WEBVTT - Hot Socialite Turns Expert Blackmailer 0:00:08.285 --> 0:00:14.685 School of Humans. It's nineteen sixteen in Chicago at the 0:00:14.725 --> 0:00:20.605 Hotel Blackstone's restaurant dining there is Edward R. West and 0:00:20.805 --> 0:00:23.685 Edward is the president of the CD greg T and 0:00:23.805 --> 0:00:27.845 Coffee Company, the largest importer of tea and coffee in 0:00:27.885 --> 0:00:31.325 the United States at the time. Yes, the tea and 0:00:31.365 --> 0:00:37.005 coffee game makes you the big bucks che ching. Edward's 0:00:37.045 --> 0:00:39.605 wife had died several years before, so you know, this 0:00:39.685 --> 0:00:42.125 evening he might have been out on the prowl looking 0:00:42.205 --> 0:00:46.605 for some a hot thing to soothe his pain, and 0:00:46.685 --> 0:00:49.965 he found someone. At the restaurant. He sees a beautiful 0:00:50.005 --> 0:00:53.205 young lady. One of the spiciest things about her is, 0:00:53.245 --> 0:00:56.165 according to one newspaper, she had let down her hair 0:00:56.565 --> 0:01:02.965 in a girlish fashion. Hot The Chicago Tribune said she 0:01:03.085 --> 0:01:09.485 was a small brunette, a distinct beauty with the look. Anyway, 0:01:09.605 --> 0:01:11.965 she sees Edward looking at her, and she's like, Hi, 0:01:12.365 --> 0:01:17.805 my name is Buddha, Godman, what's yours? And it seems 0:01:17.805 --> 0:01:21.365 that Edward was quickly seduced. He and Buddha started getting 0:01:21.405 --> 0:01:25.085 friendlier and friendlier and maybe engage in some hanky panky 0:01:25.125 --> 0:01:30.965 at some point over the course of their rendezvous. Buddha 0:01:30.965 --> 0:01:34.765 tells Edward about herself. She says she has independent means, 0:01:34.845 --> 0:01:37.285 a desire to see something of the world, and she 0:01:37.365 --> 0:01:43.285 was not averse to enjoying it in Edward's company. A 0:01:43.285 --> 0:01:45.565 little while later, Edward needs to go to New York 0:01:45.605 --> 0:01:49.565 on business. That's right, tea and coffee business, and Buddha's like, 0:01:49.845 --> 0:01:51.965 I want to go to New York. Please, you have 0:01:52.045 --> 0:01:56.685 that fancy packard car bad boy take me there. And 0:01:56.845 --> 0:02:00.005 Edward is hesitant at first. He says to a newspaper 0:02:00.085 --> 0:02:03.085 later that it was she and not I who proposed 0:02:03.085 --> 0:02:05.525 this trip. I hadn't thought of the significance of that 0:02:05.765 --> 0:02:08.525 until recently. I tried to persuade her out of it, 0:02:08.605 --> 0:02:13.085 but to no avail, so he finally succumbs to her 0:02:13.125 --> 0:02:15.845 plating and is like, Okay, Buddha, doll, I'll take it 0:02:15.965 --> 0:02:20.845 to the Big Apple. The pair travel in his car 0:02:20.925 --> 0:02:24.405 from Chicago and reached New York on May ninth, nineteen sixteen. 0:02:26.485 --> 0:02:31.245 Edward gets them a room at the Ansonia Hotel. A 0:02:31.245 --> 0:02:34.325 few hours later, they suddenly hear a heavy knock at 0:02:34.325 --> 0:02:38.045 the door. On the other side of the door, there 0:02:38.045 --> 0:02:41.685 are some men gruffly saying this is the law the 0:02:41.845 --> 0:02:45.765 United States Department of Justice. Let us in. Edward opens 0:02:45.805 --> 0:02:48.605 the door and three men strut in, flashing their badges 0:02:48.645 --> 0:02:51.805 and warrants. They're like, we all know about you, mister West. 0:02:52.005 --> 0:02:55.245 Bringing this young girl from Chicago to New York. That's 0:02:55.285 --> 0:02:58.405 crossing a state line, a lot of state lines. That's 0:02:58.445 --> 0:03:02.885 a federal offense. Buddy, You're violating the Man Act. And 0:03:03.085 --> 0:03:07.325 Edward is like, sweet Fanny Adams, Oh, tom Tit No, 0:03:08.565 --> 0:03:12.485 I don't want to be violating the Man Act. By 0:03:12.485 --> 0:03:14.525 the way, sweet Fanny Adams was a slang word that 0:03:14.605 --> 0:03:19.045 meant fuck all, and tom Tit meant shit. But anyway, 0:03:19.565 --> 0:03:22.165 Edward doesn't know it at the time, but he is 0:03:22.325 --> 0:03:34.965 being scammed. Cue the theme song. This is American Filth. 