All language subtitles for McMillions.S01E03.WEBRip.x264-ION10

DOUG MATTHEWS:
We didn't know how

the McDonald's Monopoly game
was fixed.

So, inside the wire room,

people'd sit in there,
getting ready to listen.

And nothing happens.

♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

The FBI, we start coming up
with how do we get past winners

to recount how
they allegedly won these pieces.

Locking them into a story
on camera,

takes a B-minus case
and makes it a A-plus case.

For a while, the question was,
"Who is Uncle Jerry?"

We were looking
into Jerry Jacobson.

We thought this may be
the main guy.

But there was always
this inference that Uncle Jerry

somehow connected
to organized crime.

We found out that there was
another Jerry involved,

named Jerry Colombo.

My husband. He was part
of the Colombo crime family.

My Jerry and Jerry Jacobson
became partners

on the Monopoly thing.
My husband picked the winners.

INTERVIEWER:

"Uncle Jerry"
is Jerome Jacobson.

My husband. He got a lot
of my family members involved.

And that isn't all.

That was just a little piece
of the pie.

[bright tone]

- Whiskey.

Where's Oliver?

[cat meows]

Oliver, come on!

I helped pick the winners.

I gave some tickets
to some friends of mine

and family members
who needed it.

I wanted them happy, so...

I gave 'em things.

I was gonna get
the $1 million,

but I gave it to my father.

And, um...

Maybe if certain things
never happened...

This Monopoly thing
would still be going on today.

It's true.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- With Shamrock Productions

and the "Reunion of Winners,"

I think some of them
are pretty legendary,

in terms of
what was captured on film.

- Like Buddy Fisher
and Mr. Hoover,

Gloria Brown was
an instant $1 million winner.

She had won in South Carolina.

- Gloria had said her address

was in the Hilton Head
area of South Carolina,

but she was from
Jacksonville, Florida.

There was always something

that I was trying
to drive out.

I was trying to expand the BS

that they were trying
to put out there

because I know AUSA Devereaux

needs a ground ball,
boy needs something easy.

- [laughs]

- I'm kidding,
he's good at his job.

- It's been a decade,
but I enjoyed it.

First time, yeah...

- Well, I was unemployed
at that time, right in--

- Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

- But I am a social worker.

I just was
taking a break from...

stress.

I'm not doing it anymore,
thank God.

[laughter]

- Yeah. Yeah.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

- No, most--

- Most of my family
is here.

I had a friend, a personal
friend and another friend,

a couple of friends
there that--

basically what I was doing
was a lot of visiting,

job searching at that time,

so, you know,
trying to relocate.

- One thing that struck me
was that Ms. Brown

wasn't as open and friendly

as Mr. Hoover was.

She seemed to be on guard,

whether or not she suspected
something was awry or not,

she just...she just
wasn't as forthcoming.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Yes, yeah.

- Well, in Hilton Head,
you know,

um, during that time I was,
you know, living with a friend,

of course, and, um,
trying to job hunt

and right now,
I have my own agenda,

you know, I have
my patients to care for.

Um...I'm busy, like today

I'm taking a trip, you know,

and, um...

um day-to-day--
I work seven days a week,

basically, you know,
I'm on call all the time.

So compared to back then,
um, and to now,

I would say that, um...

McDonald's have made it so that

I can just lie without
any stress, you know?

- Um, a little over a year,
back and forth.

- Many of the winners were
saying they lived in one area,

but then had a post office box

where they would have
their winnings sent to,

so they would
set up fake addresses.

And so, a lot of the evidence
that I was gathering

was around where they lived,

exactly what store they won

the McDonald's
Monopoly piece at.

- So, I said,
"Gloria, do you remember

the McDonald's where you
went to claim the prize?"

"Absolutely."

"This is a picture."
We took a picture of it

and put it on this board
and she said, "Oh, my God,

that's exactly the one,"
and I said, "You know what,

can you autograph that for us?"

- "Thanks a million."

- [laughing]

- That picture
that she signed,

it was not in Hilton Head,
South Carolina.

It was Jacksonville, Florida.

- No, I sure don't.

- The fake address
was a part of the scheme.

And so, Rick had this
surveillance photo

of a McDonald's
right there in Jacksonville.

And I go, "Oh, my God,
that's perfect."

So I take it with me.
"What are you gonna do?"

And I said, "I'm gonna--
I'm gonna use it.

Wait and see.
I'm gonna show you."

And, as she's doing it, Amy,

she's like,
"Oh, my God, that's just--

that's not it.
That's not it."

And I'm looking over--
it's starting to get louder,

and I'm like, I'm looking back,

"Do you want that here?

I mean--they almost
can hear that."

