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Short filmTranscript
00:01Two brothers shock Los Angeles with a brazen attack.
00:05The blast was so powerful, it could be seen from miles away.
00:09It didn't take long for the full picture to emerge.
00:12The bombing was the latest attack in the ongoing war between the local labor union and big businesses like the LA Times.
00:20Police in Spain intercept a smuggling ring of rare sea creatures.
00:24In addition to the eel tanks, each of the warehouses held stacks of euros in cash, worth up to 50,000 U.S. dollars.
00:31In total, police seized over 750 pounds of baby European eels called glass eels from rows and rows of temperature-controlled tanks and aquariums.
00:44Authorities in China uncover a professional gang of tomb raiders.
00:48This was the work of well-trained, organized, and sophisticated tomb robbers with access to high-tech equipment in the international market.
00:55By the time the gang was caught and identified, police arrested nearly 200 individuals, including four archaeologists.
01:04The world's most inventive criminal minds.
01:08Lawless ingenuity, born out of greed.
01:12From back alleys to the high seas.
01:15Secret structures, custom-built vehicles, high-tech innovation.
01:23What happens when engineering genies ends up on the wrong side of the law and starts building bad?
01:31On October 1st, 1910, in Los Angeles, California, the L.A. Times newspaper building erupted in a massive explosion,
01:52tearing a hole from the basement to the roof and creating several fireballs through the entire structure.
01:57The blast was so powerful, it could be seen from miles away.
02:03People were running into the street, convinced it was an earthquake.
02:07Even though the Times building was a tough brick and granite structure, nicknamed the Fortress,
02:14the damage was complete and total.
02:17Of the roughly 100 employees working, 21 of them were killed.
02:22The explosion was assumed to be the result of a homemade bomb, deliberately planted by an individual or group intending to send a message to the L.A. Times.
02:33This was confirmed when police discovered the other DIY bombs in the area that hadn't detonated,
02:38one of which was planted at the home of the newspaper's owner and publisher, Harrison Gray Otis.
02:43It didn't take long for the full picture to emerge.
02:48The bombing was the latest attack in the ongoing war between the local labor union and big businesses like the L.A. Times,
02:56which was notoriously anti-union.
03:00The use of explosives was nothing new in the escalating labor conflict.
03:05Small blasts of dynamite were frequently used by unions to intimidate and pressure non-union operations.
03:10But police were facing a completely new level of sophistication with the L.A. Times bombing.
03:17Whoever was responsible had an expert knowledge of explosives, detonation methods, and time-delay mechanics.
03:23The criminal minds behind the blast belonged to two brothers from Indiana,
03:29John and James McNamara, both members of the Bridge and Structural Iron Workers Union.
03:34Together, they created a devious method for time-delay detonation that allowed them to pull off the crime of the century
03:43and escape before the bomb exploded.
03:46The early 1900s was a tough time for skilled workers all over the country.
03:53But in Los Angeles, a series of political moves made it even tougher.
03:57L.A.'s city council passed a number of anti-picketing laws,
04:02which took away the union's ability to protest unfair wages and poor treatment from the owners.
04:09The iron workers specifically earned only $2.50 per day and worked under dangerous conditions.
04:16Every year, at least 100 were killed on the job.
04:19They formed unions like the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Workers
04:25to fight for better conditions, but also to fight against the companies who hired non-union workers.
04:33When striking and picketing weren't working anymore, the unions resorted to violence.
04:37They would often pay members to physically assault the worksite's foreman
04:41or to attack the workers from companies that didn't hire union employees.
04:46When that failed to make an impact, they launched a dynamite campaign.
04:52The goal was not to kill or injure people, but to target the construction sites of non-union shops
04:57by setting sticks of dynamite against cranes and other valuable equipment.
05:02Between 1908 and 1911, 70 worksites were targeted, but no one was killed.
05:07Before its use as a symbol of protest, dynamite was the explosive of choice
05:15for construction, demolition, and mining operations around the world.
05:19Dynamite was invented and patented by the Swede Alfred Nobel in Germany in 1866.
05:26Nobel was fascinated by the chemical nitroglycerin,
05:30and he wanted to explore its properties and potential in a compact explosive device.
05:36Nitroglycerin is a dense, oily liquid compound that generates extreme heat when activated.
05:43In its early days, it was unstable and sensitive to shock.
05:47This made it difficult to control and impossible to transport.
05:51Nobel believed if he could find a way to absorb that shock within the device,
05:56the result would be a more powerful and effective alternative to gunpowder.
06:01The typical stick of dynamite hasn't changed a lot in the last hundred years.
06:05You've got nitroglycerin packed in and surrounded by an absorbing agent,
06:09like a fossilized algae, and then it's connected to an igniter, like gunpowder.
06:14And the whole thing is lit by an external fuse, which can be as long as you need it to be.
06:20The ignited gunpowder inside the stick causes the molecules of nitroglycerin to expand
06:25and rearrange into a gas.
06:27The result is a white-hot supersonic shockwave and a huge explosion.
06:32It didn't take long for the new invention to be co-opted by protesters and unions across the country.
06:39In 1886, during a famous event in Chicago called the Haymarket Incident,
06:46a bomb was thrown at police during a rally organized by pro-labor radicals.
06:51Seven police officers died, along with at least three of the protesters.
06:55The Haymarket Incident proved just how powerful dynamite could be,
07:01but there were obvious risks involved in its use.
07:04For example, if the fuse wasn't long enough or timed out correctly,
07:08the bomb could go off before it reached its intended target.
07:11Also, transporting dynamite is always dangerous.
07:17Even when you've got the nitroglycerin packed tight with absorbent substances,
07:21any bump or disturbance can send shockwaves through it,
07:24and that can put stress on the liquid.
