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Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Saren, Hey, Elizabeth, what's something my girl? Much?

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Speaker 1: Listen? You know it's ridiculous I do all right.

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Speaker 2: You like gambling, okay, the lottery?

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah.

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Speaker 2: So imagine if you took your love of gambling and

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Speaker 2: you said like, hey, I'm going to start gambling like

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Speaker 2: Iheart's money, right, okay, right, yeah exactly. I thought you'd

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Speaker 2: like this, and then you like lost a bunch of it,

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Speaker 2: like twenty million of it, and then you're like, oh,

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Speaker 2: and did I say, You've been betting on FanDuel right,

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Speaker 2: like a bunch of Ihearts money on Fandel because you

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Speaker 2: love the sports. And then you're like, you know, betting,

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Speaker 2: and you lose twenty million cause you're not good at betting. No,

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Speaker 2: And then Iheart's like, yo, man, we noticed you spent

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Speaker 2: twenty million of our money and you're like, no, no, no, Fandel.

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Speaker 2: I gave it to Fandel. So then iHeart goes to

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Speaker 2: Fandel and goes, all right, give us back our money. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Fandal's like, no, it's a gambling site. What are you

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Speaker 2: talking about. This happened to the Jacksonville Jaguars one of

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Speaker 2: their employees a Jacksonville Jaguar employee started gambling on like

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Speaker 2: company time, their money, and basically a mid level finance

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Speaker 2: manager managed to steal twenty two million dollars through a

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Speaker 2: virtual credit card system that the Jaguars used for their expenses.

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Speaker 2: So this is like you know, payroll and like expenses

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Speaker 2: and like vendors and stuff. So he's taking their money

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Speaker 2: and being like, ah, we need to pay out to

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Speaker 2: a FanDuel for one hundred thousand dollars. I haven't had

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Speaker 2: a bad weekend, right, does this over and over again,

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Speaker 2: and then you know, the Jaguars tried to sue FanDuel

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Speaker 2: and get their money back. On the Jaguars, no, it's

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Speaker 2: just it's their money. They're like, he doesn't have the

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Speaker 2: right to spend our money.

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Speaker 1: Understand that.

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Speaker 2: They're like, well, that's the talk to the cops. You know,

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Speaker 2: we're a gambling SciTE. If someone comes into a casino

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Speaker 2: with all their money, yeah, that's on y'all. That's casino

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Speaker 2: money now. So as as a source said, and they

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Speaker 2: were talking about whether or not the Jacksonville Jaguars could

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Speaker 2: likely get their money back, yeah, the source said, and

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Speaker 2: I quote the way they see it, we got this money,

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Speaker 2: fair and clear. It's not our problem that we have

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Speaker 2: to forfeit it back to you. So and they said

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Speaker 2: I would be godsmacked if it happened, So I'm with them.

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Speaker 2: I'll be surprised. But how amazing is that? The Jacksonville

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Speaker 2: Jaguars are like, can we have please?

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Speaker 1: Well, yeah, it's like a lot. I can't sue, dude.

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Speaker 2: Because they got ridiculous.

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Speaker 1: That is so ridiculous. Do you want to know what

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Speaker 1: else is ridiculous? Oh my god, please hair helmets?

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Speaker 2: What now?

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Speaker 1: This is ridiculous crime A podcast about absurd and outrageous

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Speaker 1: CAPERSU cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder free and

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Speaker 1: one hundred percent ridiculous.

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Speaker 2: I know you heard that same aman, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Crook and politicians, yes, maddening, completely right, unless unless they're entertaining. Yes, So,

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Speaker 1: like we had Buddy Cianci.

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Speaker 2: Up and that was a good one.

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Speaker 1: And then there's the Big Dog, a personal favorite of mine, Bumfardo.

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Speaker 2: Oh yes, that guy classics both of um.

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Speaker 1: Let's take a moment of silence for that character and

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Speaker 1: his rose colored glasses. Not too long ago. I just

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Speaker 1: didn't give him a big moment.

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Speaker 2: That was not much of a moment of silence. Do

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Speaker 2: you know how moment of silence work. There's a moment

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Speaker 2: of silence. Really, I take it out, you try it something?

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Speaker 1: Okay?

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Speaker 3: There?

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Speaker 2: Just like that.

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Speaker 1: So not too long ago, September twenty fourteen, we lost

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Speaker 1: another crooked politician. No, this was a real character.

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Speaker 2: Who was he?

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Speaker 1: James, A trafficant junior. Oh yeah. Some people called him Jim,

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Speaker 1: others called him Jimbo, and still others called him Crooked

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Speaker 1: as a barrel of snakes.

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Speaker 2: It's a weird nickname.

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Speaker 1: Crooked as an old dog's hind leg.

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Speaker 2: That's an even weirder nickname.

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Speaker 1: So crooked that if he swallowed a nail, he'd spit

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Speaker 1: up a corkscrew Slicker than a slop jar, Crooked to

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Speaker 1: unscrew his bridges at night, more slippery than a pocket

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Speaker 1: full of pudding. That's my favorite. Slickered and a boiled onion.

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Speaker 2: You know these are good. I'm just waiting for more traffic.

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Speaker 1: He was born in Youngstown, Ohio, in nineteen forty one.

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Speaker 1: I'm just going to cut to the chase.

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Speaker 2: That's a problem town.

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Speaker 1: When it all started, Yeah, son of a truck.

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Speaker 2: Drive good mafia there when.

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Speaker 1: I stubbed my toe, I yell, son of a truck driver.

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Speaker 1: He went to college, got himself a bachelor's in education

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Speaker 1: from the University of Pittsburgh.

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Speaker 2: Congratulations, you know, good for him, pit.

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Speaker 1: Do you know who else was at the University of

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Speaker 1: Pittsburgh at that same time, Damn Marina, Mike Ditka and

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Speaker 1: Marty Schottenheimer. Oh interesting, Yeah, traffic can't new them really

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Speaker 1: because he just happened to be the quarterback a team

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Speaker 1: with them. Damn. So we got like an all American

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Speaker 1: story brewing. Seriously, Like this hard working class guy comes up,

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Speaker 1: he's a quarterback. He was. I I live in the

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Speaker 1: dream Ka, but it wasn't a dream that he liked

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Speaker 1: too much. During his senior season, he told a reporter quote,

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Speaker 1: pitt has the worst coaching staff in the country. I've

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Speaker 1: made two big mistakes in my life. The first one

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Speaker 1: was coming here. The second one was staying like ouch,

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Speaker 1: just leave why.

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Speaker 2: Panthers.

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Speaker 1: After he graduated, he tried out for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Oh,

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Speaker 1: and he didn't make the cut. And then he also

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Speaker 1: tried out for the bad boys in the NFL, the

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Speaker 1: Oakland Raiders. Oh, didn't make it there totally their loss.

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Speaker 1: So he headed over to Youngstown State University and he

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Speaker 1: got himself not one, but two master's degrees, one in

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Speaker 1: administration and another in counseling. And those are good and

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Speaker 1: the good degrees for someone who wants to go into government,

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Speaker 1: like make a difference. So he got a gig as

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Speaker 1: executive director at the local county Drug program, and then

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Speaker 1: he dipped his toe into the sometimes muddy waters of

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Speaker 1: local politics. He started as the chair of the campaign

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Speaker 1: for the Mahoning County Recorder, okay, and then he worked

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Speaker 1: on the nineteen seventy eight campaign for the Youngstown mayoral

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Speaker 1: Democratic candidate. Both of those won. Who was it zing,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, So this was Youngstown, Ohio, because it

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Speaker 1: doesn't matter what their names were.

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Speaker 2: I don't know about the mafia and your well we're

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Speaker 2: getting there. Oh really nice.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Youngstown, Ohio a steel town that had seen better days.

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Speaker 2: Yes, that's a good way.

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Speaker 1: Factories were closing, companies were, you know, moving their operations overseas,

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Speaker 1: and you know, good working class folks are starting to suffer.

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Speaker 1: And as you were saying, it's not just a factory town,

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Speaker 1: it was mob territory, like big time Biggins. An IRS

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Speaker 1: report once said quote certain factions of the Cleveland and

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Speaker 1: Pittsburgh organized crime families of Lakosa Nostra. Oh they right there,

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Speaker 1: campaigned for control of certain illegal activities conducted in the

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Speaker 1: Mahoning Valley during nighttime. Teen seventy nine and nineteen eighty.

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Speaker 1: The competing factions wage day quote war primarily during the

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Speaker 1: first half of nineteen seventy nine, in which a number

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Speaker 1: of individuals associated with both factions were killed. However, the

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Speaker 1: factions operating in the Mahoning Valley were also known to

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Speaker 1: negotiate and to cooperate with each other. Here's a struggling,

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Speaker 1: hard working area sitting in the center of a mob war. Yes,

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Speaker 1: Trafficant's time to shine. So nineteen seventy nine, Trafficant runs

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Speaker 1: for sheriff of Mahoning County. And I'm hoping I'm saying

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Speaker 1: the name of the county right, but you know, odds

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Speaker 1: are now he runs for sheriff as a Democrat. The

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Speaker 1: post of sheriff basically under the thumb of the mob

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Speaker 1: at the time, and so they installed their guide generally

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Speaker 1: in order for things to you know, move smoothly for them.

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Speaker 1: And inside guy, as we say, sure, Trafficant ran on

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Speaker 1: an anti corruption campaign, and so he's like, nope, I

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Speaker 1: am not owned by the mob. I am going to

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Speaker 1: bust their butts.

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Speaker 2: Yes, of course, and actually I hate that what they're doing.

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Speaker 2: It's bad, bad, bad.

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Speaker 1: And he won Sarin. He won, He beat the Democratic

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Speaker 1: incumbent in the primary, and then he went on to

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Speaker 1: win the general election November nineteen eighty. So, in early

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one, an FBI investigation into some mob hits

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Speaker 1: uncovered cassette tapes hidden in a bread box bigger than

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Speaker 1: a bread box, No, hidden in a hidden in a

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Speaker 1: bread box. The tapes were made during Trafficant's campaign, and

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Speaker 1: they featured him just yapping, chatting it up with local mobsters,

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Speaker 1: the Karabia brothers.

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Speaker 2: Wait a minute, he's supposed to be anti corruption, so

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Speaker 2: he was. He was telling them, I'm going to anti corrupt.

