WEBVTT - Molto Ridicolo: Vincenzo Pipino 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:05.880 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio Zaren Elizabeth. 0:00:06.040 --> 0:00:07.040 You know it's ridiculous. 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:09.559 Oh yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, I do. 0:00:09.880 --> 0:00:10.200 Yes. 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.000 Actually, the reason I know this is because one of 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:15.680 our listeners was kind enough to share something that I 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:17.799 particularly the interns handed it to me and I was like, 0:00:17.920 --> 0:00:21.479 that's not ridiculous, that's genius. But they said it's ridiculous, 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:24.280 so I'm gonna go with them. Listener Ryan M. Ratley 0:00:24.800 --> 0:00:30.240 aka Boo Ratley. They wrote in a message to the Instagram, 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.120 I believe and said quote something ridiculous. 0:00:32.600 --> 0:00:33.360 But not a crime. 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:36.440 There is a tree in Georgia that legally owns itself 0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:41.320 and the eight foot area around it's right. The former 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:43.800 owner of the land had so many good childhood memories 0:00:43.880 --> 0:00:46.120 under the tree that when he died, he willed the 0:00:46.120 --> 0:00:49.840 tree to itself in an effort to preserve it. In 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:53.800 nineteen forty two, a storm blew it over, but someone 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.400 saved an acorn from the tree and planted it on 0:00:57.520 --> 0:01:00.440 the spot as the sun of the old tree. The 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:04.200 new tree legally inherited the land. So there is a 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:07.280 tree that owns the land inherited from its father. 0:01:07.560 --> 0:01:12.800 A tree that is incredible. That is so beautifully ridiculous, 0:01:12.840 --> 0:01:13.880 and I love it so much. 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:16.679 I want to go around giving and bestowing legal rights 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:19.319 on trees and rocks at rivers. I'm going to become 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:21.320 a lawyer just so I can do Who sent this 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:21.679 to us? 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:26.600 Ryan Ratley? That was dope. You made both our days. 0:01:26.640 --> 0:01:30.360 Yes, and yes, it is ridiculous. 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:33.840 But it's also super awesome. That is ridiculously awesome. You 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:35.600 want to know what else is ridiculous? Oh yeah, I'm 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.080 here for stealing art only to give it right back. 0:01:38.520 --> 0:02:01.400 What this is ridiculous crime. I'm a podcast about absurd 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:05.560 and outrageous caper's heiss and cons. It's always ninety nine 0:02:05.600 --> 0:02:09.240 percent murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous. You heard 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:11.720 that we don't like murder, No, we do not. We 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:13.320 like principled thieves. 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:15.880 Yeah, we like someone who does it for the people. 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:18.480 I this guy I'm going to tell you about does 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.440 it for the people's erin does he? He he hates 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.720 murderous and he's a principled thief. 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:25.200 I like that. 0:02:25.880 --> 0:02:28.480 I think he may be one of my favorite crimers 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:29.200 we've had on here. 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.120 So really excited. 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:34.440 Yes, when he was about eight years old, he committed 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:35.160 his first crime. 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:37.760 I like, when you start young, it tells me we're 0:02:37.760 --> 0:02:38.960 in very I know, right. 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:41.520 Eight years old crime. So at the time, he was 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:43.359 tired of the jobs that he'd had. 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:45.760 Numerous jobs. 0:02:46.360 --> 0:02:48.200 He worked in a morgue for a little. 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:50.119 Bit, for a little bit and age. 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:52.880 Yeah, but he decided it wasn't for him. And then 0:02:52.919 --> 0:02:55.280 he got a job working at a bakery. But he 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:56.840 kept eating all the baked goods. 0:02:56.639 --> 0:02:58.359 Probably because he was angry child. 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:02.280 Yeah, let him go. He got high on their supply. 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:05.880 So he retired from the traditional workforce in the age 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:06.160 of eight. 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:08.680 Oh, I thought he started carrying like hot rivets on 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:10.840 the still buildings. He got a hopper and he was 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:11.360 climbing up. 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:14.160 No, he retired, and then he turned to a life 0:03:14.200 --> 0:03:14.600 of crime. 0:03:14.720 --> 0:03:15.560 Oh good for him. 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:18.760 What was his first theft? He was walking by a 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:24.640 dairy and sitting, no, sitting outside, cattle rustler. Sitting outside 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:28.359 was a fifty liter milk tin, all right full and 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:29.040 that's like those. 