WEBVTT - Chicken Man 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:03.600 In the last episode, I played you the tape of 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:07.160 when I found out that Chicken Man was alive. In 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:10.360 my years of research, I'd come to understand the Chicken 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:13.200 Man had been blamed for the million dollar heist that 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.079 happened the night of the Oli Quarry fight, and that 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:19.760 he'd been killed as payback. But the press had it wrong. 0:00:20.680 --> 0:00:24.520 Not only was Chicken Man alive, he was still in Atlanta. 0:00:24.760 --> 0:00:28.160 I had so many questions. If there was really a 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:31.800 hit put on this man, how did he survive? If 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:35.440 he didn't set up the robbery, who did Why didn't 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:37.760 he ever follow up with the police or the press 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.199 to let them know that they'd gotten it wrong. I 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:49.120 had to find Chicken Man and get the answers. No more. 0:00:52.720 --> 0:00:55.920 He was the repretation was on the line most definitely, 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:59.640 because everybody had faith in him to pull it off. 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:03.639 The gamblers and the jewelry and the minks and the 0:01:03.720 --> 0:01:06.600 diamonds in the cash, it's all going to converge at 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:09.840 Chicken Man's house where he's putting the Twitter five up 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:14.360 to the face. You know there was I was standing there, 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:18.240 nervous because there's two guys behind me, nervous because of 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:21.760 this man in front of me, and nervous because I 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:25.039 was in a setting where I had no reason to be. 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:31.200 Every hustler, drug dealer, thief, number runner, bootlegger. You can 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.360 think of all these people came in for this party. 0:01:34.440 --> 0:01:40.160 Party from my heart radio and doghouse pictures. This is 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:47.280 fight night. I'm Jeff Keating. After a few weeks, I 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.160 was able to track down Gordon William's number and I 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:52.560 called him on the phone and I said, Hey, my 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:54.560 name is Jeff Keating. I don't want to bring up 0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:57.720 any bad memories. What are you the chicken man? And 0:01:57.760 --> 0:02:00.720 the phone goes dead for literally like five to ten seconds, 0:02:00.840 --> 0:02:11.760 and he says, so, oh, jee man, I'm just bad 0:02:11.800 --> 0:02:15.160 to have story my last time when I will call 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:20.040 it a hustler. Who Yeah, we're the we're running the moon, 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:25.679 try and whisker the numbers in violation, I guess, saying 0:02:26.160 --> 0:02:28.919 the first ground put me in prison was the lottery. 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.560 I will what's called the pickup bar. I'm just so 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:36.120 shocked and excited to meet this man. And he greets 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:38.919 me at the door and he's just kind of this 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:43.480 soft spoken, quiet man and just greets me, say hey, hey, 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:45.560 how you doing. Oh, Jeff you know, it's nice to 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:47.800 reach you. I tell him, you know a little bit 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:50.640 about myself, and we talk family at first, and I'm 0:02:50.680 --> 0:02:55.080 just excited that I finally have this guy alive and 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.960 in front of me, and we get into the discussions 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.520 about the raw bringing that night, and he tells me 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:05.720 his whole story. B name, school guys and money in 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:09.000 the pockets. Okay, I'll be able to buy the little 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:11.440 thing in the communities that I wanted to buy. Okay, 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:13.520 that real quickly going. And when you get to that, 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:16.480 tell me how you met Short Papa. I met self proper, 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:20.320 self proper. We're living in the problems, self problems coming 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:24.680 up and connect from people in the probity. Okay, so 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:29.399 I got cancer medium because they're about me. The guy 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.519 he's talking about here is Short Papa, real name Robert 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:35.800 Van Brose. He was Chicken Man's earliest connection to running 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:38.280 the lottery in the Life and Crime. Chicken Man and 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.040 Short Papa could have easily met at Wesley Merritt Pool Hall, 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:43.840 and Short Papa was a hustler that tussled with Mr 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:46.920 Hudson early in his career. For Short Papa was the 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:50.400 first opportunity you got to buy and do some of 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:53.600 the nice things you wanted to do. Dude. I started 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:58.040 driving from on the weekend and then mom sing upset back. 