WEBVTT - The James Gang Would Be Impressed! 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.440 The James Gang would be impressed. It's one more thing, 0:00:03.760 --> 0:00:10.240 Armstrong and Getty, one more And I refer not to 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:16.279 Joe Walsh's pre Eagles, pre solo career outfit, the three 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:19.919 piece Canadian classic rock heros, the James Gang, but indeed 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:26.000 the gun wielding Western bandits specifically train robbers. We talked 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:28.680 during the Armstrong and Getty radio show about the Mojave 0:00:29.000 --> 0:00:35.000 Desert train heists that targeted like unreleased Nike sneakers and 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:37.800 how that's just becoming. It's a huge thing now. But 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:39.360 how they do it and how big a problem it 0:00:39.400 --> 0:00:41.280 is was a little long to get into on the 0:00:41.360 --> 0:00:43.640 radio show, so I thought I would describe it to you. 0:00:44.840 --> 0:00:49.760 The thieves stealthily bored eastbound freight trains hiding out until 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.320 they reached the lonely stretches of the Mohave Desert or 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:55.200 high planes way away from towns. Then they slash an 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.560 air break hose, causing the my long line of railcars 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:01.760 to screech to emergencies, stop up. Then they go shopping. 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:04.440 How many people are on one of these trains? Probably 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:07.600 not very many people at all, right, I don't know 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.720 the official people that work on the train oh, no, 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:13.039 it might be you know, just a couple. Yeah. I 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:15.680 actually I looked into that for odd reasons years ago, 0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:19.119 just how many people were on a train and because 0:01:19.200 --> 0:01:23.600 I wanted to do a ride along from Reno to 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:26.840 Sacramento on one of the freight trains cool and learn 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:29.240 more about freight trains. But they were in the midst 0:01:29.280 --> 0:01:32.319 of this bitter union dispute as the companies were trying 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:34.679 to go from like three people on the train to 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:37.080 two or whatever it was. And anyway, so it's very 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:41.280 very few people. But so investigators are describing a string 0:01:41.319 --> 0:01:44.759 of at least ten heists targeting BNSF trains in California 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:48.920 and Arizona since March. Last March March, all but one 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:52.680 resulted in the theft of Nike sneakers, their combined value 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:57.520 approaching two million dollars. So they cut the air hose 0:01:57.560 --> 0:02:01.920 and they give some of the particulars of this one theft. 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:06.920 Many were Nigel Sylvester air Jordan Fors Who's Nigel Sylvester. 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:10.280 No, no rapper, my son would know. 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:13.720 Not going to be available until March fourteenth. Expected a 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:15.720 retail for two twenty five prepare but go for a 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:19.360 lot more on the black market. So the theft crews 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:24.560 typically scout high value merchandise on rail lines that parallel 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:28.280 Interstate forty. They bore the slow moving trains, like when 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:32.240 they're changing tracks and opening containers, according to the Veep 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:36.359 of Operations and Deputy sheriff who's interviewed, so the thieves 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:40.520 are sometimes tipped off to valuable shipments by confederates working 0:02:40.560 --> 0:02:44.839 at warehouses or trucking companies. Other times they simply look 0:02:44.919 --> 0:02:49.280 for containers with high security locks the figure they're there 0:02:49.320 --> 0:02:52.359 for a reason, then they cut them with reciprocating saws 0:02:52.400 --> 0:02:56.480 or bolt cutters. According to Homeland Security, once the desired 0:02:56.520 --> 0:03:00.640 loot is found, the thieves alert follow vehicles which the train. 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:03.520 The stolen goods are then tossed off the train after 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:05.680 it comes to a halt, either for a schedule stop 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:09.480 or because the air hose cut or they can cut 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:13.000 control wires inside signal boxes too to make the train stop. 0:03:13.639 --> 0:03:15.520 According to federal agents, well. 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:17.639 One of the advantage of stealing these Nike shoes just 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:19.680 because my son so into it and he has several 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.800 pair of uh real expense, hev bought them in the 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:26.120 he got them for Christmas or birthday and the you know, 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:29.600 the the aftermarket is there's such an aftermarket already built 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:31.920 in for this. It'd be so easy to fence this stuff, 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:37.400 you know, because like Louis Vauton bags, it's there's not 0:03:37.440 --> 0:03:41.040 like a built in infrastructure for those real bags to 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:43.240 be sold in the aftermarket for more money than they 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:46.160 go for, but there is for Nike shoes. Man, there's 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:49.160 all kinds of websites that do that, and he based 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:50.840 full of them. I mean they're all over the place 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:53.400 and they'll retail for two twenty five, they'll sell out 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:55.880 that day. That night, they'll be all over eBay for 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:59.440 five to eight hundred dollars and all over the place. 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.080 So it's not people are suspicious. They might be stolen 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:04.760 immediately because it's common every single day. 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:07.200 And it's the opposite of most stolen goods, which you're 0:04:07.200 --> 0:04:09.920 gonna have to sell at a discount. Yeah yeah, yeah. 0:04:10.040 --> 0:04:13.000 So the cargo is then loaded into box trucks or 0:04:13.040 --> 0:04:18.160 hidden in nearby brush until they arrive, provided the surveillance 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:21.560 crews that also follow the train don't detect law enforcement. 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:25.279 These tactics often employed by transnational criminal groups that consist 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:29.200 primarily of Mexican citizens from Sinaloa. According to the FEDS, 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.880 including the Cineloa cartel, there were at least sixty five 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:37.360 thousand railroad cargo thefts last year, which is up forty 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:43.239 percent from twenty twenty three. Hmm more lawlessness. The thefts, 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:45.960 which are typically classified as burglaries because they don't involve 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:49.240 directly confronting victims, which is the definition of a robbery. 