George Starrett was forced to hire the Townsend Agency when his insurance policy was threatened. Prior to that his detective work had all been done by Harry Harrigan, an alcoholic. Starrett seemed to be under the impression that because the Angels were female they'd be just as incompetent as Harrigan, and when he was proven wrong he instructed his henchmen to kill them. Starrett owned the distribution company that handled micro-components. He used this company to fence the goods that he'd arranged to have stolen from himself.