October 9, 2025 • 56 mins
Elizabeth Taylor looooved diamonds. Some had storied histories going back to royal palaces and forgotten empires. Others came from exotic locales. And then there was the Krupp Diamond. Before Liz donned it on her finger, it belonged to the ex-wife of a Nazi. And that's not the craziest part of this story.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous Crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Zern Elizabeth Larren, Yes, Elizabeth, are you doing hey? Oh
you're over there? Yes, Elizabeth any here? Yes, I'm right here.
How are you doing? Girl?
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hey? Listen, I'm above ground and getting paid.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
That's all I care about.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm trying to get like you.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
That's that's my answer. When people ask how you doing
above ground and getting paid?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
There you go. It's all you can ask. It's all
you can ask.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Literally, do you know what's ridiculous?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Oh, I'm so glad you asked me. I have an idea.
I'm just going to give to Hollywood for free.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah. Right, this is totally ridiculous. So you know Santa
Monica High, Yes, SAMO Yeah right, SAMO Hi. So there's
a bunch of people who are all born like in
nineteen sixty four and sixty five, who were all together
at SAMO High.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
And it's basically if you think about when they would
have been in high school, it's the early eighties, like
eighty eighty one, eighty two. So these are all classmates
at sam O. Hi. Ready for this? Yeah, Robert Downey Junior. Okay,
Emelio Westevez, Charlie Sheen right on, Penn Chris Penn, yeah,
Rob Low, Yeah, Michael Bay, the director, Holly Robinson, Pete
(01:07):
and Man, Lenny Kravitz, Am Leonard. Yeah, this is like
a real eighties movie. You just have you can just
tell their story, just imagine it. Boom.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, you know, I've watched the Charlie Sheen documentary.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
IP is right there, it's right there.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I watched the Charlie Sheen documentary and he talks about
like growing up with the pen and like I don't
remember if Rob Low, rob Yeah, but yeah, it's crazy,
like when you think about that whole you know, Santa Monica,
Malibu crowd at all time.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
And also you could do a sequel with Maya Rudolph,
Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black, who were also like they
were born in seventy one to seventy two around that age. Yeah,
so there are a couple of years behind obviously, but
Gwyneth and uh, Maya Rudolph were best friends since the
age of seven, so they were friends in high school
you're kidding, Oh yeah, and then Maya Rudolph had a
crush on Jack Black and so she would like follow
(01:58):
him around. He talked her in to take in the
improv class, then then gets her into Groundlings, and then
launches her career in comedy because she had a crush
on Jack Black. Yeah, I love so there you go.
You got the sequel right there.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
You got the wrong com you did it, you did it.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
And that ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
That's so ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Imagine them, classmates.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I love it. That is ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I thought you didn't. Ridiculous And it's free Hollywood. Take it. Well,
that's a previous ip.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
You want to know what else is ridiculous?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Oh my goodness, you know that. I lived for that.
That's what keeps me above ground and getting paid.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Wearing diamonds and a sombrero.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Oh oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
This is ridiculous Crime A podcast about absurd and outrageous capers.
Heis and cons It's always ninety nine percent murder free
and one hundred percent ridiculous. Take that to the bank, Yes, please,
here's my deposital slip. The late actress Elizabeth Taylor.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Oh, I've heard of her with the purple eyes.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah, she's associated with many things, those violet eyes. Violet sorry,
very specific film roles.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Sounds so much better than purple eyes.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Purple eye, it's a condition, and that's like elevated.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
You need to see a specialists.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Oh honey. Yeah, film roles like Cleopatra and Cleopatrick Jones.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
That was more surprising.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Her tumultuous love life Richard Burton.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, and then also like the Larry the construction guy.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Yeah, Oh my god, that's right. And then her friendship
with Michael Jackson.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Oh yeah, and Marlon Branda. They're like a triangle. We're intense.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
But one of the big associations that people have with
O Liz is jewelry.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Oh, yes, this is true.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
She loved jewelry and she even called her perfume white diamonds.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
That's right. I know that from Christmas time.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yeah, those ads on TV where she's all soft focused
and then like has some off the shoulder number.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
On like a quarter like a millimeter of vesseling on
the lens and she's got like night grade lighting and
some white puffy dress.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I don't think you ever you ever huffed on that
white diamonds, You ever smelled.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
That the perfume? I know, I've known some older ladies. Yes,
you wear you.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Wear that, buddy. I don't think I've ever smelled it.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Oh yeah, No, I worked at a retirement home.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Like diamonds.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
No, it smells like wealth and luxury.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
That's nice.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Do you know some perfume smell like money. Yeah, it
smells like you know.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Wealthy or Janel Kashmir smells like money.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
When I say she collected jewelry though, I mean Mama
collected jewelry really. Yeah. She didn't just do it for
monetary or aesthetic value, but because of like the emotions
and the relationships and the stories into crystal behind probably
behind each piece. She wrote a book called My Love
Affair with Jewelry.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
It's right in the cover, she.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Described Jules's quote a way of remembering life's great loves, moments,
and experiences jewelry Yeah, which I mean, I suppose is
true if you live the kind of life where like
gems and jewels are involved.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
In the mere giving jeweled gifts. Yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
I remember that it was the perfect cheese boo on
the deck and I was emeralds. Yeah, I mean, like,
you know, it's just so seet these things, the emeralds
wearing emeralds. You know, the moments, moments in her life
in anybody's life, the perfect cheeseburger. Many of her famous
(05:37):
jewels came as gifts, as you were saying, from the
men in her life, especially Richard Burton and then also
Mike Todd and others. For her, like every gem was
this tangible reminder of love. Milestones' reconciliations.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah, I'm so wrong. I love your baby. You can't
leave me, baby, he is eighteen diamonds baby, miss Musk.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
She once said that Burton gave her quote the most
extravagant gifts, but always with the story. Every kiss begins
with k. The stories she has a friend in the
diamond business. Stories mattered just as much as the stones did. Yeah,
someone like gems, not the rolling stones.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, I got that.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
So she she grew up her did.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
You say gemstones, I'm gonna be totally confused. The righteous ones, Yes,
those are the ones.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Her mom had jewels. She was like, it was the family. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
She had an expectation of like I want you, and
she's like.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Those look really pretty, thank you. And then she also
was so into Hollywood glamour and that's you knows a
lot of jewels there. So by the nineteen fifties she
was already like everyone knew, Elizabeth Taylor is all about diamonds.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
And Harry Winston. Number of yes.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
She called jewelry her quote drug of choice and yeah,
and this was like excitement for her but also comfort,
you know, when she had these like difficult marriages and
her careers going up and down. She loved jewels with
like long provenance. So she had one La Peregrina pearl
(07:11):
that had been owned by Spanish queens marry the first
of England. She had the taj Mahal diamond pendant, you know.
So all of these things were just like she loved
to like have the history.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Do you like more than diamonds. She like rubies and
sapphires too, She liked diamonds.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
She liked diamonds were like at the top of the pyramid.
She didn't keep them locked away. She wore her jewels
constantly for they felt like connected to her with the
history part of this larger story. She really believed that
jewelry was to be worn and enjoyed, like don't don't
hide it away.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Put your diamonds under a bushel exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
She was wearing like huge diamonds to lunches, film sets,
just around the house.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Okay, so she would have really gone well with like
NFL wide receivers. Yes, they would be like, you know,
like when you sitting there and you get like a
hair cut in it because you turn to I hate that.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
And they would all talk about how there's no better
way to compliment your busy on the go lifestyles and
shine and what if she had I wish she had
lived long enough to have a grill, a diamond grill.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
How do you know she didn't.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
It's true. There's a lot we don't know about her.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Michael Jackson, who was a crip, might have given her one.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
It's true. Michael Jackson was a crip.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I look that up.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah, I saw that today. He's straight crippin anyway, So
she's like, you know, you gotta wear this stuff. You
gotta live your life, totally live your life. So towards
the end of her life that she had lived, she
wanted to use that collection to make like a charitable
legacy for herself. Interesting, so in twenty eleven Christie's As
(08:45):
she held an auction through Christie's for the benefit of
the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation. And that was like so
that the lifetime like she would live on anyse things, so.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Bequeathed some of her like both her energy and her wealth.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yes, yes, what were some of these jewels. We'll start
with La Peregrina wandering Royal pearl. So this was this.
It was a famous sixteenth century drop shaped natural pearl
that she had Cardier set in like this ruby diamond
and pearl necklace in nineteen seventy two. Thing. Yeah, And
(09:21):
so the pearl was found in the fifteen hundreds and
like like I said, the courts of Spain and England,
it was passed to the Dukes of Abercorn in the
nineteenth century, and then it went into the possession of
Richard Burton Liz Taylor loved. Yeah, he bought it in
nineteen sixty nine for around thirty seven thousand dollars and
(09:42):
he gave it to Taylor. That's like spending three hundred
and twenty five thousand dollars on it today.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Wow, just outside of my price range.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah, I know, you're just so close. Let's save up
a little more. Check your couch cushions, good calls, you.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Know, might push yours in there.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
I can swim, yeah, my NFTs. So she famously wore
this thing all the time and one time she's like
swamming around the house with them on and she thought
she lost it. There was a dog involved. But after
that so she had Cardier.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
She had to wait like a couple of days until pasted.
Oh thank god.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
They fixed it so that it wouldn't slip off, like
they reinforced the class that was sold in twenty eleven
at the AIDS Foundation charity sale for eleven point eight
million dollars. That's a world record price for a pearl
at the time. I bet eleven point eight million dollars.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Crazy.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
So the next up we have the tea that, oh
sure it must We got the Taylor Burton diamond. That's
this like big pear shaped mama that cut by Harry
Winston and it was it was sixty eight carrots cut
down from a two hundred and forty one rough that
(10:54):
came out of South Africa, came out of the ground
thirteen sixty six. Yeah, that's true, that one. He Okay.
So Cardier won the sixty nineteen sixty nine auction for
the diamond just over a million, and they were like,
this will be known as the Cardier Diamond and so
then the next day Richard Burton comes in and buys
(11:16):
it from him, gives it to Elizabeth Taylor. She wore
it the nineteen seventy oscars on a special diamond necklace
to cover her trichyotomy scar. Oh interesting, and they were like,
this was now the Liz Taylor diamond in nineteen seventy nine. Yeah,
she sold it to help fund a hospital in Botswana.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Nine years wow.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, but she sold it for five mil in nineteen yeah,
and then it later got sold to this other dude.
So coming up batting third, we have the Bulgary Emerald suite.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Wow. Sweet.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah. So that's like a brooch, slash, pendant, necklace, earrings, bracelet, ring.
It was all like put together in the nineteen sixties
from Burton, and that brooch doubled as her engagement jewel. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Was he like just constantly messing up or did he
also rocks?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
I think why not? Why not?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Both?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I think he was like that's the ticket out of
the doghouse, over and over. That one sold at the
charity sale for six point five million. That you know,
the whole suite of it.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
The full sweet gift. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
No, actually no, the pendant brooch did just the necklace
six point one mill the ring three point three mill
bracelet four million dollars, the earrings three point two millions.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
This is crazy.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
There's that taj Mahal heart shape pendant that was what
it sounds like a herd shaped table cut diamond that
Cardier put on a gold and ruby chain that was
from the.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Mughal court, oh like the India.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yeah, and that was Burton's fortieth birthday gift to Taylor
in nineteen seventy two forty It went into twenty eleven
eight point eight million.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
She's traveling with this stuff, oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
And wearing it all over the place, wearing it around
the house. But then there was like a there was
an issue with the sale because there was some dispute
over the provenance of that and either way, not everything
Richard Burton was up in that jewelry box. Mike Todd
gave her a diamond tiara, a tiara it was from
(13:26):
eighteen eighties. Yeah, she wore to the nineteen fifty seven Oscars.
She wore to movie premieres maybe like the supermarket, I
don't know they were when that came on shopping twenty
eleven sale, they were like, this is going to get
like sixty to eighty thousand dollars. It went for four
point two million dollars.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Slightly off.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
It's a little bit so. I mean that is when
it's like that had everything to do with the fact
that it was hers and not the actual like jewel value.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Yeah, that's crazy though, that she had that much like curb.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Appeal to see I see that every day is erin
do you when I see secretly sell your stuff on
Facebook Marketplace? I get a good one to two percent
increase in profit if I tell them it once belonged
to Ziggie Marley. You Okay, here's a fun one. The
Cardier Ruby sweet Ruby and diamond Cardier necklace. That's from
(14:18):
Mike Todd. He gave it to her while she was
swimming laps at their villa in the south of France.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
How do you think do you think just like draped
it into the pool water like you're standing up.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
I mean, I love when that happens to me.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Of course, when I'm doing laps.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
In my villain to France and some dude comes up
is all here, yeah yeah, so she's he's like, I'll
go you zoom, and so She's like, well, I don't
want to try it on, but there's no mirror at
the pool because you don't put glass by the pools.
