Hustlers Gamblers Crooks (2024) Season 2 Episode 7
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00:00There was 10 different tear gas bombs flying through the air all in the middle of our riot.
00:07Here comes 200 cops. These got helmets on, they got sticks, they got shields, and they will you up.
00:19Get yourself ready for a riot.
00:23I committed $55 million in bank fraud using stolen identities.
00:27I walked into that casino being a good Catholic girl, and I walked out being a great criminal.
00:36Every time they thought they were on my trail, I was already somebody new.
00:41There was hundreds of thousands of dollars just pouring out of these machines.
00:45Holy moly, this is crazy.
00:48I stand in the front, and I scream, I'm ready to die today.
00:53I paid $30,000 to reconstruct my face so that I didn't look like the wanted poster.
01:00We're almost getting busted right here. Hello?
01:03My name is Joey Stacks. I'm a lifelong hustler. I've made millions on the streets, and I survived one of the most dangerous prisons in America.
01:19I'm from the east side of San Antonio.
01:23In the 90s, it wasn't the most pleasant area to grow up in.
01:29You had certain colors you couldn't wear.
01:32You had certain areas you couldn't go in.
01:34You couldn't cross from one neighborhood into the other.
01:37It was definitely dangerous.
01:39My parents ended up getting a divorce when I was about nine years old.
01:43After my parents split up, we moved a total of 23 times.
01:48We were constantly getting kicked out.
01:50We couldn't pay our bills.
01:52We didn't have electricity all the time.
01:54No hot water.
01:56We fend for ourselves every day just to eat.
01:58My brothers and sisters, we would rob H-E-Bs for briskets to feed my family.
02:04We would go in there, and one brother would distract the guy.
02:07The other brother would grab the biggest brisket you could see, and we would run for the door.
02:13Stealing was the only way that I knew how to make an income before I learned about selling drugs.
02:19At 10 years old, when I started selling drugs, people would look at me like,
02:25who is this little kid selling me drugs right now?
02:29You couldn't even imagine how small I was.
02:31I was 4'11", weighed 100 pounds.
02:33So me being a little guy, I was one tough , I'll tell you that.
02:38By the time I was 13 years old, 14 years old, I was probably making about $500 a week selling weed.
02:44We were hustlers, man.
02:45We had to get it from the mud.
02:47We didn't have no other way.
02:49So, you know, getting older, I, you know, was selling more drugs.
02:53I wasn't just selling marijuana at this point.
02:55And I started getting into ecstasy.
02:57I was doing raves, and this was like early 2000, 2001.
03:01Jimmy, he's a good friend of mine for eight years.
03:06He's that brother to me, man.
03:08We chilled every day.
03:09He sold cocaine.
03:10He was the coke guy.
03:11I was the ecstasy guy.
03:13One night, Jimmy called me, and he says, hey, man, I need 20 pills.
03:17All right, double stack pink ladies.
03:19All right, cool.
03:20I'll see you up at Walmart at 7 o'clock.
03:22So I get there, and I see Jimmy.
03:25You know, I give him the 20 pills.
03:26He hands me the money.
03:28I see a dude in the passenger seat that I don't really recognize.
03:31So I'm like, hey, who's this?
03:33Oh, this is my boy Joe.
03:34And he kind of was like, hey, next time, I might not want to meet or whatever.
03:39Joe might want to meet you, you know, because he's it for Joe.
03:41And I'm like, all right, bet.
03:42Yeah, just give him my number, whatever, right?
03:44Time goes by.
03:45It's been about two, three weeks.
03:46Joe's blowing me up.
03:48And I just get this bad vibe from this dude.
03:50My gut's telling me this fool's a cop.
03:52So you meet me at Walmart, Joe, at 8 o'clock.
03:57And when I go meet Joe, I go into Walmart, and I buy baby Tylenol.
04:02Because it looks like ecstasy.
04:04And I'm like, I'm going to sell this cop baby Tylenol, and he's going to leave me alone.
04:08Because now I'm not giving him drugs.
04:11I'm giving him baby Tylenol.
04:13Little did I know, that's actually illegal.
04:18And it's a different felony.
04:20So I should have just sold him the real drugs, because I only would have had one felony.
04:25But instead of having one, now I just copped two felonies, a first and a third, because
04:30I sold him and delivered a controlled substance, the ecstasy, with Jimmy.
04:35And then I sold a simulated.
04:38They call it simulated.
04:39I thought they made this law up.
04:41Like, my lawyer's like, reading through the book.
04:43He's like, man, I think this is like a brand new law.
04:45My friend, Jimmy, set me up.
04:50Coward mother .
04:51I got 10 years in Texas Department of Criminal Justice at 17 years old.
04:57I had no idea I was on my way to one of the most dangerous prisons in America.
05:06Prison is life or death.
05:09Every day you wake up, you have to be prepared to die.
05:11Every single day, because if you're not prepared to die, you will be taken advantage of.
05:18And you might end up dead.
05:20Prison's not all cupcakes and rainbows, that's for sure.
05:23I've been up so many times in prison, I can't even remember.
05:26I've been stabbed.
05:27I've been hit over the head with a crowbar.
