September 5, 2025 • 54 mins
Angie is riding her Paddy Mane trip for the second week. This week, she covered Paddy Mane's tumultuous start to military service and how he met the founders of the SAS.
Theresa takes us in a wildly different direction as she circles back on a previous story. Before she'd covered William Riker, the cult-founder of Holy City in episode 132. Today she covers William Riker's lawyer, Melvin Belli. This man fired a cannon from the roof of his office and flew the Jolly Roger flag when he won cases.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
Hi, and welcome to the Unhinged History Podcast,the podcast where two friends come together and
tell history stories while adding chock-full ofconversation and really just deride anybody
(00:28):
who's here for a straight story because we'regoing to chat about it. Why? Because we're friends
and I've never heard the story that Angie's aboutto tell me and she has no idea what I'm about to tell
her. So there will be some conversation back andforth. That was your warning. That's all yet.
Yeah. So when we check the episode notes on Spotifyor the reviews that we hear, it would be great, but
(00:50):
there's a lot of chatter. That's what we signed upfor. Literally why we did this. So listener
beware. You had your chance. Yeah. I'm Angie. I'mTeresa. I think I said that already. Did you? Oh,
yeah. I mean, what? We're 137 episodes in and we'venailed the introduction. Every single time. I get
(01:16):
to go first today. Hell yeah. Now last week youstarted telling me about this bro-ski named Patty
Maine, who really sounds like a soap operacharacter. With a name like that. Yeah. Now that
you say that, yeah, we're still talking aboutPatty Maine, where we got Patty Maine for like a few
more episodes on my part because his life was justamazing. So my sources are the same sources they
(01:42):
were last week. Do you want to repeat them just incase we have new listeners or sure? People like me
who can't remember if they ate breakfast and hadtheir medicine. So I haven't eaten breakfast yet.
There are three books all by Damien Lewis. One isBrothers in Arms, Church Hills Special Forces
(02:04):
during World War Two's darkest hour. SAS Forged inHell and SAS Dagger's Drawn, that like I said, all
by Damien Lewis. The, of the three books, the bookthat I am most referred, that I most refer to in this
(02:24):
episode is Brothers in Arms, Church Hills SpecialForces. There is a really great biography by
Hamish Ross called Patty Maine. Super. I could notrecommend that enough. And then this week I have a
couple of other sources. Brave, brutal andmisunderstood Patty Maine, the daring Irishman
(02:48):
who pioneered the modern SAS. This is an article inthe Irish Post by a guy named Michael Murphy in
November of 22. And then there is Commando PattyMaine, Ireland's Wolf of the Desert, werewolf
history, werewolf warfare history network.Well, this tone of the story changed
(03:11):
dramatically. I kind of wanted some alcantipy.I'm so sorry. But you know what? Honestly, he's big
enough. So if you just want to imagine that, go forit. What I do find to be particularly interesting
is that the warfare history network refers to himas Ireland's wolf of the desert. He refers to
(03:34):
himself as the desert rat, but the rest of the worldrefers to him as an Irish lion. And the reason that
they do that is partially because of the just him ingeneral, but also because when he went on the world
tour in his rugby, he played for the British Lions.So last week, if you weren't listening last week, I
(03:59):
covered his youth and his time on the rugby pitch. Ilearned that he was capped for Ireland six times. I
feel like that's important to say, because I thinkI gave you a different number and capped is put on
the national team just for those again, didn'tthis last week and are just like capped like shot.
What does that mean? Yeah. He's got a feather in hiscap. Um, I feel like it's important to say that it
(04:22):
was six times because he was a proud Irishman andthere are tons of other proud Irishman out there
that I am not trying to offend. So cats six times forIreland confirmed. So I thought I would tell you
this week a little bit about his early militarycareer. So remember, just, just like a little,
(04:46):
little rewind, he played rugby. He went to schoolto become a solicitor, which is a lawyer and it's
1938, 1939. The clouds of war are forming in theworld, right? So in the early days of the war, after
the colossal mess that was the appeasement, Maineand many others like him from all over the UK, kind
(05:11):
of seeing these storm clouds forming in list inMaine's case, he joins the fifth light
anti-aircraft battery. But before that in 1938,Maine had volunteered to the officers training
corps at Queens University, where he previouslystudied law. So he goes back to Queens University
(05:33):
to join the officers training corps. Now, like Ijust mentioned, he had studied law there. That's
where he became a solicitor. But to quote DamienLewis, he says, he simply couldn't abide drill and
mindless square bashing. And in short order, theQueens training officer had concluded that he was
unpromising material for a combat regiment,undisciplined, unruly and generally
(05:58):
unreliable. Wait, he said that about himself. Hesaid that about, so that's the training officer
saying it about Patty Maine. Oh, OK. That makesmore sense. It's supposed to be like, yeah, I have
too much of a problem with authority. So goodbye,which I'm so glad you said that. So I find that
comment hilarious only because of comments fromhis subordinates later that totally like that's
(06:26):
the exact opposite of who he may like grows up to be.So anyway, that's how he basically joins the
fifth. Again, Maine, like many of his countrymen,joined up because of this strong sense of duty and
like this idea of what is right. But also, Maine islooking for a little bit of adventure and he is
super frustrated by this sort of stalemate thatseems to plague the initial stages of the war.
(06:53):
According to the Irish Post, there are those thatdubbed the time between 39 and 40 as the phony war,
because like things just weren't happening. Likethere's a lot of kind of hurry up and wait and then
nothing would happen. So Maine, some of hisfriends and then one of his brothers, Douglas,
they all transfer units. Douglas goes to the RAFand Maine goes to the Royal Ulster Rifles. And this
(07:20):
is this is where things about the hurry up and waitstart to change a little bit. First, a couple of
things have to happen, though. There would be theinvasion of Denmark and Norway by the Wehrmacht
and then the blitzkrieg of the German panthersthrough the formerly impenetrable fortress at
the French Ardines. That which was followed by themarch through the streets of Paris in early 1940.
(07:43):
So war is definitely making its way into theforefront here, right? Secondly, and probably if
I had to guess, most importantly, the new PrimeMinister of England would take over Winston
Churchill. And he alone would alter the way of theBritish Empire. And by extension, everyone else
(08:05):
looks at the war. This idea of appeasement from hispredecessors was thrown right out the window with
his belief that you quote cannot raise in with atiger with your head in its mouth. So hello quote,
right? So Churchill is for his part a big fan of thisidea of elite forces. Commandos, if you will, who
(08:28):
can get in, get out are mostly self-sufficient andnot a big fan of sitting still and like just waiting
for armies to march up and like knock on the frontdoor. So Churchill kind of starts advocating for
these smaller white groups that can kind of punchtheir way through things, right? And this is
(08:50):
separate than the guerrilla warfare. Yes, it isseparate than the guerrilla warfare in what it
does, but it also does engaging guerrillawarfare. Okay. So it's kind of dual purpose. And
you'll find out later some of the other things thatthey're involved in. So here's where we're at.
(09:13):
While Maine is with the Royal Ulster Rifles, orquite possibly a little bit earlier, he meets a man
called Ian McGonagall. And I'm going to tell youright now, this is the only time that I'm going to be
cool with the spelling of his name. It is E-O-I-N.And for all of our listeners at home, I am married to
an Ian and it is I-A-N. And this is a very big deal inour health. But to each their own. This
(09:38):
relationship with McGonagall would pretty muchdefine Maine for the rest of his life. Um, just want
to point out it's 1940. Maine is a Northern IrishProtestant. While McGonagall is a Southern Irish
Catholic. And that is kind of a big deal in the next20 years. Kind of a big deal in 1940. Um, we could
(10:00):
talk about that on a different story. But I justwanted to, to bring that up to show that for these
guys, your belief systems and where you're fromand who you are at the end of the day came down to at
the very core, what kind of man you are and nothingelse mattered. And that I think is really
important to Maine and McGonagall'srelationship. These two are like peas in a pod.
(10:27):
Sick as thieves, if you will. Where Maine wasconsidered a gentle giant in school and often shy
or reserved. Not to say that he like didn't stir thepot or raise hell, especially when, when he was
drunk. McGonagall was exactly what you wouldexpect when you think of a charming Irishman. He
would get them into trouble with those pretty eyesand we would get them out. And in my point, in my
(10:53):
opinion, everybody needs a friend like that. And Ithink if I'm honest, a lot of my love for Maine comes
down to his devotion to McGonagall and how you seeit in every aspect of his later relationships. To
clarify, they did not have a romanticrelationship, nor is there any real evidence to
suggest that Maine played both sides as someauthor state. I'm saying this because I don't care
(11:18):
one way or another how one chooses to live theirlove life, but I do care when things are
exaggerated or lies, just flat out lies are told.And a lot of Maine's story is both of those things.
