambert airport. Film still courtesy of Pegalo Pictures
THIS JUST IN
âAmerican Skyjackerâ brings an incredible St. Louis true crime story to film
One of the most bizarreâand fascinatingâtrue crime sagas in 1970s St. Louis is now a feature film, headed soon to a theater near you. Unusually for a film aiming for a theatrical release, American Skyjacker is positioned as a documentary. It is not just inspired by the real-life events but actually features the real-life ex-con who put it in motion.
That man, Martin âMacâ McNally, was the subject of a memorable 2017 Riverfront Times cover story by Danny Wicentowski. It detailed how the 28-year-old small-time scammer, inspired by the notorious D.B. Cooper case, hijacked a plane out of St. Louis Lambert International Airport in 1972. He very nearly got away with it, too, parachuting out of the plane with a half-million dollars in his arms.
Now a producer at St. Louis Public Radio, Wicentowski has spent more than a decade digging into McNallyâs life story, which includes a prison escape and a second hijacking. Wicentowski was also host of the 10-part American Skyjacker podcast, which like the film was produced by Pegalo Pictures.
âI think this is just the peak way of experiencing this story, but one that also builds on the ones in the past,â Wicentowski says of the film. âThis is not going to be boring to anyone who's read or listened to this story before. ⌠It's a wild thing to say, but I think this is the best American crime story.â âS.F.
Andrew Ameer was killed in St. Louis while driving for Lyft. Photography courtesy of Simon Law
DEEP DIVE
Calls for more rideshare safeguards follow high-profile carjackings, lawsuits
Last week, a group of St. Louis teens carjacked an Uber driver only to be quickly released back to their families soon after being apprehended. The same teens then carjacked a Lyft driver. In both cases, the teens led police on chases in the stolen vehicles. Police have expressed frustration over the juvenile court releasing the kids to commit more crimes.
The story got attorney Johnny Simonâs attention for a different reason. Since 2022, the St. Louis attorney has represented Rochelle Ameer in her lawsuit against Lyft. Ameerâs son Andrew was driving for Lyft when he was killed in a carjacking attempt in North St. Louisâ Baden neighborhood.
For three years now, Simon has argued that rideshare apps need to do more to protect drivers. When Ameerâs son was killed, riders could make accounts using pre-paid debit cards and fake email addresses. Uber and Lyft both now appear to have verification processes for riders. But Simon says the system is clearly imperfect, with last weekâs double carjacking being a case in point. âMinors are not supposed to be on this thing,â Simon says. âI just would love to get an answer for that story, to give it real context. When were their accounts created? Were they verified? How were they verified?â
Why It Matters: Simon says that Uber and Lyft collect an enormous amount of data, but it isnât being put to use to make drivers safer. For instance, if an account is brand new or âweirdâ in some other way, why canât that be communicated to the driver? âThe driver can then either know that information and agree to do [the ride],â he says. âThey're not just lulled to their deaths.â A victory Simon recently secured at the Missouri appellate court could give ridesharing apps a financial incentive to do so: It treats the apps as products subject to Missouri law, rather than a service that bears less responsibility to users.
Whatâs Next: Among those citing Simonâs appellate court victory is attorney Michael Garland, who filed suit yesterday on behalf of Paul Winka. Winka became the unwitting getaway driver for a murderer while driving for Lyft. Lyft then kicked Winka off the app, claiming heâd participated in âillicit activity that resulted in harm or death of a user or third party.â His attempts to gather more information were met with silence, the suit says.
Garland alleges that Lyft has adequate ability to conduct background checks on riders, but doesnât do so. Read responses from Uber and Lyft in our online story. âRyan Krull
MATI 2025: Patti LaBelle, Common & Pete Rock, Leon Thomas, De La Soul
MATI weekend, September 12â14, features 100+ national, regional and St. Louis-based performances across 15 stages and venues throughout Grand Center Arts District. Weekend passes are on sale now.
SLPS promises smoother transportation after last yearâs rocky start (STLPR): The St. Louis Public School district says 100 percent of bus routes will be covered for its first day on August 18 thanks to new provider Zum.