07:26Not to mention, if you have any rogue flame or spark, that could set the whole thing off.
07:32The iron workers in Los Angeles devised ways to reconcile these challenges,
07:39and they started by educating themselves about dynamite's dangerous properties.
07:44They actually created a subgroup called the Committee on Dynamiting,
07:48and its mandate was essentially how to place bombs safely and effectively.
07:52They studied methods of detonation, the use of blasting caps as igniters,
07:58and experimented with various lengths of fuse.
08:00First, a target was selected, such as valuable equipment on a non-union construction site,
08:08or the viaduct under a subway.
08:11The bombers would then gently pack the dynamite into a suitcase
08:15and sneak it onto the site, usually at night.
08:19They placed several sticks of dynamite weighing at least 25 pounds directly against the target.
08:25The fuse connecting to the internal igniter could be as long as 50 feet,
08:29which, when timed out, gave the bombers over half an hour to flee the scene.
08:36Despite the precautions, the union workers' dynamite campaign ran into several complications.
08:42Those long fuses bought the bombers valuable getaway time,
08:46but they came at a cost, because they create a lot of smoke.
08:50And even at night, if you've got half an hour of suspicious smoke at a construction site,
08:55the police are probably going to come check it out, and that could ruin the whole operation.
09:00Police were also starting to catch on to the union bombers' methods.
09:04Part of the laborer's strategy was to use common, easy-to-obtain materials.
09:09Any forensic evidence left behind wouldn't connect them to the crime.
09:13But the police began to share detailed information across state lines,
09:17such as the exact location of a bomb placement, or the bomber's escape pattern.
09:21It was becoming increasingly difficult for the iron workers to make a big statement,
09:28let alone disrupt the use of scab labor, which continued despite the protests.
09:34They needed to execute a large-scale bombing,
09:37and they needed an innovative method to pull it off.
09:41Enter James and John McNamara.
09:43James' first forays into bombing campaigns were small but successful operations,
09:48including a construction site in Cincinnati that left the company with sustained damage,
09:54but no casualties.
09:56By the time the call went out for a larger operation in Los Angeles,
10:01James had already been experimenting with a brilliant time delay invention,
10:05known as the time bomb.
10:08McNamara's device eliminated the need for a long fuse
10:11by using an alarm clock to program the amount of time delay.
10:15He soldered a small, L-shaped piece of brass to the winding key of the clock
10:20and affixed a wire to it.
10:22When the clock was fully unwound,
10:25instead of an alarm going off,
10:27the brass L created a circuit
10:28by coming into contact with the second piece of brass.
10:32That circuit was the charge needed to set off the bomb.
10:36The charge was connected to a large can of nitroglycerin,
10:39making it extremely powerful.
10:41And since the alarm clock has 12 hours before it returns back to its starting position,
10:47McNamara's invention gives bombers a half a day to get out of there.
10:52After McNamara tested his machine
10:54and it successfully detonated on five out of six trials,
10:59he and his union cohorts were ready to put their plan into action.
11:04The first decision was to identify the best targets
11:08that would get the most attention.
11:09The L.A. Times publisher Harrison Gray Otis
11:13was well known as a tough opponent of organized labor.
11:17So the unions decided to send Otis a message
11:19by blasting the Times building
11:21as well as his residence on Wilshire Boulevard.
11:25The third target was the home of Felix Z. Handelar,
11:29president of the anti-union organization
11:32Merchants and Manufacturers Association of Los Angeles.
11:36According to the plan, all three bombs were to go off at the same time at 1 a.m.
11:44On September 29, 1910, McNamara checked into a downtown hotel room
11:49under the alias name J.B. Bryce
11:52and then spent the day assembling three bombs,
11:55each one connected to a 10-quart can of nitroglycerin.
11:59The next day, he left the hotel shortly after 5 p.m.
12:03and planted all three bombs inside suitcases at their target locations.
12:08To create a solid alibi, McNamara checked out of his hotel at 7 p.m.,
12:14headed for the train depot, and caught the late train to San Francisco.
12:18When the L.A. Times building blew up at 1 a.m., he was 200 miles away.
12:25The two bombs planted at the anti-unionist residences
12:28failed to cause damage as intended.
12:31But by the morning of October 1,
12:32the city of Los Angeles woke up to the shocking devastation
12:36of the Times building.
12:38One of America's most famous detectives,
12:41William J. Burns, led the investigation into the bombing.
12:45When he compared one of the recovered bombs
12:47to that of a previous failed attempt in Illinois,
12:51another McNamara effort,
12:53Burns was able to connect the dots.
12:56After a lengthy investigation,
12:59James McNamara was arrested in a Detroit hotel room.
13:02that was filled with tools, wires,
13:05blasting caps, and batteries.
13:07His brother, John, was arrested
13:09at the headquarters of the Iron Workers Union in Indianapolis.
13:14James McNamara insisted on the record
13:16that he had no intention of killing anyone
13:18and that he was unaware that the bomb was going to go off
13:20just a few feet away from barrels
13:23full of highly explosive printer's ink.
13:27But in the end, that didn't really matter.
13:29James McNamara pled guilty to the L.A. Times bombing
13:35and John confessed to masterminding an explosion
13:38at the Llewellyn Iron Works
13:40that took place later the same year.
13:43On December 5, 1911,
13:45John was given 15 years imprisonment
13:47and James received a life sentence.
13:49On April 6, 2018,
14:06police raided six warehouses across Spain
14:08and uncovered a massive smuggling ring
14:10worth millions of dollars.
14:12But instead of drugs, diamonds, or weapons,
14:16the authorities discovered something decidedly more.
