WEBVTT - Episode 3: El Dorado 0:00:15.316 --> 0:00:27.436 Pushkin previously on Deep Cover. It was the spring of 0:00:27.516 --> 0:00:31.156 nineteen eighty five. Ned Timmins had been working undercover with 0:00:31.236 --> 0:00:35.316 bikers in the Detroit area for roughly three years. He 0:00:35.356 --> 0:00:38.636 thought he was close to finding something big to infiltrating 0:00:38.636 --> 0:00:43.316 a smuggling ring. Supposedly it was importing huge amounts of marijuana, 0:00:43.596 --> 0:00:46.036 and now he had a lead on someone who might 0:00:46.036 --> 0:00:49.516 be directly involved, a part time car salesman who went 0:00:49.516 --> 0:00:55.396 by the nickname Shine. We're looking at what he has, 0:00:55.436 --> 0:00:58.636 a house and cars and everything, and no source of income. 0:00:59.676 --> 0:01:03.196 And then we're pulling phone records, bank records and everything, 0:01:03.236 --> 0:01:07.036 and huge deposits of fifty sixty thousand at a time. 0:01:07.956 --> 0:01:11.236 Ned thought he might have enough to try and flip Shine. 0:01:11.956 --> 0:01:14.396 The FBI knows a lot, but a lot of it 0:01:14.476 --> 0:01:18.796 is a game to try to ferret out the information 0:01:18.836 --> 0:01:22.556 you need. When you throw down the FBI badge and credentials, 0:01:23.476 --> 0:01:29.836 it horrifies guilty people. What Ned needed was an inn 0:01:30.196 --> 0:01:34.116 an introduction, and as Ned recalls it, another one of 0:01:34.116 --> 0:01:37.716 his biker informants came up with the solution. They would 0:01:37.716 --> 0:01:40.876 all get together and have a chili cookoff see who 0:01:40.876 --> 0:01:44.836 could cook the meanest bowl of chili concarnate, because apparently 0:01:45.396 --> 0:01:48.556 Shine love to cook, so this would be a sort 0:01:48.556 --> 0:01:52.796 of informal iron chef competition. Ned says, this other biker, 0:01:52.916 --> 0:01:57.236 his informant, set the whole thing up. Basically, he tells Shine, 0:01:57.676 --> 0:01:59.316 and I was at this guy's house and he makes 0:01:59.316 --> 0:02:02.996 the most incredible chili and it's better than nearest Shine. Well, Shines, 0:02:03.036 --> 0:02:05.796 like bull fucking shit is better than mine. We'll have 0:02:05.836 --> 0:02:11.996 a cookoff. This is also exactly how it all goes 0:02:12.036 --> 0:02:17.356 down in the novel Shine and taking the chili challenge seriously. 0:02:18.436 --> 0:02:21.516 Ned could smell the rich PEPPERI aromas from out in 0:02:21.556 --> 0:02:25.396 a neatly trimmed front yard. Every man has something he's 0:02:25.436 --> 0:02:28.516 proud of. The deck he built, the way he cooks 0:02:28.516 --> 0:02:32.836 a steak, how well tuned his carburetors are for Shine, 0:02:33.356 --> 0:02:37.636 it was his chili. In the novel, Ned describes Shine 0:02:37.716 --> 0:02:41.396 as a jackal, a guy with bright, intelligent eyes and 0:02:41.436 --> 0:02:44.196 a body that looked ready to bite fast and hard. 0:02:48.596 --> 0:02:51.676 Ned knocks on the door of Shine's house. So we 0:02:53.676 --> 0:02:56.956 get in there and bullshit around, and I see that 0:02:56.996 --> 0:03:01.716 there in the kitchen is a regular sized shotgun. Shotgun 0:03:01.756 --> 0:03:05.836 above the door. Air fifteen in one corner, guns all 0:03:05.836 --> 0:03:08.876 over the place. At this point, Ned says he's still 0:03:09.156 --> 0:03:13.076 very much in character, just playing the role of Ed Thomas, 0:03:13.116 --> 0:03:15.796 the badass biker who just stopped by to cook some 0:03:15.876 --> 0:03:19.556 chili and down some bruskies. He's just waiting for the 0:03:19.636 --> 0:03:24.516 right moment when everyone is relaxed, guards down. We go 0:03:24.596 --> 0:03:31.356 about an hour and we're sitting in a kitchen and 0:03:31.356 --> 0:03:34.236 I said, well, it's time to make a move. I 0:03:34.356 --> 0:03:36.676 just took my credits out of my pocket and laid 0:03:36.716 --> 0:03:38.836 him on the table and said, Shine, I'm an FBI agent. 