0:03:35.005 --> 0:03:37.245 I'm Gabby Watts. Every week I tell you a filthy 0:03:37.325 --> 0:03:42.765 story from American history. Today's episode exploiting the Man Act. 0:04:00.045 --> 0:04:02.965 So our poor little man, Edward West, seems to have 0:04:03.005 --> 0:04:06.525 gotten himself in a bit of a pickle. So these scammers, 0:04:06.605 --> 0:04:10.485 disguised as law enforcement officers, tell Edward that he is 0:04:10.605 --> 0:04:13.725 violating the Man Act. And before we see what happens 0:04:13.765 --> 0:04:16.085 to him, let's do all the boring stuff and look 0:04:16.125 --> 0:04:22.045 at this law. What is it, you might ask, or 0:04:22.045 --> 0:04:23.765 perhaps you've heard of it, because that was what r. 0:04:23.885 --> 0:04:28.045 Kelly was charged with. But when the Man Act was 0:04:28.085 --> 0:04:33.925 passed in nineteen nineteen, it was passed to prevent white slavery. Yes, 0:04:34.125 --> 0:04:37.245 white slavery. Doesn't everyone love it when you bring that up. 0:04:39.125 --> 0:04:42.765 So in the early twentieth century there was a public panic. 0:04:44.165 --> 0:04:46.805 The progressive reformers at the time are like, our white 0:04:46.805 --> 0:04:49.885 girls and white women are getting kidnapped and being forced 0:04:49.885 --> 0:04:53.725 into prostitution. And yes, it's only a white woman problem. 0:04:53.845 --> 0:04:56.165 Black and brown women, it's not a problem at all. 0:04:57.885 --> 0:05:04.685 If you can't tell, I'm being sarcastic. Anyway, Various people 0:05:04.725 --> 0:05:07.725 wrote pamphlet that said things like there are cartels and 0:05:07.765 --> 0:05:11.685 gangs preying upon young women, and people perpetrating white slavery 0:05:11.765 --> 0:05:16.605 are usually foreigners. Here's what the United States District Attorney 0:05:16.645 --> 0:05:19.965 in Chicago wrote. One thing should be made very clear 0:05:20.005 --> 0:05:22.325 to the girl who comes up to the city, and 0:05:22.365 --> 0:05:25.285 that is that the ordinary ice cream parlor is very 0:05:25.365 --> 0:05:28.885 likely to be a spider's web for her entanglement. This 0:05:29.045 --> 0:05:31.805 is perhaps especially true of those ice cream saloons and 0:05:31.845 --> 0:05:36.005 fruit stores kept by foreigners. Scores of cases are on 0:05:36.165 --> 0:05:39.365 record where young girls have taken their first steps towards 0:05:39.405 --> 0:05:44.605 white slavery in places of this character, ah, the ice 0:05:44.645 --> 0:05:51.045 cream shop. But was this a real problem that only 0:05:51.085 --> 0:05:57.885 affected white women. Absolutely not. What was happening at the 0:05:57.885 --> 0:06:02.285 turn of the century was industrialization, urbanization, all that jazz, 0:06:02.685 --> 0:06:06.485 and the progressives wanted social control. You know, they're coming 0:06:06.485 --> 0:06:09.485 out of this repressed Victorian era, and they were probably 0:06:09.565 --> 0:06:13.685 upset with the amount of social freedom people had. Now 0:06:13.685 --> 0:06:17.245 there were single people who are just out there doing courtship, 0:06:17.485 --> 0:06:22.365 messing around, maybe even freaking around without supervision and with 0:06:22.445 --> 0:06:25.325 whomever they wanted. I mean, that's all to an extent, 0:06:25.365 --> 0:06:28.645 of course. Also, a lot of cities at this point 0:06:28.685 --> 0:06:31.885 had their own red light districts, and so the progressives 0:06:31.885 --> 0:06:34.485 are like, I wonder if these women are being forced 0:06:34.525 --> 0:06:37.965 into prostitution, because why would anyone do this on purpose? 