Marc Schiller is an Argentinian American man who was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1957. He survived a kidnapping and attempted murder by the Sun Gym Gang in Miami, Florida in 1994. He was the star witness in the trial against Daniel Lugo, Adrian Doorbal, and Jorge Delgado on a number of charges ranging from murder to kidnapping to extortion. Schiller has published two books Pain and Gain: The Untold True Story and Pain and Gain: How I Survived and Triumphed. These books are personal accounts of his kidnapping in 1994. In 2013 the film Pain & Gain which depicts Schiller's kidnapping, was released by Paramount Pictures.
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Early life
Schiller was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and with his parents immigrated to the United States when he was seven years old. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. By the age of nine he started several small businesses to fund his educational and personal needs. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, participating in sports and was member of the school's track team. He remained in Brooklyn until he moved to Milwaukee to attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Business career
Schiller has had a successful career as an entrepreneur and as a professional working for several large companies occupying several positions as an accountant, controller, CFO and auditor with such companies as Ernst and Whinney and Enserch. His professional career has spanned the United States as well as internationally for US based companies in Colombia and Ecuador. On an entrepreneurial level, Schiller has launched several slightly successful businesses including accounting practices both in Miami and Houston, a delicatessen in Miami, a vending machine company and two options and stock trading companies. Schiller received a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in accounting and a MBA in finance from Benedictine University.
Kidnapping
Schiller was kidnapped on November 15, 1994. He was taken to a warehouse and held captive for almost a month. During the month, he was tortured and forced to sign over his assets to his captors. "I've ended up calling it Hotel Hell," says Schiller. "They tasered me, they punched me, they pistol-whipped and burned me with a lighter. They played Russian roulette against my temple and performed mock executions. I was chained to a wall and blindfolded throughout the ordeal. They hardly gave me anything to eat." Schiller agreed to give his captors all his money at the beginning of his captivity in exchange for allowing his wife and two young children to leave the country. Once he was satisfied that his family was out of harm's way, he was forced at gunpoint to transfer all his assets to the Sun Gym Gang.
After a month, the captors decided to kill Schiller by staging what appeared to be a drunk-driving accident. He was forced to consume a large amount of alcohol and sleeping pills. Lugo took Schiller's car and ran it into a utility pole to make it appear as though Schiller was involved in an accident. He was placed in the driver's seat and gasoline was poured over the vehicle and it was set on fire. Schiller awoke and fled the burning vehicle. The captors noticed his escape and ran him over with their car twice. They later discovered that Schiller had survived the attempt and set out to kill him in the hospital, but could not find him because he arranged to be transferred to a New York hospital for protection. Schiller attempted to notify the police but his story was not believed.
While Schiller was in New York, Lugo and his group emptied all his belongings from his house.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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