Martin McNally: Last of the Skyjackers

His hero was DB Cooper. So he imitated his skyjacking ransom down to the letter. Only Martin McNally had never used a parachute before he became a skyjacker. And he never expected someone to play the hero with a '71 Cadillac Eldorado.

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Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:02):
iHeartRadio Elizabeth Dutton Zaren Burnette.

Speaker 3 (00:07):
Do you know what's ridiculous?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
I do?

Speaker 3 (00:09):
No, you don't, I do.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Watch this step back? Do you? Did you ever have
a snuggie? What a snuggie? Like those blankets that you
kind of wear, is like a modified robe?

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Do I look like a person? You have a blanket
that I wear?

Speaker 4 (00:24):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (00:24):
I do. Yeah, I would have a robe. I like blankets,
so I don't need.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
To have you know what I'm talking about, though?

Speaker 4 (00:30):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (00:30):
I think so. Yeah. I remember the people would sit
on couches and they would have like this robe draped
I remember the late night commercial.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Yeah, like a blanket with armholes. I never had one.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Yeah, I remember the ads.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
But there's there's a there's there's a movement in coziness
in this world.

Speaker 3 (00:47):
I figure you were into this.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah, I like, I've seen these things that are like
oversized sweatshirts that come like down to your show, okay,
and it's like a big fuzzy blanket, but it's got
a hood It's like a giant giant hoodie. Do you
know who else likes those? It's this It's they're wild
up there Wendy's Canada, the Wendy's restaurant.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
The restaurant Wendy's.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
I didn't even Wendy's Canada though. They're wild, dude.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
They got a whole different vi.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
You have totally different promotions and ads. They had a
thing a couple of years ago and they're not even square,
they're like what triangular and f Tendy's. They had like
this whole campaign. They won like a Webby Award was
nominated anyhow, So they had this this thing not too
long ago, but I think it's expired that you could

(01:40):
get a nuggie. It's their version of a snuggie. So
it's printed like the skin of a chicken nugget. It's
wear yeah, and it's like a hoodie. It's fleece lined.
It's something you would totally wear, super cozy. It has
a pocket in the front of little kangaroo, but then
on in front of the pocket there's another pocket where

(02:01):
it fits a container of chicken nuggets, or, as Baby
Yoda would sing, chicky nuggies. So I I hereby declare
that ridiculous, but also I kind of want one.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Oh my god, that just sounds hot.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Chicken. You are You're always so bundled.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Up and you were like uddies, But I wouldn't. I
don't like like over ever present clothing like that. Like
to be just swaddled. Now that sounds hot.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
I like to be swaddled.

Speaker 3 (02:28):
Yeah, he got a second. How's your voice? You doing okay?

Speaker 2 (02:32):
You know it's we're fighting the good fight. Apparently there
was an article in sf Gate that there's this cough
going around the Bay area. Yeah, and I have the cough,
but I know nope, other people who have it. But
I feel like I'm the only one who's losing her
voice on this one. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Interesting, And that's.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
The gods are smiting me and telling me to shut
my pie hole that I refuse j So yeah, it's
I mean, it comes and goes. So I apologize for
how greating this may sound, but you know I'm doing
the best it can.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
Hang in there, Chief, Thank you, sir. Well, I got
something for you. This ridiculous. You got a second? Oh god,
I do skyjacking.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
Oh that is ridiculous.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
You know I love it, Elizabeth, I've got a hell
of a story for you too. Yeah, this one it's
like part two of a previous story. Oh you remember
Garrett brock trapnel I do you do? Okay, the skyjacker
had his girlfriend like a hijacky helicopter to break him
out of prison. Well, do you remember how he had
another guy with him when he's trying to break out?

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah, I do.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
They were in the yard and they were waving in
the helicopter. This is the story of the other guy.
He was also a skyjacker.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Wait, yeah, two.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
Skyjackers, totally unrelated, just men in prison got along head
common interest in his story. Even more ridiculous. This is

(04:07):
this is a ridiculous crime. A podcast about absurd and
outrageous capers, heists and cons. It's always ninety nine to
free and ridiculous. Yeah, put you back into it. Plane travel,
Yeah right, Yeah, we've talked about this. You talked about
the guy who had that crappy time on a plane,

(04:29):
made a big stink in there. Well, these days an
air of viral clips. There are plenty of outlandis stories.
He can't even go like a week without there being
a plane story, it seems. Oh yeah, then there's also
the news stories too. I just mean with people of
acting poorly on planes, not the planes acting pooral as
so as.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
You can see someone kind of in a window seat
filming something in the aisle and they're trying to be subtle.
It's like from a low end.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
Exactly as someone walks past, like shrieking backwards and other people. Yeah.
So there's also whole social media accounts now, like on
Instagram there's one but badly behave plane travelers.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
That's got to be chock full content.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
It is. They have enough that they can just constantly post.
Could you imagine if we had social media during the
jet age, like when it first started?

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Oh No, there's a lot of stuff when I look
back in time and I'm like, could you imagine if
we had social media then? And for most of them,
I'm really grateful if I'm involved, I'm really grateful we
didn't have it back then.

Speaker 3 (05:22):
In this case, like I think it would be kind
of the opposite of the normal trend. This it's like
the captured opulence of jet age. Oh travel, I.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Don't think you'd see people behaving. So people got dressed
up to get on a plane, and they behaved themselves
in public. People don't behave in public anymore. They did
not know we were failing as a society.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
A jet used to be exciting. Like in nineteen fifty eight,
Boeing brought out the seven O seven that was America's
first jet airliner. We were not the first to have
a jet airliner.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
But that was our first big old jet airliner.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah, you know, Bingo jet he had his light on.
So nineteen fifty nine first year, a bunch of people
across the Atlanta by plane. In fact, more people crossed
the Atlantic by plane than by ship first year ever
in nineteen fifty nine, thus marking the beginning of the
jet age. Right. So this means basically, in the nineteen sixties,
it becomes popular, democratized, it becomes something accessible for more

(06:15):
more people. This is the era of pan AM and
t WA, all the big American transatlantic airlines.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
This the flight attendants stewardess is in those he's had
like a carving station totally down the aisle exactly, people
who are all dressed up and had giant seats.

Speaker 3 (06:31):
Totally legit prime rib lobster buffet. You getting like seven cocktails.
It's ridiculous. The spiral staircase, like this is the spiral staircase.
Go oh, the whole other floor of six we have
the buffets better on the second floor. What it was nuts? Right, Well,
I never got to fly like that. I never saw
it myself, but I've seen photos. I know it's real.

(06:52):
You know, I can imagine it if you will.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, it predates me, but totally it feels like something
that I could believe in.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
Yeah, it's very kingly, but I want to believe in it.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
But also like these days, the way we fly now
is it's basically like how taking a greyhound bus used
to be there. It'll get you there, yeah, most most
likely probably be delayed, but you'll get you there now.
As I was saying, if you get if we had
social media in the jet age, right, it also would
have documented the skyjacker era.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Oh that's true, right, that's the boom in seventies.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, some influencer live streaming dB Cooper on the plane.
There'd be no mysteries anymore, and then they'd be like.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
Doxim and everyone figure out who he is exactly.

Speaker 3 (07:36):
You take them like seventeen hours. Your people on Reddy
would have themally done. So, as I said, we've discussed
the golden age of skyjacking before with Garrett brock Trapnel, Right,
So I'm not going to go into all of it,
but for a brief recap, skyjacking basically becomes a thing
in the mid sixties. That's where you hijack a plane
and you hold it for ransom and say I either
wanted for political reasons, like give me some prisoners back

(07:57):
or give me some cash, and I'm gonna go to Cuba. Yeah,
but it's basically a hijacking with a ransom intent.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
Right.

