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hey weirdos I'm Ash and I'm Elena and
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this is morbid
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[Music]
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this is more bed oh my God we're in a
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silly goofy mood today we are it's
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Monday it's Monday it's Monday wait what
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day is it though it's Monday Monday
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Monday
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yeah and usually Mondays we're feeling a
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little like were world because it's the
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start of the week you know that always
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sucks for everybody yeah but today I'm
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feeling I'm feeling fee you
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what
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don't make me laugh I'm just sick and I
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will start like I will start like
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mucusing everywhere I won't do that I'll
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be very serious this is a wild case
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though that I'm gonna tell you today oh
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it's what else is new it's wild it's got
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twisties it's got tourneys it's got
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um not their attorneys but we love Sarah
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tourney they love Sarah tourney podcast
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you should listen to your voices for
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justice and also disappeared is there a
00:01:27
new podcast you should go listen to it
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disappeared is a really good yeah I mean
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they're both fantastic shout out to
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Sarah tourney we love her Sarah Sarah
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but there is some twisties and tourneys
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in this one it's uh like a lifetime it's
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a whirlwind it is like this look this is
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a movie like this entire thing is it's
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from the 40s
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exactly where you know me I do I know
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you my whole life I'm like anything past
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1950 I don't know her I don't know her
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so yeah 1970 and and above and above
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mostly which is good but actually we
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cover all all things I have a couple old
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ones coming up on the roster you know
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it's spooky season it feels like
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old-timey makes sense correct but yeah
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this is from the 40s it's very 40s um
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it's got some really
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um inept detectives in it yeah which is
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always fun and very 40s of us
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um and it's in New York oh oh my God I'm
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working on a New York one right now too
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look at that East Coast what's up what's
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up so again this is a story about lies
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some stalking an attempted murder oh and
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there's tons of twists oh but attempted
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so there's no did nobody die someone
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dies
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oh you said that interestingly I did you
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said that with a little twist and you're
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trying to all right I'll let you just go
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girl
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I was literally hoping you would do that
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I'm gonna let you cook a go go go go go
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go go go go go go
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the girls that get it get it yeah I was
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gonna say I don't even know if I should
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I should explain that it's all you need
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to know is VPR Eck uh ick Yik okay I
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just lost my tab okay so we're gonna
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talk first of all about the person
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that's kind of there's two people at the
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center of this story okay there's a
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woman named Olga and a woman named Pearl
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I love the name Pearl and they were both
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put into situations that are
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Unthinkable to be quite honest so let's
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start by talking about Pearl because
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we're going to kind of follow her story
00:03:39
first and then we're going to talk about
00:03:40
how Olga plays into this okay so in the
00:03:43
fall of 1946 19 year old recent high
00:03:46
school graduate Pearl Lusk left her
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father's home in Quakertown Pennsylvania
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for New York City the Big Apple where
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she was just determined she was going to
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start this whole new life she was going
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to be a big city gal she was ready for
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it go girl and of course and think about
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like 1940s New York oh [ __ ] yeah that
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must have been a wild scene everyone was
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looking all fabulous that's the thing no
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matter what even though like old-timey
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stuff you're like yeah like the [ __ ]
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that was going down in the day we don't
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you don't want to be around for it it
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was not like a time to be alive but the
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fashion
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a time to be alive like why don't we
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dress like that yeah like men wearing
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three-piece suits you know women wearing
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like these really cool just like hats
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and that was the first thing the layers
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I love a layering moment I feel like it
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was a lot of cool layers there was and
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the jackets that women the jacket I
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immediately thought of the jacket the
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jacket of it all yeah it only hairstyles
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yeah it gives me I mean I reference this