- Mm-hmm.
- [indistinct speech]

- That's what I love.
[indistinct speech]

Every time I talked to them,

they would just lie, lie, lie.

And it was perfect for
the FBI because it was really

building evidence and helping
them build their case.

But we also wanted to make sure

that it seemed like
we were having fun.

Because, once again,

that's how it would be
at a real shoot.

- Okay.
- Oh, wait--oh, there's--

- Uh, Doug brought
a lot of that energy.

- Up there?
Okay.

- Okay.
[laughter]

- Okay.
Okay.

- Okay.

- That's typical Mathews.
That's what he would do.

- Thanks a million, McDonald's.
[laughs]

- Okay, look right
in the camera

and say it right there.

- Thanks a million,
McDonald's.

- And it was hard sometimes
to keep a straight face,

to be honest with you.

It was very hard at times,
'cause the things we were

doing with the light meter
or the camera and sitting them

and fixing them up,
we had no idea.

- I got my McDonald's
millions--million

at Hilton Head
in South Carolina,

and it made me a...

Millionaire.

- [laughing]
That's cute.

- Pretty close, okay.

- What I figured out
at an early age in the bureau

is, you push it and then you
think it's--you keep pushing.

You never know when
you're gonna hit a wall.

And, of course,
I never found the bottom.

The bottomless
tea glass, right?

It's perfect for me.
Just keep going.

And, of course, she did.

- Ron and I will s--

Ron--
Ugh.

- Ron and I will
see you in Vegas.

Thank you, McDonald's.

[laughter]

- We knew it was
such good evidence

having Gloria sitting here,

just making the story up.

And doing it with this
sincerity--this fake sincerity.

It was--it was--as
a criminal investigator,

it was an awesome
thing to behold.

- There were so many different
layers of the conspiracy

that we were investigating,

and the more
sophisticated a scheme,

the more difficult it is
to prosecute the case.

Now you have actual
video production

that you can show a jury.

That's very powerful.

[upbeat music]

- By this time, literally
almost the whole office now,

or a big majority of them,
have been diverted to work on

what we call
Operation Final Answer.

♪ ♪

- We worked seven days a week
on a regular basis,

but at times it did not
feel like work.

We had great camaraderie
between all of the agents

that were working it,
and we knew the mission is--

what we were
trying to accomplish

was a noble one and a good one.

Um, so nobody ever
complained about it.

♪ ♪

- Things were moving fast,
and naturally,

we always want
to move at our pace.

We wanna control
the timing of things,

and we did not
have that luxury.

The game was running.
There was clock running

on how long we could
keep it a secret.

Throughout this,
we were really, really

racking up incredible evidence,

discovering new people,
proving all different elements

of what was going on.
And we kind of knew

the process of
how these were placed,

but the one thing
that was still out there

was how is Jerry Jacobson
doing this?

That was kind of this nagging,

you know,
this nagging question mark.

- What we had to vet out
here is, who--

who was helping Jerry?

- Hilda Bennett was
the CPA that would travel

with Mr. Jacobson to these
various manufacturing plants.

And we didn't know,
are they in cahoots?

On an investigation,

you just don't
cut somebody out.

And so, we had to surveil
Ms. Bennett as well.

- You want cheese?
- Yep.

- I need to get
a large coffee

with ten cream and five sugar.

- Anything else?

- Yep, another large coffee

with ten cream and five Equal.

- Okay.

- That is Equal?
- Yep.

- Awesome, thank you.
- You're welcome.

- Have a great day.
- Thank you.

- Oh, that's perfect.

The one time I've seen
Uncle Jerry was up in Georgia.

My brother went to go visit.

I stayed in the car.

I didn't get out of the car
because he didn't directly

involve me 'cause he was
always trying to protect me.

They don't want
me to get involved.

- But giving you a little
taste at the same time.

- I guess so, yeah, yeah.

♪ ♪

Uncle Jerry was
a middle-aged guy.

Just normal, average height,
normal, average build.

But size doesn't matter.
Like my dad always used to say

and still does say,
"As long as this works,

that's all I need.
One finger."

And it's the truth.

- And the family
that's backing you.

- Yeah, and a family
that's backing you.

That's a big thing.

♪ ♪

Jerome was
getting the tickets,

but when it came to...uh..
- Dispersing.

- Dispersing the tickets,
I don't think he had

the resources to do the big

$1 million hits everywhere,

so I think that's
where my brother

took the reins of everything.

So Uncle Jerry was getting

the tickets
and selling them to my brother

and then my brother would
sell them to other people

and it was just a--literally,
it was a monopoly of scams.

Every ticket was
a little different.

The agreement
with Uncle Jerry

was depending on the value
of the ticket.

