In Cleveland, Ohio, a group of Atari software pirates calling themselves Atari Pirates Incorporated (API) made the front page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer on Sunday, August 4, 1985. One member, known as The Dark Knight, had even boasted on local BBSs beforehand that the article would prove their dominance over rival pirate groups.
The article, however, had mixed effects. Non-Atari readers mocked the group after stumbling over terms like “Happy Disk,” while rival Commodore groups ridiculed them as childish.
Worse, the publicity directly led to their downfall. In the photo accompanying the article, a pirate named Dr. Demento appeared beside a household telephone. Since phones of the time often displayed the number on a tag, the Feds zoomed in on the photo, traced the number, and quickly identified and busted the group.
Attached are pdfs of the two pages that carried the original story.
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