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Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of I Heart Radio. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Elizabeth Dutton Zarin Burnett. I got a question for you, girl, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: hit me. You know what's ridiculous? I do? Ready for that?

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Speaker 1: I do? Um. We have this uh friend on Instagram, Jennifer.

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Speaker 1: She's a baker. She um is one of the many,

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Speaker 1: many people who have clued us in on weird product mashups.

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Speaker 1: I can't help it is all I do know. So um.

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Speaker 1: She's one of a couple of people who have mentioned this,

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Speaker 1: but her her story is the best about it. Um

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Speaker 1: that KFC makes a fule log like a fire log,

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Speaker 1: a Derri flame style log, a Christmas ule log, and

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Speaker 1: it's it's KFC. It's KFC. So um the somebody like

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Speaker 1: I am in the they describe market. KFC is eleven

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Speaker 1: herbs and spices, firelog by and viral loog and um.

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Speaker 1: They describe it as the comforting, crispy aroma of a

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Speaker 1: fried chicken scented firelog wafting from your fireplace fried chicken

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Speaker 1: fire Did you hear those words, people, fired fried chicken firelog? Yeah?

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Speaker 1: And so I mean you want your whole house to

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Speaker 1: smell like rancid greasy. I don't know so anyway, so

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Speaker 1: Jennifer doesn't smells like a KFC in here. Basically, oh god,

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Speaker 1: your neighbors are just like so. Um, Jennifer got one

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Speaker 1: for her sister for Thanksgiving, and um, she promised us

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Speaker 1: that she would give us an update, and um, it

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Speaker 1: was a big success. Apparently already the update. Yeah, she

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Speaker 1: said that it was a big success. Smells like KFC

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Speaker 1: and it's kitty approved. She sent a picture of the

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Speaker 1: cat sniffing the box, so we got the cat tax photos.

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Speaker 1: So cats believed it smelled like chicken. Cats believed it

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Speaker 1: smells like chicken. This is just a really cute cat too,

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Speaker 1: by the way. But then she sent us a picture

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Speaker 1: of the box and a picture of it on fire

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Speaker 1: in the firerood. So we have proof. We have absolute

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Speaker 1: proof that it actually exists, because some of these things,

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Speaker 1: like these weird crossovers, but they don't exist. These exist.

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Speaker 1: You can make your whole house stink like fried chicken.

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Speaker 1: You know, I've got some family I can send it to.

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Speaker 1: Let's let's go around to like vegans houses like we

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Speaker 1: live in the Bay Area, both of us, we have

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Speaker 1: the like you can imagine your neighbors smelling that you

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Speaker 1: burning fried chicken, and like maybe gets so like you'd

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Speaker 1: have on the next door. People will be talking about,

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Speaker 1: like I got in a fight with my neighbor because

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Speaker 1: they tell me. And it's bad enough, like living in

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Speaker 1: the East Bay, like in the hills and you have

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Speaker 1: the fire danger. People get upset when when their neighbors

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Speaker 1: use a fireplace. And then if you're burned, if you're

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Speaker 1: like barbecues caused fight? What if you have fire pit

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Speaker 1: in your backyard? And yeah, because I've heard, yeah, I've

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Speaker 1: heard people who have vegetarian neighbors upset you had that right,

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Speaker 1: you had a neighborhood didn't like you a grill and

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Speaker 1: chicken super mad about the smell of fried chicken. I'm

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Speaker 1: trying barbecue chicken. Who hates the smell barbecue chicken. So

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Speaker 1: I think that we should just go around to all

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Speaker 1: the fire pits and swap out the logs for KFC logs.

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Speaker 1: Let's get this party started so good. So that is

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Speaker 1: my contribution this week to what is ridiculous Ho ho

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Speaker 1: ho Happy holidays. Well that's make this a December to remember, Elizabeth.

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Speaker 1: I just hope that this holiday sales event is one

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Speaker 1: that we can all be proud of. Okay, I've got

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Speaker 1: a story for you if you got a second I

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Speaker 1: do now, my Elizabeth, my partner in crime and storytelling. Today,

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Speaker 1: I'd like to tell you the story of the Greek

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Speaker 1: robin hood. Yeah, this is ridiculous crime, A podcast about

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Speaker 1: absurd and outrageous capers. Heis and cons It's always murder

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Speaker 1: free and ridiculous, now, Elizabeth, Yes, I told you, my man,

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Speaker 1: the Greek robinode will be the focus of today right now.

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Speaker 1: His name is Vasilis Palaeocoustus, right, Vasilus, Paleocoustus, Vassilis, Vasilus.

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Speaker 1: I've heard it both ways, and you may hear me

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Speaker 1: say it both ways, but be forgiving Pasillis. And he

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Speaker 1: arrived on Earth in nineteen sixty six, right like like

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Speaker 1: a Beatles record. Now, my man, Vasilus. He grew up

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Speaker 1: in the mountains region of central Greece. I'm not sure

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Speaker 1: if you know Greece. Well I do not, know, only

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Speaker 1: the stuff around Athens. And yeah, so this was up

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Speaker 1: closer to Macedonia, in the central mountainous region. Very rural.

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Speaker 1: Son of a goat hurder, you know. So he's a

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Speaker 1: shepherd's boy, raised up in super rural country, living right

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Speaker 1: family of Shepherd's childhood home, no electricity, cheaper. His primary

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Speaker 1: companions had an older brother, Nicos. Loved Nikos, his brother

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Speaker 1: and he would walk to school every day from their

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Speaker 1: rural home, and in the winter, because it's in the mountains,

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Speaker 1: they would have snow, and when they would walk, Nicos

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Speaker 1: about six seven years older, he would put his little brother, Casillas,

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Speaker 1: up on his shoulders so that way he didn't have

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Speaker 1: to trudge through the snow because it would get like waste.

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Speaker 1: It's like chesty. Right. When they would get to their school,

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Speaker 1: their school was run by a priest. They get there,

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Speaker 1: the priests would take the boys and put them by

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Speaker 1: the fire and wouldn't start teaching class until they had

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Speaker 1: all thought out like a rural Okay, so that's how

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Speaker 1: this is and this Shepherd life, right, it was fine

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Speaker 1: for Cecilisy wasn't one of the people who like boxed

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Speaker 1: at it. But at the same time, the way it's

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Speaker 1: described sounds a little um like I wouldn't want to

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Speaker 1: live in. Like there's one quote I found his said,

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Speaker 1: and and I there he watched his father yelling at

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Speaker 1: goats and grew up idolizing his older brother Nikos. You

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Speaker 1: kind of just says it, all right, exactly. So school

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Speaker 1: turns out to be a source of inspiration for young Pacillus,

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Speaker 1: not in the way that you might expect. It has

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Speaker 1: nothing to do with what he learns there. It's not

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Speaker 1: the academia, but rather a teacher, specifically one teacher who

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Speaker 1: gives him a book. And this book that the teacher

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Speaker 1: gives them is about this guy named and Antonis catch Atonis. Alright,

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Speaker 1: so Antonis catch Atonis. He also was a shepherd, and

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Speaker 1: he grew up to become a clept. Now a clept

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Speaker 1: is a Greek term for thieves. Yeah, I knew you

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Speaker 1: catch on that one. Now that these clips, these bandit thieves.

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Speaker 1: They were also Greek resistance against the Ottoman Turks who

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Speaker 1: were the occupying force at the time, and they, you know,

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Speaker 1: until basically World War one world War two, Greece was

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Speaker 1: like an Ottoman territory essentially, right, and then during World

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Speaker 1: or two they're under Nazi Germany. Then there there there's

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Speaker 1: a fight with Yugoslavia. Tito wants to take over and

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Speaker 1: he helps the communists try to run. There's this huge

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Speaker 1: civil war. This is all the backdrop of society that

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Speaker 1: young Vasilius is born into. Right, and his hero is

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Speaker 1: this guy Antonis Catchytonis who starting all of this fighting,

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Speaker 1: was a highwayman bandit, a rogue ish anti hero, right,

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Speaker 1: so he sees this as a kind of like an

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Speaker 1: anarchist struggle. Yeah, ok Right, So, at age thirteen, Vasilius

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Speaker 1: moves from the countryside into town with his family. The

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Speaker 1: town is called Tricola, doesn't really matter, but it's a

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Speaker 1: little city, right, a little town. So the year at

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Speaker 1: this point is nineteen seventy nine, Okay, and his older

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Speaker 1: brother Nikos has already left home because he's six seven

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Speaker 1: years older, and at this point Vasilius he also wants

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Speaker 1: to leave home. Yeah, so he's like by the time

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Speaker 1: he's about fourteen fifteen, he's like, I'm out of here.

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Speaker 1: He leaves the family. He gets work at a cheese factory. Right.

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Speaker 1: The job is fine, work steady, he doesn't have a

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Speaker 1: problem with it. But this job is the awakening of

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Speaker 1: his political leanings. Right. He has been a form prior

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Speaker 1: by the Antonist, Cachetonist, the highway bandit, and then now

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Speaker 1: when he's faced with the economic forces of city life,

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Speaker 1: he becomes not militant but a true, true anarchist, not

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Speaker 1: only in theory but in practice. So one of his

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Speaker 1: friends from his time at the Chief factory put it,

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Speaker 1: and I quote, Facilius suffered his bosses capitalist exploitation working

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Speaker 1: as a wage slave in a factory, so he turned

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Speaker 1: against those bosses. So you get the idea. He's inspired

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Speaker 1: to become a criminal by capitalism, so he goes hard

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Speaker 1: into it. And uh, he also is bothered by the

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Speaker 1: hypocritical nature of the crimes of capitalism mass he sees them.

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Speaker 1: Because Greece up to this point, you know, there's this

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Speaker 1: hard debate. Do we go left and with communism take

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Speaker 1: care of the community, do we go with individualism and

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Speaker 1: see what you can do in the society on your own,

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Speaker 1: which they decide to go with because the UK and

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Speaker 1: the Americans helped the the non communist win this fight.

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Speaker 1: So the society has gone in the way of individualism.

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Speaker 1: But there's still this collectivist impulse in Greece, right. So

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Speaker 1: Vacillus aware of an old Greek proverb, and I quote

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Speaker 1: the Greek proverb is, if you steal something small, you

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Speaker 1: are a petty thief, but if you steal millions, you

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Speaker 1: are a gentleman of society. He hates that. He's like

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Speaker 1: that ain't right. So he's like, I'm going to become

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Speaker 1: a gentleman not of society. And he finds his big brother, Nicos,

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Speaker 1: and he's like, you know what, we need to get

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Speaker 1: to criming and Nicos is like bet. So the two

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Speaker 1: of them they decide, okay, we need to have a

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Speaker 1: couple of ground rules that we're going to do the criming.

