WEBVTT - D'oh! Operation Flagship 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:07.120 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:13.320 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:16.119 Chuck and Cherry's here too, And this is stuff you 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:18.400 should know, the Freeze edition. 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:20.919 Yeah, you know what. The addition this is, this is 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:28.520 the law enforcement sometimes thinks they're so cute and clever. Addition, Right, man, 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:31.080 I can't wait to point out how many cutesy little 0:00:31.160 --> 0:00:37.760 names and acronyms pop up in this story and this 0:00:37.920 --> 0:00:41.240 and a lesson. If you're a criminal and you ever 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:43.159 think something might be shady and it might be a 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:46.120 sting operation, just look at any name that they've given 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:48.440 you and like read it backwards or see if it 0:00:48.479 --> 0:00:52.360 spells an acronym that says like we nabbed you, buddy 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:55.959 or something like that. Like that's that's how cutesy they 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:59.040 got is And you'll see. I'll just throw that out 0:00:59.080 --> 0:01:01.040 there and we'll talk about him as they pop up. 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:04.680 Yeah, and there's our daily assistance in helping criminals. A 0:01:04.720 --> 0:01:06.240 vague capture by law enforcement. 0:01:08.160 --> 0:01:11.000 Yeah, was that what I was doing? I certainly was, 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:11.399 all right. 0:01:11.640 --> 0:01:16.880 Movie, So we're talking about one specific operation, Operation Flagship, 0:01:16.920 --> 0:01:19.640 which was conducted by the US Marshall Service back in 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:25.440 I think nineteen eighty five, and it's just kind of 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:27.639 mind boggling. Where did you hear about this? Did somebody 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:29.440 write in or did you already know about it? Being 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:30.280 an NFL fan? 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:35.560 And yeah, you know what, I'm not sure now that 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:37.680 I think of it. This may have been a listener 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:40.800 request and I'm going to look that up real quick 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:42.920 because i hate not shouting people out. 0:01:43.000 --> 0:01:45.920 Yeah, I'm with you when that happens, Well, how I 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:48.600 keep talking while you look? 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:50.520 Okay? 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:52.960 So, the US Marshall Service, they're one of the first 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:57.200 American law enforcement agencies. They were founded back in seventeen 0:01:57.240 --> 0:02:00.840 eighty nine. Dave helped us with this, Dave Week by 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:04.200 the way, as Dave put it, in the time of 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:08.400 George Washington. So they've been around quite a bit, and 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:10.480 over the course of this history, like, they've done a 0:02:10.520 --> 0:02:15.040 lot of different really kind of great stuff. They escorted 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:19.799 students into the first segregated schools, Black students to segregated schools, 0:02:19.840 --> 0:02:24.919 They protected them. They enforced prohibition, which I guess, depending 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:27.560 on your views on prohibition, it was great or not. 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:32.000 They operated the US Census, which seems like they were 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:35.280 at the time just really looking for busy wet for 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:36.359 the Marshall service. 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:38.880 Yes, just give them a bunch of pencils. 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:42.919 Right, and then in turnal loose and then famously chuck 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:47.399 anytime you hear somebody call like a wild West law 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:51.800 enforcement guy Marshall. They were a US marshal. That was 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.200 one of the roles they played. They served as the 0:02:54.240 --> 0:02:57.480 long arm of the law and the wild West era 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:58.920 of American history. 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:01.839 Yeah, so they did a lot of things. They found 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:03.359 a lot of busy work for them to do over 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:08.080 the years. These days, did you mention witness protection? 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:09.320 Not yet? 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:11.880 Yeah, I mean basically these days they take care of 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.560 witness the witness They run the Witness Security Program aka 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:21.600 witness Protection. If you see prisoners being transported like to 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:25.320 court or something, those are marshals doing that and there 0:03:25.680 --> 0:03:29.480 since seventy nine they've been in charge of fugitive investigations, 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:33.040 which is to say, basically, anybody with an outstanding warrant 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:36.080 is a fugitive. You don't have to have like escaped prison. 0:03:37.000 --> 0:03:39.800 If you're charged with the crime or have been summoned 0:03:39.800 --> 0:03:42.920 to testify or something like that and you jump bail, 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:46.200 you don't appear in court. If you escape from custody, 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:49.840 then you're a fugitive, and the US Marshals are going 0:03:49.920 --> 0:03:53.120 to try and find you and either put you back 0:03:53.160 --> 0:03:55.200 in jail or put you in jail for your very 0:03:55.240 --> 0:03:55.680 first time. 