WEBVTT - The Right Choice 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:03.800 Previously on Number one Dad. 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:10.799 After dozens of buyers claimed they were cheated, the State 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:14.400 Attorney General's Office filed suit yesterday against Meter Sales, Inc. 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:19.000 I'm wondering does he live in our house still? 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:21.520 I'm not sure where he is now, but I can 0:00:21.680 --> 0:00:24.600 say that he had a house when I last spoke 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:25.040 with him. 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:27.200 Do you have his phone number? 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:31.920 I deleted his cell phone number, but the old house 0:00:31.960 --> 0:00:34.280 phone was working when we last spoke. 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:43.840 It is March ninth, twenty twenty two, and I am 0:00:43.920 --> 0:01:00.200 going to call my house phone. 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:05.240 Hello, we are not available now. 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.399 Please leave your name and phone number. After the beat, 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:10.119 we will return your club. 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:13.160 My dad, It's Gary. 0:01:13.560 --> 0:01:16.640 I am. I know it's been a long time, but 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:22.760 I am calling you because I been thinking a lot about. 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:24.839 Memory full. 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:32.280 Okay, oh boy, I don't know what that means. Apparently 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:35.800 the message I was just about to leave my dad, 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:42.360 I guess it's full. So well, I have no idea 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.360 what is going on. I got to figure something out here. 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:59.440 This is Number one Dad. 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.440 I just called my dad. What Yeah, did you talk 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:03.960 to him? 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:04.480 No? 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:07.040 I was leaving a message and it got fed off. 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:12.160 I'm like halfway through the message and then it just. 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:12.799 Like just drop the call. 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.240 So I have no idea if if he got it 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:18.120 at all, I don't know what are you gonna do. 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:21.000 I don't know. I feel like that's not good. 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:24.960 I know, I feel like I do I call back. 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:27.360 I don't know because I don't fall back. 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:29.040 I mean, I think you just have to like wait 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:31.959 at this point, I don't know, wait and see. Maybe 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:32.880 he'll pull you back. 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:35.160 I don't know. Well, I don't even know. I don't 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:37.280 even know if it went it went through. 0:02:37.680 --> 0:02:39.120 It was just like, oh, well I picked up was 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:44.359 an automated message, Hey buddy, Yeah, I don't know. Well, 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:46.600 waiting to see if my dad calls me back. I 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.280 did some more digging on the concert pulled over the years. 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.960 As I said in a previous episode Core Record Show, 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:55.480 he was a defendant or plane if in twenty three 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.720 court cases since nineteen eighty four. 0:02:58.360 --> 0:02:59.560 But the biggest case he. 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.360 Was ever were involved in was when my father was 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:03.920 sued by AT and T. 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:12.280 You have reached the United States District Court for the 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:17.440 Eastern District of New York for the Clerk's office Press one, 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:21.240 thank you for calling the Eastern District. 0:03:21.680 --> 0:03:21.840 Hi. 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.240 I was wondering if I could get case files for 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:27.799 something that happened back in like the nineties. I've never 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:30.680 done this before, but it's a public case, and I 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.880 was wondering how I could go about finding this information 0:03:34.520 --> 0:03:34.920 before I. 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:38.440 Transchew over and you said, this is dating back nineties. 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:42.320 Correct, correct, nineteen ninety four through like nineteen ninety. 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.960 Five, Brooklyn Courthouse. 0:03:46.320 --> 0:03:48.400 So my father was involved in a case in the 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.400 early nineties, and I'm just trying to get information on 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:53.120 that case that he was involved in. 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:56.600 Good morning to court. 0:03:56.880 --> 0:03:59.960 Hi, I'm looking to pick up docs for a court case. 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.240 Cent transcription for a case that was back in the nineties, 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:05.520 and I was told to contact your number. 