Wayne Pays More: A Life in the Pawn Business with Wayne Cohen

Interactive Transcript

spk_0 We are coming at you live from Rondisclose Location in the 60712.

spk_0 It is the J3 Amateur Hour Podcast.

spk_0 Welcome everybody to the J3 Amateur Hour Podcast.

spk_0 After a long hiatus, I am your host, Jordan.

spk_0 I am here with.

spk_0 That's the oil.

spk_0 And Josh is not here.

spk_0 Why is that, Jordan?

spk_0 You know, the market is rough.

spk_0 Josh is a little obsessed right now with you know, the economy.

spk_0 And also, and Trump, he's not a huge fan, I would just say.

spk_0 And also, it is the NBA playoffs.

spk_0 So, I think Josh picks his spots and I'm not going to blame the hiatus on him.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 We all bear some responsibility.

spk_0 Busy lives, busy lives, things going on.

spk_0 We're our family, personal obligation.

spk_0 People have to travel here there, whatever.

spk_0 And then to schedule a gas while all three of us are available.

spk_0 And I think we just got to the point where we realized, you know, if Josh is not fully

spk_0 in, then he's just going to bring us down maybe.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 And we decided we've never done it just mean yo-al before.

spk_0 We did not.

spk_0 We recorded some just Josh and I, right?

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 Back in the day.

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 And, you know, people have different takes on that.

spk_0 But this is a new beginning.

spk_0 And I kind of like it.

spk_0 I enjoyed this.

spk_0 One on one.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 And to be transparent, we did have our guest already.

spk_0 We're recording afterwards.

spk_0 I'm a little bit blown away.

spk_0 What do you think, yo?

spk_0 It was a really good time.

spk_0 Many of our listeners have listened from, let's say across the country, even across the

spk_0 globe.

spk_0 I heard over Pace Act people and mentioned to other people that, you know, like in Orlando,

spk_0 I heard that some people.

spk_0 I think Blonder.

spk_0 New York, yeah.

spk_0 Blonder, mentioned people who asked if they knew that you, oh, I did have this thought over

spk_0 Pace Act.

spk_0 I saw that, you know, kind of these like amateur comedians get these gigs, go to Pace

spk_0 Act programs.

spk_0 I'm not sure if they're invited to stay and if they get a free ride or they're just flying

spk_0 in.

spk_0 But I thought maybe should we try to market ourselves?

spk_0 And then I know you and Josh are kind of taking care of you.

spk_0 Have that.

spk_0 It's not a big deal.

spk_0 But for me, I would appreciate, you know, a free Pace Act.

spk_0 You'll be like the, like the barrel Solomon of like willing to get up there and you'll

spk_0 just create this story of who you are and like you were born to podcasts.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Blumberg saw this guy, Dovey Newberger.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Do we have that in us?

spk_0 You have the hair of Dovey Newberger.

spk_0 No.

spk_0 I mean, the point is we just, we don't care and we don't want to become, we don't want

spk_0 to be recognized or want to be in the middle.

spk_0 But we like to talk about people and we're going to keep it that way.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 But anyways, we had a great guest tonight.

spk_0 It's a little different than typical.

spk_0 His name is Wingkone.

spk_0 He is in the pawn shop business.

spk_0 He has been for a long time.

spk_0 His father was in the pawn shop business.

spk_0 His kids are in the business now.

spk_0 And he's kind of like family.

spk_0 He's not my cousin, but we share cousins.

spk_0 So I've always, you know, always kind of from afar had this, to be honest, I never have

spk_0 a relationship with him at all.

spk_0 But I met him a few times.

spk_0 He's a fun guy.

spk_0 But crazy stories.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 But contrary to most of our guests have been part of the from community or stories about

spk_0 the community, this is more about entertainment.

