WEBVTT - "Forget it, Sheik... it's ABSCAM"

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<v Speaker 1>Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Ah.

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<v Speaker 3>No, it's so good for you to have.

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<v Speaker 2>You been since the last time you saw.

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<v Speaker 3>Me getting better? You know, I think this it's still

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<v Speaker 3>so ridiculous. It's still summertime. Okay, go ahead, but I

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<v Speaker 3>think that the summer of Dark Elizabeth may be ending.

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<v Speaker 4>What.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, and I'm not feeling as mad as I have.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh, that's nice.

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<v Speaker 3>Joy has entered.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm really happy for me. It's joy has entered your life.

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<v Speaker 2>What happened?

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<v Speaker 3>Just being joyous?

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<v Speaker 2>Just being joyful.

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<v Speaker 3>I made the personal decision to not be pissed off.

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<v Speaker 2>Congratulations. I'm so happy for us, you so much.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I'm really happy for you.

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<v Speaker 2>Do you know what's ridiculous? I do?

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<v Speaker 3>What TikTok?

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah?

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<v Speaker 2>Are you onto totally the byte dance of the TikTok?

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<v Speaker 3>What's your favorite TikTok trend?

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<v Speaker 2>Me not scrolling?

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, I'm not on there. So I tell you. I

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<v Speaker 3>just hear people complaining about TikTok challenges.

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<v Speaker 2>And what have you people sent me to. I watched

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<v Speaker 2>a whole hour long video about what goes on on TikTok,

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<v Speaker 2>so I didn't have to go on.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm there's this makeup artist. I think I've talked about

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<v Speaker 3>it before, Aaron Parsons that I follow on Instagram. Sure,

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<v Speaker 3>and she has longer videos on TikTok that I really

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<v Speaker 3>really want to watch, but not enough to get on TikTok. Yeah. Uh, anyway, TikTok.

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<v Speaker 3>One of the kind of fads that's been going down

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<v Speaker 3>on there is that people are buying kit kats, you know,

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<v Speaker 3>a k give me a break, give me a break.

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<v Speaker 2>Into a KitKat exactly.

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<v Speaker 3>They've been taking them and dipping them and ketchup. Yeah why,

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<v Speaker 3>I don't know. So much of this stuff is just why.

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<v Speaker 3>But anyway, so like never one to miss an opportunity. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>I know, I got you, Hines. It was like, we

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<v Speaker 3>haven't been making a terrible product for the last I

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<v Speaker 3>don't know five minutes. So hey, kit cat, you want

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<v Speaker 3>in on this? And so they they drew. I think

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<v Speaker 3>they went to AI and like had an AI.

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<v Speaker 2>Why actually waste time on.

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<v Speaker 3>This picture of it. It's called kit Catchup and it's

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<v Speaker 3>a ketchup flavored kit Cat's.

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<v Speaker 2>Not just like a dip for your your kit cat.

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<v Speaker 3>No, it's like so they had picture of it. It

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<v Speaker 3>hasn't really been released I think it's like a test balloon, Like, hey,

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<v Speaker 3>you guys, would you be into this? And you know

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<v Speaker 3>people would.

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<v Speaker 5>Buy so uh that would apparently the official Craft Dinner account,

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<v Speaker 5>uh commented in response to this, y'all want to add

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<v Speaker 5>cheese to the mix.

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<v Speaker 3>It's like all of them need to be hosed down

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<v Speaker 3>and swatted with the paper. Look, they're getting me back

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<v Speaker 3>to dark quick and like, I don't so let's just

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<v Speaker 3>let's just stop it. Gez No, No, that's ridiculous.

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<v Speaker 2>No one else is ridiculous, Elizabeth. All Right, I got

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<v Speaker 2>a special one for you. FBI agents, Yeah, who once

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<v Speaker 2>played dress up as chiks to catch mobsters, but instead

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<v Speaker 2>they caught senators and congressmen doing crimes.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh I love this.

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<v Speaker 4>Yeah right, this.

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<v Speaker 2>Ridiculous Crime A podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists,

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<v Speaker 2>and cons. It's always ninety nine murder free and ridiculous.

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<v Speaker 2>That's the truth, Elizabeth. Yeah, today, I got a special

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<v Speaker 2>one for you. You know, I want to tell you

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<v Speaker 2>the story of an undercover operation that changed how the

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<v Speaker 2>FBI does its FBI business. Sibbons, Yes, exactly. We've already

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<v Speaker 2>discussed what little law there is to constrain undercover officers.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeh, I covered that shocking right.

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<v Speaker 2>Well. This story is what caused the FBI to come

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<v Speaker 2>up with some rules of their own for their undercover

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<v Speaker 2>operations after the FBI caught a bunch of congressmen doing crimes. Elizabeth,

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<v Speaker 2>you ever heard of ab scam?

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<v Speaker 3>Vague sounds vaguely familiar.

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<v Speaker 2>Same, Yeah, it's like right on the edge of like

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<v Speaker 2>cultural memory. I remember my father referencing it. I don't

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<v Speaker 2>know what it was. And I learned something today as well.

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<v Speaker 2>It was like ab fab that I know about. Yeah, yes, Patty,

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<v Speaker 2>and yes, Patty and Adina definitely know about Patsy what

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<v Speaker 2>I said, Patty, Yeah, I know all this Patty show

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<v Speaker 2>and Edward I love them. So before we dig into

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<v Speaker 2>the FBI's fun with costumes, I need to provide a

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<v Speaker 2>little context the nineteen seventies.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh you love the song.

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<v Speaker 2>I love the seventies not only is it bad fashion

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<v Speaker 2>and great music. We often cover stories from this decade

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<v Speaker 2>because there's a lot of crime, just a ton of crime,

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<v Speaker 2>mostly because it was this hinge in history, right, Like

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<v Speaker 2>it's a point in time when the world was starting

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<v Speaker 2>to use like new things like jet planes and the

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<v Speaker 2>computer and computers and the internet, right, but also that

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<v Speaker 2>was you know, intended to make the world much smaller,

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<v Speaker 2>but mostly it made it easier to find criminals. So

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<v Speaker 2>this is right at the point where we're like, oh,

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<v Speaker 2>criminals realize they're no longer able to just cross state

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<v Speaker 2>lines or whatever they've been doing for most of the

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<v Speaker 2>twentieth century. Right, this is the end of that era,

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<v Speaker 2>and this is like, well, this is the story of

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<v Speaker 2>the folks who are doing the busting, right, Like, first

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<v Speaker 2>we need to discuss the idea and the image of

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<v Speaker 2>that they tried to borrow from the chic. The seventies

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<v Speaker 2>is when the sheic becomes popular in American culture.

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<v Speaker 3>Right, like the not c chi see chic.

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<v Speaker 2>But like, yeah, not like the chic like Miles Rogers.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>No, it doesn't like oo, No chic has in like

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<v Speaker 2>our shake. I guess there's probably more of a pronounce.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>So it all started with the rise of OPEK. Right

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<v Speaker 2>in nineteen seventy three, OPEC they announced this oil and bargo,

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<v Speaker 2>this action sense oil prices skyrocketing. We've seen the pictures

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<v Speaker 2>in the footage of the lines from gas stations stretching

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<v Speaker 2>around the block, right, It pretty much brings Western countries

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<v Speaker 2>to a near standstill when they can't get their oil.

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<v Speaker 2>This is also when Americans stopped driving gas guzzler cars.

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<v Speaker 2>They switch over to hondas and toyotas right now. This

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<v Speaker 2>is also when the image of the Sheiks starts to

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<v Speaker 2>pop up in American pop culture as this kind of like, oh,

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<v Speaker 2>this is who's getting all the money? Kind of yeah,

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<v Speaker 2>exactly right. So this do you remember the movie Cannonball Run?

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<v Speaker 3>I do?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, you do? Okay, So my boy hal need them,

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<v Speaker 2>director of Smoking in the Bandit, which Hitchcock called his

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<v Speaker 2>favorite film. Is what I swear to God Halfred Hitchcock

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<v Speaker 2>look it up. He said this Smoking the Bandit was

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<v Speaker 2>his favorite film. It was the end of his life.

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<v Speaker 2>So who knows what was going on, but anyway he consciousness,

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah exactly. He's out a letter that I need him,

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<v Speaker 2>is saying this anyway, how need him? He's back in

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<v Speaker 2>the director's chair for Cannonball Run. Now, do you you

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<v Speaker 2>remember the movie I did Burt Reynolds, JJ McClure, Dom

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<v Speaker 2>Delawai Tom Delawis as Victor prinsy aka who Captain Chaos.

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<v Speaker 2>You heard the costume that was like his alter ego

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<v Speaker 2>is like his first sona but no fur.

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<v Speaker 3>I always liked when they would show like the outtakes

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<v Speaker 3>and they're just cracking themselves up, and I'm like, it's

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<v Speaker 3>not that.

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<v Speaker 2>Funny the whole of the movie. Oh my god, it's

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<v Speaker 2>such a Hollywood. We got drunk and went off to

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<v Speaker 2>a set and like, yeah, yeahmpletely so. But also, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>speaking of drunk, there was Dean Martin in this movie,

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<v Speaker 2>Sammy Davis Junior. They were dressed as priests. Remember, right,

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<v Speaker 2>I'm trying to get my buddy Derek to do this

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<v Speaker 2>costume for Halloween. Like the two of us get some

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<v Speaker 2>priest shirts and.

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<v Speaker 3>We go do it.

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<v Speaker 2>I know, right, it's right slam dunk. Also Jackie Chan

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<v Speaker 2>the guy and the guy who played Jaws in the

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<v Speaker 2>Bonds movies their teammates. Anyway, do you remember the shake

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<v Speaker 2>je Jamie Fame, he plays Abdul ben Falafel.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh God, stuff from the eighties, like when you look back,

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<v Speaker 3>like there have been times when I'll think, oh, I

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<v Speaker 3>loved that movie, and then I watched.

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<v Speaker 2>You watch it and I'm just like, oh, I don't

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<v Speaker 2>remember all this.

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<v Speaker 3>First of all, super offensive. Second of all, there are

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<v Speaker 3>a lot of movies where you're like, kids.

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<v Speaker 2>Watched oh most of them, even the ones where I'm like,

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<v Speaker 2>I watched this as a kid, Like what, who let

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<v Speaker 2>me watch this? Ex So, Jamie Farr is the only

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<v Speaker 2>character who's in all three Cannonball movies this shake abdul

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<v Speaker 2>ben Falafel, and he plays them obviously as a wild

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<v Speaker 2>stereotype of an Arab and I looked it up. Also,

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<v Speaker 2>I should note, do you remember his father was Ricardo Montabon.

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<v Speaker 2>He was in Cannonball Run two aka mister Rourke from Fantasy.

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<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, yeah, rich Corinthian love.

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<v Speaker 2>Yes, exactly, real commitment to Arab stereotypes here Ricardo montaban

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<v Speaker 2>and Jamie Farr. But it should be noted Jamie Farr

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<v Speaker 2>is of I looked it up, needs descent his family.

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<v Speaker 2>They are Antioch Orthodox Christians, so it's not really you know,

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<v Speaker 2>entirely his culture to make fun of. But he is

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<v Speaker 2>of the region, you know. So anyway, the Canniball Run movies,

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<v Speaker 2>Janie far As shake abdol ben Faloffel, he drives this

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<v Speaker 2>tricked out rolls Royce silver Shadow. That's to like make

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<v Speaker 2>fun of the fact of like the implausibility, that rageousness

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<v Speaker 2>of Arab wealthy you're gonna try to raise, and of

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<v Speaker 2>Rolls Royce. That's the whole joke, right, which speaks to

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<v Speaker 2>what was going down in the seventies. Arabs are suddenly everywhere. Right,

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<v Speaker 2>They're in New York, They're in London. They have money,

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<v Speaker 2>They have more money than the queen right in this

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<v Speaker 2>desert shake the irresponsible Saudi prince. They become this image

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<v Speaker 2>of the excessive, outsized Arab oil wealth.

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<v Speaker 4>Right.

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<v Speaker 2>But the shak's also become an iconic image of the

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<v Speaker 2>seventies era with just the look. It's just such an

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<v Speaker 2>iconic look. Soddenly got this, these long flowing white robes,

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<v Speaker 2>the clean white draped kefia. The head dress right, the

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<v Speaker 2>sorry caffa headdress often accessorized with these dark designers sunglasses. Right,

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<v Speaker 2>they look all clean. Perhaps they have like a statement

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<v Speaker 2>bird of prey, like a falcon, very.

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<v Speaker 3>Very much like an eighties kids Halloween come totally.

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<v Speaker 2>Right, or like there's a also. I mean, this look

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<v Speaker 2>it gets becomes so iconic people start playing with it.

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<v Speaker 2>Like you pointed out, it becomes a costume. Frank Zappa

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<v Speaker 2>very famously on his very first album, the one for

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<v Speaker 2>Zappa Records that he released in nineteen seventy nine. It

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<v Speaker 2>was called Shake Your Booty. Oh yeah on the cover

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<v Speaker 2>of Frank Zappa dressed as a desert shake. The album

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<v Speaker 2>features the title track, obviously, shake your Booty. That was

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<v Speaker 2>a play on the song that was a big song

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<v Speaker 2>of the day, Shake your Booty by Sunshine.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>All right, so this same album, the same Zappa album.

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<v Speaker 3>They've got shake notes exactly.

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<v Speaker 2>Do you know Jewish American Princess the Zappa song? Yes, yes,

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<v Speaker 2>I want to funky little Jews printans. Anyway, so Frank Zappa,

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<v Speaker 2>he's playing with the Israeli tensions at the time, apparently,

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<v Speaker 2>I don't know. But another person who also becomes famous

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<v Speaker 2>playing with the same iconic imagery he played a shake

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<v Speaker 2>Actually his is a man named Hossain Kostro Ali Vasiri,

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<v Speaker 2>better known as the Iron Cheek. You're familiar with the

0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:09.920
<v Speaker 2>professional wrestler the Iron Cheek.

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<v Speaker 3>I really know much about wrestling, but like you remember

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<v Speaker 3>characters like that and like pul Kogan and Rowdy Roddy Piper.

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<v Speaker 2>There you go, classic Rowdy, my big boy. I like

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<v Speaker 2>him anyway, you remember at the time, right, like in

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<v Speaker 2>the eighties and he comes from he was in the seventies,

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<v Speaker 2>but he really comes to dominance in the eighties. And

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<v Speaker 2>you could like tell that he's like this Cold War

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<v Speaker 2>proxy war figure because you have the Soviet Union that

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<v Speaker 2>was his like wrestling partner. He's with this big Soviet

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<v Speaker 2>Russian and that was to kind of play on the

0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:42.920
<v Speaker 2>fact that Iran or Rock War was going on at

0:11:42.920 --> 0:11:44.600
<v Speaker 2>the time, right, So we have this whole thing, and

0:11:44.640 --> 0:11:47.800
<v Speaker 2>so the Soviets choose Iran, we choose a rock that

0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:50.360
<v Speaker 2>we being the West. So all this gets played out.

0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:52.439
<v Speaker 2>And so that's why there's photos of George Bush and

0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:55.320
<v Speaker 2>Saddam Hussein together in the Reagan years. It's because of this.

0:11:55.640 --> 0:11:57.439
<v Speaker 2>So the Iron Cheek is capitalizing on.

