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Speaker 1: Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Zaren Elizabeth?

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Speaker 3: How are you, Zaren Burnett?

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Speaker 2: How the hecky? You've been so good? It's been so long.

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Speaker 3: How are you? How's your heart?

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Speaker 2: Do you get your Did you get your haircut? No?

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Speaker 3: I don't have hair.

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Speaker 4: No, okay, you're just wearing a sloppy hat, a bit

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Speaker 4: of hair poke out. It's a good look for you. You

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Speaker 4: should do that more often. Is that a chef's hat?

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Speaker 3: This is a chef's hat.

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Speaker 4: You don't normally see people wear those. No, it looks

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Speaker 4: good on you, though, Thank you. I don't think I

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Speaker 4: could pull that off.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, pretty special question, Yeah, please question.

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Speaker 2: I love those?

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Speaker 3: Do you know it's ridiculous?

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Speaker 2: I do American football?

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Speaker 3: That is so ridiculous.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but not just the whole no idea how ridiculous.

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Speaker 4: I know it is for you, But like I grew

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Speaker 4: up a football fan. In fact, that's how I learned to.

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Speaker 4: I could multiply it by sevens before I could multiply

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Speaker 4: by two or.

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Speaker 2: Three or four.

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Speaker 4: The football scores, Yeah, and I was I was my

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Speaker 4: dad support team. There's really bad. So there's scores that

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Speaker 4: get really high. So I could multiply up to like

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Speaker 4: fifty six.

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Speaker 3: But that's if they get that extra point, right.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly, And that was usually happening. So yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 4: I'd be like fifty six to seven and I'd be like,

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Speaker 4: that's eight seven, Dad, and he's like, they don't talk

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Speaker 4: to me about this, but that's not what I want

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Speaker 4: to tell you about what I want to tell you

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Speaker 4: because it's now about to be NFL season or we're

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Speaker 4: deep into the start of NFL season, and there's a

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Speaker 4: lot of like things that are messed up about football,

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Speaker 4: which I think we can both agree to, even though

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Speaker 4: I'm a super fan of football. Yeah, here's something that

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Speaker 4: I found that was ridiculous. In twenty seventeen, there was

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Speaker 4: this former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, Erica Wilkins. She sued the

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Speaker 4: Cowboys for lost wages, right yeah, and she reported that

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Speaker 4: the amount she earned for a full year's work as

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Speaker 4: a cheerleader, which is more than just the games. They

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Speaker 4: do other stuff.

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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, they have like public appearances exactly.

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Speaker 4: She was a member of the Quote Show Group, an

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Speaker 4: elite squad of the best dancers on the team, and

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Speaker 4: they had to do stuff.

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Speaker 3: And there's a lot of like training and practice and rehearsals.

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Speaker 4: She got eight dollars an hour for rehearsals, which took

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Speaker 4: place every night between and they lasted between three to

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Speaker 4: six hours every night. Yes, and she you know what

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Speaker 4: she got for appearances one hundred bucks. This is in

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Speaker 4: twenty seventeen. It was three hundred dollars when she like

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Speaker 4: finally left.

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Speaker 3: Anyway bucks an hour.

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Speaker 4: Yes, so her full year's work, she got forty seven

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Speaker 4: hundred dollars. Wait, what as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader she

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Speaker 4: earned forty seven They means they all have other jobs, right, Yeah,

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Speaker 4: but what I learned that was the most ridiculous part, Like, haha, ridiculous.

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Speaker 4: The team mascot, the guy who wears the big cowboy

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Speaker 4: like hat and he has like this head and like

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Speaker 4: the whole thing he's in like one of those like

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Speaker 4: you outfits. Right, he made sixty five thousand dollars a year.

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Speaker 3: Okay, okay, I just need a moment, right, just need

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Speaker 3: a moment.

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Speaker 4: A whody's more famous, the cowboy mascot or the Dallas

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Speaker 4: Cowboy cheerleaders.

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Speaker 3: I don't I'm not a football person. I don't watch it. Yes,

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Speaker 3: I know that there's the Dallas Cowboy cheeroders. I didn't

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Speaker 3: know that. I couldn't tell you.

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Speaker 4: The master exactly sixty five thousand dollars a year, one

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Speaker 4: thousands for.

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Speaker 2: What be getting hot?

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Speaker 5: Like?

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Speaker 4: Oh, I got hot in my little outfit. I mean,

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Speaker 4: what do you How is that worth that?

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Speaker 2: I'm so angry right now, ridiculous.

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Speaker 3: I'm ridiculously angry. Are you kidding? Forty a year. They

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Speaker 3: got to have a day job.

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Speaker 2: Yes, and they rehearse every night, so they can't have

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Speaker 2: much of a social life.

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Speaker 3: I'm not I'm gonna guess they like all their like

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Speaker 3: makeup and hair extensions. Gym membership isn't covered.

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Speaker 2: No, no, no.

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Speaker 3: Because they have to they have to.

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Speaker 4: Jerry Jones, the owner of the Cowboys, is notoriously cheap.

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Speaker 4: He just lost his star player because he wouldn't pay

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Speaker 4: him a reasonable salary.

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Speaker 3: This is another reason why we just don't need football.

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Speaker 2: I thought you'd see me. Yeah, this is ridiculously offensive,

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Speaker 2: but it's ridiculous.

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Speaker 3: Oh my god, yeah, that's ridiculous. Okay, I got to

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Speaker 3: take a deep breath, deep cleansing breath. Do you want

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Speaker 3: to know what else is ridiculous?

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Speaker 2: Damn?

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Speaker 3: Do I ridiculously good deals. Yeah, this is Ridiculous Crime,

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Speaker 3: a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists and cons.

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Speaker 3: It's always ninety nine percent murder free and one hundred

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Speaker 3: percent ridiculous.

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Speaker 2: I know you heard that.

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Speaker 3: I think I mentioned a couple episodes ago about Aldi Supermarkets. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: it was when I was talking about their oasis Champagne, right,

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Speaker 3: the Champagne supernova in the sky, but at a discount

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Speaker 3: discount Champers anyway, So Aldi entered our consciousness, and it

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Speaker 3: entered the consciousness of friend of the show Christopher McTaggart

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Speaker 3: and more specifically, his lovely fiance Zophie.

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Speaker 2: Great name by the way, right.

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Speaker 3: So it's okay. So see, Sophie was looking into Aldi

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Speaker 3: as one does not because of what I mentioned, But

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Speaker 3: you know, she stumbled upon something in their history.

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Speaker 2: What's that?

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Speaker 3: Something that would fit right into this show. So thanks

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Speaker 3: to them, Zophie for finding it and Christopher for tipping

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Speaker 3: us off. Yes, I continue with a good amount of

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Speaker 3: further ado. Have you ever been in an Aldi?

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Speaker 2: I don't think so.

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Speaker 3: It's they're kind of amazing. It's your euro store, great

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Speaker 3: deals on stuff, food, things like that. They have their

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Speaker 3: weird home brands like Trader Joe's. More on that later,

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Speaker 3: and even in the US they keep their euro grocery

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Speaker 3: style strong. Oh really yeah, So what I mean by

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Speaker 3: that is that the cashiers get to sit on a chair,

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Speaker 3: which is awesome. Yeah, and then they ring things up

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Speaker 3: as fast as they can, which whatever, and they don't

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Speaker 3: bag anything, which.

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Speaker 2: Is all well a very German and Dutch.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, but you got to be ready to bag your

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Speaker 3: stuff as it comes flying in rapid succession, and like,

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Speaker 3: I can't tell you how speedy it is, and they're

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Speaker 3: like you're shoving stuff in bags. You're trying to like

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Speaker 3: do sped up tetris work all the yeah, and then

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Speaker 3: they total it out while you're still bagging and you

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Speaker 3: have to like quickly step over and pay on the

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Speaker 3: pin pad or whatever. Sure, and like your groceries just

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Speaker 3: like spin in place at the end of the conveyor

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Speaker 3: belt while you're taking care of that, and the people

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Speaker 3: behind you they grow restless even though they're on deck.

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Speaker 3: They're in the pole position to be part of the

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Speaker 3: same speed change. So you pay, and like you go

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Speaker 3: back to bagging the last bits and putting the bags

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Speaker 3: in your cart as like the next customer, stuff comes

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Speaker 3: flying at you. It is stressful, at least for me,

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Speaker 3: I imagine for you. They also have this thing with

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Speaker 3: the grocery carts or in the South as they call

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Speaker 3: them buggies, where you put a quarter in to get it.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, the return you.

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Speaker 3: Get the quarterback and that keeps it from you know,

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Speaker 3: people leaving them all over the lot, which is fantastic.

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Speaker 3: I love that.

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Speaker 2: Small amount to get people to do the right thing.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. When I lived in Scotland, I learned that

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Speaker 3: this is how it's done at supermarkets that speed checkout

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Speaker 3: at all of them. So it wasn't just a yeah,

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Speaker 3: And I got into the habit of like self bagging

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Speaker 3: at advanced speeds. And when I came back to the States, like,

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Speaker 3: I kept it up and sometimes the checkers appreciate it,

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Speaker 3: and other times they look at me like I'm nuts,

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Speaker 3: like I'm stepping onto their turf.

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Speaker 2: Like the bag boys. They actually have bag boys. That's

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Speaker 2: a job. They come up like, hey, well job security.

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Speaker 3: We'll take five pal Yeah. You know, in California, if

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Speaker 3: you don't bring your own bag, they charge you for

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Speaker 3: each bag. I think that's in a lot of other places.

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Speaker 3: But like you know, and I think the checkers also

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Speaker 3: want to keep track of that or like make sure

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Speaker 3: you're not being wasteful with them. And there's also the

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Speaker 3: distinct possibility that I am completely overthinking the whole thing

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Speaker 3: talent that is a talent of mine. So Aldi, I

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Speaker 3: look to see if they have any in the Bay Area,

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Speaker 3: because I was like, we could do like a live show.

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Speaker 2: Oh there you go.

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Speaker 3: No, in California. It's only in southern California. Oh it's

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Speaker 3: like Maha bra palm desert, Like they're all.

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Speaker 2: Over These are not exciting. I know, they're all making

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Speaker 2: his hand palm desert. Also what about oh yeah.

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Speaker 3: Blythe is on there. It's totally like, seriously, those are

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Speaker 3: the ones just stuck in my head beating.

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Speaker 2: Down in there East San Diego County.

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Speaker 3: Sure, yeah, yeah, exactly. So anyway, they're only in southern California,

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Speaker 3: in California, but they have them in all other parts

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Speaker 3: of the country East, in the South. They're a whole

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Speaker 3: bunch of interesting but they are not an American invention.

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Speaker 3: As you can guess. Aldi is the brainchild of two

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Speaker 3: German brothers Germans guessing, Okay, two German brothers with a

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Speaker 3: fascinating story, part of which involves a crime. Oh so,

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Speaker 3: Sarah and I would like you to meet Carl and

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Speaker 3: Theo Albreck. Carl in the family hair hair are me?

