0:00

Ridiculous Crime is a production of I Heart Radio.

0:03

Yeah, Elizabeth Dutton Zarin Burnett.

0:05

I got a question for you, girl, Yeah, hit me. You know what's

0:08

ridiculous? I do? Ready

0:11

for that? I do? Um. We have

0:13

this uh friend on

0:15

Instagram, Jennifer. She's a baker.

0:19

She um is one of

0:21

the many, many people who have clued

0:23

us in on weird

0:25

product mashups. I

0:30

can't help it is all I do know. So

0:34

um. She's one of a couple of people who

0:36

have mentioned this, but her her story

0:38

is the best about it. Um that KFC

0:41

makes a fule log like a fire log,

0:44

a Derri flame style log, a Christmas

0:46

ule log, and it's it's KFC.

0:49

It's KFC. So um

0:52

the somebody

0:56

like I am in the they describe market.

0:59

KFC is eleven herbs and spices, firelog

1:01

by and viral loog and

1:03

um. They describe it as the

1:06

comforting, crispy aroma of a fried chicken

1:08

scented firelog wafting from your

1:10

fireplace fried chicken fire Did you hear

1:12

those words, people, fired fried chicken

1:14

firelog? Yeah? And so I

1:16

mean you want your whole house to smell like rancid

1:18

greasy. I don't know so anyway,

1:20

so Jennifer doesn't

1:22

smells like a KFC in here. Basically,

1:26

oh god, your neighbors are just like

1:28

so. Um, Jennifer got

1:30

one for her sister for

1:33

Thanksgiving, and um,

1:35

she promised us that she would give

1:37

us an update, and

1:40

um, it was a big success.

1:42

Apparently already the update. Yeah,

1:44

she said that it was a big success.

1:47

Smells like KFC and it's

1:49

kitty approved. She sent a picture of the

1:51

cat sniffing the box, so we got

1:53

the cat tax photos. So cats

1:55

believed it smelled like chicken. Cats believed

1:57

it smells like chicken. This is just a really cute cat

2:00

too, by the way. But then she sent

2:02

us a picture of the box and a picture

2:04

of it on fire in the firerood. So

2:07

we have proof. We have absolute proof

2:09

that it actually exists, because some of

2:11

these things, like these weird crossovers,

2:14

but they don't exist. These exist.

2:17

You can make your whole house stink like fried chicken.

2:20

You know, I've got some family I can send it to. Let's

2:22

let's go around to like vegans houses

2:26

like we live in the Bay Area, both of us, we

2:28

have the like you can imagine your neighbors smelling

2:31

that you burning fried chicken, and like maybe

2:34

gets so like you'd have on the

2:36

next door. People will be talking about, like I got in a fight

2:38

with my neighbor because they tell me. And

2:41

it's bad enough, like living in the East

2:43

Bay, like in the hills and you have the fire

2:46

danger. People get upset when when

2:48

their neighbors use a fireplace. And

2:51

then if you're burned,

2:53

if you're like barbecues caused fight? What

2:55

if you have fire

2:57

pit in your backyard? And yeah, because

3:00

I've heard, yeah, I've heard people who have vegetarian

3:02

neighbors upset you

3:04

had that right, you had a neighborhood didn't

3:06

like you a grill and chicken super

3:09

mad about the smell of fried chicken. I'm trying

3:12

barbecue chicken. Who hates the smell barbecue

3:14

chicken. So I think that we should just go

3:16

around to all the fire pits and swap out

3:18

the logs for KFC logs. Let's

3:20

get this party started so

3:23

good. So that is

3:25

my contribution this

3:27

week to what is ridiculous Ho ho

3:29

ho Happy holidays. Well that's

3:34

make this a December to remember, Elizabeth. I

3:37

just hope that this holiday sales event is one that we can

3:39

all be proud of. Okay, I've got a story

3:41

for you if you got a second I do now,

3:44

my Elizabeth, my partner in crime

3:46

and storytelling. Today, I'd like to tell

3:48

you the story of the Greek robin hood.

3:51

Yeah,

4:12

this is ridiculous crime, A podcast

4:14

about absurd and outrageous capers.

4:17

Heis and cons It's always murder

4:19

free and

4:22

ridiculous, now, Elizabeth, Yes,

4:25

I told you, my man, the Greek robinode will be

4:27

the focus of today right now. His name

4:29

is Vasilis Palaeocoustus, right,

4:32

Vasilus, Paleocoustus, Vassilis, Vasilus.

4:34

I've heard it both ways, and you may hear

4:36

me say it both ways, but be forgiving

4:40

Pasillis. And he arrived on Earth in nineteen

4:42

sixty six, right like like a

4:45

Beatles record. Now, my man, Vasilus.

4:47

He grew up in the mountains region of central Greece.

4:49

I'm not sure if you know Greece. Well I do not, know,

4:52

only the stuff around Athens. And

4:55

yeah, so this was up closer to

4:57

Macedonia, in the central mountainous

4:59

region. Very rural. Son

5:01

of a goat hurder, you know. So he's a shepherd's

5:03

boy, raised up in super rural

5:06

country, living right family of Shepherd's

5:08

childhood home, no electricity, cheaper.

5:10

His primary companions had an older brother,

5:12

Nicos. Loved Nikos, his brother

5:15

and he would walk to school every day from their rural

5:17

home, and in the winter, because it's in the mountains,

5:19

they would have snow, and when they would walk, Nicos

5:22

about six seven years older, he would put

5:24

his little brother, Casillas, up on his shoulders

5:26

so that way he didn't have to trudge through the snow because it would

5:28

get like waste. It's like chesty.

5:31

Right. When they would get to their school,

5:33

their school was run by a priest. They get

5:35

there, the priests would take the boys and put them by the

5:37

fire and wouldn't start teaching class until they

5:39

had all thought out like a

5:42

rural Okay, so

5:44

that's how this is and this Shepherd life,

5:46

right, it was fine for Cecilisy wasn't

5:48

one of the people who like boxed at it. But at the

5:51

same time, the way it's described

5:53

sounds a little um like I wouldn't

5:55

want to live in. Like there's

5:57

one quote I found his said, and

5:59

and I there he watched his

6:01

father yelling at goats and grew up idolizing

6:03

his older brother Nikos. You kind

6:06

of just says it, all right, exactly.

6:10

So school turns out to be

6:12

a source of inspiration for young Pacillus,

6:15

not in the way that you might expect. It has nothing

6:17

to do with what he learns there. It's not the academia, but

6:20

rather a teacher, specifically one teacher

6:22

who gives him a book. And this book that

6:24

the teacher gives them is about this guy named

6:26

and Antonis catch Atonis. Alright,

6:29

so Antonis catch Atonis. He

6:31

also was a shepherd, and he grew up to become

6:33

a clept. Now a clept is

6:35

a Greek term for thieves. Yeah,

6:39

I knew you catch on that one. Now that

6:42

these clips, these bandit thieves. They were

6:44

also Greek resistance against the Ottoman

6:46

Turks who were the occupying force

6:49

at the time, and they,

6:51

you know, until basically World War

6:53

one world War two, Greece was like an Ottoman

6:56

territory essentially, right, and then

6:58

during World or two they're under Nazi Germany. Then

7:00

there there there's a fight with Yugoslavia.