0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:00.960
<v Speaker 3>This Iron Chek today like a Twitter he was.

0:12:01.000 --> 0:12:03.280
<v Speaker 2>He passed away. He passed away recently. He was a

0:12:03.360 --> 0:12:05.720
<v Speaker 2>huge Twitter presence. Everybody loved him and it really was

0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:09.000
<v Speaker 2>him apparently doing although like you're a j'r Broni. Now,

0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:12.480
<v Speaker 2>he was an Iranian born wrestler. Now, if you know anything,

0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:13.920
<v Speaker 2>it's kind of weird for him to be called the

0:12:13.960 --> 0:12:16.960
<v Speaker 2>Iron Chic if he's because there's no shakes in Iran. Yeah,

0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:19.800
<v Speaker 2>it's a Persian culture if you want. Yeah, the Shiks

0:12:20.160 --> 0:12:23.400
<v Speaker 2>they they're from the Arabian Peninsula, from the Gulf States, right, So,

0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:26.120
<v Speaker 2>but I guess the Iron Persian just didn't have the

0:12:26.120 --> 0:12:28.040
<v Speaker 2>same ring, right. But this is the whole point is

0:12:28.080 --> 0:12:29.400
<v Speaker 2>in the seventies they're like, oh, you got to be

0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:31.080
<v Speaker 2>a shake well, and it was just.

0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:33.200
<v Speaker 3>There was this notion that it's just all the same.

0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:35.280
<v Speaker 2>Yes, there's always that, there's you know, it's just.

0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:37.720
<v Speaker 3>That whole region. And I think it really.

0:12:37.520 --> 0:12:39.679
<v Speaker 2>Wasn't until the flattening of that area.

0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:42.080
<v Speaker 3>Like the First Gulf War, that people were able to

0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:45.200
<v Speaker 3>start differentiate, differentiating different countries.

0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:48.080
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, totally, or even understanding like the Souni Shia divide

0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:51.040
<v Speaker 2>and Islam some of these things they're they're not known

0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:53.560
<v Speaker 2>at this point, not really, right. So at this point,

0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:56.840
<v Speaker 2>for purely visual reasons, the Iron Shake. He wears these

0:12:56.920 --> 0:12:59.840
<v Speaker 2>curved toad shoes from like the Ottomans. He has an

0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:03.480
<v Speaker 2>ancient Persian style club, he's got the Kafia of the

0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:05.800
<v Speaker 2>the chk Right, He's just mixing up all the Middle

0:13:05.840 --> 0:13:06.760
<v Speaker 2>Eastern signified.

0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:07.160
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.280
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, because it's basically playing on occidental fears. That's the

0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.960
<v Speaker 2>whole idea, right, So these three shak examples, I give you.

0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:16.680
<v Speaker 2>None of them are Arab, right, these are this is

0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:19.280
<v Speaker 2>what people are picturing when they're learning about shakes. These

0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:22.400
<v Speaker 2>people pretending in the seventies, right, So your average media

0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:24.880
<v Speaker 2>trained American, this is what they think of a shake

0:13:24.920 --> 0:13:28.200
<v Speaker 2>in the seventies and eighties. Is these people. Yeah, Frank Zappa,

0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:31.960
<v Speaker 2>Jamie Farr, and the Iron Shake. So anyway, that Elizabeth

0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:34.720
<v Speaker 2>brings us to the story of the day abscam. Nice

0:13:35.000 --> 0:13:37.280
<v Speaker 2>to story almost as big as Watergate was in the

0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:40.360
<v Speaker 2>nineteen seventies. It's this huge crime and there's you know,

0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:43.360
<v Speaker 2>it's government figures are involved. The Feds are going after

0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:46.080
<v Speaker 2>government figures. It's like people are like, oh this again.

0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.400
<v Speaker 2>But after two decades of victories in court thanks to Rico,

0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:53.000
<v Speaker 2>the Feds have been going after mobsters for a while,

0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:55.000
<v Speaker 2>all right, and the Fed lawyers there at this point

0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:57.520
<v Speaker 2>they're finishing up and prisoning the last of the Great

0:13:57.600 --> 0:14:00.520
<v Speaker 2>Dawns of the Five Families of New York and New Jersey. Yeah,

0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:04.040
<v Speaker 2>the FBI, they've run a number of stings, surveillance operations,

0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:07.120
<v Speaker 2>all against the mafia. This is when like Rudy Giuliani,

0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.800
<v Speaker 2>James Comer and Michael Chertoff all make their names as

0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:13.480
<v Speaker 2>US attorneys. So abscam. It starts out as an FBI

0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:16.280
<v Speaker 2>sting operation, just another one of these. It was an

0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:21.119
<v Speaker 2>attempt to ensnare mobsters working with white collar criminals. But eventually,

0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:23.520
<v Speaker 2>all of a sudden, out of nowhere pops up into

0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.760
<v Speaker 2>the second greatest political scandal of the seventies. It starts with,

0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:30.000
<v Speaker 2>as I said, FBI agents playing dress up as shakes.

0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:34.320
<v Speaker 2>In nineteen seventy eight, FBI agent John Good, middle name Francis.

0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:37.320
<v Speaker 2>So he was John F. Goood, not like Johnny F. Good.

0:14:37.320 --> 0:14:40.520
<v Speaker 2>Now anyway, if his name was like, middle name was Bernard,

0:14:40.840 --> 0:14:42.720
<v Speaker 2>I know so much better. Yeah, but his parents had

0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:46.600
<v Speaker 2>no sense of humor, foresight. Yeah, John F. Good, Johnny F.

0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:49.640
<v Speaker 2>Good whatever. Anyway, This dude, John F. Good, FBI guy,

0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:52.720
<v Speaker 2>guy with a big idea. He stationed at the FBI

0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:55.560
<v Speaker 2>suburban Long Island Field office. Right, he wants to get

0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:58.640
<v Speaker 2>into this anti mob crackdown energy. So listen, if you

0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:00.880
<v Speaker 2>want to fight crime, it helps if you have your

0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:04.120
<v Speaker 2>own what army criminal?

0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:06.160
<v Speaker 3>Oh yeah, it.

0:15:06.160 --> 0:15:07.880
<v Speaker 2>Helps because if you have your own criminal, because they

0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:10.280
<v Speaker 2>know things you don't. They know the language, they know

0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:12.160
<v Speaker 2>some people. They know the ins and outs. They can

0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:14.320
<v Speaker 2>tell you things and what things mean that you would

0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:17.280
<v Speaker 2>never even think the question. Yeah, right, so it helps

0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:19.600
<v Speaker 2>have a criminal basically, So, this criminal that John F.

0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:22.160
<v Speaker 2>Good decides he's going to draft for his operation is

0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:26.880
<v Speaker 2>named Melvin Weinberg. Melvin Weinberg. He is a con artist,

0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:29.560
<v Speaker 2>a swindler. He's recently been arrested and is looking at

0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:32.120
<v Speaker 2>a long stretch inside. Yeah, that's why he agrees to

0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:34.440
<v Speaker 2>become an FBI and foremant He's like, oh, yeah, out

0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:36.440
<v Speaker 2>of my two choices, I'll take what's in your right hand.

0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:36.760
<v Speaker 4>Yeah.

0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:39.160
<v Speaker 2>He ropes in his girlfriend who's also been busted, also

0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:41.960
<v Speaker 2>run up on charges, Evelyn Knight. So that together they

0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:45.240
<v Speaker 2>agree to help the FBI help some agents run low

0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.920
<v Speaker 2>priority sting operations, just like I said, catch some white

0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:50.440
<v Speaker 2>collar criminals. Folks are doing business with the mob in

0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:53.480
<v Speaker 2>Long Island. Yeah, operations of initial budget was thirty two

0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:56.520
<v Speaker 2>thousand dollars, not much at all. No, Weinberg, he goes,

0:15:56.560 --> 0:15:58.360
<v Speaker 2>he takes his money. He creates a fake business, a

0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:02.720
<v Speaker 2>front company called Abdul Enterprises. The company was purportedly to

0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:06.080
<v Speaker 2>be this business arm for an Arab shake. The sheik

0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:10.240
<v Speaker 2>was named Comber Abdul Ramen, and they were that was

0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:13.680
<v Speaker 2>entirely made up. These are obviously covers for FBI agents.

0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:16.920
<v Speaker 2>Shake Ramen and there was another one to shake Yasir Habib.

0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:19.920
<v Speaker 2>So shake Khabib and Shake Ramen. They become the FBI

0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:22.880
<v Speaker 2>agent's cover stories. They pretend to have one million dollars

0:16:22.880 --> 0:16:25.920
<v Speaker 2>that they wish to invest in American businesses. Right, so

0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.240
<v Speaker 2>we got some arab oil money. I just want to

0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:31.360
<v Speaker 2>come over and put in the Yeah. So that whole

0:16:31.440 --> 0:16:33.080
<v Speaker 2>the idea is that hopefully people see them is like,

0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:35.000
<v Speaker 2>oh I can con them, I can take them whatever.

0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:36.600
<v Speaker 2>They're like new Nuvaux Reach.

0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:37.040
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:40.200
<v Speaker 2>So the first bust that they go, they they conduct them.

0:16:40.240 --> 0:16:45.000
<v Speaker 2>They're working like like Subaru engineering, Elizabeth just smooth. Weinberg,

0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:47.920
<v Speaker 2>he's able to define this set of stolen paintings in

0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:51.400
<v Speaker 2>one of the crimes. Right. That ends up that pretty

0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:53.600
<v Speaker 2>much takes most of the thirty two thousand dollars budget

0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:55.480
<v Speaker 2>to get through these first stainings because he's using it

0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:58.480
<v Speaker 2>as like buy money and so forth. FBI they recover

0:16:58.520 --> 0:17:01.680
<v Speaker 2>the stolen artwork. Then Weinberg he gets this big surprise.

0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:04.879
<v Speaker 2>The insurance company flips him a cool ten thousand for

0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:07.719
<v Speaker 2>his recovery effort. It's ten larks just for like, you know,

0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:11.080
<v Speaker 2>being involved. This one gives Weinberg a big idea of

0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:14.159
<v Speaker 2>his own. He's like, I got big ideas too. He

0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:16.960
<v Speaker 2>can make some big money roping in criminals for the FBI.

0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:19.000
<v Speaker 2>He happens to know them, so now he'll just start

0:17:19.000 --> 0:17:21.440
<v Speaker 2>targeting them and hopefully get a little piece on the side,

0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:23.119
<v Speaker 2>or is he put it, he'll start working as a

0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:26.800
<v Speaker 2>quote government crook. So he goes back to his handlers

0:17:26.800 --> 0:17:28.480
<v Speaker 2>and he tells him, look, if you want to go

0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:31.040
<v Speaker 2>after some real big fish, like some real criminals, then

0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:32.919
<v Speaker 2>you need to give me some real money. So the

0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:34.440
<v Speaker 2>FBI is like, well, how much you do you have

0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.040
<v Speaker 2>in mind? He's like he goes like full doctor evil.

0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:40.560
<v Speaker 2>He's like, I need one million dollars. So the FBI

0:17:40.600 --> 0:17:43.359
<v Speaker 2>they go, okay, one million dollars and they transfer it

0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.120
<v Speaker 2>to a Chase Manhattan bank account. So now Weinberg's got

0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:50.200
<v Speaker 2>some real like flash show money, and he's got these

0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.800
<v Speaker 2>fake FBI shakes to go around and play dress up

0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:54.639
<v Speaker 2>into you know, flash in front of the purpse. So

0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:56.760
<v Speaker 2>he's got some flash money. He's got these people who

0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:58.959
<v Speaker 2>are gonna make people think, oh I can take them.

0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:01.480
<v Speaker 2>It's great. Right, So they now they go, I like

0:18:01.560 --> 0:18:04.040
<v Speaker 2>this guy. They put them on the official FBI payroll.

0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:06.480
<v Speaker 2>This informant, he gets a salary of three grand a

0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:10.000
<v Speaker 2>month in nineteen seventy. Yes, it's a lot of money.

0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:13.040
<v Speaker 2>So that's not to mention any bonuses that he earned. No,

0:18:13.200 --> 0:18:15.320
<v Speaker 2>I don't know if the FBI was covering his expenses,

0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:17.320
<v Speaker 2>but I do know this. He kept the same attitude

0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:19.879
<v Speaker 2>as a quote government crook that he brought to his

0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:22.359
<v Speaker 2>work as a con man or. As Wineberg put it,

0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:25.159
<v Speaker 2>and I quote, I'm a swindler. There's only one difference

0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.919
<v Speaker 2>between me and the congressman I met on this case.

0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:31.560
<v Speaker 2>The public pays them a salary for stealing. So he's

0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:34.920
<v Speaker 2>got real respect for his targets. Yeah. Anyway, second, little

0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:37.439
<v Speaker 2>breg Elizabeth, after these messages, we will check back in

0:18:37.520 --> 0:19:02.920
<v Speaker 2>on Weinberg and how these FBI shakes get to work. Excellent, Elizabeth,

0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:05.520
<v Speaker 2>we're back. How are those ads? Huh so good?

0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:07.920
<v Speaker 3>Oh my gosh, there's so much I want to buy.

0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.040
<v Speaker 2>I know, where's my wallet? Where were we? Right? Yes,

0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:13.720
<v Speaker 2>we got a bunch of FBI agents pretending to be

0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.600
<v Speaker 2>Shakes to catch American gangsters. I love it, Okay, so

0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:20.280
<v Speaker 2>the swindler Weinberg, he earns the trust and a salary

0:19:20.320 --> 0:19:23.920
<v Speaker 2>from his FBI handlers. He repays them with new schemes.

0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:26.879
<v Speaker 2>Now they have their own criminal dreaming up crimes for

0:19:26.920 --> 0:19:30.199
<v Speaker 2>them to pull. After some initial successes, Weinberg comes up

0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:32.840
<v Speaker 2>with the act. He gets it down in pat He

0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:37.040
<v Speaker 2>will pose as an agent for this insanely wealthy Arab

0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:40.879
<v Speaker 2>named Shake Combo abdul Ramen. Fun fact, it seems like

0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.080
<v Speaker 2>he invented this namdu sting because Weinberg says he wants

0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:47.040
<v Speaker 2>sat next to a Combu abdul Ramen on a flight

0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:51.840
<v Speaker 2>from Paris and just took his name. There's a guy, Yeah, exactly, boy,

0:19:52.000 --> 0:19:55.359
<v Speaker 2>he's doing crimes in this guy's name. Anyway. The sheikh

0:19:55.480 --> 0:19:58.399
<v Speaker 2>who he's supposed to be is allegedly from the Arab Emirates.

0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:02.280
<v Speaker 2>He's a Gulf state Shake. That's the idea this imaginary shake.