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Speaker 2: I don't even speaking.

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Speaker 3: They came from Essen, like the industrial heartland, in the

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Speaker 3: rural valley, good Catholic folks. Carl Arbrecht Senior he was

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Speaker 3: born in eighteen eighty.

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Speaker 2: Six, eighteen eighties, Yeah.

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Speaker 3: The patriarch of the family. He worked as a baker's

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Speaker 3: assistant and then later as a miner, and then he

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Speaker 3: got he had lung problems because of that, so then

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Speaker 3: he opened a small bread selling business in nineteen thirty baking. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: so it wasn't like an actual bakery, but he just

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Speaker 3: had like the shop. His wife Anna, expanded that business

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Speaker 3: into a corner grocery, and in nineteen nineteen they moved

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Speaker 3: their shop into a larger space where Carl this junior,

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Speaker 3: Carl Junior he was born in nineteen twenty and Theo

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Speaker 3: who was born two years later in nineteen twenty two.

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Speaker 3: They grew up stocking shelves, helping customers and like.

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Speaker 6: The dadiest babies industry, the dad kept meticulous books like

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Speaker 6: he was he was mount.

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Speaker 3: Yes, oh, get right, goes without saying, and so this

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Speaker 3: like modest storefront became the seed of aldi.

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Speaker 2: Oh of course, yeah, she was not coming.

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Speaker 3: The family was working class and they were really shaped

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Speaker 3: by Germany's interwar hardships, as you can imagine board. Yes,

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Speaker 3: you know because look born in nineteen, the brothers twenty

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Speaker 3: and twenty two, so you know.

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Speaker 2: They're right at the end of World War and that period.

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Speaker 3: That is fascinating to me. Between yes and that's what

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Speaker 3: they know, that's their place of birth. There was that

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Speaker 3: hyper inflation of the early twenties.

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Speaker 2: And wheelbarrows with deutsch markt Yes.

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Speaker 3: That meant that their groceries like strict frugality. Like the

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Speaker 3: store they offered only the essentials. They really tightly controlled stock,

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Speaker 3: of course, and they kept the prices super low. It's

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Speaker 3: all by necessity. It was a survival tactic, not just

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Speaker 3: like a good business model.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 4: No, I've heard an interesting joker that time is that

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Speaker 4: somebody showed up with a whealebarrow of deutsch Mark's to

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Speaker 4: do their grocery shopping, and then they got upset because

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Speaker 4: they went out and someone had stolen the wheelbarrow and

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Speaker 4: left all the Deutsche marks.

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Speaker 3: Basically, like the thing is like they've got this store

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Speaker 3: and it's you know, bare bones and the cheap, so

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Speaker 3: it's super popular people.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, of course at that time.

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Speaker 3: Then both of the sons they were drafted into service

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Speaker 3: during World War Two, so like they would have later

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Speaker 3: on run into my grandfather somewhere who'd say, where were

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Speaker 3: you in the war? Just that was my favorite thing.

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Speaker 2: A lot of uncomfortable conversation.

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Speaker 3: Oh my god. Apparently like no, no. My mom tells

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Speaker 3: a story about going to Europe when she was a

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Speaker 3: teenager and my grandfather who served in Guadalcanal, Like they

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Speaker 3: go and they're in like Bavaria and then in like

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Speaker 3: a beer hall, and he would turn to people and

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Speaker 3: be like, so where were you in the war? Like

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Speaker 3: you just want to fight your way out of this place?

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Speaker 3: What's up, dude? He scrap. He's a navy man, okay.

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Speaker 3: So so they get drafted. Karl fought on the Eastern

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Speaker 3: Front and was wounded. He took like something in the

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Speaker 3: leg or something, I guess, and then theo he was

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Speaker 3: sent to the Africa Corps and he was captured in

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Speaker 3: Tunisia by Allied forcees like hoorayok for them. And he

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Speaker 3: spent years in the US pow camp before he was repatriated,

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Speaker 3: so you know, like.

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Speaker 2: In Texas he lived, they send him.

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Speaker 3: I don't know, so, Zaren, these two boys were not

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Speaker 3: on the right side of history.

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Speaker 2: I was just skipping past that because you said they

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Speaker 2: were drafted.

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Speaker 3: I don't know how enthusiastic they were about the cause,

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Speaker 3: and I would I'm just going to hope that they

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Speaker 3: were reluctant troops. Something came out of their wartime experiences though,

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Speaker 3: besides a good drubbing, their time in the war reinforced

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Speaker 3: their existing discipline and like this deep avoidance of waste,

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Speaker 3: you know, like they were they became like really camp

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Speaker 3: you know what I mean exactly, and so they hung

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Speaker 3: on to even like the slightest little things, and that's

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Speaker 3: what infused their business philosophy later. So they get home

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Speaker 3: in nineteen forty six and they took over the family

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Speaker 3: store essen pretty much destroyed, which like course.

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Speaker 2: Yeah you got ball bearings factories they were going down.

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Speaker 3: But the shop remained. The shop was still standing, and

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Speaker 3: the discount force field was like strong, like it made

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Speaker 3: a bubble around it when our boys went in there.

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Speaker 3: And blew it to smithereens. No, it stayed the let's

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Speaker 3: not forget that. Post war Germany obviously faced shortages and rationing.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah, a decade and a half.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's the perfect milieu for discount retail, no good points.

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Speaker 3: So they built a chain of stores across the region

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Speaker 3: by buying up these like bombed out shops on the cheap.

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Speaker 3: They refitted them, rehabbed them, and then operated with like

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Speaker 3: that tight cost control. And so there's like no frills

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Speaker 3: whatsoever in these shops.

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Speaker 2: Decoration so spartan.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just like and bare shelves. No, like you're saying,

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Speaker 3: no decorations, just things, you know, five boxes stuck. Then

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Speaker 3: they're like, you can have one. They offered this limited assortment.

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Speaker 3: Most traditional supermarkets you've got like thousands of items. They

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Speaker 3: had like hundreds of items. This reduced thing. And then

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Speaker 3: they had these private label goods that they started developing.

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Speaker 3: So they sourced directly from producers under their own control

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Speaker 3: to cut costs.

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Speaker 2: Like McDonald's.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, their motto was, and I guess is quote the

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Speaker 3: best quality at the lowest price. It's like a very

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Speaker 3: straightforward motto.

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Speaker 2: I say, they didn't spend any time on.

299
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Speaker 3: No marketing speak, no ad dies were paid for this.

300
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Speaker 3: There's no none of that like false sense of like

301
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Speaker 3: community or family. Just the facts, best quality money exactly.

302
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Speaker 3: So by nineteen fifty they ran thirteen shops. By nineteen

303
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Speaker 3: sixty they had over three hundred. Yeah, they're expanded. And

304
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Speaker 3: that was the year that the brothers formally divided the empire.

305
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Speaker 3: So accounts differ, but the general consensus is that they

306
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Speaker 3: got into a fight over whether or not to sell cigarettes. What. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: Carl was opposed to it. THEO was all for it.

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Speaker 3: So Carl was worried that if they carried tobacco products

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Speaker 3: it would attract shoplifters and damage their profits.

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Speaker 2: Wow, that is not the angler, I thought he would

311
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Speaker 2: tell not hell Or was like, let's roll the dice, buddy.

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Speaker 3: But like more broadly, they also had different management philosophies

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Speaker 3: and expansion philosophies, so they had like it made the

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Speaker 3: division natural and it was not contentious. Oh really Yeah,

315
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Speaker 3: So THEO took what would be called Aldi nord Aldi

316
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Speaker 3: North for sure. These were the stores in northern and

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Speaker 3: western Germany, like going up from Essen. Carl took Ald

318
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Speaker 3: sued Aldi South. All the Southern stores. So it was

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Speaker 3: in nineteen sixty two that they adopted the name ALD

320
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Speaker 3: which is short for Albrecht Discount all brick discount. So

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00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:06,640
Speaker 3: there's like this no nonsense brand reflects their strategy. We

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Speaker 3: got discount goods, minimal advertising.

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Speaker 2: Not as many letters as in other companies.

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Speaker 3: Pears efficiency, it's very German. Theo's Aldi Nord expanded into Belgium,

325
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Speaker 3: the Netherlands, Denmark, and then in nineteen seventy nine he

326
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Speaker 3: quietly acquired Trader Joe's in the US.

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Speaker 2: What, yeah, does he still own it?

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Trader Joe's began in nineteen sixty seven in Pasadena, California. Sure,

329
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Speaker 3: founded by Joe Colomba. In nineteen seventy nine, CEO bought

330
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Speaker 3: the chain through a family trust. But the thing is

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Speaker 3: they always operated completely separately from Aldi.

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Speaker 2: Yes to do your own thing.

333
00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:47,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, So there's like separate, distinct leadership, merchandising, supply business,

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Speaker 3: and it's under the Aldi Nord side of the family.

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Speaker 3: Joe Trader Joe himself stayed as CEO for almost a

336
00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:58,200
Speaker 3: decade after the sale. And you know they have like

337
00:16:58,320 --> 00:17:01,520
Speaker 3: so they do that quirky private label, little heavy identity

338
00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:05,640
Speaker 3: national cult brand. But they're not as spare in any

339
00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:06,720
Speaker 3: way as all they is.

340
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Speaker 2: But they're pretty spare compared to other American.

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Speaker 3: Groceries, most definitely. Most definitely, I.

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Speaker 2: Can see the connection exactly.

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Speaker 3: So are you a treator Joe's Guy.

344
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Speaker 4: I've had friends who worked there. My friend Jay, he

345
00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:20,680
Speaker 4: worked there, and I really enjoyed it when he worked there.

346
00:17:21,040 --> 00:17:23,160
Speaker 4: I had my sister be a fan, so I used

347
00:17:23,160 --> 00:17:25,040
Speaker 4: to do shopping for her and her family, so I

348
00:17:25,119 --> 00:17:28,080
Speaker 4: had to go there personally, you know me, I can't

349
00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:29,080
Speaker 4: stand the parking lots.

350
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Speaker 2: They drive me insane.

351
00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:34,000
Speaker 4: They never have good parking lots and people are always

352
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:36,760
Speaker 4: fighting and jostling for spots, and I'm like, I do

353
00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:37,199
Speaker 4: not care.

354
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Speaker 2: I will go to any other grocery stores. I don't

355
00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:39,399
Speaker 2: have to deal with that.

356
00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:41,280
Speaker 4: Tr I to go get like one or two things

357
00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:43,159
Speaker 4: and I'm walking by or on a bike, Yes, But

358
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:44,879
Speaker 4: if I'm in a car crowded, no.

359
00:17:45,240 --> 00:17:47,480
Speaker 3: There aren't really enough spaces, and I always feel like

360
00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:50,600
Speaker 3: the spaces are narrower. Yes, yes, and it makes people all.

