1 00:00:00,480 --> 00:00:02,720 Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:03,920 Speaker 2: Hi is Saron? 3 00:00:04,040 --> 00:00:05,040 Speaker 3: Hey, what's up with Liz Bit? 4 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:06,400 Speaker 2: What's up? 5 00:00:06,600 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 3: Hey? I got a question for you. 6 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:12,159 Speaker 2: No, I have a question for you. 7 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 3: Do you really? What is it? 8 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 2: What's you know? 9 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,400 Speaker 3: I do ridiculous? Okay, you're from northern California. You're a 10 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 3: California Native. 11 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 2: Generation's deep, aggressively so and obnoxiously so. 12 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 3: Okay, I got something to help you be extra obnoxious 13 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:29,680 Speaker 3: amongst your like California natives. And you guys have your 14 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 3: excuter club meetings or whatever. So do you know how Calistoga. 15 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 4: Got its name Calistoke Town of Calistogah. No, So, in 16 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:42,760 Speaker 4: eighteen sixty two, this cat Sam Brannon, right, he's he 17 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 4: was a Mormon. He was a he was a Mormon 18 00:00:44,400 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 4: to moved to California, and back when he was a Mormon, 19 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:48,159 Speaker 4: he didn't drink alcohol. But then he left the church, 20 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 4: came to California, he got really into alcohol. 21 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:52,720 Speaker 3: Like, this is amazing. I got to tell more people 22 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 3: about this. So he then eventually opens this place called 23 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 3: Hot Springs Resort. Yeah, and he's like, oh man, I 24 00:00:58,000 --> 00:00:59,680 Speaker 3: have people come here. They're gonna get drunk and they're 25 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 3: gonna get the Hot Springs is amazing. This is the 26 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 3: best thing ever. I know why people don't know about 27 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:05,679 Speaker 3: this right now at this point, what he's drinking is 28 00:01:05,720 --> 00:01:08,679 Speaker 3: French champagne. That's his drink of choice. Really, he would 29 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:11,240 Speaker 3: sit in bubbles, he would drink bubbles. He's like cold bubbles, 30 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 3: hot bubbles. All about the bubbles. Right, So that the 31 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:17,680 Speaker 3: grand opening banquet for his Hot Springs resort, he raises 32 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 3: a glass of champagne and he goes to toast his 33 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 3: new resort. Now he wanted to compare it to its inspiration, 34 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:26,880 Speaker 3: Sarah Tooga Springs in New York. So he gets up 35 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 3: there and he's like, I will make this place the 36 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:33,760 Speaker 3: Saratoga of California. But he'd been drinking so much champagne. Instead, 37 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:39,720 Speaker 3: he said, I'll make this place the Calistoga, Caarafornia. Yes, 38 00:01:40,160 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 3: it's been called Calistoga ever since. 39 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 2: It's so perfect beautiful. 40 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 3: But there you go, and that's that's your country. 41 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. 42 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 3: Ridiculous. 43 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:54,480 Speaker 2: That is really so ridiculous. Do you want to know 44 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 2: what else is ridiculous? 45 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 5: Dude? 46 00:01:56,160 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 3: Do I? 47 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 2: It's actually ridiculously brilliant low value counterfeiting. This is Ridiculous 48 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:31,359 Speaker 2: Crime a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists, and cons. 49 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:35,360 Speaker 2: It's always ninety nine percent murder free and one hundred 50 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:37,040 Speaker 2: percent ridiculous. 51 00:02:38,800 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 3: You damn right? 52 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:41,919 Speaker 2: Did you just fall out of the ceiling tipe? 53 00:02:41,919 --> 00:02:43,359 Speaker 3: I got dropped, But yeah, I'm here. 54 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 2: Okay, a sad one. If you had a bundle of 55 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:53,160 Speaker 2: counterfeit cash, say like one hundred thousand dollars worth. 56 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 3: Okay, I have a bundle. Oh, I don't have to 57 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:56,080 Speaker 3: actually say it. 58 00:02:56,200 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 2: No, what would you do with it? 59 00:02:59,200 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 3: Like? 60 00:02:59,320 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 2: How would you bend it? 61 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:03,079 Speaker 3: Okay? This is an interesting question because I've actually been 62 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:06,119 Speaker 3: confronted with this a much smaller number. But I went 63 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:08,960 Speaker 3: to a bank in Los Angeles and I cashed a 64 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 3: check and they gave me half of the money in 65 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:13,959 Speaker 3: counterfeit bills. And then I went to go get gassed 66 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 3: with one of the hundreds and the person's like, dude, 67 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:17,359 Speaker 3: this look at you see this at twenty This is 68 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:19,079 Speaker 3: a fake bill. Don't try to pass this, man, And 69 00:03:19,120 --> 00:03:20,400 Speaker 3: I was like what No, And I went back to 70 00:03:20,480 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 3: the bank. I'm like, you gave me these four, you know, 71 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:26,480 Speaker 3: fake hundreds, and they're like, no, man, you walk you 72 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 3: can't try to do that pass this, and so I 73 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 3: got loud right and I'm like, you're trying to pass 74 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:32,600 Speaker 3: fit counterfeit bills, trying to hope people will get mad 75 00:03:32,639 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 3: in line. I don't know what I thought would happen 76 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:35,720 Speaker 3: Themander comes over and goes get the hell out of 77 00:03:35,760 --> 00:03:37,320 Speaker 3: the bank, and I was like, oh darn it. They 78 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 3: wouldn't get me my money back. So now I've got 79 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 3: these four hundred fake hundreds. So I'm like, well, what 80 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 3: can I do? So I'm like, I'll go on Craigslist 81 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:46,560 Speaker 3: and buy something. So I put in Craigslist and I 82 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:48,880 Speaker 3: tried to buy a computer, assuming it was a stolen computer. 83 00:03:48,920 --> 00:03:51,480 Speaker 3: I'm like, I'll give them counterfeit bills. It'll all be even. 84 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 3: So I tried to go buy a laptop and I 85 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:55,240 Speaker 3: had to drive like way into East LA. And I 86 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 3: show up to this guy and I'm like trying to like, 87 00:03:57,480 --> 00:03:59,200 Speaker 3: you know, act like I'm a buyer, and I'm looking 88 00:03:59,240 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 3: over the computer and he's like, okay, you gotta be 89 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:02,400 Speaker 3: like three hundred dollars, and I was like, cool, pervingt 90 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 3: And I give him the three and he looks at 91 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:06,160 Speaker 3: me and he's like, give me my computer back, and 92 00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 3: I was like, d darn it. So before I got 93 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:10,920 Speaker 3: beat up by this great you know guy who you 94 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 3: know sell stolen computers, I had to like talk my 95 00:04:13,240 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 3: way out of there and anything. Luckily I gotten the 96 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:16,920 Speaker 3: money back from him, and he didn't want to have 97 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 3: the counterfeit bills either. So then I tried to go 98 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:20,919 Speaker 3: and spend it at a gas station. Again, I'm like 99 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:22,559 Speaker 3: when we goes and go to spend us at another 100 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:25,240 Speaker 3: gas station, And eventually I was able to pass them. 101 00:04:25,279 --> 00:04:27,560 Speaker 3: So wow, yeah, I shouldn't rebably admit that, but the 102 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 3: statue of limitations is long gone for you. So yeah, Elizabeth, 103 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:32,200 Speaker 3: that's how I do it. I just spend it on 104 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:33,400 Speaker 3: other criminals and. 105 00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:34,680 Speaker 2: Small interesting place. 106 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:34,840 Speaker 3: Well. 107 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 2: I mean, the thing is, it's like the that when 108 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:41,160 Speaker 2: people think about fake bills, I think twenties and hundreds. 109 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:42,279 Speaker 3: Total, yusually hundreds. That's what I had. 110 00:04:42,400 --> 00:04:44,560 Speaker 2: And you know, it's the smart move to try and 111 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 2: like uh break them up and do them at a 112 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,200 Speaker 2: like separate like don't do multiple bills at one place, yes, 113 00:04:50,279 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 2: Like I tried, so yeah what at a time at 114 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 2: different places? 