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:30.320 Big old silver wants with a double handle. 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:32.560 Yeah, yeah, okay, I believe I will, said the boy, 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:33.200 or rather. 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:36.960 Oh yes, I believe I will. In Italian, thank you, Elizabeth, 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:38.240 I'll be translating if you want. 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:40.080 This is a good time to tell you that this 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:43.640 takes place in Venice, Italy. Okay, yes, in nineteen fifty one. 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:44.560 Oh, I like you. 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.080 That's when he's eight years old. This is three years 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:49.000 after The Bicycle Thief. 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.360 Oh yeah, the movie Yeah totally and then really not 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:52.520 called it the Bicycle Thieves. 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.600 Yeah, he grew up with the Thief and the bicycle 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:59.640 zikas the bicycle Thieves. I suppose you know that illustrated 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.680 the desk inspiration faced by Italians struggling in a war 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:06.760 torn So this little boy sees the milk rolls that 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.320 jug on home. When he gets to his house, his 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:11.720 mother takes one look at the jug and then starts 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:15.400 dividing it up with the neighbors. He gotta live. 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:17.560 They're in post war depressions. 0:04:17.600 --> 0:04:20.440 It's just great, exactly. So the boy then smashed up 0:04:20.440 --> 0:04:23.080 the tin and sold it for scrap like the kids, right. 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:29.599 This little boy was named Vincenzo Peppinocen Vincenzo. He was 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:32.680 born in nineteen forty three in Venice and after the war, 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:35.520 his dad worked as a ferry boat captain. There was 0:04:35.560 --> 0:04:36.599 no money, that's. 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:36.920 What was morning. 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:38.880 Do they have any like a tourist economy. 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:40.920 No, No, just rebuilding. 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:42.720 So they're doing the lace and moving boats around. 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:46.520 Yeah, they over on Burano, they had they had a 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:50.000 really rough go of it. So Vincenzo starts stealing. This 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.040 is how he learns his way around those like labyrinthine 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:55.839 streets of Venice. Have you ever been to Venice? 0:04:55.880 --> 0:04:56.600 No, I've never been. 0:04:56.839 --> 0:04:58.599 I know a lot of people say Venice is an 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:01.760 overrated tourist trap, but it most certainly is not. 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:03.719 I love you've been a couple of times. 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:06.240 Yeah, yes, as you know, there are no cars there. 0:05:07.000 --> 0:05:08.960 You get around either on foot or by boat. 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:11.360 I love all the bridges. 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:15.440 Yeah, and at night, the you know, the winding streets 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:19.080 so quiet. The place is amazingly sinister, but like in 0:05:19.080 --> 0:05:23.520 a good way. It's not Savannah Georgia, sinister where the 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:24.680 sins of the past are haunted. 0:05:25.160 --> 0:05:26.400 You can hear the chains in the wind. 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:30.480 Exactly, no offense Savannah. There are these quiet little neighborhoods 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:33.839 in Venice, beautiful areas outside of the tourist zone along 0:05:33.880 --> 0:05:34.520 the Grand Canal. 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:36.560 I say this like I've just seen pictures, but yes, 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:37.159 I'm familiar. 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:39.680 It's not easy to navigate those streets. It's in no 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:40.800 way laid out in the grid. 0:05:40.920 --> 0:05:43.159 Oh really, yeah, I had I had the canals like 0:05:43.200 --> 0:05:45.400 in the Netherlands, like Amsterdam. 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:50.600 Not at all, not at all. It's all winding, you know, Serpentines. 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:53.400 I had a professor in grad school who had this 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.279 theory about how cities whose streets are laid out in 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.680 the grid are masculine and those with winding streets are feminine. 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:00.880 Are they a man or a woman? 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:01.400 Man? 0:06:01.800 --> 0:06:02.200 Interesting? 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:03.279 Did you agree with them? 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:04.360 I don't know. 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:05.440 It seems like a man's idea. 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:08.279 Barcelona's pretty much laid on a grid, but Barcelona feels 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:09.000 very feminine. 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.599 Yeah, Maggie, I haven't been to Barstone either, but looking 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:12.880 at it interesting thing. 