361
00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:53,440
Speaker 4: Mad and there's just a bunch of angry liberals yelling

362
00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:56,800
Speaker 4: at each other. I'm like, super super violence.

363
00:17:57,320 --> 00:17:59,199
Speaker 3: I know a lot of people who worked there too,

364
00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:02,280
Speaker 3: either have are now do and they love it For

365
00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:05,040
Speaker 3: the company, I feel like it's more of a snack store.

366
00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:07,600
Speaker 3: Sometimes they have good like frozen stuff. I like the

367
00:18:07,640 --> 00:18:10,000
Speaker 3: frozen pizzas, but I have not had success shopping for

368
00:18:10,119 --> 00:18:12,960
Speaker 3: fresh groceries there. No, I know people who swear by it.

369
00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:15,480
Speaker 2: Oh really yeah? Also I have heard complaints about their meats.

370
00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:18,440
Speaker 3: Saren I am particular about my groceries, Yes you will,

371
00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:20,720
Speaker 3: And to be honest, I spread my purchases over a

372
00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:23,960
Speaker 3: number of stores depending on the item. And you know

373
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Speaker 3: what I'm right or die for?

374
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Speaker 2: Though your your mini food farmer's markets.

375
00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:33,159
Speaker 3: You go to Costco baby. Speaking of which, did you

376
00:18:33,280 --> 00:18:36,919
Speaker 3: know that one of the house brands at Aldi is Kirkwood. Oh,

377
00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:39,879
Speaker 3: Kirkwood frozen breaded chicken stuff is like supposed to be

378
00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:42,760
Speaker 3: a hit in the friar. In my research, I kept

379
00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:45,119
Speaker 3: seeing all these articles. That's what the Internet told me.

380
00:18:45,200 --> 00:18:48,080
Speaker 3: I've never ventured into it myself, but Kirkwood hits a

381
00:18:48,119 --> 00:18:51,800
Speaker 3: little too close to Costco's Kirkland. If you ask me

382
00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:52,800
Speaker 3: like shots, fire.

383
00:18:52,640 --> 00:18:54,600
Speaker 2: Yourself a fresh pair of kirk on elevens and have

384
00:18:54,680 --> 00:18:55,200
Speaker 2: a good day.

385
00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,399
Speaker 3: Face off. Let's take a break and I'm going to

386
00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:02,879
Speaker 3: go heat up some Kirkwood chicken nuggets for you. And

387
00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:26,960
Speaker 3: when we come back, more Aldi zaren Okay, back to

388
00:19:27,080 --> 00:19:32,160
Speaker 3: Aldi please, So Carl's Aldi sued they entered the US

389
00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:35,760
Speaker 3: directly under the Aldi brand, So Aldi THEO went with

390
00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:39,720
Speaker 3: Trader Joe's. Carls like, you know what, you can't mess

391
00:19:39,760 --> 00:19:43,760
Speaker 3: with all that, and their US arm like grew steadily

392
00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:47,439
Speaker 3: from the Midwest outward. Now it's like got this dense network,

393
00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:49,359
Speaker 3: aggressive news store and remodeling.

394
00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:53,600
Speaker 4: That's like, where's the highest population and density of Germans? Okay,

395
00:19:54,840 --> 00:19:56,160
Speaker 4: from Chicago and Wisconsin.

396
00:19:56,359 --> 00:19:58,159
Speaker 3: They've been in the South. They've been buying up a

397
00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:01,520
Speaker 3: lot of the wind Dixies after wind Dixie closed and

398
00:20:02,119 --> 00:20:02,760
Speaker 3: kind of doing.

399
00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:04,520
Speaker 2: Wind Dixie closed. Oh yeah, I didn't know that.

400
00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:07,480
Speaker 3: They haven't been down there, but you know it still

401
00:20:07,560 --> 00:20:08,440
Speaker 3: stands strong.

402
00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:11,239
Speaker 2: Past pig Wiggly Okay, nothing could take Pig.

403
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:16,120
Speaker 3: I'm big on the Pig. So they're they're like they're

404
00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:19,240
Speaker 3: constantly expanding. They want to open around eight hundred news

405
00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:20,440
Speaker 3: stores by twenty twenty eight.

406
00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:22,919
Speaker 2: My father wouldn't let me shopping a place called Dixie,

407
00:20:22,960 --> 00:20:23,840
Speaker 2: So yeah, of.

408
00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:27,360
Speaker 3: Course no, not so how many stores eight hundred that's

409
00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:29,040
Speaker 3: an addition to what they already have. How many do

410
00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:30,840
Speaker 3: they have, I don't know, but in an addition to

411
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:32,679
Speaker 3: what they already have by twenty twenty eight, they want

412
00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:36,399
Speaker 3: eight hundred more, okay. And so there are serious Aldi

413
00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:39,639
Speaker 3: fans out there. They love the products and seeing them online,

414
00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:43,320
Speaker 3: dedication of good value, and they're those who like track

415
00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:45,920
Speaker 3: the various products and promotions. There's this thing called the

416
00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:46,760
Speaker 3: Isle of Shame.

417
00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:48,119
Speaker 2: Is that a real thing?

418
00:20:48,280 --> 00:20:50,520
Speaker 3: No? Well, it's like it refers to the middle aisle

419
00:20:50,600 --> 00:20:52,800
Speaker 3: of the store that has all these like limited time

420
00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:56,560
Speaker 3: non grocery what they call all de fines like home decor,

421
00:20:56,920 --> 00:20:58,760
Speaker 3: kitchen gadgets, seasonal items.

422
00:20:58,960 --> 00:20:59,480
Speaker 2: Oh wow.

423
00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:02,399
Speaker 3: It's nicknamed the Isle of shame because shoppers like do

424
00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:07,440
Speaker 3: impulse bies. Oh right, and he's like discounted yet exciting fine. Sure,

425
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,359
Speaker 3: And then like those said, shoppers like to share anecdotes

426
00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:14,720
Speaker 3: online about these silly purchases. There's a whole Facebook community

427
00:21:14,800 --> 00:21:15,800
Speaker 3: about the Isle of shame.

428
00:21:16,680 --> 00:21:16,800
Speaker 5: Uh.

429
00:21:17,119 --> 00:21:19,440
Speaker 3: In that isle of shame or sometimes items that fans

430
00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:23,760
Speaker 3: refer to as aldidas, it's the Aldi logo in the

431
00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:28,160
Speaker 3: style of the Adida's logo, not the like leaf one

432
00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:30,920
Speaker 3: but the triangle and it's on sports where like tennis

433
00:21:30,920 --> 00:21:33,080
Speaker 3: shoes and tracksuits and I'm not gonna lie. The pictures

434
00:21:33,119 --> 00:21:36,119
Speaker 3: I found like awesome, No you can't. You got to

435
00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:36,879
Speaker 3: go into the stores.

436
00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:40,120
Speaker 2: It's got to walk. Is of shame.

437
00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:42,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly. It's cheeky. And Adidas doesn't seem to mind.

438
00:21:43,119 --> 00:21:44,240
Speaker 3: Really they don't really care.

439
00:21:44,320 --> 00:21:48,640
Speaker 2: Because they're like they're.

440
00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:49,560
Speaker 3: Like, yeah, well they're just like no one's going to

441
00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:51,480
Speaker 3: make a mistake on this, and it's cute. You want

442
00:21:51,520 --> 00:21:55,400
Speaker 3: to be me so bad? Exactly. You know who does

443
00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:59,159
Speaker 3: mind UK retailer Marks and Spencer m and S.

444
00:21:59,440 --> 00:21:59,919
Speaker 2: Why would they?

445
00:22:00,119 --> 00:22:02,680
Speaker 3: I love M and S by the way, it's a

446
00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,200
Speaker 3: good shop anyway. So the most it's like a like

447
00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:10,399
Speaker 3: they got everything type thing. Tesco's more groceries. M and

448
00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:14,040
Speaker 3: S is like they've got house wears and clothes. It's

449
00:22:14,080 --> 00:22:18,679
Speaker 3: like Target. The most famous case was callin the Caterpillar

450
00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:24,120
Speaker 3: versus Cuthbert, so it was a street it's a cake fight.

451
00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:26,560
Speaker 2: This is a cake fight. I did not see any

452
00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:26,720
Speaker 2: of this.

453
00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:29,960
Speaker 3: M and S claimed that, okay, M and S had

454
00:22:30,440 --> 00:22:33,920
Speaker 3: call in the Caterpillar, which is like a rolled cake,

455
00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:38,120
Speaker 3: like a it's a long roll case with a face

456
00:22:38,200 --> 00:22:41,200
Speaker 3: on it looks like a caterpillar, and so it's like

457
00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:44,480
Speaker 3: you can buy these. It's a popular thing to children.

458
00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:47,000
Speaker 3: You chop up the caterpillar and you eat them, and

459
00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:52,800
Speaker 3: everyone that's calling the caterpillar, well all the introduced Cuthbert

460
00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:56,119
Speaker 3: the caterpillar. And it was like the M and S

461
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:59,440
Speaker 3: said that the cake was so similar to Colin that

462
00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:04,320
Speaker 3: it unfairly on Collin's reputation. Wow, and it was a

463
00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:08,680
Speaker 3: bismirching saren. So the case became like an absolute meme fest.

464
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:10,960
Speaker 3: And I remember this happening on social media. There was

465
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,639
Speaker 3: like hashtag free Cuthbert because they were gonna have to

466
00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:14,400
Speaker 3: like puddle from.

467
00:23:14,320 --> 00:23:15,880
Speaker 2: The shelves, taking the side of the underdogors.

468
00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:18,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, and everyone out and was buying as many Cuthberts

469
00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:21,600
Speaker 3: as they could. So the parties reached like this confidential settlement.

470
00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:24,240
Speaker 3: They declared a truce in February of twenty twenty two,

471
00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:27,480
Speaker 3: and they could both go on selling their caterpillar cakes.

472
00:23:27,520 --> 00:23:29,520
Speaker 3: There was no court ruling on liability.

473
00:23:29,800 --> 00:23:30,040
Speaker 2: Yeah.

474
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:32,320
Speaker 3: So I think that like all these just had to

475
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:33,320
Speaker 3: kick some up to M and.

476
00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:35,719
Speaker 4: S and I think emins had to realize the judge'll

477
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:37,280
Speaker 4: be like, why are you taking it my time with this?

478
00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:39,080
Speaker 4: And of course anyone can sell a caterpillar case.

479
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:41,040
Speaker 3: Yeah exactly, I mean, and they did look a lot,

480
00:23:41,080 --> 00:23:44,159
Speaker 3: they looked and then whatever, it's cute. So then there

481
00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:48,560
Speaker 3: was the snow globe gin bottle case from twenty twenty.

482
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,040
Speaker 2: One Spencer, so they like marketing gin to children, like

483
00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:53,400
Speaker 2: more kids.

