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00:01Warning. What you're about to see could be disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.
00:13What if I told you there was a so-called miracle cure that took aim at your sensitive parts?
00:21Brinkley is taking the testicles from Billy Goats and inserting them into the scrotums of his human patients.
00:30Men line up by the thousands, even given the fact that it sounds pretty sketchy.
00:37Or that a zoo in China tried to pull a fast one on tourists.
00:41Now they have the round pompomiers, they even have the black patches around their eyes.
00:45People are really starting to ask questions, like, is there something real weird about these pandas?
00:51How about enlisting an unconventional super agent to fake out the Nazis?
00:56What they're going to do is put false attack plans on a corpse who will be dressed as a fallen
01:02British officer.
01:03The thinking is that if they can just get the right person to pick up this corpse, that eventually it
01:09will get to Hitler.
01:11These are the cons so spectacular, so daring, they can only be described as unbelievable.
01:30You ever wonder why we call a slick con artist a snake oil salesman?
01:35Well, saddle up, because this is the wild story behind the original.
01:42It's 1893, the wild, wild west.
01:46Roping cattle, farming, you're building railroads.
01:50Life is hard.
01:52You've got to work yourself to the bone to get anything done.
01:55The town doctor, if your town even has a doctor, is probably spread pretty thin.
02:00You need something pretty quick to deal with all your aches and pains.
02:04At the time, it's popular to have traveling medicine shows.
02:07Some smooth-talking salesman comes in and tells you he's going to take away all your aches and pains because
02:14he's got a magical ointment or an elixir.
02:17But one showman takes his spectacle to a whole new level.
02:21Clark Stanley draws a crowd with a live sideshow and a bold claim.
02:26He reaches down into a writhing sack and he pulls out a rattlesnake and holds it out for everyone to
02:32see.
02:33And he would claim that the oil of this rattlesnake will cure everything from rheumatism to partial paralysis.
02:40In the height of theatricality, he pulls out a giant knife and he slits the rattlesnake open and he throws
02:47it in a pot of boiling water.
02:51The snake fat rises to the top and he scoops it out with a ladle and starts putting it in
02:56liniment jars with his own label attached, reading Clark Stanley's snake oil treatment.
03:04And he'll sell it to you for 50 cents a bottle for $20 in today's money.
03:10The back of the label reads, good for man and beast, the most remarkable curative discovery ever made in any
03:16age or country.
03:18I mean, who wouldn't buy that?
03:21To close the deal, he hits the crowd with a compelling backstory.
03:26He brings the audience in close and he goes on to tell them that, listen, I learned the secrets of
03:31snake oil from a Hopi medicine man deep in the deserts of Arizona.
03:36A mysterious man.
03:38He has all of these secrets for health and vitality and strength in youth.
03:43But in reality, there is no Hopi medicine man.
03:46He actually learns about the healing properties of snake oil from Chinese laborers who are building the transcontinental railroad.
03:53But it's the oil from the Chinese water snake, not the American rattlesnake, that they use on their muscles.
04:00Since rattlesnakes are much more abundant, Stanley improvises and his miracle cure becomes a show-stopping success.
04:08Until the feds take a closer look.
04:12In 1917, a bunch of federal regulators get their hands on a batch of Stanley's snake oil.
04:18They decide to do a little bit of analysis on it.
04:20And they realize that there's no snake anything in it.
04:24It's cow fat, mineral oil, turpentine, and red pepper.
04:29Turpentine and red pepper flakes can make the skin tingle.
04:32So Stanley's customers felt like something must be happening.
04:36In fact, their pain-relieving tendencies are negligible at best.
04:41First fraud, Stanley's taken to court.
04:44He's convicted, and he's made to pay a fine of $20, about $400 in today's money.
04:52Not surprisingly, that little slap on the wrist doesn't stop the self-proclaimed rattlesnake king.
04:59Stanley continues his traveling show by going from town to town and selling his miracle snake oil to anybody that
05:07would be interested in buying from him.
05:08And by the time these customers realize that they've been had, Stanley's already gotten the hell out of Dodge.
05:16It's one thing to scam people into drinking a magic potion, but it takes real cojones to dupe people into
05:22going under the knife.
05:26In the 1920s, it's the dawn of radio.
05:29Just about every American family has one, and they gather around it at night to listen.
05:33One of the most successful shows on the radio at the time is hosted by a Kansas-based doctor named
05:40John Romulus Brinkley.
05:43Twice daily, he plays country music, preaches the gospel, but most importantly, tells his audience how modern medicine is failing
05:52them.
05:53Brinkley ends up making a fortune.
05:55He's netting about $14,000 a week.
05:58That's about a quarter of a million dollars today just from prescribing these tonics and elixirs to these listeners for
06:05all sorts of ailments.
06:06But for all his so-called cures, one bizarre treatment grabs national attention and makes Brinkley a household name.
06:15Brinkley is taking the testicles from six-week-old billy goats and inserting them into the scrotums of his human
06:24patients just under the skin.
