1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,800 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: to Ridiculous History, and thank you so much for tuning in. Today. 3 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,360 Speaker 1: We're talking a little bit about money, and money when 4 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,800 Speaker 1: you think of it is a very strange, strange thing. Hi, 5 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:41,319 Speaker 1: I'm ben, Hey, I'm remember that every time I got money, 6 00:00:41,320 --> 00:00:44,199 Speaker 1: I always bring up the r M song strange Currency's like, 7 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: I don't know why you mean to me when I 8 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:50,599 Speaker 1: called on the telephone, so I remember, um, but it's 9 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: called strange currency. And today it is definitely about some 10 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:55,920 Speaker 1: strange currency. Um. It's sort of about forgery, but not 11 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:59,360 Speaker 1: really about forgery. It's about manipulating a monetary system to 12 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 1: one's own personal gain. It's about a very very slick huckster. Um. 13 00:01:04,280 --> 00:01:06,839 Speaker 1: I was pretty impressed by his work here. Uh. And 14 00:01:06,959 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: it's about the country of Portugal. Yeah, it's Uh. It 15 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:15,399 Speaker 1: is indeed relating to all of those things I was. 16 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 1: I was quite excited as always to look up the 17 00:01:18,520 --> 00:01:24,640 Speaker 1: currency of foreign countries, and our super producer, Casey Pegram 18 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:28,399 Speaker 1: can attest to this fact as well. Casey, wouldn't you say, 19 00:01:28,480 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: in general, US money is pretty boring compared to the 20 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: currency of other countries. I think so but you know, 21 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: part of that could just be because we're used to it, 22 00:01:37,680 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 1: so if anything else seems kind of exotic. But yeah, 23 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:43,319 Speaker 1: I will agree that in general, foreign currencies didn't have 24 00:01:43,319 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: a little more going on. Yeah, they've got like some 25 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:49,880 Speaker 1: some shiny hologrammatic parts, which may be a word I 26 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: just made up. Uh, they've got a richer color palette, 27 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 1: you know, and sometimes they're different sizes depending on the amounts. 28 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:01,559 Speaker 1: I believe hologrammatics is the language of telegrams. Oh okay, 29 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: that's what that is. Now I'm kidding. I think that 30 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: that's you just coined a new a new term. Um. 31 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: But remember when um, the US mentor whatever you want 32 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: to call it, the Federal Mint, the Federal Mint, the Reserve, whatever, Yeah, 33 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:15,640 Speaker 1: re issued all of those kind of flashier, harder to 34 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,120 Speaker 1: counterfeit notes, and everyone was like, these look just wrong. 35 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: But what they were doing was kind of trying to 36 00:02:21,800 --> 00:02:25,440 Speaker 1: make them a little bit more like European currency or 37 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:27,800 Speaker 1: like currency from abroad. It was a little more colorful. 38 00:02:28,080 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: It had like the heads were bigger. There was things 39 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:32,600 Speaker 1: about the design of them that were a little less drab. 40 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:36,079 Speaker 1: The security stripped in there for everything over a five 41 00:02:36,120 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 1: dollar bill. Yeah, those those are pretty neat. Look, it 42 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: shouldn't surprise any of us to learn that there is 43 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 1: a huge industry dedicated to preventing counterfeit notes bank notes. However, 44 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:53,040 Speaker 1: there is an equally huge industry dedicated to creating counterfeit 45 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 1: bank notes. And the war goes on and on tail 46 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 1: as old as time. Today's story is about something called 47 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: the Portuguese bank note crisis of nineteen five. Now, it's 48 00:03:06,080 --> 00:03:10,359 Speaker 1: no secret here on Ridiculous History we tend to I 49 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: don't know if I would say we we love a 50 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: good con but you have to respect a good hustle, 51 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:18,880 Speaker 1: you know. Maybe maybe it's because we're far enough away 52 00:03:18,919 --> 00:03:22,640 Speaker 1: from this disaster that it hasn't directly affected us. But 53 00:03:22,760 --> 00:03:24,959 Speaker 1: tell us what you think. Tell us if you think 54 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,959 Speaker 1: this is a clever plot, tell us if you think 55 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:31,560 Speaker 1: this guy got lucky. Who is this guy, you may ask, 56 00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: We're so glad you asked. His name is Alvis dos 57 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: Race born Arto Virgilio Alvis Race in Lisbon in September. 58 00:03:42,400 --> 00:03:46,880 Speaker 1: Another thing we love on Ridiculous History is a just 59 00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: the perfect sucker, and the story is full of them. 60 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 1: Um as a couple of players that we should have 61 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: been aware of what Rays was doing, but they just 62 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: seemed to to not be for for just pure ignorance 63 00:03:58,640 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: or laziness or whatever. We'll get to that. Uh. So 64 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:05,120 Speaker 1: Reyes was born, as you said, been eight in Portugal. 