Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
There are some people in this world, some people on
this earth. I f oif who can fall into a
barrel of poop and come out smelling like a rose.
I'm quickly beginning to believe that my guest is one
of those people. He is. He is retired from the FBI.
He is. He is a a well received author now
(00:22):
of crime novels. He's got two out. I believe a
third is on the way shortly. And and so he
decided to take a little break, little vacation. He in
the missus. They went to Frans They went to France.
Retired FBI agent. They went to France. Guess who was
(00:44):
at the louver trying to see them on Lisa when
this big heist occurred. Yep, Derry, I'm telling you, comes
out of the poop smelling like the rose. He is
the one, the only Harry trombitis, Hello, sir, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Oh? I'm fine? Yeah, you know, come out smelling like poop.
You know, some people would say I went in smelling
like poop.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
You you seriously, I mean, these these books that you
were writing about crime, and I was joking with you
this morning, It's like you just walked into the next book,
and that this is this is perfect, this is uh,
this is Ocean's fourteen, this this uh. And I don't
think they're going to catch him. I really the fact
that they were lucky enough to get away with something
(01:30):
this absurd to begin with makes me feel like just
they've they've I don't know, they got some kind of
cloak on them, but I'm guessing as a former FBI
agent retired now even on foreign land, you were probably
fighting the urge to just take over the investigation right there.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Absolutely. Uh, you know. I when I found out what
was going on, my first inkling was to let somebody know, Hey,
you know, can I give you a hand? You know,
I have a little experience some things, and maybe I
can help. But you know, no one wants to listen
to an old retired FBI agent, especially over in Paris,
(02:09):
so I kept my mouth shut.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Oh well, it's got nothing to do with FBI. It's
just in France. You know, you're oh, no, I can no, no, no,
So yeah, you don't know what is the what's the
French equivalent of the FBI? Who would be handling this
for the Oh my.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
You shouldn't have I mean, jeez, there probably is a
what would be a federal branch, but darned if I
know what it is off the top of my head.
I I just know that the French police were involved
in this investigation, and you know, I have confidence that
they're going to resolve the resolve the issue. Now, whether
(02:48):
they get the the French crown jewel jewels back or not,
you know, together or apart or melted down, remains to
be you've seen. But you know, the fact that we're
not hearing anything doesn't really surprise me a lot. We
have to remember, Chuck, when we're when we make press
(03:13):
briefings and press releases, we're actually talking to the bad
guys themselves, so we're kind of keeping them in a
loop on how the investigation is going. And here over
in the United States, you know, we do our best
to keep the media informed, and you know, we should
be responsible and not release any information before we're absolutely
(03:36):
sure about it, but you know, there's that constant pressure
to get information out and sometimes mistakes are made, and
we also don't want to give the bad guys any
insight into what's going on. So, you know, the Paris
officials right now, I haven't heard anything recently. That doesn't
(03:58):
mean that they're you know, running around like Keystone cops
with not knowing what to do. They very well may
be on the right path and have information that will
lead to the resolution of this case. So I don't
think we should sell them short at this point.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
The things that were stolen, the items stolen just gut
either strictly happenstance or somebody with a whole lot of
money basically you know, put in a booster order and
said they would pay big bucks because you cannot there's
(04:39):
no way you can sell this stuff. It can't be
that the jewels even if the you know, the things
are melted down, the metals are melted down, those jewels
are still going to be distinguishable. I mean, this has
to be nothing but black market, covert, dark web stuff
from this moment forward. If anything comes of the things
(05:00):
that we're stolen the moment.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well yeah, I guess that remains to be seen. You know,
there certainly are our people out there who would love
to get their hands on this material and on the
jewels and you know, use it for personal use, you know,
have it, have it in their possession. And again, you know,
there are things that can be done to the jewels
(05:22):
to perhaps at some point be able to pass them
off to other individuals who may want, you know, to
have those in their possession. We're talking about one hundred
and two million dollars worth of jewels, and that that
doesn't count the historical value to the French people. So
(05:48):
you know, it was quite u I truly believe it
was a well planned concept here. May have certainly had
some inside involvement. They knew what they were doing, they
knew exactly where things were, they knew where security would be.
