WEBVTT - Call of the Wild: Plant Crimes 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:03.400 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:07.880 Zeren Sorry I was napping ZN Listen. 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:09.480 How you doing today? 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:11.719 I am well rested, now are you? 0:00:11.840 --> 0:00:12.039 Yeah? 0:00:12.039 --> 0:00:12.520 What about you? 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:13.160 How are you doing? 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:14.640 I'm good. I'm hanging in there. 0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:15.880 You seem bright eyed? Bushy tail? 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:21.239 Hey, am my tail? Bushy full bush? Yes, bushy. Do 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:22.360 you know what's ridiculous? 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:22.880 I do? 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:24.640 Pinocchio? 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:25.480 Sure? 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:25.840 No. 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:29.320 Do you know the story of the Pinocchio? Like the 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:31.840 premiere in New York City of the movie, it was 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:35.440 like a big deal. Walt Disney like hired people like 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:38.720 little people to play Pinocchio. He hired like what's the 0:00:38.720 --> 0:00:42.680 opposite of a Baker's dozen, like eleven eleven eleven. He 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:45.479 hired eleven little people. This is in nineteen forty, right. 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:47.360 He put them up on top of like this marquee, 0:00:47.360 --> 0:00:49.159 and they're all dancing up there and supposed to like 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:51.239 grow stuff and like blow kisses at the people, all 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:52.159 dressed as Pinocchio. 0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:53.920 Right, little people, eleven Pinocchio. 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:55.760 But they're gonna be up there for like all day long. 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:57.639 There's only one Pinocchio, I. 0:00:57.600 --> 0:00:59.560 Know when in this case there was eleven. And he 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:03.360 gave him lunch and then also bottles of wine, and yeah, 0:01:03.400 --> 0:01:05.240 I know, white is wild. And it was so hot 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:07.040 that day that they ate all the food and by 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:09.560 the afternoon they drank all the wine. And then they're 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:12.120 so hot did they took off their costumes. They stripped 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:15.160 down and got naked. So you had these naked, painted 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:18.080 little people on top of this marquis and he started 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:22.240 like throwing things at people and shouting provanities at the crowd. 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:25.360 It was amazing, but eventually got so bad that the 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:27.360 police had to be called in to pull them down 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:29.600 off the marquee. And do you know how they did it? 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:32.880 They put them in pillowcases and drug them off like 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:37.000 a bag of kittens. No, not happen nineteen forty, not 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:37.800 that long ago. 0:01:38.360 --> 0:01:40.560 They put them in pillow grown. 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:43.840 Drunk, grown people, drunk, naked and pillow cases and threw 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:45.360 them over their sacks like you know, like they're going 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:47.080 down to the river to get rid of kittens. 0:01:47.360 --> 0:01:48.800 Yeah, Pinocchio, I don't like this. 0:01:49.160 --> 0:01:52.760 It's it's ridiculous, right, it's totally Do you know what 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:53.520 else is ridiculous? 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:55.360 Oh, I got it, I hope so plants. 0:01:55.520 --> 0:02:21.160 Plants are ridiculously cool. This is ridiculous. Crime, a podcast 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:26.000 about absurd and outrageous capers, heists, and cons. It's always 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:29.760 ninety nine percent murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous. 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:34.760 You I'm right, that's right. Today Saren is gardening day 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:35.760 here at Ridiculous Crime. 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:38.520 Oh, Gardening's my escapism. 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:40.960 Yes, Like I'm outside, which I love. 0:02:40.880 --> 0:02:41.359 That's true. 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.200 All that matters are the living things I'm assisting. 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:44.880 True. 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:47.760 I love the entire process and the cycle. 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:48.600 And the sun too. 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:54.600 Yeah. Well, from like starting seeds, prepping beds, fertilizing, pruning, cultivation, blah. 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:55.640 Blah blah, all the stuff. 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:57.679 The rest of the world doesn't exist when I'm in 0:02:57.720 --> 0:02:58.120 the gardens. 0:02:58.320 --> 0:02:59.320 You got two green thumbs. 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:02.079 Sometimes I listen to music, do you. Most of the time, 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:03.360 I just listen to what's around me. 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:05.760 I what you grow, you eat what I grow. 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:10.320 I listen to birds, practicing the clarinet. 0:03:10.520 --> 0:03:11.959 I used to like doing that as a housepanner, sitting 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:13.120 on the roof listening to birds. 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:15.040 Listen to birds. It's good stuff. That's how I stay 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:19.440 relatively sane, you know almost. I love gardening shows. Let's 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:21.280 just talk about me for a little bit. Let's do it. 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:22.959 You introduced me to monty Don. 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:25.520 That was to say, my dog is named after the 0:03:25.560 --> 0:03:29.880 host of BBC Gardener's World, Monty Don Gardener's World, best 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:35.440 show ever show. It's like Xanax. It's pleasant, relaxing, happy. 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:38.400 If you have brit Box and you want to chill 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.600 out and be spoken to intelligently and quietly, just watch it. 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:44.760 Watch Gardener's World. But this is going to be a 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:47.480 mellow episode. I'm going to take the temperature down a 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:51.360 little bit. Yeah. I follow a bunch of gardening subreddits. 0:03:52.000 --> 0:03:54.040 Of course you do, and that's where I'm going to 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:57.760 start today. Okay, so this is something I read about 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:01.520 on Reddit and then I experienced it for my interesting 0:04:01.560 --> 0:04:04.560 There are indeed gardening crimes. I'm going to start off 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:06.440 with one that's more of a scandal, but I suppose 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:08.360 you could classify it as fraud. 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.080 Like stolen It is Peppergate. 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:16.240 Peppergate, So this Peppergate was the seed distribution scandal that 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:18.200 went down two years ago, twenty twenty three. 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:19.920 Seed distribution scandal. 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:21.960 Yeah, I know, it's it's hard boiled. 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:23.760 Is so different than mine. 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:28.680 So it's so Pablo Escobar. It's like, yeah, it's edgy, 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:34.039 So that's summer twenty twenty three, gardeners, small agg producers, 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:37.360 they started reporting that their pepper plants weren't growing true 0:04:37.400 --> 0:04:37.880 to type. 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:38.719 What does that mean? 0:04:38.880 --> 0:04:42.599 So seed packets would be labeled as like specific varieties 0:04:42.680 --> 0:04:46.159 like say sweet bell peppers or very specialized hot peppers, 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.000 and they were producing either the wrong type of pepper 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:50.680 or in some cases no fruit at all. 0:04:50.800 --> 0:04:53.000 Oh, that's got to be frustrated. Its a while to 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:54.040 figure that out. 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:57.120 Right, exactly. So the issue started to gain traction on 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:00.799 gardening forums, like you know, it was in Reddit TikTok 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:04.160 where the name peppergate was coin and. 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:05.200 So I missed all of them. 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:07.800 I read about it, and then I lived at saren. 0:05:07.680 --> 0:05:09.240 You lived it. It happened to you. 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.760 Well, I start my vegetable plants from seed, do you yes? 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.160 And I use small or heirloom seed suppliers, and I 0:05:16.200 --> 0:05:18.360 stay away from stuff like Burpie or things at the 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:20.240 hardware store because I'm not like really specific. 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:22.160 For right, I'm gonna be really dumb. Is Burpie a brand? 