WEBVTT - Guardian Angels: Behind the Red Beret 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.400 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of My 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:12.520 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:15.560 I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck prying over there, 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:18.079 there's Jerry over there, and this is stuff you know 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:23.440 all got her red berets on. We're trained up. Ye're 0:00:23.480 --> 0:00:25.799 ready to kick some New York City subway. But I 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:28.880 got my nun chucks quick. You probably had those when 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.360 you're kids. No, I never did, just throwing stars. I 0:00:31.400 --> 0:00:34.840 had a a mom who cared about me. Okay, who 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:38.920 allows you to have throwing stars? Throwing stars you can sneak. 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:41.680 I thought you had throwing stars. Now Tommy Roper had 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:45.479 throwing he just trained me on. Actually, oh I got you. 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:47.479 I didn't either, But you could hide a throwing star 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:49.840 in your bedroom. It's hard to hide those nunchucks unless 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:51.400 you do it under mattress and you know it's there. 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:56.600 That's right already. Yeah, you're pretty proud of yourself for 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.080 that one. I was, and then you got no last 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:02.840 I thought you might like it. It was good. Um. 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:05.560 So obviously, since we're talking nun chucks and Tommy Roper, 0:01:05.880 --> 0:01:09.000 we're doing an episode Chuck on the Guardian Angels, and 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:11.560 let me tell you from experience, you probably ran into 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:15.560 this as well. But researching Guardian Angels on the internet 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:20.039 brings up a lot of crackpot stuff. Yeah, it's very 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:23.640 tough to find this stuff I was looking for, but 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:26.400 I finally did. I hacked through it and I got 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:30.840 to the actual Guardian Angels stuff. Yeah, and uh, we 0:01:30.880 --> 0:01:34.240 have a special guest at the end of this episode. 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:36.800 We were going to announce that right Well, you you 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:39.440 put in the title, didn't you. Yeah, but I just 0:01:39.480 --> 0:01:41.800 want if people don't read the full title, if it 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:45.200 doesn't display on the your pod player of choice. Our 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:48.280 old friend John Hodgeman is here in the office today. Yeah, 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.800 like right now, he's waiting. He's in Jerry's office right now. 0:01:52.040 --> 0:01:53.440 Is that where you put him? Yeah, we put him 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:55.240 in Jerry's office so you could have some alone time. 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:57.080 His suitcases right there. I think it'd be kind of 0:01:57.160 --> 0:01:59.000 hilarious for us to go through it on the air. 0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:01.840 It is. I have that exact suitcase. Oh it's nice. 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.040 Former sponsor of the show. Oh yeah, we didn't get suitcases. 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:07.880 So I got one not from the show, did you. 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:10.440 I got one for under the World sponsorship you did. 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:13.840 I'm so mad if they real cash money, did you 0:02:13.880 --> 0:02:16.519 I got one for free? It's pink. You got the 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:19.280 pink one? All right, we won't mention the name brand. Okay, 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:20.639 you have to go listen to Into the World to 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:24.760 hear that, or they have to advertise again. Yeah. I'm 0:02:24.800 --> 0:02:26.600 so mad because I even asked. I was like, hey, 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:28.919 can't believe can I get one of these bags? And 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:30.520 they're like, no, they're not going to send him to 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:34.320 everyone because it's too expensive. Peloton, send us a Peloton, 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:38.800 a Peloton. We have Pelotons thousands of dollars I know, 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:42.680 and they advertise for like two minutes. Thanks Peloton. Oh Man. 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.400 So anyway, John Hodgman is here in Jerry's office waiting 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:49.040 on us to finish recording about the Guardian Angels because 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:52.079 he's a new book coming out called Medallion Status. Yeah. 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:54.960 I just put that together. That's really coincidental that Hodgman 0:02:55.080 --> 0:02:57.200 showed up to be on the show right before his 0:02:57.240 --> 0:03:00.360 new book comes out. Medallion Status True Story is from 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:02.799 Secret Rooms that you can pre order now. Have you 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:04.800 read it? I didn't get a chance to. Did you 0:03:04.800 --> 0:03:07.160 really read it? I really read it. That's because we 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:08.800 just got him like a few days ago. It's a 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:11.240 good read. It's it's fun to read. It kind of 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:13.839 sucks you in, it's great, can't wait. It's a good read. 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:16.320 So anyway, John will be here and he will talk 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:20.280 incessantly about medallion status. So we'll just save that. Yeah, 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:21.799 we'll let it just kind of peter out at the 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:25.560 jerial like face, and that's how the episode will end. 