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:06.720 What is the title of the matter? 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:11.720 The title Veda versus at and t okay. 0:04:11.360 --> 0:04:16.960 Very good. These are all documents that preceded electronic filing, 0:04:17.120 --> 0:04:20.039 so I would doubt very much that we would have 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:22.800 them here in the court. All right, you should address 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:26.320 a letter to our office, okay, and you can request 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:28.800 that the court ordered the documents and have them sent 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:29.960 back to the courthouse. 0:04:30.160 --> 0:04:32.160 Do you know how long this process takes? 0:04:32.920 --> 0:04:35.200 As soon as we receive the letter, will get the 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:37.640 information to you. Is it's just a matter of looking 0:04:37.720 --> 0:04:40.479 it up in our files that we maintained here, so 0:04:40.520 --> 0:04:43.440 we could chenet around in a day and then the 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:46.320 court can make copies for you. It would be fifty 0:04:46.320 --> 0:04:49.040 cents per page. You would come to the US Federal 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:52.279 Courthouse in Centralized lovel We're just off of the EXS 0:04:52.440 --> 0:04:54.600 forty three A of the Southern State Parkway. 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:58.720 In the early nineties, my father owned and operated a 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:01.360 small private pay phone come and he called Payphone Plus. 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:05.240 He'd install payphones in various businesses across Long Island, New 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:08.960 York City, and New Jersey. But being my father, he 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:12.159 was less than truthful with how he represented himself. From 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.600 what I know, he'd tell people he was an employee 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:18.000 for AT and T, which was the biggest payphone provider 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:21.240 back then. Well, AT and T got wind of what 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:23.400 he was doing and went after him in court to 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.360 shut him down. Before I headed out to Long Island 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:28.719 to pick up the court files, I decided to connect 0:05:28.800 --> 0:05:30.920 with a few people who work with my father back 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:33.640 then to find out what exactly happened. 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:37.120 Your dad's an interesting person, and there are times I 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:39.159 certainly missed that we're not in touch. 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:42.640 My cousin Mason grew up in Queens New York, only 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:45.479 a few subway stops away from my father. They would 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.240 see each other all the time as kids and as adults. 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:50.640 My father's the one who got him involved in the 0:05:50.680 --> 0:05:51.600 payphone business. 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:53.840 He was a great cousin growing up. 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:57.880 He had personality, He was funny, he would get things done. 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:02.200 He was considerate at times, but there frequently seemed to 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:05.320 be a motive behind it. Actually got into the business 0:06:05.320 --> 0:06:08.200 because your dad. Okay, this is a good example of 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:11.800 where your dad was looking out for me. Well, there 0:06:11.800 --> 0:06:15.000 were some enterprising people decided they wanted to be independent 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:20.240 payphone providers. Payphone being something for more ancient history, a 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:23.920 publicly used terminal on the streets where you would walk 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:26.760 up and I remember my earliest days it was ten 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:29.640 cents and then became a quarter and you would make 0:06:29.640 --> 0:06:32.560 your call from there. So it was primarily a way 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:35.720 to stay in touch for business people on the road, 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:38.320 and it was pre cell phone days for the most part. 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:42.080 So he had gotten into the payphone business and told 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:44.760 me about it. Your dad was operating his company up 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:48.200 in New York and I was operating my company in 0:06:48.279 --> 0:06:49.719 the DC metro area. 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:53.599 I remember him having payphones, I mean his coverage was substantial. 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:57.480 He had most toys, r usses, he had pizza parlors. 0:06:57.760 --> 0:06:59.400 He had Bagel Boss. 0:06:59.160 --> 0:07:01.720 Which is which is a huge bagel chain on Long Island. 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:05.239 You'd have payphones and bars, you'd have them, strip clubs, gyms, 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.400 I mean, you know, anywhere, any anything that was public 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:10.920 that at a high volume of people. 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:13.800 I'm surprised he didn't want put up phones in yours 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:15.200 and your sister's rooms growing up. 0:07:15.200 --> 0:07:16.360 Because there's a chance. 