The Johnny Cash Jamaican Christmastime Miracle

Who would possibly think it's a good idea to rob Johnny Cash...at Christmastime... in Jamaica? If this sounds like some sort of Mad Lib, trust us, it's not. This really happened. And oddly enough, it's actually a charming Christmastime tale. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ridiculous Crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio and one.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
And two and Hey Elizabeth Saron Burnette, what's up girl?

Speaker 3 (00:09):
Hey sassy pants? How are you?

Speaker 2 (00:10):
I was working on a chair dancing. You got so good? Yeah,
it's so good.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
You're gonna go pro Thank you.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
I got a question for you and that smile and
face yours?

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Hello.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Do you know it's ridiculous I.

Speaker 4 (00:21):
Do ridiculously cool, kind of like what she did the
other day with.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
The talking about our Australian mustard plug.

Speaker 4 (00:29):
Guy.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Oh yeah, I can one up you.

Speaker 4 (00:32):
So we got a like the super Rude Dude Summer
Bristow from Jolly Old England. Nice heard me talking about
Dorito's black Garlic dip and that it was only available
in the UK, and she's like, I got you sent
to us a jar us me me a jar of

(00:58):
this dip from England's dope. And so I was like, okay,
I gotta I gotta taste this. I gotta let everyone
know that like number one Rude Dude Summer just knocked
it out of the park. It is an interesting flavor,
it's very garlicy, but you didn't kind of taste the

(01:19):
food coloring it's not black garlic as in like fermented
black garlic. It's it's garlic that has dyed black. Oh yeah,
it's interesting because it's for stranger things like So, I
don't know, I didn't I didn't watch that show, so
I guess they eat this kind of stuff or.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
They only watched the first.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Swim in it. Either way, it was it was very.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Is this I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:43):
It could be if you cut the guy open and
it goes out, it looks like dip. Anyway, it's very garlicky,
which I love, sure, but like I said, very food coloring.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Ish a red number five flavor.

Speaker 4 (01:59):
Yeah, except for like vant to Black's number eight. So anyway,
I'm just I still can't get over the fact that
A I got to taste.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
It after you know, talking about it, yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
Talking at you about it, and then b we had
someone who went to all that trouble.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Is the nicest thing.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Ever that is really considered. Thank you, soming So.

Speaker 4 (02:17):
I'm gonna have that's I look at that as like
my next eight Christmas presents.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
It was so cool. You just made her so happy, Somedy, Well,
I got one for you that's also ridiculous. Yes, please Okay,
try this on for size. Imagine that you think it's
a good idea to rob Johnny Cash and his family
at Christmas time in Jamaica.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
Okay, I would not think that was a good idea.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
I know. This is Ridiculous Crime, A podcast about absurd

(03:08):
and outrageous capers. Heicce and cons. It's always ninety nine
percent murder free and one hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (03:19):
Ridiculous ridiculous Elizabeth oh Zaren.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Before I tell you this story, I have to ask
you a couple of questions as I want to do. Yes,
do you like country music?

Speaker 3 (03:29):
I do well, I like outlaw country okay.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah, same, yet more than that house country. I feel
you on that.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
I don't like contemporary country?

Speaker 2 (03:38):
Well sure not maybe not contemporary. But do you like
anything older like the Carter Family? Yeah, Merle Travis, Merle Haggard.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
Merle Haggard.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Okay, yeah, there you go. Yeah, Okay, Now, second question, I.

Speaker 4 (03:52):
Mean, I don't like when they're all in a pickup
truck and yeah you did so little Cup and little
Girl and.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
So like late eighties and on.

Speaker 3 (04:02):
Uh yeah, yeah, because.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
You like you know, Dolly Parton obviously, sure you know.
And then like I don't. I don't know how you
feel about like white yeah, Tammy Wow. Yeah, George Jones, No,
I like.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
I like outlaw country. I like Willie Whalen Merle I
like that. I like that crowd.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Okay, Chris Christopherson love Chris Christopherson. Well, I got another
question for you, Yeah, second one.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Do you like Christmas music?

Speaker 5 (04:33):
You know?

Speaker 3 (04:34):
And I had a conversation about this Christmas that you know.

Speaker 4 (04:39):
I I was not always a fan of Christmas and
found it sort of inexplicably depressing. I don't really know why,
but I've been making an effort. I do love Christmas lights,
oh my god.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Okay, love them, Okay, Christmas lights.

Speaker 3 (04:55):
Christmas music is not the greatest.

Speaker 4 (04:57):
I used to work in an office that had a
squawk box, and it had a radio station that would
come through on it. It's like the local smooth jazz.
But then they go to Christmas music come December November,
and if I like, I would hear Santa Baby more
than once a day, and I thought, I have to
quit this job.

Speaker 3 (05:17):
I can't work here.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
I've worked retail, I know how that is. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:20):
So there are some that are just done to death.
There are some Christmas carols. I really like Holy Night.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Sure that's beautiful. Well there's Christmas carols. There's also just
Christmas songs like the Christmas Waltz Frank Sinatras. Sure, yeah,
you love it?

Speaker 3 (05:33):
Though you love Christmas music?

Speaker 2 (05:35):
I do you love Christmas? Well? Yeah, well okay, I'll
put well first, let me ask you my third question.
Then I'll get back to that. How familiar are you
with Jamaica's place in the Cold War?

Speaker 3 (05:51):
This is like the weirdest MASSI I'm not familiar.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
Well, I've got good news for you. Oh good. We're
not going to talk about Christmas music or really even
country music that is Christmas songs. Yeah, but we are
going to talk about Johnny Cash big time. You know.
Christmas guy.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
I love Johnny Cash and.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Also Jamaica's place in the Cold War.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
I love I love to learn about Jamaica's place in
the Cold.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
This is a wild one, Elizabeth. So you do know
that I am a like I love the Christmas time season.
We've talked about that, and that's that means Christmas.

Speaker 6 (06:23):
Guy.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
I like Christmas movies, not like the Hallmark themed holiday movies.
I mean like it's a wonderful life Billy Wilder's movie
The Apartment, which is actually a Christmas and a New
Year's Eve movie. They both Anyway, I even like Christmas
specials like Johnny cashtal Christmas specials.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
What about all the Peanuts ones?

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Yes, I like those, the Thanksgiving one Christmas. I like
Christmas themed episodes of TV shows, like when they do
they're like, oh, of course snowed in and we can't
go and we have to make Christmas here or like
so and so. You know, Like I love all that, right,
you know, like you miss your flight home and then
get invited to like the character they don't like on
the show, and then they have to hang out with them.
I love that. What I'm saying is I'm a sentimental

(07:02):
sucker for Christmas themed entertainment.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
Yeah you are. You are sentimental, But.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
It appeals to It's intended to appeal to our best sides,
like our generosity, our sense of community, our awareness of
the loneliness of others. Sure right, I mean it hits
for me. It has it all anyway.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
I feel like Thanksgiving accomplishes a lot of that without
the commercialism.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
Well, I noticed I didn't mention any Christmas gift giving.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
Or commercialism like the big thing though.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
That's what you're sold on. I'm talking about real Christmas
entertainment is all about that other stuff.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
You heartwarming thing, Yes.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
I like my heart to be warmed. It's a cold sight, Elizabeth. Anyway,
this is a Christmas story, right, and it's a terribly
strange and violent Christmas story so perfect. It's everything I like,
and I think you'll enjoy it because, as I said,
it features Johnny Cash aka country music's man in black
born rebel.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Right.