0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.480
<v Speaker 2>The gambit is simple. Weineberg, posing as the agent. He

0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:08.119
<v Speaker 2>would find a purp approach them with an offer of

0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:10.760
<v Speaker 2>a loan from the Shakes, like I got some money

0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:14.760
<v Speaker 2>because due to the dictates of Islamic Shariah law. The

0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:18.359
<v Speaker 2>Shakes were forbidden from usury, right, they can't do normal

0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.000
<v Speaker 2>banking laws, and therefore they have to avoid the interest

0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:23.359
<v Speaker 2>of Western banks. And so that means that the Shakes

0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:25.679
<v Speaker 2>were looking for investment potential and that's where they like

0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:28.359
<v Speaker 2>to park their money. And so they loan money also

0:20:28.400 --> 0:20:32.000
<v Speaker 2>in exchange for say, fake certificates of deposit, so that

0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:34.439
<v Speaker 2>the Shakes can later withdraw their money from a Muslim

0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:36.960
<v Speaker 2>bank overseas. And people are like, oh, okay, they know

0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:39.920
<v Speaker 2>for this all scammers, right. The other scam that Weinberg

0:20:40.040 --> 0:20:43.000
<v Speaker 2>starts to work is he approaches a purp again posing

0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:45.840
<v Speaker 2>as the agent for the fake Shakes, and he says

0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:50.240
<v Speaker 2>he's looking for investment opportunities to skirt American banking oversight

0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.600
<v Speaker 2>because their fortunes are so vast and they'll be seized

0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:54.760
<v Speaker 2>if they know blah blah blah. Yeah, and then the

0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:57.520
<v Speaker 2>Shakes are also looking for you know, when I say

0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:02.680
<v Speaker 2>investment opportunities, we're talking expected businesses like American made porn films.

0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:05.440
<v Speaker 2>Whoa yeah. So people are like, oh, the Shakes really

0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:06.840
<v Speaker 2>want to get in this, were like, oh, yes, they

0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:08.680
<v Speaker 2>don't care as long as their names are not involved.

0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:12.240
<v Speaker 2>They're looking for solid businesses, good you know, bottom lines,

0:21:12.320 --> 0:21:14.119
<v Speaker 2>all that kind of stuff, like, oh, porn business for

0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:17.399
<v Speaker 2>you brother. So now you might be imagining the FBI

0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:20.080
<v Speaker 2>had these like the same guy always like pose as

0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:22.320
<v Speaker 2>the shake. Yeah, like you might be imagining some agent

0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:25.320
<v Speaker 2>of Arab descent who can carry off the act, who

0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:28.119
<v Speaker 2>can convincingly play a shake he speaks Arabic and you

0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:31.680
<v Speaker 2>would be wrong. Oh no, of course. The course they

0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:33.959
<v Speaker 2>have no respect for the role. So they're just like

0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:37.199
<v Speaker 2>you know, tonight the shake will be played by So

0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:40.920
<v Speaker 2>there's three different agents playing shake Rahmen. For the most part, right,

0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.240
<v Speaker 2>one of the agents is of Irish descent. I don't

0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:45.679
<v Speaker 2>know if he's a redhead, but he's of Irish descent.

0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:49.080
<v Speaker 2>He's a dude named Michael Danahey, but he was American.

0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:51.359
<v Speaker 2>I gave him the except for fun. He plays the shake,

0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:53.800
<v Speaker 2>and of course he didn't know a single word of Arabic,

0:21:53.840 --> 0:21:56.000
<v Speaker 2>so when he did try, he would just utter simple

0:21:56.000 --> 0:21:58.520
<v Speaker 2>phrases like and he couldn't even make it through, like

0:21:58.560 --> 0:22:02.800
<v Speaker 2>uh aslama lakeam. He'd be like like, oh it all

0:22:02.880 --> 0:22:04.680
<v Speaker 2>or whatever? Right, it come out of like a wholly

0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:08.200
<v Speaker 2>different set of vowels and consonants, and if I, if I imitated,

0:22:08.080 --> 0:22:10.359
<v Speaker 2>it would probably sound racist, right, So you.

0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:14.360
<v Speaker 3>Know, oh my god, I'm just trying to process this.

0:22:16.160 --> 0:22:17.800
<v Speaker 2>Now. I don't know if they got the memo after

0:22:17.880 --> 0:22:20.280
<v Speaker 2>Michael Dennehy's version of the ship played out a few times,

0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:23.560
<v Speaker 2>but eventually the FBI they drag in this agent who

0:22:23.600 --> 0:22:26.280
<v Speaker 2>is of Lebanese descent, much like Jamie Farr. They're like, oh,

0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:29.280
<v Speaker 2>this works enough, works in Cannonball, can you do it?

0:22:29.359 --> 0:22:31.680
<v Speaker 2>So I get this Elizabeth, this agent. He actually spoke

0:22:31.720 --> 0:22:34.440
<v Speaker 2>Arabic fluently, but he'd do some words so you could

0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:35.720
<v Speaker 2>muster a passing accent.

0:22:36.040 --> 0:22:39.080
<v Speaker 3>All of my friends from the region from the Levant. Yeah,

0:22:39.200 --> 0:22:43.280
<v Speaker 3>speaks so many languages, totally totally Yeah.

0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:46.760
<v Speaker 2>And dialects too. So anyway, where was I?

0:22:46.800 --> 0:22:46.919
<v Speaker 6>Oh?

0:22:47.000 --> 0:22:48.920
<v Speaker 2>So things they start to go better for the agents.

0:22:48.960 --> 0:22:51.119
<v Speaker 2>Now they've got this bit down. They got this second

0:22:51.160 --> 0:22:54.280
<v Speaker 2>sheek is more convincing than the Irish guy. So then

0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:56.280
<v Speaker 2>they decide, okay, well, now that we got down, we'll

0:22:56.320 --> 0:22:58.520
<v Speaker 2>bring in They bring in shake. Yes, Sayer Habib I

0:22:58.520 --> 0:23:01.080
<v Speaker 2>mentioned him earlier. He comes on. Now they got two

0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:04.080
<v Speaker 2>shakes and this second shake he's a goer, Elizabeth, because

0:23:04.119 --> 0:23:06.600
<v Speaker 2>soon enough he earns himself for promotion, he becomes a

0:23:06.680 --> 0:23:09.560
<v Speaker 2>mirror and so yeah, he's got his own He's the

0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:12.159
<v Speaker 2>leader of his own golf state. Apparently not bad for

0:23:12.200 --> 0:23:15.359
<v Speaker 2>a pretend shake. Anyway, Enough about the FBI guys playing

0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:19.600
<v Speaker 2>dress up like Frank Zappa, who were they targeting? Great question, Elizabe,

0:23:19.760 --> 0:23:22.320
<v Speaker 2>I'm so glad I asked that. Now, Weinberg he liked

0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:25.360
<v Speaker 2>to target obviously white collar criminals. That was the aim. Right.

0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:28.200
<v Speaker 2>So he finds this one guy, William Rosenberg, and he

0:23:28.440 --> 0:23:31.560
<v Speaker 2>approaches the agent for the fake Shakes with an angle

0:23:31.600 --> 0:23:35.400
<v Speaker 2>of some business in New Jersey. Right, so Weinberg the swindler.

0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:37.719
<v Speaker 2>He tells Rosenberg that the Shakes would like to invest,

0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:40.680
<v Speaker 2>are looking to invest in Atlantic City, and he thinks

0:23:40.720 --> 0:23:42.919
<v Speaker 2>that the casino business would be perfect for them and

0:23:42.960 --> 0:23:45.560
<v Speaker 2>their vast wealth. So he says, they have some money

0:23:45.600 --> 0:23:48.200
<v Speaker 2>to invest, but they'll need guarantees. They'll need guarantees that

0:23:48.240 --> 0:23:51.840
<v Speaker 2>they can be awarded a gambling license as foreigners. Now

0:23:51.960 --> 0:23:54.080
<v Speaker 2>we're talking serious money. You Now you have to understand

0:23:54.080 --> 0:23:56.040
<v Speaker 2>they have one hundred million dollars as they plan to

0:23:56.119 --> 0:23:59.440
<v Speaker 2>drop on Atlantic City. They'll transform the city into the

0:23:59.520 --> 0:24:01.480
<v Speaker 2>Los f He gets of the East. People are like,

0:24:01.480 --> 0:24:04.240
<v Speaker 2>oh yeah, Rosenberg, this purpose. He's like, I got people.

0:24:04.480 --> 0:24:06.680
<v Speaker 2>Don't you worry? I canna help you out. Turns out

0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:09.439
<v Speaker 2>he knows the mayor of Camden, New Jersey. Oh, this

0:24:09.520 --> 0:24:13.760
<v Speaker 2>guy's like a major power like player in Jersey politics.

0:24:14.040 --> 0:24:17.560
<v Speaker 2>Rosenberg says, I get Mayor Angela Erchetti to play ball,

0:24:17.640 --> 0:24:22.880
<v Speaker 2>right for a small fee. So the FBI informant Weinberger Swindler,

0:24:22.880 --> 0:24:24.840
<v Speaker 2>he invites the mayor to meet him at the Long

0:24:24.880 --> 0:24:28.840
<v Speaker 2>Island offices of Abdul Enterprises. Meet the shakes yourself, right.

0:24:28.880 --> 0:24:31.520
<v Speaker 2>So the office was of course fully kitted out with cameras,

0:24:31.560 --> 0:24:35.200
<v Speaker 2>hiding microphones and FBI special so the FBI records everything

0:24:35.200 --> 0:24:37.840
<v Speaker 2>that's said and everything that's done inside this office. And

0:24:37.840 --> 0:24:41.120
<v Speaker 2>the mayor shows up right. December nineteen seventy eight, Marriger

0:24:41.359 --> 0:24:44.359
<v Speaker 2>Eric Shetty arrives at the office of Abdul Enterprises. He

0:24:44.480 --> 0:24:47.120
<v Speaker 2>and Weinberg, the agent for the fake Shakes, They get

0:24:47.119 --> 0:24:49.199
<v Speaker 2>to talking about corruption, like, oh, you like coruption, I

0:24:49.240 --> 0:24:51.719
<v Speaker 2>love corruption. Let's do some corruption, right, what do these

0:24:51.720 --> 0:24:54.080
<v Speaker 2>fake shakes think about it? Or so obviously real shakes

0:24:54.080 --> 0:24:55.960
<v Speaker 2>to him. They get to talking about it. He's like,

0:24:56.000 --> 0:24:58.600
<v Speaker 2>so you want store bought casino licenses, that's the deal.

0:24:58.920 --> 0:25:01.600
<v Speaker 2>So Mayor Eric shetty. He starts to, you know, get

0:25:01.600 --> 0:25:03.480
<v Speaker 2>a little full of himself. He swells up a little.

0:25:03.520 --> 0:25:06.720
<v Speaker 2>He brags that he has contacts with the Casino Control Commission.

0:25:06.760 --> 0:25:09.280
<v Speaker 2>That's not problem for me, the mayor tells. The agent

0:25:09.520 --> 0:25:12.520
<v Speaker 2>tells this agent for the fake shakes Weinberg, I'll give

0:25:12.560 --> 0:25:15.600
<v Speaker 2>you Atlantic City without me. You do nothing.

0:25:16.720 --> 0:25:20.399
<v Speaker 3>It just plays into everyone's ideas.

0:25:19.280 --> 0:25:21.680
<v Speaker 2>And all the stereotypes. You got this like Italian mayor

0:25:21.720 --> 0:25:25.040
<v Speaker 2>of Jersey without me, you got nothing.

0:25:25.240 --> 0:25:26.399
<v Speaker 3>He's actually played.

0:25:26.960 --> 0:25:29.600
<v Speaker 2>But it is better because I don't even get this one.

0:25:29.640 --> 0:25:33.120
<v Speaker 2>He's Italian. They're apparently supposed to be fake Arabs. He said,

0:25:33.480 --> 0:25:35.040
<v Speaker 2>ends his quote with like, you know, I'll give you

0:25:35.080 --> 0:25:37.960
<v Speaker 2>Atlantic City without me, you do nothing. I'll be your rabbi,

0:25:38.960 --> 0:25:39.840
<v Speaker 2>Like I don't know if.

0:25:42.240 --> 0:25:42.840
<v Speaker 3>Italian.

0:25:43.800 --> 0:25:45.040
<v Speaker 2>I'll be a rabbi.

0:25:46.520 --> 0:25:47.120
<v Speaker 3>Into a bar.

0:25:48.320 --> 0:25:51.159
<v Speaker 2>Anyway. His price four hundred thousand dollars, So he's like,

0:25:51.200 --> 0:25:52.639
<v Speaker 2>he makes that clear. He's like, I will take that.

0:25:52.720 --> 0:25:55.119
<v Speaker 2>So now they got the mayor on tape naming his price.

0:25:55.800 --> 0:25:57.639
<v Speaker 2>So also he had his own ideas from some crimes

0:25:57.640 --> 0:25:59.159
<v Speaker 2>they could pull. He's like, I got other guys you

0:25:59.200 --> 0:26:00.879
<v Speaker 2>need to talk to. You got some loose money. I

0:26:00.880 --> 0:26:03.320
<v Speaker 2>got guys who are like vacuums. This is great. So

0:26:03.440 --> 0:26:06.080
<v Speaker 2>Weinberg would later recall he wanted me to get into

0:26:06.200 --> 0:26:08.960
<v Speaker 2>counterfeit money. He wanted to give us the Port of

0:26:09.000 --> 0:26:11.840
<v Speaker 2>Camden for narcotics. He's like, hey, what do you want

0:26:11.840 --> 0:26:13.800
<v Speaker 2>to run heroin? I saw the French connection. What are

0:26:13.800 --> 0:26:14.320
<v Speaker 2>you guys doing?

0:26:14.440 --> 0:26:15.000
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god.

0:26:15.200 --> 0:26:17.439
<v Speaker 2>So to get the casino license, which is what they

0:26:17.440 --> 0:26:20.080
<v Speaker 2>say they want, Eric Shetty, he said that he'd need

0:26:20.119 --> 0:26:23.080
<v Speaker 2>to bribe this dude McDonald to Kenneth McDonald, the vice

0:26:23.160 --> 0:26:26.600
<v Speaker 2>chairman of the Casino Control Commission. So that will cost

0:26:26.640 --> 0:26:28.879
<v Speaker 2>another hundred grand. All right, no problem, you guys got that.

0:26:29.280 --> 0:26:32.080
<v Speaker 2>So he later he visits Obdul Enterprises over on Long

0:26:32.119 --> 0:26:34.359
<v Speaker 2>Island to pick up the hundred large, which of course

0:26:34.359 --> 0:26:37.320
<v Speaker 2>gets recorded on videotape. So Weinberg gets to know this

0:26:37.359 --> 0:26:40.040
<v Speaker 2>new class of white collar criminals. He begins to think

0:26:40.080 --> 0:26:42.920
<v Speaker 2>of them as a quote, a bunch of perverts, drunks

0:26:42.920 --> 0:26:46.199
<v Speaker 2>and crooks. And he liked the mayor. Weinberg said he

0:26:46.200 --> 0:26:48.640
<v Speaker 2>could relate to him since quote, he's a likable guy.

0:26:48.680 --> 0:26:51.159
<v Speaker 2>He didn't beat around the bush. He wanted to make money.

0:26:51.920 --> 0:26:54.680
<v Speaker 2>So Mayor Eric Shetty, he's indeed, as I said, powerful

0:26:54.680 --> 0:26:56.919
<v Speaker 2>in South New Jersey. He's connections. They run all the

0:26:56.920 --> 0:27:00.200
<v Speaker 2>way up to the local congressman. He bragged about that too.