0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:20.120 To make something per call, right, So payphones became an 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:24.440 attractive business for those willing to learn a bit of technology, 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:28.960 a little bit of construction electrical software, and create a 0:07:29.240 --> 0:07:34.440 service team to go out maintain phones and collect the money, 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:36.240 count it and deposit it in a bank. 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:40.120 How do you get approval to put a payphone in 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.120 a restaurant, a bar, or you know, just a public area. 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:46.800 Okay, this is the early days of the payphones. I say, look, 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:51.040 I can provide you quicker service, better service for your customers. 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:54.600 Plus I'll give you a percentage of my revenue and 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:57.520 you let me own and operate my phones and your premises. 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:00.240 So that would have been the pitch that he or 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.400 I or almost anybody would have made what were some. 0:08:03.320 --> 0:08:06.280 Of the ways you wouldcall How he ran his business. 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:10.720 So he learned the technology first, and he used phones, equipment, 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:14.920 and boards that were manufactured by AT and T. AT 0:08:15.040 --> 0:08:18.760 and T was the brand name in communication. I mean, 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.160 even to this day, AT and T still has one 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:24.240 of the largest networks of cell phone coverage. 0:08:24.520 --> 0:08:27.200 Every day, over thirty million AT and T calls go 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:32.040 through on the first try, thanks to a remarkably intelligent 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:36.640 network that forecast traffic, anticipates tie ups, and determines that 0:08:36.760 --> 0:08:40.120 put its way around all in less time than it 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.840 takes to dial AT and T the right choice. 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.880 He liked having the brand on there, and I remember 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:51.160 one seeing a business card of his that had AT 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:55.520 and T on it, and I don't remember, honestly if 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:56.960 it had Payphone Plus or not. 0:08:57.520 --> 0:09:00.760 So I think at some level there. 0:09:00.640 --> 0:09:03.000 Might have been the thought on the part of people 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:06.000 who were working with him that he was the phone company. 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:08.000 Do you ever say anything to him about that, the 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:10.080 fact that he has a business card for a company 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:11.600 that he clearly doesn't work for. 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.280 Having never been on a sales call with him, I 0:09:14.320 --> 0:09:17.280 can't say that he ever told a client or a 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:21.719 prospective customer, hey, I am AT and T. But I 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:25.360 do remember saying to him, when I call your number, 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:27.600 that chime comes up as if it's AT and T. 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.679 Are you working for AT and T now? And he 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:31.839 would laugh it off. 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:36.600 So I was under the impression that being confused with 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:40.200 the big brand in terms of providing that phone service 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:43.960 to customers was of interest to him. I said, sooner 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:46.400 or later, aren't they going to come after you? This 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:50.720 is a property of theirs, that brand, that logo. 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:53.880 My sister Jamie and I would often take along with 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:55.760 my father while he serviced his payphones. 0:09:56.000 --> 0:09:59.080 Some of the locations he would take me to and 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:01.960 you know, and bring my daughter to work, and he'd 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.400 have me wearing like this shirt that said AT and 0:10:04.480 --> 0:10:07.679 T and it had the logo on it, not knowing 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:09.920 that you can't do that. You can't just use a 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:10.880 company's logo. 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:12.760 Well you didn't know that. 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:15.439 He knew that, now, Yeah, he definitely knew that he 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:19.040 couldn't do that. And these places weren't small time places 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:21.520 like he had payphones in Costco, yes, which was a 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:24.200 huge account, but they believed that they were working with 0:10:24.280 --> 0:10:24.920 AT and T. 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:28.880 That's right, he's scamming these big companies that are like 0:10:28.960 --> 0:10:32.400 signing off on these contracts, and now the contracts misrepresent 0:10:32.520 --> 0:10:34.720 him as if they're working with AT and T, and 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:36.199 they were never working with AT and T. 