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Off Record: Operation Royal Charm · The Knife: A True Crime Podcast

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Speaker 1: This story contains adult content and language. Listener discretion is advised.
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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Knife Off Record. I'm Hannah Smith. I'm
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Speaker 1: Patia eton im Patia Today.
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Speaker 2: I have a story to tell you. I can't wait.
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Speaker 1: It is about an FBI undercover operation. Oh, I know
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Speaker 1: I'm gonna love this.
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Speaker 2: Okay, so fun. I often think I would have been
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Speaker 2: a great FBI agent minus all the pushups that I'm
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Speaker 2: guessing you have to do to get to that point, Right,
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Speaker 2: would you be an undercover agent? Yeah, I feel like
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Speaker 2: I am for my friends.
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Speaker 1: You know, well, I heard about this case. It's pretty fun.
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Speaker 1: I tried to get in contact with the agent who
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Speaker 1: this was like a really operation. It ran for six
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Speaker 1: years and there were multiple agents, but there was one
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Speaker 1: agent who was involved the whole time, Lou Calvaries, And
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Speaker 1: so I tried to get a hold of him. Turns
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Speaker 1: out retired FBI agents are difficult to find unless they
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Speaker 1: have written a book or have their information out there
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Speaker 1: publicly intentionally. Like, he's not on any of the websites
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Speaker 1: where we look for people's information. His information is not public.
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Speaker 2: Yeah. Maybe if you spent your whole career like pretending
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Speaker 2: to be other people around criminals. You're like, you know what,
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Speaker 2: in retirement, I'm going to go even more undercover. I'm
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Speaker 2: going to be hard to find. Yeah. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: I did end up tracking him down eventually and spoke
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Speaker 1: to him on the phone. He's so nice and he
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Speaker 1: declined to do an interview, but then we ended up
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Speaker 1: chatting for like an hour and he was just telling
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Speaker 1: me like all the old stories. I'm like, oh my gosh,
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Speaker 1: the lou Are you sure you don't want to do
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Speaker 1: an interview? Yeah, but he declined. He's retired. He's like,
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Speaker 1: I'm enjoying my life. I've told this story before. I
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Speaker 1: don't want to have to revisit it fair, you know. Yeah,
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Speaker 1: But I told him I was still going to talk
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Speaker 1: about it. Okay, So this is Operation Royal Charm. There
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Speaker 1: have been some podcasts that have covered this, and some
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Speaker 1: like television shows. There was an episode of a show
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Speaker 1: called Double Life which was sort of hard to find.
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Speaker 1: I had to rent it to watch it. I think
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Speaker 1: it was done in the early two thousands. So I thought, well,
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Speaker 1: there's not a ton about it out there, so let's
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Speaker 1: talk about it.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: So it takes place in Newark, New Jersey. The story
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Speaker 1: starts in the fall of nineteen ninety nine, so agent
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Speaker 1: Lou coveraries he gets a tip. He has an informant
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Speaker 1: who calls him and says, I want to let you
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Speaker 1: know about this husband and wife team. They are importing
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Speaker 1: goods from China, mainly counterfeit cigarettes, and he clues them
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Speaker 1: into their operation. Let's know who they are, and he says,
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Speaker 1: I have a feeling that they're smuggling other things as well.
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Speaker 2: Counterfeit cigarettes, so like fake Marble, how do you say
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Speaker 2: that word, Marlboro mar my gosh, Marlborough losers. Yeah, so
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Speaker 2: they are cigarettes, but there's branded dupes. Yes.
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Speaker 1: So I asked Lou about this, and their cigarettes made
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Speaker 1: you know, this specific operation. They were making these cigarettes
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Speaker 1: in China, right, and using whatever tobacco lusaid. Sometimes they
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Speaker 1: actually did use the same tobacco, like if it was
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Speaker 1: a New Bord or a Marlborough, they would maybe have
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Speaker 1: access to some of that tobacco, but then they would
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Speaker 1: always mix it with some other tobacco they were growing
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Speaker 1: there that was cheaper.
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Speaker 2: Sounds super safe, Yeah, and you know cigarettes, they're so safe,
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Speaker 2: whether the actual brand that you think you're ordering.
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Speaker 1: Right, And then they had replicas of the packaging that
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Speaker 1: looked exactly the same. And this sounds like it was
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Speaker 1: quite a profitable business. We'll get into that in a minute.
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Speaker 1: So he heard about this couple. Okay, they're making counterfeit cigarettes,
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Speaker 1: they're importing them, there were moving merchandise through the port
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Speaker 1: of Newark, New Jersey. Well, Lou brings us to the
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Speaker 1: FBI because he thinks it has potential to be a
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Speaker 1: bigger case. And Lou has actually worked as an undercover
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Speaker 1: agent before, posing as someone in the Italian mafia, and
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Speaker 1: so he already kind of has that persona.
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Speaker 2: Is it like a fine line between FBI agent and
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Speaker 2: Italian mobster?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I mean, you know, Lou kind of has
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Speaker 1: the vibe and the accent. And okay, it's also Lou
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Speaker 1: told me fairly well known that the Italian mafia had
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Speaker 1: their hand involved with the Newark Port shipping, you know docs.
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Speaker 1: So the FBI is this would be the perfect cover.
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Speaker 1: They signed Lou and then another agent named Tom Zaikowski.
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Speaker 1: Apparently these guys had worked together before undercover. Okay, They're like, okay,
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Speaker 1: you're going undercover. You're going to play these mafiosos. So
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Speaker 1: Lou Calvarice became Louis Calvalricci, and Tom Zaikowski becomes mobster
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Speaker 1: Tommy Zecho, but mostly known just as z Man. And
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Speaker 1: I asked lou if he was ever nervous that posing
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Speaker 1: as a mobster he would run into someone from the
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Speaker 1: actual Italian mob and he said, no, you know, they weren't.
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Speaker 2: Oh, so he wasn't getting in with the mafia to
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Speaker 2: get these other people. He was just pretending to be
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Speaker 2: someone who they might typically work with anyway, Yeah, okay.
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Speaker 1: And it turns out that this husband and wife team
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Speaker 1: they had not had any contact with the Italian mafia,
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Speaker 1: so they you know, how are they going to know?
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Speaker 1: But also it sounds like everything's very like hush hush
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Speaker 1: and secretive. So he was pretty sure that this would
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Speaker 1: be a good cover, it wouldn't be blown. So they
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Speaker 1: set a meeting November twenty third, nineteen ninety nine. They
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Speaker 1: arrange to meet with this husband and wife smuggling couple.
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Speaker 1: They meet in an upscale apartment that the FBI is
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Speaker 1: providing that's decked out to look like, you know, someone
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Speaker 1: really rich and someone in the Italian mafia might live there,
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Speaker 1: but it's also filled with you know, wires and recording devices.
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Speaker 2: I'm picturing like leopard print pillows and lots of ornate
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Speaker 2: furniture in gold.
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Speaker 1: Probably I didn't see any pictures of it, but that
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Speaker 1: sounds about right, okay, perfect and just so funny to
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Speaker 1: me that the FBI is having to like fund that.
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Speaker 1: I want to be the set designer for the FBI.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: So this husband and wife team arrived at the meeting.
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Speaker 1: Their names are Charles and may Lou. Charles also goes
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Speaker 1: by Charlie, and the agents are really surprised when Charlie
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Speaker 1: and May walk in the room because they're not exactly
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Speaker 1: what they expected. Charlie and May are described as a
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Speaker 1: MA and PA couple. Z Man is quoted to have
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Speaker 1: said they seemed like the unassuming couple next door you'd
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Speaker 1: invite over to play bingo or pinacle on a Friday night.
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Speaker 1: A little bit about Charlie and Maylu. They immigrated from
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Speaker 1: China around nineteen eighty and they lived in a suburb
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Speaker 1: of Washington, d C. In Maryland. Charles received a master's
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Speaker 1: degree from Seton Hall University in political science, and he
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Speaker 1: is described as kind of having a professorial look to him,
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Speaker 1: often wearing chinos and sweaters and they're in their sixties
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Speaker 1: by the time the FBI operation is taking place. May
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Speaker 1: Lou was described as a true lady. She wore pantsuits
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Speaker 1: and loved ballroom dancing, and they were US citizens, but
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Speaker 1: they still had a lot of connections in China, and
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Speaker 1: it looked like they were the masterminds behind this cigarette
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Speaker 1: smuggling operation.
