WEBVTT - Stealing Superman: Episode Seven — Strange Visitor 0:00:04.280 --> 0:00:09.119 April two thousand eleven a warehouse in Simi Valley, California. 0:00:09.680 --> 0:00:14.240 Stephen Fishler, a comic book dealer, is standing outside. Next 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:18.400 to him is Los Angeles Police Detective Donald Harrisick. The 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:21.640 two are about to go inside the warehouse, where both 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:25.439 men think there's an ending to this story, the story 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:29.280 of four stolen comic books from the home of Nicholas Cage, 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:34.600 including the world's most valuable title action comics. No one 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:39.640 that comic might be just a few feet away after 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:45.400 eleven years of searching. It's tantalizingly close. But while they 0:00:45.479 --> 0:00:49.760 suspect the comic is inside, they don't know who might 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:53.760 be with it, so hurry. Sick shares some words of caution. 0:00:54.440 --> 0:00:58.680 Here's what Stephen remembers. And they gave me sort of 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:00.960 the lay of the land, the how they wanted this 0:01:01.080 --> 0:01:06.480 to go down. Detective Horristic would poses my partner, And 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:10.160 they said to me, yeah, because I'm I'm trying to 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:12.559 do a comic deal. Obviously this is not a normal 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:16.200 comic deal because it's a stolen book. But he says, 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:22.480 if there's trouble, anybody brings out a gun, hit the 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:27.600 floor and I went golden I said, if somebody brings 0:01:27.600 --> 0:01:29.959 out a gun, don't worry. I can do that. That 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:34.240 sounds well intense, but there are a few reasons why 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:38.560 Donald Horresi is giving the warning. The first is that 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:42.800 this isn't his first flirtation with people who are knowingly 0:01:43.040 --> 0:01:47.000 or not in possession of stolen art, and people in 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:51.680 possession of stolen art can be dangerous. The second reason 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:55.120 is that Donald Harrisk doesn't plan on letting the men 0:01:55.160 --> 0:01:58.960 inside know he's a cop, or that several cops are 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:05.400 hiding nearby, at least not just yet. So there's risk, 0:02:06.080 --> 0:02:08.680 but the risk is worth it for both of them. 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:12.720 Harrisik has an opportunity to add another recovery to his 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:17.119 storied career as an art detective, and Fishler can put 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:20.359 to bed a mystery that's been eating at him since 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:25.040 two thousand, the mystery of how Nick Cage's comics were 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:28.440 ripped off his wall during a party in a brazen 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:33.040 and so far successful attempt to relieve him of his 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:37.960 prized possessions. Anything could have happened to the comics. They 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:43.239 could have been lost, or destroyed or damaged. But if 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.760 the picture sent to Stephen just a couple of days prior, 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:50.960 was any hint the most important comic had survived the 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:55.080 past decade in one piece. To confirm it, all the 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.000 two of them had to do was walked through the door. 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:04.520 That was it. The two walk inside, then Stephen notices 0:03:04.600 --> 0:03:08.560 something out of the corner of his eye. We get 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:15.280 out and we go into an office and there was 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:20.160 an individual standing outside, and as soon as we went 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:24.560 in he must have realized who I was. He went 0:03:24.600 --> 0:03:28.280 into the office fifteen seconds after the tective and I 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:32.120 went in, and I went kind of weird. He was 0:03:32.120 --> 0:03:34.960 waiting outside and then I looked at his hand. He's 0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.640 holding the Manila folder and I go that book was 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:40.160 pictured in the Manila folder, but I can't see what's 0:03:40.160 --> 0:03:44.040 in it. And the individual with the Manila folder is 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:48.400 pulled into an inner office is now sitting in this office, 0:03:49.120 --> 0:03:51.440 and the Minila folder is now open, and there's the 0:03:51.440 --> 0:03:56.320 book on like a little aprolic pedestal and we sit down. 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:09.480 Oh yeah, that's an original action one where I heart radio. 