WEBVTT - I Was Just the Weed Guy: George Martorano 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:02.720 Ridiculous Crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:05.440 Hi Zarin, Hi, Elizabeth, Hi Zarin. 0:00:05.920 --> 0:00:06.760 What you doing girl? 0:00:07.360 --> 0:00:08.280 I'm just sitting here. 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:10.680 Nice. So we're both just kind of sitting here reading 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:11.920 our notes and going over here. 0:00:11.960 --> 0:00:13.920 You're reading notes. I'm just staring at the wall. 0:00:14.040 --> 0:00:15.040 Oh that's what you were doing. 0:00:15.120 --> 0:00:15.280 Yeah. 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:19.880 I thought you're, like, you know, pontificating standby mode. Yeah, 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:21.640 one stands. 0:00:22.880 --> 0:00:23.400 How are you? 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:25.560 I'm dude, girl, I'm feeling good. 0:00:25.640 --> 0:00:25.840 Yeah. 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:27.040 How about your neighborhood? 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:29.200 Completely? I'm over here. I'm eating good. 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:33.480 It's good eating over here. I'm good. 0:00:33.720 --> 0:00:35.360 In case you're wondering, I did ask. 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:38.000 I know. Do you want to know what's ridiculous? 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:41.680 I do, well, Elizabeth. But let me tell you what's ridiculous. 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:45.680 Have you ever heard about like a kid getting on 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:49.400 the Alexa and then ordering stuff that they want? Yes, So, 0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:52.000 like there's this one kid in Texas who I guess 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:54.840 they've went on Alexa or they talked to Alexa and 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:57.240 they ordered a one hundred and sixty dollars dollhouse and four 0:00:57.280 --> 0:01:01.240 pounds of sugar cookies. And there was another six year old. 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:03.120 Apparently there's just six year olds who do this yeah, 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:06.520 in Utah, and they ordered three hundred and fifty dollars 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:09.080 of barbies and then a toy pony from their mom's 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:12.319 Alexi account. But it's funny when kids do it. But 0:01:12.720 --> 0:01:18.080 what if it's your pet parrot. No, there's this woman 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:21.560 Mary and Wishnowski, right, and she was a volunteer who 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:25.640 was like working with National Animal Welfare Trust in the UK, 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:28.560 and she re homed this parrot and she didn't know 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:31.679 that the parrot was apparently just kind of kicky with 0:01:31.760 --> 0:01:36.320 the devices, because the parrot started talking to Alexa when 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:41.080 the family was gone and ordering stuff No, and I 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:43.480 was so curious, I'm like, what does a parrot want 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:48.080 to order? Well, it turns out that they were ordering watermelon, raisins, 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:51.920 ice cream, strawberries, broccoli. 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:52.880 Cigarettes, no. 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:55.680 And occasionally they'd come home and the parrot would just 0:01:55.680 --> 0:02:01.640 be chilling with romantic music that they I thought, that's amazing, 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:03.800 Alexa play my romantic playlist. 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:08.760 So there you go. Now we know what Polly wants. 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:09.880 He's not a cracker. 0:02:09.919 --> 0:02:12.280 It's not a cracker, it's it's Alexa. 0:02:12.520 --> 0:02:13.560 So they ain't got ridiculous. 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:15.720 That is ridiculous. Do you want to know what else 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:42.160 is ridiculous. Hundreds of thousands of queludes. Dude, this is 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:48.440 Ridiculous crime. A podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists 0:02:48.520 --> 0:02:52.240 and cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder free and 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:54.880 one hundred percent ridiculous. 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.000 Oh you damn right. 0:02:57.000 --> 0:03:00.240 That's right. I am my good dude. I know you 0:03:00.280 --> 0:03:01.600 love mafia stories. 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.320 Oh my god. They're like bedtime stories to me. 0:03:04.480 --> 0:03:10.280 Italian Mob, Irish mob, Jewish mob, Chinese mob, Japanese New York, Boston, Philly, 0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:15.400 Rhode Island, Chicago, San Francisco, Vegas, La Language, all of it. 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:18.640 I mean we both romanticize it, yes, And there's a 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:21.200 lot of violence and destruction and loss. 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:21.560 Sure. 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:26.520 And at the same time there are fabulous characters and 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:27.840 an interesting culture. 0:03:28.200 --> 0:03:29.880 Yeah, and you're talking about an abstract. 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:33.320 They're great stories and they do like they do, ridiculous things. 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:34.000 Oh god. 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:37.200 That So let's start with a guy. I got a guy. Guy, 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:41.760 I know a guy, Raymond long John Marchroano. 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:43.680 He already got me going, long John. 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:48.120 He was born Ignazio Raymond Anthony Marchrano in nineteen twenty 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:52.480 seven in Sicily, Sichilia, So he real Oh yeah. When 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.960 he was in his early twenties, he moved from Italy 0:03:55.040 --> 0:04:01.400 to Philadelphia, South Philly, to be specific, Hugetai in American neighborhood. There, 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:07.400 he wasted no time getting into trouble. Between nineteen fifty 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:10.920 and nineteen fifty five, he got busted five different times 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:15.880 for drugs or illegal liquor dealing. And then you know, 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:18.359 at first they give him probation. They're like, oh, this 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:21.960 poor immigrant, he doesn't know up from down. Okay, but 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:26.159 you do bad things enough and they start stiffening the sentence. 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:28.640 Well, the cop started believing a story about you you've 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:29.080 given them. 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:31.839 Well, he's telling a good story about himself. Pretty soon 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:35.680 he'd earned himself five years behind bars. Yeah. So by 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:39.839 the sixties, Long John and his brother they're running a 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:43.960 vending machine company and like the company was like pretty 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:47.800 much legit, which made for a good front. So then 0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:51.440 Long John got another gig, this time driving for a 0:04:51.480 --> 0:04:56.760 guy named Angelo Bruno aka the Dustcile Done. Oh yeah, 0:04:56.800 --> 0:04:59.719 I should mention that Bruno was the boss of a 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:05.080 Philladelphia crime fan. Yeah. So long John is officially inside 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:07.240 the tent with my dad. 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:08.960 He's tell me great stories about Angela Brune. 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:12.640 Okay, So he Long John starts as a driver, works 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:17.040 his way up. Classic American success story. I love America, right. 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:19.760 I was going to tell a story about making my 0:05:19.839 --> 0:05:22.560 friend Peter pants in a movie theater by yelling something 0:05:22.600 --> 0:05:28.360 about America during the previews back in college, But never mind. Anyway, 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:33.920 Long John, So he evolved, He grew pretty soon he 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:38.040 was running gambling operations, and then he became a lone 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.599 shark all for the mob, of course, and he was 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:44.560 bringing in serious coin. So he pulled all this stuff 0:05:44.680 --> 0:05:48.960 almost never got arrested, and they loved that. Like, if 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:51.799 there's something the mob loves, it's not getting arrested. 