0:06:39.365 --> 0:06:42.685 So the Man Act, often called the White Slave Traffic Act, 0:06:42.845 --> 0:06:46.645 was passed in nineteen ten, and this federal law made 0:06:46.685 --> 0:06:50.845 it illegal to transport or cause the transport of women 0:06:50.925 --> 0:06:54.405 or girls over state lines for the purpose of prostitution 0:06:54.845 --> 0:07:02.365 or debauchery, or any other immoral purpose. And here's the tea. 0:07:03.005 --> 0:07:06.245 It was quite hard to define what a moral purpose was, 0:07:07.525 --> 0:07:11.045 so the Man Act was often used to prosecute anyone 0:07:11.125 --> 0:07:15.565 who was doing sex that the progressive reformers didn't like, 0:07:15.565 --> 0:07:17.605 like some of the punishment made sense, you know, like 0:07:17.725 --> 0:07:21.525 dudes having sex with underage gals. But the Man Act 0:07:21.645 --> 0:07:24.325 was also used to prosecute people who were having pre 0:07:24.445 --> 0:07:32.765 marital sex, extramarital sex, or interracial relationships. Like in nineteen twelve, 0:07:32.845 --> 0:07:36.325 the boxer Jack Johnson was arrested for violating the Man Act, 0:07:36.645 --> 0:07:39.165 but he was targeted because he was black and sometimes 0:07:39.245 --> 0:07:43.725 had sexual relationships with white women. One of the cases 0:07:43.765 --> 0:07:47.245 that reached the Supreme Court was in nineteen seventeen, and 0:07:47.365 --> 0:07:49.965 here there were two men who took their mistresses from 0:07:50.005 --> 0:07:54.325 Sacramento to Reno. The two men were convicted, and the 0:07:54.365 --> 0:07:59.805 decision basically was like, even consensual extramarital affairs could be prosecuted, 0:08:00.445 --> 0:08:03.685 So if you're trying to get some extramarital sex, best 0:08:03.765 --> 0:08:08.685 keep it local. And so the Man Act had a 0:08:08.685 --> 0:08:11.725 lot of dudes shaking in their boots. They're like, you 0:08:11.805 --> 0:08:16.325 can't do anything anymore. Some dudes were even scared of, 0:08:16.365 --> 0:08:18.405 like what if I have to take my secretary with 0:08:18.485 --> 0:08:20.645 me on a business trip. Can I take her across 0:08:20.725 --> 0:08:25.325 state lines? But a lot of other people also thought 0:08:25.325 --> 0:08:28.005 that the Man Act kind of sucked. For example, The 0:08:28.045 --> 0:08:30.565 New York Times wrote a sassy article about the Man 0:08:30.605 --> 0:08:34.965 Act with the headline government aid to blackmailer, and the 0:08:35.085 --> 0:08:37.965 article had said, the Man Law is chiefly a bid 0:08:38.005 --> 0:08:43.725 for blackmail and serves no other purpose worth mentioning. That's right, 0:08:43.765 --> 0:08:46.405 They're like, the Man Act isn't helping any white women 0:08:46.445 --> 0:08:50.285 who are being sex trafficked. Instead, the Act is just 0:08:50.445 --> 0:08:55.445 inciting crime. Gangs across the country were using the Man 0:08:55.485 --> 0:08:58.005 Act to their advantage because it was a great way 0:08:58.045 --> 0:09:02.285 to exploit people through blackmail. One of the group's running 0:09:02.325 --> 0:09:05.725 