05:29I've been shot at with a zip gun.
05:31There's people getting shot in there by homemade guns that shoot one bullet.
05:36And some of them prisons, you're not really supposed to come home.
05:41It's population control.
05:43Gangs run prisons.
05:45So when you go to prison, you have no choice but to join a gang to survive.
05:50I joined Tango Orejón.
05:51I joined Orejón because Orejón is more of like a represent your city.
05:56So you can be white, you can be black, you can be Mexican.
06:00It's all about representing San Antonio.
06:03And it's all about just taking care of each other.
06:06Now you got a speaker in every dorm.
06:10A speaker, just the one that holds the ultimate voice.
06:13And then you have their right-hand man in every dorm.
06:17I rose up in the ranks pretty fast.
06:19As I was in there, I wanted to make a name for myself.
06:22So when any type of work would approach,
06:24I would always be the one that would agree to go do it.
06:27I was willing to take more risks than everybody.
06:29I don't want to say I bullied my way into the position.
06:32But it was just like, I whooped somebody, I whooped somebody else,
06:35I whooped somebody else.
06:36And the next thing you know, it's like,
06:37so-and-so's leaving, who's going to be the next speaker?
06:39And then I'm standing at a table and everyone's like...
06:42And I'm like, I'll be the next speaker.
06:44And everyone's like, all right, Stax is the next speaker.
06:46And then I spoke for all of the dorm after that.
06:50As a speaker, you can start a war easily, or you can stop a war.
06:54Same thing with riots.
06:56And prison riot can pop off at any moment.
06:59Prison riot, basically, it can be many of things.
07:02Inmates can be fed up about, you know, living conditions.
07:05You know, no recreational time.
07:07And then we get people upset about correctional officers.
07:10They treat you like you're a piece of and people get real mad.
07:15And we're not talking about a bunch of angels here.
07:18And everyone's getting laced up.
07:20And everyone's pulling out their shanks.
07:22And everyone's putting on their clothes.
07:25I'm packing books all around my torso.
07:29I'm packing anything that I got from the library.
07:32I'm tying my tight.
07:33One of the worst riots I've ever been in, it was probably the hottest summer in Texas.
07:40And we're in metal tin buildings.
07:43So imagine sun beating off that all day.
07:47It's damn near probably 130 degrees in this building.
07:51We're hot as we're dying.
07:53And they treat you like you're a piece of all the prisoners are pissed.
07:57We're yelling at the guards.
07:58We're telling them it's hot as we want to go outside.
08:01I send my right-hand man to call a meeting with all the heads from all the different gangs that are in the tank.
08:06And they all meet up around the mesa.
08:08And everyone gets their opportunity to speak on what they feel.
08:11But everybody was just so pissed.
08:13Everybody's ready for it.
08:14You know what I mean?
08:15Because it was just, it was too much.
08:17And everything's green light.
08:19And I'm saying, everybody cool with that?
08:20Y'all cool?
08:21All right, we knock it down.
08:22And then we all dap it up.
08:24Whites dap up the blacks.
08:25Everyone daps each other up to know it's kind of like a done deal.
08:28Everyone agreed here.
08:29We're about to go to a riot.
08:31When every unit, there's an intercom on the wall.
08:38You just press the button.
08:39And then the intercom goes to the picket of every dorm where the officers kind of hang out.
08:46This time, when the inmates press the button, they said, hey, we need you to come in here.
08:50Something's wrong with our TV, yada, yada, yada.
08:52And when the guard came in here with the TV, they kind of just overpowered the guard.
08:59There's 150 inmates all coming out of the cell against one guard and another guard and a picket.
09:05And we're telling them, we're like, with a shank on that guard's neck.
09:08And we're like, don't you call nobody.
09:10Don't you call nobody.
09:12This is dead.
09:12And now we have the guard.
09:18And we use them as a hostage to open the doors to the picket.
09:24And now we have access to open up the other dorms.
09:28We're about to open up all four dorms with 600 inmates.
09:37Now you don't have 150.
09:39Now you've got 600.
09:43Everyone's screaming.
09:44We've broken all the glass.
09:46We've ripped apart their picket.
09:48We've run out to the middle of the bowling alley.
09:51We're burning mattresses on the bowling alley.
09:55Obviously, the name of the game is we want to control this prison and let y'all know who runs the s**t.
10:02Not y'all.
10:03We do.
10:03And whenever the s**t we want, we'll make this s**t happen.
10:07And then what the s**t are you going to do?
10:10After a few hours, a lot of people aren't fighting with each other on these riots.
10:14Even the guards are behind the other fence.
10:17We let them all go on the other side of the fence.
10:19We weren't there to, like, kill cops.
10:21And this wasn't, like, that type of gig.
10:24This is kind of like a couple people got handled that needed to get handled.
10:29But other than that, everybody's just kumbaya, just living.
10:32We're all free.
10:33We're telling the guards, like, what's up?
10:35And we're sitting on one side of the fence and they're shooting tear gas grenades at us.
10:40And all we're doing is we got other people already ready to go with wet sheets that run over.
10:45Right when they start smoking, they put out the tear gas grenade with the wet sheet.
10:50There's 2,400 inmates.
