Speaker 1: Well, Hello, I'm Nicole and I'm Ben and you're listening
Speaker 1: to Wicked and.
Speaker 2: Grim, a true crime podcast. Warning. The following podcast.
Speaker 1: And material intended for a mature audience. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2: That was upbeat.
Speaker 1: That was an upbeat intro. Wow, look at us for
Speaker 1: a grim podcast. That was very upbeat.
Speaker 2: We're living our best life, we are.
Speaker 1: I've got meat. What are you drinking?
Speaker 2: I am actually drinking wine from our local winery. It's
Speaker 2: a fruit winery place.
Speaker 1: Mine's even more local than you, actually, very much so.
Speaker 1: Because ours this came from our kitchen.
Speaker 2: It did as local as it can get, right. I
Speaker 2: made it myself. Is it good? It is?
Speaker 1: I've made better, but it's good. But this is actually
Speaker 1: the last batch of mead I'm ever gonna make.
Speaker 2: You know what never say never well as.
Speaker 1: The foreseeable future for anyone who doesn't know. Mead is wine.
Speaker 1: But it's honey based. It's like what the Vikings used
Speaker 1: to make back in the day. So I made honey
Speaker 1: wine myself.
Speaker 2: Fits your character very well?
Speaker 1: What is my character that it fits?
Speaker 2: Like your beard? You're like a manly man and you
Speaker 2: like your maid.
Speaker 1: Are you just describing Regnar? Lothbrook Off Vikings.
Speaker 2: I really like him. Actually, I was like obsessed with Vikings.
Speaker 1: It's a damn good show.
Speaker 2: Sobering good. Okay. Wasn't there supposed to be like a
Speaker 2: spin off or something of that sort. There was.
Speaker 1: It was supposed to take place like I think it
Speaker 1: was like two hundred years afterwards in the city or
Speaker 1: the township. Yeah, that they were.
Speaker 2: And they were just like a distant not I was
Speaker 2: gonna say future, but past or whatever, like, well, it's our.
Speaker 1: Past technically, but the future. Yeah, so it's supposed to be
Speaker 1: a little bit of a time difference, and like, yeah, happened.
Speaker 1: We should look that up, I know, because.
Speaker 2: I feel like it should be out by now, But
Speaker 2: I could be wrong.
Speaker 1: It may maybe it's over by now. Maybe it's already
Speaker 1: like five seasons and done. Who fucking knows. I don't know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, knowing us, it probably is.
Speaker 1: Probably Do you have any more news or anything we
Speaker 1: need to drop this episode or can we just go
Speaker 1: straight into this or what anything we need to say?
Speaker 2: I don't know. We're really into Ramen right now?
Speaker 1: Oh, yes we are?
Speaker 2: Is that important?
Speaker 1: Ramen's definitely important. I've been making home, making homemade.
Speaker 2: Stuff actually like sour dough.
Speaker 1: Yes, haven't made that for a while. I should probably
Speaker 1: make them soon.
Speaker 2: We made some said, you're annoyed with the other day.
Speaker 2: You're like, you got to start making sour I'm like,
Speaker 2: I would I if you just do it, though, I'm
Speaker 2: getting tired of making all this handmade freaking sour dough.
Speaker 2: At home.
Speaker 1: We don't buy bread anymore, just have sour dough, and
Speaker 1: I'm getting like tired of it. And it's like you
Speaker 1: want me to keep going clearly because you just get
Speaker 1: fresh baked bread. Well, time to pull your own.
Speaker 2: Damn, I just raked the backyard.
Speaker 1: Then that equals fresh bread for the rest of your life.
Speaker 2: Wow, let's go.
Speaker 1: Let's on that note, let's go into this.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Wicked and Grim guys.
Speaker 2: This is yeah, this is this is it. It just
Speaker 2: goes downhill.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure the entire podcast is basically just going
Speaker 1: to be us taking notes on how we can get
Speaker 1: away with murder if the other one pisses us off enough.
Speaker 2: I don't say that kind of ship.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, we don't want to get an evidence
Speaker 1: evidence My bad. I mean that was a joke, total joke.
Speaker 1: Uh No, But today we're talking a very serious, serious episode.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you got very serious, or even your eye
Speaker 2: contact got seriously. This is like.
Speaker 1: The worst thing in Canadian history, like ever.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm very intrigued.
Speaker 1: It's the Great maple Syrup Heist.
Speaker 2: Ooh casey, I actually know nothing about this.
Speaker 1: You know nothing about it?
Speaker 2: I really don't. I actually didn't really even know it
Speaker 2: was a thing.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm gonna learn you a little bit on it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let's do this.
Speaker 1: We bleed maple syrup up here in the North, Yeah,
Speaker 1: we do. And the fact that there was a giant
Speaker 1: heist stealing a bunch of maple syrup, it's literally our
Speaker 1: life blood just gone.
Speaker 2: Maple syrup is freaking delicious, it is.
Speaker 1: And fun fact about this case though, it's not only
Speaker 1: the Great maple Syrup Heist, it's the largest heist in
Speaker 1: Canadian history.
Speaker 2: Wom ding dang.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So it's pretty crazy cool. So let's start this off.
Speaker 1: Let's dive right in.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So, between twenty eleven and twenty twelve, eighteen point seven
Speaker 1: million dollars was stolen in nearly three thousand tons of
Speaker 1: maple syrup from a storage facility in Quebec, Okay.
Speaker 2: Can you say how much money again?
