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Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio Zaren Elizabeth.

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Speaker 2: How are you?

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Speaker 3: I'm doing pretty well. How about you?

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Speaker 2: Good?

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Speaker 3: Good to see you got a lot of perk.

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Speaker 4: I like it.

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Speaker 2: I am. I am just a happy little camper.

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Speaker 3: You been eating your vegetables?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? Wow, I'm good with that.

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Speaker 3: Proud so much.

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Speaker 2: You know it's ridiculous.

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Speaker 3: I do, and I'm so glad you asked you. Ever

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Speaker 3: seen the movie The rain Maker with Burt Lancaster Katherine Heppurn.

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Speaker 2: I don't believe so now it's a great movie.

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Speaker 3: I recommended. I used to love it when I was

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Speaker 3: a kid. My sister liked it a lot too. Found

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Speaker 3: out recently was based on a real person, a real

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Speaker 3: rain maker. Oh really Yeah, there's this guy, Charles Hatfield.

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Speaker 2: Uh huh.

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Speaker 3: And he went all around like southern California, like in

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Speaker 3: La Pasadena, Lacrecenta, San Diego, and he would make rain

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Speaker 3: for people. He also did it like up in like

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Speaker 3: I think there's a Yukon where they needed rain for

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Speaker 3: the gold mining because they needed to like slush the watery. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: so he would go and make rain. He would build

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Speaker 3: a tower and do this stuff. And he was charged

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Speaker 3: a lot because she started out real cheap, and then

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Speaker 3: he got up to like, oh, I'll give you ten

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Speaker 3: thousand dollars. You know, you give me ten thousand dollars

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Speaker 3: for every like you know, inch of rain that's over that.

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Speaker 3: So these people in San Diego, they wanted him to

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Speaker 3: help them fill up a dam because he'd fill like

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Speaker 3: in Big Bear. He'd filled up there damn like you

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Speaker 3: you did that. We need you have to fill up

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Speaker 3: our day. So he goes down there he creates rain.

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Speaker 3: He had this secret like proprietary mix that he took

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Speaker 3: to his grave. Anyway, he makes the rain. But he

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Speaker 3: made so much rain it flooded the town. Oh no,

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Speaker 3: he ran over everything destroyed. It caused like millions of

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Speaker 3: dollars of damage.

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Speaker 2: And he made rain, Like how did he make it rain?

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Speaker 3: He was really good at reading the clouds. He also

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Speaker 3: would have release like this, like steam droplets. He was

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Speaker 3: like he would basically condensed stuff and I think he

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Speaker 3: put in like silver oxide, but that was what I

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Speaker 3: would assume. That's how we make rain now. So basically

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Speaker 3: you see the clouds so that that way the stuff

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Speaker 3: can generate clouds large enough to like hold some water.

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Speaker 3: And then when they moved and they run into the

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Speaker 3: mountains or whatever. The change in pressure they drop the rain.

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Speaker 3: But he was also really good at reading the meteorological

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Speaker 3: forecast and being like, okay, so there'd be like a

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Speaker 3: storm and that people couldn't because they didn't have weather

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Speaker 3: like we have now. He just really knew how to

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Speaker 3: read the sky and he just looked out over the

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Speaker 3: Pacific and he's like, what that three days? But he

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Speaker 3: flooded San Diego and then he's like, are you guys,

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Speaker 3: are you guys gonna pay me or what? And it

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Speaker 3: started a whole fight that lasted like two decades to

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Speaker 3: be sorted out in court. No, there you go. That's ridiculous.

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Speaker 2: That was absolutely ridiculous. Do you want to know what

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Speaker 2: else is ridiculous?

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Speaker 5: Oh?

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Speaker 2: This is ridiculous. Crime a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists,

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Speaker 2: and cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder free and

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Speaker 2: one percent ridiculous.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, damn right.

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Speaker 2: You know that. I used to be an A's fan.

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Speaker 3: You did, Yeah, until they moved, grew up.

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Speaker 2: Going to games, had season tickets. We had my brother

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Speaker 2: on here, a graduate of Jose Canseco baseball camp, to

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Speaker 2: talk about Kinseco and the A's that one time, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: but no more.

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Speaker 3: Jose love for you guys.

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Speaker 2: I love them, but I don't love the A's. They

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Speaker 2: abandoned Oakland in the worst way I get it, blowing

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Speaker 2: up everything around them as they left. So they let

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Speaker 2: the coliseum fall into disrepair. They jacked up ticket prices. Well,

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Speaker 2: John Fisher the well, yeah, and so the A's like

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Speaker 2: they had the pretty much the worst record in baseball

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Speaker 2: at one point, and they were like doubling tripling prices.

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Speaker 2: Then they complained that no one went to games, and

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Speaker 2: then they treated their minor league players like garbage totally. Well,

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Speaker 2: their Sacramento and then Las Vegas is problem now yeah, right.

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Speaker 3: They're playing in a Sacramento minor league stadium right the

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Speaker 3: river Cats plays.

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Speaker 2: Uh huh. I want to go back to the minor

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Speaker 2: league thing for a second.

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Speaker 5: Please.

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Speaker 2: In twenty twenty one.

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Speaker 5: Me too.

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Speaker 2: Some photos went viral and they depicted the lunches served

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Speaker 2: to the A's minor league teams, which were described by

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Speaker 2: Alex Schultz at sf Gate as quote two floppy pieces

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Speaker 2: of white bread and an unheated slice of American cheese

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Speaker 2: next to the world sad as soft taco for athletes,

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Speaker 2: for athletes. That was their lunch for professional athletes. Yes,

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Speaker 2: how you do one thing is how you do everything.

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Speaker 2: They say. The mysterious they me say, I say it.

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Speaker 2: And this was true of the A's. They lacked respect

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Speaker 2: for everyone. And by they, I mean John Fisher, the

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Speaker 2: Trust Fund Giants fan who owns the A's. So those

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Speaker 2: photos of the food instantly brought to mine another debacle,

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Speaker 2: one attached to some famous folks others who became infamous.

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Speaker 2: It was a music festival, or rather it was supposed

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Speaker 2: to be. Okay, I'm talking about the fire Festival, and

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Speaker 2: that's what I want to tell you about today.

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Speaker 5: Dude.

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Speaker 3: I'm like, not quite really dyslexic, but I used to

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Speaker 3: always read that as fry festival.

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Speaker 2: I don't know, I typed it out as fry festival,

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Speaker 2: like fry boots.

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Speaker 3: Totally.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, No, it's the fry festival in my mind, in

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Speaker 2: my heart, Yeah, it's the fry Festival. The mastermind of

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Speaker 2: this whole thing was a guy named Billy McFarland.

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Speaker 3: Okay, I remember that, So let's learn a little about him.

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Speaker 3: I don't know much about him at all.

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Speaker 2: He was born in New York, City in nineteen ninety one.

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Speaker 2: But he grew up in like this really well off

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Speaker 2: area in New Jersey. His mom was in real estate investing,

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Speaker 2: and then later she was a VP at Morgan Stanley

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Speaker 2: and then she joined the family business, which was McFarland Properties,

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Speaker 2: and that's the dad's real estate company. And so little

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Speaker 2: Billy he went to the Pingree School, which is like

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Speaker 2: a you know, when he was there, it was running

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Speaker 2: thirty grand a year intuition, Oh, like a K through twelve.

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Speaker 3: It was like like a choke America. Yes, America's eaten.

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Speaker 2: Yes, And so now it costs you around forty seven

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Speaker 2: thousand dollars a year to send your kid there. They

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Speaker 2: have a ninety one million dollar endowment. In other words,

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Speaker 2: they're not hurting. And so a lot of famous people

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Speaker 2: went there, for instance, a bunch of Olympians, famous professors,

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Speaker 2: Actor Andrew McCarthy, who just looks like a posh school kid.

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Speaker 3: Oh my god, he has rich kid energy that he

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Speaker 3: kind of sets the bar.

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Speaker 2: Yes, definitely, definitely. Former US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael

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Speaker 2: Chertoff went there.

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Speaker 3: Wow, I could see that.

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Speaker 2: Jamie Johnson, the Johnson and Johnson air who made that

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Speaker 2: documentary Born Rich.

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Speaker 3: Oh right with all the friends, right, yeah, filling the

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Speaker 3: beans on that he went there.

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Speaker 2: Filmmaker Todd Solance.

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Speaker 3: S salans whatever the happiness.

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Speaker 2: Yes, that, yeah, he he went there. Andrew Gruhle, who

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Speaker 2: was a judge on Food Network's Food Truck Face Off

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Speaker 2: and also the host of Fyis Say It to My face,

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Speaker 2: and the founder of Slatfish, a seafood restaurant's a franchise.

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Speaker 3: This will probably not surprise you. I've never heard of

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Speaker 3: any of them.

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Speaker 2: I mean neither.

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Speaker 3: Slapfish sounds familiar.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know. The guitarist from the band Guster

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Speaker 2: went there, okay, dapper retro suit wearing vintage acetate narrow

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Speaker 2: round glasses. A ficionado who's also a Jeopardy champion, Buzzy

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Speaker 2: Cohen went there.

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Speaker 3: Oh not the Buzzy, the Buzzy Cohen.

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Speaker 2: They all went there. So Billy Billy went there. He

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Speaker 2: had a very comfortable life. His family had a house

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Speaker 2: at the shore. They went on exotic vacations, lovely house,

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Speaker 2: nice cars. Like his folks, he had dreams, he had

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Speaker 2: hustled good him and as he tells it, his first

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Speaker 2: business scheme was when he was seven it seems he

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Speaker 2: had a crush on a girl and said he would

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Speaker 2: fix a broken cran of hers for a dollar. Okay,

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Speaker 2: now a couple of notes on this. I feel like

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Speaker 2: seven year olds are transitioning out of krans and into

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Speaker 2: markers at that age.

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Speaker 3: I don't have the same judgmental criteria artistic.

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Speaker 2: Ones maybe moving into colored pencils, sure, but maybe that's

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Speaker 2: just my recollection as an old lady. He also went

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Speaker 2: to a rich kid's school so they could buy as

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Speaker 2: many crans as they.

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Speaker 3: Maybe that was her medium of choice.

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Speaker 2: Then there's this weird manipulation of a girl he has

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Speaker 2: a crush on, like, give me a dollar and I'll

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Speaker 2: fix your cran. Like why do I feel like maybe

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Speaker 2: he broke the cran to set this up?

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Speaker 3: And why is it worth a dollar to fix it?

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Speaker 2: I don't know how. How is this a business plan

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Speaker 2: with legs? That's my other question.

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Speaker 3: I can't imagine that many customers are like, could you

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Speaker 3: fix my cran?

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Speaker 2: Did he have like a wildly should be patented method

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Speaker 2: for cran repair?

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Speaker 3: Did he?

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Speaker 2: I don't know. I feel like it's a valid anecdote

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Speaker 2: from him because it certainly reflects on his business acumen

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Speaker 2: and approach.

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Speaker 3: I think you could do it with a lighter, just

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Speaker 3: like Little Billy has them back together.

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Speaker 2: Another early business brag of his was that he hacked

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Speaker 2: his teachers like computer. He said this happened when he

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Speaker 2: was seven too. He claims he cracked the school administrator's

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Speaker 2: password and locked.

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Speaker 3: Everyone up out of the system at seven.

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Speaker 2: A couple more notes one, doing this isn't really a

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Speaker 2: business model unless you're then holding the system ransom.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 2: That's criminal business too. So which is it? You and

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Speaker 2: your peers are a bunch of paste eaters playing with

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Speaker 2: Krantz or you're hacking the main frame and playing in

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Speaker 2: the matrix like hacking is for grown folks.

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Speaker 3: Billy, Yeah, I'm with you. I mean it does seem dubious.

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Speaker 2: It does. I need to mention here a quote from

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Speaker 2: one of our researchers, the amazing Jabbari Davis. He mentioned

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Speaker 2: here quote apropos entirely of nothing. The DSM five defines

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Speaker 2: grandiose delusions, commonly referred to as delusions of grandeur, as

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Speaker 2: when an individual feels they have exceptional abilities, wealth, or fame.

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Speaker 2: Individuals that display such delusions often have a false sense

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Speaker 2: of superiority and can consider themselves a deity, a reincarnation

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Speaker 2: of a historical figure or celebrity, and even a chosen

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Speaker 2: profit in some cases. Let me tell you I died

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Speaker 2: a little a I read that note spot on well played, Bari.

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Speaker 2: So remember the early days of Facebook, like when it

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Speaker 2: was just a little site for dopey college kids to

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Speaker 2: wheeze it, when it was the Facebook? Yeah, and like, no,

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Speaker 2: not anyone can join.

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Speaker 3: I think you had to have like an ed in college.

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Speaker 3: Yeah email I was in college at the time.

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Speaker 2: No, and so either way, it wasn't until two thousand

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Speaker 2: and six that anyone with a valid email address could

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Speaker 2: sign up. So young junior high Billy and a pal

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Speaker 2: they wanted in on it. So instead of spoofing a

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Speaker 2: college email account hacker that he was, he and his

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Speaker 2: friend developed a ripoff of the Facebook, and they called

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Speaker 2: it your hot site?

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Speaker 3: Is that like you are hot? No, it belongs to me.

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Speaker 2: This is the hot site session. Yes, it's like TMU Facebook.

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Speaker 2: So I'm guessing it was him and his friends just

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Speaker 2: commenting offensively on the girls in their class. Is the

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Speaker 2: entire thing, according to legend, which means the friend says this,

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Speaker 2: the school found out about it and called their parents

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Speaker 2: and they had to kill the site. But he says

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Speaker 2: they actually sold the site instead to a guy in

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Speaker 2: Canada for three grand. But a couple of notes, If

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Speaker 2: it was so easy to build one of these knockoff facebooks,

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Speaker 2: I'm sure the Canadian would have done it himself, one

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Speaker 2: would think. And did they sell the profiles they'd collected

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Speaker 2: on the sites? And was Olivia Benson aware of this?

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Speaker 2: Those are my questions.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I'll tell Elizabeth.

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Speaker 2: Thank you. Billy also liked to brag about his childhood pranks.

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Speaker 2: There's this author, Gabrielle Bluestone. She wrote a book called Hype,

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Speaker 2: How Scammers, grifters and con Artists Are taking over the

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Speaker 2: Internet and Why We're following.

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Speaker 3: That's also a moneyed named Gabrielle Bluestone right.

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Speaker 2: In it, she described some of these pranks quote, including

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Speaker 2: one bought Mitzvah party where they sneaked into an adjacent

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Speaker 2: office area and programmed all the computers so that photographs

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Speaker 2: of women's breasts would pop up every time someone pressed X.

