Welcome back to the original gangsters podcast. I am your host Scott Bernstein along with my Co-conspirator partner in crime the doctor Jimmy Bucci Lotto. Hi, everyone And we got Ben behind the glass on the wheels of steel our producer our MVP Ben, how you doing doing well? So today we are going to bring back the quintessential original gangsters And I say that because this individual not only was he a major figure in organized crime on the East Coast in the 2000s He was a boss by the time he was in his early 30s Anthony Benjie or a lot of is gonna join us. He was our first ever interview when we started this podcast I think it was in 19.  Thank you for joining us What's going on Scott? Thanks for having me on what's up Jimmy and Ben? He's doing doing well. Thank you. Thanks for coming back on the show. Yeah, he was one of our first big guys Our first yeah, we might not have dropped we might not have dropped the episode first Yeah, but it was the first time that we recorded og podcast with me you and Roberto. Yeah, that's right That's right, and Jimmy was on it, right? That's when I yeah Yeah, and uh when I did that when I was actually when I had my first like I like I said, I never worked was the first job I Ever had in my life, but I was working at the car lot so during that interview when we got cut off short they were calling me to come to the Showroom and that's why probably they're roughly ended the way it did but uh, I Was walking around the the car parking lot while we were doing the interview was funny Yeah, everybody like took some heat people were saying why would you cut him off? Like that was a great interview I'm with it. We're like, why didn't you have him on for five hours? We love this.  Sorry Anthony go ahead. Well, no, I was gonna say that's why it abruptly ended because I was Got in the loudspeaker. They were calling me calling me and it's a little you know, legitimate job I was getting on getting paid to come and they didn't you know So I'm walking around my job and then they're calling me. So I had to go so Yeah, this is Anthony's life now. We're gonna talk I'm not gonna say a little bit. We'll talk about a lot about His life back in the 80s 90s and 2000s just to give people a quick synopsis Anthony grew up on Western Massachusetts Springfield, Massachusetts, which is like the the county seat if you will for the Genovese crime family in that area and Came up under some some real Big-time mafia powers in his area the scabella Scabelle brothers Frankie skyball and his brothers and then big Al Bruno and then eventually Benji became the boss of Springfield, Massachusetts reporting directly to the Genovese crime family But one of the reasons we wanted to bring him in today is To kind of take some of this This is something we love to do on the og podcast We take a little bit of old then we take a little bit of new and we and we sprinkle it together so when he was on the street in The 90s and early 2000s Mostly in the early 2000s. He had a pair of brothers with him that were You know his some of his top lieutenants Freddie and Tai Geass and Freddie Geass his name has been all over the news in the last couple years because according to the federal government He is the person that murdered whitey bulger the infamous Boston Irish crime lord also a Very very major Cooperator with the government put a lot of people in prison was a child predator not a lot of people know that really really bad guy and on the in the world of of OC there are there are good bad guys and there are bad bad guys and whitey bulger was a bad bad guy and Got transferred from a protection unit down in Florida into general population in a prison in West Virginia in October of 2018 and Was murdered within about eight hours and the government says that Freddie Geass did that and there's nobody That can give more insight into Freddie other than maybe Freddie himself Then then Anthony so Anthony, you know, let's just jump right in you know, he Freddie was indicted last week It's been a four-year investigation. What was your? What was your take on on what we're what he's facing right now?  He's been I'll get some What is it, you know, I want your opinion on the fact that? They kept him in solitary confinement for four years before they charge right. I mean that just that seems so above and beyond The way things should be done and I don't know what took so long I don't know why you couldn't charge the guy, you know within a couple months But they waited four years and they kept him, you know in 23 hour lockdown, which must have been, you know, a living hell you know You obviously are at one point. We're very close with Freddie. I mean, yeah, how do you how do you mentally, you know? cope with that Well, he they had an agenda the FBI why they did that They from what I'm was told and from what I'm hearing is they waited four years and and it's not really unheard of they could have waited It could work forever and kept them in, you know under under when you're in the feds and you're under investigation I've heard stories were guys one for ten years I mean, I know guys that were there for the rest of their life some guys ended up dying in the hole and They were so dangerous. They never let them out But from what I'm hearing is That the Feds will be ensued for that death and I guess the cases are just coming to end the Bolger family still with them and They were waiting for that to play out before all this I guess discovery came out during this trial I don't know how true that is, but that's what I've been hearing. That's why they've been they were, you know, stalling with it Um and you know, the Bolger family was a powerful family even though, you know, why he was a bad guy He had the brother that was a major Political force. He was the most powerful politician in Massachusetts. That wasn't the governor. There wasn't a cat That wasn't a cat, right?    I'm sorry His family was putting pressure on B. O. P And the prosecutor. I mean his his uh, I know his daughter and some other his brother Or maybe it was his cousin. I don't he he was getting pressure Uh, or the the government was getting pressure from the gius family Right and that's because freddy, you know, they're not You're getting pressure from the family because freddy's telling them obviously he doesn't want to be in the hole So, you know, you know, he's like he tells them to charge me or not If you're not going to charge me that means i'm not guilty of a crime Then what am I doing in the hole that but if they call that they're what it's under investigation and they can do that Everybody says they can't do that. They can do whatever they want. So it's under investigation. They throw you in the hole There's a lot worse they can do too. So um, the family Because freddy doesn't want to be in the hole, of course, you know, so he's got his family support the family's trying to You know put pressure to get him You know, what are you guys going to do here charge them? It's not charge. I'm the white. He's doing the hole And that's uh, that's the pressure that they're getting from the family and you know freddy Obviously, he wants to get out and walk around the compound and you know, that's what he wants But that's why the pressure was coming.    You know, it's it's a it's a it's a dangerous I don't know if people grasp how dangerous the penitentiaries are. I'm not talking about federal prison. I'm talking The 13 penitentiaries that are that consist of the most violent criminals in the country And it's it's in some places Uh, it's a war zone. So I don't know if he's going to get treated like a hero I mean the guy was 90 years old in a wheelchair. I mean for notoriety status. Yeah He's going to have a lot of notoriety that he killed the infamous wetty bolger But um, I think he would have he would have been more of uh He he's a he's a legend throughout the world now Let's say because of the notoriety that the detention and it's getting because of who wetty bolger was but amongst that Inside that penitentiary system.  So that's not And he's never going to see a medium. He's going to stay at a penitentiary level So Is he going to be treated like a hero amongst them? I don't think so That's good. I mean he's going to be treated.  There's guys in there. I was with guys that killed You know when the when those guys got indicted and there was like they they invited them for like 25 murders The Aryan brotherhood with the brand in them.  So, you know all kinds of stuff Yeah, we did our episode with Seth Ferrante where he provided he did what 27 years 25 years He gives us a lot of a nonviolent 25 on the nonviolent Right, they just assumed he was a killer because his sentence was so so stiff But but he said that uh, you've got to click up right away either with the italians or the AB or the latinos or whomever the black dudes, whatever or else you'll you'll be in trouble So yeah, and if you're in a it depends if you're in a medium I mean, that's true.   So when they come in and the reason they do that and a big point about Why are you getting killed is? You have to police your area So if i'm from mass freddy was hanging around with the mass guys They call it the massachusetts the boston car They would call it because boston's the biggest city But it's you know, it's massachusetts guys that massachusetts guys would would click with the new york guide Those guys usually clicked with their own cars, but they all stuck together and they were dangerous force boston guys have a strong reputation In the federal system as the boston car is like a serious Car they're well like guys and um, so when a guy comes in Say it's a guy coming in from california and it's a white guy.  They want to know The perfect that you weren't in informing at once even once or In implementation in a penitentiary if you shout down with the feds improper You're getting butchered or you're getting you're you're getting told to get off the uh The compound and if you don't you're getting butchered you're getting killed in a penitentiary So when whitey comes in freddy being with the boston Car and I know stories too. I could tell you what freddy in prison About situations that he'd been in with prisoners that were with him that are out now that i'm in contact with but uh freddy being in the boston car He's got a now And they knew that freddy. They knew that this guy came. I don't know if you saw yeah, it got leaked It got leaked out. No. No. No. No. No. No. It was the guy Uh, they I guess this guy was there. He was right across the uh, that's the cell from when they went in and killed them Did you see that? You know shaw mckinnon No, no. No. No. No. There was uh, there was a uh, spanish kid From uh, laurence massachusetts. He's out now. Okay. He was directly across the cell from fred from whitey bolger And this is coming from his mouth. He was there. He saw he saw them go in He didn't say names, but he said they went in They walked into the they knew whitey was there the night before. Yeah, that was good It says when the when the when the bus comes in They get word that who's coming in So the right of way because the guards tell them because they want to know where this guy's gonna go Is he gonna be a new york guy a boss of guys?   Do you think the government set him up? I mean, why was he in a general population unit to start with? He came from a protection unit down in florida Yeah, well So I never believed in stuff like that, you know, like jeffree epps thing got killed. I never believed that You know, he was murdered I go ahead But now the way I've been seeing things transpire in the last and I've been Investigating doing my own investigation now. I see yes. That's very possible from what whitey And I have different takes on what whitey did Whitey corrupted law enforcement. He corrupted the fbi and he had more guys than The guys that got indicted, you know, a lot of guys died in the past and he had guys that were still living and guys that are older and retired very powerful people and And and there was a lot more than just connelly and morris and There was a lot at fixed year old. There was a lot of um organized crime state. There was a lot of federal uh FBI agents and there was also a lot of politicians.  