Speaker 3 (08:04):
But it wasn't always as I said, It wasn't always political,
was always terrorists. Sometimes it's just purely money. But usually
people would then want to be diverted somewhere, right, they
would take the plane, they'd steal the plane and you
can come get it later, right, So they would want
to fly to Cuba. As I said, Right, this was
so common that during the Golden era of skyjacking, pilots
on domestic flights, regardless of where they were flying, they

(08:26):
were given extra charts that had maps that showed routes
to Havana. No way, you're flying from Saint Louis to Portland, Oregon,
still got a map to go to Havana just in case. Yeah,
because you never know. That's how it's crazy, right, But
the reason why is because there's pretty much zero security. Yeah,
there was no TSA, no metal detectors for the most part.

(08:48):
It was a new technology just starting to be introduced
in the seventies. But basically there was not a anyone
could walk right up to the gate.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
It was a beautiful time.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
I bet some airports a person could walk right onto
the tarmac ticket really because you could get onto the
plane and buy the ticket on the plane. So you
can get literally onto the plane without any proof that
you had an intent to be.

Speaker 2 (09:09):
On the plane, exactly.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
Just like a train. That's exactly the model.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
I remember, being able to go to the gate to
meet people or to bid them a dow.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
But yeah, that existed until nine to eleven. Yeah, that
goes all the way up to two thousand and one. Basically,
So sky marshals, which we think of, you know, being
a big nine to eleven invention, it wasn't. They started
in nineteen seventy, that's actually, but it was because of
how many skyjackings there were. At first they thought we'll
just put a cop on there. Eventually they got to

(09:37):
we needed to actually screen the passenger. So out to
have metal detectors. Then we have like the modern era,
but at the point it was so common and so
I don't want to say accepted, but it was a
much different approach. They treated it. A hijacking was like
kind of like a bank robbery, where the crews, the
airline crews were told by the airlines to act like
bank tellers, which is basically, avoid any possibility of violence.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Don't don't be a hero exactly.

Speaker 3 (10:02):
The planes ensured or whatever, go along with their demands.
So this basically encouraged a whole culture of skyjackings. You're
will emerge because if you allow it, then.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
You've allowed It's like shoplifting now where they say don't
apprehend the shoplifting, but people who work in the stores
aren't allowed to stop them.

Speaker 3 (10:18):
And now you got a culture.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
Now you got a culture.

Speaker 3 (10:20):
So there's this book called The Skies Belong to Us
and the author's name is Brendan Carner. He documented that
between nineteen sixty eight and nineteen seventy two, so essentially
five years. Yeah, if you count sixty eight and seventy two,
there were one hundred and thirty skyjackings just in America. Wow,
just in America.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
That's a lot.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yeah, the skis with the Wild West Elizabeth. Yeah. So
inter my man Martin McNally, the last of the Skyjackers.
So he was from Detroit, raised in the Suburb's father
owned a shoe store. Very all American upbringing. And his
father because he was a shoe store, he's a respectable
man in mcnowly's hometown. He and his siblings, there was
a seven of them total. They all went to Catholic school, right,

(11:02):
just dad did everything he could to raise.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Good American literate kid.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
Totally. So Martin McNally, he's resistant. He's like, Dad, you tried.
You know, it's like the Mama tribe. He's like, Papa,
you tried. So natural born criminal, This guy, Martin mcnowly's
just in him, right. So by eleventh grade, he drops
out of high school, drops out of Catholic school, runs
off to join the Navy, smart kid that he is,
he gets trained to be an airplane electrician. By nineteen

(11:26):
sixty four, he gets discharged just in time to miss
Vietnam War.

Speaker 2 (11:31):
Wow. Yeah, right under the wire on that.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
One Gulf of Talking sixty four. So it's hat Anyway,
his father offers him a spot back at the old
family shoe store, and Martin mcnowly's like, nah, pop, I'm good,
I got the criminal in me. So he goes stays
away from home and he gets caught up in small
time petty crime. He's like, oh yeah, let me just
do my thing.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
I mean, so he's learned a trade and he's got it.

Speaker 3 (11:51):
Come on, dude, Nope, not him, he said. He gets
a job at a gas station there he in bezzled gas,
just selling it off the books obviously didn't take a
long exactly. It would be like, hey, yeah, coming through,
we had twenty eight dollars, and then he would just
keep the twenty eight bucks. Oh right, embezzlement. So he
got caught and because it's pretty easy book keeping on

(12:12):
that one, like I've sold one hundred gallons, I've got
forty eight gallons worth of money. It's going on there, Martin.
So he eventually gets fired. He moves on to his
next gig. His next gig that he comes up for
himself is counterfeiting. He's like, what if I just faked
the money? All this trying to get the money, what
about his making bake jump right? It is? He was.
He was a smart guy, quick thinker. He was like,
you know, the problem was is the money. I'm trying

(12:34):
to get money. I could just make that stuff.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
He had eleven years of Catholic school, he exactly.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
And you know in a couple of years of Navy
engineering school.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
Now that teach a lot totally the.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
Machinery and stuff.

Speaker 2 (12:46):
Yeah, I don't know that's true.

Speaker 3 (12:47):
Anyway, he wasn't better at that. He got caught loaded
counterfeit quarters in his pocket.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
Wait, counterfeit left that part out.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
He was trying to exchange them. You know, he's went
to the laundromat change machine. It was pumping in quarters
and trying to get it.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Just dummies with nothing printed on them.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
I wish I had a better answer. Slugs, yeah, I
would imagine would be yeah, just metal, metal slugs that
are about the same size.

Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
So yeah, then he's trying to.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
Get He's just at an arcade.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
Five nickels for the quarter. He's like, cool, big score.
And he kept doing that. I don't know Elizabeth anyway,
Calendar kept flipping pages. He tries numerous scams, small cons
over the years nineteen seventy two rolls around. Everything changes
for the man. It was like a light from the
heavens shone down on a man Martin McNally, instead of
the parted clouds, though making way for a shaft of sunlight. Instead,

(13:41):
his inspiration came from a man in the sky.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
Oh yeah, not.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
Like the man in the sky got no, No, not
that a man wearing a parachute Elizabeth clutching a bag
of ransom cash as he fell back to earth. That's
what inspired. Just before Thanksgiving in nineteen seventy one, the
skyjacker dbo struck huge news, all the talk of the nation,
even though you hitting the Pacific Northwest. Yeah, he was

(14:06):
a huge deal. Right one night. Two months later Martin mcnow,
he's driving around listening to the news on the car radio. Right,
he's like looking for his next small time score. The
report is all about the investigation into this mystery man
who's commandeered a jet airliner from Portland, a Boeing seven
twenty seven. If you're a Carter skyjacker demanded that the
plane land and did he be given two hunderd grand

(14:27):
and a parachute? This part is wild to me. You
think he'd find a way to bring a parachute with him.
If your plan is predicated on the parachute. Don't you
want to have that?

Speaker 2 (14:37):
Yeah, and you can have it in your car carry.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
On luggage exactly like I wouldn't count on the cops
to bring me my parachute.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
In fact, did he have luggage. It's probably shadier if
you don't have any luggage to.

Speaker 3 (14:49):
Get I've done that.

Speaker 2 (14:50):
I've gotten on a plane with nothing.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
They definitely, especially if it's the one way flight. I've
done that one brother and I.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
When I got I bought a car from my uncle
and we had to fly down and pick it up,
and then we were going to drive it back the
same day.

Speaker 3 (15:04):
And he bought the ticket the same day. Forget about.
You might just arrest yourself.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
One way ticket to Vegas.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
Luggage you, ma'am, ma'am.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
Yeah, we looked a sight too.

Speaker 3 (15:17):
Things were a little different back then. The cops brought
him his parachute. They brought the money, both legit. They
didn't even play any games.