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:53.800 Oh yeah, you're not getting pinched. It means you're smart 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:56.400 or you're bribing the right people there. 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.640 They love it, and so that's what they look for 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:03.479 in a employee, like I'm sorry, an associate. They should 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:06.320 do it all Disney style and call them cast members. 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:07.760 Like that. 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:11.440 So long John he goes higher and higher in the organization, 0:06:12.040 --> 0:06:14.960 and like, keep that up and you'll be a chief imagineer. 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:19.760 Ma BLI. Long John. He did the Donna solid gave 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:20.359 him a job. 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:21.760 He gave the Dona job. 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.719 At least on paper. He made Bruno an employee of 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:28.360 the vending machine business that he had with his brother. 0:06:29.200 --> 0:06:29.400 Job. 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.039 Yeah, so he's on commission as a salesman. He's pulling 0:06:32.080 --> 0:06:34.680 in fifty thousand dollars a year. That's not bad in 0:06:34.720 --> 0:06:38.039 the seventies, legit, and so it's not bad for today, 0:06:38.200 --> 0:06:41.279 depending where you live. So this is a good move, 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:44.599 Like it puts long John on the boss's good side. 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:48.440 He's protected now the boss has legit income as far 0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:49.840 as the government's. 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:51.120 Concerned, is laundered to money. 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:54.080 Yes, I told you we're in the seventies. Now. By 0:06:54.120 --> 0:06:56.720 the end of the decade, Long John is one of 0:06:56.760 --> 0:07:00.400 the most successful methamphetamine dealers in this city. 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:02.600 Damn so good. 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.719 So he's so good at it. He had that on 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:07.960 a certificate on his wall in his office in the 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:13.400 vending machine company. Dealer, best speed dealer around. It's kind 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:16.440 of like Captain Olivia Benson's Woman of the Year award 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:19.400 on Law and Order SVU. You and I refer to 0:07:19.440 --> 0:07:22.760 it as the Woman Award for being a woman. 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:24.000 Of the Year. 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:26.960 We maybe talk about that show a little too much, possibly, 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:30.440 but someone has to delve into an analysis of her. 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:32.080 David Koresh Glasses The. 0:07:32.080 --> 0:07:35.360 New Ones what does she what is she doing. 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:40.160 With blue tinted their like transition and it's not you 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:43.320 can't tell are they reading glasses or distance because sometimes 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.800 she wears them, or are they you know, buyfocals? 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:49.160 Yeah, where'd you get those wac Awayfair specials? 0:07:51.080 --> 0:07:54.800 Olivia? What's going on anyway? Long John? So in the 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:57.600 Philly mob drug dealing? Big no no? 0:07:57.880 --> 0:07:59.800 Oh, yeah, that was surprised when you said the meth. 0:07:59.880 --> 0:08:02.640 And it's said there right in the employee manual, it 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:06.240 says it exactly. But Bruno is like, you know, I 0:08:06.280 --> 0:08:08.520 don't I don't know what you're talking about. He acts 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.040 like he doesn't know, you know, blind eye. 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:13.760 This is like coffee and the teacher's lounge. 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:14.240 What is it? 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:17.000 Where are we? Who are we? 0:08:17.640 --> 0:08:17.760 Uh? 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:20.800 Bruno is not going to say anything because he's taken 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:23.200 a little cream off the top on that one. Why 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.560 would he stop that? So in nineteen seventy nine, a 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.840 buddy of Long John's was arrested by the dea down 0:08:29.880 --> 0:08:33.760 Floridaway who now, yeah, he was dealing both coke and 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:36.560 wait for it, queludes. 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:37.840 Oh, I thought you're gonna say marijuana. 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.719 No no, no, So this was bad, yeah, not just 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:42.720 because drugs are bad and no one should do coke 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:46.079 or the ghost of kualudes past. Can we talk about 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:48.679 how the double a, by the way in kueludes just 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:51.600 like hits the nail on the head. Well, it makes 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:55.040 you want to say it slow, like you're on kululudes. 0:08:58.280 --> 0:08:59.520 What's the double A about? 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:03.240 Branding? I don't know. I don't even know what the 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:05.079 actual non street name of. 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:07.640 Like methaqualone or something like that. 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:10.240 I think you're right, that sounds familiar anyway. 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:12.439 So this was bad because it meant the cops were 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:16.200 closing in. Okay, see Long John, he's also slang and 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:18.040 he was moving stuff that was even. 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.040 Worse speed, and he's the big fish to flip on. 0:09:20.200 --> 0:09:23.319 Yeah, and he was making hundreds of millions of dollars 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:25.520 doing this like mass quantity. 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:27.199 Wow, he was feeding the wonder. 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:28.960 Bruno was like, yeah, I'm gonna pretend like I didn't 0:09:28.960 --> 0:09:30.960 see that. But he's got his hand out behind his back. 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:34.880 There's a lot of one percent action around his time, 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:37.840 which I'm gonna skip, okay, but I won't skip this 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:41.240 one percent action. In nineteen eighty two, Long John was 0:09:41.280 --> 0:09:45.680 indicted for his drug operation. He made bail. While awaiting trial, 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:48.679 he met up with the guys from the Pagan's motorcycle club. 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:51.199 That's what I mean by one percent outlaw bikers. 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:54.800 Oh you flipped it. Yeah. 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:58.560 So he told the Pagans, He's like, hey, guys, want 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:01.760 to meet up, you know, like cool bar. And they 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:05.640 go there and he's like, he's like please, do they 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:09.640 have paps. He's like, I have bad news. 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:11.079 They're like what. 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:12.040 What what's the bad news, bro? 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:15.080 He's like, there's a street tax being put on you 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:22.160 by Nicodemo Dominico Scarfo senor aka Little Nikki aka Nikki Scarfo. 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:25.640 He's the new boss of the Philly crime family after 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:29.280 the one percent passing of Angelo Bruno. So the Pagans 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:30.440 they're not happy. 0:10:30.400 --> 0:10:31.920 Right, roof nails and so forth. 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.360 Yeah, they're not. The Pagan's like, what do you mean 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:36.520 the street te Nikki Scarfo is putting a street tax 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:37.040 on us. 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:38.560 They're mad. 0:10:39.160 --> 0:10:41.720 They take it out on the messenger. They kidnapped Long 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:42.480 John's son. 0:10:43.200 --> 0:10:45.800 Oh George, Oh, they. 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:47.680 Put a vest full of TNT on him. 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:50.800 What George is like thirty. 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.160 Two at the time. By the way, like that changes 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:55.640 the image of your head totally. It's not an eight 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:56.480 year old sitting there. 