115 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:53,560 Speaker 3: Yes? 116 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 2: But you know, like so that's it's smart to do that. 117 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:59,400 Speaker 2: What's even smarter is to fly under the radar. Do 118 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 2: smaller bills like you know, tens get less. 119 00:05:03,080 --> 00:05:05,320 Speaker 3: Scrutiny, Oh of course smart. Yeah. 120 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,880 Speaker 2: I was given a fake ten once. Yeah, when I 121 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 2: was teaching. We had like a faculty event and we 122 00:05:12,360 --> 00:05:14,720 Speaker 2: were like collecting money so they could have I don't know, 123 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 2: they're going to like grill steaks or something. It was stupid, 124 00:05:17,920 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 2: and so I was supposed to give me ten bucks. 125 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:22,800 Speaker 2: And when I went to count them out, one was 126 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:26,680 Speaker 2: slightly smaller than every other one, and I realized someone 127 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 2: handed me a fake ten. So I'm me, what do 128 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 2: you think I did? 129 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:32,200 Speaker 3: Took it to the police. 130 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:35,520 Speaker 2: I did because I'm like, I could like take this 131 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:37,960 Speaker 2: to Walmart. I was down the road and try and 132 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:39,359 Speaker 2: like do it. I was like, you know what, I 133 00:05:39,440 --> 00:05:42,880 Speaker 2: wonder what happens? What do they do? It's ten bucks? Sure, 134 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 2: So I called the non emergency line and I was like, hey, 135 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:48,520 Speaker 2: you know whatever, I have a fake ten dollars bill 136 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 2: and someone gave. 137 00:05:49,279 --> 00:05:54,760 Speaker 3: Me again, bring it on your normal weekly visit. 138 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 2: So I'm in room with five whatever at the college 139 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 2: and then like twenty minutes later, there's no crime in 140 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:05,120 Speaker 2: this place. I figure two detectives show up, like they 141 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:06,680 Speaker 2: didn't have suit jackets on, but they. 142 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:09,160 Speaker 3: Like short sleeve shirts and like. 143 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:12,440 Speaker 2: No pants, no underpants. So they come in and I 144 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:14,440 Speaker 2: give them the money and they made me fill out 145 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 2: this form for the secret service and I it was 146 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 2: out ten bucks. 147 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 3: Yeah, you just lose it. 148 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:20,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, off ex. 149 00:06:20,880 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 3: I was like, well, I'll just pass that on to 150 00:06:22,320 --> 00:06:23,279 Speaker 3: someone else, right. 151 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 2: So some why would you pick on an English faculty member? 152 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 3: Yeah, I wouldn't have done that too. 153 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 2: No, but I feel like it might have been like 154 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:34,359 Speaker 2: tool and die. Those guys are a little bit shady. Yeah, 155 00:06:34,480 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 2: I love them to death. But anyway, so you know, 156 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 2: like you got the tools and to die there not 157 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:43,720 Speaker 2: to be played. So if you have like a ten 158 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 2: to five of one, they don't use those these days. 159 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:47,599 Speaker 2: Don't use the highlighter pens on those. 160 00:06:47,680 --> 00:06:48,440 Speaker 3: Yeah, not at all. 161 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:50,040 Speaker 2: You know, that's the problem. And if a store is 162 00:06:50,080 --> 00:06:52,800 Speaker 2: like really busy, someone's not paying attention, Like if you're 163 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 2: just an English instructor trying to get through the day, 164 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 2: you know, hearing this boring, then you're you know, likely 165 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:04,320 Speaker 2: to get away with passing the of course thought that 166 00:07:04,360 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 2: you should have thought of that. So the move is 167 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 2: to make smaller bills. I want to tell you about 168 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:13,480 Speaker 2: someone who did just that. A clever fella, an Austrian 169 00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:19,440 Speaker 2: immigrant named Emeric Jutner. Oh yeah, it looks like Jutner. Okay, yeah, 170 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:22,720 Speaker 2: So Emeric he was born in eighteen seventy five in Austria, 171 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 2: came from this working class family. He had, you know, 172 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:28,960 Speaker 2: two brothers, sister, normal stuff. And when he was a 173 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 2: kid he learned about photo engraving. Oh yes, and so 174 00:07:32,760 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 2: I think that maybe that's what his father did, and 175 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 2: like maybe he was going to apprentice somebody. Yeah, and 176 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 2: so he was like going to be you know, brought 177 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 2: up to a prenticip But when he was fourteen years old, 178 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:45,560 Speaker 2: he got on a steamership and he set sail for 179 00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:48,560 Speaker 2: the US of A fourteen fourteen New York City. 180 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 3: The hot apple dude. Nineteenth century people would just break out. 181 00:07:51,560 --> 00:07:53,680 Speaker 3: They're like, I'm thirteen and. 182 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:55,520 Speaker 2: I don't know if his family was with him, but 183 00:07:55,560 --> 00:07:58,800 Speaker 2: I don't think they were, because a man I pulled 184 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 2: up the man of us for the ship he came. 185 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:05,720 Speaker 2: He is the only Utner listed as arriving on the 186 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,160 Speaker 2: vessel trave and that was a ship built in Glasgow, 187 00:08:09,160 --> 00:08:11,600 Speaker 2: by the way, So it looks like he's this fourteen 188 00:08:11,640 --> 00:08:13,760 Speaker 2: year old boy, all on his own, headed to a 189 00:08:13,800 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 2: no home. Isn't that crazy? 190 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:16,080 Speaker 3: It is? It's amazing. 191 00:08:16,200 --> 00:08:18,680 Speaker 2: So his first job when he gets here is as 192 00:08:18,720 --> 00:08:20,240 Speaker 2: a picture frame guilder. 193 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 3: Okay, gold on pictures like the air on the robber bands. 194 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:27,400 Speaker 3: A lot of lout of frames to guild everything. 195 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:30,160 Speaker 2: When he's not slapping gold foil on frames, he was 196 00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:33,360 Speaker 2: inventing things, so he was his hand. He drew up 197 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:35,559 Speaker 2: plans for a camera and he sent it off to 198 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:38,559 Speaker 2: Kodak interesting, and they passed on it. And then he 199 00:08:38,640 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 2: invented a new kind of Venetian blind. I'm not sure 200 00:08:41,520 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 2: what that entailed, but the window shade company he sent 201 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:49,000 Speaker 2: it to made light Kodak and they just passed untology. 202 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:53,400 Speaker 2: We want, you know, sharp blades as the slats. So 203 00:08:53,880 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 2: in eighteen ninety five you put an ad in the paper, 204 00:08:57,040 --> 00:09:01,000 Speaker 2: young man eighteen German and English, desire work or position 205 00:09:01,120 --> 00:09:05,640 Speaker 2: with a chance for advancement by industriousness, Please address Emrick Utner, 206 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 2: four oh two Fifth Street. 207 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:10,720 Speaker 3: Young man. 208 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:13,600 Speaker 2: So he's just like he's hustling for work, and he's 209 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:16,760 Speaker 2: just like upright citizen nineteen oh two. He's twenty seven 210 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:19,880 Speaker 2: years old. He met a woman named Florence Lemine. 211 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:22,440 Speaker 3: Florence Lemine, and they. 212 00:09:22,000 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 2: Fall in love. It looks like yeah, and they get 213 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,520 Speaker 2: married and they have kids, and he gets this job 214 00:09:27,559 --> 00:09:29,480 Speaker 2: as a maintenance man on the Upper East Side of 215 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:29,800 Speaker 2: New York. 216 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:31,280 Speaker 3: I'm rooting for these crazy kids, right. 217 00:09:31,640 --> 00:09:34,400 Speaker 2: What's cool about his job is that he lived rent 218 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 2: free in the basement of the building that he worked in. 219 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:38,960 Speaker 3: Oh, I thought he'd lived rent free in someone's mind. 220 00:09:38,960 --> 00:09:42,360 Speaker 2: Well that too in mine. He's you know, decades a 221 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:45,880 Speaker 2: century later. So the family moved a few times, but 222 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:48,400 Speaker 2: they had this like solid existence and their Upper East 223 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:52,240 Speaker 2: Side so they're living in these great posh neighborhoods. He 224 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:55,160 Speaker 2: lived in what Elaine Hatfield, she's the author of a book, 225 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:56,600 Speaker 2: flim Flam Artist. 