10:53Everyone's smoking weed.
10:54Everyone's doing tattoos.
10:56We're doing whatever we want, drinking hooch, partying.
10:59And guards ain't coming over there.
11:00They're not messing with us.
11:01It was like a two-day thing.
11:03I mean, it was cool while you're in there, you know?
11:05And then it's a fast two days.
11:07So about a day or so in, it's no longer like a peace-free riot.
11:12Another war starts popping off inside the riot.
11:16Two different groups, and I was at the center of one of them.
11:19And there's about to be a big-ass war.
11:21And you got all the Mexicans on this side.
11:23You got all the blacks on this side.
11:25But, you know, in between us is nothing but air and opportunity in a big old concrete,
11:30what we would call a bowling alley is what it's called.
11:32It was about 400 or 500 people about to go at it.
11:35I'm standing at the very front, and I'm the one leading all my boys.
11:39I'm not hiding in the back.
11:41Every single riot I've ever been in, I stand in the front, and I scream.
11:47I'm ready to die today.
11:50Every single one.
11:54Almost 500 prisoners between both crews about to collide.
11:59They start just like a damn Braveheart movie.
12:03You know what I mean?
12:04It's just two sides of men with weapons.
12:10And you just collide.
12:12And when you collide, all hell breaks loose.
12:15Next thing you know, it's like there was 10 different tear gas bombs flying through the air.
12:21It's the cops.
12:21They know, because we're popping this shit off, like, we're not paying attention.
12:26This is the time to take back control of the prison.
12:29They're coming from behind us, the side of us.
12:32These helmets on.
12:34They got sticks.
12:35They got shields.
12:36And we call them the Ninja Turtles.
12:38And they will you up.
12:41And then within 30 seconds, this whole place is a cloud of tear gas.
12:45And no one can do anything but just hit their knees and just fall and just sit there coughing, gasping for air.
12:52And just, I mean, that sounds crazy.
12:55You're literally, like, sitting there making this funny-ass noise trying to breathe until basically you throw up.
13:02And then you throw up so much, you just lay there and you pass out.
13:05So we're all laying on the ground, and then that's when, you know, all the officers got control back of the unit.
13:12We had our fun, but now it's over.
13:16And that was my last prison riot.
13:21My name is Matthew Cox.
13:23I committed $55 million in bank fraud.
13:27And I paid $30,000 to reconstruct my face, to outrun the law.
13:35I grew up in an upper-middle-class family.
13:41My mother was a devout Catholic, and my father was a manager for a large insurance company.
13:49I think I was probably seven or eight years old.
13:51And we were driving in my dad's BMW.
13:54And I remember we stopped at a stoplight, and I looked over at the car next to us, and it was like this beat-up, rusted-out Chevy Nova.
14:01With four or five little kids in the back, 30 little kids that are clearly poor.
14:08And I remember being, you know, embarrassed.
14:11Like, I kind of, like, I felt ashamed.
14:13And I remember I looked up at my father.
14:15He chuckled, and he said, I wonder what the poor are doing today.
14:19And I remember thinking that no matter what I had to do in life, it was better to be driving the BMW.
14:25After college, I was just trying to figure out what I was going to do in life.
14:36Nothing was clicking.
14:38I hadn't planned on becoming a mortgage broker, but I had a girlfriend, and she said I would be perfect at it.
14:42As a mortgage broker, you help people get approved for a mortgage.
14:48My very first loan, I ended up going into my manager's office, and I'd give her the file, and she looks through the entire file.
14:57And took one piece of paper, and she said, hey, it looks great, except for this verification of rent.
15:02The problem is, your borrower was 30 days late on her rent payment within the last 24 months.
15:10And I was like, oh, wow.
15:11And I knew that was a deal killer.
15:13But as a mortgage broker, you're not getting a salary.
15:17You only get paid for the loans you close.
15:19And I'm thinking, I'm late on my mortgage.
15:21My credit cards aren't working anymore.
15:23Ford Motor Credit is looking for my car.
15:26Like, I've got major problems.
15:28So this loan had to close, and I remember saying, oh, my God, like, what do I do?
15:33She said, well, if all of our clients were perfect borrowers, they would just go to the bank.
15:38They don't need a mortgage broker.
15:41We're a middleman that helps massage so they can get the loan.
15:46I remember she pulled out one of the old-fashioned white-out bottles, and she started shaking it.
15:53She goes, if I was you, I'd white it out.
15:56I'd make a copy of it.
15:57I'd stick the document back in the file.
15:59She goes, underwriting will never catch it.
16:02You know, underwriting is the people that go through your file to determine if everything's correct.
16:06And I remember thinking, oh, my God, I go, that's fraud.
16:09I could go to jail.
16:10And she goes, nobody's going to jail.
16:12It had never occurred to me to break the law.
16:16I still was of the mindset of a decent citizen.
16:20If you're broke, then you get an extra job.
16:23You work extra hard.
16:24You cut back.
16:26That's what a good citizen does.
16:28But it wasn't working for me.
16:30When I took that bottle, I was terrified.
16:38I'd never broken the law.
16:39I whited that 30-day late out.
16:41I made a copy.