So when I started learning about him, some of myfirst encounters were with things that were
exaggeration or just straight lie. And I wanted toI wanted to know the actual like person I wanted to
(11:42):
understand like all of the things like these guys,not a single member of the essay, I needed any
exaggeration on who they are, what their life waslike, their stories are big enough without it. So
sorry about my side quest then there. It just bugsthe snot out of me when we have to lie to make a story
bigger, you know, look at so many of the stories Itell, or I'm like, Hey, you know, this great thing
(12:07):
isn't this amazing all lies. Pretty much. Yeah.And that's for me. That was like, holy cow,
everything they say is either a lie or anexaggeration. And it is so not necessary in this
case. Like there's another one coming up here injust a minute. So I'll get to it. Now it's around
June of 1940. Commando number 11 is formed. And sothe boys, they leave the Royal Ulster rifles and
(12:33):
both Maine and McGonagall volunteer and findthemselves in Syria of all places, because this is
a world war after all. Yes. Under the command of aone Colonel Petter. Now, for the sake of time here,
I'm going to give you a really short, really brokendown version of their time with Commando 11, but
(12:53):
basically they are, they train on Isle of Arran. Sothey train in Scotland for action in Syria. So it's
like, let that sit in your pocket for a minute,which, OK, here we are. They do all they do this
extensive, extensive training and all sorts ofthings, all sorts of landing, all sorts of
(13:17):
guerrilla warfare, all sorts of with the word Iwant to use, we'll say decommission of things. And
then they're sent to the Latani River, which issituated in VT Run, French, Syria. So their goal on
the Latani River is to take and hold a bridge. Thisbridge is crucial for the advancement of the 22nd
(13:45):
Australian Infantry Brigade. Like this wholeidea is that if we can, if this small group of men can
take and hold this bridge long enough for theAustralian infantry to get there, there can be
this larger force of like an invasion, a fullinvasion army that can come through this
direction. Does that make sense? Yeah, I'mhearing you. So it's like a multi country plan
(14:08):
here. Like we're all working our part to get thisinvasion force there. However, they face a ton of
issues from the get go. They're being dropped offin these landing craft via the water in the worst
possible conditions that you could face. Theylose a ton just in the landing. They're fired on by
(14:32):
those they consider friends because, let's behonest, the VT Run French government was just a
puppet government. And so main and his men arelooking at this like these are guys, these are our
allies, like these men that were that were firingagainst we shouldn't be. Like they had a real moral
issue with it, but also we want to live. So here weare. So they're having just tons and tons of
(14:59):
issues. And then the other big thing that is likethis monumental loss for them is they lose their
failure with Commander Colonel Petter, who bythis point, after all this training and all this
time, Maine has spent with him, has seen him as thisremarkable leader and a friend. And so he, Colonel
(15:23):
Petter takes Maine and McGonagall into his unitbecause for him, Maine and McGonagall were
exactly the type of man you needed for a commandounit. They are independent. They don't really
listen to rules like the high command can't reallystop them. They're self-sufficient. They have
(15:46):
this like what they call later is a devil may careattitude. But they're also incredibly devoted to
the task and can incredibly devoted to their men.So Colonel Petter is like, I can take these two and
use all of the good things that they have and trainthem to be the best that they can be. And so he does.
(16:09):
And so for Maine and McGonagall losing ColonelPetter was like kind of, you know, you have that one
boss you just absolutely love. And then theyretire and they go Hawaii. You never see him again.
It sounds very, Angie, have you gone through this?Because this is an extremely precise example.
(16:29):
Yeah, I love my boss and he left me for the state ofHawaii and I'll never get over it. But I will see him
again. He's he's he's still he still texts me on theregular. So we're good. Anyway. So just because
Colonel Petter was you, Colonel Petter was let megive you a little back story about his time, like
(16:53):
their time underneath him leading up to theLaTanoo River action. Maine would write home to
his mom and tell her how much he liked being where hewas, where there were no women to fuss over the
mess. And in one letter, he said he would tell themhe writing home, he would tell how he and
(17:13):
McGonagall would start their fires saying,quote, the coal is in very large lumps to split it,
we just fire a revolver shot into it and it crackswonderfully. Maine and McGonagall are Colonel
Petter's weapons officers. So there's like nolack of weapons or ammo around. So to split the
(17:35):
firewood with your revolvers seems just like thebest way to use our time. And McGonagall was more
than qualified to deal with Maine when he'd had toomany to drink. Maine might get rowdy and start
causing problems. And McGonagall would justpoint his pistol at him and say, I'll shoot you
Blair. And that seemed to do the trick every singletime. That doesn't mean that the walls of the house
(18:02):
they were staying at weren't peppered with bulletholes from all their wild nights. Good. I'm just
going to give you that visual like they're having agreat time. Lewis, like I said earlier, he says in
his book that they have this sense of devil may careattitude and that possessed like these two, these
two guys that that character trait alone causedtheir men to love them even more. And it gave them
(18:30):
this sense of like, I don't want to sayimmortality, but this belief that if they're with
Maine and McGonagall, all is going to be well. Andso we will follow you to the very depths of hell
because they'll get us out bottom line. But toreally send this story home, the previous New
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Year's Eve. So during all this training, Maine hadbeen a bit heavy on the bottle. And one of their
young recruits who also happens to live in the samehouse with them found Maine to wish him a happy New
Year's when in short order, Maine punches him inthe face and into a wall. So having he's having to go
(19:16):
pretty sure at this point, McGonagall steps in andsends Maine to fetch some water. And while Maine is
gone, McGonagall gets the young recruit out of thehouse, but not before Maine fires a few rounds at
them. When they return home, because this is wherethey live. So like the next morning they come back.
(19:39):
They quote found Maine alone in the house, largelysober with all the windows shot out and surrounded
by 36 small bottles of sherry brandy, one side ofbeef, one leg of lamb and two loaves of bread. They
pose the obvious question. Where the hell did youget all this stuff? Get up the tracks and hide the
(20:00):
lot. So at some point after McGonagall got theyounger gentleman out of the house, Maine gets it
in his head to go raid the brigade headquarters.Oh, my God, he steals. He finds. Louis goes on to say
that they had just managed to hide all of it andpatch up the windows by the time the local police
(20:22):
arrived to investigate. Incidentally, whenMaine woke up the next day, he had no memory of the
night before because when Maine saw the youngofficer, he said, who hit you? Just tell me and I'll
short the bugger out. And I can only imagine thelook on the young officer's face. Like he has come
(20:44):
to the realization he that Maine doesn't rememberhitting him, but Maine is going to go and protect
him now. Now, a little while later, Colonel Petterconfronts Maine saying, quote, by the way, so this
is like a few days later, I know who broke into thebrigade HQ on New Year's Eve and stole all the
drink. To which Maine says, huh, you tell becauseit was a great mystery at the time. And for Petter,
(21:16):
that was the end of it. Like he got his point across.Maine knew he knew the end problem solved. We're
never going to talk about it again. And Maine,you're not going to pull this crap again. So now
we've got our time in training sorted out. Fastforward back to Petter's death at the LaTonny
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River. After he dies, the command of Maine's unitfalls to a man called Keyes. We're not a big fan of
Keyes. Maine had thoughts about Keyes kind ofsurrounding these orders that Keyes puts out
during the LaTonny Reaction that Maine sees assuicidal sacrifices. Like they're not going to
(22:02):
win at this moment. Why are you sending them there?You're just sending them to their death. And so
Maine has some real big, big feelings about this.And he doesn't like Keyes and Keyes in return
doesn't like Maine. This part is a bit murky, but asI understand it, one night while Maine and
(22:23):
McGonagall are playing chess in the officer'smess, Keyes comes in and Maine ushers him out on the
end of the bayonet. Oh, yeah. Discipline actionfollows and Maine kind of gets a mouthful and just
goes about festering his hate for Keyes. I think Isaid this in the first part of the story, but Maine
(22:45):
hates bullies. He does not like loudmouth and he'snot a fan of like self-proclaiming people that
just only have fabulous things to say aboutthemselves. Like he's a man of action. Show me,
don't tell me. And he also has an authority issuewith superiors who act like they are actually
superior and this high-born officer was that Ithink his real problem with him was that you, you
(23:10):
were the son of an aristocrat. You became anofficer because of that. And now you're just going
to look down your nose at everybody else. Likewe're all men. We all put our pants on the same way.
And so like that, that's kind of the source of hisbeef, but then it just gets bigger and bigger.
Anyway, but the thing that doesn't sit well afterPetter's death is that between the training and
(23:37):
fighting, his unit had found a dog and our boy,Maine loves animals. And this dog kind of becomes
his unit's mascot. While they're fighting at theLaToni River, one of the officers shoots their
dog. And keys doesn't really do anything about it.Like doesn't, like, what are you going to do? The
(24:00):
other, the other officer thought the dog wastiresome. And to Maine, that was like the biggest.
Absolutely not. You could possibly do because thedog wasn't tiresome. He was our dog. He belonged to
our unit and you had no right to shoot him, whichhonestly, fair. Right. This doesn't sit well with
Maine. Keys is in action on it, nor the other guy whoobviously shot it. And just a few nights after keys
(24:24):
was invited to leave the officer's mess via thebayonet, someone comes to the conclusion who the
dog killer was and attacks a one major BevelCharles Allen Napier. Now Napier has no real
proof, but he tells keys that the huge unknownassailant was Maine. And even keys at this point is
(24:46):
like, I'm not sure about that, but if that's whatyou say, okay. So Maine takes the rap and gets RTO,
which means he's basically sent back to his formeror parent unit. Um, no one actually knows who
attacked Napier, but Maine takes the rap eitherway because he's not going to let any of his guys
(25:06):
take the fall regardless of who did it. Nobodyknows. Maine never says it wasn't him. So that was
kind of the end of it for him. Um, he's on, he's, he'sbeing sent back to Britain because he's being
returned to his former unit and on his way home,Maine is hospitalized in Egypt with malaria. Oh, I
(25:28):
don't know about malaria in a minute. Um, it's herethat he meets a nurse he really likes and they have
great conversation. The nurse writes to hissister to let him let everybody know he's doing
fine, um, which I thought was really cool. And it isalso here where he learns as an expeditionary
force that's being raised to head up and traingrill, uh, gorilla army for the Chinese to help
(25:52):
fight the Japanese who at this point, everyonethinks is going to join the access like at any
moment. And he lets McGonagall know, Hey, like youshould go to China with me. This sounds great.
Technically it's Burma where their training campis going to be, but it is also here at this hospital
and not in a prison cell. Like all the stories saythat he meets a one captain, David Sterling. And
(26:17):
with that, Maine becomes a founding member of LDattachment, otherwise known as the SAS. Oh, wow.
