Speaker 1: Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: Elizabeth.
Speaker 3: How you doing I'm great?
Speaker 4: How are you great?
Speaker 5: Oh wow, I'd love to hear this Tony the Tiger
Speaker 5: energy from me.
Speaker 6: Good.
Speaker 5: I'm just going to surf off of your high because
Speaker 5: you didn't ask what I'm also doing. Well, I've got
Speaker 5: another question for you. Do you know what's ridiculous?
Speaker 4: I do know it's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: Prove it.
Speaker 4: Tacos ridiculously good? You know I love talking.
Speaker 2: You eat them almost any day you could.
Speaker 4: I would. I would eat them every day if I could.
Speaker 4: And Taco Bell not so bad, not terrible. I can
Speaker 4: get a Taco Bell if need be.
Speaker 5: Seven ingredients mixed up in all different ways exactly.
Speaker 4: You just you go to the drive through. You're like,
Speaker 4: I want to spend seven dollars, mess me up, and
Speaker 4: then they'll just give you whatever combination. They have this thing,
Speaker 4: the LOCOS program.
Speaker 2: Locos Locos, I'll call.
Speaker 4: It crazy, yeah, and it stands for loss or Celebration
Speaker 4: Outcome Support And it's the first noble emotional support taco program,
Speaker 4: which I get with as well. It has to do
Speaker 4: with World Cup. Yeah, so that you have to put
Speaker 4: the app on your phone. I don't have that.
Speaker 2: The Taco Bell app.
Speaker 4: Yeah, there's a Taco Bell app and you can choose
Speaker 4: either celebration mode if your team won, or support mode
Speaker 4: if you're sad because they didn't do right. And so
Speaker 4: the first time you do this, you get a free
Speaker 4: taco with any purchase, and you know, then there's all
Speaker 4: this junk on the app. It runs through July thirteenth,
Speaker 4: all right, so the end. So you donaded the app though, no,
Speaker 4: but you know so, I guess they don't want the
Speaker 4: finals involved in this, Like that's just too.
Speaker 2: Much yet right now.
Speaker 4: In the US, like if you don't have the app, though,
Speaker 4: you could have gone to LA or New York. They
Speaker 4: had scream booths so you could yell into the void
Speaker 4: after a loss. I know they have some similar kind
Speaker 4: of stuff in UK. Camden, London they had handing out
Speaker 4: just free tacos because they're like, you guys need the
Speaker 4: emotional support just for me you anyway. They also Australia, Canada, Brazil, Spain.
Speaker 4: I love that they're like, let's go to Brazil.
Speaker 5: And I have to say, I did not know that
Speaker 5: Taco Bell was in Brazil, nor did I know that
Speaker 5: it was in the UK.
Speaker 4: Yeah, apparently, and.
Speaker 2: It's called Taco Bell in both places.
Speaker 4: Yeah, although it's called Taco Bell in the UK.
Speaker 2: They like it, and you know, I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't think. I feel like I've seen one there,
Speaker 4: but I don't. I didn't really pay attention.
Speaker 2: To any joints looking for Nando's.
Speaker 4: Yeah, or greg Is the Baker.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: In the Scotland, Yeah, I know. Someone I knew when
Speaker 4: I lived in Glasgow loved Burger King. Really there was
Speaker 4: a Burger King across from this pub that we went to.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I know that there's the Burger Ha McDonald's like
Speaker 5: the big ones. It's no Taco Bell that made it over.
Speaker 4: I don't know. Apparently we're everywhere.
Speaker 2: So I wonder if there's an Arby's.
Speaker 4: Oh god, you know, I've never had Arby's igrets.
Speaker 5: I told you I grew up vegetarian, so that to
Speaker 5: me was like way past the bridge, too far.
Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly exactly. But you know what, maybe here's what
Speaker 4: I always say now, It's just it's not for me.
Speaker 2: I know, you do say.
Speaker 4: There are people congratulations, God bless, but I just kind
Speaker 4: of want to get behind the idea of an emotional
Speaker 4: support taco because sometimes that's what you need.
Speaker 2: I get it, you know, I feel you. Well, that
Speaker 2: is ridiculous.
Speaker 5: It is ridiculous. I'll certify that one. So while we're
Speaker 5: at it, Yeah, I've got one for you.
Speaker 6: He is.
Speaker 5: I saw a mention of this story and let me
Speaker 5: just say, this one had me at hello, Oh yeah.
Speaker 5: All I had to read was three words Croydon aerodrome heist.
Speaker 5: Oh I like that, and I was like, oh, please
Speaker 5: be murder free, Please be murder free. And I know
Speaker 5: you know that struggle you finally looks like a great story.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 5: I start reading up on it and you're like, oh,
Speaker 5: this one gets bloody damn. I know, I hate that, Elizabeth.
Speaker 5: I have good news. We got ourselves a ridiculous crime.
Speaker 3: Nice.
Speaker 5: This is Ridiculous Crime A podcast about absurd and outrageous capers,
Speaker 5: hes and cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder free
Speaker 5: and one hundred percent ridiculous. Yeah, Elizabeth, this one has
Speaker 5: so many things. It has all of the things the
Speaker 5: things we love. It has cameos from real life gangsters
Speaker 5: from the show Peaky Blinders. It has grizzled London taxi drivers,
Speaker 5: has British aviation history. It has gold bull yon and
Speaker 5: a busybody landlady. It's a classic British heist. Yes, and
Speaker 5: as I said, one percent ridiculous.
Speaker 4: Give it two many.
Speaker 5: So what's the story. Well, let's get into it. As
Speaker 5: they sat up top, It's called the Croydon Aerodrome Heist.
Speaker 5: In case you didn't know it. As the official Sutton
Speaker 5: Council website puts it, the Croydon Aerodrome was quote the
Speaker 5: cradle of British civil aviation and London's chief airport for
Speaker 5: twenty vital years between the World Wars.
Speaker 4: Oh yes, that's fascinating time.
Speaker 2: Yes, the time we love.
Speaker 5: I thought you'd get into this, yes, So the Croydon
Speaker 5: Aerodrome got it started in nineteen fifteen. At that time
Speaker 5: it was the new home for the Royal Flying Corps
Speaker 5: and then three years later, in nineteen eighteen, the National
Speaker 5: Aircraft Factory Number one opened nearby. That airplane factory had
Speaker 5: its own airfield, So now there were two airfields super
Speaker 5: close to each other.
Speaker 4: Did they kiss?
Speaker 5: I was just about to say, you know what happens
Speaker 5: when two airfields love each other very much? So the
Speaker 5: Beddington and Wadden aerodromes. That's what they were known. They
Speaker 5: eventually merged stright, yeah, and they become the Croydon Aerodrome.
Speaker 5: Now this place, the Beddington Wadden aerodromes. Those airfields were
Speaker 5: where the man who would become King George the six
Speaker 5: earned his wings as a pilot in nineteen nineteen. Fly
Speaker 5: on totally training missions there, like with the scarf, the
Speaker 5: whole bit.
Speaker 4: Oh it's so cute.
Speaker 2: I gotta say.
Speaker 5: If you're training the future king to fly at a
Speaker 5: time when planes are still hell experimental.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you gotta be mad nervous.
Speaker 4: Oh totally.
Speaker 5: Can you imagine teaching the future King to fly in
Speaker 5: like some rickety ass shaking, shimming biplane. He's like, grab
Speaker 5: that stick, you're.
Speaker 4: No, where's the spare? Here the air the spare.
Speaker 5: So in nineteen twenty that's when the two airfields eventually
Speaker 5: merge and they become the official customs Airport of London
Speaker 5: and the new airfield that's when it was officially named
Speaker 5: Croydon because that was the closest.
Speaker 2: Local town, right.
Speaker 5: So this is the now the official birth of the
Speaker 5: Croydon Aerodrome.
Speaker 2: Nineteen twenty.
Speaker 4: Welcome to the world.
Speaker 5: A few years later in nineteen twenty four, the airlines
Speaker 5: Imperial Airways made the Croydon Aerodrome its home airfield. So
Speaker 5: now they have like their own airline, you know, it's like, oh,
Speaker 5: we're a Delta hub. This is the Imperial Airways hub.
Speaker 4: Imperial do you think Imperial Airways is they invented Imperial margin?
Speaker 2: But yes, Margine and Butter, yes.
Speaker 4: That is part of their Oay, just checking.
Speaker 5: I'm glad you asked that's actually what they used to
Speaker 5: grease the pistons in the engines.
Speaker 4: Oh that's where it okay, I am so glad. I
Speaker 4: asked that that was very relevant, pertinent and important.
Speaker 5: Butter, so for things like the mail and parcels of freight,
Speaker 5: that's where they would get pulled into because this is
Speaker 5: the official customs house, right, so you have all the
Speaker 5: international travel coming through their international transport. And for the
Speaker 5: purposes of our story, this also meant gold bouyon would
Speaker 5: be brought through here.