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all the time but it gives me I think of
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peaky blinders and how everyone looks
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[ __ ] amazing in peaky blinders and
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I'm like I want to look like that I want
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to go to that I want to go to there uh
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but yeah so 1946 she's off to New York
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City to start a new life and of course
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she didn't really have a ton of to her
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name at this point she's 19 years old
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yeah she just graduated high school so
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she spent the first month or so living
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with her mother and stepfather in their
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apartment in Brooklyn cool she was just
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kind of staying there to get get herself
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on her feet find a job and it wasn't
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long until she did find a job as a sales
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girl at the oppenheim Collins Department
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Store in Manhattan oh sounds cool and
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luckily this was what gave her the
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ability to get her own furnished room in
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a building on the upper the city's Upper
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West Side okay so now she has a job
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she's got some income she's got a cool
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place to live she's feeling like the
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move was worth it like she's she's on
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her way she's like let's go big city
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she's like life is just beginning let's
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go but now with some cash money flowing
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in she's also able to decorate her
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apartment to her liking make it like her
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personality but she's also able to like
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kind of upgrade her own look yeah she
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ended up trading in she had like a very
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girlish aesthetic like young girlish
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aesthetic At first she was a high school
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student after all makes sense but now
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she's you know 19 she's moving into her
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20s she's like I want to be like a
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little more mature in my style she got a
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new hairdo she of course a woman that
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changes her hair is about to change her
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life there you go I chopped my hair
00:06:15
recently I hope you don't change your
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life too much hopefully it's like in a
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like a just addition to my life yeah a
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book yeah there you go you book new hair
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new hair new book let's go
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now also Pearl's job at the department
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store gave her a lot of social
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opportunities because she now she's
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around people her age she's meeting all
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these people and soon she's taking
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lunches with friends and co-workers and
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she's having dinner dates at the
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cafeteria with men she met working at
00:06:41
the store she's like it's like sex in
00:06:43
this house I was just gonna say she is
00:06:45
sexing the city at like let's go I
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wonder who she is she was thriving I
00:06:50
wonder which one thriving it sounds like
00:06:52
she is and I'm so worried for her
00:06:54
because I hate when everything starts
00:06:56
off yeah he's not gonna keep that way
00:06:58
she was doing the damn thing she was on
00:07:00
a path that everyone hopes to be on when
00:07:02
they moved to the big city to be honest
00:07:04
you got you had somewhere to stay to get
00:07:06
on your feet you got on your feet things
00:07:08
are going well you're meeting new people
00:07:10
you're going on dates everything's great
00:07:11
yeah and on Thanksgiving Day that year
00:07:14
she was approached by a stranger while
00:07:16
riding the Subway on the way to visit
00:07:18
her mother for Thanksgiving Day we're
00:07:19
out row she was a little busy she's got
00:07:21
stuff her social calendar is full it's
00:07:23
[ __ ] she's working she's busy and
00:07:24
[ __ ] to do she's on her way to your mom
00:07:26
so she was not really in the space to
00:07:28
like appreciate that somebody was like
00:07:30
you know hitting on her essentially okay
00:07:32
um and like good for her she was like
00:07:34
I'm just not I don't have time well you
00:07:36
don't have to appreciate every man or
00:07:37
woman that hits on you no of course you
00:07:39
don't and that's the thing she and she
00:07:40
also just was like you know what because
00:07:42
here's the thing she she was a little
00:07:44
interested she said the man who
00:07:47
introduced himself as Alan LaRue was
00:07:49
polite he was charming and she said he
00:07:51
was among the most handsome men she had
00:07:53
ever seen so it wasn't that she wasn't
00:07:55
interested she just was like you know
00:07:56
what I got a lot going on
00:07:58
I don't have the I don't have the Spade
00:08:00
the bandwidth to like accept this right
00:08:02
now okay so she just kind of was like
00:08:04
you know I got a lot of stuff going
00:08:06
anyways I'm going on a lot of dates I'm
00:08:08
hanging out with a lot of people
00:08:10
I got a life I'm working and she was
00:08:11
like you know what I'm not really
00:08:12
desperate to express I'm not gonna
00:08:14
accept a date from a stranger when I
00:08:16
don't have to oh that wasn't that was
00:08:18
her feeling about the whole thing good
00:08:19
for her she was like I already got some
00:08:21
lined up but like whatever yeah so she
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didn't even she wouldn't give her a
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dress and she wouldn't give her name
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when she was asked
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she's like oh yeah so Pearl she said
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let's play a long game yeah she said
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whatever but she was like oh you were
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good to look at so thank you for that
00:08:34
yeah thanks for the uh Buzz you know so
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she leaves she has a great time at
00:08:38
Thanksgiving you know I imagine and then
00:08:41
uh-oh because just one month later
00:08:44
Pearl's entire confidence and happiness
00:08:46
was shaken a little bit because after
00:08:48
just three happy months working at the
00:08:50
department store she and a ton of other
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sales girls were laid off when the
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holiday season ended so now she has no
00:08:58
job no income no social opportunities
00:09:01
they're kind of dwindling down because
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she's not around these people anymore so
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she's very much in a more vulnerable
00:09:08
state at this point and that's when she
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ran into Alan LaRue again
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oh she ran into him how strange in the