0:27:00.280 --> 0:27:01.959
<v Speaker 2>Is I can bag him for you if you want, right,

0:27:02.000 --> 0:27:04.960
<v Speaker 2>So Weinberg and his FBI handlers they start. They change

0:27:05.000 --> 0:27:07.240
<v Speaker 2>their cover story now for the fake shakes. They don't

0:27:07.240 --> 0:27:09.840
<v Speaker 2>want to just get into the gambling business in Atlantic City.

0:27:10.000 --> 0:27:12.080
<v Speaker 2>They had a new wrinkle to see if they can

0:27:12.119 --> 0:27:15.120
<v Speaker 2>bake the hook for a congressman. So they tell Eric

0:27:15.160 --> 0:27:17.720
<v Speaker 2>Shetty that that's fake shakes. They also need help with

0:27:17.800 --> 0:27:20.680
<v Speaker 2>some problems, uh deportation. Yeah, yeah, see they're trying to

0:27:20.720 --> 0:27:23.159
<v Speaker 2>get rid of they can't get You can't let this happen, right, Well,

0:27:23.160 --> 0:27:25.679
<v Speaker 2>they'll pay, you have to understand. So the mayor tells

0:27:25.680 --> 0:27:28.160
<v Speaker 2>the undercover FBI informed that's no problem, we can take

0:27:28.160 --> 0:27:29.960
<v Speaker 2>care of that. So he gets them set up with

0:27:30.040 --> 0:27:33.680
<v Speaker 2>some congressmen who will sponsor legislation in Congress that will

0:27:33.720 --> 0:27:37.359
<v Speaker 2>cover the fake shakes. No way, of course, Elizabeth. There

0:27:37.359 --> 0:27:40.400
<v Speaker 2>will be a charge for such a service. So Weinberg,

0:27:40.440 --> 0:27:43.199
<v Speaker 2>the undercover FBI informed, He's like, no problem, money is

0:27:43.240 --> 0:27:45.479
<v Speaker 2>not a problem. Look at these guys, right, So if

0:27:45.480 --> 0:27:48.480
<v Speaker 2>the Arabs have money to buy politicians and Mayor Eric Shetty,

0:27:48.720 --> 0:27:51.720
<v Speaker 2>he will provide the invites. So, now the FBI is

0:27:51.760 --> 0:27:55.600
<v Speaker 2>in the congressional corruption sting business, so may Eric Sheddy.

0:27:55.600 --> 0:27:57.960
<v Speaker 2>He brings in political players from the tri state area.

0:27:58.040 --> 0:28:01.040
<v Speaker 2>We're talking New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Who do you

0:28:01.080 --> 0:28:03.639
<v Speaker 2>want Congressman? What do you be a senator? So he

0:28:03.640 --> 0:28:06.840
<v Speaker 2>starts introducing the fake shakes there and their undercover informant

0:28:06.840 --> 0:28:10.679
<v Speaker 2>Weinberg who's proposing as their agent to Philadelphia Congressman Raymond

0:28:10.720 --> 0:28:15.400
<v Speaker 2>f Lederer and Michael Ozzy Myers. Right, the mayor promises

0:28:15.400 --> 0:28:18.440
<v Speaker 2>Weinberg that, oh, you're gonna like Congressman Ozzie Myers. He's

0:28:18.440 --> 0:28:21.320
<v Speaker 2>our kind of people, now, Elizabeth, remember the offices of

0:28:21.359 --> 0:28:24.479
<v Speaker 2>Abdul Enterprises all micd up. There's hidden cameras everywhere, right,

0:28:24.480 --> 0:28:27.879
<v Speaker 2>it's basically a film set. Weinberg would often wear a wire,

0:28:28.040 --> 0:28:30.240
<v Speaker 2>you know. So he's also on top of that, he's

0:28:30.280 --> 0:28:31.760
<v Speaker 2>like going out in the field. Right, So he's got

0:28:31.760 --> 0:28:33.359
<v Speaker 2>a meeting in a car. He just wears a shir

0:28:33.480 --> 0:28:36.080
<v Speaker 2>why not. So even when he meets politicians in public

0:28:36.080 --> 0:28:38.920
<v Speaker 2>places to talk about their corruption plans, we still know

0:28:39.000 --> 0:28:39.960
<v Speaker 2>exactly what we said.

0:28:40.000 --> 0:28:40.600
<v Speaker 3>So yeah.

0:28:40.680 --> 0:28:43.840
<v Speaker 2>For instance, in August of seventy nine, Weinberg and a

0:28:43.880 --> 0:28:47.200
<v Speaker 2>bagman for the Sheiks who is actually an undercover FBI agent.

0:28:47.240 --> 0:28:51.240
<v Speaker 2>Of course, they meet Mayor Eric Shetty at JFK Airport

0:28:51.320 --> 0:28:54.880
<v Speaker 2>for a payoff. Okay, they sat together in the Northwest

0:28:54.920 --> 0:28:55.840
<v Speaker 2>Airlines lounge.

0:28:55.920 --> 0:28:57.240
<v Speaker 3>Oh rip, definitely.

0:28:57.480 --> 0:28:59.920
<v Speaker 2>The mayor told the FBI informant, an undercover agent, that

0:29:00.040 --> 0:29:04.200
<v Speaker 2>Congressman Ozzi Myers quote, He's gonna be your man, period,

0:29:04.560 --> 0:29:08.360
<v Speaker 2>anything you want. Oh wow. So Weinberg calls the mayor

0:29:08.400 --> 0:29:10.800
<v Speaker 2>by his nickname. That's the level that they're on now, right,

0:29:10.840 --> 0:29:14.240
<v Speaker 2>he says, Angi's always got to tell you, sierr is

0:29:14.280 --> 0:29:17.120
<v Speaker 2>that ah, when the time comes, I will sponsor anything

0:29:17.160 --> 0:29:18.560
<v Speaker 2>you want. That's all he's asking for.

0:29:18.680 --> 0:29:18.880
<v Speaker 4>Right.

0:29:18.960 --> 0:29:22.520
<v Speaker 2>So now the mayor responds, He'll say that, let me

0:29:22.520 --> 0:29:26.800
<v Speaker 2>tell you something. This guy's good. Myers is good. So Elizabeth,

0:29:26.840 --> 0:29:30.240
<v Speaker 2>he was indeed good at the corruption kind of except

0:29:30.280 --> 0:29:33.280
<v Speaker 2>for the getting caught part. Congressman Ozzie Myers. He meets

0:29:33.280 --> 0:29:36.440
<v Speaker 2>with Weinberg and the undercover FBI agents at the Airport

0:29:36.480 --> 0:29:38.800
<v Speaker 2>Hotel near JFK Airport. Apparently it is just like the

0:29:38.800 --> 0:29:41.880
<v Speaker 2>spot in New York. Yeah, so it's now August twenty second,

0:29:41.920 --> 0:29:45.760
<v Speaker 2>nineteen seventy nine. He's handed fifty thousand dollars in cash

0:29:45.880 --> 0:29:49.600
<v Speaker 2>in a briefcase on camera on camp. Just as promises,

0:29:49.640 --> 0:29:51.480
<v Speaker 2>he says he will do his part to make the

0:29:51.520 --> 0:29:54.040
<v Speaker 2>fake shake's plans work out. He tells the agent he

0:29:54.080 --> 0:29:57.720
<v Speaker 2>will introduce an immigration bill into Congress, and he'll even

0:29:57.720 --> 0:29:59.960
<v Speaker 2>speak to the folks at the State Department. Whatever you guys.

0:30:01.040 --> 0:30:01.680
<v Speaker 3>Oh wow.

0:30:01.800 --> 0:30:05.520
<v Speaker 2>So during their meeting, recorded on FBI surveillance, Congressman II

0:30:05.560 --> 0:30:09.160
<v Speaker 2>Meyers assured his co conspirators and I quote money talks

0:30:09.200 --> 0:30:13.720
<v Speaker 2>in this business and walks, oh god. So from that point,

0:30:13.920 --> 0:30:16.080
<v Speaker 2>for that fifty thousand dollars he picked up, he only

0:30:16.160 --> 0:30:19.200
<v Speaker 2>kept fifteen grand for himself. He spread the juice around

0:30:19.240 --> 0:30:20.840
<v Speaker 2>like bribe money for all the others, all of his

0:30:20.920 --> 0:30:25.440
<v Speaker 2>other coke conspirators. Right over time, Mayor Angie Araschetti, he

0:30:25.560 --> 0:30:29.120
<v Speaker 2>brings mel Weinberg, the Swindler, a whole basketball team's worth

0:30:29.160 --> 0:30:31.800
<v Speaker 2>of corrupt politicians for the FBI to bust. The list

0:30:31.840 --> 0:30:34.760
<v Speaker 2>of congressmen includes a Senator for New Jersey, Harrison A.

0:30:35.360 --> 0:30:40.080
<v Speaker 2>Pete Williams, Representatives John Jenrett of South Carolina, Richard Kelly

0:30:40.080 --> 0:30:43.800
<v Speaker 2>of Florida, John Murphy of Staten Island, Frank Thompson of Trenton,

0:30:43.800 --> 0:30:46.560
<v Speaker 2>New Jersey. Thompson initially didn't take the money. He's like

0:30:46.560 --> 0:30:50.240
<v Speaker 2>a really well respected congressman. So the swindler Weinberg has

0:30:50.240 --> 0:30:52.600
<v Speaker 2>to go at him twice. He got him second time.

0:30:52.840 --> 0:30:53.320
<v Speaker 6>No way.

0:30:53.600 --> 0:30:55.760
<v Speaker 2>Now what about the two shakes getting in on the action.

0:30:55.840 --> 0:30:58.560
<v Speaker 2>We gotta have a story of that, right, Elizabeth. We do.

0:30:59.240 --> 0:31:01.200
<v Speaker 2>For instance, there's this story of when Weinberg and his

0:31:01.240 --> 0:31:04.440
<v Speaker 2>two fake shakes met with Senator Harrison Pete Williams. The

0:31:04.560 --> 0:31:06.800
<v Speaker 2>highest ranking member of Congress who was caught up in

0:31:06.800 --> 0:31:09.600
<v Speaker 2>this sting was Senator Pete Williams. Okay, he was a

0:31:09.600 --> 0:31:11.920
<v Speaker 2>Democrat from New Jersey. When the swindle of Rheinberg, he

0:31:11.960 --> 0:31:14.040
<v Speaker 2>reaches out to him with an offer of a payoff

0:31:14.120 --> 0:31:16.800
<v Speaker 2>from the fake shakes. There was no cash offer. This

0:31:16.880 --> 0:31:20.360
<v Speaker 2>is complicated bribing. He instead said that the fake shakes

0:31:20.360 --> 0:31:23.800
<v Speaker 2>would offer the Senator an eighteen percent ownership stake in

0:31:23.840 --> 0:31:28.480
<v Speaker 2>a titanium mine, okay, And in exchange, Senator Williams would

0:31:28.480 --> 0:31:31.400
<v Speaker 2>of course expedite the immigration bill and the licenses for

0:31:31.480 --> 0:31:34.120
<v Speaker 2>the casino construction. And then for the fake shakes also

0:31:34.200 --> 0:31:36.920
<v Speaker 2>they would get he would steer a government contract to

0:31:37.080 --> 0:31:40.120
<v Speaker 2>the titanium mine, so both parties would profit from that.

0:31:40.280 --> 0:31:41.040
<v Speaker 3>Oh my god.

0:31:41.240 --> 0:31:43.480
<v Speaker 2>Now keep in mind, as I said, Senator Pete Williams

0:31:43.480 --> 0:31:46.400
<v Speaker 2>received no actual payoff, just a promise of profits. So

0:31:46.440 --> 0:31:48.840
<v Speaker 2>the meeting was with the two fake shakes, and being

0:31:48.880 --> 0:31:51.240
<v Speaker 2>the nineteen seventies, of course, the meeting took place aboard

0:31:51.280 --> 0:31:54.480
<v Speaker 2>a yacht. It's a yacht party in del Rey, Florida.

0:31:55.400 --> 0:31:57.440
<v Speaker 2>The meeting was an interesting affair. But rather than take

0:31:57.440 --> 0:32:00.120
<v Speaker 2>mine before port, Elizabeth, I'd like you to close your eyes.

0:32:00.280 --> 0:32:04.320
<v Speaker 2>I'd like those to picture it. It's a late March

0:32:04.360 --> 0:32:08.320
<v Speaker 2>afternoon named del Rey, Florida. Despite the month, since it's Florida,

0:32:08.400 --> 0:32:11.840
<v Speaker 2>it's still warm. Elizabeth. You are aboard a yacht, the Corsair,

0:32:12.120 --> 0:32:16.120
<v Speaker 2>sitting at anchor in the marina. Seagulls call waves lap

0:32:16.120 --> 0:32:19.120
<v Speaker 2>at the dock pilings, and oh yeah, this boat is

0:32:19.160 --> 0:32:21.960
<v Speaker 2>a rocket. There's a yacht party underway. New guests have

0:32:22.080 --> 0:32:26.120
<v Speaker 2>just arrived. Unfortunately, Elizabeth, you're here because you're working. The

0:32:26.120 --> 0:32:28.320
<v Speaker 2>theme for this yacht party is a new hit show,

0:32:28.400 --> 0:32:31.200
<v Speaker 2>the love Boat. This means you're working with a bartender

0:32:31.200 --> 0:32:33.400
<v Speaker 2>who's supposed to be a lookalike for the Afrod love

0:32:33.440 --> 0:32:37.760
<v Speaker 2>Boat bartender Isaac. He's close, but he's no eyes anyway,

0:32:37.880 --> 0:32:40.120
<v Speaker 2>you're mixing my ties as you watch the new guest

0:32:40.120 --> 0:32:43.280
<v Speaker 2>step aboard. Out front is a charismatic mayor from New

0:32:43.360 --> 0:32:46.880
<v Speaker 2>Jersey named Angela Aroshetti. The party is in his honor.

0:32:46.960 --> 0:32:49.400
<v Speaker 2>With him is a curious entourage. There's a man who

0:32:49.400 --> 0:32:52.400
<v Speaker 2>looks important and he is. It's US Senator Pete Williams,

0:32:52.600 --> 0:32:54.880
<v Speaker 2>also of New Jersey. Also with the Mayor's what looks

0:32:54.880 --> 0:32:57.720
<v Speaker 2>to be a shake and his interpreter, he's announced as

0:32:57.960 --> 0:33:01.480
<v Speaker 2>is Eminence. Shake you, Sir Rabi. The shak is dressed

0:33:01.520 --> 0:33:04.520
<v Speaker 2>in the traditional robe, the burnous, the white, flowing regal

0:33:04.600 --> 0:33:07.640
<v Speaker 2>looking striking on his head. He wears a cafea the

0:33:07.680 --> 0:33:11.920
<v Speaker 2>traditional Arab chik headdress, his eyes shielded by designer sunglasses.

