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Speaker 1: Pushkin.

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Speaker 2: I'm Jeff mash and I wrote the Strange story of Dagobert,

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Speaker 2: the Ducktail's Bandit for The New Yorker, and it's the

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Speaker 2: Story of the Week.

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Speaker 1: When I was eleven years old, ABC canceled the very

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Speaker 1: best show ever to be on television, the Greatest American Hero.

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Speaker 1: I was so upset, I didn't know what to do.

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Speaker 1: I tried to find some way to organize the masses

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Speaker 1: to help reverse the network's idiotic decision. I was upset

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Speaker 1: about this for months. My parents assured me that one

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Speaker 1: day I'd get over this. They were wrong, So I

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Speaker 1: know how you're about to feel. This is the very

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Speaker 1: last episode of the Story of the Week. The reasons

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Speaker 1: we're not coming back are way too complicated to get

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Speaker 1: into here, but I'll just say that we were losing

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Speaker 1: a lot of money. This is in no way your fault.

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Speaker 1: It's your friends and family's fault for not listening. But

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Speaker 1: don't let this destroy your Thanksgiving dinner, or maybe you

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Speaker 1: can just a little. Writing is hard.

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Speaker 3: Who's got that kind of time when you're already busy

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Speaker 3: trying to feed you all stand So it turns on

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Speaker 3: a mic made the twitles enough because a journalist trand

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Speaker 3: has got in that Jule time put single story. Just

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Speaker 3: listen to smart people speak, conversation, film and information.

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Speaker 1: It is the story of for our very last episode.

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Speaker 1: I wanted to do the kind of story that made

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Speaker 1: me want to do this podcast the first place. In fact,

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Speaker 1: this is the story that was the very first interview

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Speaker 1: we recorded for the pilot episode, but we never aired

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Speaker 1: it because I sucked. Since I've gotten a little bit

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Speaker 1: better at this, despite what our low listenership numbers imply,

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Speaker 1: We've re recorded the interview. The writer who's so nice

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Speaker 1: he let me interview him twice about the same article

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Speaker 1: is Jeff Mash. In fact, this is the second time

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Speaker 1: he's had a story on our podcast, having last told

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Speaker 1: us about the dea impersonator. He wrote this one, the

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Speaker 1: strange story of Dagobert that Ducktails bannit for The New Yorker.

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Speaker 1: It's an insane story that takes place in the very

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Speaker 1: early nineteen nineties in Berlin, right after German reunification, at

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Speaker 1: a time when the East Germans didn't yet have the

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Speaker 1: infrastructure to secure their banks from savvy West German criminals,

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Speaker 1: and crime just ran wild. One of these criminals named

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Speaker 1: Arno Funk was obsessed with Scrooge McDuck, as was the

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Speaker 1: rest of Germany. It's terrific, But more importantly, I get

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Speaker 1: to hear Jeff's sexy British accent one more time. Dagobert's

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Speaker 1: real name is unbelievably Arnaut Funk. What was Arnaut Funk

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Speaker 1: like as a kid?

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Speaker 2: Arno Funk was an eccentric kid who loved playing with

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Speaker 2: rocket kits and kind of gunpowder and things like that.

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Speaker 2: He was a bit of a nerd and he was

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Speaker 2: often in trouble at school. His teachers called him Mickey

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Speaker 2: Mouse because he was always playing the fool.

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Speaker 1: That's what Mickey Mouse used to be like before he

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Speaker 1: became just a corporate symbol.

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Speaker 2: That's right before he sold out totally.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so it was Dagobert, the kind of nerd who

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Speaker 1: was at least good in school. Did he go get

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Speaker 1: himself a teasing career?

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Speaker 2: He was incredibly talented at art, drawing, painting. He always

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Speaker 2: dreamed of being a professional cartoonist, but it never worked

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Speaker 2: out for him.

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Speaker 1: And okay, I'm going to try and picture what a

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Speaker 1: guy who's kind of a failed artist in West Berlin

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Speaker 1: in the nineteen eighties late eighties, looks like does he

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Speaker 1: have a mullet? Like? What does he look like?

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Speaker 2: He's got the kind of we call it a bog

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Speaker 2: brush haircut in England, like when the hair all stands

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Speaker 2: on its end, like a toilet brush. Imagine the toilet brush,

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Speaker 2: but bleach blonde with a pushbrum mustache.

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Speaker 1: What's this hairstyle called in England?

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Speaker 2: Bog brush?

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Speaker 1: A bog brush?

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Speaker 2: A bog is a toilet. You know what you clean

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Speaker 2: a toilet with us the brush.

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Speaker 1: I can't believe I'm fifty two. I'm still learning the

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Speaker 1: English words for things.

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Speaker 2: Every time we talk, I teach you a little more English.

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Speaker 1: What's his life like by the time he's thirty eight,

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Speaker 1: which is when the story really starts.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the story starts when he's at his lowest point.

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Speaker 2: He's really depressed.

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Speaker 1: He's got stories to speak, Right, if Jeff mash ever

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Speaker 1: comes to write a story about you, run things are

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Speaker 1: not going well and they're not going to get better.