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0

spk_0 I mean, look, I did learn a lot from the interview.

spk_0 But as I was saying, you know, those of you who have listened, you know, from the East Coast

spk_0 or Israel and looking to be inspired.

spk_0 No.

spk_0 Well, yes.

spk_0 Actually, yes.

spk_0 Why not?

spk_0 You got to have different, there are different people with different perspectives.

spk_0 And I think it was great.

spk_0 And I think that, you know, Josh is very focused on, you know, very particular situations

spk_0 and things to do with this podcast.

spk_0 And you know what?

spk_0 We got to give it back to the people, right?

spk_0 We only care about our listeners.

spk_0 We want to have a good time.

spk_0 Listeners want more.

spk_0 They get bored, especially during the spirit or the cast into music.

spk_0 Everyone has different things that they want.

spk_0 And at the end of the day, we're here to entertain.

spk_0 I found this awesome entertaining.

spk_0 So therefore we present this episode to you.

spk_0 We hope everyone enjoys.

spk_0 We have a very special guest.

spk_0 We have with us tonight Wayne Cone.

spk_0 Wayne is a member of the Cone family, Pawn Empire.

spk_0 He's the owner currently of A1 Jewelry and Pawn in Oak Park and Hammond Super Pawn in

spk_0 Northwest Indiana.

spk_0 Wayne is not exactly my cousin, but we share cousins.

spk_0 Wayne, what's going on?

spk_0 How you doing tonight?

spk_0 I'm alive.

spk_0 Look at that.

spk_0 OK, so I'm glad about it, but I don't know if my wife is.

spk_0 So Wayne and I, my grandmother, Toby, had a sister.

spk_0 And your grandpa, Mike.

spk_0 Yeah, that's right.

spk_0 Mike Bass.

spk_0 So Toby had a twin sister, Gene.

spk_0 Yeah, it's my aunt.

spk_0 That's right.

spk_0 Gene was married to Arnie Rubin.

spk_0 I love Arnie.

spk_0 He was a bus.

spk_0 So Arnie's sister, Asna, how do you pronounce it?

spk_0 No, no, no.

spk_0 Asna.

spk_0 What's his mother?

spk_0 So Wayne and I share the Rubin cousins.

spk_0 OK.

spk_0 And you guys spend time together as kids because on the south side, both families were on the

spk_0 south side.

spk_0 And you were out there by Midway Airport, so Wayne, why don't you tell us a little bit

spk_0 about the family business, pawn shops.

spk_0 Wayne, you guys go back generations in the business.

spk_0 Your father, Yankele.

spk_0 Yankele.

spk_0 Yankele Cone.

spk_0 He was the best.

spk_0 Tell us about him because he's not from Chicago.

spk_0 He was born in Israel.

spk_0 Actually Palestine before it was Israel.

spk_0 That's right.

spk_0 You came here when he was five years old.

spk_0 Came to New York, then he came to Chicago.

spk_0 My grandmother, that was her second husband.

spk_0 Because her first husband, my grandfather, my grandfather, he died in 1939.

spk_0 My grandmother was 16 or 17 and he was like 50 something.

spk_0 He went to Israel to find a wife because his wife here in the United States, she was married,

spk_0 she cracked up.

spk_0 She must have hung out with the cone family time.

spk_0 So she cracked up and a brand-by's-gabre permission to go to Israel to find a new wife.

spk_0 And that's what he did.

spk_0 So he went to Israel, maybe he was 50 years old.

spk_0 He had permission to get a new wife.

spk_0 So he finds my grandmother who was 16 or 17.

spk_0 Marries her out there, has two kids with her.

spk_0 Are you aware of like first cousins from those first children that he had children in

spk_0 Chicago before he went to his own?

spk_0 My grandfather, you mean?

spk_0 Your grandfather.

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 And there were some big rabbis.

spk_0 Yeah, rabbis.

spk_0 Shmul Yosel.

