Latest / Chuck Douglas / Ret FBI Agent Harry Trombitas was at The Louvre during the robbery

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Ret FBI Agent Harry Trombitas was at The Louvre during the robbery · Chuck Douglas

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  Speaker 1: There are some people in this world, some people on
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  Speaker 1: this earth. I f oif who can fall into a
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  Speaker 1: barrel of poop and come out smelling like a rose.
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  Speaker 1: I'm quickly beginning to believe that my guest is one
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  Speaker 1: of those people. He is. He is retired from the FBI.
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  Speaker 1: He is. He is a a well received author now
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  Speaker 1: of crime novels. He's got two out. I believe a
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  Speaker 1: third is on the way shortly. And and so he
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  Speaker 1: decided to take a little break, little vacation. He in
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  Speaker 1: the missus. They went to Frans They went to France.
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  Speaker 1: Retired FBI agent. They went to France. Guess who was
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  Speaker 1: at the louver trying to see them on Lisa when
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  Speaker 1: this big heist occurred. Yep, Derry, I'm telling you, comes
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  Speaker 1: out of the poop smelling like the rose. He is
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  Speaker 1: the one, the only Harry trombitis, Hello, sir, how are you?
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  Speaker 2: Oh? I'm fine? Yeah, you know, come out smelling like poop.
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  Speaker 2: You know, some people would say I went in smelling
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  Speaker 2: like poop.
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  Speaker 1: You you seriously, I mean, these these books that you
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  Speaker 1: were writing about crime, and I was joking with you
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  Speaker 1: this morning, It's like you just walked into the next book,
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  Speaker 1: and that this is this is perfect, this is uh,
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  Speaker 1: this is Ocean's fourteen, this this uh. And I don't
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  Speaker 1: think they're going to catch him. I really the fact
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  Speaker 1: that they were lucky enough to get away with something
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  Speaker 1: this absurd to begin with makes me feel like just
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  Speaker 1: they've they've I don't know, they got some kind of
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  Speaker 1: cloak on them, but I'm guessing as a former FBI
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  Speaker 1: agent retired now even on foreign land, you were probably
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  Speaker 1: fighting the urge to just take over the investigation right there.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Uh, you know. I when I found out what
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  Speaker 2: was going on, my first inkling was to let somebody know, Hey,
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  Speaker 2: you know, can I give you a hand? You know,
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  Speaker 2: I have a little experience some things, and maybe I
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  Speaker 2: can help. But you know, no one wants to listen
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  Speaker 2: to an old retired FBI agent, especially over in Paris,
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  Speaker 2: so I kept my mouth shut.
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  Speaker 1: Oh well, it's got nothing to do with FBI. It's
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  Speaker 1: just in France. You know, you're oh, no, I can no, no, no,
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, you don't know what is the what's the
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  Speaker 1: French equivalent of the FBI? Who would be handling this
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  Speaker 1: for the Oh my.
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  Speaker 2: You shouldn't have I mean, jeez, there probably is a
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  Speaker 2: what would be a federal branch, but darned if I
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  Speaker 2: know what it is off the top of my head.
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  Speaker 2: I I just know that the French police were involved
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  Speaker 2: in this investigation, and you know, I have confidence that
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  Speaker 2: they're going to resolve the resolve the issue. Now, whether
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  Speaker 2: they get the the French crown jewel jewels back or not,
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  Speaker 2: you know, together or apart or melted down, remains to
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  Speaker 2: be you've seen. But you know, the fact that we're
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  Speaker 2: not hearing anything doesn't really surprise me a lot. We
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  Speaker 2: have to remember, Chuck, when we're when we make press
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  Speaker 2: briefings and press releases, we're actually talking to the bad
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  Speaker 2: guys themselves, so we're kind of keeping them in a
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  Speaker 2: loop on how the investigation is going. And here over
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  Speaker 2: in the United States, you know, we do our best
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  Speaker 2: to keep the media informed, and you know, we should
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  Speaker 2: be responsible and not release any information before we're absolutely
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  Speaker 2: sure about it, but you know, there's that constant pressure
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  Speaker 2: to get information out and sometimes mistakes are made, and
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  Speaker 2: we also don't want to give the bad guys any
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  Speaker 2: insight into what's going on. So, you know, the Paris
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  Speaker 2: officials right now, I haven't heard anything recently. That doesn't
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  Speaker 2: mean that they're you know, running around like Keystone cops
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  Speaker 2: with not knowing what to do. They very well may
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  Speaker 2: be on the right path and have information that will
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  Speaker 2: lead to the resolution of this case. So I don't
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  Speaker 2: think we should sell them short at this point.
