Speaker 1: Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Heck yeah, Zarren,
Speaker 1: I'm ready, let's do this.
Speaker 2: Hello.
Speaker 1: Hi, my name's Elizabeth. This is ridiculous Crime.
Speaker 2: Hi, nice to meet you. My name is a little
Speaker 2: bit Dutton.
Speaker 1: Excellent, me too. You know it's ridiculous.
Speaker 2: I do Elizabeth Dutton. If you have a second, y,
Speaker 2: pronounce a natia daphobia. A natia, yes, that is quote
Speaker 2: the fear of being watched by a duck. The term
Speaker 2: comes to us from the Greeks a nati day which
Speaker 2: means swan, ducks or geese waterfowl essentially, and phobos, which
Speaker 2: you know means fear. Right, So you put those together.
Speaker 2: You got a fear of ducks, geese for swans, but
Speaker 2: in particular that they would be watching you. But turns out,
Speaker 2: how did the research because this one pops around on
Speaker 2: the internets and it's not real, not a real phobia.
Speaker 2: This dates back to a nineteen eighty eight far Side
Speaker 2: comic and it's spread online and now a lot of
Speaker 2: people think it's a real phobia, and they have self
Speaker 2: diagnosed themselves with the Nada daphobia. So now that they
Speaker 2: have done that, the phobia has become real, because ultimately
Speaker 2: all phobias are irrational, So this is you had another
Speaker 2: irrational phobia. It just started as fiction. So the people
Speaker 2: who are into this one to know there is arentheophobia
Speaker 2: or on orniphobia, ornithophobia. Sorry, that's ornithology orthophobia. The study
Speaker 2: of birds is ornithology. The fear of birds is ornithophobia.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I got a friend who's afraid of birds.
Speaker 2: Okay, boom, they have ornithophobia. And if someone like that,
Speaker 2: if they are specifically afraid of ducks, then they would
Speaker 2: be what we were discussing on a nati phobia. But
Speaker 2: everybody else is just afraid of a duck watching them.
Speaker 2: They're just you know, they want to be special. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they'll touch on that.
Speaker 1: That's ridiculous, right, I thought you'd like that one. Do
Speaker 1: you want to know what else is ridiculous?
Speaker 2: I'm here for buckled Up and Ready a.
Speaker 1: Man Who's a bat This is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast
Speaker 1: about absurd and outrageous capers, heists, and cons. It's always
Speaker 1: ninety nine percent murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous.
Speaker 1: Zaren Elizabeth, I have a batman problem.
Speaker 2: What you do? Have you tried a vigilante.
Speaker 1: Well, I don't, but my nephew does.
Speaker 2: Oh ho. So he's over at my place every since.
Speaker 2: You're a nephew a criminal?
Speaker 1: Hold on, tell me this is he's not a criminal.
Speaker 2: He's a good boy.
Speaker 1: But he comes over every Saturday, and it's the highlight
Speaker 1: of my week. To be honest, no offense, Zaren.
Speaker 2: And Dave, none taken.
Speaker 1: My nephew is obsessed with Batman.
Speaker 2: No word.
Speaker 1: He's fifty six years old. No, he's a little kid.
Speaker 1: Everything has to be Batman, Isn't that funny? Like that
Speaker 1: is everything has to be Batman. His clothes, including socks
Speaker 1: and underwear, his toys. He loves monster trucks, especially the
Speaker 1: Batman one that he has over.
Speaker 2: Is a monster truck. Yeah, and when we.
Speaker 1: Race the toys, Batman always has to work.
Speaker 2: Of course, of course, like.
Speaker 1: What about Calavera or El Toro Loco or Grave Digger
Speaker 1: and his progeny son of a Grave Digger by Jingo.
Speaker 2: They can't ever win the whole world? What of them?
Speaker 2: I think that Batman is into the monster truck world. Yeah,
Speaker 2: there's a Batman monster truck.
Speaker 1: If they win a race Batman exactly, if they win
Speaker 1: Batman invalidates their victory, and so on Saturdays, I live
Speaker 1: in a Batman dictatorship. The only TV I allow him
Speaker 1: to watch at my place as an animated show called
Speaker 1: still Water on Apple TV. It's like, it's really calm
Speaker 1: and there's a giant panda for some reason, who also,
Speaker 1: for some reason, reminds me of William Peterson in the
Speaker 1: last season of CSI. I've been told it's I think
Speaker 1: it's the sun hat anyway and hat. Yeah, so Batman,
Speaker 1: let's get back to back. For those lucky seven people
Speaker 1: who've never heard of Batman, here's a primer. He's a
Speaker 1: superhero from a DC comic book. He's the twenty seventh
Speaker 1: issue of Detective Comics, released in nineteen thirty nine. To
Speaker 1: be exact, Batman Batman is the alias of Bruce Wayne.
Speaker 1: That's another thing. You can make my nephew really mad
Speaker 1: by calling him Batman.
Speaker 2: Doesn't care for that. Oh, Bruce Batman.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Bruce Batman d DS. Bruce Wayne is an uber
Speaker 1: rich dude and he lives in Gotham City, which is
Speaker 1: a proto Nightmare New York. Yes, am I getting all
Speaker 1: this right? You know more than that, Bruce Wayne saw
Speaker 1: his parents killed when he was a kid in vowed revenge.
Speaker 1: That's not part of this story, but I'm saying it.
Speaker 1: He's a dapper playboy by day, yes, for the most part,
Speaker 1: and likes to do like does a little shoulder wiggle
Speaker 1: dance during the day, and he's a street vigilante by night.
Speaker 2: Yes. And he was best played by Michael Keaton. Oh
Speaker 2: where do you come from?
Speaker 1: So he cruises around in is batmobile in the dark
Speaker 1: hours looking for crime to prevent or interrupt. He has
Speaker 1: a special friend named Robin, a special friend, and then
Speaker 1: there's Batgirl in there somewhere.
Speaker 2: Other special friends, yeah he has.
Speaker 1: He has a butler named Alfred, and then there's Commissioner
Speaker 1: Gordon of the Gotham p D. And then Catwoman sometimes comes.
Speaker 2: Into the mix of girlfriend kind of yeah, I don't know,
Speaker 2: just catting around Batman and Catwoman. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Sure.
Speaker 2: Sworn enemies.
Speaker 1: His sworn enemies though are actually the Penguin or Penguin.
Speaker 1: I don't think they have an article in front. Penguindler,
Speaker 1: Penguin two face, yeah he has, the Man has two faces,
Speaker 1: and then the final boss, the Joker. Yes, did you
Speaker 1: you got into Batman as a kid.
Speaker 2: I liked comic books. I started with comic books and
Speaker 2: then like the movies obviously are a different rendition. I
Speaker 2: really enjoyed all of the movies. I like the Batman movies.
Speaker 2: Uh up there with a lot of the Marvel movies.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, so, yes, I would say I'm
Speaker 2: a big fan of Batman as a come, more so
Speaker 2: than Superman.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm so saturated with Batman. Batman, you are bound
Speaker 1: in content, I don't know up from down.
Speaker 2: You're living with a Batman factory team rider.
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly. So I've decided to share with you some
Speaker 1: ridiculous Batman crimes. Oh, nice Batman, not crimes fought by
Speaker 1: the Cape Crusader himself. Oh, these are about Batman.
Speaker 2: I thought you were going to tell me like comic
Speaker 2: book plots. That was cool, just and then episode twelve
Speaker 2: turned the page.