Erin thought about it, so she checked her reflection in
the pool. She's like, this is beautiful, and then she
actually squealed with joy this is and then she pulled
(14:54):
him into the waters.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Real, yeah, fully dressed. That's when you know it's for real.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
That's when you know it's for real. So, I mean,
she's got like all these like big dog ones, she's
got sapphires, she's got you know, some step more van
Cleef and arpels.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Oh wow. Yeah, I know they're.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Using terms like pave and bag edd and pendants. Yeah,
I know. I don't know any of the stuff. Is
the ping pong diamonds ping pong? She and Richard Burton
were playing table tennis and gustad and he was like,
if you win, i'll give you a diamond, which is
like and then she won and he pulled out this
(15:36):
like what is called a tiny ring, but that I
couldn't find the weight of it, but I saw a
picture and it looks like an everyday modest engagement ring,
like not like, oh, a diamond chip, like maybe a
character to They're like so small you can barely see it,
so funny. These are the ping pong diamonds. So anyway,
all that aside, I haven't told you about the most
(15:57):
major of her gems. That one would be the Krupp
Diamond Crup Diamond thirty three point one nine carrots, which,
while enormous, yeah that's sizable, is still far smaller than
some of the big dogs in her collection.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yeah, it's not their biggest diruct.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
But this one's perfect, like it could be potentially internally
flawless by the scans and the facets.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
You see all the facets.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Right, all all the ratchet, real clear. It's like nitrogen
freeze pure exceptionally colorless. There it is, jewel heads. It's
a d color vs one cut, cornered rectangular step cut diamond,
often called an astra cut.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Thank you for putting that in terms I understand.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Set in a ring flank by tapered bagatts. I love
bagettes in the morning kind with the light so good.
It's not A lot is known about the diamond's history
before the early twentieth century. There's thought that it was
unearthed from either South Africa's you know yaeger Font and
mine or one of the ones in India, like the
(17:00):
famous one there. But because of the way it's cut,
if they think that it was like cut in the
nineteen twenties, it's very art deco. I looked at it.
It's a jaw dropper. Serious ice Now, the first famous
owner was Vera Krupp, Martha Vera Hassenfeld, later Countess Mellenkroct.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Like the German industrialist.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Uh huh. She is at the center of what I
want to tell you about today. Okay, the Liz Taylor
stuff was just me pouring the foundation of the driveway.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Get us to the Croup.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Welcome you to the house that I'm building, the House
of Croup, the House of Crop. Little reference, little context,
a little bit of fun information.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I learned so much.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I know, did taking a look at how the other
half lives?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Are They doing well?
Speaker 3 (17:42):
In excess, that's how they live. But it's Vera Krupp
who holds the keys here. I want to pause for
some ads, slip into some jewels, and when we come.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Back, krup zaren Elizabeth.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
I regaled you with tales of Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry collection.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
You brought the temperature of the room down a couple
degrees with all that.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Cool, all that ice. Yeah, it's just And I mentioned
the Crep diamond. Do you remember when I said that
towards the end? It was originally owned by Vera Krup
via Crup. And I know what you're thinking, because I
can read your mind. Who intarnation is via Crup.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
I'm glad I read you write.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Down to the Tarnation.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
No, thank you, let's do this. What if I suddenly
performed a rap about her? It's just a thought I
had of you. I know, it just like came into
my head, Like what if there was a pause and
I just started rapping, Like what if I were someone
who just breaks into wraps every now and then, like
(19:00):
a less annoying linn men Brandon. What if that was me? Anyway?
Vera so Vera She was born Martha Vera villem Heim.
I don't know whatever sounds good, felt Hawson felt incorporated.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Oh yeah, we're going to do.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
In mine Germany. Mine, it's mine.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Oh, just mine yours.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
She later worked in German film under the stage name
Vera von Langen. She became a naturalized US citizen in
nineteen forty seven. Good time, good time, right whatever, honey,
it gets better. So before her marriage to the steel
magnet Alfried Kroup, she had married and divorced like three times,
(19:46):
and so she had all these surnames von Langen, Wisbarnur
that appear in all her records. She's kind of like
a j she's like a minnie Liz Taylor.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
About that too, Thank you, good point.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
I mean I put it out there.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yeah, yeah, I know why I could have knocked it.
I turned my back missed it entirely.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
But you know what, anytime we can measure mentioned the
old jag.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Yeah, I love her.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Nineteen fifty five, okay, vera, she bought this ranch near
Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Oh, good time to do that.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
She ran cattle, I'm serious, white faced Hereford's and Brahmas.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
He's a gentlewoman ranch.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Yes. She expanded and remodeled the main like Sandstone residents,
added a guesthouse, some sheds, you gotta do that, a
kennel for her great danes, oh goodness, and like you know,
it was just all fitted out.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
So it's starting to come together.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
It's making sense now, Alfred. He was not permitted to
enter the United States. So the marriage largely unfolded apart,
and they divorced in nineteen fifty seven.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Vera lived at the ranch until like nineteen sixty four.
But here, let's back up a second. Wait, why couldn't
Alfred Croup enter the country.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
German steel magnet in nineteen four?
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Let me tell you about, oh Alfreed. He was born
in Essen in nineteen oh seven, and as you can
guess from his last name, he was a member of
the Krup family.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Oh tell me more, big rich family.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yeah, it's a four hundred year old German dynasty. They
are involved in steel.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, and weapon the type of magnet that I'm not
a fan.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Of, correct magnates.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yes, right.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
It all started in fifteen eighty seven with these men. Wow, yeah,
aren't Croup? He moved to Essen, he joined them.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Being rich for centuries, we're good at it.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
He joined the merchants Guild, and then like slowly but truly,
he amassed money and eventually he was able to buy
and sell real estate, and then before long he's like
one of the richest guys in the city. So, like
his children and grandchildren on down the line, they got
into the business of.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Small guns, small guns, a little ones, yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
And those like those used in the Thirty Years War.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So that was really the good time to be selling
guns the what we like to call the European war centries.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yes exactly, they had mills, mines, forges during the Napoleonic Wars.
They did bang up business and they attended.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Being a weapons steeler, m Steeler.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Their patriarch at that time, Patrick Croup, he started smelted
steel production in eighteen sixteen and that was a game changer.
So now the company's like this major industrial player and
then pretty soon they would have what can only be
described as like a steel empire and the family they
went into large scale arms manufacturing for the Kingdom of
(22:25):
Prussia in eighteen fifty nine. Germany, yeah, later the German
Empire World War One. They're the ones who made big Bertha.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Really yeah, that's the something to do with making the Bismarck.
I mean, why not, why not steel?
Speaker 3 (22:39):
I'll say so we're going to fast forward to Alfried.
His godfather was Kaiser Wilhelm the second what Yeah, yeah,
he was like a keen yachtsman.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
In fact he was.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
He won an Olympic bronze as part of Germany's eight
meter crew in the nineteen thirty six Berlin Games.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
A big game.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yeah, and by the time of the family business, the
operation was massive. So in nineteen forty three his name
was Alfried Krup van Bohlen und Halbach. He followed his
father Gustav as chairman of the board of directors of
what was then called fried Krup ag Friedrich. In order
(23:23):
for this to happen, this guy, Adolf Hitler, he issued
something called.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Lex Kroup in politics, right.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Yeah, he was a special decree that converted the company
from a stock corporation into a family enterprise, so that
the business and the Krupp name would pass to a
single heir, Alfried. So he ditched all the other parts
of his name and then he just had Krupp, Krup,
Krupp c k r Upp.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, Crupp. That's how I always I don't.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Know, okay, So I should mention that at this point
Fried Krupp was one of the biggest suppliers of armaments
to Nazi Germany.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yeah, surprise, the arms dealer that was it. It's like,
what do you do?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
I make Nazi weapons under Nazi rule? They profited from
armaments like exploitation and occupied territories, extensive use of forced labor.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Oh yeah, the names.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
And in fact, after the war, the US Military Tribunal
at Nuremberg conducted the separate crub case US versus.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Krupp at all probably had a lot to talk about tons.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
It was the thick notebook, big files. In July of
nineteen forty eight, Alfred was convicted on counts including crimes
against humanity. That's a big one, use of slave labor, plunder.
What are you in for? Plunder?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Charged with it wasn't a pirate, it wasn't a Viking.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
So he gets twelve years, has to forfeit his property.
Nineteen fifty one US High Commissioner John J. McCloy granted
and and see what yeah, And then he was released
from Landsburg Prison. A year later he marries Vera.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
So he still had plenty on once he got out.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Oh yeah. In nineteen fifty three, there was this agreement
where his confiscated assets were returned subject to Allied conditions.
And that meant notably that the separation of the sale
and certain mining and steel holdings.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
So they wanted him to like sell their to sell
the mines off and then he can keep the rest
of her own kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, so give
us the natural resources, We'll let you keep your binary.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Nineteen fifty three, he becomes head of Krepp again.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
It's like.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
It says, if nothing happened, I mentioned that. You know,
obviously he's not permitted in the US because and that
was because of his war crimes conviction, that little thing.
But there's Verra right live in her best life in Vegas.
Nineteen fifty five, the year before she divorced her Nazi husband,
she bought the ranch. She's like, I love the States.
I'm sorry you can't join me, but I don't want.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
To here Southwest. The climate is perfect.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
The light is incredible, I can breathe. And so she
she bought the bar Nothing ranch from Chester luc who
played Lum of the Lum and Abner radio team. And
so the ranch was like at the foot of the
east side of Mount Charleston, which is like twenty miles
from the peak where observers sat to witness atomic tests
(26:22):
at the Nevada test site. Okay, and so it also
looked directly over the Las Vegas Strip, and she renamed
it Spring Mountain Ranch, which is now a district in
Vegas Spring Mountain. So she paid three hundred and thirty
two thousand dollars for the ranch, yeah, which today is
like four million. Oh ok, and it's so it's got
(26:43):
this like swanky ranch house. It has more than eleven
hundred acres of land, plus grazing rights on a quarter
of a million acres owned by the federal government. So
she had like the Clive and Bundy without.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
The without the shoots.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
You. So, a bunch of movies had been filmed at
this place over the years.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
I was wondering.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
It was quite the spot and it was isolated to
be sure, but like, yeah, Ford loved it. I'm sure
of it. Probably. So around this time she'd also been
involved with the development of a place called a New
Frontier Hotel in Vegas. So she and a swimming pool
contractor out of Los Angeles named Louis Mansion m A
(27:25):
N H O N Mansion swimming pool contract So I
had to put it in there. It was like cruise
ship magician swimming pool contractor. They're trying to get a
casino off the ground, and the effort it only lasted
a few months before they had to give it up
and sell it off to another group of stockholders. But
those few months totally they racked up tons of lawsuits
(27:49):
about like broken contracts, money owed, unpaid taxes. Oh yeah,
and like reading between the lines in all of the
contemporaneous reporting, it sounds like me maybe Louis was her boyfriend,
and then he kind of convinced her to go into
this business venture that wasn't a casino. Yeah, you got money,
I love I could design. Yeah, and it's not really
(28:12):
thought out very well. I think someone else reading between
the lines like that was missus Manson. Yeah, hold that
thought so vera. She divorced the Nazi in nineteen fifty six, Yeah,
finalized the next year. She'd originally asked for five million
in the divorce settlement. That's like asking for sixty million today.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
It's more than I've ever asked for. So I don't
even know.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Well, I asked for it every day nothing happens. But
then I guess the Nazi was really like fighting her
on it. So she gave up the quest for five mil.
But she still got a ton, So I don't know.