Speaker 1: Eighteen point seven million?
Speaker 2: Wow? Good lord. I wasn't produce AD eighteen or eight,
Speaker 2: but it was.
Speaker 1: Like, holy one eight point seven that's an insane number.
Speaker 1: That's a ship time in maple syrup.
Speaker 2: No kidding, because it's only it's like gold or anything.
Speaker 1: Well, it kind of is. I'm gonna we'll get into
Speaker 1: this here in a sec. So, like, really, before we
Speaker 1: get into the whole story, I'm going to kind of
Speaker 1: give you a background on that, like what you're going
Speaker 1: after here. So first off, before we get numbers of
Speaker 1: like monetary wise, let's get numbers on production. So Canada
Speaker 1: produces approximately seventy five percent of the world's maple syrup supply. Wow,
Speaker 1: and ninety one percent of that supply comes from Quebec.
Speaker 2: Really yep. Okay, see I had no idea about this.
Speaker 2: That's some good learnings right there.
Speaker 1: You don't need to go to school kids, just listen
Speaker 1: to us.
Speaker 2: Okay. And this this might be a really dumb question,
Speaker 2: you know, the like aunt Jemima, Oh no, no, no,
Speaker 2: that's not Canadians.
Speaker 1: That's no, that's just like flavored corn syrup.
Speaker 2: Okay. See. I was like, I don't know maybe it
Speaker 2: is actually but.
Speaker 1: Not talking maple syrup.
Speaker 2: You get good, delicious, the good shit. Okay, not this,
Speaker 2: So is that not even maple syrup?
Speaker 1: No, that's that's just syrup. That's just a flavored syrup.
Speaker 2: Look at I'm learning a lot already. It's like five
Speaker 2: minutes in. I like this.
Speaker 1: So, on average, a tapped maple tree will produce ten
Speaker 1: gallons ten to twenty gallons sorry of sap per tap.
Speaker 1: And it takes ten gallons of sap to make approximately
Speaker 1: one quart of syrup from harvest. Okay, so it takes
Speaker 1: a lot. Yeah. And maple syrup is valued at approximately
Speaker 1: twelve hundred dollars a barrel. That's two dollars and eighty
Speaker 1: eight cents a pound. Now this is all Canadian monetary.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: And just for a reference, crude oil like to make gasoline,
Speaker 1: is around sixty five dollars a barrel. So that makes
Speaker 1: maple syrup ten to twelve times more valuable.
Speaker 2: Yeah than crude all.
Speaker 1: Maybe it is gold, it's liquid fucking gold.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's why we Canadians are pretty serious about
Speaker 1: our maple syrup.
Speaker 2: Very serious. Yeah, and now we know why.
Speaker 1: Well, it's literally liquid gold. It tastes fucking delicious. It's
Speaker 1: comes from our own land and it's fucking liquid gold.
Speaker 2: Yes, screw hot sauce. We put maple syrup on everything. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm making us sound so ridiculous.
Speaker 1: Shit on everything. Oh my god, you can a stir fry.
Speaker 1: Where's the maple syrup?
Speaker 2: Oh? I think I oh man.
Speaker 1: Anyways, so we all know about the black market, right
Speaker 1: due to the prices like twelve hundred dollars a barrel. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's there's a black market for maple.
Speaker 2: Syrup really, yeah, right, along with organs and stuff. Literally, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's nuts.
Speaker 1: And the funny part is this is hilarious to find
Speaker 1: this hilarious. This black market for maple syrup is controlled
Speaker 1: by what is commonly referred to. This isn't a name
Speaker 1: I made up or just from one article. This is
Speaker 1: a common name for them, the maple syrup Cartel.
Speaker 2: Oh serious and fucking serious, holy free, This is.
Speaker 1: Some literal godfather shit.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So welcome to fucking Canada. Don't fuck with our
Speaker 1: maple syrup or our geese. You'll die.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, it just got real.
Speaker 1: What really did.
Speaker 2: So?
Speaker 1: How much you learned so far?
Speaker 2: So much. Actually, like I'm actually shocked because I don't.
Speaker 2: I've almost like like I'm not a very good Canadian
Speaker 2: so far because I'm like, holy shit, like I probably
Speaker 2: know this stuff.
Speaker 1: Well, you're learning it today.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I might have to like re listen to this
Speaker 2: shit to make sure I really got it in there.
Speaker 1: I have a feeling this is gonna be a shit
Speaker 1: show of an episode, just if you're going what and
Speaker 1: me being like, yeah, Godfather shit. Also we put that shit.
Speaker 2: On everything, Yeah, we really do.
Speaker 1: So when it comes to the whole Godfather shit. Though,
Speaker 1: the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers is the exact
Speaker 1: federation who controls all this. I'm the maple syrup cartel
Speaker 1: on the black market. That's a little bit different. The
Speaker 1: Federation is like the fucking FBI sort of thing.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, So they.
Speaker 1: Are literally the head of maple syrup production and tells
Speaker 1: the rest of the country how to make and sell
Speaker 1: their maple syrup. Okay, They somehow managed to convince the
Speaker 1: government to approve and enforce that they are in control
Speaker 1: of buying from producers to sell and distribute the syrup
Speaker 1: wholesale across the globe. Basically that states that if you
Speaker 1: ever own or even inherit or grow maple trees, and
Speaker 1: they were, and you were to produce maple syrup for wholesale,
Speaker 1: you have to go through them for your sales and
Speaker 1: pay them for their service.