7:03

Tito wants to take over and he helps

7:05

the communists try to run. There's this huge

7:07

civil war. This is all the backdrop

7:10

of society that young

7:13

Vasilius is born into. Right, and his hero

7:15

is this guy Antonis Catchytonis who

7:18

starting all of this fighting,

7:20

was a highwayman bandit, a rogue

7:22

ish anti hero, right, so he sees this as

7:24

a kind of like an anarchist struggle. Yeah,

7:27

ok Right, So, at age thirteen,

7:30

Vasilius moves from the countryside into

7:32

town with his family. The town is called Tricola,

7:35

doesn't really matter, but it's a

7:37

little city, right, a little town. So the year

7:39

at this point is nineteen seventy nine, Okay,

7:42

and his older brother Nikos has already left home

7:44

because he's six seven years older, and at this point

7:46

Vasilius he also wants to leave home.

7:49

Yeah, so he's like by the time he's about fourteen

7:51

fifteen, he's like, I'm out of here. He leaves

7:54

the family. He gets work at a cheese factory.

7:56

Right. The job is fine, work

7:58

steady, he doesn't have a problem with it. But this job

8:02

is the awakening of his political leanings. Right.

8:04

He has been a form prior by the

8:06

Antonist, Cachetonist, the highway bandit, and

8:09

then now when he's faced with the economic

8:12

forces of city life, he becomes

8:14

not militant but a true, true

8:16

anarchist, not only in theory

8:19

but in practice. So one of his friends

8:21

from his time at the Chief factory put it, and

8:23

I quote, Facilius suffered

8:25

his bosses capitalist exploitation working

8:28

as a wage slave in a factory, so he turned

8:30

against those bosses. So you

8:32

get the idea. He's inspired to become

8:35

a criminal by capitalism, so he

8:37

goes hard into it. And uh,

8:39

he also is bothered by the hypocritical nature

8:41

of the crimes of capitalism mass

8:44

he sees them. Because Greece up to this point, you

8:46

know, there's this hard debate. Do we go left

8:48

and with communism take care of the community,

8:50

do we go with individualism and

8:52

see what you can do in the society

8:54

on your own, which they decide to go with because

8:57

the UK and the Americans helped

8:59

the the non communist win

9:01

this fight. So the society has gone

9:04

in the way of individualism. But there's still

9:06

this collectivist impulse in Greece, right.

9:09

So Vacillus aware of an old

9:11

Greek proverb, and I quote the Greek proverb

9:13

is, if you steal something small, you are

9:15

a petty thief, but if you steal millions,

9:17

you are a gentleman of society. He

9:20

hates that. He's like that ain't

9:22

right. So he's like, I'm going to become a gentleman

9:25

not of society. And he

9:27

finds his big brother, Nicos, and he's like, you know what,

9:29

we need to get to criming and Nicos is like bet.

9:32

So the two of them they decide, okay, we

9:34

need to have a couple of ground rules that we're going to do the

9:36

criming. They decided they don't want to hurt anyone

9:38

and they want to live for free on someone else's dime.

9:40

So they become bank robbers, right,

9:43

pretty much straightforward. Now

9:45

for the next seven years from ninety

9:48

six, there are successful robbers who are

9:50

primarily focused on get this video

9:52

equipment. Yeah, they don't

9:54

start with banks, they don't. There's

9:57

going after like VCRs saying

10:00

make cam quarters. It's like

10:02

yeah, but it's not like professional equipment.

10:05

No, No, they're holding a lot of value. These are just newly

10:07

invented, highly desirous pieces

10:09

of technology. So a VCR increased

10:11

to go for a lot of exactly.

10:14

So they're they're Robin Rago's radio shack and

10:17

going we can make this work. But you

10:19

know, for criminal education, just like

10:21

my man Red Fall come

10:23

in in many comparisons with this story

10:26

my dude Vacillas. He turns to the cinema

10:29

for a further criminal education.

10:31

Right yeah, and we've talked about this. It's a great

10:33

way because the filmmakers

10:36

they thought about it, and they thought and they show you what

10:38

could go wrong, which is exactly

10:42

so still is. He's keen on eighties

10:45

action movies and he keeps his video

10:47

rental card Hot Things

10:49

Popping. He's in there. He's renting Clint Eastwood

10:51

movies, on Schwarzenegger's movies, Slice to the all

10:53

the classics of the eighties. At

10:56

this time, it's big Brother gets popped for a robbery.

10:58

So he's like, I'm gonna have to do something

11:00

about this. I can't have Nicos locked up inside.

11:03

And he turns to his cinematic files

11:05

of research and he's like, I got it. I know

11:07

what to do. You gotta sneak something in there. I don't

11:09

know if he starts like with the nineteen thirties movies

11:11

and he's like, okay, I learned from White Heat. I

11:13

gotta try to sneak in a file. But no, this

11:16

is what he does. First. He tries to smuggle in knives,

11:18

then he gets to metal files, then he gets to

11:20

other tools. They're always being confiscated, stolen

11:22

by other inmates. Right, it's not working.

11:25

He tries to smuggle in a grenade, like maybe just hold

11:27

this in your hand and walk out. That doesn't want Nicos

11:30

if he's like giving him all these tools and

11:32

they get stolen. Everyone else

11:34

has a file and a knife and Nicos I

11:36

don't know. He just sorr. He was bigger

11:38

than so at the eighties

11:41

day end right to sell us. He's

11:43

like, this is not working. I gotta

11:45

get my brother out. So he goes all

11:47

right, I'm going full eighties action movie. He

11:50

gets himself a tank and he drinks the

11:53

tank. This guy is gone from

11:55

like I just checked the VCR. I

11:58

go I stole thank So

12:01

he steals the tank from like on an army where

12:03

tanks rus Like, yeah, he could pops down the tanks

12:05

r us. He's like, how much for the one in the back.

12:09

I just need to see how it handles on the freeway. Peels

12:11

out. He gets down to the prison in Tricola

12:14

and he tries to crash through the prison walls.

12:16

He just tries to call right, people, this

12:18

is very heavy handed you

12:22

you'll be surprised to learn, Elizabeth, this tank

12:24

move spectacular failure. Yes,

12:28

for sure. He gets caught and arrested,

12:30

tank confiscated, loses

12:33

take. He's like my by by by refund.

12:35

So he's imprisoned, but only

12:37

in jail because apparently that's not like

12:40

a major crime, trying to break into that

12:42

jail. They're like, oh, this is cosmetic damage.

12:45

So he gets out of jail. His brother Nikos

12:47

is still in prison because you've done some Siah. He'd

12:49

been robbing back. So there. For years, the

12:53

Silus and Nikos have worked out an escape plan.

12:55

The Silus has been going on and visiting his brother

12:58

once and he's like, you know what, I went high

13:00

tech last time. That didn't work. I need to go low tech.

13:02

I should keep it simple, stupid, right, So

13:05

he's like, chosen day arrives,

13:07

he has tells Nicos

13:09

the plan of what to do. Nikos knows and

13:11

when the Chosen day rise, if Asilus goes to their agreed

13:14

upon spot just outside the prison walls

13:16

and there he is standing in a snowy spot because

13:18

it's the wintertime break out when

13:20

it's more difficult he

13:23

waits a rope right without like

13:25

basically ties. I don't know if it's like metal

13:28

into the rope, rope around the metal. Either way, it's

13:30

a weighted knot. And he throws that up like

13:33

the prison walls. There

13:35

you go, the ball of SULOCKI inside the rope.

13:37

He like shot, puts it over the wall. His

13:40

brother is there, grabs the rope, bells

13:42

like I got it. Vassilis ties the other into

13:44

the lamp post, and Nikos just climbs up and over

13:46

scamps over. It's up boom free.

13:49

So now and this is

13:51

a time for them to get back into criming

13:55

rope rope. This

13:58

is also when they have a new role model come into

14:00

the boy's life and they're like, you know, we had Antonus

14:02

catch Tonis as our first. Now they

14:05

have a new one. His nickname is the Artist.