226 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:57,520 Speaker 3: Oh great book. 227 00:09:57,600 --> 00:10:02,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, she called it genteel Poverty. Oh yeah. So he's 228 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:07,240 Speaker 2: like a nice guy. He's super kind, always smiling. Everyone 229 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:10,960 Speaker 2: loved him. Everyone's friend, everyone's friend. He was only five 230 00:10:11,040 --> 00:10:13,960 Speaker 2: foot three, but he's like kind of ripped from all 231 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,360 Speaker 2: the physical work that he did, like even into his 232 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:20,920 Speaker 2: later years. And so basically he's the kind of person 233 00:10:20,960 --> 00:10:24,640 Speaker 2: who's always been the engine of this country, the United States. 234 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 2: Like he's this hard working immigrant, he's community minded, clever, 235 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 2: he's a dreamer, he's scrappy. That's what builds us and 236 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:38,400 Speaker 2: keeps us going. So I love him. I'm into it exactly. 237 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:42,640 Speaker 2: And so all everything's going chugging along until nineteen thirty seven, 238 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:45,720 Speaker 2: and that's when his wife, the love of his life, 239 00:10:45,880 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 2: died and he's sixty two years old. 240 00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:50,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, bad time. 241 00:10:50,679 --> 00:10:53,160 Speaker 2: His kids they're grown and they're out of the house. 242 00:10:54,280 --> 00:10:58,800 Speaker 2: Now he's all alone. He has nothing to keep him motivated, 243 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:01,080 Speaker 2: and like everything just starts to fall apart for him. 244 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:03,920 Speaker 2: It was just him and his dog, and the dog 245 00:11:04,200 --> 00:11:06,319 Speaker 2: was the only thing that kept the light in his eyes, 246 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:09,360 Speaker 2: because you know, it's just like he lost he lost 247 00:11:09,360 --> 00:11:10,040 Speaker 2: his world. 248 00:11:10,280 --> 00:11:13,400 Speaker 3: He now gets in and gives is the dog. 249 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:16,360 Speaker 2: And so he quit his maintenance job and he moved 250 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 2: out of the basement place in the Posh neighborhood and 251 00:11:19,120 --> 00:11:22,360 Speaker 2: then into a tenement in the Upper West Side, and 252 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:24,280 Speaker 2: he got a gig as a junk collector. 253 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:26,080 Speaker 3: Okay, like Sanford and Son. 254 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:26,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, totally. 255 00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:30,120 Speaker 3: He's got a wagon. He goes around and collects very exactly. 256 00:11:30,360 --> 00:11:33,319 Speaker 2: And I don't understand why. I think he was also 257 00:11:33,440 --> 00:11:35,559 Speaker 2: just tired with the maintenance stuff. Because it was like 258 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:36,200 Speaker 2: a lot of work. 259 00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:37,640 Speaker 3: Maybe you wanted to get out in the fresh air, 260 00:11:39,640 --> 00:11:41,440 Speaker 3: and maybe he's a lot of interesting people. 261 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:43,480 Speaker 2: The world is junk for him. 262 00:11:44,440 --> 00:11:47,840 Speaker 3: He wants to salvage what he can. He's very metaphorical 263 00:11:47,880 --> 00:11:50,160 Speaker 3: and he's a poem walking. 264 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:52,680 Speaker 2: And his kids. His kids are trying to help him out, 265 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:54,960 Speaker 2: but he wouldn't take their money or their offers. 266 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 3: Proud, he's way too proud Austrian from the old country. 267 00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:02,400 Speaker 2: Exactly, and like hard work. The problem was that pulling 268 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:05,360 Speaker 2: scrap from like abandoned buildings and selling it to junk 269 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:07,959 Speaker 2: dealers is not a viable way to make a living. 270 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:10,480 Speaker 3: Very little, living very small. 271 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:14,239 Speaker 2: And he had savings that he and his wife had accumulated, 272 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:16,400 Speaker 2: but he just like winds up burning through that just 273 00:12:16,440 --> 00:12:18,680 Speaker 2: to live. He's not living fancy, but it's just like 274 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:23,960 Speaker 2: he needs, you know, he eats through the savings exactly. 275 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:28,000 Speaker 2: So he gone from genteel poverty to the brink of 276 00:12:28,040 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 2: like full destitution. And he didn't really care if he 277 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:34,320 Speaker 2: lived on the street, to be honest, but he did 278 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:38,560 Speaker 2: want to have that life for his dog. And he 279 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:42,320 Speaker 2: didn't name his dog, by the way, fox, this fox terrier. 280 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 2: He once commented, quote, what good would a name do? 281 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:46,880 Speaker 3: The dog? 282 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:49,600 Speaker 2: When I talked to him. He knows I'm talking to him, 283 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 2: don't he? And I know who he is without calling 284 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:56,320 Speaker 2: him some made up name, don't I. He's very Taoist 285 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 2: of like, don't name it. 286 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:00,320 Speaker 3: The dog has no name, and he has no named 287 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:02,560 Speaker 3: before the dog for the dog. So it's just these 288 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 3: two er souls moving through the world. 289 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:06,200 Speaker 2: Exactly. 290 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 3: I love that. 291 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:10,840 Speaker 2: I think dogs deserve names. Human names will deserve human names. 292 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 2: But anyway, so. 293 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:13,079 Speaker 3: You have a lot of fun with your dog. 294 00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 5: I do. 295 00:13:13,960 --> 00:13:17,600 Speaker 2: So he needed cash, and he didn't really care about 296 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:18,840 Speaker 2: the world or its laws. 297 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:20,439 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, he's well passed. 298 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:23,400 Speaker 2: So he got crafty in a shady way. Okay, and 299 00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,760 Speaker 2: that's another American treat. Sure, what keeps us running? 300 00:13:26,840 --> 00:13:27,320 Speaker 3: Crafty? 301 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:32,880 Speaker 2: Shady, shady, crafty exactly. So in November of nineteen thirty eight, 302 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:35,520 Speaker 2: he got to work. Okay, So he went out and 303 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 2: he bought a little portable printing press. He named it 304 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:43,000 Speaker 2: Uncle Henry. So he will name a printing press, but 305 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:47,800 Speaker 2: not at the dog. That's like you you name everything, yeah, everything. 306 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:51,680 Speaker 2: So the printing press was Uncle Henry. And he took 307 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:54,960 Speaker 2: a picture of a clean crisp dollar bill from back, 308 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:57,760 Speaker 2: and then he transferred it over to a zinc plate, 309 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 2: and from there he put it into an acid bath 310 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:04,040 Speaker 2: to etch it into the plate, pulls it out, and 311 00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:06,840 Speaker 2: then he like finishes by carving all the small details 312 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:10,840 Speaker 2: by hand. Yeah, this guy's ridiculous totally. And he carefully 313 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:11,960 Speaker 2: pressed a dollar bill. 314 00:14:12,000 --> 00:14:15,240 Speaker 3: You imagine how slow his hand moved to etch metal 315 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 3: on the fine details right, well, the of a dollar exactly. 316 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 2: And so he presses a bill and it looks good 317 00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:25,920 Speaker 2: to him, Okay, And there he is in his kitchen, 318 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 2: he's printing out buck after buck, ensuring his livelihood and 319 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:33,360 Speaker 2: that of his unnamed pupp is just doing a dollar 320 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:36,000 Speaker 2: at a time. And he knew that he couldn't go 321 00:14:36,040 --> 00:14:38,280 Speaker 2: pass them all at once, or like in one in 322 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:41,560 Speaker 2: one place more than once. So every week he'd spend 323 00:14:41,560 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 2: about like ten bucks or so here and there. 324 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:45,520 Speaker 3: So he figured out the market. 325 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:47,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, he figured out a string of shops to hit. 326 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:49,840 Speaker 2: He never passed more than one fake dollar at any 327 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 2: given store. Good so newspaper stands and grocers, and like 328 00:14:53,800 --> 00:14:55,640 Speaker 2: he'd get what he and the dog needed to live. 329 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 3: Give a couple of bucks a church, Yeah, he'd. 330 00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:00,400 Speaker 2: Throw he'd throw one into his twenty five dollars rent, 331 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:02,880 Speaker 2: and he'd buy subway tickets. 