Speaker 2 (07:56):
It also has real life Jamaican political rebels on right,
and it features a CIA backed Cold War stoogeer apparently.
Love a man anyway, Elizabeth, it's a ridiculous cold war
Christmas special.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
I am very excited for this.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
Before we get to this, and also we're going to
touch on like the Bob Marley era of Jamaica. Right,
this just hits a lot of cylinder. But first we
need to talk about Jimmy Buffett. No, I know, thinking
why him, Why Jimmy Buffett. I know how much you
don't love Jimmy Buffett or his sun Warmed Margarita brand

(08:36):
of music, But I promise Warren, I do have a
good reason to bring up Jimmy Buffett, and it most
certainly is ridiculous and it's criminal. Consider this in a
mouse boosh to get to the mood for Jamaica, and
then we'll get to Johnny Jamaica Christmas Miracle, which is
ridiculous for a whole different set of reasons. But okay, first,

(08:57):
Jimmy Buffett. I don't know about you, but when I
think of a amous American musician down in Jamaica having
a bad one, I think Jimmy Buffett. Really, but not
after this story I'm about to tell you, But Elizabeth
associated with Jamaica, I know. That's why I'm going to
tell you this. Did you know Jimmy Buffett was a pilot? Good?
Ye is? Sure? Do you know he had his own plane? Sure? Well,
he has actually a few planes, as he had this

(09:20):
one sea plane called Hemisphere Dancer, that was the name
of it. The model was a grooman grooman h U
sixteen Albatross flying boat. Yeah, I got a couple of
those myself, an Albatross flying boat. Elizabeth. It was a
Navy plane that was converted into a civilian flying boat.

Speaker 3 (09:37):
What was it called Hemisphere Dancer?

Speaker 2 (09:39):
Hemisphere dancer. Go ahead, hold it on like deep breath.

Speaker 3 (09:44):
You know what, whatever makes people happy.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
And and you know Jimmy Buffett loved the Caribbean and
its island paradise. Right. Did you know that the Jamaican
police once tried to shoot Jimmy Buffett right out of
the sky.

Speaker 3 (09:56):
God bless me.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
I thought you'd like this. See now, this may be
overstating it a bit, but I mean they did light
his playing up with the heavy machine gun fire. But
don't listen to me, Elizabeth.

Speaker 4 (10:07):
It is like one of those terrible like I mean,
he's gone now, Rest in power, Jimmy Buffett.

Speaker 3 (10:13):
But you know, like the horrible tourist.

Speaker 4 (10:15):
Things where if I pay enough money, I can go
to Jamaica and shoot Jimmy Buffett out of the sky.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
I think it's Vegas like they'll give you, Jimmy Buffett. Well,
I have an accounting of this that Jimmy Buffett told
your man Andy Cohen. We'll go on the show Live
with Andy Cohen. That's the show where he interviews celebrities.

Speaker 3 (10:37):
Turns Christmas music on. We'll make this a real party.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
So Andy Cohen's chatting up with Jimmy Buffett I'm pretty
sure he's there to like sell a book or a
new CD or a mango flavored margarita mix. I don't know,
but he's telling stories from his wild life, right. And
Andy Cohen clearly has no interest in any of this interview,
much like you, right, but he's covering it up with
like up speak and fox excited voice. And so Andy

(11:01):
asked Jimmy a question like, Jimmy, Sean B. Wants to
know what was going through your mind when the Jamaican
government shot at your plane? And Jimmy's all smiled.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
That was a really good impression. I felt like I.

Speaker 2 (11:13):
Was on it. Jimmy, he's all smiles, and he says, uh, ducking.
You know there's a two rules in rock and roll
I found, never forget to duck and never forget it
can go to hell at any minute now. But yes,
ducking came in handy that day. Right. So Andy tries
to make this obvious and semi risk a joke out

(11:34):
of it all, and he asked, so they thought you
had a tremendous amounts of wheat on your plane? And Jimmy,
he takes his question like it's like it's a t ball, right,
just all set up for him, and he cool, He says,
I mean all I had on was Bono as in
the Irish singer aka the frontman of you two.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
He was in the plane these.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
Days, Yes, the global humanitarian and Davos attendee was on
the plane. So yeah, Like Jimmy Buffett, he's trying to
joke just those two, like he's smuggling Bono into Jamaica,
Like that's his joke, right, But it turns out and
this idea is very upsetting to Andy Cohen because he's like,
oh no, really, Bono was on board, and Jamie he
plays it cool like Bono was on the plane, and

(12:14):
so Andy now up speaks his excitement appropriately like wow,
oh my gosh. And I love it when Andy Cohn
was pretending that he really cared about like Bono getting
machine machine guns by the Jamaican.

Speaker 4 (12:27):
Mike can handle, Andy Cohen is That's what I watch
on New Year's Eve when he and Anderson giggly totally.
But otherwise he's brought so much horrible stuff to this world.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
Just can't I can't.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Close out their interview. Jimmy Buffett, he tries to like
end on a joke, so he says, I don't know
what he had on him, Like Bono, this is the
smuggler I was carrying Boom Comedy Gould. Anyway, this story
goes that it's the middle of January nineteen ninety six,
just after the holidays. Jimmy Buffett is flying a seaplane

(13:04):
down to Jamaica while he's on tour and you know,
for shiggles as you would put it. He decides to
take Bono and Bono's wife and their kids with him
aboard his flying boat for a quick hop down to
Negrill in Jamaica. Also on the boat is Chris Blackwell, which,
if you don't know him, he's the founder of Island Records,
the guy who signed Bob Marley and the Whalers and

(13:24):
helped make them world famous. So that guy, right, it's okay.
Jimmy Buffett brings his seaplane in for a water landing,
and the Jamaican police believe that the plane is smuggling drugs,
so they train their machine guns on Jimmy Buffett's seaplane
and then just open fire.

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Oh so this is like a tradition of like I
think there's drugs there.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Pretty much just light them up. The way Bono told
it to the Belfast Telegraph. The boys were shooting all
over the place. I felt as if we were in
the middle of a James Bond movie, only this was real.
It was absolutely terrifying, and I honestly thought we were
all going to die.

Speaker 4 (14:02):
Wait, this is such a cursed thing, right, Well, of
course the Jamaicans are gonna think you're you're flying a
boat in the air.

Speaker 2 (14:09):
Yeah, it looks like it's just filled with drugs or
like Disney characters from Tailspin or Bono and his family
so apparently from what I read. When the machine guns
start to fire, Bono, his wife, Ali, their kids, they
all die for cover, appropriately afraid they're about to be killed.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
And then after the Jamaican police cool their cannons, Bono
looks around. He sees no one in his family got
like shot, and as he told the newspaper, thank god
we were safe and sound. My only concern was for
their safety. It was very scary. Let me tell you. You
can't believe the relief I felt when I saw the
kids were okay.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
What an international incident.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
That event totally now. That same year, Jimmy Buffett was
asked about the whole I almost got Bono shot by
the Jamaican police, right, and he say, he said, I
thought it was a joke until I heard the gunfire exactly.
So once Bono is certain his family's safe and sound,
I guess he He and his family then grabbed the
first flight out of Jamaica, not flown by Jimmy Buffett.