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:58.600 It's a grown man. 0:10:59.679 --> 0:11:02.160 But don't don't worry. Long John paid them ten grand 0:11:02.360 --> 0:11:05.599 and they let George go and he was able to 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:07.120 get rid of the street tax. 0:11:07.520 --> 0:11:08.120 I bet he did. 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:11.680 But then things changed from Long John. May nineteen eighty two, 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:15.800 he was convicted, sentenced to ten years on those drug charges. Man, 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:17.720 and while he was inside. 0:11:18.480 --> 0:11:21.720 So hard for them they were. 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:29.520 He's inside, he made a partnership with the guys from 0:11:29.520 --> 0:11:34.480 the Black Mafia, specifically Lonnie Dawson and Nudie Mims, and 0:11:34.600 --> 0:11:38.120 they're all locked up together, and Long John he still 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:41.080 had all his ties to the outside, so he was like, 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:45.960 I'll help you run your enormous heroin distribution network. Let's 0:11:46.040 --> 0:11:47.800 be cast members together in this. 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:50.719 So this is a dream jail house deal that has 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:52.560 outside jail re percussions. 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:58.520 Yes, So Dawson met with Afghan heroin smugglers like pretty 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.800 often while he was inside. That must have been amazing. 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:05.280 Visitor days. 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:15.000 He is meeting the inmate, Moon is here to see 0:12:15.120 --> 0:12:16.600 He's like, I'll be right out, that's fine. 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:17.560 Visiting day. 0:12:17.800 --> 0:12:23.320 On FBI wiretaps Mims and Dawson, they're both recorded saying 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.440 that they could sell four hundred thousand dollars worth of 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:31.200 heroin per month a month. That's almost one point four 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:32.719 million a month today. 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:35.640 And they're saying this over the phone and visiting. 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:38.440 They're like, so, what's going on with you? I don't 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:46.000 know four They're like, still dragging. So the rest of 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.920 Long John's story is interesting, but bloody and not what 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:52.240 I wanted to tell you about today. I want to 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:54.920 go back to George. George is the sun. 0:12:55.160 --> 0:12:55.920 Let's back it up. 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.640 I want to talk about him. George mar Toronto born 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:04.680 in teen fifty and he earned himself a nickname later on, 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:06.839 Cowboy George. 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:09.319 What cowboy by George? 0:13:09.360 --> 0:13:12.760 Cowboy George got a children's show because he was a 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:15.040 real cowboy. He was a tree top flyer. 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:17.120 Let the Stugglers blues. 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:21.040 And I'm gonna honor his nickname. That's his choice, that's 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:23.360 his life, Pat Sure, Cowboy George. 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:25.200 So his dad cowboy up. 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:28.679 It was a gangster, as we know, George didn't know 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:33.280 that growing up. Yes, yes, I wonder if he had 0:13:33.320 --> 0:13:35.960 a meadow soprano moment like are you and the mob? 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.440 He's like his dad's just like seething, driving like I'm 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:42.640 gonna go strangle someone later. So he's in the dark, 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:44.280 which is good, I suppose. 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:45.920 Probably if you're raise kids. 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:48.680 George like he claims, like, I didn't know my dad 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:52.480 was a the mafia. And according to him, he learned 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:56.560 more about the criming life and Omerta and family from 0:13:56.600 --> 0:14:03.160 his godfather. Angelo Bruno was the actual godfather. So when 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:06.360 George was ten, he had his own business. He sold 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:10.200 pony rides when the weather was nice. Yeah, so he 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:13.040 either owned a pony, or he borrowed one or stole one. 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:15.400 But like pony rides, nonetheless pile. 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:16.839 He's got his own little pony. 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:22.200 It's all coming together. Yeah, And so he's like, kids, 0:14:21.760 --> 0:14:24.960 it's the sun is shining, it's a beautiful day. Get 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:30.000 on his horse. Five dollars. And as he told Philly Blunt, 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:34.160 as he got older, he got quote more mischievous. He 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:37.160 and his friends they'd go to buildings that had recently 0:14:37.240 --> 0:14:41.040 had fires and they'd steal the copper and resell it. Oh, 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:44.080 I mean his dad sold meths. So it tracks. 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:48.040 Sure, methy because but he's a kid. 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:50.040 It's still a kid. 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:52.840 But by the early eighties, so now we've jumped forward. 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.920 By the early eighties, while his dad he's worn a 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.000 T and T vest. At this time, his dad is 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:02.359 looking down the barrel of a prison sentence for drug distribution. 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:07.000 George is selling weed in Philadelphia. Okay, now, if you 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:08.920 ask him, he sold only weed. 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:10.600 He's in his thirties selling weed and. 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:14.960 Sell nothing else. No meth, no coke, no snapple, no 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:19.280 plastic wrap, costco, poppy seed muffins. And he said he 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:20.640 only did it for three years. 0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:21.360 Get off his. 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:23.480 Back, man, He only did it for three years. 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:27.200 Zaren never hurt nobody, No, no one's ever on weed. 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:27.560 Yeah. 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:30.480 He also says he was never part of the mafia. 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:34.240 And he also says that it was the government who 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:36.920 sold him the weed that he would later sell. 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:40.080 Knowingly. That was like the government came to was like, 0:15:40.080 --> 0:15:40.560 hey man. 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:43.560 Yes, you know what makes you think Zara, Yeah, clearly 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:45.600 makes me think anyway. 0:15:45.840 --> 0:15:49.000 So it was this America too, right the eighties. 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.680 It was father son time in the correctional system because 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.560 while his father was locked up and shot calling a 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:59.880 heroin empire with a black mafia, George was on a 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.520 collision course with the authorities. Yes, the FBI said it. 0:16:03.600 --> 0:16:08.760 Quote videotaped Martinaro conspiring in a hotel room to distribute 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:13.240 mass quantities of heroin with the black mafia in North Philadelphia. 0:16:13.520 --> 0:16:15.120 He was in the wrong room at the wrong time. 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:18.520 That's right, Okay, So it was George who was long 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:21.680 John's connection to the outside. He's like, you want to 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:25.360 sling h. I got a kid. He likes selling things. 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:29.200 He likes horse You can just see that the street 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.200 line who it's your energy is just seeping in me. 