Crimes of the Century (TV Mini Series)

The Siege at Waco (2013)

Bob Ricks: Self - SAC, FBI

Quotes 

• Himself - Narrator : The entire scene unfolds before a live TV audience. The exuberance of a control room producer is tempered by the reality of the situation.

  Himself - Assistant SAC, ATF : It was quick. Didn't last very long. The structure, or the building, was shoddily made of plywood. I mean, it's like a... wooden match.

  Himself - Special Agent, FBI : We never stopped our negotiation efforts. We continued right up until I turned off the speakers on that last day at 12:35 in the afternoon.

  Himself - SAC, FBI : Everyone was in tears. We could all see the faces of the children; we all knew who they were, we'd seen them. And that's what we were dedicated to doing, was trying to rescue those kids out of there. And that had all gone up in smoke, and we knew that they were all dying, and there was nothing we could do about it.

• Himself - Narrator : In the smoldering wreckage of the compound, investigators recover at least 78 bodies, including David Koresh.

  Himself - Special Agent, FBI : It appears as though, um, his second in command, Steve Schneider, um, shot David Koresh in the head with a pistol, and then Schneider, um, turned the pistol on himself.

  Himself - SAC, FBI : The children themselves were mostly executed. They were either beaten to death, stabbed to death, or shot. David Koresh was never going to walk out of that place on our terms. It was doomed from day one that that place, which went by the name of Ranch Apocalypse, was... was destined to, uh, end up in flames.

  Himself - Narrator : In the aftermath of the tragedy, "not another Waco" became a rallying cry for the ATF. The agency improved intelligence gathering and reporting methods, and changed policy regarding who makes on-the-ground incident decisions. The FBI made changes, as well, forming a crisis response group to ensure complete coordination between its negotiators and tactical teams.