Speaker 1: So people do weird things for Batman, Okay, like take,
Speaker 1: for example, the human who broke out the front window
Speaker 1: of a comic book store in Everett, Washington. Oh this person, well, persons,
Speaker 1: I should say there were two of them. They did
Speaker 1: not steal priceless vintage Batman comics.
Speaker 2: Uh no.
Speaker 1: October of twenty twenty, These people smash the window to
Speaker 1: retrieve something on display. There in the window in the
Speaker 1: window a four foot tall Funko Batman. Now, I don't
Speaker 1: know why Funko toys are so hilarious, right, well, I
Speaker 1: know I love Funko toys in two.
Speaker 2: Ways the funk going on.
Speaker 1: The first is from the large display section by the
Speaker 1: registers at the Walmart the next town over. For me
Speaker 1: when I lived in the rural South, the toys are
Speaker 1: maybe like four and a half inches tall and they're
Speaker 1: made of vinyl.
Speaker 2: Yeah, big head.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they run about twelve to fifteen dollars on the
Speaker 1: Funko website. Like you said, they have that big head
Speaker 1: big hay yeah big.
Speaker 2: It's almost anime looking. And then they got a tiny,
Speaker 2: little bit tiny body exactly.
Speaker 1: Well t rex arms. At Walmart, I'd see the shelves
Speaker 1: with the toys as I waited to be the only
Speaker 1: customer in the store to ever buy a Boreo rice
Speaker 1: and the toys they're so outlandish, Like I kind of
Speaker 1: feel like I have a memory of seeing Vanilla Ice
Speaker 1: in there.
Speaker 2: But it was like twenty fourteen in the Walmart. She
Speaker 2: was shopping for Funko to funny, do you have the
Speaker 2: new Funks Funko Nilla.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but he also probably worked there, so I knew
Speaker 1: they existed Funkos, but I didn't know they were a
Speaker 1: collector's item. Oh yeah, I thought they were for kids, big,
Speaker 1: big time, like kids who like to play with doll
Speaker 1: versions of Jack's from Son Evans Sunsannark That's what I think.
Speaker 1: But then I learned they were to be gathered like
Speaker 1: precious gems.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I read an amazing Reddit post there.
Speaker 2: I know you love the reddit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was a woman whose husband didn't work and
Speaker 1: was using all their money to buy Funko dolls that
Speaker 1: he kept in a spare room of the house, like
Speaker 1: completely filled.
Speaker 2: She's working to basically subsidize his funk and they.
Speaker 1: Were like barely making it every month, like and he
Speaker 1: was just.
Speaker 2: Racking and racking. But he's not out there, like working
Speaker 2: the streets to get himself a little side. Actually he there.
Speaker 1: He missed a bunch of family events to wait online
Speaker 1: for the new releases to drop.
Speaker 2: Waited for like online auctions. He's like missing like his
Speaker 2: daughter's graduation or whatever.
Speaker 1: Or I looked on the Funco website. You can get
Speaker 1: alerts when they're gonna go on sale. For instance, there's
Speaker 1: a Beth Dutton one.
Speaker 2: Oh like you like me?
Speaker 1: And it's not me, but it's my name, yes, and
Speaker 1: it says like you can sign up for to be
Speaker 1: alerted when it's available. She's wearing like a pretty dope
Speaker 1: pendle to jacket. Say, but I don't spirit Okay, I
Speaker 1: don't get it, the whole funko thing, because I'm not
Speaker 1: really one to collect things for display. Some people are
Speaker 1: God bless I love it for why not? So this
Speaker 1: comic book store in Evert, Washington, they had a four
Speaker 1: and a half resistible funk They had a four and
Speaker 1: a half foot funko statue of Batman in the window.
Speaker 2: Can you imagine the head on that baby?
Speaker 1: Oh? Man, that's justum quanium. You can't just buy a
Speaker 1: four foot Bunco Batman.
Speaker 2: Go funko bunko.
Speaker 1: We'll just call it a bunko.
Speaker 2: Bunko like that, you know, like the Squad, the Bunco Squad.
Speaker 1: The Funko Batman. You have to earn it.
Speaker 2: Oh, they threw a breaking glass.
Speaker 1: Well, according to the store owner Charlie Knowedler, quote, only
Speaker 1: the store could order it, and you can only order
Speaker 1: one and you have to sign a disclosure.
Speaker 2: You wouldn't sell it? What for you? What did it caught?
Speaker 1: What was it worth more than eight thousand dollars?
Speaker 2: Wow?
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's like they just smashed a bunch of Batman
Speaker 1: funkos together and holded it. This is this is some
Speaker 1: insider stuff. A mere citizen wouldn't have it. Can I
Speaker 1: also say that Charlieknedler doesn't look like comic book guy
Speaker 1: from the Simpsons.
Speaker 2: That's disappointment.
Speaker 1: He's just a normal older fella. But he's wearing an
Speaker 1: Alice Cooper t shirt.
Speaker 2: Okay, wait to save it and.
Speaker 1: Alice Cooper fan without a four and a half foot
Speaker 1: funco to wrap his arms around at night?
Speaker 2: Sad? Can we start a kickstart to wrap.
Speaker 1: His arms and legs? Apparently the thieves broke the window
Speaker 1: and grabbed the funko sometime after three am.
Speaker 2: That's the witching house that it's time to do it
Speaker 2: Batman hour.
Speaker 1: The broken window was reported by a citizen walking her
Speaker 1: dog at six thirty in the morning. Okay, the Funco
Speaker 1: Batman was the only thing that they stole.
Speaker 2: Nothing else and nobody else came along and be like
Speaker 2: oh popular, yeah.
Speaker 1: But in a store that is literally full of collectibles. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they only took the statue.
Speaker 2: Well, they're devoted, they're committed, and they are specific.
Speaker 1: And then a skeet skeets sped off into the night
Speaker 1: in a red Mazda.
Speaker 2: Ooh, the ratmobile.
Speaker 1: Rat the caper made it to crime stoppers. It was
Speaker 1: on Washington's Most Wanted, which I would love to watch sometimes.
Speaker 2: Is that that's a TV show?
Speaker 1: Apparently the police got tons of leads social media, all
Speaker 1: a dinner quote people saying they found it, that somebody
Speaker 1: was selling it online. Charliekndler said, we check it out
Speaker 1: and go, no, that's not it. That's not four and
Speaker 1: a half feet tall, that's one feet tall. Customers would
Speaker 1: send us pictures what people were posting, some from out
Speaker 1: of state.
Speaker 2: I've seen it. It's down here in California. Cat your
Speaker 2: nephew in a Batman costume.
Speaker 1: He's funky. But then there was a break in the case.
Speaker 2: Ooh nice.
Speaker 1: Everett Detectives went to Lynnwood in February twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: They got a call from someone who bought Funko Batman. Oh,
Speaker 1: and they wanted to turn it over and wash their
Speaker 1: hands of the whole incident.
Speaker 2: Really.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they wanted nothing to do with it. Batman was
Speaker 1: not in good shape. Who he had a broken nose,
Speaker 1: he gone through it. Yeah, he was covered in scratches,
Speaker 1: you know, defensive wounds. He was also missing his signature
Speaker 1: blue Funko. You talked about how he's got this huge head,
Speaker 1: tiny body when it's huge. Yeah, he needed that support
Speaker 1: platform to hold him because that tiny little.
Speaker 2: Leg he's not going to it's tiny, tiniest thing.
Speaker 1: It's like when I see Tom Cruise running in the
Speaker 1: movie and I yelled, run, run, run your little legs.
Speaker 1: That's what it is with a funk come.
