February 27, 2025 • 8 mins
On the Friday February 27, 2025 edition of The Armstrong & Getty One More Thing Podcast...
- Joe brings us some of the fascinating details regarding the drug cartel theft of Nike shoes!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The James Gang would be impressed. It's one more thing,
Armstrong and Getty, one more And I refer not to
Joe Walsh's pre Eagles, pre solo career outfit, the three
piece Canadian classic rock heros, the James Gang, but indeed
the gun wielding Western bandits specifically train robbers. We talked
(00:26):
during the Armstrong and Getty radio show about the Mojave
Desert train heists that targeted like unreleased Nike sneakers and
how that's just becoming. It's a huge thing now. But
how they do it and how big a problem it
is was a little long to get into on the
radio show, so I thought I would describe it to you.
The thieves stealthily bored eastbound freight trains hiding out until
(00:49):
they reached the lonely stretches of the Mohave Desert or
high planes way away from towns. Then they slash an
air break hose, causing the my long line of railcars
to screech to emergencies, stop up. Then they go shopping.
How many people are on one of these trains? Probably
not very many people at all, right, I don't know
the official people that work on the train oh, no,
(01:10):
it might be you know, just a couple. Yeah. I
actually I looked into that for odd reasons years ago,
just how many people were on a train and because
I wanted to do a ride along from Reno to
Sacramento on one of the freight trains cool and learn
more about freight trains. But they were in the midst
of this bitter union dispute as the companies were trying
(01:32):
to go from like three people on the train to
two or whatever it was. And anyway, so it's very
very few people. But so investigators are describing a string
of at least ten heists targeting BNSF trains in California
and Arizona since March. Last March March, all but one
resulted in the theft of Nike sneakers, their combined value
(01:52):
approaching two million dollars. So they cut the air hose
and they give some of the particulars of this one theft.
Many were Nigel Sylvester air Jordan Fors Who's Nigel Sylvester.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
No, no rapper, my son would know.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Not going to be available until March fourteenth. Expected a
retail for two twenty five prepare but go for a
lot more on the black market. So the theft crews
typically scout high value merchandise on rail lines that parallel
Interstate forty. They bore the slow moving trains, like when
they're changing tracks and opening containers, according to the Veep
(02:32):
of Operations and Deputy sheriff who's interviewed, so the thieves
are sometimes tipped off to valuable shipments by confederates working
at warehouses or trucking companies. Other times they simply look
for containers with high security locks the figure they're there
for a reason, then they cut them with reciprocating saws
(02:52):
or bolt cutters. According to Homeland Security, once the desired
loot is found, the thieves alert follow vehicles which the train.
The stolen goods are then tossed off the train after
it comes to a halt, either for a schedule stop
or because the air hose cut or they can cut
control wires inside signal boxes too to make the train stop.
(03:13):
According to federal agents, well.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
One of the advantage of stealing these Nike shoes just
because my son so into it and he has several
pair of uh real expense, hev bought them in the
he got them for Christmas or birthday and the you know,
the the aftermarket is there's such an aftermarket already built
in for this. It'd be so easy to fence this stuff,
you know, because like Louis Vauton bags, it's there's not
(03:37):
like a built in infrastructure for those real bags to
be sold in the aftermarket for more money than they
go for, but there is for Nike shoes. Man, there's
all kinds of websites that do that, and he based
full of them. I mean they're all over the place
and they'll retail for two twenty five, they'll sell out
that day. That night, they'll be all over eBay for
five to eight hundred dollars and all over the place.
(03:59):
So it's not people are suspicious. They might be stolen
immediately because it's common every single day.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And it's the opposite of most stolen goods, which you're
gonna have to sell at a discount. Yeah yeah, yeah.
So the cargo is then loaded into box trucks or
hidden in nearby brush until they arrive, provided the surveillance
crews that also follow the train don't detect law enforcement.