65 00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:09,200 Speaker 1: He was born into a poor family, but he had moxie. Been. 66 00:04:09,560 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: He had moxie. He had that entrepreneurial spirit because he 67 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: was born on the lower financial side of things and 68 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:18,360 Speaker 1: maybe didn't have as many opportunities. He had to make 69 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:22,560 Speaker 1: his own opportunities in the form of things like passing 70 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:27,039 Speaker 1: bad checks, um, little you know, money laundering schemes. And 71 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:29,239 Speaker 1: then he gradually worked his way up to the big show, 72 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:32,719 Speaker 1: which we're going to get to uh in today's episode. UM. 73 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:39,040 Speaker 1: He studied initially to be an engineer, UM, but decided 74 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:41,159 Speaker 1: to give that up and instead he got married. And 75 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,240 Speaker 1: then in nineteen sixteen, UM, he decided to go to 76 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:49,520 Speaker 1: Angola rather than France, UM to serve in the army. 77 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: And this is my favorite part, this is where the 78 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:54,600 Speaker 1: hustle really begins. We we already said he didn't graduate 79 00:04:54,640 --> 00:04:57,640 Speaker 1: from university, but he did have something with him that 80 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:01,359 Speaker 1: he carried along to Angola that was a diploma, a 81 00:05:01,480 --> 00:05:06,640 Speaker 1: certified diploma that qualified him and like an ungodly absurd 82 00:05:06,760 --> 00:05:09,600 Speaker 1: amount of disciplines. Right, then that's right. Let's talk a 83 00:05:09,680 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 1: little bit about this degree that seems perhaps uh too 84 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:16,599 Speaker 1: good to be true. And then well, and then I 85 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 1: want to jump back to his earliest known work in 86 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:22,920 Speaker 1: this regard. Okay, So he has this signed diploma from 87 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:27,960 Speaker 1: the Polytechnic School of Engineering, Oxford University. He is, according 88 00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:31,080 Speaker 1: to this diploma, an expert in no less than twenty 89 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:39,799 Speaker 1: one subjects all the engineerings the cavalcade of engineerings, uh, geometry, physics, yeah, yeah, 90 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,440 Speaker 1: And this diploma was not just signed, but it was 91 00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:49,000 Speaker 1: notarized in CenTra. Now, who in Angola would dare to 92 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:54,039 Speaker 1: question such an authentic document, especially when it was notarized 93 00:05:54,080 --> 00:05:58,880 Speaker 1: by someone in the Portuguese bureaucracy. This makes it a 94 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 1: confidence job, full disclosure. He made the diploma and this 95 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:08,239 Speaker 1: is actually not his first forgery. Earlier he had used 96 00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:11,760 Speaker 1: a bad check to buy part of a company somewhere 97 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:17,039 Speaker 1: in Portugal and make himself, if not independently wealthy, a 98 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,840 Speaker 1: man of comfortable means. And in Angola he takes a 99 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: job working on the railways. He has a desk clerk 100 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: basically because he did actually have some aptitude for engineering 101 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:36,000 Speaker 1: and he always wore overalls. He quickly became known as 102 00:06:36,080 --> 00:06:40,039 Speaker 1: the monkey engineer and people said, you know what, maybe 103 00:06:40,080 --> 00:06:42,920 Speaker 1: he's a weird dude, but he makes the trains run 104 00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: and using his duplicity is manipulative tactics. He soon became 105 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: the acting Chief Engineer of the Angola Railways again on 106 00:06:54,120 --> 00:07:00,799 Speaker 1: the basis of this entirely uh, this entirely fictitious diploma. 107 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:04,240 Speaker 1: So fast forward to nineteen twenty two. At this point, 108 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:07,960 Speaker 1: Reyes has been able to kind of parlay his political 109 00:07:08,120 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 1: standing within the Angola Railway Company into UM, a position 110 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,200 Speaker 1: of much more social prominence where he has a rented 111 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:19,440 Speaker 1: home in Lisbon for his family, very stylish in a 112 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 1: good part of town. UM. He has a car dealership 113 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: that sells us cars, and he also has set up 114 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:29,240 Speaker 1: a company that is in shipping and receiving goods to 115 00:07:29,520 --> 00:07:32,920 Speaker 1: and from Angola where he's made those important connections. But 116 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:36,320 Speaker 1: he needs fresh capital for this company to keep it going, 117 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:40,720 Speaker 1: doesn't he, And he finds another company that is ailing. 118 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:44,440 Speaker 1: It's called the Royal trans African Railway Company of Angola 119 00:07:44,640 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: or Embaka, and RIAZ becomes incredibly interested in Embaka because 120 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 1: he knows there's the equivalent of one thousand dollars in 121 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: US currency laying around in the company accounts. And we 122 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:01,120 Speaker 1: have a quote from yas some help about this. He 123 00:08:01,200 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: says in the Materialistic Will, there are neither honest men, 124 00:08:05,760 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 1: no rogues. There are only victims and the vanquished. So 125 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:12,240 Speaker 1: I had no hesitation and gaining control of the company 126 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:15,640 Speaker 1: and making use of this shareholders money. Spoken like a 127 00:08:15,720 --> 00:08:20,440 Speaker 1: true rogue ish um fiend. He's like a seinestro to me. 128 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:23,720 Speaker 1: If you're familiar with Green Lantern or one of the 129 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:27,600 Speaker 1: cartoon bad guy, the type who ties people to train tracks. 130 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:29,840 Speaker 1: He's got like a a picture. This is not true. 131 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:31,880 Speaker 1: You can find pictures of him. I picture him having 132 00:08:31,880 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: a really sharp, pointing mustache that he sort of curls 133 00:08:34,400 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: around with when he's doing evil. You know, totally exactly. 