She got some huge chunk of change. I'm not sure
how much but as soon as she filed for divorce,
Missus Mansion filed suit against Verra, claiming what the papers
were calling, quote love theft, alienation of affection, but all
(29:00):
the papers called it love theft. Yeah, so the missus
she wanted three hundred thousand dollars for her troubles after
she said Vera used her like German siren songs to
lure Louisa. I don't know what became of that suit
because it's just like all over the papers that she
filed it. It was going to go to court. Nothing
after that, probably, and I wish the misses well.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
That didn't make the papers.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
No, But so there's Vera back at the ranch. Meanwhile,
back at the ranch, it is a cool place, huge
ranch house like rustic but still posh.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
You know, I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Let's go there, Zarin, close your eyes. Oh yeah, I
want you to picture it. You are Harold Brotherson and
you are a ranch hand at Spring Mountain Ranch. It's
great work, all of the cowboys stuff without too much
(29:57):
of the grit or discomfort. You want for nothing at
this place. You have all the best equipment, You've got
your own little cottage on the property. You are treated well.
Best gig a guy could ask for. It's April tenth,
nineteen fifty nine. You and the owner of the ranch,
Vera Krupp, are just finishing up dinner. You're looking forward
(30:17):
to retiring to your cottage to read and rest. Vera's
a character and a great boss. As the housekeeper places
the dishes in the sink and then excuses herself to
go lie down, you look over at Vera and take
stock of her. She's a handsome, good looking woman, always
put together, has that funny accent, and always wears that
giant diamond ring of hers, never takes it off. You're
(30:40):
about to get up from the table and head out
to your cottage when you hear tires crunching on the
gravel drive outside. You see headlights brightened the windows in
the living room. Then there's a knock at the back door.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Vera jumps up.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
And walks across the kitchen to the door. She calls
out through the sidelights. Who is it. A man's voice
says he's a road contract. He wants to ask her
about paving the driveway you've just been talking about this
last week. Humph. Vera shrugs and unlocks the door, opening
it up to the cool spring night. The man doesn't
wait on the stoop to chat. He takes a large
(31:13):
step into the house with two men right behind him.
You're standing by the table when they draw their guns
and shove Vera onto the kitchen floor. One heads your
way and grabs you by the arm, throwing you to
the ground as well. You don't fight or argue. The
guy has a gun and all you have is your
full belly. Your shotgun is in your cottage. One of
the henchmen grabs a lamp from the side table nearby
(31:34):
and yanks it from the wall. He then rips the
cord from the lamp. His colleague grabs your arms and
pulls them behind you, handcuffing your wrists. The first man
has a firm grip on Vera's arm. She's trying to
negotiate with him, tells him he doesn't have to do
this in silence. The man looks at Vera's hand and
sees the giant diamond. Sorry, Vera, he says. Then he
(31:55):
rips the ring from her finger, drawing blood along the way.
Vera whimpers. The man shoves the ring in his pocket
while his buddy winds the long lamp cord around you,
both shoving you back to back seated on the floor.
The third guy binds Vera's hands with rope. Each time
you're about to say something, Vera elbows you to keep quiet.
The three robbers now barrel through the house, opening cabinets,
(32:16):
dumping out drawers. You turn your head and look down
the hall and see them walking through the house with purpose,
like they know where everything is. Just as they arrived,
they're suddenly gone. You hear their truck roar to life
and tear down the driveway. Vera is calm in a
measured tone. She tells you that she's going to go
and get you both free. You can feel her wriggling
(32:38):
and working her wrists until the rope is loose and
her hands aliberated. She quickly unties the lamp cord and
jumps to her feet. She runs out the back door,
and then silence. Moments later, you hear her running back.
You turn to see that she's got a hack saw
in her hand. Hold still, she tells you, and then
she begins to quickly saw at the small chain of
your handcuffs. It takes a while, but Vera is determined
(33:02):
and soon you are free. You jump up and race
to the phone. It's battery powered. You can't get a
regular phone this far out of town. You lift the receiver. Nothing,
battery is dead. Let's go, Vera says, grabbing her keys
from a dish on a beautifully varnished piece of antique furniture.
If we can't get the cops to come to us,
vi'a go to the cops and with that, we'll take
(33:24):
a break. When we return the aftermath, we are back.
(33:51):
Look at me. I'm back baby. When we left off,
free dudes busted into Spring Mountain Ranch tied to Vera
and her ranch hand. They took cash, a revolver, a camera,
and the Krupp Diamond right offer for finger.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Good for them.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
It was so tight that apparently she was like, let
me spit on it and it'll be easier to get off,
and they're like, no, no, no, time yanked it off.
It ripped her finger.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Oh wow, I know so.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
About the cash, the FBI website cites the figure at
seven hundred thousand dollars in cash just sitting around. That's
a lot of cash, especially at nineteen fifty nine. But
the newspaper reports immediately following the theft, in like tons
of papers, not all just one, you know, a wire
story all said seven hundred, which is way more reasonable.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yes, definitely.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
What I'm trying to say is that I am terribly
disappointed with the proofreading and or fact checking on the
FBI website. They're falling down on the job. Over there is.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
A recent edition probably.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
So Vera and Howard Brotherson. You they escaped, and he's
so good, he's the best ranch handerness. They drove down
the hill to the Las Vegas Airport and the sheriff
issued in all points bulletin as signed four deputies to
the case. It was like pretty obvious to most that
the men and the loot and the diamond long gone
(35:16):
across state lines. By this point, was.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Wondering what the escape plan would It had.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Been hours since the home invasion, and it's like they figured,
like state lines have been crossed, we better call the FBI.
And so yeah, and Vera's wealth and that ring they
weren't secrets by any stretch of the imagination. Oh yeah,
and people who lived in like Spring Valley area, they'd
seen her wearing it all over the place. She woren't
(35:42):
to the grocery store along with her standard outfit of
blue jeans and a sombrero. Really, this huge diamond, I
mean it's huge. Sure, I'm imagining like basically see thirty
carrot diamond, blue jeans and a sombrero to go to
the market.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
It's a little high low mix in this epic and
I love it. I'm having fun picturing the sombre. I'm
picturing it like a nineteen seventies Mexican restaurant style sombrero. Large.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Yeah, no, that's what I'm saying. Mine's felts, not like woven.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Yeah, mine looks like it could hold chips for like
a good party.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Oh yeah, no, totally, it's that ridiculous, ridiculous. Yeah, I
like mine's like a maroon colored felt with straw. But
I like your yeah, yeah, Well you know what she
can share. Well, she may have had more than one sombrero,
woman had money, or it's just smelly sombrerope had party again,
here comes smelly Verra. Like you know, she's got this
(36:39):
huge ring. But good wash your hair? All right, where
were we epic sombrero? Okay, Anyway, while it seemed like
maybe the robbers like had been in the house before. Okay,
the truth is that a lot of people had and
word had spread, you know well as to like what
was in the house how Verra lived.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
A lot of candidates are an inside job.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
Yeah. So the FBI at this point huge, huge, So
it's just like irrelevant. The FBI is like positive, it's
gone over state lines. And so they started calling all
the field offices in the region and they get an
alert that there was a similar crime out of bel Air, California. Oh,
that makes very similar, Samemo. And the guy on the
run and wanted for that score was John William Hagenson.
(37:23):
And so the FBI they show via a group of photos.
This wasn't just a six pack, as they said telestat,
it was a sixty six pack, sixty six pictures of
possible Oh, it was all tasteful, like all of his
headshots for his career. They're sixty six different dudes. So like,
(37:46):
these are all the possible suspects. So she's flipping through,
flipping through, she picks out two of them and said
that this looks like two of the robbers. One of
the guys that she picked out had been in jail
in LA at the time. So they're like, no, honey,
that wasn't him. Try again, and she's like, maybe is
this your card? She holds it up. It's John William Hagenson, like.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Magic exactly.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
So his wife. Hagenson's wife had been working as a
cocktail waitress in Vegas up until remember this was April tenth,
was the robbery on April thirteenth, She just like quit
and left.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
I got a new opportunity.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Yeah, And so they're like, huh, that's curious, FBI. They
start tracking Hagenson across the country. He went from Vegas
to Ogden to Gallop to Roswell to Fort Worth to Miami,
and then then he doubled back and he zig zagged
all over. He went to Bowser City, Louisiana, Hot Springs, Arkansas,
(38:50):
h Mobile, Birmingham, Perry, Florida, Saint Louis He went to
Chicago twice, Newark, New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Everywhere he went minor league, like golf.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Well he's doing that. I've been everywhere cash stock exactly.
So everywhere he goes, the FBI is like on his tail.
Field offices are working overtime to like keep on track
and try to get one step ahead because they just
find oh, he just left.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
You just missed him.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Yeah. So the Chicago there.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Was the reports of him.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
You know, the FBI, they got a big.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
They got people everywhere. This is like, this is still
Jagger Hoover's Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Yeah. So this agent out of the Chicago office, he
met a guy who said that Hagenson had been trying
to fence some furs taken from that Bell Air robbery.
And then back in Vegas, the dragnet pulled another suspect,
Marion Carter Bowman. Dude. Supposedly he'd been flat broke, but
like then he starts telling his pals there's this big
(39:49):
deal that he's involved in. And then after April tenth,
he's got tons of money.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
And more work and yeah, got a lot of time
to play cards.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
And they got a tip that there were some people
staying at the lan Western Hills Motel in Boser City,
Louisiana who were quote acting strange. I don't know what
that means.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
I wish I did. I've heard it about myself. I
just don't know what it means.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
At the motel local officers. I would imagine at this place,
the Lassan's Western Hills Motel, there's a lot of strange activities.
So what stands out stand out in that? How do
you be molto strange? Okay? So the local officers they
show up, Hagens and his wife are there. They arrest
him there in one room. Mary and Carter Bowman, William
(40:34):
Snead Davy, and then Davy's wife they're in another room.
They get busted. They find in Missus Davies's purse, the
camera VIA's camera. All three guys claimed that they knew
nothing about this crrup Ruby who I'm sorry, they where
never heard of it? Las Vegas? What is this?
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (40:52):
No? So okay, So the FBI they find out that
there's this man named Don s Evans. He just left
the motel like right before the cops got there, and
apparently he was the guy with the mink from the
bell air job and so Bowman maryon Bowman. He was
a self described golf pro.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
I see I caught it with the minor league golf.
It totally sounds like the golf pro.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
But he also had a criminal record and a conviction
that he did four months for theft. So that Don
Evans guy that took off with the mink, he turned
out to actually be James George Reeves. He's a thirty
year old underworld figure with an extensive record of arrests
in the South and the Midwest. So I love that.
(41:39):
So a complaint I was like, how do I describe
this man an underworld? So a complained had been filed
against Hagenson on April twenty first, charging in with quote
interstate flight to avoid prosecution for the LA the bell
Air robbery, the others. They got released because there wasn't
enough evidence.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
I could see that.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
But meanwhile, the FBI is like not giving up. Let's
keep working this case. Let's focus on the East Coast.
An agent in Newark, New Jersey learned that a large
unmounted diamond reportedly stolen in Nevada had shown up in
that city and it was being shown around to prospective
buyers by Julius Berger. And when Burger was picked up,
(42:19):
he said that the ring was being held by James
George Reeves, who was driving a new Ford and staying
with his wife at an Elizabeth, New Jersey motel. Now
the name rang a bell for the agents because in
Boser City, Don Evans had been identified as James Reeves,
and that was they did it through like the car
license listed on the motel's records, so Burger he gets
(42:43):
charged with receiving stolen goods. The agents went to the motel,
they found mister and missus Reeves. The couple both denied everything.
I don't know nothing about nothing, But then they searched
them and the diamond was found in the bottom left
line of Reeve's jacket.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
She's seen his jacket just as.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Jacket in the lining. He's like, if they look in
the pockets, they'll never find it.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
And I mean I get with the like the a
lot of like smugglers, Like you know, Pablo Escobar's mother
made him a coat with the lining where you could
like put in the cocaine. Like it's very common back then,
it's in particular, but with something like that, it could
cut through that fabric. It's like, why would you unless
maybe it's reinforced. I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking it,
but still I would think that they give it to
the wife. I guess you didn't maybe trust her entirely,
(43:28):
who knows.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
May twenty six, Reeves signs a statement where he admits
his part in the robbery and he implicates the other
suspects as well as this guy from Texas named Edward Hay.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
He turns still Rose.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
In another one. Here's the guy you haven't heard of yet,
Eddie Hey.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Meanwhile, for get the fifth one.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
Free Julius Berger. He gave the FBI a seven page
signed statement admitting his involvement.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
He had a lawyer.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
Oh yeah, yeah. Hagenson was sent back to LA to
stand trial for the bell Aer robbery. When everyone else
got released in Bowser City, they just ran for it.