The $1 million tickets
were going for 50 grand.

Uncle Jerry would get the 50,

and then my brother would
get half of whoever won.

And so, if they got
the payments for 20 years

and so forth, he'd get half,

and then the winner
would get half.

So it was a better deal
for my brother, long-term,

than it was for Uncle Jerry.

[light music]

♪ ♪

I really didn't
think much of it,

'cause someone
had to win, so...

In my brother's eyes,
it was, "Okay, well,

"instead of Joe Shmoe winning,
I'm gonna make,

you know, John Shmoe win."

The money's still
gonna go somewhere,

you know, were just
redirecting it.

The $1 million ticket

was supposed to be
our wedding gift.

We were married
November 24, 1997.

- 1996.

- 1996...

let's start that over again.

[laughter]

Cut that.

Whoops, I'm getting
my ass kicked tonight.

[laughter]
Okay.

Um, but that was gonna
be our gift, our wedding gift.

Free of charge.
We didn't have to buy it.

- The McDonald's piece
was in one of the little,

I guess you'd call them eggs,

like your kids get toys in
at the gumball machines.

It was in there,
in the back of the freezer,

underneath two ice cube trays.

I remember exactly how it sat.

- It was just chilling.

- It was just chilling.

- I always looked up
to my brother.

He was my protector,
pretty much.

He would always come
to visit me and throw me

a couple thousand dollars,
like it was me giving away

a couple dollars to the kids.

This is our son Frankie.
He dropped about $150,000

and we just decided
to take a picture,

we kind of--thought
it was kind of funny.

- I was so upset
over that picture.

Because it was such dirty money

around such a clean,
perfect baby.

- Ah, it was pretty crazy,

but...with that comes a price.

- Put it this way.
Uncle Jerry called my home

at least three times a week

to tell Jerry
what he had to do next.

And he and I
would talk, you know,

sometimes 30 minutes,
sometimes 45 minutes.

And my husband would
meet him in Atlanta.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- I don't know how many
people he hooked up.

- It was way more
than I thought it was.

- My brother had
a lot of connections

all over the place
'cause he had nightclubs

and certain things
that he was doing

that I can't really mention,
'cause I'm sure the FBI's

gonna watch this tape someday.
[laughs]

But there was a lot
of things that he was into.

So my brother started,
you know, expanding

to in-laws
and brother-in-laws

and friends and friends
of friends and...

and that's how he took
this little small operation

and made it huge.

- I was working
at the airlines

in Jacksonville here,

and a passenger came
through named Colombo.

Right off the bat,
he was very personable

and, um, a gentleman.

My last name was Italian,

so he seemed
to take a liking to me.

First thing he said
to me, he was like,

"Hey, here's some
money, go eat, go eat."

And I just thought
that was so funny because

that's how Italians are.

And it just made me feel

at ease with him,
that this is a good person.

I never knew he was married.
I didn't really care because

I didn't really have any
relationship on that level,

you know, in my mind anyways.

One day, we were just
driving around, and he says,

"Hey, I want to show you
something," so we pulled over.

And, uh, he reaches
around the backseat

and he pulls out
the winning pieces.

It was, like, the whole thing.
It's $100,000.

And I was like, "Wow,
so many people are trying

"to win this thing,
and you're sitting here

with all four pieces."
[laughs]

You know, I'm like, "What?"

"If you're interested,"
he says,

"just walk in McDonald's

"and this is what you gotta do

and this is how it rolls."

He goes,
"I'll give you 20,000 now

and I'll give you
another 10,000 later."

And I thought,
"Wow, that's a lot of money,"

You know what I mean?
I could go buy me a car,

you know, I could go do
some stuff, you know...

'cause back then, you know,
I'm working at the airlines,

what am I making?
You know, $10 an hour?

I was game for
something exhilarating.

So he had me fly to Philly.

Being with I'm with
the airlines, I can do that.

He picked me up
at the airport,

we drove right to McDonald's

and I didn't even have
to think for myself,

you know what I mean?
Just follow the script.

And that's exactly what I did.

And I was just like,
"Um, I--I'm the winner."

And he's like,
"Huh.

So you're the winner."

It was just too easy.

But I didn't know...

the aftermath
that was to follow.

I mean, 'cause there was things
that nobody knew,

and I just
kept it all to myself.

- My husband,
he picked the winners,

but he kept picking Italians

on the East Coast.

They were--they were kind of
being stupid about it.

Somebody was bound
to get suspicious,

so I told my husband,

"I've got a friend
in Jacksonville.

Bring some women into it
and women of color."

- My name
is Gloria Brown-Byer,

and I live in Jacksonville.

I've been here all my life.

I didn't wanna be
interviewed anymore.

