[dramatic music playing]
[narrator] According to Newton's third law of motion,
for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
And so it is here, in the unforgiving wastelands of down under,
where two unstoppable titans
-hurtled toward a fateful collision. -[kangaroo grunts]
The first is an aspiring narco kingpin, a man you know well,
but the other is a masked crusader, draped in mystery.
A modern day Robin Hood, he takes from casinos and gives to the poor.
All the way across the room, Rick Leventhal in Studio N.
He calls himself Robin Hood 702 because 702 is a Las Vegas area code,
and he's asking for submissions to robinhood702.com
from anyone $25,000 to $50,000 in debt. He plans to...
[Mark] The first time I heard the name Robin Hood 702,
it was a quiet day in the newsroom
because it was summertime, and Sydney's away on holiday.
My editor tapped me on the shoulder, and he said,
"Let's do a little write up on Robin Hood 702."
My name is Mark Saunokonoko.
I'm a news reporter with 9News in Sydney, Australia.
[mysterious music playing]
Robin Hood 702, the concept.
A guy who could go into a casino, high roller with a load of cash,
a million dollars, if not more.
And whatever he won, he would donate to somebody in need.
He rescues one deserving family drowning in debt.
[newsman] Megan and Kurt Hagler's daughter, Madison,
has a lime-sized brain tumor, and they can't keep up with the bills.
[Mark] Maybe there was an illness in the family.
Maybe someone had fallen into a ton of debt.
[Robin Hood 702] I got your money.
[newsman 1] 35 grand in $100 chips.
[newsman 2] It sounds almost too good to be true.
Well, it is true. We witnessed it firsthand.
All right, Rick Leventhal.
-Rick, thank you very much. -Sure.
-Jenna, over to you. -Such a great story.
He would have a black mask around his face and a baseball cap pulled down low.
What's the deal with the mask? You look like a bank robber.
[Mark] In interviews, he created this persona
and the character how he wants you to see him.
And he had a website where he would say, "Submit why I should help you."
And people would upload their stories.
People look at gamblers, they don't see saints. They see sinners.
That's why I'm Robin Hood 702.
He wasn't a saint or sinner. He was a little of both.
And that's what I am, a little of both.
[Mark] We would speak quite often.
You know... [laughs] He's a huge character.
And he tells a great story.
[interviewer] Do you have advice for me in dealing with him? [laughs]
[sighs, laughs] Um...
Be prepared for a few demands, I think.
Where's the monitor? I got a monitor I can see?
This is the view? I mean, I think-- Really?
[interviewer] What do you look like without the sunglasses?
No.
Whenever you're set, let me just get a final look,
so I can see if I'm better with my arm up or not up.
-Tell me when you're ready. -Yeah, I'm ready.
Who is Robin Hood 702?
You don't have to introduce me.
People know who I am.
I've been all over the news all over the world, man.
They know who the fuck I am.
[Mark] He's, uh... [laughs] He's an engaging guy.
And he told me this one story
How, in 2011, a businessman out of Sydney, Australia,
gets in touch with him.
[RJ] Big businessman that's got a lot of money, wants to get involved.
He wanted to be part of my Robin Hood thing.
[suspenseful music playing]
-[Mark] Robin Hood came down to Australia. -We're here!
He did a media interview on the top suite of the Four Seasons Hotel.
[RJ] I'm going to try to help somebody that needs up to $20-$25,000.
What happens if you lose?
Well, I don't like to say the L word, Richard.
-Sorry. What happens if you don't win? -Okay, that's better.
[Mark] And a little bit later on, this businessman turns up,
and he says, "Here's $1,500,000.
Whatever you win on top of the cash that I give you,
you can give it away to your needy people.
[dramatic music playing]
And he introduces himself by the name of Junior DeLuca.
[echoing] Junior DeLuca.
[dings]
He told me his name was Junior DeLuca, brother.
He said, "Junior DeLuca," which was bullshit.
[theme music playing]
[gun fires]
[mysterious music playing]
[Mick] Owen's the sort of person that'd be able to sell you a version of events
and make you believe them.
He's good at that.
He's very likable, he's charismatic.
I think Owen would always sell himself as being a good person.
But end of the day, he was very ruthless.