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:01.520 So I was fashion and running a droll and so 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:06.200 rest she said out without money whatever she said, well, 0:04:06.200 --> 0:04:09.000 I'm going to a subce. She sees the money that 0:04:09.160 --> 0:04:13.480 I would go to working to bu gest delivering goes 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:20.159 the barbershop. Then of course he was both money like that, no, 0:04:20.400 --> 0:04:24.560 not money love. So then you becomes hydra make more money. 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:28.000 So you're working for short POPA and you're doing that stuff. 0:04:28.200 --> 0:04:30.640 What comes after short pop? Had you kind of move 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:33.960 up after self prop and I wanted to work for 0:04:34.040 --> 0:04:39.520 brother Mirk, I thought chicken Man moved on from Short 0:04:39.560 --> 0:04:42.600 Pop Up and started working for a guy named Buttermilk. 0:04:43.480 --> 0:04:47.560 He began selling moonshine and picking up numbers. But I 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:50.120 didn't realize the kind of money we were talking about. 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:53.480 For a high school kid in the late nineteen forties, 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:57.320 what kind of money could you have made? You know, 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:01.800 a couple of about a couple of times we wait, 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:04.120 a couple of hundred dollars a couple of times a 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:07.440 week in high school back in those days, that's a 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:09.800 lot of money. We could have been making more than 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:14.479 your dad. Well at one point you were pulling in 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:19.320 a couple of all the weeks. Just to be clear, 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:22.760 a hundred dollars back in the late forties early fifties 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:25.720 would have been worth a round a thousand dollars today. 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.120 So Chicken Man was a high school kid bringing in 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.520 around a thousand to two thousand dollars a week, no 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:35.360 wonder he wanted to be a hustler. Chicken Man then 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:40.080 moved up to his next lucrative venture, drug dealing. So 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:44.520 the mare water came about. There was small I guess 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:47.440 you were two dollars bags and that kind of thing. 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:53.279 You know. My dream always uh from the wholesale side. 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.240 So I was there to meet people to get it 0:05:56.279 --> 0:06:01.880 into the cross was number one product and Mason League 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:04.680 League or whatever. I guess you would say. It's like 0:06:04.720 --> 0:06:07.920 all the ice crime. There was a part of it 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:11.120 became like I was a number one, you know, I 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:18.080 was a guy man going away. Yeah, I got and 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:20.280 he slowly built up a little mesday. You know what, 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:23.040 do you got a business and you got houses and 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:31.200 all that. I'm a man one time, what would you 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:38.400 do with yeah? Right right, Chicken Man was the embodiment 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.640 of the hustler culture from Miami and Atlanta all the 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:44.520 way to New York City. Chicken Man was the hustler's hustler, 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:47.280 so it really wasn't surprising at all that he was 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:51.279 asked to host this party. And again, the dichotomy of 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:53.680 this man in front of me at the time was 0:06:53.760 --> 0:06:57.600 just hard for me to grasp because I've been reading 0:06:57.720 --> 0:07:01.480 so much and hearing some uch about the hustler's world. 