14:19Slippery.
14:22Eels, as in the underwater creature
14:24that looks like a cross between a snake and a fish.
14:27It's not a snake, it's really just a fish.
14:29But this smuggling ring didn't involve just a few eels.
14:32In total, police seized over 750 pounds
14:36of baby European eels called glass eels
14:39from rows and rows
14:41of temperature-controlled tanks and aquariums.
14:44In addition to the eel tanks,
14:48each of the warehouses held stacks of euros in cash
14:50worth up to 50,000 U.S. dollars.
14:53Even more curious, possibly more curious than the eels,
14:57there were hundreds of suitcases and carry-on bags
14:59lined up against the warehouse walls.
15:02Put the three items together
15:04and it looked like the makings
15:05of a giant eel smuggling operation.
15:08And that's exactly what it was.
15:10The illegal global trade of European eels
15:13is worth over 3 billion U.S. dollars
15:16on the black market per year.
15:18European eels are a delicacy in many countries,
15:24particularly China and Japan.
15:26But as demand has grown,
15:27the supply has diminished,
15:29hence the bustling black market.
15:31And transporting live baby eels
15:33across international borders in suitcases
15:35is just one of the ingenious ways
15:37eel traffickers have been getting rich
15:39and evading authorities for years.
15:44People have eaten eels for centuries,
15:46but there's evidence of human eel interaction
15:49that goes back even further.
15:52There are depictions of eels
15:54carved into the walls of the pyramids of Egypt
15:57and on mosaics at Pompeii.
16:00There are eel images
16:01stitched into the Bayeux tapestry.
16:04In medieval Britain,
16:05eels were so abundant and common
16:07that they were used to pay off debts
16:08and even to pay off taxes.
16:12Despite their prevalence in the history books,
16:14the eel's life cycle and mating patterns
16:17remain a bit of a mystery.
16:18We do know that European eels
16:20breed in the spring in the Sargasso Sea,
16:22a section of the Atlantic
16:23larger than France, Germany, and UK combined.
16:26Beyond that,
16:27no one knows exactly when they mate
16:28or for how long or at what depth.
16:31It's never been traced.
16:33After birth,
16:34each larva hitches a ride
16:36on the prevailing currents,
16:37taking them to the west-flowing rivers of Europe.
16:41Experts estimate
16:41over a billion of these tiny sea creatures
16:44arrive each year.
16:46So it's here
16:46that most of them are fished and poached.
16:51All attempts to breed the eels in captivity have failed
16:54since they only reproduce in their natural habitat.
16:57So every eel that ends up in the supermarket
16:59or on a dinner plate
17:01comes from the same wild stock.
17:04The inability to reproduce anywhere
17:06but their native waters
17:07means eels are the most trafficked
17:10and most traveled animal on the planet.
17:1323% of the billion glass eels
17:16that end up on the continent
17:17are trafficked to Asia.
17:20Numbers that high are bad news
17:22for the eel population.
17:23They threaten the long-term survival
17:25of the species
17:26and threaten the ecosystems
17:28that depend on them.
17:29And by 2010,
17:30the demand for eels was only rising.
17:33Something had to be done.
17:34To address the threat of extinction,
17:37in 2010,
17:38the European Union
17:39banned the export of European eels.
17:41But this only hurt
17:42the local legitimate eel industry
17:44and created a vacuum
17:45waiting to be filled by traffickers,
17:47assuming they could come up
17:48with innovative methods
17:49for exporting them.
17:52The first challenge
17:53facing would-be smugglers
17:54was simply catching
17:56the slippery creatures
17:57and keeping them alive.
17:59The initial wave of eel traffickers
18:01was made up of people
18:02already in the fishing industry,
18:04including poachers
18:05who leveraged their knowledge
18:07of eel migration.
18:10Poachers used hand nets
18:12and sieve nets
18:12in the European river system,
18:14like the Loire River in France,
18:16which had the highest percentage
18:18of eel.
18:19Occasionally,
18:20they used small trawling nets
18:21to work the estuaries,
18:23where the glass eels
18:24transited at night.
18:26The main goal
18:27was to choose locations
18:29that were difficult
18:30for the authorities to access.
18:33One poacher could catch
18:35over two pounds of eels per night,
18:37roughly 3,000 fish,
18:39worth at least 400 U.S. dollars.
18:42Some poachers kept tanks
18:43in their homes
18:44and sold directly to buyers,
18:45literally from their front door.
18:48Buyers typically traveled
18:49to the more populated
18:50harvest locations
18:51to maximize the output
18:53of several poachers
18:54in one visit.
18:56From there,
18:56the buyers transported
18:57the collected eels
18:58in carefully concealed
18:59styrofoam containers
19:01to a secret facility
19:02or even underground warehouse
19:04somewhere close
19:06to an international airport.
19:08At those facilities,
19:09the eels had to be kept
19:10in special aerated tanks
19:11with oxygen pumped
19:12directly into the water,
19:13but if you set that up properly,
19:15they could live like that
19:16for up to 15 days.
19:17The buyers who picked up
19:20and delivered the eels
19:20were paid up to 1,000 U.S. dollars
19:22for the same number of fish
19:24that the poachers collected,
19:25around 3,000 eels.
19:27And this was the trend.
19:28The further along the supply chain,
19:30the more valuable they became.
19:33Once the eels
19:34were successfully secured
19:35at the holding facility,
19:37smugglers had to find ways
19:38to outsmart
19:39international customs officials
19:40to transport the cargo
19:42to their ultimate destination
19:43of Hong Kong.
19:45At first,
19:48traffickers hid the eels
19:49alongside a legal
19:50or legitimate catch
19:51by mislabeling the shipments.