The high end of drug supply. It ruins people, ruins families.
[newswoman] A family home in Auburn was sprayed with bullets.
[Mick] There's always guns, there's always violence. There's always murders.
They all go in together. They can't be separated.
-[door breaking] -[officers yelling] Police!
[Mick] So there's a lot of bad that comes out of it.
I've been in the New South Wales Police for 31 years,
investigating drug importation and money laundering.
Drugs prices here are sky high compared to the US.
[suspenseful music playing]
It's the distance. The border protection's pretty robust.
And it's difficult to launder money out of Australia.
It's a similar problem for most drug importers.
Owen was a little bit naive, a little bit clumsy with the money.
[music intensifies]
Well, I've been hired by the cartel. This is drug money.
It's not like you're getting a wire or a Bitcoin or a check.
Can't just bring a suitcase full of cash on a plane.
You got customs authorities.
Or if you go to a bank, they're going to say,
"We need your passport, we need your ID."
I mean, you practically give blood to these people.
[beeps]
You need to avoid any kind of paper trail.
You're going to be known as a money launderer.
Someone that is in the business.
So I'm fucking staring at this money in my kitchen cabinet,
opening the dishwasher and stacking money in the dishwasher.
I have no other choice. I've got to keep it somewhere.
What the fuck am I going to do?
How am I going to get this money out of there?
I pop a Xanax.
-[swallows] -And I just started brainstorming.
I mean, what is Australia known for? Kangaroos...
You got Crocodile Dundee, AC/DC.
-[bell dings] -That's it.
[newswoman] Uggs, as they're commonly called, are all the rage these days.
The Australian-made sheepskin boots are soft, they're trendy and expensive.
[energetic music playing]
[Owen] At the time, Uggs were huge.
So my idea was, I get the Uggs, tear the soles out,
and I go buy a gold bullion with cash,
-put four coins on each sole. -[coins ringing]
Over $10,000 a shipment to the US, and I'm like, "Fuck yeah."
But it doesn't even put a dent in this money.
I got more product coming in.
-[knocks on door] -[distorted] Package.
[Owen] You know, I'm trying to move it, but it's coming in hot.
I'm only laundering $100-$150,000 a day.
Okay, a million Tuesday, a million Wednesday,
a million Thursday, a million Friday.
Take Saturday, Sunday off. Then another million--
I'm like, "Holy fuck." I have no way to clean this stuff fast enough.
He gets $1,500,000 in 25 minutes,
but then it takes a month for him to wash $1,500,000.
It's a catch-22.
[dinging]
-[Owen] I start to panic. -[dinging continues]
The shit's about to hit the fan.
[gulps, swallows]
[Kristy] Laundering money is very difficult.
The more money you launder, the more exposure you have.
I worked in a narcotics squad 24 years in the FBI.
The Sinaloa cartel, makes $3 billion a year.
But they need to get that money from illegal means and make it usable.
A person like Owen would be very useful to the cartel
because of his access to other people.
He's the perfect guy to do business with.
[Owen] I need to find a perfect money laundering scheme.
So what do I do? I go to that famous Rolodex.
So I remember calling this friend of mine,
and she says, "Listen, I got someone that would be perfect for this."
His name is Robin Hood.
[Alex] Robin Hood 702.
That was the answer.
[Owen] And I said, "Tell him that my name's Junior. Junior DeLuca."
Of course. Junior DeLuca. It sounds like a mob name.
Yeah, for sure. That's Owen.
I meet him in Santa Monica.
I said, "I'm a bookie out of LA, but I have this customer in Australia."
I said, "He's losing money, and I have no fucking way to get it back to the US."
[interviewer] So you lied about it being drug money?
Yeah. Yeah.
It's a white lie, you know. It's not the worst thing.
He said he's interested in helping me out.
You know, he gave me the best sales pitch I've ever seen.
I remember he showed me this site he had, robinhood702.com.
And I'm like, "Wow, this is legit." He's going to use this as his front.
This guy is totally on the up and up, though, right?
Yeah, he... Well, up and up in the sense that he is going to follow through.
He did it last year. I was there. I witnessed it.
He gave this family a bagful of $100 chips.
I mean, the guy is for real.
