Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Heck yeah, Zarren, I'm ready, let's do this.
Hello.
Hi, my name's Elizabeth. This is ridiculous Crime.
Hi, nice to meet you. My name is a little bit Dutton.
Excellent, me too. You know it's ridiculous.
I do Elizabeth Dutton. If you have a second, y, pronounce a natia daphobia. A natia, yes, that is quote the fear of being watched by a duck. The term comes to us from the Greeks a nati day which means swan, ducks or geese waterfowl essentially, and phobos, which you know means fear. Right, So you put those together. You got a fear of ducks, geese for swans, but
in particular that they would be watching you. But turns out, how did the research because this one pops around on the internets and it's not real, not a real phobia. This dates back to a nineteen eighty eight far Side comic and it's spread online and now a lot of people think it's a real phobia, and they have self diagnosed themselves with the Nada daphobia. So now that they have done that, the phobia has become real, because ultimately all phobias are irrational, So this is you had another
irrational phobia. It just started as fiction. So the people who are into this one to know there is arentheophobia or on orniphobia, ornithophobia. Sorry, that's ornithology orthophobia. The study of birds is ornithology. The fear of birds is ornithophobia.
Oh yeah, I got a friend who's afraid of birds.
Okay, boom, they have ornithophobia. And if someone like that, if they are specifically afraid of ducks, then they would be what we were discussing on a nati phobia. But everybody else is just afraid of a duck watching them. They're just you know, they want to be special. Yeah, they'll touch on that.
That's ridiculous, right, I thought you'd like that one. Do you want to know what else is ridiculous?
I'm here for buckled Up and Ready a.
Man Who's a bat This is Ridiculous Crime, a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, heists, and cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder free and one hundred percent ridiculous. Zaren Elizabeth, I have a batman problem.
What you do? Have you tried a vigilante.
Well, I don't, but my nephew does.
Oh ho. So he's over at my place every since. You're a nephew a criminal?
Hold on, tell me this is he's not a criminal.
He's a good boy.
But he comes over every Saturday, and it's the highlight of my week. To be honest, no offense, Zaren.
And Dave, none taken.
My nephew is obsessed with Batman.
No word.
He's fifty six years old. No, he's a little kid. Everything has to be Batman, Isn't that funny? Like that is everything has to be Batman. His clothes, including socks and underwear, his toys. He loves monster trucks, especially the Batman one that he has over.
Is a monster truck. Yeah, and when we.
Race the toys, Batman always has to work.
Of course, of course, like.
What about Calavera or El Toro Loco or Grave Digger and his progeny son of a Grave Digger by Jingo.
They can't ever win the whole world? What of them? I think that Batman is into the monster truck world. Yeah, there's a Batman monster truck.
If they win a race Batman exactly, if they win Batman invalidates their victory, and so on Saturdays, I live in a Batman dictatorship. The only TV I allow him to watch at my place as an animated show called still Water on Apple TV. It's like, it's really calm and there's a giant panda for some reason, who also, for some reason, reminds me of William Peterson in the last season of CSI. I've been told it's I think it's the sun hat anyway and hat. Yeah, so Batman,
let's get back to back. For those lucky seven people who've never heard of Batman, here's a primer. He's a superhero from a DC comic book. He's the twenty seventh issue of Detective Comics, released in nineteen thirty nine. To be exact, Batman Batman is the alias of Bruce Wayne. That's another thing. You can make my nephew really mad by calling him Batman.
Doesn't care for that. Oh, Bruce Batman.
Yeah, Bruce Batman d DS. Bruce Wayne is an uber rich dude and he lives in Gotham City, which is a proto Nightmare New York. Yes, am I getting all this right? You know more than that, Bruce Wayne saw his parents killed when he was a kid in vowed revenge. That's not part of this story, but I'm saying it. He's a dapper playboy by day, yes, for the most part, and likes to do like does a little shoulder wiggle dance during the day, and he's a street vigilante by night.
Yes. And he was best played by Michael Keaton. Oh where do you come from?
So he cruises around in is batmobile in the dark hours looking for crime to prevent or interrupt. He has a special friend named Robin, a special friend, and then there's Batgirl in there somewhere.
Other special friends, yeah he has.
He has a butler named Alfred, and then there's Commissioner Gordon of the Gotham p D. And then Catwoman sometimes comes.
Into the mix of girlfriend kind of yeah, I don't know, just catting around Batman and Catwoman. Yeah.
Sure.
Sworn enemies.
His sworn enemies though are actually the Penguin or Penguin. I don't think they have an article in front. Penguindler, Penguin two face, yeah he has, the Man has two faces, and then the final boss, the Joker. Yes, did you you got into Batman as a kid.
I liked comic books. I started with comic books and then like the movies obviously are a different rendition. I really enjoyed all of the movies. I like the Batman movies. Uh up there with a lot of the Marvel movies. I mean, you know, so, yes, I would say I'm a big fan of Batman as a come, more so than Superman.
Well, I'm so saturated with Batman. Batman, you are bound in content, I don't know up from down.
You're living with a Batman factory team rider.
Yes, exactly. So I've decided to share with you some ridiculous Batman crimes. Oh, nice Batman, not crimes fought by the Cape Crusader himself. Oh, these are about Batman.
I thought you were going to tell me like comic book plots. That was cool, just and then episode twelve turned the page.