I don't want
to talk to anybody else

about the McDonald's thing.

'Cause it was...

a whole lot.

I was a McDonald's
$1 million winner.

And...this is the first time

that I've really just
had the opportunity to just--

to just really just say,
"Okay, I'm gonna lay all

my cards on the table
and to tell everything."

I mean...I mean--even though

my sister was there,
she don't know all the details.

I mean, she'll be hearing this

for the first time herself,
some of this stuff.

I have a son, and I raised
him as a single parent.

He, as a child,
was very understanding.

We had a relationship where,
if money was not available,

I'd discuss it with him,
and we worked it out together.

I always had to work,
and I always managed

to keep a job,
but it was always a struggle.

Years passed by
and I didn't see Robin

for some years and, um,

when she called me,

she told me
she had got married.

I'm thinking maybe now
she has somebody that can

look out for her and she was
very happy being with Jerry.

I think it was in '97.

Robin had called me and said

she had something
she wanted to discuss with me,

but we couldn't talk
about it over the phone.

So Jerry asked me
to come and visit.

It was at their home
in South Carolina.

My first impression
of Jerry Colombo was that

he was a real-life
comedian type guy, you know.

And he treated me

just like I had been around
the whole time.

But the thing that bothered me
is that there was never

any time that she and I
could be alone,

even when we went shopping,
he went shopping with us.

[laughing]

One night I had just said,

"Can you just leave us alone
for a few minutes?

Durn, Jerry."

And then he left us alone

just for a few minutes,
and he came back.

We were not allowed
to really discuss anything.

Finally he talked to me
about a proposition,

and it was a proposition
that would help me.

He asked me, was I familiar

with the McDonald's
game piece?

I said yes.

So he said

people are picked
to be winners.

This is how
it's always been done.

And then he told me that

he would let me know
what the next step was.

When I first got the offer...

I thought to myself

that it was a blessing
that came knocking at my door.

And...

you know, I was going to church

and I was doing--trying
to do the right thing and...

my son was young,
and I was making...

Probably about $24,000 a year,
it was just...

By the time
taxes and stuff come out,

it's really nothing.

And I just
wanted a better life,

and I just felt like
this was my opportunity.

And I said, "Well,

this couldn't come to me
if it wasn't meant for me."

- My brother was
always joking around,

always making people laugh,
always having a good time.

Very lighthearted, uh,
but if you pissed him off,

then he can have
a temper as well.

But he never was the type
of person who would grab you

or, you know, threaten you...
- Or rough you up.

- Or rough you up.

You knew if he looked at you

when he told you exactly
what he wanted you to do,

you knew you had to do it.

- The whole
relationship changed.

It got to the point that
I didn't talk to Robin anymore,

I only talked
to Jerry Colombo.

And I finally got
the information from him

that I was gonna be
a $1 million winner

and that he needed me
to come up with some money.

And I'm asking him, "Why?"

Then he said,
"Everybody that wins

has to give
some upfront money."

And I'm like, "How much?"

And he asked me
how much I could come up with?

I said, "I really
don't have any money,"

so he said, "Can you get
money off your house?"

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

Can't back out now.
He's told me too much.

I mortgaged my home
to get my upfront money.

♪ ♪

I put all the stuff
I worked hard for on the line

because I believed
that this was my blessing.

I met him
on the side of the road

and gave him my first
portion of my money.

♪ ♪

It felt like something
had just been ripped from me.

And, you know,
to meet somebody

on the side of the road
and give them cash money,

that much at one time...

that's more than I ever
had in my hand at one time

in my life, and I just
had to give it all away.

I just felt that
I just had gave my life away

and I'm giving it to somebody
I don't know much about.

Can I even trust this guy?
You know.

♪ ♪

- Before my husband
was working

the Monopoly fraud game,

we had my son,
Francesco Gennaro Colombo.

[indistinct speech]

- Say hi to the camera,
Frankie.

- Hi, camera!
[laughter]

- Bye, camera.
- Bye, camera.

Easy.

- Basketball.

- [laughing]

- I was, at times,
really very happy.

I had my son.
I had some money.

I should've at least
been having a good time.

But I was never satisfied,
ever.

Um, I went from home to home

thinking that one
was gonna make it better.

You don't have friends.

You can't bring friends
into that lifestyle.

Even though
I adored my husband,

I found out he had
a mistress on the side,

which I guess is a prerequisite

of an Italian gangster
to have a mistress.

I was walking down the hallway
to check on Frankie,

while he was sleeping,
when I heard my husband

on the telephone saying, um...

some unsavory words to her.

And I barged in and I said,

"Who the hell
are you talking to?"

And I took the phone
from him.

And I took it, and I
slammed it across his face.