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:27.160 I bet he'll have something to say about the Guardian 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.040 Angels too, because John lives in New York City. Uh. 0:03:30.080 --> 0:03:32.960 And I noticed in this article that it was I 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:35.240 guess assumed that everyone knew what it was because it 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:38.680 was never even really described what the Guardian Angels is into, 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:40.920 like the fourth page. Right, That's what I want to say, Like, 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:43.360 there are probably a significant number of people who think 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:46.040 we're going to talk about angels looking over your shoulder. No, 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:48.920 we are talking about in New York City and now 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:51.960 a hundred and thirty other cities and about thirteen countries. 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:55.640 Yeah it's okay, Yeah, sure. There there is a group 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.680 of U. There are a group of citizen anti crime 0:03:58.680 --> 0:04:02.760 activists some would call the Vigilantes that formed a nonprofit 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:07.640 under the leadership of Curtis how do you pronounce that? Slewa? 0:04:07.880 --> 0:04:11.680 In February nine. And if you grew up in the 0:04:11.720 --> 0:04:16.880 eighties in the seventies, you saw a lot of Guardian Angels, 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.039 and this dude in particular, on every TV show you 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:23.920 could imagine, every every non fictional scripted TV show. They 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:26.880 were maybe like nine tenths is famous as Mr T 0:04:27.160 --> 0:04:29.800 at his peak. They were that famous, and you get 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.320 the feeling that he loved it. Oh yea being famous. Well, 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:35.640 let me tell you about this guy, because this is 0:04:35.680 --> 0:04:41.279 one really big um accusation that's leveled against the Guardian 0:04:41.320 --> 0:04:44.560 Angels that they were just in it for the PR 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:48.200 and they definitely did know how to get PR. And 0:04:48.279 --> 0:04:52.279 Curtis Leewa was a PR magnet from his from his 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:56.000 birth basically it sounds like it. Age six, he makes 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:58.960 his first public appearance on Romper Room. Remember Romper Room. 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:03.279 So here's a a guest on Romper Room. Uh. Years later, 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:07.320 he was a newsboy who got Newsboy of the Year 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:10.800 because on his route he saved six people from a 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:14.279 burning building and ended up getting to shake Richard Nixon's 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:18.880 hand as a result. Okay, it keeps, it keeps going. 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:23.240 As a younger kid than that. I think he collected 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.920 single handedly five and a half tons of recyclable paper 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.520 to be recycled years before anybody even knew what the 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:33.760 word recycling meant. He organized trash pickups around the place 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:36.800 around New York. I should say he was a legit, 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:41.800 real deal um pr machine who would then also follow 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:45.360 through and make like an actual impact on the world, 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:48.280 like a real self starter even as a kid. Yes, 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:51.800 self starter, also big time self promoter, and that is 0:05:51.839 --> 0:05:54.160 a real big part of the Guardian Angels, so much 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:57.839 so that, yes, it is a very widespread accusation that's 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.960 level against him, But most people who lived in New 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:04.400 York in the seventies and eighties would say, so what 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:08.040 you know, these guys, what you're doing actually is worth 0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:11.080 all that publicity, So leave them alone. So let's talk 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:14.160 about crime. Because I have a lot of feelings about 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:17.400 this whole organization too. I was flip flopping all over 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:19.560 the place. Really Yeah, because when you grow up as 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:21.680 a kid and you don't know much about him, you're like, oh, yeah, man, 0:06:22.680 --> 0:06:24.480 put on those brats, get on that subway and take 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:26.240 it into your own hands. You get to be a 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.320 little older person you're like, no, no, no, don't do 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:30.680 that at all. All right, let's stay out of the 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:36.120 cops way. Yeah, so here's the deal. In the seventies crime, 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:38.760 we talked about this, I feel like on something else. 