The hunt for the department store blackmailer “Dagobert” is one of the most spectacular crime stories. He fooled the police with his clever tricks. Today there are friendly contacts.
“Good morning, this is Uncle Scrooge,” says the caller in a fistful voice. “I’m sorry that I had to blackmail your company, but there was no other way,” he adds, sounding rushed.
Three days after this recording, which can be heard today in the Police History Collection in Berlin, the man is found standing at a Berlin telephone booth when he wants to give new instructions for the handover of more than 1.4 million German marks. Department store blackmailer “Dagobert” fooled police officers in Berlin and Hamburg for around two years with his sophisticated tricks. On April 22, 1994, the police popped the champagne corks – and the man being hunted was ultimately relieved.
“I didn’t think it would take more than two years,” says Arno Funke, around 30 years after his arrest. “I was out of steam. I didn’t want to go anymore. But I had no money,” says the now 74-year-old. The last thing he thought about was instructing someone to betray him – and then sharing the sum of money offered to him with that person.
Screeching tires to the phone booth
Ultimately, however, the police themselves managed to solve one of the most spectacular criminal cases in Germany. A satisfaction. After many failed money handovers, the officials were exposed to malice and the blackmailer increasingly became a “folk hero”. In a 1993 ARD survey, for example, 61 percent of respondents said they found the clever hobbyist likeable.
One reason was probably the sophistication of his technical designs, with which he repeatedly misled the police when attempting to hand over money. The police and the media called him “Dagobert” because he wanted to give the signal for handovers with “Uncle Dagobert greets his nephews” in newspaper advertisements.
“You went to sleep with Scrooge in your head and woke up with Scrooge in your head,” says retired police officer Martin Textor. At the time, the now 79-year-old was head of department in the State Criminal Police Office (LKA) and was responsible for the months-long and complex police operation, during which, for example, around 3,000 police officers observed telephone booths in West Berlin. Ultimately, it was the “criminological instinct” of two young police officers that led to Funke, says Textor.
When the investigators were sure that the trained sign and illuminated advertising maker was the person they were looking for, they observed him. On April 22, 1994, just before half past nine in the morning, the time had come: civilian cars drove up with squealing tires on Hagedornstrasse in Berlin-Treptow, officers jumped out of two vehicles and shouted: “Stop, stop, police.”
Folk festival in the police yard
Witnesses later reported that Funke was smiling. He describes the moment today as follows: “You shut down. You let it go. It’s like going to the dentist: Let’s see how bad it gets.” The head of operations at the time, Textor, reported with shining eyes about the liberating call, the congratulations from the police chief – and the events in the yard in front of the police building. “There were 200 people coming back from deployment. The champagne bottles were on the roof. It was a folk festival.”
Above all, the celebration marked the end of an unprecedented two-year game of cat and mouse between blackmailers and the police. In fact, a criminal hunt that lasted around six years was ended. In May 1988, Funke managed to extort 500,000 German marks from the famous Berlin luxury department store KaDeWe without being caught. But the money was quickly spent – and the Berliner tried to extort another 1.4 million marks from the Karstadt group. This led to close cooperation between the police in Berlin and Hamburg. Funke tried to blackmail various department stores, including those in Bremen and Hanover.
Sentenced to nine years in prison
Funke was convicted for the first time in 1995 for the completed blackmail of the Berlin department store KaDeWe in 1988, the attempted blackmail of the Karstadt Group from 1992 to 1994 and six associated explosive attacks. In a second trial in 1996, the sentence was set at nine years. The court certified that he had brain-organic depression and reduced culpability. However, he was obliged to pay 5 million deutschmarks (around 2.5 million euros) in damages. In the summer of 2000, Funke was released early.
“The way he went about it was brilliant,” says ex-police officer Textor, referring to Funke’s technical skills, creativity and tactical caution. “He is a tinkerer and very talented with his crafts.” At the same time, he emphasizes: “It has nothing to do with admiration. He was a criminal. Then a convicted criminal. Now he has a criminal record.” Every now and then the pensioner and the ex-blackmailer meet – usually when there is an anniversary, like now 30 years after the arrest.
Friendly contact between police officer and perpetrator
The contact was once mediated through the media. The background was a comment by the police officer on the occasion of the explosion of a pipe bomb in a Berlin department store in the middle of the Christmas shopping season on December 6, 1993. “Now ‘Dagobert’ has lost his innocence for me. Now he accepts that people will be harmed,” said Textor back then. “My statement must have hit him hard,” says the 79-year-old today. Funke asked a journalist to arrange a conversation. This is how a personal encounter came about.
“I have always tried to keep the residual risk as low as possible,” emphasizes Funke in an interview with the German Press Agency. He was there himself and observed the situation. However, in the TV documentary “The Hunt for Scrooge – From Criminal to Folk Hero” by Tim Evers, which was broadcast on ARD in 2022, a former employee of the department store group described the fear of the employees. In department stores, for example, an encrypted announcement reminded employees every evening shortly before closing time to check for bags and suitcases that had been left behind.
TV appearances after prison
Ex-police officer Textor is convinced that Funke will no longer commit a crime. He has an orderly life. “He’s a really unusual person.” The eloquent original Berliner himself deals openly with his past – and also uses the prominence that has arisen as a result.
While he was still in prison, Eulenspiegel asked whether Funke wanted to draw for the satirical magazine. He has published an autobiography, was one of the candidates in the RTL “Jungle Camp” in 2013, and appeared on stage in Berlin in the show “Vomiting Isn’t Worth It.” And he passed on his experiences on the subject of rehabilitation, for example as a speaker at the law faculty in Münster.
“My life took a completely different direction because of my actions. I met a lot of interesting people,” says Funke. At the same time, he admits: “It would be nice if we had a better story.”