Fraud Fridays: The Black Space Hitler (Yep!) w/ Arden Myrin

Primary Topic

This episode of "Fraud Fridays" explores an extraordinary scam involving a man claiming to be Hitler, plotting a revival with spaceships, and targeting Nazis and their sympathizers.

Episode Summary

In a captivating episode of "Fraud Fridays," host Laci Mosley, along with guest Arden Myrin, delves into the bizarre scam of William Henry Johnson, who posed as Hitler and conned Nazi sympathizers. Johnson, an African American, fabricated a story about Hitler surviving and plotting a cosmic revolution. He manipulated his followers into sending him money, promising them high ranks in his new regime and even otherworldly conquests involving spaceships. The scam was absurdly successful, playing on the prejudices and gullibility of Nazi followers, leading to Johnson eventually being caught and tried for his fraudulent activities.

Main Takeaways

  1. The audacity of scams can be boundless; Johnson's involved claiming the survival of Hitler and space-faring ambitions.
  2. Scammers often exploit the biases and irrational beliefs of their targets, as seen with the Nazi sympathizers.
  3. The episode highlights the intersection of racism and gullibility, where even outrageous claims can seem plausible to those with prejudiced views.
  4. The story is a reminder of the importance of critical thinking and skepticism, particularly concerning extraordinary claims.
  5. Legal consequences for fraud are inevitable, as Johnson's eventual arrest and conviction demonstrate.

Episode Chapters

1. Introduction

Laci Mosley introduces the episode and guest Arden Myrin, setting the stage for a discussion on a bizarre historical scam.
Laci Mosley: "Welcome to an episode of Fraud Fridays where we dive into the scam goddess vault."

2. The Scam Explained

The hosts discuss the details of William Henry Johnson's scam, masquerading as Hitler to extract money from neo-Nazis.
Arden Myrin: "This is the greatest revenge tale of all time."

3. The Cultural Impact

The discussion shifts to how such scams reflect on societal beliefs and the exploitation of extremist ideologies.
Laci Mosley: "It's about how these scams are intertwined with societal issues like racism and hate."

4. Consequences and Conclusion

The episode wraps up with the consequences faced by Johnson and the broader implications of his actions.
Arden Myrin: "I mean, he thought he was the scammer, and she called his bluff."

Actionable Advice

  1. Stay Informed: Regularly update yourself about common and current scam tactics to recognize and avoid them.
  2. Verify Sources: Always verify the credibility of information, especially when it seems extraordinary or implausible.
  3. Educate Others: Share knowledge about scams with your community to prevent others from falling victim.
  4. Report Scams: Inform authorities about potential scams to help prevent them from spreading.
  5. Critical Thinking: Cultivate a habit of questioning and critically analyzing information before accepting it as true.

About This Episode

We come in peace this Friday, con-gregation! This week, we revisit our episode with Arden Myrin, dissecting the story of a miner who claimed to be Hitler AND plotting a spaceship revolt. Yep!

People

Laci Mosley, Arden Myrin

Guest Name(s):

Arden Myrin

Content Warnings:

Discussions of racism and exploitation

Transcript

Laci Mosley
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Arden Myrin
Whoa. Not just late night. Try the new cantina chicken menu. Now, the participating us taco Bell locations was supplies last context sort for participation was fair. What's Poppin congregation?

Laci Mosley
It's your girl, Lacey Moseley, aka scam goddess. Welcome to an episode of Fraud Fridays where we release older episodes from the scam goddess vault. That's right. Fraud Fridays is where we bring back your favorite episodes from behind the paywall. Enjoy this episode from behind the paywall.

And as always, stay scheming scams comes robbery and fraud. Scams, robbery and frog.

Oh, my God. Guys, I have to formally introduce Arden. I've just been talking to her like, we at the house right now. But, guys, you've seen Arden. First of all, I love insatiable, and I did watch the show on Netflix, and I binged it so freaking hard.

But she kills it in insatiable. You're absolutely insane in that show. She's been insane. You've seen her in shameless. You've seen her on the road doing stuff.

Stand up. You've seen her on orange is the new black. Honey, she's got a book that is out right now that I love. It's coming out. It's coming out.

Arden Myrin
They can pre order it. Oh, it says on sale September. Okay, I'm fancy. I got that book. I got it before it came out.

No, you got you. You were the first person to get the bundle. You were the first. Those are going out a little bit later, and you're the only person who's got it. This is the closest to me getting, like, a Beyonce box, honestly, like, I opened it up on Instagram.

Laci Mosley
I was like, bitch, if it was some clothes in there, I was about to be coming out and wearing them. Yes, you got your crazy puzzle. It says, on sale September 2020. The book is called Little Miss Little Compton. And I got quite the education from this, because when I first saw this, I said, our mirror is from Compton, California.

She from Bompton. Okay, Bompton. On the map, Arden is a tiny, blonde, white woman. So I was like, what am I about to see? But then I learned that this is a small town in Rhode island with no stoplights.

Arden Myrin
This is a small town of Rhode island that has no stoplights. It has a general store. It has, like, the big criminal in town is a crow named Poe, the crow that was stealing people's mails, and it literally got put under house arrest. And that is, they had never heard of the big Compton until the movie. They didn't even hear when the album came out until the movie straight out of Compton.

Laci Mosley
So when straight out of Compton came out, they were like, who came out of here? They were so excited. Like, literally, it was. The town could not have been more excited and had never heard of it. Like, had never.

Arden Myrin
It's just fishermen and farmers and lobstermen. Imagine when they learned that it's made by a group called niggas with attitude. I made sure. I'm sure their minds were blown. Like, just white hair flying.

Like, gin and white hair are just flying all over town. Well, I wanted to talk a little bit, so I haven't finished the book, but I did start it, and it's so funny and so interesting because you come from a. I have a family that is pretty wild, too. And you come from a wild family. I come from a wild family, yes.

Laci Mosley
And I found it so interesting that your grandparents just, like, got married on a whim. Like, can you say, tell the congregation how I feel like your grandma. First of all, I feel like she scammed your grandpa. Can I just say, as I was so. First of all, such a fan of yours, such a fan of your podcast, and I was thinking about, like, my scam, and I'm like, I am the product.

Arden Myrin
I am literally the genetic product of two scams. My grandma thought my grandpa was rich, and she was like, let me wrap this up. She was sort of pretty and fun. She loved to party, and she got it. She was cute.

She got it done. Like, literally, they ran over. They were in Philadelphia. They ran to Maryland to get married. Cause you didn't need a blood test, like, one day after meeting.

So that was the first one. And then the real scam came. My parents met in New York City. They worked together, and they were out, like, cocktailing one night. And they.

One new year's Eve, they were trying to figure out how to scam their workplace, where everybody got two weeks vacation. But you got a honeymoon. But if you want a honeymoon, you got an extra two weeks. And so my dad, who was, like, such a lush, was like, hey, you know, my mom was a little cutie pie, and he was like, janet, I dare you. We get married.

I will take you to South America for four weeks. We'll come back, and we'll get it annulled. And she had just been dumped by her college boyfriend. So, like, she thought. She thought this was.

And he seemed fun and kind of wild, and so it was sort of the bad boy that it should have been, like, a week long fling. But I think because she was, like, her feelings were hurt that she'd been dumped. She was like, okay. And then she called him back the next day, and she said she upped the ante. She was like, I will do it.

We'll lie to our workplace. I will do it, but I'm not gonna get it annulled. And then they literally. They went. They had, like, a proper wedding.

Like, six weeks later, she borrowed her best friend Arden's dress. Wedding dress. My grandparents met him as, like, her fiance, and they scammed their work. They went for a month. They fully scammed.

That's. That's why they got married. And they stayed married until they died. 50 years. Nuts.

Batshit. It's amazing. I think it's fantastic. And when I said your grandma, I actually meant your mom scammed your dad. Because I was thinking of that story.

Laci Mosley
Because that story, your dad thought he was doing the scam. And he was like, all right, sis, look. Yeah, we ain't ever dated, but if we get together, I'm gonna give you a month off, and we go into South America. She was like, okay. And then he was like, we'll get it to know when we get back.

And the next day, she was like, I'm down. But no, no. Yes. She fully. She fully upped the.

Arden Myrin
I mean, he thought he was the scammer. He thought he was it. And she called his bluff, and it did. It felt like the ultimate Game of Thrones. I'm your wife, you know?