Speaker 2: Really yeah, how did they do this?
Speaker 1: I don't know. Wow, this is government law. If you
Speaker 1: were to produce maple syrup for wholesale, you have to
Speaker 1: go through them and pay them for their service.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's totally fucked up.
Speaker 2: That's some intent shit, I know.
Speaker 1: Like, so we literally have the Federation, the Federation of
Speaker 1: Quebec Maple Syrup Producers. I love saying that, but I'll
Speaker 1: refer to them as the federation. So we have the Federation,
Speaker 1: who's like literally the FBI of the maple syrup world
Speaker 1: and the maple syrup cartel running the black market for
Speaker 1: maple syrup.
Speaker 2: Wow, Like this means serious business.
Speaker 1: Oh it fucking do.
Speaker 2: It's business time, man, it's business it's business time.
Speaker 1: Motherfucker. Come on, we got maple syrup and its fucking
Speaker 1: isness time. Sorry oh boy, anyways, I'm not a singer.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry. Your ears are bleeding now, My bad. So anyways,
Speaker 1: they maintained this whole federation. They may maintain a strategic
Speaker 1: reserve of maple syrup, officially known as the International Strategic Reserve,
Speaker 1: also known as the is R, also referred to as
Speaker 1: the Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve.
Speaker 2: Good lord, this is getting too much. It's a lot,
Speaker 2: it is. It's so in depth, just some freaking maple syrup.
Speaker 1: I'm only scratching the surface on this information too. It
Speaker 1: was way too in depth for me to get into.
Speaker 1: So I'm just like, this is the basic information here.
Speaker 2: And I'm actually shocked too, because how could anyone even
Speaker 2: get away with anything with all this shit going on.
Speaker 1: That's the whole thing, with the whole black market. There's
Speaker 1: people like trying to rise up against this federation because
Speaker 1: they're they're saying, like, how can you control this, Like
Speaker 1: you're literally holding us all hostage with her own supply here.
Speaker 2: Well yeah, huh.
Speaker 1: So, anyways, these reserves, these strategic reserves, are to ensure
Speaker 1: that they slow the steady flow of syrup supply and
Speaker 1: make sure it's pushed to the markets at a rate
Speaker 1: that keeps the prices from fluctuating.
Speaker 2: Okay, I guess that's fair.
Speaker 1: It gives the federation complete control over supply and demand,
Speaker 1: with the ability to charge what they want, hence the
Speaker 1: extremely high maple syrup prices.
Speaker 2: I mean, but that is good for the I don't
Speaker 2: know what you call them suppliers though, that they are
Speaker 2: maintaining this high level price for their.
Speaker 1: Products necessarily because the Federation will be like, our reserves
Speaker 1: are full.
Speaker 2: This doesn't even sound very Canadian, really, I mean it does.
Speaker 1: When you consider the fact that our fucking cartel is
Speaker 1: based around maple syrup.
Speaker 2: I guess.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, it's kind of fucked up. It's very Canadian
Speaker 1: in my opinion, but like that is but just.
Speaker 2: Like the control ness and like not where's like the
Speaker 2: nice cities of you getting to do your own shit.
Speaker 1: I'm going to catch a little bit of flak here,
Speaker 1: no offense, I'm sorry, but we are talking about Quebec.
Speaker 1: They're dicks. They wanted to separate from Canada.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, are they the dicks of Canada? I don't
Speaker 2: even okay, I didn't mean, oh gosh, oh gosh, okay,
Speaker 2: but I actually don't remember if I did. Where did
Speaker 2: we hear this that they wanted to separate?
Speaker 1: This is this is common knowledge, This is history. Do
Speaker 1: they still want to majority? I think yeah, they want
Speaker 1: to separate from Canada.
Speaker 2: That would be really weird.
Speaker 1: No offense, You're not assholes, You're just.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: You don't make me mad, you just make me disappointed worse.
Speaker 1: I know. Let let's push this aside. I don't want
Speaker 1: to get all political on this. But anyways, due to
Speaker 1: the overbearing control from the Federation, they basically have people
Speaker 1: who started trying to sell maple syrup on the black
Speaker 1: market right controlled by the cartel. Yeah, reserve facilities being placed. Sorry,
Speaker 1: I lost my spot and I tried to like brain
Speaker 1: fart my way through it. That wasn't gonna work. So
Speaker 1: reserve facilities being places that houses essentially like guess, like
Speaker 1: we said, liquid gold for the world are in a
Speaker 1: few spots around Quebec. Their top of the line security
Speaker 1: is basically impenetrable. Oh sorry, laughable, it's laughable, not impenetrable.
Speaker 1: They're basically just warehouses, no security cameras, no arms, maybe
Speaker 1: a chain link fence with like maybe a princess auto
Speaker 1: lock on it, so.
Speaker 2: Like someone's backyard.
Speaker 1: Basically pretty much. Yeah, it's at best you might have
Speaker 1: a security guard do with rounds like once.
Speaker 2: In a while, which is interesting really with the value.
Speaker 1: Oh I know, and there is a history of maple
Speaker 1: syrup being stolen too.
Speaker 2: Huh.
Speaker 1: There was a truck that was stolen with heavily it
Speaker 1: was ten thousand dollars worth of maple syrup prior to this.
Speaker 1: I think it was in two thousand and three, somewhere
Speaker 1: around there. I didn't write these ones down. I was
Speaker 1: like pluck that, I'm not going to get onto them.
