WEBVTT - Stealing Superman: Episode Four – The Memphis Affair 0:00:03.120 --> 0:00:06.880 Nicholas Cage has always been a fan of Elvis Pressley's. 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:13.160 Cage's laconic drawl is no doubt inspired by Pressley. In 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.200 Wild at Heart, a David Lynch film released in nine 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:21.239 Cage plays Sailor Ripley, a criminal on the run who 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:26.520 favors snakeskin jackets. Cage sings two Elvis songs in the movie, 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.680 love Me and Love Me Tender. Yes, those are two 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:37.040 different songs. Pressley, Cage said, was his hero, and whether 0:00:37.120 --> 0:00:40.240 you want to call it coincidence, fate, or something else, 0:00:40.640 --> 0:00:43.879 in two thousand two, Cage announced he had fallen in 0:00:44.000 --> 0:00:49.879 love with Pressley Lisa Marie Pressley, Elvis's only daughter. We 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:52.879 don't get much into Cage's private life here. It's his 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:57.120 private life, after all, and we're mostly preoccupied with the 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:00.200 theft of four rare comics from his home in bel 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.480 Air in two thousand, like any reasonable person would be. 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:09.600 But all of this figures into it, not just Pressley, 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:14.000 but Chrissley's town of Memphis, Tennessee. And in another bit 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:18.840 of divine providence, this soulful city wasn't just where Elvis 0:01:18.959 --> 0:01:23.600 was reared, it was where his most prized possession Action 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:27.080 Comics Number one was said to be lurking in a 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:31.840 safety deposit box. Memphis would be the place where Cage's 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:37.240 love of comics would either be rekindled or perhaps lost forever. 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:50.080 For I Heart Radio, this is Steel in Superman. I'm 0:01:50.080 --> 0:01:54.040 your host, Danish Wartz, and this is episode for the 0:01:54.120 --> 0:02:02.600 Memphis Affair. We go back and forth in time here, 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:05.640 and I know it can be a little jarring, but 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:10.200 so do comics. Heroes and villains chase one another, backward 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:14.519 and forward through dimensions, through different decades, trying to write 0:02:14.520 --> 0:02:18.760 past wrongs. In the original nineteen seventy eight Superman film 0:02:18.800 --> 0:02:23.000 starring Christopher Eve, Superman sees the Lowis Lane die and 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:26.840 he's so angry that he flies so fast around the 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:30.840 earth he literally reverses the clock and brings Lows back 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:36.200 to life. Anyway, we're not going far back, just to 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:40.919 nineteen ninety one. That's when the most prestigious auction house 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:45.919 in America, Sotheby's, decided to take a bold step. They 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:50.040 were going to legitimize the comic book collecting hobby by 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:53.760 offering rare and vintage comics up for auction for the 0:02:53.960 --> 0:02:59.400 very first time in the company's storied history. Sotheby's was 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:03.680 best own for auctions involving fine art or iconic sports 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:07.359 cards or movie memorabilia. As a matter of fact, they 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:10.359 may have inadvertently ushered in the modern era of art 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:14.480 theft when one of their art auctions in eight drew 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:18.480 a lot of publicity over the staggering prices. It alerted 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:22.960 thieves to the potential gold mines hanging on walls. Now, 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:27.480 people have always stolen art, but getting itemized lists of 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:31.400 what would be best to steal certainly motivated some people. 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:37.360 But comics comics were different. This was the early nine nineties. 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:41.200 The industry had gotten some respectability with eighties hits like 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:45.160 Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns and Alan Moore's Watchman, 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:49.120 but we weren't yet in the Marvel Cinematic Universe era. 0:03:49.800 --> 0:03:53.760 James Cameron's Spider Man was tangled in a web of 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:58.520 rights issues. A Fantastic Four movie was filmed but never released. 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:02.160 B movie King row Dger Corman made a no budget 0:04:02.200 --> 0:04:05.960 schlockfest just to avoid losing his rights to the characters. 