0:33:11.920 --> 0:33:14.400
<v Speaker 2>You're called over by the yacht over. Guess you're supposed

0:33:14.440 --> 0:33:17.280
<v Speaker 2>to play waitress for this crowd. You come over greet

0:33:17.320 --> 0:33:19.400
<v Speaker 2>the guests. You ask the Shake if he'd like something

0:33:19.400 --> 0:33:22.040
<v Speaker 2>to drink. He looks to his interpreter, who then repeats

0:33:22.080 --> 0:33:24.040
<v Speaker 2>what you just said, but in what sounds like, I

0:33:24.040 --> 0:33:27.120
<v Speaker 2>don't know, guttural, made up impression of Arabic. But hey,

0:33:27.120 --> 0:33:29.120
<v Speaker 2>what do you know? The Shak responds, and then the

0:33:29.120 --> 0:33:31.680
<v Speaker 2>interpreter turns to you and says, orange juice, twist of

0:33:31.760 --> 0:33:34.600
<v Speaker 2>lun Now you ask the others what they'd care to drink.

0:33:34.600 --> 0:33:37.560
<v Speaker 2>The important looking man he says he'd like a Scotch neat.

0:33:37.600 --> 0:33:39.560
<v Speaker 2>The mayor from New Jersey asks for a Scotch but

0:33:39.640 --> 0:33:41.960
<v Speaker 2>on the rocks. The interpreter doesn't say what he wants.

0:33:42.040 --> 0:33:43.800
<v Speaker 2>You decide you'll make him an orange juice, the same

0:33:43.800 --> 0:33:46.400
<v Speaker 2>as for the chik. You go back, you mix the drinks.

0:33:46.480 --> 0:33:49.440
<v Speaker 2>Ice cubes hit the glass. That's for the Scotch on rocks.

0:33:49.680 --> 0:33:52.560
<v Speaker 2>Next is the Scotch neat, and then the two orange

0:33:52.640 --> 0:33:55.600
<v Speaker 2>juices with a twist of lime. You return with the drinks.

0:33:55.600 --> 0:33:57.560
<v Speaker 2>When you get back, the men are now all seated.

0:33:57.760 --> 0:33:59.920
<v Speaker 2>You hand out the drinks and you hear the interpreters

0:34:00.120 --> 0:34:03.480
<v Speaker 2>speaking with the shake. Now you're pretty damn sure he's

0:34:03.520 --> 0:34:06.040
<v Speaker 2>just making up sounds there is no way that's Arabic,

0:34:06.360 --> 0:34:09.600
<v Speaker 2>but hey, what do you know exactly? The shake seems

0:34:09.640 --> 0:34:12.560
<v Speaker 2>to like what he hears. He then nods, smiles, laughs

0:34:12.560 --> 0:34:14.160
<v Speaker 2>a little, and then the shake says something in a

0:34:14.200 --> 0:34:18.000
<v Speaker 2>low voice. It also sounds like make believe movie Arabic.

0:34:18.320 --> 0:34:20.840
<v Speaker 2>The interpreter turns to the group and he says, the

0:34:20.920 --> 0:34:24.720
<v Speaker 2>shake is delighted with your open spirit, most strong, very masculine.

0:34:25.120 --> 0:34:27.440
<v Speaker 2>You roll your eyes as you hear the important man.

0:34:27.480 --> 0:34:30.640
<v Speaker 2>The senators laugh and loudly say, you tell the Shake.

0:34:30.719 --> 0:34:33.080
<v Speaker 2>I'll do all I can. You tell them, I'll deliver

0:34:33.200 --> 0:34:36.279
<v Speaker 2>my end. You head back to the bar, Elizabeth. Next

0:34:36.280 --> 0:34:37.920
<v Speaker 2>time you look back, the men are now posing for

0:34:38.000 --> 0:34:42.200
<v Speaker 2>a photo. Oh god, So after that yacht party, Elizabeth,

0:34:42.360 --> 0:34:43.560
<v Speaker 2>the deal was not done.

0:34:43.360 --> 0:34:44.800
<v Speaker 3>With it's photographic evidence.

0:34:44.880 --> 0:34:46.440
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that was a great photo for them on the

0:34:46.440 --> 0:34:50.640
<v Speaker 2>boat together. It took three more meetings that took place

0:34:50.719 --> 0:34:54.440
<v Speaker 2>over several months in Manhattan at the Pierre Hotel. The

0:34:54.480 --> 0:34:57.319
<v Speaker 2>senator medigan with Weinberg, you know the Pierre. Yes, that's

0:34:57.400 --> 0:35:00.239
<v Speaker 2>right for your story. So the senert he he meets

0:35:00.239 --> 0:35:02.520
<v Speaker 2>with Weinberg and the Shake, and they agreed to invest

0:35:02.520 --> 0:35:05.160
<v Speaker 2>one hundred million dollars in the titanium mine and they

0:35:05.160 --> 0:35:07.160
<v Speaker 2>made a deal for Williams to get his cut. They

0:35:07.160 --> 0:35:09.719
<v Speaker 2>present him with like his ownership papers as stock certificates.

0:35:10.080 --> 0:35:13.320
<v Speaker 2>In Arlington, Virginia, the Senator meets again and he promises

0:35:13.360 --> 0:35:15.359
<v Speaker 2>the fake shake he will use his influence to get

0:35:15.400 --> 0:35:18.960
<v Speaker 2>the military contracts going help the mind development along. They're

0:35:19.000 --> 0:35:22.400
<v Speaker 2>all going to be in swell. Finally, last meeting at

0:35:22.440 --> 0:35:26.640
<v Speaker 2>JFK Airport once again, Senator. He's winging his way to Paris.

0:35:26.640 --> 0:35:28.200
<v Speaker 2>He's about to catch a flight, so he just pops

0:35:28.239 --> 0:35:30.359
<v Speaker 2>over to meet Weinberg in the fake shake. At the

0:35:30.560 --> 0:35:33.360
<v Speaker 2>airport hotel, he stops off to pick up the stock

0:35:33.400 --> 0:35:36.560
<v Speaker 2>certificates for the mine. All of this was recorded on

0:35:36.640 --> 0:35:39.360
<v Speaker 2>hidden mike surveillance cameras. The Senator, in other words, was

0:35:39.880 --> 0:35:43.880
<v Speaker 2>now having he was stuck with incontrovertible proof of his crimes.

0:35:44.880 --> 0:35:47.200
<v Speaker 2>So there you go, a recorded look behind the curtain

0:35:47.239 --> 0:35:49.680
<v Speaker 2>of corruption. Okay, let's take a little break, Elizabeth, and

0:35:49.680 --> 0:35:51.839
<v Speaker 2>after this, I will tell you what happens when abscam

0:35:51.920 --> 0:35:55.200
<v Speaker 2>hits the fan and shocks a nation that's still recovering

0:35:55.200 --> 0:35:55.920
<v Speaker 2>from Watergate.

0:35:56.200 --> 0:36:19.600
<v Speaker 7>Yeah, and isabey so abscam?

0:36:19.640 --> 0:36:20.279
<v Speaker 2>How are you liking it?

0:36:20.520 --> 0:36:23.760
<v Speaker 3>So it's the scope is so big.

0:36:23.880 --> 0:36:25.440
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, right, start out with a little time.

0:36:25.760 --> 0:36:28.120
<v Speaker 3>These little tiny hotel room meetings and.

0:36:28.040 --> 0:36:29.439
<v Speaker 2>Start out with like they're going to get some Long

0:36:29.440 --> 0:36:31.879
<v Speaker 2>Island white color criminals and work with the mob. They're

0:36:31.920 --> 0:36:33.600
<v Speaker 2>just trying to clean up Whoever's.

0:36:33.600 --> 0:36:36.239
<v Speaker 3>What's jumping out to me is that he goes, you know,

0:36:36.280 --> 0:36:39.960
<v Speaker 3>the fake shake is like, we're having immigration issues. They're like,

0:36:40.120 --> 0:36:42.720
<v Speaker 3>instead of saying we're just going to address your issue,

0:36:42.760 --> 0:36:45.440
<v Speaker 3>they're like, let's just do some legislation.

0:36:45.000 --> 0:36:46.000
<v Speaker 2>About immigration bill.

0:36:46.080 --> 0:36:48.480
<v Speaker 3>And it doesn't seem like it's that expensive.

0:36:48.719 --> 0:36:52.239
<v Speaker 2>No, also seems rather common. Yeah, they have answers that

0:36:52.320 --> 0:36:54.040
<v Speaker 2>this is not These are not the first people who

0:36:54.160 --> 0:36:54.680
<v Speaker 2>came to them.

0:36:54.719 --> 0:36:56.719
<v Speaker 3>We got to think about what we want to go

0:36:56.800 --> 0:36:59.320
<v Speaker 3>to someone with, what kind of legislation.

0:36:58.880 --> 0:37:00.480
<v Speaker 2>What kind of ridiculous crime all we want?

0:37:00.640 --> 0:37:04.719
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, the ridiculous Zarens law.

0:37:08.120 --> 0:37:10.840
<v Speaker 2>So at this point, now we have the New Jersey

0:37:10.880 --> 0:37:13.560
<v Speaker 2>mayor who's opened the door to political corruption, which leads

0:37:13.800 --> 0:37:16.239
<v Speaker 2>to a road right through the power politics in the

0:37:16.239 --> 0:37:18.920
<v Speaker 2>tri state area of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania

0:37:18.960 --> 0:37:20.759
<v Speaker 2>that then leads all the way to Washington, d C.

0:37:20.880 --> 0:37:24.120
<v Speaker 2>In the US Congress. The other senator who got caught

0:37:24.160 --> 0:37:27.239
<v Speaker 2>up in this FBI sting was Senator Larry Presler. He

0:37:27.280 --> 0:37:30.520
<v Speaker 2>was a Republican from South Dakota. Don't even see that coming,

0:37:30.840 --> 0:37:33.920
<v Speaker 2>Yeah right, So, what's this Republican from South Dakota doing

0:37:33.960 --> 0:37:36.240
<v Speaker 2>it on this scam? Well, he'd been a congressman first,

0:37:36.239 --> 0:37:38.200
<v Speaker 2>but then in nineteen seventy eight he runs for the

0:37:38.280 --> 0:37:41.200
<v Speaker 2>Senate and he wins. Then Senator Presler he was, by

0:37:41.239 --> 0:37:44.160
<v Speaker 2>the way, the first Vietnam veteran to be elected to Senate.

0:37:44.520 --> 0:37:47.600
<v Speaker 2>This is like seventeen eight. He's very fresh out of

0:37:47.600 --> 0:37:48.120
<v Speaker 2>the war.

0:37:48.400 --> 0:37:50.360
<v Speaker 3>And he, guys, still got his uniform.

0:37:50.080 --> 0:37:51.719
<v Speaker 2>Pretty much like team you take that hat off.

0:37:53.320 --> 0:37:54.120
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

0:37:54.160 --> 0:37:55.719
<v Speaker 2>So I guess he was feeling pretty high in his

0:37:55.719 --> 0:37:58.320
<v Speaker 2>own supply because in nineteen seventy nine, after being elected

0:37:58.320 --> 0:38:00.720
<v Speaker 2>to Senate, he the he decides to run for president.

0:38:00.880 --> 0:38:03.520
<v Speaker 2>He's like, why not, I'm a Republican. It's nineteen eighty.

0:38:03.560 --> 0:38:06.360
<v Speaker 2>People are they've forgotten about Watergate enough? You know, we

0:38:06.440 --> 0:38:07.239
<v Speaker 2>got Jimmy.

0:38:06.920 --> 0:38:09.960
<v Speaker 3>Carter got There's no one else in the eighties, nobody run.

0:38:10.000 --> 0:38:12.320
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, no one, No one leaps to mind. In nineteen

0:38:12.400 --> 0:38:16.400
<v Speaker 2>eighty giant figure, No, no so, needless say, he didn't make.

0:38:16.280 --> 0:38:18.000
<v Speaker 3>It known to the entire country.

0:38:18.080 --> 0:38:20.640
<v Speaker 2>He didn't make it far into the primary, said Ronald Reagan,

0:38:21.080 --> 0:38:24.359
<v Speaker 2>mopped up the whole shield. So but the dude did

0:38:24.440 --> 0:38:26.040
<v Speaker 2>manage to rack up a hell of a lot of

0:38:26.080 --> 0:38:29.040
<v Speaker 2>debt from his presidential campaign. Oh boy. So that's when

0:38:29.080 --> 0:38:31.759
<v Speaker 2>the FBI informant Weinberger approached him with an offer from

0:38:31.800 --> 0:38:34.960
<v Speaker 2>the fake Shakes. Oh, someone from one of his fundraisers

0:38:34.960 --> 0:38:36.600
<v Speaker 2>makes the connection. All right, They're like, oh, you've got

0:38:36.600 --> 0:38:38.840
<v Speaker 2>to meet these guys. There's these shakes in Washington. Everybody's

0:38:38.840 --> 0:38:40.920
<v Speaker 2>getting in on it. So the meeting is set up

0:38:40.960 --> 0:38:44.040
<v Speaker 2>for at a tony home in Georgetown, like where all

0:38:44.040 --> 0:38:47.440
<v Speaker 2>the good corruptions done. As an FBI man, John F. Good,

0:38:47.520 --> 0:38:50.080
<v Speaker 2>remember the guys running all this, he recalled a We

0:38:50.239 --> 0:38:53.000
<v Speaker 2>chased him actually, like they aimed at this guy.

0:38:53.320 --> 0:38:57.600
<v Speaker 3>So they figure that he's a vulnerable, you know, position.

0:38:57.320 --> 0:38:59.160
<v Speaker 2>Totally and he's full of himself. I think he made

0:38:59.200 --> 0:39:00.680
<v Speaker 2>a couple of enemies. It's been this whole long. I'm

0:39:00.680 --> 0:39:03.120
<v Speaker 2>gonna run for president. Yeah, anyway, I don't know, I'm

0:39:03.120 --> 0:39:06.520
<v Speaker 2>just speculating. A while on hidden camera, old Senator Presler

0:39:06.560 --> 0:39:08.600
<v Speaker 2>was offered a bribe of fifty thousand dollars, a going

0:39:08.680 --> 0:39:11.480
<v Speaker 2>rate for senators. Apparently, the payoff would be paid in

0:39:11.520 --> 0:39:14.279
<v Speaker 2>exchange for his help to for the two shakes to

0:39:14.320 --> 0:39:17.600
<v Speaker 2>get their deportation problems cleared up. Right, So this first

0:39:17.640 --> 0:39:20.480
<v Speaker 2>time senator, he's new at this level. He says, I'll

0:39:20.520 --> 0:39:21.960
<v Speaker 2>look into it. Let me go talk to my guys.

0:39:22.239 --> 0:39:24.279
<v Speaker 2>But he promises nothing more than I will go look

0:39:24.320 --> 0:39:27.000
<v Speaker 2>into it. Now that's important that he promised them nothing.

0:39:27.239 --> 0:39:30.120
<v Speaker 2>But he was recorded saying, and I quote, in any event,

0:39:30.200 --> 0:39:32.040
<v Speaker 2>it would not be proper for me to promise to

0:39:32.080 --> 0:39:35.360
<v Speaker 2>do anything in exchange for a campaign contribution. So he

0:39:35.440 --> 0:39:37.480
<v Speaker 2>just tells them right like, I can't do it when

0:39:37.520 --> 0:39:41.280
<v Speaker 2>it comes to payoffs. At the time, we can get around.

0:39:41.320 --> 0:39:41.520
<v Speaker 3>Then.