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:15.960 To think about when we're another anyway. Venice can feel 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:17.960 like a maze to the uninitiated. 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:18.599 Oh I bet. 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:22.000 But Vincenzo knew his way around as his little you know, 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:25.159 this little preteen thief, and soon he gets a gig 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:27.960 as a delivery boy. One day on the job, he's 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:30.520 walking down the street and he sees a thirty kilo 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.960 bag of sugar. I can't say where this bag was 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:35.640 or who was supposed to be watching it, but a 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:38.479 bag of that size may have well been full of gold. 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:39.400 Oh yeah, sugar. 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:42.000 At that point, sugar was at a premium. It took 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:44.840 a long time to rebuild after the war. England was 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:47.719 on rations for a few years after and they won. Yeah, 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:50.400 so it took like five or six years for Italy's 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:53.440 economy to return to pre war levels, at least on paper. 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:55.680 Totally. I listened to all those old radio shows in 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:57.760 America they were also rationing sugar, where it's like, oh, 0:06:57.800 --> 0:06:59.320 you got the blue stamps for sugar, then you ain't 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:00.920 getting it, and so. 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:03.160 You know, the reality on the street is always much 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:05.280 worse than sort of as you play out on the books. 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:09.560 So sugar was in demand at the time. People were 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:12.040 selling it by the gram like it was disco dust. 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:13.560 Yes, totally, just. 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:15.680 A graham for the holidays, as they'd say, that's it. 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:17.400 That's a shout out to all my nine o two 0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:22.600 and oh loving palace from UC Davis Coaggi's So here's Vincenzo, 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:27.000 He's got thirty kilos of Hawaii's finest sweetened by the Sun. 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:30.360 His dad saw the bag and looked at the label 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.320 on the side. Property of the Italian navy. Yikes, that's 0:07:34.680 --> 0:07:38.200 ben So he told his son to give it back. 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:41.760 So Vincenzo started to argue, and then his nana, his grandma, 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:46.480 piped up. No, She shouted, the sugar stays here. She's like, look, 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:48.360 I have seen things like we are. 0:07:48.280 --> 0:07:49.840 Keeping this, who is it? 0:07:49.920 --> 0:07:51.560 That's our navy, that's our sugar. 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:54.360 And what Nana says goes. So the family utn't get 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:58.120 By the time he was thirteen, his thieving was totally 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:04.360 out of control. Yet right his mom was terrified, not 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:07.000 only that he'd be caught, she worried about his soul. 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:10.720 So she hatched a plan. She told him that another 0:08:10.840 --> 0:08:13.920 resident in their apartment building had an accident a while back, 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:17.240 before he was born. You you don't remember this, Vincenzo. 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.320 This woman was coming home late and trying not to 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:22.760 make a lot of noise. Her leg gave out and 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:24.800 she fell down the stairs in the dark and died 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:29.920 instantly when she was impaled on exposed nail. Yikes, I 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:32.080 mean that happened to me once and I died instantly, 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:32.719 so I believe it. 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:33.959 Yeah, totally sounds painful. 0:08:34.040 --> 0:08:37.440 Yeah, so the leg, the reason for the fall, was restless, 0:08:38.600 --> 0:08:43.240 and now it haunted their building. It was a ghost leg. 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:45.120 Now just the leg. 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.560 Yeah. The mom's like, there's a ghost leg and it 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:54.400 is cursing young boys who come home late. No, it's 0:08:54.400 --> 0:09:00.080 not hopping, it's floating. But how does it anyway, So 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:04.600 a ghost leg had a name, okay, like the Golden Leg. 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:10.439 Vincenzo was terrified. He didn't want the ghost leg getting 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:15.080 him wriggling its little haunted toes at him, so he 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.120 changed his ways. He started stealing during the day. 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:19.280 Smart kid. 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.319 Yeah, but he still needed to creep out at night. 