Ridiculous Crime (iHeartPodcasts)

The best cat burglar in the world, a guitar player with IBS, the Genovese Crime Family, and a child bride walk into a bar. Actually, they walk into a posh dinner party. Actually, they sneak past a posh dinner party. Trust us, the punchline is ridiculous.

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A father and his two sons come up with a plan to get rich –– they'll wheel an impossible-to-defuse bomb into a casino and then charge a hefty ransom to deactivate it. Of course, things go ridiculous!

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In 1876, a small time gang plotted to kidnap Abraham Lincoln. He'd been dead eleven years, but they didn't let that stop them. They planned to trade the late leader's body for their imprisoned counterfeiter comrade's freedom. Guess what -- it didn't work.

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Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got. Taking a break from all your worries sure wouldn't help a lot. Sometimes you want to go where nobody knows your name and they're never glad you came. This is the story of a guy who did just that.

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Imagine a horse. Now imagine if that horse could read your mind. And imagine you paid for this experience. You would be in good company –– even the President of the USA listened to the prophecies of Lady Wonder, the psychic horse. Of course, it was all a long con. 

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Conning your way into ownership of a professional sports team is one thing, but playing two countries off each other for phony mineral rights is the pinnacle of scamming. Russell King did them both! Hooray! 

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Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope are the Insane Clown Posse. Their fans call themselves the Juggalos and Juggalettes. Each year they hold their annual Gathering of the Juggalos. It is a bazar of fairground games, hip-hop, horrorcore rap, oil wrestling, fight clubs... but also family. Get comfortable, crack open a Faygo and... "Whoop Whoop!"

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At the end of the 19th century, two outlaws made names for themselves around the world, but over time both have been forgotten. This week, we resurrect the tales of these outlaw folk heroes. Lady outlaws.

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Deep in the heart of Texas, in the summer of 2023, a band of rebel nuns had "gone to the mattresses" in an ecclesiastical war against the Bishop of Fort Worth. The leader of this cloistered convent of rebellious Carmelite Nuns, Mother Gerlach, never intended to lead a resistance movement against Rome's representative. But, you see, the trouble all started after the mother superior confessed she'd fallen in love with a priest. 

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We're back with more tales from the anti-psychic sleuthing of super detective Bob Nygaard. Bob and his fedora get justice for a lovelorn gent who spent a king's ransom trying to win back his dream girl. As you can probably guess, hundreds of thousands of dollars and diamonds later, the guy was still alone. But he (and we) will always have Nygaard. 

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The fictional character Raffles established the public's notion of a gentleman thief. But what of the ladies? Josephine O'Dare and Amélie Condemine took the Raffles playbook and blazed their way through European society, lightening wallets and lifting gems. Whether they only made 72 cents on the dollar compared to male thieves remains unknown. 

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Rare books are, obviously, valuable. And that means people want to steal them, often in ridiculous ways. Sometimes in huge quantities, sometimes over huge amounts of time. This is the tale of three big book heists that are almost as irritating as Elizabeth's pronunciations of just about everything.

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Once upon a time... there was a band called Fleetwood Mac, but one day someone had an affair with Mick Fleetwod's wife, and boom, suddenly there were two Fleetwood Macs. This became a big problem for everyone. Mostly because, no one knew how to answer the question: which Fleetwood Mac is the real Fleetwood Mac? 

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Money (or the appearance of it) attracts money. Lord Edward Ormus Sharrington Davenport knew this and capitalized on it. With posh mansions, lavish parties, and celebrity pals, Edward Davenport used the appearance of wealth to gain actual wealth by amassing other people's money. Welcome to the lifestyles of the rich and famous...and felonious.

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Meet Antoine Yates, the man who raised a tiger in a fifth-floor public housing apartment in Harlem. Until, one day, the tiger remembered that it was a tiger. But Antoine didn't just live with a tiger, he also had a lion and a full-grown alligator. Naturally, this one is both wild...and ridiculous!