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:38.080 Nineteen eighty two, George gets busted. The FBI took him 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.720 down at a quote North Miami hotel and charged him 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:47.360 with shipping a truckload of cannabis to Philadelphia. His argument, quote, 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:50.040 it was only twenty six hundred pounds a weed, and 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:55.120 I wasn't even there. Only twenty six hundred pounds. That's 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:59.760 all in his mind. Serenh. Yeah, I don't know. 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:01.080 What's some big amount. 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:03.760 I mean is like how many horses is that? How 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:07.480 many elephants is I don't know. On September nineteenth. 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:10.320 Nineteen one in a third pound or so, let me 0:17:10.480 --> 0:17:12.240 come on one third ton. 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:17.240 September nineteenth, nineteen eighty three, federal grand jury handed out 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:26.359 an indictment accusing George of distributing cocaine, meth quelus. 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.720 Just named drugs to marijuana. 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.560 Two FBI agents went under cover, one posed as a 0:17:32.600 --> 0:17:35.679 pilot and another as a lawyer, and they wormed their 0:17:35.720 --> 0:17:38.600 way into his drug ring. They're probably like, hey, we're 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:40.040 just looking for ludes, man. 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:41.800 Yeah, we can do runs for you. Man, I gotta play. 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:46.240 So it wasn't just weed, No, he had clearly so. 0:17:46.280 --> 0:17:49.200 According to the Philadelphia Daily News quote, in the course 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:53.440 of the investigation, undercover federal agents had purchased or seized 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:58.920 two kilograms of heroin. Okay, you know tequilas sure, thousands 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:03.040 of pounds of marijuana. Yeah, so his personal stash three 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:06.120 hundred and forty thousand counterfeit. 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:08.600 Kualudes, three hundred forty thousand, one. 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:10.720 Hundred and twenty five grand in cash, six cars and 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:15.280 three trucks, not even legit qualuds. Fake kualuds? 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:18.639 What kind of fake ludes? I don't know, Like I mean, 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:19.359 like I'm saying, it's. 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:21.520 Like like SERTs breath, That's what I. 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:24.280 Mean, Like sugar pills or will they get you high? 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:25.520 Just not The way you want. 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:27.960 To say is to say, I'll have to try and 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:28.760 what and tell you. 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:30.560 Because that's a lot to sell if it's fake. I mean, 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:32.560 like the dealer's trying to push it. Someone's gonna run. 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:38.480 And forty thousand qualuds. So the yearly haul for George's 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:39.720 crew was well into. 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:41.119 The millions, if this seems like it. 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:44.560 And the indictment charged that he had supervised, you know, 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:47.960 all these people in his drug empire. He's big boss 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:51.560 making big boss money. So what was the evidence? One 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:57.120 hundred and six tape recording conversations, the cash, the marijuana, 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:00.879 the heroine, all those fake kuludes. According to the Philly 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:04.639 Daily News quote, the operation was so vast. The federal 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:09.320 authorities said that Martinaro had two airplanes operating out of 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:13.080 his Hastings, Florida airstrip to carry in quantities of cocaine 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:17.399 from Jamaica and South American points. And the prosecution was like, 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:20.800 how about you set bail at five million. Yeah, let's 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:22.520 take a break. When we come back, we're going to 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:48.040 court Zarin, all right. When we left off, the prosecution in. 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:50.320 The case of George, Cowboy George. 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:53.040 Cowboy George, they wanted bail at five million. 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:53.560 Yeah. 0:19:53.600 --> 0:19:57.280 And the Philadelphia Daily News observed quote in his argument 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:01.879 for the huge bail Paccini. The d said that Martinaro 0:20:01.960 --> 0:20:05.720 had indicated to the undercover FBI agents that he would 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:09.399 flee the country if indicted on serious charges. In fact, 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:12.520 he told the FBI agent who posed as the pilot 0:20:12.600 --> 0:20:15.719 that he the pilot, was the key to his escape 0:20:15.720 --> 0:20:19.320 plan because he gave Marchinaro the ability to fly quickly 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:20.119 out of the country. 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:21.680 Here, my god. 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:24.600 Yeah, here's a tip for bad guys. Don't share your 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:28.680 plans like in fact, you don't always have to say something. 0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:29.879 And also have multiple plans. 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.640 That's just good advice. In general. You can just keep quiet. 0:20:32.760 --> 0:20:34.560 Do you know someone who just can't help but talk 0:20:34.600 --> 0:20:35.480 in any situation? 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:36.800 Oh yeah, plenty me. 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:41.119 So don't and don't I tell myself, don't. Do you 0:20:41.160 --> 0:20:45.159 know who also got arrested when George did? No, Okay, 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:46.760 I'm gonna tell you. Do you want to know? 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:47.520 I do want to know? 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:48.600 This is my expectant face. 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:52.520 Okay, cool fella by the name of Kevin Rankin. So, 0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:56.080 Kevin Rankin had two jobs. He was the frontman for 0:20:56.160 --> 0:21:02.400 the drug operation. He was also George's lawyer brother who really, so, now, 0:21:02.440 --> 0:21:04.920 who's going to get George out of jail? His lawyers 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:05.880 sitting next to him. 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:08.439 Yeah, this is like Sean Penn and Donny Brasco. Right, 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:10.600 it's like you got the lawyer who's doing the crimes. 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:10.880 Yeah. 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:14.280 Now, Rankin had another concern. He had just opened a 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:16.920 restaurant and the authorities wanted to seize it. 0:21:17.680 --> 0:21:19.840 No, my restaurant, my dream. 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:22.960 The best part about that the name of the restaurant. 0:21:23.000 --> 0:21:25.160 What's the name of the restaurant, titty winks. 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:26.840 It's a strip club restaurant. 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:29.000 No, it was okay, So I looked it up and like, 0:21:29.119 --> 0:21:33.080 Tittywinks is an alternative name for Titley Winks. You know 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:33.360 the game? 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:37.360 Yeah, I got that part. 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:39.040 You ever play it? Or were you not born in 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:39.800 the olden days? 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:42.240 I wasn't born in the same olden day as you. 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:46.919 Were, say, titty Winks. The restaurant was on Sansum around 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:49.320 South sixteenth Street in Philadelphia. 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:50.800 Way, don't go fast, I'm writing this down. 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:51.160 Go on. 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:54.639 And I became obsessed with finding out more about the 0:21:54.680 --> 0:21:57.920 restaurant because it was only mentioned like in passing in 0:21:58.359 --> 0:22:02.480 a newspaper article. Like yeah, like my radar went up, 0:22:02.760 --> 0:22:05.359 So of course I went to Google street View. I 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:07.560 mean the restaurant's long gone, but I wanted to get 0:22:07.600 --> 0:22:10.000 a sense of the area having never been to Philadelphia. 