WEBVTT - Part Two: How To Break Out of Prison: In Minecraft and Elsewhere 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:03.880 Welcome back to Cool People Who Did cool stuff, the 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:06.200 show in which I declare myself the arbiter of what 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:08.960 counts as cool. This is part two of our two 0:00:08.960 --> 0:00:11.000 part series in Honor of the Steel Day, which is 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.560 a mediocre prison break about how to get the funk 0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:16.840 out of prison if you don't want to be in prison. Normally, 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:18.599 here's where I tell you where you have to go 0:00:18.640 --> 0:00:21.320 back and listen to part one. But let's be honest, 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:24.920 this week's episodes are basically like a listical and podcast form, 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:26.800 so I don't know, go back and listen to part 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:28.840 one because it's cool, not because you like me too. 0:00:28.920 --> 0:00:33.640 For context for today, my guest is the esteemable Christopher Wong, 0:00:33.760 --> 0:00:36.280 best known, at least on Twitter for having particularly negative 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:40.000 feelings about the institution of Ice. How are you doing today? 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:43.360 Pretty good? Still extremely don't like ice. It is a 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:46.000 it is a bat is a bat is a bad institution. 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:49.440 All the other institution that do similar things are also bad. Uh. 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:52.879 Please stop telling me that I shouldn't just say abolish ice, 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:55.120 and that I should in fact say abolished border. That 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.880 is my stated position. I have said so multiple times. 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:02.880 Please stop. Only Twitter would come up with the idea 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:05.479 that someone says I don't like X thing, and then 0:01:05.520 --> 0:01:09.920 people say we'll do therefore like why things like no, 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:15.480 that's my reference. Um and also with us is our 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:19.120 esteemable producer Sophie fun Fact, I tried to call the 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:22.319 show esteemable persons whose actions were also esteemable, but Sophie 0:01:22.319 --> 0:01:24.880 said it wasn't allowed. How are you doing to do Sophie, 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.640 why do you hate the word esteemable? I mean, I 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:30.560 just didn't think that a podcast I was producing deserves 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:36.280 such a title because I I, you know, my, my, my, 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.920 my lack of of of of self esteem here on 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:44.080 that impostor syndrome. Yeah, I mean, but it is really 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:47.000 fun to say. Can you say that one more time? Yes, 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:51.040 estimable persons whose actions were also esteemable. I. I do 0:01:51.160 --> 0:01:53.680 think we should scrap the current title and just switched 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:57.720 to that because it is very fun to stay. That's 0:01:57.720 --> 0:02:00.840 when we do a live show on an airship. There 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:06.080 we go. Problem solved. We're saving it for a special occasion. Yeah, 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:10.280 so uh something with a transition to about special occasions 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:14.520 about breaking out of prison. Anyway, last episode we talked 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:16.960 about how sometimes you can just you know, leave prison 0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:19.880 by walking out the door. Or have friends storm the place. 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:23.040 But let's say you you tried that, or just don't 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:25.480 have enough friends and for some reason they didn't let 0:02:25.480 --> 0:02:28.720 you go. What now you can think about most jails 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:32.080 is having four layers of security or so you get 0:02:32.120 --> 0:02:34.320 your physical cell right. Sometimes you're allowed out of it, 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:36.959 sometimes you're not. Sometimes you have to start there. Pick 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:39.320 the lock, break down the door, break the walls, dig 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:41.760 through the floor, get out the window, crawl through the ventilation. 