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Speaker 2: Another time, McFarlane burned a bootleg copy of The forty

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Speaker 2: year Old Virgin and labeled it as the animated film Mattagascar,

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Speaker 2: so that Rubinstein's mother wouldn't find out and ground him

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Speaker 2: for watching inappropriate movies. The R rated comedy, however, was

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Speaker 2: positively tame compared to another one of McFarland's schemes, a

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Speaker 2: business he built selling passwords to porn sites to his

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Speaker 2: preteen buddies.

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Speaker 3: Wow.

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Speaker 2: Notice that this is a lot of his just creeper behavior.

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Speaker 3: It's just like I want to see boobies. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: So his peers would later describe him as like a flirt. Oh,

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Speaker 2: he's so much fun, but also kind of like a

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Speaker 2: used car salesman, real fast talker. Yeah, he always had

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Speaker 2: a deal going, always on the move.

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Speaker 3: Sure.

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Speaker 2: He liked to boast that he developed and sold three

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Speaker 2: businesses before he graduated from high school. Was one of

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Speaker 2: the wars wars. Yeah, two businesses, three businesses, you get

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Speaker 2: it. It didn't happen, but there. He is now out of

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Speaker 2: high school, and then he's off to Bucknell University, a

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Speaker 2: good liberal arts college in Pennsylvania. He dropped out after

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Speaker 2: freshman year.

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Speaker 3: No, he didn't have stick to it in this No, but.

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Speaker 2: That's because he wanted to start a tech company of course,

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Speaker 2: online business.

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Speaker 3: I mean he already had your hot site, so right,

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Speaker 3: I mean, he's like, he's pretty much paralleling zucker.

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Speaker 2: He sold it, you know, to an angel investor exactly

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Speaker 2: he wanted to call. He called this business Spling.

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Speaker 3: Oh my god, that's ter that's worse the made up

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Speaker 3: names we come up.

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Speaker 2: It's so a fake startup name that we would do.

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Speaker 2: So okay. So in the original reporting, it's explained that

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Speaker 2: users could paste a link and Spling would grab the

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Speaker 2: article's title, description, thumbnail, and genre. Then users could share

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Speaker 2: it with selected quote circles of friends. And it was

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Speaker 2: supposed to be a more private way to share things

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Speaker 2: instead of hopping on social media.

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Speaker 3: Did you splaning me a link yesterday?

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Speaker 2: Do you have those? Those are called group texts and emails?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's pretty no. Yes, So this this all, this

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Speaker 3: is offering little.

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Speaker 2: It reminds me too of that storyline in the Office

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Speaker 2: where Ryan starts an online company called wolf w U

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Speaker 2: p h F dot com wool and it was supposed

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Speaker 2: to be a ross portal messaging system. Uh huh, and

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Speaker 2: it was. It just was idiotic as usual. So the

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Speaker 2: episode aired in November of twenty ten, which is around

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Speaker 2: the time that like Spling would have been percolating.

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Speaker 3: Do you think he took this?

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Speaker 2: I wonder it's interesting something to think about us makes

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Speaker 2: it playing gets referenced to as an online ad platform

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Speaker 2: in the retellings of.

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Speaker 3: It all an ad platform, Yeah, because you had to

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Speaker 3: look through an ad to look at the word.

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Speaker 2: I guess, but like that's basically what social media is

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Speaker 2: as an ad platform.

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Speaker 3: Almost everything in America is That's true?

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Speaker 2: I am your this show. Spling was quite the startup.

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Speaker 2: He got two rounds of funding totally four hundred and

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Speaker 2: twenty five thousand dollars in the third and fourth quarters

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Speaker 2: of twenty eleven, and like Billy knew, like this is

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Speaker 2: my ticket. And he had originally based the business in Philadelphia.

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Speaker 2: You know that tech hub. No offense Philly, but he

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Speaker 2: knew he had to expand, so he took the business

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Speaker 2: to New York City in twenty twelve. I don't know

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Speaker 2: what happened to Spling, But today it's a website spell checker.

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Speaker 2: Wait what so he either abandoned or sold the name?

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Speaker 3: What is a website spell check I don't know. How

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Speaker 3: is it different than a spell checker? Why do you

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Speaker 3: need different websites?

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Speaker 2: Something for everything?

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Speaker 3: In the schoogle.

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Speaker 2: You know, I did is it? I splang it? Or

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Speaker 2: did I spling?

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Speaker 3: I splung it?

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Speaker 2: I splung it and I didn't find any errors. But like,

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Speaker 2: no worries, dude, Billy has bigger ideas I bet he did.

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Speaker 2: He does. So twenty thirteen, Billy and a partner started

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Speaker 2: a company called Magnesis.

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Speaker 3: How did he spell this? You know?

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Speaker 2: M A G N I S E S.

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Speaker 3: That's simple.

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Speaker 2: So it was a credit card company, of course, but

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Speaker 2: not really. It was a debit card proxy. Wait what

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Speaker 2: So basically, if you had a Wells Fargo card or

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Speaker 2: a Bank of America, like a Wells Fargo or Bank

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Speaker 2: of America checking account, you could link it to a

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Speaker 2: Magnesis card and use that instead. And like, why would

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Speaker 2: you do that?

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Speaker 3: My debit card does well?

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Speaker 2: The Magnesis card looked like an American exp rest Centurion card,

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Speaker 2: the black card.

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Speaker 3: Are you kidding?

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Speaker 2: It was black and it was made of metal, and

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Speaker 2: it came with perks, so you'd still be paying out

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Speaker 2: of your checking account, but it would look like you

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Speaker 2: had a black card. I look like impresses people.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, hey look at me. I want you to see

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Speaker 3: my car. Knock knockau metal. I know what that means, right.

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Speaker 2: And the perks were stuff like Magnice's sponsored concerts, private dinners,

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Speaker 2: art opening.

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Speaker 3: Wait, Magnese's sponsored concerts.

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Speaker 2: Yes, other special events where like cardholders could schmooze in network.

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Speaker 3: So he's trying to pretend he's American Express.

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Speaker 2: They were calling it the black card for elite millennials.

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Speaker 2: Oh my god, that's like the broke black card, is

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Speaker 2: what it is.

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Speaker 3: Yes, it's a joke.

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Speaker 2: And how would Billy make money on this?

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Speaker 3: How? Elizabeth?

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00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:48,240
Speaker 2: Good question? Elizabeth fees. Some cardholders could pay an extra

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00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:51,840
Speaker 2: ninety nine dollars a month a month for accessing the

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Speaker 2: the co working facilities that they had through a feature

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Speaker 2: called work pass.

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Speaker 3: Oh he's putting them all together.

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00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:01,360
Speaker 2: Yeah, what special special about this particular coke.

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Speaker 3: About this particular cowork That's not a good question.

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Speaker 2: That's where Billy's offices were.

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Speaker 3: He can come to his office.

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Speaker 2: So normally he charged five hundred dollars for someone to

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Speaker 2: come sit in a cubicle in his office space.

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Speaker 3: Are you kidding?

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Speaker 2: You could do it for nine nine a month, added

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Speaker 2: another sixty five a month, and the card users could

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Speaker 2: get guaranteed access to the most exclusive clubs in New

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Speaker 2: York that was called the club Pass. Now I'm imagining

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00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:28,479
Speaker 2: the stuff on bit from Saturday Night Live weekends up

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Speaker 2: days when thinking about those clubs, Can I recite one

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00:17:31,119 --> 00:17:34,160
Speaker 2: of them for you? I was hoping here's a classic.

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00:17:34,359 --> 00:17:36,919
Speaker 2: If you're drunk in Midtown doing cheap coke off your

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Speaker 2: laundry card, I have just the place for you. New

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Speaker 2: York's hottest club is Douche, inspired by true Events. This

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Speaker 2: former CVS, which became a Chase Bank and then became

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00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:49,800
Speaker 2: a CVS again, has a familiar yet troubling feel, like

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Speaker 2: when Larry King would play himself in a movie. This

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00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:56,520
Speaker 2: place has everything desk sets, key fobs, kale, chips, Roman,

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Speaker 2: j Israel, Esquire. Plus you can play everyone's favorite party game,

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Speaker 2: The Stranger. Do you know that Billy Joel's song The Stranger? Well,

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Speaker 2: it's when you sit on Billy Joel's hand until it's numb,

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00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:08,640
Speaker 2: and then you rub yourself with it so you can

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00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:13,280
Speaker 2: pretend it's Bruce Springsteat's hand. Those remain like the best bits.

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Speaker 3: Didn't John Mullaney write them? And he.

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Speaker 2: Would know like Bill Hayter would know some of it.

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00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:23,119
Speaker 2: But then John Mullaney wrote Pepper and lines that he

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Speaker 2: had not ever seen and he'd have to read it.

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Speaker 2: And that's when he started doing the thing where he

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00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:29,000
Speaker 2: covers his mouth because it's like he had to hold

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00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,720
Speaker 2: it together. There's absolutely no way they're so good. So

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00:18:32,800 --> 00:18:36,679
Speaker 2: anyway that's you could get into those. Another perk was

403
00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:37,720
Speaker 2: the card coked.

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00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,320
Speaker 3: Up John mullaney was funny. He I'm not recommending anything,

405
00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:42,040
Speaker 3: go back on to cocaine.

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Speaker 2: That was a funny man totally. Another perk was that

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Speaker 2: card users could get a rate of seventy nine dollars

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00:18:49,119 --> 00:18:52,600
Speaker 2: a night at the Dream Hotel's New York locations, and

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00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:54,960
Speaker 2: rooms were usually two hundred and forty five a night,

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00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:58,080
Speaker 2: and that was called the Hotel Pass feature. A there's

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00:18:58,119 --> 00:19:02,800
Speaker 2: so many perks, sounds that's so glamorous. Let's stop here.

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00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:05,280
Speaker 2: I'm gonna go use my black card and by that

413
00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:08,800
Speaker 2: I mean my Costco Executive Membership card to gain access

414
00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:12,320
Speaker 2: to the ridiculous Crime headquarters bathroom. And when we returned

415
00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:14,600
Speaker 2: more on magnesis.

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Speaker 3: Zaren Elizabeth.

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00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:41,360
Speaker 2: We're ready, We're good, We're on it, Billy McFarlane. Magnesis

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00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:42,919
Speaker 2: the phony black card.

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Speaker 3: In my office.

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Speaker 2: For this was the thing there for a bit like

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00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:56,520
Speaker 2: hundreds of people signed up for it. Yeah, but one

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Speaker 2: does not simply get the Magnesis card. It's enough to

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00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:04,399
Speaker 2: have a checking account. You had to apply and the

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00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:07,600
Speaker 2: application process wasn't like applying for a credit card or

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00:20:07,640 --> 00:20:09,200
Speaker 2: any other kind of financial tool.

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Speaker 3: I have to pay him.

427
00:20:10,080 --> 00:20:13,359
Speaker 2: Billy didn't care about money. He cared about vibes. Oh, like,

428
00:20:13,400 --> 00:20:16,080
Speaker 2: do you have the proper vibes? So forget legal tender.

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Speaker 2: What social currency do you bring to the card?

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00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:21,280
Speaker 3: It's like that dating app Riah where you have to

431
00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:22,960
Speaker 3: be like, oh the certain level.

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00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:25,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, what do you do for fun? They wanted to

433
00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:28,320
Speaker 2: know where do you buy your clothes? Are those things

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00:20:28,359 --> 00:20:32,240
Speaker 2: cool enough for Billy? An advisor to Magnesis said that

435
00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,080
Speaker 2: they wanted people from quote great schools, so they have

436
00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:38,439
Speaker 2: the family background and education. So like, did you go

437
00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:40,720
Speaker 2: to college? Did you drop out after freshman year?

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Speaker 3: If I were a superman, Billy McFarland is like my bizarro,

439
00:20:43,800 --> 00:20:46,560
Speaker 3: He's the opposite of thing I care about it, Like.

440
00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:48,480
Speaker 2: Did you have to take out loans to go to college?

441
00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:51,639
Speaker 2: Were you one of the poorest? But yet if you

442
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Speaker 2: come from a wealthy family, why would you want the

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00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:57,199
Speaker 2: Magnesi's card, because you probably have a Centurion card. Is

444
00:20:57,240 --> 00:20:59,679
Speaker 2: there a library named after your grandpa at the college.

445
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,960
Speaker 3: I recognize that his audience, or his you know market,

446
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:06,120
Speaker 3: if you will, is basically the bridge and tunnel crowd

447
00:21:06,160 --> 00:21:07,080
Speaker 3: that he looks down on.

448
00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:11,320
Speaker 2: Yes, yes exactly. So you know who pops up here?

449
00:21:11,960 --> 00:21:16,240
Speaker 2: Friend of the show, Anna Delvey no wow. Before she

450
00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:18,720
Speaker 2: was living it up in Morocco, before she was staying

451
00:21:18,720 --> 00:21:22,680
Speaker 2: in hotels without paying, she was crashing at Billy McFarlane's

452
00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:23,840
Speaker 2: Magneice's headquarters.

453
00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:26,280
Speaker 3: Are you kidding me? And she was sleeping in a cubicle.

454
00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:30,639
Speaker 2: Not so much crashing as squatting. She stayed there for

455
00:21:30,720 --> 00:21:33,840
Speaker 2: four months in twenty thirteen and never paid a dime.

456
00:21:34,080 --> 00:21:36,680
Speaker 2: Good for her, and she only left when the company

457
00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:39,080
Speaker 2: moved to new headquarters.

458
00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:40,240
Speaker 3: Since he showed up and there was no way to

459
00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:40,600
Speaker 3: get in.

460
00:21:40,720 --> 00:21:43,840
Speaker 2: Yeah exactly. It was around that time that Billy met

461
00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:47,640
Speaker 2: another crazy diamond, a future business partner, a guy named

462
00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:52,719
Speaker 2: Jeffrey Atkins. Okay, you know him professionally as Jaw.

463
00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:56,520
Speaker 3: Oh wow, I love this nut magnet.

464
00:21:56,640 --> 00:22:01,119
Speaker 2: He's just a good Billy booked Jaw for one of

465
00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:02,800
Speaker 2: those Magnesis.

466
00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:05,920
Speaker 3: Cardholders of course the concerts, they shared.

467
00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:08,680
Speaker 2: A helicopter ride and it was magical and one thing

468
00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:11,480
Speaker 2: led to another, and pretty soon jaw Rule was part

469
00:22:11,520 --> 00:22:13,159
Speaker 2: of the creative team at Magnesis.

470
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:17,359
Speaker 3: Once again my total opposite. He takes helicopters. A helicopter,

471
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:19,960
Speaker 3: so me and jaw Rule are just tooling around in

472
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:21,959
Speaker 3: like one of those black helicopters to take off by

473
00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:23,919
Speaker 3: the like the water by the East River, and they

474
00:22:23,960 --> 00:22:25,920
Speaker 3: flew over to the Hampton's.