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What good is an ice cream cone without the ice cream? What's an elaborate mating ritual without the dirty deed? What's a con without a payoff? Producer Dave dives deep into the life of 1940s LA man about town Charles Edwards, who created a lot of sizzle but somehow never managed to turn it in to a steak dinner.

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He ran for sheriff, saying he'd take on the mob. Instead, he lined his pockets with their cash. He ran for Congress, saying he'd fight for working Americans. Instead, he had people work for him for free. All the while, James Traficant made a name for himself with his denim suits and a hideous hairpiece. In the words of ol' Jimbo himself, beam me up!

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Owing people millions is a big deal, unless you have hundreds of millions and can pay it off. And if you don't and can't, then you just have to act like you can and will. But you can't. And won't. So you don't and…well, you get it.

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Possibly our most-requested subject. And if there's one thing you can about Ridiculous Crime...we do it for the People. So here it is...the strange but true story of Colton Harris Moore, AKA The Barefoot Bandit. Amateur pilot, well-practiced plane thief, and dog lover. 

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Two great tastes that taste great together: horse racing and fraternity brothers. What happens when three frat bros attempt to rig the biggest horse race in America? They all win a free yet priceless education in how not to commit a crime. And it’s all thanks to a long shot horse named Volponi.

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A sports-loving jokester with a desire to be seen by the masses, Barry Bremen fraudulently made his way into some of the biggest sporting and entertainment events of the 70s and 80s. It's one thing to dress up as a ref at a game, quite another to accept an award on stage meant for someone else. Will Barry's lust for the limelight take him a little too far?

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Rick Deitsch was a business man with a big big plan — he wanted to make Big Snake. He would use science to milk Wall Street of millions by scamming biotech and pharma investors with the hype for novel new medicines his lab created based on… cobra venom! Unsurprisingly, this modern day snake oil salesman’s grift was not a successsssss…

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From a young age, Anthony Gignac dreamed of being wealthy and living a lavish lifestyle. That simply wasn't in the cards for him, so he made his own deck. Posing as a Saudi prince, Anthony scammed his way into a life of luxury cars, jewels, and real estate deals. But like the fake diamonds glued to his Rolex, the title of a Roots album, and a line from Yeats' "The Second Coming," things fall apart.

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As if the whole cryptocurrency thing wasn't ridiculous enough, enter Heather Morgan aka Razzlekhan. An entrepreneur and amateur rapper, she and her husband, Dutch, lived large. The source? Hacked bitcoin. Can't get enough of these clowns and their techno criming? Fear not, there are plenty of film and tv adaptations in the works. The grift lives on. 

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Ah, the late 1990s. Gritty realism ruled the day in film, music, and literature. And wunderkind JT Leroy took the book world by storm. A kid who survived the streets and HIV, he became the literary darling of the indie set. JT Leroy touched hearts and minds across the globe. Except JT Leroy wasn't all that he seemed. In fact, he wasn't anything he seemed.

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The song is the band’s most popular. The legends, the conspiracies, and lore that surrounds the song are incredible. But the legal struggles, inspired criminals, and cocaine antics take center stage as we focus on the Eagles and Hotel California.

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Pokémon! The cards, the games, the Go, the cartoons, the…theft? Oh yeah, when collectibles get pricey, criminals come out of the woodwork, even the Yakuza. These cards are big money these days, and some people will do anything to steal 'em all. 

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It was a dark fantasyland of excess and glamor. We speak not of your local Applebee's. No, we mean Studio 54, the ne plus ultra of 70s discotheques. It was the place to see and be seen, to do drugs and get glitter in your cracks. To just dance, baby! Until the IRS came calling. And with the evidence the owners left behind, they couldn't blame it on the boogie. 

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When a woman looking for spiritual guidance met a Florida man calling himself Giovanni, she knew her life was about to change. What she didn't know was that she'd be convinced to steal the jewels of a sheikh, travel to Cannes for no reason, and be given a spell of invisibility. Not all change is good, folks.