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:44.680 Then there's the cell block or pot like the area 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:46.920 you're often allowed in as a prisoner, and there are 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:50.120 blocked doors throughout the prison to prevent free mobility by prisoners, 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:53.600 so similar techniques would apply here. Break the wall, squeeze 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.160 out through tiny spaces like ventilation, get access to areas 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:58.880 you're not allowed in, get smuggled out with the laundry 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:03.320 or the trash except round. Then you've got fences, usually 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:06.240 multiple concrete walls or chain like fences with razor wire 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:08.400 on top, razor wire in the space between, and a 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:12.200 guard in the tower watching ready to shoot you. Some 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:14.440 people climate, some people cut it. Some people dig under 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:16.400 it while the guard has their back turned or is 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:18.840 a sleep or got bribed or I guess, just do 0:03:18.919 --> 0:03:20.720 it really fast and hope for the best. I don't 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:23.720 know a lot of Joe break stories involved prisoners picking 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.680 up really nasty wounds on the way from razor wire 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:29.640 or from the movie that stuff I had, I had to. 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:34.359 I worked a job where there was like spared like 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:36.920 razor wire around and one of the things when the 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:38.600 co workers told me is that that stuff has like 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:42.000 it's coated in anti clotting agents, so when when it 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.480 cuts wounds, don't clot because again, and I cannot emphasize 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.120 this enough, the people who use this stuff are evil, 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:52.960 like on a level that he's like just unfathomable. So, yeah, 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.320 the wire, the wire is trying to murder you. It 0:03:55.360 --> 0:03:57.320 is not just trying to murder you by the fact 0:03:57.320 --> 0:03:59.360 that it's sharp, is trying to murder you by making 0:03:59.360 --> 0:04:03.760 you bleed the death. So yeah, it's careful. Also, I 0:04:04.440 --> 0:04:06.280 had a bunch of it almost fall on me, which 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:09.920 is great and fun and not do I do not 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:12.240 sometimes blink my eyes and have images if they raise 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.480 your wire fence descending towards my head. It's great. I'm 0:04:15.520 --> 0:04:17.520 glad you don't have that. That would sound really bad 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:22.839 if you did know them I'm sorry, but you've got 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:26.000 one last layer of security, or just the guards patrolling 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:28.320 the outside, usually in a vehicle. And we've all played 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:30.200 video games or seeing a crime film, so you know 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:32.000 that what you do is you wait until they're not 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.320 looking and then get at all. And add to all 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:38.880 of this surveillance cameras, video analytics systems that automatically look 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.200 for people, motion detectors, thermal cameras, various alarms whenever doors 0:04:42.200 --> 0:04:44.760 are open, der fences are cut in some countries, people 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.800 have to work tracking collars or anklets. There's anti tunneling sensors, 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:50.479 all kinds of ship. But all this technology is still 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.680 controlled by humans, and humans are controlled by emotions and desires, 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:56.080 so an awful lot of jail breaks involve help from 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:59.800 the outside, usually by bribery or occasionally by ideologically a 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:02.039 lot end cards. And then you've got a fifth layer 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:04.159 of security, which we talked a bit about before, which is, 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:05.719 even though I said there was only four, I'm just 0:05:05.760 --> 0:05:09.000 adding a fifth one. And the fifth layer is how 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:13.119 fucking hard they try to catch you. But some people 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:17.040 trying to bypass as much security as possible by digging 0:05:17.080 --> 0:05:19.800 a tunnel, why go over or through a wall when 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.480 you can just go under it. Honestly, I'm shocked by 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.240 how often on this show I've already found myself telling 0:05:25.279 --> 0:05:30.000 stories about people who dig tunnels. It's like, I never 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:32.280 would have thought minecraft would not only be an analogy 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:35.279 for crime, but also the practice of crime. I've lost track, 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:38.919 this is what I'm saying, Like tunnel count, I've lost track, 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:42.920 Like genuinely, yeah, I I honestly don't remember. I feel 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:45.680 like a decent number of our episodes have involved tunnels. 