14:07

His government name is Coustus

14:10

Somatis, Costas Coustas

14:12

Somatis. Now these three young ambitious

14:15

robbers they start a crew and they're like, what's we

14:17

don't need a name, let's just be the street

14:19

name is the Artist, the Artist. Yeah, they

14:22

all have nicknames ahead, so

14:24

they we'll get to their nicknames for now.

14:27

His nickname is the Artist. Right. So in June

14:29

I d two they pull off their first big bank

14:31

job, and being who they are, it's cinematic

14:33

as possible. The robbery takes place in this town

14:36

called Columbaca, right or Calabaca has

14:38

you can pronounce it either way. Apparently in

14:40

central Greece, small town up in the mountains,

14:42

surrounded by monastery has long been like

14:44

a hideout for high women and bandits

14:47

part of the resistance against the Ottomans.

14:49

So they go out there. They go to

14:51

this town and they decide, we need to do

14:54

our research. We're gonna be serious about

14:56

this, and Nicos scours

14:58

the scene using a pair of innoculars.

15:00

The artist takes out his pen and it goes to pad

15:03

sketches the town square on scraps

15:05

of paper, and once they have their

15:07

town blueprint, it's time to cry. So

15:11

after this short break, Elizabeth, we'll be

15:13

back and I will tell you how the Columbaca cinematic

15:16

robbery goes down. I can't wait.

15:38

Okay, Elizabeth, where were we

15:41

We're talking about columbardist

15:44

sketching the town. I don't

15:46

know if I'm scouping something out to I

15:49

put down the sketch pad Man. I

15:51

don't need the artistic impression of it. We don't

15:53

want to have like the cloude monet rendering of

15:55

the church that we're gonna like an abstract

15:58

artist. I don't know what these what

16:00

is this? This is how the city feels. Okay,

16:04

Elizabeth, I set it up. We're in Calibaka,

16:06

central Grecian town, surrounded

16:08

bay monastery. But they have beautiful,

16:11

beautiful bank perfect So

16:13

I would like you close your eyes and

16:17

picture. Okay. You

16:19

happen to be in the small town of Calabaca,

16:21

Greece, and you're there for one

16:24

very Elizabeth reason. Trains

16:27

Specifically, Calibaka is the terminal point

16:30

of the old Thessaly railways, and

16:32

you want to see some of the old rail cars

16:34

that they have in the Thessaly railways because it

16:36

was some of the most beautiful rail cars in Europe.

16:38

And you're like, I gotta come see these trains.

16:40

So you've arrived in Calibaka and you want to go

16:42

to the old rail yards and you've arranged

16:44

to talk trains with some of the locals, some of who worked

16:47

on the trains building them, others who appointed them.

16:49

You just can't wait and there You

16:51

are seated on a park bench

16:53

waiting to meet somebody later that afternoon,

16:56

when all of a sudden boom, serious entertainment

16:58

arrives in your lap in the form of

17:01

two men driving up in front of the local

17:03

police station, which you can see from your park bench,

17:06

and they place a huge industrial oven

17:08

in front of the door to the cops shop. You're

17:11

like, that's odd. Things

17:13

that in Greece are different than I know. Then

17:15

you're like, maybe this is like a little yes, it's a peda

17:17

party. Maybe they orders

17:19

like they're gonna be cooking stuff later. Anyway,

17:22

moments later, you hear gunfire. You're

17:24

like, well, that's interesting, but you don't

17:26

know it. But little brother Vassilis has hiked

17:28

up a hill with a rifle and he has been

17:30

firing his gun at the police station.

17:33

The cops inside are convinced that they're under attack,

17:35

so they attempt to full leave the cop shop, but

17:38

they can't because of the huge industrial oven

17:40

in front of the cops shop, and

17:44

you're watching. You're watching is the cops fight against

17:47

the door, and You're like, this seems really odd. Why

17:49

are they trying to run out into the gunfire? What is

17:51

how danger, am I Now

17:53

as you sit there on your park bench, sipping your Turkish

17:56

coffee, asking yourself these questions. Do you hear

17:58

the bullets hanging off the cops off and you see

18:00

them trying to fight through the door, and you're

18:02

waiting for your fellow train of fish unados

18:05

and you notice more here and

18:07

I'm not ducking for cover. There's

18:09

your momentarily very brave, so

18:13

you're you're busybodiness

18:15

takes over for I

18:18

don't know what happens, and they're not firing at you,

18:20

so you don't feel like immediately dangerous.

18:23

So you're sitting there and you spot

18:25

this young man Facillus with the rifle.

18:28

He goes and he meets up with his older brother,

18:30

who don't notice his older brother. But this guy Nikos, the

18:33

artist cost is some artists. The

18:35

three walk into a bank, but you notice from afar

18:38

that they look clean. They're

18:40

wearing business suits. They got on sunglasses,

18:43

like they mean business. That is not how

18:45

it was in my head before you said they

18:47

were carrying automatic weaponry like

18:49

they mean business. So

18:51

the front door is opened to the bank. They're

18:54

kicked open. The vacilla's barks,

18:57

which I will translate for you it

18:59

means this is a stick up in Greek.

19:01

They apparently do only need one word to say this. As

19:04

you sit there on your park bench waiting for all this to

19:06

go down, the three men rob a hundred and twenty

19:08

five million drachmas

19:10

and they stuffed and stolen loot into duffel

19:13

bags and they cut You're

19:15

like, whoa, how much would that be worth today? Good question?

19:19

Dollars Three push out of

19:21

the bank, they hop into their whip and they escape

19:23

in the stolen outie. You're like, oh, that thing

19:25

looks super clean, just like their suits. And then

19:28

you hear sirens approaching. You're wondering,

19:30

how did the cops get out of the shop. Turns out they

19:32

went around the back. They got their cars, and now they're

19:34

gonna go chasing after them. So like, only

19:36

forgot we have a back door. We

19:39

should have thought those earlier. So they rushed to their

19:41

cop cars and they attempt to chase the robbers. But the robbers,

19:44

what's again, cinematic ready for them?

19:46

What have they done? But left spike strips

19:48

across the road. So when the cops roar

19:50

past you, they don't get far because

19:52

they hit those spike strips and tires

19:54

go flat, and

19:56

uh, they rolled to an embarrassing stop. So

19:58

you're like wave at them.

20:01

Now the cops, after they've limped to their embarrassing

20:03

stop, they make their way,

20:05

you know, out of the cop cars and they watches the Audie

20:08

stolen Atie disappears out of town, headed for the mountains,

20:10

and they're like, rank kind of catch them. And

20:13

before they go, you watch a flurry

20:15

of Drachmas rain over the town's people

20:17

like a weather system of good fortune. It is

20:19

amazing. Vasilus is tossing bills from the

20:21

stolen out until the car disappears

20:24

in the distance, and just like that, Vasillius,

20:26

Nicos and the Artist they all

20:28

head into the mountains of central Greece, not

20:30

to be seen for much time and

20:34

witness their first big job. And they

20:37

just sprinkled it on their way out. Yeah,

20:39

they sprinkled a ton of it. You've got one hell

20:41

of a story to tell your train. And yeah, they're

20:44

not showing up to time. Not after that.

20:46

So after the spectacular start as

20:49

a crew, for whatever reason,

20:51

Facilius and Nikos suicide. You know what, we're

20:53

gonna quit robbing banks. And they

20:55

stopped pulling stick up moose. They lay low for

20:57

years. Some people they speculate

20:59

the Pasillus he went back to his former career in the

21:02

cheese industry. Yeah yeah. Their story

21:04

was he escaped to Bulgaria and started running a cheese

21:06

factory there.