And that'll be my story next week. Oh my gosh. Okay.So David Sterling did not pull him out of the jail
cell just to clarify. Like all the stories say he,he visited him in the hospital. A little bit more
(26:44):
noble. A little bit, but you know, I will say I'mlike. I was going to say, there's something more
romantic, more idyllic to pull a founding memberof the SAS out of a jail cell in a hospital because
when I think of a hospital bed I'm like, you seem alittle puny versus you seem a little tough. Yeah, I
(27:09):
mean I get it. So there was this longstandingbelief that he did go to jail for both his ushering
keys out of the mess hall on the end of the bayonetand then this assault of this other gentleman. But
he never did. And even Keyes said, I wasn't in themess when that happened. So like there's all
(27:31):
these, this is what everybody said was happeningbut even Keyes himself was like maybe didn't do it.
Like his personal journals, by this point Mainewas already like, by the point that other officers
were noticing some issues, Maine was already inthe hospital. Maine had been RTU'd like a month
(27:54):
before and was sitting with malaria inAlexandria. So on the one hand you have like this
really, you're right, romantic view of like thatwonderful scene in the mummy where Evelyn goes and
pulls O'Connell out of the prison cell. And that'stheir meat cute. But then you also have this idea
(28:16):
that like David Sterling knows for a fact Maine hasbeen RTU'd. He knows he's going to be
court-martialed. He knows all of these thingscould potentially be going south for Maine but
also like you have a unique skill set that I wouldvery much like to use in the desert. Could you,
would you join my unit? I mean either way, whetherhe pulled him out of the hospital or jail cell,
(28:40):
Sterling saved his career one way or the other.Like just by chance. Right. If he wanted him. So
yeah, that's my story of the early years of Maine'scareer. Nice. Okay. Well, I'm going to take us on a
wildly different place. So, Sida, let's go. Okay.So, I am going to, okay, so in the episode where I
(29:11):
covered William Riker in Holy City, the Holy CityCulp, I mentioned somebody in passing. I
mentioned a lawyer named Melvin. I think I calledhim Belly but apparently his pronouns Belly.
Whatever. I liked Belly. You know, but then it wasjust like that meant in middle school he was
probably called Melly Belly. Yeah, he probablywas. But so I mentioned this lawyer in passing that
(29:39):
William Riker had and then later on a friend ofmine, Wendy, sent me a one liner about this lawyer
and I went, oh, I need to do a deep dive. And then Iwent, wait a minute, I know this name. Oh, it's the
same lawyer. So that day I'm going to do a deep diveon Melvin Belly. Although now he's in my head is
(30:03):
Melly Belly. And my sources, gwerne.net, the bioof Melvin Belly, found SF, Melvin Belly, King of
Torts by Art Peterson. Torts? Like the little pie?Okay, but Tort is also a legal definition. Oh,
(30:23):
okay. So, same spelling. I'm hungry. Okay.Apparently you haven't had breakfast, right?
Like, so these are things. Right. I, O, O, F,Sonora, Melvin Belly, Noe Hill in San Francisco,
San Francisco landmark number nine, BellyBuilding. Okay. So we're going to start in July
(30:43):
29th, 1907, Melvin Belly is born. He's born to aprosperous family in Sonora, California. He's
the only child of Caesar A. and Linoe Moran Belly.Belly. Caesar is a prosperous banker and rancher
(31:05):
whose family had immigrated from Switzerlandright after the Civil War. And from what we
understand, Melvin really admired his father.He's not as fond of mom and mom apparently dressed
him in little Lord Fauntleroy suits. Okay, to befair, I wouldn't be fond either. But I have a
(31:30):
feeling you have to do more than just come up withatrocious outfits to be not so pleased with.
Honestly, because it's really, yeah, agreed,agreed. Now here's where I get a little in the woods
or the little woods in the weeds. But I'm doing thison the off chance that this means something to you
because this is your neck of the woods. The familylived in an apartment on the east corner of
(31:55):
Washington Street and Leno Berk Street. Yes, itdoes. Now this is above his maternal
grandparents' pharmacy. Oh my gosh. Okay. Okay.I'll go take a picture for you. Thank you. Dr.
Lewis, Louise or Lewis and Anna Christina Moran.Now during his youth, he's drawn to these
(32:17):
grandparents. He's fascinated by medicalcollections of his grandfather, the Pothic carry
jars in the drugstore. His grandmother, AnnaMoran, is the first female pharmacist in
California. Cool. So, Lewis, did you know that?Yeah. Now I have questions. There is a building
(32:37):
downtown that still has the tile in the ground likewhen you walk through the front door that says
pharmacy. It hasn't been a pharmacist for 55years. That's amazing. But I'm wondering. A
pharmacist here in 55 years. Yeah. I mean, we haveother pharmacists now, but not there. It's an
(32:59):
antique store now. Yeah. We've been brewing ourown potions for the last 55 years. Mommy says. His
uncle, Otto, carries on her business. Okay. So,they kept it in the family, at least for a bit, until
you got there and then they just up and left. I'm not55 also, so there's that. I mean. So, 1920, the
(33:26):
family moved to the city of Stockton where he'snamed valedictorian of his school in Stockton
High School. He graduates in 1925. This man, justto set the stage, excelled in debating, acting,
and writing for the school paper. So, he was a bornlawyer then? You would think. Now he ends up
(33:49):
running into a little bit of trouble when he'scaught hosting a beer party in the high school
newspaper office. In the 20s? Yeah. Now. Love thatfor him. He's suspended and they threatened to
withhold his diploma. Now his dad successfullysues the principal for Melvin's reinstatement.
(34:10):
Love that. Now, this incident impresses Belly,who had long since decided to become a lawyer. And
Belly graduates from the University of Berkeleyin 1929, where he only got kind of average grades.
And after he travels around the world for a year, heattends the law school at Berkeley as well. Okay.
(34:33):
Now, it's in 1941 that he starts attractingattention because of his aggressive
representation of people who've been damaged insome way. Do you say 1941? 41. So, we're jumping a
little bit. I'm going to go... Making sure I had myears right there. Right. Now, there's going to be a
little bit of jumping back and forth becausethere's a lot of nuance that I want to get in. And so,
that nuance is going to come in where it made themost sense. But, yeah. Now, he starts getting his
(34:59):
attention because he's focusing on people who'vebeen injured by products, by services, whatnot.
He has this creative skill for developingcourtroom techniques to present the cases.
Before this tort or tort law, which is what this is,is presenting the damages for being injured. It
has not been advantageous. It hasn't beenprofitable. It's kind of been looked down on.
(35:25):
Nobody's really doing it, right? So, no ambulancechasers. No ambulance chasers. And it's funny you
say that because he's reported and saying, I'm notan ambulance chaser because I got there before the
ambulance is dead. Okay. I mean, that's kind of theperson we're dealing with, okay? Okay. His fame
(35:45):
spreads far and wide along this practice. And TimeMagazine calls him the king of torts for his
groundbreaking work in personal injury action.Okay. And it's around this time that he represents
William Riker of the Holy City Cult. Okay. Now, tokind of set the stage for who he is, he, right after
(36:11):
he graduates law, he's in law school, has thislife-altering experience. And it's during, at
this point, it's the height of the GreatDepression. Right. Okay. And he gets a job with the
Work Progress Administration. And he's ridingthe rails with hobos. And he's reporting on the
circumstances of this uprooted and growingunderclass. Okay. That's kind of cool. Truly, I
(36:35):
mean, if you're a dude and you would feel safe doingthat, that kind of seems like a great adventure.
Now, on the job, he witnessed the Los Angelespolice clubbing Oakleys as they got off the train.
So it doesn't seem like a lot's changed. Nope. Andthere is, this gives him the desire to balance his
(36:57):
representation of the rich and famous with thisextremely heavy dose, a standing up for the people
that folks have never heard of. Right. No, thatmakes sense. Good for him. So I love this duality.
Now, I probably should have said this earlier, buthe looks like a movie star. He looks like a lawyer
(37:21):
from Central Casting. Oh, I'm so bummed out. Canyou describe to me that he was dressed like little
Lord Frantzleroy? The image I had in my mind is sodifferent. He's got a square jaw. He's got some
portly good looks. He's got this deep booming sexyvoice that observers noted he could play like a
(37:42):
symphony when he performed in front of a jury. Geton it, buddy. Good for you. So when you think of the
movie-esque lawyer, it is based off this human.Love it. Okay. And that's why when I had jury duty, I
was like, these guys suck. Turn the channel. I wantanother true crime. Yeah. His outwardly manner,
(38:08):
how he projects himself into the world just nailsthe lawyer stereotype. His trial techniques,
they're incredible. They are extraordinary.Okay. Now, more than anybody else, he is what they
call the father of demonstrative evidence. Okay.Now, in his courtroom appearances, he is
(38:31):
supporting all of his efforts with photos,movies, scale models, human skeletons, animals,
and prosthetics. Okay. Now, he's bringing stuffin. He wants the jury to sit up. He wants them to lean
in. He wants them to pay attention to what he'sdoing and saying. In one case, he's pursuing
(38:52):
damages for a woman who lost her leg in an accident.And on the first day of the trial, he brings in this
rat package to court that looked like it could benothing other than a leg. Now, remember, his
client is missing a leg. He's known forshenanigans and he has this big leg size box. Leg
size box. Okay. Got it. Throughout the trial, thejury's captivated and fixated on this box. Fair.