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:38.640 When my sister and I would be on the job 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.440 with my dad, it wasn't your normal experience of going 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:42.400 to work with your parent. 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:45.160 He'd give me gum, so you know, here you're a kid. 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:48.160 You're getting gum like awesome. Then he stops the car 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:50.560 and he says, oh, you see that payphone over there, 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:52.800 the gum I just gave you. I want you to 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.600 take that gum and stick in the coin set. This 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.920 wasn't his payphone. He would go to the nearest payphones 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:03.480 surrounding his payphone and jam them up, or have me 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:04.280 jam them up. 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:06.439 Right, I did the same thing. I did the exact 0:11:06.480 --> 0:11:07.200 same thing with them. 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:08.240 Get the wire. 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:11.720 He'd like have flyers and he'd cut the wire with Yeah, 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.240 you always wonder if people always wonder, you know, back 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:16.160 in the day when paypons existed and you go to 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:18.319 get grab a payphone, the wire's cut. 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:20.599 That was probably many exactly. 0:11:21.320 --> 0:11:23.640 He would say that his payphones were getting screwed up, 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:24.720 so that's why he was doing that. 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:27.000 They were doing it to his which I do not believe. 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:30.400 Yes, but he had that those coins that were called slugs. 0:11:30.840 --> 0:11:32.040 I think he named them that. 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:34.080 It looked like it was a quarter, but it was 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.440 more like rigid and would get stuck in a coin slot. 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:39.840 So I think that he like kind of shaped these 0:11:39.880 --> 0:11:42.000 slugs and then so that was another way to jam 0:11:42.040 --> 0:11:42.880 it up outside of. 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:44.040 Gum as well. 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:46.680 I remember he was breaking the headsets too with a 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:48.800 hammer and then we would just drive off. 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:52.680 Yeah, he would stop it. Nothing to jam up this competition. 0:11:52.360 --> 0:11:53.960 Literally, yeah, yeah, exactly. 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:57.359 I asked Mason if he was aware of any malicious 0:11:57.440 --> 0:12:00.240 or even illegal stuff that went on in the payphone business. 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.080 I mentioned that we would interact, we communicate with the 0:12:04.080 --> 0:12:06.319 phone because it was a computer, and that meant there 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.960 was a board inside of our phone boxes. Well, those 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.760 boards were frequently worth more than the money that was 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:18.439 accumulating in the box, and there were people who devised 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:23.080 ways to break through the box quickly. If they could 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:25.360 take the money, fine, but they were really after the 0:12:25.400 --> 0:12:28.720 board because they could sell those boards on a secondary 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:31.959 market for a fraction of their original price, which was 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.200 about eight hundred two one thousand dollars. So that was 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:38.400 big time money. Then you could then resell that board 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:41.520 to another payphone provider who is very happy to buy 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:43.319 this used board that fell off of the truck. 0:12:43.480 --> 0:12:45.280 That was the thing my dad. He wouldn't even go 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:48.480 just for the computer. He would take the entire phone. 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.560 He'd grab a drill and take it right off the wall. 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:54.680 While I'd be in the car. I was essentially a 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.720 lookout and he would tell me to honk if I 0:12:57.760 --> 0:12:59.120 saw anyone coming. 0:12:59.240 --> 0:13:02.680 That does not surprised me, but I can't say that 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:03.280 he's done that. 0:13:03.320 --> 0:13:04.160 I don't know that. 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:07.160 What caused you to end the relationship with my father. 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:10.160 It was a sad decision. I mentioned that it was 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:11.200 over some business. 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.320 I wanted to know more, but Mason said he preferred 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:17.200 not to get into the details of their falling out. 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:20.760 I've always been curious about what my father was thinking, 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:23.040 what he'd rip people off. Did he weigh the pros 0:13:23.080 --> 0:13:25.960 and cons of every scheme? Mason shared his thoughts on 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:27.280 how my father operated. 