Counterfeiting currency successfully takes serious skills, and some consider counterfeiting an art. Josh and Chuck recount the stories of five artful counterfeiters and their successful careers in this episode.
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look into the park gases, Josh Partners, Charles Debbie, Chuck, Bryant, this stuff. You should know
live and die in their lay. Yes, chucked stood a little alone. I don't even know that's for sure.
I'm really off my game today, so Nina yeah, you're so on. I am
What's brought up
listen, listen workshop brought up to live and I want to get from the sentence. What Chuck
to live and die in a lay for eyes, because we're talking about counterfeiting today and that's the best counterfeit movie in history- it is it is, it will talked about it before, but I think it's worth talking about again, literally just it great. Thank you. Your work moving
so Chuck counterfeiting, as you may or may not know, is a dying crime, a lost art. It really is, and actually this is one of those old school types of criminal activity that people who are good at it. Have the respective law enforcement NEA was reading article about this boss.
A word of of some counterfeiting ring and it amounted to some guy within Inkjet printer who might it running off? You know terrible terrible currency and fibre paper right and this secret service guy who's, like a twenty two, your vat was tis, shook his head and discuss things like it's. A dying are like you, you just
You don't see good paper any longer, yet steadily lost art, and am I cannot that other sounds goofy, but account like the idea of since it
The much more can say this of counterfeiting like instead of a thief. Anyone could berwin
a chair through a window and go like breaking your cash register at night, but to think like the print money that so believable that you can.
Ass it yeah. It's I get it. It was artistry for sure. It is then, when researching this article, but there is a common theme among these great counterfeiters, these five most successful conifers that they all work. Just they had a tremendous guts yeah. They were, they try to break out of jail at every turn here and they were just really admirable criminal muslim. Rob
about it, tat which had interesting. It's worth a good way to make some money afterward. You don't write a book about my life as it is a flat screen tv, the Heath now now and if you do know one reads it itself published she her so check. Let's get into this are I know we're going to talk about some of these successful counterfeiters and we should also add a caveat here. Success
Does it mean that they never got caught owner now? Don't I don't know about those counterfeit exactly right, there were the ones who got caught, but still had these tremendous careers are the ones we're gonna talk about and we're gonna do chronologically, buddy, starting with a guy named Stephen Bird,
Stevie. He was born in New Hampshire Josh in the seventeen hundreds late submit. Seventeen hundreds
was race throughout the United States, and I think that you-
the best sentences you ve ever written in this article, which one
from an early age. He showed distinct signs of acute chicanery. Worry readability, Anthony happens. Otherwise, if any Hopkins oh said, why did I hear that wasn't supposed anything I'll get my newsreel voice,
good, thank you and he was of usable, mischievous sky island.
Life is sounds like apparently gained a reputation is the worst boy in town at a very young age. He he stole a bunch of water
from a local farmer and he joined the search party to find the thief net Jesse Smart right now,
and I think it is fourteen- he ran away- joined the merchant navy- ended up basically being the de facto ship
doktor, while he deserted. Let's
He went to the army in the the arm deserted the army then went to college.
The college and then became like the de facto doctrine about right
its lead him to say. You know why I could probably get away posing as stuff his father is.
Arguments. We decided that he was going to pose as the leader of a church which he did successfully for six months, scrap led the congregation like Mass everything ire and he probably could have done their indefinitely, because you know people are that suspicious of preachers usually, but he got busted passing some counterfeit money in Concord Right, Springfield close enough. Yes, and then he was sent to jail, and then he thought about a good way to escape from jail.
To set the jail on fire at work the successfully escape. Yet he fled to Canada actually an down he. I think he did. He get caught again. Well, that's where he is
The most serious counterfeiting ring was when I went to Canada right. So he was
Canada any led this ring for
and it certainly just decided to reform himself. He gave up crime started supporting himself by tutoring, wealthy canadian children, the children of wealthy Canadians. I should say
Yes, he founded it a library and though he said yeah, he became kind of like cultural benefactor up there.
Even though people were aware of who was they still respected and because the stuffy did right was so respectable sure, like any prince and funny bills, he built a celebratory here. He built a library any died in eighteen, forty, but before that here
a book like you said, a lot of undue called memoirs of my own life as the best
more title and memoir industry is limited,
my own life yet so it's still in print, apparently I'm ready navigator. Well, it's moving on number four yeah is drum roll.