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big city she meets them on the subway by
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happenstance and then she meets them a
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month later on the train back from
00:09:21
Brooklyn the day after Christmas huh so
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oh and weird that it was like holidays
00:09:27
yeah exactly now she's feeling down at
00:09:30
this point she's she's trying to run a
00:09:32
bad luck like this isn't this isn't a
00:09:34
good time like I said she's feeling
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vulnerable she's feeling like she's
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desperate to get some income and so she
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you know at this point she's like my
00:09:41
social calendar is not full anymore I'm
00:09:43
not working you're still hot you're
00:09:45
still good looking so she's like you
00:09:47
know what sure she agrees to join him
00:09:49
for a drink at a bar in Times Square
00:09:51
because he approached her again yeah he
00:09:53
approached her again and she was like
00:09:54
I'll go out with you Times Square it's
00:09:55
busy yeah lots of people now during
00:09:57
their mini date he was very sympathetic
00:10:00
to what she was saying he listened to
00:10:01
everything and he was like oh my God
00:10:03
that sucks like I know how that feels
00:10:05
and later she told the assistant
00:10:08
district attorney he seemed interested
00:10:10
in me like any other man at first but
00:10:12
the more I talked the more I felt like
00:10:14
he had some different kind of interest
00:10:16
in me huh so it turned out that Pearl
00:10:20
her intuition was right on listen to
00:10:22
your gut baby Alan did did think she was
00:10:25
beautiful he did like her find her
00:10:26
Charming but he also had something else
00:10:29
in mind for her because after they
00:10:31
talked some more he said you know what
00:10:33
it's kind of like you know it's
00:10:36
serendipitous that we would run into
00:10:39
each other now again because he said
00:10:40
you're have you're down on your luck
00:10:42
you're looking for income and he's like
00:10:43
as it turns out I have a job that needs
00:10:46
to be done and it's yours if you want it
00:10:48
um and she was like wow this is I'd say
00:10:50
very fortuitous you don't even know my
00:10:52
[ __ ] credentials buddy that's right
00:10:54
but you know they've talked on the state
00:10:56
so he's like you seem you seem chill I'm
00:10:58
gonna take a chance on you wow so he
00:11:00
explained to her he said I'm a private
00:11:03
detective and I work for an insurance
00:11:04
company and this insurance company
00:11:07
specializes in insuring jewelry okay
00:11:10
which is all it seems pretty valid of
00:11:13
something to you know this isn't too
00:11:14
far-fetched at this point and he said he
00:11:17
his job was the guy basically they
00:11:19
relied on him to investigate and find
00:11:21
any stolen jewelry and he's like so when
00:11:24
somebody steals jewelry I have to do the
00:11:25
whole investigation I have to find a way
00:11:27
to get it back so the insurance company
00:11:28
does a loose out got checks so according
00:11:31
to Alan he said that this there's this
00:11:33
young woman named Olga
00:11:35
she worked as a secretary for the
00:11:37
Croydon hat company and she had stolen
00:11:40
some jewelry from a client of their
00:11:41
insurance company and he had reason to
00:11:44
believe that Olga still had the jewelry
00:11:46
and was holding it like carrying it on
00:11:48
her person like how it was wearing the
00:11:50
jewelry now here's the rub though Olga
00:11:54
had figured out who Alan was and that he
00:11:57
was following her so she would
00:11:58
immediately recognize him if she saw him
00:12:00
again and she would just take off with
00:12:02
the loot
00:12:03
so he said the other issue here is I
00:12:05
can't go right to the police with this
00:12:07
because I haven't technically proven her
00:12:08
guilt this is what I'm supposed to do is
00:12:10
investigate this stuff and he's like so
00:12:12
I can't go to the police yet with this I
00:12:14
have to like prove the guilt first
00:12:16
so this is why he needed a random very
00:12:19
unassuming person like Pearl who could
00:12:23
go close enough to Olga to obtain
00:12:25
irrefutable evidence of her sticky
00:12:27
finger guilt now as a lover of detective
00:12:31
stories and Dime Store novels at the
00:12:33
time
00:12:34
Pearl thought this sounded great she's
00:12:36
like in her hair she gets to be she's
00:12:38
like I get to be part of like an
00:12:39
investigation like a detective thing a
00:12:41
private eyes like this is exciting like
00:12:44
this is when I moved to New York City
00:12:45
for right like this kind of fun stuff
00:12:46
and it's not something that where it's
00:12:47
like they're investigating like this
00:12:49
yeah it's like just crazy it's a jewelry
00:12:51
Thief it literally sounds like a
00:12:54
detective story or dinosaurs
00:12:56
also detective LaRue LOL there you go so
00:13:00
so she not to mention this was also
00:13:03
going to help with her loss of income at
00:13:04
this point because he was like I'll pay
00:13:06
you like absolutely like you'll be on
00:13:07
the payroll okay so she was like hell
00:13:09
yeah I will absolutely help with this so
00:13:12
he was like this is great you're gonna
00:13:13
be great she's not gonna suspect a thing
00:13:15
you know she's like you're he's like
00:13:17
you're a woman she's not gonna be scared
00:13:19
of a woman or like feel like you're
00:13:20
following her for some nefarious reason
00:13:22
sure so the next morning Pearl met Allen
00:13:25
outside a building on West 39th Street
00:13:28
and it was there that he explained okay
00:13:30
this is the first phase of the plan he
00:13:32
said you're gonna go into the offices
00:13:33
and the Croydon Hat Company where Olga
00:13:36
works as the as like one of the
00:13:38
secretaries and what she was gonna do
00:13:41
was she was going to go up to the
00:13:43
secretary and hope it hopefully it was
00:13:45
Pearl or Olga or excuse me Olga thank
00:13:48
you and asked to speak with another
00:13:51
secretary who goes by the name of Sadie
00:13:53
white okay and he said there actually
00:13:55
isn't anyone working there named Sadie
00:13:57
white but you're gonna go up there and
00:14:00
you're gonna get a good look at Olga
00:14:01
because you're gonna talk to her you're
00:14:03
going to be right there in front of her
00:14:04
face and he said while you're talking to
00:14:06
the receptionist you'll get that chance
00:14:08
you'll because that's going to be Olga
00:14:09
right so he said I need you to know her
00:14:12
when you see her you need to be very
00:14:13
clear of what she looks like so he gave
00:14:16
Pearl a photo of Olga and he said make
00:14:19
sure you find her that secretary and
00:14:22
he's like go study her make sure you're
00:14:24
able to recognize her and he was adamant
00:14:26
that she recognized her even in a crowd
00:14:29
like in a Subway crowd hmm like I want
00:14:32
you to be able to point her out because
00:14:33
I don't want you to be obvious about you
00:14:35
trying to see if she has the jewelry so
00:14:37
Pearl did it she she went in she talked
00:14:40
to Olga and she returned back to Alan
00:14:43
and she said oh I've memorized her like
00:14:46
I memorized her face I know her clothing
00:14:47
I could pick her out and Alan told Pearl
00:14:50
to take the rest of the morning off and
00:14:52
then to meet him at his apartment on
00:14:54
East 17th Street later that afternoon
00:14:55
and they would go into phase two of the
00:14:58
plan okay and he's like take this time
00:15:00
keep looking at that photo get to know
00:15:02
her this is so bizarre I have no idea
00:15:04
where we're headed that's the thing like
00:15:05
you cannot have any idea where this is
00:15:07
headed you really can no now Pearl just
00:15:10
kind of spent the time like she looked
00:15:11
at the photo she knew who it was like
00:15:13
she was like I was standing right in
00:15:14
front of her underneath so she went to
00:15:16
see a movie and she talked on the phone
00:15:18
with some friends before meeting Alan at
00:15:20
his apartment at around 3 30 P.M when
00:15:22
she went in the apartment he was holding
00:15:24
what he said was an X-ray camera
00:15:27
and
00:15:28
this was the key to catching Olga and
00:15:30
retrieving those Jewels okay according
00:15:33
to Pearl the camera looked like just an
00:15:34
ordinary shoe box wrapped in brown paper
00:15:36
like you would carry out of a department
00:15:38
store
00:15:39
but he said she said on one end there
00:15:41
was a hole in what looked like a camera
00:15:43
aperture and on the other end there was
00:15:45
a short piece of wire Loop that hung out
00:15:48
of the bottom of the Box okay so you
00:15:50
would like pull that it would take the
00:15:51
photo remember we're in the 40s of
00:15:53
course not like
00:15:54