16:42I stuck the document in the file.
16:43I sent it off to underwriting.
16:45If underwriting catches it, I'm out of a job.
16:47I was terrified for three or four days.
16:54And then they called me and said, hey, your loan's ready to close.
16:57Everything cleared?
16:58You're good.
16:59I got a check for $3,500.
17:05I'm thrilled.
17:06And then the next guy that came in, when he gave me all of his documents, and I'm doing
17:09the calculations on what's called debt-to-income ratio, he doesn't make enough money.
17:13So I changed some numbers around, and suddenly he makes enough money.
17:21And I was a master at making those fake documents.
17:25And I put the document in the file, and I send it off, and that loan closes, and I get
17:29another $3,500.
17:30So I'd say the first month, I closed about four loans.
17:35And the next month, I closed six loans.
17:38And then it was eight.
17:39Then it was 12.
17:42At the time, I was making $10,000 or $15,000 a month.
17:45This was 20-some-odd years ago.
17:47It was a lot of money.
17:48I had six good months.
17:50So I was able to leave and start my own mortgage company.
17:54If you walked in with a pulse, I was getting you a loan.
18:02I was doing everything I could to get every single person that stumbled in the doors alone.
18:07We were licensed by the state of Florida.
18:09It appeared to be a legitimate business.
18:12But by this time, it had evolved to the point where I was creating fake corporations set
18:16up to verify people's employment.
18:18I had fake bank websites set up to verify your down payment.
18:22I had fake property management companies that would verify people's rental history.
18:27You know, I'd never been this good at anything in my life.
18:30What felt great was being smart enough to beat the system.
18:34I found my calling.
18:35I was going to be the world's greatest con man.
18:39I ended up putting together a scam where I created synthetic identities that could buy
18:45houses and refinance those houses at inflated sales prices.
18:50In other words, I was about to commit bank fraud on an unprecedented scale with fake borrowers.
18:58What I needed to do was create fake people.
19:00The way to do that is step one, I had to make a fake birth certificate.
19:04Step two, I had to make a fake vaccination record.
19:07Step three, I had to give these documents to Social Security and convince them that they
19:12hadn't issued a Social Security number to my fake 10-month-old son.
19:16They would then issue a Social Security number to whoever's name was on the birth certificate
19:22that I had provided.
19:23Now I've got the fake person.
19:27After I got the Social Security number, I would apply for credit cards.
19:31I would make payments on those cards for six months.
19:34And after six months, the credit bureaus would generate credit scores in excess of 700.
19:41I would then, of course, make fake W-2s, fake pay stubs.
19:45I would make 24 months' worth of canceled checks for this person for their residency.
19:49And once that was done, I would have a complete person that could buy properties and refinance
19:54those properties.
19:55I'd borrow, let's say, $190,000.
19:58I bought the properties for $50,000.
20:00So I just made a profit of $140,000.
20:03I'd make a few payments and let them go into foreclosure.
20:08I borrowed $11.5 million using my synthetic identities.
20:13I got to a point where I felt like I was just invincible.
20:16Like, even if I was caught red-handed, I always managed to be able to talk my way out of it.
20:19And everything's going smoothly.
20:22And then one day, a friend of mine comes in my office.
20:25And he says, I used to date someone that works on the Tampa Police Department.
20:30She was recently a member of a task force.
20:32That task force is on you.
20:38He said, the task force findings have just been handed over to the FBI.
20:44They're going to arrest you in a couple days.
20:45When he told me that, I just went numb.
20:50Right then, I decided I was going to run from the FBI.
20:55The problem was, I had no money.
20:59So even though we've got properties worth millions of dollars,
21:02and we probably have over a million dollars in the bank,
21:04I have to leave immediately.
21:06I managed to pull out about $80,000.
21:10That wasn't going to last long.
21:11But I had the ability to obtain people's information,
21:15obtain documents, and assume their identity
21:18in a way that allowed me to become them without them knowing it.
21:23I knew I was going to rent a property from someone,
21:26and I was going to assume their identity.
21:28That was the fastest, easiest way to get a chunk of cash.
21:34I go to an area of Atlanta called Alpharetta.
21:37It's a suburb.
21:38And I rent a house from a guy named Michael Shanahan.
21:40I make a fake ID in the name Michael Shanahan.
21:45And what I do is I go downtown to public records,
21:48and I look up his title,
21:50and I can see that Michael Shanahan has three mortgages on his house.
21:54I then create satisfaction of mortgages from the bank,
21:59and I record those mortgages in public records.
22:01And it's simple.
22:02It's a one-page document.
22:03It has to be notarized.
22:04The house is Michael Shanahan's,
22:06and I live there,
22:07and I have an ID that says I'm Michael Shanahan.
22:09And it's worth $200,000.
22:13I go on the Internet.
22:14I find three hard money lenders.
22:16The hard money lender is basically a rich guy that lends money on property.
22:20I meet each one of them,
22:21one at 10 o'clock,
22:22one at noon,
22:23and one at 3 o'clock.
22:24All of them walk in the house.
22:26I tell them,
22:27I've owned the house for 10 years.
22:28I don't have any mortgages.
22:29I need to borrow against the house.