21:11

This sounds like I made it all up. The

21:13

others claimed that he was working a cheese shop in the

21:15

Netherlands. But whatever story you hear, the

21:21

Silus is pushing cheese. I'll tell you one thing I know about

21:23

the Silla. He's a real cheesemonger. So, just as

21:25

mysteriously as they disappeared, the

21:28

Sillus Paleocoustus returns to

21:30

Criming and I cannot tell you why.

21:32

He just decides he now's

21:35

the time. So after

21:37

he left behind his Bulgarian cheese factory

21:40

or his Dutch cheese shop or whatever, who's to

21:42

say, it doesn't matter which it was. What we do

21:44

know is that in December, the Silus

21:46

and his big brother Nikos they get back to work

21:48

as high women bandits. They're like, we need to get

21:50

back to the catchytonis lifestyle. Right.

21:52

So at this point they've also, as I

21:54

told you, earned nicknames, right. So we had

21:56

the artist, but We also now

21:59

have a nickname for Vascilla's He's

22:01

called Uncatchable and his brother

22:03

is called the Phantom. So Uncatchable

22:06

the Phantom of the Artist are once

22:08

again reunited as a crew, and

22:11

they need a pair of wheels. Did the

22:13

Phantom name himself? No, people

22:17

call me the Phantom. Who calls you the Phantom? Nobody?

22:20

But guys, I want you from now on call

22:22

me the Phantom. I was trying to get myself a nickname

22:24

like that. I'm like, yeah, I got people call me this, and oh,

22:28

you want to know, it's embarrassing. But I was like, you

22:30

know, like I had like a boy's camera and I'm like, yeah, the

22:33

people call me dizzy. Go last

22:35

week, what do you know?

22:37

Okay, you gonna be okay over there?

22:41

Joking. I wanted

22:43

to be an old jazz man alright, So I

22:45

was like it could have been matter otis

22:47

I either went soul man or jazz man? Is there really

22:49

nothing else? Does? He sounds like such a

22:51

rejected seven Dwarfs

22:56

were a little kid like, call me dizzy.

22:59

Are you feeling you fall

23:03

off the slide? So

23:05

this is my sister Daffy,

23:08

and I love it. They called me dizzy and people are like

23:11

nobody. It didn't

23:13

work all right. So anyway,

23:16

nicos when a window. Sorry, when the

23:18

Phantom and Uncatchable needed

23:21

a car, they popped down the mountain

23:23

and they stole this dude's Niecean And this is like a story

23:25

from their return to Criming and

23:28

uh. When they steal the Nissan,

23:30

they used it to escape because like you know, they go and

23:32

they robbed somebody and then they have to escape. They

23:35

then return the Nissan to the man they

23:37

stole it from, and they actually left a

23:39

hundred and fifty drachmas underneath

23:42

like the the foot well, which is like farnderbox.

23:45

He's like he goes out and it's gone, my niece on

23:47

and then like the next thing, he goes out. But

23:50

not only that they had polished

23:52

the car for him, they detailed

23:54

his knees. I thought

23:56

you'd like that. The villagers of this little

23:58

town that which was closest to the hide up which

24:01

where they had been hiding out. Essentially, there

24:03

was an old lady there that told the local

24:05

press that she used to see him all the time.

24:07

He never said very much, and I quote, but

24:10

he always had a mischievous smile which seemed

24:12

to like like that Roague.

24:15

Now, after hiding up for a few years with Stillisame's

24:17

brother nicos Ak the Phantom, they

24:19

come back to the city and it's time for a big

24:21

payday. You know they've depleted their

24:23

money. Uncatchable in the Phantom, like, we need to score

24:26

call the artist right, so back together

24:28

December. These are all self

24:31

declared nicknames. You can't self declare

24:33

nicknames, and no one on this earth is gonna be

24:35

like you know what, asked the Phantom, Like

24:38

that's just the best name for that guy. Phantom

24:40

get here at five o'clock or six o'clock. I don't know.

24:42

He's that with the artists. Well, he's uncatchable

24:45

with him. Yeah, and that one so

24:48

uncatchable, the Phantom of the Artists. On December fift

24:51

they decided to make their big move. Now,

24:54

this dude named Alexander hid to

24:57

glow. He was him

24:59

alex He's

25:02

on his way to work at the Halva

25:04

factory that he owned, and he'd already

25:06

dropped off his kids at the school. No euphemism,

25:08

the literally dropped off his skill to the school assist

25:12

a typical work taper. Old Alexander

25:14

had to glow Now along the way to his Hallva

25:17

factory, a Toyota rav For raced

25:19

up next to Alexander's car forces him

25:21

off the road. He's like, oh, skids

25:23

to a stop and before he can properly react

25:25

to brothers hop out of the Toyota rev For. They

25:28

grab Alexander, yanked him from his car,

25:30

nice Mercedes sedan, and they forced

25:32

the Halva factory owner into the back of their

25:34

compact suv and the speed off.

25:37

Right now, what this

25:39

has been was a kidnapping

25:41

of one of the leading industrial lists of Greece.

25:45

Now, as a kidnapping victim, Alexander later

25:47

recalled and I quote, it was

25:49

a well thought out kidnapping. My kidnappers

25:51

behavior was not bad at all. It

25:53

was not scared for myself. Actually, I enjoyed

25:56

some wide ranging discussions with the kidnappers.

25:59

He was honest, he Wanders.

26:01

He's a traveler, all right. He's

26:04

a very busy man. He is an owner,

26:06

citizen of the earth and industrialist.

26:09

He has he knows all the corners of this clube. The

26:12

three men, they discussed business corruption in a

26:14

sense, they basically talked crime. They're like, what do you

26:16

know? I know? Crime? Crime? So

26:18

weird. So Vasilus would later explain

26:20

what I remember most vividly from that free

26:22

lesson is the blunt blackmail attempted by the

26:24

owners of large supermarket chains.

26:27

For instance, a prepacketed product

26:29

with a new label Alexander wished to circulate

26:31

through a large supermarket chain, he'd have to

26:33

give its boss large sums of black money

26:36

just for the product to reach the shelves. The specific

26:38

amount required dependent on the place display

26:41

inside the shops. So he's basically describing

26:43

the corruption habits and most of the major business

26:45

interests of Greece. Right now, This

26:48

shakedown by the supermarket chains at

26:50

the time considered legal. Now you

26:52

know, he's like, hey, you want a prime position to my shop? What are

26:55

you gonna pay? You know this that's mafia talk

26:57

as far as Vasilius is thinking of it. Say, He's like, you know,

26:59

we're in the same business. Yeah, you just get people

27:01

Halibu and I I take it. So

27:05

the three men they stay at a mountain hide up for

27:07

three days. They talk shop, they talk crime, and

27:09

they get along. They famously have a great

27:12

time. Right after four days, an exchange

27:14

of money has arranged. Facilius and Nicos

27:16

they take the Halva factory owner back to

27:18

his family. He's been unharmed. They get a one

27:21

point five million dollars in today's

27:23

money, told us success and in fact,

27:25

Alexander he basically gives his kidnappers

27:27

a glowing Yelp review. He

27:30

says, and I quote guys, if only

27:32

it didn't cost that much, I would very

27:34

much like to have another adventure with you. He's

27:36

like, they called me the world pool now

27:43

and the best part. And by the best part, I mean not the

27:45

best part at all. Alexander

27:47

tried to get his ransom money back because

27:49

for his family to spend the one point five millions, How don't

27:51

think he tried to do that, Elizabeth. He

27:54

sued the government. He's like, let me sue agreed, the

27:56

government tried to get the taxpayers to pay for

27:58

his kidnapping. Now, how could you sue the government

28:00

for being kidnapped? Question?