(15:04):
They wing their way back to Miami. Meanwhile, the Jamaican authorities,
they're quick to apologize, so Jimmy Buffett for nearly killing
him and Bono and their kids, and they they basically
hope that he wouldn't make a big deal out of
it and like scare away tourists and since that's like
a key part of the economy. Of course, you know,
mister blown out my flip flop stepped on a pop top,
he's cool about it, right, Jimmy Buffett doesn't make a

(15:26):
big deal. He doesn't even need to be told. But
he did write a song about it, and then don't
anyone drop it on his next album released that same year, Elizabeth.
The song is called Jamaica mistaka spelled like like.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
Wait, this is so Sammy Hagar.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
And he dropped it on the album name Banana Wind
Jamaica mistake off of his album Banana.

Speaker 4 (15:57):
Wind Silver with the banana Banana Wind?

Speaker 2 (16:02):
What what? Anyway? That used to be the first.

Speaker 4 (16:07):
Story I've babysat some toddlers that get banana wins.

Speaker 2 (16:13):
Now I thought you'd appreciate all this as in a
mouse boosh.

Speaker 4 (16:17):
Right, I'm like waiting to come to and this is
what's happening. Some people, their life flashes before their eyes meet.
I hear jibberish about banana wind and Jamaica.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Mistake, Jamaica mistake. Oh god, So that used to be
the first story I would think of whenever I thought
of an American musician having a bad day in Jamaica.
But now, after researching this story, I will forever think
of Johnny Cash and his Jamaican Christmas time miracle, which
is what I want to share with you today, Elizabeth,

(16:49):
Happy Hondah days to you. Thank you so. First though,
let's take a break and after these messages we'll catch
back up with Bob Marley, Henry Kissinger, Johnny Cash. It's
gonna get wicked fever. What's happening you shake things up?
Back in two We're back, Elizabeth, Yes we are. How amused.

(17:28):
Is your boosh?

Speaker 3 (17:30):
I'm boushed out right now?

Speaker 2 (17:32):
So where were we?

Speaker 6 (17:32):
All?

Speaker 2 (17:33):
Right, Jamaica mistake, So skipping past Jimmy Buffett, Now before
we bring Johnny Cash into the story, what is a
banana wind? I have no idea. I didn't even We can't.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
Ask the man he's gone to the other Sure there
is a good answer.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
It's probably like you know, Kirby in there Caribbean slang.
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
All right, you keep going and I'll look it up.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
So before we bring all Johnny Cash into the story,
we do need to understand a little bit about Jamaica,
especially what Jamaica was like when this story goes down
in nineteen eighty one, eighty one. Yeah, so a little
quick history. The colony of Jamaica wins its independence on
August sixth, nineteen sixty two. Right, there won't be a quiz,
but that's important. So this didn't come about after years

(18:16):
of armed rebellion, the way that many African nations won
their independence that in say, the sixties. Instead, like there
were liberation struggles in Jamaica. Don't get me wrong, right,
right from the beginning of the colonial history, they were
against being colonized and so forth. Yeah, but after World
War Two, the UK was financially spent basically, and the
former empire was down to let you know, former protectorates

(18:38):
and territories like Jamaica become independent nations. Okay, So all
during the fifties a bunch of ideas get kicked around
about how this would happen. Right, So at one point
there's this idea to create the West Indies Federation of
former island colonies. Right, it would have brought ten islands
together into this one new nation. But the Jamaicans they

(18:58):
didn't seem to want to join the other. So they
held a Brexit style vote and the Jamaicans where they
voted in this referendum whether to stay in the West
Indies funderation or not, the choice to leave wins fifty
two to forty eight. Wow. That was nineteen sixty one.
So the next year, July sixty two, in response, the
UK Parliament they passed the Jamaican Independence Act, and the

(19:19):
very next month, in August sixth, the nineteen sixty two
to be exact, Jamaica is formally recognized as an independent
new nation. However, that's misleading since it's still part of
the British Commonwealth, technically still under the Queen. Sure, So
basically Jamaica joins the Commonwealth of Nations, which is this
organization for ex British territories. Right, but the Jamaicans did

(19:42):
have their own government and their own flag, et cetera,
but they were still under the Queen. So the first
Prime Minister Jamaica is cat Sir Alexander Bustamante. He's not
important to this story. After him comes Sir Donald Sangster.
Once again also not important. He doesn't even last that long.
He gets sick and he dies like two months into
his term as prime minister.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
To make a mistake of it.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
He's also unimportant to the story. So he gets replaced
by Hugh Sheer as prime minister. He's the third prime
minister of this young nation. Hugh Shearer actually serves out
his term, but in nineteen seventy two he gets voted
out of office, right, and so he also doesn't really
matter to the story. Okay, his replacement of lisabth I'm.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
Trying to write this down as fast as I can.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
Is this dude named Michael Manley. Okay, and he does
matter to this story. Yeah, Michael Manley gets elected in
seventy two, right, becomes the fourth Prime Minister of Jamaica.
This is no big surprise because his father was Norman
Manley and he was the first and only Premier of
Jamaica back when it was part of this West Indies Federation. Yeah. Anyway,
back to his son, Michael Manley, it's no big surprise

(20:43):
that this son of a former leader would be elected
as the prime minister. But it was a bit of
a surprise because Michael Manley was you know, he gets elected,
but he's also this avowed socialist. Yeah, like he's a
friend of Fidel Castro. There's talk that he wants to
turn Jamaica full on social friend of right. So now
that he's elected to trift, he elects the Cigars. So

(21:06):
since he's elected in seventy two, we're smack dab in
the middle of the Cold War right now. You know,
there is no way America, and specifically Henry Kissinger is
going to be cool with another communist nation in the
Caribbean one especially it's eager to join up with Fidel
in Cuba and the Soviet Union. Elizabeth, remember how I
said earlier Jamaican rebels would be robbing Johnny Cash I

(21:27):
mentioned that very up top. Yes, okay, well this is
how the rebels and the bad man come to be
bad man, because basically, as I said, after World War Two,
the UK has decided it's too expensive to keep all
their territories in the British Empire, so they let him
go independent. But as I said, that's a farce. It's
more like the UK starts franchising out new nations. So
this but along comes this new Prime Minister, Michael Manley,

(21:49):
who they thought they could trust. He's the son of
a former leader. He looks legit, but he turns out
he's this big time anti capitalist. So Michael Manley's like, cool, cool,
if we are free to govern ourselves, we want to
go socialists. And the West is like, oh, oh no,
that's not what we meant. That won't do at all.
Enter Henry Kissinger. So while the Queen and the UK
Parliament are all in a lather about the prospect of

(22:10):
Jamaica going socialist, possibly full on communist, Henry Kissinger's like,
let me see what I can destabilize. God. So you
got Michael Manley. He's busy creating programs like free public
education for elementary school, middle school, high school, even college,
you know, like a modern European state. And then but
he's also doing land reform. He's building houses, he's building

(22:32):
daycare facilities, new hospitals. His government is also subsidizing meals
for the Hungary. He's fighting against all literacy, he's raising
pinches for the elderly. He's equalizing like the playing fields
like this. So his administration introduces equal pay for women.
And meanwhile, Henry Kissinger's like, this man must be stopped.
So Elizabeth Prime Minister Michael Manley he announces that Jamaica

(22:56):
is going to leave the Commonwealth and it's going to
become an independent republic, truly and dependent. And this is
when Queen Elizabeth in the UK turn Henry Kissinger loose.
They're like, have Adam Henry. So in nineteen seventy five,
Henry Kissingers he's acting as the both the Secretary of
State of the United States and the National Security Advisor.
He's doing both rule yes, yeah, And so that same year,