So people do weird things for Batman, Okay, like take, for example, the human who broke out the front window of a comic book store in Everett, Washington. Oh this person, well, persons, I should say there were two of them. They did not steal priceless vintage Batman comics.
Uh no.
October of twenty twenty, These people smash the window to retrieve something on display. There in the window in the window a four foot tall Funko Batman. Now, I don't know why Funko toys are so hilarious, right, well, I know I love Funko toys in two.
Ways the funk going on.
The first is from the large display section by the registers at the Walmart the next town over. For me when I lived in the rural South, the toys are maybe like four and a half inches tall and they're made of vinyl.
Yeah, big head.
Yeah, they run about twelve to fifteen dollars on the Funko website. Like you said, they have that big head big hay yeah big.
It's almost anime looking. And then they got a tiny, little bit tiny body exactly.
Well t rex arms. At Walmart, I'd see the shelves with the toys as I waited to be the only customer in the store to ever buy a Boreo rice and the toys they're so outlandish, Like I kind of feel like I have a memory of seeing Vanilla Ice in there.
But it was like twenty fourteen in the Walmart. She was shopping for Funko to funny, do you have the new Funks Funko Nilla.
Yeah, but he also probably worked there, so I knew they existed Funkos, but I didn't know they were a collector's item. Oh yeah, I thought they were for kids, big, big time, like kids who like to play with doll versions of Jack's from Son Evans Sunsannark That's what I think. But then I learned they were to be gathered like precious gems.
Yeah.
I read an amazing Reddit post there.
I know you love the reddit.
Yeah, there was a woman whose husband didn't work and was using all their money to buy Funko dolls that he kept in a spare room of the house, like completely filled.
She's working to basically subsidize his funk and they.
Were like barely making it every month, like and he was just.
Racking and racking. But he's not out there, like working the streets to get himself a little side. Actually he there.
He missed a bunch of family events to wait online for the new releases to drop.
Waited for like online auctions. He's like missing like his daughter's graduation or whatever.
Or I looked on the Funco website. You can get alerts when they're gonna go on sale. For instance, there's a Beth Dutton one.
Oh like you like me?
And it's not me, but it's my name, yes, and it says like you can sign up for to be alerted when it's available. She's wearing like a pretty dope pendle to jacket. Say, but I don't spirit Okay, I don't get it, the whole funko thing, because I'm not really one to collect things for display. Some people are God bless I love it for why not? So this comic book store in Evert, Washington, they had a four and a half resistible funk They had a four and a half foot funko statue of Batman in the window.
Can you imagine the head on that baby?
Oh? Man, that's justum quanium. You can't just buy a four foot Bunco Batman.
Go funko bunko.
We'll just call it a bunko.
Bunko like that, you know, like the Squad, the Bunco Squad.
The Funko Batman. You have to earn it.
Oh, they threw a breaking glass.
Well, according to the store owner Charlie Knowedler, quote, only the store could order it, and you can only order one and you have to sign a disclosure.
You wouldn't sell it? What for you? What did it caught?
What was it worth more than eight thousand dollars?
Wow?
Yeah, that's like they just smashed a bunch of Batman funkos together and holded it. This is this is some insider stuff. A mere citizen wouldn't have it. Can I also say that Charlieknedler doesn't look like comic book guy from the Simpsons.
That's disappointment.
He's just a normal older fella. But he's wearing an Alice Cooper t shirt.
Okay, wait to save it and.
Alice Cooper fan without a four and a half foot funco to wrap his arms around at night?
Sad? Can we start a kickstart to wrap.
His arms and legs? Apparently the thieves broke the window and grabbed the funko sometime after three am.
That's the witching house that it's time to do it Batman hour.
The broken window was reported by a citizen walking her dog at six thirty in the morning. Okay, the Funco Batman was the only thing that they stole.
Nothing else and nobody else came along and be like oh popular, yeah.
But in a store that is literally full of collectibles. Yeah, they only took the statue.
Well, they're devoted, they're committed, and they are specific.
And then a skeet skeets sped off into the night in a red Mazda.
Ooh, the ratmobile.
Rat the caper made it to crime stoppers. It was on Washington's Most Wanted, which I would love to watch sometimes.
Is that that's a TV show?
Apparently the police got tons of leads social media, all a dinner quote people saying they found it, that somebody was selling it online. Charliekndler said, we check it out and go, no, that's not it. That's not four and a half feet tall, that's one feet tall. Customers would send us pictures what people were posting, some from out of state.
I've seen it. It's down here in California. Cat your nephew in a Batman costume.
He's funky. But then there was a break in the case.
Ooh nice.
Everett Detectives went to Lynnwood in February twenty twenty one. They got a call from someone who bought Funko Batman. Oh, and they wanted to turn it over and wash their hands of the whole incident.
Really.
Yeah, they wanted nothing to do with it. Batman was not in good shape. Who he had a broken nose, he gone through it. Yeah, he was covered in scratches, you know, defensive wounds. He was also missing his signature blue Funko. You talked about how he's got this huge head, tiny body when it's huge. Yeah, he needed that support platform to hold him because that tiny little.
Leg he's not going to it's tiny, tiniest thing.
It's like when I see Tom Cruise running in the movie and I yelled, run, run, run your little legs. That's what it is with a funk come.
People always clap and it's funny. They love that way.
I just I just walk in in a running scene and then I leave.