28:04

His legal argument was that the Greek government failed

28:06

him by not rescuing him from his kidnappers,

28:10

and aig should have to pay and he shouldn't

28:12

have been kidnapped in the first place because of the economic

28:14

situation it is. It's the government. Everything

28:17

can be traced back. He lost his lawsuit. Yes,

28:21

And meanwhile Vassilus and Nikos,

28:23

after the successful job, the brothers decide to

28:25

split up for a while. They're like, hey, we should lay low, we should

28:27

people might recognize us. So around

28:29

the same time, Vasilius goes off and he starts doing

28:31

his you know Greek robin Hood thing. You know, he's always

28:34

doing it. But there's a very particular story.

28:36

There's an orphan girl he meets, and uh,

28:39

the story goes, this orphan wished to marry, but

28:41

she had no family because she's an orphan, and

28:43

she lived in a very rural place, which means she

28:45

still needed to have a dowry if she wanted to

28:47

get married, but she had no one to help over a dowery

28:50

until Greek robin Hood shows up

28:53

and being an agent of love and rebellion and chaos,

28:55

Vassilus he gives the orphan a hundred

28:57

thousand dropbod, which is enough for her

28:59

to go and the two were able to wed. So he's

29:02

like, here you go. This is just one of many stories

29:04

of him doing kinds of things. Right, Like,

29:06

for instance, there's another one between

29:09

nine Vasilius is living on the lamb

29:11

in the mountains, right and uh, he'd

29:13

be spotted driving like a stolen

29:15

car through the mountains, and the locals just love seeing

29:17

them because every time they saw him, he'd be bumping

29:19

really loud, like Greek guitar tracks out

29:21

of the open windows and passed

29:24

like this a fun guy, just like a finger

29:26

picking Greek flamenco music pouring out

29:28

of the windows. And if not, there'll be money

29:30

coming out of the windows. So

29:32

in December, in his

29:35

luck ends and Vassillus is driving near a maximum

29:37

security prison and he had planned to blow

29:40

up the prison. He's wearing a disguise at the

29:42

time. Does he know anyone in this

29:44

prison? He's trying to get

29:46

out the art He's like, I got the artists in

29:48

there, as far as I understand, I'm

29:51

just like he sees a prison, He's like, let's

29:53

just blow it. Need to blow that. Let's let him all out, free

29:56

everybody. So he's wearing a disguise

29:58

driving and also he's high, so he's yeah,

30:01

the reports are he was smoking something. I took

30:04

that to mean jazz cigarettes. Yeah, I

30:06

don't think it's pipe or anything. So

30:09

anyway, he's driving high in disguise,

30:11

crashes his car right gets into a car

30:14

accident, various witnesses and onlookers.

30:16

They phone the authorities because you know, they have nine

30:18

one one at this point in the nineties. So Vacillus

30:20

is injured, he can't escape the car wreck, and he tells

30:22

the onlookers, don't tell them who I

30:24

am. I am Vassilus Paleogoustus. It's

30:27

like, that's not the way to do that. So

30:30

whoever phones it in they did the exact opposite

30:33

from what he requests. And so there's this great

30:35

like quote from the emergency call center operator

30:37

informing the police that they're headed

30:40

to the scene of this accident. We got a man

30:42

here who told uh he must have a head

30:44

injury. He thinks he's the most wanted man

30:46

in Greece. That's

30:48

like in all the paper reports. Anyway, it turns

30:50

out he was both the most wanted man

30:52

in Greece and at end injury. So

30:55

the cops are rest Vassilus. He stands trial, he's

30:57

convicted. He gets sentenced to twenty five years

31:00

bank robberies and the kidnapping of the fat Cat

31:02

industrialist. The Solous is sent to a prison

31:04

on the island of Corfu, where he

31:06

immediately begins to work on an escape plan,

31:09

but the guards discover his hand made blueprint

31:11

that he is once again doing artist style. He's like drawing

31:14

a blueprint, he figures they guess

31:16

what he's up to. They tell the warden. Warden's

31:18

like, don't worry about it, right, So

31:21

they're like like, well, no, you have to. He's like, okay, fine,

31:23

transfer him. So they transfer him to an Athens

31:25

prison. So there he's added Athens prison. He makes

31:27

a new plan to escape, draws up a new blueprint,

31:30

just like the artist would want him to this.

31:32

Somehow he's able to get a metal file snuck

31:34

into him. He uses his metal file to

31:37

start loosening the bar. She's saw him through the bars

31:39

every day, working a little bit, and uh,

31:41

he's like being a model prisoner. Everything's to be fine.

31:44

Now. Turns out he got this metal file

31:46

snuck into him in a package of spaghetti.

31:50

I didn't know you could get packages water

31:55

Amazon order. How does this work? Did

31:57

they not check packages of spaghetti? How

31:59

do they away? The guards? They were aware

32:02

that there was a middle file, and for their own little

32:04

amusement, they told the warden about it. Warden's like,

32:06

oh yeah, let him, let him work on it, so they

32:08

let him get kidding. They let him try to file

32:10

his way out, and then the warden for a little

32:12

bitten mouse game. He goes in every stones

32:14

off and checks to see how he's doing. He looks

32:16

to see how far he is, and they trying to estimate

32:18

when he's gonna get it in the world. The day

32:21

that he's convinced of silica is gonna get out. He's

32:23

like, hey, guys, go let's go down in yard and wait for him.

32:25

So they go down and wait for miss gets

32:28

He finally saw us through the last bar, lifts

32:30

out. He's got a hole, pushes through the hole

32:32

of his window, drops down and there are a bunch

32:35

of waiting for

32:37

him, and the guards start pointing guns out

32:39

of the Wards like no, no, put the guns downe Hey,

32:42

you want out of here, You're gonna have to fight me for it.

32:44

So the two girds. The

32:47

warden tells him, if you can beat me, I'll let you out

32:49

of the prison, and the Wards is like, they call

32:51

me the traffic jam. Like who's thing call

32:55

the traffic jam? So

32:57

the traffic jam he takes on uncatch

33:00

your bowl uncatchable. He catches

33:02

a couple to the face and h

33:04

he gets beat bad by the warden. Right, so

33:07

the silisa sent back inside and after

33:10

this short break, I will tell you how he gets

33:12

back to criming, because he definitely

33:14

does. All

33:35

right, Elizabeth, where were we? You were

33:37

telling me about a bare knuckle fight

33:39

between a warden and an inmate. That's right, Greek

33:41

prison. So

33:45

my man pasilis Paleocostus.

33:48

He's been sent from one prison another

33:50

and he went from car food and I was back in Athens. The

33:52

warden has been taunting him. He's been beaten

33:54

up after he tried to escape. He's

33:56

after he sent back inside, he's given a new cell mate.

33:59

Turns out the new sellmate will play a big

34:01

hand in the future of everything he does.

34:03

His new cellmate's name is al kitt Rose. He

34:06

is an Albanian hit man. For

34:09

whatever it's worth, al kitt Rose. He swears

34:11

he was no hit man and that he was wrongfully arrested.

34:13

So the papers all say he was a hit man. He

34:15

swears he was not a hit man, and that guy just happened

34:18

to be dead and they call him the Thunderclu.

34:22

His name was Thunderbunny

34:26

him. The two men get to know each other in the sale.

34:28

Just like Jero dreamed of sushi, they

34:30

dream of escape right and the

34:32

Stills dreams about calling down quote

34:34

a missile strike on the prison walls. He's

34:37

like, he's still an eighties action movie.

34:39

And it's like someone will still a helicopter

34:41

for little do you. It

34:45

takes the twenty days together before

34:47

they decide on a plan, and they put it into action

34:50

on the twenties day together June four, two

34:52

thousand six, they have contact your

34:54

brother Nikos, he's their point man on the outside.