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Speaker 2: That's right. His life was aimless. He wanted to be

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Speaker 2: this famous comic book artist, this famous cartoonist. But of

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Speaker 2: course you can't do that unless you've got lots of money.

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Speaker 2: So he decided to become a criminal. But he realized

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Speaker 2: that he didn't have the guts to hold up a bank,

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Speaker 2: you know, it seemed too hard, too risky. So he

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Speaker 2: decided to become an extortionist instead.

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Speaker 1: And so what's his plan.

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Speaker 2: He decides to threaten a big department store that he's

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Speaker 2: going to bomb them in exchange for money.

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Speaker 1: Why department stories.

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Speaker 2: I think he just wanted the easier path. He didn't

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Speaker 2: want to get shot in a shootout in a bank robbery.

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Speaker 2: The plan was he was going to plant a bomb

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Speaker 2: in the store and send them a ransom letter demanding

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Speaker 2: half a million Diutge marks. It's about half a million,

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Speaker 2: six hundred thousand dollars quite a lot.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, but he really makes the bomb and he really

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Speaker 1: puts it there.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he got a bunch of books out the library

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Speaker 2: and taught himself how to do it, which is quite impressive, really.

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Speaker 1: Yeah it is. And did they hand over the money?

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Speaker 2: Not at first, but then one night he actually let

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Speaker 2: the bomb explode.

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Speaker 1: Oh do people die? Like? How how serious is this?

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Speaker 2: No, So he set a timer to make sure that

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Speaker 2: the bomb went off after the store was closed, to

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Speaker 2: ensure that no one was hurt, just a lot of

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Speaker 2: German sports.

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Speaker 1: Where was hurt? Oh man? Does he get the money?

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Speaker 2: Well, they know he's serious. Now he blows up the

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Speaker 2: shop and they think, okay, he's serious, we need to

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Speaker 2: pay him. Yeah, So he has specific instructions for them.

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Speaker 2: He tells them that on a certain date that they

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Speaker 2: should load the money onto the certain train out of

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Speaker 2: Berlin to a place called fro Now and that when

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Speaker 2: he gave them the word via a two way radio,

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Speaker 2: that they should throw the money out the window.

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Speaker 1: But then he's going to go grab the money, and

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Speaker 1: can't they just catch him.

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Speaker 2: The reason why it worked is that the police wouldn't

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Speaker 2: know until he made the call where he was, and

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Speaker 2: the train's moving at high speed, so he's going to

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Speaker 2: have a little bit of time to go and grab

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Speaker 2: the money and run away before the police know what's up.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so he gets the money. Does he then like

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Speaker 1: retired at Baden Baden to become an artist.

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Speaker 2: No, he goes on holiday, which is what everyone should

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Speaker 2: do if a criminal scheme like this works out. He

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Speaker 2: went to the Philippines, which.

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Speaker 1: Well he just went instead of like there's money, he

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Speaker 1: said he needed to survive instead he's going on vacation.

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Speaker 1: He's not good with money. And what does he do

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Speaker 1: in the Philippines.

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Speaker 2: He meets a young lady.

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Speaker 1: And what happens with him and the lady?

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Speaker 2: They get married and they have a little boy, and

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Speaker 2: they move back to Germany. It's nineteen ninety now, and

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Speaker 2: Germany is a completely different.

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Speaker 1: Place because there's been unified, correct, and.

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Speaker 2: The Berlin walls down. Hasselhoff has done his thing. Germany

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Speaker 2: looks completely different. The rents have gone up, everything's more expensive.

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Speaker 2: He starts running out of money, basically, and before long

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Speaker 2: he's spent almost all of the money that he got

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Speaker 2: from his extortion.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so he has to go back to his life

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Speaker 1: of crimes. He's not going to make money as an artist.

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Speaker 2: Well, it worked once, he thought, so let's do it again.

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Speaker 2: So it's nineteen ninety two now and he plants another bomb,

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Speaker 2: this time in the porcelain department of another store, a.

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Speaker 1: Different store that's so much better.

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Speaker 2: Right, this one's called karstat Are.

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Speaker 1: Those like humble figurines? Those are made in Germany.

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Speaker 2: Right, And they're really expensive.

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Speaker 1: So expensive. Okay, this is so smart.

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Speaker 2: So he blew them all up, showcases full of fancy

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Speaker 2: vases and plates and things.

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Speaker 1: Like that, because they didn't respond to his extortion attempt.

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Speaker 2: Hism was quite strange. He would explode the bomb first

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Speaker 2: and then ask for the money, not the typical way

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Speaker 2: that extortionists work, but it kind of worked because they

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Speaker 2: knew that he was serious. I think the message was

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Speaker 2: pay up or the next one could be bigger.

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Speaker 1: How does he communicate with the department stores? Does he

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Speaker 1: just ask for the manager or what does he do?

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Speaker 2: So to safely communicate with the stores, he would take

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Speaker 2: out classified adverts in the local newspaper, and to let

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Speaker 2: them know who they were dealing with, he would sign

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Speaker 2: them off as Dagabat, the German word for Uncle Scrooge.