475
00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:27,520
Speaker 2: Or wherever, right, and they're looking down.

476
00:22:27,720 --> 00:22:30,840
Speaker 3: Can you imagine the conversation they were having, like all

477
00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:33,520
Speaker 3: their business adventures and endeavors they wanted to go.

478
00:22:33,760 --> 00:22:36,560
Speaker 2: They were just bsing each other over. I'm like over

479
00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:39,399
Speaker 2: and over, Oh my goodness, and each pretending like they

480
00:22:39,480 --> 00:22:41,320
Speaker 2: knew more about something than they really and.

481
00:22:41,280 --> 00:22:44,080
Speaker 3: Knew people that they don't know. Yes, yes, So the

482
00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:45,879
Speaker 3: name dropping in that chopper, oh.

483
00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:51,520
Speaker 2: God, and the cologne. So come twenty fifteen, Magnesis has

484
00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:54,840
Speaker 2: kind of taken off. Billy said there were ten thousand members,

485
00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:58,760
Speaker 2: but anything he says, you know they were either paying

486
00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:01,720
Speaker 2: twenty five dollars a month to use it or two

487
00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:04,600
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty dollars annually to have a proxy for

488
00:23:04,680 --> 00:23:07,360
Speaker 2: their debit card to get into jaw rules shows. Oh

489
00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:09,800
Speaker 2: there you go, right, So Billy, he said the company

490
00:23:09,800 --> 00:23:13,000
Speaker 2: made seventy percent of its revenue from annual membership fees

491
00:23:13,440 --> 00:23:16,199
Speaker 2: and the other thirty percent was from ad revenue and

492
00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,280
Speaker 2: event partnerships. And others were like, no, it was all

493
00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:21,560
Speaker 2: the branded events that were keeping things afloat. We didn't

494
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:22,879
Speaker 2: have that many people as members.

495
00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:24,400
Speaker 3: I was imagining that. Yeah.

496
00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:27,520
Speaker 2: So the base of operations and the perks for Magnesis

497
00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:30,600
Speaker 2: were all in New York, but then they branched out

498
00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,800
Speaker 2: to Boston and Chicago. Wow, But like, that's the thing

499
00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:35,679
Speaker 2: is the perch. You basically had to be in New

500
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:36,960
Speaker 2: York for the Magnesi's card.

501
00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:40,560
Speaker 3: I mean anything, what about his business connections in Philadelphia?

502
00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:42,119
Speaker 2: I don't know. I mean it looks like he's turned

503
00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:44,800
Speaker 2: his back on Philly. That's a bad idea. It's a

504
00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:45,639
Speaker 2: huge mistake.

505
00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:48,000
Speaker 3: Never turned your back on Philip ever, especially a fan

506
00:23:48,040 --> 00:23:50,160
Speaker 3: from Philly, like a Philly fan, like a sports fan.

507
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:51,480
Speaker 2: Is they're the greatest.

508
00:23:51,480 --> 00:23:52,119
Speaker 3: They're the best.

509
00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,960
Speaker 2: So they're like, Okay, you know what, Boston, Chicago, let's

510
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,280
Speaker 2: do that Milwaukee and they were like, we're going to

511
00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:03,680
Speaker 2: open up private clubs in DC and New York. Okay,

512
00:24:04,000 --> 00:24:06,720
Speaker 2: the first club was one in the penthouse of the

513
00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:08,080
Speaker 2: Hotel on Rivington.

514
00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:09,560
Speaker 3: You should have gone to Miami early.

515
00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:14,800
Speaker 2: Oh, this is Miami, right. So the Hotel on Rivington

516
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,639
Speaker 2: is a four star Lower East Side Manhattan hotel. It

517
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,639
Speaker 2: looks to be a Hilton Boutique hotel property now, and

518
00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:24,240
Speaker 2: the penthouse is still a venue that you can rent

519
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:25,600
Speaker 2: out for like weddings events.

520
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:27,160
Speaker 3: Yeah.

521
00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:29,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's got like three levels or something. So

522
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,760
Speaker 2: Magnese's staff would hang out there during the day, having

523
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:37,520
Speaker 2: business meetings and making the actual metal cards they had,

524
00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:38,600
Speaker 2: like the little machine there.

525
00:24:38,840 --> 00:24:41,400
Speaker 3: Wait what, they didn't have a company that was made.

526
00:24:41,160 --> 00:24:42,960
Speaker 2: They didn't have a lot of members if you could

527
00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:46,800
Speaker 2: do the exactly and so that they would make those.

528
00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:50,680
Speaker 2: It's like some sort of prison shop. And then when

529
00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,720
Speaker 2: the work day was done, they'd let loose and party

530
00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:56,520
Speaker 2: and the members would be admitted. They'd sip free drinks

531
00:24:56,520 --> 00:24:58,520
Speaker 2: while like chatting about where they went to college and

532
00:24:58,560 --> 00:24:59,600
Speaker 2: their favorite boutiques.

533
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:01,119
Speaker 3: I suppoke whatever they like.

534
00:25:01,240 --> 00:25:02,560
Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Regina.

535
00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:05,760
Speaker 6: I went to sandal One's State and I shot at Mervas.

536
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,680
Speaker 6: You know that's that's why they don't let me act.

537
00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:11,720
Speaker 6: Oh god, I mean, I am exactly what he wants

538
00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:15,040
Speaker 6: something his club. It wasn't it wasn't as chill as

539
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:18,280
Speaker 6: that those Sarah. No, these were all just like bros

540
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:20,000
Speaker 6: playing at being players.

541
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:21,879
Speaker 3: So it was like a sausage party of the tender.

542
00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:24,720
Speaker 2: They got wild. It was described as basically a luxury

543
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:26,840
Speaker 2: frat house, like, ohosimas on me?

544
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:27,840
Speaker 3: Everybody.

545
00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:30,760
Speaker 2: Did the owner of the hotel like this.

546
00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:32,840
Speaker 3: I'm guessing no, absolutely not.

547
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:37,119
Speaker 2: At one point, Magnesis held a party for five hundred people.

548
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:39,960
Speaker 2: Is it the sum total of the membership? Who's to say.

549
00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:42,440
Speaker 2: But that was the last straw for the landlord. They got.

550
00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:45,520
Speaker 2: They didn't just get kicked out, they got sued. Yeah.

551
00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:50,560
Speaker 2: The landlord filed the lawsuit Billy and Magneis for quote,

552
00:25:50,760 --> 00:25:54,119
Speaker 2: improper use of a residential space for commercial activities and

553
00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:55,640
Speaker 2: prop pretty damages.

554
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:56,800
Speaker 3: Not making your damn cards here.

555
00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:00,280
Speaker 2: Billy's like, that's bogus, not guilty, your honor, And then

556
00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,439
Speaker 2: he settled out of court and the business picked up

557
00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:05,240
Speaker 2: stakes and moved again. So the landlord was the only

558
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:09,119
Speaker 2: one not loving it. Members were no longer gruntled. They

559
00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:09,879
Speaker 2: were getting.

560
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:11,240
Speaker 3: Disgruntled that's not good.

561
00:26:11,359 --> 00:26:15,080
Speaker 2: So some I want to keep everybody gruntled in this life.

562
00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:19,240
Speaker 2: Some perks weren't ever made available. Sometimes their membership renewal

563
00:26:19,280 --> 00:26:22,959
Speaker 2: payments hit earlier than they were supposed to, Like it's

564
00:26:22,960 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 2: supposed to be on the fifteenth of the month, and

565
00:26:24,600 --> 00:26:29,680
Speaker 2: on the fifth it was Billy's got Billy's got to eat.

566
00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:33,600
Speaker 2: Sometimes members would order tickets to events and like never

567
00:26:33,640 --> 00:26:36,399
Speaker 2: get them or not be able to get anyone on

568
00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:39,840
Speaker 2: the phone about a refund about that. But like man

569
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:43,200
Speaker 2: like nieces could not be stopped. They wanted more, they

570
00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:47,359
Speaker 2: wanted to grow, and they had a secret weapon, jaw rule.

571
00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:51,080
Speaker 3: Oh right, Yeah, they.

572
00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:52,520
Speaker 2: Just carted that guy. They wheeled him out for all

573
00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:56,200
Speaker 2: sorts of appearances. I mean, if jaw Rule can't convince

574
00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:58,040
Speaker 2: you to pay two hundred and fifty dollars a year

575
00:26:58,080 --> 00:27:00,600
Speaker 2: to use your debit card and mingle with other people

576
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:02,720
Speaker 2: who like pretending they have a black card, I don't.

577
00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:05,720
Speaker 3: Know who can couldn't convince me. Across the stream.

578
00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:12,760
Speaker 2: We had Spling, we had Magnesis. Soon another brand emerged

579
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:17,560
Speaker 2: from the twisted mind of Billy McFarland fire R F

580
00:27:17,800 --> 00:27:18,520
Speaker 2: y R E.

581
00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:22,479
Speaker 3: I was thinking that they started like a helicopter company.

582
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:25,000
Speaker 2: They may have, and it just slipped through the cracks.

583
00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:29,680
Speaker 2: I don't know. In twenty sixteen, Billy started fire Media Incorporated,

584
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:31,600
Speaker 2: and of course there was.

585
00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:34,639
Speaker 3: An app naturally had to be the companies. Everything was

586
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:35,439
Speaker 3: then well.

587
00:27:35,480 --> 00:27:39,200
Speaker 2: The company was created to pair up musical acts with vendors.

588
00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:41,120
Speaker 2: And I don't know about the particulars of that. That's

589
00:27:41,160 --> 00:27:43,520
Speaker 2: how it was described. I don't know what that means.

590
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:45,080
Speaker 3: I'm a booking agent, I guess.

591
00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:48,879
Speaker 2: But Billy told investors that fire Media was worth ninety

592
00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:55,719
Speaker 2: million dollars, and in time it was discovered he it

593
00:27:55,760 --> 00:27:58,360
Speaker 2: was turns out he'd only done like sixty k business,

594
00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:01,880
Speaker 2: but he had ninety mine in social currency. I mean,

595
00:28:02,040 --> 00:28:04,560
Speaker 2: jaw rule is worth fifty million of bat online right

596
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:08,200
Speaker 2: walking in the speaking of jaw Rule, he and Billy

597
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:14,480
Speaker 2: were becoming BFFs, best friends forever, best friends, fire them.

598
00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:17,840
Speaker 2: They went to shows together, they went to dinners, They

599
00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:19,919
Speaker 2: even took flying lessons together.

600
00:28:20,160 --> 00:28:24,080
Speaker 3: I knew it was so cute.

601
00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:26,199
Speaker 2: They just like, you know, they like but it was

602
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:32,240
Speaker 2: like it was like top gun and then they would

603
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:35,000
Speaker 2: go and play volleyball and then they'd get back in

604
00:28:35,160 --> 00:28:37,639
Speaker 2: and like you know, they had like little names for

605
00:28:37,680 --> 00:28:41,640
Speaker 2: each other, and they'd buzz each other, as the legend goes,

606
00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:44,400
Speaker 2: meaning this is the story that Billy takes to take

607
00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:47,440
Speaker 2: take it with a palette. Assault likes. It was fate

608
00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:50,280
Speaker 2: that showed them the next step in the fire journey.

609
00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:55,360
Speaker 2: Billy told Rolling Stone Magazine quote, I was a computer programmer,

610
00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:59,880
Speaker 2: which I'm sorry, but that's news to me. And after computer,

611
00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:02,920
Speaker 2: the two things I love most are the ocean and

612
00:29:03,000 --> 00:29:04,640
Speaker 2: for some reason, rap music.

613
00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:07,920
Speaker 3: And for some reason like don't blame me, man, I

614
00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:10,560
Speaker 3: can't explain it. Look, I know it's weird. You put

615
00:29:10,560 --> 00:29:12,360
Speaker 3: it on my butt starts a bouncing.

616
00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:17,160
Speaker 2: So these three hobbies of mine somehow led me to

617
00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:21,160
Speaker 2: meeting my partner Ja Rule. These hobbies the ocean, the ocean,

618
00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:24,720
Speaker 2: my hobbies of computers, the ocean, and rap music. The

619
00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:25,840
Speaker 2: hobby is the ocean.

620
00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:27,280
Speaker 3: Uh.

621
00:29:27,520 --> 00:29:30,960
Speaker 2: Together we became friends and business partners. For us, it

622
00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:34,040
Speaker 2: was always a battle of pushing the limits. On what

623
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:35,600
Speaker 2: is a battle of pushing the limits?

624
00:29:35,600 --> 00:29:39,120
Speaker 3: None of this makes sense, Elizabeth, don't look for logic. Heart.

625
00:29:40,240 --> 00:29:42,720
Speaker 2: Once we got flying lessons together, we got on these

626
00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,400
Speaker 2: really bad forty year old planes and flew from New

627
00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,560
Speaker 2: York to the Bahamas, not really knowing the Bahamas very well.

628
00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,120
Speaker 3: They flew from New York to the Bahamas.

629
00:29:50,760 --> 00:29:54,520
Speaker 2: Ran out of gas, and landed in the Ezumas, and

630
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:56,120
Speaker 2: both of us immediately fell.

631
00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:57,520
Speaker 3: In love with each other.

632
00:29:57,960 --> 00:30:00,400
Speaker 2: With the island, I'm guessing, ah Okay, but yeah, he

633
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,240
Speaker 2: kind of leaves that up for speaking of which, let's

634
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:05,240
Speaker 2: learn a little bit about the Egzuomas.

635
00:30:05,480 --> 00:30:05,880
Speaker 3: Please.

636
00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:08,960
Speaker 2: It looks like Ezema and it's really hard for me

637
00:30:09,000 --> 00:30:12,120
Speaker 2: not to call them the Exzemas is ex u s

638
00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:16,480
Speaker 2: correct Ezuomas. The main island is this cluster of like

639
00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:19,040
Speaker 2: three hundred and sixty five little islands and keys in

640
00:30:19,240 --> 00:30:20,320
Speaker 2: Great Egzuma.

641
00:30:20,600 --> 00:30:23,240
Speaker 3: Okay, never been there, so this is all new to me.

642
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:25,040
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I just have done a lot of

643
00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:29,160
Speaker 2: Internet stuff. You know, computers are hobby exact. I'm also

644
00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:31,000
Speaker 2: an ocean hobbyist.

645
00:30:31,760 --> 00:30:33,280
Speaker 3: And things in the ocean and.

646
00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:39,240
Speaker 2: Things and things above the ocean around them. It's that's

647
00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:41,280
Speaker 2: that's not where they landed though. They touched down on

648
00:30:41,400 --> 00:30:44,720
Speaker 2: Norman's Key, okay, and this place you know, and it's

649
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:47,960
Speaker 2: Norman's k Key, like they're different. You know, people pronounce

650
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:49,360
Speaker 2: it k people pronounce it key.