Speaker 4: Nice.
Speaker 5: This would all become important because, as the Guardian reported
Speaker 5: and I quote, security was very lax and with only
Speaker 5: one person on a night and nothing but a set
Speaker 5: of keys keeping them from the strong room, it was
Speaker 5: the perfect target. So they have all this gold bullion
Speaker 5: on all this international freight, and they're like, oh, right,
Speaker 5: we should get security guards, maybe a couple locks. So,
Speaker 5: as the newspaper The Examiner from Loston, Tasmania reported at
Speaker 5: the time in the nineteen thirties, this is because this
Speaker 5: robbery took place in nineteen thirty five, on the date
Speaker 5: of actually March fifth, nineteen thirty five. So a couple
Speaker 5: days later, the newspaper The Examiner, which is down from Lonston, Tasmania,
Speaker 5: all the way on the other side of the planet. Yeah,
Speaker 5: they reported on this story because that's how big a
Speaker 5: story it was. It was global news, right, this bouillon theft,
Speaker 5: and they reported on the date of March fifth, nineteen
Speaker 5: thirty five. That's the date of the robbery, so they're
Speaker 5: reporting on events on that day. So the story I
Speaker 5: found said, and I quote, boxes of coin and bullion
Speaker 5: were collected in the afternoon and placed in the strong room,
Speaker 5: the keys of which were handed to a clerk named Johnson.
Speaker 5: Now that same story goes on to lay out the
Speaker 5: particulars of what happened next to our my man john
Speaker 5: and I quote Johnson was alone in the aerodrome at
Speaker 5: night and having locked his office door, went to sleep
Speaker 5: in accordance with his custom, with these strong room keys
Speaker 5: in his pocket, until he was awakened by an alarm
Speaker 5: at four fifteen am to attend to the arrival of
Speaker 5: a German airliner. The door was still then locked and
Speaker 5: the keys were in his pocket.
Speaker 2: So all good, so far.
Speaker 4: Wait you work the night shift and you go there
Speaker 4: to go to sleep.
Speaker 5: Yes, I'm talking about lack fun security. Now, those two
Speaker 5: sets of keys, they are an important detail for what
Speaker 5: occurs next. Because as Herbert roy Huggins, the station superintendent,
Speaker 5: the mandit's in charge of this whole Croydon Aerodrome, explained
Speaker 5: for the Boo Yawn room, the place where they're keeping
Speaker 5: the gold, this secure facility. It had two doors. There
Speaker 5: was an inner door and an outer door, and there
Speaker 5: were separate keys for each door. So like a nuclear
Speaker 5: sub you got to have the two keys. In this case,
Speaker 5: you got to have the two keys to get through
Speaker 5: one door then the next door, and one of those
Speaker 5: sets of keys was still safely secured in his pocket.
Speaker 5: So he's like, okay, we're good. I got I got
Speaker 5: the keys. I know we had run a lax ship,
Speaker 5: but I got the keys. So later on that same night,
Speaker 5: March fifth, my man Herbert Roy Huggins, he locked his
Speaker 5: set of keys in his desk drawer. He took the
Speaker 5: key to his desk home with him. All good, so far, right,
Speaker 5: So we have the Johnson, he's taking care of the
Speaker 5: German airliner, the superintendent. He took the other set of keys.
Speaker 4: Herby Huggins home with him. Yeah.
Speaker 5: So he awakes the next morning and when he arrives
Speaker 5: back at work at five am, just a little bit
Speaker 5: after Johnson went to deal with the German airliner, he
Speaker 5: unlocks his desk and his set of keys were still
Speaker 5: right where he left him, so their security protocols were
Speaker 5: still engaged. Now the other airfield officials they arrive a
Speaker 5: couple hours later at around seven am, and that is
Speaker 5: when it's discovered that the doors to the strong room
Speaker 5: where the gold bully on his store, they were unlocked.
Speaker 2: Un Dunne, could this be Saren?
Speaker 4: How could this be Johnson?
Speaker 2: No, Huggins.
Speaker 5: It wasn't Johnson and it wasn't Huggins, but it was
Speaker 5: certainly curious.
Speaker 4: Wait, Herbie Huggins was in the clear.
Speaker 5: Yeah, if they're both in the because you know he
Speaker 5: was you know away from the aerodrome, he comes back,
Speaker 5: or so he claims. Now, what was far more curious
Speaker 5: for those who were wondering where.
Speaker 2: The gold is?
Speaker 5: Yes, the fact that the gold bullion was gone, like gone, gone,
Speaker 5: gone gone, Yeah, nothing was there. And we're talking twenty
Speaker 5: thousand pounds sterling worth of gold coins like British pounds
Speaker 5: not yet eight pounds, right, and it hit it up
Speaker 5: and disappeared. Now, so the superintendent and the others sorted
Speaker 5: air officials at this point because they had their whole
Speaker 5: security protocol in place. Yeah, they are shocked, stun flabbergasted.
Speaker 5: I mean I think they would say gobsmacked a those.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they would totally say that how.
Speaker 5: Could this have happened? And more importantly, where the hell
Speaker 5: is the gold?
Speaker 2: Right now? Before you ask, I did calculate what all
Speaker 2: that gold would be well, thank you.
Speaker 4: In my head, I was like.
Speaker 5: Yeah, twenty thousand pounds in nineteen thirty five. Yeah, so
Speaker 5: I had to do a double conversion, right.
Speaker 4: So zaren I've been there right, No, it's not easy.
Speaker 5: So I did the inflation calculator first, So twenty thousand
Speaker 5: pounds in nineteen thirty five would be worth one point
Speaker 5: two six', five so one point two million pounds.
Speaker 2: Today, Okay, now if you do the conversion on this.
Speaker 4: One point twenty sixty five one call it one point?
Speaker 4: Three sure that one point?
Speaker 5: Three why not one point? Three and if you do
Speaker 5: the conversion to dollars for that one point three million,
Speaker 5: pounds that converts to one, million six hundred ninety one,
Speaker 5: thousand seven hundred and FORTY us dollars or one point
Speaker 5: seven million dollars for. You, wow that of a score
Speaker 5: for whomever had stolen, yeah. Ghosts and this would become
Speaker 5: a real challenge for the police because when they arrived
Speaker 5: there are no obvious clues as to who pulled off
Speaker 5: this epic gold, heist and the security protocol had been.
Speaker 5: ENGAGED i mean they, like you took the keys home
Speaker 5: and there's. Key, Yes johnson was here dealing with The german.
Speaker 5: Airliners we got witnesses.
Speaker 4: For where he was and, Snoozing, yeah and.
Speaker 5: Snoozing so it's either either he was asleep or he
Speaker 5: was going struck in Zy. Deutsch so at this point
Speaker 5: this gold, heist it leads to this swarm of police
Speaker 5: From london who raced out to The Croyd narodrome to,
Speaker 5: investigate AND i WISH i could not find, this BUT
Speaker 5: i don't know if the flying squad was called out
Speaker 5: to the.
Speaker 2: Airfield, right let's just, see let's just. Imagine it makes
Speaker 2: some more.
Speaker 4: Fun you, know who's going to check me on?
Speaker 7: That?
Speaker 5: Right AND i mean it's an. Airfield why would they
Speaker 5: not have the flying squad?
Speaker 4: There and if we don't have any written record of,
Speaker 4: it it's because it was a top secret. Mission there you,
Speaker 4: go so they were.
Speaker 2: THERE i like where your head's. Are thank you.
Speaker 5: Too now at this, Point i'm going to tell you
Speaker 5: another little.
Speaker 2: Secret do. It it's time for us to take a.
Speaker 5: Break so let's listen to some ads and when we're,
Speaker 5: back we will meet the men who pulled off this,
Speaker 5: mysterious staggering gold heist back in two and.
Speaker 2: Two and we're, Back.
Speaker 5: Elizabeth, heyo you ready to meet the gang Of british
Speaker 5: hard men who pulled off This buoleon?
Speaker 2: Heigh?
Speaker 4: YES i was born? Ready? Good?
Speaker 5: Good, No, FIRST i have a question for. You you
Speaker 5: Know i'm always filled with. Questions you ask such good.
Speaker 5: ONES i try to keep. UP i know you've been To. London,
Speaker 5: yes have you ever taken a handsome cab while you
Speaker 5: were there handsome, cab black cab of. Course, yeah AND
Speaker 5: i also think But i'm not, certain SO i have
Speaker 5: to ask do you know about the test that The
Speaker 5: london black cab drivers have to?
Speaker 4: Take, yes it's crazy that you have to memorize every single. Street,
Speaker 4: yeah it's know.
Speaker 2: Everything it is absolutely.
Speaker 5: Nuts and by the, way WHEN i say black cab,
Speaker 5: DRIVER i don't mean the drivers are.
Speaker 2: BLACK i mean the taxi cab is.
Speaker 4: Itself.