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:24.400 Berpie's a brand that's like the Big Dog. 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:26.200 Garden, like a technique or what? 0:05:26.279 --> 0:05:29.719 Now Burpie? Well, isn't that like a CrossFit thingye know? 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:31.880 I don't do that either, but like that's all I 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:33.800 knew it as I knew that's not what you meant. 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:35.960 I had some peppers that I started from seed in 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:40.120 January of twenty twenty three. Okay, Horno de toro, Italian 0:05:40.120 --> 0:05:44.480 sweet peppers, zapptec, halapanos, that kind of thing. So I 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:48.600 was at home, deskpot right, and I'm picking up some dirt, okay, 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:52.360 and I saw peblano pepper seedlings from like a big 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:54.200 garden brand, and I was like, you know what, I 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:58.719 forgot to start poblanos from seed because if you drive. 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:01.880 Them Elizabeth internal dialogue. 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:04.440 I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna grab 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:06.400 two of them and tuck them into my raised beds. 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.960 You know, No, it's the wiser. And they flourished and 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:13.920 then they started producing and producing, and honey, there were 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:17.320 no poblanos. What they were shashidos zaren Oh. 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.400 My gosh, ishetos like the face brush. 0:06:21.120 --> 0:06:28.080 Yeah. I occasionally enjoy some roasted shashitos, but not too bustling. 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:32.479 It's like a It's the thing about shashido peppers, is 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:34.799 it like one out of ten that you eat is hot. 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:38.680 It it's like a Russian roulette of pepper. Okay, otherwise 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:40.719 like a regular kind of sweet pepper. 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:42.960 This one's this one coolah yeah. 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:44.719 And so you you pick them, you roast them in 0:06:44.760 --> 0:06:47.080 the oven, and then people have them like they'll dip 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:50.159 them and stuff. But it's like an appetizers roasted shios. 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:51.919 And then every now and then you get a YoY 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:57.760 this wild right, So you know I have all these sashidos, right, 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.640 I'd seen this happen in other people's and now it's happening. 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.120 In mind your garden. 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.560 Yeah. So here's what went down. A large seed distributor, 0:07:08.000 --> 0:07:11.680 a subcontractor for a lot of popular retail seed brands, 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:16.200 mislabeled pepper seed batches during packaging. So one of the 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:20.040 things this exposed is that most seed packet brands you 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:23.239 see are filled by pretty much the same company. Oh yeah, 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:25.200 and so a mistake at the top of the chain 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:29.200 trickled down to stores everywhere and numerous brands. Yes, there 0:07:29.200 --> 0:07:32.280 are about four companies that control most of the small 0:07:32.280 --> 0:07:36.160 seeds in the world. It's totally monopolized. So like small 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:39.480 businesses don't always have clear lines to the product origin 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:43.320 and seeds they're purchased through a broker working under a 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:46.440 larger broker or distributor, and then that's owned by even larger. 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:47.720 And this is also true for the airloms. 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:51.000 You're saying, yes, whoa, Well no, not for the airlooms, 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:53.400 for the small So like the I only had the 0:07:53.400 --> 0:07:55.920 problem with the seedlings that I got at home. 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:57.480 Depot ah, so not the airline. 0:07:57.640 --> 0:07:59.760 Like the ones I grew from seed from small places. 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:03.160 They knew exactly where it was coming from. So a 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.000 lot of the seed. Yeah, the seed packet companies, like 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:08.200 when you go into like say ACE Hardware, you have 0:08:08.320 --> 0:08:13.160 like that whole rack and they like so they don't 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:14.440 divulge their sources. 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:17.680 You can't see on theirs from no Wow, and. 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.480 A lot of times you know, because they'll market themselves 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.560 as like old timey and organic ish and small, but 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:25.520 they're getting their seeds from like mon Santo. 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:26.400 Okay. 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:28.600 Yeah, So the seed packet that you buy for ninety 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:31.480 nine cents at a dollar tree might have the exact 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:34.360 same seeds as those in a packet for four ninety 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:37.800 nine at ACE or six point fifty at a specialty store. Wow, 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.920 same supplier. So somewhere along the line, there was a 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:43.640 lack of quality control and the labeling and the sorting, 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:47.680 and there also could have been like cross contamination, but 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:49.280 it looks like it was just a mix up and 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:50.280 it was massive. 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:51.000 Sounds like it. 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:54.319 So sweet peppers were labeled as hot peppers vice versas. 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:58.920 It was chaos Zarin. The big thing was that a 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.920 lot of people bought more expensive rarer varieties and wound 0:09:02.000 --> 0:09:04.719 up with like cheaper basic stuff like generic Hall of 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:05.960 Pans or banana. 0:09:05.600 --> 0:09:09.719 Peppers fraud and then like it seemed. 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:11.720 Like a lot of people wound up with banana peppers. 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:12.160 Huh. 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:15.880 I know, some like me, they bought seedlings at a store. 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:18.720 Others started from seed and they didn't get what they wanted. 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:22.319 Reddit TikTok. Just chock full of people angry. 0:09:22.440 --> 0:09:24.480 Oh I bet your people will drive them nuts. 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:28.560 So many This was not big Gardner's world energy. This 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:32.079 is angry. So all of these, like a bunch of 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:35.000 different major seed brands, they issued public statements, they offered 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:38.000 refunds or replacements, and there was talk about a class 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:44.720 action lawsuit based on breech of warranty. Yeah, because small 0:09:44.800 --> 0:09:49.040 scale farmers they sell it like farmers markets and such, 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:54.560 or they supply the CISA boxes the community supported agriculture. Yeah, 0:09:54.600 --> 0:09:57.280 you know you get stuff direct from a collective of 0:09:57.360 --> 0:09:58.160 local farms. 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:03.760 I've done that. They dropped the food off and you don't. 0:10:02.240 --> 0:10:04.760 Know what's going to be in there in season and 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:09.040 ripe amazing so CSAs and small farmers' markets. They were 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:12.080 out of a whole year's worth of peppers, you know, 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:13.800 And that's sad, like it blew like. 0:10:14.120 --> 0:10:15.559 Also it's going to mess up a lot of stuff. 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.040 Not just sad, but I mean that's like it ruined. 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.760 It ruined their their whole business. You know, if you were, like, 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:24.160 you know, doing a lot of peppers. 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.040 And possibly the next year because how do you trust them? 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:26.280 Again? 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:31.160 Exactly exactly So what it did though, it started driving 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.360 business to small seed companies. That's good. Uh. And it 0:10:34.440 --> 0:10:36.600 got people saving their own seeds from year to year 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:40.400 instead of buying new seed. Thearen It was a cautionary 0:10:40.480 --> 0:10:45.480 tale I'm telling you about supply chain fragility, high steaks 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:49.040 for something so small. Serious speaking of small seed companies, 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:54.040 I have an even bigger scandal for you, please, the 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:56.240 Purple Galaxy tomato scandal. 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:58.439 What is that a tomato? 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:02.520 Yes? It all started when the twenty twenty four Baker 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:05.080 Creek seed catalog came out. I get the catalog. 