I would say that's like a A 50 50 if they wanted to do that to him and kill him because I'm gonna tell you why it's 50 50 Because the reason he was there. I mean, we all know. I don't know if the audience knows is He was at colman and he was treated like a king there. He was treated. You're saying white.  Uh penitentiary And this place is housing it houses regular inmates serious and make but it also houses people that might have cooperated in the past or Had some dirt on them. So it's kind of like they send them to colman and When he was there if you got into an argument with Staff with the nurse threatened the nurse said I could have you killed Um, you know, the nurse was busting his balls and he threatened her and they took him out of it Now if he didn't threaten the nurse He never gets taken out of there. He never gets killed So when they when you when you say that they sent them there to get killed What if he never threatened the nurse do you think they would have took him out of colman and sent them there? No, they would have left them in colman and he would have died there. So That type of conspiracy. I don't think I would think it's not But once he did do that now it now they have a chance now he opened the door And they could have said now let's you know, send them there and but here's another thing He could have said They asked them when he came in did you ever were you ever an informant and he said no So he could have very easily said I don't want to go to population. Yeah, but anthony. Well, isn't it the Isn't it the facility's job to know who they have coming into their Uh into their building. I mean, no, I mean there were very few in his notoriety There were very few more infamous cooperators in the history of our judicial system Then there's a whole movie black mass and there's too many there's too many give you an example departed then Yeah, yeah, the parlor wasn't that though without about the white. I mean it was similar The character was loosely yeah, right? Yeah, yeah, but uh when you go in there, no, this is true I mean you're ever here to story guy. They released the guy by accident You know and mistake and the guy got let out.  Yes, I know the big wigs and everybody should know it and they say Why are you sending them there? But if the guy threatened the nurse and he's not in the witness protection program, where are you going to send them?  Um, but they do ask you them questions like Do you are you okay to go to population? And if you say no They put it down. They don't care. They don't care if you get killed or or you know And a lot of people Like say the staff when he came in in west virginia, they probably don't know who he is I'm talking the intake like they see this old guy coming and they probably don't know, you know who that is That's the infamous whitey bulger. He's this is it So and and and obviously they're doing their job. Their job is intake. Were you an informant? No, okay Do you have any problems when I'm banging on these? No, okay Boom go ahead process them get him in there Now somebody still should have been You know eventually like in other words They okay, here's my point. They would have probably caught it but they caught it too late Like the next day when they found out are you kidding me? Why do bulgers and population close the thing down lock everybody down and they would have moved them out But I think it you know, it just happened so fast. I didn't have that chance There's a lot of guys like you pointed out There's a lot of guys from new england that are housed in that hazelton facility In in west virginia. So it's kind of known as a place Where boston runs the yard or runs part of the yard So it also kind of makes people scratch their heads out of all the prisons to transfer him to and put him into a gen pop unit Why why would you send him to an area or a facility that had a lot of guys from boston that would know who it was Boston has a deep car there everywhere. There's not a federal prison I think that there was exist that there was in a boston car So explain it No, go ahead. I was going to say explain to people The difference between the group that you were with um In springfield, massachusetts, which was a wing of the genovase crime family one of the five new york mafia families and then the traditional organized crime Group in new england, which is the patriarca crime family Which is kind of based between boston and providence, but there's this other group that that anthony was in charge of Like we said at a very young age by 32 years old. He was he was running that whole area of the state But let people know the difference between the group that you were with and then the traditional oc in that area Well, there's no difference. We're all traditional oc gangsters mafia altogether. It's just two different families One family is out of providence in boston eastern mass And western mass is you know, it's the same thing. It's like why is the patriarch is in boston? Well, why is the genovese family in springfield? I mean they branch out and they just happened to branch out in the connecticut Mostly springfield.  It's just back in the day when Say one of the older guys that were around veto genovese or Lucky luciano even way back then those are that's considered the genovese family frank castello one of those guys Relocated to western mass area or you know and then you know He started it's just like why is they why do they go to florida? They start living in florida the next thing at all they start bring You know building a crew down there and then next thing you know They start making guys down there and then next thing you know It's the it's the it's a faction of the genovese family down there same thing only this happened in the early 1900s instead of You know later on, you know, so that's why the genovese family was a a dominant force for a long time here And it was just a wing offer like you said, but it's all the same. We're all connected. There's no difference from a made guy um There's made guys that were in this area that were at just as notorious Probably murdered more people than the mafia bosses in new york But you don't hear about them because they never get depressed like new york Monsters get you just for people to know the springfield crew was no mickey mouse crew I mean this was I mean maybe even today we we can discuss where they are today but when when you know from the early 20th century to when anthony ended up uh going to prison in 2009 That was a very dangerous profitable respected group of regime that was respected nationwide He just people wouldn't think of it when they when they think mob. They think new york chicago philadelphia They don't think springfield mass, but springfield mass had a very formidable group Yeah, if you call i don't know how you start like i'm a mickey mouse Like if you if you shed light on spring, you're shedding light in new york, they're one in the same A genovese family member is that's it. He gets to respect no matter where he goes So there's no difference than a made guy in springfield are made People might think that but they're all the same. They're one in the same Yeah, new york is the five families. They have so many more Soldiers and associates because they have so many more people in new york city of per capita Amongst the people that we have here Well, there was an article that was written that said we have more per capita And you can do the work on that one on michelma fee wrote that in 2006 In the boston herald she in january and she wrote that um springfield per capita has more Made guys and associates than any stronghold in the country including the bronx and brooklyn and that's public She wrote that so i mean we we had so many You know through connecticut, do don't forget you got another family patriarchas when they got arrested in the 90s there was like 20 of them made guys that were that got arrested and So when you combine the patriarchas, you know, it's the same thing if you go to new york You got the colombos. You got the genovese. You got the gibbiness. Well, it's the same thing here You got the patriarch is you got the genovese.  It's just new york big empire state building big cities by families You know, I don't know how many people millions of people 10 million people there. All right, so you you cut that in 10 times, you know less And then but it's still per capita the same here And then when you when you it's it's and if you had to tell me what I want to be made in new york Which I got made in new york, but if I want to be in a crew in new york or a crew here I take this take this or in a heartbeat I wouldn't want to go in new york because you now you're you got so much competition here. We have it all And you guys would also work with non-Italians, right? I mean obviously they wouldn't be made guys but like someone like freddy, uh, I don't believe he's a talent is greek and so, uh, right How how how would like italian guys like you meet the non-Italians just from being on the streets or Meet met each other in prison or how does that work? Right? Well, that's always been uh, you know all the out, you know Different city chicago new york and everything always did business. They've been you know business with the jews They did business with uh, you know black angsters Money money business wise um, but a lot of them if you go back in In history a lot of the dangerous guys that were With the mob They were just like made guys, you know They were just as feared and just had as much respect, but they just never were formally inducted into the family So that exists number one When you're on that level like if if my guys here murdered somebody with me they're going to get treated Sometimes even better than a maid guy that didn't have the balls or the crew or the capability of killing somebody So that's going to exist The other ethnic ethnic groups that we bring in yeah, a lot of it has to do well It's not just prison, but a lot of things with drugs came out now So who are you going to be dealing drugs or like with me marijuana? I dealt with a lot of jamaicans I I had great friendships with them. I was huge in the marijuana business Cocaine you you might be dealing with some columbians. I dealt with columbians So you're going to interact more than the old timers did because of the drug issue um, we also interact with uh spanish gangsters because it was a big number of business we interact with black angsters and You know, you call them black angsters.  Yeah, are those triads there official try.   You're gonna interact With any ethnic Race but uh to be formally inducted. No, that's uh, that wasn't happening Which I think that should have happened as times went up evolved now too because You know, what's wrong with uh, you know, if you if you keep it as an organization You've got to move on with the times and there's less and less of times that are capable In that life. So you got to bring other type of ethnic ethnic groups in So that's why you see it deteriorating. There's no talent out there for the young kids because you know, it's just It doesn't exist Yeah, that's something we've talked about with with other guys. Um, we talked about it with the uh reporter in new england tim white Is that that that? He was out of providence. Yeah, yeah, but just similar. I mean new england that um, they're just the the talent pool is shrinking of Full-blooded italian guys.  