0:03:39.556 --> 0:03:41.836 I'm going to send you away for life. I'm gonna 0:03:41.836 --> 0:03:45.076 take this motherfucking house. I'm gonna take your cars. I'm 0:03:45.076 --> 0:03:47.236 gonna take any money you got in the bank. You're 0:03:47.276 --> 0:03:51.396 not gonna have a fucking penny, and you play ball 0:03:51.436 --> 0:03:54.436 with me or all this has gone, all of it. 0:03:56.076 --> 0:03:58.836 Ned says that it took Shine time to come around, 0:03:58.996 --> 0:04:02.676 but eventually, after many hours of hemmying and hauing, he 0:04:02.756 --> 0:04:06.396 agreed to cooperate to switch sides and start working for 0:04:06.436 --> 0:04:10.636 the FBI. But not necessarily because Ned won him over 0:04:10.796 --> 0:04:14.396 with his tough talk or his badge. Shine I found 0:04:14.396 --> 0:04:17.876 out had his own agenda, and that agenda had everything 0:04:17.916 --> 0:04:21.756 to do with one crucial detail. It was obvious if 0:04:21.756 --> 0:04:24.876 he just looked at the guy. He'd been shot in 0:04:24.916 --> 0:04:29.796 the right thigh and took a probably eight inch circular 0:04:29.876 --> 0:04:31.516 chunk of meat out of his leg and some of 0:04:31.516 --> 0:04:33.076 the bone, and so was shorter. He had to wear 0:04:33.116 --> 0:04:36.436 a shoe with a big lift, and so he limped 0:04:36.556 --> 0:04:42.316 quite a bit. So yeah, the jackal the wild predatory dog. 0:04:42.756 --> 0:04:46.916 In real life, he was partially disabled because it turns 0:04:46.956 --> 0:04:51.196 out someone had almost killed him. And when Ned showed up, 0:04:51.636 --> 0:05:02.316 Shine was looking for an escape. I'm Jake Albern and 0:05:02.476 --> 0:05:37.716 this is Deep Cover, episode three, El Dorado. Shine was 0:05:37.796 --> 0:05:41.556 hurt badly in the shooting. He was in a coma intubated, 0:05:42.156 --> 0:05:46.076 just lying there. Shine's son Adam, who was fifteen at 0:05:46.076 --> 0:05:49.236 the time, still remembers at all. Every day after school 0:05:49.356 --> 0:05:51.956 was kind of a death watch because he was in 0:05:51.996 --> 0:05:55.036 an ostra for a long time. Mom, pick us up 0:05:55.036 --> 0:05:59.676 from school, just it became routine, going your homework, sit 0:05:59.756 --> 0:06:03.516 there for a couple hours, home, how was your day? 0:06:04.396 --> 0:06:06.996 And that went on for a long time. His father 0:06:07.076 --> 0:06:09.716 eventually came too, but he was in the hospital for 0:06:09.916 --> 0:06:13.956 three months before he finally was ready to go home, well, 0:06:14.116 --> 0:06:18.076 not home exactly. As Shine gets ready to leave the hospital, 0:06:18.356 --> 0:06:21.556 he decides they can't go back to melvin Dale, the 0:06:21.636 --> 0:06:25.156 working class factory town where they lived, and as Adam 0:06:25.196 --> 0:06:28.876 remembers it, Dad had come up with a bold new plan. 0:06:30.396 --> 0:06:33.276 We were better off getting out of there. That was 0:06:33.516 --> 0:06:35.756 the way it was presented to us kids, like, hey, 0:06:35.796 --> 0:06:38.836 it's you know. We know you're leaving all your friends 0:06:38.836 --> 0:06:41.796 that you've known forever, but we need to get out 0:06:41.796 --> 0:06:45.396 of here. So they decided to relocate. They found a 0:06:45.396 --> 0:06:48.316 place where the family could lay low escape the trouble 0:06:48.356 --> 0:06:51.996 that was brewing in Detroit. They moved to Clarkston, a 0:06:52.076 --> 0:06:56.356 rural hamlet surrounded by lakes, about forty miles north of Detroit. 0:06:57.356 --> 0:06:59.596 It would be great if we could ask Shine how 0:06:59.636 --> 0:07:03.516 he remembers all of this going down, But remember he's deceased. 