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:14.000 This is Stealing Superman. I'm your host, Dana Schwartz, and 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:26.159 this is episode seven. Strange Visitor two thousand eleven was 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:29.760 turning out to be a tumultuous year for Cage. It 0:04:29.880 --> 0:04:32.720 was a time when, approaching his fifties, he was on 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:36.560 shaky ground as a leading man. He was drifting away 0:04:36.640 --> 0:04:40.360 from his action star Heyday and many years removed from 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:46.360 his last Oscar nomination. A major Disney movie, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, 0:04:46.480 --> 0:04:50.640 had disappointed a year earlier. Cages two thousand and eleven 0:04:50.720 --> 0:04:54.799 slate of films weren't much better, with little remembered titles 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:59.400 like Season of the Witch and Drive Angry Another turn 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:03.560 as more All's ghost Rider character debuted at the quote 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:08.840 Butt Namathon to a reportedly poor reception. This was the 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:12.240 beginning of a decade spent largely in the direct to 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:17.240 television market, where the movies were often undeserving of Cage's talents. 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:21.440 It had happened to John Travolta and to Bruce Willis. 0:05:22.720 --> 0:05:25.480 Cage like to say, making a lot of low budget 0:05:25.480 --> 0:05:29.039 movies was kind of like the old studio system where 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:32.960 stars churned out movies. But there was no denying his 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:38.719 career had stalled. Professionally, it wasn't his best year, But 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:44.080 for our story, there was one bright spot. Art crime, 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:47.600 as any good art crime detective will tell you, is 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:53.600 a game of Patients extreme Patients. Art thieves may try 0:05:53.640 --> 0:05:57.040 to convert their illicit goods to money quickly, or they 0:05:57.080 --> 0:06:01.080 may decide they're far better off sitting on something for years, 0:06:01.080 --> 0:06:05.160 even decades. The general rule is, if a piece of 0:06:05.200 --> 0:06:08.880 stolen art doesn't service immediately, you may not see it 0:06:08.960 --> 0:06:13.359 for say, ten years, long enough for cops to lose 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:17.280 interest and the trail of ownership to grow cold. In 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:20.920 the case of Cages Action number one, it was eleven 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:25.840 years close enough. In an earlier episode, we Told You. 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:29.600 Art thefts are often preceded by media coverage of lavish 0:06:29.600 --> 0:06:33.839 auctions or high dollar sales, something to make the thief 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:37.479 think about the value of something they could steal. The 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:41.279 same can also hold true for art recovery. Someone in 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:44.080 possession of a stolen item may see news of its 0:06:44.160 --> 0:06:47.680 value and how much it's increased since it was taken, 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.720 and that can be the motivation to finally try and 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:56.560 return it to the legitimate market. So what happened in 0:06:56.640 --> 0:07:01.800 two thousand eleven A few things. In February, Joanne Siegel, 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.599 the widow of the late Superman co creator Jerry Siegel, 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:09.600 passed away. It was covered in the media, often with 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:13.640 a mention of how rare and valuable Action Comics Number 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:17.440 one was, And in March of that year, Stephen Fishler 0:07:17.560 --> 0:07:22.680 made some history. His company, Comic Connect, an online marketplace 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:26.920 for comics, sold a copy of Amazing Fantasy Number fifteen. 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:32.040 That nineteen sixty two comic introduced Spider Man, and it's 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:37.360 sold for an astounding one point one million, a new 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:41.360 record for the wall Crawler. So what does that have 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:44.560 to do with Action number one. In all of the 0:07:44.720 --> 0:07:49.320 ensuing media articles about the sale of Amazing Fantasy Number fifteen, 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:53.560 reporters had to make a clarifying remark that while the 0:07:53.640 --> 0:07:57.200 sale was a record for Spider Man, it wasn't a 0:07:57.280 --> 0:08:01.920 comic book record. That honor still longed to Action number one. 