All language subtitles for American Greed s06e14 Crash for Cash.eng

In this episode of American Greed, in
the city of brotherly love, car wrecks

piling up, and auto insurance policies
are treated like ATM machines.

What a great way to make $5 ,000 just by
going to the doctors. It's a multi

-million dollar underground business,
and everybody gets a piece of the

The lawyers are in on it, the doctors
are in on it, the body shops are in on

the tow truck operators are in on it.
But when the outfit begins to crack...

The game turns deadly.

Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. Got
shots in the back of the head looking

directly at me. And the promise of easy
money for the participants proves as

phony as the car wrecks themselves.

And I'm getting crumbs and end up in
jail. I mean, for what?

June 4th, 2007.

On Philadelphia's congested I -95
corridor, federal agents pursue a

speeds topping 100 miles per hour.

Everything's happening so fast.

Your adrenaline's going. Everything
around you is kind of like a blur.

Detective Bob DeFrancesco and FBI agent
Brian Pacioli are in hot pursuit.

They're chasing Jerry B .J. Blazingale.

A tow truck driver wanted for staging
more than a dozen car accidents, bilking

insurance companies out of millions.

Now he's making a break for it.

Going in and out of traffic, coming
within inches of wrecking them and

himself.

Agents will put their lives on the line
attempting to make the arrests.

Blazingale is part of a massive $2
million auto insurance fraud ring.

A ring that has been thriving on the
streets of Philadelphia for the last

years. And it all starts with a man who
goes by the name Popsicle.

In 2003, Wallace Morris, a .k .a.
Popsicle or Pop, is looking for his

next big score.

The 390 -pound 36 -year -old is a
prominent figure in the Germantown

Philadelphia.

Al Quinn Tilly, who appears in
Silhouette, is an undercover detective

Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.

Pop was very well known in the areas
where he frequented, barbershops, clubs.

He was around town, and he knew a lot of
people.

By day, Morris runs a limousine service,
carting patients to and from medical

appointments. But by night...

Pop trolls the highways as a so -called
wreck chaser.

Ralph Burnham, with the Insurance Fraud
Prevention Authority, explains.

A wreck chaser is someone with a tow
truck who drives around the highways,

particularly down here in the
Philadelphia area, and when they see a

they zip up to it and try to get the tow
on that vehicle.

The chaser then brings the damaged car
back to a body shop, which pays him a

commission, usually around 20 % of the
repair bill.

Occasionally, Morris partners with
another wreck chaser named Jerry

a .k .a. BJ.

Detective Bob DeFrancesco, who also
appears in Silhouette due to undercover

work, investigates wreck chasers like
Blazingale.

He was, like, well -known in North
Philly. He was always driving, like, the

shiny tow truck, and people thought he
had money, and it was somebody.

According to DeFrancesco, their
operation works like this.

Morris, in his own car, speeds ahead to
the site of a wreck.

It's a lot easier to drive in a normal
vehicle and get to the scene of accident

when you're trying to race to a scene
with a tow truck.

Once Morris gets the towing job,
Blazingale tows the wreck.

It's a nimble operation, and the pair
knows exactly where to bring the cars.

This is the former home of J .R. Auto
Body, a shop managed by Danny Cooper

Yellow. Attorney Chuck Peruto represents
Koopa Yellow.

Well, Koopa Yellow was the body shop of
choice because he was generous. He

really took care of the tow operators.

And when the car came in, they knew that
he would do more damage to the car.

That is, he'd ram it into the wall or
back another car into it and do more

damage. The practice is called damage
enhancement.

And, as Ralph Burnham explains, scammers
in Philadelphia have refined it into an

art form.

One body shop had actually fitted,
allegedly, a number of bumpers to a

so that they could drive it, crash it
repeatedly into the vehicle that had

brought into the shop.

More damage means a bigger claim. A
bigger claim means a higher commission

the chasers.

But sometimes wrecks run scarce, and
Blazingale needs to get creative.