(06:09):
They had they dressed as you know construction workers that
were on site there daily working. They knew that they
had the ladder truck available to them, they had the
right tools to breach the you know, glass and enclosure
(06:31):
that the jewels were kept in. They actually did a
great job in being able to you know, breach that
and get those jewels in their possession. And they obviously
obviously thought about their escape because I don't know if
you or some of your listeners have driven around in
(06:54):
that particular area around the Louver, but you know, it's
very hectic, very busy, and if you try to escape
a car in some type of a vehicle. You're not
going to get very far very fast.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Traffic is like circular around it, isn't it like five
layears in a cig traffic circle?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, but you're not going anywhere fast. And I know
when when we were there just recently, you know, things
move at a snail's pace, and you know, the thing
to have is a motorcycle where you can you know,
they do that lane splitting and you know, so you've
got two lanes of traffic side by side. These motorcycles
(07:37):
come right down the middle of the lane at a
high rate of speed and they're weaving in and out
of cars. And if you were you know, the PO
PO or uh you know, I just remember the Police
Nationale is I think the federal police there. But if
you're trying to follow and you're not on a motorcycle,
(07:59):
you're self, well, you're not going to be able to,
you know, catch up to these guys on a motorcycle.
So I think it was a well planned, well executed heist.
And we'll see, you know, where the investigation leads, and
hopefully they'll they'll be able to identify these individuals, pull
(08:21):
them accountable and get the jewels backed in whatever shape
or format that they're in at the time they recover them.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
You mentioned something, and this Harry Trumbite is by the way,
retired from the FBI and an author now joining me
on the Legacy Retirement group dot com foam mines. He
was in in France when the Louver was robbed, and
I just thought it'd be interesting to get his perspective
as an American law enforcement person. You just mentioned, you know,
the French in European overall, I guess love of and
(08:53):
respect for history. If this was a kidnapping per se,
would they have likely seen, from your experience a demand
for whatever ransom at this point for these pieces or
is there still some time to see if that might
be the case.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Well, you know, well I'm not really sure. Again, if
it was an individual that was taken kidnapped, is that
what you meant.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Or well, I just mean, if they're going to hold
these pieces hostage and say, okay, French government, you love
these pieces, we love our history. We want one hundred
million dollars. You say that's what they're worth, and you
give us that, we'll give you your stuff back.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Well, I mean, I guess, you know, can't rule anything out.
I would be surprised if that happened. I don't think
this was a theft that for the purpose of getting
a ransom payment, if you will so, But I mean,
I obviously don't have any inside knowledge about it, but
(09:57):
I would be surprised if that was the case. I
think it was a matter of just wanting to get
you know, something as valuable as the French Crown jewels,
and get it to the individuals that wanted them, and
whether they keep them for personal gratification or whether they
(10:22):
end up trying to get rid of them or melt
them down. I guess we'll see what happens. But you know,
this was the plan. This wasn't you know, something that
they just hatched that morning. This was something that was
well thought out, and you don't do that without knowing
what you want to do with them when you get
(10:43):
the goods, if you will.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
I never root for the bad guys, but I have
to say this is one of the more intriguing criminal
things that has happened that it has my attention to.
It's not like, oh, I hate these guys. I'm actually
watching because I'm just I'm so curious that it's it's
almost like watching a James Bond movie. I'm waiting to
see what happens. And uh, it's been a while since
we've had anything happen anywhere in the world that I've
(11:08):
just kind of stayed glued to out of sheer curiosity.
So I guess I should be Uh, I should be
a little more harsh on them than what I am,
But I'm just so intrigued that I can't be mad
about it yet.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Well, I think we can marvel at the planning and
the execution. Certainly. I don't think we have to admire
them as far as you know their their purpose, but
you know, certainly the plan and that appeared to be
well executed in that and then just being there that morning,
(11:42):
I can tell you we I actually spoke to There
were several military officers with machine guns that were out
in the courtyard area, and I actually spoke to one
right before we went into the building, and there was
no indication that they knew anything was going on at
(12:03):
that point. And we were led by our small group
leader into the building and we were heading down into
the hall. Down the hallway, I assumed to see the
Mona Lisa at that point, and all of a sudden
the people in front of us stopped and we couldn't
hear or see what was going on, but they turned
(12:25):
around and they started walking back towards us, and it
was kind of confusing. At that point, our group leader
was able to make contact with their office and found out,
in fact that the police had just released information that
these jewels had been taken and that they were closing
(12:49):
the museum and that immediately. So she got information from
her company that apparently was monitoring the situation with the police,
and so we exited the building in an orderly fashion.