134 00:08:38,200 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 1: So we're a theme in the story that we keep 135 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:44,439 Speaker 1: seeing is people not calling this guy on his bs 136 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:47,760 Speaker 1: or him presenting people side unseen with documents or checks 137 00:08:47,880 --> 00:08:50,280 Speaker 1: or um anything like. You know, it goes all the 138 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: way back to the college degree. It's him passing these 139 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: things off as being real and nobody bothering to do 140 00:08:56,720 --> 00:08:59,959 Speaker 1: their due diligence and checking behind it, and that continue 141 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:06,680 Speaker 1: is exactly he says. You know, I see Ambaca and 142 00:09:06,760 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 1: he's twiddling his mustaches and so on, and he writes 143 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: some checks out of his New York bank. These checks 144 00:09:14,280 --> 00:09:18,439 Speaker 1: take eight days to get across the pond, and he 145 00:09:18,440 --> 00:09:21,079 Speaker 1: he kind of lies, does a little bit of showman 146 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 1: ship to wrangle a month's free credit, and he uses 147 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:28,360 Speaker 1: that free credit to buy control of Ambaca, making the 148 00:09:28,480 --> 00:09:32,199 Speaker 1: US checks good with Ambaca money, and then he also 149 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:36,120 Speaker 1: buys control of the South Angola Mining Company. At this 150 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:42,480 Speaker 1: time he meets some future accomplices we Bandiera Uh, the 151 00:09:42,559 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 1: brother of the Portuguese ambassador to the Netherlands, and a 152 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:50,280 Speaker 1: Dutch financier named Carol Morong, as well as a German 153 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:56,760 Speaker 1: spy named Adolph Hinnies. I like this ocean is eleven vibe. 154 00:09:56,920 --> 00:09:59,000 Speaker 1: It really does have have this vibe, and it's going 155 00:09:59,040 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 1: to get even even crazier. But he doesn't get away 156 00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: with Ambaca, does he. No, he doesn't get away with Ambaca, 157 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:09,520 Speaker 1: and he gets into prison um for embezzlement um. And 158 00:10:09,720 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: I believe that was thrown out and it was replaced 159 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:16,640 Speaker 1: with just being fraud because of the check fraud, and 160 00:10:16,720 --> 00:10:20,120 Speaker 1: he's released on ten thou dollar us UH or the 161 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:25,240 Speaker 1: equivalent US bail um. But then he is tried and 162 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:28,800 Speaker 1: he is sent to prison, where he hatches his master plan, 163 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:33,000 Speaker 1: which is the subject of today's episode. Right. Oddly enough, 164 00:10:33,440 --> 00:10:35,719 Speaker 1: he was a freeman pretty soon after Right. He only 165 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: served fifty four days. He maintained that there was a 166 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:43,320 Speaker 1: criminal conspiracy, that it was some equivalent of the deep 167 00:10:43,400 --> 00:10:46,720 Speaker 1: state that put him down. And uh. While he was 168 00:10:46,760 --> 00:10:50,240 Speaker 1: in jail, he did not waste his time. He worked 169 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: on a scheme, a thing that today we call the 170 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:59,280 Speaker 1: Portuguese bank note crisis. Here's how it happened. So Riez 171 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:00,960 Speaker 1: has a lot of time m in jail, you know 172 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:03,240 Speaker 1: what I mean. He's picturing with like a little piece 173 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:06,480 Speaker 1: of chalk or charcoal, putting a dash for every day 174 00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:10,080 Speaker 1: he's locked up. And while he's locked up, he says, 175 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:13,400 Speaker 1: you know, I think there's something weird about the Bank 176 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:18,400 Speaker 1: of Portugal, because the Bank of Portugal prints bank notes, 177 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:23,200 Speaker 1: but they don't record their serial numbers very accurately, and 178 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:27,960 Speaker 1: they don't tell the government about how many notes are 179 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:31,839 Speaker 1: or are not in circulation. And then he has another 180 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:35,000 Speaker 1: lightbulb moment. Just picture him turning on light bulbs just 181 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:38,600 Speaker 1: scattered around him in the air. So click, they don't 182 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:41,480 Speaker 1: you know, they're not that great with recording their serial numbers. 183 00:11:41,720 --> 00:11:44,480 Speaker 1: And then click they don't tell the government how much 184 00:11:44,520 --> 00:11:47,680 Speaker 1: money they make, and then click. Portugal hasn't been on 185 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:52,839 Speaker 1: the gold standards since so the only real expense involved 186 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,760 Speaker 1: in issuing these notes is the cost of printing them. 187 00:11:57,040 --> 00:11:59,400 Speaker 1: And then he starts to do a little math, right, 188 00:11:59,640 --> 00:12:03,480 Speaker 1: He does do a little math um and he comes 189 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:08,240 Speaker 1: up with the following. He figures that, um, if you 190 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:12,520 Speaker 1: issued about three dred million escudos, which is around three 191 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:19,120 Speaker 1: million eighty nine pounds, that would not be enough to 192 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:23,640 Speaker 1: trigger any alarms, nor would it initially at least disrupt 193 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 1: the flow of currency um in the state through the 194 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:30,439 Speaker 1: banking system. So that's how much he can get away with, right, 195 00:12:30,480 --> 00:12:34,679 Speaker 1: and that is a huge amount of scratch cash or 196 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:36,920 Speaker 1: pony bones. But my question is this, though, Ben, how 197 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:39,840 Speaker 1: is he directly benefit from this. He's getting the cash 198 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:42,439 Speaker 1: and he's splitting it with his UH co conspirators and 199 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:44,760 Speaker 1: then they're just spending it on goods and injecting it 200 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:46,720 Speaker 1: back into the system like very quickly. Is not that 201 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:49,440 Speaker 1: the idea that seems to be the idea. We also 202 00:12:49,440 --> 00:12:51,760 Speaker 1: have to remember that the only reason we're fortunate enough 203 00:12:51,800 --> 00:12:54,880 Speaker 1: to have this episode today is because the guy gets caught. 