06:27Brinkley says he worked at a slaughterhouse when he was a young man, and he noticed that goats were virile
06:33and resistant to disease.
06:35They seemed to have all this get-up-and-go.
06:37And this inspires his claim that transplanting goat gonads to human patients can give hired old men the energy and
06:47virility of a young goat.
06:50Men line up by the thousands to get this unvalidated treatment, even given the fact that it sounds pretty sketchy.
07:00This isn't just a medical hustle. It's a national phenomenon, led by a man with almost no real training.
07:07I think calling him a real medical doctor is a stretch too far.
07:11He claims he took these correspondence courses with Eclectic University, but that's kind of like getting a medical degree from
07:18watching YouTube videos.
07:20And although Brinkley claims to be doing a lot during this procedure, he's actually just making an incision in a
07:27scrotum, and he's stuffing this goat testicle in there.
07:30And he's not connecting any blood vessels.
07:32He's not connecting any sort of tubes that could transport the different hormones from the goat testicle.
07:39Brinkley performs this procedure upwards of 5,000 times.
07:43And unbelievably, a large portion of his patients say they've never felt better.
07:50Let's be clear on this.
07:52There is no biological basis for any of this.
07:56Most experts agree that it's the placebo effect, the power of suggestion.
08:02By the late 1920s, skepticism starts to rise.
08:05And one physician finally steps up to challenge Brinkley head on.
08:10In 1928, Brinkley actually gets called out by a more mainstream doctor named Morris Fischbein.
08:18He calls Dr. Brinkley a charlatan of the rankest sort and publishes a paper that gets the attention of the
08:26Kansas Medical Board.
08:28Their revoke both his radio license and his specious medical license in the state of Kansas.
08:35Incredibly, this doesn't stop Brinkley.
08:37He moves to Texas where the laws are looser.
08:40And he cooks up his next big idea.
08:43He calls it formula 1020.
08:46It's a distillation of goat glands.
08:48And it can cure everything from impotence to insanity.
08:53As Brinkley rakes in the dough and continues peddling his goat cures all over the southern U.S.,
08:58there's someone else who rivals his persistence.
09:03Dr. Fischbein, he decides to write a new piece on charlatanism, and this time he gets it published in the
09:09prestigious journal of the American Medical Association in 1938.
09:15Brinkley is incensed that he gets mentioned in this article, so he decides to sue for a libel.
09:22But Dr. Brinkley shrivels on the stand.
09:25Under oath, Brinkley is forced to admit that he knew the goat gland surgeries he was performing could not possibly
09:34enhance a human male's virility.
09:37And he knew it all along.
09:42Brinkley ultimately loses and is forced to declare bankruptcy, leaving his family penniless and the goats of America just a
09:50little bit safer.
09:53When it comes to scams, the bigger the lie, the bigger the payout.
09:57This next hustle is so large, it cost many their life savings and bought us an iconic catchphrase for the
10:04unbelievably gullible.
10:08It's the late 1800s, and New York City is bursting at the seams with immigrants fresh off the boat.
10:15They're ready to work hard to create the American dream for themselves and their families.
10:19Men, women, and children.
10:21They see America as a place of tremendous opportunity.
10:24But it's also a place where, if you're willing to take a risk, you can get rich and get rich
10:28fast.
10:29Among those chasing the American dream is a man who promises to make others rich by selling them a piece
10:35of it.
10:37George Parker is by trade a real estate agent, and he begins claiming that he holds the deed to the
10:44Brooklyn Bridge.
10:45The Brooklyn Bridge, at its time, was considered a marvel of modern engineering.
10:52It's the world's first steel wire suspension bridge.
10:56It's almost 1,600 feet in span.
10:58The two towers of the bridge are the tallest man-made objects in North America.
11:03He tells them once they own the bridge, they own access to anyone wanting to cross the bridge.
11:08And they can charge a toll for the privilege.
11:11Then Parker hits them with the price tag.
11:14$75 for a piece of the bridge, or $50,000 for the whole enchilada.
11:23But it'll pay for itself because you have thousands of people crossing the bridge every day.
11:30After reaching an agreement, Parker hands over an official-looking deed, only for buyers to face a rude awakening when
11:37they try to cash in.
11:38When they attempt to put up toll booths, the police arrive and they shut it down.
11:42In fact, some of them end up in jail because what they're doing is illegal.
11:47You see, Parker does not own the Brooklyn Bridge.
11:50The city of New York owns it.
11:53These folks paid in cash.
11:54They're out all the money they gave to Parker.
11:57Ultimately, Parker sells the Brooklyn Bridge a whopping 4,160 times.
12:0520 years, $1 million, and thousands of fake deeds later, police finally shut Parker down.
12:11But he's not done running his game just yet.
12:14Parker abandons the bridge scam and moves on to other New York City landmarks.
12:19And manages to sell Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Statue of Liberty.
12:24He even sells the deed to Grant's tomb, posing as General Grant's grandson.