Speaker 5: Yeah just picture one of those throwback looking handsome. Cabs
Speaker 5: it's you, know they're all, black nag puck pop pop,
Speaker 5: pop drive around.
Speaker 2: Kind of rattle, Though, yeah and you.
Speaker 4: Get the cool like face each other back. Seats, yeah
Speaker 4: those taxis are.
Speaker 2: AMAZING i love you know.
Speaker 5: ME i always take. CABS i don't Use uber for
Speaker 5: any of that. Stuff and over, THERE i don't.
Speaker 4: Know, NO i would never do that over. THERE i
Speaker 4: always take. Taxis and the thing is, too is That
Speaker 4: i've found that when you're there and because they know absolutely,
Speaker 4: everything there are fonts of knowledge of stuff to, do
Speaker 4: like Completely one TIME i was in a taxi In
Speaker 4: london AND i said, like, okay you know they're all
Speaker 4: like the big heavy hitter museums that everyone goes to
Speaker 4: bend to all of. Them what's a museum or like
Speaker 4: a site that people don't know about that you would.
Speaker 4: Recommend he's like, Automatically he's, like you got to go
Speaker 4: to the Medical museum AND i can't remember off the
Speaker 4: top of my head what it was, called but like
Speaker 4: it was you loved it incredible AND i never in
Speaker 4: a million years, ago but it was. Fascinating, yeah there's
Speaker 4: an amateur. Taxidermist but it's like they can recommend all
Speaker 4: sorts of stuff because they see.
Speaker 2: Everything oh, yeah.
Speaker 5: Totally they got me through all the coolest gardens and.
Speaker 5: Stuff i'd be, LIKE i have a, have you, know
Speaker 5: half of a day to. SPEND i want to go
Speaker 5: to a. Garden they're, like all, right, MATE i know good.
Speaker 2: Ones yeah.
Speaker 5: Exactly so that's HOW i found all about like you,
Speaker 5: Know kensington And gardens and all these other smaller, ones
Speaker 5: like they had these Like tuckaway gardens nobody knew. ABOUT
Speaker 5: i was, like oh.
Speaker 2: Hell, yeah, yeah it's. Amazing so that.
Speaker 5: Test it's called The knowledge, yeah WHICH i just love
Speaker 5: that as a. Name, yeah it's like it sounds like
Speaker 5: it's like almost, medieval like it's the sum of what
Speaker 5: every alchemist knows is the.
Speaker 4: Knowledge do you possess the knowledge?
Speaker 5: Exactly so the knowledge it started one hundred and sixty
Speaker 5: one years, ago way back in eighteen sixty. Five, so
Speaker 5: as you pointed, out a beast of a, test it
Speaker 5: takes on average three to four years to pass.
Speaker 4: It, yeah it's.
Speaker 5: Basically like passing the bar here In america because and you,
Speaker 5: know as you, noted you're required to know pretty much
Speaker 5: all Of. London to pass this. Test you have to
Speaker 5: memorize twenty five thousand. Streets, yeah you have to know
Speaker 5: twenty thousand major attractions In, London so you got to
Speaker 5: know all the railway, stations the, hospitals, hotels, parks major tourist,
Speaker 5: spots just absolutely. Everything and then this off the beaten
Speaker 5: path stuff as. Well, yeah AND i wanted to put
Speaker 5: this a little bit in. Perspective how much that is
Speaker 5: forty five thousand things that they have to. Know the
Speaker 5: Average american only note they only, knows but knows forty
Speaker 5: two thousand. Words so they who did word to the
Speaker 5: location in. Street the knowledge is like learning a whole
Speaker 5: language of physical.
Speaker 2: Destinations, well that's why you get in.
Speaker 4: There they're never using as they call it over THEIR, Satnav,
Speaker 4: no NO. Gps it's like and it's because they're not
Speaker 4: relying on things like. That they have this intimate knowledge
Speaker 4: of the. Streets they know.
Speaker 5: They look at, them they look at the, screen.
Speaker 4: But they're also it's like they'll know what really isn't
Speaker 4: the best way to get.
Speaker 5: Somewhere, oh they know the fastest, way they know the prettiest.
Speaker 5: Way they know like the, oath we got. Construction, here
Speaker 5: here's an.
Speaker 2: Alternate.
Speaker 4: Exactly it's.
Speaker 5: Incredible and by the, way this test the, knowledge what
Speaker 5: it requires of them actually changes their. Brains really, yeah
Speaker 5: this is backed up by. Science researchers have determined that
Speaker 5: the brain of A london cab driver who's passed the,
Speaker 5: knowledge it changes to the point that it impacts their.
Speaker 5: Memories like often they will find that once they pass the,
Speaker 5: knowledge they're able to suddenly remember like all of their,
Speaker 5: kids school teachers' names and everything that they if it's
Speaker 5: like their wife has an, appointment they remember the, doctor
Speaker 5: the street they can. Remember just have like a sponge
Speaker 5: for a. Brain, yeah it's.
Speaker 4: Fantastic In, GLASGOW i used to take them and like
Speaker 4: if it was too late to walk from the city
Speaker 4: center to WHERE i was over on The West, End
Speaker 4: and no matter the age of the taxi, Driver i'd
Speaker 4: say seventy percent of the time WHEN i would tell
Speaker 4: them my, address they knew exactly the building without getting
Speaker 4: to the. Street and they would tell, me you, know
Speaker 4: that building was bombed in The. Blitz it was the
Speaker 4: only one on that block and it was leveled and
Speaker 4: they had to rebuild. It And i'd, say, oh, yep,
Speaker 4: YEAH i, know it's pretty, crazy BUT i mean like young,
Speaker 4: people young, guys, yeah, yeah like but they heard it pass,
Speaker 4: down pass, Down so it's not even just In. London
Speaker 4: these you know In, glasgow they're, yeah. Incredible it's a
Speaker 4: culture of that source knowlogy.
Speaker 5: Exactly so the reason WHY i bring up the knowledge
Speaker 5: is that A london cab driver is a key figure
Speaker 5: in this, story, okay and his peckable memory would presumably
Speaker 5: make him an excellent eye witness for this, heist and
Speaker 5: he would remember. Everything he'd be, like you, know like
Speaker 5: you one of them super. Observers so who is this
Speaker 5: black cab, driver fantastic question Of his name Is George.
Speaker 2: Manson George, Mansons and on.
Speaker 5: That fateful night of The gold. Heist he was, working, well,
Speaker 5: technically he was in his black cab taking a bit
Speaker 5: of a snooze when he hears this knock on the,
Speaker 5: window like just like knuckles. Rapping, yeah sometimes it's described
Speaker 5: as a, hammering.
Speaker 2: Like the cop. Knock, yeah, Exactly that's HOW i pictured.
Speaker 5: It and this is one in the, morning, right and
Speaker 5: it makes it technically the next, Day march, sixth because
Speaker 5: even though it's a whole, thing because of the you,
Speaker 5: know the the way that the robbery, occurs it's always
Speaker 5: In march, fifth is In march six by this point
Speaker 5: is Now march six, anyway As George manson tells, it
Speaker 5: he gets awakened by this.
Speaker 2: Knocking he shakes off his.
Speaker 5: Sleep he looks, up sees his face staring back at
Speaker 5: him through the, glass and it's a, man he, knows
Speaker 5: a man Nicknamed Little. Harry, yeah which is such a
Speaker 5: great criminal, nickname, right mostly for, me it's because it
Speaker 5: implies the existence of a Second british hard man known
Speaker 5: As Big, harry.
Speaker 4: And Then Medium, man Possibly Medium, harry their third.
Speaker 5: One, right, anyway on the other side of the glasses
Speaker 5: There Little. Harry and he asked the cab, Driver George
Speaker 5: manson to give him a ride To King's cross rail.
Speaker 5: Station he's, like, okay oh, sure pop In. Governor but he's, like, no,
Speaker 5: no not right. Now in three, hours so he wants
Speaker 5: to go like at four.
Speaker 2: Am yeah he.
Speaker 5: Is it is exactly. It he's, like don't be, anywhere
Speaker 5: be here SO i can get. You so he's like.
Speaker 5: Okay so he does as it told or as instructed
Speaker 5: or has, ordered depending how you want to tell. It
Speaker 5: and some three hours, later at four, am the cab
Speaker 5: Driver George manson is happy to oblige and he gives
Speaker 5: them a ride over to The King's Cross railway. Station
Speaker 5: and that's Where Little harry meets up with three other hard.
Speaker 5: Men they hop in the handsome cab and they head
Speaker 5: up to a second. Location they drive to a spot
Speaker 5: Called Thornton heath and from there they drove to a little,
Speaker 5: road a little road like a country road Called Pearly.