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 I feel like this guy is a real character.

spk_0 I feel like Shmul Yosel is like a madame.

spk_0 No, maybe it's like long beach, Yashiva.

spk_0 Sure.

spk_0 There was a family called the Fish Binds.

spk_0 That's him.

spk_0 The Fish Binds.

spk_0 That family was.

spk_0 No Yosel, Fish Bind.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 It was Mary Fish Bind was a cone.

spk_0 It was my grandfather's daughter.

spk_0 So why didn't you go into that family business, the Yashiva business?

spk_0 Well, it wasn't that profitable back in the days.

spk_0 Like it is now over the nursing homes, you know.

spk_0 I wouldn't know that.

spk_0 I would have.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 Your grandfather comes back to America with two children.

spk_0 No, he didn't come back.

spk_0 He came back alone.

spk_0 He left them there for a while.

spk_0 Married my grandmother, left them there.

spk_0 Came back and got them when they were five years old.

spk_0 Got it.

spk_0 Then they came.

spk_0 He brought them back here at the United States of Chicago and they grew up then my grandfather

spk_0 died at 61.

spk_0 So your father was a young child?

spk_0 That was nine years old when his father died.

spk_0 And so what's he up to?

spk_0 He's on the streets.

spk_0 He's got to make a living now.

spk_0 What's my dad?

spk_0 He always found a way to make a living.

spk_0 What an awkward a jail, of course.

spk_0 What your dad is.

spk_0 What did your grandfather do?

spk_0 He was my grandfather.

spk_0 It was an furniture business.

spk_0 I saw a Chicago.

spk_0 They had a lot of money back before the depression.

spk_0 And the depression came and that was it.

spk_0 My dad remembers a bar mitzvah of Richards, 1968.

spk_0 There was some type of little shoulder steeple by me.

spk_0 My dad was a canter.

spk_0 My dad's a restaurant.

spk_0

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 And your dad was a chazin.

spk_0 Sure was.

spk_0 It was about by like archer and cistero or something like that.

spk_0 It was a archer and a Garfield Ridge.

spk_0 My dad started a show over there.

spk_0 And then we had about maybe 30 families.

spk_0 And my dad was the whole show.

spk_0 And then see that closed down and my dad did the Scottsdale.

spk_0 They made him the chazin over Scottsdale.

spk_0 Which was a big position for him.

spk_0 There was maybe 500 Jewish families out there.

spk_0 And my dad made us go and acquire me and my two other brothers.

spk_0 We don't want to go, but he promised us we would get paid

spk_0 for going to the corner.

spk_0 So after this tie holidays, this is going back by about 60 years ago.

spk_0 I'm still waiting for my paycheck.

spk_0 This is an orthodox show.

spk_0 No, no, no, no, no.

spk_0 This is a conservative.

spk_0 Do you remember any of those tunes?

spk_0 You still have a voice?

spk_0 Yeah, I would.

spk_0 Try to forget them.

spk_0 OK, so your father, though, growing up.

spk_0 And what about Kena?

spk_0 Did he sing?

spk_0 A Vena.

spk_0 Yeah, he singed a lot.

spk_0 And I was a Friday night when I went to show.

spk_0 And I was singing that song.

spk_0 And what pointed your father go into the business that you currently working?

spk_0 What happened was when he was 16, he was going to tell us your ship in New York.

spk_0 His mother wanted to become a rabbi.

spk_0 That wasn't in my father's plans.

spk_0 So he thought he'd go into the Marine Corps and try a little bit of that.

spk_0 He's 16 years old.

spk_0 So he told his mother, I don't want to be no rabbi.

spk_0 I'm going into the Marine Corps.

spk_0 She didn't take it to well, but she signed, let him go into the Marine Corps.

spk_0 And she was just Rayleigh and she would, or she was right.

spk_0 And what year was this?

spk_0 It was World War II was going on.

spk_0 OK.

spk_0 So my dad in a list that 16 or maybe 17 in the Marine Corps, he goes in, down the

spk_0 war is over.

spk_0 He was on an aircraft carrier somewhere out in the Pacific.

spk_0 They say, if you want, you can leave or you get a list for another three years.

spk_0 He goes, how do I get out of here?

spk_0 My father was orthodox.

spk_0 So when he was in a Marine Corps, he almost starved to death.

spk_0 He would eat the food for like two weeks.

spk_0 It wasn't kosher.

spk_0 So that's how he became a boy.

spk_0 The Marine Corps did it to him.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 So he was a little different when he came back?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Yeah, he was different than he went to watchmaking school in New York.

spk_0 OK.

spk_0 And the GI Bill became a watchmaker.

