WEBVTT - Born to Rum: Bill McCoy 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:05.240 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. He's arn, It's up, Claude. 0:00:06.040 --> 0:00:08.200 Do you know what's ridiculous? I do? And I was 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:10.720 so hoping for you to ask me this, because you're 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:13.960 ready to have your wig peeled back every single day. 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:19.319 Nicholas Cage once did mushrooms with his cat. So he 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:21.520 was on David Letterman and he tells the story about 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:23.520 this time he and his cat, Lewis, because he's the 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:25.200 type of Preston he would give a human name to 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:28.880 a cat. You have to give all animals of a 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:32.280 human name. Okay, I get it, Sary the cat, it's 0:00:32.280 --> 0:00:34.120 a it's a type. I know. I'm just saying. So 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:36.599 you guys have intimate relationship with your pets. And that's 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:39.040 what I was just saying, setting the ground rules. So 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.159 he and Lewis were sitting there and Lewis had been 0:00:42.200 --> 0:00:44.400 eyeballing his bag of mushrooms that he kept in his fridge. 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:47.120 And these are magic mushrooms, psychedelic mushrooms, right, these aren't 0:00:47.120 --> 0:00:51.320 allows exactly, So Cage tells Letterman the cat he ate 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:53.360 them voraciously. It was like cat and nip to him. 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:55.080 So I thought, what the heck? I better do it 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:57.280 with him. So he then gets down low, because you 0:00:57.280 --> 0:00:58.880 know he's Nicholas Cage. He's like, I'm gonna do some 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:01.920 shrooms with my cat. So he says hendy quod after 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:04.200 he eats like a couple of handfuls. I remember lying 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:06.640 in my bed for hours and Lewis was on the 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:09.800 desk across from the bed for hours, just staring at 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:13.640 each other, not moving, but he would stare at me. 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:17.280 And then Nicholas Cage comes to conclusion. I had no 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:21.200 doubt that he was my brother. So he and his 0:01:21.280 --> 0:01:24.240 cat at a moment, and I'm just like, dude, this 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:28.520 is like today an irresponsible pet. Nicholas Cage. You're making 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:32.160 your MoMA sound like she got some splaining to do. Yes, Anyway, 0:01:32.160 --> 0:01:34.360 there you go, Nicholas Cage doing shrooms with this cat 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:36.840 and Lewis. It's ridiculous. Do you know what else it 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:38.560 is ridiculous? No, but I bet you're gonna tell me 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:41.840 firing on the US military over some rum. Wait, what 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:05.440 this is ridiculous crime? A podcast about absurd and outrageous 0:02:05.520 --> 0:02:10.160 capers highest cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder free 0:02:10.200 --> 0:02:16.040 and ridiculous, right, Zarin, Yes, have you ever been in 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:19.360 a conversation with other humans and used the phrase the 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:21.560 real McCoy or are you not a member of the 0:02:21.560 --> 0:02:26.160 Greatest Generation? I am not a member the Greatest generation, 0:02:26.400 --> 0:02:29.160 but I sample them heavy. So you've called something the 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:32.360 real McCoy stood there looking at a product me. You 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:34.440 know what, guys, this is the real McCoy one hundred percent. 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:36.640 And not only have I said it, but I've encouraged 0:02:36.720 --> 0:02:39.320 others to say it, like small children, I'm like, you should, hey, 0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:43.400 tell your friends, this is the real McCourt giving old 0:02:43.440 --> 0:02:47.079 tiny phrases to little ki. I am trying to get 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.040 my nephew to say good grief more like, because right 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:53.160 now he'll pop out with the III when something goes wrong, 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:54.560 and I don't know where that came from, but I 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:56.520 like it. So now I'm trying to get him into 0:02:56.560 --> 0:03:00.680 the good grief. You got any other old sayings you like? Like? 