(23:17):
nineteen seventy five, the CIA starts messing around in the
shadows in Jamaica. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Michael Manley he's helping
Cuba out, who's sending its armies and its doctors over
to Africa, specifically to Angola to aid in its war
against apartheid South Africa. So there's like all basically there's
like heavy duty Cold war internationalism going down, and Jamaica
is all a part of it. Throughout the second half

(23:39):
of the seventies. From seventy five on Kissinger, he's still
in charge of the State Department, even though he steps
down to his National Security Advisor. So the CIA, though,
stays busy trying to fomentous rebellion against Michael Manley and
his socialist administration. So the CIA, they back this dude
named Edward Siaga to be the next Prime Minister of Jamaica,
which was kind of a wild develop on its own,

(24:01):
because if you knew Edward Siaga back in the day,
he was just this Jamaican record producer. Oh really no, yeah,
So who is Edward Siaga? Who is Edward A great question, Elizabeth.
Edward Siaga was the leader of the opposition party through
the seventies, which was the Jamaican Labor Party, But in
his youth he'd been this like hip record producer guy
who's kind of a big deal in the Jamaican recording industry.

(24:24):
And importantly, he was born in the United States and
then he returned to the US for college, so he
attended Harvard graduates with a BA in social sciences. Then
he dips back to Jamaica and in the sixties he's
working as a music promoter. But then he he starts
his own music company, the whole thing, and then Edward Siaga,
this semi hip pan global cat. He's like he grows

(24:46):
up essentially, but he's really an interesting character because his
father is a Lebanese Jamaican descent. His mother is a
mix of Black African, Scottish and Indian descent, like East Indian, right, yeah,
so he's very much this representative mix of Jamaican population.

Speaker 3 (25:03):
Sure yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
And also, like Michael Manley, he's born into wealth and privilege.
So after he's like dabbling in music production and they
said he grows up, he goes into politics. Then he
finesses his way into being the opposition leader against socialist
Michael Manley, and that's when the CIA approaches him and
the agency is like, how would you like to be
the next Prime Minister of Jamaica. This leads to the

(25:25):
full on craziness of the CIA in Jamaica. So in
the run up to the Jamaican elections scheduled for say
the beginning of seventy seven, Michael Manley's government is facing reelection.
Meanwhile CIA fomenting all kinds of nonsense. And this is
the same time when there's an assassination attempt against who
Bob Marley? Oh yeah, that's right, right, So the CIA

(25:46):
they suspect that Bob Marley is supporting Michael Manley and
his whole socialist agenda. So the CIA, they can't have
the most popular man in Jamaica sway the vote. Yeah.
So one night, some arm bad men try to kill
Bob Marley. I'm not saying the CIA is behind it,
but their fingerprints are all over it. So the story
goes in December third, nineteen seventy six. It's like two

(26:08):
and a half days before they're supposed to be this
huge show called Smile Jamaica. Sis cots her right, Yeah,
So Bob Marley's the headliner. The show is meant to
calm down all the political violence, and that particular night,
at around eight thirty at night, Bob Marley's chilling at
his house. And he doesn't have a house. He's got
a compound this fifty six Hope Road. It's huge. It's
basically a commune where he and his wife Rita live

(26:31):
with all of their kids and all these other people,
some members of his band. People are like sleeping outside,
like in groups of five, and it's just this wild
Rastafarian compound.

Speaker 6 (26:40):
Right.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
Anyway, that night, while they're chilling at fifty six Hope Road,
seven gunmen raid the compound and they start shooting at
whomever they think matters. So like Bob Marley's wife Rita,
she gets shot. She's sitting in a car when she
gets shot. And I don't mean like just wing. She's
shot in the head. She totally she survives, don't worry. Yeah,
But the gunmen they sneak further into compound and then

(27:01):
they poke their guns into the house and they just
let the guns spray. Remember there's kids all over the
place like that. Not of our problem, right, So Bob
Marley manager, he gets shot. Another man, like a band associate,
he gets shot. Then some gunmen stick their like their
weaponry into the kitchen door and they let off some shots.
They hit Bob Marley like two times right, the chest

(27:22):
in the arm. Yeah, it's bad, but obviously not fatal.
So good news, Elizabeth. All this gunfire, all those children
all around, None of the gun shots leave wounds that
are fatal, No one loses their life. Wow, right for
all that, Wow totally. Three days later, on December sixth,
Bob Marley shows up at the Smile of Jamaica concert
after being shot in the chest, and he's like, I'm

(27:44):
here to sing, right. So the two leaders, Prime Minister
Michael Manley and the opposition leader Edward Siaga, they stand
on stage together with Bob Marley between them, and he
lifts up both of their hands over his head. Ye
to like quell the political violence. Like he's like, and
everyone knows he's been shot. It's huge news, Like he
is a bad man. Right, but this is supposed to
be symbolic. It's supposed to say stop the violence. Right. So,

(28:06):
feeling this ground swell of support, Michael Manley moves up
elections to December fifteenth. Since it's parliamentary elections, it can
be moved around, so it works. He wins. So now
Edward Siag and the CIA are like, who's gonna tell Kissinger. Right,
So the CIA, they don't give up. They're still deep
in their Cold War Shenanigans. Right, So for the next

(28:27):
few years there's all sorts of ramped up political violence.
Jamaica becomes the scene of all kinds of political fights.
And I'm talking like street gangs shooting at each other. Right,
it's bloody, it's ugly, it's bad. You got like street
gangs and rude boy Yardy's all going at it.

Speaker 5 (28:41):
Right.

Speaker 2 (28:41):
Some are pro US and support Edward Siaga will others
they support the pro socialist Michael Manley. And it gets bad, Elizabeth, Like,
no joke in nineteen eighty, like eight hundred people get killed,
you're kidding, Oh yeah, And that's all just in Jamaica.
It gets bad. So by this point, Bob Marley he's
suffering from the toe cancer that would have actually go
on to kill him, so he can't step up to

(29:02):
help quell the political violence. It's ravaging Jamaica and the
CIA is just running amuck. So long story short, Edward
Siaga wins the nineteen eighty election and he becomes the
new pro US, pro British, pro capitalism Prime Minister of Jamaica.
The nation it doesn't leave the Commonwealth, it doesn't become
a fully independent republic, it stops supporting Cuba in order

(29:25):
to like, you know, symbolically align himself with Bob Marley,
who's obviously a symbol Jamaica to the rest of the world,
to the Jamaican people. In February of nineteen eighty one,
this new Prime Minister, Edward Siaga awards an ailing Bob
Marley with the Jamaican Order of Merit. Because if anything,
Edward Siaga, former music promoter turned prime minister, he knows

(29:48):
the power of fame. He knows the power of a
musician and had a hype cool, especially if it's a
world famous musician like Bob Marley or say Johnny Cash. Okay, Elizabeth,
now that we've reached nineteen eighty one, the moment when
Johnny Cash takes center stage, I've teased this long enough.
We shot down Jimmy Buffett, we nearly assassinated body. You've

(30:09):
elected numerous Jamaican Prime ministers, and now the CIA has
installed their man in power, one Edward Siaga. So things
look like they're going well for them. That is, you know,
if you're Henry Kissinger and into this madness. Is Johnny
Cash pops down to Jamaica.

Speaker 3 (30:23):
Amazing?

Speaker 2 (30:24):
So, like, what's up with country music legend spending Christmas
in Jamaica? Like that's curious, right, Johnny Cash isn't known
as a big time pothead. No, right, so like what
was the draw for him?