Speaker 1: Here we are now I'm talking about it. And another
Speaker 1: case with actually an individual who was involved in this one.
Speaker 1: We'll get into that later who had stole I think
Speaker 1: one point three million dollars worth of maple syrup. But
Speaker 1: they still haven't actually tied anyone to that case. But
Speaker 1: the dude who headed this is the prime suspect. Okay,
Speaker 1: so there is a history a thing of maple syrup theft.
Speaker 1: But still we're just talking just a warehouse down the
Speaker 1: road off the highway with fucking bob. Who's the security
Speaker 1: guy sleeping in the shack not doing his fucking job.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's interesting to me.
Speaker 1: So yeah, not very smart, like I said, not impenetrable
Speaker 1: laugh about security security. So with such crazy preventative measures
Speaker 1: that they managed to do for their securities. We can
Speaker 1: understand exactly how the maple syrup was basically stolen from
Speaker 1: said top line facilities. Sorry, I'm gonna stop mocking that now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can get over that. I can tell it's
Speaker 2: just ridiculous.
Speaker 1: So they discovered that there was missing maple syrup first
Speaker 1: when a routine inventory check was being performed. It's an
Speaker 1: annual check. Then you know, they go through and they
Speaker 1: count all the barrels. They make sure they have their
Speaker 1: inventory taken.
Speaker 2: Care of good.
Speaker 1: The person who was heading that inventory check at this
Speaker 1: specific facility was I'm gonna butcher these names because it's
Speaker 1: a lot of French names. I'm gonna try. I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: Michuel garv Roau.
Speaker 2: I think that doesn't sound too bad.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Just because it sounds bad, it doesn't sound bad,
Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's not right. And it was, say Miguel.
Speaker 1: So he went to the warehouse insane Louis de Blancford,
Speaker 1: de Blanford or whatever, just in Quebec. Again French, I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: I'm not a French person. Where it contained nearly sixteen
Speaker 1: thousand drums stacked six high to the ceiling, and he
Speaker 1: was in charge of counting those barrels all the way.
Speaker 2: That's a lot of maple syrup.
Speaker 1: That's a lot of maple syrup.
Speaker 2: And visualizing that right now.
Speaker 1: Wow, each one of those barrels weighed about six hundred pounds.
Speaker 2: Holy crap.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a lot of maple syrup.
Speaker 2: Holy moly.
Speaker 1: Remember I said it was like what two dollars and
Speaker 1: eighty eight cents a pound.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you did something like that. Yeah, and there's six
Speaker 2: hundred pounds in a barrel yep.
Speaker 1: At sixteen thousand drums. Holy mola in Justice one facility.
Speaker 1: So this is a sort of reserve that they're just
Speaker 1: holding back and not putting it out to public so
Speaker 1: they can maintain prices. So Mguel, I think climbed to
Speaker 1: the top of the stack to get some heights, you know,
Speaker 1: perform the count so you can get you know, perspective
Speaker 1: and all that sort of thing. Yeah, doesn't sound safe
Speaker 1: at all, just saying this. He just you know, scaling
Speaker 1: six high.
Speaker 2: Oil drums, always climbing on the barrel, climbing on the barrels.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, okay, friing loadder No, No.
Speaker 1: He's just climbing up the top of the barrel. So
Speaker 1: he's climbing and he reaches up to grab the top
Speaker 1: barrel to pull himself up when it shifted, causing him
Speaker 1: to fall backwards to the ground with a six hundred
Speaker 1: pound barrel crashing down on top of him.
Speaker 2: But the barrel wasn't actually full, was it.
Speaker 1: The barrel didn't crush him because it didn't weigh six
Speaker 1: hundred pounds because it was empty.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I actually caught on earlier. I normally pat on
Speaker 2: the back, baby, I'm smart tonight.
Speaker 1: You got to do the back there, you go leave
Speaker 1: me hanging there. So, yeah, thankfully the barrel was empty.
Speaker 2: But then if the barrel was full, he might not
Speaker 2: have fallen either though exactly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the six hundred pounds would have exactly. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: you're catching on, you know what you're talking about. So
Speaker 1: an empty barrel, it's you know, definitely odd. And they
Speaker 1: just chalked it up to an inventory error, as there
Speaker 1: was actually multiple barrels that were empty in there, but
Speaker 1: it was just a handful, and they're just like, you know,
Speaker 1: shit like this happens. You know, something could have fucked up.
Speaker 1: But three weeks later, another inventory check was performed, and
Speaker 1: they found more empty barrels, and in fact others had
Speaker 1: been filled with water.
Speaker 2: Oh wow.
Speaker 1: Over the course of the next three months, they discovered
Speaker 1: nearly ten thousand barrels had been emptied of their contents,
Speaker 1: with a value of over eighteen million dollars.
Speaker 2: Holy shit. Yeah, So, were like the people still doing
Speaker 2: it over that three months or had or had it
Speaker 2: already been done?
Speaker 1: I wanted they were still doing it. They were doing
Speaker 1: it before the inventory check, and they were continuing to
Speaker 1: do it.
Speaker 2: See. I feel like I would find one empty barrel
Speaker 2: and be like, what the fuck, and the Sebert just
Speaker 2: like yeah whatever, like and then they don't even and
Speaker 2: then they find mores, yeah whatever, they don't increase their
Speaker 2: security and.