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:06.800 In two thousand ten, Fishler sold two copies of the comic, 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:11.400 one for a million dollars and another for one point 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:17.160 five million. The latter was the most expensive comic ever sold. 0:08:17.960 --> 0:08:21.080 So whoever was holding onto the comic taken from Nick 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:24.520 Cage's home may have felt a new sense of urgency. 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.559 And if someone happened to find that comic around that time, 0:08:28.800 --> 0:08:33.160 well they'd know it was worth quite a bit. Just 0:08:33.280 --> 0:08:36.079 a couple of weeks after news of that sale broke, 0:08:36.640 --> 0:08:41.080 Dan Dotson and his wife Laura were approached by two men. 0:08:42.120 --> 0:08:47.080 Dan and Laura run American Auctioneers, a storage locker liquidation 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:50.079 business in California. If you've seen the A and E 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:55.560 show Storage Wars, you've seen Dan. The premise of what 0:08:55.679 --> 0:08:58.920 Dan and Laura do is pretty simple to understand, although 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:03.760 it's real not an easy job. American Auctioneers is hired 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:07.600 by storage unit companies to auction off storage units that 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:11.000 aren't up to date on their payments. Say someone rents 0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:14.600 the storage locker, stuffs it full of their belongings, then 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:18.520 stops paying the monthly bill. The storage company is stuck 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:21.679 with a bunch of stuff they don't want, so to 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:25.040 recoup what they can, they auction off the contents to 0:09:25.240 --> 0:09:29.120 buyers who hope to profit from what's inside. The buyers 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:32.080 can't really see any of it beforehand, just a glimpse, 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.079 so it's kind of a crapshoot. You might get something 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:39.000 valuable or you might get some old clothes. Either way, 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:43.960 it makes for really good reality television. American Auctioneers, like 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:47.760 every liquidator, gives the owners of the lockers every chance 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:50.440 to come and collect their things before it's too late. 0:09:51.040 --> 0:09:54.080 They're required by law to print a public notice in 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:57.200 newspapers with the names of the people who are past 0:09:57.360 --> 0:10:00.720 do on their bills. Those people can swooped back in 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:04.079 even at the last minute. If they can pay up, 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:07.800 they get to keep their stuff. If not, it's open season. 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:11.719 That's what Dan was doing in March when he was 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:16.319 approached by someone he recognized, a man about forty years old. 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:21.160 The man whom he knew only as Sylvester, had recently 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:24.880 arrived on the storage unit scene. Like a lot of people. 0:10:25.040 --> 0:10:28.000 He may have been compelled to get into it based 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.720 on the popularity of storage wars. Either way, he was 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:37.240 a new but familiar face. Originally, he had approached Dan's wife, Laura, 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:41.520 who's the co owner of their company. Here's Laura. I 0:10:41.640 --> 0:10:45.040 just remember his name being Sylvester, and he had a 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:47.400 friend with him, and they were they were shorter guys. 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:50.080 I just know that. When I'm doing my auction and 0:10:50.120 --> 0:10:52.320 stuff like that, I try to remember the whole crowd, 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:53.920 and I try to make you look at everybody's face 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:55.920 so I don't miss anybody's bid and so forth. And 0:10:56.000 --> 0:10:58.800 I just remember they were maybe five ft three each 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:03.200 of them and smaller guys. Laura thought Sylvester and his 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:05.719 friend had a question about the auction she and Dan 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:09.680 were holding. That was typically why people approached them to 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:13.640 ask questions about how it all works. But Sylvester had 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:17.080 something else on his mind. He wanted to invite her 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:21.000 to his home. Well, here I am in this auction 0:11:21.520 --> 0:11:23.920 place and I'm doing an auction and I'm on my 0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:27.920 like last unit, and a guy comes up with a 0:11:28.040 --> 0:11:31.360 friend and asked me. I said, okay, you're here for 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:33.120 the auction. Everything is. I gave him the terms real 0:11:33.160 --> 0:11:36.160 quick because I realized, oh, he's just showing up. And 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:38.640 he said to me, do you have comic books you 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:40.800 find in units? And so do you guys have buyers 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:43.400 and stuff like that? And could you appraise a comic 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:47.880 book for me? Sylvester was looking for guidance, and you know, 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:49.880 when it's really kind of local over here, you could 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:51.720 just come on over to my house. And I said, no, 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:54.080 I wouldn't be the one that would just come to 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:56.520 your house because I had never seen this guy before. 