Speaker 3 (30:34):
And what year is this?

Speaker 4 (30:35):
Nineteen eighty one so he's still No, he's out of
the throes of all the pil addiction.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Yeah, he's gone to Betty Betty Ford Center. Yeah, so
he's Yeah, he's not popping the speed pills. He's like
big on his Jesus moment at this point, he's like
doing the gospel songs with June Carter.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
Did Keith Richards loan of his house?

Speaker 2 (30:52):
No, The story goes Johnny Cash buys his own home
in Jamaica in an area called Montego Bay, which I
think you're probably familiar from, like the Beach Boys song.
I don't know they mentioned Hey Montigue, No is that figured?
I don't listen to Beach Boys, but it seemed like
he listened Beach Boys. Yeah. So anyway, the house he
buys it used to be a planter's house or what
we in the US would call it. Plantation.

Speaker 6 (31:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (31:13):
I was like, that's a way to skirt around that one.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
Yeah. So it's an old sugar plantation, and like plantations
in the South in the US, the house has a
name and everything. It's called cinnamon Hill.

Speaker 3 (31:23):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (31:23):
Now, most of the year, Johnny Cash and his wife
June Carter, they live in Hendersonville, Tennessee. After they had
this big home, the same home where Chris Christopherson showed
up with the stolen helicopter looking to give this demo. Okay,
well we've covered that before, so I won't get into that,
but I told you this is also a similar ridiculous
crime because part of the year, Johnny and June they
live in Jamaica. Because Johnny Cash just loves Jamaica. Well

(31:46):
it is Johnny Cash once said of the island, Jamaica
has renewed me more times than I can count. Partly
it's the isolation. It's not Nashville or Tennessee or even
the United States. So Johnny Shack likes to go down
to his place and Cinnamon Hill to get away from
being Johnny Cash country music legend. He can just be Jr.

(32:06):
Like how the family used to call him back in Arkansas. Right,
So he first buys Cinnmon Hill in seventy two. This
place has history, I mean like it has so much history.
It has ghosts. Elizabeth Waylon Jennings who you mentioned, Yeah,
and his wife Jesse Coulter, they both claim to have
heard a ghost at this house.

Speaker 6 (32:22):
Right.

Speaker 2 (32:22):
But it's better than that because Johnny Cash said he
personally saw a ghost. He saw a woman walk through
a locked door. Oh well, here's how he tells it. Well,
once a woman appeared in the dining room when six
of us were present. We all saw she came through
the door leading to the kitchen, a person in her
early thirties, i'd say, wearing a full length white dress,

(32:42):
and proceeded across the room toward the double doors in
the opposite wall, which were closed and locked. She went
through them without opening them, and then from the other
side she knocked r out of Tat tat right, a
tat tat. So they're always wearing long white dresses. It's
because of the eighteen hundreds and the seventeen that's which

(33:02):
you wore back then.

Speaker 3 (33:03):
How they get along. She's been so foggy lately.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
How great would it be to have to see a
ghost who's like wearing like, I don't know, in Adidas
tracksuit from the nineties.

Speaker 6 (33:11):
You know.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
But I'm saying like.

Speaker 4 (33:13):
I'm going to get a long white dress and go
wander around in the fog, hopefully not get hit by
a car. Yeah, but you know, scare some people.

Speaker 2 (33:20):
I'm going to get along black dress and then do
the whole country song.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
A long black veil.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 4 (33:26):
Well, just you know, we'll be like spy versus spies.

Speaker 2 (33:31):
So, Elizabeth, this house, Cinnamon Hill, it was built back
in seventeen thirty four, so that's part of the reason
why you're seeing.

Speaker 3 (33:37):
That some bad, bad business going on there.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
Oh yeah, this house saw some rough times and like
you know, slavery, so it was a sugar plantation a
human being. So I say rough times violently doing so
very much an understatement, yes, violent, violent, violent. Right. Anyway,
now you are fully ready to hear the story of
Johnny Cash in his Christmas miracle.

Speaker 3 (33:58):
You have all the pieces in I have everything I
need to know.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
But first let's take a break.

Speaker 4 (34:02):
Well, but first, here's something you need to know. Sure
I looked up banana winds.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Oh you did, and.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
When you know how you do Google, and they have
the AI overview now, which is usually wrong.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
So I'm going to read it, okay, perfect It says.

Speaker 4 (34:15):
Banana wind can refer to a strong wind that blows
bananas off trees, or is the name of the nineteen
ninety six Jimmy Buffett album. In the context of the album,
banana wind is a metaphor for a strong emotional breeze
that blew through his music, which blends various genres. The
term can also refer to a beautiful yellow iris with

(34:36):
a subtle fragrance named banana wind.

Speaker 2 (34:38):
This album will knock the fruit out of your.

Speaker 3 (34:40):
Trees and strong emotional breeze.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
Excuse me, that was me, Jimmy.

Speaker 4 (34:49):
So anyway out Now we know everything we need to know.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
Now we are the wall is built. So let's take
a little break. Lit's just some ads and when we're
at least some banana wind gonna rob Johnny Cash at Christmas.
Oh yeah, yeah, okay, we're back. We're back.

Speaker 3 (35:25):
How you doing.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
So we've had our fun, but now it's time to
get to the real deal. Do you smell that with
the banana win? Banana win? So do you make a
mistake over there? It's the interns. I'm releasing Banana Win.
So that's who you're gonna blame them. So I'm calling

(35:45):
this Johnny Cash and is Jamaican Christmas Time Miracle. That's
a good title. Good Like as I told you, Elizabeth,
this story takes place in nineteen eighty one, ten years
before Point Break was released. No, what year did play?
Eighteen ninety one?

Speaker 3 (35:59):
Eighty one?

Speaker 4 (36:01):
You know that was five years before Banana Wind was released?

Speaker 2 (36:05):
No, fifteen, He came out in nineteen ninety six.

Speaker 3 (36:08):
Yeah, ninety six.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
We're talking about eighty four. Point break.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
Relative took break is my reference for everything.

Speaker 2 (36:15):
Of course, Utah, give me two.

Speaker 4 (36:18):
I am an f B I agent with Banana Wind.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
Go ahead. It's Christmas time. Johnny Cash takes his family
down to Cinnamon Hill for the holidays. There's this is okay,
June Carter. There's it. That's his wife. There's their son,
John Carter Cash. He brings a friend with him, this
boy named Doug Caldwell.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (36:40):
Also with them are some other family members, Like there's
Johnny Cash, his sister Reba Hancock and her husband Chuck Hussey.
Also one of Johnny's friends, this archaeologist guy named Ray Fremmer.
And there's that they also have their their house stacked
with normal archaeologists, totally right. They also have a cook
and her stepdaughter who works at that guy as a
maid at a local house in Jamaica. And then they

(37:01):
also have their house manager from who's the one who
takes care of their house back in Tennessee, but who
comes down with them for the holidays to like manage that.

Speaker 3 (37:08):
I was gonna say, well, then who's watching the house
in Tennessee?

Speaker 2 (37:11):
Chris Christofferson. Oh, that's right, Stle helicopter flew back over.
So what they don't have at the house though, are
security guards?

Speaker 3 (37:19):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (37:19):
In fact, Johnny also like to leave the doors unlocked
at Cinnamon Hill. And as we've covered, there are all
sorts of political violence and cold war stuff going on
in Jamaica at this same time. Even though Edward Siaga
has been elected, they have released at tention that cannot
just be put back a light switch, cannot turn it off.
There's street gang still fighting and still like getting mad

(37:41):
and like you know, getting violent at each other.

