WEBVTT - The Flying Bandit: Ken Leishman 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:04.680 Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio Elizabeth Dunt. 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:07.480 I got a question for you, my friend. Yes, sir, 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:10.400 do you know what's ridiculous? 0:00:10.440 --> 0:00:12.360 So you want to know if I know what's ridiculous. 0:00:12.400 --> 0:00:14.720 I'm asking you, do you know what's ridiculous? 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.239 I know it's ridiculous. I knew that you would know 0:00:17.280 --> 0:00:22.320 what dependable that way. Air fresheners in cars, I think 0:00:22.680 --> 0:00:25.720 to excess are completely ridiculous. 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:26.920 And quite offensive. 0:00:27.160 --> 0:00:28.680 I'm going to go out on a limb and say 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:34.199 at all I don't like any air freshener in a car. Ah, Yes, yeah, 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:35.880 I just rolled down the windows and it's so bad, 0:00:35.920 --> 0:00:37.720 and then clean the car if it's so bad. 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:39.960 Although, have you ever smelled that new car scent that 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:42.040 they spray in It smells like new car scent. 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:45.559 It's crazy rolling down the windows and getting rid of 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:48.200 that new car set. I just wanted to smell like nothing. 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:50.519 I was just impressed with with what New Jersey could do. 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:53.960 That is pretty impressive. So you've gotten into a car 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:59.200 where it's like oppressive. Yes, the air fresheners, Yes, sometimes 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:00.880 it is dangling from the rear view. There are all 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:03.480 these companies that make like fancy ones now, like they 0:01:03.520 --> 0:01:05.920 have the fabreeze that you stick in the events. I 0:01:05.959 --> 0:01:08.440 got into an uber not too long ago where every 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:09.200 event had. 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.200 Like two oh wow, yes I have seen that. 0:01:11.280 --> 0:01:13.039 It was like how many fish have you got? Have 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:14.839 you got it in this car that you're trying to cover? 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:18.839 But they have like you know, wooden ones and things 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:23.720 that dangle and decorative, yeah, and so carved. If you 0:01:23.760 --> 0:01:26.280 were going to use one, what what would you want 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:29.560 your car to smell like? Your car could smell like anything. 0:01:29.720 --> 0:01:33.559 Okay, this will sound gross to you, but probably the 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:37.680 Pacific Ocean, the beach that smell of like seaweed, salt water. 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:41.680 It's not a pleasant smell, but I would like that, Yeah, 0:01:41.959 --> 0:01:43.640 just like you know, the drying seaweed is it has 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:45.600 to be there, sure, but that's what gives it the 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:47.960 real like the base now the bottom exactly, and then 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:51.880 wafting above that are all the various salt water spray 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:53.920 and and they you know, maybe like the hint of 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.360 like I don't know, bird poop whatever it is that 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:57.440 also is in the air. 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:02.640 Yeah, exactly. I thank you for asking. Oh right, yes, 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:05.000 I don't know. I feel like one of my favorite 0:02:05.000 --> 0:02:07.200 scents is like citrus blossom, like a lime. 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:08.600 Blossh yeah, you do like lime bloss. 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:12.120 That's one thing. I don't want my car to smell 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:13.680 like you know where I'm going with it. 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:17.280 No, I do not, No, I do not pretending I do. 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:23.960 Not something too small weet, like for example, Cadbury mini eggs. 0:02:24.080 --> 0:02:29.440 What the hell like chocolate? Those Easter eggs. Anyway, there's 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:34.639 a company in the UK Carfume. They do these air 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:38.160 freshener things and they you know whatever, they parfume, Carfume. 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:41.359 They have many scents there, you know, sustainable mood enhancing 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:47.320 back seat Yeah, sure, like under boob one of them. 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:51.480 And so No, they have many chalk eggs not c 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:55.880 H A l K, but c H O C like chocolate. 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:01.280 You can you can buy for eight hounds ninety five. 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:04.760 You can buy the carfume, which is like a weird 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:07.959 dangling wooden thing, and then you can give me it 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:14.280 refills the drops for almost ten quid. You can bundle 0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:18.520 it for cream eggs, no, like the little the little 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.360 ones that look like speckled eggs, not the cream eggs 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:25.240 like the little hardshell sure, yeah, and they have that 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:28.960 very particular sweet chocolate with like candy, and. 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:33.359 Yes, I do it on purpose. Yes, why am I asking. 