But the FBI is watching. With Reeve's statement, now they
could charge all of them for transporting stolen property. In Hey,
(44:14):
he gets picked up in Texas City May second. Davy
and Bowman, they're located in Mexico and they're taken into
custody by FBI agents when they re enter the US
through Laredo.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
Oh okay.
Speaker 3 (44:26):
Almost immediately things got more complicated. Hagenson was released June
first on a fifty thousand dollars bond, and like, so
twenty five grand of that was the bell Ayer charge
and twenty five was the federal catcha. He left La,
went to Vegas as soon as he's on bail. Yeah,
and then he like eats a bunch of sleeping pills
(44:47):
winds up in the hospital. They're like, dude, come on,
bail bondsman has to leave La. Go pick him up
in Vegas, bring them back to La. Bond is revoked.
They're like, we can't trust you. You get checked into
the hospital. Federal grand jury in Las Vegas indicted Burger, who,
by the way, was like owned a grocery store.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
So wondering about him, I figured he was up front
and of fence, but I thought maybe he was closer
to something other than groceries. He was selling something legit
or something just.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
Like you could have shoved the diamond in like a
cabin at. Yeah. So the federal grand jury in Vegas
indicts Burger, Bowman, Davy, Hagenson, Hay and Reeves for conspiracy
to transport stolen property interstate. Everyone except for Burger gets
charged with interstate transportation of stolen property because he was
out on the East Coast the whole time. On the
(45:38):
first morning of the trial, things are already going badly
for the defense, like.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Burger, and they have very loose ties. I imagine, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
Burger, he's the one who tried to sell the diamond
in Newark. Yeah, he suddenly changes his plead guilty and
flips on everybody.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
So it's kind of like a game theory who cheats first?
Speaker 3 (45:54):
Yeah, yeah, And on the third day, Reeves and Davy
also changed their pleas to guilt, and then they get
their conspiracy charges dropped. So Friday, November thirteen, confirm, so
they have all that statement but they still have yeah,
so they're finally like okay, fine, Hey Hagenson Bowman. They
get found guilty on both conspiracy and transportation. A week later, Reeves, Davy,
(46:20):
and Burger come up for sentencing on their guilty Please.
Reeves gets sentenced to eight years in prison, but that's
only after he had done He gets that once he
has finished his pre existing two ten year sentences for
burglary in Arkansas outstanding. Oh, Davy got five years, and
then Burger got three years probation. Because it's always pays
(46:41):
to be the first to sing.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
Yeah. December like this like the normal straight world of like.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
Exactly, let's see December eleventh, Hey, Hagenson Bowman. They get
sentenced to five years for violation of the conspiracy statute,
ten years on the transportation count, and it's going to
run concurrently, so fifteen Hagenson's term would start after he'd
served his California sentence of five years to life. Five
(47:11):
to life what is that on the burglary charge. Here's
a little wrinkle for you.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
I love wrinkles me too.
Speaker 3 (47:17):
The day before Hey, Hagenson and Bowman were sentence, the
district court clerk, who had recorded the trial transcript in
shorthand died in a car accident.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
The district court clerk okay.
Speaker 3 (47:28):
Yeah, so like you know, the distenographer.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (47:32):
So the court officials they ordered the notes to be
transcribed by another stenographer. But then the lawyers for Hey,
Hagenson and Bowman said, no, this new transcript is not satisfactory.
We want a new trial.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
They can't read her handwrite.
Speaker 3 (47:46):
I don't know. They filed a motion for a new trial.
So it wound up being moot for Hay because he
passed away while free on bond. But Hagenson and Bowman
June twentieth, nineteen sixty three, the motion for an a
new trial was granted and they went on trial for
the second time October first, nineteen sixty three. Hagenson the
(48:08):
alleged idea man, right, he beat the rap. How I
don't know. But then they sent him back to San
Quentin to finish off the California sentence. Bowman, who was
the guy who said he was the paving cottrector he
knocked on the door. Yeah, that fateful night, that was him.
He gets convicted and he draws a five year term,
(48:31):
ten thousand dollars fine for conspiracy and then ten years
for transporting stolen property. Yeah, so what of the diamond?
Speaker 2 (48:39):
Yeah, what happened to that?
Speaker 3 (48:40):
Well, with all three diamonds recovered, So the center stone
was recovered, the side baguettes were recovered. Vera rebuilt the ring,
Harry Winston reset it in platinum this time.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
So she later donated a glass replica of the diamond
to the FBI in recognition of the case. Like you
get some FBI loves this story. They have a big
thing on their website. Oh yeah, they're all jazzed about it.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
We got a rock too.
Speaker 3 (49:09):
It makes them feel electric in their bodies. So Richard Burton,
he eventually bought the diamonds and it was renamed and
widely publicized as Elizabeth Taylor died. Right Taylor, She wore
it all the time on screen, off screen like you
can see it in some movies. She was like Vera, like,
I'm not taking this thing off because it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (49:30):
Do you have soap and so?
Speaker 3 (49:31):
Then what happened to Vera? Although I heard if you
if a ring gets stuck windex.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
Okay, what do you call it? Like floss? You wrap
it around?
Speaker 4 (49:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (49:39):
Yeah, I know that's good.
Speaker 3 (49:43):
Yeah, next time I want to rip a ring off
some ladies and I'll put I'll put the windecks in
like a holster, ready to go, and I'm armed, ready
to go. So Vera kept remodeling the ranch. She added
a secret passage bedroom. It looks like a bookcase. Yeah,
(50:03):
you pull it open and you can run.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
She wanted to be dark.
Speaker 3 (50:06):
Yeah, she wanted escape routes in the house. After that
horrible night. She lived at the ranch until sixty four.
Then she moved to bell Air because of her poor health.
In nineteen sixty seven, she sold the ranch to Howard Hughes,
Sir exactly, friend of the show, six hundred and twenty
five thousand dollars. He never lived there himself.
Speaker 2 (50:27):
He just wanted to have it.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
It was just part of his Vegas real estate portfolio.
He sold it for one point five million to his
business partners, Fletcher Jones and William Murphy in nineteen seventy two.
And Jones and Murphy they wanted to build this like
huge equestrian oriented housing development there for like two thousand people,
and the public was like, no, absolutely not, stop it.
(50:50):
And they hit him with a paper.
Speaker 2 (50:52):
Why were they so against me?
Speaker 3 (50:53):
Because they're like, this is ridiculous. It's so beautiful in
pristine and you want to put a development out there.
Speaker 2 (50:58):
Don't break up the ranch.
Speaker 3 (51:00):
So Jones was like fine, and they the public like
puts so much pressure on the county that they're like,
I don't think we're going to let you rezone it.
Speaker 2 (51:07):
This is our Yellowstone. Jones was like, Whateverton Ranch can't
be broken up.
Speaker 3 (51:11):
So then he's like, fine, we'll just auction it off.
This is too much trouble.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
Guys are a hassle. We're making our profit. We're out
of here.
Speaker 3 (51:16):
The Bureau of Land Management and the Nevada State Parks
they came up with this plan for the place, bought it.
Spring Mountain Ranch became a state park in nineteen seventy three.
You can go there today, look in the house, see
the secret passageway. Oh yeah, and they are all sorts
of cool hiking trails.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
Grab the keys, come on, let's go.
Speaker 3 (51:35):
Oh vera. She passed away in nineteen sixty seven at
the age of just forty eight, from complications from diabetes.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
That seemed said I didn't think I expected her to
die in the eighties at the earliest.
Speaker 3 (51:47):
Yeah, she died pretty young. You know, they didn't have
I'm assuming she had type one diabetes, and they didn't
really have good ways to treat those things.
Speaker 2 (51:54):
Maybe she didn't catch it early enough. She did, like
like cellular damage.
Speaker 3 (51:59):
Really like that. When she moved to Bellair, and she
was like, really went to Cedars SIINAI all the time.
It's pastway.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
Some pizza's there all the time to really wealthy people.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
Was it in nineteen sixty seven, Were you bringing her pizza?
Speaker 2 (52:11):
No, but I did go. I'd have to get to
go to the room cases and you get like a
special dispensation because you're like a delivery person, and they're like, Okay,
I don't want to deal with this. I'm busy, I'm
a nurse, I'm an orderly Like I could go up
to this room and and uh, that's a crazy hospital
because I'm like some many people have private it. Look
you walk in it looks like an apartment, looks like
they have like they've decorated it.
Speaker 3 (52:30):
Did you go in with a pizza and then if
they're asleep, you pulled the ivy out and just sucked
out like a caprice son?
Speaker 2 (52:35):
So'ere like this is why they choose on my face.
Speaker 3 (52:39):
Like I can't move my arms, put it on my face.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
I just want to feel the warmth.
Speaker 3 (52:43):
What's your ridiculous takeaway?
Speaker 2 (52:44):
By the way, oh man, this like I'm really curious
about Richard Burton and his need for all the joy.
That's a side note, But I love that Elizabeth Taylor
is like yes to life and also diamonds. That is
part of my yes to life, Like she lives so
fully on a apologetically about like I like diamonds what
and I don't care who they belong to if they
(53:05):
are part of some violent crime that everyone's like kind
of been horrified by. They make me happy.
Speaker 3 (53:09):
She lived a luxurious life.
Speaker 2 (53:11):
What's your ridiculous take away? A littab bit.
Speaker 3 (53:12):
My ridiculous takeaway is, uh, you know, I'm curious. I
wanted I looked up more about this battery operated phone.
It's weird to me.
Speaker 2 (53:20):
Well, it was basically like an early cell phone, right,
I mean, I guess sounds like you know the ones
that used to have, like in the you see in
the movies. And it doesn't matter once you get a
certain level of technology, it's it's all pretty much the
same as it was. Getting the power size down in
the range and the receiver.
Speaker 3 (53:35):
That must have been horrible you pick it up.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
Oh so it's basically like a walk early walkie talking
in a sense. But you're working on.
Speaker 3 (53:40):
A break breaker. Yeah, you know what we need right
now as to talk back.
Speaker 4 (53:52):
Oh my god, I.
Speaker 5 (53:57):
Love Hi, Elizabeth and Zarin. My name is Tom, and
I just want to say I was so excited to
hear that you guys are doing an episode on All
the I'm like a huge fan of that place and
always tell people to go there because it saves me
so much on groceries. But as I was listening to
your episode, I was preparing dinner and realized that all
(54:20):
the chicken I bought from Aldi is woody and disgusting
and pretty much not usable. So be cautious out there.
Thanks guys, love your show.
Speaker 3 (54:29):
That's a good heads up, happened to you costco. That's
a public service announcement, right, that's good stuff.
Speaker 2 (54:42):
Mind your chickens and that's all we have.
Speaker 3 (54:46):
Yes, you can find us online at ridiculous Crime dot com.
I have an announcement to make. We have received no
awards this week.
Speaker 2 (54:54):
No nominations.
Speaker 3 (54:56):
We are unloved. We're also a ridiculous Crime on both
Blue Sky and Instagram. We're on YouTube at Ridiculous Crime Pod,
and you can email Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com.
Most importantly, leave a talkback on the free iHeart app
reach out. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and
(55:17):
Zaren Burnett, produced and edited by Elizabeth Taylor's secret forty
third husband Dave Cousten, starring Annalys Rutger Is Judith. Research
is by grocery store Diamond Fence Marissa Brown. The theme
song is by Sleep Deprived FBI agents Thomas Lee and
Travis Dutton. Host wardrobe is provided by Botany five hundred.
Guest Haron, makeup by Sparkleshot and mister Andre. Executive producers
(55:41):
are Semi pro ranch Hands Ben Bollen and Noel Brown.
Ridicous Crime say it one More Timequious.
Speaker 1 (55:56):
Crime, Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio or more podcasts.
To my heart radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Ridiculous Crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Zern Elizabeth Larren, Yes, Elizabeth, are you doing hey? Oh
you're over there? Yes, Elizabeth any here? Yes, I'm right here.
How are you doing? Girl?
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hey? Listen, I'm above ground and getting paid.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Nice.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
That's all I care about.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
I'm trying to get like you.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
That's that's my answer. When people ask how you doing
above ground and getting paid?
Speaker 2 (00:19):
There you go. It's all you can ask. It's all
you can ask.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Literally, do you know what's ridiculous?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Oh, I'm so glad you asked me. I have an idea.