um and so this is what didn't seem like
00:15:56
totally out of the ordinary here and he
00:15:58
explained to her all you do is point
00:16:00
this at her and pull the wire and he
00:16:02
said the X-ray photo would capture if
00:16:04
she was wearing the jewelry hidden
00:16:05
somewhere okay and he was very serious
00:16:08
once saying he said this is what this is
00:16:10
what we need in order to go to the
00:16:11
police and say look she has the the
00:16:13
jewelry sure and he was very serious
00:16:15
saying but don't snap the picture where
00:16:17
she can see you do it take it when she
00:16:19
gets off the train in Brooklyn that's
00:16:21
where she lives you want to be right
00:16:23
behind her when you follow her out of
00:16:24
the train so you can take it at close
00:16:26
range you want to be only two or three
00:16:28
feet away from her when you snap the
00:16:30
photo okay and she was like all right
00:16:33
now pearl left Allen's apartment she
00:16:35
went back to the Croydon Hat Company
00:16:36
building and she waited for Olga to come
00:16:39
out she finally saw Olga come out of the
00:16:41
building after work and begin her
00:16:43
commute home so Olga came out a little
00:16:45
after five and she made her way towards
00:16:47
the Times Square station and caught a
00:16:49
train to Brooklyn Pearl followed her
00:16:51
onto the train not too close but she did
00:16:54
sit across from Olga on the train okay
00:16:56
and again she looks like she's just
00:16:58
holding a package
00:16:59
camera brown paper Pearl then aimed the
00:17:03
camera at Olga and pulled the wire and
00:17:06
she was like I think I got a good photo
00:17:08
like that's it so she got off the train
00:17:10
she went to the bar in Times Square
00:17:11
where she met Alan again and she was
00:17:13
like everything went awesome like Alan
00:17:15
was like [ __ ] like how close were you to
00:17:17
her like you know had she noticed you
00:17:20
were following her like did anything go
00:17:21
wrong did she seem suspicious and pearl
00:17:24
explained that Olga had only been a few
00:17:25
feet away from her and she took the
00:17:27
picture she didn't seem to notice her
00:17:28
everything seemed like it went great so
00:17:31
Alan was like that's amazing I'm gonna
00:17:32
get the picture developed tonight and
00:17:34
I'll meet you next tomorrow morning and
00:17:36
I'll let you know how it turned out yeah
00:17:38
now when they met the following day he
00:17:40
was like bad news the picture wasn't
00:17:42
good why did I suspect that so he told
00:17:45
Pearl that he believed it was the camera
00:17:47
to blame he was like it's not you you
00:17:48
did great like good job but he was like
00:17:51
you know what I I'm gonna get us a
00:17:52
better one like that was kind of like
00:17:54
not not great anyways like I'm gonna
00:17:56
make sure we get a better one like give
00:17:57
me a few days and I'll be able to get a
00:17:59
better one okay um so she's like all
00:18:01
right so a few days later on December
00:18:03
31st uh 1946
00:18:06
New Year's Eve holidays they really do
00:18:09
you're right pearl called Allen at his
00:18:12
apartment and he said he was able to get
00:18:13
a new X-ray camera and she he said meet
00:18:16
me at the laundromat near Union Square
00:18:19
which she did a little after 8 A.M now
00:18:22
Pearl said when he handed this camera to
00:18:24
her it was much it was different it was
00:18:26
bigger it was heavier and it wasn't
00:18:29
wrapped in brown paper now it was
00:18:30
wrapped in a in Christmas paper okay to
00:18:33
make it look like a Christmas present
00:18:34
yeah and conspicuous yeah and Alan
00:18:37
explained Pearl was to take the camera
00:18:38
go to the train station in Brooklyn
00:18:40
follow go from there once they were on
00:18:42
the train get close to Olga not too
00:18:44
close take that picture just like you
00:18:46
did before same old things keep the same
00:18:49
chill way you did it and he but he added
00:18:52
remember to aim it low at her waist okay
00:18:55
and she was like why and he was like I
00:18:57
think that's where she's probably
00:18:58
carrying the jewels pinned inside her
00:19:00
dress on her waist that's what we've
00:19:01
gotten information that that's what she
00:19:03
does why would anyone keep Jules pin to
00:19:05
their waist I'm not real sure
00:19:07
but Pearl did exactly what Alan told her
00:19:10
to do she caught the seat opposite Olga
00:19:12
on the train and they began deepboarding
00:19:14
the train she decided to wait until they
00:19:16
were getting off the train because he
00:19:17
had told her to do that initially and
00:19:19
she didn't do it the first time oh okay
00:19:20
so they began getting off the train and
00:19:22
pearl was standing a few feet behind
00:19:24
Olga and she aimed the camera at Olga's
00:19:27
lower body pulled the wire to take the
00:19:29
picture and she said the camera jerked
00:19:31
in her hands and made a loud explosion
00:19:34
happen oh this caused immediate
00:19:37
confusion and panic and Chaos everywhere
00:19:40
yeah and when Pearl looked up because
00:19:42
she was just stunned at like what the
00:19:44
[ __ ] just happened like she's like did
00:19:45
this camera just blow up what the hell
00:19:47
happened
00:19:48
Pearl looked up Olga was laying on her
00:19:50
back on the platform holding her leg and
00:19:53
her leg looked as though it was nearly
00:19:54
blown off oh my God just shattered
00:19:57
completely ruined
00:19:59
seconds later a security guard rushed
00:20:02
over to Pearl because Pearl was
00:20:04
splattered in Olga's blood and holding
00:20:07
that box uh-huh and she the kid the
00:20:10
security guy was like what the [ __ ] yeah
00:20:13
and they were you and and I guess Pearl
00:20:16
answered I just took a woman's picture
00:20:17
and somebody shot her
00:20:19
and pearl told the security guard before
00:20:22
she was grabbed by police she was like I
00:20:24
I just took her picture she was like I I
00:20:26
don't who shot her like she had no idea
00:20:28
like what happened what the [ __ ] so
00:20:30
police officers took her they ripped
00:20:32
open the parcel that she was holding
00:20:34
that's not a camera but inside was a
00:20:37
sawed-off shotgun 12 gauge shotgun
00:20:40
mounted between two cream cheese boxes
00:20:44
what yes
00:20:46
and if you look it up it is the most
00:20:49
wild picture when you see what it
00:20:52
actually looked like let me see like
00:20:55
oh my God I'll just look up uh Pearl
00:21:00
Lusk guys like and we'll we'll post some
00:21:02
of these photos so you can see but the
00:21:04
actual photo
00:21:06
of the sawed off 12 gauge shotgun
00:21:10
the [ __ ] I'm at a loss no like truly at
00:21:14
a loss I met a true loss for
00:21:17
like that that must have been a heavy
00:21:19
package so this [ __ ]
00:21:22
like
00:21:23
just me like in the cream cheese boxes
00:21:26
are wooden by the way they're not like
00:21:29
Philadelphia Cream Cheese immediately
00:21:31
what I pictured you are not alone I am
00:21:33
here with you because I also thought of
00:21:36
the Philadelphia Cream Cheese cardboard
00:21:38
I was like wow that why would they be
00:21:40
between that but that must have been
00:21:42
really heavy and she said that it was
00:21:44
heavier than she said it was much
00:21:45
heavier and much bigger
00:21:47
um so I wonder what he had done in that
00:21:50
first box
00:21:52
yeah I know like because it was smaller
00:21:55
she said it was like a shoe box I'm like
00:21:56
did you just put a handgun in there and
00:21:58
it just didn't work
00:21:59
or was he just trying to like was there
00:22:02
nothing in there like really yeah and he
00:22:05
was just trying to see if like she
00:22:06
followed protocol that's what I wondered
00:22:08
initially was is he does it like a test
00:22:11
to see if there was actually but then
00:22:13
I'm like I don't know but it makes sense
00:22:16
though like that he was testing her
00:22:18
because when she came back to meet him
00:22:21
he was like how'd it go did she suspect
00:22:23
you did you right close to her yeah he
00:22:25
wanted to see like did you do it right
00:22:27
can I trust you to actually do it this
00:22:28
time like yeah that kind of thing I
00:22:30
could see that being the case we will
00:22:32
never know my God
00:22:34
Pearl looked down at Olga and then
00:22:37
looked at the gun in her hands at this
00:22:39
point and she was like holy [ __ ] I'm the
00:22:43
one who shot her like she had no idea oh
00:22:46
and as she was being pulled away by the
00:22:48
police officer she looked down at Olga
00:22:50
and was starting to cry her eyes out and
00:22:53
she said I'm awfully sorry I shot you
00:22:55
there was a new job you see and I
00:22:57
thought I was taking your picture with
00:22:59
an X-ray camera like she started just
00:23:01
trying to explain it to this woman whose
00:23:03
leg is blown off I know like bad timing
00:23:05
Pearl but I get it like I get you're
00:23:07
trying to be like I did not mean to
00:23:08
shoot you oh my God I guess Olga looked
00:23:12
at Pearl and then looked away and said
00:23:14
