TULSA, Okla. — A Tulsa journalist reveals new details in a story that ended with, arguably, the most notorious kidnapping case in Tulsa of the 21st century.
In 2003, Gordon Todd Skinner was convicted of kidnapping his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend and torturing him for days in a jealous rage at the downtown Tulsa Doubletree Hotel. The gruesome details even shocked investigators.
After charges were brought against Skinner, 2 News Oklahoma interviewed Tulsa Police Department Detective Gene Watkins.
“It is a miracle he is alive to tell his story,” Watkins said of the victim.
The case has since been a subject in various books, articles, and podcasts because investigators learned shortly after the crime that Skinner was also a player in the world’s largest LSD bust in history. He was also deeply involved as a government informant and operative.
However, no journalist knows Skinner more closely than Michael Mason, based in Tulsa.
“The whole kidnapping becomes smaller and smaller and smaller,” said Mason, who logged hundreds of hours of prison interviews and exclusive media access to Skinner.
After a decade of work, Mason started releasing articles on Substack.
“Six months ago, Skinner decided to start disclosing what he was really up to,” said Mason. “What my Substack is doing is putting a question mark on everything you know about him.”
Mason said he is just now learning how vast his government operative days were and how early they began.
Skinner’s stepdad, a high-powered U.S. Treasury agent investigating financial crimes from midtown Tulsa, often had agents at the house.
Skinner excelled in school.
“He [Skinner] is this math genius, who pipes up one day and says, ‘Actually, I have a formula to track Ponzi schemes and financial crimes.’”
Mason believes, through Skinner’s interviews, his old passport, and other evidence and files, and corroborating his investigation with a mountain of contacts, that Gordon Todd Skinner was moonlighting as a massive operative for the government as early as 16 years old.
Mason said it was a secret gig that took him out of the country, even involving an investigation into the drug cartel, while he also attended high school at Cascia Hall.
These details are a small snippet in the countless stories Mason is ready to share with the world—and has already started.
2 News Oklahoma has not independently verified any of the details in Mason’s Substack, which includes the exclusive audio interviews and never-before-seen material.
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