34:56

They have arranged a plan and everything's

34:59

go. Nicos chartered

35:01

a helicopter from a sightseeing company.

35:03

Tom I just think eighties

35:05

action movie and they think helico exactly

35:08

as did they. So Nikos

35:10

were like, according to the Elizabeth plan, I'm

35:12

sorry the phantom. Sorry, you're right

35:15

not to state. As soon as Nicos the phantom

35:17

is in the air with the sight seeing

35:19

helicopter pilot, they go

35:21

up on the charted helicopter. The pilots

35:23

like, oh, what do you want to see here in Athens? And

35:26

Nikos pulls out a gun and goes take me to the prison.

35:28

He's like, that's not people want to see,

35:31

Soos Nikos has a grenade

35:33

just in case the guy tries to get clever. He's

35:35

like, I got a gun and a grenade to be good

35:37

for you. So he yanks

35:39

out the radio so now that the guy can't

35:41

call the cops, he orders the pilot to fly

35:43

to the prison. The pilots like, okay,

35:46

you got the guns. So that's a persuader. I'm doing

35:48

it. Are the Phantom? Yeah,

35:51

I got to the phantom. So

35:53

Mr the Phantom tell me where should

35:55

I be landing? And so the

35:57

phantom tells in the prison exercise yard,

35:59

and he's like, Okay, it's gonna be difficult,

36:01

but I can do that. Vasilus and cell

36:03

mate there in the yard

36:06

waiting, and they have snapped a lockdown on the

36:08

gate so that the guards can't chase them. It's like an improvised

36:10

lock that they've created. They pull out a red

36:13

Chego Vara flag that he had been on

36:15

his prison wall. This is why the two of them got along so

36:17

well. When al Kit sees his new cell mate has a cheg

36:20

Wavara flag and he's like, oh, we're gonna get along great.

36:22

So the two of them, as soon as they got

36:24

they got spaghetti, they got they

36:27

got movie nights, so

36:30

they're like waving the Cheguavara flag

36:32

on the prison exercise yard. The

36:34

helicopter lowers enough that the two men

36:36

can reach the landing skids, but then the prison

36:38

guards are fully aware this is actually a prison break. This

36:40

is not like a prison officials coming for an inspection,

36:43

which is what they think Originally, They're

36:45

like, yeah, exactly right. So

36:47

the guards they point their guns at the men, but

36:49

then like wait, wait, wait, because they realized

36:51

the prison is located in the residential neighborhood

36:53

and all the prison guards know that on the other side of the prison

36:56

walls are a bunch of neighborhood kids who always

36:58

kicks soccer balls, and they

37:00

don't want to shoot the kids, so they're like, let

37:02

him go. The kids

37:05

bring upside. The prisons agreed, Yeah,

37:08

I'll tell you like that. So they

37:10

watched the helicopter lift up into the sky,

37:12

Bye bye, and they're gone after

37:14

a short flights, and the kids all cheer yeah,

37:17

pretty much. The chopper lands in the cemetery

37:19

on the north side of Athens. The pilis

37:21

hops out, hugs his brother, says wear it right,

37:23

and they did, and then he attends

37:26

to the helicopter pilot and he's like, here man, he gives

37:28

him worry beats and he says, you will be okay.

37:31

You guys like, yeah, I'm a little more worried

37:33

about how much this oh doo's gonna

37:35

get arrested by the police in on

37:37

it. He's got, he's got a tough few days in front

37:39

of him. Anyway, after they give the

37:41

worry beats to the helicopter

37:43

and tell me he's okay, here's

37:47

a chokers, stay hop

37:49

on stolen dirt bikes and zoom off from

37:52

room right. Yeah,

37:54

exactly, scoot alkitt

37:57

rise, he later recalled, and I quote

37:59

I will full of drugs and adrenaline.

38:01

I could barely show on the emotion. I just sat

38:03

there stunned. But when we eventually switched

38:06

in the cars, I drove as fast as I could, knowing

38:08

that I didn't have to think about prison anymore.

38:10

It felt like a paradise. He's

38:13

Russian. Everybody's rushing to it. You know, what,

38:15

what do you want from me? Everyone's Russian here in Greece, in

38:18

the world, everyone's rushing. Increase accent,

38:20

like I don't know how to do a Greek accent without being

38:22

just straight up offensive, like I don't want to do anything

38:25

like I'm just going like a rough slot

38:27

like it. So he said of their

38:29

escape, it was a picture perfect or in his

38:31

words, and forgive the accent. The

38:34

ultimate aim and a jailbreak is to leave

38:36

nice and pretty and to say cheers

38:38

and bravo as you leave, cheers,

38:41

which is exactly apparently what they did. They were waiting

38:44

to get check with horror flags cheers

38:46

and as they flew

38:48

away. So Greek Robin

38:50

Hood is once again free and on the lamb and reunited

38:52

with his brother Nikos. And so what goes

38:55

down next for Greek Robin Hood. Well, three

38:57

months after their daring escape, al kitt Rose gets

38:59

caught and return into prisons because they're not good

39:01

at freedom, Elizabeth. And months

39:03

later, in that same year, two thousand and six, big brother

39:05

Nicos He is also caught and apprehended

39:08

by police. He gets nabbed in after a high speed

39:10

car chase. Meanwhile, these guys are always in high

39:12

speed car chase. There's so many high speed car chases,

39:14

I'm not even gonna tell you about all them. They

39:18

caught the Phantom but Uncatchable, true

39:20

to his nickname, stayed free. He

39:22

and so at this point he's like got a new

39:24

focus. He's like, I gotta I gotta get my

39:26

my big my big brother out of prison. And

39:29

he's also a little bothered because his baby brother,

39:31

the Phantom, is now known as the most wanted outlaw

39:33

in the land. He's like, his nickname is better

39:35

than mine. I need to do something about this. So

39:38

big baby brother of the list, he decides,

39:41

you know, I'm gonna needs some money to break my my brother

39:43

out. So he goes and he kidnaps another

39:45

Greek industrialists. You know, go back to what you

39:48

know there. You

39:50

can't walk anywhere in Greece without just

39:52

tripping over shipping magnets. Yeah, is

39:55

just lousy with magnets and industrialists.

39:58

So June nine and eight,

40:00

he and two men they kidnapped George Milonas

40:02

and he's an aluminum magnet, so

40:05

mixing it up, So he grabbed a gun point

40:08

by the silus and two men wearing hoods arm

40:10

with shot guns, which is always a good look. Two

40:12

weeks later, the fat cat Industrious gets released

40:15

once again unharmed, after his family

40:17

paid how much nineteen

40:19

million dollars American in ransom

40:22

today's dollars, by the way, because what was at one point

40:25

one point five first good memory. Now, the police

40:27

tracked the ransom money because it had been marked

40:29

and they were able to locate the hideout of the Scillus.

40:32

So two months after the kidnapping

40:35

in August, as he's laying about his mountain hide

40:37

out with an anarchist friend watching a DVD

40:39

of Monty Python and the Holy Grail and

40:41

the Anti Terror yea truly, the anti terrorism

40:44

squad busted into the door and

40:46

arrested Huge

40:49

exactly. Fails Is re arrested

40:52

and returned to prison. For some reason,

40:54

the Greene authorities, they decided to put the Sillus

40:56

and his old cell mate, I'll kit Ris back together

40:59

in the same cell. Like that's

41:01

like yeah, like they're saving space. We're like, well, we already

41:04

have the number system work, yeah, exactly.