this time he got me he can have me now
00:23:16
if he wants me I'm a [ __ ] what
00:23:18
happened to the police I called them but
00:23:19
he was too smart for them oh no so she
00:23:22
knew like exactly what had happened here
00:23:24
what the what the [ __ ] is happening
00:23:27
right now I'm about to tell you so Pearl
00:23:29
was immediately taken into custody where
00:23:32
she explained her side of the story and
00:23:34
said she was an Avid Reader of detective
00:23:37
and confession stories quote unquote
00:23:39
right um and that was one of her the
00:23:41
reasons that she was helping this man
00:23:42
Alan LaRue
00:23:44
she and so when detective showed Pearl a
00:23:46
photo of Olga and her husband
00:23:48
Alphonse Al Rocco taken several months
00:23:52
earlier in a New York City nightclub she
00:23:54
said Batman's Alan LaRue
00:23:57
God so this was Olga's ex-husband yes
00:24:00
what and she said that's the man who
00:24:03
hired me to shoot Olga what and she said
00:24:05
he even has the same clothes on oh my
00:24:08
God that was him that's creepy so
00:24:09
detectives questioned Pearl in a
00:24:11
separate set of investigators were at
00:24:13
the hospital taking a statement from
00:24:14
Olga and she explained that the male
00:24:16
Pearl thought Man Pearl thought to be
00:24:18
Alan LaRue was in all likelihood her
00:24:21
ex-husband Al Rocco and she said they
00:24:24
had been married in May 1945 and
00:24:27
divorced a year later oh wow so that was
00:24:29
a bad marriage so let's talk about them
00:24:31
so Olga Trapani uh met Al Rocco in the
00:24:35
spring of 1944 and after one year of
00:24:37
dating they married in May 1945 okay now
00:24:40
despite their daughter having dated him
00:24:42
for a year before getting married Olga's
00:24:44
parents told reporters that they really
00:24:46
didn't know well like even though they
00:24:48
like were around him they met him they'd
00:24:50
spent time with him they were like he
00:24:51
was a mystery like we still don't really
00:24:53
know him oh that must have creeped them
00:24:55
out yeah and by the winter of 9 1947 the
00:24:58
most they knew about him was that he was
00:25:00
of Italian ancestry and of average
00:25:02
height and weight that's what they could
00:25:03
say about him they didn't even know like
00:25:05
what he did for work they didn't know
00:25:06
anything about him a reporter for the
00:25:08
New York Times wrote that they knew
00:25:10
nothing of his work sometimes he
00:25:12
disappeared for months occasionally he
00:25:14
returned with lots of money and just as
00:25:15
often with none
00:25:17
why okay he's a sketchy [ __ ]
00:25:20
character yeah and others who knew Rocco
00:25:22
seemed to know just as little about him
00:25:24
like his landlord he was like he was
00:25:27
just a quiet guy like that's all I know
00:25:29
like I don't know I guess he was Italian
00:25:31
is all I could say like other than that
00:25:33
I don't know
00:25:34
and although they didn't know a lot of
00:25:35
details about him Olga's family did not
00:25:38
like him well yeah I'm sure that really
00:25:40
like not not knowing anything about the
00:25:43
guy that your daughter is going to marry
00:25:45
you're not going to like that yeah they
00:25:47
all got a vibe that he was a bad person
00:25:49
like all of them were like something's
00:25:51
off here and after their divorce a few
00:25:54
months before Olga was shot they saw him
00:25:56
get even worse they saw a very bad side
00:25:59
of him so according to Olga's mother
00:26:01
once the marriage was annulled in early
00:26:03
November 1946 so that only months before
00:26:06
Al became very verbally abusive and she
00:26:10
said quote had constantly annoyed her
00:26:12
daughter threatening to kill her ever
00:26:14
since their separation oh my God so it
00:26:17
didn't take Longs for to long for
00:26:18
detectives to learn not only had the
00:26:20
couple had an abusive relationship and a
00:26:23
very very aggressive and hostile
00:26:24
separation but this was not the first
00:26:27
time that Al had tried to kill Olga what
00:26:30
on one occasion this is where
00:26:32
the detectives and police in this case
00:26:34
failed [ __ ] miserably like shame on
00:26:42
this one shame well that's that makes
00:26:44
sense because she said like he finally
00:26:46
got me he finally got me and he was like
00:26:48
too smart for the police and it's true
00:26:50
yeah he got away with so much when you
00:26:52
hear all the [ __ ] he did that everyone
00:26:54
just ignored
00:26:55
oh the 40s on one occasion in
00:26:58
mid-october after the couple had
00:27:00
separated already like they were
00:27:01
separated not divorced Al confronted
00:27:03
Olga at the train station in Times
00:27:05
Square he took out a switchblade knife
00:27:08
forced her into his car and drove her to
00:27:10
a motel in Poughkeepsie
00:27:12
once they were there he forced Olga to
00:27:15
undress hid her clothes threatened to
00:27:18
kill her and said if you don't come back
00:27:20
to me I'm gonna murder you
00:27:22
um
00:27:23
um what so she spent two days in that
00:27:26
motel room being terrorized by him while
00:27:29
he was trying to force her at knife
00:27:30
point to come back to him
00:27:33
somehow she managed to convince Al to
00:27:35
bring her back to New York and once
00:27:37
there she fled she ran away from him
00:27:39
back to her parents home in Brooklyn
00:27:42
and a few weeks later on November 1st
00:27:44
just before the couple's marriage was
00:27:46
annulled Al then shot at Olga through an
00:27:50
open window in her mother's kitchen
00:27:51
Jesus Christ two of the bullets struck
00:27:54
her in the right thigh and left her with
00:27:56
a 45 caliber slug in her thigh and a
00:27:59
permanent limp
00:28:00
my God now you would think after those
00:28:04
two incidences of um attempted murder
00:28:08
assault and attempted murder yeah just
00:28:10
those few things maybe he should be
00:28:12
arrested or talked to perhaps scolded
00:28:15
they were both reported to the police
00:28:17
both those incidents and Olga made
00:28:19
thorough statements but from the looks
00:28:21
of things nothing was done to follow up
00:28:24
or arrest Rocco
00:28:26
yes he just terrorized her with no
00:28:29
consequences
00:28:30
and like the way that he terrorized her
00:28:32
he literally kidnapped her and held her
00:28:34
hostage and then shot her in the leg and
00:28:37
they're like yeah and actually a few
00:28:39
weeks later Olga went back to work and
00:28:42
she got a threatening call for Mal
00:28:43
immediately she told detectives he said
00:28:46
he was watching me he knew everything he
00:28:48
knew when I went to work and that he did
00:28:50
not aim the referral he did not aim
00:28:52
right the first time but that when he
00:28:54
would aim again he would kill me
00:28:56
so he literally was like I didn't aim
00:28:58
for your leg I just aimed wrong I meant
00:29:00
to kill you
00:29:01
oh and so Olga reported it to the police
00:29:04
who told her don't worry
00:29:07
don't worry don't worry about it I have
00:29:10
a permanent limp and a slug in my leg
00:29:13
Yeah [ __ ] right off with that now in
00:29:16
this case it's unclear whether they
00:29:17
followed up on anything but I couldn't
00:29:19
find anything to say that they did or
00:29:20
didn't sounds like they did not in the
00:29:22
days that followed that threatening
00:29:24
phone call don't worry Olga received
00:29:26
daily threatening calls from Al Rocco
00:29:29
and regularly saw him in the crowd at
00:29:32
the train station and on city streets
00:29:33
following her oh my God and each time
00:29:37
every day she reported the incident to
00:29:41
detectives at the 66th Precinct Precinct
00:29:44
and they didn't do [ __ ] all about it
00:29:46
nothing one day just after Christmas she
00:29:49
was going this is even this is the
00:29:51
saddest one I think she was entering the
00:29:53
Times Square station and she saw Al
00:29:55
following her very closely behind her
00:29:58
terrifying so she panicked and she paid
00:30:00
for her train fare and then she went up
00:30:02
to the subway guard on the stairway
00:30:05
leading to the platform and she said I'm
00:30:07
being followed by my ex-husband he's
00:30:09
very dangerous he's threatening me I'm
00:30:11
very scared can I just stand with you
00:30:13
until he's gone
00:30:15
and the guard said no you can't what he
00:30:19
said she could not stay there because of
00:30:20
the people that were going down the
00:30:21
steps at that time
00:30:23
so he was like tough what a [ __ ]
00:30:25
toughness
00:30:26
like
00:30:28
like she's and can you imagine the panic
00:30:30
in her voice when she said this piece of
00:30:32
[ __ ] Subway garage stand with me no you
00:30:35
can't stand with me oh my God good luck
00:30:37
out there I guess poor Olga now the last
00:30:40
time that Olga had heard from Al was
00:30:42
three days before the shooting on the
00:30:44
train so three days before he shot her
00:30:46
when he came to her family's home to
00:30:50
confront her and the family members were
00:30:52
like what the [ __ ] and they heard him