scams was the Collins Gang in Chicago, run by the 0:09:05.805 --> 0:09:11.365 charismatic con man dapper Don Collins. The New York Times 0:09:11.405 --> 0:09:14.365 described him as a handsome, clean cut young man of 0:09:14.445 --> 0:09:18.965 refined appearance. In his short life, he'd already done several 0:09:19.005 --> 0:09:21.725 cons across the world. He'd already been in prison. He 0:09:21.845 --> 0:09:24.885 seduced a lot of women. He even caused a woman 0:09:24.925 --> 0:09:28.285 to try to kill herself by jumping out of a window. Wow. 0:09:28.325 --> 0:09:33.845 Super hot and manipulative, my type. The extortion tactic his 0:09:33.965 --> 0:09:37.885 gang and others used is called badger gaming. Basically, you 0:09:37.925 --> 0:09:41.325 trick someone into a compromising position and then be like, 0:09:41.365 --> 0:09:43.805 oh my god, we caught you in this compromising position. 0:09:44.005 --> 0:09:45.925 If you don't give us money, we're gonna tell on 0:09:46.045 --> 0:09:51.245 you for the man act. Specifically, here's the scheme. Find 0:09:51.245 --> 0:09:55.045 a rich dude, send in a hot lady. She'll be like, hey, 0:09:55.085 --> 0:09:58.645 wealthy man, let's go somewhere across state lines. And then 0:09:58.685 --> 0:10:01.765 her cronies will pretend to be law enforcement and be like, wow, 0:10:02.045 --> 0:10:04.125 I see you just took that lady across state lines. 0:10:04.605 --> 0:10:06.525 You are a bad boy. Give us money or we 0:10:06.525 --> 0:10:09.845 will send you to prison. And so you always needed 0:10:09.845 --> 0:10:12.405 a hot woman to get the badger. And in Edward 0:10:12.405 --> 0:10:16.885 West case, the badger trapper was Buddha Godmin, that lady 0:10:16.885 --> 0:10:20.805 he had been hanging out with. We'll be right back 0:10:20.805 --> 0:10:27.885 after these soothing advertisements. Buddha Godmin was born in Queens, 0:10:28.405 --> 0:10:31.085 but she mostly grew up in Chicago. Her dad was 0:10:31.085 --> 0:10:33.605 a racetrack sheet writer and she was his only kid, 0:10:34.365 --> 0:10:36.645 and her dad had high hopes for her future. This 0:10:36.725 --> 0:10:39.165 is what he said about her. Her high spirit and 0:10:39.285 --> 0:10:46.325 gentle way made her even less predictable than horses. But 0:10:46.445 --> 0:10:49.205 because he worked in gambling, he was often around pretty 0:10:49.205 --> 0:10:51.685 shady people, and he was like, I don't want my 0:10:51.845 --> 0:10:54.605 daughter to be thus polluted. So he sent her to 0:10:54.645 --> 0:10:58.605 a convent boarding school when she was fifteen in Adrian, Michigan. 0:11:00.925 --> 0:11:02.925 But Buddha wasn't going to be tied down by a 0:11:02.925 --> 0:11:06.365 bunch of nuns. Remember, she's less predictionle than a horse. 0:11:09.205 --> 0:11:16.845 So she came back to Chicago. And it's been mentioned 0:11:16.885 --> 0:11:19.405 several times, but one of the few things people actually 0:11:19.445 --> 0:11:22.965 said about Buddha was that she was hot, Because did 0:11:23.005 --> 0:11:27.005 you know that a woman is only defined by her appearance? Oh, 0:11:27.205 --> 0:11:31.045 in this book called Chicago Confidential, here's how they described her. 0:11:32.045 --> 0:11:36.405 Before maturity, she stopped traffic on the streets. She was petite, 0:11:36.485 --> 0:11:40.085 a wee trifle, plumpish, with big steel blue eyes, a 0:11:40.165 --> 0:11:43.525 top tilted nose, an oval face with a dimple chin, 0:11:43.885 --> 0:11:48.205 a pee wee mouth, and tiny hands and feet. Yes, 0:11:48.325 --> 0:11:51.965 isn't that what we always say about beauty. It's