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  Speaker 1: The things that were stolen, the items stolen just gut
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  Speaker 1: either strictly happenstance or somebody with a whole lot of
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  Speaker 1: money basically you know, put in a booster order and
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  Speaker 1: said they would pay big bucks because you cannot there's
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  Speaker 1: no way you can sell this stuff. It can't be
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  Speaker 1: that the jewels even if the you know, the things
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  Speaker 1: are melted down, the metals are melted down, those jewels
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  Speaker 1: are still going to be distinguishable. I mean, this has
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  Speaker 1: to be nothing but black market, covert, dark web stuff
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  Speaker 1: from this moment forward. If anything comes of the things
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  Speaker 1: that we're stolen the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Well yeah, I guess that remains to be seen. You know,
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  Speaker 2: there certainly are our people out there who would love
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  Speaker 2: to get their hands on this material and on the
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  Speaker 2: jewels and you know, use it for personal use, you know,
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  Speaker 2: have it, have it in their possession. And again, you know,
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  Speaker 2: there are things that can be done to the jewels
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  Speaker 2: to perhaps at some point be able to pass them
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  Speaker 2: off to other individuals who may want, you know, to
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  Speaker 2: have those in their possession. We're talking about one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and two million dollars worth of jewels, and that that
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  Speaker 2: doesn't count the historical value to the French people. So
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  Speaker 2: you know, it was quite u I truly believe it
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  Speaker 2: was a well planned concept here. May have certainly had
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  Speaker 2: some inside involvement. They knew what they were doing, they
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  Speaker 2: knew exactly where things were, they knew where security would be.
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  Speaker 2: They had they dressed as you know construction workers that
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  Speaker 2: were on site there daily working. They knew that they
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  Speaker 2: had the ladder truck available to them, they had the
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  Speaker 2: right tools to breach the you know, glass and enclosure
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  Speaker 2: that the jewels were kept in. They actually did a
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  Speaker 2: great job in being able to you know, breach that
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  Speaker 2: and get those jewels in their possession. And they obviously
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  Speaker 2: obviously thought about their escape because I don't know if
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  Speaker 2: you or some of your listeners have driven around in
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  Speaker 2: that particular area around the Louver, but you know, it's
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  Speaker 2: very hectic, very busy, and if you try to escape
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  Speaker 2: a car in some type of a vehicle. You're not
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  Speaker 2: going to get very far very fast.
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  Speaker 1: Traffic is like circular around it, isn't it like five
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  Speaker 1: layears in a cig traffic circle?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, but you're not going anywhere fast. And I know
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  Speaker 2: when when we were there just recently, you know, things
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  Speaker 2: move at a snail's pace, and you know, the thing
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  Speaker 2: to have is a motorcycle where you can you know,
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  Speaker 2: they do that lane splitting and you know, so you've
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  Speaker 2: got two lanes of traffic side by side. These motorcycles
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  Speaker 2: come right down the middle of the lane at a
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  Speaker 2: high rate of speed and they're weaving in and out
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  Speaker 2: of cars. And if you were you know, the PO
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  Speaker 2: PO or uh you know, I just remember the Police
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  Speaker 2: Nationale is I think the federal police there. But if
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  Speaker 2: you're trying to follow and you're not on a motorcycle,
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  Speaker 2: you're self, well, you're not going to be able to,
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  Speaker 2: you know, catch up to these guys on a motorcycle.
