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See website for d. 24 00:01:08.319 --> 00:01:11.760 You are now listening to True Murder, the most shocking 25 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:14.879 killers in true crime history and the authors that have 26 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:22.239 written about them Gaesy, Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker VTK Every 27 00:01:22.280 --> 00:01:25.959 week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and 28 00:01:26.040 --> 00:01:30.519 infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your host, 29 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:42.920 journalist and author Dan Zupanski, Good Evening. 30 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:47.239 What do Mobster Meyer Lansky, Banker, John D. MacArthur and 31 00:01:47.359 --> 00:01:51.040 Jack Murph the Surf Murphy have in common? The biggest 32 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:54.079 secret of the century, about the biggest crime of the century. 33 00:01:54.439 --> 00:01:57.000 That's what now, for the first time ever, the true 34 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:00.640 story of the nineteen sixty four Museum robberies and the 35 00:02:00.719 --> 00:02:06.200 nineteen sixty six Hendersonville, North Carolina triple murders, Based on 36 00:02:06.400 --> 00:02:10.280 an in person interview with Jack Murphy aka Murph in 37 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:14.400 twenty fifteen. The author tells a revised version of the 38 00:02:14.479 --> 00:02:18.719 story that Murph swore was true. This dramatic narrative events, 39 00:02:18.759 --> 00:02:23.319 reconstructed from several sources, including never before released FBI files, 40 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:26.840 takes the reader on a wild ride of adventure, missteps, 41 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:30.400 and several surprise endings. You may think you know the truth, 42 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:33.159 but you haven't read this story. The book that we're 43 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:36.080 featuring this evening is Murph, based on a true story, 44 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:39.479 the true story of the nineteen sixty four Museum robberies 45 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:45.280 and Hendersonville triple murders, with my special guests Terrence Ryerson Neil, 46 00:02:45.800 --> 00:02:48.759 journalist and author. Welcome back to the program, and thank 47 00:02:48.759 --> 00:02:52.240 you very much for this interview. Terrence Ryerson Neil. 48 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:54.199 Thank you for inviting me, Dan, I appreciate it. 49 00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:56.919 Thank you so much. Good to have you back, and 50 00:02:57.400 --> 00:03:02.199 very much. We covered then and Bill triple murders a 51 00:03:02.240 --> 00:03:05.599 couple of years ago my recollection Not So Long Ago. 52 00:03:07.080 --> 00:03:11.680 Tell us how this is based on a true story. 53 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:16.159 It is based on a true story because I had 54 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:19.360 decided while I was trying to figure out how to 55 00:03:19.400 --> 00:03:22.759 tell the story, because it can be very complex, and 56 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:28.280 rather than just do a nonfiction kind of dry retelling 57 00:03:28.400 --> 00:03:31.919 of facts, I felt like it was very important to 58 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:36.120 get into the character's heads. So, in essence, the story 59 00:03:36.280 --> 00:03:39.759 is true. But at certain points during the story where 60 00:03:39.800 --> 00:03:44.039 I didn't have an FBI file to recreate dialogue, or 61 00:03:44.680 --> 00:03:47.639 I wasn't the fly on the wall in the poker game, 62 00:03:48.199 --> 00:03:52.080 I took the liberty of creating what I felt was 63 00:03:52.120 --> 00:03:55.240 the appropriate dialogue for each of the characters who I 64 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:59.960 had gotten to know very personally, and so in order 65 00:03:59.960 --> 00:04:03.479 to represent that, I created that story and the dialogue. 