Speaker 2: People always clap and it's funny. They love that way.
Speaker 1: I just I just walk in in a running scene
Speaker 1: and then I leave.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not paying for this.
Speaker 1: So Charlie Nodler, the owner, he said, quote, we had
Speaker 1: to go in and identify him. I like to imagine
Speaker 1: that he had to look through a window into an
Speaker 1: office where Batman lay under a sheet on someone's papers,
Speaker 1: drewn desk. All Somber lifts it from his face and
Speaker 1: Charlie Nodler turns his head away and bites his knuckle.
Speaker 1: I can't wait, I can't bear.
Speaker 2: To see you look first.
Speaker 1: So at last reporting, there were persons of interest, but
Speaker 1: no charges had been filed.
Speaker 2: They didn't solve this.
Speaker 1: No, here's the thing, though, Everett Comics can't just fix
Speaker 1: them up and put.
Speaker 2: Them back in the window. Most likely they know who
Speaker 2: they They probably came in the store, like he probably
Speaker 2: knows the window.
Speaker 1: What if you're just walking down the street and you're like, yeah,
Speaker 1: elbow into the window, grab it and zoinks out in
Speaker 1: the red Mazda. So note that they can't put him
Speaker 1: back in the window because it was already paid out
Speaker 1: on from the insurance company. Oh, the insurance company owns
Speaker 1: Funko Batman.
Speaker 2: Now, so are they going to destroy it? Well, no,
Speaker 2: is the insurance company to destroy Batman.
Speaker 1: Listen, So Property Crimes Police detective Adam Gage said, quote,
Speaker 1: we're still trying to figure out what to do with him.
Speaker 1: So the insurance company does have the option of destroying it.
Speaker 1: The last I could find it's sitting in the window
Speaker 1: of the Westmore Avenue Precinct in Everett, Washington, looking out
Speaker 1: upon the city and it's vulnerable citizenry, like it's just
Speaker 1: looking watching, waiting and speaking of Walmart. Like I was
Speaker 1: a little bit ago, there was a guy in Florida,
Speaker 1: of course, who got arrested for stealing from Walmart.
Speaker 2: That was earlier this year.
Speaker 1: He made out with two hundred and eighty eight dollars
Speaker 1: and eighty six cents in merchandise.
Speaker 2: Hmm, under eighty eight dollars and eighty six.
Speaker 1: I don't know what the product breakdown was. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: imagine it was just an armful of funkos oh okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: maybe some SD cards and a couple of boxes of
Speaker 1: Beory strips. Anyway, it was like the most likely things, Hello,
Speaker 1: Ouckham's razor. Anyway, he walked right out of the store
Speaker 1: with all the goods and got in his red Mustang
Speaker 1: no relation to the red Mazda Red.
Speaker 2: M Yeah, it's all coming together right there, and.
Speaker 1: He hauled rear out of the parking lot. The cops
Speaker 1: stopped him. They were able to stop him. They pulled
Speaker 1: him over and they asked for his ID and he
Speaker 1: provided it. Eighteen year old Jonah Goodfellow. He said, you
Speaker 1: know what, guys, my name is Joonah Goodfellow and I'm
Speaker 1: a tax preparer. They're like, thank you, we didn't ask that.
Speaker 1: And he's like, you know something else, I'd like to
Speaker 1: tell you, I stole all this stuff two hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty eight bucks worth, give or take.
Speaker 2: What was he doing?
Speaker 1: He also he was wearing a Batman mask the whole time,
Speaker 1: all the time, whole time. So just like my nephew
Speaker 1: when he wears his Batman jamas all day and says
Speaker 1: he's actually Batman, it looks like the cops just arrested him.
Speaker 2: Ah yeah, So this mister Goodfellow, I'm assuming a descendant
Speaker 2: of people from the Pilgrim. The Pilgrim he came over
Speaker 2: on the Mayflower. So this original American mister Goodfellow. Did
Speaker 2: the police did they give him any like? Oh, sir,
Speaker 2: you were doing the right thing, trying to.
Speaker 1: Probably to pox him into the patrol car, chuck them
Speaker 1: on the shoulder. Oh listen, come down and then show
Speaker 1: me a couple of things.
Speaker 2: We're talking about crime stuff. Just take a seat here
Speaker 2: in the car. I got another good one for you. Yeah.
Speaker 1: No, there was a guy who blamed Batman for his crime.
Speaker 2: Oh was this me?
Speaker 1: Yes, it was you. Back in twenty eleven, they were
Speaker 1: filming The Dark Knight Rises in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2: Oh yes, I remember this, Yeah, the football.
Speaker 1: Scene, Christian Bale, Tom Hardy just yucking it up.
Speaker 2: Yeah, get all the Steelers seats. That's a Huggins totally tight. Squeezes.
Speaker 1: Nearby, a man was sitting in his car, just sitting there.
Speaker 2: Batman squeezed me longer.
Speaker 1: Suddenly a guy opened up the passengers door of this car.
Speaker 1: What was he sitting there doing with it unlocked? I
Speaker 1: don't want a victim blame, but hello, you're sitting in
Speaker 1: your car. Keep the doors locked. Every lady knows this, okay.
Speaker 1: So the next thing that happened, though, is the guy
Speaker 1: getting into the passenger seat, pulled out a gun and
Speaker 1: ordered the driver out of the car. Zaren We had
Speaker 1: us in honest to goodness carjacking in a parking lot. No,
Speaker 1: just on the street.
Speaker 2: On the street, okay, so I gotta stop light.
Speaker 1: It just pulled over.
Speaker 2: He was parked, The guy was parked. He's just sitting
Speaker 2: in a parking space. Guy gets in next to him,
Speaker 2: a shotgun has a guy and go get out.
Speaker 1: Yep, exactly. So the driver looks at the perp and
Speaker 1: then he pulls his own weapon and is bad. Yes,
Speaker 1: so there had been a report of an assault in
Speaker 1: the shady side area of Pittsburgh apped a plane closed
Speaker 1: cop in an unmarked car was cruising around looking for
Speaker 1: the suspect. Okay, he parked his car and he was waiting.
Speaker 1: Then the chump tried to carjack suspect found him. Right,
Speaker 1: what does this have to do with Batman? I mean,
Speaker 1: you know I go off on tangents.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's all right, but I figure Batman was going
Speaker 2: to come in healthy office, right.
Speaker 1: So the guy, the carjacker, goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy,
Speaker 1: whoa whoa, whoa. This isn't what you think, detective. See,
Speaker 1: I'm in this movie we're filming. Maybe you've heard of it.
Speaker 1: It's a Batman move. I play a bad guy, A
Speaker 1: bad guy who tries to carjack a dude dozens of
Speaker 1: blocks from the set for realism. So they arrested him,
Speaker 1: in charge him with robbery of a motor vehicle.
Speaker 2: I am a method actor. Sir. We never got to.
Speaker 1: See that scene in the movie. Yeah, no, they cut
Speaker 1: it because he never showed up with the car.
Speaker 2: So Lawrence l via Lyne, which is like we told
Speaker 2: Dustin Hoffman in the same where he has to like
Speaker 2: it doesn't matter Basically he gives them acting advice, and
Speaker 2: he's like, my dear boy, have you ever considered acting?
Speaker 2: That's what the detector said.
Speaker 1: This is too much fun, Szarin.
Speaker 2: Yeah, fun right, Batman, I love the fun.
Speaker 1: Right. We should take a break. When we come back.
Speaker 1: I'll have more bat capers for you. Hello, Buttercup, you
Speaker 1: caught me on that entirely we left off. I was
Speaker 1: yammering on about Batman.