484
00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:59,080
Speaker 3: Spencer claimed that that time that all these festive light

485
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:03,199
Speaker 3: up liqueur bough with a winter scene, swirling gold flakes

486
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:08,080
Speaker 3: an led base infringed upon their UK registered designs for

487
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:12,359
Speaker 3: their own light up snow globe gin range UK drinking.

488
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,280
Speaker 3: Oh god, it's so good. So this time the legal

489
00:24:15,359 --> 00:24:19,480
Speaker 3: hook wasn't trademarks but registered designs, so like the protected

490
00:24:19,480 --> 00:24:23,120
Speaker 3: appearance of the pressure. In January of twenty twenty three,

491
00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:27,240
Speaker 3: the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court held that all these bottles

492
00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:31,720
Speaker 3: infringed four of Marks and Spencer's registered designs because to

493
00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:35,200
Speaker 3: the quote informed user, they did not create a sufficiently

494
00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:37,040
Speaker 3: different overall impression.

495
00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:37,760
Speaker 2: They could be mistaken for each other.

496
00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:42,359
Speaker 3: Yeah, So the Court of Appeals upheld that ruling dismissed

497
00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:46,199
Speaker 3: all these appeal confirmed infringement of the Marks and Spencer

498
00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:51,560
Speaker 3: designs commentators noted that this was like a significant design

499
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:55,200
Speaker 3: owner friendly decision for tackling supermarket lookalikes.

500
00:24:55,400 --> 00:24:57,320
Speaker 2: Oh so it set a precedent law.

501
00:24:57,760 --> 00:25:01,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, and so you know brand don't like they had

502
00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:06,159
Speaker 3: this distinctive seasonal packaging and it was shots fired warning

503
00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:10,040
Speaker 3: to discounters that like these closely, you know, get ups

504
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:14,600
Speaker 3: can cross the line. So those aren't though the all

505
00:25:14,680 --> 00:25:16,080
Speaker 3: the crimes I want to talk to you about.

506
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:16,879
Speaker 2: I was curious.

507
00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:19,920
Speaker 3: No, I have a major crime, a big dog. Let's

508
00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:24,879
Speaker 3: go back to Carl and CEO Albrecht. Yes, discount grocery magnates.

509
00:25:25,440 --> 00:25:30,920
Speaker 3: They were notoriously thrifty. Yeah. Ceo was once asked to

510
00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:34,200
Speaker 3: inspect plans for a new store. He looked them over,

511
00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:37,800
Speaker 3: inspected every detail, and then he offered this comment quote,

512
00:25:38,200 --> 00:25:40,840
Speaker 3: this layout is very good, but there's just one thing.

513
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:44,160
Speaker 3: This paper you're using is too thick. Use thinner paper

514
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:50,240
Speaker 3: to save money paper so the like, rather than wasting

515
00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,720
Speaker 3: money on fancy fountain pens. He would take notes at

516
00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,440
Speaker 3: meetings with senior staff using pencil stubs that were like

517
00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:58,800
Speaker 3: less than two inches long. He wrote pencils down to

518
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:04,239
Speaker 3: like the erasers and everyone else to do the same thing.

519
00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:05,200
Speaker 3: He's like, why are you doing that?

520
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:05,480
Speaker 2: Here?

521
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:08,639
Speaker 3: No waste. So as you can see THEO. He's very

522
00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:11,119
Speaker 3: involved in the day to day of his business. He

523
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,639
Speaker 3: put in hours at HQ, just like everybody else. Zaren

524
00:26:14,920 --> 00:26:15,720
Speaker 3: close your eyes.

525
00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:19,800
Speaker 2: I'll want you to pick a little nervous.

526
00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:28,359
Speaker 3: It's the twenty ninth of November nineteen seventy one. You

527
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:32,560
Speaker 3: are THEO Albrecht, the very wealthy head of Aldi North.

528
00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:35,200
Speaker 3: You are one of the richest men in the world,

529
00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:38,040
Speaker 3: but you don't flaunt it. You live more like old

530
00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,000
Speaker 3: money does. You prefer buying things that are built to last,

531
00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:44,879
Speaker 3: and you wieschee flashy brands or homes. That's not to

532
00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:47,440
Speaker 3: say you don't enjoy the finer things. You live in

533
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,040
Speaker 3: a large home, not a mansion by any stretch, but

534
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:54,320
Speaker 3: bigger than most. You drive a gorgeous Mercedes two eighty sel.

535
00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:58,159
Speaker 3: It's an elegant sedan that's built like a tank. Today

536
00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:01,040
Speaker 3: you're wrapping up a long day at the office. You're

537
00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,119
Speaker 3: leaving all the North headquarters, heading out to the parking

538
00:27:04,200 --> 00:27:06,800
Speaker 3: lot to make your way home. Your shoes squeak on

539
00:27:06,880 --> 00:27:09,879
Speaker 3: the immaculate, high gloss cement floors as you cross the

540
00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:12,399
Speaker 3: lobby and give a wave to the security guard at

541
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:14,640
Speaker 3: the front desk. He nods to you as you pass.

542
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:18,080
Speaker 3: You walk to the parking lot, whistling a tune I'm

543
00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:20,119
Speaker 3: happy to call it a day and spend the evening

544
00:27:20,160 --> 00:27:22,920
Speaker 3: with your family. You open the door of the Benzo

545
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:26,400
Speaker 3: hop in and fire up. The engine roars to life,

546
00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:29,760
Speaker 3: and for a moment, your Creten's Clearwater Revival tape begins

547
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:32,359
Speaker 3: to play in the stereo, but only for a moment.

548
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,880
Speaker 3: Then there's a scrambled, squealing sound as the tape deck

549
00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 3: each your cassette drat. You decide to forego the stereo

550
00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:42,560
Speaker 3: and supply your own tunes, whistling away as you hit

551
00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:45,320
Speaker 3: the turn signal and leave the lot. You leave the

552
00:27:45,400 --> 00:27:49,119
Speaker 3: industrialized area and hit the leafy suburbs of Essen. You

553
00:27:49,240 --> 00:27:52,560
Speaker 3: wind down a narrow road, tall trees hugging the tarmac

554
00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:56,120
Speaker 3: creating a bony fence. On this almost winter evening, it's

555
00:27:56,160 --> 00:27:59,240
Speaker 3: still beautiful. As you come to a turn in the road,

556
00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,159
Speaker 3: you slam on your brakes. A van has pulled out

557
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:03,920
Speaker 3: into the road in front of you from some sort

558
00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:05,120
Speaker 3: of alley or driveway.

559
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:06,360
Speaker 2: Dundkov.

560
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,160
Speaker 3: You yell as your tires screech on the black top.

561
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:12,119
Speaker 3: A man hops from the van and heads to your window.

562
00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:15,760
Speaker 3: You roll it down and await his apology. Instead, he

563
00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:19,320
Speaker 3: shoves a gun in your face. This is a curious development.

564
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:22,879
Speaker 3: You think you are terrified. The man demands you exit

565
00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:25,480
Speaker 3: your car, but first he stares at you from behind

566
00:28:25,520 --> 00:28:28,959
Speaker 3: a balaclava. He asks to see your id. You can fly.

567
00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,159
Speaker 3: He looks back and forth between your ID and your

568
00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:35,760
Speaker 3: face that's slowly losing color. He tells you he thought

569
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:38,880
Speaker 3: you'd be fancier, have a nicer suit on, maybe have

570
00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:39,320
Speaker 3: a driver.

571
00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:40,280
Speaker 2: You shrug.

572
00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:42,880
Speaker 3: He holds the gun to your temple, yanks you from

573
00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:45,080
Speaker 3: the car and drags you to the van. The back

574
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:48,040
Speaker 3: doors pop open and shoves you in. Another man is

575
00:28:48,080 --> 00:28:51,480
Speaker 3: already back there, the driver, it seems. He immediately begins

576
00:28:51,560 --> 00:28:54,440
Speaker 3: binding your body with rope. Your arms are tied securely

577
00:28:54,520 --> 00:28:57,520
Speaker 3: to your sides. One of them wraps wide tape around

578
00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 3: your head, covering your mouth and preventing any scream cries

579
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:03,280
Speaker 3: for help. Then a piece of that same wide tape

580
00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:06,320
Speaker 3: is slapped across your eyes, blocking out light. You can

581
00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,480
Speaker 3: no longer see their masked faces. The van roars to

582
00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:12,880
Speaker 3: life and speeds off this whole thing is so disorienting

583
00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:16,000
Speaker 3: and frightening that you can't get your bearings. You don't

584
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:18,360
Speaker 3: know which way the van is traveling. All you know

585
00:29:18,600 --> 00:29:20,120
Speaker 3: is that you're on the floor of a van with

586
00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:23,640
Speaker 3: a gun shoved into your ribs, praying for the Blessed Virgin,

587
00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:25,959
Speaker 3: all the saints, and the Good Lord himself to protect

588
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,880
Speaker 3: you and save you, because you know you can't do

589
00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 3: that for yourself right now, So zaren, Yes, THEO Albrecht

590
00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:36,800
Speaker 3: was just kidnapped. In case that wasn't clear, very clear.

591
00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:42,640
Speaker 3: Two men, a lawyer named Hans Jaquim Allenberg and an

592
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:49,040
Speaker 3: ex burglar, Paul Diamond, Paul Krawn. They were the culprits. Yeah.

593
00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:52,880
Speaker 3: So when THEO didn't show up at home after work,

594
00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 3: his family became worried.

595
00:29:54,960 --> 00:29:56,360
Speaker 2: With very tight schedule, very tight.

596
00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:59,240
Speaker 3: Yeah, they raised the alarm, contacted the cops, a search

597
00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:03,880
Speaker 3: began in immediately. THEO was a very high profile and

598
00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:07,880
Speaker 3: wealthy individual, and it's important to remember that their lives

599
00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:13,000
Speaker 3: and safety matter far more than ours priorities there very true.

600
00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:15,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, No waiting twenty four hours, no, no, you.

601
00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:20,800
Speaker 3: Get the call. Everything all resources put towards that it's there.

602
00:30:21,280 --> 00:30:22,280
Speaker 3: They're worth more.

603
00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:25,240
Speaker 4: Yeah, they're pretty much the pedestals of the community holding

604
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:26,080
Speaker 4: all the rest of us up.

605
00:30:26,480 --> 00:30:30,800
Speaker 3: Their lives are more valuable than ours. So Theo's Mercedes

606
00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:33,240
Speaker 3: was found ditched about twenty five miles from his office,

607
00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:36,520
Speaker 3: and the next day the kidnappers moved THEO between a

608
00:30:36,600 --> 00:30:40,520
Speaker 3: couple of flats in Duseldorf. He was made to strip

609
00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:43,920
Speaker 3: down to his underpants each time they shoved him into

610
00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:46,600
Speaker 3: a wardrobe like an amor at each place for various

611
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:51,760
Speaker 3: periods of time standing closet. He wasn't tortured or treated

612
00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,520
Speaker 3: too poorly, other than having to sit in a closet

613
00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:57,400
Speaker 3: wearing nothing but his chonies, but like the kidnappers kept

614
00:30:57,440 --> 00:30:59,680
Speaker 3: threatening it with harm in order to make sure he behave.