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Speaker 1: They decided they don't want to hurt anyone and they

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Speaker 1: want to live for free on someone else's dime. So

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Speaker 1: they become bank robbers, right, pretty much straightforward. Now for

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Speaker 1: the next seven years from ninety six, there are successful

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Speaker 1: robbers who are primarily focused on get this video equipment. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: they don't start with banks, they don't. There's going after

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Speaker 1: like VCRs saying make cam quarters. It's like yeah, but

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Speaker 1: it's not like professional equipment. No, No, they're holding a

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Speaker 1: lot of value. These are just newly invented, highly desirous

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Speaker 1: pieces of technology. So a VCR increased to go for

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Speaker 1: a lot of exactly. So they're they're Robin Rago's radio

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Speaker 1: shack and going we can make this work. But you know,

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Speaker 1: for criminal education, just like my man Red Fall come

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Speaker 1: in in many comparisons with this story my dude Vacillas.

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Speaker 1: He turns to the cinema for a further criminal education.

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Speaker 1: Right yeah, and we've talked about this. It's a great

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Speaker 1: way because the filmmakers they thought about it, and they

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Speaker 1: thought and they show you what could go wrong, which

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Speaker 1: is exactly so still is. He's keen on eighties action

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Speaker 1: movies and he keeps his video rental card Hot Things Popping.

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Speaker 1: He's in there. He's renting Clint Eastwood movies, on Schwarzenegger's movies,

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Speaker 1: Slice to the all the classics of the eighties. At

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Speaker 1: this time, it's big Brother gets popped for a robbery.

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Speaker 1: So he's like, I'm gonna have to do something about this.

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Speaker 1: I can't have Nicos locked up inside. And he turns

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Speaker 1: to his cinematic files of research and he's like, I

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Speaker 1: got it. I know what to do. You gotta sneak

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Speaker 1: something in there. I don't know if he starts like

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Speaker 1: with the nineteen thirties movies and he's like, okay, I

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Speaker 1: learned from White Heat. I gotta try to sneak in

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Speaker 1: a file. But no, this is what he does. First.

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Speaker 1: He tries to smuggle in knives, then he gets to

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Speaker 1: metal files, then he gets to other tools. They're always

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Speaker 1: being confiscated, stolen by other inmates. Right, it's not working.

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Speaker 1: He tries to smuggle in a grenade, like maybe just

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Speaker 1: hold this in your hand and walk out. That doesn't

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Speaker 1: want Nicos if he's like giving him all these tools

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Speaker 1: and they get stolen. Everyone else has a file and

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Speaker 1: a knife and Nicos I don't know. He just sorr.

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Speaker 1: He was bigger than so at the eighties day end

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Speaker 1: right to sell us. He's like, this is not working.

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Speaker 1: I gotta get my brother out. So he goes all right,

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Speaker 1: I'm going full eighties action movie. He gets himself a

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Speaker 1: tank and he drinks the tank. This guy is gone

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Speaker 1: from like I just checked the VCR. I go I

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Speaker 1: stole thank So he steals the tank from like on

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Speaker 1: an army where tanks rus Like, yeah, he could pops

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Speaker 1: down the tanks r us. He's like, how much for

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Speaker 1: the one in the back. I just need to see

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Speaker 1: how it handles on the freeway. Peels out. He gets

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Speaker 1: down to the prison in Tricola and he tries to

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Speaker 1: crash through the prison walls. He just tries to call right, people,

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Speaker 1: this is very heavy handed you you'll be surprised to learn, Elizabeth,

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Speaker 1: this tank move spectacular failure. Yes, for sure. He gets

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Speaker 1: caught and arrested, tank confiscated, loses take. He's like my

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Speaker 1: by by by refund. So he's imprisoned, but only in

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Speaker 1: jail because apparently that's not like a major crime, trying

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Speaker 1: to break into that jail. They're like, oh, this is

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Speaker 1: cosmetic damage. So he gets out of jail. His brother

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Speaker 1: Nikos is still in prison because you've done some Siah.

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Speaker 1: He'd been robbing back. So there. For years, the Silus

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Speaker 1: and Nikos have worked out an escape plan. The Silus

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Speaker 1: has been going on and visiting his brother once and

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Speaker 1: he's like, you know what, I went high tech last time.

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Speaker 1: That didn't work. I need to go low tech. I

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Speaker 1: should keep it simple, stupid, right, So he's like, chosen

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Speaker 1: day arrives, he has tells Nicos the plan of what

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Speaker 1: to do. Nikos knows and when the Chosen day rise,

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Speaker 1: if Asilus goes to their agreed upon spot just outside

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Speaker 1: the prison walls and there he is standing in a

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Speaker 1: snowy spot because it's the wintertime break out when it's

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Speaker 1: more difficult he waits a rope right without like basically ties.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if it's like metal into the rope,

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Speaker 1: rope around the metal. Either way, it's a weighted knot.

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Speaker 1: And he throws that up like the prison walls. There

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Speaker 1: you go, the ball of SULOCKI inside the rope. He

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Speaker 1: like shot, puts it over the wall. His brother is there,

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Speaker 1: grabs the rope, bells like I got it. Vassilis ties

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Speaker 1: the other into the lamp post, and Nikos just climbs

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Speaker 1: up and over scamps over. It's up boom free. So

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Speaker 1: now and this is a time for them to get

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Speaker 1: back into criming rope rope. This is also when they

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Speaker 1: have a new role model come into the boy's life

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Speaker 1: and they're like, you know, we had Antonus catch Tonis

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Speaker 1: as our first. Now they have a new one. His

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Speaker 1: nickname is the Artist. His government name is Coustus Somatis,

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Speaker 1: Costas Coustas Somatis. Now these three young ambitious robbers they

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Speaker 1: start a crew and they're like, what's we don't need

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Speaker 1: a name, let's just be the street name is the Artist,

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Speaker 1: the Artist. Yeah, they all have nicknames ahead, so they

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Speaker 1: we'll get to their nicknames for now. His nickname is

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Speaker 1: the Artist. Right. So in June I d two they

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Speaker 1: pull off their first big bank job, and being who

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Speaker 1: they are, it's cinematic as possible. The robbery takes place

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Speaker 1: in this town called Columbaca, right or Calabaca has you

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Speaker 1: can pronounce it either way. Apparently in central Greece, small

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Speaker 1: town up in the mountains, surrounded by monastery has long

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Speaker 1: been like a hideout for high women and bandits part

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Speaker 1: of the resistance against the Ottomans. So they go out there.

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Speaker 1: They go to this town and they decide, we need

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Speaker 1: to do our research. We're gonna be serious about this,

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Speaker 1: and Nicos scours the scene using a pair of innoculars.

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Speaker 1: The artist takes out his pen and it goes to

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Speaker 1: pad sketches the town square on scraps of paper, and

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Speaker 1: once they have their town blueprint, it's time to cry.

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Speaker 1: So after this short break, Elizabeth, we'll be back and

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Speaker 1: I will tell you how the Columbaca cinematic robbery goes down.

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Speaker 1: I can't wait. Okay, Elizabeth, where were we We're talking

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Speaker 1: about columbardist sketching the town. I don't know if I'm

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Speaker 1: scouping something out to I put down the sketch pad Man.

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Speaker 1: I don't need the artistic impression of it. We don't

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Speaker 1: want to have like the cloude monet rendering of the

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Speaker 1: church that we're gonna like an abstract artist. I don't

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Speaker 1: know what these what is this? This is how the

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Speaker 1: city feels. Okay, Elizabeth, I set it up. We're in Calibaka,

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Speaker 1: central Grecian town, surrounded bay monastery. But they have beautiful,

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Speaker 1: beautiful bank perfect So I would like you close your

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Speaker 1: eyes and picture. Okay. You happen to be in the

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Speaker 1: small town of Calabaca, Greece, and you're there for one

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Speaker 1: very Elizabeth reason. Trains Specifically, Calibaka is the terminal point

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Speaker 1: of the old Thessaly railways, and you want to see

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Speaker 1: some of the old rail cars that they have in

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Speaker 1: the Thessaly railways because it was some of the most

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Speaker 1: beautiful rail cars in Europe. And you're like, I gotta

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Speaker 1: come see these trains. So you've arrived in Calibaka and

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Speaker 1: you want to go to the old rail yards and

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Speaker 1: you've arranged to talk trains with some of the locals,

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Speaker 1: some of who worked on the trains building them, others

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Speaker 1: who appointed them. You just can't wait and there You

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Speaker 1: are seated on a park bench waiting to meet somebody

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Speaker 1: later that afternoon, when all of a sudden boom, serious

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Speaker 1: entertainment arrives in your lap in the form of two

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Speaker 1: men driving up in front of the local police station,

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Speaker 1: which you can see from your park bench, and they

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Speaker 1: place a huge industrial oven in front of the door

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Speaker 1: to the cops shop. You're like, that's odd. Things that

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Speaker 1: in Greece are different than I know. Then you're like,

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Speaker 1: maybe this is like a little yes, it's a peda party.

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Speaker 1: Maybe they orders like they're gonna be cooking stuff later. Anyway,

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00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:25,919
Speaker 1: moments later, you hear gunfire. You're like, well, that's interesting,

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Speaker 1: but you don't know it. But little brother Vassilis has

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Speaker 1: hiked up a hill with a rifle and he has

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Speaker 1: been firing his gun at the police station. The cops

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00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:36,479
Speaker 1: inside are convinced that they're under attack, so they attempt

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Speaker 1: to full leave the cop shop, but they can't because

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Speaker 1: of the huge industrial oven in front of the cops shop,

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Speaker 1: and you're watching. You're watching is the cops fight against

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Speaker 1: the door, and You're like, this seems really odd. Why

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Speaker 1: are they trying to run out into the gunfire? What

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Speaker 1: is how danger, am I Now as you sit there

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Speaker 1: on your park bench, sipping your Turkish coffee, asking yourself

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Speaker 1: these questions. Do you hear the bullets hanging off the

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Speaker 1: cops off and you see them trying to fight through

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Speaker 1: the door, and you're waiting for your fellow train of

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Speaker 1: fish unados and you notice more here and I'm not

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Speaker 1: ducking for cover. There's your momentarily very brave, so you're

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Speaker 1: you're busybodiness takes over for I don't know what happens,

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Speaker 1: and they're not firing at you, so you don't feel

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Speaker 1: like immediately dangerous. So you're sitting there and you spot

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Speaker 1: this young man Facillus with the rifle. He goes and

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Speaker 1: he meets up with his older brother, who don't notice

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Speaker 1: his older brother. But this guy Nikos, the artist cost

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Speaker 1: is some artists. The three walk into a bank, but

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Speaker 1: you notice from afar that they look clean. They're wearing

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Speaker 1: business suits. They got on sunglasses, like they mean business.

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Speaker 1: That is not how it was in my head before

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Speaker 1: you said they were carrying automatic weaponry like they mean business.

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Speaker 1: So the front door is opened to the bank. They're

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Speaker 1: kicked open. The vacilla's barks, which I will translate for

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Speaker 1: you it means this is a stick up in Greek.

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Speaker 1: They apparently do only need one word to say this.