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Speaker 1: Okay, this is the part of the story that makes

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Speaker 1: no sense to me. So Dagobert is the German term

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Speaker 1: somehow for Scrooge McDuck.

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Speaker 2: So the German versions of the Disney comic books are

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Speaker 2: slightly different to the American ones, so a lot of

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Speaker 2: the characters have different names. Uncle Scrooge is called Dagabert.

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Speaker 1: So he destroys all these humbre figurines, and then how

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Speaker 1: much money does he ask for?

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Speaker 2: He mails a ransom note to the store and he

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Speaker 2: asks this time for a million marks, which is about

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Speaker 2: a million bucks.

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Speaker 1: Wow, okay, and they give it to him.

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Speaker 2: Well, this time it was he got a a bit

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Speaker 2: more technical with his handover technique. So he sends the

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Speaker 2: police on a wild goose chase into a forest where

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Speaker 2: the police find this mysterious box attached to a telephone

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Speaker 2: pole and inside there's a weird bag and the bag

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Speaker 2: has a logo on it. The logo is Scrooge McDuck

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Speaker 2: and the instructions included in the box are that they

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Speaker 2: should fill the contraption with the money and use the

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Speaker 2: electro magnets to strap the device to the back of

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Speaker 2: a fast moving train, and when the train roared past

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Speaker 2: wherever his location was, he would use the transmitter to

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Speaker 2: deactivate the device and the package would drop and he

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Speaker 2: would pick it up and then assumingly disappeared back to

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Speaker 2: the Philippines.

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Speaker 1: Does this work at all.

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Speaker 2: No, because this time the police get clever and they

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Speaker 2: decide to attach the device with some string to the

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Speaker 2: train so that when it detached it would just get

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Speaker 2: pulled along by the train. They would discover where Dagobert

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Speaker 2: really was.

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Speaker 1: So did they catch him they didn't.

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Speaker 2: He was watching, he saw the string, he knew that

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Speaker 2: it wasn't going to work, and he ran away to safety.

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Speaker 2: But he did manage to grab the package, and when

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Speaker 2: he opened it, he saw that there was fake money inside.

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Speaker 1: So how far does Arnolfunk take his association with Scrooge McDuck.

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Speaker 2: His extortion tactics become more and more like the activities

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Speaker 2: of Scrooge McDuck. He starts using more and more gadgets.

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Speaker 2: There was often a lot of gadget tree in the

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Speaker 2: comic books. There's a character called Giro Gearloose who is

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Speaker 2: like a kind of a Maguiver character, and there's always

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Speaker 2: lots of funny business going on with hidden compartments and

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Speaker 2: remote control this and electromagnetic that. You know, it's a

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Speaker 2: kid's cartoon.

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Speaker 1: I feel like Ductails has almost no cultural relevance in

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Speaker 1: the US, but in Germany it's a big deal.

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Speaker 2: So I don't know if you know this, but in

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Speaker 2: Europe millennials of a certain age they're known as the

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Speaker 2: Ducktails generation. Show still that it's true.

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Speaker 1: I think in Hungary what millennials are called the Ductails generation.

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Speaker 2: I think early model millennials, like myself. I was born

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Speaker 2: in eighty two, so I was seven or eight when

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Speaker 2: the TV show hit, and it had a theme tune

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Speaker 2: that people of my age millennials know by heart, and

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Speaker 2: I'm assuming that you don't.

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Speaker 1: I don't know this song, but I wanted to play

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Speaker 1: it for you because it talks explicitly about solving a mystery,

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Speaker 1: just like in the Dagobert case. Can we listen to

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Speaker 1: it together and you can provide a level of analysis

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Speaker 1: and interpretation that our lawyers say is required for us

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Speaker 1: to satisfy the fair use laws. Sure, all right, Oh

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Speaker 1: that's a banger. Wow. I did not know that.

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Speaker 2: It's a bop. The song mentions solving a mystery and

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Speaker 2: rewriting history. Every episode on every comic book was basically

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Speaker 2: about someone trying to beat the bad guys, get the prize,

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Speaker 2: still the bag of loot. It directly corresponds to this

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Speaker 2: extortionist and his mo o.

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Speaker 1: First of all, thank you that our lawyers are going

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Speaker 1: to be very satisfied with that.

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Speaker 2: You didn't actually play the woohoo bit, which is the

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Speaker 2: best bits.

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Speaker 1: You missed the woo woo. This is why our show

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Speaker 1: didn't make it. Yeah, these kind of mistakes. In Germany,

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Speaker 1: the comics are a little different than the American version, right, Yeah, you.

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Speaker 2: Probably wouldn't recognize Scrooge McDuck's he's a different character. So obviously,

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Speaker 2: in America he's this miserly money bags kind of billionaire,

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Speaker 2: but in Germany he's more of a deep thinker. He's

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Speaker 2: a theologist, and he he's always he's very well read

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Speaker 2: and well versed. He's often dropping quotes from theorists and

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Speaker 2: things like that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you mentioned Gert and Fridrick von Scheller.