66 00:04:03.520 --> 00:04:06.479 And I just wanted to be honest with the readers 67 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:08.800 that they would know that they are hearing or they 68 00:04:08.840 --> 00:04:11.840 are reading a true story. But some of the words 69 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:15.599 that I use in telling the story may not have 70 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:17.680 been exactly what they said. 71 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:21.079 Now, you say, this is a project. This taken over 72 00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:24.000 eight years of your life, starting with a fictional book 73 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:27.680 called The Kill, and then the true story of the 74 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:32.199 Hendersonville Triple murders. As we add, as I had mentioned, now, 75 00:04:32.920 --> 00:04:34.920 one of the characters that you have in here that 76 00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:40.120 you write from his perspective, is this FBI Special Agent 77 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:44.319 William Bean. Yes, so tell us about FBI Special Agent 78 00:04:44.360 --> 00:04:47.519 William Bean and his involvement in this case. 79 00:04:47.800 --> 00:04:50.800 Well, when I was trying to figure out how to 80 00:04:50.800 --> 00:04:53.399 tell this story, of course, every story has to have 81 00:04:53.439 --> 00:04:57.639 a protagonist and antagonist, and I wrestled with that quite 82 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:02.360 a bit. The FBI files that I received from the 83 00:05:02.439 --> 00:05:08.199 FBI two years ago were based on primarily Agent special 84 00:05:08.199 --> 00:05:12.040 Agent Bean's notes. There were a couple of other agents 85 00:05:12.079 --> 00:05:16.920 who wrote some files also for this project, but a 86 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:20.759 special Agent Bean was the leader of the Miami FBI 87 00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:25.839 office in nineteen sixty four when the three as they 88 00:05:25.879 --> 00:05:29.439 call them surfer boys or certain beach bums or whatever 89 00:05:29.439 --> 00:05:34.480 they were called, Murph Alan, Kuhne and Roger Clark left 90 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:38.199 New York City after robbing the museum and fled to Miami, 91 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:43.000 and he was called upon to pretty much organize the 92 00:05:43.480 --> 00:05:48.120 effort because they had essentially taken the jewels across state lines, 93 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:51.319 which made it an FBI case. So Special Agent Bean 94 00:05:51.399 --> 00:05:54.720 actually is the one who, of all of the characters 95 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:59.040 in these stories would have touched on all of the 96 00:05:59.160 --> 00:06:03.319 different law lives of each of the people involved in this, 97 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:06.199 or if he didn't, he would have had knowledge of 98 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:08.759 or have known about them. So I kind of use 99 00:06:08.879 --> 00:06:13.120 him as my neive narrator for the story because because 100 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:15.079 of that perspective that he has. 101 00:06:15.360 --> 00:06:19.399 Now you open with FBI Special Agent Bean, December twelfth, 102 00:06:19.480 --> 00:06:23.319 nineteen seventy and this isn't He's at the Grady Memorial 103 00:06:23.399 --> 00:06:27.439 Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Yes, tell us what he's there 104 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:29.279 for and who's there to speak with? 105 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:33.720 Sure? Well, the reason he's there is because there was 106 00:06:33.759 --> 00:06:39.079 a man who was the offence for a lot of 107 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:42.680 the criminals in Miami, and his name was Herman Gordon. 108 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:47.000 He went by the nickname of High Hy And to 109 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:48.959 be honest with you, I want to also make it 110 00:06:49.160 --> 00:06:53.000 clear that when people read this opening chapter, I want 111 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:56.360 them to know that I did not make up these 112 00:06:56.439 --> 00:07:00.600 particular words. These are the very things that Herma Gordon 113 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:06.000 was screaming when he was there in the hospital. I 114 00:07:06.079 --> 00:07:09.279 took them straight from newspaper accounts, so I didn't make 115 00:07:09.319 --> 00:07:13.040 any of this up. Agent Bean