He would have girlfriends and talk them
into buying cars for him, and then he

would wreck them.

on their insurance claims. These staged
accidents are a rough sketch of what

will later become a multi -million
dollar masterpiece of fraud.

In its early incarnation, ring members
will go to great lengths to ensure

look legitimate when the cops show up.

Cooper Yellow has even been known to
perform some on -the -spot dentistry for

one of his accident victims.

Danny tied a string around his tooth
and...

pulled his tooth out, causing him to
bleed profusely, and he told him to

spitting the blood around the car,
around the dashboard, and around the

wheel, and around the windshield. So it
would look like a legitimate accident,

like a legitimate impact.

The racket is paying off, even for the
guy with the string on his tooth.

But Morris and Blazingale wondered if
they can run the con without anyone

bleeding.

Thanks to an old childhood friend of
Blazingale, it's about to get a lot

Drexel Reed is a 32 -year -old
Philadelphia Highway Patrol officer.

He and Blazingale grew up together and
now work the same highways.

Sometimes Blazingale asks Officer Reed
to write police reports when officers

don't respond to the wrecks he chases.

He would tell them that, oh, like no one
ever responded, or, you know, we

waited, we waited, here's all the
information.

For the cars that were involved, you
want to write up a report.

Blazingale soon realizes this can become
the perfect scam.

Well, then I guess BJ saw that it was
easy. Just give him information, and he

would write up the reports.

Up next, watch Blazingale and Morris
turn police reports into profits.

You could do this week in and week out
and never get caught.

In 2003, Philadelphia car wreck chasers
Wallace Pop Morris and Jerry B .J.

Blazingale are streamlining the business
of fraud.

The duo makes commissions by bringing
wrecks into local body shops.

When business is slow, they stage their
own crashes.

But now, they'll take it to another
level, where there's no need to crash

at all.

Here's the plan.

Highway Patrol Officer Drexel Reed, a
childhood friend of Blazingale, will

police reports for collisions that never
take place, a concept they call paper

accidents.

And that's solid call to these guys. I
mean, come on. All they need is a police

report to say this is how it happened.
So you could do this week in and week

and never get caught.

Paper accidents are the holy grail for a
lazy con man.

It takes the work out of everything.

Bringing people to a scene, waiting for
an officer to arrive, actually damaging

the cars.

Morris and Blazingale now have the
perfect weapon to rob insurance

blind. And even better, the fake reports
come cheap.

Drexel would do this for what he termed
lunch money. Could have been $20, could

have been $100.

But the one thing they still need are
people with real insurance policies.

They ask around for volunteers who might
be interested in some quick cash.

In January 2004,

Angelina Adu is raising three children
and facing eviction.

A relative says a man named Pop can
help.

He said, listen, listen, listen. You
drive, right?

Yeah.

Well... You know, let's do something
with the car. We're going to get rid of

car and create a situation. You know
what I'm saying?

Morris says they will damage the car and
then send it to a body shop.

A few weeks later, she will get an
insurance check worth thousands.

All she has to do is give him a small
portion for his trouble.

You don't want to do the wrong things.

But this is, you know, we live in a
society where you've got to make ends

for your kids, your family, and they
come first.

It's a hell of a wall to be put up
against.

She gives Morris her car.

He and Blazingale will use a U -Haul
truck to ram the bumper and then have

Officer Reed write up an accident
report.

But while waiting for their fake report,
they run into some parking trouble with

a deuce car.

They call me and tell me, you've got to
go pick up the car because they've towed

it away, we parked it somewhere, and we
lost the car.

So you've got to go get it.

I was like, oh, my God, now I really
don't want to do this.

The duo may be dysfunctional, but the
promise of money is enough.

Adu retrieves her car from the impound
lot and hands the car over to Morris for

a second time.

In a few weeks, she received a check
from the insurance company for $1 ,800.

She says Morris collects $600 for his
role, but he can keep upping the game

more.

Morris gets wind of a crooked
chiropractor, Dr. Steven Rios, who will

kickback of up to $800 for new patients,
legitimate or not.

Morris sends a dude to see the doctor,
telling her that if he treats her, she

can get an even bigger personal injury
settlement.