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:11.400 Newspapers still started comic stories with bam, zap and pop 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:14.800 and homage to the old Adam West Batman series that 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.080 hadn't aired in over twenty years. In the art world, 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:22.960 only graffiti had less of a reputation than comics, so 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:27.600 Yes Southeby's deigning to offer comics was perceived as a 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:32.200 big deal, and the star of their second show in 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:36.640 New York was Action Comics Number one, the first appearance 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:41.400 of Superman, now and forever the most desired comic in 0:04:41.440 --> 0:04:45.280 the world, the same copy that would eventually wind up 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:49.040 in cages hands and then in the hands of a thief, 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:53.440 but today, in September, it could wind up with anyone, 0:04:54.000 --> 0:04:56.880 so long as they were the highest bidder. Keep in 0:04:56.920 --> 0:05:00.839 mind that there simply weren't as many hi collectors of 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:04.679 comics then as there are now, nor were there million 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:08.760 dollar price tags attached to rare books to entice people 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:12.159 to part with theirs. Seeing an Action Number one for 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:16.560 sale was a rare occurrence, like seeing J. D. Salinger 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:20.680 in the Frozen Food Aisle. Rare, so people took lots 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:24.479 of photographs, So did South Bees, which printed an entire 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:28.440 catalog of all their comic book treasures. The fact that 0:05:28.480 --> 0:05:32.359 they took a very detailed, very precise series of photos 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:35.359 of this Action number one will make all the difference 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:38.159 in the world later in this story, and yeah, I 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:41.159 will remind you when it's time. But in the moment, 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:44.680 people were simply amazed the comic was here at all, 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:48.279 not only because it was an Action number one, but 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:53.279 an Action number one in excellent condition, bone white pages, 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:57.600 a bright cover. A number of collectors and dealers were 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:00.240 there in person. If you couldn't make it imp person, 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.159 you could bid over the phone, but you'd come if 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.279 you could, if only to get a glimpse of comic 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:09.880 book history. I was very excited, but I was sick 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:12.600 as a dog, and I sat in the back row, 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:16.400 and I had dark shades on and wasn't feeling well 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:19.120 at all. I had the flu, and I was just 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:21.480 excited to get it and get it over with and 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:25.440 get half of there. That's Bill Hughes. Bill has been 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:29.039 a collector and dealer for over four decades. He owns 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:34.159 Vintage Collectibles, a business based in Texas. In Southabies, he 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:38.520 saw the hobby changing. More money coming in the books 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:43.360 being sold through auction houses meant more attention, more press attention, 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:48.719 and with more attention came more demand. The financial component 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:52.880 of comics collecting was about to take a huge leap forward, 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:56.000 and Bill believed he could see a quick return on 0:06:56.160 --> 0:06:59.640 his investment for an Action number one, even if he 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:03.400 needed to make a major play. Oh yeah, I mean 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:07.240 at that time, it wasn't like I was wealthy. Usually 0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:10.200 I would get into one big item at a time. 0:07:10.880 --> 0:07:14.120 You know, I didn't have the money to inventory and 0:07:14.200 --> 0:07:18.320 hang on to numerous six figure items at once. So 0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:20.680 it was a big deal for me. I mean, I 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.120 kind of put that money together. I was prepared by 0:07:23.160 --> 0:07:25.760 the way to go to a d at the time. 