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:06.400 I bet you they do. 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:09.480 I don't usually buy from Baker Creek because apparently they 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.240 had Clive and Bundy speak at some event once, and 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:14.800 their seeds aren't the best germinators. But I do love 0:11:14.800 --> 0:11:15.360 their catalog. 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:17.959 Wait, the like BLM Cloud Bundy like steal the land 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:18.600 from the government. 0:11:18.840 --> 0:11:21.199 Why is he talking to garden'? That's what a lot 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:22.040 of I guess they just. 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:23.679 Feed themselves because they're sovereign citizens. 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:25.559 I guess, so a lot of people don't order from 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:28.040 them because of that. But also they're just kind of 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:30.960 they get duds sometimes. But they have an amazing catalog. 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:32.800 It gives me ideas like pictures, why did you talk? 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.720 Yeah, and it comes in like December or January. It 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:36.840 has all the seeds for the years. 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:39.760 Now do they have like a J. Peterman catalog where 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:41.520 there's a character telling you about these seeds? 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:44.600 Almost really all not a character, but like there's the 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:49.000 descriptions are really fabulous. Some of them have incredible illustrations. 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:52.160 So but this is like, you get this catalog in 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:55.360 the dead of winter, you're dreaming of warm weather, being 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:57.280 out in the garden, it's garden porn. 0:11:58.280 --> 0:11:59.000 I can see that. 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:04.800 So the twenty four Baker catalog, it had a stunning 0:12:04.880 --> 0:12:09.240 ever model. Oh my god, the cover model. It was 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:13.280 the purple galaxy tomato. Is that the man alive? It 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:16.520 was a liquor. Okay, this is a blackish purple tomato 0:12:16.760 --> 0:12:19.839 with tiny pink dots on the outside and like a 0:12:19.880 --> 0:12:24.280 deep violet fuchia inside. Whoa, yeah, that was the distinction 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:27.640 because most purple tomatoes they don't hold their color. 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:28.880 Inside the skin. 0:12:29.600 --> 0:12:32.840 And so it was built so as the quote purplest 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:39.360 non GMO tomato ever, purple is GMO, being genetically modified organisms. 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:41.959 So this was either way you slice the tomatoes are. 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:44.960 It was a great looking to me. And they're also 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:47.240 supposed to be all these like health benefits because it's 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:51.440 like when you have a purple skin tomato, high antioxidants, 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:56.439 high anthi cyanin, so these compounds you know, reduce the 0:12:56.520 --> 0:13:01.040 risk of cancer inflammation, and they're also good source of 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:02.600 vitamins and minerals. 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:05.320 Totally fature colors, people, that's right. 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:08.280 So there it is on the cover. Some people noticed 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.480 that it looked a whole lot like a GMO tomato 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:15.360 made by a company called Norfolk Healthy Produce and HP. 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:19.760 Now remember Baker Creek is like, we're no GMO, We're heirloom, We're. 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:23.320 Yeah, we draw pictures. 0:13:23.559 --> 0:13:27.320 And HP is a UK company with American operations based 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:32.480 in Davis, California, my hometown. You see, Davis, my alma 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:36.640 mater from mir ag School. Some me would say it's 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:38.560 the best in the planet, and I should know, because 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:41.440 I have an English degree from it. I should know. 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:44.800 So they've always been on the cutting edge of crop innovation. 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:46.560 And the flavorsavor tomato. 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:51.199 Yeah, so there's Cultivar VF one, aka the square tomato. 0:13:51.320 --> 0:13:52.960 There's that one too, Yeah, came out of Davis. It 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:56.360 wasn't really a square, it was just less round and 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:58.360 it was to keep it from keep the tomatoes from 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:01.640 rolling off of conveyor belts. Also had thicker skins so 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:04.880 they'd pack in the boxes better wouldn't roll off the 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:05.560 top of a truck. 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:06.559 Very Japanese. 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:10.000 Yeah, fewer losses. So Davis, as you know from growing up, 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:13.160 there is smack dab in the middle of commercial tomato country. 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:13.800 Oh my goodness. 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:16.760 Yes, Trucks haul tons of the things from fields to 0:14:16.840 --> 0:14:19.840 canneries each fall, and the square tomatoes. They were designed 0:14:19.840 --> 0:14:22.960 for just that commercial use, not you know, around my birthday. 0:14:22.960 --> 0:14:25.120 Every country road do you turn a corners just littered, 0:14:25.160 --> 0:14:28.200 but tomatoes where the trucks have made a turn, and tomatoes. 0:14:28.080 --> 0:14:30.680 Because they weren't using the square. The inventor of the 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:34.000 square tomato was this guy, Gordie Jack Hannah. He was 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:37.720 an associate in the Agricultural Experiment Station and a professor 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:42.280 in truck crops, which, like truck cps the greatest at Davis. 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:44.640 He was also a plant breeder with this private company 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:46.840 petto Seed in Woodland, Califun. 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:47.960 Okay shout out Woodland. 0:14:48.520 --> 0:14:52.000 According to local lore on the Davis Wiki, yes, doctor 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.840 Hannah would quote stand in the fields, walk among the plants, 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:58.840 collecting random tomatoes, and then go and throw them ounta 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:03.000 into the road as a test. Captain rebred from the plants, 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:07.360 featuring tomatoes hardy enough to survive his test, eventually giving 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.440 us the hardy tomato that can withstand being picked by 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:12.720 machine and transported by truck. 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:14.200 And have flavor and have flavor. 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:17.960 So NHP based in Davis, they engineered a purple tomato 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:22.600 called the Purple Tomato, and that was just like the 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:25.480 one from Baker Creek only it was engineered with the 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:30.320 jenes from a snap dragonflower in order to achieve purple flesh. 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:33.440 So tomatoes they have about thirty five thousand genes, and 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:37.760 purple tomato has only two extras from a snapdragon, according 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:41.480 to NPR quote. When news of a non GMO purple 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:45.320 flesh tomato variety started circulating on social media last fall, 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:49.640 some scientists and tomato enthusiasts weren't so sure. I had 0:15:49.640 --> 0:15:51.920 discussions with colleagues about it, and all of us just 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:54.640 looked at it and said, well, that's the GMO tomato, 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:58.480 says David Francis, a professor of horticulture and crop science 0:15:58.680 --> 0:16:01.640 at the Ohio State Universe City who specializes in tomato 0:16:01.720 --> 0:16:05.440 breeding and genetics. Traditional plant breeders to date have not 0:16:05.560 --> 0:16:08.760 been able to create a purple flesh tomato with cross pollination. 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:13.240 Purple skin, yes, purple flesh not so much. But using 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:18.040 recombinant DNA technology, scientists in the United Kingdom had developed 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:21.720 a purple flesh tomato high in antioxidants. It was recently 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:25.320 approved for sale and consumption in the United States. So 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:28.160 you can see where it has to be genetically modified 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:31.320 to get there exactly. Baker Creek says, we don't do GMO, 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:35.840 like they're aggressive about the sounds. NHP very much GMO. 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:39.640 So NHP sees the catalog, they get the catalog, they're like, hub, 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:42.480 but wait a second, it looks familiar. 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:44.600 I recognized that flesh they call foul. 