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When a pastor went missing after giving a series of talks about the devil, everyone who knew him was certain Satanists were to blame. But what if the devil in this story was actually the little devil on that pastor's shoulder urging him to find a new life? Guess what...it was.

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Two country legends, good time friends and partners in crime, Willie and Waylon shared a love of staying one step ahead of the law; except sometimes when you fight the law…the law wins.

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You choose it, we play it. While Zaron and Elizabeth leave Producer Dave all by himself in the studio, we're featuring your picks for the best ever Ridiculous Crime episodes.

Being named Bum Farto is ridiculous. Selling drugs is a crime. Being named Bum Farto and selling drugs in front of a fire station? Now THAT'S a ridiculous crime. 

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Al Taubman was a good guy, until he wasn't. Captain of industry, supporter of civil rights, mega-developer, art world magnate…crime breaker. This is the story of how one man went from doing deals to doing time.

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Destroying the office of a children's charity. Dropping stolen jewelry. Falling out of the ceiling. Making weed candies. Starring in a hit reality tv show. On the islands of Long and Staten, things can get crazy. How crazy? Oh, just listen to the episode.

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Want to get away from it all? Start your own country? Fight some Dutchmen? Go up against the British crown? That's what Paddy Roy Bates did when he founded Sealand, an island nation off the coast of England. Come for the pirate radio, stay for the dodgy passports! 

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A man, a plan, a Lamborghini. It was pretty bold to steal the luxury sports car of Guy Fieri, Mayor of Flavor Town. It was even bolder to drive the bright yellow performance vehicle around for months, evading capture and enjoying the ride right out in the open. But just like bold flavors, bold behavior fades over time. The clever thief was eventually apprehended, and his identity was about as surprising as a Guy Fieri dinner without Donkey Sauce.

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An animatronic character was stolen bit by bit from a pavilion at Disneyworld's Epcot, right under the noses of security at the beloved attraction. Who stripped Buzzy naked? Who sold his clothes? Who bought his clothes? Who is Buzzy in the first place?

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There are flights from hell and then there’s United Flight 976 from Buenos Aires to New York City. With all the drinking, outbursts, violence, and other unmentionable deeds in this story, flying first class never looked so horrible.

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Fed up with local politics, a UFO investigator and his band of misfits conspire to take down their enemies. And expose government plots to conceal alien activity. And equip a school bus with state of the art paranormal detecting gadgets. And threaten the President. And hang out at his mom's house. You know, normal stuff.

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Military service is valuable, so much so that goofballs try to steal it, or at least the valor that accompanies such a sacrifice. Join us on a journey of fake medals, phony uniforms, and ninjas. There are ninjas. 

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Like MLK and Biggie Smalls, Marianne Andle also had a dream. Her dream? That one day she could become Irish. After that plan failed and Marianne had to flee Northern Ireland with the cops hot on her trail, and after a quick name change and return to the US, she found a new dream. That new dream? Conning the semi-rich and gullible of Los Angeles, California, by posing as an Irish heiress. 

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Colonial America, and England in the time of the Puritans... not exactly the time or places you'd expect to find a footloose and fancy-free beggar hopping and skipping back and forth across the Atlantic. His secret? Begging, borrowing and stealing. Also, the kindness of others. A shipwreck? A flooded farm? A burned down farmhouse? These weren't calamaties to the King of the Beggars, no, quite the opposite, those were stages for him to debut a new character and then let charity find him. 

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Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue and the shoes are red. 
When the pricey and contentious ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz were stolen from a museum, all hope was lost. But hope never dies. And for the slippers, there was no place like home. 

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What do you do when you look just like the dictator of North Korea? You make it work for you as a celebrity impostor. And if you’re Howard X, you use it to free a Zelensky lookalike from the war in Ukraine, with the help of a fake Putin.

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Regional delicacies are a hot market and a point of pride. Tucson's Sonoran Hot Dogs are a prime example. But are they worthy of extortion and death threats? One guy sure thought so.

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With a love of robbing banks and the love of a good woman, Forrest Tucker pulled off heists with no violence involved. Plenty of arrests ensued, but so did plenty of prison escapes. He was a man with a life so extraordinary, Robert Redford played him in a movie...that put Zaron to sleep.