41:06

So as they prepare for their new trial, he and al

41:08

Kitt they prepare a new escape plan. Let's

41:11

go back to what we know, get out the sketch pad

41:13

outside of the court for his new trial and Athens,

41:15

the local villagers come in from all those surrounding

41:18

towns that he's been like basically hiding out

41:20

in and they come into the city and they

41:22

gathered to protest his arrest. There's

41:24

a group of rural farmers and along with them

41:26

are urban anarchists. And then it also

41:28

swelling into this crowd or peasants and shepherds

41:30

who were all shouting death through the pigs,

41:33

freedom, the paleocaustus, death, the

41:35

pigs fed exactly

41:40

goats in the streets. People are there, but they're

41:42

buying in protests. So at one

41:44

point during all this media circus trial, alcott

41:46

Ri's girlfriend swans into the courtroom.

41:49

She makes a big scene. Everyone's like, oh, look at her. She's so dramatic

41:51

and beautiful, and she's allowed to hug her incarcerated

41:54

boyfriend. I don't know how this play is out in Greece,

41:56

but she uses the opportunity to slip

41:58

something in his pocket. It's a watch

42:00

with a tiny radio. Oh my god. Scond

42:04

two thousand nine, Alcott's girlfriend phones him

42:06

on this little dick Tracy prison watched and

42:09

she lets him know, baby, it's on. And

42:11

so Alkett and Vassilis were led out into the prison

42:13

yard for their daily exercise, and around the

42:18

size of the palm of his hand he's

42:20

got and so

42:25

thirty three forty five in the afternoon, a helicopter

42:27

is spotted approaching the prison. The

42:30

helicopter is yet another hijacked

42:32

chopper, and this time it's Alcott's

42:34

girlfriend who's holding the automatic rifle,

42:37

and Nko says instead of Nikos,

42:39

it's this time it's Alcott's girlfriend and she's kidnapped to

42:41

pilot at gun point and forced him to fly to the prison

42:43

yard. She pulls on the gun on the pilot and tells him

42:45

we're going to pick up the kids. Cordilo's

42:48

prison. When you die, always

42:50

with the kids, dropping kids off, picking kids up. And

42:52

by the way, they call me the specter. No

42:55

they don't, they don't. You

42:58

do so he the pilot

43:00

does as instructed. The chopper arrives

43:02

at the desired landing zone. Helicopter hovered

43:04

over the prison yard, the rope ladders tossed down the

43:06

side, and his girlfriend brandishing a machine

43:09

gun, provides cover for the two men as

43:11

they climb the rope ladder. This time

43:13

there's no kids playing soccer and other side of the prison

43:15

wall, so the guards open fire. The two

43:17

get in like an open gunfight, and she's

43:20

gunning from the open helicopter doors like it's

43:22

a Vietnam War movie. Guys

43:24

are climbing and just scrambling

43:26

as fast as they can up this rope ladder and

43:29

uh, they managed to basically tell him we're

43:31

on the ladder, take off and she turns. The guy

43:33

left off and he does, and they take off

43:35

and managed to escape. And they're just dangling

43:38

on the rope ladder. Yeah. We At one point the

43:40

prison guard tries to grab al Catt. He sees he's

43:42

reaching for the ladder. Alcat turns and he's

43:44

got a kebab skewer in his hand. Topic

43:48

right now, that's

43:52

not like an offensive. The

43:55

pilot obligern

43:58

And by the way, all this is on YouTube if you want to

44:04

now the prison

44:06

cards. After they had unloaded their clips in the under

44:08

side of this helicopter, they pierced the gas

44:10

tank, they severed the fuel line. This helicopter is not making

44:13

but it does make it to the side of a highway

44:15

in the suburbs of Athens where they land.

44:18

The pilot is fine, he's left bounding,

44:20

gagged and hooded. Vasilus Alquette and his

44:22

girl, they all they're gone

44:24

like the wind. Yeah. So the Greek

44:26

news interrupts all the daily soap propers with the brand

44:28

news of the daring prison escape of Acoustus.

44:32

This is the beginning of the largest man hunt in

44:34

Greek history. Now a month later, two

44:36

men and a woman storm

44:39

into a bank in the hometown of Vacillus and rob

44:41

it. The robbers are reported to be quote

44:43

the fugitive Vassilus Paleocoustus alquet

44:46

Rose and their female accomplice, a blonde

44:48

Laura Croft. No, that's

44:50

how they described in the press. All three escape

44:52

unharmed and with a small fortune. But not

44:55

long after that Alquette and his girlfriend they get

44:57

nabbed by the Greek police, like we've got

44:59

the specter Like these two, there's just too foxy,

45:03

unstatchable. True to his nickname, he stays

45:05

free on the lamb, and he gets

45:07

spotted by rural villagers who they say

45:09

they always notice him in the VW Torres Apparently

45:12

he just likes stealing torregs, so he would

45:14

like steal torreg get some cash in his

45:16

hand and go for a drive, just throw money as

45:19

he was driving around, listening to get like Greek

45:21

guitar. And also

45:23

there's another All these tales of his acts

45:25

of charity. But there's one I thought you would like as

45:28

his poor family. Right, it's the middle of the night

45:30

and they hear a knock at their door, and when they open it,

45:32

all they find waiting for them is an envelope.

45:34

Inside the envelope is ten thousand euros,

45:37

the exact amount of money they need for medical treatment for

45:39

the father whom the whole family depended

45:41

on. So he just comes in basically drops

45:43

off the money, and he isn't even there for them to say, how

45:45

does he find these things out? Is just like windows

45:49

at night, Yes, just like that. He gathers

45:51

at the window. He's got a big

45:53

earhorns in now.

45:56

He basically as an underground

45:59

guy. He keeps his his ear to the wind, and

46:01

when he hears some of these things, he's like, m I can

46:03

go do something about this. So stories

46:06

like this proliferate through the mountains of grease, and everybody's

46:08

always hoping that the Greek robin Hood will be so

46:10

kind as to roll into their town with his his

46:13

Greek music coming out of the windows, and people start

46:15

planting like stories like

46:17

you know, I really just need twenty

46:19

thousand euros and then I'll have my dream

46:22

of getting a new fake leg. You

46:24

don't have a well, like if I had to

46:26

have, let's just say I need one. Yes, a

46:28

Greek queen for a day has become like the

46:30

thing, right, everyone's like all these sob

46:32

stories, but the still us, you know, and he's not

46:35

spotting his toy egg listening to his Greek guitar

46:37

pick music. The authorities

46:39

are convinced that they can't find him

46:42

because he must have had cosmetic surgery,

46:44

which turns out he had. He had

46:46

had multiple cosmetic surgeries, and

46:48

it works. It allows him to stay free and he

46:50

remains so to this day. Do

46:52

you think he looks like one of the Real Housewives? Now,

46:55

probably got that immovable math. He's got

46:57

that special new face that all of those

46:59

people have. Yeah, the cheek bones

47:01

and the west side of that.

47:05

He just looks like Santa Monica. Everyone keep your eyes

47:07

open. Now.

47:09

There have been numerous run ins with him, most notably,

47:11

he still loves movies, so his love of

47:13

video rental stores almost cost him his freedom.

47:16

In two thousand nine, he left his hide out to go rent

47:18

some movies. He went down to the pop down to

47:20

the video rental store, and there's a team of

47:22

fifteen undercover police who had set up a sting operation

47:25

because they are aware of his video rental habit. And they

47:27

were just waiting there and like he's got to return, just

47:29

waiting to hear the music coming down the hill exactly.

47:31

They hear the Greek guitar music. So

47:34

before he gets out of his stolen tareg,

47:36

he spots the cops and the Highwayman bandit.