was on a mission 116 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:18.399 to try to find out what happened to the gyms 117 00:07:18.680 --> 00:07:21.120 that had not been recovered from the Museum of the 118 00:07:21.199 --> 00:07:24.240 Natural History in nineteen sixty four when it was robbed 119 00:07:24.240 --> 00:07:30.079 in October twenty ninth. And they had recovered the star 120 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:35.800 Sapphire of India, and they had recovered the DeLong Rupie 121 00:07:36.040 --> 00:07:39.759 in a pretty elaborate ransom scheme in nineteen sixty five, 122 00:07:40.000 --> 00:07:43.959 but the remaining gems had never been discovered, and it 123 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:47.639 had always been bothering him that they had not been 124 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:50.480 able to find those other gems, and he had been 125 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:54.319 led to believe that mister Gordon would know where they were. 126 00:07:54.519 --> 00:07:58.720 And so the opening scene is Herman Gordon in the 127 00:07:58.759 --> 00:08:05.839 hospital in Atlanta. Agent Bean is there and he's watching. 128 00:08:05.879 --> 00:08:07.560 I don't want to give the story away, but he's 129 00:08:07.600 --> 00:08:11.920 watching as Herman Gordon protests that people are trying to 130 00:08:12.120 --> 00:08:14.720 get information from him and they're trying to give him 131 00:08:14.920 --> 00:08:18.439 truth serum. And that's how it opens. And it actually 132 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:22.319 happened and Herman Goon and Agent Bean is hoping that 133 00:08:22.360 --> 00:08:25.399 he can find out what happened to the raining gyms 134 00:08:25.519 --> 00:08:28.920 before mister Gordon perhaps dies or passes away. And so 135 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:31.199 that's how the story opens, is with that. 136 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:36.000 So continue with the what information he does get from 137 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:37.639 Gordon in this confession. 138 00:08:37.840 --> 00:08:42.080 Well, the interesting thing about Herman Gordon is that he 139 00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:46.000 was not really a criminal. He was what he was, 140 00:08:46.120 --> 00:08:51.360 but he was a person who enjoyed the finer things 141 00:08:51.399 --> 00:08:55.480 in life. He loved diamonds, he loved all the gems 142 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:58.600 and things that criminals would bring to him, and he'd 143 00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:02.080 often collect them keep them for himself. But he was 144 00:09:02.159 --> 00:09:06.120 also a fence. He was probably the number one, if 145 00:09:06.159 --> 00:09:09.120 not the He was in the top ten of all 146 00:09:09.159 --> 00:09:14.799 defences in the United States, perhaps the world, passing goods 147 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:21.200 the criminals had stolen through different hands and collecting money 148 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:24.519 and commissions and all this sort of thing. And so 149 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:32.240 he had gotten word that a person who said he 150 00:09:32.279 --> 00:09:37.200 had organized the crime in nineteen sixty four with the 151 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:41.679 robbery of the museum wanted to wanted to talk and 152 00:09:41.720 --> 00:09:45.759 he was going to name names and tell everybody who 153 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:52.039 was involved. And Hermon Gordon, who had who had now 154 00:09:52.039 --> 00:09:56.600 been arrested and was serving a sentence in the same 155 00:09:56.639 --> 00:10:00.639 place where this other person, his name was Richard Dunkan Pearson, 156 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:05.919 where Agent Bean was coming to meet with. Mister Pearson 157 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:08.639 had heard about this, and so mister Gordon said he 158 00:10:08.759 --> 00:10:13.840 wanted to talk to and so Agent Bean sat down 159 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:21.000 with Herman Gordon, and he heard a tale that completely 160 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:25.159 just blew him away about what really happened and why 161 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:31.320 the story happened. Now, I might add that I got 162 00:10:31.360 --> 00:10:36.720 this information, the original