651
00:30:49,480 --> 00:30:51,520
Speaker 3: It's a Florida keys with an E, but some cas

652
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:52,200
Speaker 3: with a A Y.

653
00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:55,240
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is C A Y. And so I found

654
00:30:55,280 --> 00:30:58,000
Speaker 2: it both ways. K or key. I'm going to go

655
00:30:58,040 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 2: with key, but you know, maybe K. And if I'm

656
00:31:01,640 --> 00:31:05,080
Speaker 2: saying it wrong, I apologize. Sometimes I hear myself later

657
00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:07,440
Speaker 2: saying stuff in the recording and I don't remember that

658
00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:08,120
Speaker 2: I said it wrong.

659
00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:10,520
Speaker 3: Oh, I'll use it. I'll pronounce the same word two

660
00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:11,840
Speaker 3: three different different ways.

661
00:31:11,920 --> 00:31:16,320
Speaker 2: Pointed at me recently that I said brooch instead of broach.

662
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:19,320
Speaker 2: I never say brooch. I know that's not how you

663
00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:21,080
Speaker 2: say it. And I said it over and over again

664
00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:22,960
Speaker 2: on the show and someone was like, did you know

665
00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:25,000
Speaker 2: you did that? I was like, that's not No, that's

666
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:26,360
Speaker 2: not how you say it. I didn't say that, and

667
00:31:26,400 --> 00:31:28,640
Speaker 2: they played it and I was like, oh my god,

668
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:30,440
Speaker 2: I have brain damage.

669
00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:32,840
Speaker 3: My favorite thing to do recently is to spell my

670
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:35,720
Speaker 3: own name wrong and emails that's wrong.

671
00:31:35,960 --> 00:31:39,280
Speaker 2: Do we have like a like a like a CE problem.

672
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:42,840
Speaker 3: I'm talking like the wrong letter. It's not like an

673
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:46,200
Speaker 3: out of order like Z R A O E R

674
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:48,280
Speaker 3: I N. I'm like, that is not even how my

675
00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:49,120
Speaker 3: name goes.

676
00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:50,880
Speaker 2: What is wrong?

677
00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:51,560
Speaker 5: I don't know?

678
00:31:51,640 --> 00:31:53,640
Speaker 2: And you and I have talked about this before. We

679
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:55,400
Speaker 2: know how there are words we know how to say,

680
00:31:55,480 --> 00:31:56,960
Speaker 2: and then we don't know how to say them on here.

681
00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:58,959
Speaker 3: So I think it's a carbon monoxide leak because I've

682
00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 3: yet to have COVID, so I can't even blamed that.

683
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:04,160
Speaker 2: I don't know. I've never had COVID either. Look at these.

684
00:32:04,320 --> 00:32:04,960
Speaker 3: We don't get out.

685
00:32:05,000 --> 00:32:07,040
Speaker 2: I don't leave the house, so that's how I do this.

686
00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:09,200
Speaker 2: I go here, and then that's it.

687
00:32:09,280 --> 00:32:11,280
Speaker 3: I just go by myself in places in my car.

688
00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:13,239
Speaker 3: So I'm like, unless you get in my car, I'm

689
00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:14,320
Speaker 3: probably not there. It is.

690
00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:17,120
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I don't know. I'm like, but my brain's broken.

691
00:32:17,280 --> 00:32:19,800
Speaker 3: So brooch brooch, kyk okay.

692
00:32:19,320 --> 00:32:25,239
Speaker 2: Whatever, Sealandsaland so this place Norman's Key. I'm gonna call

693
00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 2: it key. Don't get mad at me. This place was

694
00:32:27,720 --> 00:32:30,320
Speaker 2: once owned by one of the founders of the mediying cartel.

695
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:34,600
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, no, not ridiculous crime, regular, star of many

696
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:37,800
Speaker 2: a college boy's T shirt collection, hippo lover, and overall

697
00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:40,200
Speaker 2: horrible human being, Pablo Escobar.

698
00:32:40,400 --> 00:32:43,040
Speaker 3: I'm many tongue in cheek.

699
00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:46,760
Speaker 2: It was. It was the headquarters for Carlos Lads. Is

700
00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:47,160
Speaker 2: it lazy.

701
00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:49,680
Speaker 3: Yes, that was the smuggler.

702
00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:52,560
Speaker 2: Yeah, the drug smuggler. It was his drug smuggling head.

703
00:32:52,920 --> 00:32:54,680
Speaker 3: Here is the initial smuggler.

704
00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:56,120
Speaker 2: Yes, from seventy eight to eighty two.

705
00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:57,160
Speaker 3: Yeah, he was the one.

706
00:32:57,280 --> 00:33:00,880
Speaker 2: And then Carlos Toro, a Medayan car tel Reps said,

707
00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,840
Speaker 2: quote Norman's key Kay was a playground. I have a

708
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:07,240
Speaker 2: vivid picture of being picked up in a land rover

709
00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:10,280
Speaker 2: with the top down and naked women driving to come

710
00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:14,000
Speaker 2: and welcome me from my airplane. And there we partied.

711
00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:18,560
Speaker 2: It was sodom and gomorrah, drug sex, no police. You

712
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:20,120
Speaker 2: made the rules and it was fun.

713
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,160
Speaker 3: Oh man, yeah, boy, that sounds like a nightmare being

714
00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:24,240
Speaker 3: with those people. Oh god.

715
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:27,600
Speaker 2: Right. So the cartel they built an airstrip there, obviously

716
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:30,400
Speaker 2: for their drug running. And there was one marine biologist

717
00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:32,800
Speaker 2: who fought this whole thing like tooth and nail. But

718
00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:35,960
Speaker 2: when Carlos was arrested, the whole thing flamed itself out

719
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:38,840
Speaker 2: and the government sees the land and then later sold

720
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:43,000
Speaker 2: it to investors of course, so it was from an

721
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:46,400
Speaker 2: investment group that Billy and Fire Media rented the island.

722
00:33:46,680 --> 00:33:47,640
Speaker 3: They rented it. Yeah.

723
00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:50,680
Speaker 2: See he and Jah Rule had a vision on normans.

724
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:54,280
Speaker 2: They wanted to have a music festival there, the likes

725
00:33:54,280 --> 00:33:57,120
Speaker 2: of which that had never been seen, and this would

726
00:33:57,160 --> 00:33:57,680
Speaker 2: come true in.

727
00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:02,680
Speaker 3: A way with a tiny regulated airstrip is the means of.

728
00:34:03,400 --> 00:34:05,400
Speaker 2: At this point, like it looks amazing, right.

729
00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:06,840
Speaker 3: Okay, sod.

730
00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:09,759
Speaker 2: Yeah, the waters are unreal blue. You can only get

731
00:34:09,800 --> 00:34:12,080
Speaker 2: there from like chartered flights or boats, but they actually

732
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:16,080
Speaker 2: have an air There was burger place there called mcduff's,

733
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:18,520
Speaker 2: and then it has since expanded out into this huge

734
00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:22,200
Speaker 2: hole posh compound with like bungalows and a surf club

735
00:34:22,200 --> 00:34:26,000
Speaker 2: and all these like luxury facilities, venture crazy dreamy looking.

736
00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:26,680
Speaker 3: Yeah okay.

737
00:34:27,160 --> 00:34:30,200
Speaker 2: Billy leased the whole island from the owners at the time,

738
00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:34,160
Speaker 2: and they had one caveat. He couldn't talk about Pablo

739
00:34:34,320 --> 00:34:37,080
Speaker 2: Escobar in any of the promo materials for the festival.

740
00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:40,799
Speaker 2: The no and Billy's like all right, cool, So he

741
00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:43,880
Speaker 2: hires models and stars to come down and do like

742
00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:48,480
Speaker 2: video and promo like photo shoots, Bella Hadid and that

743
00:34:48,600 --> 00:34:50,080
Speaker 2: ilk oh wow.

744
00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:50,439
Speaker 3: Yeah.

745
00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:56,000
Speaker 2: And then when the video was when the video was

746
00:34:56,080 --> 00:34:58,680
Speaker 2: ready and Billy wanted the world to know about his festival,

747
00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:03,359
Speaker 2: Kendall Jenner and Hayley Bieber and then other influencers. They

748
00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:06,719
Speaker 2: did this coordinated synchronized social media post like.

749
00:35:06,680 --> 00:35:10,279
Speaker 3: At the same time synchronized literally synchronized slowed.

750
00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:13,040
Speaker 2: Or whatever it is, yeah, on each of their meat

751
00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:15,360
Speaker 2: on their social media feeds. And so they posted the

752
00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:19,560
Speaker 2: video which described the Fire Festival as quote, an immersive

753
00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:24,680
Speaker 2: music festival to transformative weekends on the boundaries of the impossible.

754
00:35:25,880 --> 00:35:28,240
Speaker 2: I know, and from there this is horrible.

755
00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:34,719
Speaker 3: From there, I'm really I'm revolted by hype and especially

756
00:35:35,040 --> 00:35:37,640
Speaker 3: empty hype, Like I don't mind if you're hyping something

757
00:35:37,680 --> 00:35:41,880
Speaker 3: that actually is exists and that people should know about it, but.

758
00:35:42,400 --> 00:35:46,239
Speaker 2: Authentic and then there's nothing authentic. Yeah, And so from

759
00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:48,839
Speaker 2: there the publicity machine for this like kicked into high gear.

760
00:35:49,440 --> 00:35:52,360
Speaker 2: But there was one little thing. Billy, when promoting the

761
00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:56,920
Speaker 2: Fire Festival, loved to rave about Norman's Key, and he

762
00:35:56,960 --> 00:35:59,480
Speaker 2: made sure to tell anyone who listened that the island

763
00:35:59,520 --> 00:36:03,200
Speaker 2: was once on by Pablo Escobar, and that was not

764
00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:07,919
Speaker 2: even true. Pablo Escar never owned it, and that violated

765
00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:12,719
Speaker 2: the terms of the lease of the island. So the

766
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:15,000
Speaker 2: owners of the island gave him and jaw ruled the boot.

767
00:36:15,040 --> 00:36:16,680
Speaker 2: They're like, that's it, you're out of here. And that

768
00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:19,560
Speaker 2: was four months before the festival was happened.

769
00:36:19,680 --> 00:36:22,160
Speaker 3: They lost the island, yeah, and so.

770
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:25,359
Speaker 2: The duo then they searched for two months and they

771
00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:28,800
Speaker 2: finally got permission to use this undeveloped site at Roker's

772
00:36:28,880 --> 00:36:32,880
Speaker 2: Point on Grand Ezuma. And so they started promoting this

773
00:36:32,960 --> 00:36:37,000
Speaker 2: location to the potential festivalgoers. They kept up the line

774
00:36:37,040 --> 00:36:40,960
Speaker 2: about this being held on Pablo Escobar's private island, and

775
00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:45,080
Speaker 2: this place wasn't Yeah, exactly, it wasn't an island and

776
00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:48,759
Speaker 2: it wasn't private. It was the giant parking lot of

777
00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:52,600
Speaker 2: an abandoned resort development next to Sandal's Emerald Bay.

778
00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:53,840
Speaker 3: Resort, a Sandal resort.

779
00:36:54,840 --> 00:37:00,600
Speaker 2: No one, No one knew that this was the original

780
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:03,080
Speaker 2: location because the whole time Billy had been calling it

781
00:37:03,200 --> 00:37:07,680
Speaker 2: Fire Key, not Fire Island. So a little bit about

782
00:37:07,680 --> 00:37:12,400
Speaker 2: the site. No villas, no restaurants, no clubhouses, just sand,

783
00:37:12,520 --> 00:37:18,120
Speaker 2: no physical structures, no beach, no electricity, no beach, no internet,

784
00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:19,200
Speaker 2: no sense.

785
00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:21,759
Speaker 3: Like what you don't even get a beach.

786
00:37:21,880 --> 00:37:24,000
Speaker 2: No, but that's not what the website showed. Like the

787
00:37:24,040 --> 00:37:28,080
Speaker 2: website had like detail all this access to luxury villas

788
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:30,960
Speaker 2: meals by celebrity chefs. And then there's the lineup of

789
00:37:31,040 --> 00:37:33,280
Speaker 2: bands like this really lineup.

790
00:37:33,360 --> 00:37:37,760
Speaker 3: He's showing images that are like from some Sandals style resort,

791
00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,720
Speaker 3: but even nicer, right, and he's showing white sand beaches,

792
00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:45,200
Speaker 3: celebrity chefs, and this is what people are expecting.

793
00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:47,959
Speaker 2: Right, that's what they're expecting. So the bands right blank

794
00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:55,040
Speaker 2: is the headliner, Major Laser Disclosure, Migos, Push a t Tiger,

795
00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:01,279
Speaker 2: good good music. It wasn't sure like who in the

796
00:38:01,320 --> 00:38:03,720
Speaker 2: collective is Big Sean going to be there? Is Kanye

797
00:38:03,880 --> 00:38:06,480
Speaker 2: going to be there? But they didn't pin it down,

798
00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,480
Speaker 2: and then a whole list of others. Right, So people

799
00:38:09,520 --> 00:38:12,839
Speaker 2: bought tickets before the location change, but like Billy didn't

800
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:16,640
Speaker 2: tell anyone about that, and then the ticket sales were

801
00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:18,480
Speaker 2: all like kind of a knee mick at that point,

802
00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:21,840
Speaker 2: but like this this was going to be like Coachello.

803
00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:24,880
Speaker 2: So the whole thing takes place over two weekends April

804
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:27,040
Speaker 2: and May of twenty seventeen.

805
00:38:26,920 --> 00:38:28,320
Speaker 3: So days months.

806
00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:30,480
Speaker 2: Wow, I think it was like late April early.

807
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:32,040
Speaker 3: Sure, I know, but I mean, like still, he couldn't

808
00:38:32,080 --> 00:38:33,480
Speaker 3: even get it in one, get it all in one.

809
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:36,560
Speaker 2: No day tickets would set you back five hundred to

810
00:38:36,560 --> 00:38:40,200
Speaker 2: fifteen hundred dollars a pop for one day, and VIP

811
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:45,480
Speaker 2: packages which included airfare, luxury tent accommodation, luxury t ran

812
00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:46,360
Speaker 2: twelve thousand.

813
00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:48,000
Speaker 3: I love the term luxury well.

814
00:38:48,000 --> 00:38:50,080
Speaker 2: When they talked about luxury tents, they told people it

815
00:38:50,160 --> 00:38:54,960
Speaker 2: meant modern, eco friendly geodesic domes. Oh so like it

816
00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,440
Speaker 2: was appealing to like the crystals and succulents.

817
00:38:57,600 --> 00:38:59,480
Speaker 3: Yes, Soundbath exactly.