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:49.120 Should we have named the podcast tunnel Talk because now 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:52.719 m M yeah, I feel I feel I feel like 0:05:52.760 --> 0:05:54.520 that that's that's where you go with like, that's where 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:56.760 you go with the shirts. It's cool people who did 0:05:56.760 --> 0:05:59.560 cool things. Tunnel Talk, which just two people podcasting for 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:08.560 it and definitely isn't a sex podcast. Okay anyway, Okay, 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:12.640 So sometimes prisoners or their outside help dig tunnels. And 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.840 let me tell you about a tunnel guy, Yeah, Moises texts. 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:19.440 Arena da Silva is a tunnel guy in Brazil. In 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:21.640 two thousand one, he was serving a twenty five years 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:25.440 sentence for robbery in Crandiro Penitentiary and South Paulo, Brazil 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.640 and Karen Dierro wasn't a nice place. It's actually been 0:06:29.800 --> 0:06:34.440 destroyed now because of how not nice it was. Probably 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:38.479 before Moises was there, but I'm not sure. Actually have 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.400 no way of knowing. They could. I tried finding out, 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:43.160 but I think it's before he got there. There was 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:45.840 a prison riot. Cops stormed the place and gunned down 0:06:45.880 --> 0:06:50.240 a hundred and eleven prisoners. Jesus, yeah, that was That 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:52.920 was a lot of people's reaction. Mascrow was so bad 0:06:52.960 --> 0:06:55.200 that some of the cops involved even eventually got convicted 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:58.360 of murder, although it took twenty years and they still 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:01.320 haven't gone to prison for it was was that tring 0:07:01.320 --> 0:07:03.919 thegittatorship or was that just like after the dictatorship? Because 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:07.159 I do not know enough about the history of Brazil 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:12.040 to a pine on this. I'm sorry. It's the kind 0:07:12.040 --> 0:07:13.960 of thing I don't want to be wrong about, and 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:16.920 someone knows the answer and it's not me. So it's 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.360 so bad that the cops even eventually get convicted twenty 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:22.080 years later. And then the guy in charge of it, 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:27.160 Uberaton Gimmas, his conviction was overturned though, because and I 0:07:27.240 --> 0:07:34.280 quote he was just following orders. He was so completely 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:36.800 just following orders that he used the motto A hundred 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:40.840 and eleven when he ran for political office Jesus Christ, 0:07:41.720 --> 0:07:46.720 and he won, so some anti prison activists just murdered him. 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:52.840 Fair Yeah, that rules. You didn't have to run for 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:55.240 office on the basis of the fact that you murdered 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:57.680 a bunch of prisoners. In two thousands six, he gets 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:00.800 shot to death in his own apartment. Anyway. I don't 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.680 know if Moyses was there during the massacre, but either way, 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:07.520 he didn't like being there, so he and literally more 0:08:07.560 --> 0:08:11.480 than a hundred other prisoners just tunneled out. Uh, there's 0:08:11.560 --> 0:08:14.320 frustratingly a little information about this tunnel. I want to 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:17.200 know more about this tunnel, but there's more information about 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:21.240 his later tunnels because he's a tunnel guy. Yes, I 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:23.080 like how often during this research I end up with 0:08:23.120 --> 0:08:24.800 like this guy is just like I'm a tunnel guy. 0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:26.960 I do crime with tunnels, and the other people are like, 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:29.600 I'm a helicopter gal. I do crime with helicopters. Like 0:08:29.640 --> 0:08:32.520 people pick a stick and they stick with it, you know. Yeah, 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.160 look look you when you when you when you start 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:38.200 a life of crime, you get assigned to class totally yeah, 0:08:39.240 --> 0:08:43.960 helicopter tunnel. What's up? Oh, I'm I'm probably a helicopter gal. 