0:11:57.040 --> 0:11:59.400 And he said, well, my name is Sylvester, and he 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:02.080 had a another guy with him, and I recalled that 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:05.520 they were new to the auction, and they were interested 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:07.640 in looking at units, is what I thought. And I said, 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:10.360 last unit, last unit, happening right now. And he wants 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:12.920 me to please come to his house, and okay, let 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:14.400 me look at this last unit. But if you could 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:17.080 just come before your next sale. And it seems like 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:20.160 you know about comic books, I said, listen, I wouldn't 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:21.960 be the one to come. Let me give you my 0:12:22.040 --> 0:12:24.800 husband's information. He will be doing an auction on Saturday, 0:12:25.000 --> 0:12:29.000 was the nearest time. And he said to me, okay, 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.439 well great, then I'm gonna come and see your husband. 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:33.679 And I figured, you know what my husband and I 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:36.600 do is we will look for provenance and we will 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:39.160 look for through a fem roun paper stuff if we 0:12:39.200 --> 0:12:42.760 can find anything online. And I hadn't put it. I 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:44.320 put it into my head and kind of out of 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:49.160 my head. So Sylvester came back that Saturday and he 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:53.800 brought something with him, and this time he approached Laura's husband. 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:59.720 Here's Dan. So he brought it down to our auction 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:02.200 on Saturday, and I was looking at it. You know, 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:04.679 I was coming through that comic book and it just 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:07.680 looked so nice and Prestine, I just you know, it 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:10.760 was pretty sure that it was probably reproduction, but it wasn't. 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:14.720 Sylvester explained to Dan that he had just bought a 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:19.160 storage locker from American auctioneers. After cleaning it out and 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:23.920 sorting through its contents, he made the discovery of the Century, 0:13:24.200 --> 0:13:29.440 a nearly flawless copy of Action Comics Number one tucked 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:33.960 inside of a large hardcover book. Dan knows a lot 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:36.640 about a lot when it comes to stuff people find 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:40.640 in storage lockers, from antiques to guns, but he's not 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:43.960 an expert in comic books. He didn't know exactly what 0:13:44.000 --> 0:13:47.560 he was looking at. Not not really, No, I didn't. 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:52.360 I saw that it was June comic, but I didn't 0:13:52.360 --> 0:13:55.040 realize it was I didn't realize how special it was 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:58.199 at the time. For Dan, there wasn't any thought to 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:02.520 trying to get involved. No, no, I didn't even realize 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.840 the value of it. Um. You know, I and I 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:09.760 don't really have connections to by, you know, comic books. 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:13.440 So while he figured this could be something, he decided 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:17.320 to pass Sylvester along to someone else. Lalo was, you know, 0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:19.760 hitting up our auctions at the time, and I just 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:22.680 introduced them. I think the guy's name was Sylvester, and 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:27.360 I said, Sylvester, Mark, Mark, Sylvester, you know, knock yourselves out. 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:30.320 And then I, you know, I didn't really think anything 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:35.760 else of it. Balalo is Mark Balalo, another storage unit liquidator. 