- They did get
in a lot of fights.

Um, she would say a lot
of mean, nasty things to him.

She was very abusive,
as far as physical--

slapping
and so forth and so on.

Robin would just try
swinging and clawing at him.

I mean, he would grab her hands
and say, "Stop, stop, stop it."

[doorbell rings]

- Anytime I threatened
to leave him,

Uncle Jerry would step in.

Send 15 grand, buy me a car,

um, whatever to appease me.

And, um...

So I wouldn't leave.

- My brother was always making
money and he was never home.

He always had
an excuse to go somewhere,

to go on a business trip,
to be somewhere.

Um...so I knew he wasn't happy.

During the Monopoly situation,

my brother wanted
to open up a club

in Ladson County,
South Carolina.

I believe he was
trying to get away

from the life of crime
and he was trying to make

a legitimate business.

So he opened up a place
called the Fuzzy Bunny.

- The Fuzzy Bunny opened its
doors just a half hour ago,

opening the doors
to a steamy controversy.

Gurnal?

- Well, Debbie, we are here
at the Fuzzy Bunny,

which is located on
Highway 78 and Royal,

just down the road from
the Fairgrounds in Ladson.

And the entertainment
and the dancing

have begun here at the club.

- He had some dancers,
they were wearing, um,

bikini tops...

- And pasties.
It was not full nudity.

- Wasn't fully nudity.

He wanted to do
classy places.

- He had his morals.

- Yeah, he had--
he had his morals.

- I got girls
in Daisy Dukes, tops.

I got volleyball courts
being built outside, um...

I have live concerts
here on the weekends.

Basically,
that's about it, really.

- He wanted to make,
like, a gentlemen's club.

And his goal was to open up
four or five of these

all through Hilton Head
and North and South Carolina.

The county
kept on fighting him

and fighting him
and fighting him.

They kept on shutting him down
for this permit, that permit.

- That's not gonna
stop you from...

- That's not gonna stop us.
My attorney told me

we can--I mean, whatever
we gotta do, we're gonna do.

I mean, I'm out here trying
to earn a living for my family

just like you are,
and that's it.

- I was proud of him

for actually doing
something legal for once.

- The one time he tried
to do something legit.

- Right?

- Some people have
already trickled in

to the establishment here...

- Coming soon, Fuzzy Bunny's.

I hate it so much.

And I told my husband,
I said, "I know you,

"you couldn't just
open a club.

You have to try 'em out."

And I told him to stop.

- There is an existing
court order

where the club
cannot be opened.

- Three months later,
I thought he had sold it

or whatever,
so no more Fuzzy Bunny.

And then one night my son and I
went out to dinner,

and he was like two,
about two years old.

We're driving down the road,
and I pass Fuzzy Bunny.

And I looked,
and there's a bunch of guys

and I'm like,
"Damn, there's my car."

I got a little closer,
and I said,

"And there's my
big, fat husband."

And I turned around and I
jumped up on the curb and I--

And Jerry,
he was sitting back

like a big,
fat cat on the phone.

And I just punched him
right in the jaw.

I said, "You are so divorced."

All the guys are just standing
there

just staring, and I said,

"You're going down.
All you motherfuckers

"are going down.
Every single one of you.

I'm going to the FBI," I said,

"I'm going to the Witness
Protection Program,"

I said, "so just watch out."

So I go to a payphone;
I called my parents.

And I said, "Mom, I need you
to take two names down."

She goes,
"What the hell have you done?"

I said, "Well I just
threatened three goons

"with the FBI, so if you don't
hear from me in a couple days,

you are to contact them
and give them these names."

And Uncle Jerry was
the top of that--

on that...list.

They beat me home.

My husband
and two big-ass goons.

And I said,
"This is what I want.

I want a moving truck here
and a divorce."

He goes, "Robin,
you're never leaving me.

"There is no divorce.

You're stuck with me."

So I called Uncle Jerry,
and he says,

"You married the wrong guy,"

and he asked me to marry him.

Yeah.

- Yeah.

And I told him no.

I thought, you know, "I'm
never gonna get out of this,"

so I stayed.

But I was a prisoner
in my own home.

- Jerry Colombo told me
that I had to have

a South Carolina address.

And he had a cousin that lived
at this particular spot,

and this was gonna
be my address.

And at that point,
I'm like,

"Oh, gosh."

This isn't what
I was expecting.

He coached me on some things
that I needed to say

and work on and believe...

I had to leave my voice on the
voicemail as if it was my home.

Hi, this is Gloria.

Leave a message,
and I'll get back with you.

He made me do it
till I got it right.

You know, he wanted
the right tone, you know.

It had to be happy.

One of the things that
constantly crossed my mind

is that my life was in danger.