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:02.519 I like also like trying to begin him to say 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:08.639 what in tarnation? You know, I've been actually, whenever I've 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:10.160 seen your nephew, I've been trying to get him to 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:15.560 say red sky at night, Sailor's delight, red sky in morning. Yeah, 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:20.000 you know, maybe family yeah, exactly grew up with that, so, um, 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:22.800 the real McCoy. Yes. There are a lot of theories 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:29.920 on where that phrase comes from. Gank the Smuggler, right, no, no, no, 0:03:31.160 --> 0:03:35.520 Some say it's from the Scots, the real McKay and um, 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:41.080 but I don't know what the real McKay was. Well, 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:44.000 others say it had to do with Elijah McCoy, uh, 0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:47.480 inventor of the ironing board, and it was something with 0:03:47.520 --> 0:03:50.880 people wanting like his authentic items and not other companies versions. 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:52.840 So it's like, if this was like the singer song Machine, 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.520 this is the real singer, the real singer. There was 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:59.400 also a boxer named Norman Shelby, Norman Selby, pardon me, 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:04.200 who boxed under the name Kid McCoy. Okay, And there's 0:04:04.200 --> 0:04:06.120 this legend that he was like boozing it up at 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:08.880 a bar one night and another patron was told, hey, 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:12.600 you know that's a famous boxer. That's Kid McCoy, and 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:15.440 the drunk patrons like, no, you're not, and like, you know, 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:18.400 pushes him and you know, makes a face out of him. 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:20.960 I don't know how many art frights start. And then 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:25.360 he was like Nanny poops and then Norman decked him. 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:27.480 The guy falls down, and then he's like, guess what, 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:30.000 I'm the real McCoy. That's a that's a that's a 0:04:30.040 --> 0:04:32.320 great legend. Yeah, that's that's a mic dropper, and you're 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:35.039 standard over somebody going guess what, I'm the real McCoy. Exactly, 0:04:35.080 --> 0:04:38.159 I'm the real Zarin. Not not quite the great covering, 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:41.400 you know, it doesn't. Uh So. The most agreed upon 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:43.640 origin though, is the Scots. There was a brand of 0:04:43.680 --> 0:04:48.400 whiskey from Glasgow in the mid eighteen hundreds called Messrs 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:52.240 A and M McKay, and the slogan that they used 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:55.320 was the Real McKay to differentiate it from the various 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:59.960 other McKay people products. Okay, I'm just tried to like, yeah, 0:05:00.279 --> 0:05:02.400 I guess, and so then people are on this side 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:06.719 of the ocean misheard it as McCoy speaking of alcohol. 0:05:06.960 --> 0:05:11.039 There is another potential source, okay, yes, so there's this 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:15.440 famous rum runner, one who never watered down his hooch exactly, 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:19.480 that's the story. Yes, his name William Bill McCoy. Okay, 0:05:19.520 --> 0:05:21.080 that's why I want to talk to you about today. 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:25.160 So I have to say I do love good prohibition 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:28.480 smuggling stories. Dude, my father told these like a bedtime story. Great, 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:30.919 I don't. I don't currently drink, but I have in 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:33.160 the past, and I know that alcohol it can be 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:36.120 a terrible destroyer of lives, both for the drinker and 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:38.960 ones who love and care about the drinker. But for 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:41.360 those with a healthy relationship with alcoholic can be a 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:44.040 lot of fun, very enjoyable to It's like the toxicologists say, 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:46.520 it's the dose makes the poison, exactly, And we know 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:49.200 that prohibition it didn't save the lives of alcoholic No, 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:52.960 so it wasn't beneficial alcoholics they have an illness, they'll 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.600 get booze. However they can do. That's what bathtub gin 0:05:55.680 --> 0:06:00.200 comes in exactly. So prohibition made getting the alcohol, you know, 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:02.800 costly as well as the alcohol itself getting it, and 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:05.560 it's the alcohol itself even more dangerous. Oh yeah, people 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:07.480 are going blind. Yeah, so it was a stupid idea. 0:06:07.560 --> 0:06:11.160 Prohibition was stupid. If you want to alcohol, Naron, I'm 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:14.880 going on record, Wow, you really Prohibition was stupid. Wow, 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:16.960 we're going to take that stance. I'm going to I'm 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:21.039 going to issue a proclamation stupid. But I love the 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:25.960 idea of people getting around a stupid idea. So there's 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.040 this also with like this, this kind of like rum running. 