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Speaker 1: Guess what, guys, I'm anti yu exactly, brothers. What are

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Speaker 1: they talking about? In truth? Exchanges of money between themselves

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Speaker 1: and traffic Can't, but also the money that Trafficant was

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Speaker 1: taking from the rival Pittsburgh faction. You'll find both shots.

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Speaker 1: So the mobsters they made the tapes because they were

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Speaker 1: worried that traff Can was loyal to them.

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Speaker 2: Oh, of course.

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Speaker 1: On the tapes, traffic Cant and the Carabia brothers, they

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Speaker 1: talked about the amount of money that each faction had given, like, well,

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Speaker 1: how much should they give you, because like, we gave.

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Speaker 2: You this on what dates? Do you remember?

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Speaker 1: He tells them, Look like, this is how I washed

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Speaker 1: in quotes, ten thousand dollars in cash through a local

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Speaker 1: law firm to cover money that the mob figures had

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Speaker 1: put into my sheriff's campaign. He's like, let me lay

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Speaker 1: it out here, don't worry about it. And then he jokes,

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Speaker 1: He's like, hey, once I'm sheriff, Like I might just

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Speaker 1: take down the Pittsburgh faction for obstruction of political justice.

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Speaker 1: He's like, I'll do you a favor.

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Speaker 2: I've made a lun sheet, a careful lunch sheet. Here

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Speaker 2: is that all done well?

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Speaker 1: And one of the Carabbias tells him like, if you

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Speaker 1: do that, if you take down the Pittsburgh guys, you'll

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Speaker 1: you will be a hero. In fact, you could run

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Speaker 1: for Congress and win if you did.

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Speaker 2: It's like, let me update my flow charte.

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Speaker 1: So remember, the FBI has those tapes, and it wasn't

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Speaker 1: just like novelty listening for them, they weren't using them

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Speaker 1: like they're outgoing answering machine message. As a goof June

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Speaker 1: of nineteen eighty one, they haul Trafficant into their Youngstown office.

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Speaker 1: Get in here, come here. He's all dressed as sheriff,

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Speaker 1: and in my mind that's like a party city coffee car.

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Speaker 1: So they wanted to know, like, tell us about this

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Speaker 1: whole taking money from the mob thing, just tell us

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Speaker 1: about it. He's like, I don't know what you're talking about.

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Speaker 1: And then they click hit play, so Trafficant's like, yep,

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Speaker 1: that's my voice, that's me talking. FBI is like, great, here,

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Speaker 1: sign this paper that says that's you on the tape,

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Speaker 1: and traffic Ant does. He's like, that is me on

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Speaker 1: the tape. But the whole time he's signing it, he's

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Speaker 1: like it's not true though, like none of it's true,

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Speaker 1: like he's entering into Pelicano territory. So the FBI was like,

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Speaker 1: all right, how about this, like we will fix any

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Speaker 1: inaccuracies to this statement, and he's like, well, I don't

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Speaker 1: have there aren't any on the paper, and yet it's

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Speaker 1: supposed to all be lies. Like I don't get it.

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Speaker 1: So traffican't. He tells the fbis that he already used

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Speaker 1: up most of the MOB money, so he couldn't return it,

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Speaker 1: can't get it back like FanDuel that. So the FBI like,

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Speaker 1: they're probably completely flummixed by this guy. They ask him

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Speaker 1: where a wire? Please, I'm begging of you, you know,

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Speaker 1: help us take down the mob and like the FBI

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Speaker 1: though they weren't promising immunity in exchange for his cooperation,

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Speaker 1: but he still agrees to.

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Speaker 2: It for free.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but he never wore the wire, Like have you

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Speaker 1: worn it? He's like, yeah, I just got really busy

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Speaker 1: and like a chance, so I'll get I'll take care

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Speaker 1: of it. He said he only wanted to cooperate if

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Speaker 1: quote it was not made public that his cooperation was

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Speaker 1: a result of the FBI's discovery of the bread box tape,

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Speaker 1: if he himself had some control over direction of the

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Speaker 1: investigation so that he could protect certain individuals, if he

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Speaker 1: remained as sheriff. He's like, I just want to do

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Speaker 1: a little bit of illegal stuff and just let me

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Speaker 1: just get a smidge in there.

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Speaker 2: Come on.

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Speaker 1: FBI is totally over it. They charge him with accepting

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Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty three thousand dollars in bribes quote

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Speaker 1: from reputed organized crime figures during his election campaign. Then

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Speaker 1: they hit him with the Rico Act violations failing to

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Speaker 1: report the bribes on a federal income tax return.

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Speaker 2: Oh, they just rico him on his own. Oh, they

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Speaker 2: don't bring him in like anything else.

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Speaker 1: You are your own conspiracy. In eighty two, he gets

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Speaker 1: indicted by a grand jury. Okay, and then he goes

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Speaker 1: on the offensive, like you know, he became the quarterback.

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Speaker 1: He took a charge yea, And by that, I mean

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Speaker 1: he really starts working the press. Oh. So the trial

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Speaker 1: had not even started yet, and he turned around and

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Speaker 1: he charged twenty FBI agents with dereliction of duty. He

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Speaker 1: said that the FBI knew in advance that three mobsters

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Speaker 1: were going to be robbing this Youngstown greenhouse owner guy

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Speaker 1: named pop Oh, and that they didn't do anything, like

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Speaker 1: you knew.

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Speaker 2: He was going to have to let crime happen.

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Speaker 1: The guy he gets robbed at home, tied up, shot

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Speaker 1: at with a taser or damn, and I mean he lives.

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Speaker 1: And then the judge is like, you cannot arrest the

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Speaker 1: FBI agents for not stepping in. No, I will not

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Speaker 1: allow it.

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Speaker 2: All right, but do you know how the f GI works.

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Speaker 2: They need a crime to prosecute.

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Speaker 1: As long as the press. So Trafficant then he makes

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Speaker 1: news because there were thirteen houses under foreclosure in Youngstown

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Speaker 1: and he's supposed to sign the notices and send the

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Speaker 1: deputies out.

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Speaker 2: Oh, because he's right.

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Speaker 1: He refuses. He's like, I am not. Times are tough,

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Speaker 1: no more suffering. Yeah, I deny these So by denying

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Speaker 1: the orders, by the fact that he won't go through

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Speaker 1: with the foreclosures, he gets arrested and charged with contempt

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Speaker 1: and sentenced to one hundred days in jail. Now he

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Speaker 1: lasts three days. He lasts three days, and then he

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Speaker 1: agrees to sign the paper and then he's released. But like,

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Speaker 1: even though he signs the eviction papers, this like self

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Speaker 1: sacrifice turns him into a hero in that time. Oh

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Speaker 1: completely yeah. So as the trial is about to start,

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Speaker 1: Trafficant fires his lawyer. His lawyer told the press that

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Speaker 1: since the judge wouldn't let Trafficant cross examine witnesses when

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Speaker 1: he was just the defendant, Like, Trafficant's got to be

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Speaker 1: his own lawyer. You can't as the defendant, you can't

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Speaker 1: get up and cross examine.

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Speaker 2: He wants to be the one asking.

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Speaker 1: Only the lawyer can do that. So he's like, well,

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Speaker 1: guess what, I'm lawyer.

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Speaker 2: Guess there's a lawyer now, and the lawyer's talk.

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Speaker 1: The lawyer wanted to stay on, and then the FEDS

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Speaker 1: were like, yeah, you need to be the legal advisor.

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Speaker 1: But Trafficant said that he fired his lawyer because quote,

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Speaker 1: nobody could know when another person did. Nobody can grasp

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Speaker 1: the complexity of the case, which is like basically what

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Speaker 1: Anthony Pelicano said. Sure, so Trafficant ends up defending himself

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Speaker 1: in court.

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Speaker 2: Always a good move.

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Speaker 1: The trial began in Cleveland in May of nineteen eighty three.

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Speaker 1: He was able to convince the judge that part of

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Speaker 1: the jury pool should come from Youngstown to his hometown,

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Speaker 1: and about half the jury winds up being his constituents. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so here's his argument. He said, yes, I took the

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Speaker 1: money evidence. I'm building a case against the mob. I'm

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Speaker 1: planning a sting. The FBI won't do it, I'll do it,

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Speaker 1: he said. Quote the FBI made a statement that in

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Speaker 1: fifty years they were not able to penetrate this corrupt

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Speaker 1: mafia controlled town. You want to hear something. Do you

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Speaker 1: know how long it took me? I filed nominating petitions

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Speaker 1: for sheriff, and I met every mafia figure in the valley. Look,

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Speaker 1: if you want to stamp out organized crime and they

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Speaker 1: offer you money, what are you gonna say? I don't

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Speaker 1: want anything to do with it. That's his quote.

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Speaker 2: He's got a fair point. And if in the how

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Speaker 2: he's buddying the waters as the part that I really

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Speaker 2: like is the whole like, oh, they couldn't do it.

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Speaker 2: I did it, And then the people are like, oh,

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Speaker 2: look at that, our anti corruption guy. Back at it.

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Speaker 1: Right? He said he never promised or like, gave the

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Speaker 1: mob anything in return for this money. And in court

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Speaker 1: he said that the FBI agents like they forged his

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Speaker 1: signature on that paper and then it was also full

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Speaker 1: of lies.

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Speaker 2: Did they hit play again? He's like, okay, I'll sign this.

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Speaker 1: He busts the Pelicano. He says the tapes. Of course,

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Speaker 1: the jury loved him.

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Speaker 2: It's Ai. It's Ai before Ai.

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Speaker 1: Four days of deliberation, jury returns and not guilty.

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Speaker 2: Of course he only needed one of them, so and

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Speaker 2: he got fifty percent of them.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, So the FBI lawyer said quote. It was

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Speaker 1: a frustrating trial. I bet there is no case harder

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Speaker 1: to prosecute than one in which an intelligent, articulate, and

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Speaker 1: aggressive defendant decides to represent himself. In our view, the

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Speaker 1: evidence of guilt was overwhelming, but Traffican't, a skilled politician,

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Speaker 1: was able to effectively divert the jury's attention from the

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Speaker 1: essential issues of basic guilt and innocence.

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Speaker 2: Taking notes though, wait a minute, so aggressive smart to

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Speaker 2: be your own lawyer makes it difficult for the facts.

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Speaker 1: Okay, to the day after he's yeah, he gets acquitted.

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Speaker 1: Next day he tells the press that he's going to

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Speaker 1: go after the mob. Sure, and that never real.

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Speaker 2: Of course, anti corruption guy, Right, we all.