0:39:41.880 --> 0:39:43.640
<v Speaker 2>Now that when it comes to the payoffs, there's this

0:39:43.680 --> 0:39:46.279
<v Speaker 2>guy who's like the other major bag man. It was

0:39:46.320 --> 0:39:50.320
<v Speaker 2>Mayor Eric Haschetti's friend, Howard Crichton. He's a Philadelphia based

0:39:50.400 --> 0:39:53.279
<v Speaker 2>real estate lawyer. Okay, right. He Ultimately he becomes the

0:39:53.280 --> 0:39:55.880
<v Speaker 2>one who starts bringing in the congressman for the shakes.

0:39:56.520 --> 0:39:58.440
<v Speaker 2>For the congressman, the FBI had, as I said, they

0:39:58.480 --> 0:40:01.600
<v Speaker 2>set up this house on w in Washington, d c

0:40:01.760 --> 0:40:04.160
<v Speaker 2>to go along with their georgetownhouse. I guess they set

0:40:04.200 --> 0:40:06.960
<v Speaker 2>up mikes and cameras, and then they invited the congressmen

0:40:06.960 --> 0:40:08.759
<v Speaker 2>to come by and pick up the cash at the

0:40:08.800 --> 0:40:11.239
<v Speaker 2>house with the fake shakes and come by meet the shak.

0:40:11.400 --> 0:40:11.720
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

0:40:11.760 --> 0:40:14.160
<v Speaker 2>Now there they would meet at shake Rahmen and Shaka

0:40:14.280 --> 0:40:17.680
<v Speaker 2>later Amir Habib. So, according to those who visited the

0:40:17.719 --> 0:40:19.839
<v Speaker 2>house for the surveillance cameras to be able to get

0:40:19.880 --> 0:40:22.160
<v Speaker 2>clean photos and video, because this is like nineteen eighties

0:40:22.239 --> 0:40:25.400
<v Speaker 2>video cameras, the home's porch lights were so bright that

0:40:25.440 --> 0:40:29.239
<v Speaker 2>the congressmen are often seen squinting in the photos. They're

0:40:29.320 --> 0:40:31.880
<v Speaker 2>right there on the front porch like oh god, my eyes.

0:40:32.440 --> 0:40:35.040
<v Speaker 2>Now they had a reason to explain away the super

0:40:35.080 --> 0:40:38.720
<v Speaker 2>bright lights. The fake shake explained through his interpreter, obviously

0:40:39.040 --> 0:40:41.520
<v Speaker 2>that he liked the lights to be so bright because

0:40:41.520 --> 0:40:44.320
<v Speaker 2>he missed the bright, hot, sunny deserts of his homeland.

0:40:44.360 --> 0:40:46.400
<v Speaker 3>We'll get out of here, and they went for it.

0:40:46.440 --> 0:40:47.480
<v Speaker 2>They're like, oh, it makes sense to me.

0:40:47.719 --> 0:40:48.240
<v Speaker 4>Uh shake.

0:40:48.680 --> 0:40:51.880
<v Speaker 2>Oh, So this Philly lawyer, the bagman, cried and he

0:40:51.960 --> 0:40:54.640
<v Speaker 2>brings congressmen after congressmen by the house to meet and

0:40:54.640 --> 0:40:57.239
<v Speaker 2>greet and get paid by the shakes. Yeah, so Pennsylvania

0:40:57.239 --> 0:41:00.279
<v Speaker 2>Democrats Raymond Larder, he was forty one of the time.

0:41:00.320 --> 0:41:02.960
<v Speaker 2>In Michael Ozzie Meyer's thirty six, they both get filmed

0:41:02.960 --> 0:41:05.480
<v Speaker 2>at the house picking up their briefcases of cash. There

0:41:05.520 --> 0:41:08.080
<v Speaker 2>was another one, New York Democrat John Murphy fifty three.

0:41:08.160 --> 0:41:11.120
<v Speaker 2>He gets picked up, but he was already under investigation

0:41:11.239 --> 0:41:13.480
<v Speaker 2>by the House Ethics Committee, so he didn't want to

0:41:13.480 --> 0:41:15.560
<v Speaker 2>actually pick up the money himself, so he made cride

0:41:15.600 --> 0:41:16.399
<v Speaker 2>and bring it to him.

0:41:16.920 --> 0:41:18.000
<v Speaker 3>Oh God.

0:41:18.040 --> 0:41:21.319
<v Speaker 2>So when a Republican Congressman from Florida, Richard Kelly fifty five,

0:41:21.640 --> 0:41:23.600
<v Speaker 2>he hears about the shakes giving out all this money

0:41:23.600 --> 0:41:25.799
<v Speaker 2>to his like, you know, colleagues, He's like, where do

0:41:25.840 --> 0:41:28.959
<v Speaker 2>I get in line? I swear to God a bill,

0:41:29.040 --> 0:41:32.440
<v Speaker 2>as Time magazine put it, and I quote. Kelly apparently

0:41:32.560 --> 0:41:34.960
<v Speaker 2>learned of the available cash from a chain starting with

0:41:35.000 --> 0:41:37.759
<v Speaker 2>a convicted stock swindler and leading through an accountant and

0:41:37.800 --> 0:41:40.520
<v Speaker 2>an East Coast mobster, all three of whom had expected

0:41:40.560 --> 0:41:44.360
<v Speaker 2>to acquire fifty thousand each from Shay Kabebe. Only Kelly, however,

0:41:44.440 --> 0:41:47.520
<v Speaker 2>received a delivery. The cameras in the w Street house

0:41:47.719 --> 0:41:50.640
<v Speaker 2>caught him stuffing twenty five thousand dollars, two hundred and

0:41:50.640 --> 0:41:52.920
<v Speaker 2>one hundred dollar bills and two hundred and fifty twenty

0:41:52.920 --> 0:41:56.000
<v Speaker 2>dollars bills into his suit coat and pants pockets, and

0:41:56.040 --> 0:41:57.640
<v Speaker 2>then asking does it show?

0:41:58.040 --> 0:42:04.600
<v Speaker 3>Oh, are you kidding me? So it's so low just

0:42:04.640 --> 0:42:06.000
<v Speaker 3>shoving it in your pocket?

0:42:07.160 --> 0:42:11.160
<v Speaker 2>And why in every pocket you got your jackets bulging

0:42:11.239 --> 0:42:13.319
<v Speaker 2>your pants pocket? How does my butt look?

0:42:14.239 --> 0:42:16.680
<v Speaker 3>Here's about it from different criminals.

0:42:16.760 --> 0:42:18.040
<v Speaker 2>It goes running over for it.

0:42:18.280 --> 0:42:19.800
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, but it's like it's not just like oh I

0:42:20.120 --> 0:42:22.239
<v Speaker 3>got wind of it from one dee. Oh yeah, No,

0:42:22.440 --> 0:42:25.040
<v Speaker 3>like multiple criminals that he knows.

0:42:25.320 --> 0:42:29.640
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, huh. So watching these congressmen line up like little

0:42:29.640 --> 0:42:33.319
<v Speaker 2>piggies at the trock exactly, FBI agents are astounded. They're like,

0:42:33.360 --> 0:42:36.799
<v Speaker 2>we thought Watergate was bad, so there's one FBI agent

0:42:36.800 --> 0:42:40.040
<v Speaker 2>put it later on quote, we found people climbing all

0:42:40.200 --> 0:42:42.160
<v Speaker 2>over each other to get some of the action. We

0:42:42.160 --> 0:42:46.880
<v Speaker 2>were mystified. So they're just gaps and gobsmacked by this, right, Elizabeth.

0:42:46.920 --> 0:42:49.400
<v Speaker 2>The FBI guy guys had made so many deals for

0:42:49.480 --> 0:42:51.800
<v Speaker 2>so many payoffs that they ran out of bribe money

0:42:52.040 --> 0:42:53.680
<v Speaker 2>and they had to go back to the FBI for more.

0:42:53.719 --> 0:42:55.520
<v Speaker 2>Like we're gonna need some more bribe money to pay

0:42:55.520 --> 0:42:56.160
<v Speaker 2>off these people.

0:42:56.239 --> 0:42:57.319
<v Speaker 3>Don't worry, we'll get it back.

0:42:57.360 --> 0:42:59.200
<v Speaker 2>At this point, the FBI bosses are like, wait, what's

0:42:59.239 --> 0:43:02.120
<v Speaker 2>going on with this operation? We got all these senators

0:43:02.160 --> 0:43:04.400
<v Speaker 2>and congressmen. We're giving a briefcases of cash with a

0:43:04.400 --> 0:43:07.080
<v Speaker 2>fake shake, Like wait, whoa, whoa. We really should have

0:43:07.080 --> 0:43:09.840
<v Speaker 2>been doing a little more oversights. So the FBI is like,

0:43:10.480 --> 0:43:12.560
<v Speaker 2>we're gonna have to shut this down. So they go

0:43:12.600 --> 0:43:13.879
<v Speaker 2>and they turn off the money hose.

0:43:13.960 --> 0:43:14.160
<v Speaker 4>Right.

0:43:14.520 --> 0:43:17.520
<v Speaker 2>So, all in all, the FBI's undercover investigation last twenty

0:43:17.600 --> 0:43:21.040
<v Speaker 2>three months. One hundred FBI agents work on it. Over

0:43:21.080 --> 0:43:23.799
<v Speaker 2>the two year long operation, it cost roughly eight hundred

0:43:23.840 --> 0:43:26.920
<v Speaker 2>thousand dollars in total. There was one other reason why

0:43:27.000 --> 0:43:30.720
<v Speaker 2>the FBI chose to shut down abscam. Your point about

0:43:30.719 --> 0:43:33.480
<v Speaker 2>the word was spreading. The press learned about the fake shakes.

0:43:33.880 --> 0:43:36.280
<v Speaker 2>The corrupt congressmen are all lining up for the bribes,

0:43:36.360 --> 0:43:38.400
<v Speaker 2>so they actually find out where the house is, and

0:43:38.400 --> 0:43:40.600
<v Speaker 2>the press starts to get in the way because reporters

0:43:40.600 --> 0:43:45.799
<v Speaker 2>starts surveiling the FBI's surveillance teams. For instance, reporters from

0:43:45.960 --> 0:43:49.880
<v Speaker 2>NBCTV they had not one, but two Winnebago vans that

0:43:49.960 --> 0:43:53.520
<v Speaker 2>they parked near the FBI's fake shake and trapman house

0:43:53.560 --> 0:43:56.080
<v Speaker 2>on W Street. So there you have the FBI truck

0:43:56.080 --> 0:43:58.880
<v Speaker 2>and then like five cars down as a Winnebago watching

0:43:58.880 --> 0:43:59.640
<v Speaker 2>the FBI truck.

0:44:00.160 --> 0:44:02.440
<v Speaker 3>Did the news so the news knew that it was

0:44:02.480 --> 0:44:05.520
<v Speaker 3>the FBI or did they think, No, there's these crooked They.

0:44:05.360 --> 0:44:07.560
<v Speaker 2>Think it's I think because there's a crooked shake, who's

0:44:07.560 --> 0:44:08.480
<v Speaker 2>buying Congressman?

0:44:08.920 --> 0:44:12.880
<v Speaker 3>Think this investigative news team is going to bring down exactly?

0:44:12.960 --> 0:44:15.440
<v Speaker 2>Then they and then they noticed that there's that somebody

0:44:15.440 --> 0:44:17.520
<v Speaker 2>else is watching and then not the press to get there.

0:44:17.600 --> 0:44:19.360
<v Speaker 2>Oh they're gonna they're gonna beat us on the story.

0:44:19.400 --> 0:44:22.040
<v Speaker 2>They're like, oh wait, those are not reporters. Those guys

0:44:22.040 --> 0:44:25.560
<v Speaker 2>look like yeah, exactly. So then from their surveillance vans,

0:44:25.680 --> 0:44:28.239
<v Speaker 2>NBC tries to film whoever goes in and out of

0:44:28.280 --> 0:44:31.440
<v Speaker 2>the super Bright house. Right, But the windows, by the way,

0:44:31.480 --> 0:44:33.320
<v Speaker 2>are also always draped, and when the drape, when the

0:44:33.400 --> 0:44:36.120
<v Speaker 2>drapes are slightly removed for a moment, the windows are tinted,

0:44:36.120 --> 0:44:37.759
<v Speaker 2>so they can't film anything in. They can only get

0:44:37.800 --> 0:44:39.240
<v Speaker 2>people coming in and out of the house.

0:44:39.320 --> 0:44:39.520
<v Speaker 4>Right.

0:44:39.800 --> 0:44:43.200
<v Speaker 2>It's also buying you wintertime in Washington, DC, back when

0:44:43.239 --> 0:44:45.560
<v Speaker 2>that actually mattered. It was a cold winter. There was

0:44:45.600 --> 0:44:48.680
<v Speaker 2>snow and terrible weather. NBC reporter, they're on steak out.

0:44:48.719 --> 0:44:51.279
<v Speaker 2>Their orange juice is freezing in their truck. For two

0:44:51.320 --> 0:44:55.200
<v Speaker 2>months they watched the FBI's undercover operation, not knowing fully

0:44:55.200 --> 0:44:56.799
<v Speaker 2>that it was the FBI. Eventually they figure it out.

0:44:56.800 --> 0:45:00.279
<v Speaker 2>But meanwhile, the neighbors noticed these two suspicious winnibeg goes

0:45:00.280 --> 0:45:03.439
<v Speaker 2>and they phone the police on NBC. So the DC

0:45:03.640 --> 0:45:06.440
<v Speaker 2>cops they show up to investigate, and the reporters they're like,

0:45:06.760 --> 0:45:08.239
<v Speaker 2>so we need you to step out of the winnebago.

0:45:08.320 --> 0:45:11.560
<v Speaker 2>The reporter's like, go go away, go, don't stop, get away.

0:45:11.760 --> 0:45:13.400
<v Speaker 2>The cops like, seriously, you need you out. They're like,

0:45:13.400 --> 0:45:16.400
<v Speaker 2>we're with NBC. They're like, what do you stop whispering?

0:45:16.400 --> 0:45:19.640
<v Speaker 2>Where shit? Don't look go away right. They eventually show

0:45:19.719 --> 0:45:22.280
<v Speaker 2>the cops away by telling them, getting upset and saying,

0:45:22.480 --> 0:45:25.200
<v Speaker 2>what's the matter with you guys, You're screwing up our investigation.

0:45:25.880 --> 0:45:27.239
<v Speaker 2>So the cops are like, oh, sorry about that, and

0:45:27.239 --> 0:45:29.799
<v Speaker 2>they'll wait. Now. Around the same time, the FBI has

0:45:29.840 --> 0:45:32.440
<v Speaker 2>decided it's time to shut down the fake shake operations.

0:45:32.480 --> 0:45:36.279
<v Speaker 2>And bring some charges. So Saturday February second, soon enough,

0:45:36.360 --> 0:45:39.760
<v Speaker 2>the story now breaks because everybody's ohay, and the sting

0:45:39.880 --> 0:45:42.440
<v Speaker 2>hits the fan. And by that I mean the headlines

0:45:42.480 --> 0:45:46.360
<v Speaker 2>and we're talking big crazy headlines like Watergate level. They're like,

0:45:46.400 --> 0:45:49.080
<v Speaker 2>oh my god, government corruption at the highest level, Senator

0:45:49.200 --> 0:45:52.319
<v Speaker 2>by Shakes, it's just insane. And also then there's the

0:45:52.320 --> 0:45:55.240
<v Speaker 2>whole foreigner racism part of like, our government's being corrupted

0:45:55.239 --> 0:45:58.520
<v Speaker 2>by outside influences of oil money, blah blah, the people

0:45:58.560 --> 0:46:00.960
<v Speaker 2>who've just punished us with So it's like you're on

0:46:01.000 --> 0:46:03.520
<v Speaker 2>the side of the villains or whatever. So this is whole,

0:46:03.640 --> 0:46:05.680
<v Speaker 2>like what's going on. Everyone's trying to get to the

0:46:05.680 --> 0:46:08.720
<v Speaker 2>bottom of this, And then it goes to the court rooms.