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Speaker 1: As you sit there on your park bench waiting for

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Speaker 1: all this to go down, the three men rob a

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Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five million drachmas and they stuffed and

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00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:15,720
Speaker 1: stolen loot into duffel bags and they cut You're like, whoa,

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00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:19,840
Speaker 1: how much would that be worth today? Good question? Dollars

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Speaker 1: Three push out of the bank, they hop into their

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00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:25,560
Speaker 1: whip and they escape in the stolen outie. You're like, oh,

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00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:27,840
Speaker 1: that thing looks super clean, just like their suits. And

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00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:30,840
Speaker 1: then you hear sirens approaching. You're wondering, how did the

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00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:32,720
Speaker 1: cops get out of the shop. Turns out they went

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Speaker 1: around the back. They got their cars, and now they're

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00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:37,280
Speaker 1: gonna go chasing after them. So like, only forgot we

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00:19:37,320 --> 00:19:40,160
Speaker 1: have a back door. We should have thought those earlier.

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00:19:40,400 --> 00:19:42,000
Speaker 1: So they rushed to their cop cars and they attempt

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00:19:42,000 --> 00:19:45,240
Speaker 1: to chase the robbers. But the robbers, what's again, cinematic

349
00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:47,800
Speaker 1: ready for them? What have they done? But left spike

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00:19:47,840 --> 00:19:50,919
Speaker 1: strips across the road. So when the cops roar past you,

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00:19:51,320 --> 00:19:53,639
Speaker 1: they don't get far because they hit those spike strips

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00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:57,560
Speaker 1: and tires go flat, and uh, they rolled to an

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Speaker 1: embarrassing stop. So you're like wave at them. Now the cops,

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00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:05,840
Speaker 1: after they've limped to their embarrassing stop, they make their way,

355
00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:07,600
Speaker 1: you know, out of the cop cars and they watches

356
00:20:07,680 --> 00:20:09,879
Speaker 1: the Audie stolen Atie disappears out of town, headed for

357
00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:12,560
Speaker 1: the mountains, and they're like, rank kind of catch them.

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Speaker 1: And before they go, you watch a flurry of Drachmas

359
00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:18,520
Speaker 1: rain over the town's people like a weather system of

360
00:20:18,560 --> 00:20:21,640
Speaker 1: good fortune. It is amazing. Vasilus is tossing bills from

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00:20:21,640 --> 00:20:24,920
Speaker 1: the stolen out until the car disappears in the distance,

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00:20:25,160 --> 00:20:28,480
Speaker 1: and just like that, Vasillius, Nicos and the Artist they

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Speaker 1: all head into the mountains of central Greece, not to

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Speaker 1: be seen for much time and witness their first big job.

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Speaker 1: And they just sprinkled it on their way out. Yeah,

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00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:41,439
Speaker 1: they sprinkled a ton of it. You've got one hell

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00:20:41,480 --> 00:20:44,480
Speaker 1: of a story to tell your train. And yeah, they're

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00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:47,320
Speaker 1: not showing up to time. Not after that. So after

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00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:51,920
Speaker 1: the spectacular start as a crew, for whatever reason, Facilius

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00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:54,560
Speaker 1: and Nikos suicide. You know what, we're gonna quit robbing banks.

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Speaker 1: And they stopped pulling stick up moose. They lay low

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Speaker 1: for years. Some people they speculate the Pasillus he went

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Speaker 1: back to his former career in the cheese industry. Yeah yeah.

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00:21:03,640 --> 00:21:06,119
Speaker 1: Their story was he escaped to Bulgaria and started running

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Speaker 1: a cheese factory there. This sounds like I made it

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00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:15,000
Speaker 1: all up. The others claimed that he was working a

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00:21:15,080 --> 00:21:17,680
Speaker 1: cheese shop in the Netherlands. But whatever story you hear,

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00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:23,239
Speaker 1: the Silus is pushing cheese. I'll tell you one thing

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00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:25,399
Speaker 1: I know about the Silla. He's a real cheesemonger. So,

380
00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:30,480
Speaker 1: just as mysteriously as they disappeared, the Sillus Paleocoustus returns

381
00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:33,240
Speaker 1: to Criming and I cannot tell you why. He just

382
00:21:33,359 --> 00:21:38,359
Speaker 1: decides he now's the time. So after he left behind

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00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,640
Speaker 1: his Bulgarian cheese factory or his Dutch cheese shop or whatever,

384
00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:43,720
Speaker 1: who's to say, it doesn't matter which it was. What

385
00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:46,399
Speaker 1: we do know is that in December, the Silus and

386
00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:48,560
Speaker 1: his big brother Nikos they get back to work as

387
00:21:48,600 --> 00:21:50,720
Speaker 1: high women bandits. They're like, we need to get back

388
00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,399
Speaker 1: to the catchytonis lifestyle. Right. So at this point they've also,

389
00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:56,880
Speaker 1: as I told you, earned nicknames, right. So we had

390
00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,159
Speaker 1: the artist, but We also now have a nickname for

391
00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:04,160
Speaker 1: Vascilla's He's called Uncatchable and his brother is called the Phantom.

392
00:22:04,280 --> 00:22:08,920
Speaker 1: So Uncatchable the Phantom of the Artist are once again

393
00:22:09,040 --> 00:22:13,120
Speaker 1: reunited as a crew, and they need a pair of wheels.

394
00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:18,760
Speaker 1: Did the Phantom name himself? No, people call me the Phantom.

395
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:20,919
Speaker 1: Who calls you the Phantom? Nobody? But guys, I want

396
00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,720
Speaker 1: you from now on call me the Phantom. I was

397
00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:25,560
Speaker 1: trying to get myself a nickname like that. I'm like, yeah,

398
00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:29,040
Speaker 1: I got people call me this, and oh, you want

399
00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:30,919
Speaker 1: to know, it's embarrassing. But I was like, you know,

400
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:32,760
Speaker 1: like I had like a boy's camera and I'm like, yeah,

401
00:22:33,040 --> 00:22:37,359
Speaker 1: the people call me dizzy. Go last week, what do

402
00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:41,440
Speaker 1: you know? Okay, you gonna be okay over there? Joking.

403
00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:45,119
Speaker 1: I wanted to be an old jazz man alright, So

404
00:22:45,320 --> 00:22:47,639
Speaker 1: I was like it could have been matter otis I

405
00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:49,800
Speaker 1: either went soul man or jazz man? Is there really

406
00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:53,000
Speaker 1: nothing else? Does? He sounds like such a rejected seven

407
00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:59,360
Speaker 1: Dwarfs were a little kid like, call me dizzy. Are

408
00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:05,639
Speaker 1: you feeling you fall off the slide? So this is

409
00:23:05,640 --> 00:23:09,919
Speaker 1: my sister Daffy, and I love it. They called me

410
00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:14,040
Speaker 1: dizzy and people are like nobody. It didn't work all right.

411
00:23:14,200 --> 00:23:19,440
Speaker 1: So anyway, nicos when a window. Sorry, when the Phantom

412
00:23:19,720 --> 00:23:23,520
Speaker 1: and Uncatchable needed a car, they popped down the mountain

413
00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:25,399
Speaker 1: and they stole this dude's Niecean And this is like

414
00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:29,160
Speaker 1: a story from their return to Criming and uh. When

415
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,240
Speaker 1: they steal the Nissan, they used it to escape because

416
00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 1: like you know, they go and they robbed somebody and

417
00:23:33,840 --> 00:23:37,000
Speaker 1: then they have to escape. They then return the Nissan

418
00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:39,480
Speaker 1: to the man they stole it from, and they actually

419
00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:43,040
Speaker 1: left a hundred and fifty drachmas underneath like the the

420
00:23:43,040 --> 00:23:45,640
Speaker 1: foot well, which is like farnderbox. He's like he goes

421
00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:47,760
Speaker 1: out and it's gone, my niece on and then like

422
00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:50,840
Speaker 1: the next thing, he goes out. But not only that

423
00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:54,600
Speaker 1: they had polished the car for him, they detailed his knees.

424
00:23:55,960 --> 00:23:58,520
Speaker 1: I thought you'd like that. The villagers of this little

425
00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:00,920
Speaker 1: town that which was closest to the hide up which

426
00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:03,840
Speaker 1: where they had been hiding out. Essentially, there was an

427
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:06,680
Speaker 1: old lady there that told the local press that she

428
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:08,560
Speaker 1: used to see him all the time. He never said

429
00:24:08,640 --> 00:24:10,720
Speaker 1: very much, and I quote, but he always had a

430
00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:15,240
Speaker 1: mischievous smile which seemed to like like that Roague. Now,

431
00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:17,400
Speaker 1: after hiding up for a few years with Stillisame's brother

432
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,359
Speaker 1: nicos Ak the Phantom, they come back to the city

433
00:24:20,440 --> 00:24:23,040
Speaker 1: and it's time for a big payday. You know they've

434
00:24:23,119 --> 00:24:25,359
Speaker 1: depleted their money. Uncatchable in the Phantom, like, we need

435
00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:29,320
Speaker 1: to score call the artist right, so back together December.

436
00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:34,320
Speaker 1: These are all self declared nicknames. You can't self declare nicknames,

437
00:24:34,359 --> 00:24:35,919
Speaker 1: and no one on this earth is gonna be like

438
00:24:36,000 --> 00:24:38,960
Speaker 1: you know what, asked the Phantom, Like that's just the

439
00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,280
Speaker 1: best name for that guy. Phantom get here at five

440
00:24:41,280 --> 00:24:43,159
Speaker 1: o'clock or six o'clock. I don't know. He's that with

441
00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:46,280
Speaker 1: the artists. Well, he's uncatchable with him. Yeah, and that

442
00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:50,639
Speaker 1: one so uncatchable, the Phantom of the Artists. On December

443
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:55,120
Speaker 1: fift they decided to make their big move. Now, this

444
00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:59,800
Speaker 1: dude named Alexander hid to glow. He was him alex

445
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:05,040
Speaker 1: He's on his way to work at the Halva factory

446
00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:07,480
Speaker 1: that he owned, and he'd already dropped off his kids

447
00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:09,840
Speaker 1: at the school. No euphemism, the literally dropped off his

448
00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:14,120
Speaker 1: skill to the school assist a typical work taper. Old

449
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:16,720
Speaker 1: Alexander had to glow Now along the way to his

450
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,639
Speaker 1: Hallva factory, a Toyota rav For raced up next to

451
00:25:19,680 --> 00:25:23,000
Speaker 1: Alexander's car forces him off the road. He's like, oh,

452
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:25,960
Speaker 1: skids to a stop and before he can properly react

453
00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:28,119
Speaker 1: to brothers hop out of the Toyota rev For. They

454
00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:31,560
Speaker 1: grab Alexander, yanked him from his car, nice Mercedes sedan,

455
00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:34,400
Speaker 1: and they forced the Halva factory owner into the back

456
00:25:34,440 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 1: of their compact suv and the speed off. Right now,

457
00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:42,000
Speaker 1: what this has been was a kidnapping of one of

458
00:25:42,000 --> 00:25:46,480
Speaker 1: the leading industrial lists of Greece. Now, as a kidnapping victim,

459
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:49,720
Speaker 1: Alexander later recalled and I quote, it was a well

460
00:25:49,760 --> 00:25:53,480
Speaker 1: thought out kidnapping. My kidnappers behavior was not bad at all.