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.880 Your dad always intrigued me because it always seemed to 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:34.320 me that every one of us, when we make a decision. 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:37.920 We weigh the rewards and the risk. We don't want 0:13:37.960 --> 0:13:39.000 to fail. 0:13:39.160 --> 0:13:41.000 We don't want to be embarrassed, we don't want to 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:44.000 be punished, and we certainly don't want anything that could 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:48.760 potentially lead to legal action. Your dad, however, stretched boundaries, 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:54.439 and I think he got a great emotional payback when. 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:55.880 He succeeded doing these things. 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:58.360 I mean, he should have gone into politics, frankly, with 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:01.160 that type of mindset would have been ideal for. 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:04.240 I am about to. 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:09.720 Get off the exit here on the Long Island Expressway. 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:14.480 I am heading to the Federal Courthouse to get the 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:15.800 AT and T documents. 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.280 I'm hoping that there's. 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:26.640 A good amount of information in there shed some light 0:14:26.680 --> 0:14:33.760 on what actually happened. But it's been five days since 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.800 I called my dad and. 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:38.480 I still have not heard that from him. 0:14:38.880 --> 0:14:43.160 So he maybe didn't get the message. Maybe he did 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:45.560 get it and doesn't want to talk to me. Or 0:14:47.160 --> 0:14:51.200 that's not even his number, and that's he doesn't live 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.360 at the house anymore. So these are the things that 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:56.040 are going through my head right now. 0:14:57.680 --> 0:14:59.440 And I am here. 0:15:19.760 --> 0:15:25.600 How are you uh to the clerk's office? 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:28.720 Okay, do you. 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:29.440 Have a god? 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:39.000 Yeah? 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:42.480 I I am now leaving the Federal Court House. I 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:45.960 wasn't able to record anything. They took all my recording 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:48.640 equipment I had. I didn't think that they would do that, 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:52.520 but yeah, they took it. Uh, but I got I 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:56.600 got the documents, so I am uh yeah, I gotta 0:15:56.680 --> 0:16:03.960 I gotta go through all this stuff. Hey, babe, Hey, 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:06.040 I just picked up the court documents. 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:09.800 Oh my god, Wow, did you read anything yet? 0:16:10.200 --> 0:16:12.360 No, it's like a ton of stuff. So it's gonna 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:14.560 take me a long time to go through it. 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:16.040 Are you on you a home? 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:17.120 Yeah? 0:16:17.200 --> 0:16:20.320 Well, I'll be home in like two hours. 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:25.920 I'm gonna stop by my house, my home, You're gonna 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:26.320 go now? 0:16:27.360 --> 0:16:28.480 Yeah, I know, he said the way. 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:30.840 I just feel like I have to like be getting 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:31.840 some sort of sign. 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:32.120 If he's there. 0:16:32.160 --> 0:16:33.480 And oh my god. 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:37.040 Well, I mean just keep like keep me posted as 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:37.680 best you can. 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:49.280 I will be careful, baby, but I love you. Bye. 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:53.240 There's no doubt in my mind that Manny could have 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:54.480 been anything you wanted. 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.400 Mark palm Mary is a professor at Mercy College, but 0:16:57.520 --> 0:17:00.000 for two years in the mid nineties he works for 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:00.600 my father. 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:02.800 He probably just didn't have the patience to go through 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:05.480 the front door. Could he have been a detective, absolutely, 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:08.760 Could he have been a professional photographer, absolutely? Could he 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.680 been a lawyer. Yeah, And I use those examples because 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:13.720 I actually saw him play those roles. 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:16.040 Mark men my father when he was going into a 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:18.560 senior year of college at wake Forest, where he was 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:21.440 the pitcher for their baseball team. Soon after my father 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:23.160 hired him to give me pitching lessons. 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:25.359 I never thought I'd ever talk to you again. 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.400 Well, it was amazing to hear from you, obviously, And 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:31.200 one of the interesting things I realized that I often 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:33.920 do think of Manny and speak of him and tell 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:37.359 some of those stories from those days. So we met. 