Yeah, I'm not paying for this.
So Charlie Nodler, the owner, he said, quote, we had to go in and identify him. I like to imagine that he had to look through a window into an office where Batman lay under a sheet on someone's papers, drewn desk. All Somber lifts it from his face and Charlie Nodler turns his head away and bites his knuckle. I can't wait, I can't bear.
To see you look first.
So at last reporting, there were persons of interest, but no charges had been filed.
They didn't solve this.
No, here's the thing, though, Everett Comics can't just fix them up and put.
Them back in the window. Most likely they know who they They probably came in the store, like he probably knows the window.
What if you're just walking down the street and you're like, yeah, elbow into the window, grab it and zoinks out in the red Mazda. So note that they can't put him back in the window because it was already paid out on from the insurance company. Oh, the insurance company owns Funko Batman.
Now, so are they going to destroy it? Well, no, is the insurance company to destroy Batman.
Listen, So Property Crimes Police detective Adam Gage said, quote, we're still trying to figure out what to do with him. So the insurance company does have the option of destroying it. The last I could find it's sitting in the window of the Westmore Avenue Precinct in Everett, Washington, looking out upon the city and it's vulnerable citizenry, like it's just
looking watching, waiting and speaking of Walmart. Like I was a little bit ago, there was a guy in Florida, of course, who got arrested for stealing from Walmart.
That was earlier this year.
He made out with two hundred and eighty eight dollars and eighty six cents in merchandise.
Hmm, under eighty eight dollars and eighty six.
I don't know what the product breakdown was. I'm gonna imagine it was just an armful of funkos oh okay, yeah, maybe some SD cards and a couple of boxes of Beory strips. Anyway, it was like the most likely things, Hello, Ouckham's razor. Anyway, he walked right out of the store with all the goods and got in his red Mustang no relation to the red Mazda Red.
M Yeah, it's all coming together right there, and.
He hauled rear out of the parking lot. The cops stopped him. They were able to stop him. They pulled him over and they asked for his ID and he provided it. Eighteen year old Jonah Goodfellow. He said, you know what, guys, my name is Joonah Goodfellow and I'm a tax preparer. They're like, thank you, we didn't ask that. And he's like, you know something else, I'd like to tell you, I stole all this stuff two hundred and eighty eight bucks worth, give or take.
What was he doing?
He also he was wearing a Batman mask the whole time, all the time, whole time. So just like my nephew when he wears his Batman jamas all day and says he's actually Batman, it looks like the cops just arrested him.
Ah yeah, So this mister Goodfellow, I'm assuming a descendant of people from the Pilgrim. The Pilgrim he came over on the Mayflower. So this original American mister Goodfellow. Did the police did they give him any like? Oh, sir, you were doing the right thing, trying to.
Probably to pox him into the patrol car, chuck them on the shoulder. Oh listen, come down and then show me a couple of things.
We're talking about crime stuff. Just take a seat here in the car. I got another good one for you. Yeah.
No, there was a guy who blamed Batman for his crime.
Oh was this me?
Yes, it was you. Back in twenty eleven, they were filming The Dark Knight Rises in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Oh yes, I remember this, Yeah, the football.
Scene, Christian Bale, Tom Hardy just yucking it up.
Yeah, get all the Steelers seats. That's a Huggins totally tight. Squeezes.
Nearby, a man was sitting in his car, just sitting there.
Batman squeezed me longer.
Suddenly a guy opened up the passengers door of this car. What was he sitting there doing with it unlocked? I don't want a victim blame, but hello, you're sitting in your car. Keep the doors locked. Every lady knows this, okay. So the next thing that happened, though, is the guy getting into the passenger seat, pulled out a gun and ordered the driver out of the car. Zaren We had us in honest to goodness carjacking in a parking lot. No, just on the street.
On the street, okay, so I gotta stop light.
It just pulled over.
He was parked, The guy was parked. He's just sitting in a parking space. Guy gets in next to him, a shotgun has a guy and go get out.
Yep, exactly. So the driver looks at the perp and then he pulls his own weapon and is bad. Yes, so there had been a report of an assault in the shady side area of Pittsburgh apped a plane closed cop in an unmarked car was cruising around looking for the suspect. Okay, he parked his car and he was waiting. Then the chump tried to carjack suspect found him. Right, what does this have to do with Batman? I mean, you know I go off on tangents.
Yeah, it's all right, but I figure Batman was going to come in healthy office, right.
So the guy, the carjacker, goes, whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy, whoa whoa, whoa. This isn't what you think, detective. See, I'm in this movie we're filming. Maybe you've heard of it. It's a Batman move. I play a bad guy, A bad guy who tries to carjack a dude dozens of blocks from the set for realism. So they arrested him, in charge him with robbery of a motor vehicle.
I am a method actor. Sir. We never got to.
See that scene in the movie. Yeah, no, they cut it because he never showed up with the car.
So Lawrence l via Lyne, which is like we told Dustin Hoffman in the same where he has to like it doesn't matter Basically he gives them acting advice, and he's like, my dear boy, have you ever considered acting? That's what the detector said.
This is too much fun, Szarin.
Yeah, fun right, Batman, I love the fun.
Right. We should take a break. When we come back. I'll have more bat capers for you. Hello, Buttercup, you caught me on that entirely we left off. I was yammering on about Batman.