He was italian, but They were the same like when you talk about Meyer Lansky, he was Considered, you know, he had as much respect as A guy like Lucky Luciano or even though Lucky Luciano was the official Boss and he was the official, you know made guy in the family But Meyer Lansky had just as you know, he had good respect. I mean the same so so just as freddy g is now is kind of emerging in the in the global headlines and becoming Quite infamous outside of massachusetts. Let's kind of go back and and You know amp they tell us First of all how you met freddy and his brother ty and what was their reputation? In springfield before they went to prison 12 years ago So freddy and ty were like I didn't know them growing up In my early, you know when I went to prison. So my whole team's up until I was I went to prison at 20 I never knew them I knew their cousin But I never knew them the girl cousin but But anyways, uh, they were regular kids. They came from a family. They worked. They they had nothing to do with crime They didn't have no Affiliation with organized crime their uncle owned a jewelry store freddy used to work there And there was no affiliation with Them an organized crime ty went to prison We both went at the young age. I think he was 18. I was 20 And 1989 And then night, you know 1990 We got stuck in the same Uh, conquered state prison and his family told him I was there He came up to my window and he I had a cell that Outlooked the yard. So if you were going to the uh The um to go eat That's the rep to chow haw When you left he could come up to my window So he knocked on my window and that's how we introduced himself and that's how we at first met Officially me and ty And then we just started hanging out there. We started working out together and it was kind of funny because he was just like a He he was just like nothing to do with crime.  Don't get me wrong. He was a he was um, uh, just like a young tough kid But he it wasn't criminal. He was in there for getting into a fight and shooting a machine gun And you know, he was a you know, just a young wild kid that used to fight but nothing to do with money When we got in there of me and him, you know, we had I had big plans now because I was learning From the older guys who were in serious state prison. So And we never considered it serious.  I was I knew gangsters kind gangsters. So ty liked the way I was thinking it Now again, we were always in trouble in there And we got warned by the uh administration Next time either want to use getting trouble. You're going to the uh, we're shipping it out.  There was equally the same whites I think had more whites there than there was black in spanish.  He didn't get out until 95 They kept him in the hole for four years Because he really hurt the guard baddie the guard had a retire after the beating he gave him So, uh I never seen him again on the street. I mean we used to talk Uh, well, you know, they give him full calls once in a while, but I never saw him until he got out on the streets I think it was in 90 and then 95 96 and then you met freddy you met freddy through him in 95 97 yeah, so I No, no, I met freddy freddy used to come and visit him You know freddy tides family used to come up and visit him and my family used to come up and I'm visits We'd all be together and that's how I met freddy. That's you know and freddy was wasn't a criminal. I mean freddy did like Dumb criminal stuff like credit card stuff and you know at his uncle's jewelry store. He would take the credit card numbers and and and and You know do that them type of scams. He had nothing to do with street crimes even his whole life freddy wasn't a Nothing to do with organized crime type crimes. He wasn't nothing to do that Growing up the whole time. I mean he freddy was more of into rob. We robbed hijacked trucks. He was down for that robbing people. He was down for that, you know Robin drug dealers. He was down for that But uh, he didn't have nothing going on with the street crimes, you know until later on when he was around me I put him with with stuff like that, but freddy I met in prison and The stories that we had In prison I mean it was like you would have thought that we were in the best place in the world I'm when we just had so he so he heard all these stories and you know, he liked them and and So when I got out, I hooked up with freddy and me and him started hanging around Little by little we started, you know, I did so many things when I'm like Like I said, we robbed trucks. We we sold some cocaine um, so them Let me stop you one second Did you have to put him on record with albruno as someone that you were vouching for? Absolutely not in my life. I never put no not one person on record In the mafia ever never I never have done it never So did but put me on record, but I never put anybody on record But were the with a higher up, you know shot callers in the springfield mob regime in the mid 90s Were they Taking notice. I mean obviously they were taking notice of you, but were they taking notice of freddy and ty? No, because freddy and ty were were nothing they were I mean They weren't they It's like listen freddy freddy and ty were My friends right and I did stuff with them. They were low low low Well, first of all, ty was in jail till 96. Okay, right? and So so there's nothing there and then freddy, you know He worked at it a little freddy worked at a legitimate job for his uncle. He had a wife He had a kid And his wife didn't never wanted him with me freddy never went out.  I mean when when I met him he was working for his Uncle and before that he was a prison guard at in our area. So it's not like He was a criminal. He was the furthest thing from a criminal I mean, he's not him.  We're all crazy when I there's a lot of crazy kids But we're like something wrong with us crazy. So he was like that and He never did anything, you know, like I said, we hijacked drugs freddy was good at getting cocaine and Say he got we got a kilo of coke freddy would make five kilos of coke out of it I mean, that's that's how we would rob people we give people like Mostly garbage and you know and charge them a kilo price. So he did that Um, we we uh, if it was something that with a fight, he was right there like if I was out somewhere and there was Anything with a fight? Yes. He was right there. He was he was violent But I mean he never shot anybody never killed anybody never did any of that And then he ended up getting in trouble himself In 1995, I think it was around then 96 he got in trouble robbing a A truck with computers and he got indicted for that So he went to prison. So there was no presence of freddy in the underworld or amongst Organized crime criminals now you got to figure ty went to jail till 96 and he got out.  I don't want you with an engineer a lot of stay away from the little hoodlum So he could never get out of the house at night And so so he was a daytime Thief type criminal, you know, so he's not getting noticed by no No gangster no nothing none of that Ty gets out of jail in 96 He starts getting involved with the marijuana. He lasted I think a year on the streets. Boom. He was getting marijuana from Arizona And then he was getting a chip. So one day the dogs smelled or whatever they went You know, they set up a sting and when the marijuana went to his house, they arrested him He got four years for that So ty is irrelevant totally nothing to do with organized crime because He was in jail till 96. He got out till 97. He went back in jail for four more years and didn't get out till 2001 See, I'm leading up to 2001. That's what that's when they started becoming relevant So then freddy gets goes to jail in like 96 He goes to jail for four years. He doesn't come out until 2001 So in the underworld in the organized crime circles, they're not even like Fucking a name that's even mentioned besides being friends with me and being in my crew You know, like the guys that I hung around with They know who freddy and ty is My circle of guys, but other than that You know, they don't know much about them. Like that's what I'm trying to tell you that Nothing at a certain point him and you know as tensions are rising between New York and al Bruno who had taken over from Frankie skyball and was a bit of a polarizing figure and You're kind of on one side of the the fence and even though al Bruno was Kind of a mentor of yours There there there are some issues there as the 2000s Come and at some point and I want you to expand on this at some point Bruno Gets into a physical altercation with freddy No, no, but I but that comes later. So yeah, so 2001 freddy gets out of prison first and he starts coming around me and But doing nothing at first his brother gets on what what got the ball rolling with freddy freddy was like a laid back Like laid back dude, you know, if he had a certain amount of money He wasn't like he was okay with it. He didn't you know like He didn't have that I don't know if it was greed, but he didn't have that mindset to say I want to make A million dollars a year mindset. He was just if you gave him some Clumps, he was happy with it and he was just you know, he was a ball buster.  I used to have him over I used to have his father over I used to have like 15 20 guys in my house Saturday night So when he got they when they got out of jail They were come over my house Saturday and he was just getting out Okay When tie got out He was just his whole thing was he felt they were Old something him a you know him especially that these guys that were out here not me because that was their friend But and I and they knew me We dumbed things together that proved to each other that we would take someone's life if we had to So but he said he knew these other guys that were made a lot of money They weren't they shouldn't they didn't deserve that because this he went to jail Did some serious dangerous things lived on it lived a life that was Pretty horrible and now these guys are out never did a day in jail making all this money and they get treated with respect So tide came out would like that I'm gonna rob these type of guys and he did he started robbing them For major amounts of marijuana small amounts of marijuana cocaine whatever he could rob them for he didn't and he made punks out of them He made punk out of the kid's epimansi He made a punk out of him And he robbed his cousin for a hundred and son thousand worth of weed So he was making punks out of guys that thought they were gangsters And I had nothing to do with this and that's you know, that's a lot of shit that was going on because you know people want to say like Because they were my friends that I was putting up to it or I was getting a piece No, these guys came out of jail. Ty did ready was more like laid back Hungry they were broke. They had no money. So They were robbing everybody.  Am I going to take a piece of them? Money the kid they're coming out of jail broke a rob a guy for a hundred thousand You think I'm going to say give me 10 or give me five or give me half No, but I'll tell you they gave Ronald 5000 out of it. Okay. So that's how they came out of prison in 01 So they start kicking they're start kicking up to big L No, no, no, I just gave an example. They gave 5000.  