12:31Parker lives the con man's dream for decades more.
12:33But even he can't outrun justice forever.
12:37In 1928, the New York Times reports that a man named William McCloundy, also known as, I kid you not,
12:44IOU O'Brien,
12:45has been caught trying to sell 10 lots for $17,000.
12:50Over the years, Parker ends up taking a whole myriad of aliases.
12:55Mr. Taylor, Mr. Roberts, Captain Kennedy, selling fake properties and passing bad checks.
13:02They find him in Asbury Park measuring a backyard, surprise, which he did not own.
13:07Parker is convicted and sentenced to servant Sing Sing.
13:10He dies in prison eight years later, but at least it's said by the prison guards and fellow inmates.
13:15They never tired of his stories.
13:17Fool me once, shame on you.
13:19Fool me 4,160 times, and have I got a bridge to sell you.
13:24But this brand of bold-faced scamming is not just an American tradition.
13:31In 1925, sitting in a hotel room in Paris, there's a very dapper gentleman by the name of Victor Lustig.
13:37And he's reading the paper, and he realizes that there's a big hubbub about the Eiffel Tower.
13:44This tower, which was constructed in 1889 for the Paris World's Fair, was only supposed to be up for about
13:5020 years.
13:51But it succeeded that time by an additional 15 years, and now it started to fall into disrepair.
13:57The metal beams that make up the tower, because it's made out of iron, are constantly rusting.
14:01And in order to maintain upkeep, it's costing the taxpayers and friends Boku bucks.
14:07Where others see challenges, Victor Lustig sees dollar signs.
14:14Lustig knows there's a lot of money to be made in scrap metal.
14:18And there's a lot of scrap metal in the Eiffel Tower.
14:21So he gets this idea.
14:22At 7,000 metric tons of iron, he thinks, what if I can sell the Eiffel Tower to some scrap
14:30metal dealers in Paris?
14:32What a brilliant idea.
14:34Lustig hires a professional counterfeiter to make very official-looking stationery with the city of Paris' seal on it.
14:41He also has business cards made up, calling himself a government official.
14:46Then Lustig invites the city's top scrap metal dealers to bid on the tower.
14:52He tells them that they are being given a secret opportunity to capitalize on this,
14:56but that their discretion is of the utmost importance.
15:00The tower is going down, but shh, the public, there's nobody yet.
15:03So that's why you've got to keep this on the hush-hush for now.
15:07While there are a half-dozen men vying for the gig, Lustig has got his sights set on André Poisson,
15:14who is an up-and-comer in the scrap metal industry and wants to make a name for himself.
15:19Lustig takes Poisson aside in his confidence and says he'll give the bid to whomever makes it worth his while.
15:25Hint, hint.
15:26Now, the price tag that Lustig has set is steep, a million to take down the tower
15:32and to sell this 7,000-plus tons of scrap metal.
15:37But Poisson decides that it's worth it.
15:41After handing over the money, Poisson reaches out to Lustig for the contract
15:45and is met with radio silence.
15:49For days, Poisson tries to reach Lustig with no success.
15:52It's only when Poisson sees in the newspaper that the tower is staying put
15:56that he realizes he's been duped.
16:00But who's he going to tell?
16:01He's too embarrassed to go public and say,
16:04I just got all this money stolen from me in this ruse,
16:06because, again, he's trying to make a name for himself.
16:08So he says nothing.
16:10As for Lustig, he gets greedy, gives the con another go.
16:15But this time, when Lustig gathers up new scrap dealers
16:17and sets his eyes on his main mark and gives him the whole shtick,
16:20the guy gets suspicious.
16:22And instead of giving Lustig any cash, just go straight to the police.
16:28Lustig's a smart guy, so he's already one step ahead.
16:33He's on a cruise ship headed for the United States.
16:37Lustig does not change his ways with a new venue,
16:39taking more and more risks.
16:43Amazingly, this guy bounces in and out of trouble.
16:45He's arrested 40 times and either escapes or doesn't get prosecuted
16:51until the FBI caught him for counterfeiting
16:53and sentenced him to 20 years in prison in Alcatraz.
16:58While serving his time, Lustig doesn't sit idle.
17:01He writes the Ten Commandments of Con Artistry.
17:03Among his pearls of wisdom, always listen, never boast, and always look the part.
17:09Timeless advice, indeed.
17:14Today, we often hear about Nepo babies.
17:17Children of celebrities who navigate the world with a little extra help from their famous parents.
17:22But this trend is not exactly new.
17:24In the late 1900s, being the child of the well-known and wealthy could open many a door.
17:29And quite a few wallets.
17:341897 in Cleveland, Ohio, it is really the Gilded Age.
17:38It is the time of the haves and the have-nots.
17:42One of the ultra-haves is railroad magnate Andrew Carnegie,
17:47who through his holdings in steel, oil, railroads,
17:51has amassed a fortune that makes him the richest man in the world.
17:58So, when a demure but intense young woman walks into a Cleveland bank
18:02and hands the banker a promissory note from none other than Andrew Carnegie,
18:06he takes notice.