332 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:04,320 Speaker 3: He just lowered the price of everything. 333 00:15:04,400 --> 00:15:07,320 Speaker 2: Everything just shaved a little bit, like maybe a bartender 334 00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:07,880 Speaker 2: here there. 335 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 3: For tips, probably good for tips. They're going to spend 336 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:11,440 Speaker 3: it themselves, right. 337 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:14,800 Speaker 2: So the plan took him all over the city, all 338 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 2: the burrows, walking to every corner the place to make 339 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:19,520 Speaker 2: sure he didn't repeat. 340 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 3: A store brilliant. 341 00:15:20,400 --> 00:15:23,960 Speaker 2: And it wasn't just to avoid detection. He didn't want 342 00:15:23,960 --> 00:15:28,880 Speaker 2: to stiff any businesses more than a dollar. It's not fair. 343 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 2: So I'm not going to stiff on more than a buck. 344 00:15:31,520 --> 00:15:34,360 Speaker 2: And then one day, not too long after he started 345 00:15:34,360 --> 00:15:37,760 Speaker 2: printing money, he went into this cigar shop on Broadway 346 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 2: near one hundred and second, and he passed a faker 347 00:15:40,680 --> 00:15:44,280 Speaker 2: and the owner was none the wiser. Emmerick stoles off 348 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 2: with his stogy. But when the owner went to deposit 349 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:49,440 Speaker 2: his take for the day, the bank teller noticed something 350 00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:53,480 Speaker 2: the paper. This is why, like my vision is getting 351 00:15:53,520 --> 00:15:57,840 Speaker 2: so bad, and I don't like the progressive lenses. So 352 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:00,280 Speaker 2: I have my reading glasses on my distance classes. There's 353 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:03,840 Speaker 2: always one hanging off the front of my I always 354 00:16:03,840 --> 00:16:07,880 Speaker 2: have and then sunglasses distant. But even so I feel 355 00:16:07,880 --> 00:16:11,160 Speaker 2: like Emeric needed glasses. Okay, So it's like if I 356 00:16:11,280 --> 00:16:13,160 Speaker 2: were doing at this point, I'm like, look at this 357 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:16,520 Speaker 2: cake I decorated with. Oh yeah, so the paper is 358 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:21,360 Speaker 2: super low quality, super cheap. It's like cheap bond paper 359 00:16:21,400 --> 00:16:25,240 Speaker 2: from the corner store. The green ink wasn't the right shade. 360 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:28,480 Speaker 2: The silver certificate seal was supposed to be blue and 361 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:32,520 Speaker 2: it wasn't. The lettering was crooked, and there was like 362 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:36,000 Speaker 2: there's a portrait of our country's first president, George Washington. 363 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:40,160 Speaker 2: Apparently it was laughable mustache. A Secret Service member said 364 00:16:40,200 --> 00:16:44,680 Speaker 2: it was quote poorly executed. Washington's right shoulder blends in 365 00:16:44,720 --> 00:16:48,240 Speaker 2: with the oval background. The left eye is represented by 366 00:16:48,280 --> 00:16:52,600 Speaker 2: a black spot. The right eye is almond shaped. And 367 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:57,280 Speaker 2: so it's like that Spanish retouched Jesus Fresco. Absolutely a 368 00:16:57,280 --> 00:17:01,960 Speaker 2: door or if I tried carving plate like I would 369 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 2: get frustrated and just stop caring. That's what happens with me. 370 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:08,119 Speaker 2: And you know, so the serial numbers on the fakes 371 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 2: were blurry and there were typos. Washington was spelled w 372 00:17:12,400 --> 00:17:17,560 Speaker 2: A H S I N G T O N. How 373 00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:21,840 Speaker 2: had anyone accepted all these questions of America exactly. So 374 00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:25,199 Speaker 2: the bank sees the dollar. But this he's been passing 375 00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,240 Speaker 2: these all over look, and the cigar shop had to 376 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 2: eat the cost. So then that the bank sends the 377 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:35,040 Speaker 2: bill to the Secret Service. And here's the thing. The 378 00:17:35,119 --> 00:17:38,400 Speaker 2: Secret Service had already been getting these imagine yeah, yeah, 379 00:17:38,440 --> 00:17:43,080 Speaker 2: And as time went on, they got thousands, thousands of 380 00:17:43,160 --> 00:17:48,120 Speaker 2: people accepted this totally garbage bill, and thousands of people 381 00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:55,040 Speaker 2: because Emeric continued his fraud for ten years, for a decade, 382 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:58,600 Speaker 2: sprink everywhere. Yeah, Secret Service for a decade is trying 383 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:02,520 Speaker 2: to track down this crappy counterfeitter New Year. They were 384 00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:06,879 Speaker 2: finding him New York, to Baltimore, to Atlanta, to Denver, 385 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:09,720 Speaker 2: to Seattle. It's like this dollars move message in a 386 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:12,520 Speaker 2: bottle because we were there to go and then most 387 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:15,399 Speaker 2: though were all like circulating around the Upper West Side. 388 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:17,480 Speaker 3: In his neighborhood was a concentration point. 389 00:18:17,640 --> 00:18:21,360 Speaker 2: Yeah. By nineteen forty seven he had passed more than 390 00:18:21,400 --> 00:18:24,840 Speaker 2: five thousand dollars. That's like ninety one thousand dollars today. 391 00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:28,400 Speaker 2: Small potatoes to the government, but a lot to Emeric. 392 00:18:28,960 --> 00:18:31,320 Speaker 2: So let's pause here. When we come back from these ads. 393 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:33,640 Speaker 2: I'm going to tell you about the efforts to catch 394 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:56,240 Speaker 2: my man, Emeric Emeric Hutener. 395 00:18:56,840 --> 00:18:57,920 Speaker 3: I'm loving this guy. 396 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,920 Speaker 2: Counterfeitter of the small and lousiest. 397 00:19:01,440 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 3: Orders, totally Johnny counterfeit seed. 398 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:06,560 Speaker 2: I love him. I don't get I don't love that 399 00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:08,760 Speaker 2: people got stiffed by him, but it's. 400 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:09,240 Speaker 3: Not a dollar. 401 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:10,200 Speaker 2: I love his MUCKs. 402 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:12,360 Speaker 3: And they got a story to tell people, like they 403 00:19:12,359 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 3: got Thanksgiving what happened Bob? I got one? I got 404 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:20,720 Speaker 3: this dollar bill that was blue, So I like him. 405 00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:23,399 Speaker 2: The Secret Service did not like him. Yeah, not by 406 00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:26,399 Speaker 2: a long shot. So it was humiliating for them to 407 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:29,760 Speaker 2: chase this guy for ten years as he passed the 408 00:19:29,800 --> 00:19:34,639 Speaker 2: most ridiculously bad dollar bills, Like they couldn't believe that 409 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 2: people kept accepting the bills, and then they couldn't develop 410 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:39,000 Speaker 2: any leads on him. 411 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:40,120 Speaker 3: Got another one for you stay. 412 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:46,080 Speaker 2: A Secret Service spokesperson said, quote, what makes it unique 413 00:19:46,240 --> 00:19:50,000 Speaker 2: isn't the threshold, but the denomination of one dollar. If 414 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:51,919 Speaker 2: you're going to go to the lengths of a dollar, 415 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:55,679 Speaker 2: why not go for a larger denomination. Why not go 416 00:19:55,800 --> 00:19:58,359 Speaker 2: for a bigger bang for your buck. It was not 417 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 2: as if he was passing hundreds of of thousands of 418 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:04,280 Speaker 2: dollars of currency, and agents you know, come to describe 419 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 2: them as, quote, the most exasperating counterfeitter of all time 420 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:09,560 Speaker 2: and the least greedy. 421 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 3: It loved so great. 422 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:14,720 Speaker 2: I love him so the Secret Service they opened case 423 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:18,000 Speaker 2: file eight eighty. Emeric, like his dog, didn't have a 424 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:21,960 Speaker 2: name with them, so they called him mister eight eighty. 425 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 2: And the Treasury Department they started issuing these circulars to 426 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:29,639 Speaker 2: all the merchants, warning them about the bills. Yeah, and 427 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:32,280 Speaker 2: he just keeps cranking them out all throughout the war years, 428 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:36,480 Speaker 2: cranking them. People kept accepting them. Secret Service gets more 429 00:20:36,520 --> 00:20:39,359 Speaker 2: and more annoyed as each new bad bill is sent 430 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:42,160 Speaker 2: to them. But like some people didn't send them in there. 431 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:44,560 Speaker 2: They thought they were hilarious, and they'd post them by 432 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:48,320 Speaker 2: the on the wall, by the red doors, imagine, oh yeah, completely. 433 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 2: And so then what was terrible for Emeric was great 434 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:56,639 Speaker 2: for the government, which was on December fourth, nineteen forty seven, 435 00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:58,639 Speaker 2: his apartment building caught on fire. 436 00:20:59,160 --> 00:21:01,520 Speaker 3: Okay he had to December fourth, nineteen forty seven. 