So what happens now is Ty gets out and uh, Ty starts dating this girl and he disappears. He's he's living the family life. He's into construction and He's got nothing to do with me or the mob or anybody his brother I mean he's he's dating this girl They happen to be a girl that I used to date but he started dating enough because I you know I had nothing to do with her anymore And uh, they they clicked up and they were starting the date and They were you know together so six months go by and Ty is pretty much a worker And he's doing construction And that's it me and freddy now freddy and here's another one freddy got out freddy met some serious guys in prison That murdered guys and this and that so you could tell freddy Like that freddy was the type that wanted to be known as a A serial murderer never mind just a murderer. He liked that You know, he liked them stories. Like I said, well me and ty were in prison at a young age freddy liked The stories that he was hearing from us. Yeah, we we called the guy into the Basement and the with the showers were and we we almost killed them down there and this and that and then ty I used to torque ty and eric freddy got a kick up out of all the stories So when he went into the prison and he got out 101 He was around guys that were serious boston gangsters and wister and you know, you know So he met a lot of guys and freddy really liked that. He liked the fact that You know, he could he liked the stories when they told him what this guy killed three people or not so when freddy got out He was uh, I could go on so many different stories But the the thing is he started he was around me more I brought him around me more at the same time bruno's taking over his boss bruno gets promoted at boss in 2001 um When he does i'm around bruno Uh, i'm one of his guys that he's proposing um I'm all over the place now. I got a nightclub in Connecticut the biggest one. I got half a dozen restaurants. I got other All kinds of businesses joker poker businesses. I got everything. They don't have nothing ty doesn't freddy doesn't have none ty doesn't have none They were in prison So i'm putting them with guys that I know Like here, this is this guy. He's in the weed business do business with him I was setting them up so they could make money. I was giving them a piece of Some of my legitimate business so they can make money. So I was helping them out how how I could so and ty ends up coming back around And at the time there was a beef that happened victor bruno Is is really not a nice kid. That's our son Yeah, he's not he's he's always been a just a bad apple and uh Extremely jealous type of a person And so he was always jealous of me He was always jealous of if I had a girlfriend if I had a Group of my cool guys He was jealous that I used to make tons of money and and he was always like that. So freddy and him were friends also So when freddy got out in 2001 This is like, you know, two months later You know right around 2000 and now now we're into 2002. Let's say freddy had a guy out of the boston area that was uh not cancer well respected They were doing knock-off wall boxes Couldn't tell if it were fake freddy was getting him like in under the pop it he could I thousand four thousand. I mean you couldn't tell if they were fake So here's the victor now freddy ain't got two nickels to look good I'm not a president he's broke worth it for his uncle. He gives one to victor bruno victor bruno Takes the watch And freddy says give me 3500 So that's a score because the watch is worth so much more, but it's a fake so it's really not worth it But still you nobody knows so victor takes the watch. He says go ahead take it And take it for the weekend victor comes back and says he was at a ballet that uh watch got stolen So now freddy's got nothing no money. He's got to pay the guy the 1500 The 2000 something like that so he tells victor Victor I have to pay this guy can he at least give me the 2000 That I got to pay him Which is come on he gave him the watch What do you know you lost it now?  I'm the boss that he should have just washed it off. So number two. He's mad at that So we're he beeps me on my beeper and he says where are you? I said I'm down at the club He says he just happened to be there. He said me too now He was out somewhere. It was in a limousine and he had too much to drink. He comes out of the club Ty, we just came back from a restaurant.  He says yes, he is the scumbag goes up to the car Boom gives him a couple cracks.   He's a dangerous guy So I me knowing this I'm figuring that ties might get out of the car and kill bruno because he's younger and in better shape And I'm also in a put in a bad position Because I'm a proposed guy.  So that's how ty ended up getting slapped around by uh, like by bruno You know, was victor a made guy at that point the son never got me. Oh, he never okay No, no victor was never considered. He was like Oh my god, he was the furthest thing from a made guy that you could ever think of This this is really this has been an amazing Uh conversation and I want to tell our audience that I want to promise our audience That we will bring Benji back Yeah, uh, anthony back very very soon Um, maybe even next week. We'll we'll see how it works to um To flesh this out a little bit more. We're just kind of running up against time It's a master class and but this is this is great. Yeah And I think we really got some perspective on on the geus brothers and freddie Just to give people um another Little nuggets of information that maybe you don't know and we can get more into this in a in a second interview that eventually tensions boiled over between anthony and his guys and big al bruno Where big al bruno Got on the outs with the new york guys And the new york guys the the boss of the genovase crime family even though Al was 30 years older than anthony They wanted to put Their trust in anthony anthony had proven to be not just A tough guy But was an earner and we know that that's not the easiest combo combination in that in that world They recognized that and they wanted to you know, for you know, in essence replace Al with anthony and there were some other issues with a guy named felix Trangisi who had gotten his hands on a FBI document that alleged or it seemed to allege that Bruno was was talking out of school to some FBI agents And was waving that around in new york Word gets filtered back That bruno's got to go And again, we'll we'll devote a whole episode to this But al bruno was assassinated at his social club november 23rd 19 or sorry november 23rd 2003 And anthony was involved in that conspiracy and then eventually replaced Al bruno, but the al bruno murder there hasn't been a ton of very high-profile mob murders in the last 20 years And this was this is at the top of the list in terms and not just in his part of the country I mean in america the the big al bruno murder from november of 03 is definitely one of the I dare I say highlights of of the mob in the 2000s and I want to have anthony back on to talk more about that Yeah, another thing I want to and the g's and the just so people to know freddy and tai gs Are doing life in prison Right now because of their participation in the bruno murder another one of my favorite Moments when we talked to anthony the first time and people can go back and listen to that episode too, but Um, it's actually it's a non sequitur has nothing to do with what you just talked about, but I loved it when we asked anthony Uh, what did you think when you first heard that whitey bulger was killed and anthony said they said They told me whitey bulger was killed.  I remember that was great. That was great, but anthony. This was great. I mean really this Your interviews have been maybe my two favorite that we've done In three years. I want to do more stuff Collaborations between og pod and and anthony aralata and the brand that you're going to be building Let anybody you know, why don't you let our listeners know our audience know where they can find you anything you want to promote And then again, we'll keep up this this You know this line of of entertainment or content where we're kind of cross pollinating Yeah, definitely instagram is my name anthony aralata a r i l o t t a same thing with facebook Um, I have a lot of new stuff that's going to be coming out. Um that i'm in talks with now that's going to be Really coming out more and more Like uh, we were talking before there's going to be a big um podcast it's going to be like, you know an audio but it's going to be all about It's going to go into detail about the springfield Connecticut, you know all about the era Our era of the mafia and it's going to be detailed It's uh the prosecutor on the case that handled the case That was the leoness version of the modern mafia Prosecutors is putting it together. He's with box studios and vehicle productions and you know, he's with cnn and msmc So it's going to be really well done. It's coming out first week of october and then uh the book that My friend joe bradley was the is the author that is um The rough draft will be completed in november and then it's being Right now it's being um passed around to publishers. So a lot of good stuff coming out and uh, so you'll be hearing a lot more In their future.  I know anthony and i talked about it a couple years ago I just didn't have the time or the financial capabilities to write his book But if I had been given that opportunity I man I would have loved To sit down with anthony and and sketch out his whole life story because it's it's truly amazing There are so many guys in this world that They live an amazing life compared to the regular joe or jane citizen, but it's it's very um Run of the mill for that for that life and anthony No matter what life you're talking about has not lived a run of the mill existence and has really, uh ambitious and charismatic and like we said someone that was I'll do respect anthony a killer And someone that was a big earner and you could go very far especially back in the 90s and 2000s you could go very far Uh with those two attributes and anthony became a boss like I said 2003 in his early 30s and and led that regime until the late 2000s I could see a tv show. Yeah about springfield because it's a little different than you know, it's it's um east coast which hollywood likes but yet not new york and it's kind of that sweet but it still has a new york time Of course, right, right, which which they would they would like and so because there's another thing We can talk about with anthony the next time he comes on is all the trips he was taking in new york Yeah, all the business he was doing with the new york guys to get into their good crazy and and boston Oh my god, we can be talking for Weeks at a time hours at a time and their stories will never end but Listen, everybody says smaller city springfield. It's a two-hour ride to new york city I mean, so when you think about it if the mafia The biggest the five families exist in new york. It's a two-hour ride. What is that? I mean a two-hour ride.  It's mafia.  I put him up against any new york boss. There was Do research on billy grasso. Why did tropiano and all those? Uh, you know, nicky bianco came up from the columbos He was I mean, there was some notorious gangsters and nobody gives them nobody gives them play because Massachusetts connecticut new york, where you going the same thing in detroit, uh, anthony I mean just watch the movie the irishman You know the 200 million dollar netflix movie that you think they would have done their research on they got deniro pacino You know everybody and their brother and they're presenting The most powerful mobster to ever walk out of detroit Tony jackaloni and they're portraying him in that movie as he's some type of waterboy or or some type of lackey And it's like just because it's detroit just because it's springfield doesn't mean it's not You know as real as cancer and I know the jackaloni family was very offended by that portrayal Of tony jack in in the movie as some type of like He was there to just open doors for for tony provenzano And in reality it was it was the exact opposite tony jack was calling calling the shots and tony pro was following Right, so I mean it's the same thing you know the history So you you kind of know like you know based on what you cover, you know with the big black mafia organizations and similar italian organizations in your area and um, you know like You know people will say the same thing.   