Laci Mosley
Ever. Yeah, yeah, I'm your wife. And, like, he fully tricked her and. Cause. And it really.

Arden Myrin
I didn't learn about it till I was, like, 14 and was. My brother had, like, his girlfriend and, guys, you can read all about this in the book. You guys can read all this stuff. But my brother. I learned about it when I was 14 or 15.

My brother had his first girlfriend, and she was asking my mom how they met, and they seemed like such an odd fit that it finally explained how did they get together? And I was like, of course it was on adare. Of course it was on a. Dare. We say that your mother rang the alarm, as the Beyonce song goes.

She was like, she gave us that. America, I let you go. She was like, I'm not letting this man go. And I love it. Also, guys, the tea that has been spilled, honestly, this is only three, four pages into the book after the forward, so, yes.

Oh, no. There is so much stuff. You have no idea. It is. There's a lot, I think.

Look, I talk later on about. I grew up in this tiny town, and I had stars in my eyes and was able to make it onto a sitcom by 20. And sort of how I scanned that, and then I have a big hope, and then I, like, I talk. I spilled some tea about, like, I accidentally. I did an episode of Friends and accidentally kicked Courtney cuffs in the face during rehearsal every day.

So there's all sorts of stuff. I talk about meeting Debbie Allen, who's totally. Did. She goes, act in pain, heifer. And I was like, oh, my God.

Like. And I've always been obsessed with Debbie Allen from fame. Like, that was when I knew I'd made. It was getting screamed at by Debbie Allen. So it was truly just all the jerseys.

Laci Mosley
You get to be screamed at by a black queen. Like, you know, you've really made it. Oh, she was in. She was in a red fur coat and red ugg boots, and she was screaming at me, and it was literally the best. It was like, the little girl in me.

Arden Myrin
I felt like I was on fame, and she was. I was like, I want to pay in blood, sweat, and tears and be approved of by Debbie Allen. It was everything. That's how you know a black woman cares about you when they yell at you. Okay.

I loved it. I felt like when she said, act in pain, heifer. I was literally like. I felt like Dorothy clicking her heels like I'd made it to Oz. It was truly.

I was like. Cause I felt like she knew that I would love it. I felt like she liked me and that she knew I would get it and love it. And I was like, I'm in. Yes.

Laci Mosley
She called me a haffer. Yes. Let's get into it. What's hot and fraud. That's the first segment where we're gonna warn our listeners about what's hot and fraud.

Or sometimes we get listener letters pretty much all the time. Now we just do listener letters. Cause I love to hear from the congregation. Great, guys. Scamgottespot@gmail.com.

Dot snitch on your friends, your family, yourself, but make sure it's retired. And leave out details. And if you do put in details, I will take them out for you. Cause I've learned what I should not share. Sure.

Arden Myrin
We all do. We've all. We all. You know what, everybody? You learn, but you grow as you go.

Laci Mosley
I do. Look, I don't eat on here anymore. God, guys, I'm. Oh, my God. I've been.

Cause I'm still pissed that y'all are so mean to me about it. Trust me, I've gotten. I got one episode I made the error of, like, a year ago. I ate some almonds. I think I lost 88,000.

Arden Myrin
I mean, true, the anger. And I knew I was trying to hide my crunching, but even still, somebody was very triggered by my almond eating. Yes, they can tell. I will never eat again. I will never eat.

Laci Mosley
And the girls will light the pitchforks. Okay. As soon as they hear the smack. Okay. They're coming to your home.

Arden Myrin
Oh, they don't know. They. They hate it. And they hate you for. They dare you for doing it.

Laci Mosley
How inspired by your book, little Miss Little Compton. Because you talk a lot about, obviously, like, your life, where you grew up, your family, things like that. So we're talking about a familial scam today. That's one from one of our listeners. I love it.

So can you give me a name, Arden, for this person? Okay, I'm gonna give you the name Tina. Tina. I like it. I like it a lot.

Tina reminds me of Bob's burgers, which I was like, oh, I love. Tina's the most horny woman alive, at least on Bob's burgers. Tina's so horny. Tina's so horny. And I love it.

Arden Myrin
I love it for Tina. I love. Tina deserves. So Tina says, hello, lazy. This is my mother's long retired scam.

Laci Mosley
She has always loved one get rich scheme or another, and this was one that I was involved in when I was seven and eight years old. Due to divorce and custody issues, my mother and I lived in Michigan during the week so I could attend school, and we visited my stepfather on the weekends. He worked at a small college in western Pennsylvania and lived across from campus. Every Sunday morning, my mother would send my seven year old friend and me to the frat house down the block with a trash bag. We would collect all the beer cans we could carry, and then we'd load up her vw golf to the ceiling with these bags and drive five ish hours back to Michigan and have a ten cent return on each pop can.

Pop, you're definitely from Pennsylvania. Yeah, pop, I love. Whenever I hear pop, I'm always like, oh, my. It's like a time traveler, and I love it. Back then, you could bring a bag of cans to the grocery store's customer service desk, and if they were busy, they wouldn't even open the bag, and they would just pay you for whatever quantity you said was in the bag.

Especially if you were seven years old and your mama was waiting in the car. My mom had every angle on this figured out. She had me round up on the can counts, and she must have realized that nobody at the grocery store would argue with a kid, even though after a couple years of this, they must have recognized and known that the can count was always off. The friend's father made a gadget that crushed multiple cans at a time. We could stuff more in the car each trip.

She had us tell the frat guys, who were usually all hungover and wouldn't care anyway, that the money was for our college fund. The friend spent all $200 of her cut on candy all at once. Yes. That is a girl after my own heart. I would go right for the fun dip.

Arden Myrin
Right for the fun dip. And Charleston, listen, she gonna be licking. Powder off a stick for years, she said. Just flying tongue raw.

Just raw dog time. Flying lion. Oh, goodness. So she says that car would always smell awful after she started this and would attract flies if the windows weren't down. Damn, y'all had that much beer in the car?

Yep. I think of the smell of a old natty light. And if I had to drive in a car like that, oh, God. When I picture, I also picture them having been out, like, hot in the sun, like, hungover, drunk frat, just like a really sweaty night. I picture lots of different kinds of beer and everything kind of mixed some mixers all mixed together with, like, the partial liquid left hot, kind of juicy in the bottom of the bag.

I'm impressed that there's not, like, anywhere else they could go get the can. I mean, that feels like a long drive to go hunt down those cans, but I appreciate it. I think it was a two stop shop, though. Like, mama would go out there and get her stepdaddy dick. And then she could.

Laci Mosley
While she was getting digged down, she would send the kids off on a mission. She was like, give me a little friend. Go over here, pick up cans. Y'all doing community service and chirin. And then she would get digged down, and then they would drive back and make money.

Arden Myrin
Yes. Tina's mama, Tina Sr. Is getting at it. Tina Sr. Is just getting down, and she's just.

It's like, almost a perfect babysitter distraction. It's like, we're gonna make a little scratch. You're gonna go, you know, we're gonna do some public service for these frat boys, and mommy's getting served in Pennsylvania. So I know the beers that they sell there, and it's definitely, like, the natty lights and the old. Some people still doing old English.

Laci Mosley
This probably was around before four loko, I'm assuming. But what's also crazy to me about this is what makes me laugh. It's okay. So you in a frat, and you in college, and it's just two little babies on your lawn every week, every weekend. Seven year old baby, two.

Arden Myrin
Seven. Seven year old. Who are those girls? Oh, those are just the babies who come clean up our cans. Those are the can babies.

Those are the cutie can. The can cuties? No, they're really sweet. Their mom's great. She just drops them off, speeds away very quickly.

Very quickly. And she comes back very relaxed. Very relaxed. Flushed in the face. Yeah.

Yeah. She's just like a whole different woman once she returns. Yeah. And these two little girls are out doing that. I mean, I love this kind of mom.

I feel like I grew up. I feel like I grew up really around these kind of moms where I don't think I could pick my friends moms out of a lineup. I feel like we were so unsupervised. The beauty of completely unsupervised, that's the exact opposite. But you lived in a small town.

Laci Mosley
Like, little Compton is so small. I feel like you got to have that kind of barefoot childhood existence where you can run off and go wherever you want as long as you're back when the streetlights are off. I had that when I was a kid. Like, maybe up until seven. But after that, my mom and all her family was looking at me all the damn time, trying to make sure I wasn't pregnant.

