BOSTON -- The choreographed capture of Clark Rockefeller began early Saturday with the quick thinking of a Baltimore marina manager, according to the Boston Herald.

Jim Ruscoe Jr., 43, said Rockefeller identified himself as Charles “Chip” Smith and spoke with a “made-up accent” when he arranged storage for his decrepit 26-foot catamaran at the marina.

Ruscoe said Rockefeller was “living in this dream world that he owned this yacht.” In actuality, his boat was barely seaworthy -- a fact that would eventually lead to his capture.

Ruscoe suggested to FBI agents, who arrived at the marina at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, that he telephone Rockefeller and pretend the catamaran was taking on water.

Later that afternoon, he phoned the apartment Rockefeller was staying in with his 7-year-old daughter, Reigh, and told him his vessel was in danger.

At the same time, agents posing as harbor police officers delivered the message to Rockefeller in person.

“We had to make it look like the boat was in distress,” Ruscoe explained.

After Ruscoe placed the call, six plainclothes agents quietly stormed the apartment and Rockefeller was arrested as he exited the building, according to the Herald.

Lauren Gritzer, a resident who watched the operation from her window, said the arrest occurred without incident.

“The whole procedure was very calm,” Gritzer said. “There was no yelling.”

The 26-year-old Johns Hopkins researcher said FBI agents had been staking out Rockefeller’s apartment from her kitchen window since 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

The vantage point allowed Gritzer to see the front of Rockefeller’s home, which is almost entirely made up of two-story windows.

Visible inside were mattresses still covered in plastic wrapping, a new picnic table, a sparkling stainless steel refrigerator and a kitchen island that was half-constructed.

Food, an open bottle of red wine and what appeared to be a case of champagne could be seen inside on a table, according to the Herald.

Gritzer was first approached to assist the investigation by a real estate agent friend, who arrived at her door with two FBI agents in the morning.

“They said, can we have agents come in here -- we’re doing a little stakeout,’’ Gritzer told the Herald.

The real estate agent, who wished to remain anonymous, helped Rockefeller broker a deal for the apartment earlier in the week and then tipped police off to his whereabouts.