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:39.520 Mark was relatively new to the scene too. He would 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.880 make appearances on Storage Wars, flashing a lot of money 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:48.080 to scoop up storage units, wearing sunglasses indoors, and generally 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:52.680 being provocative enough to make an impression on reality television. 0:14:53.720 --> 0:14:55.920 You know, Balalo at the time, I think really wanted 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:59.080 to be on Storage Wars. And and he pretended that 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:01.920 we knew each other like forever, and we didn't know 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:05.280 each other, you know, forever. But Mark did know about 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:08.960 comics more than Dan and Laura at any rate. So 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:12.440 he and Sylvester got to talking, and Mark said enough 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:15.720 to convince Sylvester that he could find a proper buyer 0:15:15.760 --> 0:15:19.480 for his discovery. He took the comics, put it in 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:23.160 the safe of his warehouse in Simi Valley, and then 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:26.200 he made a phone call. He called the one person 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:29.400 whose name had been in hundreds of newspapers as the 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:33.480 man who was earning record prices for rare comic books, 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:38.800 including amazing Fantasy number fifteen and the very comic Mark 0:15:39.120 --> 0:15:42.280 was holding in his hands. Of all the dealers he 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:53.400 could have called, Mark called Stephen Fishler. Stephen Fishler couldn't 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:57.200 believe it. The Action number one he sold to Cage, 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:00.640 the one he had been searching for, just material realized 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:03.840 in front of his face. An employee of Minds is 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:10.400 the individual contacted him with an Action one, and I 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:13.000 go to the person's word station. They look at their 0:16:13.120 --> 0:16:18.880 computer and I see in this email a picture of 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:23.080 an Action one. It's not in a bag. It appears 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:27.000 to be in photograph while it's sitting in a Manila 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:33.720 four They're on screen. Was the comic unceremoniously tucked into 0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:37.400 a Manila folder and resting on a car seat. But 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:41.920 how could Stephen tell it was the comic? Rare comics 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:46.600 have markings, certain distinguishable markings that distanced them from the 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:51.280 hundreds of similar copies. Stephen felt he knew what cages 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:54.160 Action number one looked like, the way a parent can 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:58.240 tell the difference between identical twins. The secret was in 0:16:58.280 --> 0:17:01.560 the blue banner. Just over the tight a logo. There 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:06.400 were white markings. Stephen knew about markings other collectors or 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:09.280 a thief may not even be aware of. And the 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:15.840 markings were there exactly as Stephen remembered that. And I 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:19.240 do a double tape, and I will say it probably 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.160 took me five seconds to realize it was next book. 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:25.960 But I found a copy of a picture of the book, 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:29.639 just to be double short. And my employee emailed me, 0:17:30.080 --> 0:17:34.440 forwarding me the original email. I called this individual up. 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:39.840 His name was Mark. He was in Semi Valley, and 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:45.240 I thanked him for contacting me. And it looks like 0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:50.120 a wonderful book, and they wanted to sell it. And 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:54.360 he indicated that he was friends with the owner. He's 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:57.399 representing the owner. And they said that the book was 0:17:58.560 --> 0:18:03.919 purchased in an aukstion like a storage unit auction. The 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:09.240 question was what exactly did Mark Ballelo want Stephen to do. 