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:47.640 So they got some of the seeds, tested them and 0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:50.760 found they were actually GMO. They were genetically modified. 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:52.360 But that's not hard to test, right. 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.480 Baker Creek immediately pulled the seeds from the catalog and 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:58.680 destroyed all the stock. Ooh yeah, And then they released 0:16:58.680 --> 0:17:02.080 the statement on Facebook, because that's where if you're serious, 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:06.080 you put your seeds. Quote. After repeated testing, we are 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:09.359 unable to conclusively establish that the Purple galaxy does not 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:13.879 contain any genes that have been genetically modified. So they said, well, 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:16.800 we got our seeds from this really reputable traditional plant 0:17:16.840 --> 0:17:21.080 breeder and per PR quote a hobby breeder in France, 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:24.439 where growing GMOs is banned. Yeah, they probably blame a 0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:24.880 French guy. 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:26.840 Blame the French to blame the front. 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.320 The problem is that the purple tomato and the technology 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:32.840 used to breed it patented. So NHP was like, look, 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:35.119 just take the seeds off the market, but we do 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:37.080 want to know how did the seeds go from a 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:42.920 UK lab to some guy in France corporate espionage. So 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.960 NHP was like, look, GMOs low risk in you know, 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:53.960 terms of spreading and damaging biodiversity. When it comes to tomatoes, yes, 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.280 I mean they're just like, you know, there's they're just 0:17:56.320 --> 0:17:59.320 trying to explain that, Look, these aren't poisonous tomatoes, gotcha. 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:03.840 And so there were threats of lawsuits, threats of investigations, 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:07.080 and it kind of stalled out. Those are two plant 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:10.040 scandals to get us warmed up today, Like next up, 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:13.480 serious crime. Okay, let's break for some ads and when 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:16.600 we get back we'll experience the smugglers. 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:39.080 Blues Zaren Elizabeth, Welcome. 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:41.680 I'm sorry, I was thinking about Davis and tomatoes right 0:18:41.720 --> 0:18:43.800 back to the summer that was wild on. 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:48.160 Welcome to my garden. The big dog of plant crimes 0:18:48.480 --> 0:18:51.640 is smuggling. And there are a lot of reasons why 0:18:51.680 --> 0:18:52.520 it's illegal. 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:53.200 Smuggling. 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:56.760 Yeah, because like well smuggling plants. So you know, if 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:01.920 you take plants from like really fragile ecosystems, disrupting natural processes, 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:06.040 you you get habitat loss for other species. Uh, you know, 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:09.280 there's like the over collection of rare and endangered plant 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:15.040 species that can push them to extinction, reducing biodiversity. If 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:17.600 you smuggle a plant zarin, there could be pests and 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:24.000 disease in it. Oh yes, yes, harming native plants, animals, whatever. 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.399 Some smuggled plants pose a health risk to animals humans. 0:19:28.440 --> 0:19:30.359 Oh yeah, because if they're the wrong environment, they're like, 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:31.680 we have no natural defenses. 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:34.320 People like this is a beautiful flower and they smell 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:38.639 it and they die because they don't know what it is, 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:46.199 because someone smuggled it somewhere. Anyway. So the plant trade 0:19:46.280 --> 0:19:50.680 is often also linked to organized criminal networks, and that 0:19:51.280 --> 0:19:53.840 is an episode of law and order organized crime. Then 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.440 I want to see, let me give you some example cases, 0:19:57.680 --> 0:20:00.840 and you and I we can pretend that Elliott's Chris 0:20:00.880 --> 0:20:04.440 Maloney detective Juicy Booty is the one investigating all these 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:08.640 all right, So, succulents and cacti very popular these days. 0:20:08.680 --> 0:20:12.320 Seculents and cacti, Yes, I like them personally because they're 0:20:12.359 --> 0:20:13.120 hard to kill. 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:13.840 That is true. 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:15.239 And then you don't have to water them for like 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:17.919 a week, sometimes two weeks. I can go on to vacation, 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:19.520 come back, and like, oh I should have thought about 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:20.320 my plants. 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:22.880 And living in California, we can just leave them outside 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:25.160 all the time where it's like another climate. They got 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:25.760 to bring them in. 0:20:25.960 --> 0:20:28.080 Go back, and what zone are we in? I just 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:29.600 learned that we have zones. 0:20:29.280 --> 0:20:30.400 Of plants can be here. 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:33.520 Oh wow, Okay, I'm going to keep that for parties. 0:20:33.880 --> 0:20:36.280 Don't quote me on that, because you know my brain 0:20:36.400 --> 0:20:43.680 is Anyway. A very popular and highly coveted succulent these 0:20:43.800 --> 0:20:47.840 days is the living rock cactus living cool. It is 0:20:47.920 --> 0:20:49.160 close cousin to peyote. 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:50.480 Oh yeah, does that. 0:20:50.440 --> 0:20:51.320 Have any properties? 0:20:51.480 --> 0:20:51.680 No? 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:54.040 People love them because there are no thorns, and they're 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:57.760 very plush. They're tiny, they're not tall, and the only 0:20:57.800 --> 0:21:00.320 place that it's found is in the Big Bend region 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:01.720 of the Chihuahuan Desert. 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:03.360 Oh dope, hardy plant. 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:05.919 It kind of looks like grogu hands. Nice, that's what 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:08.880 they look like. They aren't endangered, but they are protected 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:11.600 and they're only found in this very small area and 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:13.399 they take decades to mature. 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:15.400 If it's not that, then it's a sparkling succulent. 0:21:15.680 --> 0:21:19.680 Yes, exactly, it's a it's a sparkling rock living rock. 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:23.439 So back in twenty twelve, US Fish and Wildlife they 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:26.800 got a tip there was smuggling going on in Texas 0:21:27.359 --> 0:21:32.560 moving living rock cacti, thousands of them. Yeah, so smugglers 0:21:32.560 --> 0:21:36.840 were offering these rare plants online to customers in Asia Europe. 0:21:36.960 --> 0:21:37.760 Oh yeah, and they. 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:40.880 Would falsify custom slips to say the plants for something else. 0:21:41.400 --> 0:21:44.760 And this, my friend, is a violation of the Lacy 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:48.800 Act of nineteen hundred. Okay, okay, so this is that 0:21:48.920 --> 0:21:51.520 was the first federal law in the United States to 0:21:51.560 --> 0:21:57.400 address wildlife conservation. Yeah right, thank you Lacey and Cagny. 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:03.920 It originally went into effect that so you can't eat 0:22:04.000 --> 0:22:08.080 things that are made from the part of it. They 0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:11.119 go hand in hand. Did you ever told you I 0:22:11.119 --> 0:22:15.680 saw Tyne Daily in person? You have? She's across the 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:16.199 street from me. 0:22:16.240 --> 0:22:17.760 Apparently was really memorable for you. 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:22.800 Really was. That's like my one celebrity sighting. No, I 0:22:22.840 --> 0:22:26.879 didn't even get to Tyne Daily. There she is across Okay. 0:22:27.320 --> 0:22:31.560 So the LASIAC goes into effect to stop illegal commercial 0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:35.400 hunting and interstate shipment of wildlife, and it currently prohibits 0:22:35.400 --> 0:22:40.359 trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, possessed, transported, 0:22:40.400 --> 0:22:43.920 or sold. So what's crazy about this is that it 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:47.200 applies to both US and foreign laws. So if a 0:22:47.320 --> 0:22:50.600 plant or animal is taken illegally under another country's law 0:22:50.640 --> 0:22:54.840 and imported to the US, it's still illegal under the late. Yeah, 0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:58.280 and it requires the declaration of plant and timber species 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:02.280 and country of origin when inward certain products. So Fish 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:04.879 and Wildlife they take this seriously as well. They should. 