Arden Myrin
I mean, how I do remember when I got my period and I looked like Barb from stranger things. I mean, I think my mom had higher hopes for me. But I remember my mom immediately. I think I was like, eleven. And she was like, you can go on the pill.

I'm like, what? Like, she. It was all, just don't get pregnant. Just do not get pregnant. It was all.

My mom wasn't even, like, on the pill. She was like, if you have sex, I will know. You gonna start walking different? I mean, you gonna start looking different. And I just believed her.

Laci Mosley
She was like, I own your body till you 18. And I just believed that. I just didn't have any sex. Cause I was like, she owns it. She said, she's damn me.

Arden Myrin
You grew up in Texas, right? Where in Texas? I love Dallas. Can I just say, I've done a lot of stand up in Dallas, and it's my favorite city in America to do. I love hyenas.

Laci Mosley
Those crowds are like, thank you so much for just being here. Yeah, and they're pretty chill. Like, I have to say, it's a pretty chill. Like, it's. It's.

Arden Myrin
I found it to be, like, a pretty good time. I felt like people were down to come hang and weren't uptight. Like, I found it to be a pretty nice thing because in Dallas, people. Aren'T like, impress me. I feel like sometimes when I used to do stand up, it was like, people like, oh, I watch a lot of stand up.

Laci Mosley
You better, like, come with it, right? But, like, in Dallas, I think people, a lot of times are just. First of all, there's not a lot of nightlife. It's not like Houston. Like, Drake raps about Houston to compare.

Like, he's not rapping about all the strippers in Dallas. So when they get an event and they get an arden come into town and they're like, oh, we know Arden from television. Like, they're just gonna be here hanging on, whatever you gotta say. You could have read the phone book. You need no jokes.

Arden Myrin
No, they were. I remember doing. I'd seen a local ad that. I remember doing local jokes about some guy that was like, a local lawyer named the hammer. Have you seen the hammer?

Oh, my God, that hammer. And he's like. He is like. And he's so great. He's so angry and he's the hammer.

And he drags, like, this giant hammer out into the middle of a highway and tries to fight a semi truck. And he's like, I'm the hammer. And it was like, you think you're better than the hammer? It was like. It was so excited.

It was the angriest local ad I've ever seen anywhere. And I remember I did about like 40 minutes on the hammer. And unfortunately, it's unusable anywhere else in America. But if I could have made my entire career just doing regional humor about the hammer in Texas, it's also just. Such a genius strategy as a comedian to pull something so local like that.

Laci Mosley
Cause the hammer is crazy as hell. But listen, in Texas, we like crazy. So if a lawyer is on tv, like, I will fight for you. We're like, okay. That's what it was.

Arden Myrin
It truly. And I. And again, growing up in the smallest town, like, we're in the smallest state in the nation, you know, I will not mess with Texas. I will only come and respect Texas. I know I will never win if I try to pick a fight with Texas.

So I'm gonna come just freaking give me a long horn and let's. Let's talk about the hammer. Like, let's do this. Lawyers are willing to fight a semi truck for you. It was true.

I'm Jim Hammond. You gonna get the hammer. You deal with the hammer. You call Jim hammer.com. I was like, it was one of the crazier.

But that's how you know you got a good lawyer. Because it's like, even if he doesn't negotiate the case well, he's still got a hammer. So he might just hit some people over the head and look, you might still win. He might. You might still win.

And if, you know, if you're enough of a wild card that you rolled the dice and you're like, I'm gonna choose the hammer to rep me, then people know, like, that you've got nothing to lose. Like you. That you, like, you are junkyard dog. You got nothing to lose. Like, let's just drop it.

Let's just settle out of here. The hammer and Brian lawn car. Now, Brian Long car is more chill. But see, where's this accent coming from? God damn.

Laci Mosley
But Brian Long. Carlos, who was that? Brian lawn car's coming over here. I did. The longer I spend time, like, in Texas or in the south.

Arden Myrin
When we did insatiable was in Atlanta. And then I found, like, how quickly I am that garbage person that visits a place and immediately picks up the accent. Immediately. I love it. I love it.

Laci Mosley
I'm hella problematic, though. I remember when I used to live in Miami, Florida, and my cousin called me once and I was like, hello. And he was like. I was like, mira que? Oh, my God.

Arden Myrin
What? Cause I speak Spanish. And then I just started talking like I had an accent. And Eric was like, please stop this. Oh, my God.

I love this version of Lacey. I love Miami Lacey. My whole wardrobe was like a highlighter pack. Like, everything that owned was, like, super, right? And yes.

How long were you. How long were you in my. Only there for a year. Which is also why it's like, girl, like, why are you trying to act? A year's long enough.

A year's long enough to. I feel like if you were there for, like, two weeks, you know, which I feel that I've done stuff. Like, I feel that I've picked up an accent by the end of a weekend somewhere. I think it's the actress in her. So I.

Laci Mosley
It's kind of fun to put it on as long as it isn't offensive. There's some accents and things that people do that are offensive, but I feel like a regional accent when you go somewhere. A regional. Oh, my God. It's the best.

Arden Myrin
I love, whenever I. When I go home, I fly into Boston. When I land at Logan, there's a Massachusetts accent like, oh, Adam, get over here. How's your mother? You know that world.

Oh, there's like, Adam, come here. Just that whole Rhode island accent, the Massachusetts. I remember I thought the word fart was spelled f o t until I was, like, six. It was like, oh, who farted? Who cut the cheese?

Oh, sick. That. I love it. New York accents are just pretty northern. Like, eastern accents are just, like, all very cool.

Laci Mosley
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All right, guys, and we're back, and it's time for my favorite section of the show, historic hood wings. This is when I will regale Arden with a very famous caper. And we'll just get her opinions as we go. We'll chat. We'll talk about it.

So today, the scam is about William Henry Johnson, a Kentucky miner who scammed Americans by claiming that he was Hitler and plotting a revolt with spaceships. Wow. Wow. And it worked. Listen, you're gonna find out, but what I love about this story is, is one, William Henry Johnson is a black man.

Two, he is scamming Nazis and nazi sympathizers and supporters. And I have no sympathy for anybody who is fucked up and evil and racist. Getting robbed. I'm like, yes, please steal these people. This is.

Arden Myrin
This is the greatest revenge tale of all time. It is a little upsetting that these people are so dumb that a revolt with spaceships. And also, this is 19. 1945 Arden. So, like, we weren't even doing space like that at that point.

No, we weren't. Nobody been to the moon. Nobody been, like, this was not an option yet, but. Okay, so let's talk about William, I guess. Okay.

Laci Mosley
Okay. So, in 1945, just months after Adolf Hitler committed suicide in his bunker, rumors emerged that the german dictator had survived with his mistress, Eva Braun. As they escaped the country and were hunkered down somewhere. Where exactly was unclear. Clear.

People claim to spot him at neo nazi gatherings in Colombia or on a u boat in Argentina. Oh, my God. The Nazis, they would go, and that's. Because it's so far away. It was a place for them to hide out.

Arden Myrin
So there's how I didn't know. Big Nazis in Argentina. That's crazy. So. And then the other thing is.

Laci Mosley
Is, like, this is 1945. Like, we don't got instagram, so I'm sure there were, like, plenty of white who look like Hitler. Like, he made that nasty mustache popular. Like. That mustache is such a choice that, like, it's such a specific move that has really only happened once.

Arden Myrin
Like. And anybody else that keeps that going, I couldn't tell somebody, like, if you're wearing that, I'm gonna assume you're Hitler. Like, why would anybody else wear that mustache? But Charlie didn't know. That's it.

Laci Mosley
Charlie didn't know what he was doing, right? Cause I think that was before. Earlier, he was just going pure comedy. He was doing it so he could move. He was.

Arden Myrin
I'll give it to him as a pass. Cause he was in silent movies, and he needed to move his face around. Cause he couldn't, you know, make noises. And it looked funny with a mustache. With that little, tiny one.

Laci Mosley
Yeah. Okay. A little, tiny, crazy mustache. But this is. What a journey.

So, apparently, a lot of people thought that they saw him. He was like Tupac at the time. Although Tupac, way better guy. Yes, yes. So everyone's like, I saw him.