When she arrives, Dr. Rios seems to know
more about the accident than she does.

He kept saying, you're back.

Where's your back hurt at? Did you
injure it before?

And I said, yeah. He was like, well, but
you were healed already, right?

I was like, yeah.

And when Dr. Rios sends his report to
the insurance carrier, all sorts of

injuries appear out of nowhere.

These sorts of soft tissue injuries are
difficult to disprove, says Bob

DeFrancesco, a detective with the
Philadelphia District Attorney's Office.

You can have an IME, which is an
independent medical exam.

Someone else even look at the patient
and say, well, he's complaining of pain.

But I don't see anything wrong, but I
can't deny that this patient is

complaining of pain.

After seeing Dr. Rios, patients like Adu
are directed to see attorney Glory

Kasner. In a one -stop shop for
insurance claims, Kasner actually

inside the chiropractor's office.

She never had her own law office.

She would sign up patients using a
little, you call it an office, it was

very small, almost the size of a large
closet inside of the chiropractic

and she would meet clients there.

According to Adu, Kasner also seems to
know more than she does.

She's like, well, what did you injure?

In your back, right? Your lower back?

I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it was pretty much, I didn't really
have to say anything.

Adu is told to return several times a
week for the next six months.

Kasner typically settles personal injury
claims for tens of thousands of

dollars, taking a cut of at least 25%.
And Dr. Rios isn't shy about gouging

insurance companies either.

While Adu visits the office about a
dozen times, Rios bills for more than 50

visits. The liability limit was usually
up to $5 ,000, so he would bill.

Write up the $5 ,000 and then write a
closing memo for the claim saying that

it's cured.

Everyone gets their piece.

The crooked chiropractor, the litigious
lawyer, the shoddy body shop, the

corrupt cop, the so -called victim, and
of course, Wallace Morris and Jerry

Blazingale.

But the money doesn't come without a
price, according to Ralph Burnham at the

Insurance Fraud Prevention Authority.

He says fraud hurts consumers, not only
through higher premiums, but also in

longer waits and bureaucratic obstacles
for legitimate claims.

One of the largest reasons consumers
express dissatisfaction with their

insurance companies is their perception
when they file a claim that the claim is

not paid quickly enough or that they're
being asked too many questions over too

much information.

Part of the reason they're asked for
that amount of information and

documentation is because insurance fraud
is out there.

During the next year, Pop Morris and B
.J. Blazingale reel in the dough.

They put together 19 accidents, earning
nearly $560 ,000 in kickbacks and

settlements. But Highway Patrolman Reed
and his imaginary reports are the key to

the scam.

And the only road to Officer Reed goes
through his friend Blazingale.

If Morris could find his own cop, he
could strike out on his own and keep the

cash for himself.

Coming up, Morris searches for his own
corruptible cop and expands operations.

286 people were involved in this scam.

He was looking to make money any way he
can.

In 2004, Philadelphia native Wallace Pop
Morris is turning car wrecks into big

money. He and his partner, Jerry B .J.

Blazingale, use fake police reports to
con insurance companies out of millions.

But sometime in 2004, the duo is at
odds.

Their phony police reports are written
by highway patrolman Drexel Reed, a

childhood friend of Blazingale.

That means Morris has to go through
Blassingale for everything and split the

cash. But a chance meeting will change
all that.

Shane Riggins is a 25 -year -old
undercover Philadelphia police officer

out of the 14th District.

Detective Al Quintelli says that Morris
meets Officer Riggins at a party in

2004.

Basically, he pitched to Riggins that,
oh, a friend of mine was in an auto

accident. Could you do me a favor and
make this report?

Officer Riggins, who believes this is
just a favor for a friend, writes a

report for the accident.

But Pop soon returns, and now he's
offering $500 cash.

And he realized that I'll BS Shane the
first time with a friend or family

And then after that, I'll just pay him
because that's what we do in this

business. Though DeShane Riggins now
suspects the accidents are fake, he

the other way in the name of making a
few bucks.

Morris finally has a cop in his pocket.