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:40.040 Right after my fourth year of college, which was my 0:17:40.280 --> 0:17:43.600 last year playing baseball. I started a little bit of 0:17:43.640 --> 0:17:48.919 a small business, really trying to become a private pitching 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:53.000 coach for high school kids, little league kids, whatever. You know, 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:57.160 it's kind of a common thing. And your dad contacted 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:00.800 me and we would meet at a park somewhere in 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:04.720 Suffolk County and I would give you basic throwing and 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:07.040 pitching lessons. And you were really you were really young. 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:09.159 You were like eight years old or something. And that 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:11.840 was our relationship over the over that summer, and then 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.000 so that fall, I needed to make money to put 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:17.520 down for an apartment and I mentioned that that was 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:21.000 the situation to your dad, and your dad said, well, 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:24.000 you can work for me. And that's when I joined 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:30.399 the rank and file of Payphones Plus, which is what 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:31.679 we're going to talk about. 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:34.760 What started becoming like your task with the payphone company. 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:38.800 So my job was to get to the phones, replace 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:41.960 the full coin box with an empty coin box, put 0:18:42.000 --> 0:18:45.360 the heavy box full of quarters and nickels and dimes 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.160 in the car, and drive to the next phone. And 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.720 he would prepare like a list with the addresses, and 0:18:52.440 --> 0:18:55.960 we'd come up with a kind of strategy in terms 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:57.879 of the order of the phone that made sense. You 0:18:57.960 --> 0:18:59.600 know where they were in. They were on Long Island, 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:01.840 they were Queen's, they were in Westchester, and they were 0:19:01.840 --> 0:19:03.720 in the city, you know, Manhattan. They were all over 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:04.159 the place. 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:07.119 He had tons of accounts and he was NonStop collecting. 0:19:07.480 --> 0:19:10.880 It was NonStop, and we bring all the boxes into 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:15.280 the basement of your home and he would empty had 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:18.600 this machine that would just count quarters, you know, you 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:22.600 would just dump these thousands of quarters into this huge funnel. 0:19:23.000 --> 0:19:25.480 And that was a normal day. And I could be 0:19:26.440 --> 0:19:29.200 just on my own for that, or sometimes I would 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:31.880 ride with Manny and we would be doing that together. 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:35.680 So that was like the job description kind of way 0:19:35.720 --> 0:19:40.280 of describing my role. Of course, my role evolved and 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:43.920 became more complicated and adventurous over time. 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:46.800 Payphone plus became just one of the reasons my father 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:47.600 employed Mark. 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:50.800 The job got more interesting in that it wasn't always 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:54.359 directly related to the payphones. It would be like, oh, 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:57.480 I need you to sit in the car outside the courthouse. 0:19:57.640 --> 0:19:59.119 He had a business, I guess in the eighties, so 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:01.800 something to do with furniture or Veta sales, and my 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:04.760 job for it was at least three hours. It was 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:09.040 just to sit in the car which was illegally parked, 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:10.960 you know, so that it like right in front of 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:12.800 the court, Like he can't park right in front of 0:20:12.800 --> 0:20:13.360 the courthouse. 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:14.160 But that was manny. 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:17.560 It was another time he parked right in front of 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:20.480 a fire hydrant and I alerted him to this. It 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:24.399 was a you know, massive ticket on the windshield, and 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:27.960 he took out his camera and said, so the garbage 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:29.760 bag zero in front of the restaurant. Let's put those 0:20:29.800 --> 0:20:31.879 all around the fire hydrant. And so he buried the 0:20:31.880 --> 0:20:34.480 fire hydrant in garbage bags and then took a series 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:38.280 of photographs to prove that the garbage, you know, obscured 0:20:38.320 --> 0:20:40.240 the fire hydrant, and he had no idea there was 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:42.159 one there and that was you know. So he had 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:44.159 all these rate ways. He like, he was very confident. 0:20:44.200 --> 0:20:46.399