Speaker 2 (15:23):
Around, right, slug money inside.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Jet money two hundred grand and a parachute that works.
It wasn't just like forces and spoons inside the days.
I'm telling you. So the skyjacker orders the pilots to
take off again, which they did. Forty five minutes later,
Skyjacker opens the door, lowers down the stairwell from the
back of the jet airliner, climbs down, and he jumped,
disappearing into the dark and cloud cover. As the news reported,

(15:49):
it seems that he successfully parachuted out of the plane,
drifted down through the night sky and into the forest
of the Pacific Northwest, disappearing forever with the two hundred
thousand dollars. Right, Martin mcnow took notes, He's like, Okay,
I need a gun. I need yeah, take paperwork. Basically,
I'll need a disguise, I'll need a parachute, I'll need
a plane. It seems simple enough to him, and now

(16:09):
he had a new plan for his life. Yeah, air piracy.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
Exactly, do you have a mentor exactly?

Speaker 3 (16:14):
You just you can see it, you can be it, Elizabeth.

Speaker 2 (16:17):
It is so true.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
So he would become a skyjacker.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
He got like the horn room glasses, He's like dressed
for the job he want exactly.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
So he gathered up all the necessary materials together, the
horn room glasses, the gun, and then he to do
this because it was a pretty good list. He'd be like,
if you were doing it, and he's like, okay, it
was like a seventeen point list. Yeah, he hits up
a guy he knew in the underground, right, this guy,
Walter Petlakowski. He's a local pool hustler. Also he dealt
guns on.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
This site in the underground. He's a mole man.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
Yeah, exactly, he's in the underworld, right. So McNally he
bought a forty five rifle from the pool hustler. Then
he customized it. He saw it off the barrel ten
full inches. He cuts off right, he cuts it down
like Steve McQueen's Mayre's leg on the old TV show
Wanted Dead or Alive. So basically just imagine like a
quarter inch of barrel sticking.

Speaker 2 (17:02):
Out of a peel pew exactly.

Speaker 3 (17:04):
So satisfied with petrol Kowski's value was a small time criminal.
Mcnow He's like, hey man, you want to be my accomplice,
I'll cut you in for fifty grand.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
What does it do to cut the barrel off like that?

Speaker 4 (17:14):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (17:15):
For him, it was the length. He wanted to be
able to secret it away.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
Somewhere I see, like put it in his pant and so.

Speaker 3 (17:21):
And with Steve McQueen, he wanted to be able to
carry it on his leg when he was riding a
horse and then quickly draw it and then it reduces
your accuracy by a lot, but essentially becomes like a shotgun.

Speaker 2 (17:29):
But why wouldn't you just carry a pistol.

Speaker 3 (17:31):
Because you want this stopping power that it offers.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
Oh okay, see i'm learning. I'm learning today.

Speaker 3 (17:38):
As also in the UK here then we call it
a sawed off shotgun. If it's a shotgun in the UK,
they call it a sawn off shotgun. Yes, yes, interesting.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
Yeah, well the thing too, it's like you gotta have
the pistol for close up work, use.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
The pistol to get to your long gun.

Speaker 4 (17:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:58):
I know you do all your wet work with a blade,
so I know you're studying the blade for the rest
of us.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
I was studying the plane.

Speaker 3 (18:07):
So McNally he finds a briefcase that will house his
nude sawn off forty five rifle. That's for you, producer D.
And also he shoves into this briefcase a wig and
some smoke bombs to go next, he also had to
find the perfect airport to hit For the next few months.
He cases airports. He goes to Kansas City, He goes
to Chicago, goes to Indianapolis, finally decides Saint Louis that's

(18:28):
the spot because of his place, Lambert Airport in Saint Louis,
they had the worst security of all of the Midwest airports.
So he took us accomplished Petlekowski to the airport. They
did a couple of trial runs. Everything went smoothly. The
two men knew it was time to fly. Yeah, let's
take a breakage. Oh yeah, after this we'll be back
to take to the skies. Elizabeth, you know when you.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
Were when I said big old jet airliner and you.

Speaker 3 (19:10):
Said Bingo jet had a light on.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, that's how you always hear the Steve Miller lyrics,
And then now I can't ever hear them in another way.

Speaker 3 (19:18):
I like to Bingo Jet is a full caro je.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
Bingo Jet is like I just imagine, it's kind of
like a country Bears jamboree with like a stovepipe hat.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
If he didn't have his light on, you know how
many people be lost in the dark.

Speaker 2 (19:35):
Thank you, Bingo Jet.

Speaker 3 (19:36):
Yeah, I'm telling you you ready to skyjack a jumbo
jet airliner.

Speaker 2 (19:40):
If my name ate Bingo Jet it's.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
A June twenty third. Yeah, it was a Friday, Okay.
It was also the day that McNally and his wheelman,
Pat Lekowski, decided it's go time. Yeah, so the two
men they drove over to the Saint Louis Airport. McNally
gets dropped off at the main terminal, has his briefcase
with him. Inside. Loaded up is a sod Off forty
five rifle the sa oak bombs. No wig not yet,
he tarnet, Yeah, I know. He waved goodbye to his wheelman.

(20:04):
Headed inside the airport, went to the ticket counter, bought
a one way ticket to Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
Saint Louis to Tulsa.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Told the lady behind the ticket counter's name was Robert Wilson.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
No.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
I don't know if that's like a whole play on
Robert Anton Wilson or not, but anyway, Robert Wilson, Yeah,
pay for the ticket. He showed his Navy discharge papers,
but the documents were forged. They were good for one
airline ticket home, because when you're discharged from the military,
airlines discharge paper they'll fly you home. So he knew
that He's like, fly me home on the way to

(20:36):
the plane, no metal detectors to pass through. Yeah, it's
a new technology has not been installed in Saint Louis.

Speaker 2 (20:43):
They're like, hey, thank you for your service on this exactly, sir.
They're not going to look twice.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
He gives his ticket boards the plane, takes his seat
three rows from the rear of the plane. He calmly
enjoys the flight. Oh, look at this above the clouds.
I'll have the oysters trink about a half hour befo
or the flight was set to land until he gets up,
goes to the bathroom, wants to freshen up, takes his
briefcase with him. He pulls out on his brown shaggy

(21:08):
wig makes him look kind of like it be slid
on a pair of sunglasses aviators. His disguise now complete,
He pulled out his sawd off rifle, stepped out with
the laboratory, walks up to the flight attendant, hands her
a note. Flight attendant looks sound at the note. The
rifle goes, oh Lord, takes the note to the cockpit.
Few tense minutes now passed.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
Why why wouldn't he wear the wig the whole time?
Because everyone's seen him sitting next to him is like
this clean cut. Then he comes back it's like Jimmy Shaggle.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
I think he's something that he'd be not memorable up
to that point. And then once he has the gun,
people are paying attention and they're like, I don't remember
there was some guy maybe right, I don't know that
that's how I read it, but I don't know. So
McNally he's sitting there now, waiting in his seat with
the wig on the glasses, the gun, and he's in
there calling what she what she telling the pilot's right.

(22:01):
Minutes go by, and he's like, and all of a
sudden he hears the pilot on the plane's intercomments, oh,
lightiest and gentlemen, we have a passenger who needs to
return to Saint Louis, so we're gonna be returning. Based
on all the details he could pull from the newspaper accounts,
McNally had followed dB Cooper's skyjacking to the jot and
tittle He had upped at the ransom amount though that's

(22:22):
the big Everything else is exactly what D. B. Cooper
had done, right down to the note.

Speaker 2 (22:26):
Right, it's a cola exactly McNally he had uped it
to a half million dollars.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
Oh yeah, a little more nicola. But anyway, he had
one other request. He wanted two thousand dollars in small bills.

Speaker 2 (22:38):
Oh, I want to make a rain well.

Speaker 3 (22:40):
Exactly good call. He planned to tip the flight attendance.

Speaker 2 (22:44):
Oh, how good of him. Right, you got it. You
gotta juice people out. When are you doing these things?

Speaker 3 (22:49):
I am a big fan of tipping, except for what
they've done lately. Oh my god, Now I gotta like
tip the guy at the weed store.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
That is true.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
The dude, you hit buttons. You hit three more buttons
than I did.

Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, and I got to give you ten. Any like
you go to a bakery counter and they just cand
it to you and then all of a sudden they
flip that screen around and then the pressure's on. And
I want everyone to like me totally.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
I know you.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
That's all I care about. And so when they're staring
at me.

Speaker 3 (23:17):
The bakery, they did something. They baked the baked good.
Start didn't do anything other than show up.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
Maybe they grew it.

Speaker 3 (23:23):
No, they don't do anything. Okay, they do some warehousing
and some manual internet putting it on the stonech like people.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
Who do something like when you stay in a hotel,
you have got to leave a tip.

Speaker 3 (23:33):
I'm a big believer, must do it. But now we're
changing tip culture. We're allowed. I don't think people are
going to be tipping the way they should because they
could become innured to it because they're being asked all
the time.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
That's what I got it. You gotta duke the people
who need it exactly, you know, and everyone else like
you just ring me up a cashier somewhere. I'm sorry
for your troubles. I've had that job. It's terrible.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
But like plenty of customer service where tips like you know,
Barissa jobs and stuff right done that. I appreciated the
tips I tip. Barisa's all yeah, but they're once again
doing something. There is a service. The week I they
didn't do anything.

Speaker 2 (24:05):
He really hung up on the week, especially because when
they flip that thing around and it's like eighteen percent,
You're like, that's four hundred dollars.

Speaker 3 (24:13):
I'm like, what are you talking about here? I'm not
buying you a.

Speaker 2 (24:16):
Car tire here, you move weight at the week I
buy too much.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
So anyway to the pilots they decide to do is
instructed because you know they got the note. It's very clear.
They turn around, they land the plane.

Speaker 2 (24:28):
And say how current and up to date are like,
let's talk tipping culture. That's a little you know, just
a little juicy current events on the.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
Side, trying to you know, sidetrack a little.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
Hair for you. It feels cool, It feels like a
morning show morning.

Speaker 3 (24:41):
Actually, so at this point in our story, right, we
have it's about four pm on Friday afternoon, all right,
the airport is getting busy at this point, and now
there's a hijacked plane far into the airfield clogging up everything.
Now he tells the airlines that he has a bomb
on board the plane and that any attempts to storm
the plane will result in a huge explosion and a
major loss of life. Right the negotiations with the airlines,

(25:03):
it lasts for an hour. FBI gets called in. Flight
attendants are taking McNally's demands to the cockpit. The pilots
convey his latest demands to the big tower. The tower
then calls back with any updates. Then they give them
note to the attendant. She walks back down the aisle
to the back of the plane. Can single exchanges.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
You're next to him. Your seat is next to him,
Can you imagine that? No, I would, because you're overhearing
all the back and forth. Like the rest of the
plane probably doesn't know about the school. He says he
has a bomb.

Speaker 3 (25:30):
I don't think he'd have a bomb unless he seemed political.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
But if he tells them he has a bomb, and
I'm sitting next to him and I hear him say,
the rest of the plane probably doesn't.

Speaker 3 (25:39):
Know that, I wouldn't believe him.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
I don't know if you see him politically, if he's like.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
A ransom guy, my go I don't believe You're not
going to blow yourself up.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
And be like he looks. He looks shady, looks like
a hippie.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
I'd have to call that bluff. But and then I
feel bad for everybody else if I was wrong, So
I wouldn't do anything. I would act normal for everybody
else's benefit. But if I was alone on that plane,
I'm calling the bluff anyway. So he have negotiators going
back and forth. The fbis have now involved right the
fight attendants that are running the messages, and after an
hour of this, McNally shows that he will be considerate,

(26:11):
He will be kind. He doesn't basically an active kindness, Elizabeth.
He shows that he is a good faith negotiator. He
lets eighty passengers off the plane. No good, Yeah, it's
totally nice of the vast majority of the people. Who
has to be the worst, Yes, everybody. He only keeps
a small handful, right.

Speaker 2 (26:26):
All the children, just the kids.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
Bad man. So the FBI is it to this point.
They tell the skyjacker, hey man, we're working on your money.
But at this point it's like past bankers hours. It's
passed five pm on a Friday. Half million dollars is
going to be hard to go and gather. So McNally's like,
I don't know, I call hijinks. They're like, oh, man,
come on. He's like nope, plane pilots take off and
this is we're leaving. So he makes them fly away.

(26:52):
So he's convinced now while he's still negotiating with the
tower that they can go and get the money in
Dallas Fort Worth. He's like, I got like a time,
do more money. I'm gonna fly and pick up a
little time and you guys work on it, and they're like, okay, yeah,
we think we can do that. Then McNally. They cannot
raise the money in Dallas fast enough, so he's like,
oh wait, go back to Saint Louis. And now the
plane flies back lands again in Saint Louis.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
He wants that Budweiser money.

Speaker 3 (27:15):
Exactly good ab money. So it's nine pm on a
Friday night. At this point, plane touches back down in
Saint Louis. McNally informs the FBI agents, I have new demands.
He wants not one, not two, but five parachutes. He
also wants a good shovel, not one of them bs shovels.
I want a good shovel. Yeah, and a pair of
flight goggles like I've seen in the movies.

Speaker 4 (27:34):
Right.

Speaker 3 (27:34):
The FBI is like, okay, okay, give us time. So
it turns out the FBI agents they weren't stalling. They
legitimately went out and located a good shovel, a pair
of fly goggles, the whole thing. Right, The money finally arrives,
so now they got the half million dollars. They put
in a heavy canvas air mail bag, and they put
in the two grand and cash like in an envelope,
a little separate parcel for him. And then he's like,

(27:54):
you know, everything's golden on this okay cool, But he's like, great,
I got one more, one more demand. They're like, oh
my god, are you for real? What do you want here?
Hungry and he's like, no, no, no, I need someone
to show me how to put on a parachute.

Speaker 2 (28:04):
So send off a parachute guy. He's asked for five
of them? Is he like me? He's like, well, if
one's good, five is better pretty much.

Speaker 3 (28:13):
So the f guy's like, here's our chance. So they
send an FBI field agent onto the plane as a
parachute instructor. Right McNally though. He's ready for him, so
he stays at the back of the plane with his
like mayor's leg forty five aimed down the aisle and
he's like, show me down there, and he goes, oh, okay,
the FBI guy and basically shows him how to put
on a parachute. I'm a comfortable distance. He gets all
strapped in. He's like, oh cool, go get off the

(28:35):
plane now, and there's o the FBI guy has to
get off the plane. No funny business, right, Why did he.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
Say something like well this actually takes two people to do,
or you.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
Something midnight on is we're now at midnight McNally. He
lets thirteen more hostages off the plane. They're like, hey,
I gotta go to go to the bathroom and back hurts, right,
He's like, oh, of course I'm not. I'm not a jerk. Right.
He keeps just one hostage. Oh that part right, the
two flight attendants, then the two pilots and the navigator. Right,
so the air crew, the tendans, flight attendants and one hostage.

(29:02):
What's up with that one hostage? Were they just a jerk?
Or were they had good conversations, they had good stories.
He's like, I like this guy, or is it I
hate this guy?

Speaker 2 (29:09):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (29:11):
Yeah, but they kept the one right. So at this point,
the skyjacking is national news.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:15):
Inside the airport, people are watching what's happening on the
tarmac on the news. So eventually one guy, this dude
named David Hanley, he's like, I'm gonna go be the hero.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (29:25):
Hanley strolls over to his nineteen seventy one Cadillac El
Dorado fires that bad boy to life. Meanwhile, at this
same point McNally's jet has now been refueled. He's received
his ransom money, he's been shown how a parachute works.
He's ordered the pilots to take back off. Now there's
nothing that can stop him, right, except for perhaps a Cadillac.

(29:48):
So Hanley aims his Cadillac at the gate to the tarmac,
punches it.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
Boom.