All he needs are willing volunteers to
pose as accident victims.

Prosecutor Linda Montag says he starts
with people he's close to.

He started with friends, family members,
people who he knew from the community,

and then convinced them this is a quick
way to make money.

He cruises the Germantown neighborhood
fishing for participants in barbershops,

clubs, even the local grocery store.

He ran into people in grocery stores and
see a young girl and just picture the

way to make money and they would go
along with it. If it's easy and they can

make a few dollars, it's the way to go.

And victims are easy to find.

In November 2004, Donna Schluter is
approached by her boyfriend with an

opportunity to make some quick cash.

He had basically a come -up on a way to
make money, and there was no way he

could get caught.

It's basically filing a fake insurance
claim, and you would get paid for it.

And it's all on paper. No accident
necessary.

Ignorant of the potential legal
consequences, Schluter is intrigued by

Everybody needs a little money here and
there, a little help. I figured, why

not? If we can't get in trouble, then
why not do it?

She meets with Morris, who takes her to
an attorney.

Pot was in the office with us.

They already had it written down. Going
down Germantown and we hit a pothole and

somebody hit me.

It was just a bogus story.

After her appointment with the attorney,
Schluter is taken to a chiropractor,

where she has a similar experience.

Why are you here? Well, I had a car
accident. We were sent from our lawyer

come and get treatment, and he didn't
really ask anything.

She is told to return three times a week
for the next six months.

No small task.

But Schluter doesn't mind.

You know, you're going for a free
massage every...

Three days out of the week for six
months, who wouldn't like it?

In the end, she is awarded a $5 ,000
settlement.

The attorney takes $2 ,000.

And the rest?

I was stupid enough and handed it over
to my ex. He dealt with pop, gave him a

little bit out of that check. And then
after that, I didn't really see any of

because he wanted to pay his rent to get
himself out of debt.

But others fare better.

And word of Morris' business spreads
fast.

Soon, Officer Riggins is working
overtime on the fake reports.

Ultimately, he was doing two accidents a
month. It would have been anywhere from

$600 to $1 ,000 a month that Shane was
receiving from Pops to write these fake

auto accident reports.

And Morris is raking it in.

By 2006, he recruits 286 people to be
involved in 45 different accidents.

He's getting referral fees from doctors
and lawyers, and he takes a cut of each

settlement, earning thousands from each
phony wreck.

It was like a full -time job. He picked
up people, dropped people off, created

action reports, met with the cops, met
with the doctors, met with the

He uses the money to fund his frequent
trips to Vegas, where he hones his

at the poker table.

While his scam is making him rich...

17 insurance companies are out some $1
.2 million.

But as his fraud ring grows, it depends
on more and more players to keep it

going. And it only takes one slip -up to
bring the whole scheme crashing down.

Coming up, a body shop messes with the
wrong customer, and Pop Morris' former

partner makes a run for it.

He was going in and out of traffic.

Coming within inches of wrecking them
and wrecking himself.

In 2005, a massive insurance fraud ring
is thriving on the streets of

Philadelphia.

Pop Morris and Jerry B .J. Blazingale
are getting cops to write phony car

accident reports.

Then using doctors, lawyers, and body
shops to put insurance companies

through the ringer.

Nationwide, Progressive, Allstate, AIG,
Geico, Safe Oil, Rutgers, Erie, Liberty

Mutual, Leader, Infinity, Farmers USA,
and Capital.

I insure my cars with some of these
companies, and in the end, we all pay

it. It's that simple.

But the bigger the fraud ring gets, the
more vulnerable it is to discovering.

And in December 2005, J .R. Auto Body
Shop, a major player in Blazingale's

fraud, attracts some unwanted police
attention.

Detective Bob DeFrancesco with the
Philadelphia District Attorney's Office

receives a complaint from a retired
officer.

The former cop says she took her car
into J .R. Auto Body after an accident.

But the owner, Russ Tedesco, cashed the
check and never fixed the car.

DeFrancesco first pays a visit to the
shop's manager, Danny Cupiello.