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:51.400 What about you? I mean, yeah, helicopter gal the way, 0:08:52.080 --> 0:08:56.079 how about you? I'm definitely tunnels, Like frying doesn't get 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:58.800 along with me. Great, alright, tunnel er, you're a level 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:01.760 We probably all gouts started level one. We don't want 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:05.600 to know a whole a long time. Margaret and I 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:08.720 are just just like jumping out of helicopters with like 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:16.000 nothing but like one rope. That's where we're at. But yeah, 0:09:16.480 --> 0:09:18.640 my dad was a pilot, and he would always say 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:20.520 this thing that I think it supposed to be from 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:23.240 like world were two bombers or something about like people 0:09:23.240 --> 0:09:25.520 who drop out of helicopters or people trobut of planes, 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:27.240 which is like, why would you jump out of a 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:32.040 perfectly good aircraft. It's always been my line on parach shooting, 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:36.559 like I'm going to be one of those, like I'm 0:09:36.559 --> 0:09:38.560 gonna wait till I'm like seventy and then I'm gonna 0:09:38.640 --> 0:09:41.880 parachute because I'm like at the moment that it's not 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:43.240 that I think I would die if I did it. 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:45.240 I think that I would have so much anxiety around 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:47.640 doing it that it would not necessarily be worth it, 0:09:48.080 --> 0:09:50.360 but not nearly as much as anxiety as I would 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:56.320 have in a very small tunnel helicopter. So Moises gets 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:58.480 out in two thousand one with his tunnel, and he 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:01.560 likes crime, so he goes back to doing it. In 0:10:01.640 --> 0:10:05.680 October two four eight robbers broke through into the bathroom 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:07.880 of a money transport business out of a four d 0:10:07.880 --> 0:10:13.160 foot tunnel from a nearby They stormed into the main 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:17.040 room wearing monkey and clown masks. Wielding a K forty seven. 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:20.480 They forced seventy five workers who were in their Italian 0:10:20.520 --> 0:10:22.199 money for a t m S to instead of putting 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:23.520 the money into the a t m S, to put 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:26.520 it into bags, and then they made their way out 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:29.880 with one point six million dollars worth of reis, which 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:33.280 is the Brazilian currency that well, I guess, I don't know. 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:35.520 I guess it's exchange of that feels like that feels 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:38.400 like an amount of money that is like not large enough. 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:43.880 Well you know who else thought it wasn't enough money? Moises? 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:49.600 It's right, what're you gonna say? Just because for all 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:52.000 the work, is what you're saying? Yeah, yeah, because like 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:54.320 today you you can still you can still like thirty 0:10:54.320 --> 0:10:58.520 million dollars by like editing a jpeg and trading for 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:03.000 a money like they they dug like a four ft tunnel. 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:05.040 They had end well, last had a case. They get 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:09.040 like one point six million dollars like that is oh 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:14.400 we turned on that. I'm sad, but uh they go 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:16.400 back out to the tunnel. They only spend ten minutes 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:21.079 inside the building. Considered a warm up, considered a test, okay, 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:24.720 a proof of concept. For his next trick, he performs 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:27.400 the largest bank robbery in the Western Hemisphere has ever seen, 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:30.520 and it's the fourth or so largest bank robbery in 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:33.720 world history. Most of the larger ones come later. Actually, 0:11:33.720 --> 0:11:35.440 this guy was in the Guinness Book of World Records 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:40.000 for a while for this next one, the two thousand 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:46.640 five Banco Central burglary and Fortlas Brazil. I've heard of this, 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:53.199 this guy with this guy, I thought he was that's awesome. Yeah, 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:57.200 this is a massive fucking conspiracy and that a ton 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:59.760 of people are involved. Not like hush hush, but like 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:02.760 actually the problem is not very hush hush anyway. It's 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:04.440 both how they managed to steal so much money and 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:06.640 probably why most of the bank robbers did so poorly 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:09.600 as a result. But we'll get to that. Two different 0:12:09.600 --> 0:12:12.760 gangs from two different cities work together on this job. First, 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:18.080 they secured investment from a fucking mayor. Of course. Former 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:24.480 Mayor Antonio Arguay noon as Vieira was sorry, don't speak Portuguese, 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:29.160 was the former mayor of the municipality of Boa Viegam, Recife, 0:12:29.360 --> 0:12:32.000 which is a rich beachfront neighborhood in the city of Recife. 