00:30:54
shout I'll kill you and kill myself
00:30:57
reported the incident to the police like
00:31:01
she had all the [ __ ] others of them
00:31:03
and on the evening of December 30th
00:31:05
detectives did come to her house to
00:31:06
finally take a statement and Olga told
00:31:09
the detectives that after everything
00:31:10
she'd been through with Al over the past
00:31:13
few months she was afraid she was like
00:31:15
he's gonna kill me like it's very clear
00:31:17
he's trying to
00:31:19
she said they told me that I should not
00:31:21
be frightened
00:31:22
and that they were going to protect me
00:31:24
and that they would guard me when I went
00:31:26
to work so it's like okay he's already
00:31:29
shot her and she shouldn't be frightened
00:31:31
well and it's like okay like cool if
00:31:33
they're saying they're gonna protect you
00:31:34
and like escort you to work and yeah
00:31:36
clearly they didn't and she gave the
00:31:38
statement from their hospital bed after
00:31:40
being shot
00:31:41
um when she left for work the next
00:31:43
morning on the 31st she said there was
00:31:45
no detectives anywhere and the only
00:31:47
escort she had to the train station was
00:31:48
her sister
00:31:50
so Bravo detectives Bravo these people
00:31:53
are [ __ ] and you know they're not
00:31:54
making any like written reports of this
00:31:56
because at this point this guy would
00:31:57
have had a stack like yeah three inches
00:32:00
thick yeah they just the the amount that
00:32:03
they did
00:32:04
is zilch zero goose egg zero now when
00:32:09
Olga and her sister got to the platform
00:32:10
at the station in Brooklyn she said she
00:32:13
noticed the woman carrying what appeared
00:32:15
to be a medium-sized Christmas present
00:32:17
because she probably I wonder if she saw
00:32:19
her before she might have and she said
00:32:21
she was carrying a box a rather large
00:32:23
box and it was wrapped and it had
00:32:25
something that protruded protruded at
00:32:26
one end of the box
00:32:28
and I'm assuming that is the handle of
00:32:30
the sawed-off shotgun which I'm still a
00:32:32
little confused by yeah
00:32:34
but did Pearl like pull a string or did
00:32:37
she pull the wire of some kind that that
00:32:40
trigger okay but I'm wondering how the
00:32:44
the part of like because it was a
00:32:46
sawed-off shotgun because it was shorter
00:32:47
but I'm like that handle like not the
00:32:50
barrel but the handle of the shotgun
00:32:52
that's like on the other side was that
00:32:54
wrapped too because you can't it's hard
00:32:56
to tell in the picture it looks like it
00:32:57
might have been right but it's hard
00:32:58
because it's all unwrapped and like
00:33:00
disassembled you know yeah um
00:33:03
now despite the bizarre details of what
00:33:06
Pearl was saying happened that day
00:33:08
like you know that does sound insane
00:33:10
like that sounds wild
00:33:12
um detectives said they were inclined to
00:33:14
accept as truth a story too fantastic to
00:33:16
be fiction which like I guess like
00:33:19
someone making that up is pretty wild
00:33:20
and Olga's statement like on the scene
00:33:23
I'm sure it really helps yeah now after
00:33:25
taking statements from Olga Pearl and
00:33:27
Olga's family members investigators said
00:33:30
that it was very clear that once his
00:33:32
wife was not going to come back to him
00:33:34
El Rocco had concocted an elaborate
00:33:36
scheme to kill her because if he
00:33:38
couldn't have her no one else was gonna
00:33:40
have her either
00:33:41
now while Olga is laying in Roosevelt
00:33:45
Hospital in critical condition with a
00:33:47
literal quote mangled left thigh
00:33:49
detective started finally searching for
00:33:51
Al Rocco
00:33:53
now on January 1st the day after the
00:33:56
shooting investigators learned that
00:33:57
quote an unidentified man had called
00:33:59
twice at Pearl's rooming house asking to
00:34:02
speak with her what so they were hoping
00:34:05
they could intercept him because they
00:34:06
were assuming he would call for another
00:34:07
time when he couldn't get a hold of her
00:34:09
so they brought Pearl back to the
00:34:11
rooming house and had her sit there with
00:34:14
them in a little after 5 PM they waited
00:34:17
for several hours but he didn't call
00:34:18
back damn it so detectives continued
00:34:21
their interview with pearl Lusk and
00:34:23
other investigators began looking for Al
00:34:25
Rocco like through his background yeah
00:34:29
um what they learned they learned a lot
00:34:30
about him but they learned that the 28
00:34:32
year olds by the way he's 20 years old
00:34:35
yeah he had served a year in the Bronx
00:34:37
County Jail a few years earlier for auto
00:34:39
theft and he had a bunch of arrests for
00:34:41
disorderly conduct car theft all kinds
00:34:44
of stuff like that things they should
00:34:46
have known when he was doing the solga
00:34:48
exactly but the thing is when they were
00:34:49
looking at his criminal record they were
00:34:51
like none of it detectives were calling
00:34:53
him a diabolical genius and they were
00:34:56
like when you look at his record you're
00:34:57
like nothing really lends itself to that
00:34:59
he's just a car thief yeah and enough
00:35:00
you know like that's it and like
00:35:02
disorderly conduct you know but and in
00:35:06
fact an evaluation conducted at Bellevue
00:35:08
Hospital in 1938 of Rocco labeled him as
00:35:11
a man of average intelligence okay you
00:35:13
know he's not a normal dude not below
00:35:15
not above
00:35:16
but they had opened up to tips from the
00:35:19
public at this point and the first tip
00:35:21
came in around 11 A.M on the morning of
00:35:23
January 1st
00:35:25
um that's when a Brooklyn resident saw a
00:35:27
man on Brighton Beach who disrobed
00:35:30
completely and just entered the water
00:35:33
okay according to the witness he said
00:35:35
they said the man quote shed a gray
00:35:37
Tweed Overcoat a brown suit a blue tie
00:35:40
and a white shirt then wearing gloves
00:35:43
underwear shoes and socks he plunged
00:35:45
into the icy surf headed out to sea and
00:35:48
disappeared I was wearing gloves oh like
00:35:51
oh is he the Loch Ness monster like
00:35:53
what's going on here are you just headed
00:35:55
out to see like just what do you mean
00:35:57
police police searched the water for
00:36:00
hours and they couldn't find anybody in
00:36:04
there and they showed the clothing that
00:36:06
they did fine they showed it to Olga for
00:36:08
identification and she said no like
00:36:09
that's not his so that was just a random
00:36:11
unrelated incident and this just goes
00:36:13
away and I'm like where's that man that
00:36:16
just went out to sea and they don't
00:36:18
underwear like are we all just
00:36:19
forgetting that that happened or like
00:36:21
did that even happen or did the guys
00:36:22
yeah like what that's such a strange
00:36:24
story to tell very strange but and I
00:36:27
mean it did happen because there was
00:36:28
clothing found yeah they found the guy's
00:36:30
clothing like the same clothing that
00:36:32
this man had described weird now on
00:36:34
January 3rd Olga's condition took a turn
00:36:37
for the worst oh no she had actually had
00:36:40
to have her leg amputated
00:36:41
and it left her in what doctor said was
00:36:44
a fight for her life oh no
00:36:46
um that same morning per Lusk appeared
00:36:49
in General Sessions Court which was a
00:36:50
court mostly for misdemeanors at the
00:36:52
time
00:36:53
um she was sobbing like beside herself
00:36:56
because she's like how the [ __ ] did I
00:36:57
find myself in this situation yeah and
00:36:59
she was explaining to them I was just a
00:37:01
pawn in Al Rocco's plan and she's like I
00:37:04
genuinely believed his story about being
00:37:06
a private investigator in pursuit of a
00:37:08
jewel thief yeah I literally did and the
00:37:10
assistant district attorney Jacob
00:37:12
grumette noted that investigators did
00:37:15
believe Pearl was telling the truth that
00:37:17
none of them believed she was lying
00:37:19
um but they said they wanted her held as
00:37:21
a material witness because when they
00:37:23
captured Rocco hopefully who he referred
00:37:26
to as an arch fiend an arch field they
00:37:29
wanted her to be there as a material
00:37:31
Witness
00:37:32
so the judge agreed okay I was like yeah
00:37:34
and set Pearl's bail at ten thousand
00:37:36
dollars and then remanded her into the
00:37:38
custody of the Florence Crittenden
00:37:40
Crittenton home which was a home for
00:37:43
unwed mothers interesting but I think
00:37:45
that's just where they were like because
00:37:46
they were like we gotta keep track of
00:37:48
them because I could see why they want
00:37:50
would want to keep her because she would
00:37:52
want to get as far away from this [ __ ]
00:37:53
as possible and you want to hear exactly
00:37:55
what this guy told you right tell me
00:37:57
more tell me more yeah did you get very
00:37:59
far like what happened here and so
00:38:02
detectives finally figured out what
00:38:04