I'm just going to give to Hollywood for free.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Yeah. Right, this is totally ridiculous. So you know Santa
Monica High, Yes, SAMO Yeah right, SAMO Hi. So there's
a bunch of people who are all born like in
nineteen sixty four and sixty five, who were all together
at SAMO High.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
And it's basically if you think about when they would
have been in high school, it's the early eighties, like
eighty eighty one, eighty two. So these are all classmates
at sam O. Hi. Ready for this? Yeah, Robert Downey Junior. Okay,
Emelio Westevez, Charlie Sheen right on, Penn Chris Penn, yeah,
Rob Low, Yeah, Michael Bay, the director, Holly Robinson, Pete
(01:07):
and Man, Lenny Kravitz, Am Leonard. Yeah, this is like
a real eighties movie. You just have you can just
tell their story, just imagine it. Boom.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Well, you know, I've watched the Charlie Sheen documentary.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
IP is right there, it's right there.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
I watched the Charlie Sheen documentary and he talks about
like growing up with the pen and like I don't
remember if Rob Low, rob Yeah, but yeah, it's crazy,
like when you think about that whole you know, Santa Monica,
Malibu crowd at all time.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
And also you could do a sequel with Maya Rudolph,
Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black, who were also like they
were born in seventy one to seventy two around that age. Yeah,
so there are a couple of years behind obviously, but
Gwyneth and uh, Maya Rudolph were best friends since the
age of seven, so they were friends in high school
you're kidding, Oh yeah, and then Maya Rudolph had a
crush on Jack Black and so she would like follow
(01:58):
him around. He talked her in to take in the
improv class, then then gets her into Groundlings, and then
launches her career in comedy because she had a crush
on Jack Black. Yeah, I love so there you go.
You got the sequel right there.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
You got the wrong com you did it, you did it.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
And that ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
That's so ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Imagine them, classmates.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I love it. That is ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I thought you didn't. Ridiculous And it's free Hollywood. Take it. Well,
that's a previous ip.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
You want to know what else is ridiculous?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Oh my goodness, you know that. I lived for that.
That's what keeps me above ground and getting paid.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
Wearing diamonds and a sombrero.
Speaker 4 (02:31):
Oh oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
This is ridiculous Crime A podcast about absurd and outrageous capers.
Heis and cons It's always ninety nine percent murder free
and one hundred percent ridiculous. Take that to the bank, Yes, please,
here's my deposital slip. The late actress Elizabeth Taylor.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
Oh, I've heard of her with the purple eyes.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah, she's associated with many things, those violet eyes. Violet sorry,
very specific film roles.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Sounds so much better than purple eyes.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Purple eye, it's a condition, and that's like elevated.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
You need to see a specialists.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Oh honey. Yeah, film roles like Cleopatra and Cleopatrick Jones.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
That was more surprising.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Her tumultuous love life Richard Burton.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, and then also like the Larry the construction guy.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Yeah, Oh my god, that's right. And then her friendship
with Michael Jackson.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Oh yeah, and Marlon Branda. They're like a triangle. We're intense.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
But one of the big associations that people have with
O Liz is jewelry.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Oh, yes, this is true.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
She loved jewelry and she even called her perfume white diamonds.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
That's right. I know that from Christmas time.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
Yeah, those ads on TV where she's all soft focused
and then like has some off the shoulder number.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
On like a quarter like a millimeter of vesseling on
the lens and she's got like night grade lighting and
some white puffy dress.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
I don't think you ever you ever huffed on that
white diamonds, You ever smelled.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
That the perfume? I know, I've known some older ladies. Yes,
you wear you.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Wear that, buddy. I don't think I've ever smelled it.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Oh yeah, No, I worked at a retirement home.
Speaker 3 (04:28):
Like diamonds.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
No, it smells like wealth and luxury.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
That's nice.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Do you know some perfume smell like money. Yeah, it
smells like you know.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Wealthy or Janel Kashmir smells like money.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
When I say she collected jewelry though, I mean Mama
collected jewelry really. Yeah. She didn't just do it for
monetary or aesthetic value, but because of like the emotions
and the relationships and the stories into crystal behind probably
behind each piece. She wrote a book called My Love
Affair with Jewelry.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
It's right in the cover, she.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Described Jules's quote a way of remembering life's great loves, moments,
and experiences jewelry Yeah, which I mean, I suppose is
true if you live the kind of life where like
gems and jewels are involved.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
In the mere giving jeweled gifts. Yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
I remember that it was the perfect cheese boo on
the deck and I was emeralds. Yeah, I mean, like,
you know, it's just so seet these things, the emeralds
wearing emeralds. You know, the moments, moments in her life
in anybody's life, the perfect cheeseburger. Many of her famous
(05:37):
jewels came as gifts, as you were saying, from the
men in her life, especially Richard Burton and then also
Mike Todd and others. For her, like every gem was
this tangible reminder of love. Milestones' reconciliations.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah, I'm so wrong. I love your baby. You can't
leave me, baby, he is eighteen diamonds baby, miss Musk.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
She once said that Burton gave her quote the most
extravagant gifts, but always with the story. Every kiss begins
with k. The stories she has a friend in the
diamond business. Stories mattered just as much as the stones did. Yeah,
someone like gems, not the rolling stones.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, I got that.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
So she she grew up her did.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
You say gemstones, I'm gonna be totally confused. The righteous ones, Yes,
those are the ones.
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Her mom had jewels. She was like, it was the family. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
She had an expectation of like I want you, and
she's like.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Those look really pretty, thank you. And then she also
was so into Hollywood glamour and that's you knows a
lot of jewels there. So by the nineteen fifties she
was already like everyone knew, Elizabeth Taylor is all about diamonds.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
And Harry Winston. Number of yes.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
She called jewelry her quote drug of choice and yeah,
and this was like excitement for her but also comfort,
you know, when she had these like difficult marriages and
her careers going up and down. She loved jewels with
like long provenance. So she had one La Peregrina pearl
(07:11):
that had been owned by Spanish queens marry the first
of England. She had the taj Mahal diamond pendant, you know.
So all of these things were just like she loved
to like have the history.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Do you like more than diamonds. She like rubies and
sapphires too, She liked diamonds.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
She liked diamonds were like at the top of the pyramid.
She didn't keep them locked away. She wore her jewels
constantly for they felt like connected to her with the
history part of this larger story. She really believed that
jewelry was to be worn and enjoyed, like don't don't
hide it away.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Put your diamonds under a bushel exactly.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
She was wearing like huge diamonds to lunches, film sets,
just around the house.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Okay, so she would have really gone well with like
NFL wide receivers. Yes, they would be like, you know,
like when you sitting there and you get like a
hair cut in it because you turn to I hate that.
Speaker 3 (08:03):
And they would all talk about how there's no better
way to compliment your busy on the go lifestyles and
shine and what if she had I wish she had
lived long enough to have a grill, a diamond grill.
Speaker 2 (08:13):
How do you know she didn't.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
It's true. There's a lot we don't know about her.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Michael Jackson, who was a crip, might have given her one.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
It's true. Michael Jackson was a crip.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
I look that up.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Yeah, I saw that today. He's straight crippin anyway, So
she's like, you know, you gotta wear this stuff. You
gotta live your life, totally live your life. So towards
the end of her life that she had lived, she
wanted to use that collection to make like a charitable
legacy for herself. Interesting, so in twenty eleven Christie's As
(08:45):
she held an auction through Christie's for the benefit of
the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation. And that was like so
that the lifetime like she would live on anyse things, so.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Bequeathed some of her like both her energy and her wealth.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Yes, yes, what were some of these jewels. We'll start
with La Peregrina wandering Royal pearl. So this was this.
It was a famous sixteenth century drop shaped natural pearl
that she had Cardier set in like this ruby diamond
and pearl necklace in nineteen seventy two. Thing. Yeah, And
(09:21):
so the pearl was found in the fifteen hundreds and
like like I said, the courts of Spain and England,
it was passed to the Dukes of Abercorn in the
nineteenth century, and then it went into the possession of
Richard Burton Liz Taylor loved. Yeah, he bought it in
nineteen sixty nine for around thirty seven thousand dollars and
(09:42):
he gave it to Taylor. That's like spending three hundred
and twenty five thousand dollars on it today.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Wow, just outside of my price range.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
Yeah, I know, you're just so close. Let's save up
a little more. Check your couch cushions, good calls, you.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Know, might push yours in there.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
I can swim, yeah, my NFTs. So she famously wore
this thing all the time and one time she's like
swamming around the house with them on and she thought
she lost it. There was a dog involved. But after
that so she had Cardier.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
She had to wait like a couple of days until pasted.
Oh thank god.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
They fixed it so that it wouldn't slip off, like
they reinforced the class that was sold in twenty eleven
at the AIDS Foundation charity sale for eleven point eight
million dollars. That's a world record price for a pearl
at the time. I bet eleven point eight million dollars.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Crazy.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
So the next up we have the tea that, oh
sure it must We got the Taylor Burton diamond. That's
this like big pear shaped mama that cut by Harry
Winston and it was it was sixty eight carrots cut
down from a two hundred and forty one rough that
(10:54):
came out of South Africa, came out of the ground
thirteen sixty six. Yeah, that's true, that one. He Okay.
So Cardier won the sixty nineteen sixty nine auction for
the diamond just over a million, and they were like,
this will be known as the Cardier Diamond and so
then the next day Richard Burton comes in and buys
(11:16):
it from him, gives it to Elizabeth Taylor. She wore
it the nineteen seventy oscars on a special diamond necklace
to cover her trichyotomy scar. Oh interesting, and they were like,
this was now the Liz Taylor diamond in nineteen seventy nine. Yeah,
she sold it to help fund a hospital in Botswana.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Nine years wow.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Yeah, but she sold it for five mil in nineteen yeah,
and then it later got sold to this other dude.
So coming up batting third, we have the Bulgary Emerald suite.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Wow. Sweet.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah. So that's like a brooch, slash, pendant, necklace, earrings, bracelet, ring.
It was all like put together in the nineteen sixties
from Burton, and that brooch doubled as her engagement jewel. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
Was he like just constantly messing up or did he
also rocks?
Speaker 3 (12:11):
I think why not? Why not?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Both?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
I think he was like that's the ticket out of
the doghouse, over and over. That one sold at the
charity sale for six point five million. That you know,
the whole suite of it.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
The full sweet gift. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
No, actually no, the pendant brooch did just the necklace
six point one mill the ring three point three mill
bracelet four million dollars, the earrings three point two millions.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
This is crazy.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
There's that taj Mahal heart shape pendant that was what
it sounds like a herd shaped table cut diamond that
Cardier put on a gold and ruby chain that was
from the.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Mughal court, oh like the India.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
Yeah, and that was Burton's fortieth birthday gift to Taylor
in nineteen seventy two forty It went into twenty eleven
eight point eight million.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
She's traveling with this stuff, oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
And wearing it all over the place, wearing it around
the house. But then there was like a there was
an issue with the sale because there was some dispute
over the provenance of that and either way, not everything
Richard Burton was up in that jewelry box. Mike Todd
gave her a diamond tiara, a tiara it was from
(13:26):
eighteen eighties. Yeah, she wore to the nineteen fifty seven Oscars.
She wore to movie premieres maybe like the supermarket, I
don't know they were when that came on shopping twenty
eleven sale, they were like, this is going to get
like sixty to eighty thousand dollars. It went for four
point two million dollars.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Slightly off.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
It's a little bit so. I mean that is when
it's like that had everything to do with the fact
that it was hers and not the actual like jewel value.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Yeah, that's crazy though, that she had that much like curb.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Appeal to see I see that every day is erin
do you when I see secretly sell your stuff on
Facebook Marketplace? I get a good one to two percent
increase in profit if I tell them it once belonged
to Ziggie Marley. You Okay, here's a fun one. The
Cardier Ruby sweet Ruby and diamond Cardier necklace. That's from
(14:18):
Mike Todd. He gave it to her while she was
swimming laps at their villa in the south of France.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
How do you think do you think just like draped
it into the pool water like you're standing up.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
I mean, I love when that happens to me.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Of course, when I'm doing laps.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
In my villain to France and some dude comes up
is all here, yeah yeah, so she's he's like, I'll
go you zoom, and so She's like, well, I don't
want to try it on, but there's no mirror at
the pool because you don't put glass by the pools.