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:24.800 So he practiced, and he practiced until he became really 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.360 good at climbing up the outside walls of the apartment 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.679 building spider spider Man style, you know, Spider Man d 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:34.920 DA style. That way, the ghost leg, which apparently lived 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.760 inside the building, was unaware that he was outside scrabbling 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:38.400 up the facade. 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:40.120 It totally makes ghost leg sense to me. 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:42.440 It totally makes sense. When he was at the ripe 0:09:42.440 --> 0:09:45.320 age of fourteen, he learned a new trick. He was 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:48.439 out at the Lido, which is the beach area in Venice. 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:50.320 At fourteen fourteen, so he's like six years into his 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:52.840 crime curses. He's like still an apprentice journeyman. He's not 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:53.680 quite a master, but. 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:56.280 He gets there with this. It's like, so there's this 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:59.400 like Barrier Island beach area. He and his friends they 0:09:59.520 --> 0:10:01.400 go out to the beach and they would crawl under 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:04.920 the changing huts where they had previously drilled holes brilliant, 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:07.440 and they would watch the ladies change into their swim suit. 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:09.240 So I thought for changing stuff to drop. 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:13.440 They were peeping. Who were some of these ladies, Actress 0:10:13.440 --> 0:10:16.439 Gina l La Brigida Wow. And then someone making her 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:20.360 third appearance on this show, Sophia Lren Because this was 0:10:20.400 --> 0:10:24.240 like the bay call for me, this is the vacation hotspot. 0:10:24.520 --> 0:10:26.640 So they'd hang out under the huts all day, gock 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:27.760 in it lady's tushies. 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:28.160 Huh. 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:31.400 But Vincenzo, he had more crimes on his mind than 0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:35.120 just gross invaved into privacy, right yeah. Uh. He realized 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:38.959 that come wintertime he could unscrew the floorboards of the 0:10:39.080 --> 0:10:40.960 huts and then he'd be able to come back in 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:43.440 the summer and lift out the planks while the tourists 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.199 were out frolicking in the sun. So at that point 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:48.360 he could slip in and take their valuable. 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:49.040 That's what I thought they were trying to do the 0:10:49.080 --> 0:10:49.640 first and no. 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:52.800 One sees him going in or out. So generally when 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:54.480 he did this, he grabbed a few lara out of 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:54.959 the wallets. 0:10:54.960 --> 0:10:56.360 Okay, that's why I figured they just get a hand 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:58.680 up and reach him. But he's the whole plank, that's he's. 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:01.920 Just lifting, so it's easy. One day, things change. He 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:04.760 sees an American family heading out from a hotel to 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:09.120 the Lido beach, Mark and Vincenzo. He clocks a big 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:13.040 water dollar bills in the guy's shirt pocket, just you know, 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:17.480 the loud American. So he had some cash in his 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:22.480 wallet from his little Lightnings wallet Lightnings, so he headed 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:24.400 over to a store and he bought these really expensive 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:27.360 pair of shorts on the beach. He wanted to blend 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.200 in on the beach with these wealthy tourists, So off 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:32.520 he goes in search of the American family. When he 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:35.520 finds them, he cozies up to their son. He's like, Hey, 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:40.360 I'm Vincenzo, Shoe. You want to kick the ball around, 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:42.880 so you like kick the old football around right soccer 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:47.920 to us Yanks. So the kid obliges. He's like, oh, hi, yeah, 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:51.600 you sound nice, and he's like show like smoking a cigarette. 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:56.000 So the kid obliges. They like, he's happy to make 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:58.360 a friend. They pass the ball back and forth. Then 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:01.600 Vincenzo makes his move. He punts the ball into the 0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:05.480 family's beach hut all whoopsie. And then he's like, you 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:09.199 know what, kid, Joe, John, Sam, whatever your name is, 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:11.160 American kid, I'm going to run in and get it. 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:15.079 So he runs in, zoinks the cash, shoved it in 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:17.320 his new shorts, and then he comes out and he's like, 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:20.640 I just remember I got to get home. Yeah, im, 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:23.319 the canals are busy. 