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Speaker 1: Know, let's take a break. When we come back, we'll

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Speaker 1: keep track this man as he weasels his way into

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Speaker 1: the halls of power. Welcome he Jazon listens, Aaron.

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Speaker 2: When we left off, we were talking about our thing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Jimbo, we're talking about our thing, this thing of ours,

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Speaker 1: Jimbo Traffican'. He was sheriff and he'd beaten federal rico charges.

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Speaker 2: This is impressively rarely do you beat the thing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. So nineteen eighty four, Fresh off the courtroom victory.

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Speaker 1: He ran for a Democratic seat in Congress.

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Speaker 2: Okay, he won.

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Speaker 1: He won. The mob was right, Zara, They were totally right, like.

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Speaker 2: You're a congressional material exactly.

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Speaker 1: But it wasn't the end of the legal woes attached

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Speaker 1: to those original bribes, because like traffic can't. He got

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Speaker 1: with not reporting the mob money that he took his income,

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Speaker 1: and which I always love when they're like, all right,

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00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:07,119
Speaker 1: so you broke the law, but still you got to

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Speaker 1: report the illegal income. In eighty six, the IRS started

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Speaker 1: garnishing his wages.

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Speaker 2: For not paying taxes on criminal funds.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, he was forced to pay taxes on one hundred

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Speaker 1: and eight thousand dollars that he took from the mob,

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Speaker 1: which you know, okay, fair enough. Since he was in

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Speaker 1: Congress at the time and like to get ahead of

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Speaker 1: the messaging, he used his allotted one minute on the

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Speaker 1: House floor to respond. He said, quote, I'm sick and

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Speaker 1: tired and I've had enough. I'm saying on the floor

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Speaker 1: of Congress today, if they scare my daughter and my

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Speaker 1: family again, I'm going to go over to the IRS

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Speaker 1: office myself and punch their lights out. I embarrassed the

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Speaker 1: IRS and they targeted me. I led the ninety ninth

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Speaker 1: Congress in opposing President Reagan and his policies, and he,

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Speaker 1: just like President Nixon, sent the irs after me.

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Speaker 2: Oh, Reagan, like Nixon. I like that he's gonna go

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Speaker 2: to the irs and punts their lights out. Like he's

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Speaker 2: just walking down the hallway ute. He's going down just

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Speaker 2: like one thing.

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Speaker 1: It's like I like ten forty standing on the sidewalk outside,

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Speaker 1: I like going.

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Speaker 2: Like full of grand theft auto inside hire has just

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Speaker 2: knock his reckons all these people on the ground.

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Speaker 1: That's how he saw it in his head. I think

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Speaker 1: Congress though not enough for him. No, nineteen eighty seven,

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Speaker 1: he announced that he was running for president.

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Speaker 2: What I thought's gonna be like governor traffic, No, senator traffic.

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Speaker 1: Obviously obviously it didn't go anywhere. Okay, Yeah, but he

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Speaker 1: was easily re elected to Congress for nine terms in total.

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Speaker 2: Yes, they say that the religion is the last the

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Speaker 2: refuge of the scoundrel. I'm fairly starting as Congress is

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Speaker 2: he gets the house right there, Yeah, the House is

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Speaker 2: like okay, well, yeah, you don't like religion, come over

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Speaker 2: here totally.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty six, he ran unopposed and he received

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Speaker 1: the largest vote of any House member in the country,

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Speaker 1: with more than two hundred and eighteen thousand votes. In

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Speaker 1: two thousand, he was reelected, did fifty percent of the

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Speaker 1: vote in a three way race. Wow, it's amazing. So

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Speaker 1: his favorite issues were illegal immigration, so it's like a

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Speaker 1: like illegal free trade and foreign steel imports. He's like

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Speaker 1: playing the greatest hits here. He was all about fighting

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Speaker 1: to get language into legislation that made it so that

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Speaker 1: products that the federal government would buy should have like

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Speaker 1: a maide in the USA label on it.

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Speaker 2: Oh dude, this would play huge in the oh Man.

400
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Speaker 2: He knows his arnt money.

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Speaker 1: He got federal grants for hometown projects like highways, a

402
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Speaker 1: sports arena, and then yeah, money for the Youngstown Airport.

403
00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:43,160
Speaker 1: His other big calling card was those one minute speeches

404
00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:46,920
Speaker 1: on the House floor. He made hundreds of them, and

405
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Speaker 1: the best part is that he would end them by

406
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Speaker 1: saying beam me up, like beat me up on it.

407
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Speaker 1: And he delivered them like basically almost every day that

408
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Speaker 1: the House was in session. Let me read you a

409
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Speaker 1: couple of quote, mister speaker. A new report says only

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Speaker 1: seven percent of scientists believe in God that is right.

411
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Speaker 1: And the reason they gave was that the scientists are

412
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Speaker 1: quote super smart, unbelievable. Most of these absent minded professors

413
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Speaker 1: cannot find the toilet. I have one question for these

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Speaker 1: wise guys to constipate over, how can something come from nothing?

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Speaker 1: And while they digest that, mister speaker, let us tell

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Speaker 1: it like it is. Put these super cerebral master debaters

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Speaker 1: in some foxhole with bombs bursting all around them, and

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Speaker 1: I guarantee they will not be praying to Frankenstein beam

419
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Speaker 1: me up.

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Speaker 2: Oh wow, no atheist and a foxhole. I love it

421
00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:39,879
Speaker 2: saying be me up, me am. I sorry using that

422
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Speaker 2: when I walk into places totally.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes you put it at the beginning, but the best

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Speaker 1: ones are at the end. Quote mister speaker, The Lord's

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00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:51,720
Speaker 1: Prayer is sixty six words. The Gettysburg addresses two hundred

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00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:55,080
Speaker 1: and eighty six words. The Declaration of Independence is one

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00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,960
Speaker 1: three hundred and twenty two words. US regulations on the

428
00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:02,760
Speaker 1: sale of cabbage, that is right, cabbage is twenty seven

429
00:22:02,880 --> 00:22:07,440
Speaker 1: thousand words. Regulatory red tape in America cost taxpayers four

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00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:10,800
Speaker 1: hundred billion dollars every year, over four thousand each year

431
00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:13,880
Speaker 1: every year year in year out for every family, beam

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Speaker 1: me up.

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Speaker 2: One is just a speech, the other one's regulation. They

434
00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:19,000
Speaker 2: should be the same thing.

435
00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:22,000
Speaker 1: How I love that he felt the like the need

436
00:22:22,119 --> 00:22:25,200
Speaker 1: to get up and complain about people being atheists. What

437
00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:27,920
Speaker 1: does that have to do with anything? And then he

438
00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:31,360
Speaker 1: then he goes on to talk about wasting taxpayer money

439
00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:35,960
Speaker 1: after just spending. Okay, so his website was amazing. It

440
00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:38,040
Speaker 1: had a picture of him holding a two by four

441
00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:40,720
Speaker 1: with the phrase underneath banging away in DC.

442
00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:47,280
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he's like Hacksaw Jim Duggan, the WWE wrestler. Oh,

443
00:22:47,560 --> 00:22:48,720
Speaker 2: he's just beam.

444
00:22:48,720 --> 00:22:53,840
Speaker 1: Up well and like much like Bumfardo. He was known

445
00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:58,680
Speaker 1: for his unique look. Oh yeah, he bell bottoms and

446
00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,879
Speaker 1: Dunham suits in the eighties, in the nineties, in the.

447
00:23:02,119 --> 00:23:04,280
Speaker 2: Nineties, it's a boss moved.

448
00:23:04,560 --> 00:23:07,919
Speaker 1: He also had like a viciously bad haircut to pay combo.

449
00:23:08,080 --> 00:23:11,320
Speaker 2: He became he became so bad in fashion, became pre fashion. Yes,

450
00:23:11,400 --> 00:23:12,240
Speaker 2: he came back around.

451
00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:13,920
Speaker 1: Yeah exactly, so his hair.

452
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:14,760
Speaker 2: Can you describe it?

453
00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:16,439
Speaker 1: Well? Let me let me let me tell you how

454
00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:20,720
Speaker 1: the Washington Post tried to Okay, quote reporters outdid themselves

455
00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:24,680
Speaker 1: in trying to describe mister Traffickant's pompadour and to determine

456
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:26,800
Speaker 1: whether it was real. In the words of the Los

457
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:29,879
Speaker 1: Angeles Times, it was a quote planet of the apes

458
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,680
Speaker 1: sort of hair helmet, or as Washingtonian Magazine put it,

459
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,000
Speaker 1: quote a creature from Lake Erie before it was cleaned up.

460
00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:45,240
Speaker 1: So his policy stances, he leaned more Republicans Democrats, so

461
00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:48,240
Speaker 1: much so that he was invited to attend and like

462
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:50,600
Speaker 1: maybe address they put it out there, you might want

463
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,600
Speaker 1: to talk at the two thousand Republican National Convention.

464
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:56,000
Speaker 2: M by bartisanship and all that well.

465
00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:58,639
Speaker 1: And in two thousand he also voted to re elect

466
00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:03,680
Speaker 1: Republican Dennis Hastard as speaker. Oh wow, Dennis Hastard, the

467
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,320
Speaker 1: disgusting pig. He would later be charged and convicted of

468
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:11,080
Speaker 1: sexual abuse and hush money payments. That does as so

469
00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:15,560
Speaker 1: traffick Hand's vote for Hastart was too far for the Dems. Yes,

470
00:24:15,760 --> 00:24:19,360
Speaker 1: they kicked him out of the caucus, took away committee assignments. Yeah,

471
00:24:19,440 --> 00:24:24,119
Speaker 1: he's persona on Grada. And like most high profile politicians today,

472
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,439
Speaker 1: he had a Ukraine issue. Oh yeah, interesting see there

473
00:24:27,520 --> 00:24:33,040
Speaker 1: was this guy named John Demjanjuk. He was a Ukrainian

474
00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:36,680
Speaker 1: immigrant living in Cleveland, and he was accused of being

475
00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:40,400
Speaker 1: the Nazi war criminal that people called Ivan the Terribleez. Yeah.

476
00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:44,560
Speaker 1: So he was supposed to be a really really brutal

477
00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:48,320
Speaker 1: prison guard at the Treblinka concentration camp. Oh god, and

478
00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:51,399
Speaker 1: the US Justice Department took away his citizenship in nineteen

479
00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,280
Speaker 1: eighty one, and he got deported to Israel for trial there.