461
00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:56,600
Speaker 1: It was not scared for myself. Actually, I enjoyed some

462
00:25:56,680 --> 00:26:01,480
Speaker 1: wide ranging discussions with the kidnappers. He was honest, he Wanders.

463
00:26:01,560 --> 00:26:05,720
Speaker 1: He's a traveler, all right. He's a very busy man.

464
00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:08,959
Speaker 1: He is an owner, citizen of the earth and industrialist.

465
00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:10,919
Speaker 1: He has he knows all the corners of this clube.

466
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:14,399
Speaker 1: The three men, they discussed business corruption in a sense,

467
00:26:14,440 --> 00:26:16,280
Speaker 1: they basically talked crime. They're like, what do you know?

468
00:26:16,359 --> 00:26:20,240
Speaker 1: I know? Crime? Crime? So weird. So Vasilus would later

469
00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:23,120
Speaker 1: explain what I remember most vividly from that free lesson

470
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:25,680
Speaker 1: is the blunt blackmail attempted by the owners of large

471
00:26:25,720 --> 00:26:29,720
Speaker 1: supermarket chains. For instance, a prepacketed product with a new

472
00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:32,960
Speaker 1: label Alexander wished to circulate through a large supermarket chain,

473
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,520
Speaker 1: he'd have to give its boss large sums of black

474
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:38,040
Speaker 1: money just for the product to reach the shelves. The

475
00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:42,280
Speaker 1: specific amount required dependent on the place display inside the shops.

476
00:26:42,320 --> 00:26:45,080
Speaker 1: So he's basically describing the corruption habits and most of

477
00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:48,680
Speaker 1: the major business interests of Greece. Right now, This shakedown

478
00:26:48,720 --> 00:26:52,119
Speaker 1: by the supermarket chains at the time considered legal. Now

479
00:26:52,880 --> 00:26:54,439
Speaker 1: you know, he's like, hey, you want a prime position

480
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:55,840
Speaker 1: to my shop? What are you gonna pay? You know

481
00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:58,640
Speaker 1: this that's mafia talk as far as Vasilius is thinking

482
00:26:58,680 --> 00:26:59,800
Speaker 1: of it. Say, He's like, you know, we're in the

483
00:26:59,840 --> 00:27:02,440
Speaker 1: same business. Yeah, you just get people Halibu and I

484
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:06,480
Speaker 1: I take it. So the three men they stay at

485
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:08,800
Speaker 1: a mountain hide up for three days. They talk shop,

486
00:27:08,880 --> 00:27:11,639
Speaker 1: they talk crime, and they get along. They famously have

487
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:14,399
Speaker 1: a great time. Right after four days, an exchange of

488
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:17,560
Speaker 1: money has arranged. Facilius and Nicos they take the Halva

489
00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,399
Speaker 1: factory owner back to his family. He's been unharmed. They

490
00:27:20,480 --> 00:27:23,480
Speaker 1: get a one point five million dollars in today's money,

491
00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:27,120
Speaker 1: told us success and in fact, Alexander he basically gives

492
00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:30,520
Speaker 1: his kidnappers a glowing Yelp review. He says, and I

493
00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:33,800
Speaker 1: quote guys, if only it didn't cost that much, I

494
00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:36,080
Speaker 1: would very much like to have another adventure with you.

495
00:27:36,440 --> 00:27:43,240
Speaker 1: He's like, they called me the world pool now and

496
00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:44,960
Speaker 1: the best part. And by the best part, I mean

497
00:27:45,040 --> 00:27:48,040
Speaker 1: not the best part at all. Alexander tried to get

498
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:50,600
Speaker 1: his ransom money back because for his family to spend

499
00:27:50,640 --> 00:27:52,160
Speaker 1: the one point five millions, How don't think he tried

500
00:27:52,200 --> 00:27:55,119
Speaker 1: to do that, Elizabeth. He sued the government. He's like,

501
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:57,240
Speaker 1: let me sue agreed, the government tried to get the

502
00:27:57,280 --> 00:27:59,639
Speaker 1: taxpayers to pay for his kidnapping. Now, how could you

503
00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:05,240
Speaker 1: sue the government for being kidnapped? Question? His legal argument

504
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:07,920
Speaker 1: was that the Greek government failed him by not rescuing

505
00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:11,760
Speaker 1: him from his kidnappers, and aig should have to pay

506
00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:13,720
Speaker 1: and he shouldn't have been kidnapped in the first place

507
00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:16,399
Speaker 1: because of the economic situation it is. It's the government.

508
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:20,840
Speaker 1: Everything can be traced back. He lost his lawsuit. Yes,

509
00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:24,439
Speaker 1: And meanwhile Vassilus and Nikos, after the successful job, the

510
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:26,320
Speaker 1: brothers decide to split up for a while. They're like, hey,

511
00:28:26,359 --> 00:28:28,840
Speaker 1: we should lay low, we should people might recognize us.

512
00:28:28,880 --> 00:28:31,320
Speaker 1: So around the same time, Vasilius goes off and he

513
00:28:31,320 --> 00:28:33,480
Speaker 1: starts doing his you know Greek robin Hood thing. You know,

514
00:28:33,480 --> 00:28:36,359
Speaker 1: he's always doing it. But there's a very particular story.

515
00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:39,920
Speaker 1: There's an orphan girl he meets, and uh, the story goes,

516
00:28:40,040 --> 00:28:42,200
Speaker 1: this orphan wished to marry, but she had no family

517
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:44,520
Speaker 1: because she's an orphan, and she lived in a very

518
00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:46,520
Speaker 1: rural place, which means she still needed to have a

519
00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:48,800
Speaker 1: dowry if she wanted to get married, but she had

520
00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:51,880
Speaker 1: no one to help over a dowery until Greek robin

521
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:54,360
Speaker 1: Hood shows up and being an agent of love and

522
00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:57,800
Speaker 1: rebellion and chaos, Vassilus he gives the orphan a hundred

523
00:28:57,840 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 1: thousand dropbod, which is enough for her to go and

524
00:29:00,480 --> 00:29:02,360
Speaker 1: the two were able to wed. So he's like, here

525
00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:04,400
Speaker 1: you go. This is just one of many stories of

526
00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:07,400
Speaker 1: him doing kinds of things. Right, Like, for instance, there's

527
00:29:07,440 --> 00:29:11,600
Speaker 1: another one between nine Vasilius is living on the lamb

528
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:15,000
Speaker 1: in the mountains, right and uh, he'd be spotted driving

529
00:29:15,040 --> 00:29:17,200
Speaker 1: like a stolen car through the mountains, and the locals

530
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:19,080
Speaker 1: just love seeing them because every time they saw him,

531
00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:21,920
Speaker 1: he'd be bumping really loud, like Greek guitar tracks out

532
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 1: of the open windows and passed like this a fun guy,

533
00:29:25,920 --> 00:29:28,600
Speaker 1: just like a finger picking Greek flamenco music pouring out

534
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:30,960
Speaker 1: of the windows. And if not, there'll be money coming

535
00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:35,560
Speaker 1: out of the windows. So in December, in his luck

536
00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:38,600
Speaker 1: ends and Vassillus is driving near a maximum security prison

537
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:41,160
Speaker 1: and he had planned to blow up the prison. He's

538
00:29:41,200 --> 00:29:44,160
Speaker 1: wearing a disguise at the time. Does he know anyone

539
00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:47,080
Speaker 1: in this prison? He's trying to get out the art

540
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:49,360
Speaker 1: He's like, I got the artists in there, as far

541
00:29:49,360 --> 00:29:52,360
Speaker 1: as I understand, I'm just like he sees a prison,

542
00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:54,520
Speaker 1: He's like, let's just blow it. Need to blow that.

543
00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:58,040
Speaker 1: Let's let him all out, free everybody. So he's wearing

544
00:29:58,040 --> 00:30:01,520
Speaker 1: a disguise driving and also he's high, so he's yeah,

545
00:30:01,800 --> 00:30:04,120
Speaker 1: the reports are he was smoking something. I took that

546
00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:08,320
Speaker 1: to mean jazz cigarettes. Yeah, I don't think it's pipe

547
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: or anything. So anyway, he's driving high in disguise, crashes

548
00:30:12,480 --> 00:30:15,760
Speaker 1: his car right gets into a car accident, various witnesses

549
00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:18,200
Speaker 1: and onlookers. They phone the authorities because you know, they

550
00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:19,840
Speaker 1: have nine one one at this point in the nineties.

551
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:22,400
Speaker 1: So Vacillus is injured, he can't escape the car wreck,

552
00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:25,120
Speaker 1: and he tells the onlookers, don't tell them who I am.

553
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 1: I am Vassilus Paleogoustus. It's like, that's not the way

554
00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:32,280
Speaker 1: to do that. So whoever phones it in they did

555
00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:34,920
Speaker 1: the exact opposite from what he requests. And so there's

556
00:30:34,960 --> 00:30:37,920
Speaker 1: this great like quote from the emergency call center operator

557
00:30:37,960 --> 00:30:40,640
Speaker 1: informing the police that they're headed to the scene of

558
00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:43,080
Speaker 1: this accident. We got a man here who told uh

559
00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:45,640
Speaker 1: he must have a head injury. He thinks he's the

560
00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:49,320
Speaker 1: most wanted man in Greece. That's like in all the

561
00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:52,080
Speaker 1: paper reports. Anyway, it turns out he was both the

562
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:55,000
Speaker 1: most wanted man in Greece and at end injury. So

563
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:58,160
Speaker 1: the cops are rest Vassilus. He stands trial, he's convicted.

564
00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:00,800
Speaker 1: He gets sentenced to twenty five years bank robberies and

565
00:31:00,840 --> 00:31:03,720
Speaker 1: the kidnapping of the fat Cat industrialist. The Solous is

566
00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,280
Speaker 1: sent to a prison on the island of Corfu, where

567
00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:09,520
Speaker 1: he immediately begins to work on an escape plan, but

568
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:12,200
Speaker 1: the guards discover his hand made blueprint that he is

569
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 1: once again doing artist style. He's like drawing a blueprint,

570
00:31:15,240 --> 00:31:17,480
Speaker 1: he figures they guess what he's up to. They tell

571
00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:20,880
Speaker 1: the warden. Warden's like, don't worry about it, right, So

572
00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:23,440
Speaker 1: they're like like, well, no, you have to. He's like, okay, fine,

573
00:31:23,520 --> 00:31:26,000
Speaker 1: transfer him. So they transfer him to an Athens prison.