I saw Hitler. The other day, he was at my grocery store. It's like, did you really see him? I don't know. I saw a documentary once where people thought that Elvis didn't actually die and that, like, they spelled his middle name wrong on his grave.

Arden Myrin
And there was a lot of. And there was a moment in time. I'm gonna confess to you. I watched it. I think I was, like, 19.

I was like, maybe he didn't die. Like. And there was some rumors. There's been some Elvis sightings. Like, they thought that he was.

You know, there's an actual. He was buried in the plot. Like, the wrong plot. And the middle name is wrong. Cause he didn't.

Laci Mosley
I love a good conspiracy theory. Okay, listen, me too. I do it. I love it. I'm gonna put a little on my head.

Me too, you know? Me too. Me too. That was cute. I love it.

So, the evidence. No, the evidence of survival was non existent. But by 1947, a poll found that 45% of Americans believed Hitler had survived. Among them, a group of disgruntled german descendants scattered across the country, who, for several months had been corresponding with a man who called himself furrier number one. And that's William.

So, in hundreds of letters mailed between 1946 and 1956, ten years, furrier number one explained that he was. Despite misspelling his title, and because he spelled furrier f u r r I e r. Like, furry. Yeah, yeah, like, he was a. Like, he's like a furry.

Arden Myrin
He's. And nobody noticed that that was odd, but. So. Cause, like, he basically. He was writing in vernacular English.

Laci Mosley
So Adolf Hitler, he was basically saying, look, I'm Adolf Hitler. I have survived. The furrier was not Adolf Hitler, but a 61 year old african american coal miner and part time baptist preacher named William Henry Johnson. Okay, so let me just get. So he was sort of putting out the bat signal to all the Nazis across the country, looking for their leader.

Arden Myrin
Being like, I survived. It's me. I'm here. Here I am. Send me money.

Cause it's like. I think it's like fuchsia. It's like. I'm not saying it with a german accent, but he was like, hey, I'm furry. I'm furrier.

Laci Mosley
I got lots of furry furs. Furry, furry furrer. Furry. What's up, evils? It's me, y'all.

Leader.

Arden Myrin
And people were just so desperate for all the evil. People were so desperate that they were. They were like, okay, great, he's here. This is literally your paw. Paw.

Laci Mosley
Like, he's like your old grandpa. Who's pretending to be a Nazi. Yes. So Johnson was described as a tall, full faced man with a strong and convincing voice by a court witness. He had been duping the would be interstellar neo nazi conquerors for about a decade.

Many of Johnson letters were signed by other aliases, including Eva Hitler, Eva Braun, Admiral Kessering, chief staff, who I guess sometimes he would just say chief of staff. What staff? Just chief of staff. Just the Nazis. Just evil.

Arden Myrin
Just general evil. Who is he sending these letters to? He's sending these to german, like, people from Germany who had escaped to America who were hiding, probably cause they did some fucked up shit. And then also to just, like, nazi sympathizers. And, like, obviously, we still have them currently in our country today.

Laci Mosley
So it's like, they have held on for a really long time. It's like y'all lost. Y'all lost a long time ago. Like, y'all, stop. There was a guy they took away recently in the paper, and they.

Arden Myrin
I saw him hiding. He was hiding his face. I was like, yeah, you should hide your, like, they found, like, an old guard a lot recently, and, like, took him off and he was hiding, but, like, he'd been in hiding till, like, he's still alive. Crazy. There was two brit people in the UK who were arrested.

Laci Mosley
One woman for nazi conspiracy theories because she participated in a pageant. I can't remember what the pageant's called, but it's some kind of, like, little Miss Hitler pageant that she was in. And then she got arrested for conspiracy charges. And this is within the past year. Like, whoa, give it up.

Arden Myrin
Well, then give it up. Just let that anti semitism, like, we don't believe you. We don't believe in it. Give it up. Yeah, yeah, give it up.

Just let it go. You'll be so much happier. You'll be so much. Let go of that hate. Like, there's nothing.

Laci Mosley
Come on, now you tell me. The best part of waking up is hate in your cup. You wake up every day mad. How you gonna just wake up? Fight in the air like NBA youngboy.

Like, that's not a way to live. That is tiring. Well, they have the two karens last week that were mad about wearing the masks, and then they wore two nazi masks into the store. Like, come on. You know what, though?

That's a scam I really want to get into. I was talking to Tracy Mattel about that. I was like, what if I. Or actually, I think I was talking to Miles Gray, you know, Miles. I was like, what if I started selling, like, hate merch, but it's like, black owned.

Arden Myrin
Yeah, yeah, yeah. People love hate so much. Imagine love and hate so much that you, like. I don't know. I need hate merch.

Oh, my God, I love. You. Were running a black owned hate merch. That scary. It really is all.

I mean, just even. I know this will be up in a little while, but, like, just even like that, Trump was like, put that video up of that doctor that was saying that masks don't work and they have a cure. And they were like, you know, she said. She also said that aliens, like, she's a doctor that talked about, like, some cure that she got from aliens. And he goes, well, I don't know anything about that.

It was like, what is happening here? Like, what? What. What is happening here? What is happening here?

Everybody just be cool to another. Let's just all be. Let's just all keep each other alive. Let's be kind to one another. Donald Trump makes me live and let live everybody.

Laci Mosley
I've talked about that on this show. I mean, the man tried to fight the sun. And after that, I really gave up. I was like, okay, we can't win. He is trying to fight the sun.

So just like, the hammer is going to fight a semi. He's got the hammer. The hammer. It's got. It's.

Arden Myrin
It's just. That's what. It's just a whole other thing. It's a whole next level. It's the next level thing.

Laci Mosley
But yes. So he's signing these things as chief of staff and whatever else. And a few messages came from a Hitler aide named Avon Beluski. Postal inspectors wondered whether Johnson added a bogus, like, another name as a private joke, maybe. Child.

He was just out here writing letters to everybody and anybody. It was like the notebook, except for he was sending them out to everybody. He was like, hey, Nazis, about you. Every day I've been thinking about you so hard, and I'm feeling your hate, and I just want you to know you're not alone. And it's me, doctor Ava Braun.

Arden Myrin
Galansky. Hitler nomskies. And I just want to know your, you know, bless your heart for having so much hate in it. Just bless your heart. I can feel your hate for having.

So much hate in it. I feel your hate. And I know everybody's bummed out that Hitler. I'm alive, guys. It's my time to shine.

I've got my stash going, you know, just send me some money just to take care of my friend in Pennsylvania, right? If a postal code people tell you that a black man showed up to take the money, that's just my slave. I still have one. I know it was abolished a long time ago, but somehow, Hitler. I still have one slave.

I've got one slave left. I gotta keep on keeping on. And is this just, gentlemen, that I'm entrusted to go get my mail? Because you think Hitler can be out and about getting his mail in public? No, no.

But thank you. Thank you so much for sending me. I'm definitely not the black guy. Just want to write that at the end. Sincerely, not black.

Laci Mosley
Definitely Hitler. Yep. Chief of staff. Not the black guy. Definitely Hitler.

Arden Myrin
Yours truly, Exo. Too cool for school. Stay cool this summer. Hitler. Hitler.

All the best. Hate to you and yours. Stay safe. Stay cool. Hatefully yours, Hitler.

Laci Mosley
Like, what the hell is this? So Hitler and his crew had set up a camp in Kentucky to plot a new revolt and take over the United States, then the world. This sounds very pinky in the brain, right? Finally. Next up, the wall.

Finally. Yes. Out of space. Okay, great. That's right.

Look, William had the Elon Musk planned before Elon was even alive. He's having a baby. He's giving it a number name with a foxy. A foxy rock star. I know.

Arden Myrin
I feel like you're blowing your crazy cover, William, when, you know, you might be able to get away with sending people to get people to send you money and whatnot. But once you start talking outer space, you might want to icknay on the outer aa space. Like, that's where, like, the believers want to believe you. They want to believe. Like, the haters gotta hate.

They want to hate and believe. But when you start talking about outer space, there's a little bit of a record scratch in the scam. I feel like if you're on board with Hitler still alive and you're getting personal letters from him, like you are Rachel McAdams in the notebook, then you're probably already pretty far gone. So maybe space is just like. You're like, no, I would love to go to space with you, Hitler.