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:14.560 According to Stephen, it was to authenticate the comic, to 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:17.199 make sure it was the genuine article and not a 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:20.840 reproduction or a phony like the one that had turned 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:23.960 up in Memphis back in two thousand and two, or 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:28.320 the ones unscrupulous ebayers sometimes tried to pass off as 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:31.480 the real thing. If it was the real thing, then 0:18:31.600 --> 0:18:34.560 Mark would go looking for a buyer, one who would 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.719 pay him at least a million dollars for the comic. 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:40.600 And who better to ask for help than the man 0:18:40.680 --> 0:18:44.000 who was just in the news for setting seven figure 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:47.640 records for comic sales. I had the first million dollar 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.960 sale of a comic book. It was another Action one. 0:18:52.119 --> 0:18:56.400 It was before this, and I believe that they heard 0:18:56.440 --> 0:18:59.960 about this million dollars sale because it was mine. Mine 0:19:00.000 --> 0:19:03.800 aim was well over it, and that's where they connected 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:06.680 the figure of a million, and I think that that's 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:11.280 why New Contact. So what happened was I sold See 0:19:11.280 --> 0:19:16.720 an Action one for a million, then I sold an 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:23.280 Action one in for one point five. So that was 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:27.280 all before and that was publicized. So that was all 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:33.159 before Mark Contact. But Mark didn't seem to acknowledge that 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:37.520 it could be Nicholas Cage's copy, and Stephen didn't mention 0:19:37.560 --> 0:19:41.400 it either. If Mark knew it could be Cages, why 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:45.520 go to Cages comic dealer. Isn't that launching yourself directly 0:19:45.600 --> 0:19:49.560 in the line of fire? Not exactly. I don't think 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:54.439 he did, And my feeling is he just knew that 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:57.840 I dealt in Action once and I was prominent dealer. 0:19:58.520 --> 0:20:00.480 He found a lot of information about out me, but 0:20:00.640 --> 0:20:04.439 not that connection. And I also said to myself, if 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.360 they know it was stolen from California, let's not get 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:09.800 a California deal over here, because he might really know 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:13.280 that this is stolen book. Let's get a New York guy, 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.440 because if if it's New York, well maybe this is 0:20:16.480 --> 0:20:20.160 a smaller chance that'll know it's stolen. Stephen did two things, 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:24.119 and I said, oh, that's great. And I'm knowing the 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:28.040 entire time that this story might not be real, but 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:30.679 it doesn't matter because they have the book. And I 0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:34.760 called the detective horrific after I got off the phone, 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:38.439 saying that the main book, the Action One, is in 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.960 l A. And I said, I'm being contacted. I have 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:45.480 a picture of it. This is the individual's name. I 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:49.760 sent him the email. That's it. That's the book, um, 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:51.280 and he wants me to come and look at it. 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:56.480 And I booked a ticket. So the coordination happened where 0:20:56.520 --> 0:21:00.840 I came out the next day, met the detective at 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:06.600 the local police station that was near Simi Valley. Harrisick 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:09.639 you'll remember is Donald Harresik, the l A. P. D 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:13.240 Art detective whom Stephen had sparred with a handful of 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:17.680 times over the years. To Stephen, Donald hadn't been overly 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:21.879 aggressive in hunting down the cage. Comics art theft was 0:21:22.040 --> 0:21:26.240 rampant in Los Angeles, and in fairness to Donald, there 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:29.840 was always a lot going on with virtually no manpower 0:21:29.920 --> 0:21:34.840 devoted to it. Donald had one partner. If that still, 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:37.879 Donald agreed that Steven should go and meet with the 0:21:37.920 --> 0:21:42.080 two of them, with Mark and Sylvester. Donald would accompany 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:46.200 him as an associate. It would be a sting operation, 0:21:46.800 --> 0:21:51.080 one where the contraband wasn't drugs or guns, but a 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:55.560 comic book. The next day, Stephen found himself outside Mark 0:21:55.600 --> 0:22:00.240 Balelo's warehouse in Simi Valley, California, a massive struck sure 0:22:00.280 --> 0:22:03.600 where Mark housed his inventory of items he bought and sold. 