480
00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:58,240
Speaker 1: He gets convicted in Israel in nineteen eighty eight, sentenced

481
00:24:58,240 --> 00:25:01,000
Speaker 1: to death. But through it all he and his family

482
00:25:01,080 --> 00:25:03,920
Speaker 1: were swearing the whole thing was a case of mistaken identity,

483
00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:07,199
Speaker 1: and his family begged for help, but their own congress

484
00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:09,359
Speaker 1: members they wouldn't touch it. They're like, I want nothing

485
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:14,560
Speaker 1: to do with this. So Trafficant's like, I'll do it, nay. Yeah,

486
00:25:14,600 --> 00:25:16,960
Speaker 1: And he just like milked the press for his, you know,

487
00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:19,680
Speaker 1: supposedly brave stance to like stand up and help this

488
00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:23,840
Speaker 1: guy in a case of standing corruption. Yeah. So, using

489
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:28,200
Speaker 1: Freedom of Information Act requests, Trafficant was able to get documents,

490
00:25:28,320 --> 00:25:31,719
Speaker 1: including an alleged photo of the actual Ivan, and then

491
00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:35,200
Speaker 1: testimony from other Nazis at Treblinka who didn't recognize the

492
00:25:35,280 --> 00:25:39,040
Speaker 1: guy that proved he was not Ivan the Terrible in

493
00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:43,480
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety three, the Israeli Supreme Court overturned the conviction

494
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,000
Speaker 1: and trafficant brought the dude back to the United States.

495
00:25:48,119 --> 00:25:50,920
Speaker 1: So like, he may not have been Ivan the Terrible,

496
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:53,840
Speaker 1: but he was still terrible. Oh really Yeah, there was

497
00:25:53,960 --> 00:25:56,280
Speaker 1: a lot of evidence that he had been in SS

498
00:25:56,400 --> 00:26:00,480
Speaker 1: prison guard at a different Polish concentration camp. He later

499
00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:02,719
Speaker 1: he like, so he gets extradited to Germany.

500
00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:08,639
Speaker 2: Extradited, yes, So they're like, he's not terrible, He's a different, different.

501
00:26:08,440 --> 00:26:12,320
Speaker 1: Terrible guy. And Germany's just like, hand him over, we'll

502
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:15,119
Speaker 1: take him. And so they charge him and they convict

503
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 1: him with more than twenty eight thousand counts of accessory

504
00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:21,320
Speaker 1: to murder. He gets sentenced to prison. So he dies

505
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:23,200
Speaker 1: in a nursing home in Germany at the age of

506
00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,520
Speaker 1: ninety one, awaiting his appeal, which is like too kind

507
00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:30,359
Speaker 1: even though like traffic can't defends him until the end

508
00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:32,040
Speaker 1: it is like, well, I don't think that's true. I

509
00:26:32,080 --> 00:26:33,240
Speaker 1: don't think any of this is true.

510
00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:34,920
Speaker 2: I don't know.

511
00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,640
Speaker 1: So you can't spell traffic, can't without the word bribery

512
00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:42,240
Speaker 1: if you don't know how to spell. And in May

513
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:45,560
Speaker 1: two thousand and one, traffic can't he gets indicted by

514
00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:49,359
Speaker 1: a grand jury on four counts of bribery, two counts

515
00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:52,440
Speaker 1: of tax evasion, two counts of racketeering, and one count

516
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,480
Speaker 1: each of obstructing justice and accepting illegal gifts.

517
00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:56,640
Speaker 2: That's an Ohio full house.

518
00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:02,159
Speaker 1: He faced up is sixty three years in prison and

519
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:06,400
Speaker 1: a two million dollar fine if convicted. Like, how can

520
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:07,240
Speaker 1: that be your ass?

521
00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:08,520
Speaker 2: How can that be Elizabeth?

522
00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:12,240
Speaker 1: Exactly? Thank you for asking well. Prosecutors said that Trafficant

523
00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:15,200
Speaker 1: started taking bribes right after he got into office in

524
00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:18,639
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty five. Like just immediately puts the box on

525
00:27:18,760 --> 00:27:21,320
Speaker 1: the desk, puts his hand out, starts taking it. But

526
00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:23,639
Speaker 1: they were more interested in recent stuff. This is what

527
00:27:23,720 --> 00:27:26,680
Speaker 1: the Washington Post had to say. It was alleged that

528
00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:30,600
Speaker 1: quote local contractors did work on Trafficant's boat and family

529
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:33,920
Speaker 1: farm and gave him money in exchange for political favors.

530
00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:37,479
Speaker 1: The indictment also alleges that he accepted monthly twenty five

531
00:27:37,600 --> 00:27:40,600
Speaker 1: hundred dollars payments from a staff member in exchange for

532
00:27:40,760 --> 00:27:43,600
Speaker 1: hiring the aid and renting office base from him at

533
00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:46,600
Speaker 1: total more than one hundred thousand dollars, and that Trafficant

534
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,159
Speaker 1: ordered aids to perform manual labor on the boat and

535
00:27:49,280 --> 00:27:51,040
Speaker 1: farm during regular work hours.

536
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:55,120
Speaker 2: He's got a congressional aids gone out their buffons.

537
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:58,760
Speaker 1: Ye, they show up in their like you know, dockers,

538
00:27:58,880 --> 00:28:00,520
Speaker 1: and he's like no, no, no, go ch change because

539
00:28:00,520 --> 00:28:01,359
Speaker 1: you're going out to the boat.

540
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:02,160
Speaker 2: Do you know about.

541
00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:06,080
Speaker 1: Well? How did what did they do down on the farm? Right?

542
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:07,760
Speaker 2: What did they do down on the farm, Elizabeth?

543
00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:09,800
Speaker 1: A really good thing? I sightful question.

544
00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:10,960
Speaker 2: It's a profound question.

545
00:28:11,560 --> 00:28:15,359
Speaker 1: They bailed hay on the farm. Really, they maintained horse

546
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,040
Speaker 1: stalls and they did a little light construction work.

547
00:28:18,119 --> 00:28:19,639
Speaker 2: It's like a prison farm pretty much.

548
00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:20,920
Speaker 1: And then what about the boat?

549
00:28:21,040 --> 00:28:22,160
Speaker 2: What about the boat, Elizabeth?

550
00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:24,800
Speaker 1: It wasn't just any boat. It was a houseboat that

551
00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:27,720
Speaker 1: he lived on when he was in DC. He lived

552
00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:32,520
Speaker 1: on a houseboat, which is just shady in general, of course.

553
00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:35,720
Speaker 1: But also he apparently bought the thing from old toe

554
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:39,360
Speaker 1: tapper Larry Craig. Oh lord, ye, this is.

555
00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:41,120
Speaker 2: Part of my rule. The only person I've ever trusted

556
00:28:41,200 --> 00:28:43,640
Speaker 2: as a houseboat is Travis Spaghee and he's fictional. Yes, So.

557
00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:49,280
Speaker 1: Traffagan had his minions scraping barnacles off the houseboat, which

558
00:28:49,360 --> 00:28:54,000
Speaker 1: was a total wreck apparently. No, it's not an euphemism.

559
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:57,040
Speaker 1: And like for all the free labor, the place was.

560
00:28:57,160 --> 00:28:59,320
Speaker 2: Just disrepair, I imagine.

561
00:29:00,160 --> 00:29:04,480
Speaker 1: But it was a community builder, a male bonding experience.

562
00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:07,400
Speaker 1: That's how he described it. It's not hard labor. This

563
00:29:07,560 --> 00:29:08,400
Speaker 1: is a mail bonding.

564
00:29:08,640 --> 00:29:10,040
Speaker 2: This is a place to spill whiskey.

565
00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:15,800
Speaker 1: April two thousand and one, an Ohio businessman named John Kafaro.

566
00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:20,160
Speaker 1: He admitted that he quote arranged nearly twenty seven thousand

567
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:24,120
Speaker 1: dollars in repairs on mister Trafficant's houseboat in Washington and

568
00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:28,320
Speaker 1: then bought the boat for twenty six thousand dollars. Prosecutors,

569
00:29:28,480 --> 00:29:32,560
Speaker 1: I love that boat. Well, mister Trafficant was lobbying federal

570
00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:36,239
Speaker 1: agencies on behalf of a laser guidance system sold by

571
00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:38,920
Speaker 1: mister Kafaro's company, the US Aerospace Group.

572
00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:40,240
Speaker 2: It's a coincidence.

573
00:29:40,280 --> 00:29:42,600
Speaker 1: I'll sink twenty seven grand into the boat, and I'll

574
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:43,760
Speaker 1: buy it from you for twenty six.

575
00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:45,480
Speaker 2: We were talking about business. He took me to his

576
00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:46,760
Speaker 2: boat and I said I'd like to buy this too,

577
00:29:46,880 --> 00:29:47,200
Speaker 2: and we.

578
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:48,920
Speaker 1: Really turned around and let me donate it back you.

579
00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:52,400
Speaker 1: So this is also from the Washington Post. Quote Trafficant

580
00:29:52,520 --> 00:29:55,520
Speaker 1: is also accused of accepting more than ten thousand dollars

581
00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 1: worth of paving at the family farm in return for

582
00:29:59,160 --> 00:30:02,040
Speaker 1: pressuring federal and state highway officials on behalf of a

583
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:07,120
Speaker 1: contractor who'd been convicted of felonies from another contractor. Traffic

584
00:30:07,160 --> 00:30:10,800
Speaker 1: Can't allegedly accepted labor and materials in return for intervening

585
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:16,880
Speaker 1: with a local government agency about a building demolition contract. Heyway, everyone,

586
00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:21,360
Speaker 1: everyone has talents and skills. What are yours and what

587
00:30:21,480 --> 00:30:21,920
Speaker 1: are they worthing?

588
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,640
Speaker 2: Have you been to my house? Point out what you

589
00:30:24,760 --> 00:30:25,200
Speaker 2: can fix.

590
00:30:26,120 --> 00:30:29,400
Speaker 1: So the government's evidence included, you know, among a bunch

591
00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:35,960
Speaker 1: of other things, quote, a briefcase full of cash, letters for.

592
00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:37,760
Speaker 2: You get one of those, a briefcase.

593
00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:43,000
Speaker 1: Can you put that on the order list from iHeart

594
00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:48,000
Speaker 1: letters from trafficant to government officials, and then a delicatess

595
00:30:48,080 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 1: in place that upon which he wrote a list of

596
00:30:51,120 --> 00:30:54,719
Speaker 1: tasks that he wanted a contractor to perform. And he's

597
00:30:54,760 --> 00:30:59,360
Speaker 1: probably like paving plus framing this building equals you'll get

598
00:30:59,440 --> 00:30:59,960
Speaker 1: the contract.