I had no other option but
to take this process through.

Robin knew all of my family

and my son.

I just kind of felt
like I was trapped.

It was no way out,
but to go through it.

When time to
turn the game piece in,

he picked me up with two men.

I didn't know
either one of them.

I almost felt
kidnapped in a sense,

you know what I'm saying?
It's like,

"You're here, and
you're gonna ride with us

and you're gonna do
what we say."

"And you're gonna do it right."

All the way there,

Jerry Colombo
never stopped talking.

Telling me what to do

and what you're gonna say.

I mean, he was just drilling--

and how you're gonna do it.

And they drove me
to the McDonald's

that they had picked out
that I was gonna go to.

He parked the car
in the corner.

The ticket was in a little vial
about this tall

with a cap on it.

There I was,
walking down this block

in a place
I had never been before.

It was like bank robbery
or something, you know?

They on the block
down at the end.

They don't wanna be seen.

They down the street,
the getaway car.

And I'm like, "Oh, Lord,
this could go so bad."

A lot of things was
going through my mind.

Am I gonna lie
enough to be believable?

Am I gonna mess up
and then I'm in trouble?

Just all kind of stuff
was going through my head.

Am I going to jail today
behind this foolishness?

And at this point in time,

I was about to panic.

And I'm saying to myself...

"Oh, Lord, Jesus."

I wanted to cry before
I got into the place

and I said, "No,
you can't go in there upset."

I had to not
be Gloria at that time,

I had to become somebody else
to make it believable.

Here we go.

I had to go in
and stand to this counter

and tell them that it looked
like I'd been a winner.

The manager came out said,
"Have a seat."

And I had to give them
my information--

the fake telephone number,
the fake address.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

And then they finally came out
and congratulated me.

The manager at the McDonald's,
the cashiers,

everybody running around
so happy

that they got the winner
come to their McDonald's.

And there I was,
I couldn't even hardly

put a smile on my face.

By the time I got to the car--
got back to the car,

Jerry Colombo
was having a fit.

Because it had take--
it took too long.

And there he was,
as soon as I get in the car,

"Okay, what took you so long?"

Then I had to explain to him.

"Well what were you doing
all that time?"

"I was sitting waiting,"
you know.

"What did they tell you?"

So they told me they'd get
back--be getting back with me.

I hung around another day

and then I came on back
to Jacksonville.

And went back to work

like nothing had happened
and I just had to wait.

- They don't want to see
this club open up.

- And anybody in the
Ladson-Summerville area

knows that place has been
a bar for 50 years.

It's been a bikers' club.
It's been a nightclub.

It's been a lounge.

- My brother would use

loopholes after
loophole after loophole,

and they finally came up
with one that was saying,

uh, you can't have
female dancers within

1,000 feet of a school
or something--

something to that nature,
what it was.

So he turned the Fuzzy Bunny

into the Church of Fuzzy Bunny.

- The Church
of Fuzzy Bunny's

- The Church of Fuzzy Bunny's.

- The transformation
of their club

into a church...

- Dancing girls,
alcoholic drinks,

and the Bible?

Lowcountry Preachers

say the switch from
Fuzzy Bunny Club

to Fuzzy Bunny Church

is nothing but blasphemy.

- I really, honestly,
didn't see the big deal in it,

I'll be honest with you.
100%, I swear.

And I mean, I'm a woman,
but I--I really

didn't see the--
the huge deal.

- Those two don't mix,
as far as I'm concerned.

Church and strip joints
just don't mix.

- Yeah, but they
can't fool people.

No good people is gonna
be going in that place.

- I don't see nothing
with having a place

where you can come in,
say a few prayers,

have a couple drinks,
see some women dancing.

- He liked to be
the center of attention,

uh, and if you
messed with him,

he would just play
that game as long as it took.

- Marianne,
you're next on the line

with Jerry Colombo, go ahead.

Go ahead, Marianne.

- Yes, um, I think
what you're doing

is an abomination to God.

And it's wrong,
it's wrong in the eyes of God.

And really, it's wrong
in morals, too.

- All right.

- Thank you.

- Well, I guess God
hasn't talked to you lately.

He came to me in
a dream a couple weeks ago,

and he told me what
I'm doing is fine.

- You say that with somewhat
of a smirk on your face,

I mean, you had to have...

- I did have--I did have
a dream one night, that's why.

- Well, we all have dreams,

I don't know if
it's divine intervention.

- This one was divine.

- We never went.
- No.

- No--but it sounded
like a fun time, though.

- I mean, a little prayer,
a little pasties...