Speaker 3 (29:54):
This pride of the Detroit assembly line gets up to
about eighty miles an hour. He goes right through that
gate like a wrecking fence flies open. Plane is now
on the tarmac headed for the runway taxiing for its takeoff.
David Hanley sees this. He's careening his Caddy across the tarmac,
avoiding like baggage handlers. Punches it again, floors it to

(30:15):
try to catch up to the plane, which is now
on the runway taxi heading down for the sky. Right
captain of the hijack plane sees the Cadillac headed right
for him, directly at him. He's playing chicken now with
a Cadillac Eldorado. He shouts over the plane's intercom to
the skyjacker, Oh my god, there's a vehicle on the runway.
Hanley braces for impact inside the Cadillac because he's about

(30:36):
to hit a bow. In seven twenty seven, So the
pilot braces for the impact, about to get hit by
a Cadillac. So the Cadillac slams into the landing gear
of the plane. The nosewheel takes the full brunt of
the Cadillac inside the plane. McNally gets thrown forward underneath
the plane. The Cadillac caroms off that first landing gear
and then crashes into the port side wings. Landing gear

(30:58):
hits the other landing Boom boom. Plane now slows toill
a stop. The Cadillac is wadged up against the landing gear.
Luckily for everyone involved, the fully loaded jet with jet
fuel did not explode. That was the one good thing
that happened. McNally yells, get me another plane. So while
he and the hostages wait inside the plane, the ambulance
comes out onto the runway extricates David Hanley from his

(31:20):
now wrecked Cadillac Eldorado.

Speaker 2 (31:22):
Just a random guy.

Speaker 3 (31:24):
I'm gonna be the hero. He broke multiple ribs, had
a fractured skull, broke his jaw in two places. He
had a broken left arm and a broken left ankle.
A year later, the Associated Press they found David Hanley.
They're like man, Elizabeth Dutton in the future would like
to know what were you? And I have an answer

(31:44):
for you. And they're like, man, because you were you drunk?
What was going on? Hanley tells the AP reporter, My
mind is a blank from six o'clock that night. Two
weeks later, so the AP then, okay, well, you know
there's been reports about what went on, and they you
know the reports are you spent Friday afternoon at a
cocktail lounge near the airport watching the news. In fact,

(32:05):
you told your drinking friends in the bar that you
were about to quote go shock the world. Uh, Hanley said,
it never happened. And he said, and I quote, if
I was there, then any friends who were with me
were a bunch of slucks. No one has come to
me and said, David, I was with you that night
and this is what you said. I have never heard
the term sluck. I looked it up, could not find

(32:29):
a definition except for in Scott's. In Scott's it's a
word it means to gulp noisily, like slurping with gulps. Yeah,
so that kind of makes sense in this context. Is
basically slucks are a bunch of loud gulpers.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
I think he's been miss hearing schmucks his whole life
and he just or they mistyped it in the transcription.

Speaker 3 (32:50):
It sucks. I don't know. Yeah, slicks, wow, no, no, no,
I thought about the typo.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
But you can just see this though of him at
an airport Bard Jason.

Speaker 3 (33:01):
Jason cocktail loud. Yeah, Oh my god. So ninety minutes
after this, the Saint Louis Airport, and I had a
new plane ready for McNally to hijack.

Speaker 2 (33:10):
Are there no possible moments where they could just pick
this dude off from a sniper tower.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
You get off the plane and get on the new plane.
You have exactly your moment, Elizabeth, I mean, did you
just jumped the gun.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
I feel like they've already been had like four moments
where I could have totally under the window, like stopped
this whole thing.

Speaker 3 (33:27):
You you're reasonable. So the Boeing seven to twenty seven,
the new one gets loaded up, a gas pulled up
on the tarmac. Now McNally has to get from one
plane to the other without being picked off by snipers.
So he's like future Elizabeth Duddon, I'd like you to
know my plan. His plan was, I'm gonna sandwich myself
between these two flight attendants, putting the briefcass on my head,
and move real quick. And that's what he did. He

(33:47):
shuttled himself, boarded the second plane, got the flight crew
on board with his one civilian hostage, and then said
we ride so.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
Boom according to them, though there he said there was
a bomb on the original plane. Yeah exactly, so he doesn't.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
He's still got his briefcase, so he's got to be
bluffing that it's in the briefcase. Yeah. So anyway, so
now that they're on the second plane, McNally ordered the
pilot to take off and to head to Toronto. Coincidentally,
that flight path would take him over his old hometown
of Detroit, which is all part of his plan. So
he'd done all the necessary calculations on paper. He'd worked
out when he'd need to jump out of a plane

(34:24):
and what airspeed so his parachute wouldn't be torn to
tatters by the wind shear forces. So at four am,
McNally has now readied himself for his jump. He's pulled
off his hippie wig and his sunglasses. He's strapped on
his parachute harness. The plane is cruising at an altitude
of about ten thousand feet, just above the low, thick
white clouds that night. McNally. He can't see the ground right.

(34:46):
There's a problem with this because there's a big thing
called Lake Michigan. He does not want to land in
the middle of Lake Michigan with a parachute. That would
be dead right. So he's like, okay, I probably Well,
basically he's going to jump early. I'll just cut right
to it. I met. The dude's gonna jump early. So
the plane at this point is still over Indiana. When
he decided it was time to bail, he took up
his money bag and his shovel, and when he landed,

(35:08):
his plan was that he would bury the money and
then come back for it later. So he needs a shovel.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
We forgot about the shovel. He was running across the
tarmac with a show.

Speaker 3 (35:16):
With a shovel too. Yeah, in one hand, briefcase the
gun Carrio probably maybe. So he waddles to the back
of the plane. He opens the door, lowers the stairwell
just like debe Cooper did. He scoots down the stairway,
his butt hitting on each step. Right, He's been on
the plane at this point, or one plane or another,
for eleven hours. He's got to be starving. Yeah, And
despite the nut job in the Cadillac playing chicken with

(35:38):
the first plane, he's now managed to get his half
million dollars and to get away with it. All right.
He's twenty eight years old, small time criminal. All he
has left to do is to just chep off and
jump into the sky. He tossed his way through the
open door. It whipped away, gone right. He threw the
rest of his disguise clothes out of the open door.
He tossed out his rifle, smoke bombs. Now he's unarmed.

(35:59):
The single hostage watching McNally. You take his canvas bag
with the half million dollars. He's sitting there. He's gotta
be wondering, is this boy gonna jump her?

Speaker 4 (36:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (36:07):
Right, yeah?

Speaker 3 (36:08):
And the boy, you know McNally, he's got to be wondering,
am I gonna jump her down? And then suddenly the
dude gets his answer. Mark McNally stepped out into the
sky and disappeared. He was about ten thousand feet above
the earth, traveling at at a few hundred miles an
hour now about three hundred miles, the same speed the
plane that he just left was going. All he needed
to do was successfully land. Elizabeth. Will take a little

(36:28):
break and after this I'll tell you if he lands
or not. Oh boy, hey, Elizabeth, Hi, you want to

(36:54):
hear the rest of the.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
Story after those ads? Yeah, I do so.

Speaker 3 (36:58):
Something I forgot to tell you about all of this.
Martin McNally, who's about to jump off into the sky. Actually,
you know I just said he did. This is his
first jump ever with a parachute. He's never touched a parachute.

Speaker 2 (37:10):
Prior to this.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
All of what everything he does on paper calculation.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
She had to ask that man to show him how
to put a parachutely.

Speaker 3 (37:19):
But you know, it wasn't like he was in the
military and he's like, oh, these are newer than the
ones we had. He's never jumped out of a plane.
So what do you think happened? Do you think he
made it?

Speaker 2 (37:27):
Well? Yeah, well because he was in prison with the
other guy.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
All right, good good.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
I'd be like, well, he's a hole in the ground.