You know, that's what you should focus on more. Let's talk about money There's how many how many guys you know in new york wise guys are broke They ain't got two nickels together not anybody up here. Everyone was a multimillionaire. Yeah multi multi Same same in detroit our mob bosses didn't die Uh gangster rich that they died fortune 500 rich. I mean jack toko Who was the godfather for for 35 years died in 2014? And I believe that you know, he was worth hundreds of millions of dollars That's and i'm not taking any listen new york is new york I mean, it's tough living in new york with with five families one in new jersey and everyone running around I mean, it's like, you know, it's it's just it's insane. You're always in competition You know, someone's always with somebody or you can't talk to him because he was me and i'm doing business with them And you remember, so it's just like so crazy. I get that But uh, that's why I like if you ask me I like I think our area is the best Well, well, definitely, I mean we're gonna have anthion back soon But we'll definitely have him on when the podcast and the book come out For him to promote it. I can't wait to get my hands on that manuscript For his book by mr. Bradley. I'm very eager to read it because like I said, I mean, I I don't know if there've been more intriguing Uh suspenseful compelling mob stories of the last 20 years More than than anthion are a lot. So anthion, thank you so much for joining us We we can't tell you how much we appreciate you enough Yeah, thank you anthion and I'll yeah for our audience make sure uh, you follow anthony on social media, but also our You know subscribe to our YouTube channel, please and we're also on instagram twitter and facebook and and we follow anthony he follows us So, uh, I encourage everyone to look at his stuff and please subscribe to ours as well So we appreciate you uh here at the og podcast. We appreciate the audience We're going to keep on giving you that great true crime content with a unique perspective unique insight from people like anthony aralata, please like subscribe follow um Everything original gangsters podcast. Yeah, you can get it. Uh, obviously wherever podcasts are consumed check us up on youtube We'll be back next week scott bernstein for jimmy buchelato and then agusta. We are out


Hello, my name is Bruce Scott, and I'm the Director of Partnership and Communication at the International Livestock Research Institute based in Nairobi, Kenya. My first visit to Ilri was the official opening of the International Laboratory for Research on Animal Diseases, ILRAD, in March 1978. And I was invited because I represented a donor agency to ILRAD, the International Development Research Center, IDRC. And the opening was presided over by the then Vice President of the Republic of Kenya, who then became President Daniel Arab Moi. And I remember thinking to myself, what a dynamic, creative and innovative leader Kenya was about to assume when he took over as President. I joined Ilri as a staff member in 1999, having come from being Deputy Director General for the International Center for Research in Agroforestry, ICRAF, having spent 12 years there. So I came across town from ICRAF headquarters to Ilri headquarters. And my first position at Ilri was the Director of Corporate Services. And so I was responsible for finance, administration, operations, human resources, Board of Trustees functions, IT, et cetera. Currently I'm Director of Partnership and Communications. When we, in 2002-2003, we developed a new amended strategy for Ilri under the leadership of Carlos Serre. And after the Board had adopted the strategy Pathways out of Poverty, Carlos and his senior team put together a new management structure. And part of that change in the structure was to have a division which was responsible for our external relations, which we called Partnerships and Communications. And I believe for the first time at Ilri we were able to bring together all of the disparate units that were dealing with elements of partnership, resource mobilization, communications, IT, all under one umbrella. And I think since then we've been much more cohesive, much more cohesive in terms of the communications, the messaging, the public awareness activities, our knowledge management activities, having it all under one directorship that we had been in the past. I think some of the main changes that I've observed over the last ten years, and these were, they weren't haphazard, they were quite deliberate. First of all, I guess from an external point of view, Ilri's, the funding of, the structure of funding to Ilri changed, as it did for many centres and for the CGIR as a whole. But we went from an institute which was reliant upon unrestricted funds to one which was dependent upon restricted grants. So we had to change gears over the last ten years quite dramatically in terms of how we went about raising funding, and then how we utilized those funds. And it wasn't just in terms of building our relationships with our principal investors and partner, development partners, but also a dramatic change within the staffing of the institute in terms of the responsibility that all staff had in terms of raising funds to ensure that we could do good, high quality research and science to benefit the poor. The second major shift that I've seen over the last ten years is an institute that has moved from being supply driven, in other words, we were determining what was needed in terms of good science and good research, to one, an institute which is much more responsive to demands to trying to address development problems and looking at how science can in fact contribute to solving those problems. I think in that process we shifted from an institution which was only focused on outputs and most of those were in the form of written publications to an institute which is much more concerned with outcomes of its work, the impact of its work, trying to assess that, to monitor it, to evaluate it, and try to draw lessons from the work that we're doing in terms of how we can improve the evidence based of our work. Now that had also a major shift in terms of how Illry went about doing its work, and whereas when I first joined Illry I would say a large percentage of the activities that Illry was involved with were actually contained within the confines of the institute to one in which today a hundred percent of all of our activities are done in partnership with other institutions, ranging right across the board from community and farmer groups to advanced research institutions. That has also had a major implication in terms of how we go about our work and ranges from all of the needs, it really becomes a shift in the way you manage research, it's not just a question of signing a memorandum of understanding but it's really a psychological shift for individuals as well as for the institution to realize that we are doing things together with others in situations where we're not necessarily in control of what is happening within the confines of our partners etc. So that's been a significant shift in the way we manage research. And we're far from perfect at it. I think we're conscious and aware of the importance of it and I think we need to keep working very hard to improve the efficiency of how we work with our partners to make sure that we're more effective in the work that we're conducting. Another important shift that I've observed and witnessed is I would say that Illry has become much more visible in terms of the work that we do, the impact that we're having. And we've done that in a very conscious and systematic way to improve our external, particularly our external communications, our public awareness, our knowledge management activities. We've really tried to shift the paradigm whereby we're making our information, our knowledge travel and travel in areas and in speeds that we could never have dreamt would happen ten years ago. Of course a lot of this is the result of our connectivity and also all sorts of new social media tools that are available to everyone but which Illry has been able to utilize and capitalize in terms of ensuring that we're much more accessible, much more visible to literally hundreds of thousands of people whereas in the past when we relied upon the print form of communication we were really limiting ourselves to thousands of people as opposed to hundreds of thousands of people. That's been a major change and shift in terms of ensuring that the work that Illry is doing is better understood and made available on a much wider basis throughout the world. I just wanted to mention one other issue in terms of the how we work which I think is also very important. Over the last ten years under Carlos's leadership we've really shifted our paradigm from doing the work to making sure the work gets done. And part of that shift was by establishing a number of platforms where we're able to invite in a range of different partners to use our facilities for their own purposes and not necessarily for furthering the objectives and mission of Illry. The best known platform that we're we have underway right now is the Biosciences for Eastern and Central Africa which really is an opportunity to provide the best scientific biosciences facilities certainly in this region to a large range of different partners. But we have other platforms that we're involved with in terms of managing. We have a regional program that looks at a whole range of food security issues which is referred to as resax well beyond the livestock issues but including livestock issues. We've actually transformed our campus in Ethiopia which is a principal site for Illry from one campus which was really just self-contained Illry activities to a multi-user campus and so we now have eight or nine other organizations which are sharing our facilities. Many of them other CGIR centers. It's that platform has enabled scientists from a community of scientists really to work much more closely together from a whole range of different disciplines. I don't think Illry would have made as many advances on the issues of livestock and water if we had not been cohabiting on the Addis Ababa campus with the International Water Management Institute in me as an example. We've also transformed the headquarters campus here in Nairobi to really a hub for excellence in biosciences as it applies to agriculture. And so we have a number of other institutions on this campus that we're hosting such as the African Agriculture Technology Foundation, AATF, the International Institution for the Acquisition of Agricultural Biotechnology, ESA. We have the International Potato Centers biotechnology program based here and then a whole range of users who are using the back of facilities both CGIR centers as well as others. So the nature of both campuses over the last ten years has changed from one which was really a, if you wish, an Illry tower, not necessarily Ivory Tower, but an Illry tower to one which there's a whole range of different partners, institutions, and as a result of that tremendous more vibrancy in terms of the scientific enterprise which is taking place here. And I think as a result of all of these different factors I think Illry's international reputation has moved from one which was doing interesting and good science to an institution which is relevant and really a hub for attracting a range, advancing the whole, all of the issues related to agriculture sciences to solve development problems. In five years from now I think Illry has an important role and contribution to make in continuing to advance the issues of livestock as it relates to agriculture. It relates to development and be seen as the go-to place to get a better understanding of what the issues are, how one can solve certain problems as from a livestock perspective. So I would like to see Illry being recognized and known as the premier livestock institute in the world which has information and knowledge based on strong scientific evidence that can lead to strong development solutions to these problems. I personally believe that Illry should be playing a much stronger advocacy role on the debates of the industry. It relates related to development, to sustainable development on environmental issues, on climate change issues, etc. Because I think we do have a significant amount of information, knowledge that people are in fact interested in and increasingly looking to us to provide that information, those solutions, etc. And thirdly, I think I would like to see Illry be much more prominent on some of the international global debates related to whether it's environment development or what have you and be much more aggressive and as I said visible. And finally, I think it's important that Illry continue to develop and be known to have the experts in a number of specialized fields. And it would be nice if we did have in fact some very significant scientific breakthroughs that not only affect agriculture but affect the development process as a whole. So I think those are a number of the things that I would feel extremely proud of in five years if we would be able to achieve and be recognized for some of these.