Oh, I thought of the movie The Marathon Man. Oh, with dust go on.
There's been a lot of Batman movies, yess, not counting spinoffs or appearances in other DC movies, movies where it's just Batman, all about the bat It looks like there are twelve live action movies that many too animated.
Yeah.
There are nine movies that he's in with other superheroes.
Yes, the Justice League type films.
Yeah, yeah, and then TV shows Great Day in the Morning. There are too many to count.
Yeah, a lot of animated ones.
Same goes for books.
Oh, I didn't even think about it. Batman's everywhere, are we including coloring books.
Color coloring books, monster trucks.
Hot feels.
I feel like every comic book hero or superhero writer would love to be able to pen at Batman script.
Yeah, so there's so much.
There's so much to Batman. He's mysterious, he has a wonderfully dark origin story. He's a rich guy with seemingly endless gadgets and toys. He lives in a mansion over a tricked out cave.
He doesn't have any family to complicate stuff and to do whatever he wants. Right, there's a lot to play with here, is also haunted by their absence.
Yes, one of the creative minds who wanted to play in that Batman sandbox look out for Catwoman was a guy named Chrissniak.
Chris.
He's a comic book artist and creator who's done work for both DC and Marvel. He is deep into comics, and he had an idea about a Batman's storyline.
Okay, I'm looked over here like Steve was the next Boy.
No relation that I know of. The more he thought of, well, maybe there's who knows who cares. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that his idea was just genius. So he sat down wrote down the story. Not a comic book, a whole graphic novel. This was a story story, multiple syllables. It was an ambitious project and he was more than up to it. He came up with this idea about Riddler figuring out that Batman and Bruce Wayne are one and the same.
Oh, finally, somebody.
Someone, Thank God, And basically that meant that he knew why Batman does what he does, so he finds out the whole backstory and that Riddler would unleash a plague something biblical on Gotham is punishment for not loving his criming ways. And then he also had a bomb sent to kill Batman, but it was intercepted by someone else who gets injured instead. In the manuscript for the Graphic Novels, Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commissioner Gordon.
Who also happens to be Ackerel.
So he called the creation the Ultimate Riddle that manuscript title. So in nineteen ninety, Wozniak pitched his manuscript to DC Comics, no response, but he knew the story was just too good to ignore, so he sent it again.
Yeah, it's like a follow to the killing joke with the Joker. You can see the potential right there.
And again he sent it again and again and again.
I'm sensing the problem.
Oh, and again about it a little, and he figured maybe publishing wasn't the way to.
Go if I had a hammer go on.
Maybe they weren't focusing on graphic novels. Yes, probably, maybe he should adapt it to a screenplay. A good call, And that's what he did, and he called it the blind Man's Hat. Not as good of a time, he's stepping over into the next line.
That is good.
And then he sent it to Michael Uslan. I think at times us L a n Uslan. Michael Uslin, he's a producer of Batman movies. Did you know that he's the first instructor to teach an accredited course in comic book folklore at a university.
I'm just gonna go ahead and say no, I did not.
The Indiana University three units the comic book in America.
That's cool.
Uslan called a local newspaper reporter anonymously, of course, to complain about the course when it first got listened. Smart, how in the world could they be teaching something like this at a university? Where are my dead pale mail writers by gum? So of course, news cameras arrived. He became a sensation students lined up to register for the course.
Comic book loom Narys accepted invitations to speak to the class, and then Uslin got a phone call from stan Lee I thought to be Bob Kane, but yes, and that led to a job at DC Comics. So he started writing comics, got deep into the Batman franchise, and from there he moved to the production side of films. In fact, he holds the film rights to Batman, along with the estate of Benjamin Melmicker. Melmcker sure, the creator of Batman.
Yeah, but I don't know how to print. I always think of Bob Kane as the creator of Batman. So Melmacker is not a name that I've committed.
Well, he had the rights, and so Uslin's been an executive producer on all the Batman movies. If you want to get a Batman movie made, this is your guy.
So he's the Barbara Broccli of Batman, because he is.
The Batman Man. Yes, So Wosney ex sent a script to Uslan. Uslin had given him his card once, so why not take a shot.
Check this out? Primo bat content. I go right to the source.
He never heard back. This was in two thousand and eight, So we all have that.
Story kidnapped him?
No, you know how like we you and I we have stories any other writer stories or novels or a collection banging around in a drawer that were positive has legs and we'll find a home one day.
Oh yeah, totally. Yeah, this was I may have two of those drawers. I may have a couple of drawers.
Then twenty twenty two, Yes, the movie The Batman came out. I didn't see it, yeah, Fries.
Yeah, I know you didn't, but that's yeah, the Robert Twilight Fell. It was good. I was. I mean, out of all the Batman movies recently made, it was one of the better. I thought it was really good.
It's got Zoe Kravitz in it. Yeah, Paul Dano, I'm a big fan who made. He's always weird to he maybe always looks like a sex offender. Yeah not yeah, like a backwood sex offender. No offense, and that.
There will be blooded there's two people he's played by him, and I never understand. It just threw me. I've never liked that movie because I'm like, wait, which one is he? And I was like so dumb in that.
Film apparently, so, yeah, he was in The Batman.
I get thrown by Paul Dane's what I'm saying.
Yeah, everyone does, hopefully not violently. I didn't see the movie. Losney X saw The.