Speaker 2: Oh, I thought of the movie The Marathon Man. Oh,
Speaker 2: with dust go on.
Speaker 1: There's been a lot of Batman movies, yess, not counting
Speaker 1: spinoffs or appearances in other DC movies, movies where it's
Speaker 1: just Batman, all about the bat It looks like there
Speaker 1: are twelve live action movies that many too animated.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: There are nine movies that he's in with other superheroes.
Speaker 2: Yes, the Justice League type films.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and then TV shows Great Day in the Morning.
Speaker 1: There are too many to count.
Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of animated ones.
Speaker 1: Same goes for books.
Speaker 2: Oh, I didn't even think about it. Batman's everywhere, are
Speaker 2: we including coloring books.
Speaker 1: Color coloring books, monster trucks.
Speaker 2: Hot feels.
Speaker 1: I feel like every comic book hero or superhero writer
Speaker 1: would love to be able to pen at Batman script.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so there's so much.
Speaker 1: There's so much to Batman. He's mysterious, he has a
Speaker 1: wonderfully dark origin story. He's a rich guy with seemingly
Speaker 1: endless gadgets and toys. He lives in a mansion over
Speaker 1: a tricked out cave.
Speaker 2: He doesn't have any family to complicate stuff and to
Speaker 2: do whatever he wants. Right, there's a lot to play
Speaker 2: with here, is also haunted by their absence.
Speaker 1: Yes, one of the creative minds who wanted to play
Speaker 1: in that Batman sandbox look out for Catwoman was a
Speaker 1: guy named Chrissniak.
Speaker 2: Chris.
Speaker 1: He's a comic book artist and creator who's done work
Speaker 1: for both DC and Marvel. He is deep into comics,
Speaker 1: and he had an idea about a Batman's storyline.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm looked over here like Steve was the next Boy.
Speaker 1: No relation that I know of. The more he thought of, well,
Speaker 1: maybe there's who knows who cares. The more he thought
Speaker 1: about it, the more he realized that his idea was
Speaker 1: just genius. So he sat down wrote down the story.
Speaker 1: Not a comic book, a whole graphic novel. This was
Speaker 1: a story story, multiple syllables. It was an ambitious project
Speaker 1: and he was more than up to it. He came
Speaker 1: up with this idea about Riddler figuring out that Batman
Speaker 1: and Bruce Wayne are one and the same.
Speaker 2: Oh, finally, somebody.
Speaker 1: Someone, Thank God, And basically that meant that he knew
Speaker 1: why Batman does what he does, so he finds out
Speaker 1: the whole backstory and that Riddler would unleash a plague
Speaker 1: something biblical on Gotham is punishment for not loving his
Speaker 1: criming ways. And then he also had a bomb sent
Speaker 1: to kill Batman, but it was intercepted by someone else
Speaker 1: who gets injured instead. In the manuscript for the Graphic Novels,
Speaker 1: Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commissioner Gordon.
Speaker 2: Who also happens to be Ackerel.
Speaker 1: So he called the creation the Ultimate Riddle that manuscript title.
Speaker 1: So in nineteen ninety, Wozniak pitched his manuscript to DC Comics,
Speaker 1: no response, but he knew the story was just too
Speaker 1: good to ignore, so he sent it again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like a follow to the killing joke with
Speaker 2: the Joker. You can see the potential right there.
Speaker 1: And again he sent it again and again and again.
Speaker 2: I'm sensing the problem.
Speaker 1: Oh, and again about it a little, and he figured
Speaker 1: maybe publishing wasn't the way to.
Speaker 2: Go if I had a hammer go on.
Speaker 1: Maybe they weren't focusing on graphic novels. Yes, probably, maybe
Speaker 1: he should adapt it to a screenplay. A good call,
Speaker 1: And that's what he did, and he called it the
Speaker 1: blind Man's Hat. Not as good of a time, he's
Speaker 1: stepping over into the next line.
Speaker 2: That is good.
Speaker 1: And then he sent it to Michael Uslan. I think
Speaker 1: at times us L a n Uslan. Michael Uslin, he's
Speaker 1: a producer of Batman movies. Did you know that he's
Speaker 1: the first instructor to teach an accredited course in comic
Speaker 1: book folklore at a university.
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna go ahead and say no, I did not.
Speaker 1: The Indiana University three units the comic book in America.
Speaker 2: That's cool.
Speaker 1: Uslan called a local newspaper reporter anonymously, of course, to
Speaker 1: complain about the course when it first got listened. Smart,
Speaker 1: how in the world could they be teaching something like
Speaker 1: this at a university? Where are my dead pale mail
Speaker 1: writers by gum? So of course, news cameras arrived. He
Speaker 1: became a sensation students lined up to register for the course.
Speaker 1: Comic book loom Narys accepted invitations to speak to the class,
Speaker 1: and then Uslin got a phone call from stan Lee
Speaker 1: I thought to be Bob Kane, but yes, and that
Speaker 1: led to a job at DC Comics. So he started
Speaker 1: writing comics, got deep into the Batman franchise, and from
Speaker 1: there he moved to the production side of films. In fact,
Speaker 1: he holds the film rights to Batman, along with the
Speaker 1: estate of Benjamin Melmicker. Melmcker sure, the creator of Batman.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I don't know how to print. I always
Speaker 2: think of Bob Kane as the creator of Batman. So
Speaker 2: Melmacker is not a name that I've committed.
Speaker 1: Well, he had the rights, and so Uslin's been an
Speaker 1: executive producer on all the Batman movies. If you want
Speaker 1: to get a Batman movie made, this is your guy.
Speaker 2: So he's the Barbara Broccli of Batman, because he is.
Speaker 1: The Batman Man. Yes, So Wosney ex sent a script
Speaker 1: to Uslan. Uslin had given him his card once, so
Speaker 1: why not take a shot.
Speaker 2: Check this out? Primo bat content. I go right to
Speaker 2: the source.
Speaker 1: He never heard back. This was in two thousand and eight,
Speaker 1: So we all have that.
Speaker 2: Story kidnapped him?
Speaker 1: No, you know how like we you and I we
Speaker 1: have stories any other writer stories or novels or a
Speaker 1: collection banging around in a drawer that were positive has
Speaker 1: legs and we'll find a home one day.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, totally. Yeah, this was I may have two
Speaker 2: of those drawers. I may have a couple of drawers.
Speaker 1: Then twenty twenty two, Yes, the movie The Batman came out.
Speaker 1: I didn't see it, yeah, Fries.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know you didn't, but that's yeah, the Robert
Speaker 2: Twilight Fell. It was good. I was. I mean, out
Speaker 2: of all the Batman movies recently made, it was one
Speaker 2: of the better. I thought it was really good.
Speaker 1: It's got Zoe Kravitz in it. Yeah, Paul Dano, I'm
Speaker 1: a big fan who made. He's always weird to he
Speaker 1: maybe always looks like a sex offender. Yeah not yeah,
Speaker 1: like a backwood sex offender. No offense, and that.
Speaker 2: There will be blooded there's two people he's played by him,
Speaker 2: and I never understand. It just threw me. I've never
Speaker 2: liked that movie because I'm like, wait, which one is he?
Speaker 2: And I was like so dumb in that.
Speaker 1: Film apparently, so, yeah, he was in The Batman.
Speaker 2: I get thrown by Paul Dane's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Yeah, everyone does, hopefully not violently. I didn't see the movie.
Speaker 1: Losney X saw The.