spk_0 And from doing watchmaking, he used to go to all the pawn shops in Chicago.

spk_0 He used to all the war peers for him.

spk_0 I like this business.

spk_0 So this black guy named Henry Freisen, who used to work at a pawn shop, took a liking

spk_0 to my dad.

spk_0 And those two guys wanted to become pawn brokers.

spk_0 They started a little pawn shop and Henry didn't like the idea or he didn't come up with

spk_0 any money.

spk_0 So my dad started a pawn shop on 16th Street, 1948, 1949, something like that.

spk_0 OK.

spk_0 And so you as a child, what were your earliest memories?

spk_0 Did you work in the pawn shop as a kid?

spk_0 I was born in a pawn shop.

spk_0 My mother gave birth to me back there.

spk_0 Is this a joke or something?

spk_0 Oh, born in a pawn shop.

spk_0 Are you serious?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Right in the bathroom.

spk_0 No, I was born in Monsigny Hospital.

spk_0 God, I got it.

spk_0 But I thought I'd block that.

spk_0 OK.

spk_0 But as a kid, I'm assuming this is like a family business.

spk_0 Oh, yeah.

spk_0 It was rough in the West Side, Chicago back growing up.

spk_0 I remember that.

spk_0 One day, my dad gave me a dollar.

spk_0 I'll never forget this.

spk_0 I'll tell you what, I used to sneak on my mother's car

spk_0 without the kid.

spk_0 I wanted to go to work all the time.

spk_0 I was maybe 7, 6 or 7 years old.

spk_0 So I would in the morning, because my mother

spk_0 would go to help my father at the pawn shop.

spk_0 I would sneak into her car and hide underneath the seat.

spk_0 OK.

spk_0 And about half way, but when she got to the store, it popped up.

spk_0 Say, hey, mom, where are we going?

spk_0 What are you doing in my car?

spk_0 So she would take me to the work.

spk_0 I'd go to work with my dad all day.

spk_0 Even as a kid.

spk_0 So you skip school a lot.

spk_0 Yeah, I'm done.

spk_0 And this is her and the rest side.

spk_0 I want to run, Mom.

spk_0 He would day school.

spk_0 You ever heard of that, Joint?

spk_0 I have not, but that was on the south side at the time.

spk_0 On the west side.

spk_0 Yeah, central Adams, central Adams.

spk_0 And then you guys moved south later.

spk_0 No, we were we were south the whole time.

spk_0 We moved to Lincolnwood.

spk_0 Thank you.

spk_0 OK, I'm sorry.

spk_0 You went to school on the west side,

spk_0 but you were living on the south side.

spk_0 I went to a broker.

spk_0 He would broker school.

spk_0 Got it.

spk_0 I went to the school where I lived.

spk_0 I wouldn't be living right now.

spk_0 The rough back those days.

spk_0 Yeah, I was going to say I know that you guys,

spk_0 your family, was on the south side for a long time.

spk_0

spk_0 My part is start part.

spk_0 Historically, a lot of people, a lot of from those,

spk_0 you know, Jewish communities or, you know,

spk_0 a lot of the, it was called white flight.

spk_0 Everyone kind of fled the south side at some point in the,

spk_0 you know, the 50s into the 60s.

spk_0 You guys were kind of the last holdouts.

spk_0 What was that like?

spk_0 Where were there was no Jews?

spk_0 Maybe there was like, they're in Christophe stand.

spk_0 Maybe we had their lights up, you know?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 We're the only house for miles.

spk_0 No lights.

spk_0 They won't say the anti-Christ living in that house.

spk_0 It's a good thing my dad had a big German shopper

spk_0 that we probably wouldn't be alive today.

spk_0 That dog must have been hard for neighbors.

spk_0 You had dogs spend more time in the pound than with us.

spk_0 You ever, you ever get jumped as a kid?

spk_0 Yeah, we did actually.

spk_0 And the west side, maybe my two brothers were going to,

spk_0 walking home with Yamukizan,

spk_0 about eight or ten of these kids, tried to jump us.

spk_0 I'll tell you a story.