story about how this crime actually occurred, 163 00:10:37.200 --> 00:10:41.120 in my twenty fifteen interview with Murph the Search, But 164 00:10:41.440 --> 00:10:45.440 I decided not to have Mrph tell this story because 165 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:49.000 he only knew parts of it, and he was actually 166 00:10:49.679 --> 00:10:54.480 not the major player that everyone thought he was, And 167 00:10:54.519 --> 00:10:57.720 as time went by, as he claimed to be he was, 168 00:10:58.279 --> 00:11:01.080 he was not as important, as he let on. And 169 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:06.480 so that's how this begins, is Herman Gordon giving Agent 170 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:10.639 Being this fantastic tale about how the crime actually occurred 171 00:11:10.679 --> 00:11:11.279 and why. 172 00:11:11.399 --> 00:11:15.000 Now after he hears this incredible story, which he thinks 173 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:17.919 is almost unbelievable, how does he regard the story? 174 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:22.639 Well, Agent Bean actually believes mister Gordon. He doesn't have 175 00:11:22.720 --> 00:11:26.080 any reason. Gordon doesn't have any reason to be lying, 176 00:11:26.360 --> 00:11:30.279 and Agent Being actually does believe him, So that's not 177 00:11:30.440 --> 00:11:35.679 a problem for him. But it's when Being realizes that 178 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:39.639 when Gordon is no longer available to interview any longer, 179 00:11:39.799 --> 00:11:42.919 other people at the FBI, particularly his boss who was 180 00:11:43.000 --> 00:11:48.559 Mark Felt, and then eventually Jayaker Hoover, realized that a 181 00:11:48.679 --> 00:11:53.559 tape confession of Herman Gordon telling this fantastic story simply 182 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:58.080 isn't enough. There's got to be corroboration from other people. 183 00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:02.960 So Being gets very, very frustrated. He believes that he 184 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:06.559 finally is on the trail of finding these gyms that 185 00:12:06.559 --> 00:12:10.360 he's been looking for for six years, and now all 186 00:12:10.360 --> 00:12:12.799 of a sudden, after somebody's told him where they might 187 00:12:12.799 --> 00:12:15.759 be and who might have them, the FBI is telling 188 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:18.080 him it's not good enough. You're going to have to 189 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:21.919 go get more information and find somebody who can corroborate 190 00:12:21.960 --> 00:12:25.399 this story that Herman Gordon's told you. Otherwise, you know, 191 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:27.720 we can't let the public know about this. 192 00:12:28.080 --> 00:12:33.440 Part of his obsession. Bean's obsession is over one of 193 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:37.759 these diamonds, the Eagle Diamond and a sixteen carret twelve 194 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:40.240 sided sunshine yellow gemstone. 195 00:12:40.440 --> 00:12:44.519 Why the obsession, Well, the Eagle Diamond is one of 196 00:12:44.559 --> 00:12:48.200 the most well still is. It is one of the 197 00:12:48.279 --> 00:12:53.919 most fascinating gems that has ever been discovered, particularly because 198 00:12:53.919 --> 00:12:58.440 it was where it was discovered, which is in Wisconsin. Diamonds, 199 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.480 as you know, are quite rare and they only occur 200 00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:06.759 in very specific places in the world, particularly in an 201 00:13:06.840 --> 00:13:11.200 area where something called a kimber light forms, and millions 202 00:13:11.240 --> 00:13:14.039 and millions of years ago, a kimber lights had formed 203 00:13:14.039 --> 00:13:18.320 on the western coast of Canada, and during the Glacial Age, 204 00:13:19.399 --> 00:13:23.000 when the ice was pushing everything south, it pushed a 205 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:26.559 bunch of kimber lights down into the city of Wisconsin. 206 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:30.919 And then in the eighteen hundreds, when a man was 207 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:35.759 digging a well, he pulled out this particular stone, which 208 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:38.440 he thought was topaz, and he took it to a 209 00:13:38.559 --> 00:13:42.320 jeweler who paid him like a dollar. It was very minimal. 