Speaker 5: Way that's Where George manson Drops Little harry and the
Speaker 5: three other men, off about three quarters of a mile
Speaker 5: from The Croydon. Aerodrome now they right before they walk,
Speaker 5: Off Little harry tells the cab driver you wait here
Speaker 5: for us to come. Back oh so he's got to
Speaker 5: sit there in the middle of the nowhere idling at
Speaker 5: like four forty five in the morning or four to
Speaker 5: thirty in the morning at this. Point now together the
Speaker 5: men all head off into the dark toward The Croyd Narrow.
Speaker 4: Drum but, see it's also Little harry knows he's a hard,
Speaker 4: man so he can't be like not going to happen
Speaker 4: and then just drive off.
Speaker 5: Totally he knows he's now part of this. Crew basically
Speaker 5: he's like an unaffiliated. Member they know him and they
Speaker 5: know that he knows what they're you're doing where they.
Speaker 5: Are so it's, like, oh, anyway who are these other
Speaker 5: hard men besides Little. Harry i'm so glad you Asked elizabeth.
Speaker 5: Too we have forty seven year Old Cecil swanland Or
Speaker 5: Cecil Swanland, CECIL i love. That and there was then
Speaker 5: the old man of the, bunch a seventy four year
Speaker 5: Old john, O'Brien, Okay and lastly there was thirty eight
Speaker 5: year Old Silvio schank mazarda Shunk shank like s h
Speaker 5: o n K Shank Mazar. Shunk, yeah he's got a
Speaker 5: name Like Silvia. Mazard he's, like call me.
Speaker 4: SHANK i, know, like, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 5: How long he's been In Great. Britain, brother So Cecil
Speaker 5: swanlin was a career. Criminal he had a particularly long rap.
Speaker 5: Sheet most of his, offenses and he'd been locked up
Speaker 5: and done prison time, for were forgery and. Theft my
Speaker 5: favorite story from looking up his like rap sheet is
Speaker 5: he once robbed his own father and hoping to teach
Speaker 5: his son a valuable. Lesson his father pressed charges, right
Speaker 5: and the lesson that he hoped his boy learned was not. Learned,
Speaker 5: instead he became a good time, charlie his career. Criminal he's, like,
Speaker 5: yeah he's. Bitter, yeah, exactly and so thus he becomes
Speaker 5: nicknamed the man who can't go. Straight oh that's his other. Likename,
Speaker 5: yeah it's definitely a long.
Speaker 4: One it's it's no, Shank.
Speaker 2: It doesn't go right to the.
Speaker 5: Point So Cecil swanlin he called himself an, artist and
Speaker 5: he uh to prove it to other. People he dressed the.
Speaker 5: Part he dressed just like an.
Speaker 2: Artist do you wear?
Speaker 5: Beret i'd like to believe it's nineteen thirty, five So
Speaker 5: i'm thinking he's probably wearing a beret like a necker chief. Smock,
Speaker 5: yeah exactly, Espitrals, yes and the old Man john. O'Brien
Speaker 5: he did not have the same sort of a. Lawn
Speaker 5: he also didn't have the same sort of illustrious crime.
Speaker 5: Career he was basically like a. Fence he was, LIKE
Speaker 5: i kind of sit, STILL i handle. Business so he
Speaker 5: also had no major rap sheet, defenses not in comparison
Speaker 5: To Cecil. Swanland and, lastly there was my, man you're a,
Speaker 5: Man Shunk Mazarg. Shk turns out he was a member
Speaker 5: of The Sabinie, gang as in the Same sabini gang
Speaker 5: that features prominently in season two Of Peaky.
Speaker 4: Blinders, eh you, KNOW i really hope That shank isn't
Speaker 4: like crazy offensive And i'm just saying it over and over.
Speaker 5: Again, YEAH i didn't really look that.
Speaker 2: UP i. DIDN'T i.
Speaker 5: DIDN'T i didn't never encourage me that it could be
Speaker 5: like an, epithet, Right, no.
Speaker 4: That's just okay if it is.
Speaker 5: APOLOGY i assumed it was just like a fun sound to,
Speaker 5: say you, know Like, schunk he stabs.
Speaker 2: People shunk exactly good with the, knife good and.
Speaker 4: Clothes every time we say, it people are just like
Speaker 4: Win sing in THE, Uk they're, like how are they allowed.
Speaker 5: To it's like when A Lexi lawis said called somebody a, whanker,
Speaker 5: right And tyr were like look at each, other like
Speaker 5: can you say?
Speaker 2: This thank? God they were An AMERICAN.
Speaker 5: Tv so The Sabini, gang as it may remind, you
Speaker 5: was very much a power in the field Of british
Speaker 5: crime families in the nineteen. Thirties the gang was far
Speaker 5: more than a. Gang they many times the estimates were
Speaker 5: put at about three hundred. People oh, yeah so it
Speaker 5: was much more like a small army collective crime. Collective
Speaker 5: so this gang was led By Charles sabini Aka Darby.
Speaker 5: Sabini he was A British italian. Gangster he drew his
Speaker 5: power as the protector like the boss Of Little italy In,
Speaker 5: london and in the interwar period Between World War one
Speaker 5: And World War, two he was essentially like a racetrack.
Speaker 2: Gangster, yeah, yeah just like you see in the.
Speaker 5: Show and he when he was born, though AS i,
Speaker 5: learned his name was Actually Otavio. Handley oh and then
Speaker 5: he just took on the Name Charles.
Speaker 4: Sabini sabini sounds really, cool.
Speaker 5: Exactly so he had a good instinct for, like you,
Speaker 5: know a new appellation for himself now as he saw
Speaker 5: a peaky. Blinder AS i, Said sabini's at this racetrack,
Speaker 5: gangster so he's mostly hanging around like The midland. Racetracks
Speaker 5: he's also though a major underworld figure In. London and this,
Speaker 5: Man Shank mazarta was like a prominent figure in The sabini,
Speaker 5: gang real close To, sabini and so he gets involved
Speaker 5: in this gold. Heist it strongly suggests that this is
Speaker 5: A Sabini gang, heist right all, Right, so as the
Speaker 5: papers at the time, Reported Cecil swanland was basically the
Speaker 5: mastermind of The Croydon aerodrome. Heist he was the man
Speaker 5: who brought the job to The sabini. Gang we don't
Speaker 5: know exactly if that's, true but that was the. Supposition.
Speaker 5: Sure so this is our crew and their criminal. Affiliation
Speaker 5: we got Little Harry, cecil the man who can't go, Straight,
Speaker 5: Swanlin john O'Brien And Sylvio Shank. Mazarta and at sometime
Speaker 5: around four am this crew arrived At Croydon aerodrome and
Speaker 5: they have the cab, Driver george Manson or to wait for,
Speaker 5: them and hour, passes the dark of night begins to
Speaker 5: turn into like the purple skies of the coming. Dawn
Speaker 5: and that's when the four men, return but they don't walk. Back,
Speaker 5: instead they drive back from The Croydon airfield and what's
Speaker 5: called what is later called in paper is a dilapidated small.
Speaker 2: Car oh, YEAH i saw that used numerous. Times it's
Speaker 2: not a.
Speaker 5: Brand what do you guys all called a dilapid into
Speaker 5: a small car?
Speaker 4: Anyway no other way to describe.
Speaker 5: This, Yeah so the car pulls up close to this
Speaker 5: waiting cab that's just idling, there standing in the, dark
Speaker 5: and the men move with professional. Efficiency they unload three
Speaker 5: boxes from the dilapidated small car and they load them
Speaker 5: into the boot of the black, cab and they're not
Speaker 5: shy or coy about what's in the three. Boxes one
Speaker 5: of the men tells the cab Driver George, manson AND i.
Speaker 2: Quote this is.
Speaker 5: Gold, no, yeah that was in the. Newspaper it's like
Speaker 5: this is. Gold so once he hears, That George manson's,
Speaker 5: like take it. OUT i don't want to mess about
Speaker 5: with any stolen.
Speaker 2: Gold.
Speaker 5: Ye but the four men they ain't hearing any noise
Speaker 5: from their cab, driver and they tell him his job
Speaker 5: is to drive not to worry about what he's, carrying
Speaker 5: so he does the math in his head real. Quick
Speaker 5: there for, them there's one of, him their career. Criminals
Speaker 5: he's a cab. Driver they have deep connections with The sabini.
Speaker 5: Gang so he's, like all, right, Right, kevin you want to.
Speaker 5: Go So George manson's, like, okay, Yeah i'm gonna pipe.
Speaker 5: Down so he just gets back to the cab and
Speaker 5: just waits for them to get done with their business
Speaker 5: of moving the gold from one car to the. Other,
Speaker 5: Eventually sabini's Man Shock. Mazarda he hops back in the
Speaker 5: dilapidate into small car and he drives off in. That
Speaker 5: the other three, men Including Little, harry they pop back
Speaker 5: in the black cab and they Tell george where to drive,
Speaker 5: again he does as. Instructed he drives them to the
Speaker 5: home of the man who can't go straight, Old Cecil.
Speaker 4: Swanlin but they might as well just draw a math
Speaker 4: right with the. Gold so they're, like.