437 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:07,360 Speaker 2: Yeah, he was at work and firefighters are battling the blaze. 438 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:11,080 Speaker 2: They moved their way into Emricks unit, and it's full 439 00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:13,280 Speaker 2: of scrap metal that he collected for sales. 440 00:21:13,359 --> 00:21:16,080 Speaker 3: Oh, it's not like a closed line of dollar bills drying. 441 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:21,320 Speaker 2: Clos all this junk. And the firefighters they busted out 442 00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:24,959 Speaker 2: a window and started tossing everything out into the vacant 443 00:21:25,000 --> 00:21:27,639 Speaker 2: lot next door in order to clear the way so 444 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 2: they could gain access to the burning walls. Oh okay, 445 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:34,280 Speaker 2: And so it's snowing outside as the fire rages. It's 446 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:38,040 Speaker 2: blanketing all of Emrick's earthly possessions that now lay in 447 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:42,160 Speaker 2: this like jumbled, charred pile in the dirt. The freezing 448 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:45,200 Speaker 2: temperatures did nothing to help the firefighters, and the building's 449 00:21:45,240 --> 00:21:47,600 Speaker 2: pretty much destroyed and c loses everything. 450 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:47,840 Speaker 5: Ah. 451 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:50,680 Speaker 2: So he goes to stay with his daughter and queens 452 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:52,880 Speaker 2: as he like regroups, he tries to find a place 453 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:57,440 Speaker 2: to live, you know, put his meager life back together. Zaren, Yeah, 454 00:21:58,400 --> 00:22:03,040 Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, I want you to picture it. You're 455 00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:06,320 Speaker 2: a twelve year old boy named Johnny Hawthorne who lives 456 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:09,000 Speaker 2: in New York's Upper West Side. You live at two 457 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:12,320 Speaker 2: hundred West ninety sixth Street with your family. You have 458 00:22:12,359 --> 00:22:14,600 Speaker 2: a group of boys with whom you run around a 459 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:18,399 Speaker 2: ragtag bunch, but you're a good kid. It's January thirteenth, 460 00:22:18,600 --> 00:22:21,960 Speaker 2: nineteen forty eight. You and your pals playing down the 461 00:22:21,960 --> 00:22:24,480 Speaker 2: street from your building in an empty lot, next to 462 00:22:24,520 --> 00:22:27,879 Speaker 2: the burned out shelf of two oh four West ninety 463 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:31,439 Speaker 2: six steet. You're kicking cans and throwing rocks into the 464 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 2: burned out husk of a building. The snow that last 465 00:22:34,560 --> 00:22:38,120 Speaker 2: month had coated the ground has mostly melted away. Your 466 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:40,520 Speaker 2: mom made you bundle up before you went out, but 467 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:42,680 Speaker 2: you've stuck your mittens in your back pocket, and you're 468 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:44,919 Speaker 2: getting a little sweaty under your coat and wool sweater. 469 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:47,760 Speaker 2: You and the boys are whipping it up and running 470 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:50,679 Speaker 2: around the lot when you spot a pile of junk. 471 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 2: This is a gold mine for you. A pile of treasure, 472 00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:59,119 Speaker 2: burned up, discarded stuff. This is amazing for a twelve 473 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:02,040 Speaker 2: year old boy. In this you and your buddies you 474 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:04,640 Speaker 2: pick through the rubble. You toss most of it aside, 475 00:23:04,760 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 2: flinging the metal away with glee. It feels so good 476 00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 2: to throw stuff o old twisted pieces of metal and 477 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:15,879 Speaker 2: like dented empty cans, a smashed up bird cage sheet, 478 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:19,439 Speaker 2: or two of old corrugated iron car tire. But then 479 00:23:19,480 --> 00:23:22,879 Speaker 2: you spot something. Two metal plates with images on the 480 00:23:22,880 --> 00:23:25,439 Speaker 2: front and back of a dollar bill on them, and 481 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:29,159 Speaker 2: a pile of about thirty dollars. Immediately you know the 482 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 2: bills are bogus, so do your friends look stage money. 483 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:35,640 Speaker 2: One of the meals you and your friend Dicky Beeeler 484 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:38,959 Speaker 2: called DIBs on the plates. They look super cool. The 485 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:42,240 Speaker 2: other three boys divide the cash evenly among themselves. They 486 00:23:42,280 --> 00:23:45,000 Speaker 2: put the bills into wads of play gangster, pulling the 487 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:48,239 Speaker 2: cash in their pockets and pretending to smoke cigarettes. You 488 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:49,960 Speaker 2: poke around in the pile for a while, but you 489 00:23:49,960 --> 00:23:52,919 Speaker 2: don't find anything more of interest. The zinc plate is 490 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,000 Speaker 2: heavy in your coat pocket. It's getting late, and you 491 00:23:56,080 --> 00:23:58,640 Speaker 2: need to go home, as to your friends. Just then 492 00:23:58,720 --> 00:24:01,400 Speaker 2: your dad gives a loud wh to you from down 493 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:04,880 Speaker 2: the block. Gotta run. You and the boys all scattered 494 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:08,200 Speaker 2: to your respective apartments. Well, what remains of Emeric Utner's 495 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:12,240 Speaker 2: life sits strewn around the lot, languishing in the slush 496 00:24:12,280 --> 00:24:17,960 Speaker 2: and the mud. So Zarah. A couple days later, one 497 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:20,359 Speaker 2: of the other boys was hosting a poker game in 498 00:24:20,400 --> 00:24:25,520 Speaker 2: this basement. Love I love that he and the other kids, 499 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:29,359 Speaker 2: they're playing with the fake cat I know. So the 500 00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,920 Speaker 2: boys dad happens upon them. He's first wondering like, how 501 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:35,679 Speaker 2: did you get all that money? And he looks at 502 00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:37,720 Speaker 2: the bills and he sees that they're all bad fakes. 503 00:24:38,240 --> 00:24:40,440 Speaker 2: So the dad takes the money and he goes down 504 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:45,600 Speaker 2: to the police station. Right the cops knew right away 505 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 2: that these were some mister eight eighty bills, so they 506 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:50,720 Speaker 2: call the Secret Service. They're glad to swoop in, and 507 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:53,680 Speaker 2: they interrogate the boys like where did you find these? 508 00:24:54,920 --> 00:24:57,760 Speaker 2: In the abandoned lot on West ninety six? Like what 509 00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:00,480 Speaker 2: else was there? A bunch of junk? Did you see 510 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:04,560 Speaker 2: any metal plates? Like ones for printing paper? They're like yeah, sure, 511 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:08,080 Speaker 2: Johnny Hawthorne and Dicky Beler took him. So the Secret 512 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 2: Service is like, dickiye okay, Dicky Beeler, let's find this kid. 513 00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:13,639 Speaker 2: Sounds like a rascal, so he's got he's got a 514 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:17,679 Speaker 2: name like that, he's gotta be cool. They find Dicky Beler, 515 00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:19,879 Speaker 2: they ask him where the plates were. He's like, I 516 00:25:19,880 --> 00:25:22,960 Speaker 2: don't have him. He's like, I traded him to Johnny 517 00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:26,960 Speaker 2: Hawthorne for a baseball So apparently Johnny wanted the full 518 00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:29,600 Speaker 2: set and he didn't want to play Catcher anymore. So 519 00:25:29,720 --> 00:25:32,920 Speaker 2: the agents they go looking for Johnny Hawthorne. They find 520 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 2: him on the school playground. They collared. They asked him 521 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:39,640 Speaker 2: about the plates, shooting craps, like I don't have them. 522 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:42,280 Speaker 2: Can you imagine the Secret Service walks onto a playground 523 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:46,640 Speaker 2: where shooting crab exactly, He's like, what do you want 524 00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:50,440 Speaker 2: during the quarters? So he's like, I don't have the plates. 525 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:53,040 Speaker 2: I gave him to Bobby Boyle in exchange for a 526 00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:58,800 Speaker 2: Japanese bayonet. They're like, where does Bobby Boyle live. He's like, 527 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:00,960 Speaker 2: I don't know the address, but I'll walk you over there. 528 00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:05,320 Speaker 2: So he walks the agents to Bobby Boyle's place. Bobby 529 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:08,400 Speaker 2: is like, I had the plates, but I traded them. 530 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,800 Speaker 2: He's like, Johnny Canning gave me a bag of marbles 531 00:26:12,840 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 2: for him, and so it takes someone they had. They're like, 532 00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:19,000 Speaker 2: out there, does anyone know where Johnny Canning is? They 533 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:22,240 Speaker 2: find him out playing, and so like the Secret Services 534 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:26,720 Speaker 2: looking for these preteens, these. 