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:29.600 That was my limit. Now, not all auctions build up 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:32.920 to the item that's getting the most attention. Some might 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:37.240 even put up lots in alphabetical order. Bill's memory isn't perfect, 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.120 but he thinks that's what happened with the Action number one, 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:42.760 that it was one of the first comics upt forbid 0:07:43.120 --> 0:07:47.120 rather than the last. No, because I bought the Action 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:52.200 Comics number seven after that as well, and some other lots. 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.440 So no, I'm trying to think if it was alphabetical, 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.400 because I know I bought some lots that were later 0:07:58.480 --> 0:08:02.400 on in the option for So the Action number one 0:08:02.600 --> 0:08:05.559 came up early and that was fined by Bill since 0:08:05.600 --> 0:08:07.560 he had the flu and just wanted to get out 0:08:07.600 --> 0:08:11.480 as quickly as possible. Here's how Southerby has described it 0:08:11.520 --> 0:08:19.760 in their catalog Action Comics number one comic book June 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:24.080 d C Comics, featuring the very first appearance of Jerry 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:29.720 Siegel and Joe Schuster's legendary character Superman, arguably the most 0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:34.920 imitated character of all time. Near mint condition, this copy 0:08:35.040 --> 0:08:38.560 has interior pages with slight tanning on the edges, with 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:43.199 the center portion of interior pages creamy white minor vertical 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:46.679 printers ink tracing lines on three interior pages, with a 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:53.079 handcraft a lacquered custom fitbox. Historically, this is the most 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:58.480 important comic book ever printed. It was like getting a 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:02.160 sales pitch from a waiter on an expensive bottle of wine? 0:09:02.440 --> 0:09:05.920 Who wouldn't spend a bundle on that? When the comic 0:09:06.040 --> 0:09:09.240 was ushered out, it drew a lot of attention right away. 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.920 A lot of people wanted that comic, but only a 0:09:12.960 --> 0:09:16.719 handful of people could afford to want the comic. There 0:09:16.720 --> 0:09:21.720 were several bidders. Obviously, with most options, you'll see a 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.840 lot of spirited bidding at the beginning, and then you 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:28.079 know when the numbers start getting a little more intense, 0:09:28.559 --> 0:09:31.760 you know, then it dwindles and becomes a lot of times, 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:35.800 you know, just headbutting between two people. On and on 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:40.040 it went. Remember at the time, and even now, it's 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:43.040 not coming to see an Action number one come up 0:09:43.080 --> 0:09:46.480 for sale. Bill didn't know the next time he'd see one, 0:09:47.080 --> 0:09:50.520 or what its condition might be, so he kept bidding 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:56.360 and bidding until the amount reached seventy five thousand dollars. 0:09:57.040 --> 0:10:01.520 Adrenaline was coursing through his aching bo and then Bill 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:05.600 waited for the other better to pipe up, but he didn't. 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:11.640 Just like that, Bill had set a world record for 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:15.440 buying a comic book with the ten percent buyer's premium. 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:19.520 It came to eight two thousand, five hundred dollars, and 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:24.120 normally Bill would have loved the inevitable press attention, but 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:26.920 not today. I was sitting with a friend of mine 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:30.240 and I just remember we high five, and like I said, 0:10:30.280 --> 0:10:33.079 we were in the very back row and that was that. 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:36.640 And I was feeling too poorly to even respond to 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:40.360 media requests. There were people there that wanted to interview me, 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.000 and I just said, I gotta I gotta go. I 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:47.360 just wasn't feeling good. Well, maybe not with all the congestion, 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:49.800 but in terms of doing what he had set out 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:53.480 to do, Bill was feeling pretty good. He now owned 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:58.120 an Action number one in fantastic condition, which fewer than 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:01.640 ten people in the world can say. The question was 0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:04.640 what happens when you're in New York and need to 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:07.720 return home, which at the time was in Las Vegas, 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:12.640 with the world's most expensive comic. You don't check it 0:11:12.760 --> 0:11:16.440 as part of your luggage, do you. I just stick 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:18.959 it in my little briefcase and take it with me. 