818
00:39:00,160 --> 00:39:04,600
Speaker 2: So the sound Bath set tickets weren't really moving in

819
00:39:04,640 --> 00:39:06,200
Speaker 2: the lead up to the festival, Like I said, so

820
00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:08,600
Speaker 2: Billy he needed to raise cash if he was going

821
00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:11,319
Speaker 2: to make this happen. So he hustled up investors, he

822
00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:14,000
Speaker 2: took out loans, and since he had never put on

823
00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:17,560
Speaker 2: an event like this, he looked for event producers to hire.

824
00:39:18,280 --> 00:39:20,880
Speaker 2: And this is four months before the show. So according

825
00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:26,200
Speaker 2: to Rolling Stone quote, they wanted everything concierge service, festival management,

826
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:29,879
Speaker 2: VIP amenities. Says one executive involved in the process. When

827
00:39:29,880 --> 00:39:32,560
Speaker 2: we started asking questions, you know, like what are these

828
00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:35,520
Speaker 2: luxury villa units you have? There was this awkward silence.

829
00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:38,719
Speaker 2: Then they said that's where you guys come in. We

830
00:39:38,719 --> 00:39:41,960
Speaker 2: were like what When the event producers did the math,

831
00:39:42,000 --> 00:39:45,520
Speaker 2: it estimated the cost to provide temporary villas alone at

832
00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:49,760
Speaker 2: ten million dollars. Worse, Concerned about a neophyte promoter's ability

833
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:53,200
Speaker 2: to pay, the event producers demanded full payment and expenses

834
00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:56,680
Speaker 2: up front and estimated twelve million dollars or more. We

835
00:39:56,680 --> 00:39:58,720
Speaker 2: were all ready to go, but they were so shocked

836
00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:00,720
Speaker 2: by our numbers that it just didn't come to fruition,

837
00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:03,960
Speaker 2: says the executive, adding that quote a couple more staging

838
00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:06,960
Speaker 2: companies had a similar experience. They would say it's going

839
00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:09,399
Speaker 2: to cost like five million dollars to stage this thing,

840
00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:11,759
Speaker 2: and the fire guys would say, no, it'll cost three

841
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:15,160
Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars. There was a complete detachment from reality.

842
00:40:15,400 --> 00:40:18,240
Speaker 2: The executive chuckles. They were sure the costs were nowhere

843
00:40:18,239 --> 00:40:19,960
Speaker 2: near what the experts were telling them.

844
00:40:20,680 --> 00:40:24,279
Speaker 3: I love the brash confidence in the weights and they're like,

845
00:40:24,360 --> 00:40:27,160
Speaker 3: I know what, Why would I need insurance for that?

846
00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:28,920
Speaker 3: Why would I need medical staff?

847
00:40:29,120 --> 00:40:29,600
Speaker 5: Exactly?

848
00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:32,680
Speaker 2: So there's like little or no planning involved in this thing,

849
00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:35,200
Speaker 2: and now it was like down to the wyre. Let's

850
00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:59,960
Speaker 2: take a break. When we return. Billy makes history, Zaren Elizabeth,

851
00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:01,839
Speaker 2: there a right firefest.

852
00:41:02,320 --> 00:41:04,160
Speaker 3: This seems like when you have a you get invited

853
00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,080
Speaker 3: to like a family function, and you know it's just

854
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:07,919
Speaker 3: going to be a total disaster and you're just looking

855
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:10,120
Speaker 3: on the calendar like, oh, it's coming up. Oh.

856
00:41:10,160 --> 00:41:12,279
Speaker 2: And it's like when it's like, well, no, I'll host

857
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:15,200
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving at my house and it's like where's everyone going

858
00:41:15,280 --> 00:41:17,800
Speaker 2: to sit? Like you have like two chairs in one bathroom,

859
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:23,160
Speaker 2: and like you even invited like twenty five. Oh, it's

860
00:41:23,200 --> 00:41:26,680
Speaker 2: totally cool. Can you bring the turkey? That's what this

861
00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:30,080
Speaker 2: feels like. So we have a major music festival in

862
00:41:30,160 --> 00:41:33,440
Speaker 2: the Bahamas that's supposed to take place on a luxurious

863
00:41:33,480 --> 00:41:36,640
Speaker 2: private island, but is actually set up in an abandoned

864
00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:40,880
Speaker 2: parking lot and there's no real planning or experienced the

865
00:41:40,920 --> 00:41:45,279
Speaker 2: whole thing. And Billy McFarlane, the mastermind, is trying to

866
00:41:45,360 --> 00:41:46,840
Speaker 2: hustle up money to make this happen.

867
00:41:47,080 --> 00:41:49,360
Speaker 3: It's just like fixing a crayon, Elizabeth.

868
00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:51,839
Speaker 2: You know what, he should have fixed a couple more

869
00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:55,440
Speaker 2: crans for this one. He'd sold five thousand tickets, but

870
00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:56,680
Speaker 2: that wasn't enough to get us.

871
00:41:56,640 --> 00:41:57,240
Speaker 3: Off the ground.

872
00:41:57,560 --> 00:42:03,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, so he one day, I guess, yeah, he yeah,

873
00:42:03,239 --> 00:42:06,120
Speaker 2: he approached Comcast and convinced.

874
00:42:05,760 --> 00:42:06,600
Speaker 3: That the cable company.

875
00:42:06,800 --> 00:42:09,920
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, can convince them to put up ten point

876
00:42:09,960 --> 00:42:13,879
Speaker 2: five million with a possible additional twenty five million dollar

877
00:42:14,000 --> 00:42:16,200
Speaker 2: investment down the road if the festival was a hit.

878
00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:20,160
Speaker 2: This is this is Exfinity. This is where my internet

879
00:42:20,400 --> 00:42:21,960
Speaker 2: money goes. This is where my fees go.

880
00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:24,040
Speaker 3: Wow, it's like, you know, because this is gonna be hit,

881
00:42:24,040 --> 00:42:25,600
Speaker 3: We're gonna probably want to do a few of these.

882
00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:27,720
Speaker 3: You want to get in on the ground floor exactly.

883
00:42:27,960 --> 00:42:29,839
Speaker 2: So here's the problem is that, in order to get

884
00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:33,279
Speaker 2: the investment, Billy told them, hey, fire meat is worth

885
00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:34,320
Speaker 2: ninety million dollars.

886
00:42:34,400 --> 00:42:35,040
Speaker 3: I forgot about it.

887
00:42:35,080 --> 00:42:36,719
Speaker 2: And they're like, why do you need money from us?

888
00:42:37,520 --> 00:42:40,680
Speaker 2: But like, how that could even be remotely possible? Is

889
00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:43,920
Speaker 2: anyone's guess? Like that's the delusion of grandeur? Right. So

890
00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:46,719
Speaker 2: Comcast was like, that's great, we love that for you.

891
00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:50,200
Speaker 2: I need proof of the valuation. Billy is like, I

892
00:42:50,239 --> 00:42:50,799
Speaker 2: don't have it.

893
00:42:51,160 --> 00:42:52,280
Speaker 3: You want business.

894
00:42:51,880 --> 00:42:54,600
Speaker 2: Papers want Actually, Like what do you want? But I

895
00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:56,880
Speaker 2: typed it out and I printed this piece of paper.

896
00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:00,360
Speaker 3: Bro I just told you.

897
00:43:00,680 --> 00:43:03,719
Speaker 2: Lift. So they're like, you know, they back out, of

898
00:43:03,760 --> 00:43:04,920
Speaker 2: course absolutely No.

899
00:43:05,160 --> 00:43:06,880
Speaker 3: Didn't even get to a deal of memory or or

900
00:43:06,880 --> 00:43:10,240
Speaker 3: whatever memorandum understanding no MoU.

901
00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:11,920
Speaker 2: Up in this one and then But Billy like doesn't

902
00:43:11,920 --> 00:43:14,760
Speaker 2: tell anyone that Comcast backed out, so he'd been gassing

903
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:17,560
Speaker 2: everyone on the Concast coming through with ten point five mil.

904
00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:22,360
Speaker 2: He then told investors that he had cancelation insurance in place.

905
00:43:22,520 --> 00:43:24,240
Speaker 3: I was wondering about that, and you know, you're.

906
00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:26,920
Speaker 2: Going to recoup your money if things go sideways. So

907
00:43:26,960 --> 00:43:29,960
Speaker 2: that was about on par with the ninety mil so

908
00:43:30,080 --> 00:43:34,440
Speaker 2: Billy and Jaw Rule they had promised like really lux accommodations,

909
00:43:34,880 --> 00:43:37,440
Speaker 2: but they most certainly didn't have the budget for that.

910
00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:41,360
Speaker 2: They were doing everything on credit, obviously, job rules credit.

911
00:43:42,239 --> 00:43:44,640
Speaker 2: In the days leading up to the festival, people were

912
00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:47,239
Speaker 2: complaining because like Billy and Jaw Rule were just like

913
00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:51,160
Speaker 2: driving around in ATV's popping wheelies on the site, just

914
00:43:51,239 --> 00:43:52,120
Speaker 2: paling around.

915
00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:56,440
Speaker 3: They were just buddy funny. They weren't actually doing anything.

916
00:43:56,440 --> 00:43:57,440
Speaker 3: They weren't on the phone.

917
00:43:57,320 --> 00:44:00,840
Speaker 2: They're like, watch this, Billy Billy, watch I get up,

918
00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:04,279
Speaker 2: I can get up. Oh cool, jaw jaw or you

919
00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:05,239
Speaker 2: know what there is.

920
00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:09,520
Speaker 3: Joh well, usually some rap while I do a wheelie?

921
00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:11,800
Speaker 2: Will you sing a rap to me?

922
00:44:11,840 --> 00:44:14,000
Speaker 3: Because it's my hobbies about the ocean.

923
00:44:16,680 --> 00:44:21,280
Speaker 2: Ocean for me. So they're just like funning around. Meanwhile,

924
00:44:21,320 --> 00:44:24,120
Speaker 2: events staff is like hustling. They had to truck in

925
00:44:24,360 --> 00:44:28,680
Speaker 2: sand to create the promised beach. It was all crushed gravel.

926
00:44:28,960 --> 00:44:31,960
Speaker 3: Oh god. And so they're like clean out some sand

927
00:44:32,360 --> 00:44:35,960
Speaker 3: and then Billy.

928
00:44:34,680 --> 00:44:37,920
Speaker 2: Actually googled, quote how to rent a stage and how

929
00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:40,920
Speaker 2: to make a beat, and then went from there. Really yeah,

930
00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,799
Speaker 2: and so the accommodations again no villas, only tents, but

931
00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:47,560
Speaker 2: not the luxury geodesic domes mentioned in the promo materials.

932
00:44:47,920 --> 00:44:51,560
Speaker 2: These were like basic white canvas tents. They were FEMA tents.

933
00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:54,120
Speaker 3: Like oh god, just like so just field tense for

934
00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:55,279
Speaker 3: an emergency field tents.

935
00:44:55,400 --> 00:44:58,320
Speaker 2: It looked like an episode of mash And so Billy

936
00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:01,719
Speaker 2: hadn't paid the fancy cater he hired, so they backed out.

937
00:45:02,120 --> 00:45:04,680
Speaker 2: And then there's the issue of water. So like, there's

938
00:45:04,680 --> 00:45:07,880
Speaker 2: this one event producer, Andy King, and he had like

939
00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:11,560
Speaker 2: a long and storied career, as quote the concierge of

940
00:45:11,600 --> 00:45:15,000
Speaker 2: New York City. He was known for throwing really fabulous parties.

941
00:45:15,040 --> 00:45:17,359
Speaker 2: He'd have like great you know, entertainers there.

942
00:45:17,600 --> 00:45:18,440
Speaker 3: How did he get suckered?

943
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:21,080
Speaker 2: Billy hired him to work on the festival and he's

944
00:45:21,120 --> 00:45:24,000
Speaker 2: like that sounds fire to me, and like he did. Okay, right, so.

945
00:45:24,280 --> 00:45:27,080
Speaker 3: There's he had.

946
00:45:27,239 --> 00:45:30,239
Speaker 2: You know, he was just a supportive fellow. There's this

947
00:45:30,280 --> 00:45:33,880
Speaker 2: documentary on Netflix called Fire, The Greatest Party That Never Happened,

948
00:45:34,520 --> 00:45:36,760
Speaker 2: And then there's also a Hulu one called Fire Fraud.

949
00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:41,400
Speaker 2: But the NETFLI yeah, the Netflix one has become legendary,

950
00:45:41,600 --> 00:45:46,040
Speaker 2: especially one scene in it. Andy King is telling the

951
00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:48,879
Speaker 2: camera crew about how they didn't have enough bottled water

952
00:45:48,960 --> 00:45:51,879
Speaker 2: for the ticket holders and staff and crew and they

953
00:45:51,920 --> 00:45:54,080
Speaker 2: needed much more, but it would have to come through

954
00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:58,919
Speaker 2: customs from the States customers, because they don't have all

955
00:45:58,920 --> 00:46:03,080
Speaker 2: that bottled enoughottled water for all these people, thousands of people.

956
00:46:03,160 --> 00:46:04,920
Speaker 3: I'm gonna admit some me do, Elizabeth. I thought we

957
00:46:04,920 --> 00:46:06,759
Speaker 3: were talking about a US territory. I didn't know it

958
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:10,359
Speaker 3: was its own country. It's the Bahamas, Okay, it's the Bahamas. Yeah,

959
00:46:10,400 --> 00:46:12,040
Speaker 3: it's attached to the Bahamas, Okay.

960
00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:16,760
Speaker 2: And so customs was holding four eighteen wheeler trucks filled

961
00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:20,960
Speaker 2: with heavy on water at the Exuma International Airport.

962
00:46:21,280 --> 00:46:21,640
Speaker 3: Okay.

963
00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:23,839
Speaker 2: So that's people need passports to go there.

964
00:46:23,920 --> 00:46:25,359
Speaker 3: Yes, I'm just putting this together.

965
00:46:25,719 --> 00:46:29,000
Speaker 2: So Customs wanted one hundred and seventy five thousand dollars

966
00:46:29,000 --> 00:46:31,520
Speaker 2: to release the water in fields.

967
00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:35,320
Speaker 3: That's like their budget that they thought me.

968
00:46:37,480 --> 00:46:40,000
Speaker 2: They're like, that's what they thought all the the villains

969
00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:42,400
Speaker 2: would cost. Let me read you a transcript of this

970
00:46:42,480 --> 00:46:46,400
Speaker 2: part of the documentary. Billy called and said, Andy, we

971
00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:48,680
Speaker 2: need you to take one big thing for the team.