22:31Each one of them says they'll lend me $150,000.
22:33So within a week,
22:37I close on all three of those loans,
22:40and I start removing the money out of the bank.
22:42I ended up leaving Atlanta with, like, $400,000 in a small duffel bag,
22:47which really didn't take up that much room.
22:48Like, half a million dollars will fit in a small,
22:51you know, fit in a shoebox.
22:51And shortly after I left Atlanta,
22:55the Secret Service showed up
22:56because I'd been using stolen identities.
23:00So now I've got the FBI and the Secret Service looking for me.
23:05Every time they thought they were on my trail,
23:07I was already somebody new.
23:09And I was making millions of dollars every single month.
23:15The Secret Service was actively circulating my wanted poster.
23:20And so I got concerned about that.
23:26I went to a plastic surgeon,
23:29and I got a nose job,
23:30a mini facelift.
23:32I got veneers.
23:34I had two hair transplants.
23:37So I spent, like, $30,000
23:39so that I didn't look like the wanted poster.
23:44After the surgery, I hit the road again.
23:47If they were going to catch me,
23:48they were going to have to find me first.
23:55I drive to Nashville, Tennessee.
23:58Over the next 18 months,
24:00I borrow another $3.5 million
24:02on properties in the Nashville area.
24:06And everything's going good.
24:11I'm dating this girl, Amanda.
24:12We live together.
24:13And she eventually finds out who I am.
24:16She finds out that I'm on the run.
24:17She finds out my real name.
24:19Amanda ends up confiding in a friend of hers.
24:23Her friend ends up calling the Secret Service
24:26and negotiating a reward to turn me in.
24:36And one day, I pull up to the house,
24:38and I get out.
24:41Jack, don't move!
24:43They pull up, and they pull out their guns,
24:45and they scream,
24:45get on the ground, get on the ground, get on the ground.
24:47And I stood there.
24:48I actually didn't get on the ground.
24:50I actually just stood there,
24:51because there were so many of them,
24:53and I was just stunned.
24:54The guy runs up to me with a gun,
24:55and he looks at me, and he goes,
24:56get on the ground.
24:57I was like, oh!
25:01So I get on the ground,
25:02and they handcuffed me,
25:03and the agent had a clipboard
25:05with my wanted poster on it.
25:07And he held it up to my face,
25:09and he goes, it's him.
25:09And another agent comes over and goes,
25:11no, I don't think it's him.
25:12I don't think it's him.
25:14And he looked at me, and he said,
25:15you are Matthew Cox, aren't you?
25:17And I went, yeah.
25:18Yeah, I'm Matthew Cox.
25:20Keep in mind,
25:21I hadn't heard my name
25:24really in about three years,
25:26because I'd lived under
25:28all of these different identities.
25:29And I remember when he said my name,
25:31my legs got, like, buckled.
25:34I didn't fall down,
25:35but they got weak.
25:35I was like, gull.
25:37Like, it just was such a shock.
25:42I was charged with money laundering,
25:45wire fraud, bank fraud,
25:47financial institution fraud,
25:48aggravated identity theft,
25:50use of a false passport,
25:51government document fraud,
25:53social security fraud,
25:55and, you know,
25:55and, you know,
25:56I'm guilty of all of those.
25:57I was looking at over 150 years
26:00if I was convicted of all of the charges.
26:03When I went to my bail herring,
26:05they had photographs of me
26:06before and after surgery.
26:08They had lists of passports that I had.
26:11It's like, this is, like,
26:13I wouldn't give me bail.
26:14Like, I get it.
26:15It's like, yeah, I get it.
26:17No bail for Mr. Cox.
26:19Their offer was 32 years,
26:21if I pled guilty.
26:2232 years in prison.
26:23I ended up getting 26 years in prison.
26:27After I was sentenced,
26:33I started writing a memoir.
26:35Writing my story helped me realize
26:38that the life I was leading was very empty,
26:42and I know what I did was wrong.
26:46When I think about it,
26:47I just think I'm a piece of s**t,
26:49and that's really what it boils down to.
26:51I kind of had a change of heart in prison
26:56that just, you know,
26:57basically behaving like a scumbag
26:59was just not going to get me anywhere in life,
27:01and if I ever was able to walk out of prison,
27:03that I would do something better with my life.
27:10My name is Margaret Radin,
27:11and I stole a fortune as a slot machine cheat.
27:16I grew up in Granada Hills, California.
27:18I had a very strict Catholic Italian upbringing,
27:22but even though you might be a good Catholic girl,
27:25you still have a little bit of a dark side about you.
27:29Maybe not everybody,
27:30but I think most of us ladies do.
27:33Can I tell the truth?
27:35Yeah, totally.
27:36Okay.
27:38So at 17 and a half,
27:40I started bartending in a strip club.
27:43I left high school.
27:44I didn't go to college.
27:46What was I going to do?
27:46That's where the money was.
27:48One day, a guy walked in the club,
27:51orders a drink,
27:52and tips me $100.
27:54That's how I met Tommy Carmichael.
27:57Tommy was very charming.
27:59He was very easygoing.
28:01He was very much a ladies' man.
28:03He smells good.