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:21.360 I mean, that's how I've always done it. I just 0:11:21.400 --> 0:11:23.640 took that little handful of comics with me on the 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:27.400 plane and flew back. He didn't look for a buyer 0:11:27.520 --> 0:11:31.040 right away. This was a kind of holy grail. It 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:34.720 was something to baskin. He wanted to let it appreciate 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:37.720 in value. I was letting it appreciate, and I was 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:41.440 enjoying having it, and took pictures and had some fun 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:44.280 with it. A few years later Bill found a buyer, 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:47.240 a fellow dealer who got it into the hands of 0:11:47.320 --> 0:11:51.920 Stephen Fishler, Cages comic book dealer. The whole story really 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:55.440 starts right here in a South Abyes bid room where 0:11:55.480 --> 0:11:59.520 Bill Hughes Who's got the flu, grabs the action number one, 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:04.640 which eventually finds its way to Nicolas Cage. Bill, by 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:07.600 the way, didn't know about cages stolen comics at the 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.760 time it happened in two thousand, that was still on 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:14.200 the hush hush, But when he eventually did find out, 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:19.280 he wasn't too surprised. It's not surprising that they were 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:24.080 stolen from these wealthy gentlemen because these are people that 0:12:24.240 --> 0:12:28.600 like to use their highlights from their collections as conversation 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:33.240 pieces and you know, particularly at parties and whatnot, kind 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:35.920 of show them off. When you you know, go out 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:40.040 of your way to share the value and show the 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:46.280 actual item to numerous people, you know, you almost invite trouble. 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:49.920 But Bill, who's been in the collecting game a long time, 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:52.840 can conceive a one way they could have found their 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:56.440 way back into the market, Like why would someone not 0:12:56.679 --> 0:13:00.520 sell it? You could deface it and change the appearance 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:03.319 of it so it doesn't appear to be the same comic, 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.000 and just sell it for a ton of money, even 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:08.400 though a lot less than it was worth at the time, 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:12.320 but still a lot of money. Easily and probably no 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:14.880 one would think twice if it was defaced in some 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:17.199 way to where it appeared to be a totally different 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:21.079 because obviously there's quite a few copies out there altered. 0:13:21.800 --> 0:13:34.439 That's interesting. In two thousand two, Los Angeles art detective 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:38.520 Donald Harrisik had a cold trail. He had interviewed at 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:42.800 Cages employees and party guests. He'd spoken to dealers and 0:13:42.920 --> 0:13:45.439 kept an eye out for any sign of the books. 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:49.679 Others had sworn they knew someone who knew something, who 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.800 knew someone who had seen the Action number one, But 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:55.600 even if they had, there was no telling whether it 0:13:55.720 --> 0:13:59.360 was cages copy. People wanted to be helpful, but the 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:03.680 books were gone with the wind. The only thing Harresa 0:14:03.840 --> 0:14:05.880 had to go on was the fact that the sale 0:14:05.960 --> 0:14:09.640 of an Action number one would almost definitely make noise 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:13.560 in the collector's market. You couldn't really sell a comic 0:14:13.640 --> 0:14:16.800 like that without a buyer asking a lot of questions, 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:20.920 where did it come from, why are you selling? Who 0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:23.960 owned it before you did. It's all the stuff a 0:14:24.000 --> 0:14:27.160 seller like Southebys didn't have to worry about because their 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:30.800 reputation preceded them by and large. You know what you're 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:35.160 getting from a major auction house, they'll stand behind their items. 