(39:21):
And so, during his summation, Bellae unwrappednot the woman's leg because, again, the leg is
missing, so this could have been said leg. But herprosthesis, passing it around the jurors and
proclaimed, this is what my client will wear forthe rest of her life. Adding sarcastically, feel
the blood as it pulses and flows through her veins.Ooh, dramatic. Oh, this man leaves no stone
(39:50):
unturned. Has some flair, if you will. Speaking offlair, after he wins the court case, he would raise
the Jolly Rager flag over his building and fire acannon mounted on his office roof to announce the
victory and impending party. Ha ha ha ha ha. We livein the wrong time. How many of our stories have
(40:14):
somebody with a cannon in the front yard and now wehave somebody with a cannon on the roof? I mean, we
had Cassius Clay with his cannon, we had ShelleyBauman meet the wrong end of the cannon. Oh, you're
doing another missing leg story. Dang it. I didn'teven see you. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
(40:36):
ha ha. That's amazing. Oh, I should have included.Did you hear that? Alessandro, she's doing
another missing leg. Ha ha ha ha. And I don't evenhave syphilis in this story. Dang, but we hadn't
wear yet. So there's that. We did. Yeah. All right,we're going to. Not really as fun as syphilis. No,
(40:58):
but a missing leg. They come up more often than Ifeel they should in history. Ha ha ha ha ha. We're
going to, we're going to zip up to 1964. Now there'sa ton of legal skirmishes that Belly's involved
in. The one that generates a crap ton of his ofattention for him was when he represented pro
(41:22):
bono. Jack Ruby, the assassin of Lee HarveyOswald. Lee Harvey Oswald. The man who killed Jack
Kennedy. Okay. Now you remember how Belly saidthat William Riker wasn't seditious. He's just
insane. And you should just leave the ravings ofcrazy lunatic alone. Let the man be right. Yeah.
(41:47):
Belly said that Ruby was crazy, a crazy little manwho should be judged not guilty by a reason of
insanity. I mean, he's got that. He's working it,you know, I mean, he works for you and I, but the
judge and jury don't agree. Okay. And when theverdicts read, Belly approached the bench with
tears in his eyes, saying, you have blood on yourhands. He shouted at the judge and then he passed
(42:13):
judgment on Dallas as a sick, sick, sick city.Okay. Big field Dallas booming voice. Now this
little indiscretion of his in representing JackRuby doesn't sit well with the American Bar
Association and they banned Belly frommembership. And it didn't bother much. He didn't
(42:39):
really get a shit because his response was beingrejected from the Bar Association is kind of like
being kicked out of the book of the month club. It'sgoing to say, do you have to belong to the American
Bar to be a lawyer? Like, I don't feel. I don't know.I thought you did, but to hear him be like, kind of.
And like, maybe you're not. I thought gettingkicked out of the bar session was the kind of being
(43:02):
disbarred, but I didn't look it up. I just assumedand didn't. I'm curious now because I wonder if
it's. I wonder for us non lawyers, if it's more of asocial thing, like a social standing type thing,
then it is an actual like, relevant to getting tocontinue your career type thing. Well, anyhow,
(43:24):
not looking it up and looking it up later whennobody else will hear my responses. Belly as a
human, he enjoys really good food and fine wines.He also loves attractive women. Shocking. And
this includes many of his celebrity clients. Hehas a lifelong love of acting that earned him minor
(43:46):
roles in several movies. He was in the 1968 Wild inthe streets. The Beatles had or the Rolling Stones
had a movie in 1970. Give me shelter. He was in that.And he also appeared in the television series on
Star Trek. That's awesome. Now he plays acorruptor of the youth in this episode. And I think
(44:12):
it's his line that referred to it as the worst StarTrek episode in the entire series. But if you
Google that phrase, there are some staunchcontenders for the worst episode and everyone has
big, big feels that feels right. Now it is Belly in1969 who decides that Altamont would be a good
(44:35):
venue for the Rolling Stones concert, which ishistoric. And on December 20th, 1969, the Zodiac
Killer sends Belly a letter wishing the attorney amerry Christmas and also hoping to retain enough
self control to not claim a quote ninth andpossibly tenth victim. I'm sorry. So like Merry
(45:02):
Christmas. I don't plan to commit any crimes thisweek. P.S. Can I keep you on retainer? Is that like
what the goal here is? Pretty much. But he neverreplies back. Like Belly replies back like via the
paper because there's no return address. TheZodiac never responds back. Okay. In October of
(45:24):
1976, he puts out a book, My Life on Trial andAutobiography. In January of 83, he has another
book, The Belly Files. So this man is like no tubbull. And I should have mentioned like he's
representing all kinds of people. He'srepresenting like Zha Zha Gabor and like all of
(45:49):
these famous humans. Okay. He probably would haverepresented OJ. Honestly, it's given the time.
December 7th, 1989, he files a $15 billion clashaction lawsuit against Union Carbide for the
bullpull incident. The bullpull? B-H-O-P-O-L. Idon't think I know what that is. Before I speak out
(46:20):
of my ass, let me Google it. It's in India when apesticide plant exposed highly toxic gas to a ton
of people. Okay. Yeah, I would have, that wasdifferent than what I thought it was. So I'm glad I
was better. 1991, he divorces one of his wives,Leah Triff Belly, whom he now referred to as La
(46:50):
Trampa. Okay. And the San Francisco or theexaminer called it one of the most scandalous
squalid and lurid divorces in San Franciscohistory. Wow, that's impressive. I mean, but when
you have somebody as charismatic as Belly and he'susing the phrase La Trampa. Yeah, it can't be
(47:15):
anything but scandalous at that point, I guess.Now, it's in the 90s, Belly's career has declined,
his health is deteriorating, and he's having someserious financial difficulty because he's got
these delayed or obstructed payments from many ofthese class action lawsuits that he won in the 80s,
but the money's not coming in as quickly and easilyas he needs it. Even though he's won these
(47:42):
multi-million dollar settlements, he's forcedto pay his fifth wife after their divorce a lot of
money. Fifth wife? He gets married six times.Okay. If at first you don't succeed. Try, try, try,
try, try, try, try again. Yeah. There's also somehorrific damage to his building the moment the
(48:07):
cannon after the 1987 earthquake that results insome severe and costly damages. The building was
deemed uninhabitable and he can't afford therepairs. Mmm. Waved by a bite of the cannon. I
wonder if the cannon's still there. I don't thinkso. Okay. Now he gets sued multiple times for
(48:32):
malpractice. He's targeted for tax evasion and hedeclares... Aren't they all? Like, so he goes from
riding the crest to the lowest of lows. This nextline cracks me up. When his dog turned up missing,
he offered a reward for its return of either $1,000or three hours of legal advice. Hey, you never
(48:57):
know. You might need some legal advice. Theconsensus was that the finder should go for the
$1,000. Oh. So we've declined. We've declined.Now his health continues to drop lower and lower
and his death occurs in San Francisco six weeksafter his marriage to Nancy Ho. He's suffering
(49:19):
from pancreatic cancer, pneumonia, and he's alsocoming off of a stroke. Cool. One of his sons,
Caesar, named after grandpa, accused Nancy Ho ofmurder and demanded an autopsy claiming that
she'd given his father lethal doses ofpainkiller. The suit is dismissed following a
(49:42):
coroner's verdict that Bel-A had died of naturalcauses. Okay. Now, shortly after his death, the
San Diego Union Tribune publishes a cartoon thatsays, I've got a guy here claiming he's been struck
and injured by one of the pearly gates. That'sfitting, I think. Yeah. Now, Bel-A's, I couldn't
(50:10):
put in today's money because it like shrinks theentire career, but his lifelong career results
were 350 million. But some sources claim thefigures as high as 700 million in winning
judgments. Wow. Okay. That he paid out in alimony.No, no, no, no, no. That he received four clients.
(50:35):
Oh. In representing clients, not how much heearned. Gotcha. And I'm misheard. I probably miss
that. I'm going to listen to this later and be like,wow, Teresa, could you have worded it any worse?
Hope to be hard about it. Now, while he ended upliving in San Francisco for most of his life, he
really loved maintaining an interest in Sonora,where he was born. He ended up keeping the title to
(51:02):
his family business, and he mourned the loss ofWashington Street's trees and crusaded for
planting others. Love that. We are Tree City, USA.He urged for the preservation of the dome and
railed at those who wanted to move theadministration center out of downtown Sonora in
(51:22):
the mid 1970s. That's funny. The administrationcenter is still in downtown Sonora. And for me, I'm
like, this doesn't mean much, but I knew this wouldmean something for you. He would regularly visit
his hometown of Sonora, and on every trip he'd stopat the I.O .F. Cemetery on Lighton Street, where
his maternal grandparents are buried. And I havetwo missions today. Okay. You do. And although he
(51:50):
never spent more than a few days a year there, he waswell liked in Sonora and over the years received
many honors from their historic society, Chamberof Commerce, and the National Council of the Arts.
And to Wallamy County Civic Organizations. Cool.And when he passed away at his request, he was
buried in the Sonora I.I .O.F. Nope, I.O .F.Cemetery in the Moran family plot. He loved the law
(52:16):
and the limelight equally and left behind a legacyof both creative and controversial lawyering.
Creative and controversial. I love this for him.How fun. Yep. And that is the Storvin, the story of
Melvin Belli. I will forever call it the Storvin.The Storvin. Yep. That's a fun word. Can you send me
(52:43):
the spellings and I will get you the pictures? Yes.Thank you. I will do that. If you've enjoyed this
Storvin and you're thinking there's a Storvinthey haven't covered, but I feel like they really
would enjoy it, then you should email us atunhinged.historypod at gmail.com or hit us up on
(53:05):
TikTok. I believe Angie still posts on our behalfon Instagram. I'm trying. We're getting there.
Okay. I'm having some, yeah. You can reach out on usat TikTok or Instagram. Instagram is just not as
posty as TikTok is. As posty? Okay. Yeah. And ifyou're thinking a hot diggity, this Storvin means
(53:29):
a lot to all of us, then you need to share it with yourfavorite controversial person who would be the
lawyer. And on that note, hey, both of our storiestoday have lawyers. They did, didn't they? Look at 438 00:53:47,670 --> that. That's so practical. On that note, goodbye. Bye.
