Police Arrest 2 Kidnap Suspects After Rescuing S.F. Businessman

A businessman was rescued Tuesday and his alleged kidnappers arrested when police rammed a getaway van after the men collected a $500,000 ransom, gave their victim $20 for cab fare and released him.

Marshall Wais, 80, the chairman of Richmond-based Marwais Steel Co., was not injured in the daylong drama.

“I feel fine,” Wais said less than an hour after the rescue. “They wanted a million dollars. I didn’t have quite that much on me.”

Wais was kidnapped at 7 a.m. Tuesday after two men allegedly followed a maid into his home. Wais said the men ordered him out of bed at gunpoint and took him from his home in the city’s upscale Sea Cliff neighborhood.

Wais said he was blindfolded and put in the gunmen’s van.

Police and federal agents negotiated with the kidnappers, who agreed to collect a $500,000 ransom near Golden Gate Park.

Wais said the gunmen picked up the ransom, then let him out of the van with $20 and told him to “start walking.”

“They gave me $20 for a taxi to get home,” he said, smiling.

Two police cars then rammed the van, arrested the suspects and recovered the ransom, FBI spokesman George Grotz said.

The FBI turned the case over to San Francisco police, who arrested Thomas William Taylor, 64, and Michael Keith Robison, 35.