535 00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:30,200 Speaker 3: Little boys, this black market of green boys, and. 536 00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:32,720 Speaker 2: So for the marbles. So they find Johnny Canning. He's 537 00:26:32,760 --> 00:26:38,120 Speaker 2: out playing. He's all stoked to show the agents's plates. Yeah, 538 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:39,879 Speaker 2: And he's like, oh my god, the plates, yeah, let 539 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 2: me show you. And so they go into his room 540 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:45,320 Speaker 2: and they're covered in green paint and he tried to 541 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,080 Speaker 2: print his own money, but he tried. He tried to 542 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:51,880 Speaker 2: print it on Kleenex, Like God bless. He's like, this 543 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:54,159 Speaker 2: isn't normal paper for a bill. What do I have 544 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:54,840 Speaker 2: that's not normal? 545 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:56,240 Speaker 3: I'm not going to one of my comic books. What 546 00:26:56,280 --> 00:26:56,840 Speaker 3: else I got? 547 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:00,800 Speaker 2: So the agents they take the plates and they recognized 548 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:02,280 Speaker 2: the shoddy image immediately. 549 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:02,880 Speaker 3: These are the. 550 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:06,280 Speaker 2: Mister eight eighties. And so they descend on the burned 551 00:27:06,320 --> 00:27:07,160 Speaker 2: out building. 552 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:10,880 Speaker 3: Put them together. I bring money. 553 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:14,600 Speaker 2: So they all the secret servers they go to the building. 554 00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:16,840 Speaker 2: That's all, and they can tell by the placement of 555 00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:20,199 Speaker 2: the pile which window had produced all the junk. So 556 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:23,200 Speaker 2: they go in. They find twenty five more dollars in 557 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:27,040 Speaker 2: fake bills. They found tubes of printing ink and the 558 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,760 Speaker 2: photographic negatives of Federal Reserve notes, and they're all tucked 559 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:33,560 Speaker 2: away and like spared from the flames. And in the 560 00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:35,879 Speaker 2: basement of the building they find an old trunk that 561 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:41,120 Speaker 2: contained an additional plate for dollar bills. Those photographic negatives 562 00:27:41,119 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 2: they found they were for ten and twenty dollar bills 563 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:47,119 Speaker 2: that had never been used. Wow, he just wanted to 564 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:48,639 Speaker 2: see if he could do it. So he's just sticking 565 00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:49,160 Speaker 2: the singles. 566 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:50,680 Speaker 3: Maybe from my retirement. Yeah. 567 00:27:50,720 --> 00:27:53,400 Speaker 2: And then obviously, okay, they know the apartment that they're in. 568 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:57,920 Speaker 2: Landlord who lives here, He gives the name and right, 569 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:00,199 Speaker 2: and he's like, oh yeah, Emeric and he's staying this 570 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:02,840 Speaker 2: daughter over in Queen's All right, let's go. We've been 571 00:28:02,920 --> 00:28:04,040 Speaker 2: running all over this place. 572 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:05,840 Speaker 3: Anyway, Maybe Johnny Hawthorne could say. 573 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:09,320 Speaker 2: Exactly to give you. So they go out, they pick 574 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:11,320 Speaker 2: him up, and he immediately. 575 00:28:10,720 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 3: Confessed seventy two. 576 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:16,479 Speaker 2: I bet yeah, and so. Saint Clair Mcolway, a New 577 00:28:16,560 --> 00:28:20,040 Speaker 2: Yorker columnist who interviewed the agents, wrote, quote, when the 578 00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:23,520 Speaker 2: secret servicemen at last laid eyes on mister eight eighty, 579 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,000 Speaker 2: they found it hard to believe what their eyes told them. 580 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:27,960 Speaker 3: What did their eyes tell me? 581 00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:32,320 Speaker 2: The happy looking, little old septagenarian admitted everything and showed 582 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:35,480 Speaker 2: no signs of remorse. He had a provoking habit of 583 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:40,800 Speaker 2: answering serious questions with absent minded and irrelevant loquaciousness. In 584 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:44,200 Speaker 2: the course of his rambling, replies. He would pause, look 585 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:48,160 Speaker 2: at his inquisitors brightly and gaily, then grin at them toothlessly. 586 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:51,040 Speaker 3: Hi, William Mac could kill this. 587 00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:52,920 Speaker 2: Oh my god, I love him so much. 588 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:56,440 Speaker 3: Grinning toothlessly agents, It's like, all right, you. 589 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:58,719 Speaker 2: Know what I don't I never get to talk to anybody. Oh, 590 00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 2: let's chat, let's talk about business. Yeah, so they ask him, 591 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,320 Speaker 2: how long have you been making these guys been catching me? 592 00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,680 Speaker 2: He's like, oh, nine or ten years, A long time. 593 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:09,560 Speaker 2: Of course, I admit it. They were only one dollar bills. 594 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:11,880 Speaker 2: I never gave more than one of them to one person. 595 00:29:12,600 --> 00:29:15,920 Speaker 2: And they're like, you know, so while he was one 596 00:29:15,960 --> 00:29:20,160 Speaker 2: of the most successful counterfeiters in American history, Like, you 597 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:23,000 Speaker 2: wouldn't know it because, like I said, is rents twenty 598 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,560 Speaker 2: five dollars a month. Okay, he only wore used clothes 599 00:29:27,240 --> 00:29:29,880 Speaker 2: and he never spent more than fifteen dollars a week. 600 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:30,640 Speaker 3: I kind of guy. 601 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:35,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, he's not living large, he's just living so break times. Eron, 602 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:37,320 Speaker 2: let's go print some bills. 603 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:38,240 Speaker 3: You know I'm on it. 604 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:42,280 Speaker 2: Well, The joyous sounds of advertising fill the air, the sweet, 605 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:45,239 Speaker 2: sweet sounds. You'll be able to taste it flowing through 606 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:45,520 Speaker 2: the air. 607 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:49,560 Speaker 3: That's what the counterfeit money's for, for. 608 00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:53,040 Speaker 2: Some meal kits. Upon our return, we're going to check 609 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:55,680 Speaker 2: in with Emeric and see what the law has in 610 00:29:55,720 --> 00:30:20,080 Speaker 2: store for him. Emeric scrappy fella. 611 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:21,120 Speaker 3: I'm into him. 612 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:25,280 Speaker 2: Oh he's a proud man, a shoddy counterfeitterde. 613 00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:26,520 Speaker 3: Toothless grin and like holy fruit. 614 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:30,120 Speaker 2: They love him. He's like a little sprite. So after 615 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:33,720 Speaker 2: ten years of passing really bad fake bills, gets busted 616 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:36,760 Speaker 2: by the Secret Service. They don't play. Was he upset 617 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:37,240 Speaker 2: about it? 618 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:39,040 Speaker 3: I'm guessing no, No, not really. 619 00:30:39,360 --> 00:30:42,160 Speaker 2: So at this point he had no wife, no dog, 620 00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:46,800 Speaker 2: his kids are grown and happy. Wasn't motivated by his job. 621 00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:49,000 Speaker 2: He's in his seventies, Like, what did he care if 622 00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:49,760 Speaker 2: he got arrested? 623 00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:50,480 Speaker 3: So what? 624 00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:54,320 Speaker 2: That's what he says. So he's he's pretty unbothered by 625 00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:57,920 Speaker 2: the whole thing. In fact, he asked the arresting agents 626 00:30:57,960 --> 00:31:00,240 Speaker 2: on the Sunday that he got arrested if he go 627 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:02,720 Speaker 2: to work the next day. He's like, that is junk. 628 00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:05,360 Speaker 2: Ain't gonna pick itself. Then let me back out on 629 00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:05,680 Speaker 2: the story. 630 00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:07,520 Speaker 3: Which work are you talking about? Yeah? 631 00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:12,040 Speaker 2: Right, So he didn't come completely clean, though, he told 632 00:31:12,160 --> 00:31:15,480 Speaker 2: assistant US Attorney Thomas Murphy, who was in charge of 633 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:19,000 Speaker 2: the criminal division, that the engraving plates were left in 634 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:23,360 Speaker 2: the apartment by a previous tenant. Like sure, buddy, Okay. 635 00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:25,160 Speaker 3: I found them there. They're so heavy to move. 636 00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:27,480 Speaker 2: It was there. I was like that when I got there. 