Some might say that is a genius way to launder cash.
As far as I can tell, he appeared to be at least telling some of the truth.
So he wasn't a charlatan.
He would talk about gambling
alongside Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan in VIP rooms.
[RJ] When I met Michael Jordan,
I squeezed his hand and said, "Feel the energy of this ring."
Michael Jordan.
That was the power of being a high roller in Vegas.
[RJ] I'm a fearless high roller, it's a difference.
You're never going to meet someone that has as big as balls,
elephant balls, like me.
[Owen] This guy is so arrogant, like he's so cocky.
He must be the real deal.
And he told me he'll work for a 25% commission.
He wanted a penthouse suite at the Four Seasons.
I need a first class ticket, and I need all the money to be in Tumi luggage.
I go, "Motherfucker." Should I say, "Yes, Your Majesty," after this?
[internet dings]
But there's no way I'm going to say no.
I'm desperate. I gotta get this money out of there.
If I could do it again, I would say,
-"Owen, run as fast as you can." -Free!
[Owen] Pretend like you're running that 40 at USC and run, run, run, baby.
Because this guy is going to cause you some fucking problems.
[dramatic music playing]
His idea was very simple.
He's going to take my $1,500,000, turn it into chips,
play a couple of hands, lose some, win some.
And he's going to just say, "Ah, you know, just not really feeling it."
"Can you cash me out? I got to go back to the US."
And they would present him a check, to the sister casino in Vegas.
[Alex] The Venetian, the Bellagio, or Caesar's Palace or whatever,
and he can literally cash the check.
[Owen] Within 24 hours, he was already on a plane back to Las Vegas.
And within 48 hours, he's like, "Hey, Junior, it's done."
I said, "Holy shit."
It was the perfect remedy to my madness.
I remember messaging El Jefe that day, and I said,
"I found the money laundering magician."
El Jefe's like, "Man, that was the smoothest business I've ever seen."
He goes, "You're the real deal, O-Dog." And I was like, "Fuck, yeah."
And then just... I got goose bumps.
And the next thing you know,
Robin Hood said, "Hey, can we do it again?"
Fuck, yeah, we can do it again.
I got $2.5 right now sitting in my dishwasher.
Come on down under.
He says, "Hey, I'm going to bring this reporter. He's from Fox News."
"He's going to make this thing look legit."
I was excited. Fuck it, let's go.
I show up to the Four Seasons. He's in his penthouse on my dollar,
and I give him the $2,500,000 in two suitcases.
-[zipper opens] -[interviewer] Was he hesitant?
Wasn't hesitant at all, he's the one that contacted me.
He laundered $1,500,000 from me in 48 hours.
[booms]
I'm not even going to entertain a reaction to that absurdity.
I would have never, ever did anything if it was anything sideways, ever.
[Owen] He obviously had to give a story to save his ass.
I gave you the money, and you laundered it.
And you collected the commission.
You never donated any kind of money to any charity.
Anybody that was in need.
[interviewer] I'm assuming you found a family to give the proceeds to, right?
We were looking for a family the first time.
[interviewer laughs]
This is where the stories diverge a little bit here.
According to Robin Hood 702, the second time he arrived in Australia,
standing at the door is Junior DeLuca, with $2,500,000, Australian currency.
And he says that this money was wrapped up in shrink-wrapped plastic,
like a drug dealer would keep it.
And the money smelled like it had been stored somewhere.
Robin Hood was like, "Hang on a minute."
[RJ] So I said, "I don't want to do that."
And he said, "No, you're going to do it. We know where you live."
"Know what your wife's name is."
[Mark] "And you're going to take this money,
and you're going to go into the casino, and you're going to gamble it."
Owen Hanson became visible to me, what he really was.
[Owen] There was no threats over it.
We're doing business, and we're doing great business.
I'm not going to threaten you.
Again, I don't know. [laughs] Why would he do this?
This whole story is stranger than fiction,
so the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle, man,
what may have happened at the Star Casino that day.
Robin Hood cashes in again for $2,500,000.
And this is when he says, "I put it in the hands of the gambling gods."
[birds chirping]
[Mick] So in August 2011,
the police were called down to Star City Casino right here.