important 0:11:52.005 --> 0:11:56.845 to have tiny hands and itchy, bitchy feet. Back home 0:11:56.885 --> 0:12:00.445 in Chicago, she met Tell Taylor and Tell Well he 0:12:00.565 --> 0:12:03.765 was a small time a ham. He was a songwriter, 0:12:04.205 --> 0:12:06.965 and his only acclaim was the hit down by the 0:12:07.045 --> 0:12:11.565 old mill Stream, which was allegedly about Buddha telling Buddha 0:12:11.605 --> 0:12:14.405 got married and he was able to get them jobs 0:12:14.405 --> 0:12:16.845 in this theater production called at the time, The Place 0:12:16.885 --> 0:12:21.685 and the Girl from There. Buddha hit the theater scene hard. 0:12:22.285 --> 0:12:24.885 Everyone was like, damn, who is this chick married to lose? 0:12:24.965 --> 0:12:30.805 Or tell? She's hot stuff? But with all this attention, 0:12:31.005 --> 0:12:35.325 Buddha Intel's relationships started falling apart. Let's just say that 0:12:35.445 --> 0:12:38.885 Tell seemed a bit possessive. He got so mad at 0:12:38.885 --> 0:12:42.565 Buddha for all her flirtations and possible cheating. Whoops that 0:12:42.845 --> 0:12:46.285 allegedly he tried to kill her. Yeah, he tried to 0:12:46.325 --> 0:12:50.765 shoot her with a gun, but he missed, so instead 0:12:50.765 --> 0:12:52.565 he was like, I guess we should just get divorced. 0:12:54.165 --> 0:12:57.125 And apparently he was so mad at the divorce proceedings 0:12:57.165 --> 0:13:01.605 that he left before finishing his testimony. During that he said, 0:13:01.845 --> 0:13:04.045 I married Buddha when we were both drunk, and I 0:13:04.085 --> 0:13:06.685 found out she was quite in case, capable of loyalty 0:13:06.725 --> 0:13:13.525 to anyone. And just a little side note, I was 0:13:13.605 --> 0:13:18.245 unable to actually verify this divorce story about him trying 0:13:18.245 --> 0:13:20.365 to kill her with a gun. It's just that book 0:13:20.445 --> 0:13:24.485 Chicago Confidential, even though it was written by journalists. Apparently 0:13:24.525 --> 0:13:27.925 you don't need to tell the truth and substantiate facts sometimes, 0:13:28.925 --> 0:13:31.205 did you know? You can just make history up sometimes. 0:13:32.685 --> 0:13:36.325 So possibly Tell tried to shoot her, or maybe he 0:13:36.405 --> 0:13:38.765 was just tired of being with her because she was 0:13:38.765 --> 0:13:42.325 so flirty with other people. Also, he sounds kind of 0:13:42.325 --> 0:13:47.965 like a downer anyway. At the time, Buddha was also 0:13:48.045 --> 0:13:50.765 hanging out with some of her dad's shady associates and 0:13:50.845 --> 0:13:54.925 other nefarious gents in Chicago, and that's how she met 0:13:54.965 --> 0:14:00.245 Hotti con man dapper Don Collins. It appears that they 0:14:00.245 --> 0:14:03.885 had some sexual entanglements, and then she had some other 0:14:04.005 --> 0:14:07.685 various entanglements with some of his cronies, like this guy 0:14:07.765 --> 0:14:12.605 Jimmy Christian, who some newspaper said was her husband. But 0:14:12.845 --> 0:14:16.165 despite her relationships, we know now that Buddha has entered 0:14:16.165 --> 0:14:19.925 a life of crime and she is the perfect badger trapper. 0:14:21.245 --> 0:14:24.045 So let's get back to the badger game featuring coffee 0:14:24.045 --> 0:14:28.645 and tea man Edward West. We're back in a hotel 0:14:28.685 --> 0:14:32.725 in New York City and three law enforcement officers are 0:14:32.765 --> 0:14:36.885 accusing Edward of violating the man act and one of 0:14:36.885 --> 0:14:39.605 the goons dressed up as law enforcement is in fact, 0:14:39.725 --> 0:14:44.405 Jimmy Christian and Edward West is quite incredulous about what 0:14:44.485 --> 0:14:48.645 was happening. He later described what happened in a newspaper interview. 