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:58.440 Yeah, and Tommy Lee Jones didn't care if you're innocent. 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:01.000 His job is to get you and bring you back 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:05.400 to jail. No, not kill my wife. I don't care. 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:07.760 This is so great, man, one of the great lines 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:08.480 in movie history. 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.480 So, yeah, you can be a fugitive all sorts of ways, 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:14.720 And regardless of how it is, the US Marshals are 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:20.000 out there to get you. And for the most part, 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:22.880 when they get you, it's because they've tracked you down. 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:27.440 Maybe they got a tip, maybe they just started looking 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:29.640 for you and they found that you're actually at your 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:33.640 last known address. Yeah, and they arrest people quite frequently. 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:37.200 I think I saw that they rounded up like seventy 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:40.920 five thousand fugitives in twenty twenty three or twenty four. 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:45.040 They arrest a lot of people. But for some reason, 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:49.480 during the early to mid eighties, the US Marshall Service 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:53.080 went on what can only be described as a QTSY streak. 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:55.920 Yeah, they said, hey, guys, let's have a little fun 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:56.240 with this. 0:04:56.760 --> 0:04:59.600 They clearly did. I mean like these things. This whole 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:04.120 thing was hatched hours into an office Christmas party in 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:05.440 nineteen seventy nine. 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:10.880 That's for this, Yeah, for sure, we'll start with our 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:14.200 first QT acronym. In nineteen eighty one, they launched a 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:21.520 program called the Fugitive Investigative Strike Team aka FIST is 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:25.360 they're going to use their fists to get you, that's right. 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:33.080 And their goal was to do fugitive investigations, not just 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:35.720 like one person at a time, but like, let's see 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:37.159 if we can get a lot of these people at 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:41.000 one time, high concentrations of these fugitives and round them 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:43.039 up and bring them in, and how are we going 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:44.920 to do that. We're going to do that with these 0:05:45.000 --> 0:05:50.880 really kind of wacky sting operations, which you know, it's 0:05:50.920 --> 0:05:54.200 not like they were just out to have fun. There's 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:56.760 a lot of merit to doing something this way. They're 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:59.760 generally cheaper than just one at a time going after 0:05:59.800 --> 0:06:04.200 some body. Resource wise, they're safer because usually when you 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:08.200 launch something like this, they're going to be unaware. They're 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:10.640 not going to be they're not gonna have a weapon 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:13.239 on them like they might, you know, behind the door 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:16.800 of their own home that they barely crack open, so 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:19.880 you know, it's cheaper, it's generally a little safer. We're 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:21.800 going to talk about a few examples of these before 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:26.000 we get to Flagship. One very successful one was a 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.040 program called Mister Zip and this is just very low five. 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:32.359 They would have Marshalls dressed up as US mail carriers 0:06:32.760 --> 0:06:34.240 and they would just knock on your door and say 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:38.440 I got a package for how much Simpson, And they 0:06:38.440 --> 0:06:41.320 would produce their ID and sign their name and they 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:44.479 would say thank you. You're under arrest, Yeah it is you. 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:47.320 I think that was actually in The Fugitive too. 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:50.040 Yeah, that sounds familiar. 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:52.280 Yeah, I mean it's been in a lot of different. 0:06:51.920 --> 0:06:54.000 Movies, but like harre your roses that kind of thing. 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:54.920 Huh exactly. 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:55.560 Yeah. 0:06:55.600 --> 0:06:58.159 So I don't know if this is actually the origin 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:00.520 of it or not, but it certainly seems to be 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:02.400 because I don't get the impression that they did a 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:04.120 lot of this stuff before this era. 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:07.880 Yeah. What about Puno Airlines That was a pretty fun one. 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:10.320 So Puno means fist in Spanish. 