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  Speaker 2: So I think it was a well planned, well executed heist.
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  Speaker 2: And we'll see, you know, where the investigation leads, and
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  Speaker 2: hopefully they'll they'll be able to identify these individuals, pull
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  Speaker 2: them accountable and get the jewels backed in whatever shape
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  Speaker 2: or format that they're in at the time they recover them.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned something, and this Harry Trumbite is by the way,
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  Speaker 1: retired from the FBI and an author now joining me
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  Speaker 1: on the Legacy Retirement group dot com foam mines. He
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  Speaker 1: was in in France when the Louver was robbed, and
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  Speaker 1: I just thought it'd be interesting to get his perspective
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  Speaker 1: as an American law enforcement person. You just mentioned, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the French in European overall, I guess love of and
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  Speaker 1: respect for history. If this was a kidnapping per se,
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  Speaker 1: would they have likely seen, from your experience a demand
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  Speaker 1: for whatever ransom at this point for these pieces or
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  Speaker 1: is there still some time to see if that might
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  Speaker 1: be the case.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, well I'm not really sure. Again, if
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  Speaker 2: it was an individual that was taken kidnapped, is that
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  Speaker 2: what you meant.
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  Speaker 1: Or well, I just mean, if they're going to hold
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  Speaker 1: these pieces hostage and say, okay, French government, you love
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  Speaker 1: these pieces, we love our history. We want one hundred
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  Speaker 1: million dollars. You say that's what they're worth, and you
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  Speaker 1: give us that, we'll give you your stuff back.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I guess, you know, can't rule anything out.
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  Speaker 2: I would be surprised if that happened. I don't think
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  Speaker 2: this was a theft that for the purpose of getting
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  Speaker 2: a ransom payment, if you will so, But I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I obviously don't have any inside knowledge about it, but
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  Speaker 2: I would be surprised if that was the case. I
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  Speaker 2: think it was a matter of just wanting to get
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  Speaker 2: you know, something as valuable as the French Crown jewels,
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  Speaker 2: and get it to the individuals that wanted them, and
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  Speaker 2: whether they keep them for personal gratification or whether they
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  Speaker 2: end up trying to get rid of them or melt
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  Speaker 2: them down. I guess we'll see what happens. But you know,
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  Speaker 2: this was the plan. This wasn't you know, something that
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  Speaker 2: they just hatched that morning. This was something that was
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  Speaker 2: well thought out, and you don't do that without knowing
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  Speaker 2: what you want to do with them when you get
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  Speaker 2: the goods, if you will.
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  Speaker 1: I never root for the bad guys, but I have
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  Speaker 1: to say this is one of the more intriguing criminal
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  Speaker 1: things that has happened that it has my attention to.
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  Speaker 1: It's not like, oh, I hate these guys. I'm actually
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  Speaker 1: watching because I'm just I'm so curious that it's it's
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  Speaker 1: almost like watching a James Bond movie. I'm waiting to
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  Speaker 1: see what happens. And uh, it's been a while since
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  Speaker 1: we've had anything happen anywhere in the world that I've
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  Speaker 1: just kind of stayed glued to out of sheer curiosity.