204 00:12:55,000 --> 00:13:03,400 Speaker 1: So spoiler alert, here's what he does. And to to 205 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:07,439 Speaker 1: explain the admitted genius of this, we have to talk 206 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:11,120 Speaker 1: a little bit about how counterfeiting actually works. So, as 207 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: we mentioned at the top of the show, there have 208 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:16,439 Speaker 1: been tons and tons and tons of attempts to counterfeit 209 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:21,360 Speaker 1: various types of different currency. Sometimes it's been something as 210 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:25,719 Speaker 1: lazy as someone at home using photo shop and an 211 00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:29,480 Speaker 1: inkjet printer also side note, don't do that. And then 212 00:13:29,559 --> 00:13:33,200 Speaker 1: other times there have been state sponsored campaigns, like the 213 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:38,000 Speaker 1: North Korean supernotes, which were so good that when they 214 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:41,400 Speaker 1: were in circulation, US authorities said the best way to 215 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:45,880 Speaker 1: tell whether this was a fake North Korean one bill 216 00:13:46,280 --> 00:13:49,640 Speaker 1: was that it was actually higher quality than the real 217 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:56,199 Speaker 1: US currency. Anyway, despite all these different attempts to counterfeit things, 218 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,240 Speaker 1: they all have this one thing in common. We're taking 219 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:04,920 Speaker 1: actual bank notes or currency and we're creating fake versions 220 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:09,080 Speaker 1: of it. Here's where Rayas is brilliant. He says, you 221 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 1: know what, why print fake bank notes when we could 222 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:18,160 Speaker 1: print the real thing. He doesn't want to make counterfeit money, nol. 223 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 1: He wants to illegally make real money. And that's the 224 00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 1: mind blowing part about the story is like we think about, 225 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,320 Speaker 1: you know, when we're talking the top of the show 226 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 1: about the uh you know how our monetary system prints 227 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:34,960 Speaker 1: money under lock and key within a government facility. Right, 228 00:14:35,360 --> 00:14:38,520 Speaker 1: This is not the case. They're essentially, you know, farming 229 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:41,720 Speaker 1: out the printing of their money to like a private 230 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:45,720 Speaker 1: company that you know, has the plates, the the engraved 231 00:14:45,720 --> 00:14:48,479 Speaker 1: plates or whatever to make the currency, has the equipment, 232 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:52,120 Speaker 1: and just essentially operates on a not a freelance like 233 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: on a contract basis. Right. So Rayas in typical Rayas 234 00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:01,760 Speaker 1: form just goes to them with some forged document like saying, hey, 235 00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:06,160 Speaker 1: our government wants to invest in this company. Right, this 236 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:10,240 Speaker 1: is this Angola Railway company, right, and we need you 237 00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 1: to print this many scuto notes. Right. They go to 238 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:18,880 Speaker 1: the printer that already was working for the Bank of 239 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:24,720 Speaker 1: Portugal Waterlo and Sons and with exactly what you're describing, 240 00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:30,520 Speaker 1: all these forged documents that have questionable notarization, he convinces 241 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 1: them to print all these five hundred escudo notes. And 242 00:15:37,320 --> 00:15:40,960 Speaker 1: here's what's crazy about it. It worked. By the time 243 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:47,000 Speaker 1: this operation was done, there were more bogus reprints of 244 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:52,760 Speaker 1: five escudo notes, then there were officially issued as scudo notes. 245 00:15:53,200 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: And it's hard to imagine this working now, right because, 246 00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:58,640 Speaker 1: as you said, I like that phrase you used, under 247 00:15:58,680 --> 00:16:01,480 Speaker 1: lock and key. That's a most currencies printed these days. 248 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:06,280 Speaker 1: But yes, took it to the maximum, right to the 249 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:11,720 Speaker 1: limit and beyond. People started asking questions pretty soon. The 250 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:15,840 Speaker 1: printers first said, well, it's kind of weird that we're 251 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:20,680 Speaker 1: printing duplicate serial numbers. But Ray has dismissed these issues 252 00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:26,720 Speaker 1: because he said the notes would receive an overprint once 253 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:30,440 Speaker 1: they arrived in Lisbon, but before they were sent to Angola. 254 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:33,320 Speaker 1: And I don't know what that means. That sounds made up, Ben, 255 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:35,280 Speaker 1: That sounds like something he just kind of came up 256 00:16:35,320 --> 00:16:39,720 Speaker 1: with on the fly exactly. Um, because there's a really 257 00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:44,040 Speaker 1: great article on p mg notes dot com about the 258 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:49,080 Speaker 1: Portuguese banknote crisis and it characterizes it as such. So yeah, 259 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:52,440 Speaker 1: the folks at Waterlow were like, hey, what gives We're 260 00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: gonna make a call to to the government and guess 261 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 1: who their contact was in the government. It was rayas 262 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:00,400 Speaker 1: you know, like it's literally like the whole thing where 263 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:05,200 Speaker 1: you create an alibi by giving the detective a phone 264 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:06,960 Speaker 1: number to one of your associates and then does a 265 00:17:07,040 --> 00:17:09,640 Speaker 1: voice and says, oh, yeah, totally he was he was there. 