Meet Eugene (Gene) Ehmann

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eugene (Gene) Ehmann.

Gene, can you briefly walk us through your story?
I’ve always been adventurous and have looked for ways to satisfy that yearning. I grew up in Long Beach, CA., and my parents were educators. I have an older brother, old enough that he had his friends and I mine, but I also spent a lot of time alone, playing outside mostly, and imagining my adventures and working them out the best I could. It was a time when we could walk, run and bike about as far as we could, miles away, just as  long as we returned in time for dinner.

I was an oarsman in high school, very successfully. There was only one high school age team, and it was in San Diego, so our frequent opponents were college crews, and we beat them all.
I married out of high school, went to work and eventually my eye caught an ad for police officers. I joined the police department working patrol, vice and juvenile. What I enjoyed most was meeting the people, good, bad, in between.

After almost five years, I was invited to join the FBI, and I became a Special Agent. I went to the Defense Language Institute for Spanish, graduated top of my class. I was assigned to Phoenix and then to the Tucson Resident agency. I worked fugitives and organized crime. I was able to investigate and arrest bank robbers, murderers, thieves…all adventurous. This was a significantly different kind of people contact.

I worked closely with an agent and friend, Bill, who was the case agent for Joseph Bonanno, the head mafia boss, who was the prototype for the movie, the God Father. Bill and I found out that Joe wrote notes to himself…chores, people to call, vacations to take, and made note of names, phone numbers, and activities. He would cross the note out after completing the particular activity. We discovered that he threw those notes into his trash. We  ended up collecting his trash twice a week for three and a half years. We were never caught. We even became friends with his “guard dog”, Greasy, who became our friendly doberman pinscher. We watched Joe travel…sometimes traveling with him…watched him contact high-level Mafia leaders, showing clearly he wasn’t retired.

Eventually, we gathered enough information to obtain a search warrant and enough information to see him prosecuted and jailed. First felony incarceration for him ever. It was a delight arresting him.

From that, the Tucson ABC affiliate authorized the making of a documentary about Bonanno’s illegal involvement in the cheese business and we won the Associated Press of Arizona documentary of the year award. I was interviewed on 60 minutes with Mike Wallace regarding our trash collection and arrest of Bonanno.

Since then, I’ve been in my own private investigation business, and that has taken me around the country, to most of the Latin American countries, to Canada, China and Turkey. The exposure to all the different people, cultures, food had been a highlight of my life.

So, my art is in knowing, reading and understanding people. That art, which I believe is a gift, has brought me to and in front of people of all kinds and stripes, into all kinds of adventures all over the world. Most importantly, it brought me to my wife, who then encouraged me to explore about God, and ultimately my relationship with her and Him have been my biggest adventures.

Three years ago, or so, I was diagnosed with a metastatic melanoma brain tumor, 4th stage. Because of our faith, we had no doubt about a successful outcome. We met with a surgeon, also a spiritual man, with whom we prayed, and the projected three or four-hour procedure ended up taking only 48 minutes, from open to close, onto the gurney. The tumor  had literally “popped” out. The assisting surgeon made a cork popping sound to illustrate how it came out. The tumor had not attached to my brain.

That was followed by immunotherapy treatments for three months. I have felt NO pain related to the tumor, surgery and treatment.  But  my medical adventure wasn’t quite over several side effect things happened from the immunotherapy, but the end has been that my oncologist has used the never used word, “cured”. I still have followups, of course.

The beauty of it was, I had a wonderful encounter with God, a great surgeon and followup medical personnel, and most of all, I had an experience with my wife that was wondrous. She has always been loving, but with this cancer experience, she, too had a love experience, and she literally loved me through recovery with a divine love…truly.

The physical issue for me has been in regaining strength and endurance, though that is mostly back. I’ve been working for the last year and a half or so, still investigating, have traveled out of country with an executive protection project, and am meeting people, enjoying life. My art has served me well, knowing people, knowing God.

What else should we know about your work and career so far?
Every human has gifts, whether recognized or utilized. Once we recognize our gift, we do well to learn about it and develop it. In the instance of my gift…loving it, reading, understanding people… as I look back, I realize that it was always there, in one form or another. My parents were articulate and talkative; they encouraged that in me. My work in law enforcement and investigation could tend to blunt an optimistic view of people. I was exposed to about every personality type, and I learned to stand back look at a person(s), situation, event and try to understand it. I had to listen and watch. My brother got his doctorate in nonverbal communication, and I learned from him how to formally understand people’s posture, gestures, verbal cues. Most people in my trade have some, even much of the gift, but most don’t formally study it. That doesn’t diminish their ability, but learning about people, in a formal sense, has been enjoyable and has opened me up to even more understanding. In virtually all encounters with people, some having been very dangerous, I’ve been able to talk through it. With interpersonal relations, I been able to learn that there, too.

At the bottom of it all, success with people will come for us as we are kind, open, listen, engage, ask questions that don’t have yes or no answers, believe the best while at the same time being wise about discerning what is going on around us, our circumstances, the atmosphere. In fact, we can actually love everyone, looking for the best in each person and still be alert, wise and perceptive. Wisdom is definitely a key.

I encourage parents especially to watch and look for gifts in their children, or friends with each other. Then, encourage their child or friend in that gift.

How or where can people learn more about you and connect with you?
My website is www.EugeneREhmann.com. I’m best contacted at gene@eugenerehmann.com.

I’m happy to receive emails, and I’d be happy to discuss my work of investigation, domestic or international, and helping them with secure, global connections.

In the large scheme of life, I would feel supported if people would get excited about relating to people with the kindness and love God would have us relate.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.EugeneREhmann.com
• Email: gene@eugenerehmann.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/eugene.r.ehmann

Image Credit:
Arizona Associated Press Broadcasters Association, Documentary of the Year

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