0:14:49.565 --> 0:14:52.165 He said, I denounced this as an outrage and demanded 0:14:52.165 --> 0:14:55.085 the privilege of consulting an attorney. They said I would 0:14:55.085 --> 0:14:58.605 go to jail at once, as would Buddha, Godman. She 0:14:58.725 --> 0:15:02.245 became hysterical. She said she was a convent breed girl, 0:15:02.445 --> 0:15:05.925 that her parents would commit suicide over the disgrace, and 0:15:05.965 --> 0:15:08.765 that the whole world would brand her with an everlasting 0:15:08.845 --> 0:15:13.925 shame that would make her a society outcast forever. She said, 0:15:13.925 --> 0:15:15.605 it was all right for me, a man, to talk 0:15:15.605 --> 0:15:18.645 of fighting them, for society would forgive a man where 0:15:18.685 --> 0:15:21.725 it would not forgive a woman. She asked the men 0:15:21.845 --> 0:15:24.805 what she could do to save herself from disgrace, and 0:15:24.845 --> 0:15:33.085 the question of money was quickly broached. So Edward agrees 0:15:33.125 --> 0:15:35.925 to pay them, but he doesn't have large sums of 0:15:35.965 --> 0:15:38.485 cash on him at the time. So Jimmy Christian and 0:15:38.525 --> 0:15:41.405 the other two guys force Edward and Buddha into a 0:15:41.445 --> 0:15:46.765 car and bring them back to Chicago. They pull into 0:15:46.765 --> 0:15:51.245 the Alexandria Hotel and the disguise law enforcement agents say, 0:15:51.325 --> 0:15:54.885 this is where the US Commissioner, Attorney and DA are staying, 0:15:55.085 --> 0:15:57.965 and this is where they keep their high class prisoners. 0:15:58.525 --> 0:16:01.245 So they keep Edward and Buddha in a hotel room 0:16:01.285 --> 0:16:04.805 for three or four days as prisoners, and they keep saying, oh, yeah, 0:16:04.845 --> 0:16:07.845 we're having some new negotiations going on. We'll tell you 0:16:07.885 --> 0:16:11.845 what's up soon. And yes, listener, you might be like, 0:16:11.965 --> 0:16:15.365 why didn't Edward realize this was a scam. Well, there 0:16:15.365 --> 0:16:17.885 are people out there like me who are very gullible. 0:16:18.245 --> 0:16:19.525 Like one time I thought I was going to go 0:16:19.565 --> 0:16:21.845 to prison because someone called me and said I had 0:16:21.925 --> 0:16:24.565 missed jury duty and I need to give them one 0:16:24.565 --> 0:16:27.405 thousand dollars immediately. And the thing is, I don't check 0:16:27.445 --> 0:16:29.125 my mail, so I was like, yeah, I could have 0:16:29.245 --> 0:16:32.325 missed it. I don't know. I don't look at letters. Anyway. 0:16:33.605 --> 0:16:36.285 To his credit, in the hotel, Edward might have been 0:16:36.325 --> 0:16:40.845 having a creepying suspicion that something isn't right, but he 0:16:40.885 --> 0:16:44.005 thinks he's being chivalrous. He had to get pretty Buddha 0:16:44.085 --> 0:16:48.005 out of the situation. No matter what, Edward said later, 0:16:48.445 --> 0:16:52.005 I believed her to be of the unimpeachable reputation she 0:16:52.125 --> 0:16:57.285 had represented herself to be. So he pays the scammers 0:16:57.285 --> 0:17:01.445 the money twelve five hundred dollars when Buddha is finally released, 0:17:01.805 --> 0:17:06.525 and then another twenty five hundred after he's released. But 0:17:06.605 --> 0:17:10.085 after he gives up the money, Edward West fully realizes 0:17:10.365 --> 0:17:18.405 he just got scammed, and Edward he is not alone. 