I mean, there was no panic. Everybody was kind of
quiet and moved to the outside. And like I said,
(13:13):
that we just didn't make it far enough to get
to see the Mona Lisa or any other the things
that we wanted to see, so you know, it was
kind of, you know, sad for us. It was our
last day of our trip and we were really looking
forward to see some of these things, and unfortunately we
(13:34):
didn't get to do it.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
So well, they'll send you a coupon or something, though,
I know, well we're running out of time here, Harry,
but let me ask you for your experience as an
American law enforcement person very quickly. Did you considering the value,
the monetary and historical value of the items in that building,
did you find what you saw to be security to
be sufficient there or were you kind of surprised by
(13:58):
how lax it felt.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Well, when I saw the soldiers outside, I thought, well,
you know, this is pretty pretty normal for a you know,
a high priority area like the Lubra, and so I
figured everything was pretty well in hand. And then when
I heard about the heist, and I'm thinking, with all
these people around and certainly security has to be you know,
(14:23):
aware of the value of those items in there, how
they could let something like this happen, you know, was
really shocking to me. So I didn't make it in
far enough to know about the security that they had
in place. And I don't want to be too harsh,
but it just seemed to me that whatever they had
was not sufficient. And you know, clearly they they were
(14:48):
defeated by a team of individuals that knew what the
heck they were doing and you know, had a plan
in place and executed it perfectly.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Well, we'll keep an eye on it, and I hopefully
I'll get a chance to talk to Youse more. I'll
put up a link on my Facebook page to the books.
I don't know if you've got the third one ready
to roll yet or not, but the ones that do
we know are out, I will make sure we get
a little publicity for you.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Well, I appreciate it. We all four books are out,
Chuck and available.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
You've got all four done? One?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I'll put up the put up the Barnes and Noble
Amazon link when I get off the air tonight, so
if people want to go in and read your experiences,
they'll be able to do so.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Harry trum Bidens retired from the FBI, but still very
accessible to us.
There are some people in this world, some people on
this earth. I f oif who can fall into a
barrel of poop and come out smelling like a rose.
I'm quickly beginning to believe that my guest is one
of those people. He is. He is retired from the FBI.
He is. He is a a well received author now
(00:22):
of crime novels. He's got two out. I believe a
third is on the way shortly. And and so he
decided to take a little break, little vacation. He in
the missus. They went to Frans They went to France.
Retired FBI agent. They went to France. Guess who was
(00:44):
at the louver trying to see them on Lisa when
this big heist occurred. Yep, Derry, I'm telling you, comes
out of the poop smelling like the rose. He is
the one, the only Harry trombitis, Hello, sir, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Oh? I'm fine? Yeah, you know, come out smelling like poop.
You know, some people would say I went in smelling
like poop.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
You you seriously, I mean, these these books that you
were writing about crime, and I was joking with you
this morning, It's like you just walked into the next book,
and that this is this is perfect, this is uh,
this is Ocean's fourteen, this this uh. And I don't
think they're going to catch him. I really the fact
that they were lucky enough to get away with something
(01:30):
this absurd to begin with makes me feel like just
they've they've I don't know, they got some kind of
cloak on them, but I'm guessing as a former FBI
agent retired now even on foreign land, you were probably
fighting the urge to just take over the investigation right there.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Absolutely. Uh, you know. I when I found out what
was going on, my first inkling was to let somebody know, Hey,
you know, can I give you a hand? You know,
I have a little experience some things, and maybe I
can help. But you know, no one wants to listen
to an old retired FBI agent, especially over in Paris,
(02:09):
so I kept my mouth shut.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Oh well, it's got nothing to do with FBI. It's
just in France. You know, you're oh, no, I can no, no, no,
So yeah, you don't know what is the what's the
French equivalent of the FBI? Who would be handling this
for the Oh my.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
You shouldn't have I mean, jeez, there probably is a
what would be a federal branch, but darned if I
know what it is off the top of my head.