The lavender hill mob switch
I found. I was a movie from nineteen. Fifty one and elegant us, retry, researching them
now that's iciest movie here, but its unrelated now
not related at all, but instead
Underhill MOB actually of fairly recent origin, they were operating
The nineties in great Britain around Lavender Hill. I would imagine there are founded by this guy named Stephen jury, and this guy was awesome. He was looking at what they call in old school rogue and not to quote and another guy named Kenneth Maidstone, whose retire printer and jury recruited main stone to come up with some counterfeiting plates by right, and they did very successfully and by the way you
it is widely credited is establishing the knock off perfume market yeah. I found he actually bribed a performer to get recipes and.
By the tunnels, all said and done had bottled five million phony Chanel number five. Really it's like that. A factory in aka poker may
stuff no browsers like what he was. If you love Giorgio, like George
You love and allow a little ready, aerosol care of their own
some you were at Cologne. Oh, it's been a long time yet
work alone. When I was like seventeen ethics last night at its about it. For me,
That's funny. When I lived in, you may Arizona all those do work alone, because everybody sweaty
We all know this is kind of. This is a different culture. Now, if you work alone, relax,
They have like Joe in their care and other cultures, because today
See short, I bid then yeah. Ok, so love
am I right. They were very successful. They printed about fifty million pounds worth of fake notes and not pounds by weight but pound by inner right currency. The currency desert sold fake stamps, which I thought was sort of ingenious. It is, but at the same time it's like looking just me. Fifty million pounds of fake currency right and in one way to get rid of counterfeit money is not just passively. You can actually sell it, for you know pennies on the dollar right to people who know that its counter furniture and go passive themselves, but even for
he's on the dollar that still many millions of pounds area in these guys are making stamps on the side. Yeah well, apparently little what's a little odd. Apparently the first bills didn't work out.
Great, though you about that that the
the queen of England, look like she had a beard and so that
maybe that's where they are making stamps until they perfected the bread, the note making which they did, because they folder uv detectors.
So get out again, and actually they got good enough that the the Bank of England actually changed their design for their twenty pound. Note because of the lavender objectivity, isn't success pretty ass, it is now and he wrote about Joy- did before he died to start a couple years ago, any two thousand six to them. Six there he had sent her two tiles. The first one is called funny money
These are the second one was great second ones called loads. Are money and that's one word loads loads.
The true story of the world's largest ever counterfeiting ring calling in there is well yeah a kind of classes up your book. When you have a call in their loads of money, we should write a movie about lacquer, who should I check onto the Nazis yeah? I did notice most people think of the Nazis, as like the worst fascist state to ever emerge in the history of humanity, now worse state ever out now that is not fair.
Worst right, because miscellany was another successful. You know they, they do directly murdered ten million marginalized people, including Jews, Roman Catholics, homosexuals and others too. They invaded Poland and France and other countries, but they also ran arguably the most successful counterfeiting ring in the history of humanity. There were a lot of in the history of humanity with Nazis. Almost all of them were
but actually offer more horrible did. This is the least horrible thing I've ever done, probably, but it was gonna pan out pretty bad in the end.
They are made about six hundred and fifty million pound notes, which should be about seven billion bucks today, right, which was about fifteen percent of the currency in circulation.
Great Britain at the time right and their brilliant idea was to fly over England in drop cash money from planes what they actually
get out, and this is called operation Bernard burn.
Krueger. Yet, if you listen
this officer, who is in charge of this outbreak, yet ahead of the operation, mainly operation after himself. Basically, what they did was they went around and figured out what nearly dead people in their camps used to be printers
in the time before the war, and they had
five m and drafted them to work in what was called the devil's workshop right, which is like a secret printing press, a printing office at what is it? You easy speak, German. What camp.
Scatter on now shouting house in nice chuck. So they had some guys they're all assembled to crack the
english currency and the bodies on housing, and they did successfully leading to the six hundred and fifty million
pound notes yet and that, while they didn't drop from the plane now they laundered it right.
You some of that money like import things in this, isn't factually backed up, but there's rumour that they actually use that money to pay for the rescue of Muslim.
Do they really late apparently made a bunch of cash? They they gave the money to a german businessman who servers affront form the laundry and he bought anything, a value that he had his hands on. I bet with this money, and apparently it wasn't a secret like TAT, England had known nineteen, thirty, nine right that this is going on and they tried to close their borders, the incoming currency, but it didn't really work right. They. Finally, cracked, the american hundred dollar bill, just as their camp was liberated, had eight they, the Nazis, knew these guys were coming to they took all the printing press
By these guys, the allies they took the printing stuff and through in the lakes blue step up with external, I don't know why they were trying to cover this aspect a holocaust up your right and they were about to execute everybody who is involved and the allies showed up and-
the day yeah, and I think we should point out the idea behind all this was to undermine the economies.
Of England in the United States. Do not point that which is it's a pretty important part out was the play and they were dislike. Oh we'll get english money and didn't would buy things because you know if you have a sudden influx of cash, a lot of cash on the on the market, rightly through inflation. Indeed, those eight BBC Tv show Josh.