18:08The young woman says her name is Cassie Chadwick,
18:10and she claims to be the great philanthropist's illegitimate daughter.
18:17Now, this kind of made sense at the time,
18:19because Andrew Carnegie didn't have a kid until he was 61.
18:22He married really late.
18:23So, it's entirely possible that he could have fathered another child before that point.
18:28And also, who's going to fact-check Andrew Carnegie on his illegitimate child?
18:33I mean, if you're the wrong person to do that, he could ruin you.
18:36Because she has this promissory note,
18:38banks, shopkeepers, wealthy and prominent individuals
18:42open up checkbooks and their homes and their shops to this person.
18:47Basically, the idea is that her dad's going to pay for it,
18:49so, yeah, let her have whatever she wants.
18:52For years, Cassie juggles loans like a pro,
18:55robbing Peter to pay Paul,
18:57until she gets in a little too deep.
19:01It all comes to a head in late 1904,
19:03when Cassie is unable to repay a very large loan, $200,000.
19:09The loan was actually given to her by Herbie Newton, a Boston banker,
19:13and it actually came from his personal money, not the bank.
19:16So, now he is really mad.
19:19He brings a suit against Cassie,
19:21which is going to bring her carefully constructed facade crumbling down.
19:27When the police go to Andrew Carnegie, he says,
19:30I've never heard of this person,
19:30and I haven't written a promissory note in 30 years.
19:34It turns out Cassie isn't who she says she is.
19:38Her real name is Elizabeth Betty Bigley.
19:41She's a grifter from Canada,
19:43and she has been conning people since she was 13 years old.
19:47She, at one point, runs a brothel.
19:49She later poses as a psychic to the rich.
19:52She marries six times to increasingly wealthy men.
19:55One of these marriages lasts only 12 days.
19:58Now, it's hard to know exactly how much money she's stolen in her endeavors,
20:02but most people think it's roughly $650,000,
20:05which, in today's money, is about $25 million.
20:11Cassie's arrested in 1905
20:13and convicted on seven counts of conspiracy against the government.
20:16Her trial becomes a national sensation.
20:19Andrew Carnegie himself even attends in person.
20:22Once she's found guilty, the sentiment was not of negativity.
20:26Oh, no, she was really, like, the people's champ.
20:29Someone started manufacturing Cassie tonic,
20:32which was supposed to boost your confidence.
20:35Oddly enough, Cassie is allowed to bring
20:38some of her ill-gotten gains to prison with her.
20:41Coats, jewelry, furniture.
20:44She's seen as a kind of Robin Hood figure.
20:46As a footnote to this story,
20:48Carnegie actually pays the debts
20:50of some of the people defrauded in Cleveland,
20:52which has led people to speculate
20:53that there may have been more of a connection
20:55between Carnegie and Cassie
20:56than we were led to believe.
20:58All that pretending has to be exhausting.
21:01Luckily, our next con artist
21:03is able to pull a fast one, barely breaking a sweat.
21:07Arguably, one of the most famous road races
21:09in the entire United States
21:11is the Boston Marathon,
21:12and Bostonians love their marathon.
21:17Now, while there's tons of civilian competitors,
21:21it's usually pretty seasoned professional runners
21:24who ultimately win these races.
21:27Then in 1980,
21:28one unexpected runner changes the game,
21:30and suddenly a newcomer is making history.
21:34Rosie Ruiz from New York City,
21:37heading down Parapet Street
21:40for what appears to be a new American record time.
21:45A young Cuban woman stuns the world
21:48when she becomes the first woman
21:49to cross the finish line in that year's race.
21:51Her time is the third fastest recorded for a marathon
21:55by a woman in human history.
21:59And she's a complete unknown.
22:01Rosie is given the traditional wreath of laurels
22:04and a gold medal complete with a large diamond stud.
22:07She calls it the best day of her life.
22:09This appears to be one heck of a case
22:11of beginner's luck.
22:14Or is it?
22:15People start getting suspicious almost immediately.
22:19The marathon places spotters along the route,
22:21and none of them remember seeing her
22:23at the checkpoints along the way.
22:25We missed her at all our checkpoints.
22:26Then things get really suspicious
22:29when commentator Catherine Switzer,
22:31who is an actual marathon hero,
22:34starts asking Rosie questions about her finish.
22:36Is someone coaching you or advising you?
22:39Uh, no, I advise myself.
22:42Rosie tells her that it's only the second marathon
22:45she's ever run,
22:46that the first was the New York marathon,
22:47and that she finished that one
22:49in two hours and 56 minutes.
22:52And Switzer is baffled.
22:53She's like,
22:53how did you manage between New York and Boston
22:55to shave 25 minutes off of your time?
22:58That's an incredible feat.
22:59How'd you do that?
23:00And Ruiz says,
23:01I just trained myself.
23:02Have you been doing a lot of heavy intervals?