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:39.880 That's also why it was highly unlikely cages Copy would 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:43.200 ever find its way back to Sotheby's. The thief would 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:47.280 be asked too many questions. If you really wanted to 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:50.520 sell a stolen Action Number one, you try to do 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:55.880 it as quietly as you possibly could. But being quiet 0:14:56.200 --> 0:15:00.840 can make a lot of noise. HARRESI got another tip, 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:05.800 and this one felt different. Someone in Memphis was offering 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:08.920 a copy of Action Comics Number one on the sly. 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.000 This person wasn't looking to go through the normal channels 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:17.280 of a Southebies or eBay. They wanted a cash transaction. 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:25.280 How suspicious. If Sothebes represented the ideal way to legitimately 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:28.480 sell the comic, a random dude in Memphis offering it 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:33.320 to cash buyers represented the most bizarre. It was too 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:37.520 peculiar to ignore. So Harresa hopped on a plane from 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:41.920 Los Angeles to Memphis. If this was cages Copy, it 0:15:42.080 --> 0:15:45.120 made a certain amount of sense. You would never want 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:47.720 to steal a book in California and try to sell 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:54.440 it there. You'd want to go somewhere anywhere else. When 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.640 he arrived in Memphis, Horre Sik met with detectives of 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:01.440 the Memphis Police Department. They had a suspect in mind, 0:16:01.480 --> 0:16:06.880 who will refer to as Lex, because why not. Lex 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:10.120 had been peddling Action Number one and other rare comics 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:14.840 around town and via online classified sections. It certainly looked 0:16:14.880 --> 0:16:17.960 as though he had the real thing. Police had also 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:21.440 been able to establish Lex had a safety deposit box 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:24.800 at a local bank. This was where he had possibly 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:29.040 shown the rare books to prospective customers. It was a 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:33.400 very clean operation here. Sick and the Memphis p D 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:37.480 requested a search warrant for the safety deposit box. He 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:41.920 believed this could conceivably be cages copy and a chance 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:44.640 to solve a theft for one of the most famous 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:47.920 people in the country. It would mean more attention for 0:16:47.960 --> 0:16:50.520 the l a p d s Art detail, which was 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:56.520 always criminally understaffed. Horresik had perhaps one partner at a time, 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:00.320 and if this was the Action Number one, then Lex 0:17:00.400 --> 0:17:03.960 could possibly lead them to the others. The Detective number 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:07.720 twenty seven and Detective number one get him in a 0:17:07.840 --> 0:17:09.960 room and sweat him out under the lamp with the 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:13.240 adjustable arm. Maybe Lex would even get a break for 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:16.920 telling them what he knew. Here, Sick and the Memphis 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:20.120 p D believed they had enough probable cause to get 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:23.520 the search warrant, and a judge agreed it was another 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:27.080 step closer to figuring all of this out. On this 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:31.800 fine day in Memphis, here Sick and Memphis police walked 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:35.000 into the bank and produced a search warrant and were 0:17:35.040 --> 0:17:39.000 then led into a secure room. And while these boxes 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:43.160 usually need two keys, the bank manager typically has a 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:46.800 master set the whole let's open it together things, kind 0:17:46.840 --> 0:17:51.280 of theatrics. Inside of the privacy room, the key was 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:54.879 slipped into the lock and the lid swung on a hinge. 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:59.240 It was sort of like the briefcase in pulp fiction. Here, 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:04.120 Sick the others peered inside. This could be it the end, 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:07.399 and this would be a good time for a fake 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:10.679 out that the box turned out to be empty and 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:15.720 that the cops would be dejected. But that's not what happened. 