0:23:05.000 --> 0:23:06.560 Yeah, it sounds like it's like one of their major 0:23:06.600 --> 0:23:07.120 things to do. 0:23:07.440 --> 0:23:10.920 The director of their Southwest region amy looters, she said 0:23:10.960 --> 0:23:15.160 in a statement. Quote. Those who came before US knew 0:23:15.200 --> 0:23:18.920 the importance of protecting wildlife from unlawful trade. And this 0:23:19.040 --> 0:23:22.879 law continues to stay relevant each time a poacher or 0:23:23.200 --> 0:23:26.800 wild plants smuggler is charged. So booms erin, Yeah, this 0:23:26.880 --> 0:23:29.199 is the laws to kill the law. So Fish and 0:23:29.200 --> 0:23:32.520 Wildlife they got search warrants for six different houses, all 0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:35.239 in West Texas. We don't know how many plants were 0:23:35.240 --> 0:23:38.840 smuggled in total, but authorities seized around four thousand in 0:23:38.880 --> 0:23:39.359 the raids. 0:23:40.040 --> 0:23:40.159 YEA. 0:23:40.640 --> 0:23:42.840 One of the plants that they seized was like thirty 0:23:42.920 --> 0:23:43.640 years old. 0:23:43.480 --> 0:23:46.080 And they're taking them one and at a time in it, right. 0:23:46.200 --> 0:23:48.040 No, they're going out in the desert and scooping them 0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:49.320 up and throwing them into a bag. 0:23:49.400 --> 0:23:50.720 Yeah, but they have to pick each one. They're not 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:52.280 like just taking up like a big section of earth. 0:23:52.320 --> 0:23:54.560 Oh yeah, no, one by what. Some of the plants 0:23:54.560 --> 0:23:56.639 were just like stored in plastic bags, so they had 0:23:56.680 --> 0:23:58.960 started to rot. Oh gosh, this was not cool, dude, 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:02.840 Come on, Don would never do that. Oh, Don would faint. 0:24:03.680 --> 0:24:07.720 The surviving seas cacti they were turned over to soul 0:24:07.800 --> 0:24:12.200 Ross State University. They have preserved a large number on campus, 0:24:12.240 --> 0:24:15.960 but they also found like permanent homes home. They couldn't 0:24:16.080 --> 0:24:18.400 really return most of them to the wild because they 0:24:18.400 --> 0:24:20.520 didn't know what subpopulation they were from. 0:24:20.680 --> 0:24:21.480 Anyone interrupt. 0:24:23.040 --> 0:24:24.919 I mean it's like if you get taken from like 0:24:25.480 --> 0:24:28.800 East Oakland and then planted back in West Oakland. 0:24:28.880 --> 0:24:30.280 That ain't right. No, you don't know. 0:24:31.920 --> 0:24:34.960 You can't just go stick them anywhere. So the big 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:38.120 dog in the ring that was Harry George Bach the second. 0:24:38.080 --> 0:24:40.720 Not Harry George Box. Second, Harry Box. 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:44.959 He shipped forty one living rock cactuses that were seized 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:47.320 in an international mail facility in Chicago. 0:24:47.480 --> 0:24:50.240 It was like a doctor se Harry box Rock. 0:24:51.800 --> 0:24:55.439 Yeah, Bock was shipping rock twenty eighteen in Chicago. In 0:24:55.480 --> 0:24:59.680 twenty twenty, he pleaded guilty before a magistrate in Pecos, Texas, 0:25:00.200 --> 0:25:02.960 to one count of mislabeling exports in the scheme to 0:25:03.000 --> 0:25:06.480 ship cactuses overseas. As part of a plea agreement. He 0:25:06.520 --> 0:25:10.280 faced three years probation, seventy two hundred dollars in restitution, 0:25:10.800 --> 0:25:14.520 and he had to forfeit the forty one living rock cactuses, 0:25:14.560 --> 0:25:14.920 but no. 0:25:14.920 --> 0:25:17.280 Time behind bars. So they threw the plant catalog out. 0:25:17.359 --> 0:25:20.240 They busted another dude he got he got like three 0:25:20.280 --> 0:25:24.080 years probation, had to pay more than ten grand in restitution. 0:25:25.080 --> 0:25:27.640 There's a seventy two year old fell out a study 0:25:27.640 --> 0:25:31.199 Butte Texas. Yeah, he got misdemeanor charges going back to 0:25:31.200 --> 0:25:34.800 twenty sixteen probation. So that all these guys they get probation. 0:25:35.320 --> 0:25:39.360 One dude he got felony, three years probation and sixty 0:25:39.359 --> 0:25:40.240 grand in restitution. 0:25:40.280 --> 0:25:41.200 Should you imagine. 0:25:40.920 --> 0:25:44.080 Losing your voting rights because you were like running hot plants? 0:25:44.280 --> 0:25:47.679 Oh that how you go in like you go inside. No, 0:25:47.920 --> 0:25:49.720 they're lucky. They didn't go behind bars. What are you 0:25:49.760 --> 0:25:53.520 in caractice smuggling? It looked like grogu hand. 0:25:53.400 --> 0:25:55.480 Did you say plump smuggling? No, cactus smuggling. 0:25:55.720 --> 0:25:58.760 Guy, he had, he got He was busted on the charges, 0:25:58.800 --> 0:26:01.560 but he also had to forfeit his firearms. 0:26:01.600 --> 0:26:03.000 They seized his colonies. 0:26:03.080 --> 0:26:05.239 Yeah, yes, they're like, I know you're a You're a 0:26:05.240 --> 0:26:08.960 plant smugg and a gun owner. Can't have the guns now, sir. 0:26:10.240 --> 0:26:13.159 Here are some wise words from US Attorney John Bash 0:26:13.280 --> 0:26:17.520 on the matter. Quote, when you miss with protected Texas cacta, 0:26:17.720 --> 0:26:20.639 you're missing with Texas Pako's building. 0:26:20.920 --> 0:26:21.680 No other way. 0:26:21.960 --> 0:26:24.439 So these bad own rays, though, right, they have nothing 0:26:24.600 --> 0:26:28.960 on the world's most notorious succulent thief, South Korean national 0:26:29.440 --> 0:26:30.400 jongsu Kim. 0:26:30.800 --> 0:26:32.360 Wait a minute, this sounds familiar. 0:26:32.760 --> 0:26:36.080 Let's talk dude. Leah, okay, hey, let's talk about it. 0:26:36.320 --> 0:26:40.639 Commonly known as live forevers, okay, I think so. These 0:26:40.720 --> 0:26:44.600 are a type of rosette forming succulent plants that are 0:26:44.640 --> 0:26:48.520 in the stone crop family super Desirable. They're native to 0:26:48.720 --> 0:26:53.680 California and northern Baja California forty seven species, twenty one subspecies. 0:26:54.040 --> 0:26:58.840 As a very popular, very trendy, very like Pinterest, insta esthetic. 0:26:58.480 --> 0:27:00.880 Grin, I got you like an airplane, Like people want 0:27:00.920 --> 0:27:02.160 these things because they're the thing. 0:27:02.359 --> 0:27:04.600 Yes, And it's dawning on me that I think you 0:27:04.720 --> 0:27:07.240 probably heard about it from another place that I heard 0:27:07.280 --> 0:27:10.760 about it. Yes, we have a mutual friend. Yes, Kip, 0:27:10.920 --> 0:27:14.480 yesse in the California Native Plant Society, and he will 0:27:14.520 --> 0:27:16.520 go on a diatribe about it. Oh, totally. 0:27:16.560 --> 0:27:18.400 I think he helped some of the detective. 0:27:18.240 --> 0:27:21.320 I think he went under cover as a rock. 0:27:22.600 --> 0:27:25.919 They cling to the coastline right to get the area. 0:27:26.040 --> 0:27:28.160 Yeah, and like if you get Kip started. 0:27:27.840 --> 0:27:29.480 About this, oh, he turned red. 0:27:29.600 --> 0:27:31.960 Yeah, he's just like this is really upsetting. 0:27:32.000 --> 0:27:34.560 You think he was talking about like like orphans, you know, 0:27:34.640 --> 0:27:35.800 like children in. 0:27:35.720 --> 0:27:37.120 My word, talking about Dudleia. 0:27:37.280 --> 0:27:37.520 Yeah. 0:27:38.680 --> 0:27:41.960 Yes, they're a California game warden. He told the USC 0:27:42.080 --> 0:27:45.560 Paper quote, it's like having a Fendi bag on rodeo 0:27:45.680 --> 0:27:51.000 drive Dulia Farinosa from the wild bluffs of Mendocino, California. 0:27:51.119 --> 0:27:54.280 Especially a five headed one is apparently a super cool 0:27:54.320 --> 0:27:57.600 thing to have. And I was like, I didn't get 0:27:57.640 --> 0:27:59.280 the game warden's name, but I wanted to know if 0:27:59.280 --> 0:28:02.960 it was Kip. So many of the plants traffic to 0:28:03.000 --> 0:28:06.840 South Korea probably ended up being resold elsewhere. 0:28:06.359 --> 0:28:08.639 And they sold for a lot. Right, they're really desirable 0:28:08.680 --> 0:28:10.800 and because they grow and they look really beautiful when 0:28:10.800 --> 0:28:11.240 they sit there. 0:28:11.320 --> 0:28:14.280 But right, and so you know these things start getting 0:28:14.280 --> 0:28:17.840 popular California Fish and Wildlife, they're like, oh I noticed that. 0:28:18.119 --> 0:28:20.760 As they're going through their Pinterest, they're like, that's that's 0:28:20.760 --> 0:28:23.440 not a houseplant. But so the truth is that the 0:28:23.560 --> 0:28:25.800 hipsters in South Korea, they weren't the ones buying up 0:28:25.840 --> 0:28:28.600 the plants because like, these plants don't do well in 0:28:28.680 --> 0:28:33.760 domestic captivity for the average. So the one that was 0:28:33.840 --> 0:28:39.440 both sought after that Pharaonsa. It's, according to The Guardian, 0:28:39.520 --> 0:28:44.320 is quote particularly charismatic to humans. Experts say they boast 0:28:44.320 --> 0:28:47.840 the precise mix of qualities that Americans demand from crime victims. 0:28:48.040 --> 0:28:52.120 They are pretty and small, very fragile and yet curiously resilient. 0:28:52.280 --> 0:28:53.360 That's what we demand from crime. 0:28:53.800 --> 0:28:55.080 I guess I know. 0:28:55.080 --> 0:29:01.360 That about that. Yeah, like make them pretty and small. Anyway, 0:29:01.400 --> 0:29:03.280 so that's not going to make you a lot of 0:29:03.320 --> 0:29:05.840 money with mass consumers. Something that's you know, not going 0:29:05.920 --> 0:29:09.840 to live very long. So once well, no, because they 0:29:10.280 --> 0:29:12.880 smuggle them to South Korea because there are these high 0:29:13.000 --> 0:29:16.560 end greenhouses there and the wild Dudley. It could then 0:29:16.600 --> 0:29:19.880 be babied there for a few years in perfect conditions, 0:29:20.320 --> 0:29:23.000 and then they're big and beautiful. They're not small and 0:29:23.960 --> 0:29:26.640 gragule anymore. They're big and beautiful. These are big mamas, 0:29:26.920 --> 0:29:29.640 and they get sold at these astronomical prices to like 0:29:29.720 --> 0:29:30.760 elite collectors. 0:29:30.800 --> 0:29:32.280 When he told me, I couldn't believe. 0:29:32.360 --> 0:29:36.800 Yeah, So how does mister Kim factor intoll? Well, first 0:29:36.800 --> 0:29:38.280 of all, I need to let you know that his 0:29:38.400 --> 0:29:42.680 alias was Neo, like like in the Matrix. I love 0:29:42.720 --> 0:29:46.640 that movie. But being called Neo while stealing plants is 0:29:46.680 --> 0:29:55.800 like big loser. No, I'm not going to He's like 0:29:55.880 --> 0:29:58.280 spinning around in a trench stopped. 0:29:58.920 --> 0:30:01.840 Stop, bend over, bullet time, stop it throw the plant 0:30:01.880 --> 0:30:02.120 at me. 0:30:02.240 --> 0:30:07.520 Watch this, mister Kim call me Neo. No. Neo flew 0:30:07.520 --> 0:30:12.080 from Mexico into Los Angeles International Airport in October twenty eighteen, 0:30:12.240 --> 0:30:15.480 and with them were his two assistants, Young and Back 0:30:15.560 --> 0:30:19.360 and Bong Junkin. And they thought they were like slipping in, 0:30:19.520 --> 0:30:22.000 but California fish and wildlife were all over them the 0:30:22.160 --> 0:30:26.120 moment they set foot watch well. Yeah, so game wardens 0:30:26.160 --> 0:30:28.960 tailed the trio. They watched as they went and rented 0:30:28.960 --> 0:30:32.040 a minivan, and then they filled up the van with 0:30:32.120 --> 0:30:35.200 like empty backpacks and plastic bins and boxes. They got 0:30:35.200 --> 0:30:36.520 all their supplies. 0:30:36.120 --> 0:30:38.160 Picturing the game wardens in like a rental car, but 0:30:38.160 --> 0:30:39.640 they've got like dirty boots. 