Batman, you'd like it. Actually it made his blood boil Colin Ferrell's portrayal of I like him. See, I said the penguin, so we're going gardic on front.
Did it make your blood boil? Because it made Losney x blood boil.
I can see that. I get y'all hate it. I didn't get all heated up, but I did see damp. I was like, well, this is not the Batman of my youth. I don't know. I enjoyed their interpretation. Well, Losniik was mad.
Not because it looked like Riddler was played by someone cast from the Megan's Law website. It's because the story in the film is basically.
The story he wrote. It's very similar. According to him, it's very there's elements.
Yeah, well in this in his script, Riddler firebombs Barbara Gordon. Like I said earlier, try to keep up. In movie, it's the same setup, but it's Alfred who gets it. I am spoiling this movie. I've never seen. The plot structure is pretty similar, although I'm not the one to ask. But because they all, they all seem like the same movie in story, like Batman's good except for.
Because Ben Affleck was in it, and that's your favorite comic book movie.
For sure. Bad Guy's bad, but like in a really theatrical way, like does a lot of.
Kipping around.
He wants to terrorize Gotham through like a convoluted yet terribly personally antagonizing to Batman way chaos and suits. Batman emerges victorious four. Now, yeah, there's no stopping crime, especially when it's darkly whimsical. So hello, I've seen all the movies, so I may not know the difference, but most do. So here are the bullets for the script in the movie. In the script, Batman is at the end of his career.
In the movie, he's at the beginning. Yes, it makes sense because they wanted a younger star, but he's still like a turning point. In the script, there's a criminal banking conglomerate at play. In the movie, it's an organized crime syndicate because organized crime is easier for audiences to understand.
More coming.
But yes, yeah, in the script, a bank is corrupt. In the movie, it's a charity. In the script, Riddler finds a surrogate family in a commune. In the movie, it's an orphanage. Watch them kids in the script, Paul Dano.
In the script, it's Armageddon for the world. Baby.
In the movie, it's Judgment Day for Gotham. That's cheaper VFX.
Sure.
In the script, Riddler threatens to release that biblical plague upon the planet. In the movie, it's a biblical flood because plague is too soon. It seems like a lot of strong parallels.
But what do I know.
I'm just a simple country lawyers here.
The fact that you are too. But you have such a good closing argument I do.
I do you know who got themselves a non simple city lawyer. Wosniak suit, So I mean the Batman good luck, well, it made hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. Get your cut, that guy.
I'm with them on that. But they have all of these rules about the embodyment of an idea, and just because you have stuff, it ain't gonna.
Play, he sued Warner Brothers. Wozniak alleged that Usland took the script, handed it off to the director Reeves.
What's his first name?
Not Kelan matt Reeves.
Oh, Matt Reeves. Oh, the director of The.
Batman right, and then Reeves like rewrote parts of it but kept the bones. And the lawsuit is still making its way through the courts.
He filed it, not you got his script to the director's hands.
Uh huh.
If he got it into the director's hands, that he does.
Have it with ustling as like a middleman.
But does he have confirmation that the director held in his hot little hands. I don't, because if you can prove that the director put laid his eyes on this script, he may have a contenttion.
This is what his attorney, R. Terry Parker had to say about it.
That's why they're so protective. I won't see your script. Don't get me your script because they can't see it.
They can't see it, and then they can make yeah quote. There are so many original expressions from my client's story found in the Defendants movie that we believe this is clear case of copyright infringement. The similarities are just too uncanniedy be accidental.
Well, you know who the world's greatest detective is Batman he could solve this.
Let's call him, so Bom, get my nephew on the phone. The website Agents of Fandom. They have a pretty good write up about the whole thing, and while they seem to agree with Wozniak, they sort of skewer him about the way he's going about this whole mess. Of course, Yeah, he has a Patreon, he has a Kickstarter, a change dot org petition, right, an indiegog page. Here's what it
says there in Texas. I think so quote there's no disputing my plot predates their screenplay, that the people who made this film were in possession of my plot, and that the Riddler's storyline in the film was directly derived from my plot. Now, before executive producer Michael Eslin and Warner Brothers Pictures used my plot in the film, they were supposed to negotiate a contract first to make sure I was fairly compensated. I was not credited anywhere.
I was not.
I'm doing the emphasis because it's all caps how I paid anything. And in case you're wondering, that's not supposed to happen so here I am. I was wondering, asking Batman fans around the world to stop Hollywood from steamrolling yet another comic creator. I got absolutely nothing that is not just us. It would be nice if some of the more famous faces would shine a little light on this situation, because it would go a long way towards making this right.
The nerd vibes coming off him is like when you look at a desert highway and you can see where the road is, Like, yeah, just raining, exactly right. I feel it.
He takes donations on the indiegog page to pay for his legal bills, and he sells weird T shirts and stuff there.
I like it. So that's where that stands as of now. I wish him luck with this bitterness and anger.
Because Sames bless good, bless. Let's pause for the cause, and when we come back, I'll tell you what I think is my favorite of these Batman stories. Oh nice, Holy commercial Batman.
I got a question for you. What's your third favorite Batman related crime you've learned about?
I think the my third favorite probably the your.
Nephew asked me to ask you this.
We did Walmart guy, I guess, Oh, okay, I like it. Those were good commercials today, by the way, Juicy, robust, full of flavor. Okay, Batman, I am the Batman. I'm the Batman. Now we've talked a lot about Batman. But what of the Batmobile?