spk_0 So these guys, they jumped us.

spk_0 They messed with us because we were Jews.

spk_0 I obviously told our dad.

spk_0 And the next day he goes, come with me.

spk_0 I'm going to go look for those guys.

spk_0 We call my dad, Yanke.

spk_0 Because we never call him dad.

spk_0 He called me Uncle.

spk_0 Everyone call him Yanke.

spk_0 Everybody.

spk_0 So we call him Yanke.

spk_0 We got you.

spk_0 Can you imagine that?

spk_0 Did he go by Yanke at the store?

spk_0 Jack by the store.

spk_0 Jack, okay.

spk_0 But Yanke was there.

spk_0 Sure.

spk_0 So I'll tell you a story about Jack Kohn.

spk_0 That was his name, Jack Kohn.

spk_0 I'll tell you a story about Ronnie Dangerfield.

spk_0 Didn't you ever hear that guy before?

spk_0 Sure.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 So anyways, we walked in or driving him, brother.

spk_0 And we see these guys walking.

spk_0 I said, those are the guys.

spk_0 So my only man pulls the car up, gets out of the car,

spk_0 grabs this one guy.

spk_0 I might be able to, was a rough dude.

spk_0 Smacks him up into the wall.

spk_0 He says, you see that wall?

spk_0 You ever touch these kids?

spk_0 You're going to go through that wall.

spk_0 Never heard a problem again.

spk_0 Now, man, we'll never take any BS from anyone.

spk_0 And then what precipitated the move north?

spk_0 I know.

spk_0 But I'm going to deal on a house out here on a foreclosure.

spk_0 That's all.

spk_0 And at that point, so you moved, I know that you guys

spk_0 had a pawn shop.

spk_0 The original one you said was on 16th Street.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 We got burned out.

spk_0 We got burned out in the riots of 68.

spk_0 68 riots.

spk_0 Martin Luther King.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 That was it.

spk_0 Burn him through the ground.

spk_0 Luckily, my man got away.

spk_0 Everyday almost killed him over there.

spk_0 He was in the shop at the time.

spk_0 Yeah, everyone told him to get out, get out.

spk_0 Get out.

spk_0 This is good.

spk_0 I'm not going nowhere.

spk_0 He left.

spk_0 But did you know that Martin Luther King was a customer

spk_0 at his store?

spk_0 Martin Luther King lived right down the street.

spk_0 He lived on 16th and Hamlin.

spk_0 We had a person.

spk_0 There was like a summer that he was in Chicago, right?

spk_0 He had a part of Chicago.

spk_0 Yeah, he had a residency here.

spk_0 Oh, OK.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 So he used to come as the store, not dead in the room.

spk_0 Really?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Were there a lot of pawn shops at the time?

spk_0 Back then, there were quite a few.

spk_0 There were maybe 40, 50 in the city.

spk_0 And then after the riots of 68, there was maybe 10.

spk_0 And we owned three of them.

spk_0 Business was great back in those days.

spk_0 Now there are a lot of pawn shops owned by public corporations,

spk_0 like Easy Pond and Cash America.

spk_0 They ruined the business for us.

spk_0 He used to be an all-chewish business.

spk_0 Really?

spk_0 There was not anyone I know in a pawn shop business

spk_0 that wasn't Jewish.

spk_0 I don't know anything about pawn shops or how they work.

spk_0 That makes two of us.

spk_0 Let's talk about how the business actually works.

spk_0 Or perhaps when you were growing up in the business,

spk_0 I'm just because I'm sure things change over the years.

spk_0 But when you were growing up in the business,

spk_0 how did your dad make a living at the pawn shop?

spk_0 How does it work?

spk_0 It works.

spk_0 People come in and bring you stuff.

spk_0 They make a loan.

spk_0 Back in the old days, they didn't have credit cards, banks,

spk_0 or getting anybody loans.

spk_0 It was called the Poor Man's Bank.

spk_0 Where are you gonna go get 20, 30, 40, 50 bucks?

spk_0 You got a ring, a watch.

spk_0 You can't go to a bank.