We initially went in and talked with
Danny.

from the point of view that he'd be able
to help us with the scam that Tedesco

had been pulling on the customers, not
repairing the cars and still cashing the

checks. Turns out he's pulling his own
small -time scam.

But as DeFrancesco begins reviewing the
shop's records, he realizes Cuppellino

has been participating in something far
more sinister.

As we got further into it, we found out
that he was actually a planner of a lot

of stage accidents and a participant in
a lot of the stage accidents, as well as

being a runner for doctors and lawyers.

With DeFrancesco on his tail, Kupayelo
contacts his lawyer, Chuck Peruto.

He had a role in each, either enhancing
the damage to the vehicle, being an

alleged victim himself in the vehicle,
enhancing someone else's physical

injuries. Everything from A to Z he was
involved in, so it was a very, very

difficult case to take to trial.

Hoping to reduce his potential sentence,
Cupiello agrees to talk to law

enforcement.

And with his cooperation, DeFrancesco
learns about a chiropractor named Dr.

Stephen Rios, who pays top dollar for
phony accident victims.

It turns out the FBI is already looking
into the crooked chiropractor.

In addition to paying runners for
patients, He's been overbilling

companies by the thousands.

DeFrancesco and FBI Special Agent Brian
Pacioli joined forces on the

investigation.

They began interviewing phony patients
of Rio's and the wreck chasers who

referred them.

It's not long before a wreck chaser raps
on Jerry B .J. Blazingale.

He informed us that B .J. had a, he
termed it a cop in his pocket.

The gig is up for B .J.

He and his crooked cop Highway Patrol
officer Drexel Reed have been found out.

The massive criminal ring is beginning
to surface.

And Wallace Pop Morris is up next.

In January 2006,

Detective Al Quintilly receives a
referral from an insurance company.

They have interviewed a woman who has
admitted to filing a fraudulent claim.

She later tells Quintilly that after
being in a minor accident, a man named

Morris had promised her he could fix her
car for free.

Pop's pitch to her was that, I saw the
damage on your car. I can get that fixed

for you. It won't cost you a thing.

Quintilly checks police records and
finds ten accidents in which Pop Morris

his associates appear.

The common thread among all of them?
They are all written by the same

Deshane Riggins.

Now the red flags go up.

Something's going on. We're just not
sure of the scope of it.

What's even stranger is that Riggins
isn't even a uniformed cop.

He wears plain clothes. He drives an
unmarked police car.

He's not responsible to handle everyday
auto accident reports.

Quintelli pulls all the accident reports
written in the 14th District for the

past several years.

We go through hundreds and hundreds of
accident reports, and in the end, we

basically come across another 35
accidents that Deshane did.

Officer Riggins has been busy.

Quintilly begins the arduous task of
interviewing everyone in Riggins'

Donna Schluter is one of them.

I was at work, and I got a phone call
from the detective.

I picked it up to find out that they
were outside of my job.

She meets Quintilly in the parking lot.
He shows her a photo lineup and asks her

who organized the fraud.

And I had to pick out Pop and, you know,
well, that's the only person that I

knew that was involved.

Hers is one of many fingers that will
point to Morris.

And though Schluter is a minor player in
Pop's ring, she faces up to five years

in prison for participating.

Quintilly suggests she turn herself in
to earn a lighter sentence.

Eventually, she gets two years probation
for participating in the scam and has

to pay back $3 ,000.

I walked away with $200 and I had to pay
back three grand.

Five years later, like, that's crazy.

Like, it's nuts.

Investigators are finally getting the
full picture of the massive criminal

Now it's time to act.

Agents Bob DeFrancesco and Brian Pacioli
are moving in on B .J. Blazingale and

his puppet cop Drexel Reed.

On the morning of June 4, 2007, Officer
Reed turns himself in.

But Blazingale is nowhere to be found.

Agents stage a sting that afternoon,
hoping to reel him in before he can flee

the state.

Agent DeFrancesco takes American Reed to
the scene of the arrest.

Basically, we were staked out at this
location.