Speaker 4 (37:43):
Word travels fast, I imagine, and so all it takes
is one person to say, you know, they have no security.

Speaker 2 (37:48):
Yeah, and they got Johnny Cash up there, so smash
cut December twenty third. The details of what went down
that night were shared in a UPI syndicated story originally
published by the Tennesseean. I want to give them credit
even though I found it reprinted in the Fort Pierce
Port Saint Lucy Tribune. It's a UPI syndicated story anyway.

(38:08):
The story is told a reporter by the brother in law,
Chuck Hussey. He tells the story of how Johnny Cash
is Jamaican Christmas Time miracle goes down. So, according to
the UPI story, Johnny Cash, his family and guests had
their heads bowed in prayer at the dinner table when
three armed men burst through the dining room door of
their Jamaican estate overlooking the Caribbean. So the three men,

(38:31):
mind you, Elizabeth, are wearing pantyhose over their heads.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
And pantyhose all over their bodies.

Speaker 2 (38:36):
They're all young. The leader of the crew is likely
in his twenties. The other two look to be in
their teens. Okay, bad mon, Yeah, So back in ninety seven,
Johnny Cash, he shared bits of this story with us Weekly.
According to him, we were sitting down to Christmas dinner,
and suddenly three robbers came in, one with a gun,
one with a knife, and one with a hatchet. They

(38:58):
told us to hit the floor. So the leader yells,
somebody's gonna die here tonight, and you're like, what the
In a response, Johnny Cash leaps up from his chair
and he demands, what do you want now? The masked
men with the gun points his gun at the boy
that he thinks is Johnny Cash's son, and he shouts
everything the boy dies right now. According to one account

(39:20):
I read, the ringleader also yelled, everybody do as I say,
or John Carter's gun to die.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
Oh how nobody move, nobody get airt right? Yeah?

Speaker 2 (39:30):
How did he know the boy's name? I don't know.

Speaker 3 (39:33):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
But it turns out he isn't pointing the gun at
John Carter Cash. He's pointing it out of port Dunk Caldwell.
He's probably wetting himself at this point because they're both
eleven year old boys. And so anyway, the armed men
they quickly figure out their mistake, and then the leader
corrects his aim and points his gun at John Carter Cash. Elizabeth,
can we pause for a moment to consider a question.

(39:54):
Can you imagine thinking it's a good idea to rob
Johnny Cash on Christmas let alone, threatening the life of
his son at gunpoint.

Speaker 3 (40:02):
No, I can't imagine that's a good idea.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
So what happens next? Great question?

Speaker 3 (40:05):
Thank you, I'm so glad you asked.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
Back to the UPI story, according to Cash's brother in law,
Hussy said, the robbers forced everyone to lie face down
on the floor and then, as the brother in law
you know elaborates, they held guns to everybody's head. Hussy
said they pushed and shoved and had the guns constantly exposed,
asking all the time if we wanted to die. We
were told not to look at them. They kept asking

(40:29):
do you want to die?

Speaker 6 (40:30):
Mon?

Speaker 2 (40:31):
Keep your head down man.

Speaker 3 (40:33):
Now, Later on I would like, yes, yes, I did
free me from.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
This this what? So later on Johnny Cash's son, John
Carter Cash, he wrote a memoir about his life and
he tells the same story in his book and the
book is called Anchored in Love like a boat anchor
sure right, And in it, John Carter he says how
the masked men with the gun holds it to his
head and makes him repeat, say you would die if

(40:59):
they do not give us three million dollars. So, despite
the armed men's he didn't quote any mond in there, No,
he did not.

Speaker 3 (41:07):
And did he have to say it tree or three?

Speaker 2 (41:10):
I just added that for you. I'm just working with you, Elizabeth, just.

Speaker 4 (41:16):
Trying to put myself in that like what is the
guy says three million dollars? And then little Johnny Cash
Junior is all true.

Speaker 2 (41:25):
What are you making fun of me?

Speaker 3 (41:26):
And then they get to see anyway, don't.

Speaker 2 (41:29):
You have any cultural sensitivity? So, despite the armed men's
demands that Johnny Cash handover a million or tree or
so to save his son's life, Johnny Cash has to
explain them he don't have it, ye right, He's like, look,
did Jamaican government would never allow me to bring that
much cash into your country. I can't just fly. I
don't have Jimmy Buffett over here. So, according to his

(41:49):
book Anchored in Love, after they realized that they won't
get a loose million or tree the armed mask men,
they changed their plan. So, as John Carter recalls it,
one of the bandits said they were going to take
us at a time, like around the house to our
room so we could give them all the money and
valuables we had. We were completely at their mercy, not
that they seemed to have any. Now, if like me,

(42:10):
you're wondering what Johnny Cash does while there's a gun
pointed at his boy's head. According to Hussy, he and
Cash worked out a plan to follow if anyone was shot.
John and I lay there whispering that we would take
a chair and charge the man with the hatchet. Hussy said,
So their plan is, I guess, take him out first
and just hope the guy with a gun is bad

(42:30):
aim I got. I don't know, but at this point
they all head crazy bad head. At this point, the
our men tell everyone to take off their jewelry, their watches,
hand them over. Now you may be wondering, Saren, I'm
not hearing a Christmas miracle now right now, I didn't
think so well to answer where the Christmas miracle part

(42:52):
of the story is, Elizabeth. I'd like you to close
your eyes and I'd like you to picture it. It's
the twenty third of December, and all through the house
a bunch of creatures are stirring, except for a mouse.

(43:13):
Because at the moment, a Jamaican badmn is planting a
gun at the head of Johnny Cash's son, and you, Elizabeth,
are a knife in the hand of a Jamaican rebel.
At the moment your a shiny metal blade gazes down
at all the folks lying head down on the floor
of the dining room of the Cinnamon Hills House. They
seem presently terrified, partly because of you, but most certainly

(43:36):
because of the gun aimed at the head of Johnny
Cash and June Carter's boy. John Carter, the so called
rebel who grips you tight in his somewhat sweaty hand,
he seems nervous. He's young, while the leader, much older
who holds the gun seems cool as a polar bear's toenails.
You hear him bark in order that he's gonna take
John Carter Cash with him on a tour of the

(43:56):
home so they can find whatever jewelry and valuables there
are to grab. He lifts the eleven year old boy
roughly to his feet. You hear the man in black
ask the gun wielding bad Mond to please remove the
gun from his son's head. The masked and armed man
sneers back. Don't worry about it, man and with that,

(44:17):
off you go the leader gunman. He leads the boy
to the wing of the house with the bedrooms. The
bad man with the hatchet follows, as does the man
who clutches you in hand. You're taken into the master bedroom,
where you sure hope you won't be plunged into a
mattress again to cut it open to reveal some hidden
jewels or whatnot, or worse yet, plunged into Johnny Cash's boy.