Speaker 2: Batman, you'd like it. Actually it made his blood boil
Speaker 2: Colin Ferrell's portrayal of I like him. See, I said
Speaker 2: the penguin, so we're going gardic on front.
Speaker 1: Did it make your blood boil? Because it made Losney
Speaker 1: x blood boil.
Speaker 2: I can see that. I get y'all hate it. I
Speaker 2: didn't get all heated up, but I did see damp.
Speaker 2: I was like, well, this is not the Batman of
Speaker 2: my youth. I don't know. I enjoyed their interpretation. Well,
Speaker 2: Losniik was mad.
Speaker 1: Not because it looked like Riddler was played by someone
Speaker 1: cast from the Megan's Law website. It's because the story
Speaker 1: in the film is basically.
Speaker 2: The story he wrote. It's very similar. According to him,
Speaker 2: it's very there's elements.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well in this in his script, Riddler firebombs Barbara Gordon.
Speaker 1: Like I said earlier, try to keep up. In movie,
Speaker 1: it's the same setup, but it's Alfred who gets it.
Speaker 1: I am spoiling this movie. I've never seen. The plot
Speaker 1: structure is pretty similar, although I'm not the one to ask.
Speaker 1: But because they all, they all seem like the same
Speaker 1: movie in story, like Batman's good except for.
Speaker 2: Because Ben Affleck was in it, and that's your favorite
Speaker 2: comic book movie.
Speaker 1: For sure. Bad Guy's bad, but like in a really
Speaker 1: theatrical way, like does a lot of.
Speaker 2: Kipping around.
Speaker 1: He wants to terrorize Gotham through like a convoluted yet
Speaker 1: terribly personally antagonizing to Batman way chaos and suits. Batman
Speaker 1: emerges victorious four. Now, yeah, there's no stopping crime, especially
Speaker 1: when it's darkly whimsical. So hello, I've seen all the movies,
Speaker 1: so I may not know the difference, but most do.
Speaker 1: So here are the bullets for the script in the movie.
Speaker 1: In the script, Batman is at the end of his career.
Speaker 1: In the movie, he's at the beginning. Yes, it makes
Speaker 1: sense because they wanted a younger star, but he's still
Speaker 1: like a turning point. In the script, there's a criminal
Speaker 1: banking conglomerate at play. In the movie, it's an organized
Speaker 1: crime syndicate because organized crime is easier for audiences to understand.
Speaker 2: More coming.
Speaker 1: But yes, yeah, in the script, a bank is corrupt.
Speaker 1: In the movie, it's a charity. In the script, Riddler
Speaker 1: finds a surrogate family in a commune. In the movie,
Speaker 1: it's an orphanage. Watch them kids in the script, Paul Dano.
Speaker 2: In the script, it's Armageddon for the world. Baby.
Speaker 1: In the movie, it's Judgment Day for Gotham. That's cheaper VFX.
Speaker 2: Sure.
Speaker 1: In the script, Riddler threatens to release that biblical plague
Speaker 1: upon the planet. In the movie, it's a biblical flood
Speaker 1: because plague is too soon. It seems like a lot
Speaker 1: of strong parallels.
Speaker 2: But what do I know.
Speaker 1: I'm just a simple country lawyers here.
Speaker 2: The fact that you are too. But you have such
Speaker 2: a good closing argument I do.
Speaker 1: I do you know who got themselves a non simple
Speaker 1: city lawyer. Wosniak suit, So I mean the Batman good luck, well,
Speaker 1: it made hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. Get
Speaker 1: your cut, that guy.
Speaker 2: I'm with them on that. But they have all of
Speaker 2: these rules about the embodyment of an idea, and just
Speaker 2: because you have stuff, it ain't gonna.
Speaker 1: Play, he sued Warner Brothers. Wozniak alleged that Usland took
Speaker 1: the script, handed it off to the director Reeves.
Speaker 2: What's his first name?
Speaker 1: Not Kelan matt Reeves.
Speaker 2: Oh, Matt Reeves. Oh, the director of The.
Speaker 1: Batman right, and then Reeves like rewrote parts of it
Speaker 1: but kept the bones. And the lawsuit is still making
Speaker 1: its way through the courts.
Speaker 2: He filed it, not you got his script to the
Speaker 2: director's hands.
Speaker 1: Uh huh.
Speaker 2: If he got it into the director's hands, that he does.
Speaker 1: Have it with ustling as like a middleman.
Speaker 2: But does he have confirmation that the director held in
Speaker 2: his hot little hands. I don't, because if you can
Speaker 2: prove that the director put laid his eyes on this script,
Speaker 2: he may have a contenttion.
Speaker 1: This is what his attorney, R. Terry Parker had to
Speaker 1: say about it.
Speaker 2: That's why they're so protective. I won't see your script.
Speaker 2: Don't get me your script because they can't see it.
Speaker 1: They can't see it, and then they can make yeah quote.
Speaker 1: There are so many original expressions from my client's story
Speaker 1: found in the Defendants movie that we believe this is
Speaker 1: clear case of copyright infringement. The similarities are just too
Speaker 1: uncanniedy be accidental.
Speaker 2: Well, you know who the world's greatest detective is Batman
Speaker 2: he could solve this.
Speaker 1: Let's call him, so Bom, get my nephew on the phone.
Speaker 1: The website Agents of Fandom. They have a pretty good
Speaker 1: write up about the whole thing, and while they seem
Speaker 1: to agree with Wozniak, they sort of skewer him about
Speaker 1: the way he's going about this whole mess. Of course, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he has a Patreon, he has a Kickstarter, a change
Speaker 1: dot org petition, right, an indiegog page. Here's what it
Speaker 1: says there in Texas. I think so quote there's no
Speaker 1: disputing my plot predates their screenplay, that the people who
Speaker 1: made this film were in possession of my plot, and
Speaker 1: that the Riddler's storyline in the film was directly derived
Speaker 1: from my plot. Now, before executive producer Michael Eslin and
Speaker 1: Warner Brothers Pictures used my plot in the film, they
Speaker 1: were supposed to negotiate a contract first to make sure
Speaker 1: I was fairly compensated. I was not credited anywhere.
Speaker 2: I was not.
Speaker 1: I'm doing the emphasis because it's all caps how I
Speaker 1: paid anything. And in case you're wondering, that's not supposed
Speaker 1: to happen so here I am. I was wondering, asking
Speaker 1: Batman fans around the world to stop Hollywood from steamrolling
Speaker 1: yet another comic creator. I got absolutely nothing that is
Speaker 1: not just us. It would be nice if some of
Speaker 1: the more famous faces would shine a little light on
Speaker 1: this situation, because it would go a long way towards
Speaker 1: making this right.
Speaker 2: The nerd vibes coming off him is like when you
Speaker 2: look at a desert highway and you can see where
Speaker 2: the road is, Like, yeah, just raining, exactly right. I
Speaker 2: feel it.
Speaker 1: He takes donations on the indiegog page to pay for
Speaker 1: his legal bills, and he sells weird T shirts and
Speaker 1: stuff there.
Speaker 2: I like it. So that's where that stands as of now.
Speaker 2: I wish him luck with this bitterness and anger.
Speaker 1: Because Sames bless good, bless. Let's pause for the cause,
Speaker 1: and when we come back, I'll tell you what I
Speaker 1: think is my favorite of these Batman stories. Oh nice,
Speaker 1: Holy commercial Batman.
Speaker 2: I got a question for you. What's your third favorite
Speaker 2: Batman related crime you've learned about?
Speaker 1: I think the my third favorite probably the your.
Speaker 2: Nephew asked me to ask you this.
