Department of History

Production on this landmark telefilm began just days after the fateful Feb. 28, 1993 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. Tim Daly did an about turn from his easygoing 'Joe' on the popular sitcom Wings to turn in a vivid performance as false prophet David Koresh. Ambush at Waco picks up the Koresh story when he was still Vernon Howell, a struggling signer/songwriter in California who reinvents himself as a messianic figure recruiting the sad and disenfranchised to join him in his mecca at Mount Carmel. Once one disillusioned follower, played by Neal McDonough (Minority Report), bolts the twisted moral wreckage of the compound and turns over evidence to the FBI, the film tracks ATF leaser Dan Lauria (The Wonder Years) as he builds his case leasing up to the fiery clash at Waco.