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00:00The gentleman at the bar winds up pushing my boss.
00:03I saw Ray.
00:05I went over there and I started smashing this guy.
00:10My boss came to me and said,
00:12what the f*** did you just do, kid?
00:14What I didn't know was that guy was my boss's boss
00:17because you f***ed up.
00:18One wrong move and your body could be found
00:20in the trunk of a car.
00:23I stole almost $400,000
00:26from the dirty company that I worked for.
00:30As soon as I seen those cherries behind me,
00:32I took off.
00:33There was only one thing left to do,
00:35to jump out the car.
00:40When it came to cocaine,
00:41I owned the nightclub scene.
00:45If you're not going to give me a raise,
00:47I'm going to take my own raise.
00:53I'd escaped the police so many times,
00:55they nicknamed me Spider-Man.
00:56I was selling out of the pizzeria.
01:01You're either coming in for a pizza
01:02or you're coming in there for cocaine
01:03or you're coming in there for both.
01:14My name is Rick Koenig,
01:15and I sold over a half a million dollars worth of cocaine
01:18with my father out of our family's pizzeria.
01:21My father owned Rick's Pizza.
01:28My father's name is Rick also.
01:30He's senior, I'm junior.
01:31In the 70s and 80s,
01:33you wouldn't buy a pizza off of a German person
01:35or an Irish person.
01:36You had to be Italian.
01:38But my last name, Koenig,
01:40it's a German last name.
01:42So he would tell me,
01:43if anybody asks you what your last name is, kid,
01:46you tell them,
01:47Piza.
01:47You see the name Rick's Piza,
01:49P-I-Z-Z-A.
01:55My father would work 80 to 100 hours a week.
01:59Growing up, I rarely saw my father.
02:01I mean, basically he wasn't around.
02:03He worked six days a week.
02:05When Sunday came,
02:06I was attached to his hip.
02:08He was my Superman.
02:09He was the definition of a real man.
02:11He was a provider.
02:12But as a kid,
02:13I miss my father a lot.
02:14Any time I got into trouble,
02:19I had to work at the pizzeria for free.
02:22From the time I got in there until I left,
02:25he had me doing something.
02:26My father put me to work, man.
02:32Strictly takeout.
02:33But he did have tables in there
02:34for the wise guys that would come in.
02:36I had more uncles than anybody probably
02:39in the country, in the world.
02:41But obviously they were not my biological uncles.
02:43It was just like, you know,
02:44Uncle Vito, Uncle Ralph, Uncle Dominic.
02:47And they were connected.
02:52These guys were coming out
02:53and designing their Italian suits,
02:55the best shoes, the Rolex watches.
02:58Everybody had a Cadillac or a Lincoln brand new.
03:02I mean, you're talking about Hollywood status.
03:05They were celebrities.
03:06You know, they were treated like kings.
03:08And I mean, you're kidding.
03:11These are my uncles.
03:11I was going to make something out of my life.
03:14I was driven to that lifestyle, you know, growing up.
03:17I didn't have to watch The Godfather.
03:19I was living it.
03:21And there was just always a constant flow of action
03:24coming through the pizzeria.
03:27My father was a loan shark,
03:28so he would lend out money to individuals.
03:31He had somebody that was an enforcer
03:33that would collect money from those individuals
03:35that owed money.
03:36And his enforcer ran security at a lot of the nightclubs.
03:40He knew my reputation.
03:41He knew that I could fight.
03:42I could handle my own.
03:45So at the age of 18,
03:46he gave me an opportunity to work as a bouncer
03:48at one of the nightclubs in Philadelphia,
03:51which was owned by a mobster.
03:54Your life is on the line every single night
03:56that you're working at facilities that are run by the mob.
03:59In the late 80s, early 90s, it was warfare.
04:03You had people that were fighting for territory,
04:05and there were a lot of casualties.
04:08If anybody came close to my boss, I had to jump in.
04:12My eyes were always on him
04:14because he never knew what was going to happen.
04:16There was a few incidents where I had to step in,
04:18and I was very fortunate that I'm alive.
04:25Anybody that was going to get close to my boss
04:27was going to feel it.
04:28And I saw him getting into an altercation
04:30with this gentleman at the bar,
04:32and the gentleman at the bar winds up pushing my boss.
04:37I saw Ray.
04:38I went over there, and I started smashing this guy,
04:41and I'm talking about smashing.
04:49I'm dragging him out,
04:50and at that time, my boss came to me and said,
04:53what the did you just do, kid?
04:55I said, what do you mean, what did I just do?
04:56I said, I'm doing my job, I'm protecting you.
04:58He goes, not him.
05:01What I didn't know was that guy was my boss's boss.
05:04He's allowed to push me.
05:05He's allowed to spit on me.
05:06He can call my mother a whore.
05:08He goes, you f***ed up.
05:09I got snuck out the back door,
05:11and I never went back to that establishment to work.
05:16I needed a new way to make money.
05:19Every night that I was working in the nightclub,
05:21there was thousands of dollars of cocaine going through that club.
05:25I saw an opportunity to make a lot more money
05:28than just being a bouncer.