0:07:03.676 --> 0:07:07.116 He got cancer in the nineties and passed away, so 0:07:07.276 --> 0:07:09.796 we can't ask him. But we did get our hands 0:07:09.796 --> 0:07:13.516 on about six hundred pages of court testimony, all Shine 0:07:13.836 --> 0:07:17.236 under oath, telling his side of the story, and the 0:07:17.276 --> 0:07:21.436 story that emerges, well, it's not entirely consistent with Ned's 0:07:21.516 --> 0:07:25.876 version of events. Shine says he was actually looking for Ned, 0:07:26.316 --> 0:07:28.436 that he had heard about an agent he could trust 0:07:28.596 --> 0:07:32.956 from Toby Anderson, the violent country western singer. Remember that 0:07:33.076 --> 0:07:38.156 Shine's older brother, and he vouches for Ned. In his testimony, 0:07:38.476 --> 0:07:41.436 Shine says he was looking for Ned because he was scared, 0:07:41.876 --> 0:07:44.716 scared of his bosses. He suspected it was one of 0:07:44.756 --> 0:07:48.636 them who had him shot. Shine says in the court records, 0:07:49.116 --> 0:07:51.876 it seemed to me like the group was out of control. 0:07:52.316 --> 0:07:55.436 They were smuggling cocaine more and more frequently, and I 0:07:55.516 --> 0:07:57.956 was afraid I was going to get shot again. That's 0:07:57.996 --> 0:08:00.476 the reason I went to Ned Timmins, not because of 0:08:00.516 --> 0:08:05.116 fear of going to jail. Slowly, Shine started to tell 0:08:05.196 --> 0:08:08.356 Ned about the group, as he called it, the smugglers, 0:08:09.156 --> 0:08:12.276 and said it was a large operation involving countless people 0:08:12.316 --> 0:08:15.556 across many states, and he was in charge of security. 0:08:16.156 --> 0:08:19.196 His job was to use that mysterious briefcase with the 0:08:19.396 --> 0:08:23.636 voice stress analyzer, his portable lie detector to vet every 0:08:23.716 --> 0:08:27.316 single would be employee. If this were true, Shine was 0:08:27.316 --> 0:08:31.756 the lynch pin, the one guy who knew everyone. There 0:08:31.876 --> 0:08:36.116 was just one problem. Shine hated being an informant. He 0:08:36.196 --> 0:08:40.676 didn't films good about it. You know it was it 0:08:40.716 --> 0:08:42.996 wasn't type of person that he was, but knew it 0:08:43.036 --> 0:08:47.996 was what he had to do to stay alize the 0:08:48.316 --> 0:08:52.876 Styckliss family. I was aware of the stress he was 0:08:52.916 --> 0:08:57.116 going through. I was aware of how much it hurt him. 0:08:57.276 --> 0:08:59.516 These were his friends. These are the guys that he 0:08:59.556 --> 0:09:02.156 went to Texas and fish Bass with. These are the 0:09:02.156 --> 0:09:04.796 guys he traveled with, and you know, they were like 0:09:04.836 --> 0:09:09.916 a team. He's trading them in and he's getting you. Yes, 0:09:10.956 --> 0:09:14.356 here his new best friend. That's what you had to do. 0:09:14.556 --> 0:09:17.356 You had to get whatever information you could out of him. 0:09:17.396 --> 0:09:20.676 And during this time with Shine, do you think that 0:09:20.756 --> 0:09:26.676 he considers you his friend? Yeah? I think so. On 0:09:26.676 --> 0:09:30.756 one hand, he was a total, crazy, drunken drug addict 0:09:30.796 --> 0:09:33.636 wild man. On the other hand, he always wanted to 0:09:33.636 --> 0:09:36.036 protect his family. Something happens to me, You got to 0:09:36.036 --> 0:09:42.916 take care of my family. And did you take that seriously? Yeah. 0:09:42.956 --> 0:09:45.596 One of the things that Ned was most curious about 0:09:45.756 --> 0:09:48.756 was a rumor that somewhere in Detroit there was a 0:09:48.796 --> 0:09:52.636 massive warehouse that smugglers were using to distribute their drugs. 0:09:53.156 --> 0:09:57.076 The place sounded mythic, the El Dorado of stash houses, 0:09:57.396 --> 0:10:03.316 and Shine basically tells Ned, Yep, that warehouse, it's ours. Yeah. 0:10:03.436 --> 0:10:06.516 Shine discussed the warehouse with me and he said, here, 0:10:06.556 --> 0:10:09.956 I'll show you in. We went and identified it. Shine 0:10:10.076 --> 0:10:13.156 was quickly proving his worth. He knew all about this 0:10:13.276 --> 0:10:16.436 warehouse because the guy who ran it was his boss. 0:10:17.316 --> 0:10:21.556 You Shine tells me about this guy, Mike Vogel. You know. 0:10:21.596 --> 0:10:24.876 Shines said that Vogel was controlling most of the weed 0:10:24.956 --> 0:10:28.676 going into university in Michigan. Now Nen had a direct 0:10:28.756 --> 0:10:32.476 lead on him, and he put him under surveillance. After 0:10:32.516 --> 0:10:36.516 the break, I tracked down Mike Vogel, the mastermind behind 0:10:36.516 --> 0:10:42.156 Detroit's legendary drug warehouse. Think about how would you feel 0:10:42.756 --> 0:10:46.356 if you could buy anything he wanted to? There are 0:10:46.396 --> 0:10:50.476 no rules for the wealthy, and none just all gets stupid. 