spk_0 So the pawn shops came, you know,

spk_0 people come in and they'd pawn their suits.

spk_0 Actually, suits.

spk_0 We were taking suits.

spk_0 We'd take shoes and toasters, irons.

spk_0 We'd take everything back in those days.

spk_0 It's a little bit different than it is now,

spk_0 but that's how it started.

spk_0 So the primary business is lending money

spk_0 and collecting interest on that money

spk_0 for when people come together, stuff back.

spk_0 But let's say, you know, someone

spk_0 to fault's on the loan.

spk_0 You've got this collateral.

spk_0 Okay, I understand a watch, a ring.

spk_0 You've got a suit.

spk_0 How do you move that product?

spk_0 Well, people come looking for that stuff

spk_0 to come to the pawn shop, looking for deals all day long.

spk_0 You find some unbelievable deals with a pawn shop.

spk_0 I mean, you could buy back in the day,

spk_0 but now gold is very high.

spk_0 But you know, you can go to a store,

spk_0 pay $1,000 for a ring.

spk_0 You can buy it at the same ring to pawn shop for $100 or $200.

spk_0 You can buy back in the day like a suit.

spk_0 You could buy a $100 or $200.

spk_0 You could buy for $20, $20.

spk_0 And how much would you lend on that suit?

spk_0 Depends, if we have regular customers,

spk_0 you would give them sometimes whatever they want

spk_0 because they always picked it up.

spk_0 $10, $20, $30, sometimes $50.

spk_0 You would have regular customers

spk_0 coming and pouring stuff.

spk_0 Is there like a rule in terms of like, you know,

spk_0 certain banks lend, you know,

spk_0 certain percentage?

spk_0 We loan off the people that we know

spk_0 are going to come back for an merchandise.

spk_0 And if a guy we know is not coming back for it,

spk_0 anything got to get too much, you know?

spk_0 Or we buy stuff outright.

spk_0 A lot of people, you know, they come across jewelry

spk_0 and they bring it to the fast cash, you know,

spk_0 we're gonna save you a ring at $1,000, $2,000, $3,000,

spk_0 your Rolex watch, go to pawn shop.

spk_0 Right, you know, or make a loan on it.

spk_0 And then how long does it take for like,

spk_0 for someone to defuse?

spk_0 Well, as you make a loan back in the day,

spk_0 growing up, it was a year loan.

spk_0 I want you.

spk_0 So it's a long time to hold on to them.

spk_0 So it's not always 30 days.

spk_0 So if they don't come back in 30 days,

spk_0 it's years to keep.

spk_0 30 day grace you could, you could sell it.

spk_0 Or you tell a person,

spk_0 that's not gonna give you more money

spk_0 if you want to sell the item right now.

spk_0 Now they always think they're gonna get more

spk_0 if they make a loan on it, but, you know,

spk_0 then they can't outsmart the palm brook.

spk_0 They try to.

spk_0 And how often has it, I mean, sometimes obviously people

spk_0 have zero intentions of coming back to get it.

spk_0 So they sell the item outright.

spk_0 Right, and then other times, let's say they try to get back

spk_0 and have you ever had a situation where you're like,

spk_0 75% of people back in the day came back to pick up their stuff.

spk_0 25% default rate.

spk_0 And with those purposeful defaults,

spk_0 or like, would they come back all of a sudden,

spk_0 if I could do it, I got rid of your object

spk_0 like two months ago, like, yeah,

spk_0 sometimes you get some crazies, but, you know,

spk_0 we take care of them.

spk_0 Did you have security there?

spk_0 Yeah, my own man, you don't need security with him.

spk_0 Just the ankle, ankle.

spk_0 That's it.

spk_0 One man powerhouse back in the day, yeah.

spk_0 But nowadays, no, my brother Randy, we're all, you know,

spk_0 we hold our own pretty good.

spk_0 A lot of experience unfortunately.

spk_0 I mean, you grew up in, you grew up in some rough neighborhoods.

spk_0 Like Lincolnwood.

spk_0 Yeah, Lincolnwood.

spk_0 I'm all in.

spk_0 I got my tooth knocked out in Lincolnwood by three Nazis.