Speaker 1: Shit, well, I mean if you just look at one
Speaker 1: empty barrel, I mean, for someone who's making that much money,
Speaker 1: you're looking at six hundred pounds times two point eight,
Speaker 1: so six hundred basically times three, right, So you're looking
Speaker 1: at how much is that? Like eighteen hundred dollars?
Speaker 2: Yes, but still like that. I'm pretty wait, no, how
Speaker 2: much is that? I actually don't know six hundred.
Speaker 1: I think it's eighteen eighteen hundred, Okay, Yeah, it's eighteen hundred.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Holy moly.
Speaker 1: So, I mean eighteen hundred dollars down the drain and
Speaker 1: it's just a missing barrel. What the fuck? That's odd? Yeah,
Speaker 1: but for big corporation, that's not that much. It's just
Speaker 1: one missing barrel. But then it starts adding up, adding up.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: Once something happened twice is.
Speaker 2: A what is it? Fool me? What is the same?
Speaker 1: Well for me once, shame on you. For me twice,
Speaker 1: shame on me. But I mean there's also once actually,
Speaker 1: go well here, once is something happened? You know, it's
Speaker 1: just yeah, whatever, twice coincidence? Three times as a pattern.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, I mean.
Speaker 1: We got this happening repeated repeatedly, and now we're getting
Speaker 1: up to ten thousand.
Speaker 2: To see what they were doing here, like how they're
Speaker 2: getting it out of the barrels and what they're doing,
Speaker 2: this is fascinating.
Speaker 1: Well, we're going to get into it a little bit here.
Speaker 2: And I also want a barrel of maple syrup.
Speaker 1: Barrel of syrup. I really we'll oh god. So during
Speaker 1: the whole time, there were actually eyewitnesses at the compound,
Speaker 1: which were located just off the main highway like I said,
Speaker 1: saying that there were trucks coming and going at strange
Speaker 1: hours all throughout the day, at different times like day night,
Speaker 1: just weird nondescript trucks.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: One individual named Pascal Patrie I got that one pretty
Speaker 1: good good job. He was a laborer who worked at
Speaker 1: the specific facility loading and unloading trucks. And he actually
Speaker 1: reported water on one of the barrels, which we're working
Speaker 1: in maple syrup here. There shouldn't be water, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: And he reported it to his manager, and his manager
Speaker 1: offered him one thousand dollars to keep his mouth and
Speaker 1: join the cause.
Speaker 2: Really, yeah, I would take that deal.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, So he accepted. He would work for the federation,
Speaker 1: you know because this is their their warehouse, right, So
Speaker 1: he'd work his Federation job nine to five and then
Speaker 1: after hours help the black market cartel thieves steal and
Speaker 1: replace the maple syrup with water by night.
Speaker 2: Wow. Yeah, So were they just putting that I don't know,
Speaker 2: you might get here, but were they just putting emptying
Speaker 2: the barrels of maple syrup into like another barrel and
Speaker 2: taking it?
Speaker 1: Well, what they were doing, because there was a different
Speaker 1: ways they would do it. But the main way that
Speaker 1: I found is they would essentially load up maple syrup
Speaker 1: into their trucks and unload barrels filled with water.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, yeah.
Speaker 1: That's essentially what they would do. Interesting, So, most of
Speaker 1: the workers who were actually involved in like that loading
Speaker 1: and unloading process, even driving, didn't know they were even
Speaker 1: a part of it, really they, or so they claim anyways,
Speaker 1: because I mean if I was a part of it
Speaker 1: and I knew, I.
Speaker 2: Like, I'm just I don't know what the Yeah, no kidding,
Speaker 2: No one.
Speaker 1: Told me I was stealing shit. Uh So they're basically
Speaker 1: just basically paid under the table to simply haul the
Speaker 1: truck from like point A to point B or load
Speaker 1: or unload the shipment at like weird specific times for cash.
Speaker 1: So I mean there's gonna be people out there who
Speaker 1: are looking for work or just fuck yeah, they're not
Speaker 1: gonna ask questions, yes, do it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, they just need the money.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So a Karen VK Karen, I think it's a V Karen.
Speaker 1: There we go. However, was a warehouse worker who would
Speaker 1: be a key part and central figure for this whole operation.
Speaker 1: A vek spouse actually owned the property this warehouse was in.
Speaker 1: It was a rented warehouse she owned. Okay, well I'm
Speaker 1: not sure if she owned it. I saw owned, but
Speaker 1: I have a feeling it's more or like operated or something. Anyways. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so his spouse was in charge of that, and he
Speaker 1: had reported history as well, and a criminal record of fraud.
Speaker 1: But he actually avoided jail time. Though he was a
Speaker 1: central and important part of this whole thing. He wasn't
Speaker 1: the head of the snake. He wasn't the only one.
Speaker 1: The whole head of the thing was reserved for a
Speaker 1: man by the name of Ricard Valliers. He was what
Speaker 1: you'd call a barrel roller, someone who went against the federation,
Speaker 1: dealt in the black market. And like I said, he
Speaker 1: had actually been previously charged with Oh sorry, I said
Speaker 1: earlier one point three million. It's one point eight million.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, So he's done this before his experience.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So, but clearly that didn't stop him because he's
Speaker 1: doing it again.
Speaker 2: Well he got away with it.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So he would buy from producers and sell to
Speaker 1: whoever he could. And the problem was when people were buying,
Speaker 1: there's no way of really knowing where the serp came from.