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.760 But now I was talking to this man, quiet, soft spoken, 0:07:05.360 --> 0:07:08.200 but I will say I do remember occasionally as we 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:11.560 start talking about the old life, you get a little 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.600 glint in his eye, or a little smile out of 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:18.200 the corner of his mouth, or just a little twinkle 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:22.480 as he was remembering some of the different stuff that happens. 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.960 So there was still some connection to Chicken Man, and 0:07:26.000 --> 0:07:27.920 that's what I was really trying to grab hold of. 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:31.640 One of the things that they have them we haven't 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:36.800 been children to decide to have. The party was in 0:07:36.840 --> 0:07:39.840 New York, and here's something about the fight. I thought 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:43.600 it was an opportunity for me to host a pot 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:48.760 and make some money too. People come. This party was 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.320 the one the Chicken Man hosted for all the hustlers 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:55.760 and gangsters in town following the Muhammad Ali Jerry Corey fight. 0:07:56.760 --> 0:07:59.200 And then somebody can live in New York told me 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:06.040 to was passing invitations out in New York, invited anybody. 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:09.679 Here's Gordon Williams Jr. He was access to the party. 0:08:09.800 --> 0:08:13.440 The reputation was on the line most definitely, because everybody 0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:16.560 had faith in him to pull it off. When the 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:18.840 party was getting real to happen, he stayed there more 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.520 than he stayed at home because he wanted everything to 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:23.960 be so perfect. A few days prior to the party, 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.720 he started getting really, really nervous about things and he 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:29.840 wanted everything to go so good. He wanted to be 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:34.040 just like Vegas. And I was like, wow, this is incredible. 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.520 I had no idea that he was gonna get it serious, 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:43.680 and it had gotten every hustler, drug dealer, the number runner, 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:47.240 blue legger you can think of across the country, checked 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:49.760 the motels and stuff like that. But as they were 0:08:49.760 --> 0:08:52.440 coming in, I could hear the excitement in his voice. 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:56.040 They were coming from everywhere because this was a big event. 0:08:56.200 --> 0:09:00.360 They were coming from Chicago, Detroit, louis Ville. Remember my 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:03.640 guy from Louisville. They called him Big Daddy. He was 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:06.520 a drug dealer too, And all these people came in 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:10.880 for this party, and my dad was really really excited. 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:16.760 Think about this. All this money is coming into Atlanta now, 0:09:17.000 --> 0:09:20.319 the gamblers and the jewelry and the means and the 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:23.920 diamonds and the cash, it's all going to converge on Atlanta, 0:09:24.240 --> 0:09:26.800 and it's all going to converge at Chicken Man's house. 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:30.280 When you've got that kind of money and those type 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:34.040 of people and that type of invitation on the streets, 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:37.120 somebody's gonna get winded this, and somebody's gonna jump on 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:40.439 that opportunity. And who would dare try to stick up 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:47.800 these gangsters anyway, But in the shadows, underneath everyone's noses, 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.200 somebody is planning a heist that's going to be talked 0:09:51.200 --> 0:10:10.439 about for the next fifty years. There was engraved invitations 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:14.199 being printed in Harlem. These invitations stated that the party 0:10:14.240 --> 0:10:16.719 was gonna last for days. And we know with these 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:19.600 invitations that are being sent out all across New York 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:21.800 and down in Atlanta, that one of these got in 0:10:21.840 --> 0:10:26.840 the wrong hands. My dad was really excited about this. 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:28.920 This was the cream of the crop. This is the 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:32.440 most excited I've ever seen him. And he said that 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:35.120 this is gonna be. This right here is gonna you know, 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:38.160 we're gonna live good forever after this. He figured that 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:43.640 this right here will take care of us forever. But 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:47.440 they don't told me. And listen to people get in 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.559 a lot of we don't want to know where to party. 