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:32.480 There's the excitement of sailing in the secret code or 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.240 like careening down country roads. We've talked about you know 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.359 those people before. So this is a prohibition story. Okay. 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:41.960 Bill McCoy he was born in eighteen seventy seven in Syracuse, 0:06:42.000 --> 0:06:45.800 New York. He went to the Pennsylvania Nautical School and 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:48.279 when he was there, he was on the he was 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.400 on a ship. He like, you know, trained, graduated first 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:55.359 in his class in eighteen ninety five. Eighteen ninety eight. 0:06:55.960 --> 0:07:00.240 What happened that year in maritime historyes Aaron eighteen ninety eight, Um, 0:07:01.160 --> 0:07:05.039 sinking of the Main? I knew, you know it? Yes, main, 0:07:05.520 --> 0:07:09.440 the main explodes in Havanah. Yes, McCoy was there, Oh damn. Yeah. 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:13.400 He was a mate and quartermaster on the piano steamer Olivet, 0:07:13.520 --> 0:07:16.360 which was also docked in Havannah at the time. So 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:19.200 here we have the real McCoy witness to history. Yeah, 0:07:19.320 --> 0:07:22.000 he's just there. He's the beginning of the Spash American War. Yeah, 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:24.760 exactly right there. So he's like he's a little hard 0:07:24.760 --> 0:07:27.440 boiled at this point. Yes, I bet nineteen hundred, his 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:31.680 family moves to Hollyhill, Florida. All right, and so McCoy 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:36.120 and his older brother Ben and Florida. McCoy and his 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:39.800 older brother Ben, they had this motor boat service and 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.000 like a boatyard, um, out of both Holly Hill and 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:48.080 then Jacksonville. Okay they're okay the North Yeah, me neither. 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:51.600 By nineteen eighteen, Bill he's known. He's like a really 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:55.720 skilled yacht builder. Um. He built vessels for people like 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.800 Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Carnegie however you want to say it, 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:02.800 and the Vanderbilts. So he's like building these high end yachts. 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:06.680 There's these captains of industry that keeps sneaking into our stories. Right. 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:11.200 So cars, though, are starting to spread across the country 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:15.920 like a cancer and ever expanding chaotic new In order 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:19.360 to keep up with this, Florida starts building highways up 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:22.040 and down the coast, and the roads they were traveled 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:24.600 by cars and buses. They're bringing tourists to all the 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:26.600 sunny spots on the water. He was like their old 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.320 shell roads. Right. Yeah, you'd think that this would be 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:32.720 a boon for the McCoy brothers. Right, No, no, zeron, 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.839 No people wanted to be able to drive from place 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:37.679 to place, and not a lot of people wanted to 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:39.920 get on their boats to go from like scenic spot 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:43.640 to scenic spot. And same with freight, like they were 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.000 hauling stuff up and down the coast, but now it's like, oh, 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:48.200 we can just put it in these big trucks. Makes 0:08:48.240 --> 0:08:56.599 it easier. Enter prohibition, So while the US was enacting prohibition, 0:08:56.840 --> 0:09:01.640 Canada and the Caribbean they repealed their ambition policies. So 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:04.120 the US looked to Canada for whiskey and the Caribbean 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.720 for rum. Let's say that you have a robust boat business, 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:10.640 the knowledge that comes with that, you have a robust 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.640 boat business, and the knowledge that comes with that you're 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:16.120 a skilled cap Let's say I thought you're doing together 0:09:17.960 --> 0:09:21.000 after me. You're you're a skilled captain. You can pilot 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:24.959 in like shallow waters and large cargo san bars, you 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:27.920 know the area like the back of your hands. Yeah. Um, 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:31.040 legitimate business is drying up, and you're not too far 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.600 from a significant source of quality rum. So of course 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:37.080 rum running is a viable option. For it's a career path. 