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Speaker 2: And how long had it been going on when the
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Speaker 2: FBI gets involved or do you know what the informant
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Speaker 2: said about I'm not sure. Okay, yeah, that wasn't listed. Okay,
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Speaker 2: but we're in Y two K nineteen ninety nine. Yeah,
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Speaker 2: and they are in their sixties.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is like, seems like the operation has
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Speaker 1: been happening for a while, Okay. Apparently in this first meeting,
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Speaker 1: May is kind of enamored with Lou and Tom and
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Speaker 1: their sort of big Italian mafia personalities, and at one
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Speaker 1: point she leaned in and asked them, are you and
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Speaker 1: the mafia. She's like, finally with the door with the mafia,
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Speaker 1: and they are like, no, no, no, we're just businessmen,
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Speaker 1: because which was the right answer, because they know a
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Speaker 1: person in the mafia is not going to have a
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Speaker 1: first meeting with someone and say yeah, I'm in the mafia,
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Speaker 1: like so on my business card. Yeah, and so the
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Speaker 1: meeting went really well with Charlie and May. Charlie and
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Speaker 1: May end up explaining their business model to Lou and
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Speaker 1: Tom and we talked a little bit about it. But
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Speaker 1: the cigarette smuggling operation is really profitable. Remember this is
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Speaker 1: nineteen ninety nine. They estimate production of these cigarettes to
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Speaker 1: fill one shipping container might cost them around one hundred
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Speaker 1: and twenty five thousand dollars in China. When they sell
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Speaker 1: it in the US, they're getting over a million dollars
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Speaker 1: for these cigarettes, so the profit margin is enormous. They're
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Speaker 1: bringing it in. They've been bringing these containers into different
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Speaker 1: ports in the US and then having them delivered to
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Speaker 1: different cities. I know, like New York. Chinatown was a
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Speaker 1: big place where they would sell these It's a huge return,
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Speaker 1: huge return. They're selling them to bodegas and little shops,
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Speaker 1: so not like huge companies right and getting away with it.
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Speaker 1: Although they have had some issues of their containers being
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Speaker 1: searched and seized because the shipping log doesn't list obviously
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Speaker 1: counterfeit cigarettes or even cigarettes, it's like something else entirely,
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Speaker 1: So sometimes the containers get through, but they've had issues
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Speaker 1: with them being stopped and then flagged and then they're
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Speaker 1: having to deal with that.
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Speaker 2: Right, Okay.
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Speaker 1: So basically the FBI undercover agents Louis Calvalricci and Zman
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Speaker 1: offer them is like, hey, we have connections at the
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Speaker 1: Newark Port, and if you work with us and let
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Speaker 1: us know, you know, we'll make a deal. Per container
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Speaker 1: that comes in, we will make sure that it gets
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Speaker 1: through no problem, so we can deal with the customs.
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Speaker 1: We'll make sure it's never flagged, and will actually even
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Speaker 1: deliver it wherever you want it to go. So if
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Speaker 1: you want it delivered to New York, we will drive
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Speaker 1: it there for you. If you want it delivered to California,
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Speaker 1: we'll drive it there for you. And they're going to
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Speaker 1: charge them between fifty and sixty thousand dollars per container
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Speaker 1: for this arrangement, which is still if you're going to
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Speaker 1: make over a million dollars in profit, pretty good.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and it opens up a lot of doors as
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Speaker 2: far as where they can sell their product. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: So Charlie and may like this idea, but they're hesitant
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Speaker 1: because they don't know these guys. So they say, let's
10:58
Speaker 1: build a relationship and the FBI is willing to do
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Speaker 1: that because again there's a suspicion that there's more items
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Speaker 1: being smuggled into the US other than cigarettes, and so
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Speaker 1: they know they're going to have to spend the time
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Speaker 1: for Lou and z Man to build trust with Charlie
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Speaker 1: and May to really get in and infiltrate this smuggling operation.
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Speaker 1: So they have this idea that they are going to
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Speaker 1: do a deal, but it's not happening yet. So for
11:27
Speaker 1: the next three months, these undercover agents are whining and
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Speaker 1: dining Charlie and May. They're going out to fancy dinners regularly,
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Speaker 1: like nice restaurants in New York Wow, And Lou is
11:40
Speaker 1: always picking up the tab and at one point he
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Speaker 1: kind of expressed annoyance that Charlie like never offered to
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Speaker 1: pay the bill, Like.
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Speaker 2: Come on, yeah, yeah, I mean, hey, making friends in
11:52
Speaker 2: adulthood can be kind of weird.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, he wants to get in good with them.
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Speaker 2: Yeah.
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Speaker 1: I think it's an interesting part of this undercover operation
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Speaker 1: because Tom and Lou they have to look the part
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Speaker 1: of these wealthy mafio so guys, right, And that's all
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Speaker 1: happening on the FBI's dime. So there's a penthouse that
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Speaker 1: they can use when they need to. They drive Porsches
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Speaker 1: and Cadillacs, which I read one place that these were
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Speaker 1: cars impounded by the FBI from previous cases from like
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Speaker 1: drug dealers.
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Speaker 2: It's like very resourceful.
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Speaker 1: They're wearing like expensive watches and fancy clothes. They have,
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Speaker 1: you know, money to go to these nice restaurants, order
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Speaker 1: the most expensive wine on the menu.
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Speaker 2: You have to imagine their boss was like, how much
12:37
Speaker 2: more time do you need? Nearly three months, we have
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Speaker 2: a reservation.
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Speaker 1: It's yeah, so they're definitely like racking up some bills.
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Speaker 2: You know.
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Speaker 1: Lou called it a double life. Eventually, later on he'll
12:49
Speaker 1: travel for this operation and they're flying, you know, he's
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Speaker 1: flying first class, so he's sort of getting to live
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Speaker 1: the life of this very wealthy person when in reality,
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Speaker 1: you know, he's not. Yeah, he said, the matre d's
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Speaker 1: at nice restaurants know him and get him a table quickly,
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Speaker 1: and then you go back to your real life. And
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Speaker 1: he's like, and then I go on vacation with my
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Speaker 1: family and we're just like an economy.
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Speaker 2: He's like, oh yeah, that's a reality check. Seriously.
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Speaker 1: So this goes on for months. And months, they're building
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Speaker 1: trust with Charlie and May. Again, they haven't even started
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Speaker 1: doing business yet together. So finally one year into this
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Speaker 1: one year, in November of two thousand, they're on the
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Speaker 1: verge of striking a deal and you know this has
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Speaker 1: to go well, like this is just like one deal
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Speaker 1: to get one container of counterfeit cigarettes into the US right.
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Speaker 2: After a year of putting all of this time and
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Speaker 2: money into the relationship to make the steal happen so
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Speaker 2: you can catch them.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, so that you can have evidence that this is
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Speaker 1: really happening. So they're like, Okay, it's happening. It's happening.
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Speaker 1: And then there's a snag with the FBI. So Tom
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Speaker 1: or z Man as he's known, you know, they're both
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Speaker 1: working on other cases as well, so it's not like
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Speaker 1: they're living full time as he's Undercover's.
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Speaker 2: Back to your desk, you take off your like gold chain, yeah,
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Speaker 2: and then you're like, okay, you have to do some paperwork.
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Speaker 1: So z Man has also been working in another case
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Speaker 1: that I guess wrapped up, and there was some snafo
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Speaker 1: with the fact that he didn't get his paperwork done
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Speaker 1: in time, and this upset his superiors and they just
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Speaker 1: pulled him from the undercover operation of Operation Real Charm
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Speaker 1: over paperwork, like you have things happening at the FBI
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Speaker 1: as well. And one of the things that Lou and
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Speaker 1: then another agent he was interviewed with on another podcast
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Speaker 1: I listened to mentioned was sometimes you know, you're having
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Speaker 1: to also deal with office politics, and there were some
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Speaker 1: people at the FBI that did not respect undercover operations
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Speaker 1: and had this sort of view of like are you
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Speaker 1: really working or are you just going out and drinking
14:58
Speaker 1: nice wine?