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:15.800 Ugh, right, Sorry, It's just it's also like it's almost 0:07:15.840 --> 0:07:17.360 like they wanted people to figure it out. 0:07:17.640 --> 0:07:22.120 Yes, that is inherently the problem behind this whole thing 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:25.320 is a lot of this. I was about to say steps, 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:28.800 but I'm just gonna say missteps that happened to work 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:33.000 out in their favor. We're just basically like, hey, criminals, 0:07:33.480 --> 0:07:36.920 do you speak Spanish? Do you think anybody would ever 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:40.520 name their airline fist airline? Well, they want to give 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:42.520 you a free weekend to the Bahamas. 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:43.360 That's right. 0:07:43.520 --> 0:07:46.040 That was the Punos Airlines thing. And I love it, 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:49.360 like I think it's it's cool, like in retrospect, but 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:51.040 when you stop and actually think of it from a 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.200 law enforcement perspective, you just you just end up pinching 0:07:54.200 --> 0:07:56.680 the bridge of your nose. But it actually worked. 0:07:56.920 --> 0:07:59.360 Yeah, it did. They mailed these fake letters saying they 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:01.320 had won that trip plus three hundred and fifty bucks 0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:05.920 in spending money. Fourteen fugitives fell for it, and you know, 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:07.560 they send a limo to your house. It's like a 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.400 big sweepstakes basically. And most of them were arrested in 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:14.400 the limo, like the limo driver is a cop and 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:17.920 they just pull over and say you're under arrest. One 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:21.080 guy did make it to the airport at Miami International 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:25.280 and they did have a fake Puno Airlines ticket counter, 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:28.000 so they saw it through. I'll give him that much. 0:08:28.160 --> 0:08:30.160 Yeah, for sure. I think it was right next to 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:31.160 air Haiti. 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:34.800 Right, No, for real, that was okay. I never know 0:08:34.840 --> 0:08:36.679 when you're joking anymore, so. 0:08:36.240 --> 0:08:39.960 So I know, I'm sorry. I've really with reality. That 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:42.600 was nineteen eighty five. There was another one the year 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:47.440 before fifth seven. Yeah, right, but they would spell it 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:49.520 with Roman numerals and make it look super cool. 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:50.920 It's so funny. 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:52.400 Because I think this is yeah, this is the era 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:54.000 of the Rocky sequels. 0:08:54.320 --> 0:08:56.120 Yeah, Roman numerals were everywhere. 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:59.920 Yeah, that one was enormous. It was a multi state, 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:05.439 multi agency sting operation. There were one hundred and thirteen 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:09.839 Marshalls involved, five ATF agents, one hundred and five police officers, 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:14.160 all from across eight different states, and it involved a 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:18.280 bunch of different scams that really all together were part 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:22.080 of this one big sweep that was just coordinated by 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:27.079 the Marshall Service. There was one pretty straightforward in Buffalo 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:33.000 where they wrote letters to fugitives and said, hey, you 0:09:33.200 --> 0:09:36.360 don't know this, but you won ten thousand dollars in 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:38.559 the lottery. You know that lottery. You may or may 0:09:38.600 --> 0:09:41.319 not have ever played. Well, you won ten thousand dollars, 0:09:41.720 --> 0:09:44.240 but we can't give you the money unless you come 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:47.240 to the Lotto office and show us your ID and 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:48.680 then you can claim your prize. 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:52.160 That's right, That was one of them. One was a 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:57.240 job scam. It was called the Prior Offenders Employment Opportunity Program, 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:00.400 where they were say like, hey, you're a prior offender, Like, 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:01.920 I know it's hard for you to get a job. 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:03.720 We can get you a job fifteen bucks an hour. 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:05.520 Just call our number and tell us who you are 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:07.600 and where you are, and we'll set your right up. 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:11.680 That one actually seems like the most effective one because 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:16.600 it almost has like a scam sense to it, like outwardly, 0:10:16.679 --> 0:10:17.400 like overtly. 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:19.000 It may be the meanest too. 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:21.880 I think so too. I thought the same thing. 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.880 Because you might think it's mean to say you've won 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:27.760 tickets to the Bahamas, but it's really mean for someone 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:29.559 to be like, I really want to start my life 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:31.080 over and get a regular job. 