0:10:58.676 --> 0:11:00.956 I meet Mike Vogel at a house in a quaint 0:11:00.996 --> 0:11:04.396 town outside of Detroit. Mike greets me at the door. 0:11:04.676 --> 0:11:08.156 He's an older guy and moves slowly, almost seems like 0:11:08.236 --> 0:11:11.596 he has a limp, but not meek, not at all, 0:11:12.236 --> 0:11:15.196 more like an old bear. Not as fast as he 0:11:15.276 --> 0:11:18.716 used to be, but hey, don't mess with him. Grabs 0:11:18.716 --> 0:11:23.116 a cup of coffee, lights a cigarette and just starts talking, 0:11:23.956 --> 0:11:26.836 but before we get into his life as a criminal mastermind, 0:11:27.076 --> 0:11:29.796 he tells me that I have to understand where he 0:11:29.956 --> 0:11:36.036 started out, not with marijuana, but with groceries. You gotta remember, 0:11:36.076 --> 0:11:39.396 way before all this, I work for my father, Okay, 0:11:39.436 --> 0:11:47.156 And I ran the frozen food and receiving docs for 0:11:47.316 --> 0:11:53.836 his company. Okay, And that's when I learned about wholesale distribution. Yeah, 0:11:53.876 --> 0:11:56.836 prior to being a big time drug distributor, he was 0:11:56.916 --> 0:12:02.476 moving large quantities of frozen peas. And my father's warehouse 0:12:02.636 --> 0:12:07.996 was like two and a half city blocks long, full 0:12:08.036 --> 0:12:12.476 of drags, full of can goods, and a freezer that 0:12:12.676 --> 0:12:18.156 was fifty thousand square feet. He was a grocery guy. 0:12:18.876 --> 0:12:22.156 That's how he became an expert in inventory, specifically his 0:12:22.276 --> 0:12:26.956 father's tracking system. They used paper receipts with carving copies, 0:12:27.156 --> 0:12:29.636 you know, almost like what you'd get at the dry cleaners. 0:12:30.316 --> 0:12:33.276 Mike grows up in the grocery business, one of ten kids, 0:12:33.756 --> 0:12:36.796 goes to Catholic school. He says he was a reasonably 0:12:36.836 --> 0:12:40.116 good student in college. Mike likes to party and hang 0:12:40.156 --> 0:12:43.756 out with girls, smoke some pot. At heart, though he's 0:12:43.756 --> 0:12:46.756 a business guy, he doesn't want to get caught, and 0:12:46.756 --> 0:12:49.276 he wants to protect himself by learning more about who 0:12:49.436 --> 0:12:52.836 might be up against, so he decides to do some homework. 0:12:53.156 --> 0:12:58.996 He starts volunteering for the police. My job was to 0:12:59.076 --> 0:13:01.796 watch to parking lots, quote unquote. I want to know 0:13:01.876 --> 0:13:05.356 the codes. I wanted to see how they were, how 0:13:05.396 --> 0:13:09.876 they acted. And police are not They're not as smart 0:13:09.916 --> 0:13:13.316 as everybody thinks. You know, They're just doing their job. 0:13:14.196 --> 0:13:18.276 This whole experience only builds Mike's confidence, makes him think 0:13:18.356 --> 0:13:21.476 he can up his game start dealing on a larger scale. 0:13:22.036 --> 0:13:25.276 Pretty soon, he's buying five hundred pounds of marijuana down 0:13:25.276 --> 0:13:28.596 to Florida, loading it into the trunk of his Pontiac Bonneville, 0:13:28.876 --> 0:13:31.196 and driving it up to Michigan, where he sells it 0:13:31.236 --> 0:13:35.596 to smaller dealers. I knew him from high school, all 0:13:35.716 --> 0:13:40.436 Catholic Central buddies, and he just keeps on expanding. I 0:13:40.516 --> 0:13:43.396 knew how to build. You have to have the product 0:13:43.436 --> 0:13:45.436 before you can do it. So what you have to 0:13:45.476 --> 0:13:48.156 do is have a constant supply. And that's what I had. 0:13:48.636 --> 0:13:53.876 There was a constant supply. Like any smart businessman, he 0:13:53.956 --> 0:13:58.356 had multiple suppliers. Eventually big suppliers. Some would bring the 0:13:58.396 --> 0:14:01.196 marijuana in by plane to a small airport in northern 0:14:01.236 --> 0:14:04.956 Michigan or a grass strip down in Kentucky. Others brought 