Speaker 1: So even though someone's buying stolen maple syrup, there's no
Speaker 1: way of knowing it's stolen maple syrup. You basically have
Speaker 1: to trust the person you're purchasing from. Some people, I'm
Speaker 1: sure do know they're buying black market syrup. Others don't. Okay, interesting, yeah,
Speaker 1: because there's like, you can't serial stamp a freaking maple syrup.
Speaker 1: The only way you know where it's coming from is
Speaker 1: once it's in a container that sealed and says.
Speaker 2: This on it.
Speaker 1: And it's like these barrels, there's like a label on it.
Speaker 1: You slap another label over top, you label off whatever.
Speaker 2: Right, So people were buying the black market stuff not knowing. Yes, okay.
Speaker 1: One thing that I got to give them credit for, though,
Speaker 1: I fucking love this. So they use cell phones during
Speaker 1: the whole operation, and you know, burner phone sort of thing, right, Okay,
Speaker 1: And they had alias names that they ran by on
Speaker 1: these cell phones, and those alias names were themed. First
Speaker 1: of all, you're coordinated, you're themed. Love it. Second of all,
Speaker 1: they were Star Wars themed. We're talking Luke Skywalker, We're
Speaker 1: talking Lea Hans Solo.
Speaker 2: You will love that.
Speaker 1: Okay. I just want to say if I were to
Speaker 1: ever commit a heist, I want to do that straight up.
Speaker 1: That's just badass.
Speaker 2: So if anyone ever hears anything about like something like
Speaker 2: that in the news, they're going to know what's been Yeah,
Speaker 2: that was me, proudly.
Speaker 1: So the Rebel Alliance, which Star Wars reference, and it
Speaker 1: totally fits what they're doing, just so I'm calling them
Speaker 1: the Rebel Alliance from here and out.
Speaker 2: Oh, like, do you made that up?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, that's me.
Speaker 2: Oh good job.
Speaker 1: Well, the Rebel Alliance and Star Wars.
Speaker 2: I know, I thought it would just made sense, So
Speaker 2: I thought it was just part of.
Speaker 1: The story about I put that in there because it
Speaker 1: just fits so well. So they grew more and more
Speaker 1: nervous actually with that annual inventory check coming up, because
Speaker 1: they knew there was a high chance, high possibility that
Speaker 1: these empty barrels or barrels full of water were going
Speaker 1: to be discovered. So they actually did things like even
Speaker 1: mess with the lights to try and get it, like
Speaker 1: dimmer in there to try and you know, get there
Speaker 1: the scheme to kind of go under the radar. So
Speaker 1: they did a lot of stuff to try and help
Speaker 1: in the favor. But clearly we know how that played out,
Speaker 1: it didn't go in their favor. They were discovered.
Speaker 2: Well I think they got almost too grady, really.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think so, because I mean we're talking a
Speaker 1: lot of money here.
Speaker 2: They just stopped at like five million or whatever. They
Speaker 2: really need eighteen million.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's you got a point. I would probably stop
Speaker 1: at like five barrels.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're like, I'm good retirement and that's a lot
Speaker 2: of a lot of labor.
Speaker 1: I don't want to be moving all these barrels.
Speaker 2: Well yeah, that's freaking heavy.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So there were other indicators though, other than just
Speaker 1: that empty barrel that like toppled over. Okay, so the
Speaker 1: indicators that helped them identify all these empty barrels in
Speaker 1: the sea of fucking maple syrup. One of them was rust,
Speaker 1: because we're talking water in these barrels.
Speaker 2: The barrels began to rust, and they wouldn't have rust.
Speaker 2: Stood with syrup, they wouldn't have No. Oh, that's really interesting. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Another one was marks on the barrels from forklifts. Because
Speaker 1: of Warehouse when they were operating, they had actual specific
Speaker 1: attachments on their forklifts rather than just standard forks on
Speaker 1: the bottom, and they were designed to grab two barrels
Speaker 1: at a time without damaging the barrels.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, but these people didn't have that.
Speaker 1: These people rented forklifts and just used regular forks, and
Speaker 1: those forks can scratch, dentt do a lot of damage.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So when they're looking for to identify which barrels were
Speaker 1: filled with maple syrup and not, it was pretty easy
Speaker 1: to say, well, that one's got rust on it. Let's
Speaker 1: check it. Yeah, water, okay, let's check the one beside it. Okay,
Speaker 1: that one's also water. Even if there's not rust, it's like,
Speaker 1: now we are looking in this spot. Oh, there's dents
Speaker 1: and scratches over here. Let's check these ones.
Speaker 2: That's a lot of signs. Actually, really, it is.
Speaker 1: Another sign that they completely missed, which just dumb, absolutely dumb.
Speaker 1: Was a little later on when they're doing their investigation,
Speaker 1: some of the maple syrup barrels that were sold to
Speaker 1: people on the black market or whatever had like labels
Speaker 1: with the head of the whole thing, like his name
Speaker 1: on it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Really, they were even able.
Speaker 1: To track down where the rental forklist was from from,
Speaker 1: like arrest warrants and there's like receipts and shit for
Speaker 1: these rental fork lists. They were not careful at all.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they almost like seem like they were like cocky
Speaker 2: or something like I'm not gonna get caught.
Speaker 1: I think they were just dumb. I think like, yeah,
Speaker 1: they're just like sloped.
Speaker 2: That's like really dumb though, yeah it is.
Speaker 1: It's really like it's just so janky. They just never
Speaker 1: thought into the like we're gonna steal some shit, We're
Speaker 1: gonna get people just gonna pay them, and there'll be
Speaker 1: so many people involved. No one's gonna talk.