spk_0 Really?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 What year was that?

spk_0 My tooth getting knocked out.

spk_0 I was 14 years old.

spk_0 So that was the 1972 or something like that.

spk_0 73.

spk_0 I'm just guessing you weren't minding,

spk_0 you weren't minding your business at the time or no?

spk_0 No, I was outside walking around on my bicycle.

spk_0 Three guys taught me.

spk_0 You see that guy down the street?

spk_0 There's nobody talking about.

spk_0 Then they started up with me.

spk_0 You would you?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Why?

spk_0 I had a pair of handcuffs on me.

spk_0 So they started coming at me.

spk_0 So I started swinging the handcuffs at him.

spk_0 The next thing I know, I was right back in my house,

spk_0 I walked into the house, I turned around and popped right in my mouth,

spk_0 knocked my tooth out.

spk_0 So I told my dad, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

spk_0 What's wrong?

spk_0 The guys came back around again.

spk_0 My dad got his gun because he's nuts.

spk_0 My brother was just back in for the Marine Corps.

spk_0 My dad was in Marine Corps too, so it was my older brother.

spk_0 So these guys came back, of course we called the cops.

spk_0 It's good thing the cops caught him and my dad's still being jailed.

spk_0 So yeah, we caught him in the...

spk_0 So I like to find them now, though.

spk_0 My dad has this a parkful story that when he was growing up in Lincolnwood,

spk_0 he used to go out south to see the rubens, the cones were also there.

spk_0 And then at some year, in the 60s,

spk_0 the cones moved up to Lincolnwood.

spk_0 69.

spk_0 69, over by the park.

spk_0 So it was after the shop was the shop was gone.

spk_0 So you guys moved to Killborn.

spk_0 And unfortunately, I hate to break this to you,

spk_0 but his mother forbade him from hanging out with the cones.

spk_0 Because I think she...

spk_0 We told you that.

spk_0 We told you grandma.

spk_0 At the time, okay, maybe she was...

spk_0 She was smart enough to us, you guys.

spk_0 Yeah, what number are you in the family?

spk_0 I'm in the middle three, out of five boys.

spk_0 Here are the five boys.

spk_0 Five boys.

spk_0 So I'm the third.

spk_0 On the middle.

spk_0 Her perception.

spk_0 I'm the only normal one.

spk_0 Her perception was that, you know, these boys are rough kids.

spk_0 And that they're a little too tough.

spk_0 So she didn't want to be in that.

spk_0 Never too tough.

spk_0 So my dad was, I think in sixth or seventh grade.

spk_0 And he made fun of a girl in school.

spk_0 And the boyfriend was a big Irish Catholic kid.

spk_0 Because there was, you know, the towers were all...

spk_0 That's what those are the guys who knocked my tooth out.

spk_0 They're from the towers.

spk_0 The Irish guys lived in the towers.

spk_0 And they were looking for him to give him a swirly.

spk_0 Do you know what a swirly is?

spk_0

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 I'm going to get the swirly.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 So he, and he was, he told me he was avoiding the bathrooms.

spk_0 Lincoln Hall was a big school.

spk_0 You can avoid for as long as you can.

spk_0 My brother with the Lincoln Hall.

spk_0 So this is what happens.

spk_0 So he finally one day, he went to the bathroom.

spk_0 And he thought no one was looking.

spk_0 And right as he walked in.

spk_0 Boom.

spk_0 The guy is the big Irish kids roll in to give him the swirly.

spk_0 And they, they grab him.

spk_0 And not more than five seconds later.

spk_0 Randy.

spk_0 Randy Cohn busts in and starts throwing haymakers.

spk_0 And they never mess with him again.

spk_0 And then the Cohns came from the south side.

spk_0 And just changed things and Lincoln Hall.

spk_0 And Donald's Randy nuts.

spk_0 He's tough.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 By knock him out of the ass quite a few times.

spk_0 I got to tell you how big is Randy?

spk_0 Randy's a big guy.

spk_0 Randy's about five nine, but he's, he's big.

spk_0 Yeah, he's an animal.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 So anyways, talk to us about that.