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:19.840 What stared back at them was in Action Comics number 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:26.200 one case closed. Harrisik had solved plenty of art thefts, 0:18:26.560 --> 0:18:29.880 had recovered more than thirty one million dollars in art 0:18:29.960 --> 0:18:33.919 over the past several years, had found some Peanuts animation 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:39.040 cells stolen from animator Bill Melendez seven thousand, five hundred 0:18:39.040 --> 0:18:42.960 cells taken from his offices by the company handyman. He'd 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.679 even found the Scarecrow's tap shoes from the Wizard of Oz, 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:51.080 but this was something else, a whole new level of 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:55.520 cultural archaeology. The cops gently picked up the book to 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:59.600 get a closer look. It was as most rare comics, 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:03.320 were wrapped in a plastic comic bag to protect it 0:19:03.400 --> 0:19:08.159 from dust and fingerprints. They examined the cover. It was 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:12.600 all there, Superman hoisting a car directly over his head, 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:16.520 people fleeing the scene. In the lower left was the 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:21.080 infamous hysterical man, hands clasped at his temples like Kevin 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:25.200 McAlister and home alone, beads of sweat ran down his forehead. 0:19:25.480 --> 0:19:31.040 He sure was scared, and wait, where were the beads 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:35.760 of sweat? Now? It's possible Harrisik and the others didn't 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:39.120 notice this right away. It might not have been until later. 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:42.960 But if you knew action number one backward and forward, 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.919 you'd be able to spot inconsistencies, like the fact the 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:50.000 manic screaming man running away from Superman on the cover. 0:19:50.080 --> 0:19:55.200 It wasn't sweating, he was always sweating since the issue 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:59.200 was first printed in night he had been sweating. He 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:01.600 was afraid er Man was going to toss a car 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:06.320 at him. It would make anyone hysterical, but not this guy, 0:20:06.640 --> 0:20:11.280 at least not this version of this guy. So had 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:15.399 someone damaged the comic or had someone done something even 0:20:15.440 --> 0:20:20.040 more sinister alter it so it couldn't be positively identified 0:20:20.119 --> 0:20:25.600 as Cages? Why erase beads of sweat? That seemed more 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:30.399 like a printing error than any subterfuge. Alright, so maybe 0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:34.040 this copy was a little bit of an anomaly. If anything, 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:38.119 something as distinctive as lacking those sweatbeats would mean that 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:40.960 if Cage or Fishler could prove his copy had the 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:45.600 same defect, then they'd have a match. The cops opted 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:49.960 to gently remove the comic from its protective bag. To 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:55.480 their eyes, it still looked okay. They exchanged glances. Maybe 0:20:55.520 --> 0:20:58.880 this was the one, maybe the bus that would land 0:20:58.920 --> 0:21:02.080 here sick back in pages of the Los Angeles Times 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:05.639 as the country's only art coup the case that the 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:09.320 Memphis p D could share some of the glory. But 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:14.439 then they began turning the pages and they didn't see Superman, 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:20.159 not anywhere. Granted he was only in twelve pages of 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:23.800 the comic sharing space with stories no one remembers, but 0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:30.240 he wasn't anywhere. There weren't any illustrations. Instead, the cops 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:35.680 saw photographs of women clad in lingerie. The entire interior 0:21:36.280 --> 0:21:40.720 was a lingerie catalog, and if the inside was a 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:46.360 lingerie catalog, that meant the cover was something else Entirely. 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:50.480 They quickly figured it out. Lex had found an image 0:21:50.480 --> 0:21:53.600 of Action Number one online, saved it and printed it 0:21:53.640 --> 0:21:58.200 out as a color copy, and it was a good copy. 0:21:58.240 --> 0:22:00.800 But in the process, the beads of sweat on the 0:22:00.800 --> 0:22:04.640 guide freaking out didn't register on the printer. They were 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:08.480 lost in the translation from digital image to hard copy. 0:22:08.880 --> 0:22:12.600 Lex was busted. The scam was too simple. When he 0:22:12.680 --> 0:22:16.280 found an interested party, he told them to never ever 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:20.080 remove the comic from its protective bag, since exposing it 0:22:20.119 --> 0:22:23.480 to air might cause the ancient pages to turn brittle. 