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Speaker 2: Yeah, like what gig? Yeah?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, And so there was a little bit of maybe
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Speaker 1: pushback in that way. But Lou was really upset because
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Speaker 1: he's thinking, we've invested a here, we're on the verge
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Speaker 1: of making this deal. You pull one of my agents,
15:14
Speaker 1: this could look really suspicious. He ends up telling Charlie
15:18
Speaker 1: and may like some story like you know, while we're
15:21
Speaker 1: reassigning him within the family, I'd be like, we had
15:24
Speaker 1: to offer him yeah, and it kind of goes over
15:27
Speaker 1: like they don't Again, they don't ask a lot of
15:28
Speaker 1: questions because you're not going to sit there and question
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Speaker 1: another illegal operation that you're working with, like what's going on?
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Speaker 2: Like the unspoken rule.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, so it ends up being fine, but Lou also
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Speaker 1: knows eventually ze Man's going to have to show his face,
15:44
Speaker 1: and so sometimes c Man will show up to a
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Speaker 1: meal and sort of be like, hey guys, you know,
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Speaker 1: check in with Charlie and May without telling the FBI.
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Speaker 1: So the FBI does not know they're doing this.
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Speaker 2: Oh so he's gone ros he's gone rogue. Oh I
15:57
Speaker 2: love that, and they talk about it now.
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Speaker 1: So apparently, because spoiler alert, this operation was a success,
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Speaker 1: the FBI doesn't care about that. But yeah, the FBI
16:06
Speaker 1: did not approve that.
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Speaker 2: That's funny.
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Speaker 1: Then the FBI assigns a new guy to the case,
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Speaker 1: Jack Garcia, who again has a nickname. He goes by
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Speaker 1: Big Jack. He's like a really tall, big guy, and
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Speaker 1: according to Lou, you know, he was nervous. Will May
16:21
Speaker 1: and Charlie like this new guy because the vibe was
16:24
Speaker 1: that May had had a crush on z Man.
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Speaker 2: Sort of, and they ripped him away from her.
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Speaker 1: They ripped him away from her, I mean she's married
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Speaker 1: to Charlie. But sorry, Charlie. So Big Jack comes in
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Speaker 1: and Lou was like, I knew it was going to
16:38
Speaker 1: be okay because on the first dinner, Big Jack gets
16:41
Speaker 1: up to go to the bathroom and May leans into
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Speaker 1: me and she's like, he's pretty cute.
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Speaker 2: Like I've got a new crush. So May is just
16:48
Speaker 2: having crushes. Wow, and all these undercover agents. I love that.
16:52
Speaker 1: So the first deal goes through the summer of two
16:54
Speaker 1: thousand and one, and you know, the container comes in.
16:58
Speaker 1: Lou handles the transper word of it the drivers to
17:01
Speaker 1: get it delivered, and that's a really big deal. He's like, Okay,
17:05
Speaker 1: now that we've had one successful delivery, the door is
17:08
Speaker 1: open to us. They trust us, we trust them. Now
17:12
Speaker 1: let's invest time and see how far we can get.
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Speaker 1: What he really wants is to be able to understand
17:19
Speaker 1: if they're importing other things. So he needs to build
17:22
Speaker 1: enough trust with them to be able to ask that question,
17:25
Speaker 1: like what about weapons? What about drugs?
17:28
Speaker 2: I see, so the counterfeit cigarette shipping container that they're
17:31
Speaker 2: bringing in, that's just like we're just scratching the surface
17:34
Speaker 2: and we need to make sure like we're using that
17:37
Speaker 2: as our foot in the door here.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, because they have a feeling this is a much
17:42
Speaker 1: bigger operation. And while it is illegal to import counterfeit
17:46
Speaker 1: goods and these counterfeit cigarettes. I think it wasn't looked
17:50
Speaker 1: at as so much a threat. It wasn't going to
17:51
Speaker 1: be these enormous charges. But if they could uncover that
17:55
Speaker 1: they were bringing in drugs or weapons or human beings,
18:00
Speaker 1: then that would be a huge deal, right, And he
18:03
Speaker 1: has a feeling like that's happening.
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Speaker 2: Was it just a gut feeling or do you know
18:07
Speaker 2: if the informant who tips them off in the first
18:09
Speaker 2: place was like, you might want to look into this.
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Speaker 1: I think the informant indicated you could dig deeper here
18:15
Speaker 1: and it got really bad.
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Speaker 2: Okay, gotcha?
18:18
Speaker 1: And so I think that's also why the FBI was
18:20
Speaker 1: willing to foot this bill and go through all of
18:23
Speaker 1: this to get them into this operation. But they're also
18:27
Speaker 1: banking on that, like what if it didn't turn out
18:29
Speaker 1: that way?
18:30
Speaker 2: You know, you don't want to bring those expense reports
18:33
Speaker 2: to your boss and be like, we didn't come up
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Speaker 2: with anything.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly. But lou does say that he got
18:39
Speaker 1: would get frustrated with Charlie because he would like, have
18:43
Speaker 1: a you know, a container of these cigarettes and okay,
18:48
Speaker 1: and we're going to drive them to New York for you.
18:49
Speaker 1: Where should we meet you, and he's envisioning they're going
18:52
Speaker 1: to like drive into a secure warehouse or something, and
18:57
Speaker 1: he said sometimes Charlie would just have them like meet
19:00
Speaker 1: in a back alleyway and like back two trucks up
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Speaker 1: together and have guys like be transferring the goods and
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Speaker 1: Lou he said this happened one time and he was
19:10
Speaker 1: there and he's like freaking out because it's so out
19:13
Speaker 1: in the open and he's looking at the end of
19:15
Speaker 1: the alleyway and there's like cop cars driving by, and
19:17
Speaker 1: he's like, oh my gosh, if one curious cop just
19:20
Speaker 1: comes down this alleyway, you're done. This whole operation is busted. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
19:27
Speaker 1: And so he would sort of get on the phone
19:28
Speaker 1: and yell at Charlie and be like you gotta do this,
19:31
Speaker 1: you know. But he said that actually helped him because
19:33
Speaker 1: it sort of played into his persona as this mob
19:37
Speaker 1: boss guy who was like, don't mess with.
19:39
Speaker 2: Me, Like, yeah, don't mess with me, and like we
19:41
Speaker 2: have a shared fear of being caught.
19:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, totally. Then, about two years into the initial operation,
19:49
Speaker 1: Charlie and May finally open up to Lou about like
19:51
Speaker 1: some of their connections. They say that they are connected
19:55
Speaker 1: to someone high ranking who is in the Chinese Ministry
19:58
Speaker 1: of Intelligence and that they have access to military grade
20:02
Speaker 1: weapons that they want to import into the US. Oh,
20:05
Speaker 1: and he's got to be like m hm.
20:07
Speaker 2: He's just like, yes, is he wearing a wire in
20:10
Speaker 2: all of these interactions? I don't know. That's a great question.
20:13
Speaker 2: I don't know.
20:14
Speaker 1: I think that a lot of these meetings happen at
20:16
Speaker 1: this penthouse. That's where Okay, there's recording devices, but I
20:20
Speaker 1: don't know if all of them are okay. But he's
20:22
Speaker 1: reporting it all back and he is like, this is
20:25
Speaker 1: the big break that we need. If we can catch
20:27
Speaker 1: them bringing in even one container of these weapons, we
20:30
Speaker 1: can like wrap up the operation and arrest them. Because
20:33
Speaker 1: we're talking AK forty seven's rocket launchers, like things that
20:37
Speaker 1: like is really scary to think are coming into our country.
20:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, and not being tracked. Yeah.
20:51
Speaker 1: So they make an arrangement to have a shipment of
20:54
Speaker 1: military weapons come in. But like all of this stuff
20:57
Speaker 1: just takes months to get going, you know, because then
20:59
Speaker 1: they're having to talk with the people in China and
21:01
Speaker 1: I don't even know where the weapons were coming from.
21:03
Speaker 1: I think from China. But then the shipment, this whole
21:06
Speaker 1: deal becomes interrupted because by this point it's September of
21:09
Speaker 1: two thousand and one, and nine to eleven the nine
21:12
Speaker 1: to eleven attacks happen, and Charlie starts to panic just
21:17
Speaker 1: because security is immediately amped up everywhere, even on the docks.