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:36.360 He invested a hundred thousand riya's in exchange for a 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:39.520 promise of four million riyays. They rented a house and 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:43.240 they set up a fake landscaping business. Their theoretically selling plants, 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:46.600 grass and fake grass, but they didn't actually sell anything. 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.720 They didn't really do the homework for a really good 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:53.920 fake front. But the proprietor, you gotta sell some crash 0:12:53.960 --> 0:12:56.640 to the community. I know, what if someone was like, 0:12:56.679 --> 0:12:59.800 I need my need my lawn. Um. But the proprietor 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:01.920 of the business was a decent enough guy. Everyone knew 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:04.120 he wasn't a local. His accent was from somewhere south, 0:13:04.440 --> 0:13:06.040 but he hung out the local bar and he would 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:09.360 ocasionally buy everyone around, so people liked him and the 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:12.760 gang spent three months tunneling. Finally we get some details 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:15.480 about the tunnel. It was a crawler. That's how I'm 0:13:15.480 --> 0:13:17.440 going to classify this type of tunnel, because even though 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:19.840 I'm a helicopter gal, I still care about the type 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:23.199 of tunnels. It was twenty eight inches high. This is 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:25.679 why I'm a helicopter gal. Oh yeah, that's that's that's 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:30.679 a small tunnel. Yeah. It is twenty eight inches high, 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:33.040 and it is thirteen ft below the bank vault, and 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:36.199 it's two and sixty two ft long. There's wood panels 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:38.600 and plastic sheeting and claud in the walls, and there's 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.480 electric lights. And no one heard them tunneling because it 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:45.280 went right under a busy road. Nice. I know. The 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:48.560 whole thing is so claustrophobic. Yeah, Like, how how are 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:51.920 they doing with air? I'm not sure because almost every 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:54.880 other escape tunnel that I've ever read about they specifically 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:59.720 talk about the ventilation. Yeah, this seems like I don't know. Yeah, 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:05.040 it's you know, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I guess I'm 0:14:05.080 --> 0:14:07.400 really not trying to make any statement about how you should. 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:10.760 I'm not a I'm a level zero tunnel learned. What 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:13.680 would I know I guess. I guess I can advance 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.160 a level one by saying, don't suffocate the death in 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:20.280 your tunnel. Excellent, excellent, everyone gets XP on this show. 0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:24.320 I appreciate this, okay. So they they pop up under 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:25.760 the floor of the vault and then they cut their 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:28.640 way through fucking three point five feet of concrete and steel. 0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.600 Oh my god, which again, how do they do that 0:14:31.600 --> 0:14:35.560 without oxygen? There must have been ventilation. Maybe they're wearing oxygens. 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:38.720 Well where you can't fit an oxygen tank like in 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:42.600 that spot, carry it after you. I don't know. They 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:48.080 probably ventilated it. Nothing sounds fun here um, And they're 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:50.560 probably an inside person in the bank. Because the cameras 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:53.360 and the motion detectors in the vault weren't operating. So 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:55.720 they broke into five containers holding me as notes for 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:58.840 inspection and basically these were the the used bills that 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:00.920 the inspectors were going to go through and put some 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:03.280 of them back into circulation and destroy the damaged ones. 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:06.880 Then they go back out the way they came, no 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:10.040 shots fired, none the wiser. They made off with around 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:14.440 million dollars worth of you that that's a respectable hole. Yeah, 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:19.560 is a perfect crime. Except really really not. The heist 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:22.680 went great, the rest did not go great. Someone left 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:25.200 a prepaid phone card in the rented house by accident. 0:15:25.440 --> 0:15:29.120 Oh no, and the person who opened the landscaping business, 0:15:29.160 --> 0:15:34.440 I guess did it under his real name. Why guys, 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:37.840 come on. In the end, a hundred and nineteen people 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:41.600 get convicted something like that. Every again, every article is different. 