We had a female associate of Jerry
Blazingale was going to meet him across

street in the Luke Oil parking lot.

The woman has learned that Blazingale is
planning to flee and agreed to lure him

to the scene by telling him she has
money for him.

Stationed nearby is a team of FBI agents
in an unmarked car.

Back where that white box thing is now.

In the rear of the Luke oil was where
the other agents had been positioned, I

believe. They were waiting for our
signal.

But when Blazengale shows up, he's too
smart to take the bait.

He stays in the car and instead sends a
relative out to get the money.

The agents swing into action.

They're wearing their full FBI with
their blue vest and yellow lettering.

yelled FBI, attempted to apprehend him.

Blazengale, still in his car, takes off.
He heads for the nearby on -ramp, and

agents DeFrancesco and Pacioli follow in
pursuit.

You know, your adrenaline gets pumping.
You work so hard to put a case together,

and you're trying to apprehend somebody.
It's hard to let that person go.

Blazengale is about to lead the agents
down I -95, Philadelphia's main artery,

at speeds approaching 100 miles per
hour.

Up next, American Greed goes inside a
dramatic high -speed chase through the

streets of Philadelphia.

So everything's happening so fast.

Everything around you is kind of like a
blur.

June 4, 2007.

Detective Bob DeFrancesco and FBI agent
Brian Pacioli speed down Philadelphia's

congested I -95 corridor.

They are chasing Jerry B .J. Blazingale,
wanted for using fake police reports to

stage dozens of phony accidents.

As they dodge traffic at breakneck
speeds, approaching 100 miles per hour,

DeFrancesco wonders why it's come to
this.

Yeah, I mean, he was going in and out of
traffic.

coming within inches of wrecking them
and wrecking himself.

And you think to yourself, you're
fleeing over insurance fraud.

Thus, it was a little surreal, you know?

A few miles ahead, highway patrol cars
form a sort of moving barrier to slow

down traffic.

They try and line up in each lane.

If they don't have a patrol car, they
would go side to side with their lights

on. But Blazengale takes the shoulder
and slips past the jammed traffic.

The agents pursue and catch up.

Just as they approach the Girard Point
Bridge, halfway across the river,

got Blazingale surrounded.

We have BJ in front of us.

Behind us, there is a marked unit,
Highway Patrol.

And to our outside, there's another
Highway Patrol unit.

All assisting in the pursuit.

And when he's cornered, he lashes out.

Last thing I decided to drive right into
the side of our car, which kind of took

us off guard.

The agent striked back.

Slammed our car in his direction,
forcing him into the concrete barrier,

is a guardrail, ending the pursuit and
ending the danger to us and to the

general public at that point.

When agents search the car, they find
bags full of clothes, as well as his

brother's driver's license and birth
certificate.

and an off -duty police badge,
indicating that Blazingale had planned

the city that day.

Meanwhile, Blazingale's former partner,
Wallace Pop Morris, is in trouble.

The other ringleader of the $2 million
scam is caught when the detectives are

to him.

His entire outfit is run for the hills,
and the key to his plot, Officer Deshane

Riggins, has quit his side job as the
author of Pop's phony police reports.

He put the brakes on writing the fake
reports for Pop.

So now, that's what they do. They had to
come up with another way of making

money. Morris has lost the engine that
drives his fraud machine.

But he depends on the cash the scam
brings in every year.

So he'll have to go back to making money
the more dangerous way, staging real

car crashes with real cops.

They basically did it the hard way. They
had to get six people, two cars, and

everyone go sit at an intersection and
call 911 and wait for the police officer

to come and write their report.

It's a pain for Morris, but proves
deadly for one of his victims.

In the early morning of June 5, 2007...

The night after BJ's dramatic high
-speed pursuit, Pop Morris and his

drop off a group of six potential
accident victims at the corner of Church

Bainton. This man, who we will call
Jeffrey, is one of them.

He's been lured to the scene by the
promise of $5 ,000.

He watches as Pop Morris' associate goes
to work.

This guy had parked the car.

He took the car, ran.

another car into the back of the car.