0:22:10.760 --> 0:22:13.840 It looks a lot like downtown San Francisco there, and 0:22:13.840 --> 0:22:15.800 not just because the name of the street is Sandsum 0:22:15.880 --> 0:22:19.680 like in San Francisco. So anyway, Sansum on about half 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:23.159 a block either side of sixteenth is like pretty cool looking, 0:22:23.640 --> 0:22:26.120 you know, lots of restaurants and bars. Like I get 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:27.879 the sense it was a nice neighborhood and then it 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:30.400 got gritty, and then it got gentrified as all get out. 0:22:31.200 --> 0:22:35.879 Like there's yoga studios and oyster barshizza places and like 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:40.360 a guitar shop, pilates and dumplings. And you can tell 0:22:40.400 --> 0:22:43.440 by the fonts that the businesses used that things aren't 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:46.960 cheap inside, you know what I mean. But the buildings 0:22:46.960 --> 0:22:49.720 look super cool, like not modern lots of brick anyway 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:50.280 that there's. 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:53.080 Like one word plus sign one word you're spending a lot. 0:22:53.800 --> 0:22:56.800 Yes, And if they went the extra mile and hired 0:22:56.920 --> 0:23:00.480 like a paint sign company to like use gold leaf. 0:23:00.320 --> 0:23:02.840 Paint on the window, yeah, now paying the rest. 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:05.600 I can't afford it. So then I was like, you 0:23:05.640 --> 0:23:08.679 know who I need to talk to newspapers dot Com, 0:23:08.960 --> 0:23:12.239 which never disappoints. Give me a sponsorship. I love you 0:23:12.280 --> 0:23:17.919 so much so. This is from the Tuesday, September thirteenth, 0:23:18.080 --> 0:23:21.960 nineteen eighty three edition of the Philadelphia Daily News. There's 0:23:22.000 --> 0:23:26.040 this columnist, Larry Fields, and he wrote next to a 0:23:26.160 --> 0:23:29.760 very large photo of Debbie Reynolds, provided for another item 0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:32.560 in his piece and totally unrelated to the restaurant. 0:23:32.840 --> 0:23:33.520 But she was. 0:23:33.520 --> 0:23:37.639 Staring at me the whole time I was reading this quote. 0:23:38.160 --> 0:23:43.320 A new restaurant night spot called Tittywinks opening tomorrow at 0:23:43.359 --> 0:23:47.800 seven am. That's right, seven am at sixteen oh five 0:23:47.960 --> 0:23:51.760 Sansom Street. Figures to set our town on its ear 0:23:52.560 --> 0:23:56.160 rear would probably be more accurate. It will feature an 0:23:56.359 --> 0:24:00.760 X rated menu boom that you knew it examples sandwich 0:24:00.840 --> 0:24:05.560 is named between the sheets, the Score, the bush. 0:24:05.200 --> 0:24:13.000 Oh, a soup called Brothel Broth, desserts which are listed 0:24:13.080 --> 0:24:17.879 under Climax, including Queen of Tarts and Huff and Puff. 0:24:18.320 --> 0:24:21.080 In keeping with the heavy ambiance of the new spot, 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:25.520 ninety nine percent of the Tittiwink staff will be gorgeous 0:24:25.600 --> 0:24:29.400 dolls wearing skimpy costumes, and there will be only one 0:24:29.520 --> 0:24:32.560 token mail in the kitchen. But don't expect me to 0:24:32.640 --> 0:24:36.480 complain of sex discrimination because of the policy. And if 0:24:36.520 --> 0:24:39.280 the staff decides to treat me as a sex object 0:24:39.320 --> 0:24:42.480 when I enter the place, I won't object to that either. 0:24:43.119 --> 0:24:45.560 Larry, Larry, this is. 0:24:45.520 --> 0:24:47.159 A family newspaper. Larry. 0:24:47.440 --> 0:24:49.040 You have to go and you have to order off 0:24:49.040 --> 0:24:50.920 a menu. You have to blush every time you try 0:24:50.960 --> 0:24:54.960 to say your order. The bush es to bush for 0:24:55.000 --> 0:24:59.600 this table. Horrible, This is horrible on my bush. 0:25:00.160 --> 0:25:05.240 Gorgeous dolls, Tittywinks, Yeah, it's not like I thought. Well, 0:25:05.280 --> 0:25:07.639 maybe it's like a penny farthing old timey. 0:25:07.760 --> 0:25:09.639 No, you haven't hung out with as many dirtbags as 0:25:09.640 --> 0:25:09.920 I have. 0:25:10.400 --> 0:25:13.720 No, So, Tittywinks is now that location is now the 0:25:13.720 --> 0:25:15.520 Philadelphia Chutney Company. 0:25:16.000 --> 0:25:16.439 There you go. 0:25:16.560 --> 0:25:19.920 It's a big space. It's a lot of chutney, every. 0:25:19.760 --> 0:25:21.879 Kind of chutt not cheap chutney. 0:25:21.960 --> 0:25:26.600 Probably not so less than ten days later after Larry's 0:25:26.680 --> 0:25:30.359 just gushing about the hubba hubba of it all. 0:25:30.359 --> 0:25:32.600 And speculating and what kind of a sex object you. 0:25:32.600 --> 0:25:35.960 Would be, And I swear to God, go on there, 0:25:36.200 --> 0:25:38.719 find this column and look at Larry's picture, and then 0:25:38.760 --> 0:25:46.240 you're just like Larry ain't nobody going to whatever? Okay? 0:25:46.320 --> 0:25:51.720 So ten days after Larry's column, the papers were reporting 0:25:51.800 --> 0:25:55.639 that Rankin was George's front man and that Tittywinks was 0:25:55.760 --> 0:26:00.760 used to launder drug money. Ten days days after it opened, 0:26:01.600 --> 0:26:05.600 George hired Robert Simone Esquire to be his trial counsel. 0:26:06.520 --> 0:26:11.840 In Simone's two thousand and seven obituary by the Philadelphia Inquirer, 0:26:12.280 --> 0:26:15.480 they described him as quote a criminal defense lawyer whose 0:26:15.520 --> 0:26:19.120 client list was a cross between guys and dolls and goodfellas. 0:26:19.920 --> 0:26:24.439 He was Nicky Scarfs lawyer Pale, they were pals. 0:26:24.520 --> 0:26:26.639 It seems like he's a mob lawyer. But the guys 0:26:26.680 --> 0:26:29.119 in dolls part like that's supposed to conjure up, like 0:26:29.560 --> 0:26:33.520 Nathan Detroit and Sky Masterson, and like dancers, like a. 0:26:33.520 --> 0:26:39.400 Lot of dancers. The staff of Titty Winks. That's yeah, So, 0:26:39.480 --> 0:26:40.080 I mean that's all. 0:26:40.119 --> 0:26:41.080 They have a floor show. 0:26:42.400 --> 0:26:44.880 You know, they probably had some sort of routine, sure, 0:26:45.000 --> 0:26:47.840 but don't forget they're also laundering the money. 0:26:48.040 --> 0:26:48.959 Happy birthday to you. 0:26:50.119 --> 0:26:53.160 You know who's working in the back, Furyo making Matzarell. 0:26:53.840 --> 0:26:56.240 That's what's going on in there. Oh yeah, they have 0:26:56.359 --> 0:26:57.440 like a whole birthday thing. 0:26:57.560 --> 0:27:02.040 Yeah, it's like DGI Fridays, they'll come out and exactly. 0:27:02.840 --> 0:27:04.840 So you know, this is great. Now he's got this 0:27:04.920 --> 0:27:06.480 new lawyer. But there's a little snag. 0:27:07.240 --> 0:27:08.680 See before a restaurant review. 0:27:08.840 --> 0:27:12.160 Well, no, it's it's worse than that. Before the date 0:27:12.240 --> 0:27:16.360 that was set for George's trial, his lawyer, Bobby Simone 0:27:16.840 --> 0:27:24.360 got busted. He was indicted on tax evasion charges according 0:27:24.400 --> 0:27:28.560 to the Feds themselves quote. As a result of Simone's indictment, 0:27:28.800 --> 0:27:32.720 the district Judge Hannam held a hearing on March fifteenth, 0:27:32.840 --> 0:27:36.840 nineteen eighty four, at which he advised Martinaro that his 0:27:37.040 --> 0:27:41.520 counsel had been indicted and that consequently a conflict of 0:27:41.560 --> 0:27:46.080 interest might arise between Martinaro and Simone. During the course 0:27:46.200 --> 0:27:51.760 of Martinaro's trial, Judge Hannam asked Martenaro thirteen questions, which 0:27:51.800 --> 0:27:55.919 explored virtually every aspect of a conflict of interest. In 0:27:56.000 --> 0:28:00.159 response to these questions, Martinaro indicated that he understood the 0:28:00.280 --> 0:28:04.639 risks inherent in continued representation by Simone, but stated that 0:28:04.720 --> 0:28:07.480 he wished for Simone to continue to represent him, thus 0:28:07.840 --> 0:28:10.000 waiving the question of a conflict of interest. 0:28:10.119 --> 0:28:12.919 He's my counselor and my co defendants family. 0:28:13.040 --> 0:28:17.359 That's loyalty. But I guess when George and his lawyer 0:28:17.440 --> 0:28:20.600 waited all out, they realized trial was going to be 0:28:20.640 --> 0:28:23.800 an uphill battle. Yes, So on June fourth, nineteen eighty four, 0:28:23.920 --> 0:28:25.080 George pled guilty. 0:28:25.320 --> 0:28:27.480 Cowboy George correct, Cowboy. 0:28:27.119 --> 0:28:34.520 George guilty of distribution of vast mountains of cocaine, meth amphetamine, marijuana, 0:28:35.600 --> 0:28:38.840 wait for its Oh, and then there was also that 0:28:39.000 --> 0:28:42.800 heroin buying with intent to distribute. There is that nineteen 0:28:42.920 --> 0:28:46.320 counts in all. George later said that he only pleaded 0:28:46.360 --> 0:28:51.120 guilty because he believed that his lawyer, Bobby Simone, had 0:28:51.160 --> 0:28:53.800 worked it out with the judge that George would only 0:28:53.840 --> 0:28:57.960 get the minimum sentence forty to fifty months. No, the 0:28:58.040 --> 0:29:02.240 judge slapped him with life in prison without the possibility 0:29:02.240 --> 0:29:02.760 of parole. 0:29:03.360 --> 0:29:05.480 Damn right, you don't see that coming. 0:29:05.560 --> 0:29:08.760 No, Now, drugs are very bad, But George was a 0:29:08.880 --> 0:29:17.760 nonviolent offender, according to georgemartinaro dot com. Course, Martinaro's life 0:29:17.800 --> 0:29:22.440 sentence drew widespread criticism. Many questioned how a first time 0:29:22.640 --> 0:29:26.640 non violent offender could receive such a severe punishment, especially 0:29:26.680 --> 0:29:30.360 since much of the case revolved around marijuana. His defense 0:29:30.400 --> 0:29:32.680 team argued that he had been set up during an 0:29:32.800 --> 0:29:35.400 arrow when the federal government was cracking down on drug 0:29:35.440 --> 0:29:39.520 related crimes and organized crime. There's no doubt he was 0:29:39.640 --> 0:29:42.479 big in the weed business, his lawyer stated, But that 0:29:42.560 --> 0:29:45.240 doesn't warrant spending half your life in prison for something 0:29:45.240 --> 0:29:46.360 you did when you were young. 