These tactics often employed by transnational criminal groups that consist
(04:25):
primarily of Mexican citizens from Sinaloa. According to the FEDS,
including the Cineloa cartel, there were at least sixty five
thousand railroad cargo thefts last year, which is up forty
percent from twenty twenty three. Hmm more lawlessness. The thefts,
which are typically classified as burglaries because they don't involve
(04:46):
directly confronting victims, which is the definition of a robbery.
They're believed to cost the nation's rail companies more than
one hundred million dollars, and it could be an undercount
because railroads don't publicize all the theft sure.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
All I can say is, if you're in a cartel
and listening a pair of Travis Scott mochas in eleven
and a half, throw you a couple of bones, and
oh lord, this is nobody needs.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
This is breaking several different laws, and I'd be happy
to testify. Let's see. The company's crews, of course, are
instructed not to confront thieves, but to report the incidents instead,
but the crews rarely encounter them because the trains are
so long and thieves take care to evade detection. The
thefts tend to ebb and flow, often tied to the
(05:35):
release of desirable new products. In December, investigators saw rash
of thefts in which smart vacuum cleaners were stolen from
train containers. The Great roombahist.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
That's so interesting. So like speaking of Travis Scott Nike,
they had a release on those two months ago, on
their latest there's only been like five Travis Scott releases.
I guarantee you when those were released, they hit a
train because boom, so much money to be made. Yeah,
those shoes, for instance, they sell out it two hundred
(06:12):
round two hundred bucks, they'd be worth fifteen hundred dollars
that evening one five hundred dollars per pare now easily so,
so this might be a lot of money in that.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
This Nigel Sylvester guy is a BMX athlete. That's all right,
I'm looking at these shoes. They're ugly. Cartel can keep it.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
It's not the point. But as Jack, who has a
really odd amount of information on stolen goods, informed us,
the stolen merchandise usually transported to California to be sold
or offered for sale via online third party Amazon nee
Bay resellers. Both Amazon and e Bay said in statements
that they have zero tolerance for criminal activities on their platforms.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Well, like, I know, you don't go to malls. They
work with law enforcement. You're not a mall guy. You
probably don't know this. But every mall now, and this
has only been in the last couple of years, has
got a store that sells all kinds of sneakers and
they're all wrapped in plastic. They're used, all of them,
and there are walls of these used sneakers. Oh, I
wonder what percentage of we're stolen. I always have just
(07:16):
assumed it was people that were able to buy them
at the original price and then we're willing to let
them go for more money. But there's every mall has
one of those stores now, especially upstairs walls.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah. Wow. June last year, California local enforcement agencies and
Homeland Security executing the search warrant at eleven residences and
sixteen storage units relating to the ongoing train burglaries, arresting
forty three suspects and recovering from the storage units about
three million bucks worth the merchandise believed to him and
stolen from the BNSF train.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Come back for train robberies.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I'm looking at a pair of these. One pair of
these is on eBay right now. It's a size nine
for nineteen hundred dollars.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
What are they?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
The Nigel air drawlers? That what the model that was stolen?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Nineteen hundred bucks?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, nineteen hundred bucks, but it's a size nine.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Sorry, yeah, I was. I was unaware of this whole
thing until I don't know, last year. We'd go in
the grocery store and Sam would say, Dad, that guy
where there's wearing fifteen hundred dollars shoes and You're like
what And you just looked like a pair of Nikes
to me.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
No, no, no, huh.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
I'd be worried I was gonna get jumped and my
shoes would get stolen.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I'm surprised that doesn't happen more often.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
I remember when Air Jordan's first came out. It did
all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Must depend on your neighborhood, you're, I mean, because and
they most young people like my son wear him untied. God,
if you just pushed him over, you could slight him
off his feet so easy. In there, not to give any.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Hints, yeah, yeah, human beings and what they value, Yes,
such an interesting study psychologically, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Well, I guess that's it.