their job title was at this point and
00:38:06
they started working to find El Rocco so
00:38:09
imagine that good job fantastic because
00:38:12
now they that you know he actually
00:38:15
almost killed Olga Now's the Time to do
00:38:18
their job I think yeah once somebody is
00:38:20
almost dead yeah they questioned several
00:38:22
people and they all said like
00:38:24
acquaintances people they thought might
00:38:26
have seen him and they all said they had
00:38:28
not seen or heard from Al Rocco in weeks
00:38:31
I bet now The Big Break came on January
00:38:34
6th when a neighbor and this is this
00:38:36
story is a little hard to follow okay so
00:38:39
I'll do my best is a little hard to
00:38:41
follow I guess truly so a neighbor of Al
00:38:44
Rocco's first cousin
00:38:47
so his cousin's neighbor yes reported
00:38:50
his car had been stolen by a man who
00:38:52
introduced himself as Alan Lamonte okay
00:38:56
according to the neighbor Dominic Rizzo
00:38:59
uh the man introduced her himself as a
00:39:02
friend of Mrs Rizzo's brother James
00:39:05
cupozoli I think it is capozzoli so he's
00:39:09
saying he knows this guy Dominic's
00:39:12
wife's brother got it and her sister's
00:39:15
cousin's Best Friend's Brother twice
00:39:16
removed exactly now Alan Lamonte
00:39:19
explained he had recently come into
00:39:21
possession of a large number of tools
00:39:23
with instructions to give them to James
00:39:25
capozzoli okay
00:39:28
um but the tools were in Cairo which is
00:39:30
a small town in the Catskills I know I
00:39:33
thought Egypt I was like she's going all
00:39:35
the way to Egypt now
00:39:37
about that right your face I was like
00:39:39
you thought this sure did I was like
00:39:41
this motherfucker's borrowing your car
00:39:42
don't go to YouTube this is just a small
00:39:44
town in the Catskills so and he said his
00:39:47
car had broken down so he had no way of
00:39:49
getting there so I need your help so Mrs
00:39:52
Rizzo Dominic's wife called her brother
00:39:55
James
00:39:56
who said quote he'd be delighted to have
00:39:59
the tools although he did not remember
00:40:01
Lamonte he was like sounds awesome I
00:40:04
don't know this guy but like I'll take
00:40:05
the tools and despite her brother having
00:40:08
no memory of the man claiming to me
00:40:10
before Ellen Lamonte the rizzos Dominic
00:40:13
and his wife invited him to dinner and
00:40:16
then the next morning they drove him out
00:40:17
to Cairo
00:40:19
um so they all got there a little after
00:40:21
12 30 p.m and they stopped for lunch at
00:40:23
a local Diner and Alan Lamonte finished
00:40:26
first so he told the couple the tools
00:40:28
were just a few blocks away and he's
00:40:29
like why don't you finish your coffee
00:40:31
and I'll just take the car to go get the
00:40:32
tools
00:40:34
come on they were like absolutely yeah
00:40:37
Ellen Lamonte I imagine being that yeah
00:40:40
just take my medicine that pure take my
00:40:43
whole ass vehicle let's go right ahead
00:40:45
when two hours passed and there was
00:40:47
still no sign of Alan Lamont they waited
00:40:49
too
00:40:51
Dominic Rizzo called the state police
00:40:53
and reported the car stolen I can't
00:40:55
believe it took them two hours and this
00:40:57
is when they figured out that the driver
00:40:58
was not Alan Lamonte it was in fact Al
00:41:01
Rocco whoa and it was because Mrs Rizzo
00:41:04
identified him from a smug shot no wow a
00:41:07
short time later State Police picked up
00:41:09
Rocco's Trail as he passed through
00:41:12
prattsville and they began to chase him
00:41:14
leading in the direction of a town
00:41:16
called Oneonta yes correct I did it
00:41:19
right now more than 50 state troopers
00:41:22
and two New York City detectives were
00:41:24
pursuing Rocco that evening and
00:41:26
eventually they ran him into the woods
00:41:27
near gilboa okay um it was there that he
00:41:30
abandoned Rizzo's car along the side of
00:41:33
the road and they also found out that
00:41:35
earlier that evening he had actually
00:41:37
forced his way into a home A Home of Mr
00:41:40
and Mrs Leroy Lewis and he held the
00:41:43
couple at gunpoints and demanded they
00:41:46
feed him
00:41:47
and they told him and apparently he told
00:41:50
them he planned to quote remain there
00:41:52
indefinitely
00:41:53
oh sure which is not something you want
00:41:55
to hear from someone holding you at
00:41:56
gunpoint you want to be like no I'd like
00:41:58
you to leave as quickly as possible yeah
00:41:59
like leave yesterday thank you and he
00:42:01
told the couple I've got to stay I was
00:42:03
framed
00:42:04
I'd be like you've got to go now despite
00:42:07
saying he was going to stay there
00:42:08
indefinitely and that he had to stay
00:42:10
after just a few hours he just changed
00:42:13
his mind and fled into the woods so they
00:42:15
were like God speed they were like I'm
00:42:17
gonna contact someone I'm gonna call
00:42:19
someone so state troopers reached their
00:42:21
Farmhouse this couple about a half hour
00:42:23
after he had left and the couple said he
00:42:25
went that away he went to that away uh
00:42:28
following his Trail into the woods they
00:42:30
did eventually find Al Rocco he was
00:42:33
sleeping he was hiding in a sleeping bag
00:42:35
near a large tree pretty near The
00:42:38
Farmhouse and they ordered him to
00:42:40
surrender okay when he immediately
00:42:43
refused immediately fought back so he
00:42:46
refuses to surrender and a trooper fires
00:42:48
a warning shot
00:42:50
and then demanded him come out and they
00:42:52
shouted come on out you skunk
00:42:56
and instead of being the skunk that he
00:43:00
was and coming out he drew his gun and
00:43:02
he fired four times in the direction of
00:43:04
the Troopers this ballsy no that's not
00:43:07
gonna go over well so the Troopers
00:43:09
returned fire and what the New York New
00:43:11
York Times described as a heavy barrage
00:43:13
so
00:43:15
I don't think Al's coming out of this
00:43:16
one spoiler alert gonna say bye-bye Al
00:43:18
so the shooting lasted nearly two
00:43:20
minutes and when it finally came to an
00:43:22
end Al Rocco was dead
00:43:25
one bullet had passed through his head
00:43:27
another through his chest
00:43:29
um
00:43:30
play stupid games so Rocco hadn't even
00:43:33
made it completely out of his sleeping
00:43:35
bag wow and when detective searched his
00:43:37
body they found
00:43:39
62.93 on him and cash in in change it's
00:43:43
a good amount of money and they found
00:43:44
two photographs one of his ex-wife Olga
00:43:47
yeah and the other of a girl that State
00:43:51
Police Inspector Charles laforge refused
00:43:54
to identify because quote he did not
00:43:57
wish to hurt this girl
00:44:00
what I have so many questions here are
00:44:02
my questions one who didn't wish to hurt
00:44:05
this girl the state trooper didn't want
00:44:07
to hurt her by releasing her Identity or
00:44:09
two you are somehow implying or
00:44:12
inferring that Al that Al didn't want to
00:44:15
hurt this girl how the [ __ ] do you know
00:44:17
that he tried to kill his ex-wife on 65
00:44:19
different occasions the way I take that
00:44:21
is that the state trooper didn't want to
00:44:22
hurt her like didn't want to upset her
00:44:24
yeah but who the [ __ ] is that like I
00:44:27
need what
00:44:28
two photographs on him and you're not
00:44:30
gonna tell me who that other photograph
00:44:31
also she should probably know do you
00:44:33
think it was Pearl I hope she knows I
00:44:35
don't think so he probably wouldn't have
00:44:37
a photo of her
00:44:38
I mean he's a stalker he might but like
00:44:40
the cameras were like okay I know not
00:44:42
easy
00:44:43
so like who's this other girl and what
00:44:46
was the plan there that's freaky no
00:44:50
but we'll never know uh but later that
00:44:53
day detectives informed Olga of Al
00:44:56
Rocco's death and the Catskills and she
00:44:58
said rid she began to laugh
00:45:01
heartily laugh good for Olga honestly
00:45:04
after everything she'd [ __ ] been
00:45:06
through oh yeah she deserved to laugh
00:45:07
she did and then she began to sob and
00:45:10
she said at last I'll be able to get a
00:45:12
good night's rest yeah which I don't
00:45:14
blame her and when Olga's family heard
00:45:16
the news they were also pretty pleased
00:45:18
with the outcome Olga's brother
00:45:20
Salvatore said I heard the wonderful
00:45:22
news just as I was leaving the hospital
00:45:23
I never felt better than I do now
00:45:25
because my family and I as well as Olga
00:45:28
have been worried sick about her safety
00:45:30
as long as he was walking around yeah
00:45:31
and it's true
00:45:35
terrorize that family and the police did
00:45:37
[ __ ] nothing because that's the thing
00:45:39
he also shot into their home he could
00:45:41
have heard anything he could have killed
00:45:42
anybody that you don't know if there's
00:45:43
kids in that home or what like nobody
00:45:45
killed anybody truly he's that he was so
00:45:48
far beyond like
00:45:50
and then to and then to involve this
00:45:53
poor young girl to kill someone to try