0:03:33.160 --> 0:03:36.560 For the rest of days? Yeah? So that's ridiculous. And 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:42.040 that came to us from Jimmy Dunn Man listener who 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:46.280 got to us through Instagram. Thanks Jimmy, so thank you Jimmy. 0:03:46.520 --> 0:03:47.720 There you go. That's ridiculous. 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:51.480 That is ridiculous certified. Now do you I got a 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:52.280 callback for you? 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:52.960 Oh? 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:54.720 Do you know you remember how I told you the 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:56.080 story of Frank als friends. 0:03:57.000 --> 0:03:58.240 Yeah, the name sounds familiar. 0:03:58.320 --> 0:03:59.839 Flying bank robber. 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:02.320 Yes, yes, he just kept stealing. 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:05.320 Yeah, he kept he escaped prison, he kept stealing planes 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:07.760 all around America and Canada, and then he kept robbing 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:10.360 banks until he took a plane and he ran into 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:13.320 a cow on a runway in Mexico and that ended 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:17.360 his life as a bank robber. Baltimore, Yes, the Baltimore. 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:19.880 He was at a boarding house or. 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.040 Something, Yes, exactly. Good man was there, you were there, 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:25.000 You're you feel it? Now? Do you also remember how 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:27.440 I said that cat's his criminal nickname. It shouldn't have 0:04:27.480 --> 0:04:30.000 been the flying bank robber. That's too many syllables. It 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:34.000 should have been the flying bandit boom right pop now 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:36.600 It turns out someone already had used that g norm 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:40.960 to crime. That nickname was taken Elizabeth two years earlier. 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:44.000 Oh so that's why he didn't get called the Flying Bandit. 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:47.360 By a Canadian. Oh I know you never see that. 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:50.839 So today I have for you the story of Ken Leishman, 0:04:51.120 --> 0:05:15.800 known as the Flying Bandit. This is Ridiculous Crime, a 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:21.240 podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists and cons. It's 0:05:21.360 --> 0:05:26.039 always ninety nine percent murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous. 0:05:26.240 --> 0:05:28.120 Yes, Elizabeth, darn. 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:31.599 My dude, Ken Leishman, right, folk hero of Canada. I'd 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:34.240 never heard of this cat. It just happened. I was like, 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:36.040 I was like, is there a flying Bandit? Why was 0:05:36.040 --> 0:05:38.280 it that name taking boom. Turns out there was this guy, 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:42.040 Robinhood of the Great White North right now in his heyday. 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:44.719 What turns out one to be one of our favorite times. 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.800 He was a mid century bandit, mid century of the 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:51.280 last century. Now dude was born June twentieth, nineteen thirty one. 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:54.320 He gets popped out in this town called Holland in Manitoba, 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:58.400 enters life. Unfortunately, as we constantly kind of point out 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:00.400 for people in the mid century, born into the depression, 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:05.800 so oftentimes their childhoods are rough, right, His definitely, he 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:08.719 was basically born into a storm of unceasing winds. It's 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:11.520 just he gets blown from home to home, wind whipped 0:06:11.520 --> 0:06:15.080 through foster care, pulled from one home because of excessive abuse. 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:18.120 Oh dear, Yeah, his childhood far from idyllic, right you too? 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:21.520 Like the anti beaver Cleaver. Now, somehow though throughout this, 0:06:21.520 --> 0:06:25.480 this childhood of chaotic upbringing and so forth, by all accounts, 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:30.279 he emerges this handsome, charming, sometimes called dashing, well dressed, 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:34.720 abundantly stylish young man. Amazing resilience this kid. 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:38.720 Yeah, the stylish part particularly well, Yeah, I mean he. 0:06:38.760 --> 0:06:40.520 Was known to wear like a distinctive. 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:42.680 Mustache overcame distinctively. 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:46.200 Oh yeah, like think like imagine like a Canadian Clark 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:49.039 Gable of the nineteen forties, but like kind of like 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:50.680 more of a square head and like a one of 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.320 a British mustache, like a British commando kind of guy. 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:59.520 Right, Like, I think, what's what's the cat Austin power 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:02.200 shower is what's Mike Myers? I think Mike Myers would 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:03.799 have loved to have played him, just as a straight 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:06.520 British character. But even though he's in Canada, I was 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:08.480 just from Canada anyway. The guy had like very much 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:11.800 a British mustache in Canada, ornamental to his quick and 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.560 beaming smile. This is my point, Elizabeth A ken Leishman. 