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:44.200 And also they kept catching people over and overgund even 0:15:44.200 --> 0:15:47.560 after fell out of the news cycle. And the whole 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:51.320 thing is just swimming in corruption. The civil police force, 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:54.280 which are like the regional FBI basically um is the 0:15:54.280 --> 0:15:57.800 best analogy. They skimmed off millions and kickbacks. Probably they 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:01.560 took the majority of the money are still because the 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:03.720 conspiracy was so large and so many people knew who 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:07.680 was involved, other criminals started kidnapping the bank robbers and 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:12.200 their families and held them for like huge ransoms basically like, oh, 0:16:12.240 --> 0:16:14.720 you got one point five million dollars, I got your kid. 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:18.560 I would like one point five million dollars please. People 0:16:18.600 --> 0:16:20.440 started talking about the money like it was cursed, and 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:24.320 I don't know many it was. But my my personal 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:28.440 theory is that too many crooks spoil the broth. Yeah, 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:34.520 that's a hundred that that is that is too large conspiracy, Like, yeah, 0:16:34.880 --> 0:16:36.720 you gotta you gotta keep your numbers down. There's just 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:40.320 too many people, you know. So Moises was the last 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:42.520 get caught. He spent four years on the run. He 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.000 had surgery to thin his neck to change his appearance, 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:50.160 and he has about hair transplants right amazing, you know, 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:53.080 and he kind of does most things right. He changes 0:16:53.080 --> 0:16:55.600 his sim card constantly, he moves all the time. But 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:57.760 basically being on the run is wearing him down, and 0:16:57.800 --> 0:16:59.920 he was actually considering turning himself in just like the 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:02.880 week before he gets finally caught. I think in two 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:05.280 thousand nine. I didn't write it down, but I think 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.160 it was two thousand nine. And when he was finally coughed, 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:09.919 he said, quote, you took too long. I thought you 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:13.000 guys had given up on me. Of the two point 0:17:13.080 --> 0:17:15.400 five million reas he had taken his payment, around one 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:17.600 point five million of it had been extorted away by 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:23.160 the civil police. He actually tried to I know, yeah, 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:26.199 he'll rob your own bank. Come on, yeah, totally, this 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:31.399 is my robbed this first. So he tried to retire 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:33.880 from crime, saying he was focusing on raising his son 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:36.600 with socially relevant values whatever that means. I couldn't figure 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:38.520 out exactly what values he was he was going for. 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:40.560 I liked because I kind of like this guy. I 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:44.320 like to imagine the best possible values, you know. And 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:47.840 his sentence was reduced to fourteen years and so he 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:50.760 should be getting out any year now unless he gets 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:55.320 himself out sooner. Yeah, we never know. I know that 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:57.359 that is a man who loves his tunnels. I know, 0:17:57.800 --> 0:18:03.320 and you and else likes being underground potatoes. That's true. 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:09.760 Potatoes like being underground, well known product that I is. Also, 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:11.800 it can't really be a service. I was trying to 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:13.720 figure out how to make it a service. But no, 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:16.120 just a product, but one of the things that supports 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.520 to show. I like when people feed me French fries. Yeah, 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:22.199 I was gonna say, somebody mashing a potato for you, 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:38.200 slicing seasoning, Yeah, beating potatoes yours. Ads, we're back from 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:40.399 those ads that were all for potatoes. And if you 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:42.800 heard any ads for anything else, you should complain. You 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:46.280 can find me on Twitter to complain at at I right, okay, yes, 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:54.560 so let's move on to the best form of escape. Helicopters. Yes, 0:18:55.320 --> 0:18:57.280 The first time I researched this topic was like fifteen 0:18:57.320 --> 0:18:59.560 years ago. For reasons. It was for a zine I 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:01.600 was going to make gazine, and then I didn't make 0:19:01.640 --> 0:19:03.400 a scene because I figured it would look really bad 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:07.800 in court. Um, and here I am making this podcast episode. 