Speaker 5: This is, gold here's our. Hideout and by the, way
Speaker 5: there's the. Address it's Three. Pemberton SO i Know i'm
Speaker 5: not a career. Criminal i'm also not A british hard,
Speaker 5: man BUT i think these are serious flaws in their.
Speaker 4: Plaint, YEAH i. Definitely.
Speaker 5: Yeah they seem to have much different ideas about.
Speaker 2: Trust so NOW i.
Speaker 4: Can understand how you're able to tell me this. Story,
Speaker 4: yeah it's not a great unsolved. Mystery and then get.
Speaker 2: This they have a cab.
Speaker 5: Driver once they come back to their, hideout they just
Speaker 5: let him go on his, way Like i'm sure you've.
Speaker 2: Got business to. Do he's just cut.
Speaker 5: Loose you, know news is going to break very, soon
Speaker 5: and they have a key witness just out on the.
Speaker 5: STREETS i hope there's not a big reward. Posted so
Speaker 5: at this, point once they've let their eyewitness, free you,
Speaker 5: know they go, Okay AND i think they're convinced that
Speaker 5: their threats are scaring, him are going to.
Speaker 2: Keep him in. LINE i have to believe that's what it.
Speaker 6: Is.
Speaker 5: Anyway so this black cab, driver he's now we've got morning,
Speaker 5: traffic he's going to be, Busy so he does this.
Speaker 2: Thing they do their.
Speaker 5: Things so the criminals they go Into Cecil swanlin's. Home
Speaker 5: it's like a rented room and like a boarding, house
Speaker 5: and they start counting their halts very. Private but first
Speaker 5: they've got a break into the strong. Boxes this is
Speaker 5: no easy. Test these three. Boxes they eventually are able
Speaker 5: to like break into, them possibly using plasticcene.
Speaker 2: Explosives, yes they've gotta be, yeah very. Heavy they had
Speaker 2: to get a whole car to bring.
Speaker 6: Them.
Speaker 5: Remember, Yeah so the three, boxes once they get them,
Speaker 5: open they find their three bars of. Gold there are
Speaker 5: also five thousand gold coins from The United states and
Speaker 5: there are fifty eight hundred gold coins from THE. Uk all,
Speaker 5: told the score is worth about twenty one thousand, pounds
Speaker 5: or AS i told you, earlier now roughly one point
Speaker 5: six million dollars or for you one point Seven so
Speaker 5: not bad for a few hours work in the early morning. Hours,
Speaker 5: now at this, point the superintendent of The Croydon aerodrome
Speaker 5: arrives at work because we're still in the early morning.
Speaker 5: Hours two hours, later his fellow coworkers arrived at seven.
Speaker 5: Am like, YadA, YadA. YadA they discover the strong room
Speaker 5: has been, unlocked the gold bullion is. Missing they, Panic
Speaker 5: they call the, authorities the investigation. Begins the flying squad comes.
Speaker 5: Out now the trouble for this gang is that they've
Speaker 5: pulled off their gold, heist but their cab, Driver George,
Speaker 5: manson who they presumably threatened to. Stay, mom isn't the
Speaker 5: only Eyewitness you're. Kidding turns out there was a second
Speaker 5: man who saw all of this pretty much go. Down
Speaker 5: the second witness was this man Named Alfred George, king
Speaker 5: and he happened to be an early. Riser and not only,
Speaker 5: that he was one of my.
Speaker 2: Dudes he was a.
Speaker 5: Cyclist he was out riding in the early, morning like
Speaker 5: four in the, morning, right and so he sees the
Speaker 5: like he's there under the same like you, know purple
Speaker 5: skies of. Dawn he sees the cab idling near the arrow.
Speaker 5: Drack and not only, that he sees the cab pass.
Speaker 5: Him so he's able to like jot down the license,
Speaker 5: plate and he sees the small dilapidated old car.
Speaker 4: As, well so he gets the whole.
Speaker 2: Score he doesn't get the license plate on.
Speaker 4: A, second he wrote down the license plate.
Speaker 5: To another one of your, people, right yeah. Something so
Speaker 5: once he's, like you, know, well this, Dude Alfred George
Speaker 5: king is like cycling Along Pearly, way he Sees George manson's,
Speaker 5: cab he sees the little dilapidated.
Speaker 2: Car he jots it all.
Speaker 5: Down and, uh then he's Like i'm just going to,
Speaker 5: do like go about my. Day he gets, home he's
Speaker 5: just not in the first morning, newspaper but not soon
Speaker 5: afterwards on the radio this news popping up and he's, like.
Speaker 2: Huh that's, interesting uh.
Speaker 5: Huh and now we have our first, like, oh MAYBE
Speaker 5: i should call the bobbies right. Now at this, point
Speaker 5: also you have to recognize that there is a second eye. Witness,
Speaker 5: right that's, bad, right, okay, yeah but there's a third eyewitness.
Speaker 5: Two oh, Yes because remember how the three men had
Speaker 5: the cab driver drop them off early in the morning
Speaker 5: At Cecil's swanlin's, home, Right, well he had a land
Speaker 5: lady and she was another busy body and apparently an early,
Speaker 5: riser SO i, guess or maybe a light, SLEEPER i don't,
Speaker 5: know because she apparently hears this loud noise coming from
Speaker 5: his Cecil swanlin's.
Speaker 4: Flag oh, yeah they're trying to like blow it up
Speaker 4: WITH c four or.
Speaker 2: Whatever.
Speaker 5: Total first they're bringing the heavy boxes in and they
Speaker 5: just drop them on the floor and that like shakes the,
Speaker 5: house wakes her. Up so she goes to the, window
Speaker 5: throws up and the sash looks down and sees them
Speaker 5: pulling more boxes out of the cab and then, like you,
Speaker 5: know bringing them in the. House at this, point it's
Speaker 5: like just before six in the. Morning so what does she,
Speaker 5: see you, know great, Question. Elizabeth she sees the, cab
Speaker 5: the cab, driver the man who can't go, Straight Cecil,
Speaker 5: swanland his, crew the, boxes all of. It she can
Speaker 5: put all of them together in a. Timeline she knows
Speaker 5: what time she got. Up she's an ideal, eyewitness, Right
Speaker 5: and also she then describes how she would later, recall
Speaker 5: he rushed into the, house went into the sitting, room
Speaker 5: and THEN i heard another thump similar to the ONE
Speaker 5: i heard. Before and then a little while later she
Speaker 5: hears the window of the sitting room slide. Open this
Speaker 5: is followed by smoke lifting out of the. Window that's
Speaker 5: from the explosion that they used to blow open the lock.
Speaker 5: Box so now she's got like the whole crime pretty much.
Speaker 5: Down so she's, like, oh this is. Odd now she
Speaker 5: starts clocking her lodger like it's her part time. Job
Speaker 5: so later that same day in the, evening she Sees
Speaker 5: cecil swanmen walk out of the boarding house and he's
Speaker 5: like burdened carrying like what looks to be a heavy,
Speaker 5: box and so he walks, out puts this heavy box
Speaker 5: into the trunk or the boot if you prefer some waiting.
Speaker 5: Car then that car drives. Off so now she knows
Speaker 5: where the gold is not it's like or whatever the
Speaker 5: box is. Not she's seeing the whole. Event, Meanwhile, elizabeth
Speaker 5: the police at this point are getting busy with their.
Speaker 5: Investigation the press has gotten word of. Stuff and the
Speaker 5: first person helps and break the case is that busy body.
Speaker 5: Cyclist once the news, hits he shows up and your
Speaker 5: fellow super, observer he's, like did you need the license
Speaker 5: plate of the cab THAT i? Saw so with, that
Speaker 5: now the police are able to be like. Oh they look.
Speaker 5: Up George manson goes off of the license plate and
Speaker 5: they go to, him and when he's, questioned he's, like,
Speaker 5: OH i was ordered by these guys to go out.
Speaker 5: There that's WHY i was there. Waiting like what did
Speaker 5: You where did you take? Them he's, like, oh the Three.
Speaker 5: Pemberton he takes them to the landlady's house and she's, like,
Speaker 5: oh thank, GOOD i was about to call you. Guys
Speaker 5: so now she can tell her. Part so now we
Speaker 5: got all three eyewitnesses working together and the police pretty
Speaker 5: much solve the case day. One now you're within the
Speaker 5: first hours of the. Day so at this point they
Speaker 5: go in they Search Cecil swanlin's room in the boarding.
Speaker 5: House they find a ton of. Evidence they discover a
Speaker 5: bunch of nail heads that are blown out of the,
Speaker 5: box the same nails that they can identify they belong
Speaker 5: to the lock. Boxes they're very like specific security, NAILS i.