23:04Um, someone else asked me that,
23:06and I'm not sure what intervals are.
23:09What are they?
23:13Other things aren't adding up.
23:15It's a hot day in Boston,
23:17and she's run 26.2 miles,
23:20and even her hair isn't sweaty.
23:23Still, nobody can imagine Rosie,
23:25or really anyone, cheating the marathon.
23:27That is until witnesses begin to emerge,
23:30including one woman
23:31who starts putting two and two together.
23:34She saw Rosie during the marathon,
23:36but not on the street.
23:38She saw her on the T,
23:39which is the subway system in Boston.
23:42Rosie told her
23:44that she had hurt her ankle
23:45at about the 10-mile mark,
23:47and she had dropped out of the race.
23:50Other people say they saw Rosie
23:52re-enter the race
23:53at the Kenmore Square stop,
23:56which is about a mile away
23:58from the finish line.
24:00The testimony of all of these people
24:03and all these eyewitnesses
24:04confirmed that Rosie Ruiz
24:06was a con artist
24:07and unbelievably lied
24:09about winning the Boston Marathon.
24:11Although her victory
24:12is officially taken away,
24:14she holds on to something else.
24:16Rosie refuses to give up her medal
24:19and claims she won it fair and square.
24:22I ran the whole race,
24:23and she has kind of cemented her legacy
24:25as making her name synonymous
24:27with cheating.
24:29But I hope it's all cleared up very soon.
24:31Rosie Ruiz keeps her gold medal
24:33for another 39 years
24:35until the day she dies.
24:40Death is supposed to be
24:41the final chapter,
24:42but for one con man,
24:45it's the perfect cover story.
24:49In 2005, Michael Gordon,
24:51who's on vacation in New Zealand
24:53hiking on Mount Manganui.
24:56Suddenly, he stops dead in his tracks
24:58when he sees a couple
25:00that are walking right in front of him.
25:02The man looks like his brother Harry,
25:05who he hasn't seen in five years.
25:08The only difference is
25:09this man has blue eyes,
25:11and the woman who he is with
25:13is definitely not his wife.
25:15And he asks him,
25:17Harry, is that you?
25:19The man quickly responds,
25:21of course,
25:22but look,
25:23it's not convenient to talk now.
25:26As Michael watches this man and woman
25:28walk away down the trail,
25:29he still can't be certain
25:30if this is real
25:32because his brother Harry
25:33died five years ago.
25:39It's the year 2000.
25:40Harry Gordon is a 51-year-old
25:43millionaire businessman
25:44who runs an engineering firm.
25:46He's married to his lifelong
25:47sweetheart, Sheila,
25:48but then he gets involved
25:50in a get-rich-quick scheme
25:52with the Ukrainian mafia,
25:54and it goes south.
25:58Drowning in debt,
25:59Harry decides the best course of action
26:01is to fake his own death.
26:05One night,
26:06Harry takes out a speedboat
26:07on the Karua River estuary.
26:09He scuttles it on the beach.
26:12He leaves his wallet,
26:13his cell phone,
26:14and there's two empty bottles
26:16of champagne,
26:16and then he smashes
26:17one of the windows.
26:18And he hops in a van,
26:20which has in it
26:21$100,000 of cash.
26:24The police find his wallet,
26:26his ID,
26:27his cell phone,
26:28the empty bottles of champagne,
26:30and the busted window.
26:31Investigators conclude
26:32that he likely had a collision
26:34with a navigation marker
26:35and drowned.
26:37With investigators convinced
26:39he's gone for good,
26:40Harry makes his next move.
26:43Harry spends $25,000
26:45to get a new passport
26:46and changes his name
26:47to Rob Motzel.
26:49He also buys a pair
26:50of blue contact lenses.
26:53He then spends
26:54the next many months
26:55hopping from Spain
26:56to England
26:57before finally settling
26:58in Auckland, New Zealand.
27:00For the next five years,
27:01he lives under his false identity,
27:03working in construction.
27:05He eventually marries in 2005
27:07as Rob Motzel,
27:09telling her nothing
27:09about his real identity.
27:12Life as Rob Motzel
27:14seems to be working out
27:15until a chance encounter
27:17threatens to unravel it all.
27:19After Harry's brother Michael
27:21spots him
27:22on that New Zealand trail,
27:23the first thing Michael does
27:24is call Harry's real wife,
27:27Sheila,
27:27and rats him out.
27:30Sheila calls the authorities
27:31and lets him know
27:33her husband's alive
27:34and living in New Zealand.
27:37An international manhunt ensues
27:39and Harry decides
27:40to return to Sydney
27:41to face the music.
27:43Police immediately nab him
27:45and soon realize
27:46he's not the only Gordon
27:47with a knack for deception.
27:50Investigators determined
27:51that there was a lucrative
27:53life insurance policy
27:54that his wife, Sheila,
27:55attempted to cash in on
27:57only a short time
27:58after his death.
27:59The insurance claim
28:01is for $3.5 million.