599
00:31:00,040 --> 00:31:01,520
Speaker 2: He's the kind of guy who would like get a

600
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,239
Speaker 2: video camera record his meeting for the thing and then

601
00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:06,640
Speaker 2: give it to him. Here's what we said, here's these

602
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:07,920
Speaker 2: you just go back and look at the case.

603
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:09,880
Speaker 1: Let's just circle back around. It's like when you have

604
00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:11,840
Speaker 1: a meeting and then you send the email afterwards because

605
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:13,080
Speaker 1: you're like, these people aren't going to do it. We

606
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:15,840
Speaker 1: just talked about like, okay, so here are action points

607
00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 1: for this. Traffic can't denies everything.

608
00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:22,160
Speaker 2: None of that's not old paper. Trail traffic can't.

609
00:31:22,520 --> 00:31:25,840
Speaker 1: So the trial starts February two thousand and two at

610
00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:29,320
Speaker 1: the Federal Courthouse in Cleveland, Great Court House. Once again.

611
00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:34,440
Speaker 1: Traffic Cant's going to represent himself. Strategy last time to know,

612
00:31:34,680 --> 00:31:37,280
Speaker 1: he said that he chose to be his own lawyer because,

613
00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:39,760
Speaker 1: like you know, he'd been a government target since nineteen

614
00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:43,400
Speaker 1: eighty three, and he knew there's absolutely no attorney who

615
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:44,200
Speaker 1: can win this case.

616
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:45,200
Speaker 2: Keeps costs down.

617
00:31:45,360 --> 00:31:47,960
Speaker 1: He's thinking about the voter cost. He said. Well here,

618
00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:51,640
Speaker 1: he said that, like, I don't have the money to

619
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:54,400
Speaker 1: spend on a lawyer for this huge trial course. So

620
00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:57,120
Speaker 1: this one goes a little bit differently than the nineteen.

621
00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,320
Speaker 2: No, you don't get that lucky twice.

622
00:32:00,920 --> 00:32:03,720
Speaker 1: This time they wouldn't let him bring in jurors from Youngstown,

623
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:07,560
Speaker 1: all from Cleveland, and then he also wanted to know

624
00:32:08,000 --> 00:32:11,440
Speaker 1: the religious and ethnic backgrounds of all potential jurors.

625
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:13,960
Speaker 2: That's fair, right, well, he said.

626
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:19,000
Speaker 1: Quote As a defender of John Demjanik, a controversial Ukrainian

627
00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:22,160
Speaker 1: immigrant acquitted of being a World War two holocross torturer

628
00:32:22,280 --> 00:32:25,440
Speaker 1: known as Ivan the Terrible, mister Traffickan has complained that

629
00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:30,320
Speaker 1: some jurors with Jewish sympathies could prove biased. Well, first

630
00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:32,360
Speaker 1: of all, the parsing of that language that like the

631
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:35,520
Speaker 1: guy gets acquitted of being Ivan the Terrible, Yes, but

632
00:32:37,000 --> 00:32:41,280
Speaker 1: not his real terrible. So the request is denied. No,

633
00:32:41,400 --> 00:32:44,480
Speaker 1: you cannot interrogate these people as to their religious beliefs.

634
00:32:45,440 --> 00:32:48,280
Speaker 1: The judge was not having it with all his antics.

635
00:32:48,520 --> 00:32:50,760
Speaker 1: The judge warns him, this trial is not going to

636
00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:53,560
Speaker 1: be a Donnybrook. You will behave yourself in this courthouse

637
00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:58,000
Speaker 1: and you will behave yourself outside because like Traffickant told

638
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:01,400
Speaker 1: the press, like while proclaiming his innocence, that he predicted

639
00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:06,560
Speaker 1: and promised a Donnybrook and the whole inside outside the

640
00:33:06,640 --> 00:33:09,880
Speaker 1: courthouse thing. According to the AP quote, during the two

641
00:33:09,960 --> 00:33:12,840
Speaker 1: month trial, he did a curbside interview on live network

642
00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:16,240
Speaker 1: television outside the courthouse each morning, and then went inside

643
00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:18,960
Speaker 1: to challenge the U. S. District Judge Leslie Brooks Wells,

644
00:33:19,120 --> 00:33:22,600
Speaker 1: who tried to dissuade traffic Camp from representing himself, wearing.

645
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,960
Speaker 2: A shirt that said, who's here for the Donnybrook? I

646
00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:28,520
Speaker 2: love this guys. I mean I'm not like a fan

647
00:33:28,600 --> 00:33:31,000
Speaker 2: of him, but his spirit so mad. It's big.

648
00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:34,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, big spirit. Let's take a break. Okay, we

649
00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:37,000
Speaker 1: come back. We'll get a glimpse of the trial, if

650
00:33:37,040 --> 00:34:01,880
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Hello, Hello, Saren, get back here, Elizabeth.

651
00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:03,040
Speaker 1: James trafficking.

652
00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:03,880
Speaker 2: Yes, oh right, go on.

653
00:34:04,280 --> 00:34:07,920
Speaker 1: So he's on trial once again. He's representing himself once again.

654
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:11,080
Speaker 1: Smart it was a zoo and that's the way he

655
00:34:11,239 --> 00:34:13,279
Speaker 1: liked it. Of course, yeah, he's a zoo paper So

656
00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:18,200
Speaker 1: Zaren close your eyes. Yes, I want you to picture it.

657
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:22,400
Speaker 1: You are dur number five in the trial of James

658
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:26,440
Speaker 1: Traffic Cant. You can't believe your good fortune. This is

659
00:34:26,520 --> 00:34:30,839
Speaker 1: a total show and you are loving it. Best entertainment ever.

660
00:34:30,960 --> 00:34:33,680
Speaker 1: It's been a good month so far. You've made a

661
00:34:33,800 --> 00:34:35,880
Speaker 1: ton of money on your Super Bowl bet for the

662
00:34:35,960 --> 00:34:38,360
Speaker 1: Patriots to take the Saint Louis Rams by three points.

663
00:34:39,280 --> 00:34:42,200
Speaker 1: Salt Lake City Winter Olympics have kicked off, and you

664
00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:45,120
Speaker 1: know you're hoping that Alicia Keys wins a bunch of Grammys,

665
00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:48,320
Speaker 1: which she will. But for now, you're in the courtroom

666
00:34:48,360 --> 00:34:50,520
Speaker 1: and you're excited for another day at the circus. I'm

667
00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:54,080
Speaker 1: here this morning much like other mornings. James traffic caan't

668
00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:57,879
Speaker 1: arrives at the courtroom in style. His style. Today he's

669
00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 1: wearing a three piece denim suit. The pants are bell bottoms,

670
00:35:01,680 --> 00:35:04,359
Speaker 1: and over this he's wearing a canvas jacket with leather

671
00:35:04,480 --> 00:35:08,000
Speaker 1: trim on the cuffs and pockets. Sharp. It's two thousand

672
00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:11,680
Speaker 1: and two PS. So the trial gets underway for the day,

673
00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:15,440
Speaker 1: the usual droning from the prosecution and the usual interruptions

674
00:35:15,520 --> 00:35:19,360
Speaker 1: and objections from Trafficant. Trafficant's trying to cross examine a

675
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:23,000
Speaker 1: witness and keeps asking the most random questions, and each

676
00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:26,359
Speaker 1: time he gets murmurs or chuckles from the gallery. He's

677
00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:28,880
Speaker 1: asking a guy on the stand about how many times

678
00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:31,680
Speaker 1: they may have dined together, in the context that his

679
00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:34,800
Speaker 1: former friend had many opportunities to wear a wire and

680
00:35:34,880 --> 00:35:40,120
Speaker 1: tape their interactions. You drank zinfandel, Trafficant says, yes, and

681
00:35:40,280 --> 00:35:44,840
Speaker 1: you drank merlow Man replies, I ask the questions. Trafficant

682
00:35:45,040 --> 00:35:47,920
Speaker 1: sharply retorts, then turns towards the jury and gives you

683
00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:51,680
Speaker 1: a smirk and a raised eyebrow. What the He continues

684
00:35:51,760 --> 00:35:55,319
Speaker 1: with some weird side quest question about restaurants. This time

685
00:35:55,400 --> 00:36:00,960
Speaker 1: the prosecution stands objection relevance sustained. You're all traffic camt

686
00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:04,320
Speaker 1: pipes up. I object to that objection. I'm up against

687
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:07,360
Speaker 1: a lawyer here with the testicles of an ant. Folks

688
00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:10,279
Speaker 1: in the gallery laugh. I don't know what that means,

689
00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:12,800
Speaker 1: mister trafficamp, but knock it off enough. One worry of

690
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:15,480
Speaker 1: your outbursts and I'll find you in contempt. I mean,

691
00:36:15,560 --> 00:36:17,719
Speaker 1: it's fun, but it's going to be a long day

692
00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:19,600
Speaker 1: and this is going to wear thin on you soon.

693
00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:24,960
Speaker 1: So scene, let me tell you who testified, please, an

694
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:29,160
Speaker 1: Ohio personal injury attorney Alan Sinclair. He said that he

695
00:36:29,239 --> 00:36:32,600
Speaker 1: paid traffic Cant twenty five hundred dollars each month in

696
00:36:32,760 --> 00:36:35,440
Speaker 1: exchange for being on his staff.

697
00:36:35,520 --> 00:36:38,520
Speaker 2: A personal injury lawyer. Yeah, paid a twenty five hundred

698
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:41,800
Speaker 2: dollars bill or bribe brother every month to stay on

699
00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:42,400
Speaker 2: the staff.

700
00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:45,600
Speaker 1: He paid for a job, Yeah, and he made sixty

701
00:36:45,680 --> 00:36:48,960
Speaker 1: K a year as a joh, he kickbacked half his job,

702
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:50,480
Speaker 1: half his salary whatever.

703
00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, as a personal injury lawyer who wants to be

704
00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:53,320
Speaker 2: on this staff.

705
00:36:53,400 --> 00:36:55,000
Speaker 1: Well, he was still working full time.

706
00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,880
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Would be kind of busy.

707
00:36:57,840 --> 00:36:59,399
Speaker 1: While he was quote working yeah.

708
00:36:59,600 --> 00:36:59,759
Speaker 2: Yeah.