Speaker 5: Guess they also discover partially burned seals from this company
Speaker 5: that was the consignee of the. Gold they also, have
Speaker 5: as that's now irrefutable evidence that they're connected to The
Speaker 5: Croydon aerodrome. Heist and they also they know That Cecil
Speaker 5: swanlin has a notable rap sheet and has just recently
Speaker 5: been released from. Prison so the police questioned this career
Speaker 5: criminal about all the curious stuff in his room and he's, like, oh,
Speaker 5: well you, know they're, like what about these brand new gold.
Speaker 5: Cufflings he's, like, OH i was just bopped. DOWN i bought.
Speaker 5: These and also there's a bunch of expensive clothing and
Speaker 5: didn't you just get out of. Prison he's, like, well you,
Speaker 5: Know i'm an. Autist it look to look good AND i,
Speaker 5: was what about this really expensive brooch you've. Purchased he's, like,
Speaker 5: well my, wife she's a younger. LADY i like to
Speaker 5: keep a feeling very. Beautiful she's twenty one years, old
Speaker 5: you know how it. Is and they're, like uh, huh.
Speaker 4: How do you got to Spending.
Speaker 5: Yes, Immediately so at this, point the most damning thing
Speaker 5: they find is The Imperial airways timetable and the paperwork
Speaker 5: detailing the gold fright and when it's expected to arrive
Speaker 5: from the mode of gold that was.
Speaker 2: Stolen.
Speaker 5: Right this is obviously enough to Erase Cecil. Swanland so
Speaker 5: this cab, Driver George, manson he gets brought in as
Speaker 5: a cooperating witness to Identify cecil from a police. Lineup
Speaker 5: cab driver with the impeccable, memory is able to of
Speaker 5: course put the finger To. Cecil he's, like, yep that's the.
Speaker 2: Man, yeah and Says.
Speaker 5: Swanland then is soon joined in the police lineup by
Speaker 5: the other, Ones Shock mazarta and the old Man john.
Speaker 5: O'Neil they pulled them into and he's, like, Okay sabini's.
Speaker 2: MAN i know.
Speaker 5: Him and it's Also john, O'Neil i know.
Speaker 2: Him he.
Speaker 5: Brags George manson brags to the police that he's Known
Speaker 5: Shank mazarta for twenty maybe thirty. Years he's, LIKE i
Speaker 5: definitely know who that guy. Is HE'S i think he
Speaker 5: thinks he's gonna make. It, Okay i'm gonna wash my
Speaker 5: hands of. THIS i was not part of. IT i
Speaker 5: don't want the. Mbions so he's like telling EVERYBODY i know,
Speaker 5: HIM i know. Him i've known, him this guy for donkeys.
Speaker 5: Years so now at this, point all three men are,
Speaker 5: arrested But Little harry is not part of.
Speaker 2: This, Okay oh, yeah so he.
Speaker 5: Doesn't get pulled. In somehow he remains on the. Lamb
Speaker 5: nobody can find. Where so while he's in the, wind
Speaker 5: his three associates are now arrested and soon to be
Speaker 5: put on. Trial the question is is will they get
Speaker 5: off and will they betray the mystery Man Little, harry
Speaker 5: who is possibly the real ringleader for The. Heights right that, Thought,
Speaker 5: Elizabeth we'll take a little break and after these messages
Speaker 5: we go to.
Speaker 2: Trial yes we're, Back.
Speaker 5: Elizabeth, hello you're ready to hear how The Croydon Aerodrum
Speaker 5: Gold heights plays out in?
Speaker 4: Court am?
Speaker 2: Good because this is Fun.
Speaker 5: I'm telling you the first trial they Do Cecil swanland
Speaker 5: on his own His landlady seems only too happy to
Speaker 5: do her part to implicate her former. Lodger she goes
Speaker 5: up on the. Stand she's answering questions from the. Prosecutor
Speaker 5: she's telling all that she. Knows she describes the heavy
Speaker 5: covered box taken from the car brought into her.
Speaker 2: Home she describes the thumb she.
Speaker 5: Heard she tells about the sounds of attempting to force something,
Speaker 5: open the, explosion possibly the smoke coming out of the.
Speaker 5: Window as The Daily herald Of london, reported her name's Missus.
Speaker 5: Schultz she testifies that AND i, QUOTE i could hear men's,
Speaker 5: voices and the commotion continued for nearly an, hour so
Speaker 5: she's able.
Speaker 2: To give him like a.
Speaker 5: Timeline she notes that, she AS i, said she sees
Speaker 5: the smoke building out from the. Window that explains all
Speaker 5: the burned, stuff and so she's basically, saying, yes she
Speaker 5: can connect him to all this. Now perhaps most, importantly
Speaker 5: she also testifies that before the, trial a stranger came
Speaker 5: up to her and warned, her if you take my,
Speaker 5: advice you will have nothing to do with. It so
Speaker 5: she also admits there is a larger. Conspiracy but you,
Speaker 5: know she's, Like i'm gonna go ahead and be a witness.
Speaker 5: Anyway so she does citizen very good. Citizens so, see Miss,
Speaker 5: shelt you can't keep, her scare her from doing her
Speaker 5: part from justice for justice rather now the end of her,
Speaker 5: testimony she did add that her former lodger was a
Speaker 5: very nice person and so is his young. Wife so
Speaker 5: she did want to acknowledge. THAT i don't know if
Speaker 5: that's for like his sentencing. Anyway next comes a surprise.
Speaker 5: Witness While Cecil's swanland was held in police custody at
Speaker 5: the prison In, brixton he met a man Named Robert,
Speaker 5: steele and the prosecution Calls Old Bobby steele to the witness.
Speaker 5: Stand While steele was At, brixton he had the job
Speaker 5: to take food in the day's newspapers around to his fellow,
Speaker 5: inmates and the newspapers all had like names on, them like,
Speaker 5: okay this IS i think it's basically you sign up
Speaker 5: for the, paper.
Speaker 4: So we've got this.
Speaker 5: List so he knew That cecil wanted the. Papers he
Speaker 5: brings a miss papers and as The Daily telegraph, Reported
Speaker 5: Old Bobby steel testified AND i, quote On march, TENTH
Speaker 5: i delivered to pay but To, swanland AND i did
Speaker 5: not know him, before but each man's name was on
Speaker 5: the top of his. Paper LATER i read my own
Speaker 5: newspaper and saw a Mister swanland had been arrested in
Speaker 5: connection with The croydon gold. Case so, now being an,
Speaker 5: inmate he's, like.
Speaker 2: Bro what's the.
Speaker 5: Story so next time he brings the food, around he
Speaker 5: goes and he gets curious about his fellow. Inmates so
Speaker 5: back to The telegraph's coverage of the, TRIAL A steel
Speaker 5: testified and AGAIN i, quote next, day during a conversation With,
Speaker 5: SWANLAND i, said that was a smart job you pulled.
Speaker 5: Off he, said, yes BUT i think somebody has shopped.
Speaker 5: ME i, said why worry if you have the, stuff he,
Speaker 5: said oh, Yes i've got that well. Planted they will
Speaker 5: never get.
Speaker 4: THAT i love their posh.
Speaker 2: Accent thank you.
Speaker 5: Run so that would seem like a rather damning, Testimony
Speaker 5: but Old Bobby steele wasn't. Done he next. TESTIFIED i,
Speaker 5: replied you are all right if you've got, that and he,
Speaker 5: said detectives have been to my place and have raked
Speaker 5: out ashes and have found some clips in burned. Wood
Speaker 5: they say that these clips were specifically made for the
Speaker 5: boxes that we chopped boxes up and burned. Them so
Speaker 5: he's now corroborating everything that the landlady. SAID i, mean,
Speaker 5: like damn, son have you ever heard of keeping your damn?
Speaker 2: Mouse?
Speaker 4: Shu, yes.
Speaker 2: Exactly SO i guess you. Know and he's in, prison he's.
Speaker 4: Bored i've said this. Before there's some people need to be.
Speaker 4: Told you don't always have to say. Something it's. Okay
Speaker 4: it's okay to just be. Quiet it's okay to not,
Speaker 4: share maybe.
Speaker 5: Talk, about like you, know the football scorer or the
Speaker 5: rugby whatever's going on that's also in the pace.
Speaker 4: He's asking those. Questions just you just don't always have to.
Speaker 5: Comment what's the news on the, continent you. Know so
Speaker 5: at this point in the, trial the defense team gets
Speaker 5: to work and they call a witness from The brixton
Speaker 5: prison like of their, own but this witness is a
Speaker 5: prison officer Named Robert. White And Robert white he testifies
Speaker 5: AND i, quote circumstances made it impossible For swanland And
Speaker 5: steele to have had a conversation that. MORNING i Guess
Speaker 5: steele has, alleged so he basically refutes it. All, yeah
Speaker 5: we got a prison guard Going those people weren't even
Speaker 5: in the same.
Speaker 4: Block, Interesting, yeah that prison guard who Knows.
Speaker 5: So with his confession now placed in, doubt the defense
Speaker 5: rests and it's all left up to the.
Speaker 2: Jury.