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Speaker 2: All the big ones.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, why is Dagobert Sah Scrooge McDuck so popular

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Speaker 1: specifically with Germans?

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Speaker 2: At this point, I think Scrooge McDuck became a kind

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Speaker 2: of a weird embodiment of capitalist greed in a time

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Speaker 2: when Germany was reunifying and it wasn't an easy process.

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Speaker 2: Industry that was once controlled by the state was becoming commercialized,

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Speaker 2: private entities were taking over. There was basically looting going on.

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Speaker 2: So Scrooge McDuck became this kind of symbol for that,

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Speaker 2: like this kind of anti establishment symbol. He is beloved

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Speaker 2: by the readers of the comics.

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Speaker 1: What does the German public think about this guy who's

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Speaker 1: climbs of Dagobert, who's committing kind of dangerous and properly

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Speaker 1: destroying crimes around Berlin.

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Speaker 2: The public fall in love with Dagabert. He becomes this

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Speaker 2: kind of folk hero that everyone gets behind and people

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Speaker 2: start wearing I Am Dagabert t shirt ishpin Dagabert if

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Speaker 2: you like I do, and he becomes this icon for

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Speaker 2: anti establishment movement that's bubbling up in Germany at the time.

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Speaker 2: The media start to paint him as like an everyman.

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Speaker 2: He's like a blue collar guy, you know, putting one

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Speaker 2: over on these posh stores. And I think for that

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Speaker 2: people respected him, and the things he did were kind

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Speaker 2: of symbolic, you know, he was blowing up that silly

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Speaker 2: crockery that people can't afford. People felt like he was

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Speaker 2: saying something.

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Speaker 1: After the break, will meet Daggerbert's biggest fans. But first,

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Speaker 1: our advertisers are going to try and sell you something,

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Speaker 1: but you do not have to buy it. We've been

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Speaker 1: canceled buying. It's not going to help us at all.

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Speaker 1: Go buy something from one of their competitors. And who

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Speaker 1: are his biggest fans in Germany?

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Speaker 2: There's a fan club in Germany called Donald and they

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Speaker 2: are incredibly serious fans of the dagabout Scrooge McDuck comic books.

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Speaker 2: They take it incredibly seriously.

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Speaker 1: So this group Donald, which is an acronym for something,

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Speaker 1: what is it stand for?

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Speaker 2: Something like the German Organization of non commercial devotees of

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Speaker 2: pure Donaldism. They act as if Duckburg, the city in

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Speaker 2: which Donald lives, is a real place. They study and

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Speaker 2: analyze it scientifically. They're made up of academics, scientists, economists.

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Speaker 2: They use clues in the comic books to answer questions

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Speaker 2: such as how rich is Scrooge McDuck.

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Speaker 1: So this group that Donald or Donald pre exists before

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Speaker 1: Arnold Funk starts blowing up barms.

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Speaker 2: Right, oh yeah, very well established, five hundred members, annual conferences.

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Speaker 2: They're a serious organization.

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Speaker 1: So they must be pretty excited when this happens.

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Speaker 2: Could you imagine? No, I mean, they've been studying comic

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Speaker 2: books line by line for decades and suddenly there's a

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Speaker 2: real criminal on the loose that appears to be using

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Speaker 2: those comic books as inspiration, and they become obsessed with

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Speaker 2: this criminal and obsessed with catching him.

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Speaker 1: Did people particularly like the gadgets that you using.

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Speaker 2: People became obsessed with the gadgets reading about them. The

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Speaker 2: newspapers were printing photos of his latest gadget. It became

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Speaker 2: a national obsession. In the course of his criminal career,

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Speaker 2: Dagobert created miniature trains that ran on train tracks. Built

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Speaker 2: a submarine maybe twelve inches long. He made it out

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Speaker 2: of VCR parts, like video machine.

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Speaker 1: Parts, and it would run in a real train track.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it would grip one single train track and when

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Speaker 2: you pushed a button on the top, it woul whizz away.

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Speaker 2: And he asked that police put half a million Deutsche

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Speaker 2: marks in the back of this train. Pushed the button

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Speaker 2: and it whizzed away.

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Speaker 1: Did that work?

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Speaker 2: He didn't get the money, but it certainly worked. It

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Speaker 2: fell off the track before it reached his hands. But

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Speaker 2: that was one of the things that got the Donaldists excited.

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Speaker 2: Because there is a remote control train heist in one

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Speaker 2: of the books.

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Speaker 1: He's overtly copying the comic books.

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Speaker 2: The Donaldists claim he is, and the police believe them,

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Speaker 2: So the police start reading the comic books to see next.

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Speaker 1: Oh, correct, this is insanity.

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Speaker 2: During one of his extortions, Dagabert demands that a bunch

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Speaker 2: of money is concealed in a grit box in the

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Speaker 2: middle of Germany.

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Speaker 1: Is that another British term?