$2,400,000 of cash was being deposited by Robin Hood 702.
Police come down. They had a look from a distance.
[intense music playing]
The money was wet and suspicious, it was in plastic bags,
cryogenically packed.
[Mark] So immediately, they flagged it up to the federal authorities
as like, "Questionable money has just been cashed in."
"It's got a dank smell to it."
[Mick] And then they had a look at the footage
that happened up in the high rollers rooms.
Robin Hood is betting $20,000 a spot.
Three spots, 60K on the table.
To me, that was the way that no gambler ever bets at the blackjack table.
[Mick] You can see Robin Hood was getting more and more nervous.
He's fidgeting, he's putting his hands down his belt.
Progressively loses money.
And you could see that he didn't want to lose that money.
I think Robin Hood was concerned
about the people that he was dealing with at the time.
[phone beeps, buzzes]
[Owen] I remember texting El Jefe on the encrypted phone.
[dings]
If he has a ton, that's a thousand kilos. Do the math. That's $50 million.
Everything's working just fine. It's a well-oiled machine.
[phone rings]
The next thing you know, Robin Hood is on the other line.
I'm thinking like, "He did it. He did it again."
And he's like, "Hey, we got problems."
I said, "What do you mean, we got problems?"
He tells me he's lost my money.
I said, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute here."
"You don't have money to lose." I said, "We had an agreement."
"The agreement we made is you're going to pretend to play."
There's no fucking way this guy lost that kind of money.
Let's face it. Robin Hood's a professional gambler.
If he can bet big with somebody's bank, he's going to bet big.
And so he ended up losing $2,500,000 in about four hours.
Maximum bet, full stick, swinging for the fence every time.
He lost the money because he's a gambling degenerate.
'Cause no one wants to lose money on purpose.
[RJ over speakers] So I kind of help the gambling gods by playing recklessly
and almost blowing it on purpose.
I knew something wasn't right,
and I figured if I blow the money, what are they going to do?
[Mick] I don't believe for a second that Robin Hood tried to lose the money
because he suddenly realized that he's being an instrument
in money laundering.
Rubbish. He just basically lost the money.
And then he panicked about it.
[Owen] "I lost it all, man."
And he said, "Come on, just give me some more. I'll win it back."
I said, "No, no, no. We need to meet. We need to meet now."
I'm with my personal trainer, Sean Carolan.
This guy's this jacked UFC fighter, slash boxing coach.
And I'm like, "Hey, I'm gonna need your help, man."
"Put on that three piece suit you got. You're my muscle now."
-[clips] -[tightens]
-[laces pull] -[sound booms]
We show up there, and we just look like mobsters.
We had a look at the footage, and you see 'em in the restaurant,
and see there's a conversation going on. It's a bit heated.
[Owen] Sean's looking at him just not saying a word,
just looking at him like a fucking pit bull ready to bite.
Robin Hood. He was just shaking like a leaf.
[knuckles crack]
"Shaking like a leaf?"
I'm six-foot-five. I'm Italian.
I was already planning who I was going to hit first
with the bottle of champagne that I ordered.
[Owen] He doesn't know what we're going to do.
You know, are we gonna smash him on sight?
Are we going to shoot him right point blank in the head or what?
[knuckles crack]
That's what happens when people lose that kind of money.
Then I told him, "You fucked up, son."
"There's $2,500,000 missing, and you are responsible for it."
And Sean's like, "Let me take care of it from here."
[Mark] According to Robin Hood 702,
Sean Carolan says, "You go to the cashier desk,
you're gonna cash out, you're gonna come back,
you're gonna bring your passport, or I'm going to slit your fucking throat."
[suspenseful music playing]
[laughs] He's in a bad... That's a bad position to be in.
[laughs] He and Sean Carolan thought they could do whatever they wanted,
and I would listen to every word.
They had no clue who they were dealing with.
[Mark] This is where Robin Hood might have been pretty smart.
He says, "Okay. Okay. Let me go back and get my passport."
"But I want you to know, I'm here with a news reporter."
"He's playing in the casino somewhere. Let me go and get him, a couple of hours."
I think they were concerned about this idea
of a rogue news reporter on the loose while something bad was going down.
They go, "Okay."