0:07:14.840 --> 0:07:17.680 This guy he's also whip smart. Now I said that 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:20.160 for you because you always say men are never described 0:07:20.200 --> 0:07:21.640 as whip smart, only women are. 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:23.120 Yeah, which is true. 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:25.760 Yeah, Oh she's just whip smart. 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:27.880 Well, this guy, Elizabeth, he's smart. 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:29.480 Thank you for leveling the plane. 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:30.559 I wanted that one. 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:33.280 If you're interested in a real looker, does he smile? 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:35.080 Does he go get her? 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:37.560 He's getting out a lot of mocksy this kid, he's 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:40.240 he was. If you're interested in, like a numerical qualification 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:41.920 of his intelligence, because I know you always liked that 0:07:42.000 --> 0:07:44.920 kind of stuff, is quantified intelligence. His IQ was one 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.400 forty six. Is that good? I think so it qualifies 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:48.440 him for mens, I believe. 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:51.560 Oh, I don't know anyway, it sounds lone, but then 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:53.240 again I think I'm for like twenty eight. 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:55.480 This guy is a non violent criminal, which I also 0:07:55.520 --> 0:07:57.560 thought you would like. I like that, right, He just 0:07:57.800 --> 0:08:00.160 he took things that didn't belong to him right throughout 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:02.240 his criminal career. He had a reputation, as I said, 0:08:02.280 --> 0:08:05.400 as a Canadian folk hero. Well, I found one Canadian historian, 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.920 this cat Christian Cassidy. They wrote about Ken Leishman and 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:12.040 I quote, it wasn't a murder. People weren't hurt. I 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:13.520 think that was one of the things that helped make 0:08:13.560 --> 0:08:15.760 him a bit of a folk hero. He was sticking 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:17.720 it to the man. He wasn't holding up little old 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.000 ladies or beating people up or stealing their money. 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:23.440 H right, So was he robbing from like banks and 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:25.120 corporations or well? 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:27.160 Okay, well here, well now that giving you a little 0:08:27.160 --> 0:08:28.880 sense of who he was when he looks like Let's 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:31.040 get into his life in the moving parts. Okay, Ken 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:33.960 marries his sweetheart at the age of eighteen some sorts 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:36.320 of say, seventeen. I'm going with eighteen anyway. Her name 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:39.719 Elva Shields. Okay, Elva love that now VLVA. 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:40.840 Oh it's pretty. 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:43.400 Yeah, it's like the female Elvis. So she was older 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:45.800 than him by two years. There's a true young love 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:48.920 but also a lasting love because despite all the criminality, 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:51.480 she stands by her man. Anyway, now that he's married Ken, 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:53.640 he knows he needs to get a job, so in 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:55.360 the summer of nineteen fifty, he got a job as 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:59.000 a traveling mechanic. He traveled all across Manitoba repairs agricultural 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:02.319 equipment like we straw cutters right now. To give his 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.400 wife and soon to be young family a happy home, 0:09:05.640 --> 0:09:08.440 he wants to give them more than selling wheat straw 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:12.080 cutters will allow, so Ken starts criming. In fact, he 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:15.200 furnished their first home with stuff he stole from warehouses 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.320 around the area. Nice, and I don't mean small things, Elizabeth. 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:21.040 He stole a fridge and a stove right out from 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:23.760 the Westinghouse building, just like we'll just take this right 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.120 out the back. He also stole a sofa or is 0:09:26.120 --> 0:09:29.200 the Canadians called it a chesterfield. He stole a matching 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.520 dinette set and chairs from a warehouse. From a different warehouse, 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.320 he stole a kitchen set and a bed. Yeah. Well, 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:37.560 also he stole small things he liked. He stole a radio, 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:40.200 because what happy home in nineteen fifty candidate doesn't have 0:09:40.240 --> 0:09:43.040 a radio right neath the crystal set. So, by the way, 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:45.480 all this stealing that was done in one month, in 0:09:45.559 --> 0:09:48.839 one February nineteen fifty, he just rack it up, rack 0:09:48.920 --> 0:09:51.280 it up. Right. In March he went back. He was 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:53.280 trying to steal even more items to fill out their 0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:55.880 new happy home. Ken made the classic criminal mistake, Elizabeth. 