266 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:13,199 Speaker 1: I mean, this is the classic con job material. And 267 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:15,960 Speaker 1: this guy keeps not getting called on it, not getting 268 00:17:16,000 --> 00:17:18,320 Speaker 1: called on it, over and over and over again, and 269 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:22,399 Speaker 1: so he ends up getting two hundred thousand, five hundred 270 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:26,560 Speaker 1: a scudo notes printed, which is somewhere in the neighborhood 271 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:31,000 Speaker 1: of a hundred million escudos. Uh, and was about eighty 272 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:36,679 Speaker 1: point eight eight percent of the entire Portuguese g d P. Yeah, 273 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:40,920 Speaker 1: this is big money. Now, he wasn't a complete criminal 274 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:45,240 Speaker 1: mastermind because he did get lucky. We later learned that 275 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:49,320 Speaker 1: the printers sent a letter to the Bank of England 276 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:52,199 Speaker 1: raising concerns about this, and somehow it got lost in 277 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:57,400 Speaker 1: the mail between England and Portugal. So the first hints 278 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:00,480 Speaker 1: that not all is on the up and up actually 279 00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:04,040 Speaker 1: occur not when Reez prints the money, but when he 280 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:09,040 Speaker 1: attempts to launder the cash. So he and his associates 281 00:18:09,119 --> 00:18:14,159 Speaker 1: make a bunch of small real estate and commercial investments, 282 00:18:14,200 --> 00:18:17,080 Speaker 1: you know, and then they open a bank, the Banco 283 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:22,120 Speaker 1: da Angola in Metropol, to help them launder this not 284 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:26,360 Speaker 1: quite counterfeit money, and the bank at first people love 285 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,840 Speaker 1: it because they can issue you low interest loans with 286 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:33,560 Speaker 1: little or no deposit or security. There. They'll just give 287 00:18:33,560 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 1: you money, which is pretty strange when you think about that. Well, 288 00:18:37,240 --> 00:18:40,040 Speaker 1: here's what he wanted to do. He wanted to use 289 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:44,800 Speaker 1: the currency to buy gold backed foreign currency and then 290 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:48,399 Speaker 1: trade in the five hundred of scudo bills for smaller 291 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:52,800 Speaker 1: denominations and then use that to buy tangible assets land, jewelry, 292 00:18:52,840 --> 00:18:58,359 Speaker 1: clothing businesses throughout Portugal and Angola. But the problem is 293 00:18:58,440 --> 00:19:01,840 Speaker 1: he was messing with so much money. This was equal 294 00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:05,720 Speaker 1: to almost a full percent of Portugal's GDP at the 295 00:19:05,760 --> 00:19:08,679 Speaker 1: time point eight eight percent, And if we want to 296 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:13,080 Speaker 1: put that in perspective in these our modern days in 297 00:19:13,119 --> 00:19:17,280 Speaker 1: the US, that would mean that Yez received a hundred 298 00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:21,360 Speaker 1: and fifty billion dollars. So he essentially became a billionaire 299 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:24,560 Speaker 1: over the span of a few months. And his plan 300 00:19:25,359 --> 00:19:28,280 Speaker 1: seemed pretty great. Yeah, it's crazy. I mean, essentially what 301 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:31,399 Speaker 1: he did was create kind of a micro economic boom 302 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:35,199 Speaker 1: for Portugal. But it wasn't based on anything real, and 303 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 1: now he's like becoming a you know, a bank mogul, 304 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:40,760 Speaker 1: and he's giving out all these loans with very low 305 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 1: interest rates that also aren't based on anything real. It's 306 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 1: all at a subterfuge to cover up his his crime. 307 00:19:47,480 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 1: And you know, like any boom manufacturer otherwise, oftentimes there 308 00:19:52,720 --> 00:19:57,040 Speaker 1: is a bust or or a recession or a bubble bursting, right, 309 00:19:57,119 --> 00:20:01,440 Speaker 1: And that absolutely happened, um and the um well, maybe 310 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:03,240 Speaker 1: not quite yet, but that absolutely was on the way 311 00:20:03,240 --> 00:20:09,320 Speaker 1: to happening when the authorities began to investigate the Banco 312 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:14,080 Speaker 1: d'anola de metropolit because they were illegally buying foreign backed 313 00:20:14,119 --> 00:20:18,879 Speaker 1: currency and that's no good. So while they were being investigated, 314 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:23,280 Speaker 1: they had these reserves of some of those illegal bank 315 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:25,600 Speaker 1: notes that we're not gonna call them counterfeit because they 316 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:29,000 Speaker 1: were in fact real bank notes. But they had those 317 00:20:29,080 --> 00:20:32,560 Speaker 1: duplicate serial numbers. Ha ha. That's where this house of 318 00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:35,520 Speaker 1: cars really begins to collapse. With those serial numbers. You 319 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:38,119 Speaker 1: think they would have read flagged that earlier, but I 320 00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:42,119 Speaker 1: guess the bookkeeping system wasn't quite as sharp as it 321 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:45,160 Speaker 1: could have been, which is how the operations started exactly. 322 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:49,200 Speaker 1: It was only by chance that authorities managed to find 323 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:54,200 Speaker 1: duplicate serial numbers. And and it's so strange because they 324 00:20:54,400 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 1: knew something was rotten in the state of Portuguese finance 325 00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:03,000 Speaker 1: is uh. If we're gonna make an awkward turner phrase there, 326 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:05,239 Speaker 1: they knew something was rotten, but they could not pin 327 00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:08,240 Speaker 1: it down on him because again, any notes they found 328 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,560 Speaker 1: were real. We should also point out this is let's 329 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:15,320 Speaker 1: get to December of when the bank is actually busted 330 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:19,639 Speaker 1: because they do somehow find these illegal duplicates. Rays is 331 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:24,000 Speaker 1: twenty eight years old. Can you imagine in perspective? Do? Yeah, 332 00:21:24,000 --> 00:21:27,880 Speaker 1: he's done a lot with his life. Uh. And because 333 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: his associates and he can get word of an arrest warrant, 334 00:21:31,840 --> 00:21:35,240 Speaker 1: he and his associates know that the operation is burned. 