Speaker 1: We did Walmart guy, I guess, Oh, okay, I like it.
Speaker 1: Those were good commercials today, by the way, Juicy, robust,
Speaker 1: full of flavor. Okay, Batman, I am the Batman. I'm
Speaker 1: the Batman. Now we've talked a lot about Batman. But
Speaker 1: what of the Batmobile?
Speaker 2: Oh, my favorite of the mobiles.
Speaker 1: What kid or grown up for that matter, wouldn't want
Speaker 1: a cruise around in the Batmobile?
Speaker 2: Which one are we talking about?
Speaker 1: Well, i'd let's say the TV show, the sixties TV show, Oh,
Speaker 1: the Class Yeah, or like maybe or any of them.
Speaker 2: Quite frankly, I would like this monster truck. I've been
Speaker 2: hearing about it. I want the Batmobile Monster.
Speaker 1: I don't think i'd want to drive a batmobile around
Speaker 1: because I feel like it has terrible handling.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm guessing that.
Speaker 1: Like you know how like supercars, those wildly expensive race cars.
Speaker 1: They only they look really great, but they're only fit
Speaker 1: to drive on.
Speaker 2: A track for the most part.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the batmobile would be no match for Oakland potholes.
Speaker 1: It rides so low.
Speaker 2: He's sitting with a blown out tire in the side
Speaker 2: of the road with your batmobile just off the post
Speaker 2: off people are driving by. What's wrong with your batmobile?
Speaker 2: Got away? Yeah?
Speaker 1: There's simply also not enough cargo room for me to
Speaker 1: take it to Costco. Oh yeah, of course, you know,
Speaker 1: the maximum payload for that would be like for frozen
Speaker 1: dumplings in Pellegrino, would be like one bag in half
Speaker 1: a case.
Speaker 2: You probably get a bat suv. Oh maybe you could
Speaker 2: maybe a BATMANI van or a bat cargo van.
Speaker 1: Well, until then, I'll pass, thank you very much. In
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, there was a man and the man was
Speaker 1: named Sam and Ignastu.
Speaker 2: I thought this man was gonna be a man with
Speaker 2: the plan.
Speaker 1: He was a man with a plan. He was a
Speaker 1: realtor from Atherton, California.
Speaker 2: Oh.
Speaker 1: Ather Dinner is a city in the Bay Area south
Speaker 1: of San Francisco.
Speaker 2: Where they got money.
Speaker 1: The medium median home price is ten million dollars. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the average, like the medians.
Speaker 2: Rick where the Golden State Warriors.
Speaker 1: That's in today's money. Oh yeah, Steph Curry lives there.
Speaker 1: It's one of the wealthiest areas in the country. It
Speaker 1: used to be old money by like California standards. Of course,
Speaker 1: now there's a lot of Tecto. And then Steph Curry
Speaker 1: from the Trader Golden State Warriors. If Sam was living
Speaker 1: in Atherton, he was doing pretty well.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I met so well.
Speaker 1: He could afford his own batmobile. Oh, of course, so
Speaker 1: he placed an order for a Batmobile replica with Mark Rackup,
Speaker 1: owner of Fiberglass Freaks located in Logan Sport, Indiana.
Speaker 2: Did he have like a website like buy a Batmobile?
Speaker 1: Yeah, you can one hundred percent get in touch with
Speaker 1: this guy and buy a batmobile.
Speaker 2: Wow. Yeah, okay, what was that name again?
Speaker 1: For Fiberglass Freaks, it's the only car garage licensed by
Speaker 1: DC Comics to replicate the original Batmobile.
Speaker 2: Oh like the sixties TV show.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Sam paid one hundred and seventy thousand dollars towards
Speaker 1: this replica.
Speaker 2: Batmobile the official bat Shop.
Speaker 1: Yes, Sam was the first in line to receive a
Speaker 1: custom Batmobile replica. But then he missed it twenty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars payment. Oh no, and so he was moved to
Speaker 1: the bottom of the list. Now he had to wait
Speaker 1: one and a half to two years to get this batmobile.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, it's bad. So this is what the Fiberglass Freque's.
Speaker 2: Kind of messed up. You missed one payment, you go
Speaker 2: to the bottom of the list or like upstarting game.
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess it's like they've got a lot
Speaker 1: of people got a lot of rich, so the owner said, quote,
Speaker 1: he disappeared on me for over eight months, almost nine months,
Speaker 1: so he's trying to get to Yeah. Sam resurfaced, learned
Speaker 1: about being bumped to the bottom of the list and
Speaker 1: was not happy. This is what Racop, the owner said, quote.
Speaker 1: He didn't like that. He exploded. He did pay off
Speaker 1: the entire car at that point, but he was absolutely
Speaker 1: livid to find out that his car was going to
Speaker 1: be delayed.
Speaker 2: I'm just imagining literally him by going to pieces like exploding, shattering.
Speaker 2: He comes back together, of course, like the terminator. It's
Speaker 2: a comic book world that makes sense.
Speaker 1: Records show that Rackop did receive a wire transfer from
Speaker 1: Sam for forty thousand dollars, but the idea is that
Speaker 1: he accepted the money knowing full well he wouldn't give
Speaker 1: Sam the car. So he has the money paid. He's like,
Speaker 1: now you got to just keep waiting, buddy. He and
Speaker 1: the truth is he'd actually sold Sam's car to someone else.
Speaker 1: The next person in mine turns ast turn, come to
Speaker 1: find out. In August twenty twenty one, a report was
Speaker 1: filed by Sam with the Atherton Police Department. It's a
Speaker 1: real hard boiled crime crew over there. Sam claimed he
Speaker 1: was the victim of fraud for not having received his
Speaker 1: custom ordered batmobile, priced in total at two hundred and
Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: WHOA, isn't that crazy? It's pretty steep. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So the San Mateo County District Attorney's office that's where
Speaker 1: Atherton's located, San Mateo County, they wouldn't file the complaint.
Speaker 1: And then he also filed a civil lawsuit in San
Speaker 1: Mateo County Spirit Court. And on top of that, he
Speaker 1: filed a criminal complaint with the police in Indiana and
Speaker 1: they refused to press criminal charges. Nobody tells Sam at
Speaker 1: Agnostu No, although I have to say that if he
Speaker 1: paid forty, should get it, even if it's enough to
Speaker 1: pay for classroom supplies for an entire elementary school for
Speaker 1: years to come. Sam wasn't happy, so he called San
Speaker 1: Mateo County Sheriff Carlos Blanos.
Speaker 2: They know each other.
Speaker 1: Sam was a wealthy donor and also a personal friend
Speaker 1: of the sheriff's brother. Sam wanted the sheriff to organize
Speaker 1: a raid against fiberglass Freaks and arrest the owner, Mark
Speaker 1: racka a raid. Yeah, why because they didn't have his batmobile.
Speaker 2: That's why kick in the door.
Speaker 1: Blanos was like, Okay, oh wow, this this move is unprecedented.
Speaker 2: He my boys could use some practice.
Speaker 1: Billanos had never sent a team out of state to
Speaker 1: investigate a nonviolent crime before.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's kind of well whatever, I'm not gonna get
Speaker 2: into jurisdiction.
Speaker 1: Rackop faced two felony charges obtaining money by false pretenses
Speaker 1: and diversion of construction funds. So July nineteenth, twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: the San Mateo County Vehicle Theft Task Force located in
Speaker 1: Sunny California.
Speaker 2: They freshly minted San Mateo Vehicle task They sent.