0:46:09.360 --> 0:46:12.759
<v Speaker 2>In court under oath, testimony reveals the inner workings of

0:46:12.840 --> 0:46:16.920
<v Speaker 2>power politics in the late seventies, Grand jury hearings, Senate

0:46:16.960 --> 0:46:21.480
<v Speaker 2>committee hearings, courtroom trials. The trials they started in nineteen eighty.

0:46:21.600 --> 0:46:24.320
<v Speaker 2>In total, eight defendants were put on dockets in federal

0:46:24.400 --> 0:46:28.120
<v Speaker 2>courts in Brooklyn, Washington, d C. And Philadelphia. The full list,

0:46:28.160 --> 0:46:30.960
<v Speaker 2>if you're keeping track, was Senator Harrison Pete Williams of

0:46:30.960 --> 0:46:35.000
<v Speaker 2>New Jersey Congressman Raymond Larder and Michael Ozzy Myers of Pennsylvania,

0:46:35.400 --> 0:46:39.120
<v Speaker 2>Representative John Jenrett of South Carolina, Reped Frank Thompson of

0:46:39.160 --> 0:46:42.440
<v Speaker 2>New Jersey, Representative John Murphy of New York, and finally,

0:46:42.480 --> 0:46:45.719
<v Speaker 2>Representative Richard Kelly of Florida. All of the senators in

0:46:45.760 --> 0:46:48.360
<v Speaker 2>congressmen caught in the staying were Democrats except for Kelly

0:46:48.360 --> 0:46:52.160
<v Speaker 2>of Florida and Presler of South Dakota. Washington Posts though

0:46:52.280 --> 0:46:55.760
<v Speaker 2>they loved Presler much like you had the reaction of like, oh, yeah,

0:46:55.880 --> 0:46:58.719
<v Speaker 2>somebody finally said no, at least like I can't do

0:46:58.800 --> 0:47:02.800
<v Speaker 2>this like that. Yeah, So they described his experience. Pressler's

0:47:02.800 --> 0:47:05.440
<v Speaker 2>experience with the fake shake as a moment of principled

0:47:05.520 --> 0:47:08.480
<v Speaker 2>defiance on the front page. Mind you, it was not

0:47:08.600 --> 0:47:11.360
<v Speaker 2>exactly that, but either way, as the Washington Post reported

0:47:11.400 --> 0:47:15.160
<v Speaker 2>and I quote preserved among the videotape footage that may

0:47:15.239 --> 0:47:18.240
<v Speaker 2>be used as bribery evidence against a number of members

0:47:18.239 --> 0:47:21.400
<v Speaker 2>of Congress, there is a special moment in which Senator

0:47:21.520 --> 0:47:24.840
<v Speaker 2>Larry Presler, Republican of South Dakota, tells the undercover agents,

0:47:25.080 --> 0:47:28.800
<v Speaker 2>in effect, to take their sting and stick it. Presler,

0:47:28.840 --> 0:47:31.600
<v Speaker 2>according to law enforcement sources was the one approached member

0:47:31.640 --> 0:47:34.920
<v Speaker 2>of Congress who flatly refused to consider financial favors in

0:47:34.960 --> 0:47:39.040
<v Speaker 2>exchange for legislative favors, as suggested by undercover agents posing

0:47:39.080 --> 0:47:41.719
<v Speaker 2>as Arabs. At the time, he said he was not

0:47:41.800 --> 0:47:44.680
<v Speaker 2>aware that he was doing anything quite so heroic.

0:47:46.200 --> 0:47:47.640
<v Speaker 3>He had a precious moment.

0:47:47.600 --> 0:47:51.520
<v Speaker 2>Saying no to being like a corrupt congressman. Way to

0:47:51.520 --> 0:47:59.480
<v Speaker 2>be heroic. S just amazing, missus eighty I mean, like

0:47:59.520 --> 0:48:02.160
<v Speaker 2>the bar was lowered Vans. Yeah, where is it now?

0:48:02.840 --> 0:48:04.080
<v Speaker 3>Anyway, there is no bar.

0:48:04.400 --> 0:48:05.719
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's just what I'm telling you. It's just a

0:48:05.800 --> 0:48:08.399
<v Speaker 2>valley and you roll into it and roll out of it.

0:48:08.719 --> 0:48:11.000
<v Speaker 2>In the end, all eight who were indicted were convicted

0:48:11.000 --> 0:48:13.799
<v Speaker 2>of bribery conspiracy. In eighty one and in eighty one

0:48:13.880 --> 0:48:17.400
<v Speaker 2>Congressman Ozzie Myers he justifies his guilt in this great interview.

0:48:17.840 --> 0:48:20.279
<v Speaker 2>He talks about his acceptance of the payoff from the

0:48:20.320 --> 0:48:23.480
<v Speaker 2>fake FBI Shakes and Meers said, and I quote, I

0:48:23.520 --> 0:48:26.240
<v Speaker 2>took money because I like money. I feel I didn't

0:48:26.239 --> 0:48:28.600
<v Speaker 2>do anything wrong, and if anybody offers me twenty five

0:48:28.640 --> 0:48:32.760
<v Speaker 2>thousand dollars this afternoon, I will take it like money.

0:48:32.920 --> 0:48:35.919
<v Speaker 2>I love money. I like money problem. I love the money.

0:48:36.719 --> 0:48:39.480
<v Speaker 2>Money so hard not to lack a criminal who just

0:48:39.520 --> 0:48:42.839
<v Speaker 2>admits who he is. Right, Even the FBI guys they

0:48:42.960 --> 0:48:45.520
<v Speaker 2>liked this. Congressman John F. Good, the leader of the operation.

0:48:45.680 --> 0:48:49.600
<v Speaker 2>He said Ozzie was one of my favorite guys. Now,

0:48:49.600 --> 0:48:53.680
<v Speaker 2>I should point out that neither Senator Larry Presler or Rep.

0:48:53.800 --> 0:48:56.239
<v Speaker 2>John Murtha uill See also gets mentioned in the story

0:48:56.239 --> 0:48:58.800
<v Speaker 2>where ever indicted because neither man promised to do anything

0:48:58.840 --> 0:49:01.239
<v Speaker 2>even though they were approached, or and neither man took

0:49:01.239 --> 0:49:03.040
<v Speaker 2>any of the money offered to them even though they

0:49:03.080 --> 0:49:07.000
<v Speaker 2>were at least in Mirtha's case, recorded saying he would, yeah, Elizabeth.

0:49:07.000 --> 0:49:08.920
<v Speaker 2>The weird thing about abscam is how it led to

0:49:08.960 --> 0:49:13.000
<v Speaker 2>this surprise backlash. For one, there's the name abscam. When

0:49:13.040 --> 0:49:15.880
<v Speaker 2>the news of FBI's undercover operation breaks, right the authorities,

0:49:15.960 --> 0:49:20.000
<v Speaker 2>they tell the press that abscam is short for arab scam,

0:49:20.239 --> 0:49:23.320
<v Speaker 2>so it's not far off, but it's not accurate. Right. Eventually,

0:49:23.360 --> 0:49:26.479
<v Speaker 2>after the Arab American Relations Committee makes a stink about

0:49:26.520 --> 0:49:29.200
<v Speaker 2>it and says like, what this is offensive? How could

0:49:29.280 --> 0:49:33.920
<v Speaker 2>you name a government operation arab scam? And they're like, well, no, no, no, sorry, sorry,

0:49:33.920 --> 0:49:37.040
<v Speaker 2>it was abdual scam. They're like, that's not much better,

0:49:37.640 --> 0:49:39.800
<v Speaker 2>but anyway, So at this point a federal judge clears

0:49:39.800 --> 0:49:41.439
<v Speaker 2>it up and tells them you, no, no, it's abdol scam.

0:49:41.480 --> 0:49:43.399
<v Speaker 2>It's fine, guys, and everyone's like all right. So they

0:49:43.440 --> 0:49:46.640
<v Speaker 2>move on to the fact that, you know, aside from

0:49:47.000 --> 0:49:49.560
<v Speaker 2>both judge points out there's no there was no racial

0:49:49.600 --> 0:49:52.080
<v Speaker 2>bias in any of the charges, like I don't know,

0:49:52.160 --> 0:49:55.400
<v Speaker 2>it's like like whatever. So the FBI, know, though, is

0:49:55.440 --> 0:49:58.360
<v Speaker 2>now in trouble because they've targeted members of US Congress

0:49:58.400 --> 0:50:01.360
<v Speaker 2>in a free ranging sting operation that was essentially a

0:50:01.400 --> 0:50:04.080
<v Speaker 2>fishing expedition. So you know there's going to be a

0:50:04.080 --> 0:50:06.319
<v Speaker 2>bad reaction when your boss finds out that you've been

0:50:06.360 --> 0:50:09.520
<v Speaker 2>following home at work, Right, Elizabeth, there was definitely a

0:50:09.520 --> 0:50:12.240
<v Speaker 2>bad reaction. Even the public was offended by the FBI.

0:50:12.400 --> 0:50:15.279
<v Speaker 2>They're like, why would you you hired this career swindler,

0:50:15.480 --> 0:50:17.479
<v Speaker 2>You put them on the payroll, you make us pay

0:50:17.480 --> 0:50:20.879
<v Speaker 2>his salary as taxpayers. Then you create these two fake

0:50:21.000 --> 0:50:23.400
<v Speaker 2>shakes for the FBI to play dress up with, and

0:50:23.440 --> 0:50:26.440
<v Speaker 2>then they go around in trapping sitting senators. In a

0:50:26.480 --> 0:50:29.279
<v Speaker 2>post Watergate world, it was not a good look. So

0:50:29.400 --> 0:50:31.560
<v Speaker 2>Mini felt it was what folks in the legal industry

0:50:31.560 --> 0:50:35.440
<v Speaker 2>call entrapment. And they weren't far off. US Congress decided

0:50:35.480 --> 0:50:38.279
<v Speaker 2>to retaliate, so they open up hearings. They're like, we're

0:50:38.280 --> 0:50:41.200
<v Speaker 2>gonna watergate these hearings. So they make everyone tries to

0:50:41.239 --> 0:50:44.319
<v Speaker 2>grand stand, right, So inter Senator Alan K. Simpson, the

0:50:44.320 --> 0:50:46.759
<v Speaker 2>Republican from Wyoming, when it came time for him to

0:50:46.760 --> 0:50:49.839
<v Speaker 2>speak in the hearings, he's grilling the FBI officials. He's

0:50:49.880 --> 0:50:52.400
<v Speaker 2>accusing the g men of all sorts of inappropriate He

0:50:52.440 --> 0:50:54.759
<v Speaker 2>even tells them, I think you guys are giddy because

0:50:54.880 --> 0:50:57.440
<v Speaker 2>when they realized that they had some congressmen on the line,

0:50:57.520 --> 0:51:00.000
<v Speaker 2>well sure, and by on the line, this guy's from

0:51:00.000 --> 0:51:02.760
<v Speaker 2>I'm like Wyoming. So he goes full fishing metaphors tender.

0:51:02.800 --> 0:51:05.640
<v Speaker 2>Simpson says, and I quote, you had so many hooks

0:51:05.640 --> 0:51:09.120
<v Speaker 2>in and had landed so many lunkers. Did you just

0:51:09.200 --> 0:51:11.680
<v Speaker 2>decided here you'd fish on into the night?

0:51:12.200 --> 0:51:15.719
<v Speaker 3>Oh boy, he's with.

0:51:16.040 --> 0:51:18.480
<v Speaker 2>Just his hat. Old John F. Good, our head of

0:51:18.520 --> 0:51:21.640
<v Speaker 2>the FBI operation. He defends his men and his operation

0:51:22.200 --> 0:51:24.240
<v Speaker 2>at the Senate hearings, and he says, and I quote,

0:51:24.719 --> 0:51:27.680
<v Speaker 2>if we were real crooks out there looking to bribe congressmen,

0:51:27.680 --> 0:51:29.480
<v Speaker 2>and somebody came to us and said, look, I got

0:51:29.480 --> 0:51:31.360
<v Speaker 2>a better fish for you. How can you say no,

0:51:31.760 --> 0:51:34.160
<v Speaker 2>I don't need him. Yeah, which is a fair point.

0:51:34.200 --> 0:51:34.319
<v Speaker 3>Right.

0:51:34.480 --> 0:51:36.560
<v Speaker 2>The hearings go on like this, back and forth. They

0:51:36.560 --> 0:51:40.160
<v Speaker 2>create this spectacle with these hearings intended to embarrass the FBI,

0:51:40.400 --> 0:51:43.719
<v Speaker 2>but also into getting the FBI to never investigate Congress again, Like,

0:51:43.719 --> 0:51:46.080
<v Speaker 2>don't you dare do that again? That was the real message, right,

0:51:46.400 --> 0:51:49.160
<v Speaker 2>So they started they delayed FBI appointments. Congress was like,

0:51:49.239 --> 0:51:51.680
<v Speaker 2>really screwing the FBI. And they did all this just

0:51:51.719 --> 0:51:54.080
<v Speaker 2>to punish the g men, right, So they're left looking silly,

0:51:54.239 --> 0:51:56.640
<v Speaker 2>much like the CIA after the Church Committee hearings where

0:51:56.640 --> 0:51:58.680
<v Speaker 2>they're holding up like the heart attack gun, they're like

0:51:58.719 --> 0:52:00.839
<v Speaker 2>what is that? CI is like, oh man, that looks

0:52:00.880 --> 0:52:03.719
<v Speaker 2>bad here. So they're like, you know, the FBI is

0:52:03.760 --> 0:52:05.640
<v Speaker 2>like trying to like you know, get right in the

0:52:05.640 --> 0:52:08.839
<v Speaker 2>public's eye. Then this eight hundred page report drops, Right,

0:52:08.880 --> 0:52:10.680
<v Speaker 2>I found the whole thing. I didn't read the whole thing,

0:52:10.719 --> 0:52:12.959
<v Speaker 2>but I read the good parts. Those eight hundred pages.

0:52:13.000 --> 0:52:15.040
<v Speaker 2>They're all generated by these committee hearings and this just

0:52:15.040 --> 0:52:17.880
<v Speaker 2>filled with crazy quotes, right, But in the end, Congress

0:52:17.880 --> 0:52:21.320
<v Speaker 2>makes the Attorney General revise the protocols for the FBI's

0:52:21.400 --> 0:52:24.520
<v Speaker 2>undercover operations, like we want to see it, right, because

0:52:24.560 --> 0:52:25.839
<v Speaker 2>Congress they're big mad.

0:52:25.960 --> 0:52:26.120
<v Speaker 4>Right.