Hi, and welcome to the Unhinged History Podcast,the podcast where two friends come together and
tell history stories while adding chock-full ofconversation and really just deride anybody
(00:28):
who's here for a straight story because we'regoing to chat about it. Why? Because we're friends
and I've never heard the story that Angie's aboutto tell me and she has no idea what I'm about to tell
her. So there will be some conversation back andforth. That was your warning. That's all yet.
Yeah. So when we check the episode notes on Spotifyor the reviews that we hear, it would be great, but
(00:50):
there's a lot of chatter. That's what we signed upfor. Literally why we did this. So listener
beware. You had your chance. Yeah. I'm Angie. I'mTeresa. I think I said that already. Did you? Oh,
yeah. I mean, what? We're 137 episodes in and we'venailed the introduction. Every single time. I get
(01:16):
to go first today. Hell yeah. Now last week youstarted telling me about this bro-ski named Patty
Maine, who really sounds like a soap operacharacter. With a name like that. Yeah. Now that
you say that, yeah, we're still talking aboutPatty Maine, where we got Patty Maine for like a few
more episodes on my part because his life was justamazing. So my sources are the same sources they
(01:42):
were last week. Do you want to repeat them just incase we have new listeners or sure? People like me
who can't remember if they ate breakfast and hadtheir medicine. So I haven't eaten breakfast yet.
There are three books all by Damien Lewis. One isBrothers in Arms, Church Hills Special Forces
(02:04):
during World War Two's darkest hour. SAS Forged inHell and SAS Dagger's Drawn, that like I said, all
by Damien Lewis. The, of the three books, the bookthat I am most referred, that I most refer to in this
(02:24):
episode is Brothers in Arms, Church Hills SpecialForces. There is a really great biography by
Hamish Ross called Patty Maine. Super. I could notrecommend that enough. And then this week I have a
couple of other sources. Brave, brutal andmisunderstood Patty Maine, the daring Irishman
(02:48):
who pioneered the modern SAS. This is an article inthe Irish Post by a guy named Michael Murphy in
November of 22. And then there is Commando PattyMaine, Ireland's Wolf of the Desert, werewolf
history, werewolf warfare history network.Well, this tone of the story changed
(03:11):
dramatically. I kind of wanted some alcantipy.I'm so sorry. But you know what? Honestly, he's big
enough. So if you just want to imagine that, go forit. What I do find to be particularly interesting
is that the warfare history network refers to himas Ireland's wolf of the desert. He refers to
(03:34):
himself as the desert rat, but the rest of the worldrefers to him as an Irish lion. And the reason that
they do that is partially because of the just him ingeneral, but also because when he went on the world
tour in his rugby, he played for the British Lions.So last week, if you weren't listening last week, I
(03:59):
covered his youth and his time on the rugby pitch. Ilearned that he was capped for Ireland six times. I
feel like that's important to say, because I thinkI gave you a different number and capped is put on
the national team just for those again, didn'tthis last week and are just like capped like shot.
What does that mean? Yeah. He's got a feather in hiscap. Um, I feel like it's important to say that it
(04:22):
was six times because he was a proud Irishman andthere are tons of other proud Irishman out there
that I am not trying to offend. So cats six times forIreland confirmed. So I thought I would tell you
this week a little bit about his early militarycareer. So remember, just, just like a little,
(04:46):
little rewind, he played rugby. He went to schoolto become a solicitor, which is a lawyer and it's
1938, 1939. The clouds of war are forming in theworld, right? So in the early days of the war, after
the colossal mess that was the appeasement, Maineand many others like him from all over the UK, kind
(05:11):
of seeing these storm clouds forming in list inMaine's case, he joins the fifth light
anti-aircraft battery. But before that in 1938,Maine had volunteered to the officers training
corps at Queens University, where he previouslystudied law. So he goes back to Queens University
(05:33):
to join the officers training corps. Now, like Ijust mentioned, he had studied law there. That's
where he became a solicitor. But to quote DamienLewis, he says, he simply couldn't abide drill and
mindless square bashing. And in short order, theQueens training officer had concluded that he was
unpromising material for a combat regiment,undisciplined, unruly and generally
(05:58):
unreliable. Wait, he said that about himself. Hesaid that about, so that's the training officer
saying it about Patty Maine. Oh, OK. That makesmore sense. It's supposed to be like, yeah, I have
too much of a problem with authority. So goodbye,which I'm so glad you said that. So I find that
comment hilarious only because of comments fromhis subordinates later that totally like that's
(06:26):
the exact opposite of who he may like grows up to be.So anyway, that's how he basically joins the
fifth. Again, Maine, like many of his countrymen,joined up because of this strong sense of duty and
like this idea of what is right. But also, Maine islooking for a little bit of adventure and he is
super frustrated by this sort of stalemate thatseems to plague the initial stages of the war.
(06:53):
According to the Irish Post, there are those thatdubbed the time between 39 and 40 as the phony war,
because like things just weren't happening. Likethere's a lot of kind of hurry up and wait and then
nothing would happen. So Maine, some of hisfriends and then one of his brothers, Douglas,
they all transfer units. Douglas goes to the RAFand Maine goes to the Royal Ulster Rifles. And this
(07:20):
is this is where things about the hurry up and waitstart to change a little bit. First, a couple of
things have to happen, though. There would be theinvasion of Denmark and Norway by the Wehrmacht
and then the blitzkrieg of the German panthersthrough the formerly impenetrable fortress at
the French Ardines. That which was followed by themarch through the streets of Paris in early 1940.
(07:43):
So war is definitely making its way into theforefront here, right? Secondly, and probably if
I had to guess, most importantly, the new PrimeMinister of England would take over Winston
Churchill. And he alone would alter the way of theBritish Empire. And by extension, everyone else
(08:05):
looks at the war. This idea of appeasement from hispredecessors was thrown right out the window with
his belief that you quote cannot raise in with atiger with your head in its mouth. So hello quote,
right? So Churchill is for his part a big fan of thisidea of elite forces. Commandos, if you will, who
(08:28):
can get in, get out are mostly self-sufficient andnot a big fan of sitting still and like just waiting
for armies to march up and like knock on the frontdoor. So Churchill kind of starts advocating for
these smaller white groups that can kind of punchtheir way through things, right? And this is
(08:50):
separate than the guerrilla warfare. Yes, it isseparate than the guerrilla warfare in what it
does, but it also does engaging guerrillawarfare. Okay. So it's kind of dual purpose. And
you'll find out later some of the other things thatthey're involved in. So here's where we're at.
(09:13):
While Maine is with the Royal Ulster Rifles, orquite possibly a little bit earlier, he meets a man
called Ian McGonagall. And I'm going to tell youright now, this is the only time that I'm going to be
cool with the spelling of his name. It is E-O-I-N.And for all of our listeners at home, I am married to
an Ian and it is I-A-N. And this is a very big deal inour health. But to each their own. This
(09:38):
relationship with McGonagall would pretty muchdefine Maine for the rest of his life. Um, just want
to point out it's 1940. Maine is a Northern IrishProtestant. While McGonagall is a Southern Irish
Catholic. And that is kind of a big deal in the next20 years. Kind of a big deal in 1940. Um, we could
(10:00):
talk about that on a different story. But I justwanted to, to bring that up to show that for these
guys, your belief systems and where you're fromand who you are at the end of the day came down to at
the very core, what kind of man you are and nothingelse mattered. And that I think is really
important to Maine and McGonagall'srelationship. These two are like peas in a pod.
(10:27):
Sick as thieves, if you will. Where Maine wasconsidered a gentle giant in school and often shy
or reserved. Not to say that he like didn't stir thepot or raise hell, especially when, when he was
drunk. McGonagall was exactly what you wouldexpect when you think of a charming Irishman. He
would get them into trouble with those pretty eyesand we would get them out. And in my point, in my
(10:53):
opinion, everybody needs a friend like that. And Ithink if I'm honest, a lot of my love for Maine comes
down to his devotion to McGonagall and how you seeit in every aspect of his later relationships. To
clarify, they did not have a romanticrelationship, nor is there any real evidence to
suggest that Maine played both sides as someauthor state. I'm saying this because I don't care
(11:18):
one way or another how one chooses to live theirlove life, but I do care when things are
exaggerated or lies, just flat out lies are told.And a lot of Maine's story is both of those things.