0:14:04.996 --> 0:14:07.676 it in by boat to secret landing sites down south 0:14:07.796 --> 0:14:10.876 and then brought it up north by truck. Then Mike 0:14:10.956 --> 0:14:13.956 Loogal needed somewhere to put it. He would store the 0:14:13.996 --> 0:14:17.356 product in the big warehouse out an eight mile Mike 0:14:17.716 --> 0:14:20.436 the grocery guy. He understood that when it came to 0:14:20.476 --> 0:14:24.796 selling produce, whether it was marijuana or you know, Brussels sprouts, 0:14:25.116 --> 0:14:31.516 the key to profits was moving large quantities quickly and efficiently. Last, 0:14:31.556 --> 0:14:34.676 but not least, he developed a network of trusted buyers 0:14:34.876 --> 0:14:38.556 who each had their own territory, for instance, college campuses 0:14:38.636 --> 0:14:42.316 like University of Michigan, and almost like a big retail chain. 0:14:42.716 --> 0:14:46.676 He used his muscle to push out competitors. I had 0:14:46.676 --> 0:14:49.076 it in such a way that I really control the 0:14:49.116 --> 0:14:52.036 marijuana industry in Michigan and Iver and all the rest. 0:14:52.276 --> 0:14:54.596 I'd hear of someone else bring in a loud, I'd 0:14:54.596 --> 0:14:57.756 just bring in stuff and reduced my prices so they could. 0:14:58.076 --> 0:15:00.196 One guy I heard he was selling his stuff for 0:15:00.236 --> 0:15:03.836 three tan. I start saw mine at two eighty five, 0:15:04.716 --> 0:15:08.836 and I always had good product. All of this sounds 0:15:08.876 --> 0:15:12.116 like stuff out of a classic business school textbook. Right 0:15:12.676 --> 0:15:16.476 sell large quantities, so even slim profit margins can pay off. 0:15:16.916 --> 0:15:21.196 Keep your inventory moving. If competitors emerge, undersell them. Even 0:15:21.236 --> 0:15:23.636 if you lose some money, it's worth it to maintain 0:15:23.716 --> 0:15:26.676 control of the market. I mean, this guy could be 0:15:26.676 --> 0:15:31.356 your classic Midwestern CEO, which he kind of was. But 0:15:31.676 --> 0:15:34.876 all of this has to be done in complete secrecy. 0:15:35.436 --> 0:15:38.276 For example, most buyers didn't even know where his big 0:15:38.316 --> 0:15:41.476 warehouse was. When they came to make a pickup, he'd 0:15:41.516 --> 0:15:44.356 have them go to a rendezvous point like some truck stop. 0:15:44.916 --> 0:15:47.996 Then one of Mike's trusted drivers would take the buyer's 0:15:48.076 --> 0:15:51.276 vehicle to the warehouse, loaded up with pot, and then 0:15:51.316 --> 0:15:56.236 head back to the truck stop for the handoff. They 0:15:56.716 --> 0:15:59.236 didn't have to know or my location when nobody needed 0:15:59.276 --> 0:16:02.156 to know that unless you're a fucking thief and you're 0:16:02.156 --> 0:16:05.476 going to try to steal it, which would have been 0:16:06.196 --> 0:16:10.956 a tragedy on a lot of different levels. You can't 0:16:10.956 --> 0:16:15.676 allow anybody to steal from you. Mike's business it was 0:16:15.756 --> 0:16:20.436 going very well. His nephew, Matt Vogel, a teenager at 0:16:20.436 --> 0:16:24.236 the time, remembers how he loved going to visit uncle Mike. 0:16:24.756 --> 0:16:29.716 I bought a Francloyd Wright style house in Milford twenty 0:16:29.716 --> 0:16:33.116 five acres thirty acres, But it wasn't just the classy 0:16:33.236 --> 0:16:36.836 architecture that intrigued young Matt. One time, in one of 0:16:36.836 --> 0:16:38.716 the back bedrooms, I remember opening the door. There was 0:16:38.756 --> 0:16:40.636 so much money in there. It was just stacked in 0:16:40.716 --> 0:16:43.156 boxes and twenties and hundreds, so you could smell it. 0:16:43.916 --> 0:16:46.916 Money has a very distinct odor, and there was just 0:16:46.956 --> 0:16:50.476 so much of it you could you could smell it 0:16:50.516 --> 0:16:53.476 to a complete an adrenaline rush. Have you ever seen 0:16:53.476 --> 0:16:55.756 that much money and you know it's just sitting there 0:16:56.036 --> 0:16:58.556 and you could literally take it, and it'd be a 0:16:58.556 --> 0:17:01.676 long time before somebody figured it out. Matt