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:24.760 These times, come up and stuff. 0:12:25.600 --> 0:12:30.760 So he takes off. He claims telling this story now 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:34.120 that it was the equivalent of two hundred thousand euros today. 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:38.680 What right, So why would someone carry that much money? 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:41.559 But then I started thinking, Okay, maybe the exchange rate 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:44.120 was all off and the dollar went super far at 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.840 that time. That's my guess. I was going to track 0:12:46.880 --> 0:12:49.000 down how much a dollar to leiro was at that 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:51.520 time and then try and convert to euros and then 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:54.040 backtrack the inflation rate and then run forward to the 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:57.160 current rate. And I thought, you know what, Elizabeth, who 0:12:57.200 --> 0:12:59.719 knows who cares. That's what I thought, Sarah. 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:01.800 Apply that judiciously, thank you. 0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:04.480 So he had all these American dollars but nowhere to 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:06.439 use them, because it would be really suspicious for a 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:09.520 young Venetian to try and pay with American dollars. He 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:12.320 did something even more suspicious, and he tried to exchange 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:17.000 them for lira at the bank. Yeah, he was caught, 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:19.920 he was arrested. He refused to admit what he'd done, 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:22.679 but that didn't matter. He did seven months for that one. 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:24.680 It should be noted that he learned to read and 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.840 write during his various stints in jail, so yeah, and 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:29.199 then he could read the sugar. 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:30.839 Sacks like exactly rehabilitation. 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:36.280 So as he grew up, he graduated to burglarizing tobacconists 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:41.320 and jewelry stores. Okay, so like the corner stores, right, 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:43.760 The smoke shops were there for just everyday need, so 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:46.080 that's what he's getting there. The jewelry stores, though, he'd 0:13:46.080 --> 0:13:47.920 break in at night because I guess he wasn't afraid 0:13:47.960 --> 0:13:51.240 of the ghost leg anymore. He'd climb up inside and 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:54.400 make a perfect hole through the ceiling and the roof, 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.600 so he gets breaks into the shop makes a hole, 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:01.800 I know, yeah, and he would replace the piece cut 0:14:01.800 --> 0:14:03.880 out and make sure no wind could blow through it 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.360 or otherwise alert the shopkeeper that something was off. Then 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:09.880 he'd scamper off into the evening. And then the next 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:12.680 day he'd creep along the rooftops, but this time in 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:15.720 broad daylight. I guess he's thinking everything's locked up at night, 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:18.400 like in a safe for way. So everyone takes this 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:20.880 little rest from one to three the shops are closed. 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:23.480 Can I pause for one second and say that we 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:25.840 must do this over here in this Oh my god. 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:26.440 My entire life. 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:28.360 I felt this every since I heard about it, whether 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:30.840 we're talking about the Siesta or like the what. 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:33.640 Did they call what we need? 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:37.400 Three? Totally like you just shut everything and shut everything 0:14:37.440 --> 0:14:41.360 down in August, those two things. That is my platform. 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:44.640 Elizabeth twenty twenty four. I'm telling you, Bumfardo is my 0:14:44.720 --> 0:14:48.120 running mate. Dunton Fardo twenty twenty four. I like, so, 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:51.680 AnyWho where were Vincenzo and I on this one? 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:51.920 Right? 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:55.120 He was tiptoeing across the rooftops to his Heidi hole. 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:58.440 He'd pop out the roof stopper, the old ceiling. 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:00.640 The old bunghole exactly. 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:03.200 And he'd slip into the jewelry store and it was 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:05.200 like one of those shopping streets when I was little, 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:07.440 I felt like it was a common thing in entertainment 0:15:07.520 --> 0:15:09.680 and marketing, like you could win a toys r a 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:12.520 shopping spree, you run around the store throwing things in 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:13.680 the cart. Store still do that? 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:16.200 Do you remember how excited that people would get, like 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:18.760 almost violot with themselves trying to turn those corner. 