So when I started learning about him, some of myfirst encounters were with things that were
exaggeration or just straight lie. And I wanted toI wanted to know the actual like person I wanted to
(11:42):
understand like all of the things like these guys,not a single member of the essay, I needed any
exaggeration on who they are, what their life waslike, their stories are big enough without it. So
sorry about my side quest then there. It just bugsthe snot out of me when we have to lie to make a story
bigger, you know, look at so many of the stories Itell, or I'm like, Hey, you know, this great thing
(12:07):
isn't this amazing all lies. Pretty much. Yeah.And that's for me. That was like, holy cow,
everything they say is either a lie or anexaggeration. And it is so not necessary in this
case. Like there's another one coming up here injust a minute. So I'll get to it. Now it's around
June of 1940. Commando number 11 is formed. And sothe boys, they leave the Royal Ulster rifles and
(12:33):
both Maine and McGonagall volunteer and findthemselves in Syria of all places, because this is
a world war after all. Yes. Under the command of aone Colonel Petter. Now, for the sake of time here,
I'm going to give you a really short, really brokendown version of their time with Commando 11, but
(12:53):
basically they are, they train on Isle of Arran. Sothey train in Scotland for action in Syria. So it's
like, let that sit in your pocket for a minute,which, OK, here we are. They do all they do this
extensive, extensive training and all sorts ofthings, all sorts of landing, all sorts of
(13:17):
guerrilla warfare, all sorts of with the word Iwant to use, we'll say decommission of things. And
then they're sent to the Latani River, which issituated in VT Run, French, Syria. So their goal on
the Latani River is to take and hold a bridge. Thisbridge is crucial for the advancement of the 22nd
(13:45):
Australian Infantry Brigade. Like this wholeidea is that if we can, if this small group of men can
take and hold this bridge long enough for theAustralian infantry to get there, there can be
this larger force of like an invasion, a fullinvasion army that can come through this
direction. Does that make sense? Yeah, I'mhearing you. So it's like a multi country plan
(14:08):
here. Like we're all working our part to get thisinvasion force there. However, they face a ton of
issues from the get go. They're being dropped offin these landing craft via the water in the worst
possible conditions that you could face. Theylose a ton just in the landing. They're fired on by
(14:32):
those they consider friends because, let's behonest, the VT Run French government was just a
puppet government. And so main and his men arelooking at this like these are guys, these are our
allies, like these men that were that were firingagainst we shouldn't be. Like they had a real moral
issue with it, but also we want to live. So here weare. So they're having just tons and tons of
(14:59):
issues. And then the other big thing that is likethis monumental loss for them is they lose their
failure with Commander Colonel Petter, who bythis point, after all this training and all this
time, Maine has spent with him, has seen him as thisremarkable leader and a friend. And so he, Colonel
(15:23):
Petter takes Maine and McGonagall into his unitbecause for him, Maine and McGonagall were
exactly the type of man you needed for a commandounit. They are independent. They don't really
listen to rules like the high command can't reallystop them. They're self-sufficient. They have
(15:46):
this like what they call later is a devil may careattitude. But they're also incredibly devoted to
the task and can incredibly devoted to their men.So Colonel Petter is like, I can take these two and
use all of the good things that they have and trainthem to be the best that they can be. And so he does.
(16:09):
And so for Maine and McGonagall losing ColonelPetter was like kind of, you know, you have that one
boss you just absolutely love. And then theyretire and they go Hawaii. You never see him again.
It sounds very, Angie, have you gone through this?Because this is an extremely precise example.
(16:29):
Yeah, I love my boss and he left me for the state ofHawaii and I'll never get over it. But I will see him
again. He's he's he's still he still texts me on theregular. So we're good. Anyway. So just because
Colonel Petter was you, Colonel Petter was let megive you a little back story about his time, like
(16:53):
their time underneath him leading up to theLaTanoo River action. Maine would write home to
his mom and tell her how much he liked being where hewas, where there were no women to fuss over the
mess. And in one letter, he said he would tell themhe writing home, he would tell how he and
(17:13):
McGonagall would start their fires saying,quote, the coal is in very large lumps to split it,
we just fire a revolver shot into it and it crackswonderfully. Maine and McGonagall are Colonel
Petter's weapons officers. So there's like nolack of weapons or ammo around. So to split the
(17:35):
firewood with your revolvers seems just like thebest way to use our time. And McGonagall was more
than qualified to deal with Maine when he'd had toomany to drink. Maine might get rowdy and start
causing problems. And McGonagall would justpoint his pistol at him and say, I'll shoot you
Blair. And that seemed to do the trick every singletime. That doesn't mean that the walls of the house
(18:02):
they were staying at weren't peppered with bulletholes from all their wild nights. Good. I'm just
going to give you that visual like they're having agreat time. Lewis, like I said earlier, he says in
his book that they have this sense of devil may careattitude and that possessed like these two, these
two guys that that character trait alone causedtheir men to love them even more. And it gave them
(18:30):
this sense of like, I don't want to sayimmortality, but this belief that if they're with
Maine and McGonagall, all is going to be well. Andso we will follow you to the very depths of hell
because they'll get us out bottom line. But toreally send this story home, the previous New
(18:50):
Year's Eve. So during all this training, Maine hadbeen a bit heavy on the bottle. And one of their
young recruits who also happens to live in the samehouse with them found Maine to wish him a happy New
Year's when in short order, Maine punches him inthe face and into a wall. So having he's having to go
(19:16):
pretty sure at this point, McGonagall steps in andsends Maine to fetch some water. And while Maine is
gone, McGonagall gets the young recruit out of thehouse, but not before Maine fires a few rounds at
them. When they return home, because this is wherethey live. So like the next morning they come back.
(19:39):
They quote found Maine alone in the house, largelysober with all the windows shot out and surrounded
by 36 small bottles of sherry brandy, one side ofbeef, one leg of lamb and two loaves of bread. They
pose the obvious question. Where the hell did youget all this stuff? Get up the tracks and hide the
(20:00):
lot. So at some point after McGonagall got theyounger gentleman out of the house, Maine gets it
in his head to go raid the brigade headquarters.Oh, my God, he steals. He finds. Louis goes on to say
that they had just managed to hide all of it andpatch up the windows by the time the local police
(20:22):
arrived to investigate. Incidentally, whenMaine woke up the next day, he had no memory of the
night before because when Maine saw the youngofficer, he said, who hit you? Just tell me and I'll
short the bugger out. And I can only imagine thelook on the young officer's face. Like he has come
(20:44):
to the realization he that Maine doesn't rememberhitting him, but Maine is going to go and protect
him now. Now, a little while later, Colonel Petterconfronts Maine saying, quote, by the way, so this
is like a few days later, I know who broke into thebrigade HQ on New Year's Eve and stole all the
drink. To which Maine says, huh, you tell becauseit was a great mystery at the time. And for Petter,
(21:16):
that was the end of it. Like he got his point across.Maine knew he knew the end problem solved. We're
never going to talk about it again. And Maine,you're not going to pull this crap again. So now
we've got our time in training sorted out. Fastforward back to Petter's death at the LaTonny
(21:37):
River. After he dies, the command of Maine's unitfalls to a man called Keyes. We're not a big fan of
Keyes. Maine had thoughts about Keyes kind ofsurrounding these orders that Keyes puts out
during the LaTonny Reaction that Maine sees assuicidal sacrifices. Like they're not going to
(22:02):
win at this moment. Why are you sending them there?You're just sending them to their death. And so
Maine has some real big, big feelings about this.And he doesn't like Keyes and Keyes in return
doesn't like Maine. This part is a bit murky, but asI understand it, one night while Maine and
(22:23):
McGonagall are playing chess in the officer'smess, Keyes comes in and Maine ushers him out on the
end of the bayonet. Oh, yeah. Discipline actionfollows and Maine kind of gets a mouthful and just
goes about festering his hate for Keyes. I think Isaid this in the first part of the story, but Maine
(22:45):
hates bullies. He does not like loudmouth and he'snot a fan of like self-proclaiming people that
just only have fabulous things to say aboutthemselves. Like he's a man of action. Show me,
don't tell me. And he also has an authority issuewith superiors who act like they are actually
superior and this high-born officer was that Ithink his real problem with him was that you, you
(23:10):
were the son of an aristocrat. You became anofficer because of that. And now you're just going
to look down your nose at everybody else. Likewe're all men. We all put our pants on the same way.
And so like that, that's kind of the source of hisbeef, but then it just gets bigger and bigger.
Anyway, but the thing that doesn't sit well afterPetter's death is that between the training and
(23:37):
fighting, his unit had found a dog and our boy,Maine loves animals. And this dog kind of becomes
his unit's mascot. While they're fighting at theLaToni River, one of the officers shoots their
dog. And keys doesn't really do anything about it.Like doesn't, like, what are you going to do? The
(24:00):
other, the other officer thought the dog wastiresome. And to Maine, that was like the biggest.
Absolutely not. You could possibly do because thedog wasn't tiresome. He was our dog. He belonged to
our unit and you had no right to shoot him, whichhonestly, fair. Right. This doesn't sit well with
Maine. Keys is in action on it, nor the other guy whoobviously shot it. And just a few nights after keys
(24:24):
was invited to leave the officer's mess via thebayonet, someone comes to the conclusion who the
dog killer was and attacks a one major BevelCharles Allen Napier. Now Napier has no real
proof, but he tells keys that the huge unknownassailant was Maine. And even keys at this point is
(24:46):
like, I'm not sure about that, but if that's whatyou say, okay. So Maine takes the rap and gets RTO,
which means he's basically sent back to his formeror parent unit. Um, no one actually knows who
attacked Napier, but Maine takes the rap eitherway because he's not going to let any of his guys
(25:06):
take the fall regardless of who did it. Nobodyknows. Maine never says it wasn't him. So that was
kind of the end of it for him. Um, he's on, he's, he'sbeing sent back to Britain because he's being
returned to his former unit and on his way home,Maine is hospitalized in Egypt with malaria. Oh, I
(25:28):
don't know about malaria in a minute. Um, it's herethat he meets a nurse he really likes and they have
great conversation. The nurse writes to hissister to let him let everybody know he's doing
fine, um, which I thought was really cool. And it isalso here where he learns as an expeditionary
force that's being raised to head up and traingrill, uh, gorilla army for the Chinese to help
(25:52):
fight the Japanese who at this point, everyonethinks is going to join the access like at any
moment. And he lets McGonagall know, Hey, like youshould go to China with me. This sounds great.
Technically it's Burma where their training campis going to be, but it is also here at this hospital
and not in a prison cell. Like all the stories saythat he meets a one captain, David Sterling. And
(26:17):
with that, Maine becomes a founding member of LDattachment, otherwise known as the SAS. Oh, wow.