05:29I was fortunate and unfortunate, I guess,
05:36to have the connections to make that start happening.
05:39My workout partner was an enforcer
05:42for a drug kingpin at a candidate,
05:44so that was my in right there.
05:46So obviously, I went to this individual,
05:48and then I started to cop half ounce,
05:50an ounce, two ounces of cocaine.
05:54With cutting it, stomping on it,
05:56I could quadruple my money easily.
05:58I started to sell it out to the other clubs.
06:01Sometimes it was the same club every single night.
06:03Sometimes it was different.
06:04I went to the strip clubs.
06:06You know what I mean?
06:06I had dancers hustling my product,
06:09and that was every single night, seven days a week.
06:12But that's all I did was hustle.
06:14In the average week,
06:15I was making anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000
06:17easily in small bags, 20s and 40s.
06:21When it came to cocaine,
06:23I owned the Philadelphia South Jersey nightclub scene.
06:29But while my business was booming,
06:32my dad's business was struggling.
06:36My father owning the pizzerias,
06:38you know, there was a code of ethics
06:40where another pizzeria wouldn't open up
06:42at least 15 miles to the next.
06:45Okay, now you have these chains like Domino's,
06:48Pizza Hut, Papa John's.
06:50They would open up right next door to you
06:51across the street.
06:53The business my dad worked his whole life for
06:55was going out of business.
06:57My father got rid of the townhouse that he had,
07:00and we moved right upstairs from the pizzeria.
07:04We needed money, and we needed it fast.
07:07I wanted to help my father out.
07:09I had a relative that approached me
07:12and said, hey, listen,
07:13I'm able to get massive amounts of cocaine
07:17that hasn't been seen in decades
07:19at a very, very low price,
07:22if you're interested.
07:24And I jumped on it.
07:26My family member's job
07:27was to incinerate cocaine
07:29that was seized by law enforcement.
07:31The cocaine that I was buying off of him
07:33was seized probably 20 years previous,
07:36and this was prime stuff.
07:38And he's selling it back to me
07:40for a fraction of the price.
07:42I actually had a guy who was a made man,
07:44and his uncle did a bump of the **** that I had.
07:47And he said, you know what?
07:48I could swear this is mine
07:49because it's just as good
07:51or better than what I had back in the 70s.
07:55I learned from my uncles early
07:57that if you were going to run an illegal business,
07:59you needed a front.
08:00Rick's Pizza was the perfect front
08:03and all-cash business.
08:06So I convinced my dad
08:08the quickest way to save our pizzeria
08:10was to team up, sell cocaine,
08:13and that's what we did.
08:16They would call in,
08:17and they would ask, you know,
08:18if they wanted half pepperoni.
08:20That meant they wanted a half ounce.
08:23They said all pepperoni.
08:25That was a full ounce.
08:26They said quarter.
08:28That means that was a quarter ounce, okay?
08:30And that's what I put in those pizza boxes,
08:32and that's what they were leaving with.
08:35So it became a system that I used
08:37that worked out great.
08:39I mean, people were coming in
08:41for one or two different reasons.
08:42You're either coming in for a pizza
08:44or you're coming in there for cocaine
08:45or you're coming in there for both.
08:48And we never confused the two.
08:49So no one actually got a pizza
08:51and left with some cocaine
08:52that wasn't supposed to have it.
08:53Exactly.
08:54At 19, I'm making over 50 grand a week,
09:04and I'm like the guys
09:05that I worshipped when I was a kid.
09:07I'm buying that designer Italian suit.
09:10I'm buying that Rolex.
09:11I'm going to Atlantic City.
09:13You know, we got bottles of Dom Perignon
09:15with straws in it walking around nightclubs
09:18like it's New Jack City.
09:19I'm making the money,
09:20and I'm spending it at the same time.
09:22Whoa.
09:29My old man wasn't about to flash.
09:30He was about to catch.
09:31He knew how to save money.
09:33He knew where to hide money.
09:35I did not have a problem with him
09:37keeping track of everything
09:38that was going on.
09:39I mean, my father was breaking up the bricks.
09:42Some of the was like as hard as rocks.
09:45I used to tell him,
09:46wear a mask.
09:47He said to me he was wondering
09:48why he was getting dizzy.
09:50All right, well, no, Sherlock.
09:51You're breathing in the coke, all right?
09:55Working side by side with my father
09:57was probably my fondest memories.
10:00Everything was working out great.
10:01I mean, life was good.
10:04One day that I finished my shift,
10:06I went to the supermarket,
10:07and as soon as I pulled into the driveway,
10:10I looked upstairs where the kitchen was,
10:13and there was a door that was open.
10:17And I have OCD.
10:19And I'm like, why is that door open?
10:22Which then, at that point in time,
10:24I knew something was going on.
10:25What went through my head at that moment is,
10:28the party's over.
10:29As soon as I opened up my car door,
10:36they came on me.
10:38I heard voices say,
10:40hit the ground now!
10:42Sure enough,
10:43I hit the ground,
10:45and as I peeked up,
10:46I saw about five guns pointed at my head,
10:49and they met business.