28:04He looks clean,
28:04and he's throwing you $100 bills.
28:07It's exciting to be around him.
28:10Tommy ended up being a major VIP at the strip club.
28:13He would come in day after day,
28:15and then finally he hit me up,
28:18and he said,
28:18hey, you want to hang out?
28:20And I said,
28:22hey, bro,
28:23I'll go out with you,
28:24but I'm not interested in anything more than that.
28:27And he was cool with it.
28:29In the beginning,
28:30he told me he had a TV repair shop,
28:32but after a couple of weeks,
28:35Tommy said to me,
28:37I just want to let you know what I really do
28:39and want to know if you want to work with me.
28:42You want to take a break from the bar?
28:45And I said,
28:46oh, well,
28:46what do you really do?
28:47And he said,
28:48I'm a slot cheat.
28:49And then he told me what he does
28:52and how he does it.
28:54Tommy Carmichael was a mastermind.
28:57He invented the tool, the wand.
28:59It was just a little silver rod
29:01with a light bulb at the end.
29:04The wider part had a battery
29:06with a wire going up to the light.
29:10When a jackpot is hit,
29:12it activates a light inside,
29:14which counts the right amount of coins to drop you.
29:17So Tommy would take the wand
29:19and insert it in the machine.
29:21He activates the little button,
29:23turns the light on,
29:24which prevents the machine
29:25from counting how many coins are coming out.
29:27So the money just keeps pouring out.
29:30So Tommy asked me,
29:32hey, would you be interested in being my shade
29:34while I cheat these slot machines?
29:37I had no idea what that meant.
29:39So I'm like, shade?
29:40What's that?
29:41Your job as a shade
29:42is to protect your cheat
29:45and distract casino security.
29:48He needs a person to go with him
29:49and sit in the machine next to him,
29:51just like you're on vacation,
29:53maybe a little huggy here and there,
29:55just making it look like we're an item,
29:58and rack up credits.
29:59And then move over
30:00and let him go in that machine,
30:02and he puts the tool in,
30:04which drops the money out.
30:06Then the shade goes
30:07and cashes the quarters in.
30:09He made it sound like it was so easy,
30:11and that's what he's been doing for years.
30:13I'm like, well, if he's not in jail,
30:15and he's been doing it for years,
30:15it must be okay.
30:17So he says to me,
30:18why don't you just come to Vegas,
30:20and let me show you how it works
30:22and what I do,
30:23and let's go from there.
30:26So I took a couple days off work.
30:29I jumped a flight to Vegas.
30:30I get picked up by Tommy in his Jaguar,
30:32and we go to Fremont Street to the older casinos.
30:37He wants to break me in slower and easier.
30:40I'm nervous because I know right from wrong,
30:43and I know I'm doing wrong,
30:45but I'm going for it anyway.
30:47Here we go.
30:47I just follow his lead.
30:50He lights a cigarette.
30:51We sit down, gives me some money.
30:54I start playing,
30:55and then he moves me over.
30:57He has the tool up his sleeve.
31:00He puts the tool in the machine
31:01up where the money comes out,
31:03and it had a magnet
31:04so it could stick to the inside
31:07so he could free his hands.
31:08He could light a cigarette.
31:09He could put his arm around me.
31:11Before I know it,
31:12the quarters are dropping.
31:13I'm like, holy moly,
31:17there's money coming out of that machine,
31:19and there's no money going in.
31:21This is crazy.
31:23I'm trying to laugh and joke with him,
31:25and I'm trying to pay attention
31:28to what's going on in our surroundings,
31:29but I'm in it now.
31:32He stops.
31:33He pulls it out.
31:34He puts the tool up his sleeve
31:35and picks up the quarters,
31:38puts them in the bucket,
31:38and now I have to go take this stolen money
31:41to the cashier and cash it in.
31:43You're trying to be abnormal,
31:45but in your head,
31:46you're thinking,
31:47I just robbed this casino of this money.
31:49I just did this crime.
31:51I'm not trying to go to jail.
31:52I'm not trying to get in any trouble.
31:54I am really freaking out.
31:59What's up, guys?
32:00Cooking with your boy Stacks.
32:01I'm going to teach you guys
32:02how to make a tuna spread
32:04out of the food you would buy
32:05in the penitentiary.
32:06I have here four ramen soups,
32:09four soups, two packets.
32:12Pour a little water in here.
32:15When you're in prison,
32:16you use your towel as the oven.
32:18The towel is going to keep it
32:19nice and warm for me
32:20while you're cooking your noodles, right?
32:23I got two tuna packs right here,
32:25protein-filled.
32:27A little bit of mayo.
32:30The more pickles, the better.
32:32Don't cheat yourself.
32:33Treat yourself.
32:34Mix it all around.
32:40Crush up all these jalapeno chips
32:42because it's just a razzle-dazzle right here.
32:45And cheese.
32:47It's a gourmet prison meal,
32:49and now you're eating like a king.
32:53It's really good.
32:55I forgot how good I could cook.
32:57So now we've got the money.
33:01If I felt one weird thing,
33:02I would have been running.
33:04Once I left the casino
33:05and I got in the car
33:07and the car left the parking garage,
33:10I could just relax.