(44:38):
You hear the gun toting leader ask John Carter a
curious question, what do you do down here? The boy
hesitates to answer, so the masked man asks him what
do you like to do in Jamaica? Still scared, the
boy doesn't answer that question either. The armed man asks
another question, in a softened voice, do you snarkle? This

(44:59):
finally result at a wordless answer. The boy shakes his
head to say no. The man holding you in his
hand is amused by this line of questioning and laughs
to himself as he checks the bedside table for rings, earrings,
whatever he can find. He turns quickly as you both
hear the armed leader ask another question, do you wanta
fole my gun? You see the masked armed man hold

(45:22):
out his gun till the eleven year old boy as
if he would hand it over to him. This makes
no sense to you. As a thinking knife. You and
the man holding you in his semi sweaty hand are
riveted to see the boy's reaction. Will he take the
gun from the Jamaican bad mun John Carter Cash bravely
looks up at the man into his eyes, the same

(45:42):
eyes he can barely see through the paneos the man
wears on his head in order to hide his face.
And then he looks down at the gun, the one
that's been aimed at his head but is now reached
out if he wants to grab it. John Carter Cash
doesn't take the gun. Instead, he says, no, sir, I
don't play with guns. I have a lot of respect
for them. They're very dangerous. You guess Johnny Cash is

(46:06):
raising his boy right. He respects what a gun can do.
He likely also respects what a sharp knife like you
can do too. And then you hear the mask Jamaican
bad Man laugh, and he says in response, I like
youme on. He pulls the gun back, and he indicates
to his partners to follow him back to the dining
room to rejoin the others. When you come back into

(46:28):
the dining room, you see the relief fill Johnny Cash's
face and June Carter's eyes wet with waiting tears spread
wide at the sight of her son, who's still very
much alive. It's a Christmas time miracle. As the menace
in the room begins to fade away, John Carter Cash
has disarmed the anger of the intruders, and you are

(46:50):
also relieved. Even though you are a knife you still
abhor wonton violence, especially death at Christmas time. So there
you go, Elizabeth. Now, if you're wondering what Johnny Cash
was thinking while all this was going down, like, was
he praying to God to protect his son, I don't
have answers for that, I would assume, so, yeah, but
I do know this, Johnny Cash said at one point,

(47:11):
I really wasn't scared, except I was uneasy when the
one with the gun held it on my son. I
guess I was scared, but I couldn't let myself show it.
So he's trying to act tough. Johnny Cash got into
the place where he's trying to act tougher than he is. Yeah, exactly,
Luckily for Johnny, as you just saw, the arm bad
men did return John Carter Cash unharmed, and this helps

(47:32):
change the mood in the house. After that, the Jamaican
bad men quote took each person that there was, one
at a time and went from room to room looking
for valuables. This now lasts for the next two hours.

Speaker 3 (47:43):
Two hours searching this place.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
One at a time. Yeah, so, Elizabeth, it's pretty wild
that this Christmas dinner starts out with an armed man
who's wearing pantyhose on his head, who bursts into the
house yelling someone's going to die here tonight, and then
surprising with the same night ends without a single casualty
or exactly now. Also, rather than rip and ransack the place,
once they were satisfied with their haul of stolen loot,

(48:06):
the armed masked men, they ordered Johnny Cash and his
family and guests to get up off the floor and
then they lead them down to the basement. Now you
already know nothing bad is going to happen to them,
but remember they don't know exactly, So immediately some of
the women start crying, assuming they're being led down to
the basement to be murdered. Sure like a whole leave

(48:27):
no witnesses moment. Right, So the cook she falls out,
she faints. She's like, no, please, don't Lord Jesus, right,
So in response, the armed men bring her a cool
glass of water to drink. This relaxes the people because
now it seems less like they're going to be murdered
in the basement of a Jamaican plantation. In fact, according
to the UPI story, after the cook faints and they

(48:47):
bring her water, the armed masks men also bring down
some Christmas turkey, oh like a whole platter.

Speaker 6 (48:52):
Right.

Speaker 2 (48:53):
The UPI story said that they did that so that
the families quote seasonal celebrations would not be entire ruined. So,
being two growing boys, John Carter and his friend Doug,
they get busy and they mow down all that turkey.
They eat their fill. At this point, the bad men
barricade them all in the cellar and they lock them inside,

(49:13):
and then they are a mask man. They hop in
June Carter's land rover and they tear off into the
dark of the Jamaican night. If you're wondering how the
family gets out of the cellar, it just so happens.
You might imagine as Johnny Cash would later tell us Weekly,
I took a two by four after they left and
broke the door down, But by then the arm masked

(49:34):
bad men. They're gone. There's somewhere with like thirty five
to fifty thousand. I saw different amounts that they reported
somewhere between thirty five thousand and fifty thousand dollars worth
of jewelry and valuables. Now, when Johnny Cash tells this
story later on, in like one of his biographies or autobiographies,
rather he tells the story, he leaves out the fact
that the bad men stole a large cache of shoes,

(49:57):
Like I'm talking like one hundred and seventy five pairs
shoes to be exactly. I a couple questions, Melda Marcos.

Speaker 4 (50:04):
Yeah, did he travel with all these? Did he just
have them shipped down? How many pairs of shoes does
one man need?

Speaker 3 (50:10):
Is it was it just his? Was it everybody's shoes?

Speaker 2 (50:13):
Totally? Why one hundred and seventy five shoes? Johnny? Is
he a shoe guy?

Speaker 3 (50:16):
Were they in boxes? Is that why they were stolen?

Speaker 2 (50:19):
Were they worn it?

Speaker 3 (50:20):
I have a lot of.

Speaker 2 (50:21):
You're you're forgetting who we're talking about. As did I
when I was reading about this, because Elizabeth the shoes
are intended as a Christmas time donation to a local
orphanage that Johnny Cash and June Carter supported.

Speaker 3 (50:32):
What if the name of the of his like charity
was walk the line?

Speaker 2 (50:37):
Oh my god, you're good.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
I did not even dawn on me. I thought I shouldn't.

Speaker 2 (50:43):
I shouldn't have thought he'd be so selfish, I know,
but I did the same thing. I was like, Johnny,
why I got some damn shoes. So, once they're all
freed from the seller, Hussey, the brother in law, he
leaves the Simon Hill State with one of the staff
to go alert the police about the robbery. So, according
to the account that Hussey shared with the UPI, when
they contact the authorities, the police inspectors like, oh yeah.
They end up telling Johnny Cash and them that those

(51:04):
same robbers who busted in on their Christmas dinner were
known bad men. They were members of a terrorist group
according to the police. Now, in fact, the leader of
the group had been shot and killed by the police
a week prior, not the same one.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
They just put it aside and went out and got
back to work.

Speaker 2 (51:22):
We right back to work, the professionals, semi professionals. So
the police they had developed this working theory that perhaps
robbing Johnny Cash was an inside job because the robbers
sure knew a lot about the family. They knew to
threaten John Carter right. They also, the Jamaican cops could
come to believe that perhaps the robbers had even been
to the house before because based on their familiarity with
it and the fact that they knew no security would

(51:42):
be there.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
Yeah, I could see that.

Speaker 2 (51:44):
So like, were they delivery people, were they workmen? Were
they friends of neighbors? Who knows? But what we do
know is that what happens after the break in, two
of the arm mask men they get caught and arrested
at Donald Sankster International Airport, named for the former prime minister.
They get busted in Montego Bay at the airport. You
both had tickets to Miami, and as Hussey told the UPI,

(52:07):
we were told they had a fence in Miami. So
at least they did think of that part. They had
a fence. We always tease these guys and they make
they don't have so true. But I don't know. I
don't know about you, Elizabeth, but I kind of doubt
they'd get top dollar in Miami, Like, I don't know
if the provenance of the jewels would be properly appreciated,
Like who knows of a fence working in Miami in

(52:27):
nineteen eighty one is a country music fan or even
like would know who June Carter is. You know, it's
like these are June Carter's. Oh yeah, I'm sorry, I'm
a cocaine cowboy.