972
00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:51,120
Speaker 2: And I said, oh my gosh, I've been taking something

973
00:46:51,160 --> 00:46:54,600
Speaker 2: for the team every day. He said, you're our wonderful

974
00:46:54,640 --> 00:46:57,040
Speaker 2: gay leader and we need you to go down. Will

975
00:46:57,080 --> 00:47:01,440
Speaker 2: you suck to fix this water problem? And I said, Billy,

976
00:47:01,520 --> 00:47:04,280
Speaker 2: what And he said, Andy, if you will go down

977
00:47:04,360 --> 00:47:07,719
Speaker 2: and suck Cunningham's who's the head of customs, and get

978
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:10,239
Speaker 2: him to clear all of the containers with water, you

979
00:47:10,280 --> 00:47:14,240
Speaker 2: will save this festival. I literally drove home, took a shower,

980
00:47:14,360 --> 00:47:17,439
Speaker 2: I drank some mouthwash. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm

981
00:47:17,480 --> 00:47:19,960
Speaker 2: really and I got into my car and drove across

982
00:47:19,960 --> 00:47:21,960
Speaker 2: the island to take one for the team. And I

983
00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:24,080
Speaker 2: got to his office fully prepared to suck.

984
00:47:24,160 --> 00:47:26,800
Speaker 3: Is It wasn't a euphemism.

985
00:47:27,000 --> 00:47:32,920
Speaker 2: No, this man like is so evil what they did him.

986
00:47:33,120 --> 00:47:36,720
Speaker 2: And so the customs officer is like no, thanks totally

987
00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:40,080
Speaker 2: is like no, did he even like go?

988
00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:45,480
Speaker 3: He suggested it? You know what I would want if

989
00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:47,319
Speaker 3: I was in his position. And it's like.

990
00:47:49,000 --> 00:47:51,000
Speaker 2: Looking at it as like Billy sees it as like

991
00:47:51,040 --> 00:47:53,719
Speaker 2: you're a gay man, you'll go do this, like how insulting?

992
00:47:53,920 --> 00:47:58,800
Speaker 2: Oh that way because he says you're like our gay friend. Yeah,

993
00:47:58,840 --> 00:48:02,439
Speaker 2: and it's like are you kidding me? Like so insulting anyway.

994
00:48:02,160 --> 00:48:03,959
Speaker 3: And Cunningham we don't even know if he's gay.

995
00:48:04,239 --> 00:48:07,400
Speaker 2: No, and he's not, because he's like stop, no, I

996
00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:11,320
Speaker 2: don't know. I just want the money you owe us money.

997
00:48:11,360 --> 00:48:14,560
Speaker 2: And so what's hilarious though, is even years later Andy

998
00:48:14,600 --> 00:48:18,440
Speaker 2: got a gig as a spokesperson for Evion really.

999
00:48:18,239 --> 00:48:20,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, because they saw the documentary and they're like, oh

1000
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:21,480
Speaker 3: this will.

1001
00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:23,319
Speaker 2: Be They're like, yeah, we need you to promote the water.

1002
00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:26,800
Speaker 2: You'll do anything for an Avion. So anyway, the festival

1003
00:48:26,840 --> 00:48:31,880
Speaker 2: the morning of the because the morning of the festival

1004
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:35,439
Speaker 2: was a disaster, this huge storm hit the island, rain

1005
00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:41,440
Speaker 2: and wind like ripped through some of the tents. Everything, beds, supplies, pillows,

1006
00:48:41,480 --> 00:48:45,160
Speaker 2: whatever got soaked through. Blink one eighty two got wind

1007
00:48:45,160 --> 00:48:48,840
Speaker 2: of what was happening and not happening at the festival

1008
00:48:48,840 --> 00:48:49,719
Speaker 2: and bailed on the show.

1009
00:48:49,840 --> 00:48:52,680
Speaker 3: Oh they had agreed to play. Oh yeah, I figured

1010
00:48:52,719 --> 00:48:54,400
Speaker 3: most of the artists would have backed out by now.

1011
00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:57,480
Speaker 2: They they backed out once they pulled, and everyone else

1012
00:48:57,480 --> 00:49:00,760
Speaker 2: starts pulling and the but people are arriving on chartered

1013
00:49:00,760 --> 00:49:08,319
Speaker 2: flights expecting paradise, and it's like, OK, no, they're not

1014
00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:08,839
Speaker 2: going to do it.

1015
00:49:08,920 --> 00:49:10,080
Speaker 3: We've noped out entirely.

1016
00:49:10,239 --> 00:49:11,480
Speaker 2: Is Theren't close your eyes?

1017
00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:12,600
Speaker 3: Oh no.

1018
00:49:20,280 --> 00:49:23,320
Speaker 2: You are a hip New York City twenty something working

1019
00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:25,600
Speaker 2: in real estate, and by that I mean you're a

1020
00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:28,880
Speaker 2: building manager on the Upper West Side. It's a good gig,

1021
00:49:28,960 --> 00:49:31,600
Speaker 2: you suppose, but you have your sight set on bigger things.

1022
00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:33,839
Speaker 2: You want to be in real estate for real as

1023
00:49:33,880 --> 00:49:36,680
Speaker 2: a developer or a broker or something that will make

1024
00:49:36,680 --> 00:49:38,480
Speaker 2: you lots of money and get you lots of women

1025
00:49:38,560 --> 00:49:42,200
Speaker 2: and fancy things. You signed up for the Magnesis Black

1026
00:49:42,239 --> 00:49:44,720
Speaker 2: Card hoping it would get you access to the realm

1027
00:49:44,760 --> 00:49:47,759
Speaker 2: of the young and cool and rich and famous. It

1028
00:49:47,840 --> 00:49:50,919
Speaker 2: really hasn't, but you aren't one to give up. Then

1029
00:49:51,080 --> 00:49:54,000
Speaker 2: you heard about this Fire festival. It seemed to be

1030
00:49:54,160 --> 00:49:57,200
Speaker 2: all the way live, something totally lit, a dope Jammy

1031
00:49:57,280 --> 00:50:01,640
Speaker 2: jam cool beans. You shelled out thousands. You bought a ticket,

1032
00:50:01,719 --> 00:50:04,480
Speaker 2: You got a villa upgrade, and you bought the festival

1033
00:50:04,520 --> 00:50:07,160
Speaker 2: wristband and loaded it up with hundreds of dollars to

1034
00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:09,640
Speaker 2: spend at the cash list food and drinks and merch

1035
00:50:09,680 --> 00:50:14,240
Speaker 2: supplies there. You've never been to the Bahamas. The flight

1036
00:50:14,320 --> 00:50:17,640
Speaker 2: was dicey. You touched down and gran Egzuma in the

1037
00:50:17,680 --> 00:50:21,439
Speaker 2: pouring rain, your knuckles white, your brow sweaty. Now you're

1038
00:50:21,480 --> 00:50:23,920
Speaker 2: on a bus on your way to the festival site.

1039
00:50:24,160 --> 00:50:26,719
Speaker 2: You can't wait to relax in your villa and sip

1040
00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:32,040
Speaker 2: some cocktails. Alaze, Alaze. Everyone else on the bus is

1041
00:50:32,080 --> 00:50:35,000
Speaker 2: excited too, playing new and exciting hip hop tune on

1042
00:50:35,040 --> 00:50:38,759
Speaker 2: their phone and chatting about what luxurious amenity they plan

1043
00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:41,400
Speaker 2: to enjoy first. But there are a few who are

1044
00:50:41,480 --> 00:50:44,520
Speaker 2: mumbling about spotty cell coverage or things not looking like

1045
00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:48,480
Speaker 2: they were advertised. You aren't there yet, so why worry.

1046
00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:51,840
Speaker 2: The bus pulls up at a desolate parking lot. You

1047
00:50:51,960 --> 00:50:54,760
Speaker 2: and dozens of fellow revelers pile out of the bus

1048
00:50:54,760 --> 00:50:57,600
Speaker 2: and into the damp morning. The rain has stopped, but

1049
00:50:57,719 --> 00:51:00,600
Speaker 2: everything is still sopping wet, and the air is beyond

1050
00:51:00,800 --> 00:51:03,520
Speaker 2: moist there's a table about one hundred feet away with

1051
00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:06,800
Speaker 2: a long line of people waiting. Beyond them are FEMA

1052
00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:11,240
Speaker 2: relief tents. Some are assembled, most are partially put together

1053
00:51:11,280 --> 00:51:14,759
Speaker 2: and scattered across the ground. The mattresses intended for the

1054
00:51:14,800 --> 00:51:17,720
Speaker 2: tents sit like wet sponges and stacks on the ground.

1055
00:51:18,320 --> 00:51:20,799
Speaker 2: A shore bird soars above you and then lands on

1056
00:51:20,840 --> 00:51:24,160
Speaker 2: an old, scratched igloo cooler, pecking into the rain water

1057
00:51:24,280 --> 00:51:27,880
Speaker 2: gathered in the cup holders on the lid. This is dismal.

1058
00:51:28,560 --> 00:51:30,720
Speaker 2: You hear some girls further up say that they're gonna

1059
00:51:30,800 --> 00:51:33,040
Speaker 2: leave and walk to a resort and get a real room.

1060
00:51:33,440 --> 00:51:35,800
Speaker 2: But another couple of girls in line says they've already

1061
00:51:35,840 --> 00:51:38,120
Speaker 2: hit the sandals and called all the other resorts and

1062
00:51:38,160 --> 00:51:41,919
Speaker 2: everyone's booked. There's some big sporting event going on. One

1063
00:51:41,960 --> 00:51:43,840
Speaker 2: guy mentions that his cousin got a room at a

1064
00:51:43,880 --> 00:51:45,480
Speaker 2: hotel on the other side of the island, but he

1065
00:51:45,520 --> 00:51:47,399
Speaker 2: got there super early in the morning and the place

1066
00:51:47,440 --> 00:51:51,560
Speaker 2: didn't have any vacancy. Now you sigh and continue to wait.

1067
00:51:52,520 --> 00:51:55,960
Speaker 2: You are a Magnesis Black card holder. You think that's

1068
00:51:56,000 --> 00:51:58,600
Speaker 2: got to get you something here. You pull your card

1069
00:51:58,640 --> 00:52:01,000
Speaker 2: from your wallet and five pass the line, waving it

1070
00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:03,279
Speaker 2: in the air. As you approach the table, your feet

1071
00:52:03,360 --> 00:52:06,839
Speaker 2: scrabbling across the wet gravel, You inform the people there

1072
00:52:06,840 --> 00:52:09,160
Speaker 2: that you paid for a villa and you would like

1073
00:52:09,200 --> 00:52:12,279
Speaker 2: to be taken there right now, or you know, you're

1074
00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:14,520
Speaker 2: happy to wait in a VIP tent if need be.

1075
00:52:15,120 --> 00:52:16,919
Speaker 2: The guy at the table looks you up and down.

1076
00:52:17,640 --> 00:52:21,080
Speaker 2: There are no villas, dude. Honestly, it's every man for himself.

1077
00:52:21,800 --> 00:52:24,880
Speaker 2: He then hands you a styrofoam clamshell takeout container and

1078
00:52:24,920 --> 00:52:28,120
Speaker 2: tells you it's your complimentary dinner. You step aside and

1079
00:52:28,160 --> 00:52:31,759
Speaker 2: lift the lid. Vice magazine would later describe what you

1080
00:52:31,840 --> 00:52:37,400
Speaker 2: saw as quote the simultaneously dry yet slimy, polystyrene picnic,

1081
00:52:37,800 --> 00:52:41,799
Speaker 2: two slices of brown bread, two pale cheese singles, and

1082
00:52:41,840 --> 00:52:45,160
Speaker 2: a wedge of tomato barely supporting itself atop a bed

1083
00:52:45,200 --> 00:52:49,560
Speaker 2: of wet lettuce. You dreamed of eating tiger prawns and

1084
00:52:49,640 --> 00:52:53,360
Speaker 2: fusion tacos while sipping on a dakrie under palm trees

1085
00:52:53,400 --> 00:52:56,960
Speaker 2: while a breeze ruffled your unbuttoned linen shirt and danced

1086
00:52:56,960 --> 00:53:00,160
Speaker 2: across your chest. You did not dream of this. You

1087
00:53:00,200 --> 00:53:02,160
Speaker 2: snap a picture of the food and then toss the

1088
00:53:02,200 --> 00:53:05,239
Speaker 2: mess in the trash. You hear that bands are canceling

1089
00:53:05,280 --> 00:53:08,240
Speaker 2: and you see people fighting over tents. Correct, You decide

1090
00:53:08,280 --> 00:53:10,239
Speaker 2: to just head back to the airport and see if

1091
00:53:10,280 --> 00:53:13,080
Speaker 2: you can get a seat on a flight out headed anywhere.

1092
00:53:13,560 --> 00:53:15,480
Speaker 2: You put a lot of money into this, but you

1093
00:53:15,480 --> 00:53:17,879
Speaker 2: feel sure the promoters will refund you. There's no way

1094
00:53:17,920 --> 00:53:21,000
Speaker 2: they would. Right as you reach the little beach restaurant

1095
00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:23,279
Speaker 2: where the bus originally dropped you off, you stop to

1096
00:53:23,400 --> 00:53:26,400
Speaker 2: upload the picture of the sandwich to Twitter. This is

1097
00:53:27,080 --> 00:53:30,680
Speaker 2: you type so not booming, so not dope or fresh

1098
00:53:30,880 --> 00:53:34,320
Speaker 2: hashtag fire festival. Then you sit on a bench listening

1099
00:53:34,360 --> 00:53:37,279
Speaker 2: to a recording of steel drums playing over the loudspeaker

1100
00:53:37,560 --> 00:53:39,400
Speaker 2: and wait to make your way back to the city

1101
00:53:39,600 --> 00:53:42,360
Speaker 2: while your tweet flies through the series of tubes that

1102
00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:45,240
Speaker 2: is the Internet and gets shared and liked and saved

1103
00:53:45,440 --> 00:53:46,960
Speaker 2: all over the world.

1104
00:53:48,440 --> 00:53:52,120
Speaker 3: So wow, it was so remembering when this hit Twitter.

1105
00:53:52,120 --> 00:53:57,120
Speaker 2: Right, it wasn't it amazing in real time? And people

1106
00:53:57,120 --> 00:53:59,240
Speaker 2: were panicked, they were stuck. It was great.

1107
00:53:59,440 --> 00:54:01,520
Speaker 3: I love when and also I mean, I don't mean

1108
00:54:01,520 --> 00:54:04,040
Speaker 3: to pick on the crowd that went there, but it

1109
00:54:04,120 --> 00:54:09,759
Speaker 3: was easy to mock the victims, if you will, just circumstances,

1110
00:54:09,800 --> 00:54:14,120
Speaker 3: because they had been bragging going into this so hard.