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:40.160 I'm considering it really is. So the majority of the 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:43.920 ships that were illegally transporting alcohol would fly British flags 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:48.800 because the Bahamas were still British colonies. However, the ships 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:52.120 were actually registered in Canada and were owned by Canadians 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:56.120 with ties to American syndicates. Interesting, so it's Canadian registry, 0:09:56.160 --> 0:09:58.679 but you got you're under the British flag. Yeah. Um. 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:02.280 The free t trade policy of the British kind of 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:06.800 backed this Scotch whiskey and top shelf brands of champagne 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:11.920 and other European alcoholic beverages. They were brought exported one 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.040 hundred percent legally from Britain to be stockpiled in the Bahamas. 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:19.320 And then the profit margin huge, right, So a four 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:21.960 dollars case of rum purchased in Cuba would sell for 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:25.240 a hundred dollars in Florida. Wow, there's a lot of 0:10:25.320 --> 0:10:29.440 money to be made. So even you're like, you're like 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:32.880 this patriotic, you know, guy, you've got this business, but 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:35.000 it's like when you're faced without your business is dying 0:10:35.520 --> 0:10:37.199 and you have this opportunity, of course you're going to 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:39.880 take it. So the McCoy brothers they sold off their 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:44.679 businesses and they moved to Gloucester, Massachusetts, Okay, and it 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:47.319 was there that they bought a ninety foot fishing schooner, 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:52.079 the Henry ELM Marshall, and they had. Now they had 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.440 the Henry L. Marshall, they start building their new enterprise 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:59.800 smuggling whiskey from the Bahamas Islands of Nassau and Bimini 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:01.840 into the US. Nice. So they had to go up 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:05.040 to New England to get like a suitable fishing real boat. 0:11:05.080 --> 0:11:08.400 I mean, yeah, my family's Neariccloucester. That you got real shipbuilds, right, 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:12.320 Henry L. Marshall's all right, I guess you know. But 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:15.520 Bill McCoy he wanted something bigger, he wanted power, he 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:19.200 wanted it to be faster, something he'll like. So he 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:21.480 tries out a bunch of different boats and he finally 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:24.520 finds his love. She's a butte and she was named 0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:29.040 the Aristhusa. Is that all one word? Yeah? Aristhusa a 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:34.680 r E t h u s a arethusa. Don't no idea. 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:41.160 I think it's Greek. Yeah, one hundred and twenty seven 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:44.520 foot fishing schooner. It was designed in nineteen o seven 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:48.840 by Thomas McManus and built in Essex, Massachusetts by James 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.360 and tar in nineteen o nine. Does that mean anything 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:53.959 to you? Necessarily? It didn't mean anything to me either. 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:57.840 So McCoy's sailboat, though, that could outrun steamers. It was 0:11:57.880 --> 0:12:00.880 a beast, so he souped it up even more. Yes, 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:03.880 and soon it was one of the fastest commercial sailing 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:06.720 vessels on the Atlantic coast. He's just got the big 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:11.319 boy out there. So the USA, ARETHUSA. I keep putting 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:18.359 extra syllables in this. That's fun his boat rights, ARETHUSA. 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.120 Please don't send messages telling me how to say it, 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:25.760 because quite frankly, oh um so the boat it could 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:28.400 carry up to six thousand cases of booze. Okay, And 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.839 so while it's generally bad luck to rename a boat, 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:35.600 McCoy did just that. Thank good. He decides to call 0:12:35.640 --> 0:12:39.240 it the Tamoca t O m o Ka Okay. This 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:41.520 is like a Tagi Cherokee name. It's the name of 0:12:41.520 --> 0:12:45.319 the river that ran through his adopted hometown of Hollyhill, Florida, 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:49.120 So it probably was yeah. So changing changing the name though, 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:51.959 let him reregister the vessel, oh okay, which is why 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.080 he did it. So this time he did so under 0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.559 British flags, and that put him even further out of reach. 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:01.480 From American authorities. So, as I'm mentioned earlier, McCoy he 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:04.960 refused to lower the standards of his smuggled product. So 0:13:05.000 --> 0:13:07.200 there were a lot of bootleggers, rum runners. They cut 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.000 their hall with water or sometimes even turpentine to make 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:13.240 it go further and to kill more people. Not Bill. 