21:21
Speaker 1: So he's like, this isn't the right time. We got
21:24
Speaker 1: a delay, Like we're going to cancel this shipment. Let's
21:26
Speaker 1: just keep doing the cigarettes, but like this's too risky.
21:30
Speaker 1: And of course lou and character is like, you're right,
21:32
Speaker 1: you're right, But he's devastated because he's.
21:34
Speaker 2: Like, I've been working on this case for two years.
21:36
Speaker 2: You know. It's so like now that we are twenty
21:39
Speaker 2: five years past nine to eleven, I feel like in
21:42
Speaker 2: our story research all the time, I'm seeing stories that
21:45
Speaker 2: were big for a second, and then nine to eleven happened. Understandably,
21:50
Speaker 2: that's all we read about.
21:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, like the Robert Courtney case that we covered on
21:56
Speaker 1: a season of The Opportunist. Yeah that was the FBA
22:00
Speaker 1: guys like number one case until nine to eleven happens,
22:04
Speaker 1: and then it was just like basically forgotten about. I
22:06
Speaker 1: mean not forgotten about, but clearly it no longer was newsworthy.
22:10
Speaker 1: It wasn't and it wasn't the most important thing that
22:13
Speaker 1: the FBI was dealing with.
22:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, crazy to think about that. Yeah, So this is
22:17
Speaker 2: all happening, and then they're right on the cusp of
22:20
Speaker 2: the weapon shipment in nine to eleven.
22:23
Speaker 1: Nine eleven happens. Lou doesn't get pulled from this case,
22:26
Speaker 1: and neither does Big Jack, the other agent, but this
22:30
Speaker 1: development stops, and so now they're kind of back to
22:33
Speaker 1: where they were, where he's like kind of having to
22:35
Speaker 1: fight for this case now at the FBI because they're like, Okay,
22:38
Speaker 1: when are we going to be able to make these arrests?
22:40
Speaker 1: Like how big is this case going to be? And
22:42
Speaker 1: he's like, Okay, I just need a little more time.
22:44
Speaker 1: I think this is going to be big. But now
22:46
Speaker 1: we're still in that waiting game, building trust, trying to
22:49
Speaker 1: figure out what's going on. And this continues on till
22:53
Speaker 1: December two thousand and three. So at this point he's
22:55
Speaker 1: been working on this case for four years.
22:57
Speaker 2: That's a long time, especially when you think about keeping
23:00
Speaker 2: up the facade like fancy New York apartment, nice restaurants.
23:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he's in New Jersey and Charlie and May
23:10
Speaker 1: live in Maryland, so I get the feeling like they're
23:13
Speaker 1: not in constant contact, but they're still in pretty regular
23:16
Speaker 1: contact over the course of four years, you know. And
23:19
Speaker 1: one of the people that Lou has met is this
23:22
Speaker 1: guy named Keith Tang. Because at this point Lou has
23:26
Speaker 1: met a bunch of people that work for Charlie and
23:28
Speaker 1: May and are part of this smuggling operation.
23:31
Speaker 2: People that are aware of what's going on.
23:33
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and so they are starting to get names
23:35
Speaker 1: as well. So every time he's like going to do
23:38
Speaker 1: a shipment, maybe there's Charlie's right hand guy. He's going
23:40
Speaker 1: to come help you and meet you. And Lou's getting
23:42
Speaker 1: to know that guy. So they're like making like a list.
23:46
Speaker 1: I imagined a graph of like who all's involved in
23:48
Speaker 1: this smuggling operation. Right, So he meets this guy, Keith Tang.
23:52
Speaker 1: He's worked with this guy before. He talked about one
23:55
Speaker 1: shipment that they had going to Chicago to this like
23:58
Speaker 1: sort of new buyer of charge and I don't know
24:01
Speaker 1: the full details, but Lou says that the buyer guy
24:05
Speaker 1: was like weird and shady and didn't want to pay them,
24:08
Speaker 1: and when they left, Keith turned him and was like,
24:12
Speaker 1: do you want me to take care of that guy
24:13
Speaker 1: for you.
24:15
Speaker 2: Like threatened to take him out, to take him out Keith, No,
24:18
Speaker 2: I don't. Sort of was like, you know, shows you
24:20
Speaker 2: at that point. He's like, oh, I really trust you.
24:23
Speaker 2: There's loyalty here, and Lou's like no, no, no, no, don't worry.
24:28
Speaker 2: Maybe next time. He's like, I can't have you killing someone. Yeah,
24:32
Speaker 2: it was all part of me.
24:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so he talks about how he and Keith
24:37
Speaker 1: become friends basically like they have a good relationship, and
24:41
Speaker 1: it is Keith who ends up sort of opening the
24:44
Speaker 1: door for this to go bigger. So he out of
24:47
Speaker 1: the blue reaches out to Lou and says, I want
24:49
Speaker 1: to meet with you, just you and me, and Lou's
24:51
Speaker 1: like okay. So they meet and Keith is like, you know,
24:54
Speaker 1: I've been working on the smuggling operation. I'm ready to
24:58
Speaker 1: like go bigger and do my own smuff operation.
25:01
Speaker 2: Perfect.
25:02
Speaker 1: Always advocate for yourself, right, you know, give yourself the
25:05
Speaker 1: promotion that you want. Yes, And at first he's like,
25:10
Speaker 1: I'm going to bring in cigarettes and Lo's like no,
25:15
Speaker 1: So he's like okay, So he just trying to like
25:17
Speaker 1: rip off Charlie's business, but as this sort of mafia personality,
25:21
Speaker 1: He's like, I don't need cigarettes. I already have cigarettes. Like,
25:24
Speaker 1: give me something better.
25:25
Speaker 2: What do you have? Like do you have weapons?
25:27
Speaker 1: Because I have buyers for weapons, right, And so Keith's like, okay, okay,
25:32
Speaker 1: I do have a contact who's very connected in China.
25:36
Speaker 1: His name's Jimmy Horn, and he's like, let me meet
25:40
Speaker 1: with them. I think I could probably arrange like military
25:44
Speaker 1: grade weapons to come in. So Lou's like okay, great.
25:48
Speaker 1: So he's waiting for, you know, Keith to get back,
25:51
Speaker 1: but he's like, this could be the big break that
25:53
Speaker 1: we're looking for in the case. So then a few
25:56
Speaker 1: months later, Keith meets up with them. Also, I have
25:59
Speaker 1: to imagine, and you know, this is before cell phones
26:03
Speaker 1: are prevalent, so there's a lot of people flying back
26:06
Speaker 1: and forth from New York and different parts of the
26:09
Speaker 1: US to China to meet with people.
26:11
Speaker 2: Right, imagine that it is like, now, no, you would
26:15
Speaker 2: not be doing that.
26:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, it takes so long. So it's like, okay, great,
26:17
Speaker 1: let's make this deal. I'll see you in three months
26:19
Speaker 1: and let's talk about it.
26:20
Speaker 2: You know.
26:22
Speaker 1: So in June of two thousand and four, Keith and
26:25
Speaker 1: Lou meet up again and Lou's ready for the update.
26:29
Speaker 1: Keith is like, Okay, I actually have another product that
26:31
Speaker 1: I want to import, but I think you're really going
26:33
Speaker 1: to like it. And he pulls out three one hundred
26:36
Speaker 1: dollars bills. Oh, counterfeit money. Uh oh, And Lou looks
26:41
Speaker 1: at them and he's like, I don't understand. You want
26:43
Speaker 1: to import like US money And Keith's like, these are counterfeit,
26:48
Speaker 1: and Lou says he's so taken aback because they look
26:51
Speaker 1: exactly like real US money, and he's like, okay, okay,
26:58
Speaker 1: you know what, let me take these back to my
27:00
Speaker 1: people and let me like talk and maybe we can
27:02
Speaker 1: make a deal.
27:03
Speaker 2: So he's like, oh, this was so worth it. No
27:07
Speaker 2: one's going to come for me with these expense reports. Yeah.