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  Speaker 1: So I guess I should be Uh, I should be
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  Speaker 1: a little more harsh on them than what I am,
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  Speaker 1: But I'm just so intrigued that I can't be mad
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  Speaker 1: about it yet.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think we can marvel at the planning and
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  Speaker 2: the execution. Certainly. I don't think we have to admire
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  Speaker 2: them as far as you know their their purpose, but
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  Speaker 2: you know, certainly the plan and that appeared to be
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  Speaker 2: well executed in that and then just being there that morning,
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  Speaker 2: I can tell you we I actually spoke to There
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  Speaker 2: were several military officers with machine guns that were out
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  Speaker 2: in the courtyard area, and I actually spoke to one
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  Speaker 2: right before we went into the building, and there was
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  Speaker 2: no indication that they knew anything was going on at
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  Speaker 2: that point. And we were led by our small group
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  Speaker 2: leader into the building and we were heading down into
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  Speaker 2: the hall. Down the hallway, I assumed to see the
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  Speaker 2: Mona Lisa at that point, and all of a sudden
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  Speaker 2: the people in front of us stopped and we couldn't
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  Speaker 2: hear or see what was going on, but they turned
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  Speaker 2: around and they started walking back towards us, and it
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  Speaker 2: was kind of confusing. At that point, our group leader
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  Speaker 2: was able to make contact with their office and found out,
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  Speaker 2: in fact that the police had just released information that
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  Speaker 2: these jewels had been taken and that they were closing
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  Speaker 2: the museum and that immediately. So she got information from
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  Speaker 2: her company that apparently was monitoring the situation with the police,
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  Speaker 2: and so we exited the building in an orderly fashion.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, there was no panic. Everybody was kind of
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  Speaker 2: quiet and moved to the outside. And like I said,
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  Speaker 2: that we just didn't make it far enough to get
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  Speaker 2: to see the Mona Lisa or any other the things
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  Speaker 2: that we wanted to see, so you know, it was
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  Speaker 2: kind of, you know, sad for us. It was our
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  Speaker 2: last day of our trip and we were really looking
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  Speaker 2: forward to see some of these things, and unfortunately we
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  Speaker 2: didn't get to do it.
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  Speaker 1: So well, they'll send you a coupon or something, though,
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  Speaker 1: I know, well we're running out of time here, Harry,
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  Speaker 1: but let me ask you for your experience as an
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  Speaker 1: American law enforcement person very quickly. Did you considering the value,
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  Speaker 1: the monetary and historical value of the items in that building,
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  Speaker 1: did you find what you saw to be security to
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  Speaker 1: be sufficient there or were you kind of surprised by
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  Speaker 1: how lax it felt.
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  Speaker 2: Well, when I saw the soldiers outside, I thought, well,
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  Speaker 2: you know, this is pretty pretty normal for a you know,
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  Speaker 2: a high priority area like the Lubra, and so I
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  Speaker 2: figured everything was pretty well in hand. And then when
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  Speaker 2: I heard about the heist, and I'm thinking, with all
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  Speaker 2: these people around and certainly security has to be you know,
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  Speaker 2: aware of the value of those items in there, how
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  Speaker 2: they could let something like this happen, you know, was
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  Speaker 2: really shocking to me. So I didn't make it in
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  Speaker 2: far enough to know about the security that they had
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  Speaker 2: in place. And I don't want to be too harsh,
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  Speaker 2: but it just seemed to me that whatever they had
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  Speaker 2: was not sufficient. And you know, clearly they they were
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  Speaker 2: defeated by a team of individuals that knew what the
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  Speaker 2: heck they were doing and you know, had a plan
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  Speaker 2: in place and executed it perfectly.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we'll keep an eye on it, and I hopefully
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  Speaker 1: I'll get a chance to talk to Youse more. I'll
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  Speaker 1: put up a link on my Facebook page to the books.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know if you've got the third one ready
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  Speaker 1: to roll yet or not, but the ones that do
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  Speaker 1: we know are out, I will make sure we get
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  Speaker 1: a little publicity for you.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate it. We all four books are out,
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  Speaker 2: Chuck and available.
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  Speaker 1: You've got all four done? One?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, all right.
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  Speaker 1: I'll put up the put up the Barnes and Noble
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  Speaker 1: Amazon link when I get off the air tonight, so
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  Speaker 1: if people want to go in and read your experiences,
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  Speaker 1: they'll be able to do so.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: Harry trum Bidens retired from the FBI, but still very
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  Speaker 1: accessible to us.