The James Gang would be impressed. It's one more thing,
Armstrong and Getty, one more And I refer not to
Joe Walsh's pre Eagles, pre solo career outfit, the three
piece Canadian classic rock heros, the James Gang, but indeed
the gun wielding Western bandits specifically train robbers. We talked
(00:26):
during the Armstrong and Getty radio show about the Mojave
Desert train heists that targeted like unreleased Nike sneakers and
how that's just becoming. It's a huge thing now. But
how they do it and how big a problem it
is was a little long to get into on the
radio show, so I thought I would describe it to you.
The thieves stealthily bored eastbound freight trains hiding out until
(00:49):
they reached the lonely stretches of the Mohave Desert or
high planes way away from towns. Then they slash an
air break hose, causing the my long line of railcars
to screech to emergencies, stop up. Then they go shopping.
How many people are on one of these trains? Probably
not very many people at all, right, I don't know
the official people that work on the train oh, no,
(01:10):
it might be you know, just a couple. Yeah. I
actually I looked into that for odd reasons years ago,
just how many people were on a train and because
I wanted to do a ride along from Reno to
Sacramento on one of the freight trains cool and learn
more about freight trains. But they were in the midst
of this bitter union dispute as the companies were trying
(01:32):
to go from like three people on the train to
two or whatever it was. And anyway, so it's very
very few people. But so investigators are describing a string
of at least ten heists targeting BNSF trains in California
and Arizona since March. Last March March, all but one
resulted in the theft of Nike sneakers, their combined value
(01:52):
approaching two million dollars. So they cut the air hose
and they give some of the particulars of this one theft.
Many were Nigel Sylvester air Jordan Fors Who's Nigel Sylvester.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
No, no rapper, my son would know.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
Not going to be available until March fourteenth. Expected a
retail for two twenty five prepare but go for a
lot more on the black market. So the theft crews
typically scout high value merchandise on rail lines that parallel
Interstate forty. They bore the slow moving trains, like when
they're changing tracks and opening containers, according to the Veep
(02:32):
of Operations and Deputy sheriff who's interviewed, so the thieves
are sometimes tipped off to valuable shipments by confederates working
at warehouses or trucking companies. Other times they simply look
for containers with high security locks the figure they're there
for a reason, then they cut them with reciprocating saws
(02:52):
or bolt cutters. According to Homeland Security, once the desired
loot is found, the thieves alert follow vehicles which the train.
The stolen goods are then tossed off the train after
it comes to a halt, either for a schedule stop
or because the air hose cut or they can cut
control wires inside signal boxes too to make the train stop.
(03:13):
According to federal agents, well.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
One of the advantage of stealing these Nike shoes just
because my son so into it and he has several
pair of uh real expense, hev bought them in the
he got them for Christmas or birthday and the you know,
the the aftermarket is there's such an aftermarket already built
in for this. It'd be so easy to fence this stuff,
you know, because like Louis Vauton bags, it's there's not
(03:37):
like a built in infrastructure for those real bags to
be sold in the aftermarket for more money than they
go for, but there is for Nike shoes. Man, there's
all kinds of websites that do that, and he based
full of them. I mean they're all over the place
and they'll retail for two twenty five, they'll sell out
that day. That night, they'll be all over eBay for
five to eight hundred dollars and all over the place.
(03:59):
So it's not people are suspicious. They might be stolen
immediately because it's common every single day.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
And it's the opposite of most stolen goods, which you're
gonna have to sell at a discount. Yeah yeah, yeah.
So the cargo is then loaded into box trucks or
hidden in nearby brush until they arrive, provided the surveillance
crews that also follow the train don't detect law enforcement.
These tactics often employed by transnational criminal groups that consist
(04:25):
primarily of Mexican citizens from Sinaloa. According to the FEDS,
including the Cineloa cartel, there were at least sixty five
thousand railroad cargo thefts last year, which is up forty
percent from twenty twenty three. Hmm more lawlessness. The thefts,
which are typically classified as burglaries because they don't involve
(04:46):
directly confronting victims, which is the definition of a robbery.