[Owen] I bring Sean Carolan back to my stash house, and we just wait there.
At this point, I'm furious. I'm pissed.
I'm nervous. I'm scared, this ain't my money.
-In 20 minutes, Robin Hood calls. -[phone rings]
[Alex] Robin Hood said, "Hey, listen, man, I think the cops are tailing me."
"This car's been following me this whole time since I left the casino."
Says, "Hey, the police are after me."
I'm like, "Oh, this guy's pulling a fast one."
Man, I said, "Oh, miss me with that bullshit."
"The cops ain't following you."
I said, "We got a hotel room at the Hilton."
"Show up with your passport. We're going to resolve this."
You know, I don't want this guy leaving the country.
[RJ] You know, when somebody comes after you,
you may have to do something to stay alive.
[zippers close]
[Mick] Immediately, Robin Hood starts packing bags, head for the airport.
But he said, "I don't owe this guy any money."
"He gave it to me. He knew the risks. I'm a gambler. This is what can happen."
[Owen] It's like midnight, and he still hasn't called. So I'm like, "Fuck it."
I say, "Hey, Sean, I'm going to take some cash."
"I'm going to put it in a suitcase for you, and let's get it to the Hilton."
[interviewer] You gave your personal trainer $700,000?
Yeah, I mean, it's not logical, but...
In my mind, I was so fucking paranoid,
I just wanted to get the money out of the stash house,
so nobody else could take it.
Half the time, I wasn't even in my right mind.
I was doing so much ecstasy and Xanax and alcohol.
I'm snorting the rack, as they call it in Australia,
-which is the blow. -[sniffs]
[dings]
I was like, "Oh, fuck." I just want to be numb.
[dings]
I don't want to feel any of this.
[intense music playing]
It's not what I did to Owen Hanson. It's the way I did it.
I go after people in a very artful way.
[Mark] And so Robin Hood calls up the Hilton Hotel,
which is where they were going to meet.
[man on phone] Hello, this is the Hilton Sydney.
I made that call that there was somebody in a certain room with a weapon.
"There's a guy with a gun in room 3206." Hangs up, boom.
Hotel security goes, "Well, we're calling the police."
So the police come down. They don't know what it's about.
They just know it could be a gun.
They have a look in the room. They can't see anything.
I mean, timing, man, timing.
At that moment, in walks Sean Carolan,
wheeling a bag, a suitcase with $702,000 of cash.
So they take Sean Carolan down
to the New South Wales Police Headquarters,
and they ask him what he was doing with that money.
And Sean Carolan is evasive.
He's giving these answers around, "It's an American guy's money."
A guy called Junior DeLuca. Junior DeLuca.
-[phone rings] -[Owen] It's like one in the morning,
and I get a call on my cell phone.
It's a lady's voice, and she goes, "Hello, is Junior in?"
And I'm like, "Fuck, what the fuck is this?" I'm thinking to myself.
And she's like, "Junior, we're calling in regards to the $700,000
we found in a suitcase with Sean Carolan."
And I'm like, "Whoa, the 700K? What are you talking about?"
She's like, "This is the New South Wales Police Department."
"Would you please come into the office?"
[music intensifies]
At that point, the police, they're really starting to piece things together.
We knew that Robin Hood was connected to the $700,000,
but we didn't really know how.
When the Robin Hood boarded the plane to fly back to the US,
detectives pulled him off the plane.
They tried to stop me. Why didn't they?
Why don't you ask them? Why don't you call them? Want their numbers?
[Mick] The pilot came out and said,
"Well, are they going to charge this guy, or let him go?"
At that time, they didn't have enough evidence, so they had to let him go.
There you go.
Robin Hood calls and says, "I'm out of here."
It felt like he was showing that he got away with it, like he escaped.
[Mick] And we started trying to work out where this $3,200,000 all came from.
That's kind of what really kicked the job off.
[Owen] I'm in the hole, $3,200,000 in one day.
Just a matter of time, they figure out who Junior is.
They're going to figure out Junior is actually Owen Hanson.
That's when I get on the plane, and I get the fuck out of Australia.
[electronic music playing]
[Kristy] His life was just exposed on so many levels.
His business partner was the Sinaloa cartel.