27:10
Speaker 1: So he takes these one hundred dollars bills US you know,
27:14
Speaker 1: one hundred dollars bills back to the FBI. They get
27:17
Speaker 1: sent to a secret service lab to analyze, and they
27:22
Speaker 1: come back and say, this is a super note, which
27:25
Speaker 1: is a super high quality counterfeit paper money. And now
27:30
Speaker 1: this is the early two thousands, so this is before
27:34
Speaker 1: like I looked up when the US added the like
27:37
Speaker 1: hologram to the one hundred dollars bill, and that wasn't
27:39
Speaker 1: until twenty thirteen. But these were such good fakes. Whoever
27:44
Speaker 1: was making them was using the exact same type of
27:46
Speaker 1: paper that the US makes and the same presses.
27:50
Speaker 2: So I wonder how they could even tell that they
27:52
Speaker 2: were fake. Is just because he said they were.
27:55
Speaker 1: I don't know how they you know, whatever the secret
27:58
Speaker 1: surface I really tell us analyze.
28:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, here's what we're looking for.
28:03
Speaker 1: But apparently the Secret Service had been aware of these
28:07
Speaker 1: supernotes since like the eighties, and they'd been trying to
28:10
Speaker 1: figure out where they were coming from and track them down.
28:12
Speaker 2: Oh so he just unknowingly handed this like thing that's
28:17
Speaker 2: been on their radar.
28:19
Speaker 1: They're like, okay, now while it is open, anything you need, Like, wow, yes,
28:24
Speaker 1: we need to find out where these are coming from.
28:27
Speaker 1: So try to move forward and get a container of
28:29
Speaker 1: these supernotes delivered. Also, this is like enough for us
28:33
Speaker 1: to charge and make the arrest, and this will be
28:35
Speaker 1: a much bigger case than just counterfeit cigarettes.
28:39
Speaker 2: But now is it only Keith on the hook because
28:43
Speaker 2: the other couple, so far they only have the counterfeit
28:47
Speaker 2: cigarettes for them.
28:48
Speaker 1: I think it's like that other couple would still be charged. Okay,
28:52
Speaker 1: but you know, so you think about the people that
28:55
Speaker 1: will be charged in this, there's all these different branches,
29:00
Speaker 1: you know. Sadly, Lou really liked him, but he's like, yeah,
29:05
Speaker 1: don't get a test. You know, now Keith really trusts him.
29:07
Speaker 1: And now Keith is really upping the ante for his own,
29:11
Speaker 1: you know, potential criminal prosecution because now he's trying to
29:14
Speaker 1: bring in supernotes to the US. So Lou meets with
29:19
Speaker 1: him again and says, okay, let's do it, Like, I
29:21
Speaker 1: definitely want these.
29:23
Speaker 2: How do we go about this?
29:24
Speaker 1: And so Keith says, I want you to meet my supplier,
29:28
Speaker 1: Jimmy Horn in person. Let's all meet in Pouquette, Thailand.
29:34
Speaker 1: And Lou's like, why am Pouquette And Keith's like, that's
29:38
Speaker 1: where I went on my honeymoon. And it's a nice place,
29:41
Speaker 1: but I think probably it's like a neutral place. It's
29:44
Speaker 1: not China, it's not the US, and they have connections there.
29:50
Speaker 1: Keith comes out and says he knows like some of
29:52
Speaker 1: the local law enforcement, and they're able to just have
29:56
Speaker 1: this very luxury experience there. Oh my gosh, that would
30:00
Speaker 1: be terrifying. Actually yeah, I can't imagine. Also, like now
30:04
Speaker 1: you're not on us soil if something goes wrong. But
30:06
Speaker 1: of course Lou's like great, sounds like kind of a vacation.
30:09
Speaker 2: Let's do it.
30:10
Speaker 1: And as to they're sort of leaving, Keith makes this
30:14
Speaker 1: comment to Lou, says like, yeah, you're gonna love it.
30:17
Speaker 2: There.
30:17
Speaker 1: Also, I know a guy who and this is how
30:21
Speaker 1: Keith supposedly described it, who has a stable of women
30:25
Speaker 1: sex workers, and I'm going to show you a really
30:28
Speaker 1: good time, you know. And Lou's like great. Yeah, but
30:33
Speaker 1: sort of then thinking like oh god, because Lou is
30:36
Speaker 1: married and has a family, and is like, Okay, this
30:40
Speaker 1: could be potentially awkward because I'm playing this part of
30:43
Speaker 1: this like mafioso.
30:44
Speaker 2: Guy, but I'm not going to partake in the Like
30:47
Speaker 2: what excuse can I have? How do I navigate this situation?
30:52
Speaker 2: I would say food poisoning. Yeah, so that's one option.
30:57
Speaker 2: He's also sort of worried because, like Keith has said,
31:01
Speaker 2: he's very connected to like local law enforcement. Obviously they're
31:03
Speaker 2: going to stay in this five star resort that Jimmy
31:06
Speaker 2: and Keith like know everyone, and so he's wondering, like,
31:12
Speaker 2: there's a good chance they're going to go through my room.
31:14
Speaker 2: There's a good chance that like also, maybe these women
31:17
Speaker 2: that come in are working for them, so we'll be
31:20
Speaker 2: reporting back like you just never know this scenario. So
31:24
Speaker 2: he's at the FBI telling them this and like, we
31:26
Speaker 2: got to figure out a plan, and they decide that
31:29
Speaker 2: they need to bring on another agent, a woman to
31:32
Speaker 2: pose as his girlfriend who sort of is coming along
31:35
Speaker 2: on the trip. And now, oh bummer, Now I can't
31:38
Speaker 2: you know, be with any of these women, and so
31:40
Speaker 2: that's oh my gosh, So do you have to like
31:42
Speaker 2: kiss your colleague? Oh? Lord.
31:46
Speaker 1: So that's where Melissa Anderson comes in. She was younger.
31:50
Speaker 1: In an interview, she said she had just finished recently
31:53
Speaker 1: like undercover school and had been on like one operation
31:56
Speaker 1: and they approached her and she was like, yeah, that
31:58
Speaker 1: sounds like this sounds like a really exciting job. But
32:02
Speaker 1: they had to like talk about it a lot because
32:04
Speaker 1: Melissa was in a relationship with a man she later
32:06
Speaker 1: married and lou Is married, and they're like, we're going
32:10
Speaker 1: to have to stay in the same hotel room because
32:12
Speaker 1: we're all staying together at this resort, and it will
32:15
Speaker 1: look really weird if Lou brings his girlfriend on the
32:19
Speaker 1: trip and she's like, I want my own room. So
32:21
Speaker 1: now you have a situation where your work colleague and
32:24
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to for ten days stay in the
32:26
Speaker 1: same room with them. And also when you're out in
32:29
Speaker 1: public at a nice dinner, you have to look like
32:32
Speaker 1: you're together.
32:33
Speaker 2: You know. See, here's where I would feel completely up
32:36
Speaker 2: until you wanted to be undercoverage, Kisha, I'm not good
32:41
Speaker 2: out for this.
32:43
Speaker 1: And so they both have to like talk to their
32:45
Speaker 1: partners and they're okay with it. But yeah, it would
32:49
Speaker 1: be sort of awkward. I think it would be more
32:50
Speaker 1: awkward having to stay in the same room.
32:53
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, I guess if they hadn't worked together before,
32:57
Speaker 2: maybe that would help in a way, because you're like,
33:00
Speaker 2: this is the context that we're first working together on.
33:04
Speaker 2: We just have to like do this. But then if
33:05
Speaker 2: you have like a long standing friendship or I don't know,
33:08
Speaker 2: I mean, wow, that would be an intense situation. Yeah,
33:14
Speaker 2: sharing a room, I mean, no, that's wow. But what yeah,
33:18
Speaker 2: I mean that's all they could do.
33:20
Speaker 1: I know, And I guess there was another couple who
33:22
Speaker 1: were not a couple they were FBI agents that went
33:25
Speaker 1: as well, and I don't know, it sounds like according
33:28
Speaker 1: to Lou and Melissa, like Lou and Melissa ended up
33:31
Speaker 1: getting along great. They're like friends. They're like, this brought
33:33
Speaker 1: us closer, It was totally fine. We worked out a
33:35
Speaker 1: system and was okay. The other agents like it sounds
33:40
Speaker 1: like it didn't go so well. So then they're just
33:41
Speaker 1: like having to like live in the same room with
33:43
Speaker 1: each other.
33:43
Speaker 2: For ten days, like you're kissing me for too long.