Speaker 2: People talked to get that much money, though. I feel
Speaker 2: like you would have had to kind of like have
Speaker 2: some serious brains behind this operation.
Speaker 1: But no, I think it's I think it's just serious balls.
Speaker 1: He's got the hood spot to pull it off, yeah,
Speaker 1: but he does not have brains to do anything about it. Yeah. So,
Speaker 1: like I said that, people did talk, nerves actually began
Speaker 1: to get to people because the investigations starting now right,
Speaker 1: they found missing barrels or so, they found barrels emptied
Speaker 1: with maple syrup and water like shit's going down, So
Speaker 1: they actually began to like threats going back and forth,
Speaker 1: and some people even having ties to a parent real
Speaker 1: cartel and stuff like real mafia getting involved, like if
Speaker 1: you talk to police, will shoot you in the head,
Speaker 1: like some serious fo allegations.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's some scary shit.
Speaker 1: But we're talking a lot of people involved, Like not
Speaker 1: everyone kept quiet.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So all in all, about three hundred people were questioned,
Speaker 1: forty search warrants were executed, and the case basically worked
Speaker 1: in a textbook way. You know, chase down a lead,
Speaker 1: question the witness, identify the ring leader, and boom close.
Speaker 1: That's pretty much how it went.
Speaker 2: It probably wasn't even that hard to get to that
Speaker 2: ring leader really.
Speaker 1: No, it wasn't, like I said, his name was on fucking.
Speaker 2: Bars, actually yeah, and he's.
Speaker 1: Already got a past like it. It was like, I
Speaker 1: don't even need to talk evidence here because it was
Speaker 1: just so fucking easy. So what happened here from from
Speaker 1: those individuals that were caught, I've got a list here
Speaker 1: of people who were charged, but from what they arrested
Speaker 1: was a total of twenty six individuals, and there was
Speaker 1: probably more, oh there was more involved, but that the
Speaker 1: arrests involved twenty six people.
Speaker 2: That's a lot of people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, Like you're talking.
Speaker 2: Not even getting a million bucks at this point, Like,
Speaker 2: what the shit's the point.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure they were getting like, oh, maybe probably
Speaker 1: getting paid.
Speaker 2: There was tears. Probably they weren't getting splitting it evenly
Speaker 2: or whatever.
Speaker 1: Well, I'm sure they weren't splitting it evenly. I'm sure
Speaker 1: it's a matter of like we'll give you ten grand
Speaker 1: to do this, will give you five grand to do this,
Speaker 1: and for workers, will give you five hundred bucks a
Speaker 1: night like that sort of stuff.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Okay, now, thankfully, and this is this is gonna be
Speaker 1: good news, good news to any Canadian out there listening. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: two thirds of the stolen goods were actually recovered.
Speaker 2: Holy that's a lot.
Speaker 1: Yes. However, the other third were unfortunately absorbed into the
Speaker 1: world's pancakes supply on everyone's breakfast plates. So I actually
Speaker 1: wrote that.
Speaker 2: In my notes to say that look at that.
Speaker 1: But that did come at a cost, because we're talking
Speaker 1: that some people who did purchase these legitimately thinking it
Speaker 1: was legitimate maple syrup that they can you know, put
Speaker 1: into their supply and get out there. Yeah, basically FBI
Speaker 1: is kicking in their door and stealing like a million
Speaker 1: dollars worth of maple syrup that they have almost putting
Speaker 1: their business like under.
Speaker 2: Well, I hope that they would like compensate them.
Speaker 1: No, it's stolen goods.
Speaker 2: What the shit though? Oh that doesn't seem fair because
Speaker 2: then what is going on? Like, Okay, they take back
Speaker 2: the maple syrup, what are they going to do with
Speaker 2: that though? Did they later sell it? That's bullshit if
Speaker 2: that's the case.
Speaker 1: Yeah, probably, Wow, it's there, it's rightfully theirs. It's stolen property, right.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I have issues with that, But that's
Speaker 2: another story. You know.
Speaker 1: I'm going to skip ahead a little bit to kind
Speaker 1: of give talk about what you're on already.
Speaker 2: Here.
Speaker 1: There is one party that actually never did get charged,
Speaker 1: the Federation itself. There are rumors that it itself was involved.
Speaker 1: Their reserves were too great and to simply just release
Speaker 1: extra maple syrup out into the world would you know,
Speaker 1: decrease demand and increased supply, thus dropping the price. So
Speaker 1: they didn't want to do that. But they just got
Speaker 1: all this giant stock and maple syrup just sitting there.
Speaker 1: So they're thinking that maybe they were trying to look
Speaker 1: at a way of getting rid of this overflow stock
Speaker 1: and collect some insurance money on top of it.
Speaker 2: Oh, interesting.
Speaker 1: So there's this big like thing going around where people
Speaker 1: are talking about maybe this was actually a thing that
Speaker 1: the Federation did try and pull off.
Speaker 2: Hmmm. I don't know what the shelf life of maple
Speaker 2: syrup is.
Speaker 1: It's it's pretty long, is it. I'm not too sure
Speaker 1: what it is exactly. Well, I know it's like because
Speaker 1: the sugar content's so high, right right, it basically like
Speaker 1: most bacteria just can't survive in it, Like honey doesn't
Speaker 1: have a shelf life because of the sugar content, and
Speaker 1: I know that it's similar with maple syrup. But I
Speaker 1: know it does have a shelf life.