0:17:18.485 --> 0:17:20.925 In nineteen sixteen, a paper ran an article with the 0:17:20.965 --> 0:17:25.765 headline government extends at search for love pirates. This was 0:17:25.765 --> 0:17:29.485 happening to a lot of people, and the Collins Gang, well, 0:17:29.565 --> 0:17:32.965 they are already on the government's radar and the real 0:17:33.045 --> 0:17:36.165 law enforcement officers. They're trying to find a case that 0:17:36.205 --> 0:17:40.525 can get the gang members indicted. Edward goes to the 0:17:40.565 --> 0:17:44.965 office of a detective named William C. Dannenberg, and Dannenberg 0:17:45.085 --> 0:17:47.565 is one of the founders of the Bureau of Identification, 0:17:47.885 --> 0:17:53.245 which eventually became the FBI. Edward is really embarrassed that 0:17:53.285 --> 0:17:56.965 he fell for this ruse, and he's heartbroken. He's like, 0:17:57.365 --> 0:17:59.725 I've been betrayed by the girl I love. I've been 0:17:59.845 --> 0:18:02.925 duped by a ring of extortionist of which she's a member. 0:18:03.325 --> 0:18:08.405 They are making a mockery of the Man Act. Oh no, 0:18:08.685 --> 0:18:12.845 not a mockery of the Man Act. But Dandenberg is 0:18:12.845 --> 0:18:15.685 excited about this case because he's like, finally I have 0:18:15.845 --> 0:18:21.685 enough evidence to indict these guys and gal. So he 0:18:21.805 --> 0:18:24.485 rounds up several of the con men, including Buddha and 0:18:24.565 --> 0:18:29.805 Jimmy Christian. And Buddha she's not even really concerned about 0:18:29.805 --> 0:18:35.685 being arrested. She says very condescendingly to the district attorney, Oh, 0:18:35.725 --> 0:18:40.765 what's going to happen to poor little me? Her bail 0:18:40.805 --> 0:18:43.245 is said it ten thousand dollars. But she doesn't stay 0:18:43.285 --> 0:18:46.045 in jail for long. She has two friends who bail 0:18:46.085 --> 0:18:53.445 her out and then she runs away from Chicago. But 0:18:53.605 --> 0:18:57.365 Jimmy Christian, he doesn't get the chance to escape. He 0:18:57.405 --> 0:19:00.485 pleads guilty in his sentence to eighteen months in prison. 0:19:01.365 --> 0:19:04.725 During the trial, he insists that Buddha was innocent. He 0:19:04.805 --> 0:19:08.365 was like, she was a tool we were using, and 0:19:08.405 --> 0:19:12.045 allegedly when Buddha heard about this, she was like, why 0:19:12.085 --> 0:19:20.285 that handsome sucker? Dapperdon Collins is eventually rounded up as well, 0:19:20.365 --> 0:19:23.685 and he's held on a fifty thousand dollars bail, But 0:19:23.765 --> 0:19:27.045 the case they got Collins rounded up. Was submitted by 0:19:27.045 --> 0:19:31.925 a woman named missus J Bolton Winpenny. She was like, 0:19:32.005 --> 0:19:35.965 this guy blackmailed me for eight thousand dollars at nineteen fifteen. 0:19:36.605 --> 0:19:42.085 Get his ass anyway, Collins was found guilty of extortion 0:19:42.565 --> 0:19:48.645 and was sent to Sing Sing prison for two years. 0:19:49.925 --> 0:19:53.365 And after he arrested all these people, Dannenberg is quite 0:19:53.445 --> 0:19:57.125 pleased with himself. He even thanks Buddha Godman for her 0:19:57.165 --> 0:20:00.965 participation in the scheme. He said she did more to 0:20:01.005 --> 0:20:03.805 eliminate the Man Act as a tool of the blackmailers 0:20:03.845 --> 0:20:06.965 and to preserve its intended value you to society than 0:20:07.045 --> 0:20:10.565 did any of the professional reformers. I will always be 0:20:10.685 --> 0:20:14.325 grateful to her and her showing the Man Acts weaknesses 0:20:14.445 --> 0:20:17.565 by her distortion of its provisions to meet her own ends. 0:20:19.045 --> 0:20:21.725 He's like, oh my god, yeah, because you blackmailed. You 0:20:21.805 --> 0:20:23.485 showed us like how the Act is weak and how 0:20:23.485 --> 0:20:28.925 we can make it better. Meanwhile, Edward West turns to 0:20:28.925 --> 0:20:31.605 the press to warn well meaning gents who are seduced 0:20:31.605 --> 0:20:34.405 by little ladies on how to avoid these sort of plots. 