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Speaker 2: No, it's you probably have a term for it. It's

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Speaker 2: where they keep the salt to make the roads. When

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Speaker 2: it's icy, they throw salt on them. Anyway, they keep

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Speaker 2: the salt in these boxes throughout the city. So Dagobert says,

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Speaker 2: here's the location of a grip box. I want you

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Speaker 2: to leave half a million deutsch marks or whatever in

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Speaker 2: the grip box. So the police think this is an

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Speaker 2: incredible opportunity to grab him, so they put a package

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Speaker 2: with a tracking device in the box and they pretend

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Speaker 2: to leave, but of course they're surveilling it. Everyone's watching

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Speaker 2: this box for Dagobert to arrive and take the money.

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Speaker 2: So with half of the Berlin police department watching this box,

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Speaker 2: suddenly the track is moving, but no one has been

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Speaker 2: anywhere near the grip box. So eventually they opened the

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Speaker 2: box to see if the money's still there, and it's gone,

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Speaker 2: and they quickly discovered that what Dagobert had done was

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Speaker 2: build a replica grip box over the entrance to a

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Speaker 2: subway like a sewer, and he navigated the sewer system,

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Speaker 2: climbed up, grabbed the package and run away before the

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Speaker 2: police knew what they were doing.

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Speaker 1: So he built his own grit box, which is a

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Speaker 1: term I now used. Really it had like a door

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Speaker 1: in it so that would fall into a sewer when

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Speaker 1: he press some button or something, and then he would

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Speaker 1: catch it while he was in the sewer and escape.

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Speaker 1: You see, now I'm rooting for him. That's pretty amazing.

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Speaker 1: Did he get away with that one? Did you make

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Speaker 1: money on that?

365
00:21:04,944 --> 00:21:08,264
Speaker 2: It was fake money again, and by now he's furious,

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Speaker 2: sure the money. The police are pretty pissed as well.

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Speaker 1: Well, because they look like idiots.

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Speaker 2: Right, absolutely, So immediately after that there was a close

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Speaker 2: call and the police got their hands on Dagabat. He

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Speaker 2: went to pick up a package and the police were

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Speaker 2: there and one officer tried to grab him and slipped

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Speaker 2: apparently on some dog poop. No and yes, very slapstick. Yes,

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Speaker 2: And of course the journalists went to town. It was

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Speaker 2: front page news that gag headlines. You know, you can imagine.

375
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Speaker 2: So the lead investigator actually said that Dagabat has made

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Speaker 2: his men look like idiots.

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Speaker 1: Oh, they can't let this stand. They've got to catch

378
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Speaker 1: him now just for honor, right, just for their dignity.

379
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Speaker 1: What are the cops doing at this point to catch him?

380
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Speaker 2: They bring in the big guys, the special Einsat's commandos.

381
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Speaker 1: Well, I like when you say that, what was that again?

382
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Speaker 2: Special SAT's commandos.

383
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Speaker 1: And who's the chief investigator here working on this?

384
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Speaker 2: So the main police officer is de Lecky and he's

385
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Speaker 2: like your traditional police chief. He's losing sleep at this point.

386
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Speaker 2: And they bring in a criminal profiler.

387
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Speaker 1: Oh is that a big thing? Back then?

388
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Speaker 2: No, it wasn't big. It had just come in that year.

389
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Speaker 2: Before then it was looked upon as like hocus pocus.

390
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Speaker 1: So who does the lackey bring in as a profiler?

391
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Speaker 2: The lucky brings in Claudia Brockman, who is a female officer.

392
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Speaker 2: She's a specialist in profiling. She's a bit of an outsider.

393
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Speaker 2: Her office is in the police academy, you know, in

394
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Speaker 2: the school. They don't treat her with any respect. They

395
00:22:57,984 --> 00:23:01,864
Speaker 2: think her work is kind of pointless. What's she wanted

396
00:23:02,104 --> 00:23:06,024
Speaker 2: to build up a rapport with him, you know, build

397
00:23:06,064 --> 00:23:08,704
Speaker 2: a friendship with him, keep him on the phone longer

398
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Speaker 2: so that they could track him. I mean, he's calling

399
00:23:11,584 --> 00:23:14,584
Speaker 2: from phone booths, but they think the more he talks,

400
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Speaker 2: the more clues he's going to give away.

401
00:23:16,944 --> 00:23:19,424
Speaker 1: How much money are the cops spent on this manheunts

402
00:23:19,424 --> 00:23:21,024
Speaker 1: by this point? And how many years have gone by?

403
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Speaker 2: He's been at large for thousands of days, many years,

404
00:23:26,184 --> 00:23:29,504
Speaker 2: and they've spent something like twenty million dollars trying to

405
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Speaker 2: catch him.

406
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Speaker 1: Wow, they've spent way more than he is destroyed in

407
00:23:33,384 --> 00:23:37,944
Speaker 1: how more figurines and other mar goods? And is he

408
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Speaker 1: super rich by now?

409
00:23:40,024 --> 00:23:43,184
Speaker 2: No, he's running out of cash. Ideas all of his

410
00:23:43,744 --> 00:23:47,344
Speaker 2: crazy schemes are failing. The remote control train falls off

411
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Speaker 2: the track. He doesn't get to use his submarine. The

412
00:23:51,304 --> 00:23:54,224
Speaker 2: police keep putting fake cash in places, but.