Erin thought about it, so she checked her reflection in
the pool. She's like, this is beautiful, and then she
actually squealed with joy this is and then she pulled
(14:54):
him into the waters.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
Real, yeah, fully dressed. That's when you know it's for real.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
That's when you know it's for real. So, I mean,
she's got like all these like big dog ones, she's
got sapphires, she's got you know, some step more van
Cleef and arpels.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Oh wow. Yeah, I know they're.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
Using terms like pave and bag edd and pendants. Yeah,
I know. I don't know any of the stuff. Is
the ping pong diamonds ping pong? She and Richard Burton
were playing table tennis and gustad and he was like,
if you win, i'll give you a diamond, which is
like and then she won and he pulled out this
(15:36):
like what is called a tiny ring, but that I
couldn't find the weight of it, but I saw a
picture and it looks like an everyday modest engagement ring,
like not like, oh, a diamond chip, like maybe a
character to They're like so small you can barely see it,
so funny. These are the ping pong diamonds. So anyway,
all that aside, I haven't told you about the most
(15:57):
major of her gems. That one would be the Krupp
Diamond Crup Diamond thirty three point one nine carrots, which,
while enormous, yeah that's sizable, is still far smaller than
some of the big dogs in her collection.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yeah, it's not their biggest diruct.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
But this one's perfect, like it could be potentially internally
flawless by the scans and the facets.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
You see all the facets.
Speaker 3 (16:20):
Right, all all the ratchet, real clear. It's like nitrogen
freeze pure exceptionally colorless. There it is, jewel heads. It's
a d color vs one cut, cornered rectangular step cut diamond,
often called an astra cut.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Thank you for putting that in terms I understand.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Set in a ring flank by tapered bagatts. I love
bagettes in the morning kind with the light so good.
It's not A lot is known about the diamond's history
before the early twentieth century. There's thought that it was
unearthed from either South Africa's you know yaeger Font and
mine or one of the ones in India, like the
(17:00):
famous one there. But because of the way it's cut,
if they think that it was like cut in the
nineteen twenties, it's very art deco. I looked at it.
It's a jaw dropper. Serious ice Now, the first famous
owner was Vera Krupp, Martha Vera Hassenfeld, later Countess Mellenkroct.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Like the German industrialist.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Uh huh. She is at the center of what I
want to tell you about today. Okay, the Liz Taylor
stuff was just me pouring the foundation of the driveway.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Get us to the Croup.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
Welcome you to the house that I'm building, the House
of Croup, the House of Crop. Little reference, little context,
a little bit of fun information.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
I learned so much.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
I know, did taking a look at how the other
half lives?
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Are They doing well?
Speaker 3 (17:42):
In excess, that's how they live. But it's Vera Krupp
who holds the keys here. I want to pause for
some ads, slip into some jewels, and when we come.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
Back, krup zaren Elizabeth.
Speaker 3 (18:13):
I regaled you with tales of Elizabeth Taylor's jewelry collection.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
You brought the temperature of the room down a couple
degrees with all that.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
Cool, all that ice. Yeah, it's just And I mentioned
the Crep diamond. Do you remember when I said that
towards the end? It was originally owned by Vera Krup
via Crup. And I know what you're thinking, because I
can read your mind. Who intarnation is via Crup.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
I'm glad I read you write.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Down to the Tarnation.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
No, thank you, let's do this. What if I suddenly
performed a rap about her? It's just a thought I
had of you. I know, it just like came into
my head, Like what if there was a pause and
I just started rapping, Like what if I were someone
who just breaks into wraps every now and then, like
(19:00):
a less annoying linn men Brandon. What if that was me? Anyway?
Vera so Vera She was born Martha Vera villem Heim.
I don't know whatever sounds good, felt Hawson felt incorporated.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Oh yeah, we're going to do.
Speaker 3 (19:18):
In mine Germany. Mine, it's mine.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Oh, just mine yours.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
She later worked in German film under the stage name
Vera von Langen. She became a naturalized US citizen in
nineteen forty seven. Good time, good time, right whatever, honey,
it gets better. So before her marriage to the steel
magnet Alfried Kroup, she had married and divorced like three times,
(19:46):
and so she had all these surnames von Langen, Wisbarnur
that appear in all her records. She's kind of like
a j she's like a minnie Liz Taylor.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
About that too, Thank you, good point.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
I mean I put it out there.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
Yeah, yeah, I know why I could have knocked it.
I turned my back missed it entirely.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
But you know what, anytime we can measure mentioned the
old jag.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Yeah, I love her.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
Nineteen fifty five, okay, vera, she bought this ranch near
Las Vegas.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Oh, good time to do that.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
She ran cattle, I'm serious, white faced Hereford's and Brahmas.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
He's a gentlewoman ranch.
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Yes. She expanded and remodeled the main like Sandstone residents,
added a guesthouse, some sheds, you gotta do that, a
kennel for her great danes, oh goodness, and like you know,
it was just all fitted out.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
So it's starting to come together.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
It's making sense now, Alfred. He was not permitted to
enter the United States. So the marriage largely unfolded apart,
and they divorced in nineteen fifty seven.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
I'm sure.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
Vera lived at the ranch until like nineteen sixty four.
But here, let's back up a second. Wait, why couldn't
Alfred Croup enter the country.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
German steel magnet in nineteen four?
Speaker 3 (20:57):
Let me tell you about, oh Alfreed. He was born
in Essen in nineteen oh seven, and as you can
guess from his last name, he was a member of
the Krup family.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Oh tell me more, big rich family.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Yeah, it's a four hundred year old German dynasty. They
are involved in steel.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, and weapon the type of magnet that I'm not
a fan.
Speaker 3 (21:15):
Of, correct magnates.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yes, right.
Speaker 3 (21:18):
It all started in fifteen eighty seven with these men. Wow, yeah,
aren't Croup? He moved to Essen, he joined them.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Being rich for centuries, we're good at it.
Speaker 3 (21:27):
He joined the merchants Guild, and then like slowly but truly,
he amassed money and eventually he was able to buy
and sell real estate, and then before long he's like
one of the richest guys in the city. So, like
his children and grandchildren on down the line, they got
into the business of.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
Small guns, small guns, a little ones, yeah.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
And those like those used in the Thirty Years War.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
So that was really the good time to be selling
guns the what we like to call the European war centries.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Yes exactly, they had mills, mines, forges during the Napoleonic Wars.
They did bang up business and they attended.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Being a weapons steeler, m Steeler.
Speaker 3 (22:03):
Their patriarch at that time, Patrick Croup, he started smelted
steel production in eighteen sixteen and that was a game changer.
So now the company's like this major industrial player and
then pretty soon they would have what can only be
described as like a steel empire and the family they
went into large scale arms manufacturing for the Kingdom of
(22:25):
Prussia in eighteen fifty nine. Germany, yeah, later the German
Empire World War One. They're the ones who made big Bertha.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Really yeah, that's the something to do with making the Bismarck.
I mean, why not, why not steel?
Speaker 3 (22:39):
I'll say so we're going to fast forward to Alfried.
His godfather was Kaiser Wilhelm the second what Yeah, yeah,
he was like a keen yachtsman.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
In fact he was.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
He won an Olympic bronze as part of Germany's eight
meter crew in the nineteen thirty six Berlin Games.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
A big game.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Yeah, and by the time of the family business, the
operation was massive. So in nineteen forty three his name
was Alfried Krup van Bohlen und Halbach. He followed his
father Gustav as chairman of the board of directors of
what was then called fried Krup ag Friedrich. In order
(23:23):
for this to happen, this guy, Adolf Hitler, he issued
something called.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Lex Kroup in politics, right.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Yeah, he was a special decree that converted the company
from a stock corporation into a family enterprise, so that
the business and the Krupp name would pass to a
single heir, Alfried. So he ditched all the other parts
of his name and then he just had Krupp, Krup,
Krupp c k r Upp.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Yeah, Crupp. That's how I always I don't.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Know, okay, So I should mention that at this point
Fried Krupp was one of the biggest suppliers of armaments
to Nazi Germany.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
Yeah, surprise, the arms dealer that was it. It's like,
what do you do?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
I make Nazi weapons under Nazi rule? They profited from
armaments like exploitation and occupied territories, extensive use of forced labor.
Speaker 2 (24:16):
Oh yeah, the names.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
And in fact, after the war, the US Military Tribunal
at Nuremberg conducted the separate crub case US versus.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Krupp at all probably had a lot to talk about tons.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
It was the thick notebook, big files. In July of
nineteen forty eight, Alfred was convicted on counts including crimes
against humanity. That's a big one, use of slave labor, plunder.
What are you in for? Plunder?
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Charged with it wasn't a pirate, it wasn't a Viking.
Speaker 3 (24:51):
So he gets twelve years, has to forfeit his property.
Nineteen fifty one US High Commissioner John J. McCloy granted
and and see what yeah, And then he was released
from Landsburg Prison. A year later he marries Vera.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
So he still had plenty on once he got out.
Speaker 3 (25:08):
Oh yeah. In nineteen fifty three, there was this agreement
where his confiscated assets were returned subject to Allied conditions.
And that meant notably that the separation of the sale
and certain mining and steel holdings.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
So they wanted him to like sell their to sell
the mines off and then he can keep the rest
of her own kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, so give
us the natural resources, We'll let you keep your binary.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
Nineteen fifty three, he becomes head of Krepp again.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
It's like.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
It says, if nothing happened, I mentioned that. You know,
obviously he's not permitted in the US because and that
was because of his war crimes conviction, that little thing.
But there's Verra right live in her best life in Vegas.
Nineteen fifty five, the year before she divorced her Nazi husband,
she bought the ranch. She's like, I love the States.
I'm sorry you can't join me, but I don't want.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
To here Southwest. The climate is perfect.
Speaker 3 (26:02):
The light is incredible, I can breathe. And so she
she bought the bar Nothing ranch from Chester luc who
played Lum of the Lum and Abner radio team. And
so the ranch was like at the foot of the
east side of Mount Charleston, which is like twenty miles
from the peak where observers sat to witness atomic tests
(26:22):
at the Nevada test site. Okay, and so it also
looked directly over the Las Vegas Strip, and she renamed
it Spring Mountain Ranch, which is now a district in
Vegas Spring Mountain. So she paid three hundred and thirty
two thousand dollars for the ranch, yeah, which today is
like four million. Oh ok, and it's so it's got
(26:43):
this like swanky ranch house. It has more than eleven
hundred acres of land, plus grazing rights on a quarter
of a million acres owned by the federal government. So
she had like the Clive and Bundy without.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
The without the shoots.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
You. So, a bunch of movies had been filmed at
this place over the years.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
I was wondering.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
It was quite the spot and it was isolated to
be sure, but like, yeah, Ford loved it. I'm sure
of it. Probably. So around this time she'd also been
involved with the development of a place called a New
Frontier Hotel in Vegas. So she and a swimming pool
contractor out of Los Angeles named Louis Mansion m A
(27:25):
N H O N Mansion swimming pool contract So I
had to put it in there. It was like cruise
ship magician swimming pool contractor. They're trying to get a
casino off the ground, and the effort it only lasted
a few months before they had to give it up
and sell it off to another group of stockholders. But
those few months totally they racked up tons of lawsuits
(27:49):
about like broken contracts, money owed, unpaid taxes. Oh yeah,
and like reading between the lines in all of the
contemporaneous reporting, it sounds like me maybe Louis was her boyfriend,
and then he kind of convinced her to go into
this business venture that wasn't a casino. Yeah, you got money,
I love I could design. Yeah, and it's not really
(28:12):
thought out very well. I think someone else reading between
the lines like that was missus Manson. Yeah, hold that
thought so vera. She divorced the Nazi in nineteen fifty six, Yeah,
finalized the next year. She'd originally asked for five million
in the divorce settlement. That's like asking for sixty million today.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
It's more than I've ever asked for. So I don't
even know.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Well, I asked for it every day nothing happens. But
then I guess the Nazi was really like fighting her
on it. So she gave up the quest for five mil.
But she still got a ton, So I don't know.
She got some huge chunk of change. I'm not sure
how much but as soon as she filed for divorce,
Missus Mansion filed suit against Verra, claiming what the papers
were calling, quote love theft, alienation of affection, but all
(29:00):
the papers called it love theft. Yeah, so the missus
she wanted three hundred thousand dollars for her troubles after
she said Vera used her like German siren songs to
lure Louisa. I don't know what became of that suit
because it's just like all over the papers that she
filed it. It was going to go to court. Nothing
after that, probably, and I wish the misses well.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
That didn't make the papers.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
No, But so there's Vera back at the ranch. Meanwhile,
back at the ranch, it is a cool place, huge
ranch house like rustic but still posh.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
You know, I'll take it.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Let's go there, Zarin, close your eyes. Oh yeah, I
want you to picture it. You are Harold Brotherson and
you are a ranch hand at Spring Mountain Ranch. It's
great work, all of the cowboys stuff without too much
(29:57):
of the grit or discomfort. You want for nothing at
this place. You have all the best equipment, You've got
your own little cottage on the property. You are treated well.