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.880 He'd never cut it. He never switched labels. He only 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.880 sold the real McCoy. That's what my pap used to 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.120 tell me. It was known because you could count on it, 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:24.120 because it was the only one that wasn't cut it 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:27.520 cut boots, didn't mess around with any of the bottles, 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:30.440 the packaging. That's what his customers would say, Hey, this 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:33.040 is the real McCoy. He became like a prestige, luxury 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.679 luxury brand because of it. His rum was renowned as 0:13:36.720 --> 0:13:39.640 the gold standard, and that let him set his price 0:13:39.679 --> 0:13:42.960 at top dollar. Hell yeah, So outside of American ports 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:45.880 at the time, just pass the maritime limit and I'll 0:13:45.920 --> 0:13:48.520 get to that whole issue in a second, there would 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:51.520 be these lines of ships filled with illegal booze waiting 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:54.079 to offload their cargo and sneak it to shore. They're 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:57.400 called rum rows, yeah, and ones all up and down 0:13:57.440 --> 0:13:59.920 the Florida coast. They're also outside of the East Coast, 0:14:00.080 --> 0:14:04.600 supports New Orleans, San Francisco in the rum row frequented 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:07.800 by McCoy. His pricing was set as the official price 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:11.440 of booze coming in, and so his status in the 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:15.080 booze criming community it rose, and he expanded his business 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:18.719 to include five boats. He had dozens of men. They 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:22.560 made trips monthly between the Bahamas and Florida. He transported 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:27.480 approximately two million bottles of alcohol during his career, two million. 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:33.200 His brother Ben would meet Tomoca in a rowboat and 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:38.000 he'd bring them fresh water, meat, vegetable, all this food, newspapers, 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:41.720 the public. He wanted to see the newspapers because the 0:14:41.720 --> 0:14:48.080 public is fascinated by bootleggers, moonshiners, speakeasies. Yeah, and McCoy 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:51.920 more than happy to provide stories. Right. So he claimed 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:55.240 that hit to find inspiration in John Hancock of pre 0:14:55.400 --> 0:14:58.480 revolutionary Boston. That was his role model. I like it. 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:01.240 He called himself a quote honest lawbreaker. He can also 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:05.400 take a stock and Sam Adams. Yeah. So McCoy. He 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:07.760 took pride in the fact that he quote never paid 0:15:07.800 --> 0:15:12.520 a cent to law enforcement, politicians or organized crime families 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:16.080 for protection, and he was known. He had never carried 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:18.880 a debt. He always paid his debts. Um, when we 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:22.320 come back, I'll tell you about McCoy and his dance 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:44.400 with the Coast Guard. All right, all right, we're back. 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.320 Oh look at us. That's good. Um. When we left off, 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:51.600 Bill McCoy flouting the laws of the land, smuggling rum 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:54.360 into the US from the Bahamas. I told you about 0:15:54.360 --> 0:15:58.920 the rum row boats anchored just outside the marri Yeah, 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:01.240 it was Bill McCoy who figured out how to exploit 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:04.320 that technicality. Oh so he's like to Mickey Cohen from California, 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:06.000 It's like, oh, we stod out here. Ain't nothing they 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:09.520 can do. Exactly, So, the Coastguard they could only legally 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:13.120 operate within the three mile maritime boundary the coast. Beyond 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:16.960 that all bets are off. McCoy. He would drop anchor 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:19.800 just beyond the boundary, offload his goods onto smaller, faster 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:22.640 boats that could then outpace any of the Coastguard cutters. 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:26.760 And since the deals were going down in international waters, 0:16:26.800 --> 0:16:30.480 he's technically not breaking the world completely. He's clean. Here's 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:34.200 something to note, though. Prohibition ratified January sixteenth, nineteen nineteen. 