335 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:37,199 Speaker 1: You know what I mean. It's like now, it's like 336 00:21:37,240 --> 00:21:39,800 Speaker 1: the third act of the heist film. They've got to 337 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:44,959 Speaker 1: get out of dodge. Some of his pals managed to escape. Yez, however, 338 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:50,280 Speaker 1: chooses to stay and fight. He also and the Telegraph 339 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 1: has an interesting bit about this. He attempts to forge 340 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:58,719 Speaker 1: documents suggesting that the Bank of Portugal was in on 341 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,600 Speaker 1: the scam that they had ordered him to do that, 342 00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:06,760 Speaker 1: and his forged documents are so freaking good that some 343 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 1: people believed him. They thought the whole plot was made 344 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:13,919 Speaker 1: up by Portugal Central Bank. And for five years this 345 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:17,000 Speaker 1: delaying tactic works. I want to find out more about 346 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,359 Speaker 1: this guy, like where did he learn to ford so well? 347 00:22:19,480 --> 00:22:22,119 Speaker 1: Who is his like forgery mentor how do you just 348 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:23,879 Speaker 1: figure like I guess it all went back to that 349 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:26,399 Speaker 1: first bad check that he wrote, Who Yoda does he 350 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:28,680 Speaker 1: have a Yeah? Exactly. He just kind of decide, oh, 351 00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:30,520 Speaker 1: this is a means to an end for me when 352 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:33,080 Speaker 1: I have no money, I can just you know, at 353 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:36,480 Speaker 1: a time where it was very people wanted this system 354 00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:38,800 Speaker 1: to work. They wanted to believe in it, right, So 355 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,280 Speaker 1: he kind of capitalized on that and uh totally was 356 00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:45,440 Speaker 1: able to you know, work that in his favor continuously 357 00:22:45,800 --> 00:22:47,919 Speaker 1: with people not calling him on it. All he had 358 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:49,880 Speaker 1: to do was be pretty good at forging the document 359 00:22:50,040 --> 00:22:52,800 Speaker 1: and then talk a good game. Right. Well, think about 360 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:54,960 Speaker 1: it this way too. We have to think about the 361 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:59,840 Speaker 1: time in which Riaz is operating. First off, most people 362 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:04,440 Speaker 1: have not seen official documents except maybe a marriage certificate, 363 00:23:04,480 --> 00:23:07,879 Speaker 1: a death certificate, or birth certificate or maybe the deed 364 00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:11,639 Speaker 1: to some important tangible asset. So a lot of people 365 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,080 Speaker 1: don't know what the real deal looks like. Secondly, a 366 00:23:15,119 --> 00:23:19,520 Speaker 1: lot of people don't have access to printing technology, or 367 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:22,720 Speaker 1: their handwriting looks like chicken scratch. That's a problem that 368 00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:27,120 Speaker 1: Bedevil's people like me in the modern day. So there 369 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:29,520 Speaker 1: was not a frame of reference for a lot of people, 370 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:32,359 Speaker 1: and even people who were experts, like let's say the 371 00:23:32,359 --> 00:23:36,640 Speaker 1: government of Angola or something, they would not receive boiler 372 00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:40,200 Speaker 1: plate forms. One bank might have a different kind of form, 373 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:44,040 Speaker 1: you know. So there's also not a single right way 374 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:46,159 Speaker 1: to do a lot of this stuff other than the 375 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:50,400 Speaker 1: bank notes. So it was easier for him to get away. 376 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:53,240 Speaker 1: But he's still I don't want to undermine the guy's talent. 377 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:56,560 Speaker 1: He still is like a dog with a ball. It's 378 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:59,880 Speaker 1: very telling. It shows us a lot about raises care 379 00:24:00,119 --> 00:24:04,000 Speaker 1: to when we learned that instead of escaping and he 380 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:07,119 Speaker 1: could have escaped, he not only stayed, he tried to 381 00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:09,600 Speaker 1: forge his way out of the problem that he had 382 00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:18,480 Speaker 1: forged himself into. So what happens They take five years 383 00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:21,680 Speaker 1: to actually get the trial going. What what happens to him? 384 00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:25,520 Speaker 1: Does he get away. Does he forge himself a law 385 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,160 Speaker 1: degree and become the judge of his case? No, no, 386 00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:33,520 Speaker 1: Alas you know, like uh many master criminals. Um, I 387 00:24:33,520 --> 00:24:35,199 Speaker 1: don't know Alas is maybe the wrong word. Is the 388 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 1: guy so plucky? You know? I mean, yeah, he kind 389 00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:41,240 Speaker 1: of tanks the Portuguese economy single handedly. Okay, not cool, 390 00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:44,000 Speaker 1: but you gotta you gotta appreciate how young he is 391 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:46,199 Speaker 1: and the stick to itiveness with which he kind of 392 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,440 Speaker 1: handled this whole affair. Um, yeah, it's true. He gets 393 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,640 Speaker 1: sentenced to twenty years in prison, Uh, that he serves 394 00:24:52,720 --> 00:24:57,680 Speaker 1: out in its entirety. Um. And during this time he 395 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:01,560 Speaker 1: was known for, um, you know, making a case for 396 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:05,960 Speaker 1: himself like you know, and absolutely zero remorse fashion ben 397 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:11,520 Speaker 1: and saying, hey, why were my notes considered counterfeit when 398 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:15,679 Speaker 1: they're absolutely indistinguishable from the real ones? Uh? And in 399 00:25:16,080 --> 00:25:20,920 Speaker 1: true poetic justice fashion, when he's finally released, he gets 400 00:25:20,920 --> 00:25:24,440 Speaker 1: offered a job at an at a bank. Yeah, he 401 00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:28,000 Speaker 1: doesn't take the job, which is interesting. He lives a 402 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: pretty sedate life. Uh, and he doesn't make a lot 403 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:35,240 Speaker 1: of money. You will hear people say that he lived modestly, 404 00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:37,520 Speaker 1: and then you will hear people say he was impoverished. 405 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:41,919 Speaker 1: He died of a heart attack on the ninth of 406 00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:47,560 Speaker 1: June nineteen fifty five, and his associates died. Two of 407 00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:50,560 Speaker 1: them died pretty soon after. I think Henny's died in 408 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:55,639 Speaker 1: fifty seven. Bendetta died in nineteen sixty one. Moron was 409 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:59,040 Speaker 1: tried in Holland ninety six and went to jail for 410 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:05,200 Speaker 1: eleven months. He actually became a naturalized French citizen and 411 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,920 Speaker 1: did pretty well for himself. He died wealthy in nineteen sixty. 