28:04After this discovery,
28:05police raid Sheila's home
28:07and they uncover paperwork
28:08calculating the compound interest
28:11on $3.5 million.
28:13It's just one catch.
28:14They wouldn't pay out
28:16the full cash value
28:17without a body.
28:19And all she got
28:19was $25,000.
28:22And they also find a card
28:23in Harry's handwriting
28:25written to his wife
28:26that says,
28:27our goal's this year,
28:29stay out of jail
28:30and get the money.
28:32Sheila serves five months
28:34of house arrest
28:34while Harry is sent
28:35to actual prison
28:36for 15 months,
28:38charged with false representation.
28:41Apparently,
28:42it's kind of illegal
28:43to fake your death
28:44and disappear for five years.
28:46Who knew?
28:49If faking your own death
28:50sounds like a bold move,
28:52wait until you see
28:53the lengths one woman goes to
28:55just for a signature.
28:57In April of 2024,
28:59a young woman,
29:00Erica Nunez,
29:01shows up at a bank
29:02in Bangu, Brazil.
29:04And she is wheeling a man
29:07into the bank
29:08in a wheelchair.
29:09Erica claims
29:11that the man
29:12in the wheelchair
29:13is her Uncle Paolo,
29:16who is there
29:17to co-sign a loan for her.
29:19She's looking to get
29:20about 17,000 reals,
29:22which is about $3,400.
29:24And she takes out his ID.
29:26But to put it mildly,
29:28from the beginning,
29:29this man is obviously
29:31not well.
29:33As he's there in the chair,
29:35Uncle Paolo's head
29:36keeps rocking back
29:37and going in
29:38all different directions.
29:39She tries to put a pen
29:40in his hand,
29:41and clearly he can't
29:42get a grip on it,
29:43so she pretty much
29:44grabs his hand
29:45in an attempt
29:46to sign for him.
29:48The teller gets suspicious
29:49and starts questioning Erica.
29:52Erica assures the teller
29:53that he's always like this.
29:55He doesn't speak very much.
29:56She even asks him,
29:57do you want to go back
29:58to the hospital?
29:59He doesn't answer.
30:01That's because
30:02Uncle Paolo is dead.
30:06The concerned bank staff
30:08immediately call the authorities,
30:09who of course come to the bank
30:11and arrest Erica.
30:12Erica's defense
30:13is that Uncle Paolo
30:15was alive
30:16when they entered the bank,
30:17but no one is spying that.
30:20When the body
30:21gets to the coroner,
30:22he determines
30:23that Uncle Paolo
30:24had actually died
30:25hours before,
30:26earlier that day.
30:27In Brazil,
30:28it turns out,
30:29the weekend at Bernie's defense
30:30does not hold water.
30:34It may not have worked
30:36for Erica,
30:36but sometimes
30:37the right corpse
30:38in the right hands
30:39can change history.
30:43Deception is typically
30:44the tool of swindlers
30:45and schemers
30:46used to line pockets
30:47and cover tracks.
30:48But every now and then,
30:50a con is pulled
30:50not for profit,
30:52but for the greater good.
30:57It's the spring of 1943.
30:59World War II is raging.
31:04The Germans are gaining momentum,
31:07and the Allies realize
31:08that they need a foothold
31:10in Southern Europe.
31:12The Allies are planning
31:13to invade Sicily,
31:14but they're going to need
31:15the element of surprise
31:16to pull this off.
31:19British intelligence
31:20come up with an idea
31:21to create the greatest
31:23military con
31:24since the Trojan horse.
31:28The plan is to leak
31:29false information
31:30to the Nazis
31:31that the Allies plan
31:32to invade Greece
31:33and Sardinia.
31:34So while Hitler
31:35diverts military resources
31:36towards Greece
31:37and Sardinia,
31:38the Allies will attack
31:39through Sicily.
31:43It's a pretty brilliant
31:44fake-out
31:45because the Nazis
31:46will assume
31:47that the real invasion
31:48is just the D Corps.
31:51Just how are the British
31:52going to get news
31:53of this bogus attack
31:54into the hands
31:55of the Third Reich?
31:56With a little help
31:57from a 35-year-old
31:59Navy intelligence officer
32:00you may have heard of.
32:02Lieutenant Commander
32:03Ian Fleming,
32:04who will later write
32:05the great James Bond novels,
32:07he comes up with an idea
32:08from a spy novel
32:09that he's just read
32:09called The Milliner's Hat
32:10by Basil Thompson.
32:12There's a plot device
32:14in that book
32:15where misinformation
32:15is planted on a corpse.
32:18So Fleming thinks,
32:20hey, we could borrow
32:21this idea.
32:24What they're going to do
32:25is put false attack plans
32:27on a corpse
32:28who will be dressed
32:29as a fallen British officer.
32:31British intelligence
32:32are going to float
32:33the corpse
32:33off the coast of Spain
32:34so that Nazi sympathizers
32:36will pick it up
32:37and find the information.