Laci Mosley
Sounds lit. I have to think of. But you just made me think of something. I don't know why this is kind of tangential, but, like, you saying, like, okay, he's going. He's getting a little crazy, right?

It just made me think of that politician. I think his name was Dean or something like that, but they called it the Dean scream after he was like, Howard. Howard Dean. It was this.

Arden Myrin
He ruined his whole future with one yelp. He gave himself a one star yelp. I feel so bad for him. Cause he would have been a superstar now. Like, he would have just.

Laci Mosley
It would have been fine. Like, Donald Trump is trying to fight the sun on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he's got a crazy doctor that he's endorsing. On Thursday, he's telling us to drink bleach. So, like, he would have been fine in this political climate for back then.

Pyall literally ended him. Dude. Pew.

Arden Myrin
The dean scream. The dean scream. I have so much compassion for him because I fear when I, you know, I get a little nervous. I fear that if my nerves were really getting the better of me, I, in my excitement, could do some move. If a camera was recording me at all times, I could easily do some move that would be mocked till the end of time.

Laci Mosley
And now I know why I thought of it. Because of the sentence that Hitler, the black man, William, was sending out. Cause he said, we're gonna conquer the United States and then the world. And finally out of space. Pew.

Pew. Neptune here we next stop, Neptune. Pew. Pew. Oh, the racism's gotta be good on Neptune.

Everything was going according to plan. Furrier number one. But he needed help getting, like, help in the form of generous contributions to the cause. By 1956, the alleged Hitler collected at least $15,000 from recipients of his letters and over $140,000 when it was adjusted for inflation. In exchange for financial support, he offered prominent positions in the new regime.

The coveted ranks of furrier number two and furrier number three to top donors. Small contributors would be thanked with royal palaces and diplomat virgins.

Arden Myrin
Wait, what? So they got. They got virgins. It all feels very culty. It feels very, like.

It feels very.

A little al Qaeda. It's like a little pyramid scheme meets al Qaeda. You know, like, a little bit of you pay in. I'm gonna give you these certain titles, but then you're also gonna get some virgins. Like, what?

It feels. You can either have a royal palace or one of our virgins. What? Oh, God. Golly.

That is very, very culty. Very. People want to believe and are captured by a lot of hate.

And I can't believe how. I can't believe no one's ever heard of him. I mean, that I'm aware of. This is. Cause this is an amazing figure.

Laci Mosley
I don't think I like William. I think I don't fuck with him. I think he's a bad guy. I thought he was just being, like, a fun black person who was robbing racist. But I don't think I like this man.

So occasionally, Johnson would make requests in addition to money. Send a sport coat and a pair of white shoes, size eleven. It's necessary for Adolf to dress sporty so he won't be recognized. How you gonna. You know what Hitler really needs?

For you to go to Lacoste and pick up. Yes. Yes. He wants, like, a preppy, jaunty, like, day at the. Like, a Nantucket day at the races.

Arden Myrin
He wants, like, a sporty. A sporty little outfit. Why are you having your following style? You, like, you couldn't just get money from them and then go buy the sport coat? You were like, so who of my hater.

Laci Mosley
Like, my hater. You know, my hater organization, my hate army. Which one of y'all is a good dresser? Yeah. Who looks the best?

Arden Myrin
And I need you to send these in a size 1134 waist, and I'll be in my invisible cab. I'll send my assistant. My assistant, William, will come pick it up. Don't pay any mind to him. He's just my assistant.

He's. You know, I treat him terribly. I hate him so much because he is black, so don't worry. Hate him. I hate.

Don't worry. I hate him. I hate him. But the fact that this guy got access to so many people is. Is impressive and terrifying, and it just shows you how much people want to believe, like, that he was able.

They want something to follow. I mean, people need it, and I guess I get it. It's just. It's. It's a lot.

Laci Mosley
I mean, like, you're asking for clothes. You're. I just can't. So, a few times, the victims wanted to meet Hitler, but Johnson quickly persuaded them against it by concocting urgent crises like FBI traps, elaborate escapes, or he invented an illness. He was like, hitler got tie for it.

He can't. He can't come. So he said one of the things that he would tell people. This is, like, an excuse that makes absolutely no sense. So I just want you to know, I'm going to read something that's not going to make sense, and I will try to make sense of it.

I may not be able to. You try as well, Arden. Let's see. I love this. It says, we are going everything to keep the blood streams around the brains clear.

What? Johnson wrote this in a letter under the alias general Cassand. Guesser to keep down a paralyzed, which is possible when the brain stream are not clear and free of. Oh, my God. I'm sorry.

Are we all having a stroke together? We're all having a stroke together. I. I feel like he's just somebody who's actually crazy. You know what I mean?

Arden Myrin
Like, I think he might be. He. I feel like he's somebody who's actually mentally ill. Hears voices, probably believes some of this. Like, probably.

Maybe he thinks he is. And I mean, like, that's. I get it. Almost feels like that level of crazy, right? And I do want to say, like, mental illness doesn't mean that you're like an evil person.

Laci Mosley
Like, we're not saying that at all. No, but I think in this case, this person perhaps could have had delusions of grandeur, like, for sure, because they're committed to this bit, like, super hard. Yeah, well, some. Oh, and then when some of this stuff doesn't make sense, I understand. What's happening here is he was saying, like, Hitler can't come see you because he has an in an illness and he's.

Everybody's got to keep the bloodstreams around the brain clear. Obviously, he never even watched Doctor Quinn. Medicine woman. Cuz this don't even sound like fake doctor talk. No, he's never watched Doctor Quinn.

Arden Myrin
Yeah, I. Well, I mean, it was so early on, it was the forties, so he doesn't know his good fake doctor talk yet. We can all have our, our good fake doctor, but like I said, or. Maybe no one does. I think in the forties bloodstreams might sound convincing.

Laci Mosley
I might be like, oh, okay, his bloodstreams. That's why he can't come, because of the bloodstreams. I mean, the guy's clearly covering his trail. And, like, if they already believed him that they're all going to outer space, maybe they'll buy the bloodstream. It makes sense to me.

Arden Myrin
The followers are already on board with this. Where do you guys find all of your historic. I'm always impressed by these. Like, they're really detailed, and sometimes it's. The congregation who will send something my way.

Laci Mosley
A lot of times I'll google it. However, the research is always done by Sherilyn Vera. Shout out to Sherilyn Vera. Yes, sherilyn. Thank you.

Great documentarian and director. And she is excellent at this. It's fascinating. It is. And she always finds super fun details.

Like, she literally wrote in here, like, heads up before reading this out loud. It doesn't make any sense. I love that. And it did not. Thank you, sherilyn.

But let's keep going. Let's get through this. So Charlie Brown, who's a victim, officers did identify at least one target of Johnson's scam, an african American, Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown. He victimized poor Charlie Brown.

Arden Myrin
Always getting that football pulled aside by Lucy. That's literally what the scam is, that they just pull the football out for under him. Sorry. No, no. Come kick it.

Okay. So he scammed Charlie Brown, an african. American handyman who had donated roughly a cause, despite having little money himself. Charlie, you black? Are you donating to Hitler?

Laci Mosley
What? And 1940, whatever. $1,000. That's a lot. That was probably like 15,000.

Arden Myrin
You know, I don't know. I don't know what informed inflation, but that was probably at least $15,000. Now I would imagine. I'm glad that you. Charlie, because they pulled the football out from under your dumb ass because you're black.

Laci Mosley
You. Okay? At least you're talking about like, aryan people. People who identify as aryan. Like, okay, Hitler liked them.

Like, Hitler did not like black people. What are you doing? Hitler wouldn't have like. Yeah, Hitler. No, no, you're in the wrong.

Arden Myrin
You're giving your money to the wrong club. God damn. God. So when Inspector Lewis interviewed him, Brown had just mailed Hitler $20, leaving him with only $0.08 in his pocket and a single can of beans for food. So you sent him 1020.

Laci Mosley
Like you didn't think 1000 was enough. He was like, I do have a last $20. I could spend this. I have a can of beans. So that'll get me through till two tomorrow.

Arden Myrin
I will send you my last $20. Yes, you can have it. After thinking this through, you could imagine. If you were Charlie Brown's wife. Oh, God, I would.

Laci Mosley
Charlie, where did all of my money go? Yeah, what did you do? I'm sorry, who you sent it to? Who, Charlie? Mister Brown.