615
00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:03,840
Speaker 3: The next day, the first of the ransom letters arrived

616
00:31:03,920 --> 00:31:07,200
Speaker 3: at the Albrich family home, and some were dictated by

617
00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:10,280
Speaker 3: THEO under duress. But it confirmed that he was alive.

618
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:12,120
Speaker 2: But they aren't cutout letter.

619
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:16,400
Speaker 3: No, it's his handwriting. Yeah, So the kidnappers identified themselves

620
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:22,400
Speaker 3: as en fjor Rungsfrat Kidnapping Council, and so they're trying

621
00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:25,560
Speaker 3: to sound like this structured organization. Hey, it's us. The

622
00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 3: Kidnapping Council.

623
00:31:26,520 --> 00:31:28,320
Speaker 2: We had a meeting and we decided on the price.

624
00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:33,680
Speaker 3: So they were demanding seven million Deutsche marks seven, which

625
00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:36,360
Speaker 3: was the equivalent of two point one million dollars at

626
00:31:36,400 --> 00:31:39,160
Speaker 3: the time. So that's more than sixteen point five million

627
00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:43,400
Speaker 3: dollars today. Yeah. It was the largest ransom on record

628
00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:46,080
Speaker 3: at the time. According to the Guinness Book of World Records.

629
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:47,720
Speaker 2: It was international. Yeah.

630
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:52,360
Speaker 3: Oh so messages were also sent to North Rhine Westphalia's

631
00:31:52,360 --> 00:31:56,400
Speaker 3: state premiere, hinting at more kidnappings if their demands weren't met.

632
00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:57,240
Speaker 2: Oh smart.

633
00:31:57,320 --> 00:32:00,160
Speaker 3: Yeah. So THEO he asked his captors like, how did

634
00:32:00,200 --> 00:32:00,680
Speaker 3: you choose me?

635
00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:03,200
Speaker 2: Why? He wanted to know, my family is notoriously not

636
00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:04,080
Speaker 2: the spendee.

637
00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:06,200
Speaker 3: Yeah. They told him that they picked him for the

638
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:08,680
Speaker 3: abduction after reading this book called The Rich and the

639
00:32:08,720 --> 00:32:11,960
Speaker 3: super Rich, a book chronicling the lives of the wealthy.

640
00:32:13,360 --> 00:32:14,680
Speaker 3: It was like a catalog for them.

641
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 2: Didn't know who to go.

642
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:21,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're chatting it up by now and they're they're

643
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:24,040
Speaker 3: letting THEO read the paper, listen to the radio, and

644
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:29,240
Speaker 3: he's like advising them on negotiating, Like he's basically acting

645
00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:32,360
Speaker 3: as his own negotiator with them okay, yeah, and he's

646
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:34,000
Speaker 3: like trying to Yeah, you know, he's not like, hey,

647
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:35,200
Speaker 3: get more of it exactly.

648
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 2: You know, I'm much more.

649
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,840
Speaker 3: Remember, THEO came from a devout Catholic family, so in

650
00:32:41,960 --> 00:32:46,200
Speaker 3: times of trouble, one leans on one's face, and Theo's

651
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:50,480
Speaker 3: family quietly involved the Catholic Church at this point. Once

652
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:53,400
Speaker 3: the ransom letter was received, they reached out to Bishop

653
00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:57,680
Speaker 3: Franz Hangbock of Essen and he agreed to mediate.

654
00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,640
Speaker 2: Suggesting okay, the cooler heads prevailed, right, So.

655
00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:05,480
Speaker 3: For three days communications continued via letters, phone calls. The

656
00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:09,040
Speaker 3: police were cautious, they ran surveillance and they kept the

657
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:13,320
Speaker 3: negotiations going. They feared for Theo's life, like if it

658
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 3: dragged on too long, the family and then all the

659
00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:19,000
Speaker 3: all the executives. They worked to keep the case out

660
00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:20,560
Speaker 3: of the press for as long as possible.

661
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:22,120
Speaker 2: Oh interesting, and the police.

662
00:33:22,200 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 3: They had the bishop pass along a message to the kidnappers.

663
00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:29,240
Speaker 3: If they produced THEO unharmed, the cops would give them

664
00:33:29,720 --> 00:33:32,000
Speaker 3: twenty four hours lead time to make a run for it.

665
00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:32,960
Speaker 2: They give him a head start.

666
00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:34,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll give you a twenty four hour head start,

667
00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:35,880
Speaker 3: and then we're.

668
00:33:35,720 --> 00:33:39,040
Speaker 2: Going to come after you you know, this is like

669
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:40,080
Speaker 2: a Ron Howard movie.

670
00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:43,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, So the fifteenth of December, an agreement was reached.

671
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:47,200
Speaker 3: CEO had been in captivity for sixteen days. The family

672
00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:52,840
Speaker 3: put seven million Deutsche marks in banknotes into two large suitcases,

673
00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:55,120
Speaker 3: and the police had like prepared, they had marked all

674
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:58,800
Speaker 3: the notes, like there were covert tracking things, but like

675
00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:02,040
Speaker 3: it's nineteen seventy one technology, so there are limits. But

676
00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:05,560
Speaker 3: all of the cash was marked. On the seventeenth day

677
00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,360
Speaker 3: of his captivity, the plan went into motion. It was

678
00:34:08,560 --> 00:34:11,560
Speaker 3: the sixteenth of December nineteen seventy one. So in the

679
00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:15,200
Speaker 3: dim light of the evening, Bishop Hengsbach drove to this

680
00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:20,200
Speaker 3: rural area outside of Duseldorf. Following instructions he was given,

681
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:23,279
Speaker 3: he put the two suitcases filled with ransom money out.

682
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,000
Speaker 3: The kidnappers collected the cash, and then the next morning,

683
00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:31,560
Speaker 3: THEO was released near Essen, physically unharmed but like obviously shaken.

684
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:34,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, cops standing on the corner.

685
00:34:34,520 --> 00:34:37,719
Speaker 3: The cops lied. They immediately began the man hunt. They're like,

686
00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:39,400
Speaker 3: you're stupid for falling for that.

687
00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:42,680
Speaker 4: Wow, and like they had it was kind of a

688
00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:45,760
Speaker 4: ridiculous thing. We'll give you twenty four hours don't worry.

689
00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:47,640
Speaker 4: We're making a game of the day, like.

690
00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:50,279
Speaker 3: You promise, you like to tell you wants to do this.

691
00:34:51,360 --> 00:34:54,520
Speaker 3: They had recordings of the phone calls and they played

692
00:34:54,600 --> 00:34:57,920
Speaker 3: them for the public and asked the public he recognized

693
00:34:57,960 --> 00:34:59,880
Speaker 3: the voice and oh my god, so many people called in.

694
00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:03,640
Speaker 3: But that wasn't where they got their first break. It

695
00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:07,120
Speaker 3: was the money in the wild, oh, betting spent. It

696
00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:10,680
Speaker 3: was only days later after theo got freed that Diamond

697
00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:14,319
Speaker 3: Paul drew attention to himself by paying a shop debt

698
00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:18,560
Speaker 3: with five hundred Deutsche mark notes that came from the

699
00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:23,160
Speaker 3: ransom handover. So the tip from the dealer gave police

700
00:35:23,239 --> 00:35:28,120
Speaker 3: this concrete lead. Diamond Paul right arrested in Germany on

701
00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:30,120
Speaker 3: the twentieth and December nineteen seventy one.

702
00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:32,920
Speaker 2: Did the dealer like know Paul, Like there's a regular

703
00:35:32,960 --> 00:35:36,399
Speaker 2: place he went, I'm like yeah this time.

704
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:41,399
Speaker 3: Yeah, the lawyer Oleenberg he fled. He figured Diamond Paul

705
00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,080
Speaker 3: was going to rat him out, and so the cops

706
00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:45,200
Speaker 3: like rushed to Ollin.

707
00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:45,440
Speaker 5: Now.

708
00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:47,600
Speaker 3: Remember, so he's this lawyer. They go to his law

709
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:51,040
Speaker 3: office in Duseldorf, but he's already in the wind. There

710
00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:54,319
Speaker 3: was evidence there that implicated him and the kidnapping, since

711
00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:56,680
Speaker 3: that's one of the places they kept THEO in the office.

712
00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:00,840
Speaker 3: So this manhunt follows. Ohlenberg gets picked up in Mexico

713
00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:04,120
Speaker 3: City who and flown back to Germany by around New

714
00:36:04,200 --> 00:36:06,680
Speaker 3: Year's So this is like end of November, beginning of

715
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:08,840
Speaker 3: December and it's New Year's they bring him back. This

716
00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:10,520
Speaker 3: is German efficiency.

717
00:36:10,719 --> 00:36:11,279
Speaker 2: I'm telling you.

718
00:36:11,800 --> 00:36:14,239
Speaker 3: Soon enough, the pair stood trial. I'm going to pause here,

719
00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:17,680
Speaker 3: check out some ads. Hopefully there's good deals. I hope

720
00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:20,320
Speaker 3: they're not too offensive to the senses. And when we

721
00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:44,960
Speaker 3: return court time Zaren Elizabeth, welcome back.

722
00:36:45,280 --> 00:36:47,680
Speaker 2: Man the bush Us. I could not believe.

723
00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:50,279
Speaker 4: I'm still kind of like tripping out that they didn't

724
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,719
Speaker 4: have any like wherewithal to not spend the money. I mean,

725
00:36:53,760 --> 00:36:56,160
Speaker 4: I guess they didn't have I guess Diamond Paul didn't

726
00:36:56,200 --> 00:36:56,759
Speaker 4: have it like that.

727
00:36:57,200 --> 00:37:00,600
Speaker 3: Well, Diamond Paul was like, he's not like the best, No,

728
00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:03,080
Speaker 3: even though he's Diamond Paul.

729
00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:06,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, Well, nicknames don't always tell you it's true.

730
00:37:06,719 --> 00:37:09,120
Speaker 3: That's true. But let's talk about the law. Part of

731
00:37:09,239 --> 00:37:14,200
Speaker 3: law and order court. So the kidnapping case of THEO

732
00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:18,880
Speaker 3: Albrecht was heard in Essen's regional court by three professional

733
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:22,480
Speaker 3: judges plus two lay judges. Apparently, as was the custom

734
00:37:22,520 --> 00:37:25,920
Speaker 3: of the day. The trial opened in January of nineteen

735
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:29,719
Speaker 3: seventy three, so like thirteen months after the abduction. The

736
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:34,840
Speaker 3: newspaper Der Spiegel they described an absolutely overflowing press and

737
00:37:34,960 --> 00:37:38,080
Speaker 3: public gallery because here you've got this family that's so

738
00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:42,000
Speaker 3: secretive and then there's this huge event, so everyone wants to,

739
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:43,680
Speaker 3: you know, to learn more about.