19:55Young eels look so similar,
19:57it's impossible
19:58to tell the difference
19:59between the endangered
20:00European eels
20:01and other species of eel
20:03without a DNA test.
20:06In one case in 2020,
20:08a Malaysian seafood trader
20:09named Gilbert Koo
20:10was convicted for moving
20:12over $58 million worth
20:14of glass eels
20:15by this method.
20:17Over a two-year period,
20:18he hid the eels
20:19in the bottom half
20:20of shipping containers
20:21underneath a layer
20:22of chilled legal fish.
20:27Koo was eventually sentenced
20:28to two years in prison
20:30and the authorities
20:30started to crack down
20:31on these large-scale
20:32shipping strategies.
20:34Organizations like
20:35Sustainable Eel Group,
20:36or SEG,
20:38worked with law enforcement
20:39to make sure
20:40that seafood containers
20:41heading from Europe
20:42to Asia
20:43were routinely inspected
20:45for illegal eel.
20:48But the wily smugglers
20:49found new ways
20:50to work around the crackdown.
20:52They started reducing
20:54the size of each shipment.
20:55The trick was to conceal
20:59the eels
20:59in a watertight package
21:00that could then be hidden
21:02in suitcases
21:02and travel bags.
21:04Since airport scanners
21:05didn't typically scan
21:07these bags as suspicious,
21:09and airport security
21:10weren't trained
21:10to spot them,
21:12it was an ingenious plan.
21:13But how do you sneak
21:15thousands of glass eels
21:16in a Samsonite?
21:19The solution was
21:20a little bit like
21:20that thing where
21:21you buy a goldfish
21:21at the pet store
21:22and they give you
21:23a plastic bag
21:23and it just swims
21:24around in there.
21:24It was like that,
21:25but just way bigger.
21:27The smugglers poured
21:27two pounds of eels
21:28into these strong
21:29plastic bags
21:30filled with water
21:30and with oxygen
21:32in them.
21:33Twenty of these bags
21:34were tied together
21:35and then wrapped
21:36with a thermal blanket
21:36with a large ice pack,
21:38and what you end up with
21:39is about 50,000 eels
21:41per travel bag.
21:43Once the dummy suitcases
21:46were packed and ready,
21:47other courier members
21:48of the trafficking network
21:49would arrive
21:50at the holding facilities
21:51dressed as tourists.
21:53Then they'd collect
21:53their bag and head
21:54to the airport
21:55for their Hong Kong-bound flight.
21:57These smugglers,
21:58essentially eel mules,
21:59were paid out in cash
22:00right at the facility.
22:02In addition to smaller
22:04bundles of eel shipments,
22:05the traffickers
22:06started to use
22:07different and smaller airports
22:09near tourist-centered towns
22:11which featured security systems
22:13and protocols
22:14that weren't always
22:15up to date.
22:17On arrival in Hong Kong,
22:19the exported eel
22:20were fed into
22:21the commercial eel farming industry,
22:23the majority of which
22:25was in China.
22:28Hong Kong played
22:28a critical role
22:29because the export laws
22:30and regulations
22:31were looser
22:32than in mainland China.
22:33Through deliberate mislabeling
22:35and mismanifested shipping,
22:37the illegal eels
22:38were mixed in
22:39with legal shipments
22:40before being sent off
22:41to China.
22:44The estimate is
22:45that there are
22:45about 600 eel farms
22:47and 70 processing plants
22:49in China.
22:50These are mostly operated
22:51by a handful of
22:52legitimate,
22:53family-owned
22:53Chinese businesses.
22:55The eels are raised
22:56until they reach maturity
22:57in aquaculture farms
22:59and then they're processed
23:00into fillets
23:00and prepared
23:01for traditional dishes.
23:04Processed European eel meat
23:05can be re-exported
23:06worldwide,
23:07once again smuggled
23:08amidst the legal
23:09and legitimate eel species.
23:11By the end of its journey,
23:12the original shipment
23:13of 3,000 baby eels
23:14worth $400
23:15when caught
23:16was now worth
23:17almost $30,000
23:18in the marketplace.
23:21The smugglers
23:22who managed
23:23to transport the eel safely
23:24and avoid getting caught
23:26were getting richer
23:27with each shipment.
23:28But international cooperation
23:30between law officials
23:31was catching up.
23:32The raid in April of 2018
23:37was the result
23:38of intelligence
23:39shared between Europol,
23:41the Spanish Guardia Civil
23:42and Portuguese authorities.
23:44It was dubbed
23:45Operation Elvers,
23:47another name
23:48for the European glass eel.
23:50Operation Elvers
23:51was by all metrics
23:53a success.
23:54Not only was
23:55that particular crime ring
23:56broken up,
23:56but over 750 pounds
23:58of live creatures
24:00were rescued
24:00in time
24:01to be reintroduced
24:02to their natural habitat.
24:05In total,
24:07police found
24:07364 travel bags
24:09being prepared
24:10for the trip to China,
24:12carrying more than
24:12five tons of eel.
24:14The bags were seized,
24:16along with almost
24:1650,000 euros in cash,
24:18and 10 members
24:19of an organized crime group
24:21were arrested.
24:22In June of 2014,
24:36a police patrol
24:37near Inner Mongolia,
24:39China,
24:39discovered an ancient
24:40tomb site
24:41that showed signs
24:42of a recent excavation.
24:44A deeper investigation
24:46led authorities
24:47to a shocking realization.
24:49It was just one
24:50of several sites
24:51that had been plundered
24:52by a professional ring
24:54of tomb raiders.
24:57Chinese authorities
24:58launched an extensive
24:59operation involving
25:00over 1,000 officers,
25:02including agents
25:02from Liaoning,
25:03Heilongjiang,
25:04and Henan provinces.