709
00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:02,680
Speaker 1: So, according to The New York Times, Sinclair testified that

710
00:37:02,840 --> 00:37:07,600
Speaker 1: once traffic caan't found out, Sinclair would be testifying against him. Quote.

711
00:37:07,960 --> 00:37:10,759
Speaker 1: The congressman sent notes to him asserting that there had

712
00:37:10,800 --> 00:37:15,040
Speaker 1: been loans, not kickbacks, he said. Mister trafficant eventually handed

713
00:37:15,120 --> 00:37:18,279
Speaker 1: back twenty four five hundred dollars in cash to him.

714
00:37:18,360 --> 00:37:19,319
Speaker 1: To him, he's like, oh, I.

715
00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:21,440
Speaker 2: Thought that they were basically nobody was doing the work

716
00:37:21,440 --> 00:37:24,080
Speaker 2: and they were just splitting this salary they were. So

717
00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:25,040
Speaker 2: that's so that's what it was.

718
00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:27,600
Speaker 1: It was like a no show job basically.

719
00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:28,120
Speaker 2: Okay.

720
00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:30,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, But then he's like, ho ho ho ho, those

721
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:32,160
Speaker 1: weren't No, we weren't splitting the job. I was loaning

722
00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:32,640
Speaker 1: new money.

723
00:37:33,000 --> 00:37:35,399
Speaker 2: Here's the other part. Yeah, he's trying to get out

724
00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:38,960
Speaker 2: of it by saying, like, if I give you back, exactly, queen, exactly,

725
00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:41,320
Speaker 2: there's no crime now, right, Officer He said.

726
00:37:41,120 --> 00:37:43,839
Speaker 1: That traffic Caant tried to coach him for his conversations

727
00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:46,200
Speaker 1: with the FBI and the grand jury, and then like

728
00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:48,520
Speaker 1: on a bunch of different times that they had gotten

729
00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:53,319
Speaker 1: together and burned evidence, like the envelopes that held the cash.

730
00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:54,840
Speaker 1: They're like, let's have an evidence burning.

731
00:37:54,880 --> 00:37:56,200
Speaker 2: How did you coach someone for that?

732
00:37:56,440 --> 00:37:57,720
Speaker 1: It's fun mail bondings.

733
00:37:59,040 --> 00:38:01,560
Speaker 2: This was like in the Iron John era of the seventies.

734
00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:04,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, they got to bang drums and yell forests and

735
00:38:04,000 --> 00:38:07,480
Speaker 1: burn evidence, burn evidence place mats. In one of their

736
00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:12,200
Speaker 1: like encounter sessions, Sinclair had doubts about burning the envelope.

737
00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:13,560
Speaker 1: He's like, I don't know if this is a good idea.

738
00:38:13,840 --> 00:38:16,239
Speaker 1: Trafficant gets up and leaves, and then Sinclair puts the

739
00:38:16,280 --> 00:38:19,440
Speaker 1: fire out and then takes the envelope, Oh that's like

740
00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:22,200
Speaker 1: maybe just a charred inside, and hands it over to

741
00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:27,480
Speaker 1: the FBI as evidence. So remember that Trafficant one hundred

742
00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:30,560
Speaker 1: and seventy acre farm outside of Youngstown. I do of

743
00:38:30,640 --> 00:38:33,239
Speaker 1: those where men bailed Hey, where men were men and

744
00:38:33,320 --> 00:38:37,480
Speaker 1: they bailed hay and they learned about masculinity. So around

745
00:38:37,560 --> 00:38:41,680
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four, Trafficant paid a local contractor named Henry

746
00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:45,200
Speaker 1: Nemmits twenty five thousand dollars to build a pole barn

747
00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:48,959
Speaker 1: and a riding area. Okay, Nemts also owned a small

748
00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:52,640
Speaker 1: grocery chain. So Nemits said that traffic Can't asked for

749
00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:55,840
Speaker 1: what amounted to like triple the work that he agreed

750
00:38:55,880 --> 00:38:59,000
Speaker 1: to do, and instead of paying the bills, traffic Can't

751
00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:01,760
Speaker 1: offered a quote inner seed in a labor dispute Nemman's

752
00:39:01,760 --> 00:39:03,800
Speaker 1: hat at the time with the local Food and Commercial

753
00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:08,520
Speaker 1: Workers Union. Oh so he's like, here's what I'm going

754
00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:10,240
Speaker 1: to pay you. He builds it. He's like, I'm actually

755
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:12,359
Speaker 1: not going to pay you that. I'm going to make

756
00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:13,439
Speaker 1: your union troubles go away.

757
00:39:13,480 --> 00:39:15,400
Speaker 2: So it wasn't even the arrangement going in. It was

758
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:18,279
Speaker 2: the arrangement when the bills going out. Yeah. Wow.

759
00:39:18,320 --> 00:39:21,640
Speaker 1: So, according to the Youngstown Vindicator, which is an amazing

760
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:24,919
Speaker 1: name for a newspaper, to quote, Traffic Cant, who would

761
00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:28,400
Speaker 1: occasionally fill in as host on various radio stations, did

762
00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:31,719
Speaker 1: a remote broadcast from one of Nemets's stores and urged

763
00:39:31,800 --> 00:39:34,279
Speaker 1: his constituents to cross the picket line and shop at

764
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:37,160
Speaker 1: the store. That's one way to lose the union boats.

765
00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:38,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.

766
00:39:38,480 --> 00:39:42,280
Speaker 1: So the trial lasted eight weeks, and after a ninety

767
00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:46,440
Speaker 1: minute closing argument, traffic Can't apologized to the judge and

768
00:39:46,600 --> 00:39:49,400
Speaker 1: the jury, saying, quote, I've been a real pain in

769
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:51,680
Speaker 1: the ascot. If you were in the room when I

770
00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:55,839
Speaker 1: threw boxes, I apologize a pain in the ascot. Oh.

771
00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:03,480
Speaker 1: Closing argument also apparently included the use of a roll

772
00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:04,279
Speaker 1: of toilet paper.

773
00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:07,200
Speaker 2: Oh yes, he had props well, quote.

774
00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,520
Speaker 1: To demonstrate the government's case didn't hold water.

775
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:10,680
Speaker 3: That was it.

776
00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:12,040
Speaker 1: That was it. I thought.

777
00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:14,319
Speaker 2: I thought he said stuff like written on and he'd

778
00:40:14,400 --> 00:40:16,680
Speaker 2: rolled it up, and it's just.

779
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:17,680
Speaker 1: Something even more.

780
00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:18,840
Speaker 2: Oh wow.

781
00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:25,560
Speaker 1: April eleventh, after four days of deliberations, Trafficant was convicted

782
00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:30,120
Speaker 1: by a jury of all ten counts against him. So

783
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:34,120
Speaker 1: that's like conspiracy, bribery, travel and interstate commerce to carry

784
00:40:34,160 --> 00:40:36,399
Speaker 1: on the unlawful act of bribery because he's going back

785
00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:37,319
Speaker 1: and forth between DC.

786
00:40:37,560 --> 00:40:40,480
Speaker 2: So he got busted on the full everything.

787
00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:43,359
Speaker 1: You know exactly. He got sentenced to only eight years

788
00:40:43,400 --> 00:40:47,280
Speaker 1: in prison, though, and he had to pay eighteen hundred,

789
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:49,719
Speaker 1: like on thousand and eight forty a month for his

790
00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:53,520
Speaker 1: own imprisonment. Oh wow, that's cold blooded. It's kind of

791
00:40:53,560 --> 00:40:56,960
Speaker 1: a great punishment to pay for it, and then he

792
00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:59,840
Speaker 1: also had to pay like another ninety six thousand in restitution.

793
00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:02,840
Speaker 1: So he said he was still planning on running for

794
00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:03,640
Speaker 1: Congress again.

795
00:41:03,760 --> 00:41:04,320
Speaker 2: Of course he was.

796
00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:07,960
Speaker 1: His time is an independence, and he didn't just plan,

797
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:11,279
Speaker 1: he filed to run. I'm ready, he said, quote, I

798
00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:13,480
Speaker 1: may be the first person in America to win a

799
00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:14,960
Speaker 1: seat while incarcerated.

800
00:41:15,560 --> 00:41:16,600
Speaker 2: Would he be? I think?

801
00:41:16,840 --> 00:41:19,520
Speaker 1: Well he wasn't. Oh yeah, he didn't. Even he got

802
00:41:19,680 --> 00:41:21,319
Speaker 1: fifteen percent of the vote though.

803
00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:22,600
Speaker 2: Fifteen yeah.

804
00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:25,919
Speaker 1: Do you remember the two pey Oh yes, that came

805
00:41:26,000 --> 00:41:28,760
Speaker 1: off for the booking photo. No. Yeah, and he couldn't

806
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:29,480
Speaker 1: wear it inside.

807
00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:30,600
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's right.

808
00:41:30,760 --> 00:41:32,719
Speaker 1: And I like to think that he crafted his own

809
00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:35,520
Speaker 1: out of like loose threads and pieces of shredded wheat

810
00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:39,879
Speaker 1: and sticks and fruit leather. Instead he grew a thin,

811
00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:44,400
Speaker 1: scraggly ponytail. Oh yeah, he just made it worse. Just

812
00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:48,000
Speaker 1: shave your head. After his conviction, the House asked him

813
00:41:48,040 --> 00:41:51,200
Speaker 1: to step down. Absolutely yeah, and he refused.

814
00:41:52,160 --> 00:41:52,800
Speaker 2: Come in and get me.

815
00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:55,840
Speaker 1: July two thousand and two, his fellow reps they voted

816
00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:58,560
Speaker 1: on whether to expel him from the house. At the hearing,

817
00:41:58,680 --> 00:42:02,520
Speaker 1: here's what he said quote, I understand the political dynamics.

818
00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:05,080
Speaker 1: I am prepared to be expelled. I'm prepared to go

819
00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:07,960
Speaker 1: to jail because I didn't do this. But I'm telling

820
00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:11,319
Speaker 1: you you have allowed Rico to degenerate to the point

821
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:13,680
Speaker 1: where mothers are going to be convicted of colluding to

822
00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:18,440
Speaker 1: buy Kellogg's breakfast cereal. Beat me up, Me me up, everybody.

823
00:42:19,040 --> 00:42:22,640
Speaker 1: He also said, quote, Am I different? Yeah? Do I

824
00:42:22,760 --> 00:42:23,560
Speaker 1: change my pants?