0:29:46.680 --> 0:29:48.800 It feels like either they wanted a headline for like 0:29:48.880 --> 0:29:51.560 these just say no era, or like a senator's son 0:29:51.600 --> 0:29:53.760 died of heroin and somebody wanted, oh, you're going. 0:29:53.680 --> 0:29:56.120 To find out. You're going to find out why. So 0:29:56.320 --> 0:29:59.120 it wasn't just to punish for and it wasn't It 0:29:59.200 --> 0:30:01.959 wasn't all the for the drugs or the mob or 0:30:02.000 --> 0:30:07.080 like you're saying, like someone you know. Yeah, they wanted 0:30:07.080 --> 0:30:10.240 to squeeze intel out of him about the mob because 0:30:10.320 --> 0:30:12.800 like his dad's pretty high up. But George wasn't having it. 0:30:12.880 --> 0:30:17.320 He knew nothing about nothing. He said. Quote they thought 0:30:17.360 --> 0:30:19.760 I had secrets of the Philly mob. I don't know. 0:30:20.080 --> 0:30:24.239 I was just the weed guy. I was just the 0:30:24.240 --> 0:30:28.440 weed guy. But here's so. George said that the judge 0:30:28.480 --> 0:30:31.560 wanted him to become an informant snitch on his dad 0:30:31.680 --> 0:30:36.680 and the whole mob. Nick Nope, And then the federal prosecutor, 0:30:37.040 --> 0:30:40.240 you know, was like, no, he's trying to reconstruct history. 0:30:40.680 --> 0:30:41.040 Quote. 0:30:41.080 --> 0:30:44.920 It was much more than marijuana. That's the federal prosecutor 0:30:44.920 --> 0:30:50.959 who's now legal counsel at Deloitte. Uh yeah, Paccini quote, 0:30:51.000 --> 0:30:53.480 and the evidence supported it. We never had a case 0:30:53.840 --> 0:30:56.000 with the evidence as strong as that one. We had 0:30:56.160 --> 0:31:01.240 hours and hours of tape. So George appealed the over 0:31:01.840 --> 0:31:02.440 and over. 0:31:03.080 --> 0:31:04.360 So he had a bunch of reasons. 0:31:04.480 --> 0:31:08.960 First, his council stated that, quote, the district judge abused 0:31:09.000 --> 0:31:12.880 his discretion not recusing himself because of the alleged appearance 0:31:12.920 --> 0:31:18.000 of impropriety given by the district judges. Having testified after 0:31:18.120 --> 0:31:23.040 Martinuro's initial sentencing at the tax evasion trial of Martinuro's 0:31:23.040 --> 0:31:27.440 then counsel Bobby Simone, Hannam was criticized in the media 0:31:27.600 --> 0:31:32.640 for testifying on Simone's behalf, even though his testimony was 0:31:32.680 --> 0:31:36.400 considered innocuous. You heard that, right, So the judge in 0:31:36.440 --> 0:31:41.200 the case testified on behalf of George's crooked lawyer at 0:31:41.240 --> 0:31:47.080 said lawyer's tax evasion. Well, the theory was that then 0:31:47.600 --> 0:31:51.040 Hannam went overboard with George, so it wouldn't look like 0:31:51.120 --> 0:31:55.800 some sort of favoritism. Okay, that's why Hannam denied all 0:31:55.840 --> 0:31:59.800 those motions to recuse himself from the case. Another point 0:31:59.840 --> 0:32:04.440 that Martineau raised in a bunch of his various appeals. 0:32:05.360 --> 0:32:08.520 The judge was like, there's no basis for me recusing myself. 0:32:08.640 --> 0:32:11.320 I'm not going to do it. And then there's another 0:32:11.400 --> 0:32:14.320 reason why he filed an appeal. He said that he 0:32:14.360 --> 0:32:18.720 said the judge was biased against him because Rankin, the 0:32:18.920 --> 0:32:23.480 Tittywinks guy, had previously accused the judge of quote physically 0:32:23.560 --> 0:32:28.720 assaulting Rankin during Rankin's separate criminal trial. Wait what yeah, 0:32:29.040 --> 0:32:33.200 Rankin said that quote Judge Hannam had struck him, battered him, 0:32:33.320 --> 0:32:36.320 and chased him around the courtroom the courtroom during the 0:32:36.360 --> 0:32:41.160 first trial. These charges gave rise to criminal charges against 0:32:41.240 --> 0:32:44.200 Rankin for making false statements and obstructing justice. 0:32:44.520 --> 0:32:48.280 I was picturing this outside the courthouse. They're walking up 0:32:48.320 --> 0:32:48.760 the steps. 0:32:48.800 --> 0:32:56.640 Maybe they apparently courtroom judge tried to beat him up 0:32:56.640 --> 0:33:01.960 in the courtroom his Tittywinks owner. Yes, Judge Hannam, according 0:33:02.000 --> 0:33:05.120 to court documents, quote, held that a reasonable person could 0:33:05.160 --> 0:33:08.960 not conclude that the reassignment of the ranking case would 0:33:08.960 --> 0:33:11.840 affect his ability to be impartial with respect to Martinarro. 0:33:12.120 --> 0:33:14.600 I want to see the court artist drawing of that scene. 0:33:14.680 --> 0:33:17.480 Oh for real? So okay, so those tactics don't work 0:33:17.520 --> 0:33:18.719 on appeal. How about this one? 0:33:19.000 --> 0:33:19.680 Okay, you got more. 0:33:19.840 --> 0:33:23.240 Yeah, George is just too stupid to have done everything 0:33:23.280 --> 0:33:28.760 you said he did dumb. So that's what Bobby Simone 0:33:28.800 --> 0:33:33.720 puts forward. Yeah, and so the court was like, all right, 0:33:33.800 --> 0:33:38.720 let's do a psychological study. Eight experts testified. The appellate 0:33:38.800 --> 0:33:43.040 judges decided that George was neither mentally deficient nor mentally ill. 0:33:43.520 --> 0:33:45.640 He was just faking it. So it's like good news, 0:33:45.640 --> 0:33:51.160 bad news, You're you're not an idiot. However, you're still 0:33:51.160 --> 0:33:56.040 in jail. Wow, they did those quote show that Martinarro 0:33:56.240 --> 0:33:58.880 suffers even more than the rest of the world from 0:33:58.880 --> 0:34:02.040 the tendency to shape the world into the world of 0:34:02.040 --> 0:34:08.680 his desiring. Yeah. So, while George was in prison, he 0:34:08.800 --> 0:34:12.600 did five of those years in solitary confinement out which 0:34:12.640 --> 0:34:15.440 I think is the definition of cruel and unusual punishment. 0:34:17.040 --> 0:34:20.960 But see, he was at FCI Marion in southern Illinois, 0:34:21.040 --> 0:34:25.360 and Marion was originally built as a maximum security facility 0:34:25.360 --> 0:34:28.120 that would replace Alcatraz. So it opened the year the 0:34:28.200 --> 0:34:28.840 Rock closed. 0:34:29.080 --> 0:34:30.960 Oh yeah, it's like a supermax. 0:34:31.440 --> 0:34:34.120 No, not yet. So right before George got there, there 0:34:34.120 --> 0:34:39.040 were two horrible violent incidences involving the Aryan Brotherhood knives 0:34:39.080 --> 0:34:42.399 and correctional officers, and as a result, the prison went 0:34:42.440 --> 0:34:46.160 into permanent lockdown and became what would later be known 0:34:46.200 --> 0:34:49.319 as a supermass. Okay, And so I mean it had 0:34:49.360 --> 0:34:53.000 like a camp. It had a low minimum security camp. 0:34:53.719 --> 0:34:56.520 All the inmates inside in the yard though, were in 0:34:56.640 --> 0:35:01.200 solitary confinement for twenty three hours a day, everybody. And 0:35:01.239 --> 0:35:03.440 it wasn't until two thousand and six that it was 0:35:03.480 --> 0:35:07.800 downgraded to a medium security prison, partly because they opened 0:35:07.880 --> 0:35:11.360 up before that FCI Florence that became like the major 0:35:11.520 --> 0:35:18.759 mega supermax. Anyway, Others who did time there included John Gottie, 0:35:19.800 --> 0:35:22.280 who also happened to be George's cellmate. 0:35:23.000 --> 0:35:25.040 Wow, they booked them together. 0:35:24.880 --> 0:35:27.320 Thankey Scarfo Carlos later. 0:35:27.480 --> 0:35:29.960 Yeah, oh yeah, the my man, Pablo's. 0:35:29.440 --> 0:35:33.719 Guy, the pilot, the pilot, Pete Rose. Yeah, he did 0:35:33.760 --> 0:35:36.800 five months, Gamlie, he did five months at the minimum 0:35:36.800 --> 0:35:40.279 security okay, and then Also, you know who else was 0:35:40.280 --> 0:35:41.640 in there, Garrett brock trap. 0:35:41.719 --> 0:35:42.960 Now I was going to say, I don't want to 0:35:42.960 --> 0:35:44.480 bring it up, but that's where he was when he 0:35:44.520 --> 0:35:46.880 tried to do the flying exactly. He tried to get his 0:35:46.920 --> 0:35:49.040 girlfriend to break out, and it's steal a plane for that. 0:35:49.360 --> 0:35:53.200 Was Marion and anyway, So then there's George, the longest 0:35:53.320 --> 0:35:57.120 serving first time offender for a non violent offense. But 0:35:57.160 --> 0:35:59.160 he made the best of it. When we come back 0:35:59.200 --> 0:36:21.680 from this ad break, i'll tell you how, all right, 0:36:21.840 --> 0:36:26.160 zarenlib When we left off, Yes, George, what's his name? 0:36:26.800 --> 0:36:27.560 Cowboy George? 0:36:27.560 --> 0:36:31.080 Cowboy George had been sentenced to life without the possibility 0:36:31.120 --> 0:36:32.040 of parole. 0:36:32.080 --> 0:36:34.040 Brutal, which is yeah, insane, Yeah. 0:36:33.920 --> 0:36:38.120 And he's a Federal Correctional Institute Marion in Illinois, rough place. 0:36:38.880 --> 0:36:41.160 John Gottie sitting next to him for a while. 0:36:40.960 --> 0:36:42.800 There, twenty three hours a day lockdown. 0:36:43.080 --> 0:36:46.319 But George is a fighter and his daddy didn't raise 0:36:46.320 --> 0:36:49.560 a whimp. He took stock of his situation and he 0:36:49.680 --> 0:36:51.319 decided to make the best of it. 0:36:51.400 --> 0:36:53.800 He's like, what's the pony rides I can offer here? 0:36:54.000 --> 0:36:58.239 He transformed himself. Oh really, He taught yoga okay. He 0:36:58.400 --> 0:37:01.719 developed a course for father in prison that help them 0:37:01.760 --> 0:37:05.240 develop like really meaningful relationships with their kids. 0:37:05.280 --> 0:37:06.600 There's the pony ride yep. 0:37:08.760 --> 0:37:11.960 The federal facility where I taught had that also led 0:37:12.000 --> 0:37:14.800 by an inmate, and it really did make a huge difference. 0:37:15.040 --> 0:37:18.160 Did My students would talk to their kids about homework, 0:37:18.960 --> 0:37:20.960 and they'd tell the kids like, I got it too, 0:37:21.120 --> 0:37:23.799 and college is really hard, but it's interesting and it's fun. 0:37:23.880 --> 0:37:26.120 So when they say, are you doing your homework? Yea, 0:37:26.480 --> 0:37:29.240 you know they have I have to do mine too. 0:37:29.960 --> 0:37:32.920 And the dads and the kids like kind of kept 0:37:33.120 --> 0:37:35.719 each other accountable with that stuff. And they learned how 0:37:35.760 --> 0:37:40.080 to discipline by suggestion and serve as a life lesson 0:37:40.080 --> 0:37:41.600 about choices in post. 0:37:41.280 --> 0:37:44.960 Control expectations instead of their voice right exactly. 