574
00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:28,080
Speaker 1: So there he's added Athens prison. He makes a new

575
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:30,560
Speaker 1: plan to escape, draws up a new blueprint, just like

576
00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:33,520
Speaker 1: the artist would want him to this. Somehow he's able

577
00:31:33,560 --> 00:31:35,880
Speaker 1: to get a metal file snuck into him. He uses

578
00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:38,680
Speaker 1: his metal file to start loosening the bar. She's saw

579
00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:40,920
Speaker 1: him through the bars every day, working a little bit,

580
00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:43,600
Speaker 1: and uh, he's like being a model prisoner. Everything's to

581
00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:46,360
Speaker 1: be fine. Now. Turns out he got this metal file

582
00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:50,440
Speaker 1: snuck into him in a package of spaghetti. I didn't

583
00:31:50,440 --> 00:31:56,480
Speaker 1: know you could get packages water Amazon order. How does

584
00:31:56,520 --> 00:31:59,680
Speaker 1: this work? Did they not check packages of spaghetti? How

585
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:02,320
Speaker 1: do they away? The guards? They were aware that there

586
00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:04,560
Speaker 1: was a middle file, and for their own little amusement,

587
00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:06,600
Speaker 1: they told the warden about it. Warden's like, oh yeah,

588
00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:08,360
Speaker 1: let him, let him work on it, so they let

589
00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:10,480
Speaker 1: him get kidding. They let him try to file his

590
00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:13,160
Speaker 1: way out, and then the warden for a little bitten

591
00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:15,360
Speaker 1: mouse game. He goes in every stones off and checks

592
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,560
Speaker 1: to see how he's doing. He looks to see how

593
00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:19,280
Speaker 1: far he is, and they trying to estimate when he's

594
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:21,320
Speaker 1: gonna get it in the world. The day that he's

595
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:23,680
Speaker 1: convinced of silica is gonna get out. He's like, hey, guys,

596
00:32:23,680 --> 00:32:25,320
Speaker 1: go let's go down in yard and wait for him.

597
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,560
Speaker 1: So they go down and wait for miss gets He

598
00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:31,240
Speaker 1: finally saw us through the last bar, lifts out. He's

599
00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:33,440
Speaker 1: got a hole, pushes through the hole of his window,

600
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:37,320
Speaker 1: drops down and there are a bunch of waiting for him,

601
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:39,640
Speaker 1: and the guards start pointing guns out of the Wards

602
00:32:39,640 --> 00:32:42,400
Speaker 1: like no, no, put the guns downe Hey, you want

603
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:44,360
Speaker 1: out of here, You're gonna have to fight me for it.

604
00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:48,440
Speaker 1: So the two girds. The warden tells him, if you

605
00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:50,240
Speaker 1: can beat me, I'll let you out of the prison,

606
00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:52,640
Speaker 1: and the Wards is like, they call me the traffic jam.

607
00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:58,200
Speaker 1: Like who's thing call the traffic jam? So the traffic

608
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:02,080
Speaker 1: jam he takes on uncatch your bowl uncatchable. He catches

609
00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:05,200
Speaker 1: a couple to the face and h he gets beat

610
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:08,520
Speaker 1: bad by the warden. Right, so the silisa sent back

611
00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:11,880
Speaker 1: inside and after this short break, I will tell you

612
00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:14,800
Speaker 1: how he gets back to criming, because he definitely does.

613
00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:38,040
Speaker 1: All right, Elizabeth, where were we? You were telling me

614
00:33:38,120 --> 00:33:40,959
Speaker 1: about a bare knuckle fight between a warden and an inmate.

615
00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:49,200
Speaker 1: That's right, Greek prison. So my man pasilis Paleocostus. He's

616
00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:50,960
Speaker 1: been sent from one prison another and he went from

617
00:33:50,960 --> 00:33:53,120
Speaker 1: car food and I was back in Athens. The warden

618
00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:55,320
Speaker 1: has been taunting him. He's been beaten up after he

619
00:33:55,360 --> 00:33:58,120
Speaker 1: tried to escape. He's after he sent back inside, he's

620
00:33:58,120 --> 00:34:00,400
Speaker 1: given a new cell mate. Turns out the new sellmate

621
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:03,160
Speaker 1: will play a big hand in the future of everything

622
00:34:03,200 --> 00:34:05,760
Speaker 1: he does. His new cellmate's name is al kitt Rose.

623
00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:09,719
Speaker 1: He is an Albanian hit man. For whatever it's worth,

624
00:34:09,760 --> 00:34:12,120
Speaker 1: al kitt Rose. He swears he was no hit man

625
00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:14,680
Speaker 1: and that he was wrongfully arrested. So the papers all

626
00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:16,520
Speaker 1: say he was a hit man. He swears he was

627
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:18,160
Speaker 1: not a hit man, and that guy just happened to

628
00:34:18,160 --> 00:34:23,040
Speaker 1: be dead and they call him the Thunderclu. His name

629
00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:27,399
Speaker 1: was Thunderbunny him. The two men get to know each

630
00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:30,000
Speaker 1: other in the sale. Just like Jero dreamed of sushi,

631
00:34:30,080 --> 00:34:33,360
Speaker 1: they dream of escape right and the Stills dreams about

632
00:34:33,560 --> 00:34:36,280
Speaker 1: calling down quote a missile strike on the prison walls.

633
00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:40,000
Speaker 1: He's like, he's still an eighties action movie. And it's

634
00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:43,600
Speaker 1: like someone will still a helicopter for little do you.

635
00:34:45,520 --> 00:34:48,279
Speaker 1: It takes the twenty days together before they decide on

636
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:50,440
Speaker 1: a plan, and they put it into action on the

637
00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:53,600
Speaker 1: twenties day together June four, two thousand six, they have

638
00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:56,640
Speaker 1: contact your brother Nikos, he's their point man on the outside.

639
00:34:56,880 --> 00:35:01,320
Speaker 1: They have arranged a plan and everything's go. Nicos chartered

640
00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:05,399
Speaker 1: a helicopter from a sightseeing company. Tom I just think

641
00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:08,839
Speaker 1: eighties action movie and they think helico exactly as did they.

642
00:35:09,560 --> 00:35:12,879
Speaker 1: So Nikos were like, according to the Elizabeth plan, I'm

643
00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:16,120
Speaker 1: sorry the phantom. Sorry, you're right not to state. As

644
00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:18,480
Speaker 1: soon as Nicos the phantom is in the air with

645
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:22,080
Speaker 1: the sight seeing helicopter pilot, they go up on the

646
00:35:22,160 --> 00:35:24,839
Speaker 1: charted helicopter. The pilots like, oh, what do you want

647
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:26,799
Speaker 1: to see here in Athens? And Nikos pulls out a

648
00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:28,480
Speaker 1: gun and goes take me to the prison. He's like,

649
00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:32,960
Speaker 1: that's not people want to see, Soos Nikos has a

650
00:35:33,000 --> 00:35:34,920
Speaker 1: grenade just in case the guy tries to get clever.

651
00:35:35,200 --> 00:35:37,080
Speaker 1: He's like, I got a gun and a grenade to

652
00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:40,240
Speaker 1: be good for you. So he yanks out the radio

653
00:35:40,320 --> 00:35:42,799
Speaker 1: so now that the guy can't call the cops, he

654
00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:46,560
Speaker 1: orders the pilot to fly to the prison. The pilots like, okay,

655
00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:49,000
Speaker 1: you got the guns. So that's a persuader. I'm doing it.

656
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:53,400
Speaker 1: Are the Phantom? Yeah, I got to the phantom. So

657
00:35:53,520 --> 00:35:56,440
Speaker 1: Mr the Phantom tell me where should I be landing?

658
00:35:56,760 --> 00:35:59,680
Speaker 1: And so the phantom tells in the prison exercise yard,

659
00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:02,000
Speaker 1: and he's like, Okay, it's gonna be difficult, but I

660
00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:05,799
Speaker 1: can do that. Vasilus and cell mate there in the

661
00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:08,279
Speaker 1: yard waiting, and they have snapped a lockdown on the

662
00:36:08,280 --> 00:36:10,080
Speaker 1: gate so that the guards can't chase them. It's like

663
00:36:10,120 --> 00:36:12,600
Speaker 1: an improvised lock that they've created. They pull out a

664
00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:15,880
Speaker 1: red Chego Vara flag that he had been on his

665
00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:17,480
Speaker 1: prison wall. This is why the two of them got

666
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:19,359
Speaker 1: along so well. When al Kit sees his new cell

667
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:21,319
Speaker 1: mate has a cheg Wavara flag and he's like, oh,

668
00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:23,319
Speaker 1: we're gonna get along great. So the two of them,

669
00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:26,239
Speaker 1: as soon as they got they got spaghetti, they got

670
00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:31,680
Speaker 1: they got movie nights, so they're like waving the Cheguavara

671
00:36:31,760 --> 00:36:35,919
Speaker 1: flag on the prison exercise yard. The helicopter lowers enough

672
00:36:35,960 --> 00:36:38,160
Speaker 1: that the two men can reach the landing skids, but

673
00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:40,200
Speaker 1: then the prison guards are fully aware this is actually

674
00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:42,280
Speaker 1: a prison break. This is not like a prison officials

675
00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:44,360
Speaker 1: coming for an inspection, which is what they think Originally,

676
00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:48,800
Speaker 1: They're like, yeah, exactly right. So the guards they point

677
00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:50,600
Speaker 1: their guns at the men, but then like wait, wait, wait,

678
00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:53,360
Speaker 1: because they realized the prison is located in the residential

679
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:55,200
Speaker 1: neighborhood and all the prison guards know that on the

680
00:36:55,200 --> 00:36:56,920
Speaker 1: other side of the prison walls are a bunch of

681
00:36:56,920 --> 00:37:00,480
Speaker 1: neighborhood kids who always kicks soccer balls, and they don't

682
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:02,839
Speaker 1: want to shoot the kids, so they're like, let him go.

683
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:08,319
Speaker 1: The kids bring upside. The prisons agreed, Yeah, I'll tell

684
00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:11,480
Speaker 1: you like that. So they watched the helicopter lift up

685
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:14,800
Speaker 1: into the sky, Bye bye, and they're gone after a

686
00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:17,719
Speaker 1: short flights, and the kids all cheer yeah, pretty much.

687
00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:19,960
Speaker 1: The chopper lands in the cemetery on the north side

688
00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:22,719
Speaker 1: of Athens. The pilis hops out, hugs his brother, says

689
00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:26,200
Speaker 1: wear it right, and they did, and then he attends

690
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:28,160
Speaker 1: to the helicopter pilot and he's like, here man, he

691
00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:30,800
Speaker 1: gives him worry beats and he says, you will be okay.

692
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:33,359
Speaker 1: You guys like, yeah, I'm a little more worried about

693
00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:35,880
Speaker 1: how much this oh doo's gonna get arrested by the

694
00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:38,719
Speaker 1: police in on it. He's got, he's got a tough

695
00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:41,319
Speaker 1: few days in front of him. Anyway, after they give

696
00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:45,719
Speaker 1: the worry beats to the helicopter and tell me he's okay,

697
00:37:47,400 --> 00:37:51,080
Speaker 1: here's a chokers, stay hop on stolen dirt bikes and

698
00:37:51,160 --> 00:37:57,239
Speaker 1: zoom off from room right. Yeah, exactly, scoot alkitt rise,

699
00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:00,400
Speaker 1: he later recalled, and I quote I will full of

700
00:38:00,480 --> 00:38:03,320
Speaker 1: drugs and adrenaline. I could barely show on the emotion.

701
00:38:03,400 --> 00:38:06,160
Speaker 1: I just sat there stunned. But when we eventually switched

702
00:38:06,160 --> 00:38:08,040
Speaker 1: in the cars, I drove as fast as I could,

703
00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:10,520
Speaker 1: knowing that I didn't have to think about prison anymore.