Speaker 3 (52:36):
I don't take it to Nashville, No.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
Exactly where do you? They took it to Miami and
they had a fence there, so they're like working like
I don't know, like the cocaine cowboy like rounde.

Speaker 3 (52:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:45):
Either way, most of the stolen valuables they get recovered
when they bust them. So John Carter cast said in
his memoir the whole incident was well, as he put it,
yeah that was quite a night. I love his impulse
to downplay the whole night. But how many crazy knights
you seen this?

Speaker 3 (53:00):
As you're thinking, like if it doesn't rank in like
the top ten.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
Right, yes? So anyway, how does Prime Minister Edward Siaga
come into play into this scenario? You great, great question
Elizabeth As. The UPI story from the days after the
incident reports Jamaican police, fearing the impact of the publicity
on their fragile tourism industry, have had no comment about
the robbery. However, there was one man who wanted to

(53:25):
get ahead of the narrative. One Edwards Siaga, the tool
of the CIA, a man elected in the fraught violent
nineteen eighty Jamaican elections. Yeah, the same man, as I said,
brought to power by the CIA backed unrest that now
that no one can quite put away. They're like, stop it.
What is this the French Revolution? I said, stop it. So,
according to the UPI story, the Jamaican Prime Minister Edward

(53:46):
Siaga personally apologized to Cash. Personally, the Prime Minister was like,
come on, Johnny. Now, they didn't even do that for
Jimmy Buffett, you know, they shot him out of the
sky with bonhom They're like, I don't know, send him.
I had out. So they're also reports that the Prime
Minister ordered an armed guard of Jamaican soldiers from the
Jamaican Defense Force to encircle the home and keep Johnny

(54:06):
Cash in Cinnamon Hill safe. The symbolism of his actions
were pretty clear at the time there would be no
more violence against rich white men, especially influential all American
types like Johnny Cash. So obviously Siago's leadership very much
pleases Margaret Thatcher and the newly elected US President Ronald Reagan.
Oh yeah, they're geeked that they have this guy in
Jamaica and that Jamaica is no longer a friend of Cuba.

(54:29):
And thus it marks the beginning of a new era
for the Caribbean and for the Western world. It kind
of stops the turning tide of the of communism socialism
in the Western hemisphere. And why because a man like
Edward Siaga knew how to shrewdly align himself with both
Bob Marley and Johnny Cash. He knew how to co
opt those rebels and signal to all the world that

(54:49):
Jamaica is now a playground for the rich and the
and the cultural rebels, but not the militant Yeah. So, now,
am I suggesting that CIA backed viol it's going down
in the Jamaican streets is somehow related to these former
rebels who were this so called terrorists? Yes, i am,
And also am I suggesting that it was connected the
same sort of lawlessness that almost took Bob Marley's life.

(55:11):
And then I'll now threaten Johnny Cash. I also, but
I don't know that for a fact. I do know
Johnny Cash naively chalked up what went down in that
night to what he called the Ganja Wars. Oh, because
there was a bunch of That's how he described it.
That vastly understates what was going down at Jamaica. But Elizabeth,

(55:32):
I will say that Edward Siagas certainly knew how to
use this moment to his benefit. And I think it's
ultimately fitting we give the final words to the man
in black himself. In his autobiography, Johnny Cash wrote that
he considered what happened that night as well as he
put it, I'm out of answers. My only certainties are
that I agree for desperate young men and the societies
that produce and suffer so many of them. I felt

(55:54):
that I knew those boys. We had a kinship they
and I. I knew how they thought. I knew they needed.
They were like me. He's talking about trucks. Yeah, no,
there it is, Elizabeth. But there's our second Christmas Time miracle.
Johnny Cash gets robbed. They point guns at his son,
his wife, him, his friends, his archaeologist. Yes, they threatened

(56:15):
to kill someone. They steal valuables, and they steal his
shoes for an orphanage. And he never demonizes Jamaica. It's
people or even those bad men. Yeah, Instead, Johnny Cash
walks away identifying with the armed bad men. He sees
himself in them. I think, old baby Jesus.

Speaker 4 (56:33):
You know you gotta you gotta give it up to
Johnny Cash is true Christians.

Speaker 2 (56:37):
Right, that's the kind of Christian that I'm like, hats off. Sorry,
I can see how your your spirituality informs your life exactly,
how you walk the line, right you do. What's a
ridiculous takeaway?

Speaker 3 (56:48):
Here, mess Johnny Cash?

Speaker 4 (56:50):
Right, that's just yeah, that should that should be a
global thing. I mean, obviously he's not around anymore to
mess with, but even just in his spirit, don't step
to him, Sarah, what's your ridiculous take away?

Speaker 2 (57:02):
You know, sometimes you try real hard and sometimes you
jamake a mistake.

Speaker 3 (57:07):
Oh my god, that's sweet, Banana Winds.

Speaker 2 (57:13):
Yes, so you're in the mood for talkback. We can
watch this down like it with a cool dacker Eam
produce a d Can you favor us with a nice
and tasty one? Oh?

Speaker 6 (57:27):
Oh my god, I love get.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
Hey rude dudes.

Speaker 5 (57:36):
I just listened to the Pizza Connection episode excellent title,
by the way, and I have a related story. About
ten years ago, I was renting a house with some
friends in kind of a sketchy neighborhood like you do
in your twenties. A KFC up the street from us
was eventually busted for selling drugs out the drive through
window openly like people were ordering a ten piece and
a dimebag. That was our cue to move. Obviously, thanks

(57:57):
for the podcast, and I'm looking forward to the loof
Heistuff episode.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
Yes, time back a ten piece?

Speaker 3 (58:06):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (58:07):
I like that dimebag, extra crunchy, extra sticky.

Speaker 3 (58:12):
Oh that's so good.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
Well, thank you for that one. And uh we obviously
we'd love your talkback, So please go to the iHeart
app downloaded and you can leave a talk back there
maybe to hear your voice here, we would love to
hear it. And uh you can also find us online
at Ridiculous Crime on our social media that's mostly Instagram,
a blue sky. I think I think somewhere else, maybe
I don't know. And we have the account Ridiculous Crime

(58:34):
Pod on YouTube, so go check that out if you
prefer listening on YouTube. And we have our website, Ridiculous
Crime dot com, which we we didn't get nominated for
any awards this week. I think we're slacking, I know,
but whatever, So that's okay. So now you can't win
every week. So you can email us though if you
want at Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com. We'd love

(58:56):
to hear from you. We've been getting some great ones
if we think about putting together a mailbag episode, so
please send us some ridiculous Confessions stories, you know, things
you found. We'd love to hear it. As always, thank
you for listening and we will catch you next crime.
Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zarin Burnett,

(59:19):
produced and edited by Johnny Cash's favorite podcast producer, mister
Dave Kustin, and starring analyst Rucker Is Judith. Research is
by our very own Tennessee two Marissa Brown and Jabbari Davis.
Our theme song is by our resident June Carter, fanboys
Thomas Lee and Travis Dutton. The host wardrobe provided by
Body five hundred guest hair and makeup by Sparkleshop and

(59:43):
mister Andre. Executive producers are Henry Kissinger, Anti Fan Club
presidents Ben Bolin and Noel.

Speaker 6 (59:50):
Brown REDI Why Say One, We're Ridiculous Crime.

Speaker 1 (01:00:03):
Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts
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