Best gig a guy could ask for. It's April tenth,
nineteen fifty nine. You and the owner of the ranch,
Vera Krupp, are just finishing up dinner. You're looking forward
(30:17):
to retiring to your cottage to read and rest. Vera's
a character and a great boss. As the housekeeper places
the dishes in the sink and then excuses herself to
go lie down, you look over at Vera and take
stock of her. She's a handsome, good looking woman, always
put together, has that funny accent, and always wears that
giant diamond ring of hers, never takes it off. You're
(30:40):
about to get up from the table and head out
to your cottage when you hear tires crunching on the
gravel drive outside. You see headlights brightened the windows in
the living room. Then there's a knock at the back door.
Speaker 2 (30:51):
Vera jumps up.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
And walks across the kitchen to the door. She calls
out through the sidelights. Who is it. A man's voice
says he's a road contract. He wants to ask her
about paving the driveway you've just been talking about this
last week. Humph. Vera shrugs and unlocks the door, opening
it up to the cool spring night. The man doesn't
wait on the stoop to chat. He takes a large
(31:13):
step into the house with two men right behind him.
You're standing by the table when they draw their guns
and shove Vera onto the kitchen floor. One heads your
way and grabs you by the arm, throwing you to
the ground as well. You don't fight or argue. The
guy has a gun and all you have is your
full belly. Your shotgun is in your cottage. One of
the henchmen grabs a lamp from the side table nearby
(31:34):
and yanks it from the wall. He then rips the
cord from the lamp. His colleague grabs your arms and
pulls them behind you, handcuffing your wrists. The first man
has a firm grip on Vera's arm. She's trying to
negotiate with him, tells him he doesn't have to do
this in silence. The man looks at Vera's hand and
sees the giant diamond. Sorry, Vera, he says. Then he
(31:55):
rips the ring from her finger, drawing blood along the way.
Vera whimpers. The man shoves the ring in his pocket
while his buddy winds the long lamp cord around you,
both shoving you back to back seated on the floor.
The third guy binds Vera's hands with rope. Each time
you're about to say something, Vera elbows you to keep quiet.
The three robbers now barrel through the house, opening cabinets,
(32:16):
dumping out drawers. You turn your head and look down
the hall and see them walking through the house with purpose,
like they know where everything is. Just as they arrived,
they're suddenly gone. You hear their truck roar to life
and tear down the driveway. Vera is calm in a
measured tone. She tells you that she's going to go
and get you both free. You can feel her wriggling
(32:38):
and working her wrists until the rope is loose and
her hands aliberated. She quickly unties the lamp cord and
jumps to her feet. She runs out the back door,
and then silence. Moments later, you hear her running back.
You turn to see that she's got a hack saw
in her hand. Hold still, she tells you, and then
she begins to quickly saw at the small chain of
your handcuffs. It takes a while, but Vera is determined
(33:02):
and soon you are free. You jump up and race
to the phone. It's battery powered. You can't get a
regular phone this far out of town. You lift the receiver. Nothing,
battery is dead. Let's go, Vera says, grabbing her keys
from a dish on a beautifully varnished piece of antique furniture.
If we can't get the cops to come to us,
vi'a go to the cops and with that, we'll take
(33:24):
a break. When we return the aftermath, we are back.
(33:51):
Look at me. I'm back baby. When we left off,
free dudes busted into Spring Mountain Ranch tied to Vera
and her ranch hand. They took cash, a revolver, a camera,
and the Krupp Diamond right offer for finger.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Good for them.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
It was so tight that apparently she was like, let
me spit on it and it'll be easier to get off,
and they're like, no, no, no, time yanked it off.
It ripped her finger.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Oh wow, I know so.
Speaker 3 (34:20):
About the cash, the FBI website cites the figure at
seven hundred thousand dollars in cash just sitting around. That's
a lot of cash, especially at nineteen fifty nine. But
the newspaper reports immediately following the theft, in like tons
of papers, not all just one, you know, a wire
story all said seven hundred, which is way more reasonable.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Yes, definitely.
Speaker 3 (34:42):
What I'm trying to say is that I am terribly
disappointed with the proofreading and or fact checking on the
FBI website. They're falling down on the job. Over there is.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
A recent edition probably.
Speaker 3 (34:54):
So Vera and Howard Brotherson. You they escaped, and he's
so good, he's the best ranch handerness. They drove down
the hill to the Las Vegas Airport and the sheriff
issued in all points bulletin as signed four deputies to
the case. It was like pretty obvious to most that
the men and the loot and the diamond long gone
(35:16):
across state lines. By this point, was.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Wondering what the escape plan would It had.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
Been hours since the home invasion, and it's like they figured,
like state lines have been crossed, we better call the FBI.
And so yeah, and Vera's wealth and that ring they
weren't secrets by any stretch of the imagination. Oh yeah,
and people who lived in like Spring Valley area, they'd
seen her wearing it all over the place. She woren't
(35:42):
to the grocery store along with her standard outfit of
blue jeans and a sombrero. Really, this huge diamond, I
mean it's huge. Sure, I'm imagining like basically see thirty
carrot diamond, blue jeans and a sombrero to go to
the market.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
It's a little high low mix in this epic and
I love it. I'm having fun picturing the sombre. I'm
picturing it like a nineteen seventies Mexican restaurant style sombrero. Large.
Speaker 3 (36:10):
Yeah, no, that's what I'm saying. Mine's felts, not like woven.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Yeah, mine looks like it could hold chips for like
a good party.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
Oh yeah, no, totally, it's that ridiculous, ridiculous. Yeah, I
like mine's like a maroon colored felt with straw. But
I like your yeah, yeah, Well you know what she
can share. Well, she may have had more than one sombrero,
woman had money, or it's just smelly sombrerope had party again,
here comes smelly Verra. Like you know, she's got this
(36:39):
huge ring. But good wash your hair? All right, where
were we epic sombrero? Okay, Anyway, while it seemed like
maybe the robbers like had been in the house before. Okay,
the truth is that a lot of people had and
word had spread, you know well as to like what
was in the house how Verra lived.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
A lot of candidates are an inside job.
Speaker 3 (36:59):
Yeah. So the FBI at this point huge, huge, So
it's just like irrelevant. The FBI is like positive, it's
gone over state lines. And so they started calling all
the field offices in the region and they get an
alert that there was a similar crime out of bel Air, California. Oh,
that makes very similar, Samemo. And the guy on the
run and wanted for that score was John William Hagenson.
(37:23):
And so the FBI they show via a group of photos.
This wasn't just a six pack, as they said telestat,
it was a sixty six pack, sixty six pictures of
possible Oh, it was all tasteful, like all of his
headshots for his career. They're sixty six different dudes. So like,
(37:46):
these are all the possible suspects. So she's flipping through,
flipping through, she picks out two of them and said
that this looks like two of the robbers. One of
the guys that she picked out had been in jail
in LA at the time. So they're like, no, honey,
that wasn't him. Try again, and she's like, maybe is
this your card? She holds it up. It's John William Hagenson, like.
Speaker 2 (38:10):
Magic exactly.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
So his wife. Hagenson's wife had been working as a
cocktail waitress in Vegas up until remember this was April tenth,
was the robbery on April thirteenth, She just like quit
and left.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
I got a new opportunity.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Yeah, And so they're like, huh, that's curious, FBI. They
start tracking Hagenson across the country. He went from Vegas
to Ogden to Gallop to Roswell to Fort Worth to Miami,
and then then he doubled back and he zig zagged
all over. He went to Bowser City, Louisiana, Hot Springs, Arkansas,
(38:50):
h Mobile, Birmingham, Perry, Florida, Saint Louis He went to
Chicago twice, Newark, New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Everywhere he went minor league, like golf.
Speaker 3 (39:01):
Well he's doing that. I've been everywhere cash stock exactly.
So everywhere he goes, the FBI is like on his tail.
Field offices are working overtime to like keep on track
and try to get one step ahead because they just
find oh, he just left.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
You just missed him.
Speaker 3 (39:17):
Yeah. So the Chicago there.
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Was the reports of him.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
You know, the FBI, they got a big.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
They got people everywhere. This is like, this is still
Jagger Hoover's Yeah.
Speaker 3 (39:27):
Yeah. So this agent out of the Chicago office, he
met a guy who said that Hagenson had been trying
to fence some furs taken from that Bell Air robbery.
And then back in Vegas, the dragnet pulled another suspect,
Marion Carter Bowman. Dude. Supposedly he'd been flat broke, but
like then he starts telling his pals there's this big
(39:49):
deal that he's involved in. And then after April tenth,
he's got tons of money.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
And more work and yeah, got a lot of time
to play cards.
Speaker 3 (39:56):
And they got a tip that there were some people
staying at the lan Western Hills Motel in Boser City,
Louisiana who were quote acting strange. I don't know what
that means.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
I wish I did. I've heard it about myself. I
just don't know what it means.
Speaker 3 (40:12):
At the motel local officers. I would imagine at this place,
the Lassan's Western Hills Motel, there's a lot of strange activities.
So what stands out stand out in that? How do
you be molto strange? Okay? So the local officers they
show up, Hagens and his wife are there. They arrest
him there in one room. Mary and Carter Bowman, William
(40:34):
Snead Davy, and then Davy's wife they're in another room.
They get busted. They find in Missus Davies's purse, the
camera VIA's camera. All three guys claimed that they knew
nothing about this crrup Ruby who I'm sorry, they where
never heard of it? Las Vegas? What is this?
Speaker 2 (40:52):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (40:52):
No? So okay, So the FBI they find out that
there's this man named Don s Evans. He just left
the motel like right before the cops got there, and
apparently he was the guy with the mink from the
bell air job and so Bowman maryon Bowman. He was
a self described golf pro.
Speaker 2 (41:12):
I see I caught it with the minor league golf.
It totally sounds like the golf pro.
Speaker 3 (41:17):
But he also had a criminal record and a conviction
that he did four months for theft. So that Don
Evans guy that took off with the mink, he turned
out to actually be James George Reeves. He's a thirty
year old underworld figure with an extensive record of arrests
in the South and the Midwest. So I love that.
(41:39):
So a complaint I was like, how do I describe
this man an underworld? So a complained had been filed
against Hagenson on April twenty first, charging in with quote
interstate flight to avoid prosecution for the LA the bell
Air robbery, the others. They got released because there wasn't
enough evidence.
Speaker 2 (41:57):
I could see that.
Speaker 3 (41:58):
But meanwhile, the FBI is like not giving up. Let's
keep working this case. Let's focus on the East Coast.
An agent in Newark, New Jersey learned that a large
unmounted diamond reportedly stolen in Nevada had shown up in
that city and it was being shown around to prospective
buyers by Julius Berger. And when Burger was picked up,
(42:19):
he said that the ring was being held by James
George Reeves, who was driving a new Ford and staying
with his wife at an Elizabeth, New Jersey motel. Now
the name rang a bell for the agents because in
Boser City, Don Evans had been identified as James Reeves,
and that was they did it through like the car
license listed on the motel's records, so Burger he gets
(42:43):
charged with receiving stolen goods. The agents went to the motel,
they found mister and missus Reeves. The couple both denied everything.
I don't know nothing about nothing, But then they searched
them and the diamond was found in the bottom left
line of Reeve's jacket.
Speaker 2 (43:02):
She's seen his jacket just as.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
Jacket in the lining. He's like, if they look in
the pockets, they'll never find it.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
And I mean I get with the like the a
lot of like smugglers, Like you know, Pablo Escobar's mother
made him a coat with the lining where you could
like put in the cocaine. Like it's very common back then,
it's in particular, but with something like that, it could
cut through that fabric. It's like, why would you unless
maybe it's reinforced. I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking it,
but still I would think that they give it to
the wife. I guess you didn't maybe trust her entirely,
(43:28):
who knows.
Speaker 3 (43:29):
May twenty six, Reeves signs a statement where he admits
his part in the robbery and he implicates the other
suspects as well as this guy from Texas named Edward Hay.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
He turns still Rose.
Speaker 3 (43:41):
In another one. Here's the guy you haven't heard of yet,
Eddie Hey.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
Meanwhile, for get the fifth one.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
Free Julius Berger. He gave the FBI a seven page
signed statement admitting his involvement.