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While leafing through 75 years of local newspapers, Zaron Burnett uncovers an American Christmas tradition as ingrained in our culture as the red-and-white Santa: sneaking up to a nativity scene and stealing the Baby Jesus. And, in many cases, immediately regretting it.

Note: Please do not steal Baby Jesus.

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VERY SPECIAL CREDITS
Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, and Jason English
Written by Zaron Burnett
Produced by Josh Fisher
Editing and Sound Design by Chris Childs
Mixing and Mastering by Chris Childs
Voice Actors: Jonathan Washington, Chris Childs, Elizabeth Dutton, Katie Mattie, Josh Fisher, and Zaron Burnett
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

Thanks for listening! We'll have one more episode in 2024 next Monday. If you're enjoying Very Special Episodes, please leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform. You can reach the show at veryspecialepisodes@gmail.com. 

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The Italian carmaker Ferrari is known worldwide for the the elegant look, the unique sound, and insane speed and eye-catching design of its sports cars. Some Ferraris are prized as much as works of art by renowned masters. Tom Baker was an American man, with a very curious hobby. Some people collect stamps, others trade collectibles. Tom Baker liked to steal Ferraris from luxury automobile dealerships. And he was surprisingly good at it –– until Det. Joe Hess was put on the trail of elusive Ferrari thief.

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Strip clubs, crooked politicians, cash payoffs, FBI raids, ski school. It's a Vegas corruption story like no other!

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Most people spice up their boring lives with fun hobbies or social events. That wasn't enough for Lawrence Bader. He went and made himself a whole new life, this time as Omaha, Nebraska's hippest bachelor. Flagpole sitting, war injuries, hearses, pillow piles -- his new life had it all!

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During Prohibition, the gangsters and the outlaw folk hero bank robbers agreed on one thing: you need a good mechanic. Enter Joe Bergl. The preferred mechanic of the underworld. He was the favorite car guy of "Bottles" Capone, brother of Scarface. And also he was the favorite wrench turner for Baby Face Nelson and Machine Gun Kelly. Buckle up, Rude Dudes! It's about to get... fast and ridiculous!

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What do you get when you mix crooked cops, violent firemen, a rollicking bordello, hardboiled clowns, and sectarian violence? You get something wildly ridiculous, that's what. Zaron is still missing, so Producer Dave steps in again and saves the day.

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It was a developing news story that gripped the nation: a little boy flying high in the sky in an uncontrolled electrified experimental balloon. When it crashed to earth and he wasn't in it, panic turned to grief. Where was little Falcon Heene? Hiding at home, it turns out. Just like his publicity-loving father had arranged it.

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You choose it, we play it. While Zaron and Elizabeth are out on assignment, we're featuring your picks for the best ever Ridiculous Crime episodes.

You need money. You know the Sinatra family. Obviously, the only thing to do is kidnap the adult son of Old Blue Eyes and ask for a ransom. But not too much, just enough. You don’t want to seem greedy. In this classic episode, learn about one man’s bumbling crusade to raise money for his family and raise the ire of America’s most mobbed-up crooner. 

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It's Christmas in July! Start drafting those letters to Santa — that's just how John Duval Gluck would have wanted it. He scammed the wealthy of New York society into doing good for poor kids, sending the kids gifts from Santa himself. Until one man asked to see the receipts.

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Pranks! Some are clever. Some are fun. Some are a little lame. And some manage to create an historical thread from Virginia Woolf to Silvio Berlusconi. 

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A lifelong criminal fixes a horse race with the help of Australian organized crime. In what would make an excellent Guy Ritchie movie, the crimers bumble their way to a disastrous finish worthy of no photos. But just like a good Guy Ritchie movie, not everything is as it seems.

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From college mascots getting arrested, to Gritty being investigated for fighting a kid, to the battlin' superheroes of Times Square, and on out west to the tourist wrasslin' costumed characters of Hollywood Blvd, this week Zaron amuses Elizabeth with tales from life behind the mask. It's wild how a little bit of cloth can make a person act out. 