825
00:42:24,000 --> 00:42:24,040
Speaker 3: No?

826
00:42:24,840 --> 00:42:27,600
Speaker 1: Deep down you know you want to wear wid er bottoms.

827
00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:30,000
Speaker 1: You're just not secure enough to do it. Do I

828
00:42:30,120 --> 00:42:33,080
Speaker 1: do my hair with a weed whacker? I admit I've

829
00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:36,400
Speaker 1: helped everybody in my district. Yeah, I didn't even like

830
00:42:36,520 --> 00:42:38,799
Speaker 1: some of them. But when they had a twenty two

831
00:42:38,800 --> 00:42:41,759
Speaker 1: percent unemployment rate, did I go to bat for them? Yes?

832
00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:45,160
Speaker 1: I'm prepared to lose everything. I'm prepared to go to jail.

833
00:42:45,560 --> 00:42:47,279
Speaker 1: You go ahead and expel me, but I'm going to

834
00:42:47,360 --> 00:42:50,359
Speaker 1: tell you what. You didn't elect me. My people don't

835
00:42:50,360 --> 00:42:52,319
Speaker 1: want me out, and I don't think you should take

836
00:42:52,360 --> 00:42:55,520
Speaker 1: their representative away. And with that, thank you for listening

837
00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:58,680
Speaker 1: to me and vote your conscience. Nothing personal. But he

838
00:42:58,719 --> 00:42:59,560
Speaker 1: didn't give a be meal.

839
00:43:00,280 --> 00:43:03,000
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like though the whole traffic. Can't traffic, can't

840
00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:05,080
Speaker 2: you different? Your bottom's too wide.

841
00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:10,440
Speaker 1: You're just not brave enough, too hard, You're just not

842
00:43:10,560 --> 00:43:11,600
Speaker 1: brave enough for pill bottom.

843
00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:14,919
Speaker 2: Basically, the fashion police on him is just oh god,

844
00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:17,400
Speaker 2: I would love to say some of those opening lines.

845
00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:18,880
Speaker 2: I won't even lie totally.

846
00:43:19,520 --> 00:43:22,360
Speaker 1: He was expelled now by a vote of four twenty

847
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:25,200
Speaker 1: to one, which is just a chef's kiss for.

848
00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:29,720
Speaker 2: Quote, the only vote to keep himself Congress.

849
00:43:31,040 --> 00:43:35,759
Speaker 1: He was expelled for quote illegal gratuity, conspiracy, obstruction of justice,

850
00:43:35,840 --> 00:43:40,160
Speaker 1: defrauding the government, racketeering, and tax evation violations. And then

851
00:43:40,239 --> 00:43:43,440
Speaker 1: he turned around later and he called his colleagues political prostitutes,

852
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,400
Speaker 1: and he said, quote, I want to apologize to all

853
00:43:46,480 --> 00:43:49,800
Speaker 1: the hookers of America for associating them with the United States.

854
00:43:49,680 --> 00:43:51,759
Speaker 2: Congress, giving them a bad name.

855
00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:54,759
Speaker 1: So travagant. He wanted to do his time in this

856
00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:55,880
Speaker 1: Native ohen He's like a.

857
00:43:56,719 --> 00:43:58,000
Speaker 2: Less creative George Santas.

858
00:43:58,160 --> 00:44:01,920
Speaker 1: This is interesting basically, whereas like he goes wide in

859
00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:06,879
Speaker 1: the legs, Santos goes tight, yes, exactly, squeeze on in there. Traffic, can't.

860
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:09,120
Speaker 1: He wanted to do time in Ohio. He didn't want

861
00:44:09,120 --> 00:44:12,000
Speaker 1: to go anywhere else, mainly because he still wanted to

862
00:44:12,040 --> 00:44:16,080
Speaker 1: be able to campaign there and so instead, though, he

863
00:44:16,200 --> 00:44:19,719
Speaker 1: gets sent to a low security prison in Pennsylvania, and

864
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:23,600
Speaker 1: then he's later transferred to the Federal Medical Center in Minnesota, Minnesota.

865
00:44:23,640 --> 00:44:24,080
Speaker 2: That was my guess.

866
00:44:24,320 --> 00:44:26,759
Speaker 1: Yeah, he didn't have a lot of contact with his

867
00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:28,840
Speaker 1: family or his friends when he was in prison, but

868
00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:31,880
Speaker 1: that was by choice. Yeah, he told Fox News that quote,

869
00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:34,560
Speaker 1: I did not want any visitors. I did not want

870
00:44:34,600 --> 00:44:36,920
Speaker 1: my family to go see me in prison. If I died,

871
00:44:37,000 --> 00:44:39,319
Speaker 1: they'd remember me the way I was. If I got out,

872
00:44:39,480 --> 00:44:39,799
Speaker 1: I'd be.

873
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:42,600
Speaker 2: Back actually kind of profound.

874
00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:44,960
Speaker 1: So he would like he would briefly in these very

875
00:44:45,080 --> 00:44:47,319
Speaker 1: short calls. He'd call his wife two or three times

876
00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:47,880
Speaker 1: a week, like.

877
00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:49,560
Speaker 2: One minute, Like he just take his one minute and

878
00:44:49,719 --> 00:44:50,160
Speaker 2: give it to her.

879
00:44:50,200 --> 00:44:52,759
Speaker 1: Well yeah, well no, he took he kept them short

880
00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:53,840
Speaker 1: because they're expensive.

881
00:44:54,239 --> 00:44:58,080
Speaker 2: Oh my god, that's why. Of course it is expensive.

882
00:44:58,160 --> 00:45:00,799
Speaker 2: But yeah, he's got the corruption, the corruption.

883
00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:03,520
Speaker 1: For He also took up painting while in prison.

884
00:45:03,680 --> 00:45:06,360
Speaker 2: Oh and then after he was fine art painting, not

885
00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:07,319
Speaker 2: just like painting other guys.

886
00:45:07,360 --> 00:45:09,760
Speaker 1: So yeah, he got when he got out. He would

887
00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:12,080
Speaker 1: sometimes like say that his time in prison he would

888
00:45:12,080 --> 00:45:17,240
Speaker 1: call it art school, and like his first his first twelve.

889
00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:19,320
Speaker 2: You call it being overseas at art school.

890
00:45:20,239 --> 00:45:24,040
Speaker 1: His first twelve paintings, which were sold through a website

891
00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:28,120
Speaker 1: that a supporter set up, beammeupart dot com. Oh my god,

892
00:45:28,200 --> 00:45:31,480
Speaker 1: that they sold out. This is what the website said. Quote.

893
00:45:31,920 --> 00:45:35,440
Speaker 1: He has produced original paintings, mostly from memory, showing his

894
00:45:35,640 --> 00:45:41,160
Speaker 1: beloved saddlebred horses on canvas, paper, prison, cardboard, and for mica.

895
00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:44,480
Speaker 1: The paints and materials used were those that were available

896
00:45:44,560 --> 00:45:47,560
Speaker 1: to him on a limited budget, often in short supply

897
00:45:47,840 --> 00:45:49,120
Speaker 1: and difficult to obtain.

898
00:45:49,440 --> 00:45:50,400
Speaker 2: Some of them are toothpas.

899
00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:52,960
Speaker 1: See one. That's what it looks like.

900
00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:57,600
Speaker 2: Oh, that's like ten or eleven year old, like learned art.

901
00:45:57,640 --> 00:45:59,040
Speaker 2: Like they got a little bit, they got some swoop.

902
00:45:59,080 --> 00:45:59,920
Speaker 1: It's got so bad.

903
00:46:00,160 --> 00:46:01,000
Speaker 2: No, it's not bad, I'm saying.

904
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:03,880
Speaker 1: But it's just very weirdly French and also very like

905
00:46:04,000 --> 00:46:04,279
Speaker 1: it's the.

906
00:46:04,480 --> 00:46:06,560
Speaker 2: You can see the kid is talented. It feels like

907
00:46:06,600 --> 00:46:09,520
Speaker 2: a talented kid is learning to do shape and stuff

908
00:46:09,719 --> 00:46:12,960
Speaker 2: exact and motion in the field of But whatever, it's

909
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:14,680
Speaker 2: not bad. I'm not criticizing.

910
00:46:14,719 --> 00:46:16,160
Speaker 1: It looks like a lot of prison arts.

911
00:46:16,040 --> 00:46:17,120
Speaker 2: And it doesn't look like an adult.

912
00:46:17,520 --> 00:46:20,239
Speaker 1: Noo, that's better than I could do.

913
00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:22,640
Speaker 2: Totally. I'm not suggesting that I could do what he did.

914
00:46:22,719 --> 00:46:24,960
Speaker 1: I'm just I think you could. In two thousand and six,

915
00:46:25,239 --> 00:46:27,960
Speaker 1: the local Ohio art gallery they held a show of

916
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:31,400
Speaker 1: his works, and then the Prison Medical Center revoked his

917
00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:34,080
Speaker 1: art privileges, saying that he was using him to make money.

918
00:46:34,760 --> 00:46:38,960
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, because he can't make money of his crime. Crime. Yeah.

919
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:42,399
Speaker 1: He was released from prison September two thousand and nine.

920
00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:45,680
Speaker 1: He did seven years, twelve hundreds.

921
00:46:45,719 --> 00:46:46,600
Speaker 2: That's a lot of art school.

922
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:50,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is so, that's like they're bachelor's masters. Twelve

923
00:46:50,719 --> 00:46:54,840
Speaker 1: hundred supporters attended his release party, twelve hundred and in

924
00:46:54,960 --> 00:46:56,520
Speaker 1: there an Elvis impersonator.

925
00:46:56,560 --> 00:46:57,640
Speaker 2: Of course I expected that, And.

926
00:46:57,640 --> 00:47:00,759
Speaker 1: Then they had a traffic can't look alike contest? Oh

927
00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:03,840
Speaker 1: my god, this is this is what he said to

928
00:47:03,960 --> 00:47:07,560
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Plane Dealer. Yea paper, I was a quarterback,

929
00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:11,040
Speaker 1: I was a congressman. Now I'm a convict. And then

930
00:47:11,120 --> 00:47:14,280
Speaker 1: like he put his two payback on for this quote.

931
00:47:14,360 --> 00:47:16,800
Speaker 1: I wouldn't change one single thing. And to the powerful

932
00:47:16,920 --> 00:47:18,840
Speaker 1: enemies that I have, I'll just say this to you.