413
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Speaker 1: He doesn't get to use his submarine.

414
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Speaker 2: He's about to use his submarine when things start going wrong.

415
00:24:01,984 --> 00:24:03,384
Speaker 1: Was there a submarine in the comic books?

416
00:24:03,424 --> 00:24:06,504
Speaker 2: I assume in the theme song he uses Dagabat, uses

417
00:24:06,544 --> 00:24:11,344
Speaker 2: a screwge uses a submarine underwater. He did build a submarine.

418
00:24:11,384 --> 00:24:16,664
Speaker 2: I've seen it. It was incredible. I've got to tell you.

419
00:24:16,704 --> 00:24:21,144
Speaker 2: The submarine is absolutely incredible. It's in the private museum

420
00:24:21,184 --> 00:24:24,624
Speaker 2: at the Hamburg Police Departments. It's too small for a

421
00:24:24,664 --> 00:24:27,384
Speaker 2: human to get in. It's it's remote control. It's probably

422
00:24:27,424 --> 00:24:28,744
Speaker 2: about three foot long.

423
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Speaker 1: Everything is like a fun toy that he makes. It's

424
00:24:31,344 --> 00:24:35,184
Speaker 1: like a remote control car or train or a little

425
00:24:35,184 --> 00:24:37,904
Speaker 1: tiny submarine. Like it's all cuter because it's small.

426
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Speaker 2: Exactly, it's fun.

427
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Speaker 1: So they're starting to profile him and are they able

428
00:24:44,664 --> 00:24:46,944
Speaker 1: to start to figure out who he is or how

429
00:24:46,984 --> 00:24:47,584
Speaker 1: do they catch him?

430
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Speaker 2: They start to keep him on the phone longer and longer,

431
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Speaker 2: and they bring in a guy who's really good at talking.

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Speaker 2: They keep him going whenever.

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Speaker 1: He meant what's this character?

434
00:24:59,344 --> 00:25:06,664
Speaker 2: He's an older and older guy, former hostage negotiator, veteran

435
00:25:06,824 --> 00:25:12,264
Speaker 2: hostage negotiator. He's basically spent his career talking to terrorists

436
00:25:12,264 --> 00:25:15,384
Speaker 2: and bombers and extortionists, so he knows what to do.

437
00:25:16,064 --> 00:25:18,144
Speaker 1: They're always like tough, but empathetic.

438
00:25:18,544 --> 00:25:20,464
Speaker 2: I think you're looking for grizzled.

439
00:25:20,584 --> 00:25:23,904
Speaker 1: Grizzled grizzled and yet like are able to connect on

440
00:25:23,984 --> 00:25:27,304
Speaker 1: a human level and understand someone who listened to them exactly.

441
00:25:27,344 --> 00:25:29,784
Speaker 2: There's one time they're talking on the phone and the

442
00:25:29,784 --> 00:25:32,904
Speaker 2: cop says to Dagabert, or would you mind not doing

443
00:25:33,304 --> 00:25:36,704
Speaker 2: an extortion this weekend? It's my daughter's wedding. You know,

444
00:25:36,704 --> 00:25:39,984
Speaker 2: I've got to be there. He connects with Dagobert and

445
00:25:40,024 --> 00:25:44,624
Speaker 2: they start laughing together and they make jokes and they

446
00:25:44,664 --> 00:25:47,224
Speaker 2: make friends because remember Dagabert's lonely.

447
00:25:48,104 --> 00:25:50,864
Speaker 1: Yeah, does he hold off for the wedding and not

448
00:25:51,424 --> 00:25:52,824
Speaker 1: do any barmings that weekend?

449
00:25:54,504 --> 00:25:58,024
Speaker 2: He did. He actually jokes that he hoped he was

450
00:25:58,064 --> 00:25:59,944
Speaker 2: going to get an invite to.

451
00:25:59,984 --> 00:26:02,784
Speaker 1: The CoP's wedding. Mm hm okay, So there's do any

452
00:26:02,784 --> 00:26:04,984
Speaker 1: figure who he is and how do they how are

453
00:26:04,984 --> 00:26:05,744
Speaker 1: they going to catch them?

454
00:26:06,744 --> 00:26:10,664
Speaker 2: So that cool. About the wedding, the police traced it

455
00:26:10,984 --> 00:26:15,584
Speaker 2: to this area called Potsdam, so they scrambled officers to

456
00:26:15,624 --> 00:26:20,464
Speaker 2: the area and they saw a man leaving in a

457
00:26:20,504 --> 00:26:24,304
Speaker 2: white rental car looking really nervous, so they called the

458
00:26:24,304 --> 00:26:27,344
Speaker 2: rental company, and the rental company said that car was

459
00:26:27,384 --> 00:26:31,704
Speaker 2: registered to a man named Arno Funk, so they started

460
00:26:31,704 --> 00:26:32,624
Speaker 2: to watch him.

461
00:26:32,904 --> 00:26:35,584
Speaker 1: So now they have his name, so now it seems

462
00:26:35,624 --> 00:26:38,584
Speaker 1: like there's nothing left except catching it.