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Like Ricky Bobby, he was a pretend NASCAR driver — only this was no movie. L.W. Wright was a fake racer in real life who took on the legends of NASCAR by scamming his way onto the track at Talladega. “Shoot, this story should be a movie!”

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Muhammad Ali and George Foreman’s heavyweight title fight is considered one of the greatest sporting events of all time. What’s less well known is that five weeks earlier in the very same stadium, James Brown headlined an epic, three-day long, pre-fight music festival. Rumble braids together both boxing and music history for a compelling account of Muhammad Ali’s growth into both The People’s Champ and the GOAT. For his first title fight, he takes on the “bad man” Sonny Liston.

REFERENCE BOOKS:

Ali: The Greatest, My Own Story by Muhammad Ali

Ali: A Life by Jonathan Eig

Rumble In the Jungle by Lewis Erenberg

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In the early '80s, America faced a dire existential threat...in the form of "Pac-Man Fever." A moral panic feared that a generation of kids would be lost to the insidious new video game craze. Inspired by First Lady Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No," America's moral scolds fought back. 

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A guy born in Italy moves to France and says he's the heir to the throne in Constantinople, then he heads to the United States to peddle fake titles. You know what that is? Ridiculous. 

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When a dead body is left in a SUV in a wealthy LA enclave, it launches an out-of-this-world mystery. Was the strange dead man really a half-alien human hybrid superspy working for a super-secret government agency? Or was it all just... a ridiculous crime?

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We all know that Pablo Escobar exported cocaine out of Colombia in record amounts. What a lot of people don't know is that he had some problematic imports into the vibrant nation, as well. Meet Pablo Escobar's hippos. The cocaine cowboy brought what turned out to be an invasive species into one of the most biodiverse areas in the world. Antics ensued.

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Catholic Bishop Fulton J. Sheen once said, “Hearing nuns’ confessions is like being stoned to death with popcorn.” That’s not true in Belgium. In 1990, nuns in the Diocese of Bruge threw off their habits and embraced the criminal life. So much for vows of poverty.

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This guy. He pulled off great cons and even better prison escapes. He got tossed in solitary for life, but now walks free. Jim Carrey played him in a movie. I mean, this guy. You simply can't keep him down.

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Michael Sabo was a classic con man. He posed as a respectable doctor, he wrote phony checks, he stole coins, and he misled trusting people. And what does a classic con man do after getting caught? Turn that grifter knowledge into another con: consulting.

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A thief breaks into luxury homes in tony Boca del Mar. the cops are flummoxed by this brazen burglar. Even more so when they find out it’s a lady thief! How could the Bandit of Boca del Mar be a woman? That’s unthinkable! Hey, anything is possible in Palm Beach County, baby.

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Garrett Brock Trapnell was a criminal Swiss Army knife; he ran guns for Fidel Castro, he rented dogs to Hollywood stars, later he became a skyjacker –– and he became so famous from it that a mother and daughter tried to free him from prison.

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It's award season, Rude Dudes! We gather now for the 2nd year of the Perpies, a chance to recognize the best capers, heists, and cons from the last year. And listen, sister, they do not disappoint. With categories like Best Drug Crime, Best Rivalry, and Best Song, you know you are in for a real thrill ride. See you on the red carpet!

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A mysterious woman washes ashore in 1800s England. She speaks an unknown language, yet still manages to share tales of her pirate-filled high sea adventures and noble lineage. Her story captivates the nation...until a figure from her past comes and ruins everything. Or does she?

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Sometimes it's hard to retire. Like they say, do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life. For a group of older English gentlemen thieves, this was especially true. There comes a time when the body can't keep up with the mind, though, and simple plans run into complex worlds. It turns out mega jewel heists just aren't what they used to be.

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In 1955, one man attempted to control the price of onions in America – to do that he created an illegal onion cartel and then together they cornered the market and drove the prices. It was like Trading Places for onion futures.