47:38

He gives the cops to the eye. The cops give him the

47:40

eye, and at one point they've now they've

47:43

cornered the most wanted man in Greece. And Vacillus

47:45

would later recount and I quote, so

47:48

I lead to the rip, I sped

47:50

down an alley to escape, and bullets were dancing

47:52

inside my car's cabin. These guys

47:54

opened fire and shot more than a hundred fifty bullets

47:56

in fifteen seconds. He's like

47:59

that nothing, This just a Tuesday for men.

48:01

So he he's telling this story

48:04

because he survived and he didn't fire back.

48:06

I'll tell you that in a second, okay, yeah, because I'm

48:08

like, how are we okay? So he survives. At

48:10

my point, they yeah,

48:12

and he didn't fire back. So he gets always

48:15

fifteen cops, fire and whatever due because

48:17

all of these years as a bandit, he never once used a gun.

48:19

He was very much against hurting, and that his original

48:22

code he came up with. So he escapes

48:24

that day and he remains on the lamb, occasually

48:26

robbing banks and then disappearing into the mountains. He calls

48:29

home and this has just been what he's been doing.

48:31

And now clearly you can tell I like the

48:33

Greek robin Hood. He's my dude.

48:35

And because mostly I think this is my favorite

48:37

part about him, the Greek robin Hood.

48:40

His existence implies the existence of like

48:42

the Greenland robin Hood and the zimbabwe

48:44

and robin Hood.

48:46

Robin we need all the robin hoods we can get.

48:49

I want to go to the convention. So

48:51

it was a quick question. Although he's not currently

48:54

in prison, as I find it out, the stillis

48:56

did spend plenty of time inside. So

48:58

what does that mean for his career aspects?

49:02

No, it's actually very good in one

49:04

particular field, entrepreneur.

49:06

He's now a qualified author, is

49:11

wow the publishing world with his memoirs

49:15

on the run, and he writes me and

49:18

it's a best seller hit. Of

49:20

course that one

49:23

allow me a review of the

49:25

memoir, Autobiography and Quote.

49:27

In its pages, you can find explanations about

49:29

the correct choice of a hostage for ransom, no

49:31

women or children, the most important thing

49:34

in planning an escape from prison to have

49:36

someone willing to sacrifice his life for you, and

49:38

warnings about the many obstacles that stand

49:40

in the way of those who choose illegality

49:42

as a way of life. Now, there's

49:46

one other passage in the review that

49:48

kind of highlights all of his many little side quests

49:50

that he went on that I didn't have time to cover in this, but

49:52

it kind of gives you an idea what he was doing when I said

49:55

he was on the lamb and I

49:57

quote. One of the most beautiful chapters

49:59

in the book, however, takes place away

50:01

from Greece and from all of the Silus's illegal

50:04

entanglements. In the early nineteen nineties,

50:06

when the authorities dropped a series of robbery

50:08

cases on him, Paliocostus was in the

50:10

midst of a long bicycle trip with a fake Brazilian

50:12

passport and a friend. The journey, which

50:15

began in Germany and ended in China, provides

50:17

the reader with a magical moment of the rest

50:19

from the stressful life in the shadow of Illegalism.

50:23

Wow, he rode on a bike trip

50:25

from China with a fake Brazilian

50:28

buddy. As you're getting ready to read that, I'm

50:30

thinking, like writers across

50:33

the globe, heave a heavy sigh of another.

50:35

But this guy sounds he's got a story. Okay, he's

50:37

learned the book deal and okay, And in case

50:40

you want to know, like, what is his writing voice

50:42

sound like? There was a translated

50:44

version of his book In case you wanted to read Elizabeth.

50:46

It's available on Amazon also

50:49

other fine booksellers who don't want support a corporate giant.

50:51

Basilis writes about his criminal ethos

50:53

as the Greek robin head and a quote,

50:57

my conscience prohibits me from selling guns,

51:00

protection of small businesses, drugs.

51:02

They also forbid me from entering a house to steal,

51:04

to kill an old lady, to become a snitch,

51:07

to cooperate with a cop of politician.

51:09

What do they allow me? Only

51:11

bank robberies, abducting a rich people,

51:14

and being part of a revolution towards a

51:16

more just world. That's

51:18

his story.

51:22

That's what I think my conscience allows me to

51:24

do. Being

51:28

Yeah, I'll take someone and make them think they're not going to live.

51:31

Well, No, he never, he never does that. He lets

51:33

them know, look, I'm only here for the cash. You're

51:35

worth this moment. Why wouldn't they just walk

51:37

off? There has to be some threat to

51:39

their life. There's

51:41

a threat to they can't escape, like you

51:43

know, like if I've staying you up, I don't need to tell you I'm going

51:45

to kill you. I can just tell you good luck getting away from

51:47

the chains, right, But what if I do? Then? What are you

51:50

gonna just let me walk off? Then I've lost my prey

51:52

and I'm better go get another fat cat. There's

51:56

implicit violence in that. There can

51:58

be, but there's not a nest is sary violence

52:01

you can do this with just like look, hey, sit down,

52:03

relaxed, watch some TV. I'm gonna bring

52:05

you some microwave dinners and we're gonna talk

52:07

about supermarkets. What well,

52:11

as I said before, vasiliuskali Acostus

52:13

is still out there robbing banks for a

52:15

more just world there And if

52:18

you hear this, hit us up, Pasilus, because

52:20

we'd love to have you come on the show and be the first guest

52:22

for our ridiculous crime book club. That

52:24

would be amazing. Well,

52:26

Elizabeth, it's a ridiculous takeaway for this one.

52:29

Um, you know what, I

52:32

don't ever make your own nicknames. You're

52:35

making fun of me my

52:39

ridiculous takeaway. Once again, thank you for asking. It

52:42

is simple. Look, if you don't hurt anyone, I'm

52:44

probably gonna root for you over the fat cat

52:46

industrialists every time, especially once you're

52:48

engaging crimes of their own, like the dude with the

52:50

corruption and the and the supermarket

52:52

everybody, right, and definitely

52:54

I'm going to root for the Greek robin hood

52:57

over the kinds of villains who say, you know what, I got

52:59

a and some I'm gonna make all the taxpayers

53:01

pay. I mean like that to me is just

53:04

as whack as somebody going in and robbing a bank. In

53:06

fact, it's worse. Well, ordinary

53:08

people, we get screwed over all day every

53:10

day, so

53:13

you know, sometimes you got to get your on back.

53:15

I guess yeah. And also, I mean, how can you not root

53:18

for a Greek robin hood nicknamed

53:20

Uncatchable who bumps guitar music from

53:22

the windows of stolen cars as he tells his money

53:24

out the window. They call him.

53:30

That's all I got for you, beaut Well.

53:32

You can find us online a Ridiculous Trauma about Twitter

53:34

and Instagram. Twitters for the updates, the dump stuff,

53:36

the shout outs, interactions Instagram. That's

53:38

where we put the photos for each episode, and

53:41

also we give peaks at the shows to come. The

53:43

stories offer you some laughs and uh

53:45

yeah, you can speak pick some both, but either way,

53:48

if you'd like to contact us, you can tweet

53:50

at us or email us if you want a Ridiculous

53:52

Crime at gmail dot com.

53:55

Thanks for listening. Ridiculous

54:02

Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zoan

54:04

Burnett, produced and edited by the Providence

54:06

Robin Hood Dave Houston. Researches

54:08

by Rogue Bandit of the Archives Marissa Brown.

54:11

Our theme song is by the artist Thomas

54:13

Lee and the fingerpicking guitar man Travis

54:15

Dutton. Executive producers are Ben It's

54:17

all Greek to Me Boland and

54:20

No I'm a Creek on a leash Crowd

54:26

We Die

54:30

say It one more time We Dequeous

54:32

Crew. Ridiculous Crime

54:34

is a production of I Heeart Radio four more podcasts,

54:37

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Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite

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