740
00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:46,080
Speaker 2: It, crack open the walls of the family, what's going on.

741
00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:49,640
Speaker 3: In contemporary coverage, like they classed it as a robbery

742
00:37:49,680 --> 00:37:54,520
Speaker 3: style extortion plus unlawful deprivation of liberty. So that was

743
00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:58,680
Speaker 3: basically the kidnapping for ransom pairing in German law at

744
00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:01,120
Speaker 3: the time, and there was a statue tory maximum sentence

745
00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:05,160
Speaker 3: of fifteen years. The prosecution had key evidence, right, so

746
00:38:05,239 --> 00:38:09,000
Speaker 3: there were those marked ransom bills. Remember, just days after

747
00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:11,200
Speaker 3: the release, he goes to the shop. He's like, here,

748
00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:15,160
Speaker 3: here's some five hundred deutsch mark bills. And then that

749
00:38:15,400 --> 00:38:17,480
Speaker 3: was the tip that led to his arrest. So that's

750
00:38:17,560 --> 00:38:20,720
Speaker 3: part of the evidentiary chain. Then there was that runner

751
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 3: that Ollenberg did, and then there were the confession slash

752
00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:26,960
Speaker 3: partial admissions.

753
00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:27,279
Speaker 2: From both men.

754
00:38:27,520 --> 00:38:30,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, so the court noted that both men were quote

755
00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:35,759
Speaker 3: vit Gen gesstendis largely confessed. Oh, I'm not saying any

756
00:38:35,800 --> 00:38:37,520
Speaker 3: of this right, and I was going to just skip it,

757
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:41,400
Speaker 3: but I thought, why not aim for the stars. Elizabeth

758
00:38:42,440 --> 00:38:46,520
Speaker 3: was in your life. Dershpiegel's week one report paints this

759
00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:50,920
Speaker 3: super vivid scene, like the courtroom is packed with TV crews, photographers,

760
00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:54,480
Speaker 3: the two defendants are sparring over like who masterminded what,

761
00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:58,080
Speaker 3: and then the article also records testimony about how the

762
00:38:58,160 --> 00:39:01,040
Speaker 3: targets were selected because he was like they had others,

763
00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:05,040
Speaker 3: just just those two, because they had that they're rich

764
00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:07,520
Speaker 3: and the super rich, and then pressless that they found.

765
00:39:08,440 --> 00:39:12,600
Speaker 3: Then THEO shows up, so like the regional coverage marks

766
00:39:12,719 --> 00:39:17,040
Speaker 3: like his own testimony mid January, and there are photographs, captions,

767
00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:20,960
Speaker 3: but there's so little information about what was said, and

768
00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:23,399
Speaker 3: I think that they could maybe manipulate the press into

769
00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:27,319
Speaker 3: not talking about it too much. And so in the end,

770
00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:29,840
Speaker 3: each guy gets eight and a half years in prison.

771
00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:34,080
Speaker 3: About half the ransom was recovered in bank accounts and

772
00:39:34,160 --> 00:39:37,120
Speaker 3: safe houses, only half, but yeah, three to three and

773
00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:40,520
Speaker 3: a half million Deutsche marks vanished without a trace. So

774
00:39:40,640 --> 00:39:44,600
Speaker 3: there's so much speculation around that. There's talk about offshore

775
00:39:44,680 --> 00:39:49,520
Speaker 3: stashes dimonds. No, not that I know of. So we

776
00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:51,120
Speaker 3: have to keep in mind who we're dealing with in

777
00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:55,080
Speaker 3: terms of the victim. Right. So THEO lifelong account and son,

778
00:39:55,440 --> 00:39:59,200
Speaker 3: notorious miser. His family had just shelled out all that

779
00:39:59,440 --> 00:40:02,840
Speaker 3: money and he wanted justice or at least financial balance.

780
00:40:03,440 --> 00:40:07,160
Speaker 3: So old THEO tried to deduct the unrecovered ransom as

781
00:40:07,239 --> 00:40:14,759
Speaker 3: a business expense on his taxes. The government, I want

782
00:40:14,800 --> 00:40:16,480
Speaker 3: to write it off. So the government was like, no,

783
00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:18,759
Speaker 3: we don't agree with that or that course of action.

784
00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:22,480
Speaker 3: So the Duseledore Finance Court ruled that it could not

785
00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:24,000
Speaker 3: be classed as a business.

786
00:40:23,960 --> 00:40:26,279
Speaker 2: As a business loss essentially, well, they did.

787
00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:29,760
Speaker 3: Allow it as part of a quote extraordinary burden against

788
00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:33,920
Speaker 3: income tax. Oh yeah. So this very unusual action by

789
00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:37,279
Speaker 3: the court and the new president drew wide attention in

790
00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:41,719
Speaker 3: German legal and financial circles because there's all sorts of

791
00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:45,200
Speaker 3: ways that you can, you know, ful with that fake it.

792
00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:49,439
Speaker 3: So anyway, already known for his secrecy, THEO became even

793
00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:55,040
Speaker 3: more reclusive. He rarely granted interviews, he avoided photographs, seldom

794
00:40:55,120 --> 00:40:59,520
Speaker 3: seen in public his addresses and movements were really tightly guarded.

795
00:40:59,600 --> 00:41:03,000
Speaker 3: Hero in an armored car to work and he changed

796
00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:09,239
Speaker 3: his route every day. Yeah, lightning striking twice according to Ye. Yeah,

797
00:41:09,360 --> 00:41:14,239
Speaker 3: so this reinforced all these culture of anonymity, like the

798
00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:16,720
Speaker 3: executives also stayed low profile.

799
00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:19,880
Speaker 2: Everyone really all potentially learned from his loss.

800
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:25,400
Speaker 3: Yes, And then there's four four in the nineties, the

801
00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:28,439
Speaker 3: brothers Theo and Carl. They retreated to a remote North

802
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:33,120
Speaker 3: Sea island. Four is one of the North Frisian islands

803
00:41:33,239 --> 00:41:37,200
Speaker 3: off it's the second largest German island.

804
00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:40,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're another nothing against you. Your pronunciation was throwing.

805
00:41:41,000 --> 00:41:44,440
Speaker 3: Oh it's terrible. So it's well, here's the thing, Like

806
00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:47,600
Speaker 3: I go online, I get online. Yeah, you know, I

807
00:41:47,800 --> 00:41:51,320
Speaker 3: surf the web, I surf the net, and I was

808
00:41:51,440 --> 00:41:53,640
Speaker 3: doing the pronunciation for how to pronounce his place and

809
00:41:53,680 --> 00:41:55,880
Speaker 3: they are like six different ways and none of them

810
00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:58,000
Speaker 3: are right, you know what I mean, Like he hit

811
00:41:58,040 --> 00:42:01,560
Speaker 3: won and it's off. No, that's on how they are four.

812
00:42:02,600 --> 00:42:07,520
Speaker 6: F O with the two little like yeah, h r

813
00:42:08,480 --> 00:42:11,719
Speaker 6: fu su I think it'd be like I think it

814
00:42:11,840 --> 00:42:13,560
Speaker 6: is fures.

815
00:42:13,880 --> 00:42:19,080
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, okay, so fure he's on fear O, he's

816
00:42:19,120 --> 00:42:25,840
Speaker 3: on fear Hey, little girls, your daddy home. So seriously,

817
00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:31,480
Speaker 3: it's a great song. The boss maybe go back and

818
00:42:31,560 --> 00:42:32,640
Speaker 3: fix them. I don't know.

819
00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:33,480
Speaker 5: Uh.

820
00:42:33,640 --> 00:42:38,160
Speaker 3: So Fure is this second largest German island. It's this

821
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:42,440
Speaker 3: quiet thatch roof cottage kind of place with like this

822
00:42:42,719 --> 00:42:46,480
Speaker 3: long North Friesian cultural history and a twenty seven hole

823
00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:51,960
Speaker 3: golf club online, but like discrete. Uh it's in an

824
00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:57,400
Speaker 3: area called the Frisian Caribbean. Oh yeah, it is to

825
00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:01,400
Speaker 3: their aim and high accounts describe this as like semi

826
00:43:01,520 --> 00:43:05,560
Speaker 3: retirement living from that. Yeah, so from like the nineties onward,

827
00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:09,040
Speaker 3: because like THEO stepped back from daily operations in ninety

828
00:43:09,120 --> 00:43:11,880
Speaker 3: three and Carl in ninety four. They just like puttered

829
00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:14,080
Speaker 3: around the island. They went back and forth to like Essen,

830
00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:17,600
Speaker 3: but they were mainly there and like the intense privacy

831
00:43:17,719 --> 00:43:20,000
Speaker 3: that they had makes it really hard to pin down dates,

832
00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:23,520
Speaker 3: but like you know, you can kind of guess based

833
00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:28,200
Speaker 3: on obituaries and stuff like that. Okay, So the sources

834
00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:31,480
Speaker 3: that we have like link this island life to these private,

835
00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:36,759
Speaker 3: really low key hobbies, golf collecting, antique typewriters. That was

836
00:43:36,840 --> 00:43:38,720
Speaker 3: like a long running THEO quirk.

837
00:43:38,880 --> 00:43:40,000
Speaker 2: That's a Tom Hanks quirk too.

838
00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:43,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, all like, so THEO did that for a long time. Orchids.

839
00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:47,320
Speaker 3: THEO was also super orchids. Yeah, they both like to

840
00:43:47,400 --> 00:43:52,319
Speaker 3: go hunting. That's fun. So THEO. He died in July

841
00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:56,000
Speaker 3: of twenty ten in his hometown of Essen. The family

842
00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:59,080
Speaker 3: provided no details about it and they delayed reporting it

843
00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:03,200
Speaker 3: for a while, like delayed telling the press. Carl passed

844
00:44:03,200 --> 00:44:06,279
Speaker 3: away four years later in twenty fourteen, and that year

845
00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:08,440
Speaker 3: he was listed as one of the richest people in

846
00:44:08,520 --> 00:44:11,359
Speaker 3: the world, with an estimated net worth of twenty three

847
00:44:11,480 --> 00:44:12,880
Speaker 3: point one four billion.

848
00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:15,400
Speaker 2: Damn lost count grocery.

849
00:44:15,520 --> 00:44:19,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, so when he died, he was named the richest

850
00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:22,200
Speaker 3: person in Germany and the fourth richest in Europe.

851
00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:23,239
Speaker 5: Yeah.

852
00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:27,960
Speaker 3: Ceo and his wife silly. They had two sons, Theo Junior.