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:59.320 You know what he did. He got greedy every time. 0:10:00.200 --> 0:10:02.000 He also got lazy, because you see, he tried to 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:06.040 have stolen items delivered directly to his home. Stop, he 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:08.720 selected items from the warehouse, then he posed as a 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:11.560 buyer from a business, and he had basically phoned ahead 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:14.120 to the transportation company, has them come to the warehouse 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.440 to pick up his goods, and then he you know, 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:19.680 delivered to my house, right, and so the plan would 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.120 have worked perfectly. It's like a late night delivery. He's 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:23.880 only a couple of people at the warehouse don't really 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:27.160 questioned it, except there was a nosy dispatchers like, I 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:29.839 don't recognize this, This doesn't seem right. So what do 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:31.720 they do? They call the cops? 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:34.880 I mean, come on, the man just needs anette. 0:10:34.920 --> 0:10:39.320 Set Ken gets caught, busted, arrested, tried, convicted, and jailed 0:10:39.320 --> 0:10:40.520 Elizabeth nine month. 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:42.880 See that's the He's got a young family. 0:10:43.160 --> 0:10:44.559 And now he's an ex con. As soon as he 0:10:44.600 --> 0:10:46.640 gets out, but he's only nine months. 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:49.160 They don't have the Potter familias in. 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:51.080 Exactly young family. 0:10:51.600 --> 0:10:51.800 Yeah. 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:54.319 Three months later he gets released, though he doesn't have 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:56.680 to do the full nine Canada. They like good behavior, 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.040 we'll let you out early. So Ken gets out of jail. 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:01.160 Now he needs to find a new way to support 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:05.800 his still growing family, so he chooses to do what Elizabeth. 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:07.800 Go on the street and narrow house. 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:11.120 So far he's been like, you know, going selling wheat 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:14.880 straw cutters. What does he do next? He chooses to 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:16.840 learn to fly. He's like, I need to get more 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:22.240 dimensions with their exactly cheap. No, no, not at all, 0:11:22.280 --> 0:11:24.080 But somehow he manages to do this. And now he 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:27.200 goes to work as a traveling mechanic again. This time 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:29.440 he's a good at it because he can expand his 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:31.520 reach with the plane. Right, So he's going to distant 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:35.360 rural community fixing their agricultural equipment. 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:38.360 Great idea newgate care super well. 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:40.480 Right, So now Kenny's able to buy a nice home 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:42.640 for his family this kids, you know, he buys a 0:11:42.679 --> 0:11:45.800 new car. Now he's buying new clothes for him, the wife, 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:49.240 the kids. Right, life's good also Ken, he buys himself 0:11:49.280 --> 0:11:51.600 a plane he got himself. Nineteen fifty two, he buys 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.679 himself an aranka A E R O n C A 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:57.760 ironka Okay, or maybe I'm pronouncing that wrong. Anyway, Picture 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:01.680 a small plane with the wing over the cabin, like 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:03.560 you know, like just a flat wing. And then there's 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:06.079 a little plane like the kind of people like will 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:06.680 jump out of. 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:10.400 For I am so slow. I just had to like you, 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:12.679 you did the hand movement, and then I had to 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:14.719 puzzle it. I told you like a twenty. 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:18.840 Eight IQ, I mean, sure, you got like a forty one. 0:12:19.280 --> 0:12:21.079 So now that he owns is planned right. He can 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:23.679 make extra cash. Elizabeths he can fly people around. Other 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:25.600 people need to get placed, so he's like, I'm I'm 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:27.839 like a taxi in the sky. So he becomes a 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:30.959 charter flight company. Boom. Family now moves again. You get 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:33.920 a bigger house. This pattern holds true for six years 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:37.720 between nineteen fifty nineteen fifty six. The family's moving every 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:40.280 single year, sometimes because it was good. Sometimes it goes 0:12:40.280 --> 0:12:42.000 say he was in prison, but either way, they were 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:44.080 moving every year for six years. 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:47.360 The goal is to not have to move. That's when 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:49.800 you've made it keep true, to keep moving. 