About this in nineteen eighty called private shorts and then one of the
wish prisoners forced to do. This is named Adolf Burger
yeah and he later wrote a book in that book was turned into a movie that one best foreign language Foeman, two thousand eight, let alone the counterfeiters and English nice Dorothy was interim not to take it out now, moving on to moving onto number two, Charles all Rick, yes, not related to Robert you're, Eric
five Zeiner users to different names right now. This guy was another kind of dashing counterfeiter filled with daring do, and he was also the ladies man actually tearing do. I couldn't how, as there's no other better way to describe it acute
plenary. Yet he was a ladies man right yeah
actually lead to its downfall right. He was polygamous.
And he wasn't shy about it- he was like a bill packs and forgot to say it, and this is an aid
sixties in New York. He, and like most of these, that counterfeiters he was a gifted engraver plates right. So the local mob figures out that this guy is a gifted engraver plates in the corral em to try to get him in. My will
working for them right, any does and he ends are getting in trouble and ends up for
his own mothers own gang and
with all the women included right, he finally gets caught and eighteen sixty eight since trial, it was in Cincinnati. I wanna get twelve years in the federal poky by his own estimation. He printed about eighty thousand dollars worth of funny bills, plot a direction which is equally about one point: three million in two thousand eight dollars right, but what was
Downfall Chuck. I said women, but specifically what well like you said he was a sort of a blatant polygamous may
no bones about it and he engaged
moved all around, engage in relationships and never broke off the old ones. Eventually he moved his wife and to live with. He and his girlfriend and a third woman
one of them fairly said you know what I'm gonna turn you jerk, actually all the
and on a body dead. Their interesting
They turned a man, that's that's where the Cincinnati trial came up and before that he had been incarcerated in the grand tradition of counterfeiters. He broke out and actually led the cops
on a chase across the Negro River like right at the fall in made it across actually India, Canada and escaped, and he was like the whose at lady in the barrel, as he was going, and if there s a daring, do I don't own staring? Do my friend that's acute chicanery, really like that? It is great.
The last one body in this guy's pretty familiar everyone's, probably heard a very frank Abigail, because the Steven Spielberg movie catch me. If you can,
It was made at a time when Spielberg unwittingly had a fake or a stolen Rockefeller in his collar. I I love this. Many did you I like to do is just an. I was once a year,
the kind of put out some stinkers and everything was so serious and then he's gonna get a fun entertaining ice movie right.
It's where those moves you can land. The counting watch like for the fiftieth time.
The Sunday you agreed. They never show it on tv those,
think it ran on now like teenty for awhile, because I saw it. I love this movie,
LEO Dicaprio obviously played Frank and funny story. When every mail found out Dicaprio is going to portray him,
he was worried because he didn't know of Leonardo Caprio would be able to be smooth enough to play him accurately the smooth
on the planet he is smooth.
Do we only waited O Leo now? I don't think this guy cares. I don't think he thinks LEO Recovery or hold the channel their kindness me. You can learn to sell and they also can Tom Brady look at handed.
The quarterback yeah, but I mean chisel. That of stone is accorded shut up. All right
he did most of his work and his teens and twentys, which is the remarkable thing about his story, and he was a czech forger. Yes, as anybody who seeing the movie can tell you and actually between the ages of sixteen and twenty one, he cast more than two point: five million dollars and fake checks in all fifty states and twenty six countries their debts
his work, and he was also a confidence man just because he would not only right vague checks, but he would masquerade
it is, as you saw the film like,
airline pilot or a doktor, or an attorney professor. I think you did at one point in full. Everybody will only discords, whatever documents he needed to prove that he had the education or training or resume or whatever and now get hired, which made him a good common. Absolutely him shot smooth. He said
Fetch me, if you can sucker a few things, your Josh that are similar indifferent from real life and in the movie is always beef. It up a little bit in the movies. Yet he did actually pose,
federal agent when their busted in on him near and Kenneth knock out the back door. Yes, it keep looking yet he ordered the feds really conform to keep. Looking said, he was like a dream
region, is absolutely yet and use their first. Yes,
actually did escaped from a moving plain
Acting on the runway. That's pretty serious live this autumn
happen. However, in real life he never saw his father again after he left home and he had a real problem with his parents divorce. I mean like
more so than any kid I've ever heard like he would.
Fantasize about meeting his parents again and then
proud of him and then getting back together because they were proud of his exploits weird. It's kinda, like Ralphie, dreaming that he was gonna, go blind from having the soap opera swearing. You remember, it was so poisoning
he was one of four kids in the movie I think he's a but an only child Hannity the care
hand ready the Kyoto Handwriting Tom Hanks character
was actually getting Joshi. They changed its name with me. Why
they send, the original script was Josiah and I can never.