25:06Experts called it
25:07the biggest antiquities
25:08trafficking case
25:09since the founding
25:10of the People's Republic
25:11in 1949.
25:16By the time the gang
25:17was caught and identified,
25:19police arrested
25:19nearly 200 individuals,
25:21including four archaeologists.
25:23The leader of the gang,
25:24Yao Yuzong,
25:25known as the master,
25:27was an expert
25:27in locating
25:28and identifying tombs,
25:30a skill passed down
25:31from earlier generations.
25:33Some of the recovered
25:34artifacts included
25:36porcelain and jade items,
25:38dating back to
25:384,000 to 5,000 years.
25:40The value of the items
25:41the thieves had managed
25:42to move on the black market
25:44was estimated
25:44at 80 million U.S. dollars.
25:47This was the work
25:48of well-trained,
25:49organized,
25:50and sophisticated
25:50tomb robbers
25:51with access
25:52to high-tech equipment
25:53in the international market.
25:55Exactly how they managed
25:56to pull it off
25:56without getting caught,
25:57that was the question
25:58Chinese law enforcement
25:59needed to answer
26:00before more antiquities
26:01disappeared for good.
26:05The history
26:06of China's tombs
26:07goes back
26:08over 4,000 years,
26:09and they were thought
26:10to serve as bridges
26:11from this world
26:12to the next.
26:13Their occupants
26:16were mostly
26:17the rich people
26:17of the period,
26:18the ruling class.
26:20Those were the people
26:21who could afford
26:21the highest standard
26:22of living.
26:23They had the artifacts,
26:24they had these emblems
26:25of wealth and power.
26:28There's a huge number
26:29of artifacts
26:30buried across the country
26:31that hold invaluable
26:32historical
26:33and cultural information.
26:36Unfortunately,
26:37they also represent
26:38invaluable material wealth
26:40for auction houses,
26:41museums,
26:42and private collections
26:43around the world.
26:45Experts estimate
26:46that 80 to 90%
26:47of the Chinese art
26:48sold on the international market
26:50has been illegally obtained.
26:54It's fairly easy
26:55for any thief
26:56to loot a site undetected
26:57and bring the stolen artifacts
26:58to the black market.
27:00But when tombs are raided,
27:02not only do we lose
27:03the artifacts,
27:03there's also irreparable damage
27:05to the integrity
27:05and structure
27:06of the tomb itself.
27:09In the late 80s
27:10and early 90s,
27:11there was a surge
27:12in demand
27:12for rare Chinese antiquities
27:14in the international markets.
27:17By some estimates,
27:18300 to 400,000
27:20Chinese tombs
27:21have been raided
27:22in the last 25 years.
27:25The modern looting crisis
27:27really began
27:28after China's financial reforms
27:30in the 1980s.
27:30That was kind of
27:31a perfect storm
27:32because it opened the door
27:33to international trade
27:34and it created a lot
27:36of economic hardships
27:37for people living in China.
27:40Many of these initial lootings
27:42were committed by
27:43poor farmers
27:44and construction workers
27:45who already had
27:47a basic knowledge
27:48of the landscape
27:48and likely two locations,
27:50as well as many
27:51transferable skills.
27:52For these individuals,
27:54looting presented
27:54an opportunity
27:55to make a lot of money
27:57quickly.
27:57The worst-hit areas
28:01were around
28:02the city of Xi'an,
28:03home of the terracotta armies,
28:05and the city of Luoyang,
28:07the capital of at least
28:08nine Chinese dynasties.
28:10Not only were these locations
28:11filled with imperial tombs,
28:14they were mostly unguarded
28:15and easy targets
28:16for looters.
28:18Despite the lack
28:19of surveillance,
28:20there were many challenges
28:21facing tomb raiders
28:22that required expertise
28:24in engineering
28:25and excavation.
28:28It was extremely
28:29dangerous work.
28:30Most of these tombs
28:31are buried deep
28:31in unstable soil.
28:34So to get to them,
28:35the looters have to build
28:36these long tunnels,
28:37and those often collapsed,
28:39killing the thieves
28:40either while they were
28:41going in or even
28:42while they were coming
28:43back out with the goods.
28:45Ventilation was a critical
28:46and occasionally deadly
28:48issue to reconcile.
28:50Most of the tombs
28:50were sealed off,
28:52so you got air
28:52trapped inside
28:53that's thousands
28:54of years old,
28:55creating toxic fumes.
28:57The tomb raiders
28:58could die of asphyxiation
28:59without proper protection.
29:02There's also the challenge
29:03of preserving the artifacts.
29:05Looters work quickly
29:06to avoid getting caught,
29:08and of course,
29:09they worked in the dark.
29:10Damaging even one
29:11fragile item
29:12could cost hundreds
29:14of thousands of dollars.
29:16Through trial
29:17and costly error,
29:18tomb raiders
29:19soon devised methods
29:20to make their looting
29:21operations safer.
29:25For better ventilation,
29:26they used portable air blowers
29:27powered by generators.
29:29And since many of the generators
29:30were gas-powered,
29:32they didn't require
29:33an electric power source.
29:36To prevent the tunnels
29:37from collapsing,
29:37the tomb raiders built
29:38reinforcements along the walls
29:40and on the floors.
29:41And although that took
29:42a lot of time,
29:43it paid off in the long run
29:44because it made it much safer
29:46for them to steal the goods.
29:47Another method they used
29:50was small controlled
29:51dynamite flasks
29:52at the surface
29:52of the excavation site.
29:54With a controlled detonation,
29:56you trigger the most likely collapse
29:57before entering the tunnel.