0:22:23.920 --> 0:22:26.639 If it worked, that might have bought Lex enough time 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:30.840 to take off before being found out. This Action Number 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:36.040 One was inside a Frederick's of Hollywood or Victoria's Secret Catalog. 0:22:38.400 --> 0:22:41.720 Harrisak had seen this before, a collector in bel Air 0:22:42.000 --> 0:22:45.280 Cage's Neck of the Woods once bought a painting by 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:50.679 artist Andrew Zorne for five hundred thousand dollars. Someone stole it, 0:22:51.080 --> 0:22:55.440 but left something behind, a giant photograph of the painting, 0:22:55.880 --> 0:22:59.200 which the family didn't detect for some time, not until 0:22:59.320 --> 0:23:02.800 one of them touched it and realized it had no texture. 0:23:03.200 --> 0:23:06.600 In this case, the collector's butler did it, swiped the 0:23:06.640 --> 0:23:08.719 real thing for one he had blown up in a 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:12.880 photo lab. Clever enough, but it turns out that it's 0:23:12.920 --> 0:23:17.520 exceptionally difficult to counterfeit a comic book. This wasn't the 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:21.640 first time someone tried. The mafia, which loved to traffic 0:23:21.680 --> 0:23:25.439 and Alyssa Goods, floated the idea. We know because the 0:23:25.480 --> 0:23:28.680 FBI once put wire taps on the phones of mobster 0:23:28.800 --> 0:23:33.760 Paul Castellano and his associates in the nineteen eighties. Castellano 0:23:34.040 --> 0:23:36.840 was the boss of the Gambino crime family in New 0:23:36.960 --> 0:23:42.119 York City. They speculated that counterfeiting comics would be brilliant 0:23:42.160 --> 0:23:45.840 because no one else was doing it. But Castellano didn't 0:23:45.840 --> 0:23:49.359 get a chance to test his idea out. Big Paul, 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:52.680 as he was known, was executed in the stream by 0:23:52.720 --> 0:23:59.480 other monsters in to do it convincingly would be a 0:23:59.600 --> 0:24:04.159 nearly impossible task. This isn't one image on canvas like 0:24:04.200 --> 0:24:08.440 a painting. This is sixty four pages, each one having 0:24:08.480 --> 0:24:12.840 to be identical in size, color, ink, and paper quality 0:24:12.920 --> 0:24:18.280 to the one produced in Now these scams persist even 0:24:18.320 --> 0:24:22.200 today in an arrow where comics are graded and sealed. 0:24:22.840 --> 0:24:25.480 Kick around on Facebook long enough and you might come 0:24:25.480 --> 0:24:29.760 across a copy of Action number one, Superman number one, 0:24:30.000 --> 0:24:33.679 or others that look very convincing, but they're not the 0:24:33.720 --> 0:24:38.200 real deal. They're usually reprints or what DC Comics called 0:24:38.560 --> 0:24:43.080 Famous First editions in the nineteen seventies. The outer cover 0:24:43.240 --> 0:24:46.359 indicates it's a modern book, but if a scammer takes 0:24:46.400 --> 0:24:49.240 that off, the inside more or less looks like the 0:24:49.320 --> 0:24:53.160 real thing. But they were also oversized by a few inches, 0:24:53.240 --> 0:24:58.800 both vertically and horizontally. So it wasn't cages copy, just 0:24:58.960 --> 0:25:02.959 a small time on from a small time command. And 0:25:03.040 --> 0:25:07.119 so Harrisik returned to Los Angeles. But that wasn't the 0:25:07.280 --> 0:25:15.600 end of the Memphis story, not exactly. Even though what 0:25:15.840 --> 0:25:18.719 was looking to be a promising lead for the Action 0:25:18.800 --> 0:25:21.879 Comics Number one was a bust, two thousand two was 0:25:21.960 --> 0:25:25.720 still a very eventful year. For Nicolas Cage. There had 0:25:25.720 --> 0:25:29.119 been a second break in the comic thefts case a 0:25:29.160 --> 0:25:32.560 former employee who was arrested for stealing from the actor. 0:25:33.000 --> 0:25:35.159 But when that shook out, all the men had taken 0:25:35.200 --> 0:25:40.080 were some watches, albeit some very expensive watches, and some booze. 0:25:40.640 --> 0:25:44.120 Not only didn't he take any comics, he wasn't under 0:25:44.160 --> 0:25:48.480 Cage's employee when the comics were stolen. In a separate incident, 0:25:48.680 --> 0:25:52.160 Cage had a porsteous stolen that one was found at 0:25:52.160 --> 0:25:55.320 the bottom of a lake in the Ozars a hundred 0:25:55.359 --> 0:25:59.840 thousand dollars down the drain. In light of the other incidents, 0:26:00.160 --> 0:26:02.960 maybe he wondered if the same fate would greet his 0:26:03.040 --> 0:26:08.560 comics someone panicking and getting rid of them permanently. That 0:26:08.760 --> 0:26:12.160 was two dead ends in the comic world. But professionally 0:26:12.320 --> 0:26:16.720 Cage was doing well. He started in Adaptation and a Reverend, 0:26:16.800 --> 0:26:20.879 comedy about twin brothers and screenwriters trying to adapt The 0:26:21.000 --> 0:26:24.960 Orchid Thief, a true story about a horticulturist who steals 0:26:25.080 --> 0:26:28.800 rare and valuable orchids. The film is fictional, but Cage 0:26:28.840 --> 0:26:31.800 got a lot of positive attention for his dual roles. 0:26:32.520 --> 0:26:36.080 He was even nominated for a Best Actor Academy Award. 0:26:37.000 --> 0:26:40.119 He was going to start shooting Gone in sixty Seconds, 0:26:40.520 --> 0:26:45.280 a car theft movie with Angelina Jolie. Heists were apparently 0:26:45.400 --> 0:26:49.000 not something he could get away from, or crimes for 0:26:49.080 --> 0:26:52.000 that matter. One movie he was set to make but 0:26:52.080 --> 0:26:55.080 never did was called Back Up, about a cop who 0:26:55.119 --> 0:26:57.760 comes back from the dead to solve his own murder. 0:26:58.400 --> 0:27:02.200 He was even getting set to direct his first feature film, Sonny, 0:27:02.320 --> 0:27:06.440 about a male hustler, with James Franco. The last big 0:27:06.480 --> 0:27:10.920 professional shift was departing from his longtime manager, a man 0:27:11.119 --> 0:27:15.280