The reason why they changed the handwriting? Did they say anything about Captain America? Did you use the captain? America Alias not unnoticed
He was in the film actually that, as one of the french policeman that nabbed him at all
yeah. He would help area because it is a step in the french jail print prison french prison
He is actually married.
Married woman. As soon as he went straight, he married a woman still married to it. It s got three sons and one of his sons is a federal agent cool and he did remain friends with the Tom. Hanks are not something with Josh, I daresay cats, and he does he does consulting, unlike
then Anti fraud and bank securities halfway there. I yet everyone on your list wrote a book except for number two, Charles Orbic. Yet while the Nazis
but the other guy road, actually, the center of the gallery. The guy's involve Charles all requests to too involved with the Ladys. I guess I always time writing a book. You should write a book about that Chuck. Do you wanna Genesis?
finish your wrath. Is Turkey up near the oven? Exactly this episode of step, you should know, is brought to you by go to meeting the affordable way to meet with clients and colleagues for your free thirty day trial. Is it go to meeting dot com? Slash stab sir? If you wanna see some pictures about the guys that we were just talking about one I couldn't find so I used a picture of Dartmouth. College is the best I could come up with, and I apologise for that. Sorry diamond typing counterfeiters c, o you anti are f b. I t r s in the heavy search bar how stuff works, dot com,
the sun was in your mail. Thank the Lord Josh. I'm gonna call this sinister its wrote in yeah. We had a bunch of unlimited told another other meaner, weird
this is three quickest, edited them down guys persons from Jonathan
you're, spoken words. I see the written forms of the words in my visual field. I see them
the same way. I see a memory, they don't screw,
cross. My visual field like a stock ticker, rather they appear in flashes
seemingly random positions and sizes. I see the world
clearly when a deeply focus on the content of speech like a lecture or when I'm
two lira size, music. I off
see even see words when I'm dreaming, as for the color,
Second, do is say that they are a generic sand. Sarah fought white fill with like waters
and he's a researcher at researcher, easy Santiago? He said. Perhaps I should just ask professor remarking drawn next, I'm sitting across from me that perks cafe
as I did. If you see I should actually, I am glad that we can bring these two together. It's like the mom with her son. He went off the college, that's right so that from Jonathan
Here's a second from Ben when I was eight or nine years old. My best friend moved to another town that summer
not hearing from them in a wild cited, give Mccall ones
I come from another friends house a couple of seconds later, my right,
suddenly had an intense pain and throbbing for no apparent reason. I,
my wrists and made to feel better and when I got home I'll still very confused what happened? I call my best friend to tell
but this weird thing only to discover
but he was also in pain, waiting for his mom
into the hospital seems arenas.
We're playing Indiana Jones in the escaped from the closing garage door when he lay
the wrong way invested his right risk, I'm a pretty logical guy, but that
really creepy and a hundred per cent true that,
of neurons or a minor psychic of it? Who knows who knows in this last one is from
Jordan and New Zealand he's a key. We love New Zealand.
I associate all numbers and letters, the colors and my mother- and I also used to argue at times about what color a letter is dislike. Nava
and they didn't know that they were sinister states like the famous book least now counterfeit show that was
I thought it might also interest you to know that I experienced music as the projection of colors links
as a sort of mixture of fireworks and a fountain cool
stream of water shoots in the air changes colours in the shape in relation to the music.
Beat is annoying because it's like a pulse ripple in the pond. It distracts and
is the other terms, although
sometimes annoying, I find music distracting, they can get distracting and I still find it very difficult
focus on a conversation. There's too much background noise or music, but now it can actually mute. Partially mute
certain concentrate on music
he'll see no colors, I
I do see the explosions so like a classical piano
it's really intense. He says he
Elsie's? Sorry, he still sees colours and explosions, even those muted it. But he's lessened point
Actually listening, music, unnatural, not gutter, Guinness having enough they do. We really mean to.
I'm talking to someone amusing swaying. In the background, I can focus on the speaker much easier than I was previously able, thanks to his new meeting ability so from Jordan, in New Zealand, that's cool and we hear from other states and others can
Let me also thank the owner from one guy who is like wait. I thought everybody's saw date physically wrapped around them right, critical, join us on Facebook and twitter. Yes,
to ask. Why escape, I guess for twitter and just look up stuff. You should know website. I think it's called website yet on Facebook,
Do those things about anything at all right juncture, I've got nothing, suggests innocent EMA, WWW that stuff podcast at how stuff works
come on we're more on this and thousands of other topics isn't how stuff works that come. What may
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Transcript generated on 2020-01-28.