I say that. I say things like, I'm going to start the video and go right into the pre-roll. And then Justin walks away. I had to close the door. Oh no, it wasn't even that. Then I don't plug in my sound board. I also need my mic so there's no way I would show up on camera. Alright. Happy holidays everyone. Here we go. The Daily Tech News show is brought to you by me. Thanks me. If you also wish to bring it, go to dailytechnewshow.com slash support. That's dailytechnewshow.com slash support. This is the Daily Tech News show for Wednesday, December 30th, 2015. I'm Tom Merritt joining me today for our predictions results show. Our producer, Jenny Josephson, who by percentage had the best results from last year's predictions. Jenny, I say you just go to one prediction this year and go for 100%. Alright, I'm in. Also joining us, Justin Robert Young, who like me probably is better off not looking at how we did. But you know, it's all about the fun of trying, right Justin? Fun thing about predictions, Tom, is that they're never wrong. They're just not right yet. That's exactly right. We both have a couple of those actually. And Patrick Beja, you actually got a couple pretty close to right. Well done. Yes, thank you. But let's not celebrate just yet. We're going to go through the arduous process of explaining who is right and who is wrong. That's a great tease ahead. If you want something arduous, folks, stay tuned. If you don't know what we're doing every year, since Buzz out loud days and through the tech news today days, I've always done a prediction show at the end of the year with whomever I was hosting my shows with. And the first year we did one, I thought, well, we should check in on these. And so we've held ourselves to that because a lot of people make these predictions articles on blogs. They never go back and look at how well they did. So that's kind of the fun of like, alright, let's see where our mindset was last year. And it does kind of remind me how differently we think from year to year when we go back and look at these. So it's very fun. We're going to start with Justin Robert Young and your five predictions last year, starting with one that I think was a really good bet. And like you said at the beginning of the show, it just means it's not true yet. Snapchat will IPO and offer pro subscriptions. Well, so neither of those things happened yet. Definitely, IPO is in the offer. You guys keep saying yet, yet, yet. We're talking about 2015 predictions. It's not like if it happens in 20 years, you can't go back and say, Hey, what is that? Drake, I was right. Alright, listen, Dion Sanders, if you want to dance in the touchdown all this show, then that's fine. I'm just saying, I'm just saying. Let us recover a shred of our dignity pattern. This is the smile of the audio listeners just missing the Cheshire cat brand, right? Okay, so here's the deal. Snapchat did not IPO in 2015. I was wrong, okay, to the delight of Frenchmen everywhere. I was wrong, wrong, wrong with a capital W-Tang W. But I do think that Snapchat did get a closer to becoming something that they want to be when they get close to IPO or when they want IPO and has started to see not only the money transferring platform that they had done prior to this year, but also beginning to offer new add-ons like the face animations and stuff like that that they now are looking at as kind of their version of stickers for an increased revenue stream. So we saw Snapchat continue to tack closer to the let's be a grown-up media, social media company, but not an IPO and no pro subscriptions. I don't know what pro subscriptions would even necessarily look like right now. Yeah, that's the part that I'm not sure whether it will happen exactly that way, but they will IPO. I guess the company could go out of business before that or they can just decide to stay private forever, but it seems unlikely. Your next prediction, Veronica Mars moment coming to Patreon, music related, and YouTube will buy Subbable. If you just rearranged some words in there, Justin, you would have nailed it because Patreon bought Subbable. Patreon bought Subbable. So yeah, we saw YouTube's... I mean like the spirit had it there. So yeah, you know, the space between me being right and wrong I don't think is very, very far the actual hard predictions for which this is a metric of and I want to make sure that everyone knows that I was wrong while justifying and explaining what happened. Patreon did have a grown-up moment. Unfortunately, it was a hacking scandal as opposed to one of their rather snagging kind of a big star which is what I think still is destined to happen. If somebody is going to... I'll use the term downshift from a major media opportunity to a direct media opportunity and to be honest, where I think it would have been perfect and I am almost... I'm very kind of upset that they decided to go with I think the ill or the ill or fit of Kickstarter was something like MST3K where I think if MST3K launched as a Patreon and not a Kickstarter I feel like that would qualify for something like that and meanwhile I was right Subbable was a goner. I was wrong in that YouTube wanted to do YouTube Red and Patreon was the home for that platform. I think the problem with Kickstarter is that with MST3K you need the money up front to get started and that's what Kickstarter gives you. Patreon doesn't get you the money until you start doing things. So it's kind of like you need Kickstarter to get going. Maybe MST3K still could shift to a Patreon model. If they were done with it, I think it would be better for them to do a Season 2 with that than necessarily another Kickstarter. That's why I said it was music and not TV initially because I think music has a lower overhead. If there is a Prince, and that was my example because he already has Paisley Park Studios. He's already got a place where he can go record everything. It's just a matter of releasing it. I just wanted to add we're recording a little bit earlier in 2015 so actually it might still happen. For the second part, the spirit was definitely there. YouTube did go Red and Subbable did get bought. That's very generous of you, Patrick. Not since they gave us the Statue of Liberty. The relationship between France and the United States has been so warm. It will last. Which by the way was a totally crowd-funded event. Statue of Liberty? Yeah, the Statue of Liberty was raised by money paid by regional governments and small little schools and stuff in France for the statue. Laboulet raised the money. In the US, Joseph Pulitzer was the guy who got out and got the $1. He asked for $1 donations to build the pedestal on Bedelow Island. I just learned about that last night. You have brought up one of the first crowd-funded events. There we go. If you pledge $10, you get the digital copy of the Statue of Liberty. Patrick's point is well-raised though. All of these predictions could still yet come true. Even if you're listening to this on December 30th, there's still one more day. If this is the case, then I was right. Maybe. You said Apple TV will not come out, which it did. And Apple TV came out. But AirPlay becomes an imperative in Apple devices and you even said something about maybe an Apple TV stick. This was dead wrong. Again, this is the nomenclature problem of Apple TV meaning a set and not a set-top box. The idea that I had was that AirPlay was just really, really rad and they need to be able to get it on more devices and Android devices specifically. This is just dead wrong. I don't know if Apple, especially as more things continue to catch up with its functionality, I think they really squandered something with AirPlay in terms of how easy that was for people that were in the Mac ecosystem for that to never really crack outside of that, I think really was a missed opportunity. Comcast and Time Warner Cable Merger will be approved. That didn't happen. It was the opposite. It wasn't even disapproved. Comcast just pulled out and said, fine, you're not going to approve it. We give up pulling out. April 27th they were done with it. And then Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will not end 2015 as CEO. Still a day or 27 days, depending how you look at it? Yeah, that's not true. Uber has continued to grow and a fairly clean sheet for Mr. Kalanick in terms of not saying something that would make people cringe and scream and yell that he is not the kind of person that you would want as a CEO of the fastest growing company ever. In fact, the exact opposite, the rabble-rousing days seem to at least, in terms of public perception, be behind him. Wait, are those the only ones that you have for me? Yeah, those are the ones that I said. You can make some up now in retrospect. No, no, no, no. By the way, I'm just looking into a Google Doc I have called DTNS Predictions. I do not believe that I have opened this up since we did that first episode. I'm going to show you what is at the bottom of it. Apparently, I did not say it, right? These are the notes from last year. I just took them right out of the Google Doc from last year where Jenny was assiduously documenting them as we said them and assigning them percentage chances, by the way. Yes, so here is what... I'm going to full screen here so everybody can see. Is that flipped? No, I can't see it. I see Spider-Man be confirmed to appear in a Marvel movie. That is on my sheet. Now, apparently, I did not say it. Apparently, it is not recorded. I'm just saying that on my DTNS Predictions sheet, I have everything that you just said. Apple IPO, Patreon 11, Veronica Mars moment, Apple, Yadda Yadda Comcast, Travis Kalanick. Spider-Man will be confirmed in a Marvel movie. That is just so it's... Alright, I'm... God, that's frustrating. Well, let's start to see how Patrick did. We'll start with his Uber Predictions. It flows out of yours. Patrick, you said Uber will operate without issue at the end of the year. In one sense, that's true because Uber is operating and where it operates. It seems to operate without issue, but it certainly hasn't stopped being sued and battling and banned in certain parts of the world. Yeah, I'm not sure I would give myself this one. They're having less issues. They're a little bit less controversial, but they certainly didn't operate the... They didn't go the full, but now we have to take all of this seriously and we should pay attention to what we're saying. I mean, they didn't have...   