Oh, my favorite of the mobiles.
What kid or grown up for that matter, wouldn't want a cruise around in the Batmobile?
Which one are we talking about?
Well, i'd let's say the TV show, the sixties TV show, Oh, the Class Yeah, or like maybe or any of them.
Quite frankly, I would like this monster truck. I've been hearing about it. I want the Batmobile Monster.
I don't think i'd want to drive a batmobile around because I feel like it has terrible handling.
Yeah, I'm guessing that.
Like you know how like supercars, those wildly expensive race cars. They only they look really great, but they're only fit to drive on.
A track for the most part.
Yeah, the batmobile would be no match for Oakland potholes. It rides so low.
He's sitting with a blown out tire in the side of the road with your batmobile just off the post off people are driving by. What's wrong with your batmobile? Got away? Yeah?
There's simply also not enough cargo room for me to take it to Costco. Oh yeah, of course, you know, the maximum payload for that would be like for frozen dumplings in Pellegrino, would be like one bag in half a case.
You probably get a bat suv. Oh maybe you could maybe a BATMANI van or a bat cargo van.
Well, until then, I'll pass, thank you very much. In twenty seventeen, there was a man and the man was named Sam and Ignastu.
I thought this man was gonna be a man with the plan.
He was a man with a plan. He was a realtor from Atherton, California.
Oh.
Ather Dinner is a city in the Bay Area south of San Francisco.
Where they got money.
The medium median home price is ten million dollars. Yeah, that's the average, like the medians.
Rick where the Golden State Warriors.
That's in today's money. Oh yeah, Steph Curry lives there. It's one of the wealthiest areas in the country. It used to be old money by like California standards. Of course, now there's a lot of Tecto. And then Steph Curry from the Trader Golden State Warriors. If Sam was living in Atherton, he was doing pretty well.
Yeah, I met so well.
He could afford his own batmobile. Oh, of course, so he placed an order for a Batmobile replica with Mark Rackup, owner of Fiberglass Freaks located in Logan Sport, Indiana.
Did he have like a website like buy a Batmobile?
Yeah, you can one hundred percent get in touch with this guy and buy a batmobile.
Wow. Yeah, okay, what was that name again?
For Fiberglass Freaks, it's the only car garage licensed by DC Comics to replicate the original Batmobile.
Oh like the sixties TV show.
Yeah. Sam paid one hundred and seventy thousand dollars towards this replica.
Batmobile the official bat Shop.
Yes, Sam was the first in line to receive a custom Batmobile replica. But then he missed it twenty thousand dollars payment. Oh no, and so he was moved to the bottom of the list. Now he had to wait one and a half to two years to get this batmobile. Oh yeah, it's bad. So this is what the Fiberglass Freque's.
Kind of messed up. You missed one payment, you go to the bottom of the list or like upstarting game.
I mean, I guess it's like they've got a lot of people got a lot of rich, so the owner said, quote, he disappeared on me for over eight months, almost nine months, so he's trying to get to Yeah. Sam resurfaced, learned about being bumped to the bottom of the list and was not happy. This is what Racop, the owner said, quote. He didn't like that. He exploded. He did pay off the entire car at that point, but he was absolutely livid to find out that his car was going to be delayed.
I'm just imagining literally him by going to pieces like exploding, shattering. He comes back together, of course, like the terminator. It's a comic book world that makes sense.
Records show that Rackop did receive a wire transfer from Sam for forty thousand dollars, but the idea is that he accepted the money knowing full well he wouldn't give Sam the car. So he has the money paid. He's like, now you got to just keep waiting, buddy. He and the truth is he'd actually sold Sam's car to someone else. The next person in mine turns ast turn, come to find out. In August twenty twenty one, a report was filed by Sam with the Atherton Police Department. It's a
real hard boiled crime crew over there. Sam claimed he was the victim of fraud for not having received his custom ordered batmobile, priced in total at two hundred and ten thousand dollars.
WHOA, isn't that crazy? It's pretty steep. Yeah.
So the San Mateo County District Attorney's office that's where Atherton's located, San Mateo County, they wouldn't file the complaint. And then he also filed a civil lawsuit in San Mateo County Spirit Court. And on top of that, he filed a criminal complaint with the police in Indiana and
they refused to press criminal charges. Nobody tells Sam at Agnostu No, although I have to say that if he paid forty, should get it, even if it's enough to pay for classroom supplies for an entire elementary school for years to come. Sam wasn't happy, so he called San Mateo County Sheriff Carlos Blanos.
They know each other.
Sam was a wealthy donor and also a personal friend of the sheriff's brother. Sam wanted the sheriff to organize a raid against fiberglass Freaks and arrest the owner, Mark racka a raid. Yeah, why because they didn't have his batmobile.
That's why kick in the door.
Blanos was like, Okay, oh wow, this this move is unprecedented.
He my boys could use some practice.
Billanos had never sent a team out of state to investigate a nonviolent crime before.
Yeah, it's kind of well whatever, I'm not gonna get into jurisdiction.
Rackop faced two felony charges obtaining money by false pretenses and diversion of construction funds. So July nineteenth, twenty twenty two, the San Mateo County Vehicle Theft Task Force located in Sunny California.
They freshly minted San Mateo Vehicle task They sent.