Speaker 5: Yeah Those this trial only lasts three. Days it's not
Speaker 5: a long. Trial the jury deliberates for just fifteen. Minutes
Speaker 5: oh you, know that's never a good. Time they come
Speaker 5: back with a result of. Guilty bang, bang So Cecil
Speaker 5: swanlin the man who can't go straight and is sentenced
Speaker 5: to seven years in. Prison, wow, yep send him right.
Speaker 5: Back and after that first, trial next comes the trial
Speaker 5: Of Shock mazarda And john. O'Brien, yeah so they get tried,
Speaker 5: separately and in the opening argument the prosecution they lay
Speaker 5: out their physical. Evidence they have the half burned seals
Speaker 5: connecting them to the gold. Shipment they have the nails
Speaker 5: which connect them to the strong. Box they have a
Speaker 5: wire key that could have been used to open the strong.
Speaker 5: Box this Prosecutor Graham. Brooks he tells those in the
Speaker 5: courtroom that the wire key, quote although it fits the
Speaker 5: lock and turns the levels to a certain, degree it
Speaker 5: does not completely open at any rate in the hands
Speaker 5: of the police and. Myself the suggestion of the prosecution
Speaker 5: will be that it might be used to turn the
Speaker 5: lock by a person of unusual. Skill the implication is
Speaker 5: Either Cecil swanlin or old Man john O'Neil is the
Speaker 5: person of unusual skills. Exactly, now for the second, trial
Speaker 5: beyond the physical, evidence the prosecution also has i, say
Speaker 5: three key. Eyewitnesses there is the Cyclist Alfred George, king
Speaker 5: the Landlady Missus, schultz and the cab Driver George. Manson
Speaker 5: so they don't have. Lego we got prison guards and
Speaker 5: a prison. Inmate we've got the key, people so all
Speaker 5: of whom can connect the men to the gold or
Speaker 5: The Croydon. Aerodrome, however remember How shock mazarda was a
Speaker 5: connected man from The sabini. Gang, yes and you remember
Speaker 5: How Missus schultz testified that she'd been threatened by a
Speaker 5: stranger before her testimony Against Cecil.
Speaker 4: Schwarmers well you can.
Speaker 5: Likely guess what that means for these. Eyewitnesses, also remember
Speaker 5: the cab Driver george He. Manson he admitted to the
Speaker 5: police that he Known Shock mazar over twenty maybe thirty,
Speaker 5: years which implies that he knows he's in tight with
Speaker 5: The sabinia gang, exactly and he's well aware what The
Speaker 5: Sabini gang is capable, of, right and you, know once
Speaker 5: again AS i, said it's A london cabby with an impeccable.
Speaker 2: Memory so he.
Speaker 5: Goes he's called to the stand and he's supposed to
Speaker 5: give his eyewitness. Testimony but rather than me tell you About,
Speaker 5: Elizabeth i'd like you to close your eyes as a
Speaker 5: Close i'd like you to picture. It it's been a long.
Speaker 5: Day you've been in court since it opened its doors this.
Speaker 5: Morning you're working as a reporter covering this Second Croydon
Speaker 5: aerodrum heist. Trial you adjust your body in the hard
Speaker 5: backed wooden, seat exhale your frustrations and, exhaustion and then
Speaker 5: you look up to see the next witness as he
Speaker 5: gets situated in the witness. Stand the witness Is George,
Speaker 5: manson the cab. Driver his testimony is key for the.
Speaker 5: Prosecution you put your pencil to, pad ready to take.
Speaker 5: Notes the prosecutor Asks George manson to identify. Himself he.
Speaker 5: Does the prosecutor asks him if the men who rode
Speaker 5: in his to The Croydon aerodrome are in the. Courtroom
Speaker 5: the cab driver looks At Shaq mazarda and then at
Speaker 5: the Older john, O'Neil and he, SAYS i don't recognize those. Men.
Speaker 5: NO a few people in the gallery kind of gasp in.
Speaker 5: Surprise you look up from your. Notepad you had not.
Speaker 5: Expected that is the key witness lying about what he
Speaker 5: saw and experienced that fateful. Morning sure seems like. It
Speaker 5: the prosecutor seems a bit, irritated but he maintains his.
Speaker 5: Composure he asked the chief magistrate to treat the witness's.
Speaker 5: Hostile the magistrate a sense this is about to get.
Speaker 5: Good the prosecutor grabs paperwork from his desk and he
Speaker 5: reads aloud from the cab driver's initial statements from the
Speaker 5: police lineup when he Identified Shack mazarta And john. O'Brien
Speaker 5: the cab driver shakes his head, SAYS i don't remember saying. That,
Speaker 5: now the prosecutor asked him if anyone approached him about
Speaker 5: his testimony in the. Trial the cab driver rolls his
Speaker 5: eyes and says, again he doesn't remember what he. Said
Speaker 5: the prosecutor walks up to the witness stand reminds the
Speaker 5: cab driver he is under, Oath the prosecutor Asked George
Speaker 5: manson if his testimony at the time was in. Accurate in,
Speaker 5: Response manson, says, Truthfully, GOVERNANCE i don't recall WHAT i
Speaker 5: said to the. Kappas the chief magistrate, says, sarcastically you've
Speaker 5: lost your. MEMORY a few laughs break out in the.
Speaker 5: Gallery the hostile witness smiles and starts to play to the.
Speaker 5: Moment he, SAYS i don't trust to believe what the
Speaker 5: police CLAIM i may or may not have.
Speaker 2: Said prosecutor bulldozes. Forward he has the.
Speaker 5: Witness is it true that you've Known Shank mazada for
Speaker 5: twenty or thirty, years which is what you told the.
Speaker 5: Officers cab driver, SAYS i never said. That prosecutor's quick to,
Speaker 5: reply it's right here in your witness. Statement George manson
Speaker 5: can tell he has the crowd and possibly The chief
Speaker 5: magistrate on his, side so now he goes for. Broke he,
Speaker 5: Says i'm not setting what ALL i said to the.
Speaker 5: Police they're not always truthful that, lot you know WHAT i.
Speaker 5: Mean there's some snickers of.
Speaker 2: Laughter in the.
Speaker 5: Gallery you're scribbling notes as fast as you. Can the
Speaker 5: prosecutor reads aloud more of the cab driver's statement to
Speaker 5: the police about how the men returned to his cab
Speaker 5: after he dropped them off near the airfield and he
Speaker 5: was told what to wait. There prosecutor asks, him did
Speaker 5: you say? That the cab driver, says, NAH i don't
Speaker 5: remember saying. It some more snickers of laughter sound in
Speaker 5: the gallery of The Chief magistry has to bang his
Speaker 5: gavel to restore quiet to the. Courtroom you scribbled notes
Speaker 5: at a frantic, pace trying to keep. Up this trial
Speaker 5: just went fully. Sideways this is going to be a
Speaker 5: hell of a. Story the prosecutor is now. Livid, Meanwhile
Speaker 5: George manson takes the moment to repeat. HIMSELF i can
Speaker 5: say That Shaq mazada definitely was not one of the
Speaker 5: men in me. CAB a few surprised guests sound in the,
Speaker 5: crowd along with a smattering of laughter and titters of.
Speaker 5: Amusement the prosecutor tries to fight. It he, says did.
Speaker 2: You not say?
Speaker 5: This AND i drove him with two others to Three Pemberton.
Speaker 5: Road George manson sneers or, Buffs i'm not sure IF
Speaker 5: i said that or. Not the prosecutor is quick to
Speaker 5: follow and did you go on to, SAY i have
Speaker 5: no doubt whatever in my mind that he is the.
Speaker 5: Man cab driver says with a sly. Smile now this
Speaker 5: elicits a few more laughs from the g and the cabby,
Speaker 5: CONTINUES i did SAY i was very. Doubtful the prosecutor
Speaker 5: returns To George manson's sign police statement and asks the cab,
Speaker 5: driver you identified mister O'Brien and signed this statement to that,
Speaker 5: effect and you made no protest before signing.
Speaker 2: It, yes cab driver, SAYS i practically.
Speaker 5: Did not know WHERE i. WAS i did not know
Speaker 5: WHAT i was. Signing the gallery erupts into, laugh and
Speaker 5: the Chief magistrate is also on the edge of, laughter
Speaker 5: but he bangs his gabble to restore the decora of his,
Speaker 5: courtroom and this time you also have to stifle the dark.
Speaker 5: Laugh the prosecutor's case looks to be, doomed and at
Speaker 5: this point the defense attorney stands to address The Chief
Speaker 5: magistrate and this line of. Testimony he, says Mister manson's
Speaker 5: testimony is the only credible, evidence and THUS i do
Speaker 5: not think it's credible to convict the.
Speaker 2: Defendant your pencil scribbles notes.
Speaker 5: As fast as you, can because you, know now you
Speaker 5: have gold in your. Hands this is a front page
Speaker 5: story because this case is. Busted the key witness is
Speaker 5: lying his ass, off and there's no thing anyone can
Speaker 5: do about.