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:42.560 I no, no, that was on a different podcast. We 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:44.840 talked about it. We talked about Julian and cleaning up 0:06:44.880 --> 0:06:47.160 New York. Yeah, but I was thinking about a movie 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:50.560 crush episode on Escape from New York, which sort of 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:55.880 that movie fed into this, uh hysteria about crime. So 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.840 did Death Wish? Death Wish two? Yes, Death Wish three, 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:04.320 Death Wish four, definitely, Death Wish five? Have you ever 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:08.159 seen Death Wish three? I think, Oh, I think I 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:10.119 only saw the first one. I went on a little 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:12.080 kick not too long ago where I watched all of 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:15.720 them really and not the remake. Obviously the the remake too. 0:07:15.760 --> 0:07:17.040 I was on that big of a kid he saw 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:19.960 Brucellis was it terrible? As it was really bad. It 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:22.400 was like Eli Roth, you know, of course he's going 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.520 to make this astoundingly nuts, And he didn't. He made 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:27.360 a real straight for it, like I think he was. 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:29.000 He was saying like, well, this is going to be 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:31.320 my entree into main stream Why was this so bad? 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:33.360 Like how do you mess up? It wasn't It wasn't bad. 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:38.000 Bad's not the right word for it. It was uh 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:41.920 it was thin. Fin's a good word. Like it really 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:45.440 could have been much bulkier and bigger and and just better, 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.760 and it just it just wasn't there. It wasn't enough 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.280 to it. And Bronson, I mean, like he was like 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:54.920 a walking cardboard stand up in a lot of ways, 0:07:55.000 --> 0:08:00.520 especially with his acting and his stuff was more. There 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:02.040 was more to it. And I think it was because 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:04.720 they went so far beyond the line in those movies, 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:08.640 like attacks on women and like it's just incredible like 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:12.240 violence and and just like the Death Wish moves are 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.920 really violent, like these were a main there were mainstream 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:18.120 films that came out. But Death Wish three, I think, 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:21.480 is it just is totally off the rails. The first 0:08:21.520 --> 0:08:23.840 two are at least trying to maintain some sort of 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:27.120 stuff about a man and his family being attacked and 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:30.320 like right and he fights back, exploring real tops. That 0:08:30.400 --> 0:08:33.320 definitely ties into this mentality of the Guardian Angels. Death 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:36.800 Wish three also does in the way that it describes 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:41.680 this New York where it's just chaos there's no law, 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:44.800 there's no order, no one's in control. People are shooting 0:08:44.840 --> 0:08:48.080 rocket launchers at each other like gangs, are just doing 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:51.199 whatever they want. And if you're an honest citizen, you 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:53.839 have to go murder other people or else you're going 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.440 to be murdered yourself. Well that was how they got 0:08:56.440 --> 0:08:58.200 you to buy into Escape from New York? Was it 0:08:58.640 --> 0:09:01.640 in the year nineteen nine seven, which is hysterical to 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:05.200 think about. Now, crime got so bad that they shut 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.800 New York down and just made it into a prison. 0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.800 They build a wall around Manhattan Island. Yeah, and it 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:13.240 was kind of a fun idea. Yeah, it's a great premise, Yeah, 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:16.400 I thought. So. Anyway, let's talk about real crime and 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:19.719 how bad really was it in major metropolitan areas in 0:09:19.760 --> 0:09:22.880 the United States. Uh, And here's some stats for you, 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:26.520 and the Grabster put this together for us, and I 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:28.360 think some of the stuff is funny. That Ed said 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:32.640 more than sixteen hundred homicides in New York and seventies 0:09:32.679 --> 0:09:37.120 six more than eight hundred and eighty one um And 0:09:37.240 --> 0:09:41.880 he said homicide rates vary between nineteen and murders per 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:45.760 one hundred thousand residents in the seventies and eighties, which 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:47.959 is I can't make heads their tails of that. It's 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:51.319 real numbers I need. Well, those are murders, then you've 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:56.240 got mugging's obviously rape, burglary, vandalism, stuff like that. But 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:59.600 I did some figuring. They're on pace in New York 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.199 City the year for two hundred and seventy two murders. 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:06.000 That's actually kind of high. There were eighteen hundred in nine, 0:10:07.400 --> 0:10:11.960 which is, uh, five murders a day. But then you 0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:16.040 think about like, yeah, but you know, New York's a 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.520 huge city. There's five boroughs. That's like one murder per 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:23.960 borough per day. That's to be expected. Like the idea 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:26.840 that like you can't walk around without being killed is preposterous. 