463
00:26:40,024 --> 00:26:43,904
Speaker 2: A few days later, he makes another call and just

464
00:26:43,944 --> 00:26:48,344
Speaker 2: as he connects to the store to talk about his

465
00:26:48,464 --> 00:26:54,344
Speaker 2: latest extortion, a black BMW rars around the corner and

466
00:26:54,424 --> 00:26:56,944
Speaker 2: a bunch of cops jump out and.

467
00:26:56,944 --> 00:26:59,024
Speaker 1: Arrest him while he's in the phone. Both.

468
00:26:59,264 --> 00:27:01,984
Speaker 2: Yes, apparently one of the cops was the guy that

469
00:27:02,064 --> 00:27:08,264
Speaker 2: slipped on the dog poop oh. Just by happy happy coincidence,

470
00:27:08,264 --> 00:27:11,064
Speaker 2: he happened to be there ready for revenge.

471
00:27:11,464 --> 00:27:13,744
Speaker 1: And what are no Funk's reaction when he gets arrested?

472
00:27:14,624 --> 00:27:19,264
Speaker 2: Dignified, He's resigned to his fate. He says, he finally

473
00:27:19,344 --> 00:27:19,704
Speaker 2: caught me.

474
00:27:19,864 --> 00:27:21,864
Speaker 1: Do you think he kind of wanted to get cut?

475
00:27:22,184 --> 00:27:24,064
Speaker 2: I think by that point he was so tired.

476
00:27:25,184 --> 00:27:27,744
Speaker 1: How did the police finally celebrate?

477
00:27:27,984 --> 00:27:30,824
Speaker 2: They went crazy. There were scenes where they were dancing

478
00:27:30,864 --> 00:27:35,424
Speaker 2: around their squad cars and drinking this special bottles of

479
00:27:35,464 --> 00:27:38,064
Speaker 2: beer that they had made with Scrooge labels on. They

480
00:27:38,184 --> 00:27:40,184
Speaker 2: obviously had them pre prepared for the day that they

481
00:27:40,224 --> 00:27:43,224
Speaker 2: caught him, so it was basically a party German Germany's

482
00:27:43,304 --> 00:27:44,744
Speaker 2: cops just letting loose.

483
00:27:45,344 --> 00:27:47,544
Speaker 1: What did the public think? Were they upset that he

484
00:27:47,584 --> 00:27:49,384
Speaker 1: was arrested though? I mean, this was their hero.

485
00:27:49,744 --> 00:27:55,704
Speaker 2: Yeah. There were people making banners that said freedom for Dagobert,

486
00:27:55,944 --> 00:28:01,344
Speaker 2: and even journalists apparently were bringing him flowers. He I

487
00:28:01,384 --> 00:28:03,904
Speaker 2: think he wore I seem to recall that he wore

488
00:28:04,344 --> 00:28:08,104
Speaker 2: a Disney tie in court. That made everyone smile.

489
00:28:08,584 --> 00:28:10,384
Speaker 1: Does he end up getting time in prison?

490
00:28:10,544 --> 00:28:12,944
Speaker 2: He's sentenced to nine years in prison. When he gets

491
00:28:12,944 --> 00:28:17,024
Speaker 2: into the prison, the inmates break out into raptuous applause.

492
00:28:17,384 --> 00:28:20,904
Speaker 1: Come on, real state hero, Yeah, nine years. He has

493
00:28:20,904 --> 00:28:23,224
Speaker 1: to have gotten out a long time ago. So he's

494
00:28:23,304 --> 00:28:24,944
Speaker 1: been free for a long time. What's he been up to?

495
00:28:25,584 --> 00:28:28,064
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's been free. This story has a happy ending.

496
00:28:28,144 --> 00:28:32,304
Speaker 2: So Dagobert gets a letter in prison from this famous

497
00:28:32,664 --> 00:28:35,984
Speaker 2: German magazine. It's kind of a satirical magazine that features

498
00:28:36,024 --> 00:28:39,144
Speaker 2: a lot of comics cartoons, and they ask him to

499
00:28:39,944 --> 00:28:43,304
Speaker 2: draw for them. And then when he's allowed out into

500
00:28:43,344 --> 00:28:46,064
Speaker 2: the halfway house, they let him come into the office

501
00:28:46,984 --> 00:28:50,784
Speaker 2: and draw cartoons and he basically becomes what he always

502
00:28:50,784 --> 00:28:53,384
Speaker 2: wanted to be, which was a famous cartoonist.

503
00:28:53,824 --> 00:28:56,224
Speaker 1: Well that was his dream. All on, Oh that's great.

504
00:28:56,704 --> 00:29:00,784
Speaker 1: You went to Germany to meet Dagobert. What's that guy like?

505
00:29:01,504 --> 00:29:07,144
Speaker 2: He is still incredibly eccentric, and he certainly doesn't regret

506
00:29:07,224 --> 00:29:10,704
Speaker 2: any of his actions. He told me his entire story,

507
00:29:10,904 --> 00:29:13,864
Speaker 2: and I think he still finds it quite funny. Some

508
00:29:13,904 --> 00:29:16,784
Speaker 2: of the capers that he did. I found him to

509
00:29:16,824 --> 00:29:20,184
Speaker 2: be like a cartoon character. The way he tells his stories.