1111
00:54:14,120 --> 00:54:16,279
Speaker 2: And like all this cloud they were gonna get for it.

1112
00:54:16,920 --> 00:54:19,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, the cloud chasers, it was.

1113
00:54:19,560 --> 00:54:21,720
Speaker 2: It was a big come up until really was lovely.

1114
00:54:21,880 --> 00:54:25,080
Speaker 2: It was lovely to watch. So it wasn't until the

1115
00:54:25,120 --> 00:54:27,799
Speaker 2: next morning that Billy announced that the festival was postponed.

1116
00:54:28,400 --> 00:54:30,760
Speaker 2: He promised there would be chartered flights to take people

1117
00:54:30,760 --> 00:54:34,040
Speaker 2: off the island. There was no solace, not even a

1118
00:54:34,160 --> 00:54:36,440
Speaker 2: quantum of solace for those who'd been stuck in the

1119
00:54:36,480 --> 00:54:40,160
Speaker 2: tiny airport since the night before, with no food, no water.

1120
00:54:40,320 --> 00:54:41,800
Speaker 3: Jaw Rule didn't like get up on top of it

1121
00:54:41,920 --> 00:54:43,480
Speaker 3: jeep and start wrapping to everybody.

1122
00:54:43,600 --> 00:54:45,919
Speaker 2: It would have inspired everybody and they would have saved

1123
00:54:45,920 --> 00:54:49,800
Speaker 2: the community center. They didn't even get another floppy cheese sandwich,

1124
00:54:51,120 --> 00:54:54,440
Speaker 2: just like that A's player. They saved them to give

1125
00:54:54,480 --> 00:54:57,400
Speaker 2: to the A's later. They may not have had sustenance,

1126
00:54:57,920 --> 00:55:00,880
Speaker 2: they had Wi Fi and cell service, and those folks

1127
00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:05,239
Speaker 2: got to posting and tweeting. Oh yah, so they recorded vlogs.

1128
00:55:05,280 --> 00:55:08,359
Speaker 2: They made appeals for help, like you invite an army

1129
00:55:08,400 --> 00:55:12,319
Speaker 2: of influencers and social media dwellers to like this crash show,

1130
00:55:12,960 --> 00:55:14,680
Speaker 2: and you better believe they're going to take it live

1131
00:55:14,719 --> 00:55:19,120
Speaker 2: and let everyone know. It's great content, excellent engagement and reach.

1132
00:55:19,840 --> 00:55:23,160
Speaker 2: So Billy released a statement apologizing to everyone, and he

1133
00:55:23,200 --> 00:55:25,200
Speaker 2: admitted that they were in a little over their heads

1134
00:55:26,040 --> 00:55:28,280
Speaker 2: and he promised to make it up to everyone involved.

1135
00:55:28,520 --> 00:55:31,560
Speaker 2: Jah Rule released a statement too, and he just tweeted,

1136
00:55:31,640 --> 00:55:32,280
Speaker 2: this is.

1137
00:55:32,120 --> 00:55:36,960
Speaker 3: Not my fault, not my fault, Billy McFarlane.

1138
00:55:37,080 --> 00:55:39,279
Speaker 2: Yeah, it wasn't me, Billy who I don't know him.

1139
00:55:39,640 --> 00:55:42,960
Speaker 2: April twenty eighth, twenty seventeen, Billy sat down with Rolling Stone,

1140
00:55:43,120 --> 00:55:46,240
Speaker 2: played everything off as like this series of unfortunate events.

1141
00:55:46,680 --> 00:55:49,240
Speaker 2: Everything was just outside of his control, and he admitted,

1142
00:55:49,320 --> 00:55:52,200
Speaker 2: you know, we were a little naive, but that's about it.

1143
00:55:52,280 --> 00:55:54,640
Speaker 2: So he promised that there would be a do over

1144
00:55:54,719 --> 00:55:58,200
Speaker 2: the next year in May of twenty eighteen. Threatened, but

1145
00:55:58,280 --> 00:56:00,759
Speaker 2: he's like, if you already bought tickets, then those will

1146
00:56:00,760 --> 00:56:03,359
Speaker 2: get you into this new one. And then he said

1147
00:56:03,400 --> 00:56:05,920
Speaker 2: that he would be donating a dollar fifty to the

1148
00:56:05,960 --> 00:56:09,320
Speaker 2: Red Cross in the Bahamas for any additional ticket sold

1149
00:56:09,360 --> 00:56:10,359
Speaker 2: for the replacement show.

1150
00:56:10,440 --> 00:56:11,560
Speaker 3: He made it a charity event.

1151
00:56:11,719 --> 00:56:15,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, dollar fifty a ticket so of course people filed lawsuits.

1152
00:56:16,360 --> 00:56:20,040
Speaker 2: Both both Billy and jaw Rule were banned from doing

1153
00:56:20,080 --> 00:56:23,279
Speaker 2: business in the Bahamas for life by the Ministry of

1154
00:56:23,320 --> 00:56:27,640
Speaker 2: Tourism of course. April thirtieth, twenty seventeenth.

1155
00:56:27,680 --> 00:56:31,719
Speaker 3: Mark Garagos, by the way, the last I ever heard

1156
00:56:31,760 --> 00:56:34,239
Speaker 3: of jaw Rule, I know. I think this pretty much

1157
00:56:34,320 --> 00:56:37,399
Speaker 3: killed what got canceled, what was left after like a

1158
00:56:37,440 --> 00:56:39,640
Speaker 3: fifty cent got done with him? This was it?

1159
00:56:39,760 --> 00:56:43,200
Speaker 2: This is it? So that Mark Geragos, he was the

1160
00:56:43,280 --> 00:56:46,520
Speaker 2: lawyer for like Winona writer Michael Jackson. Oh right, right, Yeah,

1161
00:56:46,560 --> 00:56:50,520
Speaker 2: he filed a one hundred million dollar class action lawsuit

1162
00:56:50,560 --> 00:56:54,600
Speaker 2: against Fire Media and half of one of his clients.

1163
00:56:54,760 --> 00:56:57,920
Speaker 3: Was it a celebrity level, Yeah, but he was just.

1164
00:56:57,880 --> 00:57:01,920
Speaker 2: A normal dude hired him. That was the best part. Yeah.

1165
00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:05,200
Speaker 2: The suit accused the organizers of fraud, and they cited

1166
00:57:05,200 --> 00:57:08,480
Speaker 2: the fest quote lack of adequate food, water, shelter, and

1167
00:57:08,520 --> 00:57:12,879
Speaker 2: medical care created a dangerous and panic situation among attendees

1168
00:57:13,200 --> 00:57:17,040
Speaker 2: suddenly finding themselves stranded on a remote island without basic provisions.

1169
00:57:18,280 --> 00:57:21,440
Speaker 2: So as you mentioned medical, like they had nothing.

1170
00:57:21,560 --> 00:57:23,880
Speaker 3: I mean, there are certain requirements. I've been to festivals

1171
00:57:24,120 --> 00:57:26,200
Speaker 3: outside of la you know, going up towards like Big

1172
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:29,080
Speaker 3: Bear or whatever. Yeah, and they would have like food

1173
00:57:29,120 --> 00:57:31,960
Speaker 3: trucks and most of the times people that'd be like

1174
00:57:31,960 --> 00:57:34,080
Speaker 3: the food that you knew there was gonna be food.

1175
00:57:34,680 --> 00:57:36,600
Speaker 3: But they always had to like have an insurance and bond,

1176
00:57:36,640 --> 00:57:38,600
Speaker 3: and they have to have an agreement with the landowner,

1177
00:57:38,840 --> 00:57:41,040
Speaker 3: and people would can't but they bring their own tents

1178
00:57:41,080 --> 00:57:44,600
Speaker 3: because these are real crazy expenses. And even just getting

1179
00:57:44,600 --> 00:57:47,440
Speaker 3: all the cars in on these random country roads and

1180
00:57:47,480 --> 00:57:50,600
Speaker 3: then leaving again was a nightmare. Oh yeah, I can't

1181
00:57:50,640 --> 00:57:53,640
Speaker 3: imagine how many things he had not thought of when

1182
00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:55,280
Speaker 3: I was I used to be like, I can't believe

1183
00:57:55,320 --> 00:57:57,600
Speaker 3: they didn't think of this parking situation better, he didn't

1184
00:57:57,640 --> 00:57:58,760
Speaker 3: think of any of the.

1185
00:57:58,760 --> 00:58:01,640
Speaker 2: Situations well that this was the first of a lot

1186
00:58:01,640 --> 00:58:04,560
Speaker 2: of class action lawsuits that would be found. So like

1187
00:58:04,640 --> 00:58:09,240
Speaker 2: ticket holders, stiffed vendors, paid staff, they all joined in

1188
00:58:09,280 --> 00:58:11,880
Speaker 2: because they wanted what they were owed, and this wasn't

1189
00:58:11,920 --> 00:58:16,040
Speaker 2: just civil suits. The FEDS arrested Billy on June thirtieth,

1190
00:58:16,080 --> 00:58:20,160
Speaker 2: twenty seventeen, and charged him with a wire fraud in

1191
00:58:20,200 --> 00:58:22,840
Speaker 2: relation to the fire fed Oh wow, so he got

1192
00:58:22,840 --> 00:58:25,200
Speaker 2: released on three hundred thousand dollars bail, and then he

1193
00:58:25,240 --> 00:58:28,920
Speaker 2: got arrested again the next June, but that wasn't for

1194
00:58:29,000 --> 00:58:32,280
Speaker 2: fire stuff. But it is still involved tickets because like

1195
00:58:32,560 --> 00:58:36,360
Speaker 2: he'd been selling fake tickets to stuff like sporting events, Coachella,

1196
00:58:36,480 --> 00:58:37,000
Speaker 2: the Met.

1197
00:58:36,880 --> 00:58:38,960
Speaker 3: Gallery, fake like when you go up to the door.

1198
00:58:39,960 --> 00:58:42,600
Speaker 2: Yeah, he cooked up this plan. It involves sending the

1199
00:58:42,640 --> 00:58:46,960
Speaker 2: payments to other people's accounts through NYC Access, a company

1200
00:58:47,000 --> 00:58:50,800
Speaker 2: that he secretly had control over, and like he was

1201
00:58:50,800 --> 00:58:52,720
Speaker 2: secretly involved because he didn't want the FEDS to know

1202
00:58:52,760 --> 00:58:55,800
Speaker 2: about it. So he conned thirty different people into paying

1203
00:58:55,840 --> 00:58:57,919
Speaker 2: for these tickets and he either didn't send them any

1204
00:58:57,920 --> 00:59:00,480
Speaker 2: tickets at all, or they sent them he sent tickets

1205
00:59:00,480 --> 00:59:03,120
Speaker 2: to another event that they didn't pay for. So they

1206
00:59:03,120 --> 00:59:07,240
Speaker 2: want Met Gala tickets and he gets like Mets tickets, but.

1207
00:59:07,240 --> 00:59:09,080
Speaker 3: It actually would be Mets tickets, Like if I showed

1208
00:59:09,160 --> 00:59:10,960
Speaker 3: up at Met Stadium, you.

1209
00:59:10,880 --> 00:59:15,400
Speaker 2: Could actually Yeah for those focus got something. Those actually

1210
00:59:15,400 --> 00:59:19,200
Speaker 2: got blended into the fire trial eventually, in all it

1211
00:59:19,280 --> 00:59:22,120
Speaker 2: was calculated between those two cons he scammed people out

1212
00:59:22,120 --> 00:59:26,480
Speaker 2: of twenty six million dollars what yeah and whatever. Billy

1213
00:59:26,520 --> 00:59:30,040
Speaker 2: pleads guilty one count of wire fraud, one count of

1214
00:59:30,040 --> 00:59:33,520
Speaker 2: banking fraud in connection with the fire festival. While trying

1215
00:59:33,520 --> 00:59:37,560
Speaker 2: to get his sentence reduced, his lawyers hired psychologists to

1216
00:59:37,600 --> 00:59:39,880
Speaker 2: say that he was bipolar and that played a part

1217
00:59:39,920 --> 00:59:44,800
Speaker 2: in this. He had the psychologist doctor Cheryl Parodise instead.

1218
00:59:44,840 --> 00:59:47,480
Speaker 2: She said her assessment that Billy is quote marked by

1219
00:59:47,520 --> 00:59:51,560
Speaker 2: inflated self esteem or grandiosity that may range from beliefs

1220
00:59:51,560 --> 00:59:55,120
Speaker 2: of having exceptionally high levels of common skills to delusional

1221
00:59:55,160 --> 00:59:57,680
Speaker 2: beliefs of having special and unique talents that would lead

1222
00:59:57,680 --> 01:00:00,800
Speaker 2: to fame and fortune. Jabari, he was right totally.

1223
01:00:00,800 --> 01:00:02,920
Speaker 3: He's like a walking example of that. Dunning Krueger.

1224
01:00:03,120 --> 01:00:07,479
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, October twenty eighteen. Billy he gets six years

1225
01:00:07,480 --> 01:00:10,360
Speaker 2: in the pen, three years of supervised release, and then

1226
01:00:10,400 --> 01:00:12,720
Speaker 2: a five hundred dollars special assessment, but he had to

1227
01:00:12,760 --> 01:00:17,960
Speaker 2: pay more than twenty six million in restitution and then

1228
01:00:18,080 --> 01:00:27,040
Speaker 2: off he went. No, so he goes off Federal Correctional

1229
01:00:27,080 --> 01:00:31,200
Speaker 2: Institute Old f c I Elkton in Lisbon, Ohio. He

1230
01:00:31,240 --> 01:00:33,600
Speaker 2: tried to get a COVID early release while he was there,

1231
01:00:33,640 --> 01:00:36,000
Speaker 2: but they were like no, sorry, and then he got

1232
01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:38,880
Speaker 2: busted for having a USB pen with a recording device

1233
01:00:38,920 --> 01:00:41,080
Speaker 2: in it. He was not a model prisoner.

1234
01:00:41,280 --> 01:00:42,240
Speaker 3: Was he working on his book?

1235
01:00:42,280 --> 01:00:44,880
Speaker 2: No, No, it was probably he was. He was wrapping

1236
01:00:44,960 --> 01:00:47,040
Speaker 2: about the Ocean and then he can send it to

1237
01:00:47,120 --> 01:00:53,520
Speaker 2: John and I would say so. Most of the vendors

1238
01:00:53,560 --> 01:00:57,320
Speaker 2: never got paid, and there was some crowd funding for

1239
01:00:57,400 --> 01:00:59,760
Speaker 2: one of the catering companies in the Bahamas that pulled

1240
01:00:59,760 --> 01:01:02,520
Speaker 2: in more than two hundred thousand dollars, which is good.