Speaker 1: A San Mateo lieutenant, a sergeant, and two deputies to
Speaker 1: Cass County, Indiana. That is not located in sand to
Speaker 1: Teo County or Sunny California.
Speaker 2: No, not even in California.
Speaker 1: Zaren yes, close your eyes. I want you to picture it.
Speaker 1: You are a Cass County, Indiana Sheriff's deputy.
Speaker 2: Totally.
Speaker 1: You've been assigned as liaison to a bunch of California
Speaker 1: cowboys out to raid fiberglass Freaks, a local business with.
Speaker 2: Which you are slightly familiar.
Speaker 1: You are there to arrest shop owner Mark Rackop and
Speaker 1: extradite him to California. You show up in your usual uniform.
Speaker 1: The sheriffs from San Manteo County look like they're there
Speaker 1: for a cornhole atorney man buns backwards, baseball caps, jeans,
Speaker 1: mirrored sunglasses. They're a different kind of cop, you guess.
Speaker 1: You lead the convoy of cars down Erie Avenue and
Speaker 1: glide to a stop on the side of the road.
Speaker 1: You never realized it, but this block looks like it
Speaker 1: could be in a Batman movie. What looked to be
Speaker 1: abandoned brick buildings that once house small manufacturing line the road.
Speaker 1: You have your eyes on a white brick building with
Speaker 1: a line of black trim running across the top fiberglass freaks.
Speaker 1: The street is silent save one songbird in the fir
Speaker 1: trees up front. You and the team head to the
Speaker 1: gravel driveway that wraps around the back of the building.
Speaker 1: You pass an acid green Dodge charger. This must be
Speaker 1: the place, you think that or a recruiting office. The
Speaker 1: San Mateo guys are ready to charge in, but you
Speaker 1: hold up a hand. You knock on the door. A
Speaker 1: large genial man answers. You hold up a warrant and
Speaker 1: the rest of the guy's barge in by you.
Speaker 2: You look past the.
Speaker 1: Proprietor and you see an incredible workshop at the center
Speaker 1: of which sits a black batmobile, just like in the
Speaker 1: old sixties TV show, and beyond that more batmobiles. A
Speaker 1: solitary tear runs down your face. You've never seen anything
Speaker 1: so beautiful. Rakops shop was searched that day and two
Speaker 1: files were seized. He was taken back to Cass County
Speaker 1: Sheriff's office facilities, but was neither handcuffed nor incarcerated due
Speaker 1: to his health. Racops said, quote they showed the warrant
Speaker 1: saying that they were here to seize anything to do
Speaker 1: with his car. So I thought, oh, they're coming to
Speaker 1: pick up his car, which is right behind me by
Speaker 1: the way. I thought I was going to have to
Speaker 1: move my other batmobiles out of way to be able
Speaker 1: to let them take his car his other batmobiles. Balanos
Speaker 1: detailed the raid, the ensuing search, and the level of
Speaker 1: involvement from the Cass County officer. In a four page
Speaker 1: internal memo. Bilanos wrote that his deputies quote did nothing wrong,
Speaker 1: and I stand with them and support them. Of course,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean you sent them there.
Speaker 2: You better.
Speaker 1: He goes on further to say, quote, while it is
Speaker 1: true that I asked that this case be investigated, and
Speaker 1: I am acquainted with the victim, as I am with
Speaker 1: many residents of San Mateo County, I would make the
Speaker 1: same request of our investigators whenever a potential crime of
Speaker 1: this nature came to my attention.
Speaker 2: Sure is sam Mateo's sheriff, Joe Arpeo. I totally believe you.
Speaker 1: Just see that. There are a lot of people that
Speaker 1: I think would prove that wrong. So later, the owner
Speaker 1: of Fiberglass Freaks, he learned that his bank account was
Speaker 1: frozen and that a warrant had been obtained for his
Speaker 1: Gmail contacts and photos. He said, quote, I was horrified.
Speaker 1: I've never gone through anything like this ever before in
Speaker 1: my life, and I'm on the side of good as
Speaker 1: a Batman fan since I was two years old. This
Speaker 1: was a completely opposite side. I love sixty six Batman
Speaker 1: and Batman has always stood with the law.
Speaker 2: Oh wow. Later the same month, breaking this port NERD's heart,
Speaker 2: making him beyond the wrong side of the Batman.
Speaker 1: He does incredible stuff like it's a bat I bet.
Speaker 2: That if they gave him him premature of DC. I'm
Speaker 2: sure his work is phenology.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's super meticulous, Sam Mateo County District Attorney Steve
Speaker 1: Wagstaff dropped the charges following further investigation. He explained, quote,
Speaker 1: the batmobile case fell into the category of cases that
Speaker 1: should have remained in the civil court, which obviously Wagstaff
Speaker 1: stated that he had no idea there were any plans
Speaker 1: for officers to go on a cross country trip to
Speaker 1: stage a raid. What's interesting is that Wagstaff was actually
Speaker 1: the first person Sam approached for assistance with his batmobile issue.
Speaker 1: Wagstaff is the referee for an adult basketball team that
Speaker 1: Sam plays on.
Speaker 2: Huh shocking.
Speaker 1: He also Sam also made a thousand dollars donation to
Speaker 1: Wagstaff's reelection campaign. No, and Wagstaff's department ended up decl
Speaker 1: the case, and that was the last Wagstaff heard of
Speaker 1: it until he returned from vacation and learned that everything
Speaker 1: had blown up. So he was like, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I know you gave me money, I know we shoot hoops,
Speaker 1: but no, no, And then he comes back from vacation
Speaker 1: darn it. When asked about public concern over his favoritism
Speaker 1: that was shown Wagstaff said, quote, I do respect that concern,
Speaker 1: but in terms of my office, I know whatever decision
Speaker 1: was made, right or wrong, it wasn't done because of
Speaker 1: who the victim was. Everybody deserves to be treated the same.
Speaker 1: That's where what we strive for here. And I'm sorry
Speaker 1: there's an image out there with the public that that
Speaker 1: hasn't occurred.
Speaker 2: So he's mad that people. He's upset that people are upset.
Speaker 1: How dare you?
Speaker 2: He's like, I'm really disappointed, how Darius? Everybody is so.
Speaker 1: Upset, and I treat everyone like this. That's why the
Speaker 1: courts are so backed up in Sanmuteous. Yes, I'm County
Speaker 1: Supervisor Warren slocumbe quote respectfully disagreed. I bet, he said quote.
Speaker 1: It seems like, and I don't have all the facts
Speaker 1: that there are two systems of justice here, one for
Speaker 1: a wealthy, connected person and one for everyone else.
Speaker 2: Oh you think, yeah, I might go three or fours
Speaker 2: to you knew here, Warren.
Speaker 1: There's this investigative reporter here in the Bay Area, Dan
Speaker 1: Noise and Oye. Yes, he's been at it for ages.
Speaker 1: He irritates a lot of people, and he also gets
Speaker 1: like a dog on a bone with stories. Oh I
Speaker 1: like that in a reporter He was all over the
Speaker 1: Batmobile case. Yeah, he was the one who broke it,
Speaker 1: so Dan nois ABC seven News. He was the one
Speaker 1: who told Rackop that his case was going to be dropped.
Speaker 1: He got to break the news to him. Noise all
Speaker 1: up in the business. Racop said, quote, Holy cow, Dan,
Speaker 1: what a relief. This has been a ten week nightmare
Speaker 1: and it's finally coming to a close.
Speaker 2: The holy cow, Dan is well played, well played.