0:10:26.920 --> 0:10:30.040 You're probably the likelihood is that you're never going to 0:10:30.160 --> 0:10:32.640 be even in the vicinity of a murder, much less 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:37.600 the victim of one with that kind of population. Um, 0:10:37.640 --> 0:10:40.520 but there were in nineteen seventy eight, there were nine 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:44.520 murders on the subway in nineteen seventy eight period on 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.600 the subway alone, And in nineteen seventy nine there were 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:50.560 two hundred and fifty felonies a week on the New 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:54.000 York City subway. Right, So, so it's a real concern 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:56.640 to ride the subway in the nineteen seventies in New 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.240 York like a legit fear, it really was, right, So 0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:01.880 there was a lot to violence. In addition to violence, 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:06.199 In addition to violent crime and Robbie robbery and muggings 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:09.440 and rapes and all like just violence, right, there was 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.960 also this sense of lawlessness on the subways in particular, 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:16.120 where there's graffiti everywhere and like you could get beat up, 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:18.880 you could have somebody like shake you down just riding 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:22.560 on the subway. They were really they just seemed dangerous too. 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:25.560 In addition to actually being kind of dangerous, especially compared 0:11:25.600 --> 0:11:29.440 to today, they seemed dangerous. So people were freaked out 0:11:29.520 --> 0:11:32.439 riding on two fifty colonies a week on the subways 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:35.840 a lot, okay. And then on top of that, in 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:39.600 the seventies, so in New York apparently came just within 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:43.600 a few hours of going bankrupt and they faced some 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:48.920 real severe budget cuts, one of which was the transit police. 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.959 They laid off fourteen hundred of their thirty six hundred 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:56.920 cops and they cut off patrols from seven pm to 0:11:57.000 --> 0:11:59.760 I think five am. So the criminals were like, oh, 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:02.719 just lollas down there, and it really was. Yeah. And 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:06.559 so it was in this context that Curtis slee wah 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:09.960 Um basically said, hey, you know what, somebody should do 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.320 something about this. The cops aren't doing anything, the city 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:16.080 is not doing anything. Somebody needs to do something because 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:18.480 people are getting robbed and mugged in at the very least, 0:12:18.480 --> 0:12:21.240 people are afraid to drive the subway, and we should 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:23.960 do something. Yeah, he said, I'm a world champion recycler. Yeah, 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:30.200 I've met Richard Nixon. Listen to me. So should we 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:32.880 take a break already? I think we just worked ourselves 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:35.080 up in the frothy break. I gotta calm down. Let's 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:36.760 take a break and we'll talk a little bit about 0:12:36.760 --> 0:12:43.760 Sleeve was background right after this. Definite shouldn't know large 0:12:46.840 --> 0:13:02.160 skis watch sky should know it was all right. Curtis Leewa, 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:04.679 founder of the Guardian Angels, was born in ninety four 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:08.280 in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up there. Webster defines 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:12.120 Curtis Leewaw he uh depending on who you ask, and 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:13.760 there are there are a lot of like different stories 0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:16.640 about Sleewah. Even within his own story. He has sort 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:19.280 of varied things over time he either dropped out of 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:22.839 high school or was expelled for student activism. And he 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:27.079 has a long life of activists. Uh, of activism. Well 0:13:27.120 --> 0:13:29.040 that's what I was talking for sure. So like he 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:34.079 never still is today. He never lost that, which is great. Um, 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:37.360 And his dad said, go get a job, you punk. 0:13:38.320 --> 0:13:40.839 He went to McDonald's and the Bronx got a job there, 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:47.079 and he basically said this McDonald's was nuts. And I 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:48.920 don't know if you've ever been to McDonald's late night 0:13:48.920 --> 0:13:52.599 in New York City, Like, now, it's nuts. Now I 0:13:52.640 --> 0:13:55.880 don't You're not getting murdered, but it is crazy town 0:13:56.280 --> 0:13:58.520 and McDonald's at two in the morning, and in the 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:02.280 safest parts of New York City, Yeah, like Midtown Manhattan. Yep. Yeah, 0:14:02.440 --> 0:14:05.400 it's kind of fun to go and witness actually, yeah, 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:08.679 because it's like it's never normal. No, No, it's definitely not. 0:14:08.920 --> 0:14:11.480 And it's also it's not really dangerous these days. No 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:15.079 it's not. But it's never normal. And I've only been 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:17.800 done this a few times, but there's always been an 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:21.200 incident or something going on. I think he just came 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:24.400 up with New York's new tourist Campa. Never normal, never normal. 