Boom. So it looked like it was an
accident.

They call 911.

While waiting for police to arrive,
Jeffrey strikes up a conversation with a

fellow victim named Eric Christmas.

It's Christmas' second staged accident
with Morris.

What they don't know is it will also be
his last.

But he was a good dude for a little bit
of time that I spent waiting. He was

more the one that was trying to keep
everybody on a peaceful atmosphere.

The peaceful atmosphere is soon
interrupted by a passenger in a beat -up

sedan.

We hear this noise coming down the
street.

Pit, pit, pit, pit, pit, pit, pit, pit,
pit, pit, pit, pit, pit.

The girls look, and they started to move
real fast up the hill.

And the guy was like... Oh, baby, y 'all
ain't got to run.

Jeffrey takes a closer look.

And when I look, the only thing I see is
a barrel of a .40 Glock, like this.

As Jeffrey backs away, he sees Eric
Christmas move toward the car.

I thought he knew the man because he
placed his palms on the car,

and like he was talking to him. So I
thought he knew him.

Christmas tries to talk to the driver,
and Jeffrey takes advantage of the

opportunity.

I did the next best thing any man should
do. I got the f*** out of there.

So when I got there running, as soon as
I cut the corner, you just heard it.

Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,
pop, pop, pop.

Gunshots ring out, and Jeffrey ducks for
cover.

After a few minutes of silence, he
returns to check on Christmas.

And when I came back, he was laying on
the ground.

with his hands face down, like with his
head cocked to the side, his hands in

the back of him, and he just was looking
at me.

Eric Christmas has been shot dead, the
victim of a robbery gone wrong.

Jeffrey says that Christmas' attempt to
talk down the assailant gave him the

chance to escape with his life.

Had it not been for that boy, I would
not be able to stay here right now and

tell y 'all that that man saved my life.

When the police arrive, they take
everyone at the scene downtown for

questioning. Jeffrey goes through with
the fake story to protect his co

-conspirators. But anxious to move on,
Jeffrey never files an insurance claim

for the staged accident.

Shockingly, some of the other phony
victims do. When asked why, Jeffrey can

only one thing.

I don't know.

I didn't know.

I know this much. I had my mother always
gave me morals and respectful folk. And

that's what stepped into my brain to do
the right thing. And it wasn't to keep

this lie going on when it's made his
day.

The murder of Eric Christmas is ruled a
random act of violence, unrelated to the

insurance fraud.

But the neighborhood is scared.

And for Morris, it's the end of the
line.

He's lost Officer Riggins and now... his
ability to recruit, he starts to sweat

the pressure.

In this undercover recording taken by an
associate cooperating with detectives,

Morris condemns Officer Riggins for not
having other officers sign his phony

reports.

A few weeks later, Detective

Quintilly gets a call.

Deshane Rickens wants to talk about Pop
Morris.

Up next on American Greed, Morris' own
words finally bring him down.

And he's telling his co -conspirator not
to speak to the police. It's proof of a

guilty conscience.

Philadelphia, 2007.

The walls are closing fast on Wallace
Pop Morris, the former figurehead of a

.2 million auto insurance fraud empire.

Philadelphia police officer Deshane
Riggins, who once wrote Pop's fake

reports, is now cooperating with the
district attorney's office. And Riggins

agrees to secretly tape record phone
calls with Pop.

In this one, Pop urges him not to talk
to the police.

Prosecutor Linda Montag says this is a
home run.

What you hear is Pop saying, don't talk
to anybody.

Don't tell them anything.

Don't speak to the detectives. And what
that shows is Pop knew what he was doing

was wrong.

And he's telling his co -conspirator not
to speak to the police. It's proof of a

guilty conscience.

In late July, Detective Al Quintelli of
the Philadelphia District Attorney's

Office executes search warrants at the
homes of Morris and Officer Riggins.

We found auto accident reports in Pop's
house. We found scraps of paper listing

all the people's names who might have
been in the accidents in his house, in

Deshane's house.