32:38Spain at this point
32:40is fascist
32:41and the thinking is that
32:42if they can just get
32:43the right person
32:44to pick up this corpse
32:45that eventually
32:46it will get to Hitler.
32:48They decide to call
32:50this mission of deception
32:52Operation Mincemeet.
32:55First things first.
32:56Get a hold of arguably
32:58the most important
32:59part of the plan.
33:01From a morgue
33:03they secure a body
33:04of a Welsh transient
33:05who apparently
33:06has no next of kin.
33:08They give him a good shave
33:09and a good military haircut
33:10and then they put
33:12a uniform on him
33:13that has wear and tear
33:15as if he was flying
33:16and got ejected
33:17into the water.
33:20Every detail matters
33:21so they need to make him
33:22of a sufficient rank
33:23that he would have access
33:24to these kinds
33:25of secret plans.
33:26Because he's fictitious
33:28he needs a common
33:29enough name
33:29that it would be
33:30almost impossible
33:30for the Germans
33:31to trace him.
33:32So they name him
33:33Major William Martin
33:35of the Royal Marines.
33:38To really bring
33:39this all home
33:40they flesh out
33:41this entire
33:41fictitious backstory
33:42and they even plant
33:44on him the photograph
33:45of a really lovely
33:47young woman
33:47who is his
33:49imaginary fiancée.
33:52They are so thorough
33:53with this
33:54they plant
33:55love letters
33:57he has receipts
33:58for their wedding rings.
33:59They also try
34:00to take pictures
34:01for his ID badge
34:03but they can't take
34:03a picture of the corpse
34:04because he's
34:05you know
34:06dead.
34:07So they find
34:08another officer
34:09who looks similar enough
34:11and take photographs
34:12of him
34:12and use that
34:13to make the ID.
34:15the last thing
34:16that they do
34:16is they plant
34:17the plan
34:18for the invasion
34:19in a briefcase
34:20which is then
34:20handcuffed
34:21to the corpse's wrist
34:22because if you
34:23handcuff a briefcase
34:24to someone's wrist
34:25you know
34:25there is something
34:27important
34:27in that briefcase.
34:31with every little detail
34:32of the charade
34:33in place
34:34on April 30th
34:35it's time
34:36to send
34:37Major Martin
34:37behind enemy lines.
34:41And the body
34:42is now floating
34:43in the ocean
34:44just off the coast
34:45of Spain
34:45with the hopes
34:46that it will be discovered
34:47and the plan
34:48will be set in motion.
34:51He is in the water
34:52so there are a lot
34:53of potential problems
34:55that could arise.
34:55What if the plans
34:57that are in the briefcase
34:59get obliterated
35:00by the water
35:01and the ink
35:01all smears?
35:02What if the body
35:03just gets eaten
35:04by some sea creature?
35:10The Spanish authorities
35:12end up picking up
35:13the body
35:13from the water
35:15and the secret documents
35:16that are attached
35:17to it as well.
35:18The documents
35:20are opened up
35:21covertly
35:21photographed
35:22and sent off
35:23to the Germans
35:24in Spain.
35:25This intel
35:26makes it all the way
35:27up the chain of command
35:28ultimately
35:29to the Third Reich.
35:31The Germans
35:32gobble up
35:33Operation Mincemeat
35:34like it's dinner.
35:36Hitler buys it
35:36and he starts
35:37diverting his troops
35:38to Greece
35:39and Sardinia.
35:40He actually doubles
35:41the number of troops
35:42in Sardinia
35:43and this leaves
35:44Sicily wide open.
35:47The Allied forces
35:48bombard the Nazis
35:50completely win the day
35:51take over Sicily
35:52and finally have
35:54that firm stronghold
35:55in Southern Europe
35:56as they had planned
35:57to have the entire time.
36:01Operation Mincemeat
36:02is considered
36:03one of the greatest
36:03and most successful
36:04deceptions of World War II.
36:06It turns the tides
36:07in the Allies' favor
36:08and delivers a humiliating
36:10blow to Hitler.
36:13Trickery and scams
36:14aren't exclusive
36:15to mankind.
36:16The animal kingdom
36:17is rife with creatures
36:18that just can't be trusted.
36:22Becoming a butterfly
36:23is dangerous business.
36:26They begin life
36:27as vulnerable caterpillars
36:29and they're even more fragile
36:31when they're inside
36:32their chrysalids.
36:34They liquefy their tissues
36:36and reform them
36:37into the shape
36:38of an adult butterfly.
36:40There is nothing it can do
36:42to protect itself
36:43so it's very important
36:44that this caterpillar
36:45chooses just the correct spot
36:47to perform this transition
36:49to most red ants
36:51caterpillars are lunch
36:52but not the blue
36:54butterfly caterpillar.
36:55This one flips the script.
36:57After a few days
36:58of feeding on leaves
37:00this caterpillar
37:01drops from its host plant
37:02to the ground
37:03hoping that a red ant
37:05will stroll by.
37:07Then the caterpillar
37:08pulls off
37:09one heck of a costume change.