0:14:25.920 --> 0:14:29.920 So he describes basically this uh working there as a 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:33.440 nightly battle against gangs. And he said that the people 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:37.320 that work there kept like a nun chuck's back in 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:39.600 the back in the kitchen, like a like stash next 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:44.400 to the fryar. Yeah, and if something happened, uh, which 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:48.640 things always did, we were ready, right. So apparently one 0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:54.120 night that actually came in handy when some gang came 0:14:54.160 --> 0:14:57.760 in and they were hassling the customers. Slee was was 0:14:57.800 --> 0:14:59.720 the night manager, so it's up to him to do something. 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.320 And he's the kind of guy who feels like you 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:05.240 should do something about that, you know, especially if you 0:15:05.320 --> 0:15:07.360 feel like the cops aren't going to do anything, which 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:11.720 is an ongoing theme of slee Waws kind of um rhetoric. 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:15.600 Yes perfect um. So he jumps over the counter and 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:19.080 proceeds to get beaten up by this gang well for 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:23.440 a while. Sure, his coworkers, who had these weapons stashed 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.240 around the friar, grab their weapons and jumped in and 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:29.440 beat the gang off. And apparently this experience, according to 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:34.200 Slee Waw, inspired him to say, let's make this particular 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:40.000 McDonald's a safe place haven from crime by defending it 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:41.960 ourselves and putting the word out that if you come 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:43.480 here and try to make trouble, we're gonna beat you 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:46.520 up with our friar weapons. Yeah, and it's here that 0:15:46.600 --> 0:15:48.960 we should really really emphasize that a lot of this 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:53.960 is his from his own words, and I'm certainly not 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:56.720 calling the man a liar, but he he is definitely 0:15:56.800 --> 0:15:59.400 a pr guy and has a bit of P. T. 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:02.640 Barnum to him a little, So these stories should be 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:04.840 taking a little bit with a grain of salt, I think. Yeah. 0:16:05.440 --> 0:16:08.960 Um one big thing that differentiates him in my mind 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:13.960 from P. T. Barnum is number one, no singing. Number 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:17.560 two he Um did not view people as suckers or 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.440 chumps to be taken advantage of. As a matter of fact, 0:16:20.520 --> 0:16:22.560 from everything that I've seen about this guy, say what 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:25.600 you want about is kind of bravado and grandiosity and 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:29.960 potential lawlessness. He seems to have been Um very much 0:16:30.000 --> 0:16:33.560 focused on inspiring people to better themselves in their community. 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:35.880 Like that does seem to be like one of his 0:16:36.040 --> 0:16:39.880 legitimate goals. Yeah, not only making his community safer, but 0:16:40.040 --> 0:16:43.200 the Guardian angels themselves as well. See, some of these 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:45.680 might have been petty criminals that he's trying to reform. 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:49.240 So he's done a lot of great things, right, So 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:53.800 uh he said, all right, we got this McDonald's lockdown. 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:57.080 Everyone is coming in here and they can eat their 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:01.120 um happy meals. This might have been pretty happy meal, Leavin. Yeah, 0:17:01.280 --> 0:17:02.920 I was right around that time. It would have been 0:17:03.160 --> 0:17:05.280 during the time when they were in those awesome phone 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.120 containers that remember those Oh my god, they just make 0:17:08.200 --> 0:17:11.119 my brain following my ear with nostalgia. Yeah, remember the 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:16.200 mcdealt hot side hot, cool side cool, extra waste of foam. 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:19.320 Oh yeah, no, and the phone containers who were in atrocity. 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:23.199 But they were beautiful, I know what you mean. They 0:17:23.240 --> 0:17:25.399 had a shimmer equality to them, and the colors that 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:29.719 they chose. Everything was so so wonderfully toxic. So uh, 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:32.000 he said, let's extend this out because it's working so well. 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.400 And McDonald's, let's take it to the streets. Let's take 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:38.480 it to the Mugger's Express, the four train that he 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:41.760 had to write to work with. That was particularly dangerous, 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:44.960 right because again, remember there's no cops at night on 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:49.440 the subway line, no cops, And so the McDonald's nightshift 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:54.160 became known as the Magnificent thirteen, and he said, let's 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:56.000 take it to the streets and let's start recruiting people 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:59.200 to do this for real. But you know what, we 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:01.480 need the us. He's a pr guy, very smart to 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:04.000 do this. He's like, we need a uniform like the 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:08.600 magniccent thirteen. We're all in our McDonald's uniforms, which was like, 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:12.240 can you guys not do that? Can you can you 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:15.800 not bring nunchucks to work? That's sort of in the brochure. 0:18:16.600 --> 0:18:21.080 And so he developed the iconic red beret, red shiny 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:25.000 red jacket. Yeah, what's that called? Satin? Like a satin jacket? Yeah, 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:29.680 and uh, a white T shirt with their logo which 0:18:29.800 --> 0:18:35.600 is the eye peering out from the winged pyramid. I 0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:38.960 could not find why he came up with that design. 