412 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:12,399 Speaker 1: The guy is Sir William Waterlow died before all of 413 00:26:12,440 --> 00:26:14,400 Speaker 1: these folks. He was the guy in charge of the 414 00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:17,320 Speaker 1: printing company in England. He became the Lord Mayor of 415 00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:20,600 Speaker 1: London for a time, but the scandal of the Portuguese 416 00:26:20,600 --> 00:26:24,280 Speaker 1: bank note crisis is largely thought to have contributed to 417 00:26:24,359 --> 00:26:26,879 Speaker 1: his early death in ninety one. And I want to 418 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:29,760 Speaker 1: say I respect the hustle, I respect what Riez did. 419 00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:32,680 Speaker 1: But if you look at a picture of this guy, 420 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,199 Speaker 1: he just looks you know, I want to keep this 421 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:39,480 Speaker 1: a family show. He looks like a real pill. Have 422 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,160 Speaker 1: you seen a picture of him? He looks like a pill. 423 00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:43,760 Speaker 1: I don't know if I want to hang out with him. 424 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:45,879 Speaker 1: Hang on, Ben, you might be saying you seem a 425 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:48,359 Speaker 1: little conflicted. You say you respect the hustle, but you 426 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:51,120 Speaker 1: say the guy's a real pill. Which is it? Well, 427 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:55,000 Speaker 1: we have to examine the consequences of this, and then 428 00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:57,400 Speaker 1: we also have to admit that Angola at the time 429 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 1: was being treated very, very poorly by Portugal. But you 430 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:05,359 Speaker 1: here's the deal. You can't just print bank notes and 431 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:10,040 Speaker 1: expect everything to be okay. This has enormous and catastrophic 432 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:14,479 Speaker 1: financial consequence, right yeah, really really far reaching. Because of 433 00:27:14,520 --> 00:27:19,120 Speaker 1: that excess circulation UM. Again that wasn't based on anything 434 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:25,920 Speaker 1: but the whim of a totally narcissistic, self serving con man. Uh. 435 00:27:25,960 --> 00:27:29,760 Speaker 1: The currency, the escudo lost UH an awful lot of 436 00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:34,680 Speaker 1: its value. All five hundred scudo notes were pulled from circulation, 437 00:27:35,119 --> 00:27:39,399 Speaker 1: and the Central Bank of Portugal UM was able to 438 00:27:39,480 --> 00:27:43,320 Speaker 1: figure out which ones were the fraudulent ones. By the way, 439 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,160 Speaker 1: if you yourself want to identify one of these ray 440 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:49,200 Speaker 1: as reprints from a from a genuine note, UM, you 441 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:53,280 Speaker 1: need only look for serial number prefixes with double vowels 442 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:59,600 Speaker 1: or prefixes above a N. And not only did this 443 00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:04,760 Speaker 1: make everyone lose all confidence in the Portuguese monetary system. 444 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:07,960 Speaker 1: It may have even brought on a change in government. 445 00:28:08,240 --> 00:28:10,800 Speaker 1: There's a great article on this at intro to Global 446 00:28:10,840 --> 00:28:15,240 Speaker 1: Studies dot com by Sean Smallman and Kimberly Brown where 447 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:18,680 Speaker 1: they put this way, the implication of Rayez's crimes have 448 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:22,840 Speaker 1: been staggering. The first republic, that's the Portuguese Republic, ended 449 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:26,720 Speaker 1: in a military coup in nineteen twenty six. While it 450 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:28,800 Speaker 1: would be too much to say that the loss of 451 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:32,800 Speaker 1: confidence in Portugal's monetary system caused the democracy to collapse, 452 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:36,320 Speaker 1: this fraud contributed to the sense of crisis that made 453 00:28:36,359 --> 00:28:39,600 Speaker 1: the coup possible. He came for the bank notes, and 454 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:43,959 Speaker 1: he accidentally started a revolution or contributed to it, and 455 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,000 Speaker 1: the bank eventually sued the printers, the Bank of Portugal. 456 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:51,560 Speaker 1: They won a settlement of six hundred thousand pounds. Waterloo 457 00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:55,320 Speaker 1: never really recovered, they got bought out, they got dissolved 458 00:28:55,320 --> 00:28:59,920 Speaker 1: in two thousand and nine. And because of these consequent 459 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,960 Speaker 1: is you will often hear that the counterfeiting operation, god 460 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:08,440 Speaker 1: is it even counterfeiting such a mind buggling thing. You'll 461 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:13,560 Speaker 1: hear that Yez ran the most successful countering fitting operation 462 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:16,960 Speaker 1: in history. It's the biggest one that i've heard of, 463 00:29:17,560 --> 00:29:20,160 Speaker 1: unless you're one of those fiat currency people who thinks 464 00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:23,720 Speaker 1: paper money in general is counterfeiting, right, yeah, sort of 465 00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:27,360 Speaker 1: like taxation is theft. Uh No, it's true. Um, it's again. 466 00:29:27,480 --> 00:29:32,560 Speaker 1: I'm completely taken aback by how easily he was able 467 00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:35,320 Speaker 1: to pull this off. It was just like the perfect crime. 468 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:39,800 Speaker 1: But not necessarily because he was some kind of genius. 