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.640 At that time, the maritime limit was three miles. On 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:40.360 April twenty first, nineteen twenty four, it was changed to 0:16:40.440 --> 0:16:43.120 twelve miles. I was wondering when it got to twelve So, 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:47.520 what's the significance of this April nineteen twenty four. Heads, Well, 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:50.280 it was about a week after the Anti Heroin Act 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:53.240 of nineteen twenty four was introduced to Congress, and that 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:57.000 prohibited the importer possession of opium for the chemical synthesis 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.320 of heroin. Sure, So that passed the Senate May twenty seventh, 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:04.040 nineteen twenty four, signed into law June seventh. So it 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:06.679 looks like the extension of the maritime limit was actually 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:08.119 not so much for the war on the drink, but 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:10.560 more on the early days of the war on the drugs. Huh. 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:12.520 So they wanted to be able to push those boats 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:14.440 out further and then give them a chance to catch 0:17:14.520 --> 0:17:18.640 him because ye okay, yeah. So either way, McCoy's plan 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:22.080 sitting just outside the line worked perfectly. So we had 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:25.720 these main transport vessels waiting the contact boats would come up. 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:28.880 They were captained by local fishermen who were experts at 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:31.479 knowing all the little hidden landing points inlets, and all 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:35.199 Florida got plenty of those totally. After they exchange of 0:17:35.240 --> 0:17:38.960 money and alcohols complete, the smaller boat sped away, meets 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:41.320 up with the truck the speed boat and the truck 0:17:41.480 --> 0:17:44.560 vanished into the night. There it is so the knowledge 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:46.880 of his like rum running hack to create a rum 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:50.240 row spread quickly, and soon there's like rows of boats 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.160 all over the place. So he invented the rum row. 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:57.960 This is what Florida historian Jean Burnett no relation, I 0:17:57.960 --> 0:18:01.320 don't think, had to say the way people quote. The 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:04.879 US Coastguard was sorely undermanned in the early years, effective 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:07.440 by day and aid of a spotter plane, but hard 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:10.920 pressed at night. Often the rum fleets, mostly speedy motor boats, 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:14.160 would slowly move out of the mouseholds at Biminy, cat 0:18:14.280 --> 0:18:17.480 Key or gun Key and wait for sunset. Then they 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:20.399 would spread out fan fashion, picking up speed, and scoot 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:23.240 like so many water bugs, often cutting between two Coastguard 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:26.000 cutters to avoid the staccato rain of machine gun fire. 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:30.040 Right they were firing, they were firing on them. So 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:34.480 the Coastguard was given twenty American Navy destroyers in order 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:36.520 to fight rum runners. What are they going to do 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:39.360 with destroyers? Go out to the row and be like yeah, 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:42.840 so like but here's the rum runners. Weren't just fighting 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:45.920 the Coastguard. They also fighting they're smugglers, right, so they've 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:49.320 commonedoer boats. They trossed the crew overboard. Back to McCoy 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:51.840 and Tomocus. Yeah, you got to worry that sometimes if 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:53.440 you were getting pulled over up by a boat, that 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:55.480 it may be one of your rivals pretending to be 0:18:55.520 --> 0:19:02.080 the coast exactly exactly. So um transit papers made it 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:06.439 look like Tomoca was transporting alcohol legally from the Bahamas 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:09.480 to Halifax, Nova Scotia. So they they're like, look, we 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:11.520 were allowed to have this on there. What happens in between? 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.600 I don't know. So regardless of whether or not Tomoca 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:17.159 ever dropped anchor in Halifax, there were no laws that 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:22.479 prevented him from selling his booze in international waters. Like 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.280 I said, so as long as he did his business there, 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:28.359 he's within his legal rights. He had strict rules in place. 