37:11First off
37:11she takes in a bunch of air
37:13and she inflates herself
37:14so she then resembles
37:15the queen red ant.
37:17And she can create a sound
37:19that resembles
37:19a distress call
37:21so all the ants
37:22are attracted
37:23to come to her defense.
37:25Ever the rescuers
37:27the worker ants
37:28pick up the fake queen
37:29and bring her
37:30into the colony.
37:32The caterpillar continues
37:34to chirp out
37:35the queen's distress call
37:36hoping that the rest
37:37of the colony
37:38will be drawn to her
37:39and accept her
37:40as the queen.
37:41This is a pretty
37:42nervy thing to do
37:43because these red ants
37:45could just kill
37:45and eat her.
37:46So long as the caterpillar
37:48continues emitting
37:49the right sounds
37:51it has free reign
37:52to wreak havoc.
37:55Most caterpillars
37:56are herbivores
37:57but this one
37:58is a carnivore
37:59so she begins
38:00eating the ant larvae
38:01and whatever ants
38:03get in her way.
38:04By the time
38:05she's pretty much
38:05eaten the entire colony
38:07within about six months
38:08she will reach
38:09a hundred times
38:10her original size.
38:12At this point
38:13she begins to pupate
38:15and becomes a chrysalis.
38:16And now she's safe
38:18because pretty much
38:19anything that could
38:20have eaten her
38:20she's already eaten them.
38:23Nearly a year later
38:25in the springtime
38:26the caterpillar
38:27performs her final act.
38:30All she has to do now
38:31is find her way
38:32out of the ant nest
38:33spread her wings
38:35and take to the skies.
38:39Next up
38:40a bait and switch
38:41that proves even zoos
38:43have a few tricks
38:44up their sleeves.
38:47Of all the animals
38:48you would see at the zoo
38:49giant pandas
38:50are the number one
38:51attraction.
38:52They're extremely rare.
38:54The Chinese government
38:55is very restrictive
38:56of what zoos
38:57around the world
38:58can actually have
38:59a panda on exhibit
39:00so to see one
39:02in captivity
39:02is really a once
39:04in a lifetime experience.
39:05That's why a zoo
39:07in China
39:07does the unbelievable
39:09in an attempt
39:10to give the public
39:11what they want.
39:13It's May 2024
39:14and the very proud folks
39:16at Taizhu Zoo
39:17in Jiangsu province
39:19announced that
39:20they have the great
39:21good fortune
39:22of having two
39:23new baby panda pups.
39:26Hordes of panda fans
39:28crowd around the enclosure
39:29for a glimpse
39:30at the zoo's
39:31star attractions.
39:34From a distance
39:35they look well
39:36like pandas.
39:37They're playful
39:38they're chunky
39:39they're adorable.
39:40Now they have
39:41the round pom-pom ears
39:42they even have
39:42the black patches
39:43around their eyes
39:44but if you really look
39:46something is off.
39:48People are really
39:49starting to ask questions
39:50like is there something
39:51real weird
39:52about these pandas?
39:56That's when the zoo
39:57fesses up.
39:58Real pandas
39:59are expensive
40:01and come with
40:02a mountain
40:02of red tape
40:03so they get
40:04a little creative.
40:06They got these
40:08chow chow dogs.
40:09Now this is a breed
40:10from northern China
40:11that has puffy fur
40:13they have this kind
40:14of lion-like mane
40:15this pushed in face.
40:17They give them
40:18a little haircut
40:18and they do
40:19a little dye job
40:20and voila
40:22they come out
40:23looking like pandas.
40:25The public
40:26is up in arms.
40:27I mean
40:27it's consumer fraud.
40:30And
40:30there are questions
40:32from animal rights groups
40:33about whether or not
40:34this is animal abuse.
40:36So the zoo
40:37defended itself
40:37by saying
40:38listen
40:39dogs are groomed
40:40all the time.
40:41It's safe
40:42die
40:42so everyone
40:43just calm down.
40:45In fact
40:45instead of shrinking
40:46from the deception
40:47the zoo doubles down.
40:49They embrace the lie.
40:51Local officials
40:52rule that as long
40:53as the zoo
40:54posts a clear sign
40:55stating these
40:55aren't pandas
40:56they're not guilty
40:58of false advertising.
41:01A number of those
41:02attending the zoo
41:03say they appreciate
41:03the hustle
41:04saying the zoo
41:05saw a need
41:06and got creative.
41:07Representatives
41:08from the zoo
41:09actually said
41:09that they got
41:10this whole idea
41:11to dye these puppies
41:12from the internet.
41:14And everybody's
41:15pretty interested
41:16and a whole lot
41:17of people have
41:17looked at those puppies
41:18so mission accomplished.
41:22from snake oil
41:23to massive bridges
41:24for sale
41:24enlisting the dead
41:26or faking your dead
41:27these are the cons
41:29so spectacular
41:29they can only be called
41:31unbelievable.
41:32unbelievable.
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