0:37:45.000 --> 0:37:47.600 They learned how to be patient, They learned how to 0:37:47.640 --> 0:37:50.600 be vulnerable but still strong for the kids I love. 0:37:50.640 --> 0:37:53.240 In prison is actually rehabilitative, yes exactly. 0:37:53.760 --> 0:37:55.760 It was great, and that's that's what George was doing. 0:37:55.840 --> 0:37:58.880 And he also he put together a course called Release 0:37:58.960 --> 0:38:02.280 Preparations star darting a business for under one thousand dollars, 0:38:03.040 --> 0:38:07.000 and it was described as quote empowering inmates to prepare 0:38:07.040 --> 0:38:11.520 for life after incarceration. That's another huge deal. I once 0:38:11.560 --> 0:38:13.600 had a student give our whole class a lesson on 0:38:13.640 --> 0:38:16.719 how to do just that, and it was fascinating. So 0:38:16.840 --> 0:38:19.440 it was a sort of impromptu where he started talking 0:38:19.480 --> 0:38:22.960 about it, but all of us were just listening. It 0:38:23.000 --> 0:38:25.400 involved a lot of hard work and determination and like 0:38:25.480 --> 0:38:29.279 people skills, but was one hundred percent legal. And then 0:38:29.520 --> 0:38:32.880 there's what gets George into our literary Hall of fame. 0:38:33.680 --> 0:38:37.800 According to George himself quote, George Martinarro not only taught 0:38:37.840 --> 0:38:40.920 yoga to his fellow inmates, but was also considered one 0:38:40.920 --> 0:38:43.920 of the most prolific writers in the federal prison system, 0:38:44.280 --> 0:38:49.320 having authored over thirty one books and numerous short stories, screenplays, 0:38:49.360 --> 0:38:53.279 and poems. George also started a creative writing course, the 0:38:53.400 --> 0:38:58.719 Right to Life Wripailia, which inevitably guided numerous inmates to 0:38:58.800 --> 0:39:04.280 receiving their ged and developing remarkable creative writing skills. While incarcerated, 0:39:04.360 --> 0:39:07.239 Martin Arrow turned to writing as a form of expression 0:39:07.360 --> 0:39:13.160 and rehabilitation. He authored several books, including Chisel My Heart, 0:39:13.440 --> 0:39:18.279 Love and Evil Jailer and Pain Grows A Platinum rose. 0:39:18.200 --> 0:39:19.920 At these romance novels. 0:39:20.360 --> 0:39:24.680 I hope so these works explore themes of love, redemption, 0:39:24.880 --> 0:39:28.400 and the challenges of life behind bars. So George was 0:39:28.440 --> 0:39:31.799 doing good works behind bars and when he was in 0:39:31.880 --> 0:39:36.640 transit too, in transit zerm Yeah, close your eyes, clo, 0:39:37.000 --> 0:39:45.480 I want you to picture it. It's twenty ten. You 0:39:45.719 --> 0:39:49.320 are an inmate at the federal prison in Yankton, South Dakota. 0:39:49.880 --> 0:39:52.480 You're actually from New Jersey, but for some reason they 0:39:52.520 --> 0:39:55.680 put you out in South Dakota. It's a minimum security joint. 0:39:55.760 --> 0:39:59.440 Not bad, but not good. Right now you are in 0:40:00.040 --> 0:40:03.640 either New Jersey nor South Dakota. You're on a plane 0:40:04.160 --> 0:40:08.839 con Air. You're headed from Philadelphia to Oklahoma. You had 0:40:08.840 --> 0:40:12.400 an appeals hearing and you went and you lost. So 0:40:12.520 --> 0:40:14.959 now you're on a plane to the prison transit center 0:40:15.000 --> 0:40:18.560 in Oklahoma. There are a dozen other inmates on the plane, 0:40:18.600 --> 0:40:21.560 plus some US marshals. A couple of you are coming 0:40:21.600 --> 0:40:24.919 back from appeals. The rest are being transferred to other facilities. 0:40:25.600 --> 0:40:28.839 There are two guys behind you who, through whispers, you've 0:40:28.840 --> 0:40:32.680 been told are Somali pirates. You don't know how true 0:40:32.719 --> 0:40:35.760 that is. You had a Somali neighbor back in Camden 0:40:35.800 --> 0:40:39.759 who was super chill, nice guy, cutest kids, so the 0:40:39.880 --> 0:40:43.200 language the guys behind you were speaking sounds vaguely familiar. 0:40:43.719 --> 0:40:46.400 These guys do look terrifying. They have that look in 0:40:46.440 --> 0:40:49.080 their eye. You know that the evil they've seen and 0:40:49.160 --> 0:40:53.560 done is permanently reflecting back out from their pupils, coloring 0:40:53.600 --> 0:40:56.480 all they see and projecting a horrible picture onto the 0:40:56.520 --> 0:40:59.359 world if you know how to see it. The guy 0:40:59.440 --> 0:41:01.840 next to you is like the opposite of those guys. 0:41:02.200 --> 0:41:05.120 You don't go in for wo woo stuff, for hippie garbage, 0:41:05.200 --> 0:41:09.920 but he has some seriously calm and oddly loving energy. 0:41:09.960 --> 0:41:13.759 It's weird, he just radiates it. After the plane takes off, 0:41:13.800 --> 0:41:16.799 the two of you, shackled share some small talk. His 0:41:16.920 --> 0:41:20.560 name is George. He's heading back to FCI Marian. You 0:41:20.600 --> 0:41:23.080 tell him you heard it's brutal there. He tells you 0:41:23.160 --> 0:41:25.840 it is, or rather it can be, but that people 0:41:25.880 --> 0:41:29.319 are so much more powerful than that. He's a handsome guy. 0:41:29.360 --> 0:41:32.759 He wears his gray hair pushed back, his postures amazing. 0:41:33.320 --> 0:41:35.440 You would love to be his friend on the outside, 0:41:35.640 --> 0:41:38.360 and you can't imagine how he wound up inside. But 0:41:38.880 --> 0:41:42.160 despite your curiosity, you don't ask. That would be Goosh. 0:41:42.520 --> 0:41:45.280 One of the men behind you coughs and then mutters something. 0:41:45.520 --> 0:41:48.360 At the same time. Both you and George see movement 0:41:48.400 --> 0:41:51.960 at your feet. Is that a pen, you ask George. 0:41:52.280 --> 0:41:56.560 That would be contraband for sure. George leans down to look, 0:41:56.600 --> 0:42:00.440 and then slowly, surely sits back up and speaks to 0:42:00.480 --> 0:42:05.000 you quietly while facing forward. It's a handcuff key, he whispers. 0:42:05.719 --> 0:42:08.399 They're shuffling behind you as the pirates try to reach 0:42:08.440 --> 0:42:11.319 the key they seem to have dropped. George moves his 0:42:11.400 --> 0:42:15.440 foot over like he's just readjusting and getting comfortable, and 0:42:15.480 --> 0:42:18.080 the sole of his shoe comes down firmly on the 0:42:18.160 --> 0:42:21.640 hand reaching under your seats from behind. The men behind 0:42:21.680 --> 0:42:25.280 you venomously whisper something sharp, but the engine noise drowns 0:42:25.320 --> 0:42:29.440 them out. George speaks to you again. There are protocols 0:42:29.480 --> 0:42:32.840 on these flights, he says, I've lost enough appeals to 0:42:32.880 --> 0:42:35.839 have flown this a couple of times before. If the 0:42:35.880 --> 0:42:38.600 marshals see this, or if those guys get the key, 0:42:38.680 --> 0:42:42.120 the marshals will shoot on site, no questions, and we're 0:42:42.120 --> 0:42:44.640 in the line of fire. I don't want them to 0:42:44.680 --> 0:42:47.080 be killed, and I don't want us to be killed. 0:42:47.800 --> 0:42:51.440 George gently bends down and picks up the key. The 0:42:51.440 --> 0:42:54.040 man behind you whips his hand from under George's foot 0:42:54.160 --> 0:42:56.319 makes a last ditch effort to grab the key. 0:42:56.840 --> 0:42:57.360 No luck. 0:42:57.840 --> 0:43:01.040 Your heart is pounding. If you rose up, The air 0:43:01.080 --> 0:43:05.520 marshals chat and tell stories and laugh. George turns to you. 0:43:05.960 --> 0:43:07.760 I have to get rid of this key, he says. 0:43:07.840 --> 0:43:10.359 It'll be the death of us all. You see him 0:43:10.400 --> 0:43:13.160 scan around, looking at the seats and the aisle in 0:43:13.200 --> 0:43:16.320 any other area. You don't know what he's looking at 0:43:16.440 --> 0:43:19.600 or for. You're just too freaked out. The guy behind 0:43:19.640 --> 0:43:22.200 you shoves your seat. You close your eyes and take 0:43:22.239 --> 0:43:25.160 a deep breath. I have to throw this somewhere. No 0:43:25.200 --> 0:43:27.720 one can get it, he says to you. I only 0:43:27.719 --> 0:43:30.960 have one shot at this, he says. Then you watch 0:43:31.000 --> 0:43:34.000 as he raises his arm and tosses the key. You 0:43:34.040 --> 0:43:36.800 watch it glide through the air, almost in slow motion. 0:43:37.560 --> 0:43:40.080 It clatters on the ground, landing in a groove in 0:43:40.120 --> 0:43:43.640 the floor, two empty rows ahead of you. George raises 0:43:43.680 --> 0:43:46.400 his arm again, and he calls for the air Marshal. 0:43:47.120 --> 0:43:50.120 A man in a blue windbreaker heads your way. The 0:43:50.120 --> 0:43:54.759 pirates are irate, now, swearing and threatening in pointed whispers. 0:43:55.320 --> 0:43:58.759 The Marshal reaches your seats, and George calmly tells them 0:43:59.080 --> 0:44:01.560 you should get your hand cuff key, it's over there 0:44:01.600 --> 0:44:04.719 in that groove in the floor. The whole rear of 0:44:04.760 --> 0:44:08.120 the plane erupts as the Marshal begins shouting and other 0:44:08.239 --> 0:44:11.000 US Marshals head your way. You can hear the panic 0:44:11.160 --> 0:44:14.560 in the Marshall's voice as he shouts orders. The inmates 0:44:14.680 --> 0:44:17.800 yelled back, feeding off his fear and the lack of control. 0:44:18.440 --> 0:44:20.879 Soon all of you, all dozen of you, are duck 0:44:21.040 --> 0:44:24.880 taped to your seats. The Marshall never thanked George, just 0:44:25.000 --> 0:44:27.360 taped him into his seat and his arms pinned to 0:44:27.440 --> 0:44:30.560 his sides. You turn to George, you ask if he's okay. 0:44:31.200 --> 0:44:33.440 I'm taped to a seat, but I'm still alive. 0:44:33.760 --> 0:44:34.399 We all are. 0:44:34.520 --> 0:44:36.480 He says, that's a victory. 0:44:37.360 --> 0:44:40.160 Whoa think he was on a plane where the Marshall 0:44:40.200 --> 0:44:41.920 started firing previously. 0:44:42.000 --> 0:44:44.920 I wonder he knew what they were supposed to do, 0:44:45.160 --> 0:44:48.200 and it was just like he did whatever he could 0:44:48.280 --> 0:44:52.040 to prevent that. When he landed, he was interviewed by 0:44:52.080 --> 0:44:55.800 the FBI. He explained everything. They were satisfied with his story. 