33:53
Speaker 1: Okay, they're off, They're off to Puquette, and like I
33:56
Speaker 1: have to imagine that would just be so nerve wracking
33:59
Speaker 1: because the whole operation, which has been going on for
34:03
Speaker 1: years now is hinging on. Don't blow it, like you
34:06
Speaker 1: cannot blow it. You cannot let them know that you're
34:09
Speaker 1: an agent, like you have to play this part and
34:11
Speaker 1: not just for one meeting, but for ten full days.
34:14
Speaker 2: And how do they even have any like protection out
34:17
Speaker 2: there if something goes wrong. I mean, these are people
34:20
Speaker 2: who are clearly dangerous. Keith had offered to kill someone
34:24
Speaker 2: yeah for Lou.
34:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, and Jimmy Horn, as Lou says, when they get there,
34:28
Speaker 1: it's just so clear that he's incredibly wealthy, he has
34:32
Speaker 1: his hand and other things, like he's smuggling drugs into
34:35
Speaker 1: different countries. He's very he's up to absolutely no good. Yeah,
34:39
Speaker 1: And so they did say that there, and I don't
34:42
Speaker 1: know if this was that other like quote unquote couple
34:45
Speaker 1: that wasn't a couple that was there with them, but
34:47
Speaker 1: there were other FBI agents that they were pretending not
34:51
Speaker 1: to be connected with that were in the country in
34:53
Speaker 1: the area.
34:54
Speaker 2: Maybe like staying at the resort.
34:56
Speaker 1: Yeah, like watching, and then I think there was probably
35:00
Speaker 1: some communication with whatever agencies the US already had in Thailand,
35:05
Speaker 1: but still it seems dangerous to me. Yeah, So they
35:09
Speaker 1: meet with Jimmy. When we're there, you know, they're like also,
35:12
Speaker 1: they're whining, they're dining, they're traveling, they're like doing all
35:14
Speaker 1: this fun stuff. But then they have a meeting and
35:18
Speaker 1: at first, Lou says that Jimmy proposes they start with
35:21
Speaker 1: a five million dollar shipment, and he's like freaked out
35:24
Speaker 1: by this, but he says, we don't know each other
35:27
Speaker 1: that well, let's start off with something smaller and build trust.
35:30
Speaker 1: So Jimmy proposes, Okay, I will sell you three hundred
35:34
Speaker 1: and thirty nine thousand dollars worth of supernotes for one
35:37
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars and they make this deal, and Jimmy
35:42
Speaker 1: tells him these supernotes come from North Korea. That's where
35:46
Speaker 1: they're being made. Oh, which is really valuable information because
35:49
Speaker 1: this is also what the Secret Service wanted to know,
35:53
Speaker 1: and so he's already gotten a piece of intel that
35:56
Speaker 1: is important. They try to arrange an arms deal because
36:01
Speaker 1: Jimmy has access again to military grade weapons, but they
36:04
Speaker 1: can't really agree on a price, so they decide to
36:07
Speaker 1: table that for the moment. Lou is fine with that
36:10
Speaker 1: if they can get these supernotes through, this is so
36:12
Speaker 1: valuable that it's enough.
36:14
Speaker 2: Yeah. I wonder if he was just in that negotiation
36:17
Speaker 2: being a little bit difficult, like I don't want to
36:20
Speaker 2: waste money on this transaction. Like I guess we can't
36:23
Speaker 2: come to a deal. Let's just focus on the supernotes. Yeah,
36:26
Speaker 2: I don't know.
36:28
Speaker 1: But the difference between importing something like supernotes or weapons
36:33
Speaker 1: versus cigarettes is that the US government is not okay
36:37
Speaker 1: with those actually getting out into society, whereas like, what's
36:41
Speaker 1: really happening is that these counterfeit cigarettes are going on
36:44
Speaker 1: to be sold in the US and I knows this.
36:47
Speaker 1: They're like, that's a problem for another day. Yeah, but
36:50
Speaker 1: they can't let a container of weapons go through and
36:53
Speaker 1: accidentally get out into you know, society, or these supernotes.
36:58
Speaker 1: You know, the Secret Service is nervous if anything goes
37:01
Speaker 1: wrong or somehow these get out into the world, like
37:06
Speaker 1: they could cause problems with the economy, inflation, like this
37:09
Speaker 1: could be very bad. But the difference between like the
37:12
Speaker 1: cigarette importing deal in this is that Lou has said,
37:16
Speaker 1: we will buy these supernotes for you, and we're going
37:18
Speaker 1: to deal with where that goes. And the same with
37:20
Speaker 1: the weapons, like instead of delivering them, will be the
37:23
Speaker 1: buyers and then we're going to resell them.
37:25
Speaker 2: Basically, Okay, So Keith has become a middleman between Lou
37:30
Speaker 2: and Jimmy.
37:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so in October two thousand and four, the
37:33
Speaker 1: first shipment of supernotes enters Newark Port. It's hidden in
37:37
Speaker 1: a shipment of toys, and it works, it happens, and
37:41
Speaker 1: so this is a huge win. And then one month later,
37:45
Speaker 1: Jimmy sends Lou a package. It's a weapons catalog and
37:49
Speaker 1: it lists all these different kinds of weapons, and he's
37:51
Speaker 1: basically like, what do you want?
37:53
Speaker 2: What do you want to buy?
37:54
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, and Lou says it looks like it
37:58
Speaker 1: comes from so where inside the Chinese military is like,
38:02
Speaker 1: what this kind of looks like He's not sure. He
38:04
Speaker 1: places an order for one million dollars of weapons and
38:10
Speaker 1: he's like, okay, great, we get the weapons container, we
38:13
Speaker 1: get the supernote container, we have the cigarettes. Then we
38:16
Speaker 1: can charge this case and wrap it up and this
38:19
Speaker 1: is going to be a huge case. Well, on July seventh,
38:22
Speaker 1: two thousand and five, there was another terrorist attack in
38:25
Speaker 1: London and the same thing happens where Jimmy gets really
38:29
Speaker 1: nervous about security internationally and he's like, we got to
38:33
Speaker 1: delay the weapons. We can't send this right now. But
38:36
Speaker 1: at this point, Lou has sent the money and so
38:39
Speaker 1: there's some transaction on record as evidence, and they have
38:44
Speaker 1: the supernotes and the cigarettes, and so the FBI is like,
38:48
Speaker 1: we're not going to wait for this weapon shipment. We
38:50
Speaker 1: need to charge this because Jimmy lives not in the
38:53
Speaker 1: US in China, right, so they're going to have to
38:55
Speaker 1: go get him. Well, here's the deal. So the FBI
38:58
Speaker 1: has identified fifty seven people that they're going to charge
39:01
Speaker 1: connected with these smuggling operations and they want to take
39:05
Speaker 1: them down. But now they have this problem of how
39:08
Speaker 1: to get everyone at the same time. Ideally, right, you
39:12
Speaker 1: arrest Keith, Jimmy's gonna know he's gone. Yeah, So they
39:16
Speaker 1: come up with this plan, and this is like my
39:19
Speaker 1: favorite part of this whole operation. They decide that they're
39:22
Speaker 1: going to throw a wedding lose, like, everybody loves me.
39:27
Speaker 1: All these criminals love me and they respect me, and
39:29
Speaker 1: I'm making the money. I don't know if his is
39:32
Speaker 1: his idea or not, but basically he's like, well, Melissa
39:35
Speaker 1: already came with me, and they know that I have
39:38
Speaker 1: this girlfriend, So how about we say.
39:40
Speaker 2: We're getting married.
39:41
Speaker 1: This is genius, and they're all going to feel pressure
39:43
Speaker 1: to come celebrate my wedding because they want to keep
39:46
Speaker 1: doing business with me.
39:47
Speaker 2: I would have loved an invite to this wedding, Julie.
39:51
Speaker 1: So the FBI decides to throw this wedding for them,
39:55
Speaker 1: and they actually they mail out invitations with RSVB cards
40:00
Speaker 1: like the whole deal. They say it's going to take
40:02
Speaker 1: place on a yacht. The whole thing will take place
40:05
Speaker 1: on a.
40:05
Speaker 2: Yacht, so they're trapped. Okay, great, the.
