In April 2005, Balram Maharaj, a naturalized American citizen, was kidnapped at gunpoint from a bar in his native Trinidad. His captors demanded $500,000 for his release. After a week cut off from his daily medicines, Maharaj, who had diabetes and had recently suffered a stroke, died. The 61-year-old’s body was cut apart and buried.
But he was not forgotten. Four years after his death, Maharaj’s case has become one of the largest, most complex examples of a little-discussed specialty of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia: prosecuting those who take Americans hostage overseas for ransom.