Speaker 1: All told, six months was spent on investigating, over ten
Speaker 1: thousand dollars was spent on traveling to Indiana for the raid,
Speaker 1: and fifty five thousand to pay red I retired Judge
Speaker 1: Winnifred Smith to write up a forty seven page report
Speaker 1: on the whole thing. Fifty five grand. This is what
Speaker 1: the judge said, quote ensuring the appropriate expenditure of public
Speaker 1: funds should always be of the highest priority. Dude, Yo,
Speaker 1: give me fifty five thousand dollars and I'll write a
Speaker 1: bunch of sentences like that.
Speaker 2: Judge Smith, a grand page, A little let me dang.
Speaker 1: She said that the sheriff's offices actions, while not illegal,
Speaker 1: were not a practical use of county resources or taxpayers money.
Speaker 1: And she also argued that Belanos is one on one
Speaker 1: interaction with for Sam's complaint and admission that concerns from
Speaker 1: those he didn't know were rerouted was indicative of unequal
Speaker 1: access and treatment to county residents.
Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, of course.
Speaker 1: So this is what Dan Neyes had to say. Quote,
Speaker 1: the raid and the fraud charges against Ratcop, which were
Speaker 1: dropped after my reports, should never have happened. Your public
Speaker 1: money paid for the trip last week by the sheriff's investigators.
Speaker 1: Four round trip plane tickets, three nights of hotels, meals,
Speaker 1: rental cars, and a.
Speaker 2: Lot of overt time.
Speaker 1: That's the thing is that they're up the clock that
Speaker 1: whole time.
Speaker 2: I'm surprised at ten thousand, and I thought it'd be
Speaker 2: more expensive to send him to Indiana'd be quite on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think that that's just like the flights
Speaker 1: and the meals, per damns and stuff.
Speaker 2: Now, I think what we can all agree, and Dan
Speaker 2: Noyse would want us to agree. The real batman of
Speaker 2: this story is Dan Noise.
Speaker 1: Oh completely, he's He's Noise. So this is what Dan
Speaker 1: Noise did. He tried to reach out to the sheriff,
Speaker 1: But the sheriff never called him back, never responded to
Speaker 1: any texts that Dan Neise sent to the sheriff's personal
Speaker 1: cell phone.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, no, they cops loved not answering journalist questions.
Speaker 2: It's like a kink for them.
Speaker 1: Well, then Noise he decides, you know what, I'm going
Speaker 1: to go to the retirement party for Blano's second in command, like.
Speaker 2: The second Yeah, I like it. And then but.
Speaker 1: They get there and Blano, the sheriff, he's out of
Speaker 1: town for a month long vacation.
Speaker 2: Oh so interesting.
Speaker 1: This is what someone named Lieutenant Allen said, quote. I'm
Speaker 1: not in charge of his travel calendar or his schedule.
Speaker 1: So everyone's like, hey, look, this has no thing to
Speaker 1: do with me. And then it turns out Bellanos loses
Speaker 1: the election, leaves office in January.
Speaker 2: Ooh. Noise was, however, able contribute to him losing the election.
Speaker 2: Do you think all this press, I mean this gotta
Speaker 2: be a vote of no confidence. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Noise got in touch with Sam though, while Sam was
Speaker 1: vacationing in Greece. Everyone out here going on vacation. You
Speaker 1: couldn't believe when he asked Sam, When Dan Noys asked
Speaker 1: Sam about the batmobile. He said, quote, I'm dealing with
Speaker 1: someone privately on that, and Dan Noise said, who's that?
Speaker 1: And Sam hung up on him.
Speaker 2: Wosniak click.
Speaker 1: Per wrack Up the business owner. He said his business
Speaker 1: suffered and estimated three hundred and fifty thousand dollars loss,
Speaker 1: and it also took a toll on his mental health.
Speaker 1: I bet quote because of this, I see a sheriff's
Speaker 1: cargo pass, I freak, even just for a moment. You know,
Speaker 1: it might only be thirty seconds or maybe even fifteen seconds.
Speaker 1: But that's not me.
Speaker 2: So this is like the New Joker origin story totally.
Speaker 1: He used to be filled with bubbling cry in happiness
Speaker 1: when he saw a sheriff's cruiser. Now exactly, and he's
Speaker 1: building these cars?
Speaker 2: Is he going to build it next?
Speaker 1: But rack Up does give all credit, thanks and praise
Speaker 1: to Dan Noyce.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you the real Batman.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Dan for what you've done. If
Speaker 1: you had not followed through on those whistleblowers, if you
Speaker 1: hadn't believed them, this case would have continued, and I
Speaker 1: would have had been in Sa Mateo on Friday morning.
Speaker 2: And I thank you so so much you never want
Speaker 2: to be in Sam mateo on a Friday morning.
Speaker 1: No. As of March twenty twenty three, Rackup was still
Speaker 1: he was making progress on other batmobiles. He has nine
Speaker 1: others that he's working on. But Sam's batmobile, Batman Bile,
Speaker 1: is three and a half years away from completion due
Speaker 1: to quote difficulty obtaining parts.
Speaker 2: So he's still waiting for me.
Speaker 1: This is what he said, quote. I cannot believe that
Speaker 1: it's taking sometimes up to a year to get a chassis,
Speaker 1: and it's taking six months to get a drive train.
Speaker 1: It's really crazy, wild most I can't believe that. So, Sarah,
Speaker 1: what's your ridiculous takeaway?
Speaker 2: I don't have a batmobile of my own. I mean,
Speaker 2: apparently they're just handing these things out. All you have
Speaker 2: to be is a ridiculous criminal, So I want one.
Speaker 2: Well as you.
Speaker 1: You you herald the stories of ridiculous criminals. You're entitled
Speaker 1: to a batmobile.
Speaker 2: We get a sponsored batmobile, like a ridiculous batmobile. Do it.
Speaker 1: We'll work on that and I'll just.
Speaker 2: Go around doing crimes until Batman can find me. I
Speaker 2: stole your whip.
Speaker 1: Rather how you get to meet Batman? You do have
Speaker 1: crime steal his car.
Speaker 2: That's how you get to meet him. That's Oakland style. Son,
Speaker 2: Welcome to the town. Just gopping a batmobile exactly. This
Speaker 2: is all I have. Bat Man left his luggage in
Speaker 2: the batmobile. I got it now, who got the extra
Speaker 2: Batman suit? Son? Sorry, I'll stop.
Speaker 1: You can find us online at ridiculous Crime dot com.
Speaker 1: We have t shirts if you're into that sort of thing, mugs,
Speaker 1: it's just limited edition merchandise. It's constantly changing, but you
Speaker 1: got to get them while they're there because they're not
Speaker 1: going to come back.
Speaker 2: Yea hopping and hopping out. Yeah.
Speaker 1: We're also at Ridiculous Crime on both Twitter and Instagram.
Speaker 1: Email us at Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com, Leave
Speaker 1: it talkback on the iheartapp, Reach out honey, and stay hydrated,
Speaker 1: rud dudes. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and
Speaker 1: Zaren Burnett, produced and edited by Holy Dave Kusten.
Speaker 2: Batman.
Speaker 1: Research is by Prince bat dance choreographer Marissa Brown and
Speaker 1: batsuit nipple polisher Andrea song Sharpen Tear. The theme song
Speaker 1: is by Thomas Poal Bam Lee and Travis Riddle Me This.
Speaker 1: Dutton Executive producers are Batmobile d tailor Ben Bolan and
Speaker 1: Waxer of Wonder Woman's Invisible Plane.
Speaker 2: Noel Brown.
Speaker 1: Ridiculous Batman Baby, Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio.
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