40:08
Speaker 1: Yacht's name is the Royal Charm, which the operation is
40:11
Speaker 1: Operation Royal Charm. And so they're also saying we've already
40:15
Speaker 1: arranged all of the hotels, like upscale lodging and limitsine
40:20
Speaker 1: transportation for everybody. I mean, this is like, you know,
40:23
Speaker 1: if Royalty were getting married.
40:25
Speaker 2: This is right. It's not giving FBI budgets. So I
40:28
Speaker 2: feel like they're doing a good job here.
40:30
Speaker 1: And so everybody flies in in August of two thousand
40:32
Speaker 1: and five into the US. Yes, okay, I don't know
40:36
Speaker 1: if it takes place in Newark or in New York,
40:38
Speaker 1: but anyway, they all fly in. Charlie and May of
40:41
Speaker 1: course are there, but they live in Maryland. Jimmy Horn
40:44
Speaker 1: comes into the US, Keith Tang is there, like all
40:47
Speaker 1: the other people that live internationally, everyone that they've been
40:50
Speaker 1: able to identify as part of this. On August twentieth,
40:53
Speaker 1: two thousand and five, lou has a series of bachelor
40:55
Speaker 1: parties and all of these men are invited and they
40:59
Speaker 1: all come out and they're just partying together. Oh my god,
41:01
Speaker 1: like apparently it's super fancy. They have like the nicest
41:04
Speaker 1: food and wine and they're like they go to a
41:08
Speaker 1: piano bar and they're singing karaoke all night.
41:11
Speaker 2: So I wonder if Lou just pretends to be drunk.
41:14
Speaker 2: I don't know, that's a great question. I should have
41:16
Speaker 2: asked him that, like are you just taking one shot
41:18
Speaker 2: and the rest or just water or what's going on?
41:21
Speaker 2: Like because your bartender would have to be in on it.
41:23
Speaker 1: I mean multiple times he said that he drank like
41:25
Speaker 1: the nice wine. Okay, so he's he's partying.
41:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, Like this is where they sometimes get the bad
41:31
Speaker 2: reputation right at the FBI, because they're like, you guys
41:33
Speaker 2: are just literally out partying with these people, right, but
41:35
Speaker 2: I mean you can't follow your cover. These people could
41:37
Speaker 2: kill you totally.
41:39
Speaker 1: It's noted that at the bachelor party, Jimmy Horn gives
41:42
Speaker 1: Lou a Rolex.
41:43
Speaker 2: Watch thank you. I wonder if he gets to keep it.
41:46
Speaker 2: I don't know, probably not right.
41:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, but hopefully not. Probably not. And Lou was like,
41:52
Speaker 1: is this counterfeit? Kind of joking and Jimmy's like, no,
41:55
Speaker 1: this is real, you know, Like and so that kind
41:58
Speaker 1: of shows how like these people really Lou and they
42:00
Speaker 1: want to be in his good graces because he's making
42:02
Speaker 1: them money. Yeah, they have multiple Bachelor parties. At the
42:05
Speaker 1: end of the night, Lou and the other agent, Big Jack,
42:08
Speaker 1: apparently tell Keith Tang and Jimmy Horn that they're going
42:10
Speaker 1: to go to yet another spot together to keep the
42:13
Speaker 1: party going. I think they say it's a strip club.
42:16
Speaker 1: So they get in the car with Keith and Jimmy,
42:19
Speaker 1: but instead they head to the FBI office.
42:22
Speaker 2: And no, no, no, no no, so they're stuck in
42:25
Speaker 2: the car with them. Well that's happening though.
42:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, but then the FBI arrests all of them.
42:30
Speaker 2: Oh right, oh I know.
42:33
Speaker 1: Yeah, it looks like they arrest all of them and
42:35
Speaker 1: take them into the office. But none of the other
42:37
Speaker 1: party goers know this, right, they're all like a sleep
42:39
Speaker 1: or whatever. The wedding's the next day, but they wanted
42:42
Speaker 1: to get Keith and Jimmy first, just because they didn't
42:44
Speaker 1: want them to flee or anything to happen, right, So
42:49
Speaker 1: they take them into a room and agents come in,
42:52
Speaker 1: and apparently it's like they don't even believe that Lou
42:55
Speaker 1: is an FBI agent. They're like no, until Lou has
42:58
Speaker 1: to come in to them and be like, yeah.
43:01
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, I wonder if there's like any just
43:05
Speaker 2: on a human level sense of betrayal that you feel
43:09
Speaker 2: in that moment because you know, you know that you're
43:12
Speaker 2: doing important work keeping these people from doing the bad
43:16
Speaker 2: business that they're doing. But you know you've become important
43:20
Speaker 2: to that. Yeah, and you know their life is now
43:24
Speaker 2: over in a sense, their freedom is going to be gone.
43:27
Speaker 2: And I'm not saying it shouldn't be, but I wonder
43:29
Speaker 2: if that feels a bit weird.
43:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, I asked you about this on the phone
43:33
Speaker 1: because at this point he's known Keith for years, and
43:38
Speaker 1: he said he really liked him, like they were actually friends,
43:42
Speaker 1: and he was like, you know, you meet all kinds
43:45
Speaker 1: of people. Charlie, for instance, Lou never really liked him
43:49
Speaker 1: that much. I think he didn't like the way he
43:51
Speaker 1: did business and so he just personally they didn't click
43:54
Speaker 1: as much, right, But he's like Keith and I like
43:56
Speaker 1: really clicked. We were really good friends, and I thought
43:59
Speaker 1: he was a really good guy. He's like, now I
44:00
Speaker 1: understand he's a criminal and actually like he was doing
44:04
Speaker 1: criminal activity that he should be caught for. He offered
44:07
Speaker 1: to kill someone for me. So good guy, you know,
44:10
Speaker 1: but he's like but actually, like he just despite all
44:14
Speaker 1: of that, I felt like he was a really good
44:16
Speaker 1: person deep down.
44:17
Speaker 2: They hit it off. They got along, and he was like,
44:19
Speaker 2: it was really hard.
44:19
Speaker 1: I had walk in and I talked to Keith and
44:22
Speaker 1: he was like and I just was like, look, man,
44:24
Speaker 1: this is just business. Like had a conversation to be like,
44:28
Speaker 1: this isn't personal, and he said that. Keith was like,
44:32
Speaker 1: I understand, but rough in all the ways. That's yeah, yeah,
44:37
Speaker 1: I mean awkward, yeah, very awkward. So the next day,
44:41
Speaker 1: the rest of the wedding guests have no idea this
44:43
Speaker 1: has happened. August twenty first, two thousand and five. They
44:46
Speaker 1: get up, they get ready for the wedding. Everyone's dressed
44:49
Speaker 1: to the nines. You know, they got their wedding gift
44:51
Speaker 1: with them. And the limos pull up to their hotels
44:54
Speaker 1: like ready to pick them up and take them to
44:56
Speaker 1: this fancy yacht wedding and you know it's champagne and
45:01
Speaker 1: all this stuff. The driver then says, you know, we
45:04
Speaker 1: got one last stop, one more person to pick up.
45:07
Speaker 1: But then they drive to the FBI field office and
45:10
Speaker 1: then doors open. Agents. You're arrested. You're under arrest.
45:13
Speaker 2: You know, Oh my gosh, I mean, I would have
45:16
Speaker 2: loved to witness that and also I'm just thinking, like
45:18
Speaker 2: logistically in a limo, like crouching in there to.
45:23
Speaker 1: Arrest much, how do you know that no one has
45:25
Speaker 1: a weapon?
45:25
Speaker 2: That's what I was thinking, is like, if you're a
45:28
Speaker 2: bad guy, wouldn't you just scoot to the back and
45:30
Speaker 2: get your weapon out?
45:31
Speaker 1: I know, yeah, I don't know how that exactly went down, not.
45:34
Speaker 2: That I would suggest that horrible, but like you think
45:38
Speaker 2: about dangerous criminals, so have nothing left to lose at
45:40
Speaker 2: that point.
45:41
Speaker 1: Right, And I mean all of these people are criminals, right.
45:43
Speaker 1: So one of the things that Lou said was there
45:47
Speaker 1: was some surprise, but the fact that they're being arrested, like,
45:50
Speaker 1: isn't that shocking because they're criminals. But they didn't connect
45:53
Speaker 1: it to Lou. So like Charlie when he's getting arrested,
45:56
Speaker 1: he's like, well, we have a wedding to get.