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:52.960 They're believed to cost the nation's rail companies more than 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.040 one hundred million dollars, and it could be an undercount 0:04:56.240 --> 0:05:00.840 because railroads don't publicize all the theft sure. 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:04.599 All I can say is, if you're in a cartel 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:08.080 and listening a pair of Travis Scott mochas in eleven 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:10.400 and a half, throw you a couple of bones, and 0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:13.279 oh lord, this is nobody needs. 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:17.359 This is breaking several different laws, and I'd be happy 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:22.240 to testify. Let's see. The company's crews, of course, are 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:25.440 instructed not to confront thieves, but to report the incidents instead, 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:27.800 but the crews rarely encounter them because the trains are 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:33.080 so long and thieves take care to evade detection. The 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:35.000 thefts tend to ebb and flow, often tied to the 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:39.400 release of desirable new products. In December, investigators saw rash 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:42.800 of thefts in which smart vacuum cleaners were stolen from 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:45.280 train containers. The Great roombahist. 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:52.440 That's so interesting. So like speaking of Travis Scott Nike, 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:56.000 they had a release on those two months ago, on 0:05:56.120 --> 0:05:58.719 their latest there's only been like five Travis Scott releases. 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:02.000 I guarantee you when those were released, they hit a 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:07.360 train because boom, so much money to be made. Yeah, 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:12.200 those shoes, for instance, they sell out it two hundred 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.880 round two hundred bucks, they'd be worth fifteen hundred dollars 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:22.400 that evening one five hundred dollars per pare now easily so, 0:06:22.400 --> 0:06:23.719 so this might be a lot of money in that. 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:28.240 This Nigel Sylvester guy is a BMX athlete. That's all right, 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:33.080 I'm looking at these shoes. They're ugly. Cartel can keep it. 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:36.880 It's not the point. But as Jack, who has a 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:42.000 really odd amount of information on stolen goods, informed us, 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:45.440 the stolen merchandise usually transported to California to be sold 0:06:45.520 --> 0:06:48.520 or offered for sale via online third party Amazon nee 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:52.680 Bay resellers. Both Amazon and e Bay said in statements 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.240 that they have zero tolerance for criminal activities on their platforms. 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:57.840 Well, like, I know, you don't go to malls. They 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:00.120 work with law enforcement. You're not a mall guy. You 0:07:00.160 --> 0:07:02.760 probably don't know this. But every mall now, and this 0:07:02.800 --> 0:07:04.839 has only been in the last couple of years, has 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:07.560 got a store that sells all kinds of sneakers and 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:10.400 they're all wrapped in plastic. They're used, all of them, 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:13.600 and there are walls of these used sneakers. Oh, I 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:16.320 wonder what percentage of we're stolen. I always have just 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:18.160 assumed it was people that were able to buy them 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:20.440 at the original price and then we're willing to let 0:07:20.520 --> 0:07:24.240 them go for more money. But there's every mall has 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:27.080 one of those stores now, especially upstairs walls. 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:32.040 Yeah. Wow. June last year, California local enforcement agencies and 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:35.040 Homeland Security executing the search warrant at eleven residences and 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:38.520 sixteen storage units relating to the ongoing train burglaries, arresting 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:41.440 forty three suspects and recovering from the storage units about 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:44.160 three million bucks worth the merchandise believed to him and 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:47.040 stolen from the BNSF train. 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:48.760 Come back for train robberies. 0:07:49.240 --> 0:07:52.160 I'm looking at a pair of these. One pair of 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:54.840 these is on eBay right now. It's a size nine 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:57.000 for nineteen hundred dollars. 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:58.680 What are they? 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:03.200 The Nigel air drawlers? That what the model that was stolen? 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:04.280 Nineteen hundred bucks? 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:06.240 Yeah, nineteen hundred bucks, but it's a size nine. 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:08.160 Sorry, yeah, I was. I was unaware of this whole 0:08:08.160 --> 0:08:10.120 thing until I don't know, last year. We'd go in 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:12.360 the grocery store and Sam would say, Dad, that guy 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:14.600 where there's wearing fifteen hundred dollars shoes and You're like 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:16.680 what And you just looked like a pair of Nikes 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:16.960 to me. 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:20.000 No, no, no, huh. 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:22.000 I'd be worried I was gonna get jumped and my 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:23.200 shoes would get stolen. 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:26.120 I'm surprised that doesn't happen more often. 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:29.280 I remember when Air Jordan's first came out. It did 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:30.320 all the time. 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:33.880 Must depend on your neighborhood, you're, I mean, because and 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.840 they most young people like my son wear him untied. God, 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:38.360 if you just pushed him over, you could slight him 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:41.480 off his feet so easy. In there, not to give any. 0:08:41.440 --> 0:08:47.200 Hints, yeah, yeah, human beings and what they value, Yes, 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:50.880 such an interesting study psychologically, no doubt. 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:52.960 Well, I guess that's it.