0:30:39.400 --> 0:30:42.840 In there, like like a tan jeep totally but with 0:30:42.920 --> 0:30:46.400 like false nose and glasses on it. So then they 0:30:46.600 --> 0:30:48.960 trailed the minivan up as they drive up the coast. 0:30:49.000 --> 0:30:52.000 And for a week, the wardens watched and followed as 0:30:52.040 --> 0:30:54.680 the guys stopped at state parks all along the northern 0:30:54.720 --> 0:30:57.960 California and in each stop they like scramble up to 0:30:58.000 --> 0:31:01.760 the rocky shore. Sometimes cliffs snatch up the plants and 0:31:01.960 --> 0:31:04.120 like you know how the coast is up there in Mendocine, 0:31:04.200 --> 0:31:05.080 Like you said. 0:31:04.840 --> 0:31:05.960 It's just like sheer. 0:31:06.280 --> 0:31:06.960 They got lucky. 0:31:07.080 --> 0:31:12.640 It's not sandy flat cliffs craggy and it is dramatic. 0:31:12.760 --> 0:31:13.520 Yeah you're hanging. 0:31:13.640 --> 0:31:17.840 Yeah. So the three dudes they filled the van chok full, 0:31:17.880 --> 0:31:20.400 took the loop van filled the van, took it back 0:31:20.440 --> 0:31:25.040 down south to a business called Secret Garden Nursery in Vista, California, 0:31:25.200 --> 0:31:27.640 it's kind of halfway between like La and San Diego, 0:31:27.920 --> 0:31:30.720 so inland from ocean side. And I say that to 0:31:31.280 --> 0:31:33.600 those who know the state, and I apologize to the 0:31:33.640 --> 0:31:37.400 rest when who this means absolutely nothing? And yeah, but 0:31:37.480 --> 0:31:40.840 like the inland from ocean side. No, yeah, anyway, so Vista, 0:31:40.880 --> 0:31:44.480 California's secret garden nursery. So they drop off the stolen plants, 0:31:44.560 --> 0:31:46.560 they get back in the minivan and then they go 0:31:46.640 --> 0:31:52.440 up to Mendocino again. They're like Tomndo, another load. And 0:31:52.480 --> 0:31:54.880 so you know who was with them, game wardens with 0:31:54.920 --> 0:31:55.959 the state watching. 0:31:56.760 --> 0:31:57.440 They're in the car. 0:31:58.080 --> 0:32:02.120 They're like cleaning to the underside. So they waited and 0:32:02.160 --> 0:32:04.560 they watched as Neo hooked up documents to have the 0:32:04.560 --> 0:32:08.280 secret garden nursery legally export two hundred and fifty nine 0:32:08.360 --> 0:32:11.920 pounds of julio and the manifest said all the plants 0:32:11.960 --> 0:32:15.560 had originated in San Diego. And then the wardens watched 0:32:15.600 --> 0:32:18.320 while Neo and the crew took scores of boxes of 0:32:18.360 --> 0:32:22.920 plants to an export facility in Compton, and then they struck. 0:32:23.320 --> 0:32:25.720 Finally, Neo and the boys. 0:32:25.360 --> 0:32:28.800 Were driving off when they were intercepted by the plant police. Oh, 0:32:28.800 --> 0:32:30.600 they did like a pit move on it totally. And 0:32:30.640 --> 0:32:33.120 it turns out the boxes held more than six hundred 0:32:33.120 --> 0:32:37.400 pounds of succulents, three seven hundred and fifteen individual plants. 0:32:37.440 --> 0:32:40.680 These are not heavy plants. That's a lot, all of them. 0:32:40.800 --> 0:32:43.320 It's like maybe the size of your fists. Yeah, all 0:32:43.400 --> 0:32:47.239 of them. More than double what the documentation closed. So, 0:32:47.400 --> 0:32:52.400 folks from the California Native Plant Society like people stoked 0:32:52.760 --> 0:32:55.200 and so Neo and his little goons, they were charged 0:32:55.240 --> 0:32:59.000 with conspiracy and violating a California law against destruction or 0:32:59.080 --> 0:33:02.680 removal of plant material on public land. And the wardens 0:33:02.800 --> 0:33:05.520 estimated that the total for all of this that they 0:33:05.520 --> 0:33:10.960 stole on the South Korean market was six hundred thousand dollars. WHOA, yeah, 0:33:11.280 --> 0:33:15.520 So those were state charges. The Feds, specifically the US 0:33:15.560 --> 0:33:19.000 Attorney's Environmental Crimes Unit, they wanted in on it too. 0:33:19.440 --> 0:33:22.760 They wanted to make an example of these dudes. Whether 0:33:22.840 --> 0:33:25.880 that department exists in the US Attorney's office today, who's 0:33:25.880 --> 0:33:28.920 to say either way. Neo and the boys they caught 0:33:28.960 --> 0:33:32.000 federal charges too. It's like they say, you know, as 0:33:32.040 --> 0:33:35.800 California goes, so goes the nation. So May of twenty nineteen, 0:33:36.200 --> 0:33:39.080 Kim Neo found out that the Feds were going to 0:33:39.080 --> 0:33:41.000 bring the hammer down, so he ran. 0:33:41.520 --> 0:33:41.760 Fact. 0:33:42.320 --> 0:33:44.840 Yeah, well no, they had confiscated his passport when he 0:33:44.880 --> 0:33:47.920 got busted, Well, he got busted on the California state charges. 0:33:48.000 --> 0:33:50.120 He gets around it by going to the South Korean 0:33:50.160 --> 0:33:53.920 Embassy in La and he's like, guys, I lost my passport, 0:33:53.960 --> 0:33:55.400 which I mean, technically is not wrong. 0:33:56.160 --> 0:33:57.840 So they issued him. 0:33:57.720 --> 0:34:00.120 A new one and then he went down Mexico Way. 0:33:59.920 --> 0:34:03.880 He crossed over to TJ's on Foot Tijuana and from 0:34:03.880 --> 0:34:06.320 there he flew to China and from there South Korea. 0:34:07.120 --> 0:34:10.320 So he's in the wind until he wasn't. After only 0:34:10.440 --> 0:34:11.919 five months, he popped up again. 0:34:12.320 --> 0:34:13.720 He couldn't stay away the first time. 0:34:13.600 --> 0:34:16.839 In South Africa. What And it was there that South 0:34:16.880 --> 0:34:20.719 African investigators busted him as he was illegally harvesting more 0:34:20.760 --> 0:34:24.840 than two thousand rare succulents. South African climate is very similar. 0:34:24.920 --> 0:34:26.759 Yeah, I just what I say. Yeah, imagine that they 0:34:26.760 --> 0:34:28.319 would have like he's like, okay, I'll go to my 0:34:28.360 --> 0:34:30.280 secondary spot the harvesting. 0:34:30.560 --> 0:34:32.759 One of the ones that he poached was more than 0:34:32.800 --> 0:34:35.880 two hundred and fifty years old, were and like dozens 0:34:35.880 --> 0:34:38.200 of them are more than one hundred years old, like tortoises. 0:34:38.280 --> 0:34:40.640 Uh huh. So the prosecutor on the case gets a 0:34:40.640 --> 0:34:44.880 phone call ring Ring Hello, michel A, I guess what. 0:34:45.040 --> 0:34:47.319 I'm an American Fish and Wildlife officer. I work at 0:34:47.360 --> 0:34:49.880 the embassy as an attache. It's a cool job, and 0:34:49.920 --> 0:34:53.560 I have crazy news. Your plant smuggler is wanted back 0:34:53.600 --> 0:34:55.799 in the US of A. So the South Africans they 0:34:55.800 --> 0:34:59.080 were already like heated up about Neo and according to 0:34:59.120 --> 0:35:02.560 the Guardian, they quote highlighted the severity and brutality of 0:35:02.640 --> 0:35:06.560 Kim's crime against nature and how stealing quote large ancient 0:35:06.640 --> 0:35:10.080 mother plants puts the entire species at risk, especially during 0:35:10.160 --> 0:35:13.440 times of serious drought. The collection of these plants is 0:35:13.480 --> 0:35:17.960 an ecological tragedy, they wrote. They were They're totally right. 0:35:18.360 --> 0:35:21.680 So Kim pleads guilty to the South African charges, pays 0:35:21.719 --> 0:35:25.720 a large fine, does a year in prison there, then 0:35:25.760 --> 0:35:31.080 gets extradited to the US. US prosecutors they asked for 0:35:31.160 --> 0:35:33.040 three years in prison. They're like, we want to make 0:35:33.080 --> 0:35:37.640 an example of him. Neo's attorney it was like, slow down, Joe. 0:35:38.120 --> 0:35:41.520 His client had been through the ringer. So yeah, he 0:35:41.560 --> 0:35:46.560 got COVID in prison, he got the stuff and beaten 0:35:46.600 --> 0:35:48.919 out of him. It was so bad that his jaw 0:35:49.000 --> 0:35:50.919 had to be wired shut, which is how he showed 0:35:51.000 --> 0:35:54.000 up in court and the attorney was like, you know, 0:35:54.120 --> 0:35:55.840 this is what happens when you were locked up and 0:35:55.840 --> 0:35:58.200 you don't speak the language. I think it's because he 0:35:58.239 --> 0:36:00.480 went in there and was like, call me neo. They're 0:36:00.560 --> 0:36:05.560 just like yeah, either way. He gets sentenced to two years. 0:36:05.920 --> 0:36:09.320 Bureau of Prisons gave him credit for South African time served, 0:36:09.400 --> 0:36:12.000 and then he gets shipped off again, just like the 0:36:12.000 --> 0:36:14.480 plants he stole, this time to the tippy top of 0:36:14.560 --> 0:36:17.680 California in none other than your favorite place, the Lamb. 0:36:17.719 --> 0:36:19.320 That time forgot Crescent City. 0:36:19.480 --> 0:36:20.040 Oh god. 0:36:22.600 --> 0:36:25.000 He had to face the music on the plant theft 0:36:25.080 --> 0:36:28.600 and fleeing prosecution charges from the state. So twenty twenty 0:36:28.600 --> 0:36:31.480 two he pleads guilty, sentenced to twenty four months. He 0:36:31.560 --> 0:36:34.319 only had to pay like four grand in restitution to 0:36:34.320 --> 0:36:38.440 the state of California for expenses related to replanting the 0:36:38.480 --> 0:36:42.560 stolen plants after his arrest. So let's take a break. 0:36:42.800 --> 0:36:44.839 I gotta go water my plants. When we come back. 0:36:45.120 --> 0:37:08.360 More smuggling, yeah, Zaren Elizabeth Daren. 0:37:08.520 --> 0:37:09.840 Do you remember what. 0:37:09.760 --> 0:37:12.080 I was saying during the break. I've been like translating 0:37:12.080 --> 0:37:13.400 what you were telling me because I think this is 0:37:13.440 --> 0:37:14.680 a new world to me. So I'm like, let me 0:37:14.680 --> 0:37:17.040 put this in smoking the bandit terms, and so I've 0:37:17.080 --> 0:37:19.200 been using that as like a way to understand. I'm like, 0:37:19.239 --> 0:37:21.719 you can't take cours east of the Mississippi. That's bootlegs. 0:37:21.800 --> 0:37:22.279 There it is. 0:37:22.440 --> 0:37:23.880 I'm like, now I guess it's clicking. 0:37:23.920 --> 0:37:25.960 Yeah, Okay, Well, do you remember when I was like 0:37:26.400 --> 0:37:30.759 telling you about the Lacey Act time? It was a 0:37:30.800 --> 0:37:34.759 good time. We were so young, so fresh, different times. Well, 0:37:35.280 --> 0:37:37.600 I have what is supposed to be a perfect example 0:37:37.680 --> 0:37:40.920 of a Lacy Act violation and battle with the government. Please, 0:37:41.120 --> 0:37:43.520 and it involves Gibbson guitars. 0:37:44.560 --> 0:37:45.399 Do they grow those? 0:37:45.600 --> 0:37:48.279 Yeah? So they're famous for the Les Paul the SG 0:37:48.960 --> 0:37:53.560 Gibson Guitar Corporation. They mainly make guitars and basses, Mandolins. Yeah, 0:37:53.880 --> 0:37:59.760 Orville Gibson. He started making instrum Gibson eighteen four wow, 0:38:00.000 --> 0:38:02.200 And the company was founded in nineteen oh two. As 0:38:02.280 --> 0:38:09.000 like Gibson Mandolin guitar, Kalamazoom Michigan and as you can 0:38:09.000 --> 0:38:11.520 tell by the name. They were very mandolin forward in 0:38:11.520 --> 0:38:15.239 the early days. So the company they invented arch top 0:38:15.320 --> 0:38:18.400 guitars that had the same principle behind violins, like how 0:38:18.440 --> 0:38:21.839 they're kind of that arch face of it. Then they 0:38:21.840 --> 0:38:25.120 started making flat top acoustic guitars, and then the first 0:38:25.120 --> 0:38:31.200 commercially available hollow body electric guitars all Jangle Jangled soneteen forty. 