Oh, God. So Brown had considered it an investment and Johnson, who was playing Hitler, had promised him the title of furrier number three, the position to govern over a large territory, a royal palace, and some virgins, like, you know, a handful a sprinkle. Also a virgins. You get. You get.

Arden Myrin
It's a nice, like a garnish. It was a good package deal that he was gonna get. So he said the letter also read, I'm going to make our colored friend Brown assistant world ruler for his bravery and act last week in sending the money. Okay, all right, listen, he was trying to do brown a solid. He was trying to help him out.

Laci Mosley
Charlie Brown. Let me say something to you, Charlie Brown. Okay, look, I know you probably hella dead, Charlie, but. Yeah, yeah, in case you're not. Or maybe you're in Neptune now and you can hear me.

Arden Myrin
Yep. He made it. Maybe he made it. Neptune racism is hard, terrible, and I get it. Sometimes there's an inclination of, like, you know what?

Laci Mosley
Maybe I should just get with the winning team. But, um. Yes, I'm gonna join them. I'm gonna join em. Do that.

Okay. Don't. Candace Owens yourself. Do not. Candace Owens yourself.

Oh, that's why her hair's so dry. Cause she. Cause she sold out to the black community, so now she'll never have an edge again. We spoke. She's never.

Arden Myrin
Oh, yeah, it's. I mean, and, you know, just bet on. Bet on yourself. Don't keep your money, Charlie Brown. Keep.

Keep. Do not try to go to the winning team. It's the wrong team. It's the wrong team, Charlie. They won't win forever.

Laci Mosley
Okay? We will fight hate. We are fighting it. Little by little, we are making progress. But, Charlie, goddamn progress is slowly.

Arden Myrin
Times are changing. Please, Charlie. Please. Oh, God. All right.

Laci Mosley
Well, this is how he got caught. So the full story wouldn't emerge until a two day trial. In the trial, Johnson claimed to be a private detective working to track down a ring of subversives seeking up a new government. Here, he held up a shiny new detective badge and told the court that he had been trying to break the case so he could turn it over to the FBI. You know how, uh, crimes and jobs and crime work, you know, it's like, you work on your own, you freelance.

I'm a freelance police officer. Work on your own, you work on your own. I don't know. I don't work for anybody. This badge that looks like a penny that's been driven over by a train, and I glued a pin on the back.

Arden Myrin
That's my Sharif's badge, and I will be representing myself. I'm also my lawyer. I'm just show up to crime scenes. I don't watch enough SVU. I can do what Mariska Harkente do.

Laci Mosley
I'm down there. They got the honing it off. They're like, ma'am, who are you? I'm like, I'm a private detective. I work for me.

Arden Myrin
Yeah, I'm just gonna put some stuff in bags. I'm putting evidence in bags. I got some tweezers. That's. I work for me.

I'm the boss of me. You don't need it. We're all detectivizing here, okay? I'm detectivizing, y'all. Detectivizing.

It's always a wild card move. To represent yourself, too. I feel like if you're. If you're all, like, I'll be playing the part of the detective, the plaintiff and the lawyer. Like, that's a wild card move.

Laci Mosley
Feels unhinged. So he said it started ten years ago when a man named Hoover came to his home and told him about Hitler. This is what Johnson said, possibly referring to the then active argue and arguably dictatorial FBI director Edgar Hoover. He said that he was furrier number two and wanted me to help collect funds. So Johnson told the jury that he had graduated from Chicago Street Service Correspondence School.

No idea what that means. That's how you become a detective, a freelance detective. So, showing an even larger badge. He has another badge. He came to the courtroom.

Arden Myrin
Badge down he is now, I know you were intimidated by Lieutenant Arden, but perhaps you haven't met Detective Arden, who's also me with my. Oh, also now he's in the secret Service. This is the next badge. This one says secret service on it. I'm sure everything's spelled correctly.

Laci Mosley
Yeah. Very secretive. Next, he's gonna pull out. Oh, he cray. He cray.

Arden Myrin
He cray, cray, he cray to the cray. Did the cray. He's like, now here's my Boy Scouts badge. As you can see, I can time. In the ropes, like, how big that is.

I lit this fire. This is my badge now. This is. I also was the sportsmanship badge. I was polite about it, as I've been doing all.

Laci Mosley
So he claimed that he'd been giving admission, commissioned by an unnamed Chicago firm to write letters and only pretended to go along with the scheme in order to find out if Hitler was actually alive. According to one report, he alleged that two other men had dictated the letters to him and that he had turned over all the money to him. He was like, I don't even have money. I gave the money away. It wasn't even my money.

Arden Myrin
To my. To imagine. To my imaginary friend in J. Edgar Hoover. This is it.

I gave. It wasn't my money. So one of the key pieces of. Of evidence against Johnson was his penmanship. A handwriting expert testified that Hitler's signature on the letters had, in fact, belonged to Johnson.

Laci Mosley
The post office was familiar with Johnson. Okay, so, see, I don't like that because, like, I don't believe in signature analysts. That's a scam. I it feels. That feels like such a.

Arden Myrin
Like. And who becomes. Who actually becomes that as their job, like, who grows up and is, like, a hater. That's a new. That's a new hater profession, guys.

Laci Mosley
We got meter maids. We got tax accountants or auditors. We got goddamn handwriting analysts. Handwriting analysts, for sure. That's a hater.

Arden Myrin
That is a hater. Whole job. She's gonna look at people's crooked letter. Crooked letter eyes, and, like, come on, now. And, like.

And it's also, like, nothing. Nobody can dispute you. I can be like, that's definitely lazy. And it's not like somebody else actually can tell. Like, no, no, I can tell.

That's how she dotted her eyes. It's a scam job. There's not. And now I want to do it job. I know.

Actually, it would. I think you should. I fully. Definitely him. Because look at that j.

Laci Mosley
And they'd be like, ma'am, can you explain that? Yeah. How much time we got? I also feel a little bit like lie detectors. Feel a little scared, like, how.

Arden Myrin
Yeah, it feels a little. That's why they're inadmissible in court. I would love to run lie detectors. It just sounds like you just kind of got to be scary to people and then hope that they sweat. Have you ever had a lie detector?

Laci Mosley
I have not, but I haven't either. But I. I feel like I would like to. I feel like I. I feel like I would get.

Arden Myrin
I would be. I actually think I'm a pretty easy read because I'm a bad liar. Like, I feel like I'd be so excited that I was lying that it would be off. I heard that you have to just feel like you're lying the whole time. Like, you have to, like, be nervous, breathe the same quick amount, and, like, just, like, everything you're saying, you have to feel unsure about it.

Laci Mosley
That way, you can't really tell across the board. If I knew I had to get a lie detector, I think maybe I would try to buy one. Practice, practice all my lies. Just doing my lies. Getting up early.

Doing my lies. Yeah. Practice, practice my lies. I feel like you could train yourself to not be. You absolutely can.

Because that's why they're inadmissible in court, because it's honestly just some fun ass machine we made. I didn't know that. Yeah, no, they're all purple. That's the equivalent of, like, those. Those ghost hunters guys with their.

Arden Myrin
Their ghost readers. Have you watched them? Those are bullshit. I love watching. I mean, I like to believe that things are haunted.

I get excited. I hope that, like, that children's hospital has the children that want to play ball, like, all that, but. But I want. But why have they never been able to prove it, but I do want. To believe I love it.

Laci Mosley
And, like, I want them to get more petty with it. I want them to be like, we found your granny in a corner, and she farted. Like, you know, it doesn't have to be so deep. Yeah. I want there just to be some stupid things happening.

Arden Myrin
Oh, my God, you should. I feel like you could sell a script right now, like, a good comedy, you know, like a scary movie type movie that you could do with, like, ghosts. Your grandpa came back, and he said, you need to stop ejaculating into socks. That's all he wanted to say. Your grandmother just made me pull her finger in the corner for hours.

Laci Mosley
Like, I want them to have nothing important to say. Cause I feel like that's always the thing. It's like she wants you to know that you are loved. It's like, why can she be like, she wants you to know you really need to put the bread ties back on the bread. Yeah.

Arden Myrin
Yeah. You've got to stop. I like that. She knows you're jerking off into socks. You've got.

Those crusty socks have got to go. She's watching. But you're 28 now. You can't keep jacking off into crusty socks. You got to get a job, baby.