0:44:56.400 --> 0:44:59.440 But it's just like another wild time in the life 0:44:59.440 --> 0:45:00.560 of Cowboy George. 0:45:00.640 --> 0:45:02.640 I've expected him to swallow the key. 0:45:03.200 --> 0:45:04.600 Yeah, he just. 0:45:04.560 --> 0:45:06.000 Didn't want anything to do with it. 0:45:06.280 --> 0:45:06.440 Yeah. 0:45:06.520 --> 0:45:09.560 Yeah, he can't get it to it. Yeah, swallow it. 0:45:09.920 --> 0:45:14.440 That's true. So five years later, in twenty fifteen, George 0:45:14.440 --> 0:45:18.200 got out of prison under compassionate release guidelines. He'd been 0:45:18.239 --> 0:45:20.320 inside for thirty two years. 0:45:20.560 --> 0:45:20.759 Wow. 0:45:20.880 --> 0:45:24.279 Thirty two years, according to a prepared statement by the 0:45:24.360 --> 0:45:28.920 US Attorney's Office in explaining their position on his release quote. 0:45:29.320 --> 0:45:33.800 During his thirty two years of incarceration, George Martinaro provided 0:45:33.920 --> 0:45:38.080 exceptional assistance to other inmates in furthering rehabilitation and re 0:45:38.320 --> 0:45:42.839 entry skills, mentoring inmates with significant mental health issues, and 0:45:42.880 --> 0:45:46.680 serving as a suicide watch counselor for troubled and depressed inmates. 0:45:47.080 --> 0:45:51.200 Prison staff praised Martinarro for promoting a culture of nonviolence 0:45:51.480 --> 0:45:54.760 and contributing to a healthy environment within the prison walls. 0:45:55.200 --> 0:45:59.040 Those factors influenced the decision to support his early release. 0:45:59.440 --> 0:46:01.320 To live up to you're nickname, Cowboy Joe. 0:46:01.320 --> 0:46:05.560 Cowboy George, so, according to his profile on the Farmer 0:46:05.640 --> 0:46:10.840 and the Felon Cannabis Company website. Quote. Since his release, 0:46:11.000 --> 0:46:13.640 George has continued in his attempt to better the liize 0:46:13.719 --> 0:46:16.960 of others and is now a motivational speaker as well 0:46:16.960 --> 0:46:21.839 as a cannabis advocate and founder of Hip Hemp Cafe. Now. 0:46:22.000 --> 0:46:24.960 George's mission is to advocate for prison reform and to 0:46:25.000 --> 0:46:30.600 help remove the stigma associated with cannabis. Hey man, I'm 0:46:30.640 --> 0:46:35.400 just the weed guy. Hip Cafe in South Philadelphia has closed. 0:46:36.200 --> 0:46:38.120 It's an unfortunate it is, but I. 0:46:38.040 --> 0:46:41.560 Think it had something to do with Philadelphia enforcing the 0:46:41.680 --> 0:46:46.560 FDA prohibitions and restrictions on CBD in products. I don't know. 0:46:46.600 --> 0:46:50.080 I'm going by Reddit chatter on that one. And you 0:46:50.120 --> 0:46:54.080 know the place got rave yelper views. Really yeah. Now, 0:46:54.160 --> 0:46:57.800 though George has a T shirt brand called the grow Father, 0:46:59.239 --> 0:47:01.560 and he does there's a lot of speaking events like 0:47:01.640 --> 0:47:03.080 Ted Talk type stuff. 0:47:03.920 --> 0:47:05.279 He had a thing he could have like a weed 0:47:05.320 --> 0:47:08.240 brand called Sticky Scarfoe. 0:47:09.360 --> 0:47:12.360 You should send him. There's a contact on his website. 0:47:14.200 --> 0:47:16.120 He he had a thing back in April that we 0:47:16.200 --> 0:47:19.880 sadly missed. It was in Vegas at Don Marco's Pizzeria 0:47:19.920 --> 0:47:23.200 and Winebar. He was there to tell true mob stories 0:47:23.200 --> 0:47:24.560 about when the mob ran Vegas. 0:47:24.600 --> 0:47:25.279 I would have loved I. 0:47:25.239 --> 0:47:28.520 Would one go listen to him talk just about anything told. 0:47:28.560 --> 0:47:31.799 Mob stories are kidding me. So he's a storyteller. Now, 0:47:31.880 --> 0:47:32.680 that's what he does. 0:47:33.160 --> 0:47:34.960 And I wrote thirty one books. I figure he's good 0:47:35.000 --> 0:47:35.480 at it. Yeah. 0:47:35.520 --> 0:47:39.960 I hope he is doing well wherever he is. Oh yeah, Zaren, 0:47:40.000 --> 0:47:41.320 what's your ridiculous takeaway? 0:47:41.600 --> 0:47:44.360 I did not see this story coming at all. 0:47:44.520 --> 0:47:46.560 We've had two redemption stories this week. 0:47:46.640 --> 0:47:47.960 Yeah, look at that. 0:47:48.040 --> 0:47:51.040 But also, I mean, like legitimately when you started out 0:47:51.080 --> 0:47:54.080 with the mob story, this one has taken so many 0:47:54.120 --> 0:47:57.880 twists and turns and unexpected like like you know, I 0:47:57.920 --> 0:48:00.879 don't even say escalations of like car sure that it's 0:48:00.880 --> 0:48:03.600 it's really incredible. So I love that, and I love that, 0:48:04.200 --> 0:48:07.360 as I said earlier, that anytime there's a rehabilitative effort 0:48:07.440 --> 0:48:09.319 in a prison and he's the one doing it, like 0:48:09.400 --> 0:48:12.120 helping like you know, people who are on suicide watch 0:48:12.120 --> 0:48:16.760 and mentally challenged. I mean, like I love the person 0:48:16.800 --> 0:48:19.960 he became in such a severe place. Yeah, so it 0:48:20.040 --> 0:48:22.800 shout out to his soul on that one. What's yours, Elizabeth. 0:48:22.920 --> 0:48:26.040 He's someone who takes initiative right now. They can do 0:48:26.120 --> 0:48:29.279 that in a positive or negative way. So he took 0:48:29.320 --> 0:48:32.880 the initiative and had this large drug operation, right, So 0:48:32.920 --> 0:48:35.359 that's the negative. But I mean even as a kid, 0:48:35.400 --> 0:48:38.840 he's making money doing pony rides, right, and he takes 0:48:38.840 --> 0:48:42.279 the initiative when there's like about to be this chaos 0:48:42.440 --> 0:48:46.200 of some guys getting loose on a plane. You know, 0:48:46.280 --> 0:48:49.200 he could have just sat back, but as he rightfully 0:48:49.280 --> 0:48:52.080 pointed out, like there was no way for anyone to 0:48:52.120 --> 0:48:55.200 really survive no matter how that shook out, aside from 0:48:55.200 --> 0:48:57.320 how he did it, or had he swelled keys, I 0:48:57.320 --> 0:48:58.960 don't know, I was just a speculative, but I mean 0:48:59.040 --> 0:49:01.000 like that, you know, it would have gone so bad, 0:49:01.040 --> 0:49:04.200 but he took initiative where others you know, wouldn't have, 0:49:04.440 --> 0:49:08.600 and he takes initiative behind bars, And I just think 0:49:08.680 --> 0:49:09.440 like that's. 0:49:09.200 --> 0:49:11.160 The and he's kind of ballsy about it because like 0:49:11.200 --> 0:49:13.759 I don't imagine the Somali pirates were really pleased with him, 0:49:13.760 --> 0:49:15.319 and he's got to know they may try to come 0:49:15.360 --> 0:49:17.160 after him once they land if they're going to the 0:49:17.160 --> 0:49:18.920 same facility, right, right. 0:49:19.040 --> 0:49:21.080 But I think that like it tells us that we 0:49:21.239 --> 0:49:24.840 have the opportunity to either like be passive or to 0:49:24.920 --> 0:49:28.680 opt in. And you know, I'm kind of always just 0:49:28.840 --> 0:49:32.440 opt in, just you know, take the initiative, do something. 0:49:33.440 --> 0:49:35.239 We talk a lot about people who do that in 0:49:35.280 --> 0:49:38.520 a negative way, but you know, none of us should 0:49:38.520 --> 0:49:40.440 be passive participants in this life. 0:49:40.600 --> 0:49:42.680 Definitely. He also learned to make better choices. 0:49:43.040 --> 0:49:46.279 Yeah, yeah, exactly. You know what I think would top 0:49:46.280 --> 0:49:47.160 this off beautifully. 0:49:47.200 --> 0:49:48.799 What's that Elizabeth of Cherry. 0:49:48.560 --> 0:49:49.200 I talk back? 0:49:49.360 --> 0:49:59.640 Oh oh, oh my god, I would. 0:49:59.440 --> 0:50:06.080 Get Hi everyone, This is Emma from Wisconsin. I just 0:50:06.120 --> 0:50:08.920 finished listening to the Big Boy episode and it reminded 0:50:08.920 --> 0:50:13.080 me of a local crime. You see, several teenagers stole 0:50:13.200 --> 0:50:16.839 a Ronald McDonald's statue. They put it in the back 0:50:16.880 --> 0:50:20.560 of their pickup truck and drove it around town to 0:50:20.600 --> 0:50:25.960 post her pictures with it at different at different locations. Obviously, 0:50:26.000 --> 0:50:28.040 they got caught and had to do a bunch of 0:50:28.200 --> 0:50:31.040 community service. And that's pretty ridiculous. 0:50:32.560 --> 0:50:33.440 That's amazing. 0:50:33.840 --> 0:50:37.719 Those Ronald McDonald's statues are creepy. Any of those kind 0:50:37.800 --> 0:50:40.920 of a fast food statue is just creepy, full stop. 0:50:41.040 --> 0:50:43.120 I've had friends who loved going around taking photos with 0:50:43.239 --> 0:50:45.439 Ronald McDonald, the ones where he seated on the back. 0:50:45.840 --> 0:50:50.920 Yeah, problems, that is asking for trouble him in. 0:50:50.840 --> 0:50:53.160 The pack of a truck. I'd be down pretty good stuff. 0:50:54.120 --> 0:50:56.560 That's us for today. You can find us online at 0:50:56.640 --> 0:51:00.759 ridiculous Crime dot com. We're also at Rediculous Crime on 0:51:00.800 --> 0:51:04.799 both Blue Sky and Instagram. We're on YouTube at Ridiculous 0:51:04.800 --> 0:51:09.839 Crime Pod, Email Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com, and 0:51:10.200 --> 0:51:13.840 as always, please leave us a talkback on the free 0:51:13.920 --> 0:51:22.160 iHeart app Just reach out. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by 0:51:22.200 --> 0:51:25.479 Elizabeth Dutton and Zaren Burnett, produced and edited by Dawn 0:51:25.600 --> 0:51:30.520 of the Iheartmafia. Dave Cousten. Our Ridiculous Assistant is certified 0:51:30.560 --> 0:51:34.719 Air Marshall Terry Maldonado. Fong Research is by rival Hemp 0:51:34.840 --> 0:51:39.040 Cafe owner Marissa Brown and Philly Health inspector Jabari Davis. 0:51:39.320 --> 0:51:42.360 The theme song is by John Gotti's other cellmate, Thomas 0:51:42.440 --> 0:51:45.279 Lee and guy who bought Kludes that turned out to 0:51:45.280 --> 0:51:49.040 be Pez Travis dutton post wardrobe is provided by Botany 0:51:49.080 --> 0:51:52.439 five hundred producer. Dave Coustin's wardrobe is by mister Guy 0:51:52.600 --> 0:51:55.880 of Beverly Hills. Guest hair and makeup by Sparkleshot and 0:51:55.960 --> 0:52:00.480 mister Andre. Executive producers are Somali Pirates. Ben One and 0:52:00.640 --> 0:52:12.280 the old Brown Ridicous Crime Say it one more Timequious Crime. 0:52:13.320 --> 0:52:16.680 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts 0:52:16.680 --> 0:52:19.839 from my heart Radio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 0:52:19.920 --> 0:52:21.760 or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.