Speaker 2: Huh. So very interesting. I wouldn't actually that's I wouldn't
Speaker 2: put it past them that they.
Speaker 1: Were involved, well, especially considering by the sounds of what
Speaker 1: they've done previously, like just overthrowing everyone warning this whole thing.
Speaker 2: They sound like shady characters.
Speaker 1: And this is a way of ensuring that you get
Speaker 1: some of these people in this black market cartel for
Speaker 1: maple syrup arrested as well, and off your back and
Speaker 1: selling maple syrup where you could be taking it and
Speaker 1: selling it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so you're.
Speaker 1: Kind of getting an insurance money. You're also getting rid
Speaker 1: of these basically people who are working against you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's a win win if they were.
Speaker 2: Involved, Yeah, but no one knows.
Speaker 1: No one knows officially or for sure. So to wrap
Speaker 1: this all up, we do have the individuals who were
Speaker 1: charged in the case. Richard Valierez, who was the accused ringleader,
Speaker 1: was sentenced in April twenty seventeen to eight years in
Speaker 1: prison plus a nine point million dollar fine with an
Speaker 1: extension to fourteen years in prison if the fine is
Speaker 1: not paid.
Speaker 2: Holy Okay, that's actually crazy though. Fourteen years nine million
Speaker 2: dollars like that just seems on a scale not balanced.
Speaker 2: But did he have that kind of money? No?
Speaker 1: Oh maybe if he got away with his.
Speaker 2: Whole heist, Yeah, then he would have for sure.
Speaker 1: Also, Raymond Valierez, Richard's father, was convicted of possession.
Speaker 2: Oh you got his pops involved. Eh.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not too sure what that possession was. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's just possession of drugs. I don't fucking know, But
Speaker 1: clearly there was a warrant out for being able to
Speaker 1: search their property. They found something. Whether it was the
Speaker 1: maple syrup or fucking cocaine, Apparently either one is enough
Speaker 1: to be convicted at this point Etienne Saint Pierre. He
Speaker 1: was a New Brunswick based syrup reseller, so clearly he's
Speaker 1: buying and such, right, A Vic? Carry on? A Karen Vic. Karen,
Speaker 1: like I said, the I don't know how to say
Speaker 1: these names. He's the one I was talking about earlier
Speaker 1: whose wife owned the property.
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, was the wife involved too, not as far
Speaker 2: as I know, interesting, Okay, the so he was that.
Speaker 1: The insider whose wife was involved, and he was sentenced
Speaker 1: to five years in prison plus a one point two
Speaker 1: million dollar fine.
Speaker 2: Woo.
Speaker 1: And Sebastian Jutrus, who was a trucker involved in the
Speaker 1: transport of the syrup he served eight months in prison.
Speaker 2: Not really that long of sentences, not really, but I
Speaker 2: mean it's not like murder or anything was involved.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's like I don't know, Yeah, it's money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're doing some bad shit. But yeah, no one's dead.
Speaker 2: Or hurt, which is good, which is good.
Speaker 1: But like I said, it does cut deep for the
Speaker 1: Canadian nation.
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm you probably said this story when when did
Speaker 2: this happen? What years?
Speaker 1: That was between twenty eleven and twenty twelve, so.
Speaker 2: Not very long. Curiously, not that long ago? Was this
Speaker 2: shit not all over the news? Where was I living
Speaker 2: under a rock?
Speaker 1: Apparently? I don't remember this being on the news. I
Speaker 1: only heard of this case a few years ago.
Speaker 2: I'm trying to think, what the hell was I doing then?
Speaker 2: I would have been Oh, I would have been in school.
Speaker 2: I probably didn't give a shit about anything except my degree.
Speaker 1: Yeah, probably. Huh wait, twenty twelve. I'm trying to think now,
Speaker 1: m Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 2: Know, because, yeah, that's really not that long ago, really
Speaker 2: not at all.
Speaker 1: But that's the great Canadian maple syrup.
Speaker 2: W Yeah, it wasn't that interesting, right?
Speaker 1: I wanted to get a little bit off that murderous track,
Speaker 1: even though this is very skeevy and like I said,
Speaker 1: just fucking horrendous for our nation, a little bit more
Speaker 1: lighthearted than what we were doing. Yep. And then my
Speaker 1: next episode, let's go right into some fucking gruesome shit.
Speaker 2: I know. I'm like, what can I do to them
Speaker 2: next time? I'm like thinking, in my head, here.
Speaker 1: See how we can just make this just derail every time,
Speaker 1: just this roller coaster of what the fuck is happening?
Speaker 2: I was actually searching today what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 1: Next time, and do you know what you're gonna do.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I have a few ideas because I
Speaker 2: said I would do a non Canadian one, right, yep,
Speaker 2: So I have a couple ideas. I was even like, man,
Speaker 2: maybe I should just fuck them right up and do
Speaker 2: non Canadian and like an unsolved one. But I might
Speaker 2: not go that far. I might not go that far.
Speaker 1: I think for my next one, I might actually see
Speaker 1: if I can pull off from our suggested list from
Speaker 1: our listeners.
Speaker 2: There is one on that suggested list I really want
Speaker 2: to do.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's the same one.
Speaker 2: It might be the same one.
Speaker 1: Well we'll find out find out, yeah, yeah, when we
Speaker 1: get to that. But next time it's going to be you.
Speaker 1: So until we can hear your next episode, make sure
Speaker 1: you guys stay wicked.