On May 21, 2008, Wallace Morris is
arrested and charged with 429 counts,

including insurance fraud, theft by
deception, and 45 counts of making false

reports to law enforcement.

But FBI agents still need to nail the
crooked chiropractor, Dr.

Stephen Rios.

In March 2008, they send an undercover
agent in to see Dr. Rios, and he's

wearing a wire.

Detective DeFrancesco explains the idea
behind the operation.

Not going to tell him anything about his
injuries. Not going to tell him

anything about what kind of accident he
was involved in. And then to see what

type of report the doctor would write.

about that initial meeting.

The tapes reveal an initial visit spent
mostly discussing Rios' new condo and

the Philadelphia Eagles season.

Talked about everything except his
injuries, what type of accident he was

what kind of pain he was in.

But in Rios' report to insurance, he
claims his neck pain is severe, his

is moderately disturbed. He states that
sitting over 15 minutes causes him pain

and discomfort.

Walking over a quarter mile causes him
pain.

Everything that he put on a report was
never said to him, and that just proved

that all the reports that we had
gathered were all validated by that one

undercover. In February 2010, Dr.
Stephen Rios is charged with 23 counts

fraud. He pleads guilty and gets four
years in federal prison.

Glory Kasner, the attorney who practiced
out of Dr.

Rios' office, pleads guilty to two
counts of mail fraud, and gets three

probation for filing the false claims.

She is also suspended from practicing
law.

Meanwhile, Jerry B .J.

Blazingale pleads guilty to the fraud
charges, but contests charges of

assaulting an FBI agent during his high
-speed pursuit.

He tried to argue that he never hit us,
that we hit him repeatedly, and he

didn't realize that we were cops.

Even though we had seven marked units
chasing him, along with our Crown

Victoria, which had lights and sirens on
it, he tried to tell the court that he

thought it was someone trying to do a
hit on him.

He is eventually found guilty and gets
eight years in federal prison.

His childhood friend, Officer Drexel
Reed, gets two and a half years in

for writing the fake accident reports.

According to him, it wasn't for the
money. It was just because he was

with BJ, and he thought, you know, he
was doing it for a friend.

And essentially he gave up his whole
police career for these stupid reports.

Daniel Cooper Yellow, the damage
-enhancing mechanic, is given five years

probation for his cooperation in
bringing down the ring.

The judge said from the bench, as
brilliant and as calculated as he was in

committing the crime, he was just as
brilliant, calculating, and honest in

leading them to every individual who was
involved.

Wallace Pop Morris, a ringleader of the
massive underground business, pleads

guilty. He is sentenced to four to ten
years in state prison and another 33

months in federal.

He's ordered to pay almost a half a
million dollars in restitution.

His puppet cop, Deshane Riggins, is
stripped of his badge.

He is given a year of house arrest and
seven years probation.

Riggins loses his pension and now works
in construction.

In total, the damage done is staggering.

We investigated over 100 fake accidents.

Nearly 218 people were arrested and a
total claim amount of nearly $2 million.

$2 million in claims that, according to
the insurance industry, will get passed

on to consumers.

Like Morris himself in his day job as a
limo driver.

The victims of insurance fraud are those
of us in the public who pay regular

insurance premiums. The judge that
sentenced Morris mentioned that at his

sentencing. She stated, I find it ironic
that your limousine service closed down

and you complain it closed down as a
result of high insurance rates.

Donna Schluter, who just wanted to make
a quick buck, now finds herself with

criminal records.

It seems all fine and dandy with
rainbows and, you know, candy canes, but

just going to come around and bite you
in the ass in the long run.

For others, like Angelina Adu, it hits
even harder.

You can't get a job because you've got a
record.

You know, you can look as sweet and
beautiful as you want, but I did

wrong to keep a roof over my head, and
so today I have to pay for the things I

did. It's a tough lesson.

Taught by scam artists Pop Morris and B
.J.

Blazingale. $1 ,200, have to give $600
away to the person that is, what,

hundreds of thousands of dollars, and
I'm getting crumbs, and end up in jail.

mean, for what?

Ah, it ain't worth it.

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