Speaker 2 (43:53):
He had a lawyer.
Speaker 3 (43:54):
Oh yeah, yeah. Hagenson was sent back to LA to
stand trial for the bell Aer robbery. When everyone else
got released in Bowser City, they just ran for it.
But the FBI is watching. With Reeve's statement, now they
could charge all of them for transporting stolen property. In Hey,
(44:14):
he gets picked up in Texas City May second. Davy
and Bowman, they're located in Mexico and they're taken into
custody by FBI agents when they re enter the US
through Laredo.
Speaker 2 (44:25):
Oh okay.
Speaker 3 (44:26):
Almost immediately things got more complicated. Hagenson was released June
first on a fifty thousand dollars bond, and like, so
twenty five grand of that was the bell Ayer charge
and twenty five was the federal catcha. He left La,
went to Vegas as soon as he's on bail. Yeah,
and then he like eats a bunch of sleeping pills
(44:47):
winds up in the hospital. They're like, dude, come on,
bail bondsman has to leave La. Go pick him up
in Vegas, bring them back to La. Bond is revoked.
They're like, we can't trust you. You get checked into
the hospital. Federal grand jury in Las Vegas indicted Burger, who,
by the way, was like owned a grocery store.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
So wondering about him, I figured he was up front
and of fence, but I thought maybe he was closer
to something other than groceries. He was selling something legit
or something just.
Speaker 3 (45:17):
Like you could have shoved the diamond in like a
cabin at. Yeah. So the federal grand jury in Vegas
indicts Burger, Bowman, Davy, Hagenson, Hay and Reeves for conspiracy
to transport stolen property interstate. Everyone except for Burger gets
charged with interstate transportation of stolen property because he was
out on the East Coast the whole time. On the
(45:38):
first morning of the trial, things are already going badly
for the defense, like.
Speaker 2 (45:43):
Burger, and they have very loose ties. I imagine, Yeah.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
Burger, he's the one who tried to sell the diamond
in Newark. Yeah, he suddenly changes his plead guilty and
flips on everybody.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
So it's kind of like a game theory who cheats first?
Speaker 3 (45:54):
Yeah, yeah, And on the third day, Reeves and Davy
also changed their pleas to guilt, and then they get
their conspiracy charges dropped. So Friday, November thirteen, confirm, so
they have all that statement but they still have yeah,
so they're finally like okay, fine, Hey Hagenson Bowman. They
get found guilty on both conspiracy and transportation. A week later, Reeves, Davy,
(46:20):
and Burger come up for sentencing on their guilty Please.
Reeves gets sentenced to eight years in prison, but that's
only after he had done He gets that once he
has finished his pre existing two ten year sentences for
burglary in Arkansas outstanding. Oh, Davy got five years, and
then Burger got three years probation. Because it's always pays
(46:41):
to be the first to sing.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
Yeah. December like this like the normal straight world of like.
Speaker 3 (46:49):
Exactly, let's see December eleventh, Hey, Hagenson Bowman. They get
sentenced to five years for violation of the conspiracy statute,
ten years on the transportation count, and it's going to
run concurrently, so fifteen Hagenson's term would start after he'd
served his California sentence of five years to life. Five
(47:11):
to life what is that on the burglary charge. Here's
a little wrinkle for you.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
I love wrinkles me too.
Speaker 3 (47:17):
The day before Hey, Hagenson and Bowman were sentence, the
district court clerk, who had recorded the trial transcript in
shorthand died in a car accident.
Speaker 2 (47:26):
The district court clerk okay.
Speaker 3 (47:28):
Yeah, so like you know, the distenographer.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (47:32):
So the court officials they ordered the notes to be
transcribed by another stenographer. But then the lawyers for Hey,
Hagenson and Bowman said, no, this new transcript is not satisfactory.
We want a new trial.
Speaker 2 (47:45):
They can't read her handwrite.
Speaker 3 (47:46):
I don't know. They filed a motion for a new trial.
So it wound up being moot for Hay because he
passed away while free on bond. But Hagenson and Bowman
June twentieth, nineteen sixty three, the motion for an a
new trial was granted and they went on trial for
the second time October first, nineteen sixty three. Hagenson the
(48:08):
alleged idea man, right, he beat the rap. How I
don't know. But then they sent him back to San
Quentin to finish off the California sentence. Bowman, who was
the guy who said he was the paving cottrector he
knocked on the door. Yeah, that fateful night, that was him.
He gets convicted and he draws a five year term,
(48:31):
ten thousand dollars fine for conspiracy and then ten years
for transporting stolen property. Yeah, so what of the diamond?
Speaker 2 (48:39):
Yeah, what happened to that?
Speaker 3 (48:40):
Well, with all three diamonds recovered, So the center stone
was recovered, the side baguettes were recovered. Vera rebuilt the ring,
Harry Winston reset it in platinum this time.
Speaker 2 (48:54):
Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:54):
So she later donated a glass replica of the diamond
to the FBI in recognition of the case. Like you
get some FBI loves this story. They have a big
thing on their website. Oh yeah, they're all jazzed about it.
Speaker 2 (49:08):
We got a rock too.
Speaker 3 (49:09):
It makes them feel electric in their bodies. So Richard Burton,
he eventually bought the diamonds and it was renamed and
widely publicized as Elizabeth Taylor died. Right Taylor, She wore
it all the time on screen, off screen like you
can see it in some movies. She was like Vera, like,
I'm not taking this thing off because it's amazing.
Speaker 2 (49:30):
Do you have soap and so?
Speaker 3 (49:31):
Then what happened to Vera? Although I heard if you
if a ring gets stuck windex.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
Okay, what do you call it? Like floss? You wrap
it around?
Speaker 4 (49:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (49:39):
Yeah, I know that's good.
Speaker 3 (49:43):
Yeah, next time I want to rip a ring off
some ladies and I'll put I'll put the windecks in
like a holster, ready to go, and I'm armed, ready
to go. So Vera kept remodeling the ranch. She added
a secret passage bedroom. It looks like a bookcase. Yeah,
(50:03):
you pull it open and you can run.
Speaker 2 (50:05):
She wanted to be dark.
Speaker 3 (50:06):
Yeah, she wanted escape routes in the house. After that
horrible night. She lived at the ranch until sixty four.
Then she moved to bell Air because of her poor health.
In nineteen sixty seven, she sold the ranch to Howard Hughes,
Sir exactly, friend of the show, six hundred and twenty
five thousand dollars. He never lived there himself.
Speaker 2 (50:27):
He just wanted to have it.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
It was just part of his Vegas real estate portfolio.
He sold it for one point five million to his
business partners, Fletcher Jones and William Murphy in nineteen seventy two.
And Jones and Murphy they wanted to build this like
huge equestrian oriented housing development there for like two thousand people,
and the public was like, no, absolutely not, stop it.
(50:50):
And they hit him with a paper.
Speaker 2 (50:52):
Why were they so against me?
Speaker 3 (50:53):
Because they're like, this is ridiculous. It's so beautiful in
pristine and you want to put a development out there.
Speaker 2 (50:58):
Don't break up the ranch.
Speaker 3 (51:00):
So Jones was like fine, and they the public like
puts so much pressure on the county that they're like,
I don't think we're going to let you rezone it.
Speaker 2 (51:07):
This is our Yellowstone. Jones was like, Whateverton Ranch can't
be broken up.
Speaker 3 (51:11):
So then he's like, fine, we'll just auction it off.
This is too much trouble.
Speaker 2 (51:14):
Guys are a hassle. We're making our profit. We're out
of here.
Speaker 3 (51:16):
The Bureau of Land Management and the Nevada State Parks
they came up with this plan for the place, bought it.
Spring Mountain Ranch became a state park in nineteen seventy three.
You can go there today, look in the house, see
the secret passageway. Oh yeah, and they are all sorts
of cool hiking trails.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
Grab the keys, come on, let's go.
Speaker 3 (51:35):
Oh vera. She passed away in nineteen sixty seven at
the age of just forty eight, from complications from diabetes.
Speaker 2 (51:42):
That seemed said I didn't think I expected her to
die in the eighties at the earliest.
Speaker 3 (51:47):
Yeah, she died pretty young. You know, they didn't have
I'm assuming she had type one diabetes, and they didn't
really have good ways to treat those things.
Speaker 2 (51:54):
Maybe she didn't catch it early enough. She did, like
like cellular damage.
Speaker 3 (51:59):
Really like that. When she moved to Bellair, and she
was like, really went to Cedars SIINAI all the time.
It's pastway.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
Some pizza's there all the time to really wealthy people.
Speaker 3 (52:09):
Was it in nineteen sixty seven, Were you bringing her pizza?
Speaker 2 (52:11):
No, but I did go. I'd have to get to
go to the room cases and you get like a
special dispensation because you're like a delivery person, and they're like, Okay,
I don't want to deal with this. I'm busy, I'm
a nurse, I'm an orderly Like I could go up
to this room and and uh, that's a crazy hospital
because I'm like some many people have private it. Look
you walk in it looks like an apartment, looks like
they have like they've decorated it.
Speaker 3 (52:30):
Did you go in with a pizza and then if
they're asleep, you pulled the ivy out and just sucked
out like a caprice son?
Speaker 2 (52:35):
So'ere like this is why they choose on my face.
Speaker 3 (52:39):
Like I can't move my arms, put it on my face.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
I just want to feel the warmth.
Speaker 3 (52:43):
What's your ridiculous takeaway?
Speaker 2 (52:44):
By the way, oh man, this like I'm really curious
about Richard Burton and his need for all the joy.
That's a side note, But I love that Elizabeth Taylor
is like yes to life and also diamonds. That is
part of my yes to life, Like she lives so
fully on a apologetically about like I like diamonds what
and I don't care who they belong to if they
(53:05):
are part of some violent crime that everyone's like kind
of been horrified by. They make me happy.
Speaker 3 (53:09):
She lived a luxurious life.
Speaker 2 (53:11):
What's your ridiculous take away? A littab bit.
Speaker 3 (53:12):
My ridiculous takeaway is, uh, you know, I'm curious. I
wanted I looked up more about this battery operated phone.
It's weird to me.
Speaker 2 (53:20):
Well, it was basically like an early cell phone, right,
I mean, I guess sounds like you know the ones
that used to have, like in the you see in
the movies. And it doesn't matter once you get a
certain level of technology, it's it's all pretty much the
same as it was. Getting the power size down in
the range and the receiver.
Speaker 3 (53:35):
That must have been horrible you pick it up.
Speaker 2 (53:36):
Oh so it's basically like a walk early walkie talking
in a sense. But you're working on.
Speaker 3 (53:40):
A break breaker. Yeah, you know what we need right
now as to talk back.
Speaker 4 (53:52):
Oh my god, I.
Speaker 5 (53:57):
Love Hi, Elizabeth and Zarin. My name is Tom, and
I just want to say I was so excited to
hear that you guys are doing an episode on All
the I'm like a huge fan of that place and
always tell people to go there because it saves me
so much on groceries. But as I was listening to
your episode, I was preparing dinner and realized that all
(54:20):
the chicken I bought from Aldi is woody and disgusting
and pretty much not usable. So be cautious out there.
Thanks guys, love your show.
Speaker 3 (54:29):
That's a good heads up, happened to you costco. That's
a public service announcement, right, that's good stuff.
Speaker 2 (54:42):
Mind your chickens and that's all we have.
Speaker 3 (54:46):
Yes, you can find us online at ridiculous Crime dot com.
I have an announcement to make. We have received no
awards this week.
Speaker 2 (54:54):
No nominations.
Speaker 3 (54:56):
We are unloved. We're also a ridiculous Crime on both
Blue Sky and Instagram. We're on YouTube at Ridiculous Crime Pod,
and you can email Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com.
Most importantly, leave a talkback on the free iHeart app
reach out. Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and
(55:17):
Zaren Burnett, produced and edited by Elizabeth Taylor's secret forty
third husband Dave Cousten, starring Annalys Rutger Is Judith. Research
is by grocery store Diamond Fence Marissa Brown. The theme
song is by Sleep Deprived FBI agents Thomas Lee and
Travis Dutton. Host wardrobe is provided by Botany five hundred.
Guest Haron, makeup by Sparkleshot and mister Andre. Executive producers
(55:41):
are Semi pro ranch Hands Ben Bollen and Noel Brown.
Ridicous Crime say it one More Timequious.
Speaker 1 (55:56):
Crime, Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio or more podcasts.
To my heart radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Zaron Burnett
Elizabeth Dutton
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