You got to get a job. Oh, gosh. Well, this is what I actually thought was damning evidence. The police office said that they were familiar with Johnson. Excuse me?

Laci Mosley
Not the police office. The post office said that they were familiar with Johnson. So, like, he's vip at the post office. He comes in, makes it rain stamps, you know? Yes, yes.

Arden Myrin
He's getting bottle service. He's, like, at the post office. He's Drake. He's Drake. Yes, for sure he's Drake at the post office.

Cause he's mailing out so many letters. So the post office was like, oh, my God, we know Johnson. That's our boy. Ain't nobody looking stamps like Johnson. So, five years into his scheme, Johnson had landed himself on probation for different mail fraud convictions.

Laci Mosley
Mail fraud is a big thing. They catch a lot of scammers with mail fraud. So the reverend had posed as an attorney and taught a recently remarried widow how to forage records and reinstate her unmarried widow checks in exchange for a cut of the profits. He was running all types of scams. Another dead giveaway was Johnson's handwritten confession.

Arden Myrin
What that might. That's a giveaway. Hey, I did this. This was all me. Good job, Sherlock Holmes of the.

Of the courtroom. Like a handwritten confession you're joking. But literally, quite literally, it says, I am guilty of everythings. I am guilty of it all. And if you can forgive me and allow me another chance of freedom, I will prove my worthy and make good citizen.

Laci Mosley
If not, please be merciful unto me, a poor and guilty criminal. Oh, he's so bad at being a criminal. He's so bad at it. I've come full circle on William. I think he didn't actually succeed in harnessing the hate.

Arden Myrin
I think he's just a really bad criminal. Just getting the money.

He got a. I wonder how much he actually got. How much did he get? $1,000, which, for the time this is, forties was a decent amount of money. I mean, I feel.

Oh, gosh, I'm conflicted about him, because at least he was targeting haters, but I think he was just really bad at being a criminal. Like, I think that he maybe didn't know what he was doing. Do you know what I mean? Like, I think, like, it does feel like the Dave Chappelle sketch. It's really this poor guy.

I don't think he quite gets who he's gotten behind. And you know what? I think you're right. And also, he was saying wild shit, but because these people are so fucked up, they went along with it. So he probably didn't realize it was gonna get this far.

Laci Mosley
And he wrote this letter, and he's like, hello, court. It's me, a criminal. Someone who did crime. I definitely did everything, and I am guilty. He is the world's.

Arden Myrin
I mean, I think. I think truly, again, I come full. At first, I was rooting for him, then I was against him, and now, because he's. He is. He is almost like the character Charlie Brown.

Like, it's literally like a cartoon character. He's so bad at being a criminal. There's almost an innocence towards sweet little William. There's an innocence in. And he's a terrible, terrible, terrible criminal.

Laci Mosley
Here are more crimes I did that y'all don't know about. Like, what are you doing? Yeah, let me tell you, just in case you want to catch me, I've got a few. It reminds me a good criminal, but a similar, like, letter writer. Did you watch the Jinkx with Robert Durst?

Arden Myrin
I mean, you must have. You should. Ah. Duck. Oh, you're gonna love it, scam goddess.

I can't believe I'm the one delivering this to you. Oh, I love my. I'm not gonna. Oh, my God. I'm not gonna.

I need to. I'm not even gonna tell you anything. What I was about to tell you because it's the climax, and I'm not gonna do it because it's. And please, nobody email in and tell her. Okay?

It was on HBO. It's, like, a six part documentary series. It's such a great murder scam. So, like, there's a man pretending to be a woman. There's murderers, like, pretending to be roommates, there's you, Will.

And the way he gets caught on camera is incredible. Oh, my gosh. Okay, I'm gonna look this up. I'm excited. It's terrifying and thrilling, and you're gonna love it.

You're gonna love it. You're gonna binge it. You're gonna binge it like you binged Indiana. I am, and I need new content anyway. Well, okay, guys, so fake Hitler, he went to jail for three years, and.

Laci Mosley
Yeah, okay, too bad. In federal prison. And they were served concurrently. After the trial ended, Johnson would not appear in the local papers again. His birth certificate, death certificate, marriage certificate, or obituary.

None of them have been found. So. I feel protective of him because I feel that he didn't fully know what he was doing. So I hope he had an okay time in prison. I feel like.

Arden Myrin
I feel like maybe he was sixties. This is not a great time in your life to go to prison. Like, you're, like, old. No, no. I feel like I want to give him a hug and some guidance.

Like, I just want to just, like, just turn his body a slightly different direction so he's a slightly different focus, like, away from, like, the nazi thing. Like, give him a hobby, maybe dress him up. He definitely had. He had some ambition. I feel badly.

He was a really bad scammer, but he's successful, and then ultimately, there's an innocence. Well, guys, we'll be right back for the end of the show. Robbery. Buy a bag of hills pet nutrition. Help feed a shelter pet.

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An extra large wand applicator transforms lips in one swipe. Learn more@maybelline.com for a limited time, get 10% off your lifter plump purchase on Amazon with code ten plump and fraud. All right, guys. And we're back with Scammer of the week. And this is where we honor one famous charlatan who we feel is worthy of our praise.

Laci Mosley
And this week, it's going to be former Baltimore mayor Catherine E. Pugh, who used her self published healthy Holly children's books to generate more than $800,000 of income while failing to deliver tens of thousands of books. So Katherine was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud, tax evasion and conspiracy. The fraudulent sales helped fund straw donations to Pugh's political campaigns and allowed her to buy and renovate a second home in Baltimore. Her fall began when the Baltimore sun reported that the University of Maryland medical system, who's on the board of directors that she sat on, had granted her a no bid, $500,000 contract for 100,000 copies of her book.

Arden Myrin
Wow. Wow. Thousands of copies of this book were intended to promote nutrition and exercise, and they ended up in a warehouse or in Pug's house or offices. Gary Brown Junior, a pug aide, and Rosalind Weddington, a city employee, were implicated in the scheme, pleading guilty to the fraud conspiracy and also the tax evasion. So they also got three years in prison.

Laci Mosley
Pug had to pay $400,000 in restitution and forfeit more than $600,000, including her home in Baltimore and nearly $17,000 from her campaign account. Her attorneys asked for a sentence of one year, describing the 69 year old former mayor as a broken woman whose crimes were out of character for someone who's so dedicated to public service. I love when somebody does it so intentionally and so publicly on such a large scale, like, like, it would have been so easy for her just to. Like, yeah, it's like you wrote the fake book. I saw the COVID It's like, healthy holly.

Arden Myrin
Also like, healthy books for kids. They don't have to be complicated. It's not kid keto. No. You could have just been like, yeah, can and chase your friends after that.

Yeah. Play tag, eat an apple. Maybe put down, like, you know, the Big Mac and, like, you know, have a carrot. There you go. Don't spend $200 on fun dip.

Laci Mosley
Like, one page book.

Arden Myrin
I loved fun dip. I loved it. I was. That's little kid crack. That, you know.

I do love when kid crack. It was full kid. I was such a, like, there was the mayor of Providence when I was growing up. He got thrown in jail for. There was, like, money laundering, I think.

And then he had an off duty police officer drive him over to his lover's house, and he put a cigar out on the guy's dick, and he hit him with a fireplace and iron. He got thrown in jail, got out, got reelected. He had his, like, he had a toupee that he called the squirrel. He had a pasta sauce called the mayor's choice. And then he got thrown back in jail for, like, there was, like, Mafia stuff.

And then he got out again, and he was gonna get reelected, but then became, like, a radio D, the most popular dj in the state, Buddy Sansi. You just took me on the wildest ride. Arn. That was 30 seconds of. What?

Laci Mosley
What? Yeah, you should look up Buddy San C. That's a great. He's a great scam. He was a great scam.

Buddy stanchion, he kept getting reelected. And that's the crazy part. Buddy Santa burning people's penises with cigarettes. And hitting them with pokers. And that's just in one evening.

That's just a Tuesday night. That was one night. Yeah. Yeah. And that was, like, the.

Arden Myrin
Not the biggest problem. There was other problems he got and people loved him. He was a great man. Sounds charismatic. Fully.

Yeah, charismatic. Crazy's charismatic. And, like. Yeah, people loved him. He would have been.