210 00:13:42.360 --> 00:13:44.960 I don't recall the exact amount. And then later on 211 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:46.960 he found out that he had been taken, that the 212 00:13:47.159 --> 00:13:50.279 jeweler actually knew what he had but he didn't want 213 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:54.039 to tell him. So it's a very rare, unusual diamond. 214 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:59.759 And Gordon everybody knew after the gym was stolen that 215 00:13:59.840 --> 00:14:03.799 this diamond would be the hardest one to find because 216 00:14:03.879 --> 00:14:07.720 most likely it would be cut because of the fact 217 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:09.919 that it was still in a raw state, so it 218 00:14:09.960 --> 00:14:13.600 could be cut and refined and actually put into different 219 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:16.600 settings and nobody would ever be able to trace it. 220 00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:19.200 And that's one of the reasons he was particularly interested 221 00:14:19.240 --> 00:14:22.519 in Herman Gordon because Herman Gordon has spent quite a 222 00:14:22.559 --> 00:14:27.120 few years of his life learning everything he could about diamonds, 223 00:14:27.399 --> 00:14:30.759 including how to polish them and cut them and set 224 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:34.279 them in stones. So Gordon not only had an obsession 225 00:14:34.279 --> 00:14:37.440 with diamonds, but Bean really, of all the gems that 226 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:40.679 could be found out of that collection that was stolen 227 00:14:40.720 --> 00:14:44.600 and sixty four being just really had an obsession with 228 00:14:44.759 --> 00:14:49.159 finding this particular stone, or at least finding out what 229 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:49.960 happened to it. 230 00:14:50.519 --> 00:14:53.639 With Bean found out from him that there was big 231 00:14:53.720 --> 00:14:58.559 names associated in this story. Mayor Landski, John D. MacArthur 232 00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:02.559 tell us what be thinks of these names and its 233 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:05.080 connection to this story and this robbery. 234 00:15:05.320 --> 00:15:08.879 Well, everybody thinks this is a pretty fantastic story that 235 00:15:08.919 --> 00:15:12.960 they don't quite understand at first how these people could 236 00:15:12.960 --> 00:15:17.919 be involved. But when they discover that, well, I don't 237 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:21.360 know if you want me to actually give away perhaps 238 00:15:21.480 --> 00:15:24.840 one of the reasons why this robbery took place, but 239 00:15:25.399 --> 00:15:30.440 it was it was actually the idea, well it wasn't. 240 00:15:30.440 --> 00:15:33.039 Actually it was actually the idea of myo landscape to 241 00:15:33.039 --> 00:15:36.279 do this as a favor to help out John D. MacArthur, 242 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:39.519 who was in a buying I don't know if how 243 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:42.840 much your readers know about John D. MacArthur, except maybe 244 00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:47.000 the fact that his foundation sponsors a lot of shows 245 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:51.840 on PBS. But he was a pretty cheap, nasty old man, 246 00:15:52.720 --> 00:15:56.120 and he was actually the second richest man in the 247 00:15:56.200 --> 00:15:59.120 United States when he died in nineteen seventy eight. He 248 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:04.360 made his money a very unscrupulous way with mail order insurance. 249 00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:07.720 A lot of people sent in dollar bills for John D. MacArthur, 250 00:16:07.720 --> 00:16:10.320 and he became very wealthy with that He was a 251 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:14.240 skin flint and his brother, Charles MacArthur was an author, 252 00:16:14.679 --> 00:16:18.759 a playwright. He wrote a play called The Front Page, 253 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:22.960 and he was an journalist in Chicago. He married Helen 254 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:27.480 Hayes in the nineteen fifties. They had a daughter who died, 255 00:16:27.720 --> 00:16:32.519 and then they adopted a young man who became James MacArthur, 256 00:16:32.639 --> 00:16:36.440 who was actually on Hawaii