0:10:50.760 --> 0:10:54.360 One of them better remember, Buddy Gloss was one of 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:57.720 Chicken Man's competitors that Gordon Williams Jr. Told us about 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:00.679 in episode one. He owned a sir verstation right here, 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:03.720 a little five points and we used to take so 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:09.040 much drugs and hot clothes. And that service station was 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:12.480 just like the hub for everybody to go to. If 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:14.800 you had something you want to get rid of, anything 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:18.000 you want to get rid of that was hot or stolen, 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:20.800 you go right there, buddy what I don't care what 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.600 it was? Come by hot and you don't never know, 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:26.400 So we don't need to know, and we don't want 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:28.319 We didn't don't want him to know. I don't know been. 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:31.320 They never explained to me why you need it, but 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:34.280 they told me, don't tell nobody in a line. And 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:38.080 after they explained Chicken Man is talking about Buddy Gloss, 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:41.440 one of his competitors, who the gangsters in New York 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:45.480 told him not to tell about the after hours party. Dude, 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.600 I hadn't told no about because that was my old 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.840 It's chicken man was getting this house set up. Another 0:11:54.880 --> 0:12:03.800 guy right down the street is buying a shotgun. Whoever 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:07.040 is trying to pull this off. They got to be arrogant. 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:10.160 They got to be able to navigate the world of 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:12.960 these hustles. They are these hustlers. They got to be 0:12:13.040 --> 0:12:15.920 able to fit in right under the noses of these 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:20.040 gangsters without them even knowing it. Maybe these gangsters just 0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:23.479 never considered that anyone would have the balls to rob them. 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:26.480 But if you think about it, something was bound to happen. 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:29.400 There were just too many riches being flaunted in one place, 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:32.719 one community, at one time, in the hands of people celebrating, 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:35.640 people with their guards down. For they're not to be 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:38.439 opportunists who would try to take advantage of this window. 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:43.760 Not to mention a criminal mastermindy have a by championship 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:49.520 fan always attracts the superstars rich in the famous Here's J. D. Hudson, 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:53.079 the lead investigator on the case. That's just the way 0:12:53.760 --> 0:12:57.320 they just always have historically. And with Muhammad Ali, with 0:12:57.480 --> 0:13:00.800 the controversty of his refusing the goodness everything, all that 0:13:00.880 --> 0:13:03.520 legal propecy he had had his Chile taken from him, 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:09.319 that just generated more interest. But they were throwing big parties, 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:15.760 you know, no money limit. They were playing coca and 0:13:16.000 --> 0:13:21.440 shooting dice, no for and back in the those years 0:13:22.520 --> 0:13:24.880 three and four and five thousand dollars a roll and 0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:28.600 stuff like that, and they had that body guards entire 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:33.439 rages with them, and it was just a very festive 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.920 I went to the trains and all everything where he 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:45.640 trained at and everything he had, made a public appearance 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:48.280 or something, because that was kind of like a Hustle 0:13:48.880 --> 0:13:55.000 World series. Here's Dr Hobson. Muhammad Ali's exhibitions and training 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:58.760 at Morehouse College was done so by design. Morehouse College 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:02.040 means so much to the Atlantic community. It is the 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:06.679 institution of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Dr Benjamin Elijah Mays, 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:10.280 Dr Samuel Archer. It was also kind of a safe haven. 