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.840 Right, and like this number, have we got an opportunity 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:38.960 for you? Yeah, I agree with you. In New York 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:42.160 part of fift seven, their sting was called the Brooklyn 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:45.840 Bridge Delivery service, not to be confused with New York's 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:50.080 finest taxi service, but it's basically the same thing. Their 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:52.840 motto was don't mess with the rest, come to the best, 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:56.880 and it was essentially the same thing as mister Zip 0:10:57.040 --> 0:10:59.200 as far as the scam goes. But they would just 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:03.200 leave like we missed you, slips on their door saying 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:05.880 you have a package that you need to come pick up. 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:10.959 And there was a guy involved in this. I can't 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:15.200 remember his name, but oh, Robert Leshorn. He was one 0:11:15.240 --> 0:11:19.760 of the chief or deputy chief marshals, and this was 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:23.360 his scam. And so part of it was the criminal 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:26.560 would call to find out where to pick up their package, 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:29.440 and depending on what they were wanted for, he would 0:11:29.520 --> 0:11:33.480 tailor what was supposedly in the package. So he said, 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:37.040 like if you were wanted for robbery or theft or something, 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:39.680 it would be like a brand new stereo or something, 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:42.360 so he would tailor, which made sense. And apparently that 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:45.640 worked to a certain extent. But all of these, all 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.679 of them pale in comparison to the one that they 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:50.160 ran in Hartford connetic. 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:51.920 Oh, man, I thought you were going in the flagship. 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.120 I was like, are you not going to mention, no one. 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:55.600 Not a chance. As a matter of fact, we should 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:58.440 probably just stop after this one, because no scam in 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:01.800 the history of law enforcement ever been greater than this one. 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:05.000 Yeah, this is part of fifth seven in Hartford, Connecticut. 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:08.840 This was Hey, let's do a fake TV station giveaway 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:12.120 where you can win two tickets to a concert plus 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:15.560 dinner and a limo ride. And hey, it's nineteen eighty four. 0:12:15.760 --> 0:12:17.880 You're gonna see Van Halen on their a big, huge 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:23.640 rock tour. No no, no, Boy George and Culture Club. 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:28.240 You have won tickets to see Culture Club in nineteen 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:31.920 eighty four, and it worked, apparent. I don't know why 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.880 they chose. I don't know if it was geographical, if 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:39.280 Boy George was just like, sure, I'll take part in this, 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:42.320 he probably didn't know anything about it, or if they 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:44.720 did some research, did a little ree and found out 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:49.160 that these dudes love Boy love Culture Club. I don't know. 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:50.800 I have no idea, but that's who it was. 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.559 I saw that part of the package that they won 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:57.120 was also a photo shoot. Saw that in a couple 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:58.280 of places. 0:12:57.960 --> 0:12:59.280 With the Culture Club. 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:05.080 Yeah. And then one of the marshals who helped who 0:13:06.080 --> 0:13:10.600 headed up the Hartford Connecticut. Boy George scam said it 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:12.480 was just like one of the other ones, where like 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:15.160 when you went to get picked up by this limo, 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:17.560 right when you got in the limo, they arrested you. 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.079 He said. All these people that they got with this 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.040 were all dressed up to go to the Culture Club concert. 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:24.959 Oh god, can you imagine what. 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:27.280 They looked like when they arrived in jail, Like those 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:29.120 feathers that you clipped your ear. 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:31.360 Yeah yeah, like glitter war. 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:35.359 Paint, like on your cheeks, like the whole, the whole shebang. 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:39.600 I wonder if they said bad Karma chameleon for you, 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:43.560 my friend. I love all the extras too. It wasn't 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:45.320 just like tickets to a concert. It was always like 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:48.440 and dinner and a photo shoot. Like I guess they 0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:51.240 really thought they needed to make it something someone couldn't refuse. 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:55.320 I guess right, How can you refuse a photo shoot 0:13:55.360 --> 0:13:56.199 with boy George? 