29:59They had to be cautious
30:01because too great a charge
30:02could destroy the tomb itself.
30:08While these workarounds
30:09provided a temporary solution
30:11to the safety issue,
30:13there were other challenges
30:14that the tomb raiders faced.
30:15They realized they had
30:17to go deeper
30:18to reach more valuable artifacts.
30:20And to do this,
30:21they needed to find other ways
30:23to verify tomb locations
30:24and not rely solely
30:26on the tunnels.
30:28Many looters used
30:29a special tool
30:30with a curved blade
30:31called a Lu Yang shovel,
30:33which probed deep below
30:34the surface
30:35and extracted soil samples.
30:37Ancient gravediggers
30:37placed charcoal
30:38around the tombs
30:39for protection against moisture.
30:41So as soon as the Lu Yang shovel
30:43started to extract charcoal,
30:44the raiders knew
30:45they'd hit Pater.
30:47In terms of ventilation,
30:48you've got these air blowers
30:49and you've got these generators
30:50and those work up to a point.
30:52But once it gets to be
30:53a certain distance of tunnel,
30:55it just doesn't cut it anymore.
30:57And you add to that,
30:58all this stinky air
30:59from the tomb
31:00is getting sucked out of there
31:01and blown into the village.
31:02People smell that
31:03and they call the police.
31:07Over time,
31:08the Chinese authorities
31:09started to catch up
31:11to the tomb raiders'
31:12locations and methods.
31:13In September of 2011,
31:16the Shaanxi government
31:17spent an enormous amount
31:18of money and resources
31:20on surveillance equipment
31:21to monitor the province's
31:22ancient tombs.
31:24A year later,
31:25the Tourism Bureau
31:26in Shaanxi's
31:27Likuan County
31:28announced that it had
31:29set aside $12 million
31:30for intrusion alarms,
31:33audio and video security,
31:35electronic patrol,
31:36and a police control center.
31:37In response,
31:40tomb raiders got more organized.
31:41Individual looters
31:42were replaced by
31:43large and more diversified
31:44crime rings
31:45of professional thieves.
31:46And the hierarchies
31:47were clear.
31:48Each gang member
31:48had a specific area
31:49of expertise
31:50and role to play
31:51in a raid.
31:53At the same time,
31:54the gang's methods
31:55became more sophisticated.
31:57The looters used chainsaws
31:58to cut through
31:59the roof of the tomb.
31:59And once they got inside,
32:00they had portable canisters
32:02of oxygen and gas masks
32:03so they could breathe.
32:05And they had
32:05night vision goggles
32:06so they could identify
32:07the artifacts they needed
32:08quickly and efficiently.
32:12To speed up the process
32:13and avoid detection,
32:15gang sold the stolen items
32:16directly to middlemen,
32:18who traveled to the tomb site
32:19for the in-person exchange.
32:22After paying the tomb raiders,
32:24the middlemen took the artifacts
32:26to be transported,
32:27laundered,
32:27and sold through
32:28an intricate series
32:29of interactions with dealers,
32:31all designed to throw off
32:32the authorities.
32:34From there,
32:35most of the stolen items
32:36were smuggled
32:37into friendly transit hubs,
32:39like Hong Kong,
32:40which had more lenient
32:41import restrictions
32:42compared to mainland China.
32:45So at this point,
32:46the items were fully laundered
32:47and ready to enter
32:49the global market,
32:50usually with falsified
32:51provenance papers
32:52to obscure their origins.
32:56Domestically,
32:57many of the items
32:57landed in Beijing
32:58bought by collectors
32:59who displayed them
33:00in personal museums.
33:02But most of the relics
33:03ended up in auction houses
33:04and private collections
33:05around the world,
33:06making their journey
33:06from ancient tomb
33:07to modern showcase complete.
33:11In 2016,
33:1322 gang members
33:14received prison terms
33:15of varying lengths
33:17for their roles
33:18in the tomb raiding ring
33:19first discovered
33:20in Inner Mongolia.
33:22The master,
33:23Yao Yuzhang,
33:24was sentenced to death,
33:25an unusually harsh punishment
33:27that authorities hope
33:28will serve as a warning
33:29to the widespread tomb raiding industry
33:32in China.
33:45On May 4th, 1972,
33:48in Los Gatos, California,
33:50agents from the FBI
33:51surrounded a Volkswagen van
33:53in a 7-Eleven parking lot
33:55and apprehended the driver
33:56by a 29-year-old man
33:58named John Draper.
34:00Draper was a mild-mannered loner
34:02with a background
34:03in telecommunications.
34:06You'd never know
34:07John Draper
34:08was a wanted man
34:09to look at him.
34:10He was unkempt
34:11with a bit of an
34:12absent-minded professor look
34:13going on,
34:14as if he hadn't changed
34:15his clothes
34:16or taken a shower
34:17for a couple of days.
34:18Not really the look
34:19of a hardened criminal.
34:21That didn't stop him
34:22from behaving
34:22like a trapped criminal.
34:23When the FBI stopped him,
34:26he panicked,
34:26got out of his van,
34:27and started to empty
34:28his pockets
34:29of incriminating evidence.
34:30But it wasn't drugs
34:31or weapons he was dumping.
34:32It was electronics.
34:35The agents retrieved
34:36a number of items,
34:37including a curious device
34:38with numbered keys
34:39that emitted
34:40the sound of telephone tones.
34:41They also seized
34:42a cassette tape
34:43which contained
34:43operator signals
34:44for all the long-distance
34:45area codes
34:46in the United States.
34:49Like Draper himself,
34:50those odds and ends
34:51seem harmless.
34:52They were just
34:53little things you'd find
34:54in an electronics bargain bin.