704
00:38:10,680 --> 00:38:14,719
Speaker 1: It felt like a paradise. He's Russian. Everybody's rushing to it.

705
00:38:14,800 --> 00:38:16,280
Speaker 1: You know, what, what do you want from me? Everyone's

706
00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:20,400
Speaker 1: Russian here in Greece, in the world, everyone's rushing. Increase accent,

707
00:38:20,560 --> 00:38:22,240
Speaker 1: like I don't know how to do a Greek accent

708
00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:24,440
Speaker 1: without being just straight up offensive, like I don't want

709
00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:26,759
Speaker 1: to do anything like I'm just going like a rough

710
00:38:26,800 --> 00:38:29,880
Speaker 1: slot like it. So he said of their escape, it

711
00:38:29,960 --> 00:38:32,480
Speaker 1: was a picture perfect or in his words, and forgive

712
00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:36,000
Speaker 1: the accent. The ultimate aim and a jailbreak is to

713
00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:39,640
Speaker 1: leave nice and pretty and to say cheers and bravo

714
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:43,440
Speaker 1: as you leave, cheers, which is exactly apparently what they did.

715
00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:46,040
Speaker 1: They were waiting to get check with horror flags cheers

716
00:38:46,120 --> 00:38:50,880
Speaker 1: and as they flew away. So Greek Robin Hood is

717
00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:52,960
Speaker 1: once again free and on the lamb and reunited with

718
00:38:53,000 --> 00:38:55,719
Speaker 1: his brother Nikos. And so what goes down next for

719
00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:58,480
Speaker 1: Greek Robin Hood. Well, three months after their daring escape,

720
00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:00,920
Speaker 1: al kitt Rose gets caught and return into prisons because

721
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:04,080
Speaker 1: they're not good at freedom, Elizabeth. And months later, in

722
00:39:04,120 --> 00:39:06,360
Speaker 1: that same year, two thousand and six, big brother Nicos

723
00:39:06,440 --> 00:39:08,960
Speaker 1: He is also caught and apprehended by police. He gets

724
00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:11,759
Speaker 1: nabbed in after a high speed car chase. Meanwhile, these

725
00:39:11,760 --> 00:39:13,719
Speaker 1: guys are always in high speed car chase. There's so

726
00:39:13,719 --> 00:39:15,440
Speaker 1: many high speed car chases, I'm not even gonna tell

727
00:39:15,440 --> 00:39:19,839
Speaker 1: you about all them. They caught the Phantom but Uncatchable,

728
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:23,560
Speaker 1: true to his nickname, stayed free. He and so at

729
00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:25,600
Speaker 1: this point he's like got a new focus. He's like,

730
00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:27,719
Speaker 1: I gotta I gotta get my my big my big

731
00:39:27,760 --> 00:39:30,200
Speaker 1: brother out of prison. And he's also a little bothered

732
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:32,560
Speaker 1: because his baby brother, the Phantom, is now known as

733
00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:34,880
Speaker 1: the most wanted outlaw in the land. He's like, his

734
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:37,000
Speaker 1: nickname is better than mine. I need to do something

735
00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:41,120
Speaker 1: about this. So big baby brother of the list, he decides,

736
00:39:41,400 --> 00:39:43,080
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna needs some money to break my

737
00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:45,880
Speaker 1: my brother out. So he goes and he kidnaps another

738
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:48,920
Speaker 1: Greek industrialists. You know, go back to what you know there.

739
00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:53,000
Speaker 1: You can't walk anywhere in Greece without just tripping over

740
00:39:53,040 --> 00:39:57,760
Speaker 1: shipping magnets. Yeah, is just lousy with magnets and industrialists.

741
00:39:58,280 --> 00:40:01,000
Speaker 1: So June nine and eight, he and two men they

742
00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:06,200
Speaker 1: kidnapped George Milonas and he's an aluminum magnet, so mixing

743
00:40:06,239 --> 00:40:08,279
Speaker 1: it up, So he grabbed a gun point by the

744
00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:10,839
Speaker 1: silus and two men wearing hoods arm with shot guns,

745
00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:13,320
Speaker 1: which is always a good look. Two weeks later, the

746
00:40:13,320 --> 00:40:16,680
Speaker 1: fat cat Industrious gets released once again unharmed, after his

747
00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:22,640
Speaker 1: family paid how much nineteen million dollars American in ransom

748
00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:24,719
Speaker 1: today's dollars, by the way, because what was at one

749
00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:27,400
Speaker 1: point one point five first good memory. Now, the police

750
00:40:27,480 --> 00:40:29,600
Speaker 1: tracked the ransom money because it had been marked and

751
00:40:29,600 --> 00:40:31,760
Speaker 1: they were able to locate the hideout of the Scillus.

752
00:40:32,239 --> 00:40:36,319
Speaker 1: So two months after the kidnapping in August, as he's

753
00:40:36,400 --> 00:40:38,719
Speaker 1: laying about his mountain hide out with an anarchist friend

754
00:40:38,760 --> 00:40:41,200
Speaker 1: watching a DVD of Monty Python and the Holy Grail

755
00:40:41,680 --> 00:40:44,560
Speaker 1: and the Anti Terror yea truly, the anti terrorism squad

756
00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:51,640
Speaker 1: busted into the door and arrested Huge exactly. Fails Is

757
00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:54,480
Speaker 1: re arrested and returned to prison. For some reason, the

758
00:40:54,520 --> 00:40:56,719
Speaker 1: Greene authorities, they decided to put the Sillus and his

759
00:40:56,760 --> 00:40:59,279
Speaker 1: old cell mate, I'll kit Ris back together in the

760
00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:03,280
Speaker 1: same cell. Like that's like yeah, like they're saving space.

761
00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:06,240
Speaker 1: We're like, well, we already have the number system work, yeah, exactly.

762
00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:08,320
Speaker 1: So as they prepare for their new trial, he and

763
00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:11,160
Speaker 1: al Kitt they prepare a new escape plan. Let's go

764
00:41:11,200 --> 00:41:13,239
Speaker 1: back to what we know, get out the sketch pad

765
00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:15,680
Speaker 1: outside of the court for his new trial and Athens,

766
00:41:15,680 --> 00:41:18,520
Speaker 1: the local villagers come in from all those surrounding towns

767
00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:21,319
Speaker 1: that he's been like basically hiding out in and they

768
00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:23,960
Speaker 1: come into the city and they gathered to protest his arrest.

769
00:41:24,200 --> 00:41:26,480
Speaker 1: There's a group of rural farmers and along with them

770
00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:29,319
Speaker 1: are urban anarchists. And then it also swelling into this

771
00:41:29,360 --> 00:41:32,239
Speaker 1: crowd or peasants and shepherds who were all shouting death

772
00:41:32,239 --> 00:41:36,120
Speaker 1: through the pigs, freedom, the paleocaustus, death, the pigs fed

773
00:41:39,800 --> 00:41:42,439
Speaker 1: exactly goats in the streets. People are there, but they're

774
00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:45,239
Speaker 1: buying in protests. So at one point during all this

775
00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:49,040
Speaker 1: media circus trial, alcott Ri's girlfriend swans into the courtroom.

776
00:41:49,120 --> 00:41:50,759
Speaker 1: She makes a big scene. Everyone's like, oh, look at her.

777
00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:53,120
Speaker 1: She's so dramatic and beautiful, and she's allowed to hug

778
00:41:53,120 --> 00:41:55,719
Speaker 1: her incarcerated boyfriend. I don't know how this play is

779
00:41:55,719 --> 00:41:58,520
Speaker 1: out in Greece, but she uses the opportunity to slip

780
00:41:58,560 --> 00:42:01,840
Speaker 1: something in his pocket. It's a watch with a tiny radio.

781
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:06,400
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Scond two thousand nine, Alcott's girlfriend phones

782
00:42:06,480 --> 00:42:09,239
Speaker 1: him on this little dick Tracy prison watched and she

783
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:12,120
Speaker 1: lets him know, baby, it's on. And so Alkett and

784
00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:14,160
Speaker 1: Vassilis were led out into the prison yard for their

785
00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:19,640
Speaker 1: daily exercise, and around the size of the palm of

786
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:26,200
Speaker 1: his hand he's got and so thirty three forty five

787
00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:29,320
Speaker 1: in the afternoon, a helicopter is spotted approaching the prison.

788
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:33,919
Speaker 1: The helicopter is yet another hijacked chopper, and this time

789
00:42:33,920 --> 00:42:38,120
Speaker 1: it's Alcott's girlfriend who's holding the automatic rifle, and Nko

790
00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:40,640
Speaker 1: says instead of Nikos, it's this time it's Alcott's girlfriend

791
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:42,640
Speaker 1: and she's kidnapped to pilot at gun point and forced

792
00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:44,520
Speaker 1: him to fly to the prison yard. She pulls on

793
00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:46,239
Speaker 1: the gun on the pilot and tells him we're going

794
00:42:46,280 --> 00:42:49,080
Speaker 1: to pick up the kids. Cordilo's prison. When you die,

795
00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:52,160
Speaker 1: always with the kids, dropping kids off, picking kids up.

796
00:42:52,719 --> 00:42:55,440
Speaker 1: And by the way, they call me the specter. No

797
00:42:55,600 --> 00:43:00,400
Speaker 1: they don't, they don't. You do so he the pilot

798
00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:03,759
Speaker 1: does as instructed. The chopper arrives at the desired landing zone.

799
00:43:03,800 --> 00:43:06,520
Speaker 1: Helicopter hovered over the prison yard, the rope ladders tossed

800
00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:09,239
Speaker 1: down the side, and his girlfriend brandishing a machine gun,

801
00:43:09,320 --> 00:43:11,960
Speaker 1: provides cover for the two men as they climb the

802
00:43:12,040 --> 00:43:14,960
Speaker 1: rope ladder. This time there's no kids playing soccer and

803
00:43:15,000 --> 00:43:17,240
Speaker 1: other side of the prison wall, so the guards open fire.