Speaker 3 (37:35):
He's a pancake. Well, I'll answer the question fully, Elizabeth.
But to do that I'd like you to close your eyes,
and I'd like you to picture it. Elizabeth. You are
aboard a Bowling seven twenty seven. The rear door is open,
the wind whips through the cabin. The sound of the
jets hum and throb in the turbulent air. At the moment,
some lunatic is on the rear stairway, holding onto the

(37:55):
plane by his hands as his body flaps in the
wind generated by the plane's air speed. He's going about
three hundred miles an hour. Unfortunately, you are the unlucky
spider that decided to take a nap in a canvas
airmail bag, which is what then later turned into a
money bag for the lunatic skyjacker. Now you are still
in that same canvas air mail bag, the one that's
currently strapped to the aforementioned a lunatic. What you don't

(38:18):
know is there's a military surveillance plane shadowing the Boeing
seven twenty seven from above. The FBI agents are also
watching this skyjacker to see his next move. That is,
if he'll jump. You know the answer to that. Before
they do he does, he lets go up the plane.
You and the canvas airmail bag go with him. Suddenly
it's silent, well not exactly silent. There's the rush of

(38:39):
wind as you and the lunatic skyjacker plummet to earth.
You hear Martin McNally whimper as the flight goggles are
crushed against his eye holes from the air pressure and
the shear of the wind speed. Then he kind of
yelps when the flight goggles are pulled clean off his head.
You can feel his heart beat through the thick canvas
airmail bag. He seems to be panicking. He lets one

(38:59):
arm up his body, perhaps to gain some sense of direction.
It has the opposite effect. He starts to spin violently.
You and he get whipped around you in the canvas
airmail bag. Him in the wind. You have to climb
up towards the opening to keep from getting crushed by
the half million dollars in cash. Meanwhile, McNally is mentally
calculating how long he's been in the air and if
he's reached terminal velocity. That was based on calculations he

(39:22):
did earlier at home, But now he's in the sky
and his math ain't mathing. He knows he can't pull
the rip card too early, or the wind shear will
tear those silk to ribbons, and he'll plummet and land
in a painful sweat. But he'd have to pull the
rip card eventually. You can hear him counting out loud
the seconds as they tick pass, and then he rips
the cord, but he never pulled his arm back into

(39:45):
center mass. When the parachute unfurls from the chest harness,
it slams into McNally's face as he starts to spin.
The parachute also comes out of a somewhat force. He's
momentarily dazed. He quickly recovers. You hear him desperately grabbing
a tether ropes twisting above him. Somehow he manages to
yank on the correct ones in a way that the
parachute fills with air and the canopy opens. He and

(40:08):
the chute slow down their descent, but the sudden yank
of the parachute and the abrupt change in falling speed
separates the canvas airmail bag from McNally. You've climbed to
the top of the bag. You look up and you
see the man in the parachute above you. McNally looks
down at you, and the canvas airmail bag grows smaller
and smaller as you plummet to the earth. You can

(40:31):
barely see the white canopy of the parachute anymore. Wind
is rushing past you. It's getting smaller and smaller in
the sky. You and a half million dollars are on
your own now. And then you and the canvas airmail
bag slam into soft soil. You've landed in a beanfield,
and you're unharmed, Elizabeth, Way to go, spider, all right,
and you're five hundred thousand dollars richer if you could

(40:53):
find someone to help you move this canvas bag of cash.
All right, Elizabeth, So money hits MCNEI. Where did he land?
Totally different beanfield, the exactly. There's a little war going
on over there. With a much softer landing. Though he
hits and boom, he landed safely back on solid ground.
The idiot did it? The I can't right. He jumped

(41:14):
out of a plane first time ever, manages to get
back without dying. But he dropped the money. The reason
why he did all of this. After the two planes,
the crash caddy, the FBI snipers, he beats it all
and then he dropped drops the.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
Money, and there's really no way for it. I mean,
it's gonna be so difficult, if impossible, to figure out
where it landed for his perspective.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
Oh, because not only did he drop the money, he
also knocked himself out when his head slammed into the
hard earth when he landed. So he's just unconsciously in
the field. Actually he comes to right, no money, no hope,
no jobs.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
And this is like four in the morning, right, Yes, I.

Speaker 3 (41:50):
Mean he's got basically concussion stars dancing in his eyes.
That's the only wealth he sees. And all he has
on him in his pocket is three hundred dollars. That's
what he walked onto the plane with. So he can
dogs barking in the distance, and he realizes he's in
a farmer's field. The sun's gonna be coming up soon.
He's gonna need to get himself gone right, So he
pulls himself to his feet, gathers up his parachute like

(42:10):
he's a World War Two bomber pilot who's just been
shot down in enemy territory. He's grabbing it all together.
He trudges across the muddy field, climbs over a barbed
wire fence, his body at this point is now giving
out on him. Right.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:22):
He lays the parachute out and then lays down atop
it and takes a long nap.

Speaker 2 (42:26):
He probably has a concussion totally.

Speaker 3 (42:27):
He knocked himself, silly ye. A couple hours later he
comes to the birds now a little bit after dawn
have begun to sound. He awakes the sun on his face.
He knows that his white silk parachute will be spotted
in the daylight, so he gathers it up again, buries
it in the nearby woods under a pile of leaves
and a bunch of branches, and then he climbs back
inside his new now makeshift sleeping bag, and he sleeps

(42:49):
for another six hours or so. Oh wow, definitely concussion.

Speaker 2 (42:52):
Yeah yeah.

Speaker 3 (42:53):
Next time he wakes up, it's due to the sound
of a helicopter overhead. He hears hound dogs in the distance.
Obviously there is a search party and they are close.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:03):
McNally decided his best option. I'm gonna lay low. I'm
gonna hope that the dogs don't detect me. He lays
there in the leaf covered parachute sleeping bag and just
praise I guess I don't know if you put it,
but he's just sitting there by himself. Darkness returns to
the land. Elizabeth McNally wow comes out of his hiding spot,
pulls up his parachute, buries it into the earth for
good this time, cleans himself up, walks back into civilization.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
That hounds didn't get them, No, they didn't.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
Finally, in the long distance, he spies a glow of lights. Right,
maybe it's a small midwestern the city. He still doesn't
know where he is, so he comes to a two
lane road and he follows that, headed toward the glow
of lights. In the distance, cars are passing them by trucks.
They all seem to have Indiana license plates. He's like, okay,
it must be Indian Indiana. Finally a car pulls over stops.

(43:46):
The driver asks, oh, you need a ride. Mcnowly's like
worn out, he's beaten up. He's like, yeah, he was right,
thank you. He climbs in. The driver is the chief
of police of Peru, Indiana. Stop it with his wife.

Speaker 2 (43:58):
Oh that's too good.

Speaker 3 (43:59):
The police chief's name is Richard Blair.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
Right, he has to know that something's gone.

Speaker 3 (44:03):
He knows all about the man hunt. He's just that's
what he's been doing all day. So he and his
wife are on their way home, but they see this
young man out and alone, and the wife's like, oh, honey,
we should pick him up, and the CoP's like, yeah,
we should. McNally he's got forged documents on him, right,
So he shows him to the chief of the police right,
and interestingly, I don't know why he forged his Michigan
driver's license with his brother's name, Patrick McNally. Oh, he

(44:26):
didn't change, just Patrick McNally, right, So please chief it.
He asked, what's this guy, young man doing on a
farm road alone late at night?

Speaker 2 (44:33):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (44:33):
Had he been in an accident? Was there something going on?
Mcnowly's like, oh, no, it's my brother earlier and uh,
you know, we got dumb drunk, and then you know
how it is, we got into a fight. My brother
drove off all angry, and I walked in the other direction.
I don't know where I am. The CoP's like, okay,
well I can give you a ride to Peru and
he's like, oh yeah, I got all my way home.
Oh thanks man, it's great, right cop. I don't know

(44:54):
how much he believes it right. But McNally he manages
to get all the way into town.

Speaker 2 (45:00):
Right.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
The police chiefs must have been pretty suspicious because I
told you there is the manhunt. He was part of it.
He'd asked McNally had he heard about it. He's like, hey,
have you heard about this? We got a big man
hunt right now? The skyjacker jumped out of a plane.
And mcnowly's like, oh man, that'd be great. Couldn't you
believe it? I would have loved to find the skyjacker's
bag of money.