10:50My father and I had a language.
10:55We had the luck.
10:56My father looked straight through me
10:59and said,
11:00do not say a word.
11:02First thing that went through my head
11:03was somebody ratted us out.
11:08My father had a friend, Larry,
11:10and Larry always rubbed me the wrong way.
11:12He asked too many questions.
11:15So sure enough,
11:17the guy that I felt uncomfortable with
11:18was the guy that set us up.
11:20Larry wore a wire
11:21and snitched us out.
11:24And they went ransacking
11:26the whole apartment upstairs,
11:27went down to the pizzeria,
11:29tearing it apart.
11:30They knew there was supposed to be
11:32some drugs there,
11:33and they didn't find it,
11:35and they were pissed.
11:36I felt extremely guilty
11:38on the way to jail.
11:45Everything that my father worked for
11:47his whole life
11:48was destroyed
11:49right in front of him.
11:50It broke my heart.
11:55My father and I
11:56needed money for bail,
11:58and we needed money
11:59for our attorney.
12:00So we're now
12:01in the county jail.
12:02My father says,
12:03well, listen,
12:03I don't know what they took,
12:05but we have a bunch of money
12:07in this one spot.
12:09You got to make a phone call,
12:10and you got to get somebody
12:11to break in there
12:12and get it.
12:13The only person I knew
12:14at that point in time
12:15that I could trust
12:16was my ex-girlfriend
12:17because she goes,
12:18you're a piece of s**t,
12:20and she goes,
12:20but I love your father,
12:22so for your father,
12:23yes, for you,
12:24s**t you.
12:28She waits till it's dark,
12:29and then she smashes
12:30the back window.
12:33She went to the back room.
12:35She had to open up
12:36the floorboards.
12:37My father had
12:38an underground safe.
12:40When she opened up the safe,
12:42she wanted to s**t herself.
12:44She never saw that much money
12:45in her life.
12:47There was over $100,000
12:48in cash.
12:49That money that she found
12:51was strictly meant
12:52for the attorney.
12:53If we didn't have that money
12:54hidden in the pizzeria,
12:56we would have been s**t.
12:56We would have been in jail
12:58for a lot longer.
12:59They called us with a scale.
13:01They called us with cutting agents.
13:02Our charges was possession.
13:05They attempted to distribute
13:06and manufacture.
13:08My father and I
13:08were both sentenced
13:09to 20 years in prison.
13:13Selling coke out of the pizzeria
13:15with my dad
13:16was the glory days.
13:17But again,
13:18the number one rule
13:19to selling drugs
13:20is don't do the crime
13:22if you can't do the time.
13:25Ultimately,
13:26I wound up serving
13:27my five years
13:28and my father served
13:30seven years.
13:31We served our prison terms
13:33side by side,
13:34which was kind of cool.
13:37At that time,
13:38we were the only
13:39father and son team
13:40to ever go through
13:41the penitentiaries together.
13:43Even in a bad situation,
13:45we turned it into
13:46a good situation.
13:48We did our time.
13:49Our time didn't do us.
13:50And it might sound weird,
13:54but we basically enjoyed
13:55every day we had together.
13:57And I guess in one way,
13:58we were forced
13:59to become close.
14:05My name is Marci Marie,
14:06and I stole almost
14:08$400,000
14:09from the dirty company
14:10that I worked for.
14:11I'm from Texas.
14:19My parents are
14:20self-proclaimed hippies.
14:22Growing up,
14:23they taught me
14:24to question everything,
14:26question things politically.
14:28They gave me kind of
14:29this disruptor
14:31kind of attitude.
14:33I met Josh
14:34when I was in the 10th grade,
14:36and by the 11th grade,
14:38I was pregnant with my son.
14:41We were too young.
14:43We were too young.
14:44What were we...
14:45We don't know.
14:46I don't know
14:46what we were doing.
14:48I ended up
14:48getting pregnant again.
14:50By the time I was 20,
14:51I had three babies.
14:53But also,
14:54we knew that we had
14:55grown apart,
14:55that we had grown up,
14:56and we weren't in love anymore,
14:57and we were toxic
14:59for each other.
15:00We were fighting
15:01in front of the kids.
15:03So I get the kids,
15:05and I go to visit my aunt.
15:06By the time I got home,
15:08he had moved out,
15:09and he took his paycheck
15:10with him.
15:11And I didn't know
15:14what I was going to do.
15:17I had been completely
15:19financially dependent
15:20on my husband,
15:21and now I'm 24 years old.
15:24I'm getting a divorce.
15:25I have three children.
15:26I have never had a real job,
15:28so I applied everywhere.
15:31The company that hired me
15:33was a bleach manufacturing company.
15:36The goal of this company
15:38was never about selling bleach
15:40or selling any kind of product.
15:42It was about selling the company.
15:44They wanted somebody
15:45to buy out the company
15:46for much more money
15:47than they bought it for.
15:50These were big-time entrepreneurs
15:52that would buy out companies
15:54and undersell their competitors
15:56to make lots of money,
15:58no matter the damage
15:59that it caused anyone else.