There was one scandal in France. What country was that in? Actually, in France, there was, I think, there was almost a place in France where the naked ladies drive you. On Uber, yes. So, yeah, I'm not sure. I think they're on the right track, but it's certainly proving still to be more controversial than they would like. And they're not, you know, seeing how Airbnb is operating and making, you know, nice with pretty much everyone, making lots of efforts. They're not exactly the same situation, but I would have thought that Uber would go more that way and I guess they didn't quite. Well, Uber also facing kind of different situations. No longer is it necessarily just fighting the taxi unions and local regulations in terms of who can drive a car. It's now kind of evolved specifically in California and possibly now as a national kind of election issue about the idea. They are the poster boys of the, you know, the independent contractor, you know, the situation here in America, which some people say, a lot of people say, that this is a great opportunity where people can make money without a set schedule and some people say it's a way to, for a big, gigantic, vastly growing company to cheat employees out of rightful benefits and pay time off by offering them a lesser form of employment. A large wave on the horizon for Uber, specifically if the California Equalization Board rules against them again on appeal, which they've already done once. And yesterday on the Listener Co-host show, Sakane was one of our Listener Co-hosts who drives an Uber and a delivery truck and pointed out that the delivery truck company also employs the drivers as independent contractors and he had some interesting things to say about the different approach that the delivery company worked for took versus Uber. So, you know, I mean, you should definitely, folks, I'm just going to say go back and listen to his comments on that because he's someone who's living this situation and he's not bashing it, but he's also like, here's what they do well and here's some things I wish they would do better. Apple Watch will sell well, meet expectations, but go unused, Patrick. That's what you said. That's a hard one. Sort of? I think, honestly, if I may judge myself on my prediction, I think at least I don't know if it's what I said exactly, but the intent was realized, which is it did sell okay. We don't have numbers, which I think is already in itself an indicator that Apple isn't touting them, so they're not as, you know, if they were excellent, I think they would tout them a little bit more. So, I guess they met expectations. They still took the first place in that category, but there we enter the very subjective area of this prediction. When I say we'll go unused, I think I have heard many, many people who were hoping that the Apple Watch would do something for them and it ended up not and they are not using it anymore.  But, of course, you're always going to have some people that say, oh, I love my Apple Watch. It does everything I want out of it and it's become a staple of my digital life today and it's difficult to, so it's difficult to judge whether or not it's a complete success. I still think that it didn't, you know, become the thing that we could have hoped for smart watches in the same way that the iPhone or iPad did for their respective categories, which is make it into something more than it already was. Hold on, Patrick. I was just getting a little alert on my Apple Watch. It says, yeah, no, that's wrong. I think it was wristly six months after the release of the Apple Watch, satisfaction remained to the tune of 96%.  I cannot believe that number for one second. 96% of purchasers of the Apple Watch Right, of course, obviously. Yes, if the people kept using it, they're happy with it, obviously, but I don't think that applies to everyone who bought a watch. Well, and you know, I don't want to beat any kind of horse. I don't think horses deserve that, but a collection of 17 analysts after the last quarterly earnings report from Apple told Fortune Magazine their predictions for Apple Watch sales last quarter, or not predictions really, but estimates, and the number varied from two and a half million to six million, so we don't really even know if it isn't the Apple Watch. No, we don't. Although Apple Watch sales, I think, considering, it's interesting to see where expectations should be on that, considering it is something that needs an Apple 6 or 6 plus, or 6, 6 and above, right, to use, and then beyond that, we haven't, I mean, like, through the Christmas season, I think, that's really where we're going to see whether or not it is a underselling product as opposed to, you know, whatever it did in the middle of the year. I think you can pair it with an iPhone 5. Can you? Does it need an FC or no? No, it doesn't. What am I saying? Of course not. Yeah, there's a few people saying they're using it with the 5, but yeah, I mean, the point still stands. Okay, yeah, 5 and above. Yeah. So we'll give you, I'll give you 50% on that. I'll take it, I'll take it. Wait, on the selling... On Apple Watch, you'll sell well, meet expectations, I guess. Oh, all right, jeez. All right, then yeah. No, no, I agree. Uber, it'll do okay. No, no, you're right. I actually, I'm anticipating your snark, sir, and I agree that that, you know, the sell well, meet expectations. The thing is, remember when we made these predictions, it was still a moment where we could have guessed or hoped or thought that the Apple Watch would sell explosively, and by that I don't mean that it would explode, but that it would sell immensely. I think in that sense, it didn't, but yes, it was a meek prediction. Now your next one isn't true yet. It's one of those kind of things, but you said live video would be the last big bandwidth hog we see on the net, and bandwidth is a non-issue. Yeah, this one is difficult as well. I also probably wouldn't give it to myself, but and again, I'm sure that there are some people that have issues with, even with live video, and that you can't use it because of bandwidth gaps. It has become more commonplace. I think you're, this is like a two to three year trend. If it ends up being true. I think that it's quite possible some other thing pops up that we're unaware of. Maybe it's virtual reality, right? That starts to be the new bandwidth hog, but not right for 2015. And right now you've probably got 4K reasons why that, you know, 4Ks. Well, it will not be the last bandwidth hog. Maybe not. Oculus Rift VR and others will come out, but no killer app in 2015 and took the under on 3.82 million units. I'm not sure how we got that 3.82 million units. I think we must have found it. Yeah, so on this one I was too generous. It didn't even come out. But on the other hand, it didn't come out, so it doesn't have a killer app. So yay, prediction. I don't know if you get to claim the dependency on that one. No, I don't. It wouldn't come out. It's wrong in the first sentence. Yes, no, I agree. He's trying to say, but then no killer app came out either. No, no, no, no. I said it would come out and it didn't come out, but I think it was a lot more certainly it would come out, so I was kind of pushing it away saying it wasn't really ready by saying, yeah, it's going to come out clearly and then the apps will come later. Again, at a time where we could have thought it would come out with lots of cool apps. But yeah, it's not. We are in a really weird place with VR still. Like, it just kind of feels like there's a few of these verticals and VR is one of them that we're just all waiting. It'll happen eventually. Don't worry. Well, next year. Here, VR is a purported hit amongst the people who have a Samsung device that can take advantage of it. I mean, they sold out of their first run of them and everything. Well, we don't know how many they made. And also, it's like, what, the HTC Vive? Vive. You know, that's apparently like life changing. That's like, you know, I hear more people screaming yell about their Vive experiences than ayahuasca drum circles. Yeah. They're in the Bay Area. That's a lot of people. But yeah, it's also not out. Or is it? On December 30th. Yeah. Well, no, you have some SDKs. They've said they wouldn't have a commercial release until next year. But also, the problem with that is that it is life changing because of the accessories and the fact that you have the little movement and placement sensing totems that you have to place in your room, which means you need to have a relatively large room and move around. So I'm not sure how usable this is going to become once it's in the hands of the actual consumers. I'm willing to give you your last one. 4K will be a big holiday season push in 2015, and it is. It's not the only one, obviously. They're never just one holiday season push, but they are definitely out there pushing their ultra-high-def TVs. Yeah, this is also on the level of, you know, Star Wars movie will come out. It's not like I was. I think last year we were still wondering about 4K. Like, it isn't there yet. Will it be here by next year? Jenny, you gave it a 75% chance of being right, so I think we were confident in it, too. Yeah. I, you know, I don't know. I don't know. Sorry, I got distracted because I was thinking of a new prediction based on this virtual reality stuff and how it will affect the way people buy homes. But I'll have to save that one tomorrow. Sorry, I was like all off in my mind crafting the prediction. But Justin was getting angry at the point. That's how you play the game. Oh, no, I wasn't getting angry. I'm just like telling televisions during Christmas, now I've seen everything. Yeah, exactly. It's kind of like trying to predict that Spider-Man is going to be in a Marvel movie. Alright. We didn't know that then. That was news this year. Nobody.  It was on my notes. Patrick, if I've learned anything from Trivia, Justin does not like to be wrong. Alright.  Oh God, what a fraudulent situation. Alright, let's get to tongue. I must have been hit in the mouth. I cancelled the convention the next year to deal with the scandal. Everybody knows. It was such a scandal. They cancelled it for one year to let the stink blow over. Fair enough. But that's just making it seem more true. Yeah, sure. Listen. I must have been hitting the bourbon when I wrote these predictions because even I can't really remember what I was getting at. Or some of them are just like me grasping at any way to be right, I think. Internet of Things will start applying to more than just things as wearables underwhelm. Think services like pay-as-you-drive insurance, which by the way I talked about it on the show last year is like, well yeah, that's a thing that is happening. And so I was like, yeah, but more things like that. I couldn't quite explain to you guys what I was trying to say and I still don't know. But if I was going to give myself any credit here, it would be that wearables definitely are underwhelming and Internet of Things just is steam rolling along. Verizon just launched their special LTE service just for it. There's lots of security companies getting in on figuring out how to best secure your Internet of Things, so it is steam rolling along. I don't know if that's what I meant. I would like to think it was. Let's say it was. Sure, let's agree that it was. I'll give myself 10% credit on this one. But yeah, I do think where I was going was more of the Internet of Things will be the hotness. And I don't know that it's quite there yet. The way wearables still are, even if they're underwhelming. People talk about wearables. You see them in all the stores. You see clothing stores with them. Internet of Things not. You got your Amazon Echoes out there, but they're still kind of on the fringes. Although it's not quite there yet. Echo is something that I feel like is a few kind of like SDK plugins away or like, you know, I think that that's there. Echo as a platform was a huge, huge, huge win for Amazon. Yeah, and if you look at this doc that I just found, I wrote Amazon Echo will be a huge platform. Oh, I swear. I did not. I think it was even in the post-show that I said it. I think you did. It actually sounds familiar now that you've said that. So we're going to give you credit for that. 3D printing will hit the mainstream double in sales. It will have its Commodore 64 moment. I'm one third right. It definitely did double in