I I just know that the French police were involved
in this investigation, and you know, I have confidence that
they're going to resolve the resolve the issue. Now, whether
(02:48):
they get the the French crown jewel jewels back or not,
you know, together or apart or melted down, remains to
be you've seen. But you know, the fact that we're
not hearing anything doesn't really surprise me a lot. We
have to remember, Chuck, when we're when we make press
(03:13):
briefings and press releases, we're actually talking to the bad
guys themselves, so we're kind of keeping them in a
loop on how the investigation is going. And here over
in the United States, you know, we do our best
to keep the media informed, and you know, we should
be responsible and not release any information before we're absolutely
(03:36):
sure about it, but you know, there's that constant pressure
to get information out and sometimes mistakes are made, and
we also don't want to give the bad guys any
insight into what's going on. So, you know, the Paris
officials right now, I haven't heard anything recently. That doesn't
(03:58):
mean that they're you know, running around like Keystone cops
with not knowing what to do. They very well may
be on the right path and have information that will
lead to the resolution of this case. So I don't
think we should sell them short at this point.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
The things that were stolen, the items stolen just gut
either strictly happenstance or somebody with a whole lot of
money basically you know, put in a booster order and
said they would pay big bucks because you cannot there's
(04:39):
no way you can sell this stuff. It can't be
that the jewels even if the you know, the things
are melted down, the metals are melted down, those jewels
are still going to be distinguishable. I mean, this has
to be nothing but black market, covert, dark web stuff
from this moment forward. If anything comes of the things
(05:00):
that we're stolen the moment.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
Well yeah, I guess that remains to be seen. You know,
there certainly are our people out there who would love
to get their hands on this material and on the
jewels and you know, use it for personal use, you know,
have it, have it in their possession. And again, you know,
there are things that can be done to the jewels
(05:22):
to perhaps at some point be able to pass them
off to other individuals who may want, you know, to
have those in their possession. We're talking about one hundred
and two million dollars worth of jewels, and that that
doesn't count the historical value to the French people. So
(05:48):
you know, it was quite u I truly believe it
was a well planned concept here. May have certainly had
some inside involvement. They knew what they were doing, they
knew exactly where things were, they knew where security would be.
(06:09):
They had they dressed as you know construction workers that
were on site there daily working. They knew that they
had the ladder truck available to them, they had the
right tools to breach the you know, glass and enclosure
(06:31):
that the jewels were kept in. They actually did a
great job in being able to you know, breach that
and get those jewels in their possession. And they obviously
obviously thought about their escape because I don't know if
you or some of your listeners have driven around in
(06:54):
that particular area around the Louver, but you know, it's
very hectic, very busy, and if you try to escape
a car in some type of a vehicle. You're not
going to get very far very fast.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
Traffic is like circular around it, isn't it like five
layears in a cig traffic circle?
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Yeah, but you're not going anywhere fast. And I know
when when we were there just recently, you know, things
move at a snail's pace, and you know, the thing
to have is a motorcycle where you can you know,
they do that lane splitting and you know, so you've
got two lanes of traffic side by side. These motorcycles
(07:37):
come right down the middle of the lane at a
high rate of speed and they're weaving in and out
of cars. And if you were you know, the PO
PO or uh you know, I just remember the Police
Nationale is I think the federal police there. But if
you're trying to follow and you're not on a motorcycle,
(07:59):
you're self, well, you're not going to be able to,
you know, catch up to these guys on a motorcycle.
So I think it was a well planned, well executed heist.
And we'll see, you know, where the investigation leads, and
hopefully they'll they'll be able to identify these individuals, pull
(08:21):
them accountable and get the jewels backed in whatever shape
or format that they're in at the time they recover them.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
You mentioned something, and this Harry Trumbite is by the way,
retired from the FBI and an author now joining me
on the Legacy Retirement group dot com foam mines. He
was in in France when the Louver was robbed, and
I just thought it'd be interesting to get his perspective
as an American law enforcement person. You just mentioned, you know,
the French in European overall, I guess love of and
(08:53):
respect for history. If this was a kidnapping per se,
would they have likely seen, from your experience a demand
for whatever ransom at this point for these pieces or
is there still some time to see if that might
be the case.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Well, you know, well I'm not really sure. Again, if
it was an individual that was taken kidnapped, is that
what you meant.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Or well, I just mean, if they're going to hold
these pieces hostage and say, okay, French government, you love
these pieces, we love our history. We want one hundred
million dollars. You say that's what they're worth, and you
give us that, we'll give you your stuff back.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Well, I mean, I guess, you know, can't rule anything out.