A San Mateo lieutenant, a sergeant, and two deputies to Cass County, Indiana. That is not located in sand to Teo County or Sunny California.
No, not even in California.
Zaren yes, close your eyes. I want you to picture it. You are a Cass County, Indiana Sheriff's deputy.
Totally.
You've been assigned as liaison to a bunch of California cowboys out to raid fiberglass Freaks, a local business with.
Which you are slightly familiar.
You are there to arrest shop owner Mark Rackop and extradite him to California. You show up in your usual uniform. The sheriffs from San Manteo County look like they're there for a cornhole atorney man buns backwards, baseball caps, jeans, mirrored sunglasses. They're a different kind of cop, you guess. You lead the convoy of cars down Erie Avenue and glide to a stop on the side of the road. You never realized it, but this block looks like it
could be in a Batman movie. What looked to be abandoned brick buildings that once house small manufacturing line the road. You have your eyes on a white brick building with a line of black trim running across the top fiberglass freaks. The street is silent save one songbird in the fir trees up front. You and the team head to the gravel driveway that wraps around the back of the building. You pass an acid green Dodge charger. This must be
the place, you think that or a recruiting office. The San Mateo guys are ready to charge in, but you hold up a hand. You knock on the door. A large genial man answers. You hold up a warrant and the rest of the guy's barge in by you.
You look past the.
Proprietor and you see an incredible workshop at the center of which sits a black batmobile, just like in the old sixties TV show, and beyond that more batmobiles. A solitary tear runs down your face. You've never seen anything so beautiful. Rakops shop was searched that day and two files were seized. He was taken back to Cass County Sheriff's office facilities, but was neither handcuffed nor incarcerated due
to his health. Racops said, quote they showed the warrant saying that they were here to seize anything to do with his car. So I thought, oh, they're coming to pick up his car, which is right behind me by the way. I thought I was going to have to move my other batmobiles out of way to be able to let them take his car his other batmobiles. Balanos detailed the raid, the ensuing search, and the level of involvement from the Cass County officer. In a four page
internal memo. Bilanos wrote that his deputies quote did nothing wrong, and I stand with them and support them. Of course, you know, I mean you sent them there.
You better.
He goes on further to say, quote, while it is true that I asked that this case be investigated, and I am acquainted with the victim, as I am with many residents of San Mateo County, I would make the same request of our investigators whenever a potential crime of this nature came to my attention.
Sure is sam Mateo's sheriff, Joe Arpeo. I totally believe you.
Just see that. There are a lot of people that I think would prove that wrong. So later, the owner of Fiberglass Freaks, he learned that his bank account was frozen and that a warrant had been obtained for his Gmail contacts and photos. He said, quote, I was horrified. I've never gone through anything like this ever before in my life, and I'm on the side of good as a Batman fan since I was two years old. This
was a completely opposite side. I love sixty six Batman and Batman has always stood with the law.
Oh wow. Later the same month, breaking this port NERD's heart, making him beyond the wrong side of the Batman.
He does incredible stuff like it's a bat I bet.
That if they gave him him premature of DC. I'm sure his work is phenology.
Yeah, it's super meticulous, Sam Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaff dropped the charges following further investigation. He explained, quote, the batmobile case fell into the category of cases that should have remained in the civil court, which obviously Wagstaff stated that he had no idea there were any plans for officers to go on a cross country trip to
stage a raid. What's interesting is that Wagstaff was actually the first person Sam approached for assistance with his batmobile issue. Wagstaff is the referee for an adult basketball team that Sam plays on.
Huh shocking.
He also Sam also made a thousand dollars donation to Wagstaff's reelection campaign. No, and Wagstaff's department ended up decl the case, and that was the last Wagstaff heard of it until he returned from vacation and learned that everything had blown up. So he was like, no, no, no, I know you gave me money, I know we shoot hoops, but no, no, And then he comes back from vacation
darn it. When asked about public concern over his favoritism that was shown Wagstaff said, quote, I do respect that concern, but in terms of my office, I know whatever decision was made, right or wrong, it wasn't done because of who the victim was. Everybody deserves to be treated the same. That's where what we strive for here. And I'm sorry there's an image out there with the public that that hasn't occurred.
So he's mad that people. He's upset that people are upset.
How dare you?
He's like, I'm really disappointed, how Darius? Everybody is so.
Upset, and I treat everyone like this. That's why the courts are so backed up in Sanmuteous. Yes, I'm County Supervisor Warren slocumbe quote respectfully disagreed. I bet, he said quote. It seems like, and I don't have all the facts that there are two systems of justice here, one for a wealthy, connected person and one for everyone else.
Oh you think, yeah, I might go three or fours to you knew here, Warren.
There's this investigative reporter here in the Bay Area, Dan Noise and Oye. Yes, he's been at it for ages. He irritates a lot of people, and he also gets like a dog on a bone with stories. Oh I like that in a reporter He was all over the Batmobile case. Yeah, he was the one who broke it, so Dan nois ABC seven News. He was the one who told Rackop that his case was going to be dropped. He got to break the news to him. Noise all up in the business. Racop said, quote, Holy cow, Dan,
what a relief. This has been a ten week nightmare and it's finally coming to a close.
The holy cow, Dan is well played, well played.