- Right?
[laughter]

- All the publicity that has
come out of this situation

with Fuzzy Bunny's has earned
owner, Jerry Colombo,

notice from
"The National Enquirer,"

Comedy Central,
the cable channel,

and this Friday, he has
a scheduled guest appearance

on the David Letterman show.

- Oh, yeah.
Yes.

- Jerry Colombo
won a Dodge Viper.

- Jerry Colombo...
- Jerry Colombo...

- Jerry Colombo...

- Jerry Colombo...
- Jerry Colombo...

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- This is my first
letter of congratulation.

They're congratulating me
for being a $1 million winner

and explaining to me that
I'll be getting $50,000

for, um, the next 20 years.

The check came in the mail,

which--that went
to my fake address.

And Jerry brought it to me,
and I told him

I'll deposit the check,
and then he said,

"You didn't get
any cash off of it?"

I'm like, "No,
they gotta put a hold on it."

During that time,
my bank account was always low,

so I had to go back to the bank

and insist on
getting something.

So I got $2,000
and I gave it to him.

When it did clear,
he was calling me to add

to the 2,000 and make it 25.

So I just took the money
and gave it to him.

Didn't ask any questions.

He worked out a deal where

what I had, he took and, um,

for the first five years,
I had to give them...

give Jerry Colombo $25,000.

Nothing changed for me.

Now, I never acted
like I had money.

'Cause I was in a deeper hole
than I was before I did it.

Took my mortgage
up higher, of course.

I went from paying
300 and something a month

to $1,000,

so I was just like--
"Phew!"

That's when I found out
about the taxes.

Jerry Colombo got $25,000
each time before taxes.

I didn't go out
and buy anything.

I couldn't buy anything.

I was so stressed.

Well, Jerry Colombo
always had to consult

with the head man.
"Let me call Uncle Jerry."

Uncle Jerry is being
reported to about everything.

During that time,
I felt like Uncle Jerry

was the main mob man.
[chuckles]

Within that first year,
McDonald's wanted me to do

all this publicity.

But I just couldn't
get into it.

Jerry Colombo's thing was,
"They want you to advertise

"because you
are the first black,

"and you're female.

And you got the $1 million."

And I'm saying to myself,
"Yeah, but...

"I don't wanna
keep talking to people

"and telling people this story

over and over and over
and over and over."

But he said that
we had to do this.

We stayed in the Four Seasons.

I think that was
the first time I ever had

the opportunity to just order
what I want off the menu

and not worry about a tab.

Then I came in here
and the girl took so long

to come out and I said,
"This must be real."

So, you know, it's just--it's
just all beginning to set in.

Just--I just don't know
how to describe it.

It's undescribable.

The best part about it,
the whole thing,

is that I got a chance
to meet Sherman Hemsley.

The marketing company,
they had a big celebration.

It was something like
a promotion type thing

and Jerry Colombo said,

"Uncle Jerry's
gonna be in the audience."

And I'm like, "God..."
[inhales]

So...

they had this big check
for me to hold

and take a picture
and then they say, "Speak!"

I'm like...
[sighs]

Here I go.

More lies.

I was kind of out of it.

I could hear
the cameras going.

The whole time I'm thinking
about this mob man

in the audience.

Never seen a picture of him,

didn't know
who I was looking for,

but I kept looking to see
which one it could be.

After that,
I finally just told him,

"I don't want to
do anything else.

Don't--don't put me out
to do anything else."

Jerry Colombo said,
"Uncle Jerry was in the crowd.

He said you did great."

It just was little things
like that, that made sure,

I guess, I stayed on my toes

and did what I needed to do
and do it proper.

So I was still under
that web the whole time.

I didn't know where to turn.
I didn't know what to do.

There's just really
no way out of it.

And I said to myself,
"Now what's next?"

- As soon as I got
that check, things changed.

I'm in his car,
and we're going to this bank.

We needed to get the check
cashed right there.

And all the money went
right to Jerry's hands.

The teller said to me,
he said, "Get that money.

It's $50,000 taxes on that.

Make sure you get that."

But I didn't think
anything of it.

It just kind of--
you go numb, you know,

there's just no thought.

And that's kind of how I felt,
I think,

with that money,
'cause it's not mine.

He said that he had
to go to Uncle Jerry first,

give him his piece of pie

and then everybody
gets a piece of pie

and it has to go, you know,

in that order
before I can get my money.

So I--I kept calling him and
calling him and he would like

call me back and say, "I'm
gonna get the money for you,

"I got the money on me,

it's gonna be like
another week," or whatever,

he just kept putting me off.

I heard the difference
in his voice, like, like--

like, "Don't bug me.
You're gonna get your money."

I--I believed...

that Gennaro
owed Uncle Jerry money.

I believe the money got too big

to not take a bigger piece
of that pie.