They're believed to cost the nation's rail companies more than
one hundred million dollars, and it could be an undercount
because railroads don't publicize all the theft sure.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
All I can say is, if you're in a cartel
and listening a pair of Travis Scott mochas in eleven
and a half, throw you a couple of bones, and
oh lord, this is nobody needs.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
This is breaking several different laws, and I'd be happy
to testify. Let's see. The company's crews, of course, are
instructed not to confront thieves, but to report the incidents instead,
but the crews rarely encounter them because the trains are
so long and thieves take care to evade detection. The
thefts tend to ebb and flow, often tied to the
(05:35):
release of desirable new products. In December, investigators saw rash
of thefts in which smart vacuum cleaners were stolen from
train containers. The Great roombahist.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
That's so interesting. So like speaking of Travis Scott Nike,
they had a release on those two months ago, on
their latest there's only been like five Travis Scott releases.
I guarantee you when those were released, they hit a
train because boom, so much money to be made. Yeah,
those shoes, for instance, they sell out it two hundred
(06:12):
round two hundred bucks, they'd be worth fifteen hundred dollars
that evening one five hundred dollars per pare now easily so,
so this might be a lot of money in that.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
This Nigel Sylvester guy is a BMX athlete. That's all right,
I'm looking at these shoes. They're ugly. Cartel can keep it.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
It's not the point. But as Jack, who has a
really odd amount of information on stolen goods, informed us,
the stolen merchandise usually transported to California to be sold
or offered for sale via online third party Amazon nee
Bay resellers. Both Amazon and e Bay said in statements
that they have zero tolerance for criminal activities on their platforms.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Well, like, I know, you don't go to malls. They
work with law enforcement. You're not a mall guy. You
probably don't know this. But every mall now, and this
has only been in the last couple of years, has
got a store that sells all kinds of sneakers and
they're all wrapped in plastic. They're used, all of them,
and there are walls of these used sneakers. Oh, I
wonder what percentage of we're stolen. I always have just
(07:16):
assumed it was people that were able to buy them
at the original price and then we're willing to let
them go for more money. But there's every mall has
one of those stores now, especially upstairs walls.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Yeah. Wow. June last year, California local enforcement agencies and
Homeland Security executing the search warrant at eleven residences and
sixteen storage units relating to the ongoing train burglaries, arresting
forty three suspects and recovering from the storage units about
three million bucks worth the merchandise believed to him and
stolen from the BNSF train.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Come back for train robberies.
Speaker 3 (07:49):
I'm looking at a pair of these. One pair of
these is on eBay right now. It's a size nine
for nineteen hundred dollars.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
What are they?
Speaker 3 (07:58):
The Nigel air drawlers? That what the model that was stolen?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Nineteen hundred bucks?
Speaker 3 (08:04):
Yeah, nineteen hundred bucks, but it's a size nine.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Sorry, yeah, I was. I was unaware of this whole
thing until I don't know, last year. We'd go in
the grocery store and Sam would say, Dad, that guy
where there's wearing fifteen hundred dollars shoes and You're like
what And you just looked like a pair of Nikes
to me.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
No, no, no, huh.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
I'd be worried I was gonna get jumped and my
shoes would get stolen.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
I'm surprised that doesn't happen more often.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
I remember when Air Jordan's first came out. It did
all the time.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Must depend on your neighborhood, you're, I mean, because and
they most young people like my son wear him untied. God,
if you just pushed him over, you could slight him
off his feet so easy. In there, not to give any.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Hints, yeah, yeah, human beings and what they value, Yes,
such an interesting study psychologically, no doubt.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Well, I guess that's it.
Hosts And Creators
Joe Getty
Jack Armstrong
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