And that'll be my story next week. Oh my gosh. Okay.So David Sterling did not pull him out of the jail
cell just to clarify. Like all the stories say he,he visited him in the hospital. A little bit more
(26:44):
noble. A little bit, but you know, I will say I'mlike. I was going to say, there's something more
romantic, more idyllic to pull a founding memberof the SAS out of a jail cell in a hospital because
when I think of a hospital bed I'm like, you seem alittle puny versus you seem a little tough. Yeah, I
(27:09):
mean I get it. So there was this longstandingbelief that he did go to jail for both his ushering
keys out of the mess hall on the end of the bayonetand then this assault of this other gentleman. But
he never did. And even Keyes said, I wasn't in themess when that happened. So like there's all
(27:31):
these, this is what everybody said was happeningbut even Keyes himself was like maybe didn't do it.
Like his personal journals, by this point Mainewas already like, by the point that other officers
were noticing some issues, Maine was already inthe hospital. Maine had been RTU'd like a month
(27:54):
before and was sitting with malaria inAlexandria. So on the one hand you have like this
really, you're right, romantic view of like thatwonderful scene in the mummy where Evelyn goes and
pulls O'Connell out of the prison cell. And that'stheir meat cute. But then you also have this idea
(28:16):
that like David Sterling knows for a fact Maine hasbeen RTU'd. He knows he's going to be
court-martialed. He knows all of these thingscould potentially be going south for Maine but
also like you have a unique skill set that I wouldvery much like to use in the desert. Could you,
would you join my unit? I mean either way, whetherhe pulled him out of the hospital or jail cell,
(28:40):
Sterling saved his career one way or the other.Like just by chance. Right. If he wanted him. So
yeah, that's my story of the early years of Maine'scareer. Nice. Okay. Well, I'm going to take us on a
wildly different place. So, Sida, let's go. Okay.So, I am going to, okay, so in the episode where I
(29:11):
covered William Riker in Holy City, the Holy CityCulp, I mentioned somebody in passing. I
mentioned a lawyer named Melvin. I think I calledhim Belly but apparently his pronouns Belly.
Whatever. I liked Belly. You know, but then it wasjust like that meant in middle school he was
probably called Melly Belly. Yeah, he probablywas. But so I mentioned this lawyer in passing that
(29:39):
William Riker had and then later on a friend ofmine, Wendy, sent me a one liner about this lawyer
and I went, oh, I need to do a deep dive. And then Iwent, wait a minute, I know this name. Oh, it's the
same lawyer. So that day I'm going to do a deep diveon Melvin Belly. Although now he's in my head is
(30:03):
Melly Belly. And my sources, gwerne.net, the bioof Melvin Belly, found SF, Melvin Belly, King of
Torts by Art Peterson. Torts? Like the little pie?Okay, but Tort is also a legal definition. Oh,
(30:23):
okay. So, same spelling. I'm hungry. Okay.Apparently you haven't had breakfast, right?
Like, so these are things. Right. I, O, O, F,Sonora, Melvin Belly, Noe Hill in San Francisco,
San Francisco landmark number nine, BellyBuilding. Okay. So we're going to start in July
(30:43):
29th, 1907, Melvin Belly is born. He's born to aprosperous family in Sonora, California. He's
the only child of Caesar A. and Linoe Moran Belly.Belly. Caesar is a prosperous banker and rancher
(31:05):
whose family had immigrated from Switzerlandright after the Civil War. And from what we
understand, Melvin really admired his father.He's not as fond of mom and mom apparently dressed
him in little Lord Fauntleroy suits. Okay, to befair, I wouldn't be fond either. But I have a
(31:30):
feeling you have to do more than just come up withatrocious outfits to be not so pleased with.
Honestly, because it's really, yeah, agreed,agreed. Now here's where I get a little in the woods
or the little woods in the weeds. But I'm doing thison the off chance that this means something to you
because this is your neck of the woods. The familylived in an apartment on the east corner of
(31:55):
Washington Street and Leno Berk Street. Yes, itdoes. Now this is above his maternal
grandparents' pharmacy. Oh my gosh. Okay. Okay.I'll go take a picture for you. Thank you. Dr.
Lewis, Louise or Lewis and Anna Christina Moran.Now during his youth, he's drawn to these
(32:17):
grandparents. He's fascinated by medicalcollections of his grandfather, the Pothic carry
jars in the drugstore. His grandmother, AnnaMoran, is the first female pharmacist in
California. Cool. So, Lewis, did you know that?Yeah. Now I have questions. There is a building
(32:37):
downtown that still has the tile in the ground likewhen you walk through the front door that says
pharmacy. It hasn't been a pharmacist for 55years. That's amazing. But I'm wondering. A
pharmacist here in 55 years. Yeah. I mean, we haveother pharmacists now, but not there. It's an
(32:59):
antique store now. Yeah. We've been brewing ourown potions for the last 55 years. Mommy says. His
uncle, Otto, carries on her business. Okay. So,they kept it in the family, at least for a bit, until
you got there and then they just up and left. I'm not55 also, so there's that. I mean. So, 1920, the
(33:26):
family moved to the city of Stockton where he'snamed valedictorian of his school in Stockton
High School. He graduates in 1925. This man, justto set the stage, excelled in debating, acting,
and writing for the school paper. So, he was a bornlawyer then? You would think. Now he ends up
(33:49):
running into a little bit of trouble when he'scaught hosting a beer party in the high school
newspaper office. In the 20s? Yeah. Now. Love thatfor him. He's suspended and they threatened to
withhold his diploma. Now his dad successfullysues the principal for Melvin's reinstatement.
(34:10):
Love that. Now, this incident impresses Belly,who had long since decided to become a lawyer. And
Belly graduates from the University of Berkeleyin 1929, where he only got kind of average grades.
And after he travels around the world for a year, heattends the law school at Berkeley as well. Okay.
(34:33):
Now, it's in 1941 that he starts attractingattention because of his aggressive
representation of people who've been damaged insome way. Do you say 1941? 41. So, we're jumping a
little bit. I'm going to go... Making sure I had myears right there. Right. Now, there's going to be a
little bit of jumping back and forth becausethere's a lot of nuance that I want to get in. And so,
that nuance is going to come in where it made themost sense. But, yeah. Now, he starts getting his
(34:59):
attention because he's focusing on people who'vebeen injured by products, by services, whatnot.
He has this creative skill for developingcourtroom techniques to present the cases.
Before this tort or tort law, which is what this is,is presenting the damages for being injured. It
has not been advantageous. It hasn't beenprofitable. It's kind of been looked down on.
(35:25):
Nobody's really doing it, right? So, no ambulancechasers. No ambulance chasers. And it's funny you
say that because he's reported and saying, I'm notan ambulance chaser because I got there before the
ambulance is dead. Okay. I mean, that's kind of theperson we're dealing with, okay? Okay. His fame
(35:45):
spreads far and wide along this practice. And TimeMagazine calls him the king of torts for his
groundbreaking work in personal injury action.Okay. And it's around this time that he represents
William Riker of the Holy City Cult. Okay. Now, tokind of set the stage for who he is, he, right after
(36:11):
he graduates law, he's in law school, has thislife-altering experience. And it's during, at
this point, it's the height of the GreatDepression. Right. Okay. And he gets a job with the
Work Progress Administration. And he's ridingthe rails with hobos. And he's reporting on the
circumstances of this uprooted and growingunderclass. Okay. That's kind of cool. Truly, I
(36:35):
mean, if you're a dude and you would feel safe doingthat, that kind of seems like a great adventure.
Now, on the job, he witnessed the Los Angelespolice clubbing Oakleys as they got off the train.
So it doesn't seem like a lot's changed. Nope. Andthere is, this gives him the desire to balance his
(36:57):
representation of the rich and famous with thisextremely heavy dose, a standing up for the people
that folks have never heard of. Right. No, thatmakes sense. Good for him. So I love this duality.
Now, I probably should have said this earlier, buthe looks like a movie star. He looks like a lawyer
(37:21):
from Central Casting. Oh, I'm so bummed out. Canyou describe to me that he was dressed like little
Lord Frantzleroy? The image I had in my mind is sodifferent. He's got a square jaw. He's got some
portly good looks. He's got this deep booming sexyvoice that observers noted he could play like a
(37:42):
symphony when he performed in front of a jury. Geton it, buddy. Good for you. So when you think of the
movie-esque lawyer, it is based off this human.Love it. Okay. And that's why when I had jury duty, I
was like, these guys suck. Turn the channel. I wantanother true crime. Yeah. His outwardly manner,
(38:08):
how he projects himself into the world just nailsthe lawyer stereotype. His trial techniques,
they're incredible. They are extraordinary.Okay. Now, more than anybody else, he is what they
call the father of demonstrative evidence. Okay.Now, in his courtroom appearances, he is
(38:31):
supporting all of his efforts with photos,movies, scale models, human skeletons, animals,
and prosthetics. Okay. Now, he's bringing stuffin. He wants the jury to sit up. He wants them to lean
in. He wants them to pay attention to what he'sdoing and saying. In one case, he's pursuing
(38:52):
damages for a woman who lost her leg in an accident.And on the first day of the trial, he brings in this
rat package to court that looked like it could benothing other than a leg. Now, remember, his
client is missing a leg. He's known forshenanigans and he has this big leg size box. Leg
size box. Okay. Got it. Throughout the trial, thejury's captivated and fixated on this box. Fair.