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A diamond heist for the ages! An Italian heist crew pulled off an impeccably prepared raid on a vault full of diamonds. Well, almost pulled off. A lesson in the importance of patience, this crime shows us that everything can hinge on a salami sandwich. With special guest appearances by noisy interns!

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A tale as old as crime. Phony wealthy widow seeks dupe to front her cash until her non-existent inheritance comes through. The queen of the hill, top of the heap when it came to these cons? Bertha Heyman aka Big Bertha. Derided by newspapers, besmitten by suitors, no one ran a con like Big Bertha.

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This one is a trip through midcentury America and all its paranoias, moral panics, and witchhunts. In particular, we focus on two men, Senator Joseph McCarthy and Harry J Anslinger. One was responsible for the Red Scare and the other started the War on Drugs. But also one was a daily morphine junkie and the other was his plug. Yes...this is 100% a true story! And it's guaranteed ridiculousness!

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When a teenage astronomy fan is gifted a piece of the moon by NASA, he’s inadvertently pulled into the seedy underground moonrock trade. But don’t worry. With help from H. Ross Perot, NASA secret agents are on the case.

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Very Special Episodes is a new podcast where we tell one incredible story every week. Stranger-than-fiction tales about normal people in extraordinary situations. Stories that make you say, “this should be a movie!” Follow Zaron, Dana, and Jason down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Jake Rossen
Produced, Edited and Sound Designed by Josh Fisher
Additional Editing by John Washington
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Story Editing by Marisa Brown
Research and Fact-Checking by Marisa Brown, Austin Thompson, and Jake Rossen
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

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You gotta love a flashy Italian bank burglar in 1980s London with a penchant for Ferraris. In a bold and zesty tunneling vault robbery, Valerio Viccei stole a bunch of cash, gems, and coke. And then the Flying Squad showed up. This ride? It's wild. 

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As Orson Welles would say, "Ah, the French." Here, in a lead up to the French Revolution, we consider the tale of one randy Cardinal, one social climbing almost-noble, one doomed queen, and one hideous diamond necklace. C'est ridicule (especially Elizabeth butchering all French pronunciation)!

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A man and his wife (with more than 100 cats and a house full of booby traps) have a plan. Forge paintings, sell them, and when caught, accuse the buyer of swapping the real painting for a fake. And when questioned, double down. Again and again. And again.

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Add two astronauts, mix in one younger woman, stir in a 900-mile drive from Houston to Orlando, and garnish with an adult diaper — that’s how you make an Astronaut Love Triangle! This true story is an out-of-this-world tale of love, sex, jealousy, crime and the limits of the human bladder.

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America selects them, Casey Kasem counts em down. Zaron and Elizabeth are out on assignment for one more week. Today we're featuring another of the Rude Dude chosen best ever Ridiculous Crime episodes, and this one is a real crackerjack.

2 Texas colleges. 
1 two-hundred pound owl. 
Mix in 1200 cadets and their bull sergeants versus a team of football players and tracks stars, stir in as many trains, trucks, and cars as can be found, and garnish with two private dicks, one named Snowball.

That’s called a TAMU over Rice.

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Imagine your father is a charming international one-time gigolo turned clothing boutique owner turned arsonist turned money launderer for the Mexican cartels and Mexican presidents. Well, turns out you don't have to imagine it because that's the life of Pietro La Greca Jr. and he told Elizabeth and Zaron all about it!

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That one time when the Black Panthers, the militant Weather Underground and the surf mafia The Brotherhood of Eternal Love came together to free a psychedelic charlatan

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He was a man with a dream –– and that dream was to fly. His brother shared this dream. Trouble was they weren't the Wright Brothers, they were Crazy Mike and High Flyin' Ryan. The brothers challenged gravity, the law and common sense... until the FBI stepped in. 

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It hits every American 80s movie trope: parents go out of town, teen boy throws party, party gets out of control. Except this time it became a global sensation and wound up inspiring its own movie. And in the tradition of Succulent Chinese Meal Man, this Australian teen is unapologetically larger than life and, well, ridiculous.