I would be surprised if that happened. I don't think
this was a theft that for the purpose of getting
a ransom payment, if you will so, But I mean,
I obviously don't have any inside knowledge about it, but
(09:57):
I would be surprised if that was the case. I
think it was a matter of just wanting to get
you know, something as valuable as the French Crown jewels,
and get it to the individuals that wanted them, and
whether they keep them for personal gratification or whether they
(10:22):
end up trying to get rid of them or melt
them down. I guess we'll see what happens. But you know,
this was the plan. This wasn't you know, something that
they just hatched that morning. This was something that was
well thought out, and you don't do that without knowing
what you want to do with them when you get
(10:43):
the goods, if you will.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
I never root for the bad guys, but I have
to say this is one of the more intriguing criminal
things that has happened that it has my attention to.
It's not like, oh, I hate these guys. I'm actually
watching because I'm just I'm so curious that it's it's
almost like watching a James Bond movie. I'm waiting to
see what happens. And uh, it's been a while since
we've had anything happen anywhere in the world that I've
(11:08):
just kind of stayed glued to out of sheer curiosity.
So I guess I should be Uh, I should be
a little more harsh on them than what I am,
But I'm just so intrigued that I can't be mad
about it yet.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Well, I think we can marvel at the planning and
the execution. Certainly. I don't think we have to admire
them as far as you know their their purpose, but
you know, certainly the plan and that appeared to be
well executed in that and then just being there that morning,
(11:42):
I can tell you we I actually spoke to There
were several military officers with machine guns that were out
in the courtyard area, and I actually spoke to one
right before we went into the building, and there was
no indication that they knew anything was going on at
(12:03):
that point. And we were led by our small group
leader into the building and we were heading down into
the hall. Down the hallway, I assumed to see the
Mona Lisa at that point, and all of a sudden
the people in front of us stopped and we couldn't
hear or see what was going on, but they turned
(12:25):
around and they started walking back towards us, and it
was kind of confusing. At that point, our group leader
was able to make contact with their office and found out,
in fact that the police had just released information that
these jewels had been taken and that they were closing
(12:49):
the museum and that immediately. So she got information from
her company that apparently was monitoring the situation with the police,
and so we exited the building in an orderly fashion.
I mean, there was no panic. Everybody was kind of
quiet and moved to the outside. And like I said,
(13:13):
that we just didn't make it far enough to get
to see the Mona Lisa or any other the things
that we wanted to see, so you know, it was
kind of, you know, sad for us. It was our
last day of our trip and we were really looking
forward to see some of these things, and unfortunately we
(13:34):
didn't get to do it.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
So well, they'll send you a coupon or something, though,
I know, well we're running out of time here, Harry,
but let me ask you for your experience as an
American law enforcement person very quickly. Did you considering the value,
the monetary and historical value of the items in that building,
did you find what you saw to be security to
be sufficient there or were you kind of surprised by
(13:58):
how lax it felt.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Well, when I saw the soldiers outside, I thought, well,
you know, this is pretty pretty normal for a you know,
a high priority area like the Lubra, and so I
figured everything was pretty well in hand. And then when
I heard about the heist, and I'm thinking, with all
these people around and certainly security has to be you know,
(14:23):
aware of the value of those items in there, how
they could let something like this happen, you know, was
really shocking to me. So I didn't make it in
far enough to know about the security that they had
in place. And I don't want to be too harsh,
but it just seemed to me that whatever they had
was not sufficient. And you know, clearly they they were
(14:48):
defeated by a team of individuals that knew what the
heck they were doing and you know, had a plan
in place and executed it perfectly.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Well, we'll keep an eye on it, and I hopefully
I'll get a chance to talk to Youse more. I'll
put up a link on my Facebook page to the books.
I don't know if you've got the third one ready
to roll yet or not, but the ones that do
we know are out, I will make sure we get
a little publicity for you.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Well, I appreciate it. We all four books are out,
Chuck and available.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
You've got all four done? One?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah, all right.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
I'll put up the put up the Barnes and Noble
Amazon link when I get off the air tonight, so
if people want to go in and read your experiences,
they'll be able to do so.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Harry trum Bidens retired from the FBI, but still very
accessible to us.
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