933
00:47:19,480 --> 00:47:24,239
Speaker 1: You had to cheat to convict me. Yeah. So about

934
00:47:24,280 --> 00:47:26,439
Speaker 1: a week after he gets out, he gives his first

935
00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:29,040
Speaker 1: interview to Fox News on the Record, and he said

936
00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:32,600
Speaker 1: he was considering running again for congreourse. And then right

937
00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:35,000
Speaker 1: after that he was a featured speaker at a tea

938
00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:38,160
Speaker 1: party rally in Ohio. So he's like pendulum swing. So

939
00:47:39,360 --> 00:47:43,960
Speaker 1: he's planning his campaign. He ran as an independent and

940
00:47:44,080 --> 00:47:47,120
Speaker 1: he lost. He got sixteen percent of the vote. In

941
00:47:47,200 --> 00:47:50,000
Speaker 1: twenty ten, he signed a three month contract to host

942
00:47:50,200 --> 00:47:53,719
Speaker 1: a three hour Saturday afternoon talk show on a Cleveland

943
00:47:53,760 --> 00:47:57,400
Speaker 1: AM radio station WTAM. And at this point, he's like

944
00:47:57,480 --> 00:47:59,080
Speaker 1: living full time on the farm totally.

945
00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:01,839
Speaker 2: He drove he's got a three hour am radio show.

946
00:48:01,880 --> 00:48:04,279
Speaker 2: I figured that's pretty much I live on a farm.

947
00:48:04,320 --> 00:48:05,160
Speaker 2: If I heard he.

948
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:08,040
Speaker 1: Would like, he'd just like tootle around the farm on

949
00:48:08,160 --> 00:48:13,239
Speaker 1: his nineteen forty three Ford tractor. Yes, spreading manure, you know,

950
00:48:13,400 --> 00:48:13,960
Speaker 1: man stuff.

951
00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:15,080
Speaker 2: Give me one of those red beauties.

952
00:48:15,080 --> 00:48:17,000
Speaker 1: He's like, I'm just doing man stuff out here. On

953
00:48:17,160 --> 00:48:21,800
Speaker 1: the evening of September twenty September twenty third, twenty.

954
00:48:21,600 --> 00:48:24,040
Speaker 2: Fourteen, Course twenty fourteen, the tractor.

955
00:48:23,760 --> 00:48:25,560
Speaker 1: Rolled over as he was trying to take it back

956
00:48:25,600 --> 00:48:27,279
Speaker 1: to that pole barn that he had the guy built

957
00:48:27,320 --> 00:48:27,560
Speaker 1: for him.

958
00:48:27,560 --> 00:48:28,680
Speaker 2: Oh that's super dangerous.

959
00:48:28,800 --> 00:48:31,720
Speaker 1: Huh. He fell under. He was pinned for eight minutes

960
00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:34,879
Speaker 1: before someone saw what happened and called for help. Oh wow,

961
00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:36,920
Speaker 1: he was very badly injured. They took him to the

962
00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:39,360
Speaker 1: nearest hospital and then they airlifted him to a bigger

963
00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:42,759
Speaker 1: hospital and he passed away from his injuries, you know,

964
00:48:42,880 --> 00:48:47,359
Speaker 1: four days later September twenty seventh, twenty fourteen. Yeah, very sad.

965
00:48:48,440 --> 00:48:51,799
Speaker 1: A forensic pathologist said that his death was from positional

966
00:48:51,920 --> 00:48:55,239
Speaker 1: and compressional asphyxiation from the tractor being on him.

967
00:48:55,239 --> 00:48:56,640
Speaker 2: So ad way to spell tractor.

968
00:48:57,160 --> 00:49:00,480
Speaker 1: But others say there was foul play hand.

969
00:49:00,440 --> 00:49:01,680
Speaker 2: The mob put a tractor on him.

970
00:49:01,719 --> 00:49:03,600
Speaker 1: Yeah, they said that he was a very careful driver

971
00:49:03,719 --> 00:49:05,120
Speaker 1: who never would have rolled a tractor.

972
00:49:05,320 --> 00:49:07,080
Speaker 2: Come on, I come from farm people. That ain't true.

973
00:49:07,160 --> 00:49:10,120
Speaker 1: Folks like him just to like attract conspiracy mindy.

974
00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:11,560
Speaker 2: Of course, but there's no way to safe way to

975
00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:12,719
Speaker 2: drive a tractor now.

976
00:49:12,840 --> 00:49:15,839
Speaker 1: He was buried in private service. Thousands of people went

977
00:49:15,880 --> 00:49:19,040
Speaker 1: to his public memorial in October of twenty three. His

978
00:49:19,160 --> 00:49:22,120
Speaker 1: old farmhouse was demolished as part of the Mill Creek

979
00:49:22,239 --> 00:49:24,600
Speaker 1: Metro Parks plan to build a bicycle trail.

980
00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:27,600
Speaker 2: Oh, his house is now a bicycle trail, and like his.

981
00:49:27,800 --> 00:49:31,200
Speaker 1: Daughter, his daughter owned it at that point it was

982
00:49:31,320 --> 00:49:33,560
Speaker 1: see it was seized under eminent domain.

983
00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:35,600
Speaker 2: Oh wow, that's hilarious.

984
00:49:35,880 --> 00:49:37,680
Speaker 1: So Zaren, what's your ridiculous takeaway?

985
00:49:38,160 --> 00:49:40,200
Speaker 2: I should get into politics, clearly. I mean, it's just

986
00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:43,719
Speaker 2: like a giant magnet drawing this iron filing to it.

987
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:44,400
Speaker 1: Uh huh No.

988
00:49:44,520 --> 00:49:47,359
Speaker 2: But in all honesty, as I said, I know about

989
00:49:47,360 --> 00:49:51,160
Speaker 2: the Youngstown mafia before, but I didn't realize how corrupt

990
00:49:51,239 --> 00:49:53,319
Speaker 2: Cleveland was coming out of the week. Look, we got

991
00:49:53,360 --> 00:49:55,319
Speaker 2: no more money for steel, you know. I mean, it's

992
00:49:55,320 --> 00:49:57,440
Speaker 2: an obvious thing, but I just hadn't thought about it

993
00:49:57,480 --> 00:49:59,480
Speaker 2: and walked it all the way through. So now I'm

994
00:49:59,480 --> 00:50:01,920
Speaker 2: gonna be very curious to go read about what happened

995
00:50:01,960 --> 00:50:05,759
Speaker 2: in Cleveland in the late seventies. What's yours, Elizabeth? I

996
00:50:05,800 --> 00:50:07,480
Speaker 2: did that all like. I just Hey, I want to

997
00:50:07,520 --> 00:50:09,360
Speaker 2: know what you have. Yeah, I want to know what

998
00:50:09,480 --> 00:50:09,839
Speaker 2: you find.

999
00:50:10,080 --> 00:50:13,480
Speaker 1: I think you should start wearing bell bottoms and denim suits.

1000
00:50:13,880 --> 00:50:14,640
Speaker 2: Wide bottoms.

1001
00:50:14,719 --> 00:50:16,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, there you go, call them.

1002
00:50:16,920 --> 00:50:18,080
Speaker 2: Hey, I'm wearing my wide body.

1003
00:50:18,160 --> 00:50:20,239
Speaker 1: Hey, Captain D give me a talk back.

1004
00:50:20,480 --> 00:50:30,320
Speaker 2: Oh my god, I went.

1005
00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:37,320
Speaker 3: Hi, Elizabeth, So, a few episodes ago you mentioned that

1006
00:50:37,440 --> 00:50:40,880
Speaker 3: you wish someone would say, wow, look at the ovaries

1007
00:50:40,960 --> 00:50:45,000
Speaker 3: on this girl. And I just found out that there's

1008
00:50:45,040 --> 00:50:51,120
Speaker 3: a very common saying in Spanish that goes in bar

1009
00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:56,560
Speaker 3: de ovarios, which translated is she's got a pair of ovaries.

1010
00:50:56,680 --> 00:50:59,120
Speaker 1: So I thought you might like that, thought I might

1011
00:50:59,280 --> 00:51:02,680
Speaker 1: like it. I love it, I love it, I love it.

1012
00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:06,880
Speaker 1: That's it for today. You can find us on the computer.

1013
00:51:07,239 --> 00:51:09,839
Speaker 2: My computer d find us there.

1014
00:51:11,160 --> 00:51:11,919
Speaker 1: Do you want to know where?

1015
00:51:12,239 --> 00:51:12,439
Speaker 2: Yeah?

1016
00:51:12,520 --> 00:51:17,640
Speaker 1: I guess Ridiculouscrime dot com at Ridiculous Crime on the

1017
00:51:17,840 --> 00:51:21,800
Speaker 1: various social well just Twitter and Instagram. You can email

1018
00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:24,879
Speaker 1: us at an email address. You can leave a talk back,

1019
00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:29,960
Speaker 1: just like that awesome one. iHeart app. Go ahead and

1020
00:51:29,960 --> 00:51:30,359
Speaker 1: reach out.

1021
00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:31,760
Speaker 2: I had two languages.

1022
00:51:31,920 --> 00:51:32,239
Speaker 3: It did.

1023
00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:41,560
Speaker 1: It's good counting. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton

1024
00:51:41,600 --> 00:51:45,480
Speaker 1: and Zaren Burnette, produced and edited by convicted Senator Dave Kusten.

1025
00:51:45,960 --> 00:51:49,759
Speaker 1: Research is by FBI tape rewinder Marisa Brown and congressional

1026
00:51:49,840 --> 00:51:52,840
Speaker 1: staffer with a negative forty thousand dollars a year salary,

1027
00:51:52,920 --> 00:51:56,560
Speaker 1: Andrea Song Sharpen Tear. The theme song is by Thomas Bellbottom.

1028
00:51:56,600 --> 00:52:00,200
Speaker 1: Blues Lee and Travis Don't touch the hair Dutton. Most

1029
00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:04,040
Speaker 1: Sport Probe is provided by Botany five hundred. Executive producers

1030
00:52:04,120 --> 00:52:07,960
Speaker 1: are Hey Baylor, Ben Bollen and exhausted prosecutor Noel Brown.

1031
00:52:13,280 --> 00:52:18,920
Speaker 3: Ridicous Crime, Say It one More Time Piquious Crime.

1032
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:23,360
Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts.

1033
00:52:23,480 --> 00:52:26,640
Speaker 2: My heart Radio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

1034
00:52:26,680 --> 00:52:28,440
Speaker 2: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.