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:09.199 He dealt in electronics, a thriving eBay business, live auctions, 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:14.120 and business was apparently booming. Stephen got the pep talk 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:17.399 from Donald, the one where he should duck if someone 0:22:17.480 --> 0:22:22.199 brought out a gun, but Donald wasn't taking chances. He 0:22:22.320 --> 0:22:25.359 stationed a number of officers around the warehouse in case 0:22:25.400 --> 0:22:29.000 backup was needed. The situation may have seemed funny on 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:33.320 the surface, it was after all a comic, but one 0:22:33.359 --> 0:22:37.280 worth potentially millions of dollars, and when that kind of 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:42.400 money is involved, people can be unpredictable. Stephen and Donald 0:22:42.560 --> 0:22:47.480 walked into the warehouse before anyone could say anything. Stephen 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:51.240 caught sight of the man with a Manila folder. It 0:22:51.359 --> 0:22:54.600 was a light yellow office folder, the kind of stationary 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:57.840 you tuck and earnings report in. Not a valuable comic. 0:22:58.400 --> 0:23:00.600 It's a great way for the book to get damaged, 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:04.720 wrinkled pages torn. Suddenly, Stephen was thinking that even if 0:23:04.720 --> 0:23:07.960 this was the comic, who knew what kind of damage 0:23:07.960 --> 0:23:11.480 it had sustained in the past eleven years. Anything from 0:23:11.560 --> 0:23:15.879 humidity to sunlight could have damaged it beyond repair. Comics 0:23:15.960 --> 0:23:20.040 can't be restored without someone noticing it, and collectors have 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:25.680 very definitive opinions about restored comics. They're often seen as 0:23:25.760 --> 0:23:31.639 something less valuable. This comic was from night. It needed 0:23:31.680 --> 0:23:35.320 to be treated kindly, and here was a man carrying 0:23:35.400 --> 0:23:38.920 it like he was a waiter with a menu. Stephen's 0:23:38.960 --> 0:23:44.240 attention was diverted when Mark Ballelo appeared. Stephen hadn't seen 0:23:44.359 --> 0:23:48.639 Storage Wars, had never met Ballelo, knew virtually nothing of 0:23:48.680 --> 0:23:52.919 the storage unit scene. But Mark was easy enough to profile. 0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:58.600 He wore shiny shirts, he talked a lot, He acted 0:23:58.640 --> 0:24:02.520 like the car salesman he used to be. He invited 0:24:02.560 --> 0:24:06.000 Stephen and Donald into an office. The four of them 0:24:06.160 --> 0:24:11.840 sat down. Mark seemed loose, easy going, excited. A seven 0:24:11.880 --> 0:24:16.040 figure pay day had practically dropped itself into his lap. 0:24:16.680 --> 0:24:20.159 If he knew about Cage or that Stephen's friend was 0:24:20.200 --> 0:24:23.040 a cop, he showed no signs of it at all. 0:24:23.640 --> 0:24:25.960 He was here to be told he was about to 0:24:26.000 --> 0:24:29.560 come into a windfall, or at least half of it. 0:24:30.160 --> 0:24:34.280 That was what he and Sylvester had agreed to. Stephen 0:24:34.359 --> 0:24:37.760 picked up the comic. Anything could have happened prior to 0:24:37.840 --> 0:24:41.160 this point. Mark and Sylvester could have gotten cold feet 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:44.480 for whatever reason and disappeared. They could have decided to 0:24:44.480 --> 0:24:46.919 sell it to someone else. They could have sent a 0:24:46.960 --> 0:24:50.200 picture they had found online. Or Stephen could have been 0:24:50.240 --> 0:24:53.480 mistaken about the markings. There was no way for him 0:24:53.520 --> 0:24:56.280 to know for sure until he had the comic in 0:24:56.440 --> 0:25:00.600 his hands. An original action one beautiful me. I really 0:25:00.600 --> 0:25:07.040 appreciate contacting me about it. And this individual who seemed 0:25:07.080 --> 0:25:09.320 to think his name told me his name was Arthur 0:25:10.040 --> 0:25:13.200 just off the top of my head, Arthur was Sylvester. 0:25:14.560 --> 0:25:18.159 He reiterated the story about how he got the book, 0:25:19.000 --> 0:25:22.199 and they bought a store of JUnit and it was 0:25:22.280 --> 0:25:26.359 found inside another book. I think I might have asked, 0:25:26.440 --> 0:25:30.560 was there anything else in there? Any other comic books? 0:25:30.600 --> 0:25:35.480 They said no, And there's a little ooing and eyeing 0:25:35.560 --> 0:25:38.240 over the book. They wanted a million dollars for it. 0:25:39.320 --> 0:25:43.440 As the men talked, Stephen examined the comic, and right 0:25:43.480 --> 0:25:48.240 away he knew this was Nicolas Cage's Action number one. 0:25:48.880 --> 0:25:52.320 A tiny white splotch inside one of the blue banners 0:25:52.359 --> 0:25:58.680 confirmed it. Like a fingerprint missing eleven years, found today, 0:25:59.080 --> 0:26:03.119 and not only that, in virtually the same condition it 0:26:03.280 --> 0:26:07.360 was when it was taken from Cage's house on purpose 0:26:07.600 --> 0:26:10.679 or by accident. Whoever had been in possession of it 0:26:10.720 --> 0:26:14.359 all this time had managed not to ruin it. For 0:26:14.480 --> 0:26:18.200 a comic that had been purportedly stuffed inside a storage unit, 0:26:18.560 --> 0:26:22.200 one that may not have even had a climate controlled environment, 0:26:22.880 --> 0:26:28.000 it was pristine. Stephen wanted to exhale, but couldn't really 0:26:28.560 --> 0:26:32.000 couldn't tip them off. He scanned the two men in 0:26:32.080 --> 0:26:37.680 front of him, Mark and Sylvester. Stephen remembers. Sylvester kept 0:26:37.680 --> 0:26:41.280 saying his name was Arthur. They were both hard to read. 0:26:41.960 --> 0:26:45.359 They didn't seem nervous, so maybe they didn't know the 0:26:45.400 --> 0:26:49.280