637 00:31:28,440 --> 00:31:30,200 Speaker 2: He didn't have a record. All I could find of 638 00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:33,280 Speaker 2: him in the paper was before all this arrest was 639 00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:35,680 Speaker 2: from the twenties. He was in a little bit of 640 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:38,240 Speaker 2: a car accident because he went too fast for conditions 641 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:40,760 Speaker 2: and tried to pass another car before sliding out and 642 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:43,600 Speaker 2: hitting someone else. So it's like the twenties, so they're 643 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:47,760 Speaker 2: probably going like fifteen miles an hour. Yeah, basically, So 644 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:50,320 Speaker 2: he gets this time though he has no record. He 645 00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:53,640 Speaker 2: gets charged with possession of nine plates for use in 646 00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:57,040 Speaker 2: making counterfeit bills. Good for him secret service. In their 647 00:31:57,040 --> 00:32:01,880 Speaker 2: interviews with his neighbors and like nearby shop, every single 648 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:04,880 Speaker 2: one of them only had good things to say about him, really, 649 00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,400 Speaker 2: every single one. They all called him pop. Yeah, either 650 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:11,480 Speaker 2: like he would help anyone in need, he fixed things, 651 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:15,200 Speaker 2: he would lend a hand, smiled joe. He was generally 652 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:17,120 Speaker 2: just like a good guy to be around. 653 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:18,480 Speaker 3: A good community member. 654 00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:22,720 Speaker 2: And so Because of this, the agents asked for leniency 655 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,360 Speaker 2: in his sentencing. Good, so the judge John Clancy, he 656 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,520 Speaker 2: really liked Emeric. He thought he was sweet, and Clancy 657 00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:32,400 Speaker 2: had a sense of humor. So he sentenced Emeric to 658 00:32:32,480 --> 00:32:34,720 Speaker 2: one year and one day in prison and like he 659 00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:38,520 Speaker 2: was facing fifteen to thirty oh his charge. He also 660 00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:44,520 Speaker 2: imposed a fine of one dollar whatever. He doesn't real Yeah, 661 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:47,080 Speaker 2: he says it, and the whole courtroom cracks horse. Yeah, 662 00:32:47,120 --> 00:32:50,800 Speaker 2: it was just great. So Emeric, he's eligible for parole 663 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:53,280 Speaker 2: after four months and he gets it. Oh. No, he's 664 00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:57,160 Speaker 2: super cooperative, he's not greedy, aggressive, and he was up 665 00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 2: in years. That all played a factor while he inside. 666 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:04,239 Speaker 2: He was so charming and sweet that the warden and 667 00:33:04,280 --> 00:33:07,280 Speaker 2: some of the other inmates all chipped in and put 668 00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:10,240 Speaker 2: together money for him when he left. Oh, like his 669 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:15,520 Speaker 2: birthday birthday. Yes, So Emeric takes his kids up on 670 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:17,640 Speaker 2: their offer to help at last, and he goes to 671 00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:21,600 Speaker 2: live with his daughter and her family. Secret Service happy 672 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,480 Speaker 2: to put the whole mess behind them. This is what 673 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:28,600 Speaker 2: Secret Service Chief James Maloney said, quote the capture of 674 00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:32,080 Speaker 2: this man relieves the Secret Service of a terrific headache. 675 00:33:32,200 --> 00:33:35,040 Speaker 3: Yeah, because they were calling me Jim Phony, maloney, maloney, 676 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:36,280 Speaker 3: and I got tired of it. 677 00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:40,920 Speaker 2: I've had enough. Nineteen forty nine, The New Yorker columnist 678 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:44,400 Speaker 2: wrote a profile of Emeric, and it was first published 679 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:47,680 Speaker 2: in The New Yorker later appeared in the book True 680 00:33:47,720 --> 00:33:52,640 Speaker 2: Tales from the Annals of Crime and Rascality. Rascality so 681 00:33:52,840 --> 00:33:59,000 Speaker 2: good and so the writer captivated by Emeric. Everyone everyone gets. 682 00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:03,360 Speaker 2: The next year, that article the interview was made into 683 00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:08,960 Speaker 2: a movie called Mister eight eighty Have you anything? Oh, 684 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:12,120 Speaker 2: I'm about to tell you? So. It was billed as 685 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:16,080 Speaker 2: a quote gentle romantic comedy about a secret Service agent 686 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:19,480 Speaker 2: trying to catch a cold case counterfeiter and the United 687 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:26,800 Speaker 2: Nations translator, What yeah, Emeric? Is it is? It doesn't 688 00:34:26,800 --> 00:34:32,319 Speaker 2: have enough star power like secret Service, Like we could 689 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:37,200 Speaker 2: dress him up an dreaper. So where's the thing? That's okay? 690 00:34:37,239 --> 00:34:42,360 Speaker 2: So it's directed by Edmund Golding and it starred Bert Lancaster, 691 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:48,520 Speaker 2: what yeah, Dorothy maguire wow, and Edmund Gwen as Emeric 692 00:34:49,640 --> 00:34:53,600 Speaker 2: And they call him Skipper Miller in the movie. Okay, 693 00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:58,120 Speaker 2: So Gwen, he played Santa in Miracle on thirty fourth Street. 694 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:02,680 Speaker 2: You know him? And so for Mister eight eighty. He 695 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:06,680 Speaker 2: won a Golden Globe for that role. He was nominated 696 00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:09,800 Speaker 2: for an Academy Award really for his role in Mister 697 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:10,560 Speaker 2: e eighty. 698 00:35:10,719 --> 00:35:12,279 Speaker 3: Woh, I got a classic to check. 699 00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:16,520 Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. And what's crazy and ridiculous? Thank you for asking. 700 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:18,799 Speaker 3: I didn't know where, Okay, go on, Oh we're getting there. 701 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:24,080 Speaker 2: Is that he made ten times more on the rights 702 00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:27,440 Speaker 2: to his life story than he did cranking out fake bills. 703 00:35:27,680 --> 00:35:30,000 Speaker 3: Oh my god, isn't that incredible? 704 00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:33,799 Speaker 2: And someone asked him if he would ever return to 705 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,240 Speaker 2: his counterfeiting ways, and he told them no because quote, 706 00:35:37,280 --> 00:35:38,680 Speaker 2: there wasn't enough money in. 707 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:41,799 Speaker 3: It, so he was literally printing money. 708 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:44,600 Speaker 2: Yeah. He was the first and to date only person 709 00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:48,840 Speaker 2: convicted of counterfeiting one dollar bills. He passed away in 710 00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:51,879 Speaker 2: January of nineteen fifty five at the age of seventy nine. 711 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:58,280 Speaker 2: Ashes are interred in Queens. So Zarin, what's your ridiculous takeaway? 712 00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:01,520 Speaker 3: You know what I've learned my time with counterfeiting, not 713 00:36:01,600 --> 00:36:03,799 Speaker 3: that I never have gotten into counterfeiting. I've tried, as 714 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:06,000 Speaker 3: I told you, passing some counterfeit bills I was given 715 00:36:06,160 --> 00:36:09,000 Speaker 3: by Bank of America. But I would say. 716 00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:12,760 Speaker 2: From Bank of America. That reminded me, but yeah, go ahead. 717 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:16,439 Speaker 3: The whole art of being a counterfeiter, I actually did 718 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:18,000 Speaker 3: think about it, not that as a career, but just 719 00:36:18,040 --> 00:36:20,279 Speaker 3: like i'd amuse myself because it's a non violent crime. 720 00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:22,480 Speaker 3: You can pick that you're passing them too. It seems fun. 721 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:25,000 Speaker 3: There's like an element of art to it. But like, 722 00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:27,080 Speaker 3: and so I keep up now whenever I see stories. 723 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:30,000 Speaker 3: And the big thing now is you take the old 724 00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:32,360 Speaker 3: like twenties and the and the fives, and you bleach 725 00:36:32,400 --> 00:36:34,520 Speaker 3: them out and then you print on like one hundred 726 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:38,239 Speaker 3: dollars bill onto an actual bill right the paper. Yeah. 727 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:41,000 Speaker 3: But then now because of the bar that they have, 728 00:36:41,360 --> 00:36:45,239 Speaker 3: you know, they like hologram strips. Yeah, so now you 729 00:36:45,239 --> 00:36:46,759 Speaker 3: can't do with any of these new bills. It's got 730 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:48,160 Speaker 3: to be old bills. It's got to be places that 731 00:36:48,200 --> 00:36:49,600 Speaker 3: you're going to be passing. So you got to be like, 732 00:36:49,640 --> 00:36:52,200 Speaker 3: you know, driving out to Utah to a small gas 733 00:36:52,239 --> 00:36:53,960 Speaker 3: station and hoping to pass old bills. But they're not 734 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:55,520 Speaker 3: going to care. So you really couldn't do it in 735 00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:58,520 Speaker 3: most cities. So it's become something that is almost more 736 00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:00,799 Speaker 3: of an international crime. So people do this and then 737 00:37:01,080 --> 00:37:03,080 Speaker 3: go and like give those money to people in China, 738 00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:05,920 Speaker 3: like we're coming to America, go here's the bills for 739 00:37:06,000 --> 00:37:08,399 Speaker 3: you to go, and they don't know. So that's how 740 00:37:08,680 --> 00:37:11,240 Speaker 3: So it's interesting to see watch your counterfeiting is moving 741 00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:14,319 Speaker 3: because the bills are still valuable to somebody, but just 742 00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:16,279 