0:19:08.520 --> 0:19:12.840 But in the end I decided, Okay, basically this is 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:14.480 fifteen years ago. I was looking at it. I was like, well, 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:16.240 the only way that people break out of prison anymore 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.080 is helicopter, and that's that's actually a bit of an exaggeration, 0:19:19.119 --> 0:19:21.800 but it's definitely true that, especially in Europe, helicopters are 0:19:21.800 --> 0:19:25.120 one of the main ways to go. The classic technique 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:29.399 is that your spouse or partner or whoever else rents 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:33.280 a helicopter tour and then hijacks the pilot or takes 0:19:33.320 --> 0:19:36.640 flying lessons and hijacks the instructor or. And this one's 0:19:36.640 --> 0:19:38.639 putting in the most work, but it levels you up faster, 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:42.120 uh straight up learns how to fly a helicopter, and 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:45.480 then steals a helicopter. These are the main ways that 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:48.200 people go. And then you land and you know, let 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:50.320 your your person on the helicopter in the way you 0:19:50.320 --> 0:19:52.000 fly and then you usually both get caught and now 0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:55.960 you're both in prison. Although I will get to a 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:58.959 successful helicopter escape he who's still on the run today. 0:19:59.440 --> 0:20:03.119 So the most prolific helicopter escape guy is a French 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:07.160 robber named Pascal Payer, who I'm reasonably sure is tied 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:09.679 in with organized crime, though of course newspapers tend to 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:12.000 only hint at that kind of thing. He was born 0:20:12.000 --> 0:20:15.920 in nineteen sixty three. His pastimes included robbing and getting arrested. 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:20.560 Ah he was convicted of assault in conspiracy and in 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:23.480 n seven he robbed an armored car and killed a guard. 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:25.240 Or maybe someone else in his crew killed a guard. 0:20:25.480 --> 0:20:28.040 Either way, the robbery didn't go so well. He got 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:30.040 caught about a year later and he was sent to prison. 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:32.040 So two and a half years later, some of his 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:34.359 friends showed up with a hijacked helicopter and he and 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:37.399 another prisoner climbed aboard and went off to freedom. But 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:40.080 our man Pascal, he was not content to just stay 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:43.679 free himself because some of his his buddies, probably mafia buddies, 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:46.280 were in jail. So in two thousand three, after two 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:50.399 years as a fugitive, he organizes another helicopter break. This 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:53.040 time it's not for himself, it's for three other prisoners. 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:56.080 He hovered over the roof and the three prisoners climbed aboard. 0:20:56.440 --> 0:20:58.719 They all got caught three weeks later, while staying at 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:01.520 some like super fancy law pretending to be athletes training 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:06.080 for a bathlon, they were like, Oh, where can we 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:07.959 go hide out in the mountains or whatever and like 0:21:08.080 --> 0:21:09.840 just like be bougie for a while, and they do, 0:21:09.920 --> 0:21:12.320 and then they all get caught. So now he's in 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:15.640 jail and he's Mr. Helicopter escaped guy. So they start 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:18.800 transferring him constantly. That's the thing I guess about being 0:21:18.800 --> 0:21:22.159 known for prison breaks. He gets transferred nine times in 0:21:22.240 --> 0:21:25.040 thirty months. Wow. And he spends most of his time 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:28.440 in solitary confinement under particular scrutiny because like, hey, Mr 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:31.600 helicopter escape guy, we're onto you. And he's like, what, 0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:34.399 I'm not trying to escape by helicopter. That would just 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:37.879 be wild. But he's got friends and he has a 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:42.520 classy sense of timing, so he waits for but steal day. 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:47.040 On this but still day in two thousands seven, three 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:50.040 masked people show up at a helicopter tours place with guns, 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:52.280