0:12:50.040 --> 0:12:53.079 So Kenzie's he's looking for this luxurious life. Right, He's 0:12:53.120 --> 0:12:55.600 almost there. He's got things going with the charter, he's 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:59.959 goings flying around doing agricultural mechanics stuff. Right, then life 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:03.520 throws ken a speed bump. Yeah, the company's working for 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.559 as a traveling mechanic closes up shop. That's fine, though, 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:08.280 ken he's good here. He's like, okay, well I'll just 0:13:08.520 --> 0:13:10.920 I'll sell cookware. So now he starts flying to distant 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:13.920 places and selling them cookware. Oh, I say, yeah, they basically, 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:16.120 you know, as they said, fly to remote locations. And 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:18.439 he's like a door to door salesman, but with a plane. 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:20.080 And they need that. You need that out there. 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:22.720 Unfortunately, this job it doesn't last too long either, right, 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.920 Apparently you can't sell cookware by plane and really keep 0:13:25.920 --> 0:13:28.360 a company afloat. Yeah, this is like a desperate act, 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:29.240 I think at the end. 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:32.000 So what you're saying is he hit a little turbulent. 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:35.239 Yeah, the company closes shops as well. November nineteen fifty. 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:38.000 Sevens let that one go. You didn't even acknowledge that 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:40.559 I gave you like a CSI Miami. 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:42.120 Oh I could have I was going to put the 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:43.520 sunglasses on, but I got You. 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:46.800 Know, it's like anyway, I'm sorry anyway, So Ken, my man. 0:13:46.679 --> 0:13:49.920 He finds himself unemployed nineteen fifty to seven. Now at 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:52.800 this point he saddled with financial responsibilities a little bit, 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:55.520 not just his growing family. He's a Canadian, so he 0:13:55.559 --> 0:13:58.640 also has a fishing lotch and this fishing lodge is 0:13:58.640 --> 0:14:00.760 going to close, and you need money to keep his 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:01.800 fishing lodge going. 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:06.080 So he holds a break dancing contest for the center. 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:07.839 If he had a good idea, that might have been 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:10.200 on the list. But no, he's unemployed, needs a fishing 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:12.960 lodge saved. But he starts criming again next month. 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:15.480 You know how you do you sell the fishing line? What? 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:18.079 No, No, he's trying to keep that going. You know, 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:22.120 how would that help? Anyway? December nineteen fifty seven, Ken, 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:25.239 he flew down on a commercial airline or from Winnipeg 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:28.080 down to Toronto. Once he's there, he rented a car. 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.200 He checked in at a luxury hotel in downtown Toronto. 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:35.240 Next day he went shopping, bought himself some new clothes. 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:37.040 Then he went and he robbed a bank. 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:41.240 Oh good, it was like, look I have no money, 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:44.280 so I'm going to blow it on my outfit. I'm 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:46.240 going to go do some crime which has hit or miss, 0:14:46.280 --> 0:14:49.120 you know, like, had he done a lot of research 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:49.880 into this bank? 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:52.400 This was his first bank job. Yes, I want to guess, bro, 0:14:52.640 --> 0:14:54.200 he's a smart guy on this. If I told you 0:14:54.200 --> 0:14:57.480 I'm smart, this kid can smart. So he had dreamed 0:14:57.480 --> 0:14:59.000 it up a bunch. He thought, how am I going 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:01.160 to do this? I can't go in and just be like, Oh, 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:03.120 I'm gonna take over the bank. You know, He's not 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:03.640 that kind. 0:15:03.480 --> 0:15:04.920 Of He's a guy. 0:15:05.160 --> 0:15:08.160 He is right. So he comes up with a really 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:10.920 solid plan. I think you actually be tickled by it. 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.240 But first let's take a break and then we'll come 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:15.640 back and I will tell you how Ken gets into 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:39.880 the real bank jobs. All right, Elizabeth, we're back. You 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:40.840 ready to get criming? 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:41.200 Hi? 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:43.240 Yeah? Hi? 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:46.680 By the way, Hi, So Ken, my man is the 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:50.120 Canadian robin hood. He's about a robin and steeling. He's 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:52.360 got a mustache, he's got himself a clean outfit. He's 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.200 got the mustache waxed and ratty, and he's uh, you know, 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:59.400 feeling good, feeling ready to start becoming a real hardcore. 0:15:59.000 --> 0:16:00.760 Criminal, super tight underpants. 0:16:00.800 --> 0:16:03.480 So he walks into the Toronto Dominion Bank. This is 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.280 in downtown Toronto. He pretends to be a mister Gehar. 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.720 That's g ai R, mister Gahre, mister Garrett. This is 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:12.600 a businessman from Buffalo. That's what he tells everybody. I'm 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:17.080 mister Garrett Buffalo. So he's also a friend of the manager, 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:18.960 that's what he tells people. He tells the bank staff 0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:20.240 this and he's like, I have come to speak with 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:22.400 the manager about a bank loan. You were old friends. 