853
00:44:28,320 --> 00:44:32,279
Speaker 3: He went on to work Aldi Nord and then Berthold

854
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:35,840
Speaker 3: and his branch of the family remained involved through like

855
00:44:35,960 --> 00:44:40,320
Speaker 3: foundation work. So control of Aldi Nord was vested in

856
00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:44,960
Speaker 3: three family foundations, Marcus, Lucas and Jacobus. I don't know

857
00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:47,719
Speaker 3: where they got the names, so there's so little information

858
00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:50,800
Speaker 3: on their background and they're thinking of stuff. So this

859
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:54,000
Speaker 3: was designed for like tax reasons. And to enforce long

860
00:44:54,120 --> 00:44:58,719
Speaker 3: term stewardship. So after Theo's death in twenty ten and

861
00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:02,480
Speaker 3: then his son Berthold ied in twenty fourteen, a fight

862
00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:06,840
Speaker 3: broke out among the heirs. So these like disputes became

863
00:45:07,000 --> 00:45:11,880
Speaker 3: really public, and they were overwhelmingly on the Aldi Nord side,

864
00:45:12,200 --> 00:45:15,960
Speaker 3: and it centered on the control of those foundations that

865
00:45:16,280 --> 00:45:19,120
Speaker 3: you know, Aldi Nord and then Trader Joe's by extensions.

866
00:45:19,120 --> 00:45:22,120
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, So there are very specific, let's call them

867
00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:25,560
Speaker 3: like flash points in this. So first was Theo's death

868
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:28,160
Speaker 3: and then a couple of years later his son, and

869
00:45:28,239 --> 00:45:30,680
Speaker 3: it was later revealed that his son blew out his

870
00:45:30,800 --> 00:45:33,600
Speaker 3: liver drinking himself to death. But at the time of

871
00:45:33,680 --> 00:45:36,160
Speaker 3: his death, like it was just this mysterious he's had

872
00:45:36,239 --> 00:45:41,120
Speaker 3: fifty but when he died, he and his brother had

873
00:45:41,120 --> 00:45:44,520
Speaker 3: an estimated net worth of almost eighteen billion dollars.

874
00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:45,120
Speaker 5: Wow.

875
00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:48,480
Speaker 3: Yeah. So the next flashpoint was the resignation of the

876
00:45:48,520 --> 00:45:52,759
Speaker 3: Aldi Nord CEO Mark Heiberger in twenty eighteen because there

877
00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:55,960
Speaker 3: was all this like shareholder turmoil. Now, then there was

878
00:45:56,360 --> 00:46:01,279
Speaker 3: silly the mom's will that accused Berthold's will Babet and

879
00:46:01,400 --> 00:46:04,520
Speaker 3: their five children of siphoning more than one hundred million

880
00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:06,360
Speaker 3: euros from one of the foundations.

881
00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:07,759
Speaker 2: Not bad, bet ba.

882
00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:11,160
Speaker 3: Bet love that. Why wasn't I named Babet? That'd be

883
00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:12,120
Speaker 3: so much more fun.

884
00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:14,560
Speaker 2: People call you Babs. You'd hate that. I could do that.

885
00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:15,720
Speaker 2: You could do that, Babs.

886
00:46:15,760 --> 00:46:19,160
Speaker 3: No, I couldn't do that. Think So then the next

887
00:46:19,239 --> 00:46:21,720
Speaker 3: year there was a criminal complaint this is twenty twenty,

888
00:46:22,080 --> 00:46:26,719
Speaker 3: filed by the grandson Nikola against his mom and his sisters. Yeah, yeah,

889
00:46:26,800 --> 00:46:33,400
Speaker 3: he's like babbet uh. Prosecutors later dropped an embezzlement probe

890
00:46:33,800 --> 00:46:37,560
Speaker 3: and to like check everything out open books. By January

891
00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:39,800
Speaker 3: of twenty twenty three, the camps like they, you know,

892
00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:41,399
Speaker 3: they we've put our feud to rest.

893
00:46:41,520 --> 00:46:43,200
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's crossing us to legal fees.

894
00:46:43,360 --> 00:46:45,920
Speaker 3: But not before more than a decade of like reporting

895
00:46:46,000 --> 00:46:48,640
Speaker 3: on the feuds in the tabloids. It's like the Daily

896
00:46:48,719 --> 00:46:51,560
Speaker 3: Mail had a field day, mainly because of all these

897
00:46:51,640 --> 00:46:54,000
Speaker 3: popularity in the UK. They always mentioned that in the

898
00:46:54,120 --> 00:46:57,360
Speaker 3: articles and the details were wild. There's like the drinking,

899
00:46:57,480 --> 00:47:01,080
Speaker 3: all these accusations and then is incredible eye popping amounts

900
00:47:01,120 --> 00:47:01,680
Speaker 3: of money.

901
00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:03,600
Speaker 2: Are they doing like that underground German stuff? Or they

902
00:47:03,640 --> 00:47:05,200
Speaker 2: do the sword fighting and cut each other's cheeks.

903
00:47:05,360 --> 00:47:09,240
Speaker 3: Probably Now let's say they did. It is like perfect

904
00:47:09,280 --> 00:47:12,839
Speaker 3: tabloid father, which is exactly what THEO would have hated. Yes,

905
00:47:13,360 --> 00:47:16,320
Speaker 3: like this would have been He's he is spinning in

906
00:47:16,440 --> 00:47:19,640
Speaker 3: his grave. He's like crypt He's yeah, like just drilled

907
00:47:19,719 --> 00:47:20,040
Speaker 3: a hole.

908
00:47:20,400 --> 00:47:22,799
Speaker 2: Yeah, further, you could play a record.

909
00:47:22,920 --> 00:47:26,200
Speaker 3: Hated it. Another major scandal touching the air was the

910
00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:29,840
Speaker 3: Helge Achenbach art fraud case in twenty fourteen. If you

911
00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:33,920
Speaker 3: say so, right, bless me, a prominent art dealer was

912
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:37,919
Speaker 3: convicted of defrauding Berthold and then drunk son.

913
00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:38,319
Speaker 6: Yeah.

914
00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:42,239
Speaker 3: Later civil rulings awarded damages to the heirs on the

915
00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:46,680
Speaker 3: Aldi suit side, Carl the heirs bit to Hayster and

916
00:47:47,080 --> 00:47:51,840
Speaker 3: the late Carl Arbrick Junie. If they had any disputes,

917
00:47:51,880 --> 00:47:55,480
Speaker 3: they kept it private. Oh real quiet. There's no comparable

918
00:47:55,560 --> 00:47:57,960
Speaker 3: public legal brawls over controlled.

919
00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:01,080
Speaker 2: No, yeahind closed doors with lawyers.

920
00:48:01,520 --> 00:48:05,239
Speaker 3: The Theo's abduction is one of post war Germany's most

921
00:48:05,320 --> 00:48:09,520
Speaker 3: infamous crimes. I met, and it really hardened corporate Germany's

922
00:48:09,560 --> 00:48:13,360
Speaker 3: security culture and made the name synonymous Albrecht not just

923
00:48:13,440 --> 00:48:18,120
Speaker 3: with like frugality but secrecy. What about the kidnappers.

924
00:48:17,680 --> 00:48:19,719
Speaker 2: Arin what about them, Elizabeth.

925
00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:24,400
Speaker 3: They both died in twenty seventeen, together a few months apart,

926
00:48:24,800 --> 00:48:27,799
Speaker 3: so Paul Diamond Paul he passed away in a care

927
00:48:27,840 --> 00:48:31,160
Speaker 3: home at the age of eighty seven, and heinz Olenberg

928
00:48:31,520 --> 00:48:34,120
Speaker 3: he died at the age of ninety three same year.

929
00:48:34,360 --> 00:48:37,120
Speaker 3: So they kept really low profiles after their release. And

930
00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:41,360
Speaker 3: regarding the ransom, Diamond Paul said that Ollenberg was the

931
00:48:41,440 --> 00:48:43,920
Speaker 3: brains behind the abduction and only gave him like a

932
00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:49,440
Speaker 3: few thousand Deutsche marks for his participation in it. Ollenberg

933
00:48:49,520 --> 00:48:51,720
Speaker 3: the lawyers like no, no, no, no, I beg to differ.

934
00:48:52,280 --> 00:48:54,920
Speaker 3: He swore they had split the money evenly, and when

935
00:48:54,960 --> 00:48:58,000
Speaker 3: he was busted, he returned his half. That's the half

936
00:48:58,040 --> 00:48:58,439
Speaker 3: they got.

937
00:48:58,680 --> 00:49:00,600
Speaker 2: Oh, and that's why they were That's what they have

938
00:49:01,680 --> 00:49:03,040
Speaker 2: and so that's that's why we have.

939
00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:05,279
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's why they have the three and a half

940
00:49:05,360 --> 00:49:09,000
Speaker 3: deutsche marks missing Diamond Paul. But here's Diamond Paul. He

941
00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:11,800
Speaker 3: talks to the press and he's like on a pension,

942
00:49:11,920 --> 00:49:14,040
Speaker 3: like a pensioner's allowance.

943
00:49:14,120 --> 00:49:16,160
Speaker 4: Like he's not rich, but does he have some like

944
00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:18,600
Speaker 4: you know, this is forgive me for being a romantic,

945
00:49:18,960 --> 00:49:21,759
Speaker 4: but does he have like someone who he's like protecting

946
00:49:21,960 --> 00:49:24,759
Speaker 4: an illegitimate daughter and he's just giving her all the money.

947
00:49:24,840 --> 00:49:27,000
Speaker 3: I have no idea, And I'll tell you what's really

948
00:49:27,080 --> 00:49:30,240
Speaker 3: interesting is like, I really think that the Albrecht family

949
00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:33,680
Speaker 3: had such a grip on German media that they could

950
00:49:33,719 --> 00:49:36,600
Speaker 3: get these little bits and pieces. But the details are

951
00:49:36,760 --> 00:49:40,320
Speaker 3: just scant, and it gave me the impression that a

952
00:49:40,360 --> 00:49:43,000
Speaker 3: lot of it was just clamped, that they don't want

953
00:49:43,040 --> 00:49:46,560
Speaker 3: too much stuff out there. But Diamond Paul, he said,

954
00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:49,279
Speaker 3: he told the press, quote, Honestly, I don't know about it.

955
00:49:49,360 --> 00:49:52,200
Speaker 3: I only got ten thousand Deutsche marks from Ollenberg. He

956
00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:53,400
Speaker 3: was cleverer than me.

957
00:49:55,400 --> 00:49:57,879
Speaker 2: Who do you believe in this between the two of them.

958
00:49:57,960 --> 00:50:02,239
Speaker 3: I believe I believe Diamond Paul. I want to you

959
00:50:02,360 --> 00:50:04,560
Speaker 3: know that, like, yeah, he got stiffed, he got ten grand.

960
00:50:04,719 --> 00:50:06,360
Speaker 2: Oh, I believe it the other way. I believe that

961
00:50:06,480 --> 00:50:08,520
Speaker 2: he was like, I guess I split it. I guess

962
00:50:08,560 --> 00:50:10,719
Speaker 2: I don't believe him. That's the better way of saying it.