Speaker 2: It there you, Go Elizabeth.
Speaker 5: Boom just like, that the trials Against Shawk mazarta And
Speaker 5: john O'Brien goes off the.
Speaker 4: Rail the threats the taxi driver must have, gone.
Speaker 2: Threats and possibly.
Speaker 5: PAYMENTS i mean he may have had kids who you,
Speaker 5: know he wanted to go on to better schools and,
Speaker 5: like oh, Yeah UNI's coming, up you, know so so
Speaker 5: much for the impeccable memory of A london cab. Driver,
Speaker 5: YEAH i guess that doesn't overcome the corruption of The british.
Speaker 5: Underworld so the cab driver's suddenly questionable memory and his
Speaker 5: general hostility as a witness becomes such a big problem
Speaker 5: for the prosecution that when the trial, ends the jury
Speaker 5: deliberates and they come back with an.
Speaker 2: Acquittal for both.
Speaker 5: Men both men walk with, wow plenty of evidence and
Speaker 5: nail them dead to. Rights and they even have Cecil
Speaker 5: swan which they for whatever, reason they are not able
Speaker 5: to pin. Them but you, know once they've raised the
Speaker 5: specter of, doubt it shrouds everything that's. Crazy, yes and
Speaker 5: the mystery, Man Old Little. Harry he's never found by the,
Speaker 5: police so he's never to face, justice so you could
Speaker 5: say he also. Walks, Sure so basically three of the
Speaker 5: four guys do. Nothing only one of the highest crew
Speaker 5: to be thrown into prison Is Old Cecil swanlin aka
Speaker 5: the man who can't go.
Speaker 2: Straight just his bad.
Speaker 5: Luck now you may be wondering what about the, Golds,
Speaker 5: erron did the police ever locate the stolen?
Speaker 4: Gold And, Saron i'm glad you asked these sort of.
Speaker 5: THINGS i, know, right BUT i just take it from.
Speaker 5: YOU i learned it from watching. You it's to Paraphrase Amy. Winehouse, no, no.
Speaker 5: No BUT i should add that the young Missus Margaret,
Speaker 5: swanland the twenty one year old newlywed wife of The
Speaker 5: man who can't go, straight, Right she does get evictim
Speaker 5: from her lodgings and is forced to move back home
Speaker 5: with her mom In soho or her mom In.
Speaker 2: Soho and it.
Speaker 5: Was noted though at the, time that she suddenly had
Speaker 5: a rather sizeable bank account after the trial was.
Speaker 4: Over oh, Interesting so there is.
Speaker 5: That but they couldn't somehow prove that at any the
Speaker 5: connection to the. Heist and if you're still wondering how
Speaker 5: these guys pulled off the, job like was this an inside?
Speaker 5: Job what did they do when they were actually in the,
Speaker 5: ROOM i CAN i tell you. That two years, later
Speaker 5: nineteen thirty, Seven Shank mazarta was interviewed again by the.
Speaker 5: Police he gets asked about the gold, heist and after
Speaker 5: his court case blew up and since he was, acquitted
Speaker 5: he confesses to the police that he personally obtained a
Speaker 5: copy of the keys to the strong room from a
Speaker 5: man Named Bert Well. Peters, now the reason we have
Speaker 5: not heard Of Burt Well peters is he wasn't part
Speaker 5: of the security, protocol but he had a copy of
Speaker 5: the keys to give him because he was the chief
Speaker 5: unloader at The Croydon. Aerodrome he's basically like their version
Speaker 5: of like a team, stir you. Know so for the active,
Speaker 5: criminals this active criminal, kindness he gets paid a substantial.
Speaker 5: Amount and so, yes it was an inside. Job oh,
Speaker 5: Man oh, no it was very much a sort of
Speaker 5: heist you'd expect from, LIKE i don't, Know Tommy shelby
Speaker 5: and The Peaky blinders. Exactly in this, case it was
Speaker 5: his real life Rival sabini and his. Gang and, ultimately
Speaker 5: Since Shank mazarta was a getaway driver For, sabini he
Speaker 5: never had to feel that he had to fear the
Speaker 5: police because the police are basically On sabini's. Payroll, yeah
Speaker 5: so he's, Like sabini will take care of the, police
Speaker 5: will take care of.
Speaker 2: Me i'm. Good.
Speaker 5: Good so he got to live on and Uh london
Speaker 5: in the nineteen, Thirties, yeah my, goodness when the real
Speaker 5: World Peggy blinders was fully going. Down So, ELIZABETH i
Speaker 5: got to ask, you what's a?
Speaker 4: Ridiculous, YEAH i am so tickled by how clumsy they. Were,
Speaker 4: yes that they have wrap sheets or they have criminal,
Speaker 4: connections AND i, guess like you're, saying this notion of
Speaker 4: sabinial take, care.
Speaker 2: Untouchable so that's why they didn't.
Speaker 5: Care that's why they're spending money on gold cuff lenks
Speaker 5: yet taking a cab driver right to The.
Speaker 4: They got away with it though it worked right one.
Speaker 4: Dude but, yeah.
Speaker 5: That's because LIKE i, THINK i don't know what's up.
Speaker 5: CESSIBLE i didn't like, him was not. LIKABLE i don't
Speaker 5: THINK i think the other Two john O'Brien and And
Speaker 5: Sean mazarda are part of The sabini. GANG i think
Speaker 5: he brought them THE i, think and therefore he didn't
Speaker 5: get protected. Exactly he'd just gotten out of, jail SO
Speaker 5: i think it's like he was trying to get back
Speaker 5: in the life and the life was like not.
Speaker 4: You so so he's he got bad, luck clumsy and,
Speaker 4: successful which is, ridiculous right your.
Speaker 5: TAKEAWAY i just love this one because it involves like
Speaker 5: it's like not quite, rural but like they're driving out Of,
Speaker 5: london they Go Robin, airfield they take all this bullyon
Speaker 5: the gold bullion that's worth a, ton and it's headed
Speaker 5: to the continents like they were supposed to go To,
Speaker 5: belgium and they're just, like, yeah we heard about, this
Speaker 5: and they basically pulled like the same stuff that The
Speaker 5: mafia does In, america like in the, sixties but they're
Speaker 5: doing it all like just really easy, peasy just like
Speaker 5: and just taking whatever this dilapidated little car was and
Speaker 5: they're running into a cyclist in the. Dark it's just
Speaker 5: all like it's kind of. QUAINT i just was like
Speaker 5: a total Gold heights but like super like one of
Speaker 5: your Cozy british, mysteries SO i thought you might enjoy.
Speaker 5: It they're enjoy.
Speaker 4: It thank you for.
Speaker 2: That so you're for a talk? Back we canna watch
Speaker 2: this one?
Speaker 4: Down, yes, YES i.
Speaker 2: Am she what she got for us produce a D
Speaker 2: oh my? God did you just see?
Speaker 6: THAT i Get?
Speaker 7: Darren? Elizabeth how are you? Darling just? Kidding that's on
Speaker 7: HOW i?
Speaker 4: Sound?
Speaker 7: Listen? Guys, Uh, DARREN i listened To Black. Cowboys in,
Speaker 7: FACT i think that's HOW i stump about to this wonderful.
Speaker 7: Show so you just mentioned something in an episode About
Speaker 7: Black moonshiner's how about, it Bro? Elizabeth she can be
Speaker 7: the lady host on that. Too, yeah let's make it, happen, GUYS.
Speaker 4: I do like a great.
Speaker 5: Idea, yeah, like, well just we could do like uh
Speaker 5: In Black Moonshiner's Black.
Speaker 2: Interesting, yeah make it out a hard. Thing we appreciate, it.
Speaker 2: Honey so thank. You that was.
Speaker 5: Awesome as, always you can find us online At Ridiculous
Speaker 5: crime On instagram And Blue sky On. Instagram we got
Speaker 5: lots of pictures for, you so go check that. Out
Speaker 5: you can see what all this looks. Like if you
Speaker 5: want to see what The Croydon aerodrome looks. Like boom
Speaker 5: you'll be able. To and also we have our Website
Speaker 5: Ridiculous crime dot com and uh you go check that.
Speaker 5: Out you get pick yourself up. Merch he can represent
Speaker 5: the brand out the real world if you. Want or
Speaker 5: you can go and leave it talk back and go
Speaker 5: to The iHeart app download, it leave it talk back
Speaker 5: and maybe.
Speaker 2: Get to hear your voice. Here we'd love to hear it,
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Speaker 5: It, also you can email us if you'd like, It
Speaker 5: Ridiculous crime at gmail dot. Com and if you do emails,
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Speaker 5: for listening and we will catch you next. Crime Ridiculous
Speaker 5: crime is hosted By Elizabeth dutton And Zaron, burnett produced
Speaker 5: and edited by The. Dude Tommy shelby calls his man in,
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