Speaker 2 (45:19):
Oh, so the chief player, he's like, okay.

Speaker 3 (45:23):
He drops to McNally off at a motel in Preue, Indiana.
The motel is right across the street from police headquarters.
He's like, I'll keep it eye on you exactly. So
McNally checks in, gets a room. Motel clerk gives him
the once over and says, you aren't the skyjacker, are you?
Mc now He jokes the question away again. He's like no,
but I sure wish I was right. And he's like,
I bet that guy's far away by now. Motel clerk.

(45:45):
She seems satisfied.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
I wish I had that bag of money.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
Now he asks like, hey, there's a local diner around here.
I am starving. So he walks over and gets himself
a burger. Right, Preu, Indiana not a big town. Yeah, So,
as we've covered for small town folks, a little suspicious,
a little bit curious, the locals in Peru, Indiana no different.
They gave McNally the hard eye stare of the entire meal.
After he eats, he gets up, he's like, okay. Everyone's like, well.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
And does he have like two black guys?

Speaker 3 (46:15):
Oh? He's all kinds of beating up right, he's the goggles,
he's got all cuts, scrapes.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
So he's trying to lay low back at the hotel room,
but his mind is racing, right, so he calls. He's like, oh,
I wonder what's up in my accomplice, pet Lakowski. I
wonder what he's doing. He's gotta be freaking out. Oh,
I wonder if he's double cross me, right, because he's
wondering if pet Lakowski thinks he's screwed him out of
his cut and he's gonna go and get his revenge
by flipping on him. So he goes to a payphone.
He calls pet Lakowski. No answer. Then he has to

(46:42):
go back to his hotel room. He turns on the
motel TV. The police at this point have released a
sketch of the skyjacker. It's a man with sunglasses, aviator
sunglasses and a mop of shaggy hair like a hippie.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
So yeah, it work.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
It didn't look much like McNally, so he's feeling a
little relaxed at this point. The next day, he goes
back to the payphone. He calls his accomplice again. Nothing right.
The motel at this point is crawling with FBI agents
because they've also booked rooms in the exact same hotel
across the street from the police station. Yeah, so they're
all there at the Peru Motor Lodge together. So he
walks back into his payphone again. See if can call Petlakowski.

(47:17):
He's got to pass FBI agents and they're all giving
him the stink eye. He's trying to play it cool.
He makes it to the phone again. He calls again,
no answer. He's like a next day, he has to
do it all over again. He's got to go pass
all the FBI field agents. He's trying to play it cool.
He gets it. He calls his accomplice. This time Petlakowski
picks up and the guy says, oh, hey, man, I
thought you were dead, Elizabeth. All my life I've wanted

(47:40):
a small time criminal to tell me I thought you
were dead. If he's just like a dream, you know, anyway,
he lived my dream, the compless tells the man, I
got bad news for you. McNally. The cops they found
the money bag. He's like, damn right. It landed in
a beanfield not too far from where he hit, and
the old bean farmer went out that morning finds it.
He sees the bag, and he goes. He does the

(48:01):
right thing. He calls into the police. And by the
right thing, I of course mean the wrong thing. He
calls into the police or reports the money half million dollars.
You know that that is the at the time the
Guinness Book World record for the most money ever turned
in by a good samaritan. I'm not in the book. Yes,
So the accomplished Pelakowski he high tails it to Peru
because he's like, we need to get you out of there.

(48:22):
The cops, the FBI agents, they're still all over Peru
because mcnowly's sawed off rifle was found where he had
stashed it. When the cops drew game and picked him up,
he ditched his rifle at that point, so the cops
find it. They're like, he's got to be pretty close.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
Petlakowski manages to get into town safely, grab McNally, retrieve
him without any FBI agents stopping them. They make it
out of town.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
Unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (48:44):
Yes, And then they get back to Detroit. The FBI
is waiting at mcnowe's house. He was a person of interest.
His Robert Wilson discharge papers were easily connected to him
because all he forged was the name. Everything else had
all the identifying detail. They were They just went to
the naval records like this guy. And also not only that,
two small time crooks in Detroit who he had told

(49:07):
about his plan flipped on for the reward money instantly
because he's a dummy. So McNally gets arrested right outside
of his house. He doesn't even get a step inside
from a shower. Yeah. So he gets charged with air piracy,
which at that time was punishable by death. Really like
it was the Navy, Like the British Navy came up
with the law. It was like, yeah, yeah, we're gonna kill.

Speaker 2 (49:27):
You piracy when you use the word piratecy.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
The air piracy was punishable by death. So McNally he
gets lucky on that score because just before he goes
to trial, the Supreme Court issued a moratorium on the
death penalty. Saved by that, so his trial speedy, just
like the Constitution would have wanted. He's found guilty, sentenced
to thirty years in federal prison. As soon as he's inside,

(49:49):
he starts looking for a way to escape. And this
is where things get wild because in Levenworth Prison he
meets fellow skyjacker Garrett brock Trapnel. He was the one
that I told just knock with a fake arm cap,
I tried to hijack a plane. The FBI storm on
the plane. He gets caught right now. If you remember
from his story, as he told Jim, he planned to
escape with his girlfriend who's on the outside. Well, he
and McNally got along like two bugs in a rug.

(50:10):
So he's like, you should be part of my skyjacker packed.
Let's do McNally said, and I quote at one point
we made a commitment to each other. If I ever
got out, I would skyjack a plane to get him out,
or he would skyjack a plane to get me out.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
Their skyjacker brotherskyjacker.

Speaker 3 (50:26):
So the two men they get separated for a couple
of years. Right as they shuffled through the federal prison system.
They both wind up though in mary and Illinois when
the federal prison system they introduced the new supermax prisoners.
So they start putting all the guys there. These two skyjackers,
they end up on the same sub block. Hey, he's
like McNally, Hey, Trapnel the brother exactly, so it doesn't

(50:47):
take him long to cook up their escape plan. Trapnel
comes up with the method. He asked McNally and I quote,
how would you like to leave this place in a helicopter?
And obviously he's down for antics in the sky and
there's like bet so carrat Rock Trapnel convinced his Armer
Army staff sergeant girlfriend, Barbara Osweald, to hijack helicopter, force
the pilot to fly them to prison, then pick up
the guys and fly them all to safety. She had

(51:08):
fallen in love with Garrett Rock Trapnel after she read
his jailhouse memoir The Fox Is Crazy Too. The true
story of Garrett Trapnel adventurer, Skyjacker Bank, Robert Conman lover.

Speaker 2 (51:19):
There's no need to even try and shop your books.

Speaker 3 (51:22):
I'm telling you do.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
You can't compete with time.

Speaker 3 (51:25):
And you immediately got a book exactly and you might
even get a partner out of it. So after reading it,
she wrote to Trapnel and the two struck up a relationship.
She promised that she would help him escape and together
they would leave America and move to his two thousand
acre plantation that he told her he owned in Australia. Elizabeth,
there was no plantation in Australia. That's what we in
the imaginary real estate industry call a love. So the

(51:47):
real plan was Oswald would hijack a helicopter break them out,
then Trapnel McNally would ditch her and start robbing banks
until they had enough money to go on the run
and flee America together like Butch and Sunday Jack Jacker
bros So. On May twenty fourth, nineteen seventy eight, McNally,
Trapnel and another inmate. They're stalling for time in the
prison yard because they know that the chopper should be
coming in soon and waiting for Barbara Oswald. Right, McNally

(52:11):
is the one to spot the chopper on its approach
to the prison. It's like a Vietnam movie, and the
chopper's on the distance, light up.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
LZ right and then like the either the Rolling Stones
or the Supreme starts playing.