0:20:35.005 --> 0:20:38.445 He says, I have decided to sacrifice my personal humiliation 0:20:38.565 --> 0:20:40.565 in this case for the sake of others men or 0:20:40.645 --> 0:20:44.925 women who may innocently be drawn into the same unfortunate 0:20:44.965 --> 0:20:56.765 situation as I was personally, I am not afraid. Buddha 0:20:56.885 --> 0:21:00.605 keeps doing some nefarious stuff. She moves to Havana and 0:21:00.645 --> 0:21:03.565 that's where she meets Charles Stoneham, who is the owner 0:21:03.605 --> 0:21:08.885 of the New York Giants. He is very rich. They 0:21:08.925 --> 0:21:12.005 had some hanky panky too, and he is so besauded 0:21:12.045 --> 0:21:14.165 by her that he's like, hey, come with in New York. 0:21:14.205 --> 0:21:21.885 I'll give you an apartment on Park Avenue. There she 0:21:21.965 --> 0:21:24.965 has a lot of parties with cool people, like some 0:21:25.205 --> 0:21:27.885 actors and some criminals, and they all hang out and 0:21:27.885 --> 0:21:33.525 have a good time. And even with these luxuries, Buddha 0:21:33.645 --> 0:21:37.205 keeps doing some crime. In nineteen thirty two, when she's 0:21:37.245 --> 0:21:41.205 about forty five years old, she organizes a three hundred 0:21:41.205 --> 0:21:48.165 thousand dollars jewelry heist, but the New York police stop 0:21:48.205 --> 0:21:51.125 Buddha inside of a cab and they find all of 0:21:51.165 --> 0:21:54.965 the stolen gems. She plays guilty at that trial and 0:21:55.125 --> 0:21:58.125 ends up serving four to eight years in Auburn prison. 0:22:02.405 --> 0:22:05.125 But the biggest sin that she committed in her life, 0:22:05.525 --> 0:22:08.925 according to the book Chicago confidential was that when she 0:22:09.045 --> 0:22:12.925 was arrested, she had turned white haired and fat, and 0:22:13.005 --> 0:22:15.685 no matter what Buddha Godman had done, she should have 0:22:15.805 --> 0:22:19.245 never grown old and never more than chubby, which became 0:22:19.325 --> 0:22:24.285 her when she was most ravishing. So isn't that the 0:22:24.365 --> 0:22:28.885 lesson we learn on today's episode of American Filth that ladies, 0:22:28.925 --> 0:22:33.485 no matter what you've done, either committing fraud, extorting people, whatever, 0:22:34.765 --> 0:22:40.045 you don't deserve to be fat. I love men hue 0:22:40.045 --> 0:22:47.805 the credits. American Filth is a production of School of 0:22:47.885 --> 0:22:50.805 Humans and iHeart Podcasts. It is hosted, written, and sound 0:22:50.805 --> 0:22:53.725 designed by Me Gabby Wants. Our theme song is by 0:22:53.765 --> 0:22:58.165 me and Jesse Niswanger. Our executive producers are Virginia Prescott, 0:22:58.165 --> 0:23:01.605 Elsie Crowley, and Brandon Barr. Please follow along with the 0:23:01.645 --> 0:23:04.925 pod on Instagram at American Filth Pod, and you can 0:23:04.925 --> 0:23:08.605 also leaves a review, subscribe, share it with your friends, 0:23:08.805 --> 0:23:11.645 Make your friends listen. If they don't, I'm gonna send 0:23:11.645 --> 0:23:14.245 Buddha Godman on them. I mean she's dead, but that's 0:23:14.285 --> 0:23:16.645 gonna be even creepier if there's a corpse. Okay, talk 0:23:16.685 --> 0:23:32.245 at you next week. Bye. School of Humans.