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:11.760 It was one of those places to where he was 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:14.760 tucked away, he was protected, and it was in the 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:19.080 heart the skull and Bones of Black Atlanta. Here's J. D. 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:21.480 Telling me about the amount of money coming in to 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:28.240 Atlanta from Muhammad Ali's comeback fight. These hustlers who flew 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:34.040 in the Rose Ross Is driven to Atlanta. These people 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:37.480 had money, a lot of a lot of money that 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:40.560 must have been editing Rose Ross is a kind of 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:45.800 because and hustlers and camp stress, okay in front of 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:56.640 the So the Highatt Regency Hotel being this new, chic, 0:14:56.920 --> 0:15:00.280 modern hotel, was particular to the black community, and it 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:03.880 was even made to be the headquarters for the Ali fight, 0:15:04.640 --> 0:15:07.320 and it filled up with droves of black people wanting 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:09.960 to see the champ come back in this black city. 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:12.440 So if you were anybody coming to Atlanta, you better 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:14.280 believe you rode in your finest car, you had on 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:16.640 your finest clothes, and you'll stand in the finest hotel downtown. 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:22.240 The Regency Hyatt was very prominent in the news because 0:15:22.400 --> 0:15:26.600 it opened on May one, nineteen sixty seven. This is 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:29.480 my mom. She and my dad met at the Regency 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:33.600 Hyatt and had recently gotten married. And it created quite 0:15:33.680 --> 0:15:37.040 a frenzy in the world because it was the first 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:45.560 atrium hotel. Atlanta in nineteen seventy was a city evolving 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:52.480 into a contemporary cosmopolitan city. The Regency wasn't just a 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:55.880 hotel in downtown when it first opened in nineteen sixty seven. 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:59.600 It actually had a deep connection with Atlanta's black population 0:15:59.880 --> 0:16:03.120 in its culture. And here's my dad again. Tom Keating 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:06.440 had been in the Regency the Sunday before or even 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:09.000 the day of the fight. And I had seen all 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:13.320 the regality of all the black elite and also the 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:17.240 black criminal elites. And so I had seen things I 0:16:17.280 --> 0:16:20.200 had never seen before. And I would have been out 0:16:20.240 --> 0:16:22.960 of my element. I would have been saying to myself, 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:25.840 Oh my goodness. And then the next thing I would see, 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:28.680 I would have said, oh my goodness, even bigger. And 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:31.040 the third thing I would have seen, I would have said, 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:37.200 oh my God. People coming to Atlanta, visitors from out 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:42.360 of town were fascinated with this hotel. A wreath of Franklin, 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:47.120 Jesse Jackson, John Wayne, all the presidents from Nixon to 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:51.640 Clinton actually stayed at that hotel. It had a lounge 0:16:51.680 --> 0:16:55.320 called the Little Parasol Lounge. It was a cocktail lounge 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:58.560 that hung in the air by a wire, and it 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:03.080 had a three story avery with live exotic birds in it. 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:06.240 The because and parents and cocky the rock, which is 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:10.760 tropical bird, and it was constantly filling the air with 0:17:10.920 --> 0:17:15.920 native sounds. Martin Luther King and the Southern Christian Leadership 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:21.000 Conference tried to get their first annual meeting at a 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:25.359 hotel in Atlanta, and it was the only hotel that 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:29.080 would allow them to be hosted there. King called the 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:33.040 Hyatt Regency the Hotel of Hope. The latest iteration of 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:35.600 Atlanta is the Black Mecca. Is black expressive culture. It 0:17:36.000 --> 0:17:39.840 is a young, sexy, active kind of city. And why 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:42.600 not wrapped it around Muhammad Ali, who's fighting at the 0:17:42.600 --> 0:17:46.840 age of eight, and hey, let's come down here, let's stunt, hey, 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:48.800 let's show the world what we're made of and have 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:54.040 a good time. Not only was the Regency Hotel the 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.480 place where all the celebrating and parties took place, it 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.560 was also where Muhammad Ali and his entourage were staying. 