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:22.200 Yes, I don't think they do that anymore, like as 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:26.320 a marketing prize giveaway and not like uncontrolled consumer shop lift. 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:29.120 Yeah, exactly, and not like the TV shows where it's 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:31.720 just like I think they still do the grocery store one. 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:33.120 I don't know, Yeah, I think so. 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:33.360 Well. 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:36.800 Anyway, back to Vincenzo. He would slip into the store 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.120 in the afternoon and take everything he could, lots of 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:42.800 like those gold cornetto necklaces, and then he'd pop back 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:47.040 out and scurry home. He got better though. This was 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:49.760 him just training for his future as a serious burglar. 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:54.200 Do you know what he took next? Let's take a 0:15:54.280 --> 0:16:17.400 break and when we come back, you'll find out when 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.360 we last met Zarin, Yes, clad I was telling you 0:16:20.400 --> 0:16:22.400 about Vincenzo Peppinos. 0:16:23.480 --> 0:16:25.840 I love him, dude, so far I'm digging them. 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:28.360 He's amazing. He was a petty thief in his younger days, 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:30.760 but he started to set his sights on bigger hauls. 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:35.080 Venice is brimming with art, from the works of the 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:39.440 glass blowers on Morano to the artisans who craft carnival masks, 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:43.400 which I find intensely creepy. Really, oh, I hate those masks. 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:45.240 Do you mean like all of them, like the ones 0:16:45.240 --> 0:16:47.240 the rich ones are people wear like an eyes wide shut? 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:48.520 Or do you mean like those long. 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:51.760 Nose everything'll creepy? 0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:53.360 All right, I didn't know if to just specifically the 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.400 long nose. Yeah, plague dog, everything everything masked. If I 0:16:56.400 --> 0:16:57.040 can't see your. 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:59.640 Face, I have a crazy latex mask that goes over 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:01.440 your head and then it comes down, you can like 0:17:01.480 --> 0:17:03.920 tuck it in your shirt song and it's an old 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:08.359 man face and it looks amazing. And I love like 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:10.960 when someone comes to my door throwing on and then 0:17:11.040 --> 0:17:16.200 open the door. I really really scarred my nephew doing 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:16.520 that once. 0:17:16.680 --> 0:17:17.840 Oh god, he's young. 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:28.040 Yeah, all right, so art. You also then have the 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:33.400 fine arts, the big dogs, right, Caneletto Giovanni and Gentile Bellini, 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:38.880 Tintoretto Titian. I love the skies and Titian paintings. Yes, 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:40.680 some of the greatest. 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:44.840 Words of art. I just always think of the d 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:47.159 I can't help it. Forgive me. 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:50.960 So some of the greatest works of art were created there, 0:17:51.040 --> 0:17:54.359 and even more were on display in a number of museums. 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:57.280 It was the perfect place to steal art. You know 0:17:57.320 --> 0:18:02.400 how we love art thieves. Vincenzo step up. Oh yeah, 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:04.720 here's the thing. In order to be a good art thief, 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:06.200 one has to know about art. 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:06.960 That it helps. 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:09.760 Since Vincenzo had learned to read and write while in prison, 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.560 he put those skills to work and he read everything 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:15.560 he could about art. He hung out at the library, 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:19.080 studying not just art history, but also Venetian aristocracy. 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:20.960 Oh smart patrons. 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:23.040 Yeah, he wanted to know who kept what art in 0:18:23.080 --> 0:18:25.960 their luxurious pilazzi that lie in the Grand Canal. 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:26.439 Brilliant. 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:29.920 He became an expert, so in his career he pulled 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:36.280 off more than three thousand art thefts. Three thousands. Here's 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:36.920 the craziest. 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:37.600 Very good. 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:39.760 Oh yeah, he's very good at what he does. Here's 0:18:39.800 --> 0:18:42.200 the craziest part. He never sold the art. 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:44.040 He just kept it off himself. 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:48.200 He basically held them until they could be returned. Yeah, 0:18:48.280 --> 0:18:52.160 he was the Yeah, well no, he would have them all, 0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:54.960 you know, if you pay a little like ransom basically, 0:18:56.920 --> 0:18:58.680 and then all the other stuff from the home. That's 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:01.760