34:55But the evidence
34:56contributed to his arrest
34:58on seven counts of fraud
34:59thanks to a brilliant invention
35:01he created
35:02to exploit the U.S. telephone system.
35:05The unassuming John Draper
35:07was in fact
35:08a genius pioneer
35:09in what would later
35:10become known as
35:11hacking,
35:12breaking into complex
35:13communication networks
35:14for the purpose
35:15of manipulating
35:16or corrupting them.
35:17while Draper's invention
35:20confounded the authorities,
35:22it also inspired
35:23a community of rebels
35:24like him.
35:25And it all started
35:27with a toy plastic whistle.
35:29In the mid-1950s,
35:32the world was still
35:33essentially pre-digital,
35:35a time before
35:35the personal computer,
35:37before email,
35:38before the internet.
35:39But in places
35:41like Silicon Valley
35:42and the Bay Area,
35:44California was establishing
35:45itself as being
35:47on the cusp
35:47of a tech explosion.
35:50There was the military,
35:51there was space
35:52and aeronautics,
35:53but there was also
35:54the telecom industry
35:55with fast-expanding companies
35:57like AT&T,
35:58which was originally created
35:59as the long-distance
36:00subsidiary of Bell.
36:02The tech companies
36:05employed thousands
36:05of brilliant young designers,
36:07thinkers,
36:07and engineers.
36:08But by the 1960s,
36:10many of the country's youth
36:11started to drop out
36:12and join the counterculture
36:13movement of the late 1960s,
36:15the so-called hippie movement
36:17that settled on San Francisco
36:18as its symbolic
36:19and spiritual headquarters.
36:23Most of the subculture groups
36:25identified as anti-war,
36:27anti-capitalism,
36:29and anti-industry.
36:31One of these groups
36:32was called
36:32the Phone Freakers of America.
36:36The Phone Freakers
36:37was this group
36:38of tech enthusiasts
36:39who made it their mission
36:40to break into
36:41the long-distance phone system.
36:43They didn't want to dismantle it.
36:45They didn't want to hurt anybody.
36:46They were just basically
36:47doing this as a hobby,
36:48but it was a way
36:48for their community
36:49to share information
36:50and rebel against
36:52a large corporation.
36:55The first challenge
36:56facing the Phone Freakers
36:58was to look for weaknesses
36:59in AT&T systems.
37:02That opportunity showed up
37:03in the form of their
37:04machine-operated switchboards.
37:07The company had switched over
37:09from using human operators
37:10in the first half
37:11of the 20th century.
37:12The new long-distance network
37:15for the entire country
37:16was activated
37:17by a simple principle,
37:18the creation of six
37:19electronically generated tones.
37:21They're the high-pitched notes
37:22you sometimes hear
37:23at the end of a long-distance phone call.
37:26The Phone Freakers
37:28discovered
37:28that if they could recreate
37:30the sound
37:30of a 2600 Hz tone
37:32themselves
37:33into a phone's receiver,
37:35they would have access
37:36to all the long-distance lines
37:38across the country.
37:39Some of the Phone Freakers
37:41could produce the frequency
37:42of tone themselves
37:43simply by whistling
37:45at 2600 Hz.
37:46It was like a party trick.
37:47They could also recreate
37:48the tone
37:49by hitting a couple of notes
37:50on an electric organ,
37:51which was a very popular instrument
37:53in family homes
37:54at the time.
37:56To access the free line,
37:58they just called this
37:58toll-free 1-800 number
38:00and then whistled
38:00the area code.
38:02For example,
38:02if you go...
38:03That's 2-1-2.
38:09That's the area code
38:10for Manhattan.
38:11Their method
38:12was remarkably simple,
38:14especially if you knew
38:15how to whistle.
38:17Equally remarkable
38:17was the fact
38:18that a massive telecom company
38:20created a system
38:22that could be compromised
38:23so easily.
38:25But there were limits
38:26to how much damage
38:27they could do
38:27to the phone company's
38:28infrastructure
38:29or their bottom line.
38:30After all,
38:31not everyone could whistle
38:32at 2600 Hz
38:33and not everyone
38:34had an electric organ
38:35lying around.
38:36What the phone freakers needed
38:37was a system
38:38to mass-produce
38:38the high-pitched phone tones.
38:40And the man
38:41who knew how to do it
38:41was John Draper.
38:46Born in the Bronx
38:47in 1943,
38:48John Thomas Draper
38:50developed an aptitude
38:51for electronics
38:52at an early age.
38:54Draper and his older brother
38:56were raised by a single mom
38:57who frequently had
38:58to leave them alone.
38:59while she worked
38:59multiple jobs.
39:01John would spend
39:01hours alone
39:02playing with gadgets,
39:03taking her part
39:04and putting together
39:04electronic devices.
39:07Draper was shy,
39:09socially awkward,
39:09and he struggled
39:10to make friends
39:10at school.
39:12After college,
39:13he did a stint
39:13in the Air Force.
39:14His parents thought
39:15that was great
39:15because it would give him
39:16some discipline,
39:17but all he ended up
39:18doing there
39:18was tinkering
39:19with the soldier's
39:20shared phone line
39:20to make free calls.
39:22It wasn't until
39:25he was in his 20s
39:26that Draper discovered
39:27phone freaking.
39:28Coincidentally,
39:29through a chance phone call
39:31with one of the whistling
39:32freakers named
39:33Denny Teresi,
39:35Draper had finally found
39:36a community of people
39:37like him,
39:38tech enthusiasts
39:39and outsiders,
39:40and immediately,
39:42he looked for ways
39:43to hack the system
39:44himself.