0:18:01.560 --> 0:18:04.879 My dad, who was a teacher across the street at St. Joe's, 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:07.720 got up the nerve to track down his room number 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:10.920 with the intention of asking Ali to speak to his students. 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:15.200 Here's my mom describing the scene my dad encountered as 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:19.280 he walked into the lobby. It had a twenty two 0:18:19.400 --> 0:18:25.240 story Florida's ceiling atrium. The elevators were all glass, and 0:18:25.320 --> 0:18:29.240 they raced up and down the atrium at a speed 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.840 of seven and ten ft a minute. It had sparkling 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:43.240 lights in each elevator. So I went up and knocked 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:49.440 on the door and two of the largest black guards 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:53.080 who were protecting him came to the door. Maybe one 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:57.359 had that gout out, remember too very tall, certainly to 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:03.399 me overwhelming side guards came and I told them who 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:07.119 I was, and I asked them if I could please 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:10.320 ask Mr Ali that I was hoping he would meet 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:15.719 children at St. Joe's. I was feeling anxious and determined 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:19.440 to get to where I could ask him to come 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:22.440 talk to students. And for some reason, they let me 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:26.560 buy that little alcove area. When I stepped into the room, 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:31.159 he was in bed with sheets up to his just 0:19:31.359 --> 0:19:35.359 flow his chest. I was standing there, nervous because of 0:19:35.359 --> 0:19:39.080 the two guys behind me, nervous because of this man 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:42.320 in front of me, Nervous because I was in a 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:46.320 setting where I had no reason to be. But I 0:19:46.520 --> 0:19:51.520 plunged on. I asked if he would consider motivating the 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:55.840 students at St. Joe's and we had some quick discussion 0:19:56.000 --> 0:19:58.720 about the fee he would receive, and I think he 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:02.760 mentioned it he would he was used to five hundred dollars, 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:06.920 and I volunteered that the best I could do would 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:09.840 be too hot dogs and a coke. He said that 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.280 he'd get back to me when he got back from 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:15.160 his next venture, which was to go to Hawaii, if 0:20:15.160 --> 0:20:18.399 I remember. And so I'm kind of the way you 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:22.240 do with royalty back down of the room, I'm sure 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:27.720 stuttering or being nervous, and left the floor and went 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:31.560 downstairs with some confidence that at least I had gotten 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.639 through the experience and had asked him to do something 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:42.719 to help the kids. You have all of these different 0:20:42.840 --> 0:20:46.320 forces coming together at the Regency. You have j D 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:50.480 and his policeman and his security detail for Ali. You've 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:53.680 got Ali and his entourage. You've got chicken men and 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:56.040 all the hustlers that were coming back from the fight 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.399 that we're about to be prepared to go to the party. 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:01.239 You've got celebrities that are in town party. You've got 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.320 journalists from all over the world that are there. Everybody 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:07.720 is coming in to one spot. The Regency was just 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:11.400 like the central location of Atlanta, and the whole time 0:21:11.480 --> 0:21:14.520 this is happening in the background. You have a mastermind 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:29.200 at work preparing for the biggest heights in history, and 0:21:29.359 --> 0:21:33.440 people just converged into Atlanta. All the hotels were sold out. 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:37.080 But one guy thought the whole tense Florida GA. My 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:42.080 hotel Blue about out paid for to be relocated. So 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:46.160 but what Apple was Now, we got it all set 0:21:46.640 --> 0:21:49.960 and the day that the people started arriving into a Lanta. 