five. Oh. So the implication 257 00:16:36.679 --> 00:16:40.320 was that Helen Hayes was a patron for this museum 258 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:43.240 in New York City, the Museum of Natural History, and 259 00:16:43.320 --> 00:16:45.559 it was not doing very well. The museum was not 260 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:48.360 doing very well. It was in all the newspapers in fact, 261 00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:51.360 that they needed money, they needed patrons. And then the 262 00:16:51.559 --> 00:16:54.960 World's Fair was there in nineteen sixty four and they 263 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:59.000 were changing over from DC Current to AC Current and 264 00:16:59.240 --> 00:17:03.639 the alarm we're disconnected. Well, Helen Hayes needed some money 265 00:17:03.919 --> 00:17:06.200 to give to the museum because she was a patron 266 00:17:06.240 --> 00:17:08.799 of this museum, and she asked her brother in law, 267 00:17:09.039 --> 00:17:12.079 John Dy MacArthur if he would donate some money, and 268 00:17:12.680 --> 00:17:15.480 he really did not want to do the donation, so 269 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:19.160 he said, I can get publicity cheaper than what she 270 00:17:19.319 --> 00:17:22.920 wants from me. So if you guys, anybody helped me 271 00:17:23.000 --> 00:17:25.920 out and figure out why in the world I have 272 00:17:26.039 --> 00:17:28.279 to give her money and how I can get that 273 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:31.559 museums some publicity so that they can get donors. And 274 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:35.359 Mayernansky just comes up with this plan. Let's let's steal 275 00:17:36.039 --> 00:17:38.880 steal some steal something and then we'll play a little 276 00:17:38.960 --> 00:17:41.160 game and ransom it back and it'll be in all 277 00:17:41.160 --> 00:17:44.000 the newspaper and John, you can you can pretend like 278 00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:47.559 you're this big hero and come in and ransom something 279 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:51.279 for twenty thousand dollars and you'll be off the hook 280 00:17:51.319 --> 00:17:55.200 and they'll have donors and wants the publicity. And you know, 281 00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:58.200 John D. MacArthur at that point is not really involved. 282 00:17:58.359 --> 00:18:00.880 He just kind of asked for some help. And then 283 00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:06.240 meyer Lansky asked Herman Gordon and Richard Duncan Pearson to 284 00:18:06.279 --> 00:18:10.599 get involved and figure out if that museum can actually 285 00:18:10.599 --> 00:18:13.799 be robbed and if so, can they do it? And 286 00:18:13.839 --> 00:18:17.039 he said he'll put the bill and help out with expenses. 287 00:18:17.160 --> 00:18:20.640 And so they Richard Duncan Pearson and Herman Gordon go 288 00:18:20.880 --> 00:18:24.440 and case the place and find out that Helen Hayes 289 00:18:24.519 --> 00:18:28.119 was right. The museum alarms have been disconnected. The place 290 00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:31.920 is just a mess needs to be it's just right 291 00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:36.359 for robbing, and sounds like a good idea, and so 292 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:39.240 that's how it all gets started. It's just a kind 293 00:18:39.240 --> 00:18:43.240 of a fluke An idea that it was not three 294 00:18:44.119 --> 00:18:47.160 beach boys who just happened to be in New York 295 00:18:47.200 --> 00:18:51.640 City in October nineteen sixty four. They there was much 296 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:54.319 more to it. There was much more reason behind it 297 00:18:54.759 --> 00:18:57.279 than these guys just showing up there one night. 298 00:18:57.440 --> 00:19:02.680 Now Bean finds out the why and the team that's assembled. 299 00:19:03.279 --> 00:19:07.920 Eventually hears about this team and the skills that are 300 00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:12.559 assembled with this team, and also the intricate planning by 301 00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:13.480 Dicky Pearson. 302 00:19:13.920 --> 00:19:16.799 Let's talk about that well. I think people would have 303 00:19:16.920 --> 00:19:22.640 to understand that in nineteen sixty four, particularly along the coast, 304 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:27.279 the lower southern coast, southeastern coast of Florida, it was 305 00:19:27.319 --> 00:19:30.559 sort of like the Wild West was in the eighteen hundreds. 