says that 0:17:01.796 --> 0:17:04.716 hanging out with his uncle was always an adventure. You 0:17:04.796 --> 0:17:07.276 never knew where he might take you. So I get 0:17:07.276 --> 0:17:09.396 a call, We're gonna go to the Super Bowl. We're 0:17:09.436 --> 0:17:12.276 thinking this was great, so my mom dropped me off 0:17:12.276 --> 0:17:16.436 at the Pontiac Airport. In fact, they saw George Bush Senior, 0:17:16.596 --> 0:17:19.916 who was vice president at the time, landed Pontiac Airport 0:17:19.996 --> 0:17:24.236 and hop into his motor cap, causing an epic traffic jam. 0:17:24.316 --> 0:17:27.516 But Mike, he wasn't gonna wait any traffic or deal 0:17:27.516 --> 0:17:30.756 with parking. And I'm thinking, let's to deal. Well, we're 0:17:30.756 --> 0:17:33.716 gonna take a helicopter. That's what you do. But that 0:17:33.836 --> 0:17:37.596 was that lifestyle that they didn't care. I mean, who 0:17:37.676 --> 0:17:39.476 flies to the super Bowl because you don't want to 0:17:39.516 --> 0:17:42.596 deal with parking. Once they were at the game, Uncle 0:17:42.636 --> 0:17:46.316 Mike he seemed to love having little Matt around. Go hey, Mike, 0:17:46.316 --> 0:17:47.836 We're like, oh, give me a drinking Okay, give me 0:17:47.876 --> 0:17:50.076 a hundred dollars bell. I'd literally go up to the 0:17:50.076 --> 0:17:52.636 bar at sixteen and a silver down. There's always movie 0:17:52.636 --> 0:17:54.996 stars walking around. It's the super Bowl. Buy him and 0:17:55.076 --> 0:17:56.956 drink hour or whatever it costs. He never asked for 0:17:56.996 --> 0:17:59.076 the change. I must have went home with two thousand 0:17:59.116 --> 0:18:02.476 dollars in my pocket. Of course, two grand was nothing 0:18:02.516 --> 0:18:08.756 to Uncle Mike. Nothing. Think about it. How would why 0:18:08.796 --> 0:18:12.196 would you feel if you could buy anything you wanted to. 0:18:13.316 --> 0:18:15.036 You could go buy a leer, jed, or you could 0:18:15.036 --> 0:18:17.836 buy this or buy that, buy an island if you want. 0:18:18.036 --> 0:18:20.876 You know, it's a great feeling. There are no rules 0:18:20.916 --> 0:18:26.476 for the wealthy, and none. Just don't get stupid. This 0:18:26.956 --> 0:18:30.116 is the guy the FBI and the US Attorney General 0:18:30.156 --> 0:18:35.076 had conjectured about a marijuana tycoon, a man with closets 0:18:35.116 --> 0:18:39.396 that literally looked like Scrooge McDuck's volt. But here's the 0:18:39.396 --> 0:18:42.956 funny thing about Mike Vogel. Right for him, the money 0:18:42.996 --> 0:18:46.916 came so fast and easy that eventually, he says, he 0:18:47.076 --> 0:18:49.676 kind of grew tired of it. Jake, I'm gonna tell 0:18:49.716 --> 0:18:55.916 you something. It was stressful, tough business to run on 0:18:56.076 --> 0:18:59.556 my end because I basically was involved the smuggling, in 0:19:00.916 --> 0:19:03.316 the distribution of it, and then having to get the 0:19:03.396 --> 0:19:07.196 money back out. I mean, it took a lot from me. 0:19:07.276 --> 0:19:10.596 I was I was sick of this fucking And it 0:19:10.636 --> 0:19:14.756 wasn't just exhaustion. It was the paranoia too. He wondered 0:19:14.836 --> 0:19:17.796 who might be stealing from him, who would rat on him, 0:19:18.196 --> 0:19:22.236 because it would just take one one person for everything 0:19:22.316 --> 0:19:27.596 to crumble. It was right around this time that Mike 0:19:27.636 --> 0:19:30.396 got a call from his partner, the guy who actually 0:19:30.436 --> 0:19:34.036 smuggled the dope into the US. He had very good news. 0:19:34.556 --> 0:19:38.676 The next shipment, code named Bulldog, would be ten times 0:19:38.716 --> 0:19:44.196 the usual amount, three hundred thousand pounds of marijuana. Mike Vogel. 0:19:44.596 --> 0:19:47.116 He freaked out. I don't know, hell do you bring 0:19:47.116 --> 0:19:50.636 out three hundre thousand pounds expect? How to distribute it, 0:19:50.836 --> 0:19:53.676 how to get the money. It was just too much. 0:19:54.196 --> 0:19:57.396 To compound his fears, Mike got a tip from a 0:19:57.436 --> 0:20:02.436 trusted friend, another smuggler, a guy who knew things, and 0:20:02.556 --> 0:20:06.836 this guy tells him the Bulldog shipment has been compromised. 