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:52.600 So when I get to the Apple and we get out, 0:21:52.640 --> 0:21:54.800 we runned up that people coming into Alantic with the 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:58.240 fire I mean, the Apple was busy. That's when the 0:21:58.280 --> 0:22:01.000 Apple was sitting back up on the man. When I 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:04.840 get there to pick up JB, I meet Fireball. So 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:08.840 Fireball introduced me to this guy. He said, listen, when 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:12.800 you brought us by the hotel, Chicken Man is picking 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:15.800 up JB, his friend from New York, and he meets Fireball, 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:18.480 who we already knew from his earlier years in Atlanta 0:22:18.680 --> 0:22:21.840 and Fireballs friends. He greas to take them to Atlanta's 0:22:21.840 --> 0:22:24.480 built more hotel and then he'll run JB to the 0:22:24.560 --> 0:22:28.240 Regency where all the action is going on. So we're 0:22:28.240 --> 0:22:30.680 getting the car Fireball and the fellow that were with 0:22:30.880 --> 0:22:36.480 fire Ball. We're talking about Atlanta's bosses having better hot 0:22:36.600 --> 0:22:40.159 dogs than having New York and the little car. So 0:22:40.320 --> 0:22:44.040 that was a conversation between them. Here's Dr Hobson. The 0:22:44.200 --> 0:22:49.359 Varsity is an establishment in downtown Atlanta that borders Georgia 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:53.520 Institute of Technology. It's off of North Avenue. So as 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:57.600 a result of this, the Varsity also becomes a place 0:22:57.760 --> 0:23:01.480 where some young people black and white, had an opportunity 0:23:01.560 --> 0:23:04.440 to get jobs. So they wanted to go to the 0:23:04.480 --> 0:23:08.240 build my hotel. Fireball, being from the line, knew where 0:23:08.240 --> 0:23:11.199 the boss was, you know, the dvosity was there at 0:23:11.240 --> 0:23:13.840 the Bill Moses and so he wanted me to care 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:20.040 by Advisor to get some hot dogs. Chicken Man just 0:23:20.160 --> 0:23:23.399 picked up two of his friends from the airport, Fireball 0:23:23.600 --> 0:23:27.040 and another guy from New York. These are dangerous guys 0:23:27.640 --> 0:23:31.360 who've committed violent crimes and they're headed to the Varsity, 0:23:31.920 --> 0:23:36.719 which is cash heavy. The Varsity was able to serve 0:23:37.119 --> 0:23:39.360 massive amounts of people in very short period of time, 0:23:39.400 --> 0:23:41.960 and so we all know that there was serious exchange 0:23:42.000 --> 0:23:46.000 of cash. That the managers that be were cash heavy. 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:47.959 I mean they had a lot of cash on them 0:23:48.000 --> 0:23:50.320 because it was, you know, a fast transaction. So when 0:23:50.359 --> 0:23:53.520 we get to the visitor, the boy was with fireballs. 0:23:53.600 --> 0:23:57.760 That man him placed the rob So he said that 0:23:58.920 --> 0:24:03.280 de b my friend, he's really didn't matther time about 0:24:03.359 --> 0:24:08.080 rob somebody. So I said, well that's five balls, friend, 0:24:08.200 --> 0:24:12.560 I don't know. He upset. The guy who says this 0:24:12.720 --> 0:24:15.000 would be a hell of a place to rob, we 0:24:15.160 --> 0:24:19.360 believe is Richard Wheeler. Chicken men and his friends are piste. 0:24:19.800 --> 0:24:22.720 This guy is talking about sticking up the Varsity, one 0:24:22.760 --> 0:24:26.119 of the hotspots in their town. However, this is nothing 0:24:26.200 --> 0:24:28.960 compared to what Richard Wheeler has in store for them. 0:24:29.359 --> 0:24:31.040 So we took five ball of them on to the 0:24:31.119 --> 0:24:34.520 build mo. So we go to the regions then, so 0:24:35.920 --> 0:24:39.720 you know, he's still upset about it by what about 0:24:39.720 --> 0:24:42.360 the robbery car? But when I get to the hotel, 0:24:42.640 --> 0:24:45.440 we read the route we're going. They got a renovation, 0:24:45.600 --> 0:24:49.399 but they want credit card, right, so he ain't got 0:24:49.520 --> 0:24:52.399 no credit card. So I say, he put up like 0:24:52.600 --> 0:24:55.959 twenty five thousand, so they give us. They get right, 0:24:56.960 --> 0:25:00.040 he get all the room, his victim right on that 0:25:00.200 --> 0:25:03.560 floor right, well, he put the twenty up and to 0:25:03.640 --> 0:25:07.400 say it, the uh, you know, they were to talk 0:25:07.440 --> 0:25:11.000 of business dead. So now is the night before the fight. 0:25:11.600 --> 0:25:14.240 I wouldn't got my wife and went checked in the hotel. 0:25:15.640 --> 0:25:18.280 I knew this thing was told me to go out 0:25:18.440 --> 0:25:20.800 some serious dudes in his house. I have been one 0:25:20.840 --> 0:25:25.359 of the guys who got robbed. The Chicken Man has 0:25:25.440 --> 0:25:28.760 checked his wife into a hotel, we assumed to keep 0:25:28.760 --> 0:25:31.640 her away from the action and the girls that he's entertaining. 0:25:32.840 --> 0:25:35.639 One of his buddies just dropped twenty grand for a 0:25:35.680 --> 0:25:40.920 whole floor at the Biltmore Hotel. And another guy, Richard Wheeler, 0:25:41.280 --> 0:25:43.359 who wanted to rob the Varsity right when he got 0:25:43.440 --> 0:25:46.760 into town, we believe, is casing Chicken Man's house for 0:25:46.840 --> 0:25:51.520 a huge score. And one of Chicken Man's girls recognizes 0:25:51.600 --> 0:25:55.680 there are some serious gangsters at their house party. Looking back, 0:25:55.760 --> 0:25:57.680