306 00:19:30.680 --> 00:19:33.759 It was all the rich people were going there. They 307 00:19:33.759 --> 00:19:38.640 were building magnificent homes and spending the winters there, and 308 00:19:38.920 --> 00:19:44.200 you could find celebrities and wealthy people and they were 309 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:48.119 just flaunting their jewels and going to parties and socials, 310 00:19:48.279 --> 00:19:52.359 and it was a right climate for jewel thiefs, and 311 00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:55.920 I have to tell you it was just amazing when 312 00:19:56.000 --> 00:19:58.759 you go back and read some of the newspaper articles 313 00:19:58.799 --> 00:20:02.720 of what was occurring there everywhere, from aviagable or being 314 00:20:03.160 --> 00:20:08.440 robbed at gunpoint while she's in one of the resort hotels, 315 00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:13.359 to people putting diamonds in their cars to in their 316 00:20:13.400 --> 00:20:16.920 trunks when they go to dinner after whether going into 317 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:19.519 the restaurant or something or coming back out, or some 318 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:23.960 voater going down one of the waterways in Miami and 319 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:27.599 suddenly a bag flies over the bridge and it turns 320 00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:31.319 out to hold a bunch of jewels and guns. It 321 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:36.000 was just a wild, wild place, and so there was 322 00:20:36.359 --> 00:20:40.519 there were a lot of jewel thieves in southeast Florida 323 00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:45.599 along what was called the Gold Coast, and they were 324 00:20:45.720 --> 00:20:49.920 robbing people constantly, which is why Herman Gordon was there 325 00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:52.119 as a fantasy. Was the one who was taking a 326 00:20:52.119 --> 00:20:55.000 lot of this stuff and selling it or keeping some 327 00:20:55.079 --> 00:20:57.480 for himself, breaking it up. And so one of the 328 00:20:58.279 --> 00:21:03.680 things that happened is that Richard Duncan Pearson actually was 329 00:21:04.240 --> 00:21:06.359 he needed money, he wanted he was. He was a 330 00:21:06.400 --> 00:21:11.759 spoiled rich brat. His great aunt actually was Isidora Duncan, 331 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:17.000 the famous dancer who, if you'll recall, was killed when 332 00:21:17.079 --> 00:21:20.799 her scarf wound around the axle of a car in 333 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:24.000 France and it Geork Trevac and broke her neck and 334 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:26.920 killed her at a fairly young age. He was also 335 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:32.200 from a family of actors, and his father was a 336 00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:36.759 wealthy stockbroker, and they had retired early and gone down 337 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:39.680 to Florida. And well, Pearson he was. He was a 338 00:21:39.720 --> 00:21:41.960 trust fund kid, as they would refer to him today, 339 00:21:42.200 --> 00:21:45.839 but he was constantly getting into trouble. He had no 340 00:21:46.599 --> 00:21:50.680 mind for managing money, and he was constantly broke. He 341 00:21:50.720 --> 00:21:54.920 was a philandering guy who just was constantly having affairs 342 00:21:54.960 --> 00:21:58.759 despite being married. And he got involved with a guy 343 00:21:58.839 --> 00:22:02.920 named Alan Cohn. Alan Cohn actually was one of these 344 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:07.240 jewel thieves in Miami who was going up and down 345 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:11.319 the waterways and when people weren't home, pulling his boat 346 00:22:11.400 --> 00:22:15.000 up behind their dock and going in and robbing them 347 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:17.960 and making a pretty good money. He was living in 348 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:21.880 a very expensive high rise Condomini, a complex on Brickell 349 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:26.240 Avenue in Miami. Pearson found out about Kuhn, and it 350 00:22:26.319 --> 00:22:30.079 turned out that Dicky Pearson actually had a pretty good 351 00:22:30.160 --> 00:22:35.440 mind for planning and being devious. So it kind of 352 