963
00:50:11,120 --> 00:50:14,080
Speaker 4: I believe that Oldenburg split it with the Diamond Paul,

964
00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:16,000
Speaker 4: and that Diamond Paul is not telling the truth about

965
00:50:16,000 --> 00:50:18,360
Speaker 4: the ten grand or the ten thousand he got, and

966
00:50:18,560 --> 00:50:21,000
Speaker 4: that he is he's hidden it away somewhere, but for

967
00:50:21,120 --> 00:50:23,600
Speaker 4: somebody else who he doesn't want anything bad to happen,

968
00:50:23,920 --> 00:50:25,240
Speaker 4: and he's going to live as a pauper.

969
00:50:25,440 --> 00:50:28,080
Speaker 3: Olenburg. He was living out by the Polish border and

970
00:50:28,200 --> 00:50:31,000
Speaker 3: he was living in this like spare life.

971
00:50:31,120 --> 00:50:31,960
Speaker 2: Yeah, East Germany.

972
00:50:32,120 --> 00:50:34,600
Speaker 3: He would not talk to the media at all, had

973
00:50:34,680 --> 00:50:37,480
Speaker 3: nothing to do with them. But like local talentspeople they

974
00:50:37,640 --> 00:50:41,160
Speaker 3: like had the whispers about, like stash money in Switzerland,

975
00:50:41,360 --> 00:50:45,080
Speaker 3: like that was the rumor. So in twenty twenty five,

976
00:50:45,360 --> 00:50:49,000
Speaker 3: the police in Essen, they announced that they had recovered

977
00:50:49,040 --> 00:50:52,640
Speaker 3: a box of misplaced case files in the basement the

978
00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:53,960
Speaker 3: cellar of a station.

979
00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:57,080
Speaker 2: A misplaced pop had like total for the most.

980
00:50:56,880 --> 00:50:59,800
Speaker 3: Important Yease, it wasn't just them, there's a bunch of

981
00:51:00,360 --> 00:51:03,359
Speaker 3: but in the box we're records from the all record kidnapping. Sure,

982
00:51:03,680 --> 00:51:06,120
Speaker 3: so they think the files might shed light on the

983
00:51:06,239 --> 00:51:10,040
Speaker 3: ransom handover and the fate of those missing millions, and

984
00:51:10,120 --> 00:51:12,360
Speaker 3: so like the publics that getting all jazzed up about it,

985
00:51:12,560 --> 00:51:14,400
Speaker 3: you know, more than half a century later.

986
00:51:14,480 --> 00:51:16,840
Speaker 2: And if they're marked, they're still marked, I know, I know.

987
00:51:17,160 --> 00:51:20,440
Speaker 3: So stay tuned, Saren, what's your ridiculous takeaway?

988
00:51:21,239 --> 00:51:25,440
Speaker 4: Oh man, like this couldn't be a more German story

989
00:51:25,520 --> 00:51:27,560
Speaker 4: the way everybody is involved in like, and I'm not

990
00:51:27,600 --> 00:51:29,760
Speaker 4: trying to like, I know that it's a wide culture.

991
00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:32,200
Speaker 4: Not every German falls under the stereotyps. What I'm saying

992
00:51:32,280 --> 00:51:37,279
Speaker 4: is our understanding as Americans of the German cultural personalities,

993
00:51:37,320 --> 00:51:40,279
Speaker 4: if you will. This is very much like I'm like

994
00:51:40,360 --> 00:51:43,360
Speaker 4: wow at every turn, like that he drives himself in

995
00:51:43,480 --> 00:51:45,320
Speaker 4: his own car, and then that they judge him for

996
00:51:45,440 --> 00:51:47,239
Speaker 4: driving himself, like we would have thought you would have

997
00:51:47,280 --> 00:51:49,719
Speaker 4: a better suit to driver, and he's like, well, you

998
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:52,960
Speaker 4: would be wrong, you know. It's it's just very interesting

999
00:51:53,120 --> 00:51:57,400
Speaker 4: to me. And then also the family splitting in the

1000
00:51:57,480 --> 00:51:59,800
Speaker 4: North and South. I have to admit, just because of

1001
00:52:00,320 --> 00:52:03,719
Speaker 4: understanding of latitudes and the tendencies of latitude, that the

1002
00:52:04,280 --> 00:52:07,120
Speaker 4: South family would be the messier one in the North family,

1003
00:52:07,160 --> 00:52:08,960
Speaker 4: and it flips. I find that interesting too.

1004
00:52:09,520 --> 00:52:10,680
Speaker 2: What about for you, Elizabeth?

1005
00:52:10,840 --> 00:52:14,280
Speaker 3: I again, I love the I know a good number

1006
00:52:14,360 --> 00:52:18,480
Speaker 3: of Germans and those who are from there live there,

1007
00:52:18,640 --> 00:52:22,200
Speaker 3: those who are immigrants. Yeah, and it's and it's it

1008
00:52:22,440 --> 00:52:25,600
Speaker 3: is a very German story. They're all these really endearing

1009
00:52:25,880 --> 00:52:29,840
Speaker 3: coat qualities of it. And I'm fascinated by having this

1010
00:52:30,080 --> 00:52:32,680
Speaker 3: money and like his house, like you can only I

1011
00:52:32,920 --> 00:52:35,120
Speaker 3: was able to kind of like sneak away to find

1012
00:52:35,160 --> 00:52:39,239
Speaker 3: his house with these like coordinates. Oh, but you can't

1013
00:52:39,320 --> 00:52:42,319
Speaker 3: do a street view. It's just like there's a huge thing,

1014
00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:45,520
Speaker 3: but like from the footprint above, it's not. It isn't

1015
00:52:45,560 --> 00:52:47,799
Speaker 3: a mansion. I mean it's huge, so I mean i'd

1016
00:52:47,840 --> 00:52:50,279
Speaker 3: put it at maybe like eight thousand square feet. It's huge,

1017
00:52:50,640 --> 00:52:53,719
Speaker 3: but it's not this palatial estate and it's not like

1018
00:52:53,800 --> 00:52:56,600
Speaker 3: got huge grounds around it. It's in a neighborhood and

1019
00:52:56,719 --> 00:52:59,080
Speaker 3: there are smaller houses around and all that kind of

1020
00:52:59,120 --> 00:53:01,960
Speaker 3: thing a neighborhood to it's I find that fascinating. This

1021
00:53:02,040 --> 00:53:05,640
Speaker 3: guy is like a billionaire and this quiet life and

1022
00:53:05,719 --> 00:53:09,400
Speaker 3: that he and his brother too, their joy was finding

1023
00:53:09,440 --> 00:53:13,240
Speaker 3: this like isolated island and so all of the stuff

1024
00:53:13,280 --> 00:53:16,600
Speaker 3: that they lived through and saw and like fought through,

1025
00:53:17,080 --> 00:53:20,960
Speaker 3: you know that, Uh, to come out with that in

1026
00:53:21,040 --> 00:53:25,759
Speaker 3: this frugality. That then the secrecy is also like a

1027
00:53:25,880 --> 00:53:28,280
Speaker 3: huge thing, like to keep their name out of the press,

1028
00:53:28,840 --> 00:53:32,840
Speaker 3: and then how their family blows that entirely. Yeah, I

1029
00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:36,040
Speaker 3: mean there's the Daily Mail articles are nuts. So that's

1030
00:53:36,080 --> 00:53:38,840
Speaker 3: my takeaway. I would really love a talkback.

1031
00:53:39,160 --> 00:53:49,280
Speaker 2: Hell yeah, oh god, I went get.

1032
00:53:52,680 --> 00:53:57,520
Speaker 5: Zaran. This is story from Asto, Minnesota, home to three people,

1033
00:53:58,160 --> 00:54:02,560
Speaker 5: and you need to take your Bluetooth pack into Elizabeth Forrester.

1034
00:54:03,239 --> 00:54:07,200
Speaker 5: Get over to Krispy Creton right now, because happening for

1035
00:54:07,320 --> 00:54:11,879
Speaker 5: a limited time only is Harry Potter Donuts. That's right,

1036
00:54:12,280 --> 00:54:16,719
Speaker 5: pick your house of ill repute, grab a ratchet and

1037
00:54:17,120 --> 00:54:21,520
Speaker 5: get over there now. Thanks guys, Bye.

1038
00:54:23,280 --> 00:54:24,319
Speaker 3: Round trip for coming to.

1039
00:54:24,320 --> 00:54:26,080
Speaker 4: See you, babe, and thank you for the deepole on

1040
00:54:26,160 --> 00:54:28,719
Speaker 4: the ratchet. I need to get Elizabeth properly. I do

1041
00:54:28,840 --> 00:54:30,360
Speaker 4: need to get a ratchet and Bluetooth.

1042
00:54:30,400 --> 00:54:31,360
Speaker 2: That forester.

1043
00:54:33,320 --> 00:54:36,759
Speaker 3: Is so good. Uh. That is it for today. You

1044
00:54:36,880 --> 00:54:39,920
Speaker 3: can find us online at ridiculous Crime dot com. I

1045
00:54:40,160 --> 00:54:43,680
Speaker 3: was just named employee of the month there really so

1046
00:54:44,360 --> 00:54:47,960
Speaker 3: thank you Saron. Congratulations, Thank you Eric. I'm so proud

1047
00:54:47,960 --> 00:54:51,000
Speaker 3: of you. Thank you. Uh. You were also a Ridiculous

1048
00:54:51,040 --> 00:54:54,480
Speaker 3: Crime on blues Crime Instagram. We're on YouTube at Ridiculous

1049
00:54:54,520 --> 00:54:58,000
Speaker 3: Crime Pod. You can email Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com.

1050
00:54:58,400 --> 00:55:01,080
Speaker 3: Leave a talk back. God you love the talkbacks on

1051
00:55:01,239 --> 00:55:09,520
Speaker 3: the iHeart app reach out. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by

1052
00:55:09,560 --> 00:55:12,760
Speaker 3: Elizabeth Dutton and Zaren Burnett. Produced and edited by loss

1053
00:55:12,840 --> 00:55:17,320
Speaker 3: Albreck brother Dave Kusten, starring Annale Rudger as Judith. Research

1054
00:55:17,440 --> 00:55:20,080
Speaker 3: is by Frugal shopper Marisa Brown. The theme song is

1055
00:55:20,120 --> 00:55:24,200
Speaker 3: by Discount Musical Instrument Emporium pioneers Thomas Lee and Travis

1056
00:55:24,280 --> 00:55:28,319
Speaker 3: dunt Post wardrobe is provided by Botany five hundred. Guests Haron,

1057
00:55:28,400 --> 00:55:32,920
Speaker 3: makeup by Sparkleshot and Mister Andre. Executive producers are Scheming

1058
00:55:33,040 --> 00:55:36,160
Speaker 3: Kidnappers of the One Percent, Ben Bowleen and Noel Brown.

1059
00:55:42,160 --> 00:55:47,520
Speaker 3: Disquime Say It One More Time, Gee Crime.

1060
00:55:48,600 --> 00:55:51,960
Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio four more Podcasts.

1061
00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:55,239
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

1062
00:55:55,280 --> 00:55:57,040
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.