Missouri student test scores see an uptick, but remain below pre-pandemic levels (Missouri Independent): The ânosediveâ that test scores took between 2018 and 2023 has ended, but the stateâs education commissioner says Missouri can do better.
Brain-eating amoeba lands Missouri water skier in the emergency room (KSDK): The person apparently contracted the rare, and deadly, infection while enjoying the Lake of the Ozarks. Such amoeba are rare, but could become more common due to warming temperatures.
From bold beginnings to lasting legacies, Black-owned businesses fuel our cityâs heart. Read their stories, honor their achievements, and show your support for the entrepreneurs making Maplewood stronger every day. Learn more.
Taste of St. Louis debuts in Clayton this weekend, with plenty of food festival competition. Photography courtesy of Taste of St. Louis
Around Town
âď¸ NOTED
âWeâre stuck here with a big hole in the ground, and our sewer line has collapsed. Weâre probably down forâitâs a moving targetâbut Iâm guessing five days to a week." âPappyâs co-owner John Matthews, speaking to STLPRâs Kavahn Mansouri. Heavy rain Tuesday triggered a sewer collapse that caused a large sinkhole in front of the beloved Midtown BBQ joint.
đď¸ THE JURY IS OUT
Since 2023, the city of St. Louis has been paying Physician Correctional USA $10 million a year to provide healthcare services at the city jail, a no-bid deal inked just three weeks after the companyâs formation. A number of other oddities about the cityâs choice of jail healthcare provider are now coming to light after the death of jail detainee Samuel Hayes. A wrongful death and medical malpractice lawsuit filed Tuesday places the blame for Hayesâ demise in part on Physician Correctional staff. Hayes died after being put in a restraint chair at the jail, and attorney Jack Waldron says that two of the people who interacted with Hayes while he was in the chair were nurses, presumably working for Physician Correctional. Waldron says that a detainee needs to have a full check-up in order to be restrained in such a way, but evidence suggests this didn't happen. âHe was in awful shape,â says Waldron, who has surveillance video of the incident.
Thereâs a whole heap of other questions about Physician Correctional. Its official business address is a 4,000-square-foot Fort Lauderdale waterfront home, the suit says, adding that until recently, the only way to contact the company was through a WhatsApp account âlinked to a cell phone registered to the chief operating officerâs wife.â St. Louis is the only place the company is in full-time practice in the continental U.S. Its parent companyâs contract to provide jail healthcare in Puerto Rico was recently terminated because of problems there. What those problems were, Waldron isn't sure, but heâs hoping to find out via discovery. The company didnât respond to a voicemail seeking comment and a spokesman for the city declined to comment. One person who has commented on Physician Correctional is former city health director Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis. She previously gave this testimonial on its website: âI offer my strongest and unequivocal endorsement to any jurisdiction seeking a correctional healthcare provider rooted in accountability, compassion, and excellence.â âR.K.
đ˛ THE FOOD SCENE
This weekend, Taste of St. Louis makes its Clayton debut, a tough adjustment for the eponymous city that previously housed it, but what can you do? Co-director Chuck Justus toldSLM in February that the festivalâs home at Ballpark Village didnât have a big enough footprintâand shutting down downtown streets would cost as much as $15,000. He added that the move was about getting the event âcloser to the population center of the greater St. Louis area.â Justus was also reckoning with a calendar increasingly crowded with food festivals, saying, âEverybodyâs kind of fighting for the same dollar.â For proof, you need only look at this weekendâs food festival lineup, which also includes not only Grub & Groove in Francis Park but the inaugural Pickle & Pint Festival in Maplewood and a new festival downtown called Foodies Eat First. The final one is the out-of-the-box concept, with options for different food vendors in the morning and evening and a mostly indoor setting at the Trust building at 401 Pine Street. While part of a food festivalâs appeal historically has been its al fresco setting, this weekendâs highs in the 90s may give the Trust buildingâs A/C significant appeal. More on this weekendâs options in our online story. âS.F.
.png?upscale=true&width=300&upscale=true&name=MATI_Primary%20Logo%20w%20Subcopy_Pink%20(1).png)
.jpeg?upscale=true&width=1120&upscale=true&name=STL%20Mag%20daily%20(1).jpeg)