00:22:35.480 --> 00:22:38.200 worked out pretty well that Kuhn, who had a boat 353 00:22:38.519 --> 00:22:42.039 and was very sneaky and small and could do that, 354 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:45.000 worked pretty well with Dicky, who seemed to have a 355 00:22:45.079 --> 00:22:49.480 really good mind for logistics. His only problem was that 356 00:22:49.559 --> 00:22:54.960 he was he really liked drugs, and he really liked women, 357 00:22:55.240 --> 00:22:59.160 and he really liked money, and he also liked alcohol 358 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:01.240 a lot, and he just never knew when to stop. 359 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:05.240 So as successful as he could have been at many things, 360 00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:09.400 he was always doing something that tripped himself up. Nevertheless, 361 00:23:09.480 --> 00:23:12.319 he was called upon to put together a team to 362 00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:16.200 go in and rob the museum in New York City, 363 00:23:16.440 --> 00:23:19.359 and so he was actually the mastermind. It was not 364 00:23:19.559 --> 00:23:23.599 Murph Jack Murphy. It was it was Dicky Pearson, who 365 00:23:23.640 --> 00:23:26.480 is the one who planned everything for this robbery. 366 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:29.799 Now there is the plan that is set out for 367 00:23:29.839 --> 00:23:34.400 this robbery, but Dicky Pearson is not loyal to anyone 368 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:38.759 except himself. What does he have as an alternative plan? 369 00:23:38.880 --> 00:23:41.880 What is the what is his orders and what does 370 00:23:41.920 --> 00:23:43.640 he think about doing well? 371 00:23:44.119 --> 00:23:47.480 The entire thing was built around one idea, and that 372 00:23:47.680 --> 00:23:52.359 was steal one gym something really important big that would 373 00:23:52.400 --> 00:23:56.519 make a lot of news. Steal one gym, hide it someplace, 374 00:23:56.599 --> 00:24:00.480 do the ransom thing, get publicity, and MacArthur would ransom 375 00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:02.799 it and that would be that it would all be 376 00:24:02.839 --> 00:24:06.039 taken care of. So he was told, we're stealing one thing, 377 00:24:06.279 --> 00:24:09.599 the Star Sapphire of India from the Museum of Natural History, 378 00:24:09.640 --> 00:24:12.839 and that's all you're supposed to do. Just steal that 379 00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:15.759 one thing. Can you do that? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, 380 00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:19.960 we can do that. But Dicky decides his greed again 381 00:24:20.400 --> 00:24:23.759 I guess the best of him. He decides that no, 382 00:24:24.359 --> 00:24:26.240 we're going to tell them that we're going to steal 383 00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:28.799 one thing. But he tells his boys who are with 384 00:24:28.920 --> 00:24:32.279 him that are probably going to do this while you're there. 385 00:24:32.880 --> 00:24:36.319 And as long as you're stealing the star Sapphire, let's 386 00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:38.599 pick up a few other things. Let's make it worth 387 00:24:38.640 --> 00:24:43.359 our while. So fill your bags up, boys when you 388 00:24:43.400 --> 00:24:46.200 get there, and nobody will be the wiser, but we'll 389 00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:47.480 be a lot richer for it. 390 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:52.359 Now, you talk about getting the intel about the alarms 391 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:57.559 and these alarms not working whatsoever. They case out the 392 00:24:57.599 --> 00:24:59.920 place and they can see that there's an access point. 393 00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:02.880 They have the team and the members that can do 394 00:25:02.920 --> 00:25:05.200 the job. Like you say, a kun is a small 395 00:25:05.240 --> 00:25:08.599 guy and known for this kind of crime anyway, So 396 00:25:10.039 --> 00:25:14.319 what happens with the plan and how does a museum 397 00:25:14.359 --> 00:25:16.559 in London come into this plan? 398 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:19.680 Like I was saying that there was supposed to be 399 00:25:19.799 --> 00:25:25.680 one one stone taken and just one stone, but after 400 00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:30.119 Pearson decides secretly that he wants to steal all these 401 00:25:30.119 --> 00:25:34.440