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:26.040 So he gets escorted to the manager's office. The door 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:28.240 is closed behind him because they're two old friends, so 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:31.560 they assume they'll want to discreetly do their business, right, 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.800 So sin as the Buffalo businessman is in the office 0:16:34.840 --> 0:16:37.440 and he the two men are alone, he whips out 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.920 a handgun. Oh yeah, he mister Gere tells the bank 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:43.400 manager to write out a check to him for the 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:45.160 sum of ten thousand dollars. 0:16:46.560 --> 0:16:49.600 Checked me exactly, Yeah, because that's just that well, there's 0:16:49.600 --> 0:16:51.280 no way to stop payment on that pipe. 0:16:51.480 --> 0:16:52.640 Old you're not going to see this. 0:16:53.760 --> 0:16:55.800 Well, he probably just will walk it around. 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:58.040 Okay, you did see that part coming Okay, yeah, he 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:00.920 got exactly that. So meanwhile Ken is Garret. He chats 0:17:00.920 --> 0:17:03.440 with the banker. He's asking him questions though Elizabeth though 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:06.480 learning about personal details from this guy. And then he 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:08.760 forces the bank manager to go out with him to 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.160 a teller and have the teller cash the check. 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:13.640 Is it a personal check of personal check? 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:15.879 But I don't know it could be written on the banks, 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:17.920 you know, sock, I don't know if it's a personal 0:17:18.040 --> 0:17:19.440 check from the bank manager. 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:21.200 Okay, so it's from his account. 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:21.440 Yeah. 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:23.800 The bank manager does this. He walks out to the 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.800 bank teller and then is mister ghare you know. He's like, 0:17:27.080 --> 0:17:29.640 once this is successful, the check is cash, mister Gere 0:17:29.800 --> 0:17:31.800 invites his old friend to come have a drink with 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:33.359 him in front of the teller. He's like, oh yes. 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.200 He's casually mentioning the names of the bank manager's family 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:38.959 or friends, and he mentioned earlier in the questioning. So 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:41.480 that's all part of his ruse right now. The bank 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:43.480 manager decides to play it smooth. He's you know, he 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:45.720 doesn't he's Canadian. He doesn't want anyone get hurt. He's like, 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:47.080 we can take care of this, hey, you know, don't 0:17:47.080 --> 0:17:50.600 worry about it. Now he goes out, mister gere, he goes, 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:52.840 he walks out with out of the bank with him. 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:56.720 He escorts him over to Ken's getaway rental car. Now 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.160 Ken's like, you know, he's also Canadian. So he's like, hey, 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:01.359 merry Christmas. Hey have a good one, and then he 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:03.840 wishes him. He's like, also tell your family Merry Christmas. 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.359 So it's gonna be a cold one, right, So Ken 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:09.040 drives away in his getaway rental car and then he 0:18:09.080 --> 0:18:11.119 goes right back to the airport. He flies home to 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:13.879 Manitoba his family. They assume he must have been on 0:18:13.880 --> 0:18:18.080 one of his long remote runs. I don't ask any questions. Meanwhile, 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:20.760 the eyewitness accounts from this bank job, Elizabeth, they all 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:22.880 spoke of this guy Ken and his not They didn't 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.040 call him Ken, mister Gare. They talk about his smooth behavior, 0:18:26.359 --> 0:18:29.440 how he was so dignified, stylish guy. Did you see 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:32.000 his mustache? Right, They're all just he was so dapper, 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.680 so genteel. The press is loving this, They're like final, 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:37.359 they got something to write about. They nickname him the 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:41.000 Gentleman bandit. Oh that's his first one. Now, I guess 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.440 the money from this first bank job, it didn't last long. 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.480 Or maybe he had ten gees. Yeah, but maybe he 0:18:46.480 --> 0:18:48.960 had more than his fishing lodge to save. I don't know. 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:52.200 Whatever it is. Ken was back at it. March sixteenth, 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:55.480 nineteen fifty eight. He flew back down to Toronto once 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:58.160 again to rob a bank. And I guess he hadn't 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:00.479 learned from the warehouse jobs that you don't and get 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:03.639 greedy and do the exact same thing. Anyway, he walks 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:07.679 into the CIBC bank in Toronto. He tried nearly the 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:10.840