0:13:56.559 --> 0:14:02.480 Yeah, but we laugh. Fist seven netted thirty three hundred 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:06.079 arrests and is the largest fugitive round up in American 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:07.120 history still to this day. 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.520 Yeah, thirty two hundred of them came from the boy 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:10.160 George skin. 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:14.719 That feels like we have to take a break right there. 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.200 Right, I think we would be violating some sort of 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:18.559 unwritten rule if we didn't. 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:20.400 Right now, all right, we're going to come back and 0:14:20.440 --> 0:14:24.000 talk about one that netted fewer arrest but was definitely 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:26.120 fun in Operation Flagship right after this. 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:50.880 Okay, Chuck, So we're back and we're finally talking about 0:14:51.040 --> 0:14:55.800 the titular scam Operation Flagship. 0:14:57.360 --> 0:14:57.760 That's right. 0:14:57.800 --> 0:14:59.000 How do you like that? 0:14:59.000 --> 0:15:01.000 That's pretty good. I love the word titular. 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.920 Thank you. It's arousing. There's another word for it, but 0:15:05.120 --> 0:15:06.120 let's just say a rousing. 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:08.920 Yeah. Yeah, this was thought up. It was a brain 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:11.880 shout of a guy named Howard Sephir. He was head 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:15.240 of Enforcement Operations at the time. Seven was a big, 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:18.520 big success, and he's like, what at the Christmas party, 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:21.560 he's a little toasty and said, what has everybody got? 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:23.760 He had too much of Grandma's Christmas breath and he said, 0:15:23.800 --> 0:15:28.560 what's everyone got? I need some fun ideas. And Robert Leshorn, 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:32.560 the guy, the Brooklyn Bridge delivery service guy, still basking 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:36.800 in the glow of those tailor made packages to the criminals, 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:42.440 he apparently came up with this idea and it was 0:15:42.600 --> 0:15:45.720 football tickets. One of the hottest tickets in football at 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:49.280 the time. In nineteen eighty five, was there at RFK 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:53.240 Stadium for what was then the Washington Redskins. I'm now 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:56.240 the Washington Commander since the name change, but there were 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.120 the Redskins then. They had won the Super Bowl, beat 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:01.600 the Dolphins in eighty three, lost to the Raiders in 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:06.359 the Super Bowl in eighty four. In eighty five, expectations 0:16:06.400 --> 0:16:10.040 were high. Yeah, season tickets, twenty five year waiting list 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:12.880 for season tickets. Every game is sold out at RFK, 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:17.040 and so offering up free tickets to criminals in the 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:18.600 DC area seemed like a no brainer. 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:23.280 Yeah. This particular game versus the Bengals in December fifteenth, 0:16:23.360 --> 0:16:27.960 nineteen eighty five, it was to whoever won was going 0:16:28.000 --> 0:16:32.280 to win a wild card playoff berth. Yeah, which has significance. 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:34.360 So it was an important game. 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:37.640 Oh Doude, I feel like, I don't know, you should 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:41.280 get a little gold star for your football knowledge right here. 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.440 Thank you. Also not to mention too. I mean, even 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:46.480 looking back, you're like, wow, these guys were great, But 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:48.880 at the time these two were at the peak of 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:52.680 their careers. It was thisman versus Asia Sin As far 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:57.600 as the quarterbacks went theesman. Is it really? 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:01.840 Yeah? The story goes it was Joe Theisman and in 0:17:01.880 --> 0:17:05.240 college he changed it to thighsman to rhyme with heisman. 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:07.960 Oh really that's what they say. 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:08.320 Huh. 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:09.320 I'm not I'm not. 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:11.080 Sure he win the Heisman. I mean he's man. 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:13.840 Oh you know, I'm actually not sure if he did 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:16.800 or not. But his leg got snapped on National TV. 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:18.920 I was watching that game. It was horrific. 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:20.480 Wasn't that a super Bowl? 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:23.800 No? No, no, no, was in a super Bowl? 0:17:24.000 --> 0:17:26.280 Yeah? That was horrific. I mean it was a compound 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:28.640 fracture that came out of his thigh, right. 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:31.080 I don't think it was his thigh. I think it 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:33.479 was a lower leg, but I just I remember it was. 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:37.280 That was the first horrific injury that I saw on 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.520 TV that, even though I didn't know it at the time, 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:44.520 activated my mirror neurons in a way that was quite striking. 