Speaker 3: now you can't pass them here. But where can you pass? 743 00:37:16,400 --> 00:37:19,600 Speaker 2: We get less and less cash based we're mostly cash. 744 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:21,680 Speaker 3: That's the other thing is that so much and so 745 00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:24,080 Speaker 3: few people use cash. 746 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:25,520 Speaker 2: You gotta find, like you're saying, you go out in 747 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,120 Speaker 2: the middle of nowhere where they don't have, but they 748 00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:29,839 Speaker 2: don't you know, they get more cash. 749 00:37:29,520 --> 00:37:31,879 Speaker 3: Than it's not weird to pass cash. And then also 750 00:37:32,040 --> 00:37:34,480 Speaker 3: anybody who's coming to America, it's easier to give them 751 00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:37,759 Speaker 3: cash because they don't know necessarily what you know, they're 752 00:37:37,760 --> 00:37:39,200 Speaker 3: not thinking about it the same all of it. 753 00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:41,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, because some currencies in other countries you pick 754 00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:43,960 Speaker 2: it up and it feels fake exactly. Yeah. My brother 755 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:46,439 Speaker 2: I just totally remember that my brother had a fake 756 00:37:46,480 --> 00:37:48,560 Speaker 2: ten and we were in the Burger King drive through 757 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:49,600 Speaker 2: and they wouldn't take it. 758 00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:50,440 Speaker 3: Oh they caught it. 759 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:50,880 Speaker 2: Yeah. 760 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:53,040 Speaker 3: Yeah, I've ever worked. I worked a lot of jobs 761 00:37:53,080 --> 00:37:54,640 Speaker 3: where I had to like take money like that as 762 00:37:54,680 --> 00:37:56,799 Speaker 3: a cash register, and I used to be able to 763 00:37:56,800 --> 00:37:58,560 Speaker 3: you can spot them, I used to. I caught a 764 00:37:58,760 --> 00:38:01,080 Speaker 3: number of thigs those Oh yeah, a ton. When I 765 00:38:01,080 --> 00:38:04,000 Speaker 3: was in a Chinese restaurant in La I worked there 766 00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:06,120 Speaker 3: was right on the like Santa Monica. It is near 767 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:08,920 Speaker 3: basically near an intersections. I made an intersection. There's a 768 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:11,479 Speaker 3: lot of crime that happened, like small type crime perse 769 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:13,239 Speaker 3: grabbing and like three people and then getting in a 770 00:38:13,239 --> 00:38:14,960 Speaker 3: car and driving away. But back in the day before 771 00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:17,640 Speaker 3: people were doing that. So you also have people passing bills. 772 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:20,120 Speaker 3: So I would be sitting there. And the thing is 773 00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:22,680 Speaker 3: that you actually have to hire We've actually talked about 774 00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:25,879 Speaker 3: this people to pass your bills, because otherwise you will 775 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:27,920 Speaker 3: you can't. You can't be the person who's making You're 776 00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:29,879 Speaker 3: gonna have green ink on your fingers. But other people, 777 00:38:29,920 --> 00:38:32,680 Speaker 3: you know they're going to act suspicious. You needed people 778 00:38:32,719 --> 00:38:35,200 Speaker 3: who don't know they're passing bills. That's the only way 779 00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:37,960 Speaker 3: to do it. Otherwise, you generally look at the bill 780 00:38:38,040 --> 00:38:40,640 Speaker 3: more than anybody else who's giving you money, and so 781 00:38:40,680 --> 00:38:43,600 Speaker 3: it makes it obvious. They're like, oh, I hope it's right. Honestly, 782 00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:45,680 Speaker 3: and so I learned the verses. If you want to 783 00:38:45,719 --> 00:38:48,040 Speaker 3: pass money, you got a whole eye contact real hard. 784 00:38:48,160 --> 00:38:49,440 Speaker 3: The person won't look at the money. 785 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:50,960 Speaker 2: But I remember you and I were in a shop 786 00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:54,120 Speaker 2: once and you went to pay and you handed the 787 00:38:54,120 --> 00:38:57,600 Speaker 2: bill to the cashier and said, it's don't worry, it's good. 788 00:38:57,640 --> 00:38:58,520 Speaker 2: I made it this morning. 789 00:38:58,560 --> 00:38:59,879 Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, I tease people at that. 790 00:39:00,239 --> 00:39:03,320 Speaker 2: And she just stared at some people don't think it's funny. 791 00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:05,040 Speaker 3: I think it's And I was like, also, I like 792 00:39:05,080 --> 00:39:07,680 Speaker 3: doing it because you know, I serve, so sometimes I'd 793 00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:10,000 Speaker 3: have wet money in my pockets and so I pull 794 00:39:10,040 --> 00:39:11,120 Speaker 3: it out and it's wet, and I'm like, oh, no, 795 00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:13,279 Speaker 3: worry about that. I made them. I didn't dry it. 796 00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:15,839 Speaker 3: I made that this morning. Like they almost like look 797 00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:17,719 Speaker 3: at it, like is it really? Like they ball it 798 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:20,880 Speaker 3: up trying to squeeze the mank out. People are dumb, Elizabeth. 799 00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:24,560 Speaker 2: I'm telling that's my ridiculous takeaway. But thank you for asking, 800 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:25,319 Speaker 2: Oh what does. 801 00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:26,960 Speaker 3: Youre ridiculous take away? How about you? 802 00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:31,440 Speaker 2: One? I love Emeric and I love criminals that like his. 803 00:39:31,880 --> 00:39:34,799 Speaker 2: The way he heard people was so minor total a 804 00:39:34,840 --> 00:39:37,560 Speaker 2: dollar bill, but like his whole story and his like. 805 00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:39,440 Speaker 3: And how much he was giving in exchange. I mean 806 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:41,680 Speaker 3: who he was. He was a good community. Yeah, exactly, 807 00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:43,440 Speaker 3: somebody passing counterfeit. 808 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:44,520 Speaker 2: Bill love him, love love. 809 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:46,839 Speaker 3: Would you ever pass the counterfeit ability? Think you can? 810 00:39:46,960 --> 00:39:48,200 Speaker 2: I could get away with it. Yeah? 811 00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:49,399 Speaker 3: Do you think care? 812 00:39:49,520 --> 00:39:49,719 Speaker 2: Yeah? 813 00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:50,520 Speaker 3: I can get you one. 814 00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:52,640 Speaker 2: Everyone everyone thinks I'm trustworthy. 815 00:39:52,760 --> 00:39:54,239 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's what I mean. You're an ideal past. 816 00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:58,160 Speaker 2: People tell me things? Yeah, yeah, you know what else 817 00:39:58,200 --> 00:39:58,560 Speaker 2: I love? 818 00:39:58,800 --> 00:39:59,839 Speaker 3: What else? Do you love? Talk? 819 00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:00,640 Speaker 4: Oh? 820 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:10,680 Speaker 3: Yeah, O god, I. 821 00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:17,680 Speaker 5: Went Hey, Elizabeth and Zarin, this is Lucy. Thank you 822 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:20,960 Speaker 5: so much for bringing doctor John Brinkley to the Ridiculous 823 00:40:20,960 --> 00:40:24,200 Speaker 5: Crime universe. If you want to learn more about him, 824 00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:27,439 Speaker 5: there is a book called Charlotttan by Pope Rock. And 825 00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:30,239 Speaker 5: one other ridiculous fact that you could include or that 826 00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:33,279 Speaker 5: you could learn is I Brinkley had a little league 827 00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:38,040 Speaker 5: team called Brinkley's Goats. So I find that very ridiculous. 828 00:40:38,239 --> 00:40:40,360 Speaker 5: And uh yeah, wait. 829 00:40:40,840 --> 00:40:43,840 Speaker 2: This amazing Brinkley is the gift that keeps on giving, 830 00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:52,640 Speaker 2: Like every detail Brinkley's Goats. Oh that's amazing. And that's 831 00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:56,440 Speaker 2: all that's all for today. You can find us online 832 00:40:56,440 --> 00:41:00,200 Speaker 2: at ridiculous Crime dot com. We're also at Ridiculous I'm 833 00:41:00,239 --> 00:41:03,279 Speaker 2: on both Twitter and Instagram. You can email Ridiculous Crime 834 00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:07,160 Speaker 2: at gmail dot com. But, as I always say, most importantly, 835 00:41:07,320 --> 00:41:10,719 Speaker 2: please leave a talkback on the iHeart app. You can 836 00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:13,200 Speaker 2: if the app is free. You get to say cool 837 00:41:13,239 --> 00:41:16,160 Speaker 2: stuff and you know everyone gets to hear it. How 838 00:41:16,200 --> 00:41:24,680 Speaker 2: great is that reach out? Ridiculous Crime is hosted by 839 00:41:24,719 --> 00:41:28,200 Speaker 2: Elizabeth Dutton and Zaren Burnett, produced and edited by Dave 840 00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:34,440 Speaker 2: Dalla Bill y'all Kusten, starring Atalis Rutger as Judith. Research 841 00:41:34,520 --> 00:41:39,040 Speaker 2: is by Marble Trader Marisa Brown and child poker prodigy 842 00:41:39,280 --> 00:41:42,480 Speaker 2: Andrea Song Sharpened Hear. The theme song is by Junkman 843 00:41:42,600 --> 00:41:45,799 Speaker 2: Thomas Lee, an amused barkeep with a bad dollar bill 844 00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:49,600 Speaker 2: taped to his register. Travis Dutton post wardrobe is provided 845 00:41:49,640 --> 00:41:54,160 Speaker 2: by Botany five hundred guest Haron, makeup by Sparkleshot and 846 00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:59,200 Speaker 2: mister Andre. Executive producers are Secret Service Plate Cataloger Ben 847 00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:03,960 Speaker 2: Bollen and Secret Service Interrogator Juvenile Division Noel Brown. 848 00:42:09,400 --> 00:42:15,120 Speaker 3: Ridicous Crime Say It One More Time Giquious Crime. 849 00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:19,480 Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts 850 00:42:19,480 --> 00:42:22,640 Speaker 1: from my heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, 851 00:42:22,719 --> 00:42:24,560 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.