16:01They're really trying
16:02to screw over
16:03other manufacturing plants.
16:05They had two goals.
16:07One would be
16:07the competitor
16:08goes out of business,
16:09or the second,
16:10the competitor.
16:12They would end up
16:13getting so desperate
16:14they would buy out
16:15our company.
16:16So the company
16:20that I worked for
16:21was not making any money.
16:22We were losing money
16:23so that they can
16:24undersell the competitors.
16:27And part of my job duties
16:29was to call the big boss,
16:30the money man,
16:31and say,
16:32hey, we need a deposit
16:33because the power bill was due
16:35and I'm not going to be able
16:36to pay this out.
16:38He would just wire over
16:40$40,000 or $60,000
16:43or whatever.
16:44He'd just wire it
16:44from his personal account
16:46for us to cover expenses.
16:48But he wanted the books
16:49to look like the bleach plant
16:50was making money.
16:52One time when I called
16:54and I asked,
16:54hey, we need a wire,
16:56he said,
16:56okay, well,
16:57mark it as this in the book.
17:00He wanted me to act
17:02like that was
17:02an accounts receivable
17:04instead of him
17:04making a wire deposit.
17:06So I'm changing up
17:08the way things look
17:10in our books
17:11instead of it looking like
17:12the owner gave us
17:14this big amount of money.
17:15It looked like
17:16someone paid us
17:17for a bleach order.
17:20My boss asked me
17:22to cook the books.
17:24At that point,
17:25I didn't think
17:25it was illegal,
17:26but I felt it was
17:27morally wrong.
17:28But what am I going to do,
17:29quit?
17:30No, absolutely not.
17:31I couldn't quit my job.
17:33I felt trapped.
17:34The potential for me
17:35finding another job,
17:36even at that salary,
17:38was very limited.
17:39I knew I needed a job
17:41to cover my expenses,
17:43my children's expenses.
17:46So in the end,
17:47I did it.
17:48I did what I was told to do,
17:50and I changed transactions
17:51in the books
17:52and made it look like
17:53the company was a lot
17:54more successful
17:55than it was.
17:59Making $12 or $13 an hour,
18:01I was still struggling.
18:03I was still having to
18:05borrow rent money
18:07to make a car payment
18:08so they didn't come
18:09pick up my vehicle
18:10or default on my electricity.
18:12I remember my power
18:13getting cut off
18:14so that I could pay my rent.
18:17It was like a juggling act
18:19all the time.
18:22I was making $12 or $13 an hour
18:25and doing this
18:26maybe illegal thing,
18:28and I did ask for a raise.
18:30And do you know that
18:31these wealthy men
18:34gave me a $0.50 an hour raise,
18:38and I felt like
18:39that was a slap in the face.
18:42Any little bit of respect
18:44I had for these guys
18:45at that point,
18:46it went out the window.
18:47I knew I deserved this money.
18:49I earned this money.
18:51If you're not going
18:51to give me a raise,
18:52I'm going to take my own raise.
18:58I was dealt a bad hand,
19:00and I was going to have
19:01to change my luck.
19:06The first time
19:08that I actually took money,
19:10I was broke.
19:12I didn't have money
19:12for anything.
19:13Like, there was zero,
19:15maybe even negative,
19:16in my bank account.
19:18I had been watching
19:19these wire transactions
19:21take place.
19:23I saw how easy it would be
19:25to make it happen,
19:26and I thought,
19:28if I just had
19:28a couple hundred dollars
19:30to get me through the week,
19:32and I remember thinking,
19:33I could just do it right here,
19:35and I did it.
19:39It was as simple
19:40as clicking a button
19:41and stealing some
19:44of their dirty money.
19:45I didn't want it just, like,
19:48wired into my account.
19:49I felt like I would get caught
19:51easily doing that.
19:52The majority of our transactions
19:54are to and from businesses,
19:56so my mind immediately went
19:58to a business account.
20:00All you need to do
20:01to set up a business account
20:03is to have a tax ID number.
20:05And so I searched online,
20:08and I looked for businesses
20:10that had closed in our state.
20:12I looked up their tax ID numbers,
20:14and I opened an account
20:16with one of those businesses.
20:17And then I opened up
20:19the company's bank account,
20:21and I wire transferred $200
20:24to this fake business account.
20:27And it worked,
20:28and it was smooth,
20:29and it was easy.
20:31And then I withdrew the money,
20:32and I remember thinking,
20:34this kind of saved me
20:36for this week.
20:38I had convinced myself internally
20:41that that was, like,
20:42a bonus that I deserved
20:43because of the work
20:44that I was doing.
20:46And so the next time
20:47when rent payment was due
20:49and I was, like, $400 shy,
20:51how do I get this rent payment?
20:53And I just repeated it.
20:57It kind of snowballed really fast.
21:00Like, once you start
21:01kind of getting that fast money
21:02and that adrenaline,
21:03and you want that feeling again,
21:05and you do it again and again,
21:07it becomes addictive.
21:10I've been working for that company
21:12for a little over a year,
21:15and I meet this man,
21:17and we fall in love.