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:44.520 I bet he hand drew it. Yeah. So, um, they 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:48.159 went from this Magnificent thirteen to the Guardian Angels around 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:53.000 that time, and they started patrolling the subways. Um. And 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:55.359 we'll talk about some of their tactics and methods in 0:18:55.400 --> 0:18:58.480 a little bit, but one of the things that first 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:01.639 struck Sleewa was that he found that they were not 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:05.920 welcomed by the police. The police in the city didn't 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.200 say this is great. We need a little help, and 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:10.520 these people are stepping up to help, you know, keep 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:13.640 their community safer and fight crime. The city did quite 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:16.320 the opposite. They said, these guys are nuts. Don't listen 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:18.840 to them. They need to stop what they're doing, and 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:23.919 we're gonna harass them, even though legally speaking, everything they 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:27.199 were doing was within their rights. That's right. And one 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.040 of the reasons the city wasn't down to begin with 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:31.000 was there there was a bit of a history here. 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:33.840 There was a group in nine and the Bronx called 0:19:33.840 --> 0:19:37.040 the Black Spades, and they had the goal of fighting 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:40.960 racism and keeping the neighborhood safe, sort of sort of 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:46.880 like Sleewaw and uh. They eventually morphed into a criminal gang. 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:50.800 And the cops in the city saw this happen. They're like, look, 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:54.440 the Black Spades were great until they weren't. Like, you 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:58.200 guys are essentially gang to right, That's what they said. 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:00.320 This is the same thing. This is the same things 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:02.680 gonna happen. This is gonna be some vigilante gang that 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.720 turns into an extortion gang and they're gonna be violent. 0:20:05.760 --> 0:20:07.919 They're gonna start selling drugs and it's gonna be a problem. 0:20:08.320 --> 0:20:10.919 I also read as far as the Black Spades are 0:20:10.960 --> 0:20:15.440 concerned Africa, Bombada was a Black Spade member, yep. And 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.639 they credit the Black Spades and some other groups for 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:22.840 creating hip hop culture, like those block parties they all 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:25.960 came out of, like these groups getting together and hanging out. 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:31.640 Is that cool? Can you dig it? Yes? I can? 0:20:33.280 --> 0:20:36.280 Did you not know my right? Reference? That was from 0:20:36.359 --> 0:20:39.720 the Warriors? Right? Okay, gotcha? But wasn't that the respect? 0:20:39.760 --> 0:20:47.320 Did you not see the extended director's stuff? So here's 0:20:47.359 --> 0:20:49.960 some of the rules that he developed early on. And 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:53.119 this is all Curtis Leewise jam like. He set this 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:55.920 thing up, He developed all the rules, ran it like 0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:58.520 a you know, with a tight fist, brought all the 0:20:58.560 --> 0:21:03.200 members on, brought him and they were besides their uniforms 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:05.720 that he would hand you upon joining up. I guess, 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:08.560 I guess that was a fun conversation. Oh what size 0:21:08.560 --> 0:21:12.119 are you? What size satin jacket do you wear? Exactly? 0:21:12.440 --> 0:21:13.719 Do you like to button it all the way up? 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:16.840 So you have to you have to be at least 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:20.520 sixteen not a serious criminal record, because, like we said, 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:23.560 he kind of liked taking some of these kids that, 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:27.040 like you know, maybe a shoplifter or a pocket picker 0:21:27.840 --> 0:21:31.159 and reforming them, giving him a second chance to prove themselves. 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:33.480 And that was a big thing that he did. That 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:37.360 that the Guardian Angels did. This organization was it said, hey, 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:41.399 you live in an area where you can go sell drugs, 0:21:41.760 --> 0:21:44.040 you can go rob people, all your friends are doing it, 0:21:44.359 --> 0:21:46.320 or you can come over here and actually combat that 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:49.040 make your community a safer place to live, get rid 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:52.399 of that stuff. And right, yeah, and you get the 0:21:52.440 --> 0:21:56.240 free satin jacket. But they they they some people were 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:58.760 given an option in this neighborhood and some people are 0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:01.760 in these neighborhoods, and some people took that and became 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:04.760 Guardian Angels and actually like took a different path in 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:09.000 life because of this guy, a night manager from a 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:15.240 Bronx McDonald like gave these people who joined this option 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:18.600 would like to to change their lives. That's that's really 0:22:18.680 --> 0:22:21.920 respectable and commendable. It is. You could be anyone. You 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:24.280