0:20:07.276 --> 0:20:11.316 The FEDS know about it. This suggested there was a rat. 0:20:12.996 --> 0:20:20.676 I became really distrustful of Shine, Okay, really distrustful. Shine 0:20:20.676 --> 0:20:23.076 and Mike Vogel had been working together for a while. 0:20:23.156 --> 0:20:27.036 At this point, Shine betted everyone with his light detector machine, 0:20:27.396 --> 0:20:30.676 so if there was a rat, he had somehow slipped 0:20:30.716 --> 0:20:36.796 patch Shine, unless, of course, the rat was Shine. You know, 0:20:36.876 --> 0:20:39.676 once you've been in that business and you're always worried 0:20:39.716 --> 0:20:43.356 about what's going on around you. I'm not a dumb person, 0:20:43.956 --> 0:20:48.636 and he just didn't fit. This bout of paranoia occurred 0:20:48.636 --> 0:20:51.636 around the same time as Bulldog, well over a year 0:20:51.676 --> 0:20:55.756 before Shine actually flips, So at the time, Shine was 0:20:55.876 --> 0:20:59.476 not an informant and he basically tells his boss, look, 0:20:59.596 --> 0:21:03.356 there's no way our smuggling ring has been compromised. Shine 0:21:03.356 --> 0:21:07.156 remembered this conversation and actually recounted it at trial. I'm 0:21:07.156 --> 0:21:08.636 just going to read you a bit from the court 0:21:08.676 --> 0:21:13.396 trans Shine. I told him there was no way in 0:21:13.436 --> 0:21:16.156 the world there could have been any type of infiltration. 0:21:16.836 --> 0:21:20.596 I had tested everybody. And Michael said, you're either a 0:21:20.636 --> 0:21:22.916 cop or they paid you off. And I said, well, 0:21:22.956 --> 0:21:26.836 I'm neither. I told him they could test me. Prosecutor, 0:21:27.556 --> 0:21:34.036 did he shine, Yes? Prosecutor did anyone interpret that test? Shine? Well, 0:21:34.156 --> 0:21:36.516 he interpreted. I had to chart it for him, but 0:21:36.636 --> 0:21:41.116 it did take place. Prosecutor, did you pass Shine, Yes, 0:21:41.556 --> 0:21:44.796 I'm here. They told me. If I flunked, I was dead. 0:21:48.316 --> 0:21:52.116 But it didn't matter. Mike Vogo couldn't shake off his suspicions, 0:21:52.396 --> 0:21:56.196 and so he bailed on the operation. He walked away 0:21:56.236 --> 0:21:59.636 from the three hundred thousand pound load what was arguably 0:21:59.716 --> 0:22:03.036 one of the largest loads of marijuana in US history. 0:22:04.356 --> 0:22:07.236 In the months to come, Mike Vogo continued to nurse 0:22:07.236 --> 0:22:10.796 his suspicions about Shine. It was like, once this idea 0:22:10.916 --> 0:22:14.436 had wormed its way into his mind, he just couldn't 0:22:14.516 --> 0:22:18.356 let it go. And then one day towards the end 0:22:18.356 --> 0:22:22.116 of nineteen eighty three, a member of Mike's outfit blasts 0:22:22.156 --> 0:22:27.316 Shine with a shotgun at close range, almost kills him. 0:22:27.996 --> 0:22:30.476 This is how Shine ends up in the hospital in 0:22:30.516 --> 0:22:33.756 a coma with his son sitting by his side, and 0:22:33.916 --> 0:22:36.316 this is why Shine walks with a limp for the 0:22:36.316 --> 0:22:39.996 rest of his life. In reporting this out, I've heard 0:22:40.036 --> 0:22:43.236 so many different versions of why Shine shot. No one 0:22:43.276 --> 0:22:46.076 can agree. Some claim was just a stupid quarrel that 0:22:46.116 --> 0:22:49.716 got out of hand. For his part, Mike Vogel denies 0:22:49.756 --> 0:22:52.396 that he had anything to do with this, though he 0:22:52.436 --> 0:22:55.196 did speak with the shooter and told him, well, the 0:22:55.236 --> 0:22:57.956 problem with you is you're a bad fucking shot. Oh 0:22:57.996 --> 0:23:01.156 she had killed the son of a bitch. You can 0:23:01.196 --> 0:23:03.796 still hear a bit of rage in his voice all 0:23:03.836 --> 0:23:07.756 these years later. It just kind of flares up. And 0:23:07.996 --> 0:23:12.156 Shine talks about my temper too. Says that sometimes Mike 0:23:12.196 --> 0:23:16.636 seemed to become unhinged, that he was acting irrationally. He 0:23:16.756 --> 0:23:20.396 said that Mike was quote turning into a Doctor Jekyll 0:23:20.596 --> 0:23:26.476 and mister Hyde character. There's still a little Jacqueline hide 0:23:26.476 --> 0:23:29.836 in him. I caught a glimpse of this myself when 0:23:29.836 --> 0:23:32.156 I visited Mike Vogel at his house. He was for 0:23:32.156 --> 0:23:36.316 the most part, very cordial and welcoming consummate Doctor Jekyl. 