0:38:32.680 --> 0:38:37.320 It's true they do chief dobras. In the nineteen forty 0:38:37.320 --> 0:38:41.799 four Gibson got bought by Chicago Musical Instruments, and then 0:38:41.840 --> 0:38:45.400 they got bought nineteen sixty nine by Ecuadorian Company Limited, 0:38:46.520 --> 0:38:51.080 which was actually a Cannanian firm. Eighty six nineteen eighty six, 0:38:51.160 --> 0:38:53.239 the company got scooped up by a group led by 0:38:53.640 --> 0:38:57.960 Henry Yuskovic and David Barman, and then in November of 0:38:58.000 --> 0:39:00.759 twenty eighteen, private equity stepped in and it was bought 0:39:00.800 --> 0:39:02.400 by Colberg, Kravitz Roberts. 0:39:02.480 --> 0:39:06.560 Sorry, Gibson, it really is. 0:39:06.880 --> 0:39:09.719 Throughout its history, Gibson has been involved in a lot 0:39:09.719 --> 0:39:13.600 of lawsuits, almost all of which stem from copyright stuff 0:39:13.640 --> 0:39:18.640 for design, because people rip off the less Paul design the. 0:39:18.840 --> 0:39:21.120 Way, Yeah, because you see the knockoffs. I had friends 0:39:21.120 --> 0:39:25.160 when we were They. 0:39:23.680 --> 0:39:25.960 Have their own down market version of the epiphone. 0:39:26.000 --> 0:39:26.759 Yeah, yeah, but. 0:39:29.600 --> 0:39:32.239 Tons of them. But there's another legal issue, and this 0:39:32.280 --> 0:39:34.919 one popped up during the Uskowitz. 0:39:34.840 --> 0:39:36.920 Barrim in years towards the end. 0:39:37.080 --> 0:39:40.000 Yeah, in two thousand and nine, US Fish and Wildlife 0:39:40.040 --> 0:39:45.120 Services are heroes today. They raided a Gibson factory where 0:39:45.160 --> 0:39:49.360 they grow It seems they were using ebony wood illegally 0:39:49.400 --> 0:39:53.840 imported from Madagascar. Oh, this is a big problem. Madagascar 0:39:53.920 --> 0:39:58.440 suffers terrible poverty, corrupt government, and the world suffers from 0:39:58.440 --> 0:40:01.200 a terrible desire for beautiful at a low cost. And 0:40:01.239 --> 0:40:02.520 they've got a lot of them, and they got a 0:40:02.520 --> 0:40:05.919 lot of and one of them is fine green lumber. Yeah, 0:40:05.960 --> 0:40:09.960 so stuff like rosewood, ebony, stuff that makes Gibson guitars 0:40:10.000 --> 0:40:14.279 so gorgeous. So in its investigation, the US Department of 0:40:14.400 --> 0:40:17.360 Justice found some smoking guns. They got their hands on 0:40:17.480 --> 0:40:20.640 emails in which Gibson employees talked about how ebeny wood 0:40:20.719 --> 0:40:23.359 was part of a quote gray market and that they 0:40:23.360 --> 0:40:25.520 could get it from a German wood dealer and just 0:40:25.560 --> 0:40:28.520 not ask questions about where he got it, and even 0:40:28.520 --> 0:40:32.120 though they knew that it was coming from a supplier truck. Yeah, 0:40:32.160 --> 0:40:34.359 so they made plans to buy the wood even though 0:40:34.360 --> 0:40:36.040 they knew the sale wasn't on the up and up 0:40:36.560 --> 0:40:39.920 violation of the Laciact. In June of twenty eleven, the 0:40:39.960 --> 0:40:43.359 DOJ filed a civil proceeding and it was the first 0:40:43.440 --> 0:40:46.400 of its kind under the recently amended Lacy Act. So 0:40:46.840 --> 0:40:49.719 importing companies had to follow the environmental laws in the 0:40:49.719 --> 0:40:52.480 country of origin, even if the place was corrupt and 0:40:52.520 --> 0:40:54.160 no one was enforcing those laws. 0:40:54.239 --> 0:40:57.520 Okay, so that me and mar Yeah ma a gascar. 0:40:57.719 --> 0:41:01.640 So Gibson fought the suit. They said that the government 0:41:01.680 --> 0:41:05.720 was quote bullying Gibson without filing charges. Then the owners 0:41:05.760 --> 0:41:08.680 of Gibson made the whole thing political by getting the 0:41:08.760 --> 0:41:12.200 Tea party segment of the GOP the Republicans, to side 0:41:12.200 --> 0:41:14.680 against the government on this, saying that it was going 0:41:14.760 --> 0:41:15.760 to impact jobs. 0:41:16.320 --> 0:41:16.560 What. 0:41:16.960 --> 0:41:21.320 Yeah, So then there was another Gibson factory. Rate zaren 0:41:21.880 --> 0:41:31.080 close your eyes. I want you to picture it. You 0:41:31.440 --> 0:41:35.399 are a nineteen year old guy named Colby. You are 0:41:35.560 --> 0:41:39.080 forklift certified, and you work at the Gibson Electric Division 0:41:39.160 --> 0:41:43.000 rough Mill facility in Nashville, Tennessee. When you tell people 0:41:43.040 --> 0:41:45.879 where you work, they think it's the coolest job ever, 0:41:46.320 --> 0:41:48.520 and it sort of is. But you aren't surrounded by 0:41:48.560 --> 0:41:51.759 cool guitars all day. You move palettes of wood to 0:41:52.200 --> 0:41:55.440 and from the kilns. You don't ever really see guitars, 0:41:55.480 --> 0:41:58.400 and certainly no rock stars or anything. You got this 0:41:58.520 --> 0:42:01.879 job through your cousin who works repair and restoration next door. 0:42:02.239 --> 0:42:05.400 Now she gets to see a cool stuff. She processes 0:42:05.440 --> 0:42:07.759 all the guitars that come in and sometimes meets some 0:42:07.880 --> 0:42:11.239 musicians come to check the place out. But you you're 0:42:11.280 --> 0:42:14.759 in the mill. It's a warm late summer day. More 0:42:14.800 --> 0:42:18.040 than warm, it's sweltering. This is when it's pretty bogus 0:42:18.120 --> 0:42:20.840 working in the rough mill. You are at the wheel 0:42:20.880 --> 0:42:23.560 of a forklift, backing out of the storage area of 0:42:23.600 --> 0:42:26.759 the warehouse with a palletful of raw rosewood, headed for 0:42:26.800 --> 0:42:29.880 the kiln to be dried. After that it'll be plain 0:42:30.200 --> 0:42:33.120 and then headed to the manufacturing building. And that's where 0:42:33.120 --> 0:42:36.960 the magic happens. Baby, You've spent the morning moving bundles 0:42:36.960 --> 0:42:40.640 of Indian ebony wood. The manifest ticket on these reads 0:42:41.000 --> 0:42:44.520 Indian ebony fingerboards, but there's another slip of paper that 0:42:44.520 --> 0:42:47.560 says they're veneers for the body of guitars. You know 0:42:47.640 --> 0:42:50.399 that's not true, but whatever must be a paperwork mix up. 0:42:51.160 --> 0:42:54.560 Just as you're moving your load of new rosewood toward 0:42:54.640 --> 0:42:57.600 the kiln, the warehouse doors open to get some sort 0:42:57.640 --> 0:43:00.640 of air circulation, are crowded with guys in mid breakers. 0:43:01.000 --> 0:43:03.799 They look like FBI guys, but their jackets read us 0:43:03.880 --> 0:43:07.239 Fish and Wildlife. You've heard something about this before. But 0:43:07.360 --> 0:43:09.279 the building was rated a few years ago and the 0:43:09.280 --> 0:43:12.440 FEDS were looking for wood from Madagascar. But this stuff's 0:43:12.440 --> 0:43:14.440 from India. You don't know what the big deal is. 0:43:15.040 --> 0:43:17.759 Over the crackle of their walkie talkies, an agent yells 0:43:17.760 --> 0:43:20.080 at you to turn off the forklift and step aside. 0:43:20.280 --> 0:43:22.600 You do as you're told. There's a slam of an 0:43:22.640 --> 0:43:27.640 office door. You know what that means. It's Eugene. Eugene Nix. 0:43:28.040 --> 0:43:30.120 He's in charge of all the wood that comes in. 0:43:30.239 --> 0:43:32.560 He inspects it and then okays it for the killed. 0:43:32.840 --> 0:43:34.799 Then he sends it for milling and then off to 0:43:34.840 --> 0:43:38.920 the factory. He's pissed. He marches up to the agents, 0:43:38.960 --> 0:43:42.760 a tiny radio playing classic rock in the background. Yeah, brother, 0:43:42.920 --> 0:43:46.399 you tell him you think Eugene grabs some papers from 0:43:46.400 --> 0:43:48.840 the hand of the agent out front. It's a warrant. 0:43:48.880 --> 0:43:52.680 The agent tells him, I can see that. Eugene says, listen. 0:43:52.719 --> 0:43:55.520 The agent says, I know you're a craftsman, an expert, 0:43:55.840 --> 0:43:58.800 but we have to do our jobs here. Eugene scans 0:43:58.840 --> 0:44:01.200 the papers as agents fan out and shut the rest 0:44:01.200 --> 0:44:04.840 of the operation down. Your coworkers slowly emerge and gather 0:44:04.960 --> 0:44:09.640 around watching the standoff. Eugene size folds up the warrant paperwork, 0:44:09.680 --> 0:44:12.160 tucks it into the front pocket of his thin, worn, 0:44:12.280 --> 0:44:15.160 short sleeve button down shirt, and then whips his cell 0:44:15.200 --> 0:44:18.440 phone from his belt holster. He pushes some buttons and weights. 0:44:18.920 --> 0:44:21.640 After a moment, he barks, feds are here. It's the 0:44:21.640 --> 0:44:25.080 Indian Wood. Yeah, call the lawyers into the phone and 0:44:25.160 --> 0:44:28.279 hangs up. You and your coworkers look at each other, 0:44:28.640 --> 0:44:30.840 then at Eugene. He looks at all of you and 0:44:30.840 --> 0:44:32.360 tells you it looks like you have the rest of 0:44:32.400 --> 0:44:34.480 the day off. You'll get paid out for the hours, 0:44:34.760 --> 0:44:37.560 head on home and he'll see you tomorrow. And this 0:44:37.800 --> 0:44:40.800 Zarin was the raid that ground everything to a halt. 0:44:41.560 --> 0:44:44.920 So they hit a bunch of locations, including headquarters where 0:44:44.960 --> 0:44:48.200 they seize computers, oh and fish and wildlife found that 0:44:48.239 --> 0:44:51.480 Gibson had been importing lumber from India, which is fine, sure, 0:44:51.600 --> 0:44:54.359 but what they were importing wasn't legal because here's the thing. 0:44:54.880 --> 0:44:59.960 The International Tariff Code, also known as the Harmonized Schedule 0:45:00.120 --> 0:45:03.400 GRISS items shipped all over the globe and it's standardized 0:45:03.440 --> 0:45:07.480 across nations in order to smooth out trade, true globalization. 0:45:08.080 --> 0:45:12.439 So India forbids export of items categorized under the Code 0:45:12.640 --> 0:45:17.520 forty four oh seven quote wood sawn or chipped, lengthwise, 0:45:17.760 --> 0:45:21.759 sliced or peeled, whether or not planed, sanded or enjointed, 0:45:22.280 --> 0:45:27.080 of a thickness exceeding six millimeters. So basically, you can't 0:45:27.120 --> 0:45:30.279 export lumber from India unless it's already been worked on 0:45:30.360 --> 0:45:31.480 by Indian workers. 0:45:31.920 --> 0:45:33.000 Smart so they. 0:45:32.840 --> 0:45:33.920 Want to protect their jobs. 0:45:33.920 --> 0:45:35.680 That makes sense, like everyone's. 0:45:35.239 --> 0:45:37.279 Got to look out for their own. Every country does 0:45:37.320 --> 0:45:39.360 this sort of thing. We do it got to protect 0:45:39.400 --> 0:45:43.560 your industries. So Gibson, though, was importing unprocessed wood, just 0:45:43.640 --> 0:45:46.360 bundles of the wood, and they knew they weren't supposed to, 0:45:46.840 --> 0:45:49.200 And all those shipping documents that were supposed to keep 0:45:49.200 --> 0:45:52.040 this in line to be transparent about sourcing and destination, 0:45:52.120 --> 0:45:55.040 they were all off full of discrepancy. Yeah, and so 0:45:55.560 --> 0:45:57.719 the bundles of wood that you were moving at the 0:45:57.719 --> 0:46:00.239 Gibson rough Mill, they weren't supposed to be there. They're 0:46:00.239 --> 0:46:05.239 remarked for destination Germany. This company called Luthier's Mercantile International 0:46:05.239 --> 0:46:08.200 in California was the importer of record, but they had 0:46:08.239 --> 0:46:10.040 nothing to do with this. The stuff was just being 0:46:10.120 --> 0:46:13.839 sent straight to Gibson in Tennessee, and so US Fish 0:46:13.840 --> 0:46:16.480 and Wildlife they showed up seized the wood. They'd been 0:46:16.520 --> 0:46:19.240 watching this at customs and they'd seized some other shipments, 0:46:19.280 --> 0:46:22.360 the tracking shipments, and so they took all the wood 0:46:22.680 --> 0:46:25.440 at the kiln, at the factory, at the storage facility. 