0:52:26.160 --> 0:52:28.879
<v Speaker 2>So in the Congressional committee hearings, it had come out

0:52:28.920 --> 0:52:32.320
<v Speaker 2>that Weinberg had been personally benefiting from his work picking

0:52:32.360 --> 0:52:33.400
<v Speaker 2>targets for the FBI.

0:52:33.680 --> 0:52:33.960
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

0:52:34.000 --> 0:52:36.120
<v Speaker 2>That was bad. Yeah, and then so they got this

0:52:36.160 --> 0:52:38.680
<v Speaker 2>professional swindler who's now a professional swindler for the FBI.

0:52:38.680 --> 0:52:41.000
<v Speaker 2>And it's like they're like, let's not justice. Basically what

0:52:41.040 --> 0:52:43.279
<v Speaker 2>we said earlier about the undercover cops. Yeah, once you're

0:52:43.320 --> 0:52:44.520
<v Speaker 2>doing crime, you're no longer.

0:52:44.680 --> 0:52:44.919
<v Speaker 3>Yeah.

0:52:45.000 --> 0:52:49.080
<v Speaker 2>Anyway, as this eight hundred page Congressional report details exhaustively,

0:52:49.480 --> 0:52:52.560
<v Speaker 2>mel Weinberg are swindler. He also had received all kinds

0:52:52.560 --> 0:52:56.120
<v Speaker 2>of goodies along the way, not like money or cash favors,

0:52:56.160 --> 0:52:59.120
<v Speaker 2>literal stuff like he I got a list here and

0:52:59.239 --> 0:53:03.360
<v Speaker 2>I quote a General Electric microwave oven, a stereo system

0:53:03.360 --> 0:53:08.240
<v Speaker 2>which included Harmon Cardon's receiver, two Genesis speakers, other components. Also,

0:53:08.280 --> 0:53:11.920
<v Speaker 2>he received three Sony Trinitan color television sets and a

0:53:11.960 --> 0:53:15.440
<v Speaker 2>Sody Beta Max video cassette recorder dudes basically opening his

0:53:15.440 --> 0:53:16.319
<v Speaker 2>own electronics store.

0:53:16.320 --> 0:53:18.000
<v Speaker 3>We're going to say, like a roll X.

0:53:19.280 --> 0:53:22.440
<v Speaker 2>He wanted toys he wanted basically like he wanted to

0:53:22.480 --> 0:53:24.319
<v Speaker 2>go on like price is right to go shopping, and

0:53:24.360 --> 0:53:26.319
<v Speaker 2>he's like, oh, well, I'll take the Beta Max, I'll

0:53:26.360 --> 0:53:29.840
<v Speaker 2>take the triniton color sets. So as the gradtional report

0:53:29.920 --> 0:53:33.320
<v Speaker 2>took great pains to note, and I quote, Weinberg failed

0:53:33.320 --> 0:53:36.239
<v Speaker 2>to disclose to the FBI his solicitation or receipt of

0:53:36.280 --> 0:53:38.880
<v Speaker 2>these gifts, and when confront it, falsely denied to government

0:53:38.920 --> 0:53:41.279
<v Speaker 2>attorneys and agents that he had solicited or received them.

0:53:41.440 --> 0:53:44.600
<v Speaker 2>Presco's nuts about this. You've got his pip swindler working

0:53:44.640 --> 0:53:48.160
<v Speaker 2>for the FBI. Oops, looks like the FBI's undercover criminal

0:53:48.239 --> 0:53:51.279
<v Speaker 2>was doing undercover crimes. So the thing was, Weinberg had

0:53:51.320 --> 0:53:53.680
<v Speaker 2>been largely left on his own, much like we'd heard

0:53:53.719 --> 0:53:56.480
<v Speaker 2>about in the previous episode with undercover cops. There wasn't

0:53:56.560 --> 0:53:59.120
<v Speaker 2>much overset, so he wasn't He wasn't even given much

0:53:59.120 --> 0:54:02.000
<v Speaker 2>field assistance. He had the FBI agents the two fake shakes,

0:54:02.040 --> 0:54:03.960
<v Speaker 2>but he had to supply his own tape recorder for

0:54:04.000 --> 0:54:04.760
<v Speaker 2>the FBI sting.

0:54:04.880 --> 0:54:06.280
<v Speaker 3>Are you serious quote.

0:54:06.320 --> 0:54:08.560
<v Speaker 2>Weinberg has testified that in nineteen seventy eight he'd been

0:54:08.600 --> 0:54:10.799
<v Speaker 2>using only his own tape recorder, which he continued to

0:54:10.840 --> 0:54:13.279
<v Speaker 2>use throughout the investigation, and that the FBI did not

0:54:13.320 --> 0:54:16.759
<v Speaker 2>supply any tape recorder until approximately March nineteen seventy nine.

0:54:17.600 --> 0:54:19.279
<v Speaker 2>So once the press and the public here about this,

0:54:19.320 --> 0:54:21.600
<v Speaker 2>the FBI is like, you know, short shifting their agents.

0:54:21.600 --> 0:54:25.080
<v Speaker 2>They're like, you haven't been doing on spec So he's

0:54:25.200 --> 0:54:27.479
<v Speaker 2>entering all these crimes and spying like he's a dollar

0:54:27.480 --> 0:54:30.160
<v Speaker 2>store James Bond. The FBI looks super foolish, right, So

0:54:30.320 --> 0:54:32.520
<v Speaker 2>in the wake of abscam, the Attorney General and the

0:54:32.560 --> 0:54:35.600
<v Speaker 2>DOJ they sit down and they update the policies on

0:54:35.719 --> 0:54:40.920
<v Speaker 2>undercover informants not agents. Informants. They can no longer have

0:54:41.040 --> 0:54:43.600
<v Speaker 2>the they have to have more authorization and oversight. So

0:54:43.640 --> 0:54:46.200
<v Speaker 2>that's where the change is. But as we covered the

0:54:46.280 --> 0:54:49.360
<v Speaker 2>Undercover Cops episode, the FBI did not extend that to

0:54:49.440 --> 0:54:51.360
<v Speaker 2>their agents, like, no, they have to be able to

0:54:51.360 --> 0:54:54.400
<v Speaker 2>do crimes. So, Elizabeth, I'd like to draw your attention

0:54:54.440 --> 0:54:57.560
<v Speaker 2>to this document from the DOJ's archive, Chapter four, the

0:54:57.560 --> 0:55:01.840
<v Speaker 2>Attorney General's guideline on FBI to cover operations, and I quote,

0:55:02.120 --> 0:55:04.919
<v Speaker 2>in contrast to the mini compliance of deficiencies we found

0:55:04.960 --> 0:55:07.880
<v Speaker 2>in the Criminal Informant program, our examination of the FBI

0:55:07.960 --> 0:55:12.040
<v Speaker 2>is undercover operations identified comparatively few instances of non compliance

0:55:12.040 --> 0:55:14.960
<v Speaker 2>with the undercover guidelines. In other words, we performed an

0:55:15.000 --> 0:55:17.120
<v Speaker 2>investigation of ourselves and we found we're good.

0:55:17.840 --> 0:55:21.000
<v Speaker 5>Basically, no problems here, guys, it's all yeah, move on.

0:55:22.040 --> 0:55:25.080
<v Speaker 2>So all those darn seies, what can you tell me? Criminals?

0:55:25.120 --> 0:55:27.640
<v Speaker 2>What are you gonna do under control? No, it's the

0:55:27.680 --> 0:55:30.600
<v Speaker 2>business we're in. So they put it. They drew a

0:55:30.640 --> 0:55:32.480
<v Speaker 2>line between them and the criminals they worked with, and

0:55:32.480 --> 0:55:34.800
<v Speaker 2>the said, everyone happy. And that's the last time pretty

0:55:34.840 --> 0:55:37.080
<v Speaker 2>much they did anything. Ye abscan was when the FBI

0:55:37.160 --> 0:55:40.120
<v Speaker 2>realized they could no longer partner with criminals and do crimes,

0:55:40.280 --> 0:55:43.640
<v Speaker 2>no matter how much fun it was for everyone involved. Solizabeth,

0:55:43.680 --> 0:55:45.000
<v Speaker 2>what's our ridiculous takeaway here?

0:55:45.120 --> 0:55:48.160
<v Speaker 3>Oh my goodness, I'm torn that there's a part of

0:55:48.200 --> 0:55:50.600
<v Speaker 3>me that thinks, you know what, Like, I have no

0:55:50.680 --> 0:55:53.560
<v Speaker 3>idea why Congress would get so upset if it's obvious

0:55:53.600 --> 0:55:56.680
<v Speaker 3>that the slightest little tidbit thrown out there. It's like

0:55:56.960 --> 0:55:59.239
<v Speaker 3>when you go to a pond that's full of like

0:55:59.400 --> 0:56:01.480
<v Speaker 3>hoy that are used to being fed a lot and

0:56:01.640 --> 0:56:04.879
<v Speaker 3>throws some food in and they all it's not like, oh,

0:56:04.880 --> 0:56:05.719
<v Speaker 3>this is the first time this.

0:56:06.239 --> 0:56:08.040
<v Speaker 2>Happened some well trained congressman.

0:56:08.160 --> 0:56:10.319
<v Speaker 3>Yeah, they're like, all right, I know this lady's gonna

0:56:10.360 --> 0:56:11.440
<v Speaker 3>keep throwing stuff out there.

0:56:11.480 --> 0:56:13.080
<v Speaker 2>You see that shadow move across the wad.

0:56:13.560 --> 0:56:15.440
<v Speaker 3>But it's the same time I can see where it's like,

0:56:15.480 --> 0:56:17.440
<v Speaker 3>you don't want to have pay a criminal to go

0:56:17.520 --> 0:56:20.880
<v Speaker 3>and hustle some of this up. But yeah, shameful. The

0:56:20.920 --> 0:56:22.600
<v Speaker 3>whole thing is shameful in every way.

0:56:22.600 --> 0:56:24.960
<v Speaker 2>And now you know, I love Miami vice as much

0:56:24.960 --> 0:56:27.440
<v Speaker 2>as the next like har cor criminal who likes go

0:56:27.560 --> 0:56:29.800
<v Speaker 2>fast boats. But if you're going to try to like

0:56:29.880 --> 0:56:32.120
<v Speaker 2>crock it in tubs with the bad guys, you can't

0:56:32.160 --> 0:56:34.960
<v Speaker 2>have them planning the crimes. That's my That's where I

0:56:35.040 --> 0:56:37.080
<v Speaker 2>draw the lot, like it should be the criminal's idea.

0:56:37.280 --> 0:56:39.000
<v Speaker 2>The crime should still be the criminals that you can

0:56:39.040 --> 0:56:40.640
<v Speaker 2>do the crime with them, as long as their idea

0:56:40.719 --> 0:56:44.320
<v Speaker 2>can't be your. That was the entrapment that your takeaway.

0:56:44.400 --> 0:56:46.480
<v Speaker 2>I'm old school, Elizabeth. I think crime is crime, and

0:56:46.520 --> 0:56:51.120
<v Speaker 2>even if it's an undercover FBI agent doing it anyway. Takeaway.

0:56:51.160 --> 0:56:53.000
<v Speaker 3>See I came back around to confirm it.

0:56:53.080 --> 0:56:55.399
<v Speaker 2>I like that instead of asking, I'm not going.

0:56:55.320 --> 0:56:57.560
<v Speaker 3>To I'm going to lift you up at the end

0:56:57.640 --> 0:56:59.160
<v Speaker 3>and celebrate you help.

0:56:59.320 --> 0:57:01.280
<v Speaker 2>I know you. Should you ready for talkback?

0:57:01.680 --> 0:57:01.919
<v Speaker 4>Yes?

0:57:01.960 --> 0:57:02.280
<v Speaker 3>Please?

0:57:02.360 --> 0:57:05.440
<v Speaker 2>Pretty? Can you favor us with a talkbag?

0:57:09.640 --> 0:57:15.040
<v Speaker 4>Oh my god, Siver, I lent geet.

0:57:18.520 --> 0:57:20.640
<v Speaker 6>Hey, guys, this is Kurrill for MAUI and I'm going

0:57:20.680 --> 0:57:23.120
<v Speaker 6>to do the arithmetic on the four hundred and fifty

0:57:23.120 --> 0:57:27.160
<v Speaker 6>thousand rupees that Natwirrel stole in nineteen thirty seven. In

0:57:27.240 --> 0:57:30.800
<v Speaker 6>nineteen thirty seven, one dollar was worth two point seven rupees,

0:57:31.120 --> 0:57:34.120
<v Speaker 6>making the entire haul worth one hundred and sixty five

0:57:34.240 --> 0:57:38.800
<v Speaker 6>thousand dollars. One dollar in nineteen thirty seven is worth

0:57:38.880 --> 0:57:42.240
<v Speaker 6>twenty one point eighty one dollars in twenty twenty four,

0:57:42.520 --> 0:57:45.600
<v Speaker 6>making one hundred and sixty five thousand dollars worth three

0:57:45.680 --> 0:57:46.920
<v Speaker 6>point six million.

0:57:48.160 --> 0:57:50.080
<v Speaker 4>Yang, Thank you.

0:57:50.240 --> 0:57:51.760
<v Speaker 3>So much for doing the math.

0:57:52.120 --> 0:57:54.920
<v Speaker 2>I always appreciate that I didn't do that this episode,

0:57:54.920 --> 0:57:56.520
<v Speaker 2>just to keep her like wanting.

0:57:56.280 --> 0:57:57.560
<v Speaker 3>Exactly, always want more.

0:57:59.480 --> 0:58:01.240
<v Speaker 2>Well, thank you always for listening. You can find us

0:58:01.240 --> 0:58:03.400
<v Speaker 2>online Ridiculous Crime on the social media, so we have

0:58:03.520 --> 0:58:06.920
<v Speaker 2>our website Ridiculous Crime dot com. We obviously love you

0:58:06.960 --> 0:58:09.240
<v Speaker 2>talk back, so please go to the iheartapp downloaded, leave

0:58:09.320 --> 0:58:11.320
<v Speaker 2>a message you can maybe hear your voice here and

0:58:11.400 --> 0:58:14.000
<v Speaker 2>email us if you want ever Ridiculous Crime at gmail

0:58:14.040 --> 0:58:16.840
<v Speaker 2>dot com and write it to pre dear producer Dave.

0:58:17.640 --> 0:58:25.680
<v Speaker 2>Thank you for listening. We'll catch you next crime. Ridiculous

0:58:25.720 --> 0:58:29.080
<v Speaker 2>Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zarin Burnette, produced

0:58:29.080 --> 0:58:32.920
<v Speaker 2>and edited by Shake Shack Shak Sonata, Shake Your Body

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<v Speaker 2>Line Dave Coustin and starring Anie's Rucker as Judith. Research

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<v Speaker 2>is by Desert Sunlight aficionados Marissa Brown and Andrea. Song

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<v Speaker 2>and Mister Andrea. Executive producers are Ben President of the

0:58:56.960 --> 0:59:00.480
<v Speaker 2>Isaac from Loveboat Fan Club Bowland and Noel I was

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<v Speaker 2>always a fan of Doc Brown.

0:59:07.800 --> 0:59:13.480
<v Speaker 4>Ridicous Crime, Say It One More Time. Piquious Crime.

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<v Speaker 1>Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts

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