21:20We end up getting married
21:21and having two children back-to-back.
21:24So now I felt even more under pressure.
21:27Now I have five kids.
21:29Now I have a husband
21:31who doesn't have a clue
21:32what I'm doing
21:33and is trying to build
21:35his own business.
21:36He's not making any money.
21:38I'm completely responsible
21:39for all the finances.
21:41There was absolutely no way
21:43I could have just stopped
21:44taking money.
21:45By the third year,
21:48I was getting
21:49several thousand dollars
21:50a month.
21:51I was probably tripling
21:52my income
21:53with stolen money.
21:56I paid a truck off
21:57so that I didn't have
21:58a car payment.
21:59My kids are dressing better.
22:00I'm dressing better.
22:02We're going on family vacations,
22:03which I never thought
22:04we would be able
22:05to afford before.
22:08It felt great
22:09to be able to give
22:10my kids things,
22:11but I was lying
22:12to the people
22:13that I cared about the most.
22:15You know, my mom,
22:16my dad.
22:18Not just my bosses at work
22:20that I didn't care about
22:21that much, right?
22:22But I was literally
22:24lying to everybody
22:26and I felt guilty
22:27and shameful
22:29and scared.
22:36So like the number one rule
22:38when you're moving money
22:39in this way
22:40and keeping this fraud up
22:42is you have to keep
22:43the money moving.
22:44If that money stops,
22:46it throws up a red flag
22:47to the bank
22:48and it's game over.
22:49So you transfer money
22:50back and forth
22:51to make it look
22:52as business as usual,
22:53the same as every day.
22:56I woke up one Friday morning
22:57like a normal work day
22:59and the entire state of Texas
23:01is covered in ice.
23:03I went on my phone
23:05to check the bank accounts
23:06and the storm
23:07had knocked the Wi-Fi out.
23:09When it's icy,
23:10the whole state shuts down.
23:12The schools were closed,
23:13businesses were closed
23:15and I know
23:16I need to get to work
23:17so that I can get
23:18on my works bank account
23:20and move the money around.
23:23I start telling my husband,
23:24I have to get to work.
23:25It's my work day.
23:26I have to go to the office.
23:27We have important things happening
23:29and he's telling me
23:30nothing is happening.
23:31Everything is closed.
23:32I had a choice to make.
23:36I could have told my husband,
23:38if I don't do this,
23:39I'm going to prison
23:40and if I did that,
23:42it might incriminate him.
23:44So I decided
23:46to just write it out
23:47and I just thought about it
23:50all weekend
23:51and worried over it,
23:53meanwhile trying to act normal
23:54around my family.
23:55And then my boss,
23:58the general manager
23:59of the plant,
24:00called me on the weekend,
24:01which wasn't that unusual.
24:04But this time,
24:05he called to tell me
24:06that our big bosses
24:08are going to be flying in
24:09and we would have a meeting
24:10that Monday morning.
24:14I was panicked.
24:15I was anxious.
24:17Like I had fleeting thoughts
24:19of like running,
24:20going on the run
24:21or trying to escape this,
24:23but how do you go on the run
24:24with all these kids?
24:26I knew that I had to go
24:28into work on Monday.
24:32I walked into my office
24:34and the big boss,
24:36the money man,
24:37he was in my office
24:38sitting in my chair.
24:41My heart was racing.
24:43And so I just sit across from him.
24:47I was scared.
24:48My palms were sweaty.
24:50And he opens this folder
24:53and lays all these papers out.
24:57I look down at the papers
24:58and it's all of my transactions.
25:01I know immediately what it is.
25:03And he just says,
25:05what is all of this?
25:07I looked at him in the eye
25:09and I said,
25:10I think that you already know
25:11what all of this is.
25:14And there was just this,
25:15this like second of silence.
25:17And I'm just waiting.
25:21The door opens
25:22and it's two police detectives.
25:24Come on.
25:26The detective,
25:27he just said,
25:28hey, we want to question you.
25:30Can you come with us?
25:32And I went with him.
25:37He took me to
25:38a typical interrogation room.
25:41I mean, it looked like
25:42an interrogation room
25:43that you see on Law & Order.
25:46And I just thought,
25:47how did my life get here?
25:49It felt like it was overnight,
25:51even though it was
25:52a number of years.
25:54So I admitted to everything.
25:56I couldn't hold it in anymore.
25:58And frankly,
25:59it felt good to let it all out.
26:02When the detective said
26:03that I was under arrest,
26:05my immediate thought was,
26:06who's going to get
26:06the kids from school?
26:07But they put me in handcuffs
26:10and take me to the jail.
26:12So I took $367,000
26:15from the company I worked for.
26:19They charged me with
26:20theft over $200,000.
26:24I pled guilty.
26:25You know,
26:26I was guilty.
26:28The district attorney's office,
26:30they brought an offer.
26:31And I'm still hoping,
26:33like, maybe probation.
26:34I don't know.
26:35Like, maybe probation
26:36and I have to pay the money back.
26:38And instead,
26:39my first offer was 40 years.