45:58
Speaker 2: To Charlie, there is no wedding. There is no wedding.
46:05
Speaker 1: So the operation took six years to complete, and then
46:07
Speaker 1: the end, fifty seven people were arrested. Jimmy Horn ended
46:11
Speaker 1: up getting four years in prison for racketeering. He pled guilty.
46:16
Speaker 1: Keith Tang also pled guilty and was given six years
46:19
Speaker 1: in prison. Apparently he was looking at a potential life sentence,
46:22
Speaker 1: but he ended up getting six years. Charlie pled guilty
46:26
Speaker 1: to racketeering, he got eleven years. I don't know if
46:29
Speaker 1: that's because they had more evidence of him importing goods,
46:33
Speaker 1: like I think they said over twenty containers or something
46:36
Speaker 1: over time. And maylu I just read that she said
46:40
Speaker 1: she suffered a stroke and so she wasn't able to
46:42
Speaker 1: stand trial. So I don't actually know what ended up
46:44
Speaker 1: happening with her or the other people. But the FBI
46:47
Speaker 1: ces between four and five million dollars of supernotes, and yeah,
46:52
Speaker 1: that was the operation. It was considered a huge success,
46:56
Speaker 1: Operation Royal Charm. Operation Royal Charm only took years. And
47:00
Speaker 1: oh the other thing was, like, you know, even though
47:03
Speaker 1: the FBI did have to fund this, when they were
47:07
Speaker 1: importing those twenty containers of counterfeit cigarettes, they were paying
47:13
Speaker 1: them fifty to sixty k per container, right, So the
47:17
Speaker 1: FBI was.
47:18
Speaker 2: Making money on that.
47:19
Speaker 1: I love that, and that money was going back into
47:22
Speaker 1: fund the operation.
47:23
Speaker 2: Okay, that's cool. Yeah, yeah, it actually reminded me. I
47:28
Speaker 2: don't know, this is a little off topic, I guess,
47:30
Speaker 2: but that feeling that Lou had when you had to
47:33
Speaker 2: go in and tell Keith. It reminded me of like,
47:36
Speaker 2: I don't know if you had this feeling in junior
47:38
Speaker 2: high in high school where you would be assigned to
47:41
Speaker 2: like a group project with kids that you normally didn't
47:43
Speaker 2: hang out with. They just weren't in your social circle,
47:46
Speaker 2: and you had the best time, and then when the
47:48
Speaker 2: project's over, it's like, well, I guess this is tn
47:51
Speaker 2: never speak to them again, never speak to each other again. Yeah,
47:54
Speaker 2: I think that did happen to me. Yeah, it's so awkward,
47:58
Speaker 2: awkward because you're just like, there's no good reason we
48:01
Speaker 2: wouldn't keep hanging out. We just were living different lives. Yeah.
48:06
Speaker 1: I think to me, that's the most awkward moment of
48:08
Speaker 1: the story, even though there's all these moments that would
48:11
Speaker 1: be really nerve wracking. When you're pretending to be someone else,
48:15
Speaker 1: the reveal that you've betrayed your friend, even though like
48:19
Speaker 1: you you're doing it because you know we were a
48:23
Speaker 1: law enforcement agent and they're committing a crime, it's still
48:26
Speaker 1: just feels so cringe.
48:28
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I imagine if they felt like they had
48:30
Speaker 2: a friendship, or if Keith at least it, he probably
48:33
Speaker 2: shared things like personal things or yeah, you know, even
48:37
Speaker 2: just the sense of like, hey, I know we met
48:39
Speaker 2: through my boss, but I want to do more. And yeah,
48:43
Speaker 2: he should have chosen a different path. He should have
48:46
Speaker 2: you know. Yeah. Well that was a great story, and
48:49
Speaker 2: I love that nobody died.
48:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I know we got what we wanted, I know,
48:56
Speaker 1: real big success. Yeah, good for us, and Lu got
48:59
Speaker 1: to live this sort of double life, you know, driving
49:01
Speaker 1: a Porsche and really good for Lou, really good for Lou.
49:05
Speaker 2: Yeah. The unrequited crushes for mey LOEU is unfortunate. I know.
49:11
Speaker 1: I don't know if those ever went anywhere, Yeah, but
49:13
Speaker 1: guessing they didn't.
49:14
Speaker 2: Probably not. Yeah, that's a great story. Yeah.
49:17
Speaker 1: Do you have a recommendation for us today?
49:19
Speaker 2: I do. All right, let's hear it. Okay, I haven't
49:23
Speaker 2: recommendation today, which I've been holding off telling you, and
49:26
Speaker 2: you know that because I've been telling you consistently that
49:29
Speaker 2: I'm holding off telling happen. Yeah. So it's called Adults
49:33
Speaker 2: in the Room, Okay. It's a podcast, an investigative series
49:37
Speaker 2: that examines allegations of sexual abuse of a very popular
49:41
Speaker 2: teacher at Garfield High School back in nineteen ninety nine.
49:44
Speaker 2: So the host of the show is an investigative journalist,
49:48
Speaker 2: and she is telling a story that is her own story.
49:52
Speaker 2: She went to this high school when this was all happening,
49:55
Speaker 2: and she worked for the high school newspaper and she
49:58
Speaker 2: reported on allegations she did what we did, and there
50:02
Speaker 2: was major fallout for her and her friend who also
50:06
Speaker 2: reported on it. They both worked at the newspaper, they
50:08
Speaker 2: were both editors, and there was a lot of fallout.
50:12
Speaker 2: And then the teacher who was accused of this ended
50:16
Speaker 2: up dying by suicide. And so she and her friend
50:20
Speaker 2: now in you know, well into adulthood and their careers,
50:23
Speaker 2: take this look at what actually happened and if they
50:27
Speaker 2: were right in reporting on that, and why the high
50:31
Speaker 2: school handled it the way that they did. And it's
50:34
Speaker 2: a very intense subject matter. But I really like the host.
50:40
Speaker 2: It's just a very fair reporting that she's doing. You know,
50:46
Speaker 2: I think she's looking at people in a very multi
50:48
Speaker 2: dimensional way and not excusing any behavior at all that
50:54
Speaker 2: shouldn't have happened, but kind of a bigger examination of
50:58
Speaker 2: the school culture and why this went on.
51:02
Speaker 1: Interesting. Yeah, that sounds really intriguing. Yeah, especially making an
51:08
Speaker 1: allegation like that at that age, it's brave.
51:10
Speaker 2: Yeah.
51:11
Speaker 1: And then also my head goes to, isn't there like
51:15
Speaker 1: a teacher who has to read over the newspaper before
51:17
Speaker 1: anything is published? Yeah, I imagine they address that they do,
51:22
Speaker 1: and that teacher has an unfortunate response to the fallout
51:27
Speaker 1: of the article, and yeah, I'll let you listen. So
51:30
Speaker 1: it's really a well done show. But yeah, I highly recommend. Actually,
51:35
Speaker 1: as of right now, five episodes are out. I listened
51:37
Speaker 1: to the most recent one on my way into the
51:39
Speaker 1: studio today, so yeah, nice, Thank you for the recommendation.
51:43
Speaker 2: Of course, Thanks you guys for listening, and we'll see
51:46
Speaker 2: you next week. If you have a story for us,
51:49
Speaker 2: we would love to hear it. Our email is The
51:51
Speaker 2: Knife at exactly wrightmedia dot com, or you can follow
51:54
Speaker 2: us on Instagram at the Knife Podcast or Blue Sky
51:57
Speaker 2: at the Knife Podcast.
51:58
Speaker 1: This has been an Exactly Write production, hosted and produced
52:01
Speaker 1: by me Hannah Smith and me Pasha Eeny.
52:04
Speaker 2: Our producers are Tom Bryfogel and Alexis Samorrosi. This episode
52:08
Speaker 2: was mixed by Tom Bryfogel. Our associate producer is Christina Chamberlain.
52:12
Speaker 1: Our theme music is by Birds in the Airport artwork.
52:15
Speaker 2: By Vanessa Lilac.
52:16
Speaker 1: Executive produced by Karen Kilgarriff, Georgia Hardstark and Danielle Kramer.