They don't have any problem sawing someone's head off.
They will bury you to your neck and run you over.
If they don't like how business is going, they're going to address it themselves.
[dings]
-[Owen] My life's over. -[dings continue]
I just went from becoming this multimillionaire
to becoming a dead man.
I knew it was something different. I'd meet up with him.
Like, "Yo, man, you slipping, man, what's up?"
"What's going on with you? You all right?"
He started explaining to me how he started coming up
and some things he did.
[dings]
So it was like a whirlwind of everything, you know?
It's like when it rains, it pours. That's exactly what happened.
[Owen] And I said, "This is it, man. I'm dead."
This is all because of that fucking Robin Hood guy.
He's a scum of the earth. In prison, we call 'em "maggots."
He's a fucking cockroach.
So come hell or high water,
I'm going to get every cent this guy owes me.
[suspenseful music playing]
[Kobra] O-Dog. People don't know how he is as a human.
But like I say, he's a man of his word.
You know, if he say he's going to do something, he's going to do it.
Motherfucker was really about-- about getting his money.
[Owen] I remember calling him up.
I'm not cussing him out. I'm just playing it cool.
I say, "Hey, man. There's $2,500,000 missing."
"This money is owed, and you know it's owed, so let's get me paid, man."
He's like, "All right, all right."
He gives me a couple of thousand here, a couple thousand there.
Then all of a sudden, he went dark.
As I'm thinking to myself, "What the fuck? This guy's a whale."
You know, communication is key in this business.
If you're communicating with me, then that's cool.
I'm cool. I work with people.
But when you cross the line, and you don't answer the phone,
man, he'll be like, "Motherfucker, we come coming to collect."
[Owen] Because that's what I do.
My collection ratio is like 90%, which is unheard of in my business.
You want to disappear now? I got something for you.
The problem is, I don't know anything about this guy.
So I get this business card for this private investigator.
He's the Hollywood PI.
This guy was one of the best researchers, investigators there are.
He was capable of getting stuff from the DEA, FBI, Homeland Security.
His name's Danno Hanks.
Come on in.
Because I usually have no place to put anything,
most of it's on my walls.
I've got stories from me being in the news,
gold and platinum records from bands that I've worked with.
I worked at the Playboy Mansion for some time,
and so I had a lot of Playboy Playmate friends.
50 year's worth of PI work, and I never throw out a file.
Yeah, I'm known as the Hollywood PI.
[ice crunches]
I have no idea why.
Because most of my cases don't even happen in Hollywood.
-I've been a screw up all my life. -[camera flashes]
In and out of jail for all kinds of stuff. But I worked for both the FBI and the DEA.
I'm basically the guy that put John Gotti away.
I tracked down Jeffrey Epstein's first victim,
recorded Heidi Fleiss's phones.
I went to testify for Prince Harry. I sang on multiple albums.
This is Starship. That's Starship.
That's Starship, and that's Starship.
[interviewer] What's your favorite Starship song?
Oh... ♪ We built this city ♪
[rock music playing]
♪ We built this city On rock and roll ♪
[Danno] So where were we?
I just realized where I put the Owen Hanson files.
I believe they're on this one right here.
Owen Hansen called me, and he said,
"Do you do locates and background checks?"
[Owen] I was like, "I got this guy, Robin Hood,"
and I said, "I need to know more information on him."
[Danno] He wanted me to do a deep dive into Robin Hood 702,
which was the area code for Las Vegas.
Is that a "G" in there? It's hard for me to see.
[Owen] He's got this secret database, and it's an insane database.
It's something I've never seen before.
[Danno] There are multiple search engines that you could use.
[Owen] He's got access to FBI, CIA, DEA, you name it.
This guy's got it.
There is a picture of him.
He's not weird.
[Owen] And we find out his name is RJ Cipriani.
[Danno] And Cipriani was living in a condo
on the beach front in Los Angeles.
[Owen] He's living on Ocean Boulevard. That's prime real estate.
I don't want to have to put hands on him, be aggressive in any sort of way,
but I want to scare the living shit out of him.
I had sent a pizza delivery guy.
And tell him, "Hey, when you knock and deliver the pizza,
let him know this is from Junior."