0:23:36.956 --> 0:23:40.756 And then one afternoon showed up with Matt Vogel, his nephew, 0:23:41.356 --> 0:23:44.836 and I got kind of weird. Mike seemed to think 0:23:44.836 --> 0:23:48.476 that me and Matt, his own nephew, were conspiring against 0:23:48.556 --> 0:23:54.676 him somehow when we first arrived. Don't fuck with me seriously. 0:23:55.556 --> 0:23:57.916 It's like, as I said, when you guys walked in 0:23:58.556 --> 0:24:01.756 and you said that you guys have gotten together, and 0:24:01.796 --> 0:24:03.916 I was thinking about the other night. I said, you 0:24:03.956 --> 0:24:07.196 know what, in the olden days, I would have just 0:24:07.316 --> 0:24:12.316 called Ale and another couple of bikers and explain to 0:24:12.356 --> 0:24:14.116 you what happens if you keep on going the way 0:24:14.116 --> 0:24:19.756 you're going. That's kind of disturbing. Why it would only 0:24:19.836 --> 0:24:23.196 be disturbing if you were in the trunk of a 0:24:23.236 --> 0:24:29.356 car and you're going to some other place field and 0:24:30.076 --> 0:24:32.076 you get out and they beat the fuck out of 0:24:32.076 --> 0:24:37.516 here and leave you there. Matt and I just kind 0:24:37.516 --> 0:24:41.236 of looked at each other. Was Uncle Mike serious here? 0:24:41.756 --> 0:24:45.196 I mean, didn't seem like he was joking. And then 0:24:45.836 --> 0:24:51.756 just like that, Mike was back to being Doctor Jekyll, friendly, thoughtful, intelligent. 0:24:57.316 --> 0:25:00.476 Mike may have been an intimidating figure. But Shine, it 0:25:00.556 --> 0:25:04.156 turns out, had taken measures to protect himself. He had 0:25:04.276 --> 0:25:09.716 dirt on his boss, incriminating evidence, rental car receides, hotel records, 0:25:09.996 --> 0:25:12.876 and other evidence. He even bugged a hotel room in 0:25:12.956 --> 0:25:17.796 Tampa and surreptitiously made recordings of Mike Vogel talking. Later 0:25:17.836 --> 0:25:20.436 on at trial, Shine discussed this here he is in 0:25:20.516 --> 0:25:24.116 the transcripts talking about all the evidence he had. Shine, 0:25:24.556 --> 0:25:26.516 I refer to them as my ace and the whole 0:25:27.116 --> 0:25:29.236 you know, in case Vogel made any more threats on 0:25:29.316 --> 0:25:32.276 my life, and I told him I had documentation to 0:25:32.276 --> 0:25:35.756 back up my credibility. I could corroborate certain times and 0:25:35.956 --> 0:25:42.956 dates of smuggling. Prosecutor, you threatened Vogel that you had documentation, Shine, Yes. 0:25:45.596 --> 0:25:49.796 In the end, Mike Vogel's paranoia it may have been justified. 0:25:50.476 --> 0:25:54.156 Either that or it became a self fulfilling prophecy, like 0:25:54.276 --> 0:25:57.316 he was so worried that Shine was an informant, so 0:25:57.396 --> 0:25:59.916 certain that this was true, that he accused him of 0:25:59.956 --> 0:26:03.116 being a rat, made him take his own my detector test, 0:26:03.516 --> 0:26:06.556 even wished him dead in front of others, And all 0:26:06.596 --> 0:26:09.876 of this seemed to spook Shine so badly it sent 0:26:09.996 --> 0:26:15.316 him right into the open arms of the FBI. Coming up. 0:26:15.716 --> 0:26:19.116 Ned discovers the Shine. He has far more secrets to tell, 0:26:19.596 --> 0:26:21.476 secrets that will lead them both on a bit of 0:26:21.516 --> 0:26:37.556 a wild goose chase very far from Detroit. Ned and 0:26:37.636 --> 0:26:41.396 the FBI. They didn't go after Vogel right away. As 0:26:41.436 --> 0:26:44.636 big as Vogel was, as impressive as he was, he 0:26:44.756 --> 0:26:47.916 was just the distributor. And if you really wanted to 0:26:47.996 --> 0:26:51.076