26:44The reality of that number,
26:47it just came crashing down on me.
26:50I thought I was going to die right then.
26:52My lawyer said,
26:57if you sign for this,
26:59you know,
26:59I said,
27:00there's no way
27:01I'm signing 40 years
27:03of my life away.
27:04Absolutely not.
27:08Ultimately,
27:09I was sentenced to 20 years.
27:12I got to see parole
27:13at two years,
27:15at three years,
27:16four years,
27:16five years.
27:17And I kept getting denied
27:22for parole
27:22for the same reason,
27:24which is significant
27:25monetary loss.
27:27So it was like,
27:29you took this money,
27:30there's nothing you can do
27:31about it now,
27:32but we're just going to keep
27:33denying your parole.
27:36When you play
27:37with other people's money,
27:39you are playing
27:40with your life.
27:45My name is Charles Honanke,
27:47and I was involved
27:48in over 500 robberies.
27:49Some of these jobs
27:50were hundreds of thousands
27:51of dollars.
27:52Others were millions.
27:54And escaped the police
27:55so many times
27:56by scaling over fences,
27:58hopping on top of buildings
27:59to a nickname named Spider-Man.
28:08I grew up
28:09in a rough part of Chicago
28:11where making money illegally
28:12was normal.
28:14My mom and dad
28:14were separated.
28:15My dad was in and out of jail,
28:17in prison.
28:18My parents didn't have
28:19much growing up.
28:20We grew up on food stamps
28:21and government assistance.
28:22To me, money was power.
28:24Money was able to get you
28:25the things that you needed.
28:26There weren't many opportunities
28:28for me to go to work
28:29and earn money,
28:30so I had to get out there
28:30and take it.
28:31From stealing hood ornaments,
28:33then he evolved
28:36to stealing bikes.
28:36You know, when I was in school,
28:40I used to have the teachers
28:40coming up to me
28:41talking about,
28:42Chucky, you got parts
28:43for an 87 Schwinn
28:44because I had like
28:45a whole bicycle ring.
28:47Everybody know me.
28:47I would take anything
28:48that wasn't bolted down.
28:49If it was bolted down,
28:50I'd cut that bolt off.
28:54So crime for me
28:56just started evolving.
28:57When I was 14,
28:58I started stealing cars.
29:00I could make
29:02a couple hundred dollars
29:03or a couple thousand.
29:04One day,
29:05I took a stolen car
29:06to my girlfriend's house.
29:12And all of a sudden,
29:13I seen the police
29:14all around me.
29:17As soon as I seen
29:18those cherries behind me,
29:19I took off
29:20like a bat out of hell
29:21like I always did.
29:30They was on me.
29:36I'm going 85 miles per hour
29:38and they're right behind me.
29:41I'm turning sharp.
29:42I'm going around cars.
29:44Hitting through the alleys
29:44is just trying to lose them.
29:47They were hitting
29:48every turn with me.
29:49I could not get
29:49them off my tail.
29:51There was only one thing
29:52left to do
29:52and it was to jump out the car.
29:54We call it a jump out.
29:57Before I jumped out that car,
29:59the feeling I have
30:00is that heart just pounding.
30:02It's like jumping
30:02into a cold water.
30:04You just got to go for it.
30:09That car is moving forward.
30:11There's no driver.
30:12The police got to
30:13concentrate stopping that car.
30:17First thing in a police chase
30:19is you got to know
30:20your surroundings.
30:21You got to know
30:21where to hide or run.
30:23I see this fence.
30:26And I look up
30:28and there's Bob White.
30:29One thing about me
30:32is I was always limber.
30:33I threw myself
30:34right over that barbed wire
30:35and I landed on my feet
30:37and I only got a little
30:38cut on my wrist for it.
30:41It was time to go.
30:44I hear this cop
30:45trying to jump the fence
30:46behind me.
30:47I can hear the whole fence
30:48rattling.
30:48They're calling me vulgarities.
30:49They stop.
30:50Oh, yada, yada.
30:51Like now.
30:52Read the back of my Nikes.
30:53And what I do,
30:58I cut through the gameway.
31:00A gameway is a section
31:01of two buildings
31:02that connect the street
31:03and the alley
31:04in the city of Chicago.
31:05When I see a gameway,
31:07I see an opportunity.
31:08Sometimes not to just go through,
31:10but to go up.
31:11So when I decide to climb up,
31:12I put my back against the wall
31:14and I put my feet up
31:15against the other side
31:16and maneuver with my arms
31:17and just continue to climb,
31:19scaling up the wall
31:20like Spider-Man.
31:21I get to the rooftop
31:27and I heard the police
31:28come closer
31:29and I can see the lights
31:30starting to come.
31:32So I look around
31:33and I see that the only way
31:35to get away and out
31:36was to get to the next building
31:38and jump in.
31:39I'm standing at the edge
31:41of the building
31:41and I see that it's about
31:42six feet to the other side.
31:44Looking at that six feet,
31:46it looked like six yards.
31:47I gave myself a running start
31:51and I got to the edge
31:52of the building
31:52and I jumped.