0:46:25.560 --> 0:46:29.480 And like Gibson pitched a fit, they were caught red handed. 0:46:29.920 --> 0:46:31.240 And so they went politically. 0:46:31.320 --> 0:46:33.080 How did they pitch a fit based on what? 0:46:33.160 --> 0:46:38.840 They blamed President Obama? They thanks Obama, all right, So, 0:46:38.960 --> 0:46:45.279 despite despite evidence that they willfully flouted the law, they 0:46:45.320 --> 0:46:48.320 said that Obama had it out for them and specifically 0:46:48.360 --> 0:46:52.960 targeted them. Okay, so usk of its right. He said 0:46:53.000 --> 0:46:55.400 that Martin Guitars did the same thing and they didn't 0:46:55.400 --> 0:46:59.360 get raised. He said it's because Martin were donors to 0:46:59.400 --> 0:47:00.920 the Democratic National committee. 0:47:00.920 --> 0:47:01.400 Oh god. 0:47:01.400 --> 0:47:04.680 But here's the thing. Martin Guitars had all their paperwork 0:47:04.680 --> 0:47:07.080 in line, and they could prove they hadn't violated the 0:47:07.160 --> 0:47:09.880 Lacy Act, an act that went into effect more than 0:47:09.880 --> 0:47:13.960 one hundred years before Obama was elected. So of course. 0:47:13.960 --> 0:47:16.640 They made classic guitars like Willie Nelson's is a Martin. 0:47:16.520 --> 0:47:20.760 Yeah, that's like the og. According to NPR, quote, Chris Martin, 0:47:20.840 --> 0:47:23.560 chairman and CEO of the C. F. Martin Guitar Company 0:47:23.600 --> 0:47:27.280 in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, said that when he first heard guitars 0:47:27.320 --> 0:47:30.440 built from Madagascar rosewood, he dreamed it might be the 0:47:30.520 --> 0:47:34.319 long sought substitute for Brazilian rosewood, whose trade was banned 0:47:34.360 --> 0:47:37.279 in the nineteen nineties due to over harvest. Then the 0:47:37.360 --> 0:47:40.920 situation in Madagascar changed. There was a coup. Martin says. 0:47:41.239 --> 0:47:43.920 What we heard was the international community has come to 0:47:43.960 --> 0:47:47.799 the conclusion that the coup created an illegitimate government. That's 0:47:47.840 --> 0:47:50.239 when we said, Okay, we cannot buy any more of 0:47:50.280 --> 0:47:53.680 this would Yeah. And while some say the Lacy Act 0:47:53.719 --> 0:47:56.680 is burdensome, Martin supports it. Quote, I think it's a 0:47:56.719 --> 0:47:59.720 wonderful thing. I think illegal logging is appalling. It should 0:47:59.719 --> 0:48:02.400 stop up and if this is what it takes, unfortunately 0:48:02.480 --> 0:48:05.920 to stop unscrupulous operators, I'm all for it. It's tedious, 0:48:05.960 --> 0:48:07.040 but we're getting through it. 0:48:07.520 --> 0:48:11.080 That's the way, that's the approach, that's reasonable and responsible business. 0:48:11.160 --> 0:48:14.640 So after all the bluster, all the victimhood and moaning 0:48:14.880 --> 0:48:20.880 a development, after one year Gibson yusk of it admitted 0:48:20.880 --> 0:48:25.200 to violating the Lacy Act. Good because like if they 0:48:25.280 --> 0:48:27.799 kept trying to fight it, they knew criminal charges for 0:48:27.840 --> 0:48:31.239 the ownership was on the horizon. And so there's like 0:48:31.480 --> 0:48:34.200 a major digital paper trail proving they knew what they 0:48:34.239 --> 0:48:34.680 were doing. 0:48:34.680 --> 0:48:37.120 They it was bad and a lot of musicians are ethically, 0:48:37.080 --> 0:48:38.280 you're going to start to these customers. 0:48:38.280 --> 0:48:40.440 Well that was the thing too, is that online Like 0:48:40.520 --> 0:48:44.680 the response apparently it was just like burning up Facebook 0:48:44.680 --> 0:48:47.560 with all this like these are American heroes and the 0:48:47.640 --> 0:48:50.560 Obama governments trying to go after them, right, But it 0:48:50.640 --> 0:48:53.840 was not. Guitar folks. Guitar folks and forums were like, 0:48:54.000 --> 0:48:55.640 this is actually I don't want to play something that 0:48:55.719 --> 0:48:58.960 came from totally. So Gibson had to pay a three 0:48:59.040 --> 0:49:02.520 hundred thousand dollars far and they forfeited the majority of 0:49:02.520 --> 0:49:05.320 the wood that was seized, but they did get some back, 0:49:06.400 --> 0:49:08.799 and what happened with it is the question. 0:49:08.560 --> 0:49:09.560 What happened with Elizabeth? 0:49:09.600 --> 0:49:14.000 Thank you? In twenty fourteen, they released the Government Series 0:49:14.680 --> 0:49:17.640 Les Paul SG three point thirty five and Flying V 0:49:17.800 --> 0:49:23.080 guitars the color Government Tan, and so the guitar featured 0:49:23.080 --> 0:49:26.320 that rosewood seized by the Feds in the Nashville raids. 0:49:26.640 --> 0:49:29.839 They made one thousand, seven and fifty guitars, and they 0:49:30.040 --> 0:49:33.120 started out at around eleven hundred dollars retail. They sold 0:49:33.160 --> 0:49:35.680 out all of them. Of course, company officials said the 0:49:35.719 --> 0:49:40.759 guitars quote suitably marks this infamous time in Gibson's history. 0:49:41.280 --> 0:49:45.640 Did they go to Cabo Wabbos? People liked? 0:49:46.000 --> 0:49:48.359 Well, it gets better. So each guitar features a pit 0:49:48.480 --> 0:49:52.160 guard quote hot stamped in gold with the Government series 0:49:52.239 --> 0:49:56.359 graphic a bald eagle hoisting a Gibson guitar neck. Are 0:49:56.400 --> 0:49:57.000 you kidding me? 0:49:57.640 --> 0:49:59.279 That's no Willie Nelson's IRS tape? 0:49:59.640 --> 0:50:02.520 I'm gonna not at all. So the company gave pad 0:50:02.520 --> 0:50:05.759 a press release quote when the Powers the Beat confiscated 0:50:05.840 --> 0:50:08.680 stocks of tone woods from the Gibson factory in Nashville, 0:50:09.000 --> 0:50:11.320 only to return them once there was a resolution and 0:50:11.360 --> 0:50:15.680 the investigation ended. It was an event worth celebrating. Well, yeah, 0:50:15.760 --> 0:50:18.400 it was. The investigation ended because you were guilty and 0:50:18.400 --> 0:50:22.040 you paid for it. So they didn't really become the 0:50:22.080 --> 0:50:24.160 collector's item that Gibson thought they were going to be. 0:50:24.800 --> 0:50:26.960 I saw them online for maybe like twenty five hundred 0:50:27.080 --> 0:50:31.680 thirty two hundred dollars according to Ultimate Guitar dot com. 0:50:31.880 --> 0:50:34.160 Okay, amazing, one of my favorite reads every morning. 0:50:34.320 --> 0:50:37.640 Quote. Seven years after the raids, Yuskowitz had run the 0:50:37.640 --> 0:50:41.759 company five hundred million dollars into debt since his departure. 0:50:41.840 --> 0:50:44.920 He insisted to Guitarist magazine that any notion that he 0:50:44.960 --> 0:50:48.040 had anything to do with Gibson guitars dwindling reputation is 0:50:48.120 --> 0:50:52.120 quote fake news. A company, now under new management is 0:50:52.160 --> 0:50:56.080 committed itself to making guitars without critically endangered lumber, and 0:50:56.120 --> 0:50:59.520 the article continues. A report in the Nashville Business Journal 0:50:59.520 --> 0:51:02.640 in October of twenty twenty claim that Yuskovitz is now 0:51:02.680 --> 0:51:06.239 starting up his own healthcare company in Nashville. Apparently he 0:51:06.320 --> 0:51:10.400 found a business with bigger ethical loopholes to be exploited. Anyways, 0:51:10.680 --> 0:51:12.400 we look forward to what the future will hold for 0:51:12.440 --> 0:51:15.040 Gibson under new management, and we wish them the very best. 0:51:16.280 --> 0:51:20.840 Ultimate Guitar dot com Zaren was your ridiculous takeaway. 0:51:21.320 --> 0:51:24.839 I knew so little about any of this, but after 0:51:24.920 --> 0:51:28.040 hearing it all, I'm not surprised that the people involved 0:51:28.120 --> 0:51:30.200 are doing the stuff, like the smugglers and then the 0:51:30.520 --> 0:51:33.040 businessmen with the unethical like yeah, we'll take what from whatever? 0:51:33.239 --> 0:51:35.000 Yeah, Like why are people like this? 0:51:35.160 --> 0:51:39.080 Like why do need to respect exactly? I know, I 0:51:39.160 --> 0:51:43.239 know what about you, Elizabeth, but my takeaway is that 0:51:43.920 --> 0:51:47.280 I still manage to get all heated talking about plants. 0:51:47.520 --> 0:51:48.560 It's supposed to be chilled. 0:51:48.920 --> 0:51:49.600 You worked it in. 0:51:51.640 --> 0:51:54.239 That's not the xanax I promised. But I he's going 0:51:54.280 --> 0:51:58.080 to go watch some gardener's world and cool out, Dave. 0:51:58.480 --> 0:51:59.920 I think we should have a talk back. 0:52:05.120 --> 0:52:14.280 God, I went, Elizabeth. 0:52:14.840 --> 0:52:18.200 I'm very, very sick right now and I'm listening. 0:52:17.800 --> 0:52:18.480 To you guys. 0:52:19.200 --> 0:52:22.720 This is actually is the vocal range of my voice 0:52:22.719 --> 0:52:27.279 at the moment, and I've just add to the introductions 0:52:27.280 --> 0:52:33.360 of the pac Man Fever episode and the chicken lozenges. 0:52:34.440 --> 0:52:38.760 Ridiculous do not want We love you, but you're a sick, lady. 0:52:40.280 --> 0:52:41.600 This is creepier than it sounds. 0:52:46.360 --> 0:52:49.399 Save your voice, My goodness made me have a chicken lost. 0:52:50.040 --> 0:52:52.440 You know you laugh chicken. 0:52:53.400 --> 0:52:56.320 By the way, if you're ever sick, chicken soup, orange juice, 0:52:56.400 --> 0:52:58.799 shout out. Tequila will heal you every time. But not 0:52:58.840 --> 0:53:01.719 for that. We were just works every time. 0:53:01.800 --> 0:53:05.400 Yeah, but just like what about like generalized malaise. 0:53:05.520 --> 0:53:08.480 Like just on a Monday. I'll probably. 0:53:11.200 --> 0:53:13.279 That's it for today. You can find us online at 0:53:13.320 --> 0:53:17.200 ridiculous Crime dot com. The website just won the Outstanding 0:53:17.280 --> 0:53:20.360 Act of Bravery Metal from the Elko, Nevada Police Department. 0:53:20.440 --> 0:53:21.799 Wow, finally, I know. 0:53:22.200 --> 0:53:25.160 I'm so proud. We're also at Ridiculous Crime on Blue 0:53:25.160 --> 0:53:28.720 Sky and Instagram. We're on YouTube at Ridiculous Crime Pod, 0:53:29.280 --> 0:53:31.560 and you can email us at ridiculous Crime at gmail 0:53:31.600 --> 0:53:34.279 dot com. But most importantly, as you know, I love 0:53:34.320 --> 0:53:37.359 these leave it talk back, save your voices, do it 0:53:37.400 --> 0:53:40.400 with robust. I don't want to hear anyone hurting themselves. 0:53:41.239 --> 0:53:43.439 Get the free iHeart app. Go through that reach out. 0:53:48.760 --> 0:53:51.840 Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaren Burnette, 0:53:51.840 --> 0:53:56.320 produced and edited by Fugitive Luther Dave coustm starring Annals 0:53:56.480 --> 0:54:00.920 Rutger as Judith. Research is by GMO Truth Marissa Brown 0:54:01.040 --> 0:54:05.160 and Keen Observation Quality Assurance Skills by Gray Witten. The 0:54:05.160 --> 0:54:07.680 theme song is by Poor Dirt Farmers Just Trying to 0:54:07.680 --> 0:54:10.480 make a Live and Grow and hollow Body guitars Thomas 0:54:10.520 --> 0:54:13.680 Lee and Travis Dutton. Host wardrobe is provided by Body 0:54:13.680 --> 0:54:17.080 five hundred. Guest hair and makeup provided by Sparkleshot and 0:54:17.160 --> 0:54:21.319 Mister Andre. Executive producers are Dandelion Smuggler, Ben Bollen and 0:54:21.480 --> 0:54:23.680 Rogue Fish and Game Warden Noel. 0:54:23.520 --> 0:54:34.680 Broun, Gus Crime Say It One More Time, Geequeous Crime. 0:54:35.800 --> 0:54:39.160 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio four more podcasts. 0:54:39.280 --> 0:54:42.440 My heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or 0:54:42.480 --> 0:54:44.240 wherever you listen to your favorite shows,