Speaker 3 (52:22):
So he signals to Trapnel it's time to go right.
The chopper's getting closer and closer. The rotors begin to
beat the air. Everyone can hear it now, then starts
to kick up the loose dust and the dirt on
the prison yard. The guards they are rushing around. They
know this is a prison break. They start grabbing weapons.
They're aiming them at the sky. It is obvious to
everybody what's happening. McNally, Trapnel, the third inmate. They make

(52:44):
their move. They rush over to where the helicopter's gonna be,
and then they see it. A man jumps out of
the chopper in a blue flight suit. He's an FBI agent.
McNally's like, oh, he runs for it. He's gonna try
to maybe just hop a fence. Trapnel just lays down
in the grass and waits for guards to come over
to him.

Speaker 2 (53:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:01):
The men now face new charges attempt to escape, new
air piracy charges and kidnapping. Trapnel had a new plan.
Barbara Oswald's teen daughter right would help them bust out. Yeah,
she would hijack a plane and demand that the two
skyjackers be released. So move on to the next part
of their plan.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
Family the checks together.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
December twenty first, nineteen seventy eight, the men arrive in
court as co defendants for their trial. Good to her word,
Oswald's team daughter Robin did indeed hijack a twa plane
flying out of Louisville, Kentucky. She had on her a
fake bomb made out of road flares. Travnel didn't trust
her to use a real bomb or even a pistol,

(53:42):
so he's like, yeah, to get some road flares, tell
him it's a bomb. He was worried about people getting
hurt by her. He's like, she's so, she's a teen,
I don't don't know what she's doing. She heard somebody,
so she skyjacks the plane on its way to Kansas City.
Right on a lunch break in their trial, McNally and Trapnel,
they're smoking cigarettes and they're holding cell waiting to be
released and transported to the local airport to join the

(54:02):
teen skyjacker. They're just like, should be any minute now.
So they never get released. Elizabeth because Robin Oswald gave
up after nine hours. She's like, I don't want to
do this anymore. Remember once again, teenager. So that same night,
the jury returned a verdict in McNally in Trapmill's trial,
guilty on all accounts. McNally received a second life sentence
for air piracy, also seventy five years for kidnapping, another

(54:27):
five years for attempted escape. He was scheduled to be
released from prison in twenty eighty two. I've been like,
are you kidding me? So McNally eventually, because the American
legal system, he earns parole. Hey, I don't know how
he's facing all those They're like, let's just knock him down, right.
That's why people say years. I'm like, none of this matters.

(54:48):
This is like, this is like my economics math when
I was in my twenties. I'm like, none of this matters.
The bank says this is fraud. I don't know. You
can't write a check to yourself. So anyway, as a
mc nally said at the time, quote, I've come further
than most people would reach. I never thought I would
get out of prison. Very few people have had my opportunity,
which is a very powerful understatement. Yeah, but Trapnell he's

(55:11):
gone now, he's passed away. He died in prison. So
McNally is the only one left from the golden era.
He is the last of the skyjackers, because McNally puts it, quote,
there's nobody else. I'm the last of the people who
know the facts.

Speaker 2 (55:24):
Huh.

Speaker 3 (55:24):
So, Elizabeth, I ask you, what's sorry ridiculous takeaway here?

Speaker 2 (55:28):
Oh? Man, I think that I can understand why there
were so many skyjackings because it just seems so easy.

Speaker 3 (55:37):
Yeah, totally. And then they don't plan to hurt people,
so it's a big bluff.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
Yeah, it's one bit exactly.

Speaker 3 (55:43):
Except for the political people. They will blow the stuff,
you know, like that's not they'll take you to Algeria
or right.

Speaker 2 (55:48):
Yeah yeah, but like for this the guys who want cash.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
It's just a bank job and the bank's and there.

Speaker 2 (55:53):
Completely Zaren, what's your ridiculous takeaway?

Speaker 3 (55:55):
I feel all right, it's the voice. Okay, Well, I'm
just going to pretend like you're normal you and be like,
thanks for asking, Elizabeth, because mine is the bean farmer.
He found the money and decided to do the wrong thing,
right thing, whatever. But if I had a half billion
dollars right and it landed in my bean field from
the heavens, I'm gonna say, the Lord works some mysterious ways,

(56:15):
and I'm going to keep it moving. And that's it.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
I mean, you figure you're living in a tiny town
if you sit on it long enough, because if they
have like the serial numbers recorded, like that's your concern, right,
But if you start passing it in like two towns
over because the local town though.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
South America, I would take a trip like, honey, we're
going on our second honeymoon. We're going down the Brazil wash.
Brazil's got it at this point. A dictatorship, We're good, baby.
I can get this money through a bank. They will
take any American money I bring into a bank and
they won't say where it came from.

Speaker 2 (56:48):
I yeah, I would just figure out a way to
wash it slowly but surely. But that you know, I'm
not an ethical person.

Speaker 3 (56:54):
I say dictatorship, I really should say military government.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
Yeah I wouldn't. I wouldn't even go that far.

Speaker 3 (57:00):
County is over and see that's how you get busted.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
Though, Well, keep an eye on that area.

Speaker 3 (57:04):
But thanks are going to report to the federal banking system,
so you want to get out of that.

Speaker 2 (57:08):
That is true, and I guess you go to casinos. Maybe, yes,
casino casinos.

Speaker 3 (57:14):
That slows it down, but they still repose days.

Speaker 2 (57:16):
They're not reporting it as tightly.

Speaker 3 (57:18):
No, they're not reporting the time. That would be a
good one. I think people still use casinos for watching.

Speaker 2 (57:22):
Wait four years and then drive to Vegas.

Speaker 3 (57:24):
There you go. Yeah, you didn't have to wait time.
You have to separate at the time there. So I
got another question for you. In the mood for a talkback.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
I'm always in the mood for a talkback.

Speaker 3 (57:32):
Producer Dave hit It please, Oh my god.

Speaker 4 (57:43):
I love Hi Elizabeth Isaia, and my name is Danny.
I love your show. I've listened to every episode. I'm
a middle school theater teacher. And Elizabeth, this next part
is just for you. Don't let Saron hear this, okay, Elizabeth,
following up on my previous message, So this is some

(58:05):
makeup that was donated to my class for our theater
makeup unit. This is a Jurassic Park makeup line. Specifically,
I needed to read you the packaging on the quote
color changing lip balm. It says quote life finds a
way with this hybrid lip and cheek balm. Okay, So,

(58:28):
following up on previous message, this long wearing formula is
infused with hyaluronic acid to keep the skin nourished and
like a baby wraptor taking its first bite, just a
little bit packs a punch a buildable color payoff. Anyway,
I found that ridiculous. I thought you might too, and
you might want to try to spring it on Zarin sometime. Anyway,

(58:50):
love the podcast, Thank you for all the work you
all do.

Speaker 2 (58:52):
Wait, what that's amazing. I can't do that justice, we
have to have it.

Speaker 3 (58:58):
Oh my god, punch, I didn't say that though, No,
no one heard me say that. No, that's good.

Speaker 4 (59:07):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
As always, you can find us online Ridiculous Crime on
the socials. We have that website that we are very
happy with and we hope you dig it too, ridiculous
Crime dot com. And of course, as you can tell,
we do love to talk back, so please go the
iHeart app and hit us up. And also you can
email us if you like Ridiculous Crime at gmail dot com.
Type in dear Elizabeth and type whatever you like as always,

(59:30):
we will be back next Crime. Thank you for listening.
Ridiculous Crime is hosted by Elizabeth Dutton and Zaron Burnette,
produced and edited by our resident headpilot Dave Kusti. Research
is by our copilots Marissa Brown and Andrea Songsharpentier. Our
theme song is by navigator Thomas Lee and radio operator

(59:51):
Travis Dutt. The host wardrobe provided by Botany five hundred.
Executive producers are your helpful flight attendants Ben Bowleen and
Old Brown.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
Ridicous Crime Say.

Speaker 4 (01:00:08):
It one More Time Ridiquious Crime.

Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
Ridiculous Crime is a production of iHeartRadio. Four more podcasts
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