(39:21):
And so, during his summation, Bellae unwrappednot the woman's leg because, again, the leg is
missing, so this could have been said leg. But herprosthesis, passing it around the jurors and
proclaimed, this is what my client will wear forthe rest of her life. Adding sarcastically, feel
the blood as it pulses and flows through her veins.Ooh, dramatic. Oh, this man leaves no stone
(39:50):
unturned. Has some flair, if you will. Speaking offlair, after he wins the court case, he would raise
the Jolly Rager flag over his building and fire acannon mounted on his office roof to announce the
victory and impending party. Ha ha ha ha ha. We livein the wrong time. How many of our stories have
(40:14):
somebody with a cannon in the front yard and now wehave somebody with a cannon on the roof? I mean, we
had Cassius Clay with his cannon, we had ShelleyBauman meet the wrong end of the cannon. Oh, you're
doing another missing leg story. Dang it. I didn'teven see you. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
(40:36):
ha ha. That's amazing. Oh, I should have included.Did you hear that? Alessandro, she's doing
another missing leg. Ha ha ha ha. And I don't evenhave syphilis in this story. Dang, but we hadn't
wear yet. So there's that. We did. Yeah. All right,we're going to. Not really as fun as syphilis. No,
(40:58):
but a missing leg. They come up more often than Ifeel they should in history. Ha ha ha ha ha. We're
going to, we're going to zip up to 1964. Now there'sa ton of legal skirmishes that Belly's involved
in. The one that generates a crap ton of his ofattention for him was when he represented pro
(41:22):
bono. Jack Ruby, the assassin of Lee HarveyOswald. Lee Harvey Oswald. The man who killed Jack
Kennedy. Okay. Now you remember how Belly saidthat William Riker wasn't seditious. He's just
insane. And you should just leave the ravings ofcrazy lunatic alone. Let the man be right. Yeah.
(41:47):
Belly said that Ruby was crazy, a crazy little manwho should be judged not guilty by a reason of
insanity. I mean, he's got that. He's working it,you know, I mean, he works for you and I, but the
judge and jury don't agree. Okay. And when theverdicts read, Belly approached the bench with
tears in his eyes, saying, you have blood on yourhands. He shouted at the judge and then he passed
(42:13):
judgment on Dallas as a sick, sick, sick city.Okay. Big field Dallas booming voice. Now this
little indiscretion of his in representing JackRuby doesn't sit well with the American Bar
Association and they banned Belly frommembership. And it didn't bother much. He didn't
(42:39):
really get a shit because his response was beingrejected from the Bar Association is kind of like
being kicked out of the book of the month club. It'sgoing to say, do you have to belong to the American
Bar to be a lawyer? Like, I don't feel. I don't know.I thought you did, but to hear him be like, kind of.
And like, maybe you're not. I thought gettingkicked out of the bar session was the kind of being
(43:02):
disbarred, but I didn't look it up. I just assumedand didn't. I'm curious now because I wonder if
it's. I wonder for us non lawyers, if it's more of asocial thing, like a social standing type thing,
then it is an actual like, relevant to getting tocontinue your career type thing. Well, anyhow,
(43:24):
not looking it up and looking it up later whennobody else will hear my responses. Belly as a
human, he enjoys really good food and fine wines.He also loves attractive women. Shocking. And
this includes many of his celebrity clients. Hehas a lifelong love of acting that earned him minor
(43:46):
roles in several movies. He was in the 1968 Wild inthe streets. The Beatles had or the Rolling Stones
had a movie in 1970. Give me shelter. He was in that.And he also appeared in the television series on
Star Trek. That's awesome. Now he plays acorruptor of the youth in this episode. And I think
(44:12):
it's his line that referred to it as the worst StarTrek episode in the entire series. But if you
Google that phrase, there are some staunchcontenders for the worst episode and everyone has
big, big feels that feels right. Now it is Belly in1969 who decides that Altamont would be a good
(44:35):
venue for the Rolling Stones concert, which ishistoric. And on December 20th, 1969, the Zodiac
Killer sends Belly a letter wishing the attorney amerry Christmas and also hoping to retain enough
self control to not claim a quote ninth andpossibly tenth victim. I'm sorry. So like Merry
(45:02):
Christmas. I don't plan to commit any crimes thisweek. P.S. Can I keep you on retainer? Is that like
what the goal here is? Pretty much. But he neverreplies back. Like Belly replies back like via the
paper because there's no return address. TheZodiac never responds back. Okay. In October of
(45:24):
1976, he puts out a book, My Life on Trial andAutobiography. In January of 83, he has another
book, The Belly Files. So this man is like no tubbull. And I should have mentioned like he's
representing all kinds of people. He'srepresenting like Zha Zha Gabor and like all of
(45:49):
these famous humans. Okay. He probably would haverepresented OJ. Honestly, it's given the time.
December 7th, 1989, he files a $15 billion clashaction lawsuit against Union Carbide for the
bullpull incident. The bullpull? B-H-O-P-O-L. Idon't think I know what that is. Before I speak out
(46:20):
of my ass, let me Google it. It's in India when apesticide plant exposed highly toxic gas to a ton
of people. Okay. Yeah, I would have, that wasdifferent than what I thought it was. So I'm glad I
was better. 1991, he divorces one of his wives,Leah Triff Belly, whom he now referred to as La
(46:50):
Trampa. Okay. And the San Francisco or theexaminer called it one of the most scandalous
squalid and lurid divorces in San Franciscohistory. Wow, that's impressive. I mean, but when
you have somebody as charismatic as Belly and he'susing the phrase La Trampa. Yeah, it can't be
(47:15):
anything but scandalous at that point, I guess.Now, it's in the 90s, Belly's career has declined,
his health is deteriorating, and he's having someserious financial difficulty because he's got
these delayed or obstructed payments from many ofthese class action lawsuits that he won in the 80s,
but the money's not coming in as quickly and easilyas he needs it. Even though he's won these
(47:42):
multi-million dollar settlements, he's forcedto pay his fifth wife after their divorce a lot of
money. Fifth wife? He gets married six times.Okay. If at first you don't succeed. Try, try, try,
try, try, try, try again. Yeah. There's also somehorrific damage to his building the moment the
(48:07):
cannon after the 1987 earthquake that results insome severe and costly damages. The building was
deemed uninhabitable and he can't afford therepairs. Mmm. Waved by a bite of the cannon. I
wonder if the cannon's still there. I don't thinkso. Okay. Now he gets sued multiple times for
(48:32):
malpractice. He's targeted for tax evasion and hedeclares... Aren't they all? Like, so he goes from
riding the crest to the lowest of lows. This nextline cracks me up. When his dog turned up missing,
he offered a reward for its return of either $1,000or three hours of legal advice. Hey, you never
(48:57):
know. You might need some legal advice. Theconsensus was that the finder should go for the
$1,000. Oh. So we've declined. We've declined.Now his health continues to drop lower and lower
and his death occurs in San Francisco six weeksafter his marriage to Nancy Ho. He's suffering
(49:19):
from pancreatic cancer, pneumonia, and he's alsocoming off of a stroke. Cool. One of his sons,
Caesar, named after grandpa, accused Nancy Ho ofmurder and demanded an autopsy claiming that
she'd given his father lethal doses ofpainkiller. The suit is dismissed following a
(49:42):
coroner's verdict that Bel-A had died of naturalcauses. Okay. Now, shortly after his death, the
San Diego Union Tribune publishes a cartoon thatsays, I've got a guy here claiming he's been struck
and injured by one of the pearly gates. That'sfitting, I think. Yeah. Now, Bel-A's, I couldn't
(50:10):
put in today's money because it like shrinks theentire career, but his lifelong career results
were 350 million. But some sources claim thefigures as high as 700 million in winning
judgments. Wow. Okay. That he paid out in alimony.No, no, no, no, no. That he received four clients.
(50:35):
Oh. In representing clients, not how much heearned. Gotcha. And I'm misheard. I probably miss
that. I'm going to listen to this later and be like,wow, Teresa, could you have worded it any worse?
Hope to be hard about it. Now, while he ended upliving in San Francisco for most of his life, he
really loved maintaining an interest in Sonora,where he was born. He ended up keeping the title to
(51:02):
his family business, and he mourned the loss ofWashington Street's trees and crusaded for
planting others. Love that. We are Tree City, USA.He urged for the preservation of the dome and
railed at those who wanted to move theadministration center out of downtown Sonora in
(51:22):
the mid 1970s. That's funny. The administrationcenter is still in downtown Sonora. And for me, I'm
like, this doesn't mean much, but I knew this wouldmean something for you. He would regularly visit
his hometown of Sonora, and on every trip he'd stopat the I.O .F. Cemetery on Lighton Street, where
his maternal grandparents are buried. And I havetwo missions today. Okay. You do. And although he
(51:50):
never spent more than a few days a year there, he waswell liked in Sonora and over the years received
many honors from their historic society, Chamberof Commerce, and the National Council of the Arts.
And to Wallamy County Civic Organizations. Cool.And when he passed away at his request, he was
buried in the Sonora I.I .O.F. Nope, I.O .F.Cemetery in the Moran family plot. He loved the law
(52:16):
and the limelight equally and left behind a legacyof both creative and controversial lawyering.
Creative and controversial. I love this for him.How fun. Yep. And that is the Storvin, the story of
Melvin Belli. I will forever call it the Storvin.The Storvin. Yep. That's a fun word. Can you send me
(52:43):
the spellings and I will get you the pictures? Yes.Thank you. I will do that. If you've enjoyed this
Storvin and you're thinking there's a Storvinthey haven't covered, but I feel like they really
would enjoy it, then you should email us atunhinged.historypod at gmail.com or hit us up on
(53:05):
TikTok. I believe Angie still posts on our behalfon Instagram. I'm trying. We're getting there.
Okay. I'm having some, yeah. You can reach out on usat TikTok or Instagram. Instagram is just not as
posty as TikTok is. As posty? Okay. Yeah. And ifyou're thinking a hot diggity, this Storvin means
(53:29):
a lot to all of us, then you need to share it with yourfavorite controversial person who would be the
lawyer. And on that note, hey, both of our storiestoday have lawyers. They did, didn't they? Look at 438 00:53:47,670 --> that. That's so practical. On that note, goodbye. Bye.
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