33:12You're free.
33:12You got away with it.
33:14And Tommy says,
33:15well, you did great.
33:16You ready to do it again?
33:19And I said,
33:20I'm hooked.
33:21Let's go.
33:22I walked into that casino
33:24being a good Catholic girl,
33:25and I walked out
33:26being a great criminal.
33:29So we drove to another casino,
33:31and we did the same thing.
33:33It was game on.
33:35After that,
33:36Tommy and I went to Vegas
33:38every other week,
33:39stealing,
33:40slot cheating,
33:41cashing.
33:43And eventually,
33:44there was hundreds of thousands of dollars
33:46just pouring out of these machines.
33:48Working with Tommy Carmichael
33:50became a second job.
33:52I was living a double life.
33:54I'm living a plain Jane girl
33:56on one hand,
33:57and then on my left hand,
33:58I'm over here,
33:59Bonnie Wilde,
34:00being a criminal.
34:02In the first couple months
34:04of playing with him,
34:05we probably stuck
34:05to the same six to ten casinos.
34:08My share was $400 every day.
34:11So if I was working with him
34:12for four days,
34:13I would get $1,600.
34:15And then he paid for everything.
34:17The meals, traveling.
34:19So being a shade
34:20and working with him
34:21did have some perks.
34:23But then,
34:24he's like,
34:25you're good,
34:26we're good,
34:27let's take a trip.
34:30The thought of flying
34:31to another state
34:33and doing the same thing
34:34in another state
34:35sounded fun.
34:36Like, yeah,
34:36it's going to pay for our hotel,
34:38our rental car,
34:39our food,
34:39we're going to eat five star.
34:41So I'm ready,
34:42like,
34:42let's have some fun.
34:43And then,
34:44we decide to go
34:49to Golden, Colorado.
34:50I'm a pro now.
34:51I've been working
34:51with him a while.
34:52We know each other.
34:53We got each other's vibes.
34:55We're ready.
34:55We're going for it.
34:56We're going to hit
34:56this little town.
34:58So we get there.
35:00We see this one little spot.
35:01There's two machines
35:02right in front of the door.
35:04He's like,
35:04perfect, right here.
35:05So we go in there,
35:06we sit down.
35:07Tommy takes his wand
35:09and he inserts it
35:10in the machine.
35:11So now his hands are free,
35:12but the tool
35:13is in the machine.
35:14He's racking up quarters.
35:16I'm racking up credits.
35:17We're banging him out.
35:19We're filling the bucket.
35:20I got the bucket
35:21like three quarters full already.
35:23And all of a sudden,
35:25security walks up.
35:27This guy's the full-on cowboy
35:29security button on his shirt,
35:32cowboy hat,
35:32cowboy boots,
35:33long rider coat,
35:34big deep voice,
35:35big guy.
35:36And he's like,
35:37we're having a drawing.
35:39And we'd like for you guys
35:40to join the drawing
35:40and you could win
35:41a free vacation.
35:43And I'm like,
35:45uh-oh.
35:45He's definitely on to us.
35:47My heart's beating.
35:48I'm getting nervous.
35:49Tommy's in the machine.
35:50We're stealing from them.
35:53Security's standing
35:53right next to me.
35:54We've got to make it
35:55or break it right here.
35:56Like, we've got to do something
35:57to get Tommy out of this machine
35:58and get us out of there.
36:00If I didn't think fast,
36:01my next stop was prison.
36:04Think, Margaret.
36:05Think quick.
36:05What are you going to do?
36:07I stand up
36:08and I knock the quarters
36:09that were next to me
36:10on the ground.
36:11I turn my back to him
36:12to give him even more shade
36:14and then proceed
36:16to try to bend down
36:16like, oh my goodness,
36:18I dropped all the quarters.
36:19The security guard
36:20looks at the ground
36:22and Tommy comes out
36:24and he pulls the one
36:25out of the machine.
36:26He throws it up his sleeve.
36:27So it happens so fast
36:28in 20, 30 seconds.
36:30Security helps pick up
36:32the quarters
36:32and we pick them all up.
36:34I stand up.
36:35Tommy stands up,
36:36the security stands up
36:37and he goes,
36:37hey, can you guys
36:38come over here
36:38to this table?
36:39And he gives us
36:40two little white cards
36:41to fill out.
36:42I'm freaking out
36:43because the tool
36:44is still in the sleeve
36:45and now I'm thinking
36:47they know that
36:48we're on to something
36:49but they don't know
36:50quite what.
36:52So I'm writing an alias
36:53that he knows
36:54I use all the time,
36:55Bonnie Wilde,
36:56spelled W-I-L-D-E.
36:59I look over
37:00and Tommy's writing
37:01Clyde Wilde
37:02like Bonnie and Clyde Wilde
37:04trying to be a jokester
37:06with me
37:06and I'm not trying
37:07to joke around
37:08because we're almost
37:09getting busted right here.
37:10Hello?
37:13I rip up my card
37:14and then I look over
37:15at the security guard
37:16and I tell him,
37:17I'm sorry, sir,
37:17but we are not signing up
37:19for anything.
37:20We are out of here.