All told, six months was spent on investigating, over ten thousand dollars was spent on traveling to Indiana for the raid, and fifty five thousand to pay red I retired Judge Winnifred Smith to write up a forty seven page report on the whole thing. Fifty five grand. This is what the judge said, quote ensuring the appropriate expenditure of public funds should always be of the highest priority. Dude, Yo, give me fifty five thousand dollars and I'll write a bunch of sentences like that.
Judge Smith, a grand page, A little let me dang.
She said that the sheriff's offices actions, while not illegal, were not a practical use of county resources or taxpayers money. And she also argued that Belanos is one on one interaction with for Sam's complaint and admission that concerns from those he didn't know were rerouted was indicative of unequal access and treatment to county residents.
Yeah, of course, of course.
So this is what Dan Neyes had to say. Quote, the raid and the fraud charges against Ratcop, which were dropped after my reports, should never have happened. Your public money paid for the trip last week by the sheriff's investigators. Four round trip plane tickets, three nights of hotels, meals, rental cars, and a.
Lot of overt time.
That's the thing is that they're up the clock that whole time.
I'm surprised at ten thousand, and I thought it'd be more expensive to send him to Indiana'd be quite on.
Yeah, well, I think that that's just like the flights and the meals, per damns and stuff.
Now, I think what we can all agree, and Dan Noyse would want us to agree. The real batman of this story is Dan Noise.
Oh completely, he's He's Noise. So this is what Dan Noise did. He tried to reach out to the sheriff, But the sheriff never called him back, never responded to any texts that Dan Neise sent to the sheriff's personal cell phone.
Oh yeah, no, they cops loved not answering journalist questions. It's like a kink for them.
Well, then Noise he decides, you know what, I'm going to go to the retirement party for Blano's second in command, like.
The second Yeah, I like it. And then but.
They get there and Blano, the sheriff, he's out of town for a month long vacation.
Oh so interesting.
This is what someone named Lieutenant Allen said, quote. I'm not in charge of his travel calendar or his schedule. So everyone's like, hey, look, this has no thing to do with me. And then it turns out Bellanos loses the election, leaves office in January.
Ooh. Noise was, however, able contribute to him losing the election. Do you think all this press, I mean this gotta be a vote of no confidence. Yeah.
Noise got in touch with Sam though, while Sam was vacationing in Greece. Everyone out here going on vacation. You couldn't believe when he asked Sam, When Dan Noys asked Sam about the batmobile. He said, quote, I'm dealing with someone privately on that, and Dan Noise said, who's that? And Sam hung up on him.
Wosniak click.
Per wrack Up the business owner. He said his business suffered and estimated three hundred and fifty thousand dollars loss, and it also took a toll on his mental health. I bet quote because of this, I see a sheriff's cargo pass, I freak, even just for a moment. You know, it might only be thirty seconds or maybe even fifteen seconds. But that's not me.
So this is like the New Joker origin story totally.
He used to be filled with bubbling cry in happiness when he saw a sheriff's cruiser. Now exactly, and he's building these cars?
Is he going to build it next?
But rack Up does give all credit, thanks and praise to Dan Noyce.
I'm telling you the real Batman.
Thank you so much, Dan for what you've done. If you had not followed through on those whistleblowers, if you hadn't believed them, this case would have continued, and I would have had been in Sa Mateo on Friday morning.
And I thank you so so much you never want to be in Sam mateo on a Friday morning.
No. As of March twenty twenty three, Rackup was still he was making progress on other batmobiles. He has nine others that he's working on. But Sam's batmobile, Batman Bile, is three and a half years away from completion due to quote difficulty obtaining parts.
So he's still waiting for me.
This is what he said, quote. I cannot believe that it's taking sometimes up to a year to get a chassis, and it's taking six months to get a drive train. It's really crazy, wild most I can't believe that. So, Sarah, what's your ridiculous takeaway?
I don't have a batmobile of my own. I mean, apparently they're just handing these things out. All you have to be is a ridiculous criminal, So I want one. Well as you.
You you herald the stories of ridiculous criminals. You're entitled to a batmobile.
We get a sponsored batmobile, like a ridiculous batmobile. Do it.
We'll work on that and I'll just.
Go around doing crimes until Batman can find me. I stole your whip.
Rather how you get to meet Batman? You do have crime steal his car.
That's how you get to meet him. That's Oakland style. Son, Welcome to the town. Just gopping a batmobile exactly. This is all I have. Bat Man left his luggage in the batmobile. I got it now, who got the extra Batman suit? Son? Sorry, I'll stop.
You can find us online at ridiculous Crime dot com. We have t shirts if you're into that sort of thing, mugs, it's just limited edition merchandise. It's constantly changing, but you got to get them while they're there because they're not going to come back.
Yea hopping and hopping out. Yeah.
We're also at Ridiculous Crime on both Twitter and Instagram. Email us at Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com, Leave it talkback on the iheartapp, Reach out honey, and stay hydrated, rud dudes. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaren Burnett, produced and edited by Holy Dave Kusten.
Batman.
Research is by Prince bat dance choreographer Marissa Brown and batsuit nipple polisher Andrea song Sharpen Tear. The theme song is by Thomas Poal Bam Lee and Travis Riddle Me This. Dutton Executive producers are Batmobile d tailor Ben Bolan and Waxer of Wonder Woman's Invisible Plane.
Noel Brown.
Ridiculous Batman Baby, Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio.
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