1241
01:01:03,600 --> 01:01:06,720
Speaker 2: In twenty twenty, the US Marshals auctioned off merch from

1242
01:01:06,720 --> 01:01:09,360
Speaker 2: the festival to try chip away at that twenty six million.

1243
01:01:09,960 --> 01:01:12,480
Speaker 2: And then Billy got out of prison March thirtieth, twenty

1244
01:01:12,520 --> 01:01:14,480
Speaker 2: twenty two, and did the rest of his time at

1245
01:01:14,480 --> 01:01:15,480
Speaker 2: a halfway house.

1246
01:01:15,240 --> 01:01:16,440
Speaker 3: In New York City.

1247
01:01:17,280 --> 01:01:21,160
Speaker 2: Undeterred, Billy made an announcement on YouTube in August of

1248
01:01:21,200 --> 01:01:22,080
Speaker 2: twenty twenty.

1249
01:01:21,800 --> 01:01:24,360
Speaker 3: Three, the people who made the documentaries did they have

1250
01:01:24,440 --> 01:01:27,200
Speaker 3: to give any money? Just like an rights agree.

1251
01:01:27,400 --> 01:01:30,160
Speaker 2: I don't know, maybe that's how they. So Billy puts

1252
01:01:30,200 --> 01:01:33,240
Speaker 2: on his best bathrobe, chills out on a rooftop and

1253
01:01:33,320 --> 01:01:37,040
Speaker 2: told viewers that he was planning Firefest two and he

1254
01:01:37,160 --> 01:01:40,960
Speaker 2: called it quote bigger and better Caribbean Coachella. I'm back

1255
01:01:41,360 --> 01:01:43,080
Speaker 2: and it was supposed to be in December of twenty

1256
01:01:43,120 --> 01:01:46,160
Speaker 2: twenty four, and tickets were slightly cheaper, so like the

1257
01:01:46,200 --> 01:01:48,760
Speaker 2: original ones started at five hundred, and these started it

1258
01:01:48,880 --> 01:01:52,480
Speaker 2: four ninety nine, four hundred ninety nine dollars. Yeah, buy

1259
01:01:52,520 --> 01:01:55,920
Speaker 2: a dollar. Seventy two hours later, the festival's website announced

1260
01:01:55,920 --> 01:01:59,440
Speaker 2: that all one hundred pre sale tickets had been sold

1261
01:01:59,000 --> 01:02:01,840
Speaker 2: one hundred. Billy was busy in twenty twenty four. He

1262
01:02:01,840 --> 01:02:04,840
Speaker 2: helped the Trump campaign connect with rappers and entertainers in

1263
01:02:04,840 --> 01:02:08,080
Speaker 2: the lead up to the election, really tapping into the zeitgeist.

1264
01:02:08,680 --> 01:02:12,480
Speaker 2: In September of twenty twenty four, three months before Firefest two,

1265
01:02:12,760 --> 01:02:16,240
Speaker 2: Billy made an announcement the festival was moving, both in

1266
01:02:16,320 --> 01:02:19,000
Speaker 2: date and location, so now it was going to be

1267
01:02:19,040 --> 01:02:22,880
Speaker 2: in April of twenty twenty five on Isla Mujeres, a

1268
01:02:22,960 --> 01:02:26,800
Speaker 2: tropical island off the coast of Cancun. Tickets and VIP

1269
01:02:27,000 --> 01:02:30,680
Speaker 2: packages officially went on sale in February of twenty twenty five.

1270
01:02:30,920 --> 01:02:34,200
Speaker 3: That's where your writer you like, Joan Diddy and got

1271
01:02:34,240 --> 01:02:35,160
Speaker 3: her daughter's name.

1272
01:02:35,120 --> 01:02:40,600
Speaker 2: Yep, yep, right exactly. And so the tickets were a

1273
01:02:40,640 --> 01:02:44,080
Speaker 2: little more expensive than first advertised, So now tickets were

1274
01:02:44,080 --> 01:02:48,160
Speaker 2: starting at fourteen hundred dollars but high end packages were

1275
01:02:48,200 --> 01:02:51,920
Speaker 2: available for anywhere from five thousand dollars for VIP access

1276
01:02:52,160 --> 01:02:55,680
Speaker 2: to twenty five thousand dollars for artist access to a

1277
01:02:55,680 --> 01:02:59,480
Speaker 2: whopping one point one million dollar package referred to as

1278
01:02:59,520 --> 01:03:03,919
Speaker 2: the Prometheus God of Fire deal that included a four

1279
01:03:04,000 --> 01:03:06,880
Speaker 2: state room yacht and private show first service.

1280
01:03:07,120 --> 01:03:10,080
Speaker 3: I'm really just kind of tickled that he picked Prometheus,

1281
01:03:10,280 --> 01:03:11,040
Speaker 3: because I mean.

1282
01:03:10,960 --> 01:03:13,480
Speaker 2: That's just so perfect for him, so perfect.

1283
01:03:14,120 --> 01:03:16,680
Speaker 3: Like the absolute hubris of Prometheus.

1284
01:03:16,920 --> 01:03:21,959
Speaker 2: Well Islamohannis right, they never got permission to have it there,

1285
01:03:22,520 --> 01:03:27,560
Speaker 2: and so Gasca, who is the the Tourism Directorate of

1286
01:03:27,560 --> 01:03:30,360
Speaker 2: the island quote, we have no knowledge of this event,

1287
01:03:30,440 --> 01:03:33,480
Speaker 2: nor contact with any person or company about it. For us,

1288
01:03:33,600 --> 01:03:36,080
Speaker 2: this is an event that does not exist totally.

1289
01:03:36,160 --> 01:03:40,400
Speaker 3: I mean, like that place is a pretty big tourist destination.

1290
01:03:40,480 --> 01:03:42,960
Speaker 3: They've got those like statues in the ocean that that

1291
01:03:43,000 --> 01:03:46,000
Speaker 3: guy was always planting. They've got like the shell house.

1292
01:03:47,360 --> 01:03:49,440
Speaker 3: This is not a place where people are like, like,

1293
01:03:49,520 --> 01:03:51,320
Speaker 3: you know, I don't know what he imagines, but people

1294
01:03:51,320 --> 01:03:52,440
Speaker 3: are imagine.

1295
01:03:52,040 --> 01:03:54,200
Speaker 2: Like two months before it's supposed to happen, They're like,

1296
01:03:54,240 --> 01:03:54,840
Speaker 2: I've never heard of it.

1297
01:03:54,880 --> 01:03:56,480
Speaker 3: They're very sophisticated there.

1298
01:03:56,360 --> 01:04:00,640
Speaker 2: Do you remember LimeWire, Yeah, totally, the music files company

1299
01:04:00,680 --> 01:04:03,040
Speaker 2: kind of like Mapster. Yes, I didn't know that they're

1300
01:04:03,080 --> 01:04:06,480
Speaker 2: still around, but apparently in September of twenty twenty five,

1301
01:04:07,080 --> 01:04:10,000
Speaker 2: they bought the rights to Firefest and they said they

1302
01:04:10,000 --> 01:04:12,400
Speaker 2: were going to they weren't going to resurrect the festival.

1303
01:04:12,440 --> 01:04:13,160
Speaker 3: We're back too.

1304
01:04:13,480 --> 01:04:15,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, They're like, we don't want to do another festival.

1305
01:04:15,520 --> 01:04:17,360
Speaker 2: We're instead they were going to work with quote the

1306
01:04:17,400 --> 01:04:22,640
Speaker 2: brand and meme. So they outbid a company for what

1307
01:04:22,880 --> 01:04:25,960
Speaker 2: for the rights call a company called Maximum Effort, which

1308
01:04:26,000 --> 01:04:28,520
Speaker 2: is co founded by Ryan Reynolds. They also wanted to

1309
01:04:28,520 --> 01:04:32,400
Speaker 2: buy it that guy. In July of twenty twenty five,

1310
01:04:32,440 --> 01:04:34,760
Speaker 2: Billy admitted that he still owes more than twenty five

1311
01:04:34,800 --> 01:04:39,880
Speaker 2: million dollars in restitution twenty six. Yeah, and he apparently

1312
01:04:39,920 --> 01:04:44,000
Speaker 2: pays a monthly payment on it. And he also still

1313
01:04:44,120 --> 01:04:46,760
Speaker 2: says he still says that Firefest two is on and

1314
01:04:46,840 --> 01:04:49,120
Speaker 2: it'll be in the Caribbean later this year. But the

1315
01:04:49,160 --> 01:04:49,960
Speaker 2: year's almost over.

1316
01:04:50,040 --> 01:04:50,240
Speaker 3: Pal.

1317
01:04:50,480 --> 01:04:54,080
Speaker 2: The US government saren, what's your ridiculous takeaway?

1318
01:04:55,120 --> 01:04:57,440
Speaker 3: Oh man, I don't think I can say it on

1319
01:04:57,480 --> 01:05:00,280
Speaker 3: the air, but it involves the guy who tried get

1320
01:05:00,280 --> 01:05:02,440
Speaker 3: the water. I was thinking the US government, should you

1321
01:05:02,440 --> 01:05:04,360
Speaker 3: go you know what you were recommending about how to

1322
01:05:04,360 --> 01:05:07,720
Speaker 3: pay for that water? You should go do that? Go

1323
01:05:07,800 --> 01:05:11,480
Speaker 3: around to everyone you owe money? What's yours? Elizabeth?

1324
01:05:11,560 --> 01:05:11,760
Speaker 6: Oh?

1325
01:05:11,880 --> 01:05:14,480
Speaker 2: Mine is just like this is my uncle to festivals

1326
01:05:16,960 --> 01:05:18,080
Speaker 2: if I need to talk back.

1327
01:05:22,480 --> 01:05:28,080
Speaker 5: Oh my god, I love get.

1328
01:05:31,160 --> 01:05:36,320
Speaker 4: Listening to your podcast on and planned crimes. Well, I

1329
01:05:36,360 --> 01:05:40,360
Speaker 4: am doing my job, which is weeding. And it reminded

1330
01:05:40,400 --> 01:05:42,680
Speaker 4: me of the time where I came back from Hawaii

1331
01:05:43,400 --> 01:05:46,160
Speaker 4: and I wasn't sure if I was allowed to bring

1332
01:05:46,200 --> 01:05:50,120
Speaker 4: back an orchid, so I brought one back anyways, And

1333
01:05:50,560 --> 01:05:53,480
Speaker 4: the only reason I still have that orchid is because

1334
01:05:53,840 --> 01:05:58,000
Speaker 4: when the customs official confronted me about it, I tried

1335
01:05:58,040 --> 01:06:00,960
Speaker 4: to make him look up to see if that exacts bees.

1336
01:06:03,160 --> 01:06:08,440
Speaker 3: Wait. I want to hear the end of hanging. So

1337
01:06:08,600 --> 01:06:11,280
Speaker 3: did the custom of agents get They backed down because

1338
01:06:11,280 --> 01:06:14,960
Speaker 3: it was not the exact species in the statute barring

1339
01:06:15,040 --> 01:06:16,080
Speaker 3: you from taking an eye.

1340
01:06:16,120 --> 01:06:19,480
Speaker 2: It's always good to push for specificity.

1341
01:06:18,800 --> 01:06:21,320
Speaker 3: And it's always good to just you know, what is it?

1342
01:06:21,640 --> 01:06:23,680
Speaker 3: What do you say? I'd rather do it and ask

1343
01:06:23,720 --> 01:06:24,160
Speaker 3: for forget.

1344
01:06:26,240 --> 01:06:29,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, yea, And I think too. You do have to

1345
01:06:29,160 --> 01:06:32,960
Speaker 2: be careful have you angered Pele something to think of

1346
01:06:33,600 --> 01:06:36,720
Speaker 2: when you take things from the islands. But aside from that,

1347
01:06:36,760 --> 01:06:37,600
Speaker 2: I'm gonna guess no.

1348
01:06:37,800 --> 01:06:40,520
Speaker 3: That's a there's a great Simon and Simon episode about that.

1349
01:06:40,520 --> 01:06:42,760
Speaker 3: That's a crossover with Magnum p I. In fact, I

1350
01:06:42,800 --> 01:06:45,560
Speaker 3: think that's their first, like how they launched Simon and Simon.

1351
01:06:46,520 --> 01:06:50,439
Speaker 3: They come in to investigate this stolen icon and then

1352
01:06:50,560 --> 01:06:52,040
Speaker 3: and it's.

1353
01:06:51,440 --> 01:06:58,080
Speaker 2: It's man, I had no idea, I really do.

1354
01:06:58,440 --> 01:06:59,720
Speaker 3: That's what streaming is all about.

1355
01:07:01,720 --> 01:07:03,960
Speaker 2: That's us for today. You can find us online at

1356
01:07:04,000 --> 01:07:07,400
Speaker 2: ridiculous Crime dot com. We're also at Ridiculous Crime on

1357
01:07:07,440 --> 01:07:10,800
Speaker 2: both Blue Sky and Instagram. We're on YouTube at Ridiculous

1358
01:07:10,800 --> 01:07:14,600
Speaker 2: Crime pod. Email us at ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com,

1359
01:07:14,680 --> 01:07:22,840
Speaker 2: leave a talkback on the iHeart app reach out. Ridiculous

1360
01:07:22,880 --> 01:07:25,920
Speaker 2: Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaren Burnett, produced

1361
01:07:25,920 --> 01:07:29,840
Speaker 2: and edited by Proud Magnesis cardholders since nineteen sixty four,

1362
01:07:29,960 --> 01:07:34,479
Speaker 2: Dave Cousten starring Annals Rutgers. Judith Research is by tenth

1363
01:07:34,480 --> 01:07:39,080
Speaker 2: specialist Mursa Brown and steel drum repairman Jabari Davis. The

1364
01:07:39,080 --> 01:07:41,400
Speaker 2: theme song is by Thomas Lee and Travis Dutton, who

1365
01:07:41,400 --> 01:07:44,000
Speaker 2: are booked to play Firefest two wherever it may be.

1366
01:07:44,680 --> 01:07:47,840
Speaker 2: Post Wardrobe is provided by Botany five hundred guest heron

1367
01:07:47,920 --> 01:07:52,200
Speaker 2: makeup by Sparkleshot and mister Andre. Executive producers are Fire

1368
01:07:52,280 --> 01:07:55,480
Speaker 2: Media Board of Directors members Ben Bolin and Noel.

1369
01:07:55,280 --> 01:08:00,320
Speaker 5: Brown m HM.

1370
01:08:00,840 --> 01:08:08,040
Speaker 1: Ridicous Crime, Say It One More Time, Ridiqlious Crime. Ridiculous

1371
01:08:08,120 --> 01:08:11,040
Speaker 1: Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts from

1372
01:08:11,080 --> 01:08:14,520
Speaker 1: heart Radio visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

1373
01:08:14,520 --> 01:08:15,960
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.