Because the spending habits
became bigger and grander.

And I'm thinking, "Okay,

that's why
I'm not getting my money."

- I'm wondering if the local
banks will have the money...

- Mm-hmm.
[laughter]

- You know, it's a small town.

- It's a cute town.
- It really is.

- It's a great little town.
- I love it!

- It's like living
in the '60s.

- You could ask
any number of people,

what would drive you
to do what these people did?

- And the first one
I peeled off, I believe,

was Pennsylvania Avenue, and
the second one I peeled off

was $1 million
instant prize winner

and it was like,
"Wow, is this for real?"

- A lot of this is stealing
money, using a device to do it

tricking somebody into it.

And then two or more do that,
that's the "conspiracy."

Devereaux's gonna be
so happy I said that.

But it's more than that.

- Breakfast sandwich?
- Yeah, that's what it was.

A breakfast sandwich,
a breakfast sandwich.

- A lot of 'em
are good people,

they make bad decisions,

whether it be they have fallen
into a financial problem

and they hear a nice way
to get out of it.

- That's your motivation.
"Okay.

"I'm gonna do it because,
you know, I need money to--

for my kid's health or school
or I'm gonna retire."

- Human nature

makes us do different things.

People want to justify
what they did

or why they did it

so they can really
live with themselves.

Everyone,
everyone watching this show

cannot stand
in front of a mirror,

look at themselves in the eyes

and say they've never
done something that they wish

they could correct
and take back.

- A couple of years later,
I had this company that was

calling me on a regular basis
trying to get me

to come on this trip.

I was very reluctant,

but they kept saying
it was for all the winners.

They wanna find out
where we are now,

what we're doing, you know,
just a follow-up.

A lot of this stuff
I just wanted to block out

and just forget it

and you just kind of went in
and laughed and talked,

and, you know, it just--try
to make me feel comfortable,

but I never felt comfortable
about this whole thing.

- Um, basically,
what I'd like you to do...

- Somebody asking me
a question from over

on this side,
somebody asking me a question

from over on this side--
that's when I knew

that something wasn't right.

I was about to get sick to
the stomach because I knew...

And I was trying to cut
'em short, and they wouldn't--

they wouldn't stop
asking me questions.

- Um...so did you--
when did you

decide to move
back to Jacksonville?

- I felt like an interrogation
went on because when I came--

when I was in there,
I was like, I could feel

my adrenaline building
a little bit because

I knew that it was...

that they wasn't
asking me questions.

The questions they was
asking me was to just

get it on record,
how I spent the money.

But I felt it.

That feeling
is something else.

- Okay, let's--
let's rehearse it, okay?

And this--you talk
to the camera.

- Okay, okay.

- You can do it slow

because this is like
a rehearsal--

- It--it might have been, um,

but you're about to deprive
someone of their freedom,

you know, their future,

everything from family...

it's not meant to be that
kind of fun for us at all.

It's not fun at all

to deprive liberty to someone.

- We just walked out of there,

and I was kind of numb
walking out the door,

like, "Oh, this is it.

Something is gonna
happen from this."

- It wasn't much longer after
the Fuzzy Bunny situation

I got real depressed.

I didn't eat.
I was just so distraught.

Then I got mad.

I looked over at him

you know, I told him
about Uncle Jerry.

I said, "You know
he asked me to marry him?"

As soon as I said the words,

I was sorry,
'cause I could tell

it was a real thing.

'Cause at first I thought,

this could be a setup,
you know,

maybe they're trying to
find out my loyalty

and it wasn't a setup.

And so he went
and cussed Uncle Jerry out.

The next day,
we're driving down the road.

Jerry's in the passenger seat,

I'm driving, Frankie's
crying in the car seat.

It's bothering Jerry
more than it is me.

And we got in an argument.

And so he says,
"Rob, I gotta put him down,

lay him down.
It's enough."

And so he took him
out of his car seat,

and I'm like,
"God, Jerry, come on."

And a little teardrop came
down my face and I thought,

you know, "I'm never
gonna get out of this."

[baby crying]

[horn blares]

[crashing, glass shatters]

[bright tone]

ROBIN COLOMBO: He is not
some sweet little old man.

He's a freakin' gangster.

♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS) ♪

FRANK COLOMBO: I was not sure
if the accident was an accident.

It could've been a possible hit.
Things were getting really ugly.

CHRIS GRAHAM: Operation
Final Answer was moving fast.

Everything was on the table.

We thought, "Well,
how much bigger can this get?"

And it would get bigger.

"How much further back
could it go?"

And it would go back further.

One of my biggest regrets

is being involved
in this McDonald's thing.

FRANK: If you can get away
with something

over and over, and over...
You only gotta be caught once.

♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