37:21We need to go.
37:22All this is happening
37:23so fast.
37:23I'm getting scared.
37:24I'm getting nervous.
37:25We're stealing money.
37:26I don't know what
37:27they do have on camera.
37:28I was walking fast.
37:29I was very, very mad
37:31but thank God
37:32we got out of there
37:32without being caught.
37:34When we get in the car,
37:35I'm like,
37:35look, you might be a jokester.
37:37We could have just
37:38really been sitting
37:38in handcuffs right now
37:40instead of in this car
37:41on our way back
37:41to the hotel.
37:43So that ended that trip.
37:49I think that law enforcement
37:51knew something was up
37:52with us
37:52because as smart
37:54as Tommy was,
37:55he didn't have
37:56the best common sense.
37:57He was a little
37:58too relaxed.
37:59He thought he was invincible.
38:01This is too easy.
38:02And I'm telling him
38:03not to be careless
38:03and he still
38:04is being careless.
38:06His carelessness
38:07could end up me in jail.
38:08So I finally came
38:10to a point in my life
38:11that I just didn't want
38:12to take the chance
38:13on the criminal situation
38:15anymore.
38:15I didn't want to continue
38:16to overstep my boundaries.
38:19I cheated slots
38:20with Tommy
38:21for about four years
38:22and then I told Tommy
38:23it was really time
38:24for me to say goodbye
38:25to crime.
38:26Remain friends with Tommy
38:27of course
38:28but just not work
38:29with him anymore.
38:31Working with Tommy
38:32in those three or four years
38:34we probably got
38:35a couple hundred thousand dollars
38:36off the casinos.
38:40He ended up working
38:41with a girl
38:42that he had worked with
38:43a few times
38:44as his shade
38:44and she started
38:46putting the pressure
38:47on him
38:47and she wanted
38:48to learn
38:48how to use the tool.
38:51They got caught
38:52at Circus Circus
38:53and he ended up
38:55getting arrested
38:56and he did 12 months.
38:58When I heard
38:59that Tommy got busted
39:00I was like
39:01well that could have been me
39:03except for I'm smart.
39:05I stole a fortune
39:06but I was never caught
39:07cheating slots.
39:08I got away scot-free.
39:10My advice to people
39:11if you want to gamble
39:12don't play the slots.
39:14For four years
39:15I put money
39:16in those things.
39:17I filled the pockets
39:19of those casinos
39:20and never won a dime.
39:22But I stole a few.
39:25I was released
39:27on February 12th
39:28of 2012
39:29with three years
39:31left on parole
39:31and I happened
39:32to meet a girl
39:34and I was only
39:36out a few months.
39:37That's when I found out
39:38I was about to be a dad
39:39and man
39:40that changed my life
39:41forever man.
39:42I count my blessings
39:43because if you come
39:44for where I come from
39:45I'm not supposed
39:46to be here.
39:47So I'm so grateful
39:48for everything
39:49that I have now.
39:50I don't take anything
39:51for granted.
39:52I'm so glad
39:53I went through
39:54what I went through.
39:55That way I can do
39:56the best that I can
39:57for my son
39:58and for my daughter.
39:59And now
40:00I have four beautiful babies
40:01and one on the way
40:03and I am truly blessed.
40:04You know
40:04not with money.
40:05Not with money people
40:06but beautiful babies.
40:08I served nearly 13 years
40:15roughly 13 years
40:16in prison.
40:17I did seven months
40:18at a halfway house
40:18and I got out
40:19about five years ago.
40:21I actually just
40:21got off probation.
40:23After I got out of prison
40:24I've published
40:25a bunch of books
40:26and I do keynote speaking
40:28and I have a great life.
40:30I mean I have a
40:30better life now
40:32than I did
40:32prior to prison.
40:33Sometimes I can't
40:35fall asleep.
40:36I just lay there
40:37and I start going
40:38through the process
40:39of setting up a scam.
40:40It's so comforting to me.
40:42I don't get
40:43ten minutes into it
40:45before I'm out.
40:46I never even get
40:47to the point
40:47where I'm actually
40:48committing the fraud.
40:49I just drift
40:50right off to sleep.
40:52So that's a problem.
40:53There's really nobody
40:53you can talk to
40:54about that.
40:55You know?
40:57So now I'm just
40:58doing the all-American
40:59lifestyle.
41:01Have a husband.
41:02Have a great
41:03son.
41:04Have a wonderful
41:05home life.
41:07Did I repent?
41:08Yes, I repented
41:09every day.
41:10But it wasn't like
41:11I was going
41:12in somebody's house
41:13in Beverly Hills
41:14breaking the window
41:15going in
41:15stealing their jewelry.
41:17That's a criminal.
41:18That's stealing.
41:19I didn't feel like
41:20I'm stealing
41:21from the casinos.
41:22I'm like,
41:23damn it,
41:23they took a lot
41:23of money from us.
41:24We're just going
41:24to get some of that back.
41:25I don't think I'm
41:30going to do it.
41:30I don't know.
41:31I don't know.
41:31I don't know.
41:31I don't know.
41:32But it's going to be
41:32a little bit of a
41:34cyberpunk.
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