He would have been reelected three times. If you do your job, then is it my business whose penis you burning? That sound like some personal stuff. You know what? That's your.

That's between you and the penis that you're burning. That ain't got nothing to do with me. You know. That's nothing to do with me. I'm not judging you.

You do what you gotta do. I'm not gonna judge yourself. We got that new stop sign in front of the school. As long as we got that penis burning. Yeah.

You cleared? Yeah, the pothole is filled. You go burn away. Who cares? Well, I wish that Baltimore Mayor Kathryn Pugh had been a little smarter with this scam, because I'm disappointed.

Laci Mosley
Disappointed also. I love that they said that she was a broken woman and, like, tried to make this, like, one incident. Sis was getting her house remodeled. That's not. That's a very involved thing to do with stolen money.

Arden Myrin
You've got permits you have to pull. That's like a long. Like that. That's a long legal process. Again, you could probably.

You could probably self publish a really shitty paperback, four page booklet and just nobody cared. Just send up, like, great. Just something that you mail. So, like, give them something that cost you a dollar, keep the rest of the money, and you're good to go. How hard is that?

Laci Mosley
It's not hard at all. And also, like, what are kids gonna say? You know, when an adult has a book, I might. Look, I might read weight watchers or whatever and be like, you know, this really didn't work for me, but if I'm seven years old, I'm not gonna be like, look, I wasn't getting the results on the playground that I thought I was gonna get from healthy house. I thought, I was really hoping for if my core was gonna get different results.

Arden Myrin
Kids don't want to read a book about fitness. Some adult book about fitness. Like, they don't. I don't want somebody talking about my body to me as a child. I don't care what I look like.

I don't want people trying to help me out and, like, trying to make broccoli fun. Like, I'm not into that. I don't want that book. I want to read, like, some book about farts. And also, I'm glad that you said that, because that's also to the.

Laci Mosley
The greater point of this is like, yeah, we should have kids eat healthy, but if any kid is, like, focusing on their body as a child, that's fucking wild. Like, stop. I remember as a child, when adults started commenting on my. It was like, you know, I just remember just being like, what? Like, what are you talking about?

Arden Myrin
What is. You know, my mom was doing, like, diet gum. You know, she's like, do you want to be. It's like, why am I eating your diet gum? Like, what is this?

I weigh, like, 70 pounds. You know what I mean? You're trying to get me down to, like, 68. Like, I don't. I don't know what this is.

I don't know what's happened to me. That's a scam right there. Diet gum. Diet gum is a real scam. Diet gum is a real deal scam, for sure, Z.

Laci Mosley
But, I mean, that's also just a whole industry that's a huge scam. Is, like, body shaming and telling people they can't be fat and calling like, look, there's obesity and there's people who are fat. And just because you're fat doesn't mean you're unhealthy. I know a ton of healthy fat people who work out all the time and eat really well. So it's America's scam of being like, no, we're doing this to protect you, girl.

That's why we need you to buy these things. Dude, I was 30 pounds heavier all through high school and college. And, like, I look back now and I was cute. I was cute. And, like, everybody, like, people tell you about yourself.

Arden Myrin
It's like, there was no. I was healthy. I was fond. Like, there was nothing wrong with me. And, like, everybody's telling you all this stuff.

Laci Mosley
That's the big american scam. I just watched time wait a segment because I needed to approve an ad. And I always try to approve ads that I really like and I fuck with. And if they're by black owned companies, even better. But during the segment with other stuff that they were selling, and one of them was a dollar 98 eye, like, mascara.

And look, I love. I will splurge on makeup, but I was like, $98. Me too. I better grow a whole new eye. Yes.

Arden Myrin
That is, dude, I'm forever. I'm all. I'm all l'oreal. It's the L'Oreal voluminous carbon black. I wait till it's on super sale because sometimes that can be like $11 and I will.

I really only want to pay six for it. So I will wait till I get my cv's card or my Walgreen card, and I will go get my, like, like, my cv's bucks for it, and then I'll go get it. And I know you're talking about, like, there's some girls out there, like Pat McGrath. She's black owned that. I love her stuff.

Laci Mosley
And she's a little more, more pricey. But I'm like, $98, and they were like, meghan Markle loves this eyelash. No, you know what? And I will. I'm not doing for.

Arden Myrin
I'll do it for skin. I'm not doing it for mascara. Oh, and I'll. And by the way, I'll be putting on fakeies anyway. I'll be putting on my falsies just like Ardell, y'all.

Laci Mosley
I work on professional impress, and our dell is everywhere. Like, me, too, Ardell. It's really all you need. The Ardell is all you need. You can do the individuals, you can do the strips, Ardell, sponsor us.

Arden Myrin
And then you get. Just sponsor us. Our deal. Our doll is great. Impress.

Impress. Sponsor them. Rebecca Minkoff makes a really cute line on the impressed nails. She's got long sunset patterns and stuff that I have coming to my house. I've got some party nails coming that are kind of like the fun slight pointy.

Laci Mosley
Oh, yes. I love a coffin. I love a pointy. I love a stiletto. I love an almond.

Arden Myrin
I love an almond nail. They're all en route. I'm gonna be pressing them on, hopefully talking to, like, Andy Cohen or whoever about my book, praying they don't fall off. Just holding them still. You're literally.

Laci Mosley
And speaking of that book, guys, that's little Miss Little Compton. I'm holding up right now as if you could see me and you cannot. But it's so funny and it's so sweet. Like, this is like, thank you. And I'm not even that deep into it yet.

And it's wild. It's fucking wild. Artists. I think it's a fun ride. I think it's a wild.

Arden Myrin
I think it's a fun ride. I think it's a wild ride. Like, look, my family was really fun. They weren't perfect. And so I had a great mom.

I had a real tricky dad. And I think it's an inspiring book that you can kind of, if people have told you some not nice things about yourself growing up, that you can grow up and sort of shed that and thrive. And again, I grew up with stars in my eyes. And I talked very clearly about how, how I got onto tv by the time I was 20. Just growing up in a farm town.

Laci Mosley
You are a star. I didn't know anyone. You are a star. You're so talented and just such a wonderful person. And anywhere that you want people to find you, anything that you want to promote other than this amazing book which comes out September, y'all.

Little Miss Little Compton. Yes. And it's all about the pre orders apparently, if you want to be on the best seller list, it's really all about the pre orders. And I have a like. So if you guys email receipt.

Arden Myrin
If you buy, you can just take a screen grab. You can send it to rosepodcastmail.com dot every week until the book comes out. We are doing giveaways. So we are doing cute tote bags from the book. Little Miss Little Compton tote bags.

We are doing puzzles, t shirts. So the earlier you send it, you have a better chance of getting a giveaway. I host a podcast on iHeartRadio, but you can get it wherever you get your podcast called will you accept this rose? Its a bachelor theme. So fun.

Its so silly. Lacey been on it and she's gonna be on it again. It's so fun. And then I'm. And then I'm on insatiable on Netflix so that you could the two seasons of that are up?

Laci Mosley
God, you're so funny on that damn show. It's ridiculous. That character. Thank you. I'm full.

Arden Myrin
Such garbage. What a horrible mom. I'm truly the worst person on earth. Oh, my God. Oh, honey.

Everybody's a little bit gay. It's like, just full garbage. Full trash. Guys, as always, you can find us at scam goddess pod on all platforms. If you want to email us your scam, snitch on your family and your friends.

Laci Mosley
Scamgottispodmail.com. And if you want to follow me and my shenanigans, d I v a l a c I. Diva lacy on all platforms. Congregation oh, I'm on Instagram. Ardamarine on Instagram.

Arden Myrin
Ardenmyrin. Oh, you got good Instagram content. I love following you on Instagram. Thanks, Tyler. All right, guys.

Laci Mosley
Congregation stay streaming. I'm goddess hot off the press from Maybelline, New York. It's new lifter plump, an intense plumping lip gloss formulated with chili pepper to deliver a heated sensation for an instant plumping effect that lasts from eight sizzling shades like blush, blaze, red flag, hot honey, coco zing, and more. An extra large wand applicator transforms lips in one swipe. Learn more@maybelline.com for a limited time, get 10% off your lifter plump.

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Laci Mosley
Whatever takes you on the go. T Mobile's got you covered. Find out more at t mobile.com network today. Coverage not available in some areas. See 5g device coverage and access details@tmobile.com.

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