31:57I felt like I was
31:58in slow motion,
31:59like I could fly,
32:00just like Michael Jordan.
32:03Bam!
32:04And I landed.
32:05I made it to the other side.
32:14The cops couldn't believe it.
32:15They were like,
32:16look at this kid
32:16jumping from building
32:17and the building.
32:19Sometimes it's funny
32:20when you look back
32:21and you see them like,
32:22forget about that.
32:24You see the look
32:24on their faces like,
32:25it's too much for them.
32:27That's why they call me
32:28Spider-Man.
32:35I had become
32:36the ultimate escape artist.
32:38Running from the cops
32:40was like my superpower.
32:41I was known as all these
32:48negative things
32:49in society's eyes.
32:50A burglar,
32:51robber,
32:53a gunner.
32:55In the neighborhood,
32:56and actually,
32:56you were like a star.
32:57I took pride in these things.
32:59Yeah,
32:59that's me.
33:00That's me.
33:01That's right.
33:02I did that.
33:02I did that.
33:02I evolved from a petty criminal
33:06into a professional robber.
33:08And I was the best in the business.
33:13On average,
33:14every month
33:15when I was a career criminal,
33:16I was making at least $25,000 a month.
33:20As I grew older,
33:22I developed into more organized crime.
33:24And I developed
33:27a whole trustworthy team.
33:29Some of these individuals
33:31I associate with
33:32were masterminds.
33:33They were geniuses
33:34in what they did.
33:35By the time
33:35those big heists
33:36started getting perfected
33:37and more organized,
33:38I was making hundreds
33:39of thousands of dollars.
33:41We always had licks
33:42in Chicago.
33:43A lick
33:44is pretty much
33:45a criminal job opening.
33:47It's a plan.
33:47It's an idea.
33:48It's a tip.
33:49Whether it's robbing this place,
33:50this place.
33:53One big thing
33:54in Chicago
33:55to this day
33:56is freight trains,
33:57the freight industry.
33:58There's millions
33:59and millions of dollars
34:00going through Chicago
34:01every single day
34:02on these trains.
34:04We had guys
34:05on the inside
34:05giving us information
34:06all the time.
34:07We had a lick
34:08on some electronics
34:09coming in.
34:10I mean,
34:10you're talking about
34:11almost a million dollars.
34:12I was only going to be there
34:13for a few hours.
34:14And we had to make time
34:15in the middle of night
34:16to make this happen.
34:20It was one of the biggest
34:21robberies in my life.
34:23For this job,
34:23we had about seven guys.
34:25We had around
34:25three trucks with us.
34:26We had around
34:27five vans.
34:28This wasn't a robbery.
34:29This was a heist.
34:30I'm talking about
34:30we were there
34:31to take it all.
34:39As soon as we
34:40get out that car,
34:41the first instinct
34:41is to get in there,
34:42get the product,
34:43and keep it moving.
34:44We get up to the freight train.
34:45They got a basic lock on there.
34:47And my guy cut right through it
34:48like it was nothing.
34:49Bam!
34:50As soon as we open up
34:51that freight train
34:52is stacked
34:53and filled
34:54with electronics.
34:55To me,
34:55it looks like
34:56brand new gold bars.
34:57We got to get it
34:58and we got to start
34:59moving it ASAP.
35:00There's no time to waste.
35:02We're unloading,
35:03unloading.
35:03And then
35:04I see the headlights coming.
35:10I just started running.
35:12I didn't even know
35:12where I was going
35:12and running at that point
35:13because I didn't know
35:14the area that well.
35:15When you're running
35:18for your life,
35:19you ain't running
35:19for track,
35:20you're running
35:20for your freedom.
35:21And you feel it differently
35:22in your heart,
35:24even in your legs.
35:25This was game on.
35:32I would say anger
35:33is my most comfortable feeling.
35:34And I always had
35:35anger issues.
35:38It just worked very well
35:40with martial arts.
35:41So I started my journey
35:43in martial arts
35:44at the age of four.
35:46My folks enrolled me
35:48in my very first
35:48martial art class
35:49and my instructor
35:50broke my nose
35:51the very first class.
35:54The 70s was
35:55a different era.
35:57And believe it or not,
35:59that's when I fell
35:59in love with it.
36:00I remember coming back
36:02the next day,
36:02black eyes,
36:04nose was jacked up
36:05and my instructor
36:06looked at me
36:06and he says,
36:07you're back again.
36:08I said,
36:09you're never going
36:09to get rid of me.
36:10I love fighting.
36:12And to this day,
36:12I still love it.
36:13I'm 56 years of age
36:15right now
36:15and I still got
36:16a lot of fight in me.
36:25I'm looking around.
36:26That adrenaline's still going
36:27and I didn't know
36:28where to go.
36:29I look over
36:30and I see this drain
36:31is ditching the cut
36:32and I knew
36:33and I knew I had
36:33to get in there
36:34because that was
36:34the only place
36:35to go.
36:49I hear the chatter
36:50from the police.
36:51I know they're looking
36:52for me.
36:52They're looking everywhere.