804
00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:20,040
Speaker 1: The two get in like an open gunfight, and she's

805
00:43:20,080 --> 00:43:22,719
Speaker 1: gunning from the open helicopter doors like it's a Vietnam

806
00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:27,160
Speaker 1: War movie. Guys are climbing and just scrambling as fast

807
00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:29,799
Speaker 1: as they can up this rope ladder and uh, they

808
00:43:29,840 --> 00:43:32,239
Speaker 1: managed to basically tell him we're on the ladder, take

809
00:43:32,320 --> 00:43:34,839
Speaker 1: off and she turns. The guy left off and he does,

810
00:43:34,920 --> 00:43:37,359
Speaker 1: and they take off and managed to escape. And they're

811
00:43:37,400 --> 00:43:39,600
Speaker 1: just dangling on the rope ladder. Yeah. We At one

812
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:42,080
Speaker 1: point the prison guard tries to grab al Catt. He

813
00:43:42,080 --> 00:43:44,640
Speaker 1: sees he's reaching for the ladder. Alcat turns and he's

814
00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:48,560
Speaker 1: got a kebab skewer in his hand. Topic right now,

815
00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:58,359
Speaker 1: that's not like an offensive. The pilot obligern And by

816
00:43:58,360 --> 00:43:59,879
Speaker 1: the way, all this is on YouTube if you want

817
00:43:59,880 --> 00:44:07,840
Speaker 1: to now the prison cards. After they had unloaded their

818
00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:10,240
Speaker 1: clips in the under side of this helicopter, they pierced

819
00:44:10,239 --> 00:44:12,320
Speaker 1: the gas tank, they severed the fuel line. This helicopter

820
00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:14,640
Speaker 1: is not making but it does make it to the

821
00:44:14,680 --> 00:44:17,080
Speaker 1: side of a highway in the suburbs of Athens where

822
00:44:17,200 --> 00:44:20,480
Speaker 1: they land. The pilot is fine, he's left bounding, gagged

823
00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:23,960
Speaker 1: and hooded. Vasilus Alquette and his girl, they all they're

824
00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:27,160
Speaker 1: gone like the wind. Yeah. So the Greek news interrupts

825
00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:29,160
Speaker 1: all the daily soap propers with the brand news of

826
00:44:29,160 --> 00:44:33,000
Speaker 1: the daring prison escape of Acoustus. This is the beginning

827
00:44:33,000 --> 00:44:35,279
Speaker 1: of the largest man hunt in Greek history. Now a

828
00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:39,840
Speaker 1: month later, two men and a woman storm into a

829
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:42,200
Speaker 1: bank in the hometown of Vacillus and rob it. The

830
00:44:42,280 --> 00:44:45,680
Speaker 1: robbers are reported to be quote the fugitive Vassilus Paleocoustus

831
00:44:45,719 --> 00:44:50,280
Speaker 1: alquet Rose and their female accomplice, a blonde Laura Croft. No,

832
00:44:50,360 --> 00:44:52,760
Speaker 1: that's how they described in the press. All three escape

833
00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:55,640
Speaker 1: unharmed and with a small fortune. But not long after

834
00:44:55,680 --> 00:44:57,680
Speaker 1: that Alquette and his girlfriend they get nabbed by the

835
00:44:57,719 --> 00:45:00,600
Speaker 1: Greek police, like we've got the specter Like these two,

836
00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:05,120
Speaker 1: there's just too foxy, unstatchable. True to his nickname, he

837
00:45:05,200 --> 00:45:08,319
Speaker 1: stays free on the lamb, and he gets spotted by

838
00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:10,680
Speaker 1: rural villagers who they say they always notice him in

839
00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:13,960
Speaker 1: the VW Torres Apparently he just likes stealing torregs, so

840
00:45:14,080 --> 00:45:16,440
Speaker 1: he would like steal torreg get some cash in his

841
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:19,480
Speaker 1: hand and go for a drive, just throw money as

842
00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:21,840
Speaker 1: he was driving around, listening to get like Greek guitar.

843
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:25,759
Speaker 1: And also there's another All these tales of his acts

844
00:45:25,760 --> 00:45:27,440
Speaker 1: of charity. But there's one I thought you would like

845
00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:29,920
Speaker 1: as his poor family. Right, it's the middle of the

846
00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:31,640
Speaker 1: night and they hear a knock at their door, and

847
00:45:31,640 --> 00:45:33,759
Speaker 1: when they open it, all they find waiting for them

848
00:45:33,840 --> 00:45:37,200
Speaker 1: is an envelope. Inside the envelope is ten thousand euros,

849
00:45:37,239 --> 00:45:39,200
Speaker 1: the exact amount of money they need for medical treatment

850
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:42,040
Speaker 1: for the father whom the whole family depended on. So

851
00:45:42,120 --> 00:45:44,440
Speaker 1: he just comes in basically drops off the money, and

852
00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:46,040
Speaker 1: he isn't even there for them to say, how does

853
00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:50,279
Speaker 1: he find these things out? Is just like windows at night, Yes,

854
00:45:50,400 --> 00:45:53,520
Speaker 1: just like that. He gathers at the window. He's got

855
00:45:53,560 --> 00:45:59,279
Speaker 1: a big earhorns in now. He basically as an underground guy.

856
00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:01,359
Speaker 1: He keeps his his ear to the wind, and when

857
00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:03,000
Speaker 1: he hears some of these things, he's like, m I

858
00:46:03,040 --> 00:46:06,239
Speaker 1: can go do something about this. So stories like this

859
00:46:06,320 --> 00:46:09,000
Speaker 1: proliferate through the mountains of grease, and everybody's always hoping

860
00:46:09,040 --> 00:46:11,120
Speaker 1: that the Greek robin Hood will be so kind as

861
00:46:11,160 --> 00:46:13,759
Speaker 1: to roll into their town with his his Greek music

862
00:46:13,760 --> 00:46:16,160
Speaker 1: coming out of the windows, and people start planting like

863
00:46:16,640 --> 00:46:20,200
Speaker 1: stories like you know, I really just need twenty thousand

864
00:46:20,239 --> 00:46:23,160
Speaker 1: euros and then I'll have my dream of getting a

865
00:46:23,200 --> 00:46:25,960
Speaker 1: new fake leg. You don't have a well, like if

866
00:46:26,000 --> 00:46:28,440
Speaker 1: I had to have, let's just say I need one. Yes,

867
00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:31,359
Speaker 1: a Greek queen for a day has become like the thing, right,

868
00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:33,920
Speaker 1: everyone's like all these sob stories, but the still us,

869
00:46:34,239 --> 00:46:36,480
Speaker 1: you know, and he's not spotting his toy egg listening

870
00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:40,759
Speaker 1: to his Greek guitar pick music. The authorities are convinced

871
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:43,000
Speaker 1: that they can't find him because he must have had

872
00:46:43,080 --> 00:46:46,480
Speaker 1: cosmetic surgery, which turns out he had. He had had

873
00:46:46,840 --> 00:46:49,800
Speaker 1: multiple cosmetic surgeries, and it works. It allows him to

874
00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:52,759
Speaker 1: stay free and he remains so to this day. Do

875
00:46:52,760 --> 00:46:54,839
Speaker 1: you think he looks like one of the Real Housewives? Now,

876
00:46:55,000 --> 00:46:57,960
Speaker 1: probably got that immovable math. He's got that special new

877
00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:01,120
Speaker 1: face that all of those people have. Yeah, the cheek

878
00:47:01,200 --> 00:47:05,439
Speaker 1: bones and the west side of that. He just looks

879
00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:09,480
Speaker 1: like Santa Monica. Everyone keep your eyes open. Now. There

880
00:47:09,480 --> 00:47:11,600
Speaker 1: have been numerous run ins with him, most notably, he

881
00:47:11,680 --> 00:47:14,800
Speaker 1: still loves movies, so his love of video rental stores

882
00:47:14,840 --> 00:47:17,600
Speaker 1: almost cost him his freedom. In two thousand nine, he

883
00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:19,719
Speaker 1: left his hide out to go rent some movies. He

884
00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:21,759
Speaker 1: went down to the pop down to the video rental store,

885
00:47:22,080 --> 00:47:24,319
Speaker 1: and there's a team of fifteen undercover police who had

886
00:47:24,320 --> 00:47:26,080
Speaker 1: set up a sting operation because they are aware of

887
00:47:26,120 --> 00:47:27,960
Speaker 1: his video rental habit. And they were just waiting there

888
00:47:27,960 --> 00:47:29,880
Speaker 1: and like he's got to return, just waiting to hear

889
00:47:29,920 --> 00:47:32,000
Speaker 1: the music coming down the hill exactly. They hear the

890
00:47:32,040 --> 00:47:35,279
Speaker 1: Greek guitar music. So before he gets out of his

891
00:47:35,320 --> 00:47:38,320
Speaker 1: stolen tareg, he spots the cops and the Highwayman bandit.

892
00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:40,480
Speaker 1: He gives the cops to the eye. The cops give

893
00:47:40,560 --> 00:47:43,000
Speaker 1: him the eye, and at one point they've now they've

894
00:47:43,000 --> 00:47:45,560
Speaker 1: cornered the most wanted man in Greece. And Vacillus would

895
00:47:45,640 --> 00:47:49,319
Speaker 1: later recount and I quote, so I lead to the rip,

896
00:47:49,840 --> 00:47:52,319
Speaker 1: I sped down an alley to escape, and bullets were

897
00:47:52,360 --> 00:47:55,360
Speaker 1: dancing inside my car's cabin. These guys opened fire and

898
00:47:55,360 --> 00:47:58,080
Speaker 1: shot more than a hundred fifty bullets in fifteen seconds.

899
00:47:58,640 --> 00:48:01,000
Speaker 1: He's like that nothing, This just a Tuesday for men.

900
00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:05,680
Speaker 1: So he he's telling this story because he survived and

901
00:48:05,719 --> 00:48:08,160
Speaker 1: he didn't fire back. I'll tell you that in a second, okay, yeah,

902
00:48:08,160 --> 00:48:10,480
Speaker 1: because I'm like, how are we okay? So he survives.

903
00:48:10,480 --> 00:48:14,120
Speaker 1: At my point, they yeah, and he didn't fire back.

904
00:48:14,160 --> 00:48:16,799
Speaker 1: So he gets always fifteen cops, fire and whatever due

905
00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:19,040
Speaker 1: because all of these years as a bandit, he never

906
00:48:19,080 --> 00:48:20,960
Speaker 1: once used a gun. He was very much against hurting,

907
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:24,000
Speaker 1: and that his original code he came up with. So

908
00:48:24,040 --> 00:48:26,319
Speaker 1: he escapes that day and he remains on the lamb,

909
00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:28,799
Speaker 1: occasually robbing banks and then disappearing into the mountains. He

910
00:48:28,840 --> 00:48:31,239
Speaker 1: calls home and this has just been what he's been doing.

911
00:48:31,239 --> 00:48:33,520
Speaker 1: And now clearly you can tell I like the Greek

912
00:48:33,600 --> 00:48:36,960
Speaker 1: robin Hood. He's my dude. And because mostly I think

913
00:48:36,960 --> 00:48:39,959
Speaker 1: this is my favorite part about him, the Greek robin Hood.

914
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:43,520
Speaker 1: His existence implies the existence of like the Greenland robin

915
00:48:43,560 --> 00:48:47,799
Speaker 1: Hood and the zimbabwe and robin Hood. Robin we need

916
00:48:47,800 --> 00:48:49,480
Speaker 1: all the robin hoods we can get. I want to

917
00:48:49,480 --> 00:48:52,840
Speaker 1: go to the convention. So it was a quick question.