39:47Draper found a sugar-coated
39:48solution in an unusual place.
39:52All right, crew.
39:54Light the old campfire.
39:55Get the marshals.
39:56During the 1960s,
39:57the breakfast cereal
39:58Captain Crunch
39:59began to include
40:00plastic toys
40:01inside its cereal boxes.
40:04One of those toys
40:05was a plastic whistle.
40:08It was a toy
40:09bosun whistle,
40:10the whistle used
40:10by sailors
40:11to indicate mealtime
40:12or signal commands.
40:13It was particularly
40:14high-pitched
40:14to the frequency
40:15of 2,600 hertz,
40:17as Draper discovered.
40:18Suddenly,
40:20he had in his possession
40:21a cheap tool
40:22that anyone could use
40:23to hack the phone system.
40:26Just as other
40:27phone freakers
40:28had done before him,
40:29blowing the Captain
40:29Crunch whistle
40:30allowed Draper
40:31to fool the phone company
40:32into thinking
40:33the toll-free
40:341-800 call was over,
40:35which gave him access
40:36to free calls
40:37all over the U.S.
40:39Draper became
40:40a bona fide member
40:41of the subculture
40:42and quickly got a reputation
40:43for being one of the most
40:45skilled freakers
40:46in the country.
40:47And he got a nickname,
40:50Captain Crunch.
40:52But Draper wasn't interested
40:53in destroying
40:53the telecom giant.
40:54He just wanted to learn
40:55as much as he could
40:56about its inner workings
40:57and systems.
40:59Around the same time,
41:01Denny Tressi
41:02and another member
41:03of the freaker community
41:04named Jimmy Fettgather
41:06were interested
41:07in increasing the range
41:08and number of tones
41:09they could build
41:10into one device.
41:12What they needed
41:13was an entirely
41:14new invention.
41:15They approached
41:16John Draper,
41:17who was more than
41:18up to the challenge.
41:21Draper's invention
41:22called a blue box
41:23was a game changer
41:24for the entire community.
41:27The blue box
41:28was a multi-frequency generator.
41:29It was about the size
41:30of a phone from that time,
41:31but instead of having
41:32the numbers 0 to 9
41:33that you push buttons
41:34and dial,
41:35it had these 12 keys
41:36that replicated the tones
41:37that are used to switch over
41:39to long-distance lines,
41:40sometimes called trunk lines.
41:42And that meant
41:42that whoever had
41:43the blue box
41:44could bypass
41:45the normal switching process
41:46because the normal
41:48switching process
41:48is what costs money.
41:52The device could recreate
41:53more than just
41:54the 2600 hertz frequency
41:56of AT&T's system.
41:58It could generate
42:00a full range of tones
42:01used by operators
42:03all over the world.
42:04Technically,
42:05you could call
42:06your next-door neighbor
42:07by calling Singapore
42:08or Australia
42:09and have it rooted
42:10back to your own area code,
42:12which they did
42:13to test the system
42:15all for free.
42:18The impact of Draper's blue box
42:20was felt right away.
42:21Phone freakers
42:22across the country
42:23started to make
42:23their own crude version
42:24of the device,
42:25creating a wave
42:26of new phone hacking technologies.
42:27But the blue box
42:28was no toy plastic whistle.
42:30It was now an actual threat
42:31to the phone company's
42:32entire infrastructure.
42:33In 1971,
42:39a journalist
42:39from Esquire magazine
42:41wrote a feature-length article
42:43about Draper
42:43and his powerful blue box.
42:45Suddenly,
42:46the world was introduced
42:47to the phone
42:48freaker phenomenon.
42:50The article depicted
42:51Draper as a misfit genius,
42:53an eccentric outsider
42:54who managed to crack
42:55a billion-dollar system
42:56with a bunch
42:57of beeps and whistles.
42:58The fact that
42:59what he was doing
42:59was highly illegal
43:00didn't seem to register
43:01with Draper.
43:02Or if it did,
43:03he didn't seem to care.
43:06That Esquire piece
43:07caught the attention
43:08of two people in particular,
43:09Steve Wozniak
43:10and his buddy
43:11from USC Berkeley,
43:13Steve Jobs.
43:14Those, by the way,
43:15are the two people
43:16that created Apple computers.
43:18Both Wozniak and Jobs
43:20wanted to set up
43:21a meeting with Draper
43:22to discuss working
43:23on the blue box,
43:24but nothing really materialized,
43:26apparently because Steve Jobs
43:27was a little bit hesitant.
43:29That said,
43:30Wozniak did stay friends
43:31with Draper
43:32for several years.
43:35Unfortunately for Draper,
43:37by late 1971,
43:39his invention
43:39also caught the attention
43:41of law enforcement.
43:42On one occasion,
43:43he was spotted
43:44in a phone booth
43:45tinkering with
43:46the latest version
43:47of his blue box
43:48and attempting
43:49to connect it
43:50to the pay phone.
43:52By the late 70s
43:53and early 80s,
43:54the telecom industry
43:55was advancing rapidly.
43:56The growth
43:56of the personal computer
43:57changed how people
43:58communicated across the globe.
43:59And it didn't take long
44:01for dial-up technology
44:02to become a quaint thing
44:03of the path.
44:04Still,
44:05despite his outsider status,
44:07Draper continued
44:07to push boundaries
44:08from the fringes.
44:10After his arrest
44:11in 1972,
44:13John Draper
44:13was charged
44:14with conspiracy
44:14to commit wire fraud.
44:16He pleaded guilty
44:17and was sentenced
44:18to five years probation.
44:20His blue box invention
44:21not only revealed weaknesses
44:23in giant telecom networks,
44:25but it inspired future hackers
44:26for generations to come.