36:53As soon as I see that light
36:56starting to come
36:56inside the tunnel,
36:57I had no choice
36:58but to lay down.
37:00I submerged my whole head
37:01into the water
37:02and held my breath
37:04for as long as I can.
37:06I felt the dirtiness
37:08of the water
37:08but I felt disgusting.
37:09I felt stuff crawling on me
37:11and I wound up
37:12staying there
37:12for around two hours
37:14that night.
37:14It was one of the longest
37:17nights of my life.
37:19It was a disgusting getaway
37:21but I got away.
37:23You don't care
37:23what you have
37:24on your clothes.
37:24You don't care
37:25if you're bleeding.
37:26You don't care
37:26if you're dirty
37:27because it all beats
37:28going to jail.
37:31I've committed
37:31over 500 robberies
37:33but never been caught
37:34and agged
37:35nor even a fingerprint
37:36at the scene.
37:38Not once.
37:40Just because they can't
37:40catch you
37:41with what you're doing
37:42that doesn't mean
37:43they're going
37:43to let you go.
37:43The police
37:44I definitely had a target
37:46on my back
37:47my whole life
37:47and they were mad at me
37:49for getting away
37:49with so many things.
37:51I had no idea
37:51that this time
37:52my luck had run out.
37:55I remember it vividly
37:56like it was yesterday.
37:58That day I heard
37:59that knock on the door
37:59and you always know
38:00a police knock.
38:04As soon as you hear
38:04that knock
38:05like it's the police
38:06the first thing you want to do
38:06is kind of look
38:07out the window a little bit.
38:09When I looked out the window
38:09all I seen was police cars
38:11and even officers
38:12standing outside.
38:13There must have been
38:13at least 15 to 20 police
38:15outside the front.
38:16Soon as I seen them
38:17my first instinct
38:18is to run
38:18out the back.
38:19When I take the first look
38:20out the back
38:21there must have been
38:22another 28, 30 police
38:23outside the back
38:23with the dogs.
38:26At that point
38:26there ain't nowhere
38:27left to run.
38:29The cops are telling me
38:30to open up the door
38:31I told them
38:31I ain't open up nothing.
38:32I told them
38:33that they gotta come in
38:33and get me.
38:34And legally
38:34they couldn't come in
38:35and get me yet
38:36because at that point
38:37they didn't have the warrant
38:38to come into the house.
38:43I just took that time
38:44to enjoy my last bits
38:46of freedom.
38:48At that point
38:49once they got that warrant
38:50after waiting there
38:51a couple hours
38:52you know
38:52they just busted right in
38:53I just like
38:54hey come on let's go
38:55I'm ready.
39:00They cuff me
39:01they take me to the station
39:02they hit me with a case
39:03to residential burglary
39:04regular burglary
39:05a theft case
39:07and some drugs
39:08and like Chicago is
39:09they throw a bunch
39:10of charges at the wall
39:10until something sticks.
39:13At first
39:13I was looking at 30
39:14to 50 years
39:15for all these charges
39:16but eventually
39:17I was sentenced
39:18to 8 years in prison.
39:20There'll be no
39:21escaping this time.
39:29Now I counsel people
39:31that have addiction issues
39:33relationship issues
39:34and I did a 360 myself.
39:37It's my duty
39:38to help people
39:38better themselves
39:39physically, mentally,
39:41emotionally.
39:42We're all placed
39:44on this earth
39:44to make each other
39:45better not worse.
39:48About 10 years
39:49after being released
39:50from prison
39:50I lost my father.
39:55I knew he was
39:56proud of me.
39:58He was proud of the man
39:58I became
39:59what I was doing
40:00and without him
40:02even saying
40:03that he loved me
40:03I knew once
40:05and for all
40:05he did love me.
40:13After 10 years
40:14I finally got
40:15to come home.
40:16Getting out of prison
40:17is like the best
40:19and the scariest
40:20day of my life.
40:23When I went to prison
40:24I left two
40:25babies in diapers
40:26and three
40:27in middle school
40:28and I came home
40:30to two
40:30in middle school
40:31and three adults.
40:33One of my sons
40:34was married
40:34and I had become
40:35a grandmother.
40:36He had two boys
40:37of his own.
40:39Life had gone on
40:40without me.
40:42My actions
40:42caused this
40:43ripple effect
40:44of hurt
40:45and trauma
40:46throughout my family
40:47and I had to
40:48own up to that.
40:50But no matter what
40:51the love
40:52has still
40:52always been there.
40:53So now I do
40:59motivational speaking
41:00at conferences
41:01all over the country
41:02at my old prison
41:03where I once did
41:03time at
41:04the old Joliet prison
41:05now I give tours there.
41:07I did around 13 years
41:08in prison altogether
41:10but I deserve
41:11to be there.
41:12I should be there
41:12for longer
41:13for all the crimes
41:14that I committed.
41:15I always said
41:16that I don't feel
41:16like I had much choice
41:18but in reality
41:18I did.
41:19I made a choice
41:20and do what I did.
41:22But now looking back
41:23I realize I was truly lucky
41:25because I'm still here today
41:26and I lived and I learned.
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