510
00:29:20,504 --> 00:29:25,144
Speaker 2: He pulls funny faces, and sometimes he mimes his heart

511
00:29:25,184 --> 00:29:28,024
Speaker 2: beating outside of his chest like a cartoon character when

512
00:29:28,024 --> 00:29:31,344
Speaker 2: he's talking about nearly getting caught. He's a larger than

513
00:29:31,424 --> 00:29:32,384
Speaker 2: life character.

514
00:29:32,544 --> 00:29:36,424
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Jeff Mish, you wrote the strange story of

515
00:29:36,544 --> 00:29:39,904
Speaker 1: Dago Bert the Ducktail's bandit for The New Yorker. I

516
00:29:39,904 --> 00:29:41,384
Speaker 1: wish we could have you on every week, but there's

517
00:29:41,424 --> 00:29:42,344
Speaker 1: no more weeks.

518
00:29:43,304 --> 00:29:46,784
Speaker 2: I can't believe they binned this. It's probably my favorite podcast.

519
00:29:47,664 --> 00:29:51,664
Speaker 1: Oh this is a hard way for you to find out. Then, guys,

520
00:29:52,664 --> 00:29:56,424
Speaker 1: I'm really going to miss you, not really you, because

521
00:29:56,504 --> 00:29:59,104
Speaker 1: this is a one way medium, so more like I'm

522
00:29:59,144 --> 00:30:02,424
Speaker 1: in a miss listening to myself. I still believe in

523
00:30:02,464 --> 00:30:05,384
Speaker 1: the initial pitch for this podcast, which is that people

524
00:30:05,384 --> 00:30:08,704
Speaker 1: want to spend less time scrolling and more time hearing

525
00:30:08,744 --> 00:30:14,264
Speaker 1: long stories. Maybe a podcast wasn't the best format for them,

526
00:30:14,504 --> 00:30:19,664
Speaker 1: but sitting down and actually reading these stories definitely is. Also,

527
00:30:19,784 --> 00:30:21,704
Speaker 1: I want to thank all the writers who came on

528
00:30:21,784 --> 00:30:25,344
Speaker 1: here as guests. We did not pay them at all.

529
00:30:25,944 --> 00:30:29,424
Speaker 1: They were suckers. Also, I want to thank all the

530
00:30:29,424 --> 00:30:32,024
Speaker 1: people who worked on the show, which is what their

531
00:30:32,024 --> 00:30:33,744
Speaker 1: credits are for just roll.

532
00:30:33,584 --> 00:30:37,784
Speaker 3: Them at the end of the show.

533
00:30:37,984 --> 00:30:39,584
Speaker 1: What's next for Joe Stein?

534
00:30:39,744 --> 00:30:43,824
Speaker 3: Maybe he'll take a nap for Poker Round Online.

535
00:30:43,904 --> 00:30:48,144
Speaker 1: Our show Today was produced by Kate mcculliffe and Nisha Benkott.

536
00:30:48,464 --> 00:30:51,704
Speaker 1: It was edited by Lydia gen Kott. Our engineer is

537
00:30:51,944 --> 00:30:56,024
Speaker 1: a Manda kay Wang and our executive producer is Katherine

538
00:30:56,184 --> 00:30:59,144
Speaker 1: Shira d'ah and our theme song was written and performed

539
00:30:59,144 --> 00:31:02,384
Speaker 1: by Jonathan Coleman and a special thanks to my voice

540
00:31:02,384 --> 00:31:06,784
Speaker 1: coach Vicky Merrick and my consulting producer Laurence Elastia. To

541
00:31:06,824 --> 00:31:11,784
Speaker 1: find more Pushkin podcasts, listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

542
00:31:11,904 --> 00:31:14,904
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your podcasts. I'm Joe Stan

543
00:31:15,464 --> 00:31:18,344
Speaker 1: and this is the story of the week. Do you

544
00:31:18,384 --> 00:31:21,704
Speaker 1: want to let people know your real American voice?

545
00:31:22,104 --> 00:31:25,744
Speaker 2: Every time I try and do an American accent, I

546
00:31:25,824 --> 00:31:27,384
Speaker 2: sound like Arnold schwartznigger.

547
00:31:27,784 --> 00:31:30,104
Speaker 1: That's not an American accent, that's Austrian. No.

548
00:31:30,224 --> 00:31:32,624
Speaker 2: But what I'm saying is my American accent doesn't sound

549
00:31:32,704 --> 00:31:34,504
Speaker 2: very good. So you know when you call the bank

550
00:31:34,944 --> 00:31:39,424
Speaker 2: and it's automated, yeah, it doesn't understand my British accent,

551
00:31:39,504 --> 00:31:43,664
Speaker 2: so I try and do an American accent. So I say,

552
00:31:44,264 --> 00:31:47,384
Speaker 2: speak to an operator, you

553
00:31:47,504 --> 00:31:48,984
Speaker 1: Do sound like Arnold