You know, that was the first step.
[Mark] Robin Hood said that a bouquet of flowers was sent to his wife.
Saying, "Best of luck with all your endeavors."
This is a sign to say we can get you if we want to.
Little things, so he knew that we knew where he was.
He finally called me. He says, "Hey, you can't be doing that."
I said, "Listen, just pay me my fucking money."
[Mark] "You got to get me that money."
But Robin Hood, he wasn't in the mindset that,
"Oh, I better try and find $2,500,000."
It was Owen's money that was lost. Tough shit.
[Owen] Yeah, sometimes you get a degenerate that doesn't want to pay you.
But I know how to deal with these kind of guys.
[Kobra] One time, I remember there was this cat.
You know, he just called O-Dog.
This guy was like, "Motherfucker, you know who the fuck I am?"
"Motherfucker, I got balls from here to the motherfucking floor."
Man, you know O-Dog don't play. O-Dog said, "Wait, wait, wait."
He said, "Yeah? Well, yeah, okay. Look who's walking through your front."
And I walk in, just seeing that nigga's nuts went... [yelps]
Yeah, little bitch.
You got guys like your boy Kobra, the best collector in the business.
But this Robin Hood, he's a little squirrely.
Maybe I got to be careful.
Kobra might scare the living shit out of him, and he goes to the police.
He said, "Do you have a buddy that can do some surveillance for me?"
-And I said, "Yeah." -He says, "I got this collector, Animal."
-"He's big, and he's cheap." -Yeah. Animal.
[hip hop music playing]
They need a door broken down? I'm the guy.
They need anything where it takes a little bit of muscle?
They call me. We do what it takes to get it done.
[Danno] A production company that was doing reality shows came to me,
and they wanted me to get people that I knew that were in the business.
And Jack Rissell had worked as a bounty hunter.
There's nothing more I love than getting physical a minute with this.
[Tim] Jack is just one of those big human beings that...
[police sirens]
I don't know that he ever lifted a weight in his life,
but he'd snap your fucking ass in two.
You knew that Jack was somebody not to fuck with, ever.
[Owen] He parked in front of Robin Hood's condo,
right there on Ocean Boulevard, and he just sat there.
And he's in this big fucking molester van.
[Mark] He's giving the sense that we're watching you.
We can get to you.
[Owen] He's calling me, and he's texting me saying,
"Hey, this guy keeps looking out his blinds."
I said, "Good, Just stay right there."
Because this shit ain't going away until it's paid.
And Cipriani was no angel.
C-I-P-R-I...
I started realizing he was full of shit.
See, it'll take a few minutes to...
[Owen] We find out on Robin Hood, that he doesn't have a job.
And this guy ain't no multi-millionaire.
This high roller, this so-called "whale," was a fugazi.
This guy's nobody.
The people that are watching this are gonna have to
make their own conclusions.
And when the people watch Danno Hanks, and they watch me,
they'll know what a fugazi is.
He leeches off of people,
and the only way to get rid of a leech is to burn 'em.
[dramatic music playing]
Jack Rissell called me, and he says, "Hey, good news."
[car engine starts]
He goes, "I'm following him right now in his Prius."
"He's driving a Prius?" He goes, "He's driving a Prius."
I said, "Fucking stay on his ass, man."
[Jack] He's acting like he's fucking running, ain't he?
[Tim] Clear as day, I remember Owen saying,
"I'm going to go question this fucking guy myself."
Like, it was personal at that point.
[Owen] Jack says, "Hey, boss, we've got a problem."
I said, "What's that?"
[Jack] Right into the police station.
[Owen] Okay, this guy, he's freaking out.
I said to myself, "I haven't even begun."
Owen's mindset had been, he's playing chess, right?
And that's just it.
Like, there's so many other avenues that you can use
that are psychological.
I lived a great life, amazing life. I've done amazing things.
And the greatest thing I ever did in my life,
the greatest of all the greatest things I've ever done,
was taking care of my mom.
Without her, you won't have life.
Don't ever forget that.
Don't ever forget when your mother looks at you.
You'll never feel that from anyone else but your mother.
Period.
She's watching over me.
[Danno] Well, we can get into that real quick.
I found an obituary for Cipriani's mom.