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Guy meets girl. Guy loses girl. Guy learns to rob banks. Guy robs banks. Guy likes to look fly. Guy gets arrested. Guy escapes prison. Guy gets caught again. Guy writes memoirs. Guy inspires generations of medical students to better diagnose patients? 

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In 2004, 23 Sri Lankan men traveled to Germany as the Sri Lankan National Handball Team to take part in an international tournament. But there was one catch, there was no Sri Lankan National Handball Team. And to make things weirder — all 23 men disappeared. A mystery was born in Germany that day.

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Ron and Scott were brothers, a pair of SoCal surf kids growing up in the ‘60s. They were into the usual stuff: peace, love, catching waves, international drug smuggling, making phony films as a cover for illicit activities, hanging out with Jimi Hendrix in Hawai`i, fooling Porsche into agreeing to a fake car race. You know, just brotherly fun.

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Gaston Means managed to insert himself into some significant crimes in American history. J. Edgar Hoover himself referred to Means as "the most amazing figure in contemporary criminal history" for his ability to successfully lie to suit whichever situation in which he found himself. But he met his match when he tried to swindle Washington socialite Evalyn Walsh McLean in a fake investigation into the Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping. Means ran out of luck when he ran out of lies.

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The Ridiculous crews, both History and Crime, join forces to play everyone’s favorite guessing game: 20 Questions. There were questions. There were answers. There were half court shots at the buzzer. Join the gang for some puzzling good fun!

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When most college-age kids need a little excitement, they do extreme sports or snap into a Slim Jim. Shon Hopwood robbed five banks in 11 months. When he was done paying his debt to society, he built himself a totally legal and totally cool new career.

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That one time when the future leader of North Korea abducted the coolest power couple from the South Korean film industry and forced them to make a reboot of Godzilla

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He is an icon of midcentury America. He's cherubic. He's beloved. He's starred in Hollywood movies. And he's often stolen as a prank, but sometimes things turn darker –– but they always stay ridiculous.

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Think of this like an early Perpie award. Zaron and Elizabeth are out on assignment and will return with a new episode on Tuesday. Today we're featuring an episode you chose as one of the best of all time, and an episode we still reference all the time in HQ.

Get drunk? Check. Steal a plane? Check. Fly it back to the bar you'd been partying in earlier? Check. Tommy "Fitz" Fitzpatrick had only a few steps in his plan to become a legend. How he executed that plan and took it to new heights makes him the poster boy for mid-century ridiculousness. 

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Who among us hasn’t daydreamed of being Steve McQueen for a day? For a 20-year-old community college student, fancy liquors and semi-exotic cars weren’t enough to scratch the dangerous cool guy itch. Only a major bank heist in tribute to McQueen’s own biggest big screen caper would do. So why are we just hearing about it now? Producer Dave Coustan takes the wheel and fills us in.

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Sometimes it's not enough to cheat people out of money, spend the ill-gotten gains, and try to kidnap one's own son. If a fella really wants to be the "best hated" guy in the US, he's gotta bankrupt an American hero. And that's exactly what Ferd Ward did.

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One was a man of action, an incredible athlete who was always ready with an outsized proposition bet, like wagering if he could throw a peanut across Times Square; the other man was a walking calculator of odds and angles, a master gambler, but one who preferred it when the game was rigged — they called themselves Titanic and The Brain. One of them is still remembered as the man who fixed the World Series, at least that’s the rumor.

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Is it kidnapping if you’re the kid who naps himself? Do FBI informants have a bring your kid to work day? It’s David Hampton Butler Jr. vs David Hampton Butler Sr. in a Florida Man battle of the ages.

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Maybe you’re looking to get back at someone. Maybe that fine root structure is standing in the way of your upcoming financial boon. Or maybe you don’t like the cut of that tree’s xylem and phloem. Whatever the reason and whatever the chosen method, approaching a tree with murderous intent is just plain ridiculous. And it’s way, way out of bounds.

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