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:46.639 One of the ones that got me there was a 0:17:46.720 --> 0:17:52.359 Miami Hurricanes player in early two thousands and he was 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:56.040 like running down the sideline and somebody dove to knock 0:17:56.119 --> 0:18:02.040 him out of well, out of bounce, bounce, and and 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:06.520 they got him right and his knee, and his knee 0:18:06.760 --> 0:18:09.480 turned into like his whole his whole leg, but the 0:18:09.560 --> 0:18:12.080 apex was his knee just turned into a rubber band 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:13.960 that went really far to the left. 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:16.240 And it's always so disturbing. 0:18:16.400 --> 0:18:19.240 It was they kept showing like this was this is 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:22.919 the zeitgeist at the time. They showed that injury in 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:25.040 slow motion fifteen times. 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:26.280 Yeah, the dude was. 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:29.040 Laying on the field. They didn't cut to anything. They 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:31.119 just kept showing it over and over like it was 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:33.760 a new volume of Faces of Death or something like that. 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:36.479 Yeah, they did that for up until not too too 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:39.520 long ago, and then they stopped. Anytime there's a serious 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:41.639 injury like that, they're like, uh, we're not you know, 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:43.600 we don't show the replays of these things anymore, but. 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:45.520 We probably shouldn't feed the bloodblust. 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:46.640 Yeah exactly. 0:18:46.800 --> 0:18:50.360 But yeah, so anyway, that was that was It's forever 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:54.000 burned into my brain that image. And I don't think 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:57.760 he broke anything. He just apparently has like the most flexible, 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:01.400 resilient leg of any. 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:01.440 So he was fine. 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:03.840 Yeah, I don't know if he was fine. I don't 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:06.920 remember that. I just remember like, I don't think he 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:10.000 was like anything. Broke. It just went breo. 0:19:10.680 --> 0:19:13.080 Oh was that old rubbernee Richards. 0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.199 Yeah, yeah, but ironically I think he had the nickname 0:19:17.359 --> 0:19:20.600 before that because he could play the rubber bands on 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:21.200 his knee. 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:24.399 This has gotten so off the rails. 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:26.880 Oh yeah, we're talking about the cops. 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:28.240 And yeah, that's right, all right, So we're back to 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:30.000 Robert Leshorn. He's the one that came up with this 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:35.119 idea to give away these tickets. He said, here's what 0:19:35.160 --> 0:19:38.119 we'll do. We'll create a fake TV station, like a 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:42.040 rock music TV station, like a local MTV, basically w 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:46.040 RC Video, and that's gonna head up this whole thing, 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:48.440 the pri and this is where they get cute again. 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:50.399 The prize letters that they sent out were signed by 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:55.440 station manager I am debt naw. If you'd spell that backwards, 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:58.719 it is I am wanted get it. 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:00.000 Yeah. 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:03.159 And then the guy who they said you had to 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:07.240 call in or whatever, the business manager that took the 0:20:07.280 --> 0:20:11.119 phone call. His name was Marcus kran cr a n 0:20:11.280 --> 0:20:17.000 spelled backwards as narc no yes, and supposedly, and I 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:19.919 did not verify this, but there was one source that 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:22.960 said the whole music when you called was I fought 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:26.080 the law and the law one by Bobby Fuller. Yeah, 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:28.480 and I was like, come on, like really. 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:32.000 Right, so even if even taking that one out, it 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:34.719 is one hundred percent confirmed that they signed it. I 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:37.960 am wanted backwards. I am Debton. Aw Yeah the cran 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:40.200 thing is that pretty much one hundred percent? 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:42.800 Oh yeah, I mean it's in the NFL Films documentary. 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:44.800 You see the guy typing that name in a computer. 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:47.760 Yeah, so like this is like, these are the things 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:49.840 that they're doing to just make it like a whole 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:53.639 tee thing right right to where if you again, for 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:57.080 no reason back, no reason but to amuse themselves like 0:20:57.320 --> 0:21:00.000 there's no reason. As we'll see. I'm sure part of 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.520 the reason also was for the media blitz that they 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:05.400