0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:31.080 He had only let two customers on board at a time, 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:37.359 and so it's like going into or jewelry shop. A 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:41.440 gunner kept a swivel machine gun trained on any nearby 0:19:41.640 --> 0:19:44.600 vessels to make sure there's no trouble. So like while 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:46.720 you got the two people on you, you're under the gun. 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.680 McCoy took things a step further. He established a land 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:55.080 base on the island of Saint Pierre. And he's getting 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:57.640 into like bond Villain levels now, right, So he's outside 0:19:57.640 --> 0:19:59.919 of US law. He's in a French colony. There's no 0:20:00.119 --> 0:20:05.359 competitors nearby. His He transformed the economy of this of 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:08.720 this island. Under his guidance, it becomes a commercial merchant port. 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:11.679 Oh yeah, pretty much because of him. Will you see that? 0:20:11.720 --> 0:20:14.280 Like in um the peaky blinders up north, they one 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:17.000 because they're bringing in all their Irish whiskey exactly, and 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:20.800 that's the lifeblood. So McCoy he has this crew of 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:23.800 eight guys. They'd sell cases of liquor bottles. They'd stack 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:27.760 them and then wrap them in burlap packages labeled as 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:32.080 like hams or sometimes they'd just write sacks like this 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.560 is a sack. Don't worry about what's inside. What's He 0:20:35.600 --> 0:20:38.680 invented this thing called the burlock. Burlock I never heard 0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:42.200 of that. It's six bottles wrapped in straw and then 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:45.200 stacked pyramid style, three on the bottom, two on top, 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:47.800 one on top of that, and then all of it 0:20:47.880 --> 0:20:50.760 is sewed up really tightly in burlap, and so it's 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:54.160 really compact and easy to stow. And some of them 0:20:54.200 --> 0:20:57.520 they would line with salt, so when they'd toss them overboard, 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:00.000 the sacks would sink, but then the salt would dissolve 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:03.040 and then the sacks would float back to the top. Wow, 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:06.800 that is Zaren level science. You can see my fight. 0:21:06.880 --> 0:21:11.920 My face light up. So Rumroe had major party vibes. 0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:15.520 Feel like it was rude dude central out there. There's 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:20.439 basically it's a debauched pirate convention. Jazz bands performed on 0:21:20.520 --> 0:21:24.200 board like for tourists. Crewmen taunted and heckled the coastguard 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:27.359 the like mean orner um. There's gambling. As you said, 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:30.600 there were prostitutes. They'd make twice as much money by 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:33.119 sea as they did on shore. Okay, because kind of 0:21:33.160 --> 0:21:34.560 like with the gold camps where it's like you're gonna 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:36.280 make a bottle more because there's no women out there 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:40.200 exactly now. McCoy he was a teetotaler. He never indulged 0:21:40.320 --> 0:21:43.840 in any of the vices associated with the illicit rum 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:48.960 running trade. Wow, that is dranked and gamble. Yeah. He 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:53.160 did have a weakness though. Oh beauty, oh yeah, so 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:57.760 for him, that beauty went by the name Gertrude Cleo Lithgo, 0:21:58.400 --> 0:22:04.920 Gertrude Cleo, Ligo British. Well, I don't know, so Lithgo. 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:07.320 She was given the name Cleo because she was considered 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:11.440 to be as beautiful as Queen Cleopatra herself. She was 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:15.520 called the Queen of the Bahamas. Her nickname. Yeah, okay, 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:17.600 Gertrude was her So I mean I would go with 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:21.359 Cleo over Girtrud. No offense to any Gertrude's So people 0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:23.080 called her the Queen of the Bahamas. She had all 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:26.720 these suitors, she never married, and she ran a full 0:22:26.800 --> 0:22:30.280 empire all by herself. The one man she did give 0:22:30.320 --> 0:22:34.919 attention to, at least professionally, Captain McCoy. So this is 0:22:34.920 --> 0:22:39.120 what McCoy had to say about Cleo to Robert Wrigley, 0:22:39.160 --> 0:22:43.000 who was a journalist. Quote, she was a tall, slender 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:45.760 girl with black hair, a brain as steady as her own, 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:49.240 dark eyes, and a history that was nobody's business. She 0:22:49.359 --> 0:22:52.320 came to Nassau as an agent for Haig and mctavish's 0:22:52.359 --> 0:22:55.560 Scotch whiskey. No one knew from where. She made no 0:22:55.600 --> 0:22:58.040 secret of her background, but she told an entirely different 0:22:58.040 --> 0:23:01.160 tale to everyone who asked. She was born in California, 0:23:01.280 --> 0:23:04.000 she'd been born in India. She was a Gypsy, She'd 0:23:04.000 --> 0:23:06.199