sales, but that is also a little bit like a Star Wars movie will come out. It's been doubling in sales every year because the sales were 100 million and then they were 200 million and they're even saying it's going to be 400 million next year. I don't know that we had our Commodore 64 moment with 3D printing this year. No. Yeah, I don't think we did. I don't see a 3D printer that's being advertised in prime time television and everybody's like, oh, I have a friend who has that. And Brian had it got one. And so they're, you know, more top of mind I think in our audience especially. Yeah, and then Scott Johnson got one. So they're starting to get out there, but I think we're maybe in the Vic 20 moment, not the Commodore 64 moment. But ultimately, you have to wonder whether or not the future of 3D printing really lies on the producer side or the consumer side because I think that we are seeing more than guaranteed products for people to buy and that's giving a tremendous opportunity for people to build with flexibility. However, as a Commodore thing, as a 3D printer in every home, I still think that there's a question of, well, what do I build aside from figurines? Yeah, and in manufacturing, 3D printing is becoming a norm. But that's, you know, that's an entirely different arena. It's about the producer versus the consumer. Here's one where I was super high. Context will be the hot new buzzword. Systems will use context more and be context aware. Look at Google's recapture as an early example. Example. I think in some sense, systems are using context more. We're talking a lot about machine learning and deep learning and that sort of thing, but context did not become a hot new buzzword. That was a noble cut. That was a noble swing of the bet. Because I feel like I still kind of believe that I could put my shoulder in it. Yeah, that I could hear people like, well, what is the future of Uber? Context. I kind of feel like that is a buzzword waiting to happen. In some sense, you could look at this and say we went with different buzzwords. We're talking a lot about natural language processing and deep learning and machine learning. Yeah, it's almost I think machine learning could have been I mean it's not exactly the same buzzword, but you could almost work it into that. Almost, almost. Because in a way the machine learning bases itself on the, it helps do the thing with the stuff. In a way we've seen it so much more though this year. And you saw as Google Maps, the leader in that kind of technology continued to put ways in there the integration of those features have become that is all context aware stuff and even Apple has become more and more in that pick up your phone and it will show you if it knows that you're away from home, how far it's going to take you back home on your lock screen. So it's like context is there, we're not saying the word we're not using the C word Tom. Yeah, it didn't become the actual buzzword. Don't use that word. Early examples of autonomous machines, not yet self-driving cars but more than a Roomba. Good clever prediction crafting on my part. I left it loose enough that it could mean almost anything autonomous. So I'm right because we are getting autonomous drones and other autonomous products out there. Like what? Well, like autonomous drones and also other drones. No, we're getting a lot of robotics. There's the Dutch robot that can guide you from gate to gate at the airport. There's the friendly pal that goes around in the retail stores in Japan. There's autonomous programs. That's what I'm saying. I left the construction of my prediction loose enough that it could account for anything that arose that happened to have autonomy in it. But things like that are around. Fair enough. We did see, although you did cut out self-driving cars, probably the biggest you could own in gigantic quotes italicized self-driving car if you owned a Tesla that had the auto drive. Right, you get an almost self-driving car. But in terms of public perception, that's a huge thing. And it is somewhat autonomous. And it downloaded right there. Yeah, I think a bit broad. I think that prediction's favorite comedy central television show is Broad City. Yeah, I think that was a broad joke. Risk-based security brings things down while being honest about what it can't prevent and apps will become self-protecting. Risk-based security was a big buzzword at the end of last year and it has continued to be discussed. And there are certainly companies putting out more products around that idea of targeting risks and defending against them instead of taking this holistic approach. So in a broad sense, we have definitely more risk-based security in the pivot towards that. I don't think I'm going to give myself credit for this because I don't see a lot of apps there were a few last year and there's still a few now that build themselves as self-protecting versus needing to have some kind of overall encryption, protection, security, TLS, etc. Yeah, I don't know enough about this field to you know go into what should have been expected versus what happened but I don't think that this is a win. I do want to note that the Wall Street Journal had an article out in September about Facebook working on self-protecting apps so maybe, just maybe. Well, as we were saying earlier in the show, 2015 is not over yet. Alright, Jenny, you made two predictions, show specific predictions last year. The first of which we, me and you are largely responsible for making untrue which you predicted we would reach our video goal this year and we actually took our video goal away instead. So we took the prediction off the table which we We took it off the board. Which means I got 100% That's right, we just invalidated your first one and your second one which was by June we'll have our final two contributors and we did. And we were so excited to have them and be moving ahead actually even into a new year which might find us reaching the goal of having an international version of DTNS DTNS Day 6 is a looming possibility in 2016. Yeah, who knows maybe we're right there right now because of you ladies and gentlemen. All right, well that is a look at how we did tomorrow you will get a window into how we're going to do as we do our prediction show for next year but before we wrap up Mr. Patrick Beja, thank you so much not just for being on this show but for being a part of this show now for more than a year man, it's it's extra tricky when you're emotion away and in another country under their laws that are different than our laws doing business arrangements and I just want to say 100 and if that were possible more percentage appreciate you being part of this show. Well, you could make it to 150% Sure, yeah as much as the math will allow that is when we become a little bit sappy I'm incredibly thankful to you and Jenny for allowing me to be part of this amazing adventure and obviously I'm going to start some people might think this is pandering but I'm really incredibly thankful to you both for letting me be part of the amazing community that you have created around this and your shows and making me in a way part of the diamond club frog pants podcasters extraordinary family so it's not just the shows it's also the people around the shows including the listeners so I'm incredibly happy to be part of this and I hope we can continue doing it for a very long time. Me too me too. Frenchspin.com folks find more Patrick if you haven't already he's got the Philius Club and Pixels and much much more so go check that out Justin, Robert, Young, same goes for you my friend now more than a year as well and I can't imagine doing this show without you I'd really super 100% plus appreciate it. Can I say something about Patrick real quick? I think Patrick not only is an amazing contributor to this show but I think something that gets lost is like I can't imagine doing a talk show in a non-native language I mean like I have no second language let alone you know the ability to kind of do what is very very hard I mean most people who speak English would find it very very hard to do you know and then if we spoke English your entire life and our profession it's their only language so Patrick I think is very very good and you know very specifically I think this has been a very very inspiring year in your hometown and to have a voice that is articulate as your own speaking on a lot of that kind of stuff especially as it's resulted in technology I think it's been very important in illuminating I know for me as a listener and I'm very very I think it's rad that you're making me I predict Patrick will cry yeah finally finally expect such kindness 30 seconds folks you want more of that kind of Justin Robert Young there's all kinds of it you gotta follow the guy Justin are young on Twitter and is there is there a home for Justin Robert Young projects that you point people to because you got so much going on yeah I don't know man the Twitter is the way to go you know you can follow a jury talks for my one Mike show that is general interest politics politics politics for my show that's about home and gardening um you know there's there's there's all sorts of stuff but but really the the the Twitter is the way to go and of course ladies and gentlemen the contender on sale now everybody go ahead to thecontender.us to pick up your copy as they are arriving for us to send out to the top Kickstarter backers tomorrow I'm tracking it as it makes its way across December 31 I thought they were already out haha oh wait hold on oh stop oh this is never mind it's already out yeah it's so awesome everyone I predict you all have uh now fantastic man uh it is it is such and this goes for for all the contributors it's it's such a relief uh to get ready for a show every day and say like oh it's Justin today uh you know like I just get excited because you're passionate about stories you've got years of not only journalism expertise working at a newspaper back in the day but blogging and dealing with communities and following this stuff and it's it's fantastic uh which brings us to the only other person who's about to hit two years on this show Mrs. Jenny Josephson uh I can't express how much I thank you for everything you've done for this show well you know you've only changed my entire life and made me completely internet savvy and given me a warm and loving community that is so nice to be and sends me presents in the mail so you know I'm pretty happy it's been a pretty great two years it's it's sort of brought into my world view into something that I never thought would be possible that's fantastic and I hope I hope that that shows to people that we all really care about the show and we want to keep doing this show and we incredibly appreciate every one of you as well that you care about the show uh and want to keep it going dailytechnewshow.com slash support is what most of you are doing to to make the show happen and if you're not and you're willing to uh go check it out there's there's different ways to support the show patreon is is the big one because that gives us an idea of how much we're going to get every month on an ongoing basis but there's also paypal and people do schedule paypal donations and and there's the store in there as well if you got a little Christmas bonus uh that you're looking to I don't know get a DTNS mug or something like that uh dailytechnewshow.com slash store as well uh our email address is feedback at dailytechnewshow.com you can give us a call<PHONE_NUMBER> start in January 3rd again you'll be able to catch the show live on Monday through Friday at 430 Eastern at alphageekradio.com and diamondclub.tv and our website is dailytechnewshow.com tomorrow an all new round of predictions talk to you then this show is part of the frog pants network get more at frogpants.com diamond club hope you have enjoyed this brover thanks everybody see you tomorrow