And this obituary really made it clear
that this was Cipriani's breaking point.
[RJ] When my mother passed, I put billboards up on I-95.
"Regina." Real big. Great stuff.
He would do anything for his mother.
So I knew right there, I said, "That's a soft spot."
I said, "Okay, Danno,
-I need you to drive to Pennsylvania..." -[car horn blares]
"...go to his mother's grave, take the tombstone,
and bring it back to me. I will have that tombstone as collateral."
"And that's how I'm gonna get my money back."
Genius.
No, he never asked me to take the tombstone.
Which I wouldn't have done. [laughs] It would not be something I would do.
He just said, "Go out there and get me a picture."
-[camera snaps] -[Owen] When he gets there,
he says, "This tombstone's six feet, 500 pounds."
He goes, "There's no way in hell I'm gonna be able to dig this thing up."
Sucker's about 20 feet high.
And that's when I decided to resort to plan B.
Hanson says to me, "I need you to go splash some red paint on the tombstone."
I said, "Nah, I don't think so," you know.
He says, "I'll give you another $2,500 if you do it."
Short of cash.
So I google, "What's the Pennsylvania law against defacing a tombstone?"
It says, you know, "desecrating a grave," blah, blah.
"Pennsylvania statutes."
It's a $200 fine.
If I get busted for doing this,
that's all I'm facing is $200.
I've never had any religious feelings about visiting a grave.
It was like, "Oh, big deal." I have no idea where I'm going to end up.
Yeah, throw me in the dumpster.
[choral music playing]
I'm throwing some paint on a piece of wood.
Splash the paint on there.
I take the now famous picture.
Texted it to him. He says, "Can you do Photoshop?"
"Can you put me in the picture?"
I said, "Ah, we'd have to have a similar background."
And he goes, "Meet me over in that field behind the La Brea Tar Pits."
He gets out, goes to the trunk of his car, takes out a shovel.
[laughing] Puts on a mask.
I just said, "Okay, the guy's weird."
-[camera snaps] -[Owen] I am in the La Brea Tar Pits,
and I'm like, "Fuck, man, there's all these people."
And I'm like out there with a fucking shovel.
I'm like, "Oh, my God, what am I doing?"
He's taking these pictures, and like, "Fuck, man, hurry up."
I look like I'm about to rob a bank.
And he's like, "Don't worry, just say it's for Halloween."
-[camera snaps] -[music continues]
And I'm like, "Holy shit, this is gonna haunt me."
Dan was pretty... pretty computer savvy, at the time.
Like, he had this shit down.
[Danno] You know, if you use the lasso so you can go around,
you know, somebody and get their whole picture.
So I must have gone up between his legs and...
It was basic, you know. Photoshop 5.5, you know.
Control X.
Edit, paste, reduce his picture till I got it where it matched up.
It wasn't rocket science.
[Owen] I mean, it looked so fucking real.
It would be fucking scary as fuck to somebody.
I think for RJ that was the point where he goes, "No, too much."
[laughs] You don't fuck with my family in that way.
She was my everything.
And...
he desecrated her grave.
[Owen] I remember he called me, he goes, "How dare you fuck with my mother?"
I told him, "Hey, man, this ain't even my money."
I said, "There's other people involved, and it's not just me."
"It's the cartel's money."
He was scared.
I don't give a fuck who you are, where you come from.
If you're from the cartel, if you're from wherever.
If you got guns pointed at me, I have no fear of dying.
None. Do you think I'm gonna worry about the cartel?
Come on.
[RJ] What are they gonna do to me if they find me?
Come on, stop it.
You went way overboard with some of this s***. Okay?
[Owen] Listen, listen, listen... Not way overboard.
People get killed over $20,000. Don't tell me this is way overboard.
It's a lot of f****** money.
Do you think this is just gonna disappear?
Everything's gonna be okay?
No, it doesn't work like that.
[RJ] I am tenacious.
I won't fucking stop.
If you fuck with, I'm coming for you.
If it takes me a year, two years, ten years, it doesn't matter.
I'm not going to forget, and I'm going to get...
my piece of your heart.
That's it. But other than that, I'm a nice guy.
[credits music playing] n that, I'm a nice guy.