918
00:48:53,120 --> 00:48:55,359
Speaker 1: Although he's not currently in prison, as I find it out,

919
00:48:55,680 --> 00:48:58,520
Speaker 1: the stillis did spend plenty of time inside. So what

920
00:48:58,600 --> 00:49:03,400
Speaker 1: does that mean for his career aspects? No, it's actually

921
00:49:03,520 --> 00:49:07,400
Speaker 1: very good in one particular field, entrepreneur. He's now a

922
00:49:07,480 --> 00:49:15,600
Speaker 1: qualified author, is wow the publishing world with his memoirs

923
00:49:15,760 --> 00:49:18,440
Speaker 1: on the run, and he writes me and it's a

924
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:24,279
Speaker 1: best seller hit. Of course that one allow me a

925
00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:28,400
Speaker 1: review of the memoir, Autobiography and Quote. In its pages,

926
00:49:28,440 --> 00:49:30,600
Speaker 1: you can find explanations about the correct choice of a

927
00:49:30,640 --> 00:49:33,800
Speaker 1: hostage for ransom, no women or children, the most important

928
00:49:33,840 --> 00:49:36,320
Speaker 1: thing in planning an escape from prison to have someone

929
00:49:36,360 --> 00:49:39,360
Speaker 1: willing to sacrifice his life for you, and warnings about

930
00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:41,359
Speaker 1: the many obstacles that stand in the way of those

931
00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:46,120
Speaker 1: who choose illegality as a way of life. Now, there's

932
00:49:46,120 --> 00:49:49,040
Speaker 1: one other passage in the review that kind of highlights

933
00:49:49,080 --> 00:49:50,920
Speaker 1: all of his many little side quests that he went

934
00:49:50,960 --> 00:49:52,520
Speaker 1: on that I didn't have time to cover in this,

935
00:49:52,600 --> 00:49:54,320
Speaker 1: but it kind of gives you an idea what he

936
00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:55,760
Speaker 1: was doing when I said he was on the lamb

937
00:49:56,880 --> 00:49:59,360
Speaker 1: and I quote. One of the most beautiful chapters in

938
00:49:59,400 --> 00:50:02,520
Speaker 1: the book, however, takes place away from Greece and from

939
00:50:02,520 --> 00:50:06,320
Speaker 1: all of the Silus's illegal entanglements. In the early nineteen nineties,

940
00:50:06,320 --> 00:50:09,120
Speaker 1: when the authorities dropped a series of robbery cases on him,

941
00:50:09,239 --> 00:50:11,960
Speaker 1: Paliocostus was in the midst of a long bicycle trip

942
00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:14,840
Speaker 1: with a fake Brazilian passport and a friend. The journey,

943
00:50:14,840 --> 00:50:17,640
Speaker 1: which began in Germany and ended in China, provides the

944
00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:20,080
Speaker 1: reader with a magical moment of the rest from the

945
00:50:20,080 --> 00:50:24,880
Speaker 1: stressful life in the shadow of Illegalism. Wow, he rode

946
00:50:24,920 --> 00:50:29,280
Speaker 1: on a bike trip from China with a fake Brazilian buddy.

947
00:50:29,440 --> 00:50:31,440
Speaker 1: As you're getting ready to read that, I'm thinking, like

948
00:50:32,080 --> 00:50:35,320
Speaker 1: writers across the globe, heave a heavy sigh of another.

949
00:50:35,360 --> 00:50:37,680
Speaker 1: But this guy sounds he's got a story. Okay, he's

950
00:50:37,719 --> 00:50:40,120
Speaker 1: learned the book deal and okay, And in case you

951
00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:42,520
Speaker 1: want to know, like, what is his writing voice sound like?

952
00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:45,600
Speaker 1: There was a translated version of his book In case

953
00:50:45,640 --> 00:50:49,000
Speaker 1: you wanted to read Elizabeth. It's available on Amazon also

954
00:50:49,200 --> 00:50:51,440
Speaker 1: other fine booksellers who don't want support a corporate giant.

955
00:50:51,800 --> 00:50:54,800
Speaker 1: Basilis writes about his criminal ethos as the Greek robin

956
00:50:54,840 --> 00:50:59,640
Speaker 1: head and a quote, my conscience prohibits me from selling guns,

957
00:51:00,040 --> 00:51:03,400
Speaker 1: protection of small businesses, drugs. They also forbid me from

958
00:51:03,480 --> 00:51:05,760
Speaker 1: entering a house to steal, to kill an old lady,

959
00:51:05,960 --> 00:51:09,120
Speaker 1: to become a snitch, to cooperate with a cop of politician.

960
00:51:09,640 --> 00:51:13,160
Speaker 1: What do they allow me? Only bank robberies, abducting a

961
00:51:13,280 --> 00:51:16,080
Speaker 1: rich people, and being part of a revolution towards a

962
00:51:16,120 --> 00:51:22,879
Speaker 1: more just world. That's his story. That's what I think

963
00:51:22,880 --> 00:51:28,759
Speaker 1: my conscience allows me to do. Being Yeah, I'll take

964
00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:31,400
Speaker 1: someone and make them think they're not going to live. Well, No,

965
00:51:31,520 --> 00:51:33,960
Speaker 1: he never, he never does that. He lets them know, look,

966
00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:36,320
Speaker 1: I'm only here for the cash. You're worth this moment.

967
00:51:36,480 --> 00:51:38,719
Speaker 1: Why wouldn't they just walk off? There has to be

968
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:42,560
Speaker 1: some threat to their life. There's a threat to they

969
00:51:42,600 --> 00:51:44,920
Speaker 1: can't escape, like you know, like if I've staying you up,

970
00:51:44,920 --> 00:51:46,160
Speaker 1: I don't need to tell you I'm going to kill you.

971
00:51:46,200 --> 00:51:47,920
Speaker 1: I can just tell you good luck getting away from

972
00:51:47,960 --> 00:51:49,799
Speaker 1: the chains, right, But what if I do? Then? What

973
00:51:49,840 --> 00:51:51,520
Speaker 1: are you gonna just let me walk off? Then I've

974
00:51:51,560 --> 00:51:53,839
Speaker 1: lost my prey and I'm better go get another fat cat.

975
00:51:55,880 --> 00:51:59,080
Speaker 1: There's implicit violence in that. There can be, but there's

976
00:51:59,120 --> 00:52:01,920
Speaker 1: not a nest is sary violence you can do this

977
00:52:01,960 --> 00:52:04,640
Speaker 1: with just like look, hey, sit down, relaxed, watch some TV.

978
00:52:05,080 --> 00:52:07,640
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bring you some microwave dinners and we're gonna

979
00:52:07,680 --> 00:52:13,080
Speaker 1: talk about supermarkets. What well, as I said before, vasiliuskali

980
00:52:13,160 --> 00:52:16,120
Speaker 1: Acostus is still out there robbing banks for a more

981
00:52:16,200 --> 00:52:19,640
Speaker 1: just world there And if you hear this, hit us up, Pasilus,

982
00:52:19,800 --> 00:52:21,319
Speaker 1: because we'd love to have you come on the show

983
00:52:21,320 --> 00:52:24,000
Speaker 1: and be the first guest for our ridiculous crime book club.

984
00:52:24,360 --> 00:52:28,160
Speaker 1: That would be amazing. Well, Elizabeth, it's a ridiculous takeaway

985
00:52:28,200 --> 00:52:32,560
Speaker 1: for this one. Um, you know what, I don't ever

986
00:52:32,600 --> 00:52:39,080
Speaker 1: make your own nicknames. You're making fun of me my

987
00:52:39,560 --> 00:52:42,879
Speaker 1: ridiculous takeaway. Once again, thank you for asking. It is simple. Look,

988
00:52:42,920 --> 00:52:45,120
Speaker 1: if you don't hurt anyone, I'm probably gonna root for

989
00:52:45,160 --> 00:52:48,120
Speaker 1: you over the fat cat industrialists every time, especially once

990
00:52:48,120 --> 00:52:50,239
Speaker 1: you're engaging crimes of their own, like the dude with

991
00:52:50,280 --> 00:52:54,600
Speaker 1: the corruption and the and the supermarket everybody, right, and

992
00:52:54,600 --> 00:52:57,120
Speaker 1: definitely I'm going to root for the Greek robin hood

993
00:52:57,120 --> 00:52:58,839
Speaker 1: over the kinds of villains who say, you know what,

994
00:52:58,880 --> 00:53:01,279
Speaker 1: I got a and some I'm gonna make all the

995
00:53:01,320 --> 00:53:03,960
Speaker 1: taxpayers pay. I mean like that to me is just

996
00:53:04,000 --> 00:53:05,960
Speaker 1: as whack as somebody going in and robbing a bank.

997
00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:09,480
Speaker 1: In fact, it's worse. Well, ordinary people, we get screwed

998
00:53:09,520 --> 00:53:14,920
Speaker 1: over all day every day, so you know, sometimes you

999
00:53:14,920 --> 00:53:16,839
Speaker 1: got to get your on back. I guess yeah. And also,

1000
00:53:16,880 --> 00:53:19,160
Speaker 1: I mean, how can you not root for a Greek

1001
00:53:19,239 --> 00:53:22,719
Speaker 1: robin hood nicknamed Uncatchable who bumps guitar music from the

1002
00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:24,879
Speaker 1: windows of stolen cars as he tells his money out

1003
00:53:24,880 --> 00:53:31,000
Speaker 1: the window. They call him. That's all I got for you,

1004
00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:33,879
Speaker 1: beaut Well. You can find us online a Ridiculous Trauma

1005
00:53:33,880 --> 00:53:36,440
Speaker 1: about Twitter and Instagram. Twitters for the updates, the dump stuff,

1006
00:53:36,440 --> 00:53:38,960
Speaker 1: the shout outs, interactions Instagram. That's where we put the

1007
00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:42,200
Speaker 1: photos for each episode, and also we give peaks at

1008
00:53:42,239 --> 00:53:44,960
Speaker 1: the shows to come. The stories offer you some laughs

1009
00:53:45,160 --> 00:53:47,520
Speaker 1: and uh yeah, you can speak pick some both, but

1010
00:53:47,640 --> 00:53:50,000
Speaker 1: either way, if you'd like to contact us, you can

1011
00:53:50,280 --> 00:53:52,160
Speaker 1: tweet at us or email us if you want a

1012
00:53:52,239 --> 00:54:02,080
Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening. Ridiculous

1013
00:54:02,120 --> 00:54:05,320
Speaker 1: Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zoan Burnett, produced

1014
00:54:05,320 --> 00:54:08,680
Speaker 1: and edited by the Providence Robin Hood Dave Houston. Researches

1015
00:54:08,719 --> 00:54:11,439
Speaker 1: by Rogue Bandit of the Archives Marissa Brown. Our theme

1016
00:54:11,520 --> 00:54:14,279
Speaker 1: song is by the artist Thomas Lee and the fingerpicking

1017
00:54:14,320 --> 00:54:18,040
Speaker 1: guitar man Travis Dutton. Executive producers are Ben It's all

1018
00:54:18,239 --> 00:54:21,279
Speaker 1: Greek to Me Boland and No I'm a Creek on

1019
00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:30,920
Speaker 1: a leash Crowd We Die say It one more time

1020
00:54:31,200 --> 00:54:35,279
Speaker 1: We Dequeous Crew. Ridiculous Crime is a production of I

1021
00:54:35,400 --> 00:54:38,279
Speaker 1: Heeart Radio four more podcasts, my Heart Radio, visit the

1022
00:54:38,280 --> 00:54:41,200
Speaker 1: iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to

1023
00:54:41,239 --> 00:54:42,120
Speaker 1: your favorite shows,