00:45:56
to kill someone he's sick like he's a
00:45:58
sick [ __ ] yeah bye Al rest in distress
00:46:01
now days after the shooting Al's Body
00:46:04
was claimed from the Bundy Funeral Home
00:46:06
in Upstate New York by his uncle Philip
00:46:08
Rocco who returned the body to Brooklyn
00:46:10
and after his death Judge James Wallace
00:46:13
ordered that pale that Pearl be released
00:46:17
from custody after a grand jury declined
00:46:19
to charge her in relation to the
00:46:21
shooting good as she left the Criminal
00:46:23
Courts Building Pearl told reporters I
00:46:26
want to forget it all I don't blame her
00:46:28
now according to Pearl's mother Stella
00:46:30
they were going to retrieve some of
00:46:32
Pearl's belongings from her room at the
00:46:34
boarding house and then she was going to
00:46:35
leave the city she was like I'm taking
00:46:37
her home
00:46:38
now after several weeks of recovery
00:46:40
following having her leg amputated on
00:46:43
her way home from work
00:46:45
Olga was discharged from Roosevelt
00:46:47
Hospital and in February she filed the
00:46:50
claim against the neat city of New York
00:46:51
to mention two hundred thousand dollars
00:46:53
it alleged that New York police failed
00:46:56
to protect her quote at a time when the
00:46:58
police knew she was in imminent danger
00:46:59
of death at the hands of her criminal
00:47:01
husband yep in a statement to the press
00:47:03
her lawyer Samuel Douglas said
00:47:06
the city having accepted her as a
00:47:08
passenger on its Transit facilities owed
00:47:11
her a duty to transport her safely to
00:47:12
her destination and to protect her from
00:47:14
any danger that was known by it to exist
00:47:17
with respect to her the city failed and
00:47:19
refused to provide her with such
00:47:20
protection and required her to use the
00:47:22
City subway system at a time when she
00:47:24
was likely to be killed by her husband
00:47:26
the city owes her a moral obligation to
00:47:29
compensate her for the serious injury
00:47:30
resulting directly from its neglect to
00:47:33
provide her with protection while she
00:47:34
was on its subway system now the city
00:47:37
refused to play the pay the claim
00:47:39
because they're asking and Olga filed a
00:47:41
suit against them eventually taking the
00:47:43
case to the state supreme court
00:47:45
finally in April 1953 the state Supreme
00:47:48
Court ruled in favor of the city
00:47:52
I did not see that one coming I didn't
00:47:54
think you would
00:47:55
they said it is most unfortunate that
00:47:57
some redress cannot be made but
00:48:00
ultimately they freed the city of any
00:48:02
liability to the shooting that's a banjo
00:48:05
[ __ ] the court said they were
00:48:07
sympathetic to what had happened no
00:48:08
you're not the justices defended their
00:48:11
decision though saying there's no basis
00:48:13
for holding that the city should have
00:48:14
anticipated that she would be shot
00:48:16
other than the fact that um he
00:48:18
previously tried to shoot her in that
00:48:20
City he kidnapped her and tortured her
00:48:23
in that City uh there's also the fact
00:48:25
that she literally walked up to one of
00:48:27
your Subway guards and asked for
00:48:29
protection and they said no thank you
00:48:30
ma'am good luck correct so there's that
00:48:33
like blatant City should have protected
00:48:36
her did it that Subway guard literally
00:48:38
said
00:48:39
there's a whole laundry list of ways
00:48:41
that they didn't protect her now luckily
00:48:44
in the years that followed Pearl and
00:48:46
Olga became friends I wanted to hear
00:48:49
that so bad they would get together
00:48:51
whenever they could and after leaving
00:48:53
the city Pearl married and eventually
00:48:55
had children Olga stayed in the city she
00:48:58
made a nice living for herself designing
00:49:00
and selling costume jewelry hell yeah
00:49:02
and Al Rocco is still dead that's that's
00:49:04
good so didn't rise I'm glad that Pearl
00:49:07
he did not rise but Pearl and Olga came
00:49:10
together and Olga was like girl it's
00:49:12
it's okay like we both met this [ __ ]
00:49:14
we both believed what he said holy [ __ ]
00:49:17
you know like like an olga I'm like what
00:49:20
a bad [ __ ] just kept on going and I
00:49:22
[ __ ] was like you know what girl I
00:49:24
know that like he's a dick he's a
00:49:26
manipulative dick and I know he
00:49:28
manipulated you into thinking that you
00:49:30
weren't doing what you were doing I also
00:49:31
kind of loved the irony that she became
00:49:33
a jewelry maker that is kind of fun
00:49:35
that's fun that is fun also imagine if
00:49:37
your mom was Pearl Lusk and she just
00:49:38
whips that one out at the dinner table
00:49:40
like it was like I shot a lady by
00:49:42
accident carrying a Christmas package
00:49:44
one time I got tricked into becoming an
00:49:47
assassin you want to hear that one kid
00:49:49
you want to hear that story I'd be like
00:49:51
yeah I do she's like you have her
00:49:52
grandma Pearl no truths and a lot like
00:49:54
hell yeah I do too it's
00:49:57
it's a wild wild tale that's a doozy I'm
00:50:02
so glad twists and turns I'm so glad
00:50:04
Olga didn't die like it's horrible that
00:50:05
she had to have her leg amputated like
00:50:07
to have that taken away from you is
00:50:09
awful but could you imagine one she died
00:50:11
would be tragic in and of itself yeah
00:50:13
and then Pearl has to live with that for
00:50:15
the rest of her life like I'm so glad
00:50:17
that didn't happen exactly and uh Dave
00:50:20
had noted when he was looking up stuff
00:50:22
about this that he found this photo of
00:50:25
when Pearl was initially taken into
00:50:27
custody like right after the incident
00:50:29
yeah there's this like kind of famous
00:50:31
photo of her and the detective and
00:50:33
they're like smiling at the camera and
00:50:35
it looks almost like a wedding photo
00:50:37
it's like the strangest you have it I
00:50:39
don't have it up right now but I will
00:50:41
post it because it's just like a strange
00:50:43
oh my God very strange photo very
00:50:46
strange situation what a time to be
00:50:48
alive truly it's this story I just
00:50:51
cannot
00:50:53
I cannot fathom it no I I never expected
00:50:56
any of the things that came from the
00:50:58
story and it's so sad because Olga's
00:51:00
like
00:51:01
this beautiful gal yeah she had her
00:51:04
whole life ahead of her and she still
00:51:06
did but it's like now she's got to deal
00:51:07
with the aftermath of this because of
00:51:09
some [ __ ] that she met for and data
00:51:12
for a year and because in New York City
00:51:13
it had literally nothing to help nothing
00:51:15
wow absolutely nothing holy [ __ ] there's
00:51:18
also a really great photo of um Olga
00:51:22
being brought out of the hospital and
00:51:26
she's cheesing for the camera her hair
00:51:28
is done her makeup done she looks like a
00:51:32
40s goddess like it is it's a great one
00:51:35
and she's got like flowers on her lap
00:51:37
it's just a cool picture there's also
00:51:38
one of her later where she's like all
00:51:40
dolled up
00:51:41
um and she's got like fancy like shoes
00:51:43
and stuff on she looks great oh yeah
00:51:45
she's she's a bad [ __ ]
00:51:48
whatever
00:51:50
I'm looking at this Pearl Lusk oh my God
00:51:53
why is she cheesing right she looks like
00:51:56
she's in [ __ ] shock yeah I think she
00:51:59
just had no [ __ ] clue wow yeah it's
00:52:03
literally like yes we'll post one of
00:52:06
these because it's just
00:52:08
I don't even know how to like they're
00:52:10
both literally in the back of the car
00:52:12
the detective and Pearl and they're both
00:52:14
just looking at the camera like they
00:52:15
just got married like if you told me
00:52:17
this is a right after they got married
00:52:19
photo I'd be like yes what an adorable
00:52:21
couple wow they look so happy together
00:52:24
wow this is I've never heard a story
00:52:27
quite like this it's a really wild one
00:52:29
that's wild for sure truly wild oh my
00:52:32
gosh Olga is a [ __ ] Queen she really
00:52:35
is look at that hair she truly is wow
00:52:38
she's gorgeous Queen even the guy that's
00:52:41
Wheeling her out is just like yeah
00:52:43
everyone's happy I know everyone's just
00:52:45
happy to be here
00:52:46
unreal but that is
00:52:48
the truly wild story of the attempted
00:52:52
murder of Olga Rocco it sure was so we
00:52:57
hope that you keep listening and we hope
00:52:59
you keep it weird but not so weird that
00:53:02
you carry anything uh for anyone
00:53:04
especially if it's a Christmas package
00:53:06
just say no never carry anything for
00:53:08
anyone that has always been my stance it
00:53:11
remains my stance just don't do it
00:53:13
especially like when they don't if some
00:53:16
guy named Alan LaRue
00:53:20
please
00:53:23
[Music]
00:53:36
hey weirdos I'm Alina oh my God
00:53:46
thank you
00:53:50
sat there but
00:53:54
I was waiting for I was like is there a
00:53:57
cue like I didn't know we were doing a
00:53:59
[ __ ] I just want to be you