469 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:44,320 Speaker 1: He just was a very very um he's very very 470 00:29:44,360 --> 00:29:47,040 Speaker 1: good at taking advantage of people's stupidity. And I would 471 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:50,920 Speaker 1: argue that the overthrow of that government was pretty earned 472 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:53,280 Speaker 1: because they clearly were quite an apt that they couldn't 473 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:55,880 Speaker 1: see this coming or have any safeguards in place to 474 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:59,240 Speaker 1: prevent it. And then we also would be remiss if 475 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:02,800 Speaker 1: we don't talk a little bit about the state of 476 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:08,440 Speaker 1: the Portuguese Empire. Why some people may ask would a 477 00:30:08,560 --> 00:30:13,000 Speaker 1: guy born in Lisbon go to Angola in this time? 478 00:30:13,120 --> 00:30:17,600 Speaker 1: At this time, Angola was a Portuguese colony, and it 479 00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:23,320 Speaker 1: had been since fifteen seventy five. Riez was taking advantage 480 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:28,000 Speaker 1: of systemic issues in the colonial system from the start, 481 00:30:28,040 --> 00:30:29,840 Speaker 1: when he got into the import export and all the 482 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:32,480 Speaker 1: railway and all that stuff. And he was not he 483 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:38,120 Speaker 1: was not helping the people of Angola. Angola has had terrible, 484 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:43,920 Speaker 1: terrible consequences of from its time being colonized, and those 485 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:48,920 Speaker 1: consequences still carry on to the modern day. So the 486 00:30:49,080 --> 00:30:52,720 Speaker 1: all to say, it's not like the Portuguese Empire, the 487 00:30:52,760 --> 00:30:56,800 Speaker 1: government of Portugal was uh, you know, a bunch of 488 00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:00,560 Speaker 1: goody two shoes, good people or heroes, know what I mean. 489 00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:04,120 Speaker 1: It's not like there's a clear hero in this story now. 490 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:09,200 Speaker 1: And it wasn't until nineteen seventy five that uh Angola 491 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:12,840 Speaker 1: actually got its independence after a very brutal and bloody 492 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:17,600 Speaker 1: guerrilla war um that also resulted in another coup in 493 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:22,200 Speaker 1: lisbon Um, but ultimately the Alvar Agreement was signed that 494 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 1: did separate Angola from Portugal. And this whole Angolan War 495 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: of Independence which raised from the nineteen sixty one to 496 00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:34,360 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy four, was initially a result of uprising because 497 00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:39,600 Speaker 1: of forced labor practices by the colonizers in Portugal against 498 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:42,680 Speaker 1: the the native folks in Angola, and that include forcing 499 00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:48,360 Speaker 1: them to cultivate cotton right slavery, Yeah, slavery, and in 500 00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:55,080 Speaker 1: this sort of incredibly unstable, in humane environment, criminals like 501 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:59,520 Speaker 1: Riez can thrive. You know. In fact, if you think 502 00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:01,880 Speaker 1: about it, I guess we could. We could end on 503 00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:06,640 Speaker 1: somewhat of if not uplifting an interesting note here we 504 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:11,760 Speaker 1: here's an interesting bank note to end on, very proud 505 00:32:11,800 --> 00:32:17,000 Speaker 1: of that one. Ray As may have arguably been successful, 506 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:20,800 Speaker 1: just not in the way he intended. Because remember, know 507 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:24,040 Speaker 1: how you earlier mentioned there's an easy way to find 508 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:27,960 Speaker 1: a ray As five hundred scudo note right, the double 509 00:32:28,040 --> 00:32:34,800 Speaker 1: vowels and prefixes above. What Yeah, the thing is those 510 00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:42,280 Speaker 1: rays reprints are not worth five dred scudo anymore. If 511 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:45,800 Speaker 1: you are lucky enough to find one. They're actually worth 512 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:50,400 Speaker 1: over seven thousand, five hundred dollars. So the notes that 513 00:32:50,440 --> 00:32:55,000 Speaker 1: he printed have actually been quite successful nowadays, at least 514 00:32:55,000 --> 00:32:58,280 Speaker 1: as a curio item you know of of some note? Right? Well, 515 00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:01,400 Speaker 1: you can't, you know, you can't buy a ticket to 516 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,520 Speaker 1: a Cheryl Crow concert with one. If only it could, Man, 517 00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:06,960 Speaker 1: if only you could. What a world? What a world? 518 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,280 Speaker 1: Oh man? By the way, uh, friend of the show, 519 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:11,720 Speaker 1: there's a band I told you about called Kyle Kraft 520 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:13,880 Speaker 1: and Showboat Honey who are on tour right now. You 521 00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:16,040 Speaker 1: should check them out if they come to your city. Um, 522 00:33:16,400 --> 00:33:19,800 Speaker 1: they were playing at the Newport Folk Festival and their 523 00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:23,840 Speaker 1: keyboard player, Kevin Clark, actually posted a picture of himself 524 00:33:24,240 --> 00:33:26,680 Speaker 1: with a friend of the show and then nemesis of 525 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:29,120 Speaker 1: the show, Cheryl crow. Um, So I'm gonna have to 526 00:33:29,200 --> 00:33:31,040 Speaker 1: ask him about, you know what what she was like 527 00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:33,760 Speaker 1: in person? Do tell Yeah, we'd like to I I 528 00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:36,760 Speaker 1: personally would like to get past all the all the 529 00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:42,240 Speaker 1: strange late night rambling, vaguely accusatory text messages that she 530 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:45,280 Speaker 1: sends me. You know, I just Cheryl let me know 531 00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:48,120 Speaker 1: if I did something, because I'm a huge fan of 532 00:33:48,120 --> 00:33:52,240 Speaker 1: your music. Uh. So that is the story of Alvis 533 00:33:52,360 --> 00:33:55,640 Speaker 1: dos Reyes. We hope you enjoyed it. I hope that 534 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:58,080 Speaker 1: you do take the time to check out a picture 535 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:00,280 Speaker 1: of this guy, because he does look like he's a 536 00:34:00,680 --> 00:34:04,520 Speaker 1: he's a slick talker, as folks would say in ages past. 537 00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:08,640 Speaker 1: Uh And as always, thank you for tuning in. Big 538 00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:11,880 Speaker 1: thanks to Cheryl Crowe always every day, indeed is a 539 00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:14,879 Speaker 1: winding road, a road that hopefully winds its way back 540 00:34:14,920 --> 00:34:17,600 Speaker 1: around to our super producer Casey Pegram, who also gets 541 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:21,160 Speaker 1: massive thanks. Alex Williams, who composed our theme. Research associates 542 00:34:21,200 --> 00:34:26,040 Speaker 1: Gabe Lozier and Ryan Barrish Big thanks to Jonathan Strickland 543 00:34:26,160 --> 00:34:29,360 Speaker 1: a k a. The Quister and you know what, Noel, 544 00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:32,120 Speaker 1: Thanks to you, Man, Hey Man, thanks to you too. 545 00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:42,719 Speaker 1: We'll see you next time, folks. For more podcasts for 546 00:34:42,800 --> 00:34:45,560 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, 547 00:34:45,640 --> 00:34:47,800 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.