spk_0 So you, you guys leave the south side.

spk_0 Your dad's shop is gone.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 He stays in the south, at what point does he move to the loop?

spk_0 Right?

spk_0 400 stays straight.

spk_0 I mean, he went, we got burned out in 68, April of 68.

spk_0 I say he was up and running again.

spk_0 Then he had a dime to his name.

spk_0 You know what guy named Zukowski?

spk_0 Maybe.

spk_0 Ernie Zukowski was the front of his.

spk_0 He gave him the money, gave him like 30 grand.

spk_0 Back in 1968 to buy back then.

spk_0 Yeah, back then.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 That was money.

spk_0 They might get some good friends.

spk_0 They always, they took care of him.

spk_0 So he took the 30 grand and bought a pawn shop.

spk_0 Move it to the south, stay straight.

spk_0 So that's eight royal.

spk_0 That's eight royal loan bank at four forties south.

spk_0 South Clark.

spk_0 South state.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 That's.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 So that was the shop for a long time.

spk_0 And that's so, so he rebuilds at that point.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 We started doing good.

spk_0 And I knew the city wanted to take that property back, pulled the library there.

spk_0 We didn't want to, again, want to get pushed out.

spk_0 So I looked for another store.

spk_0 We moved me and my other little Larry moved to.

spk_0 And at this point, you're an adult at this point.

spk_0 You're like 90.

spk_0 You're like, oh no, you're, you're high school kid at this time.

spk_0 19th.

spk_0 Yeah, yeah.

spk_0 But they didn't tear it down to 82.

spk_0 So.

spk_0 Got it.

spk_0 So you.

spk_0 Good.

spk_0 Some good years are you had good years.

spk_0 You're working in the pawn shop and going out what like now you come up north and all of

spk_0 a sudden you go to Niles West.

spk_0 Is a new kid.

spk_0 No kid.

spk_0 I didn't know what soul there except my brother and one other kid lived on the street gross

spk_0 one.

spk_0 Good thing he was tough.

spk_0 I went to the Ida Crown Jewish Academy.

spk_0 You know, they are.

spk_0 Oh, you did?

spk_0 I know that.

spk_0 I went from Rob Brown, Hebrew day school, sixth grade and seventh and eighth was at the academy.

spk_0 They had a seven day program for us.

spk_0 And pret.

spk_0 Used to be on Melrose.

spk_0 Sure.

spk_0 So I want the Melrose for one year.

spk_0 Then they moved to pret.

spk_0 I was the first group in there with eight graders.

spk_0 We went to pret.

spk_0 What year was this 1968?

spk_0 So you graduate what?

spk_0 1972.

spk_0 1969.

spk_0 And then a graduate in 69 out of the out of the academy.

spk_0 High school you graduated.

spk_0 73.

spk_0 So hold on.

spk_0 So you go to normal.

spk_0 Is it around your age?

spk_0 Who?

spk_0 Normal.

spk_0 No.

spk_0 So you go to the academy.

spk_0 Seventh eighth grade.

spk_0 You finish and then you go there for you go there for high school or not.

spk_0 That's west.

spk_0 Now's west is a freshman.

spk_0 That no, I didn't want to go back to the academy.

spk_0 My dad, dad, you know, just go here.

spk_0 You got your bar.

spk_0 Miss me.

spk_0 Did this already?

spk_0 I feel like the academy wasn't enough action for you.

spk_0 I feel like you can't be balanced with this.

spk_0 Just quiet.

spk_0 I like it.

spk_0 Slow down.

spk_0

spk_0 Slow down.

spk_0

spk_0 Slow down.

spk_0 The 71 year book there's a picture of you as a sophomore.

spk_0 You weren't in the as a senior in the yearbook.

spk_0 Like I'm a find West.

spk_0 Yeah, I'm something like that.

spk_0 But you know what, I don't want a picture taken.

spk_0 I'll tell you why, because if you did something bad, they look for your

spk_0 picture and say, yeah, that's him.

spk_0 That's why we didn't take a picture anymore.

spk_0 I should note to our listeners,

spk_0 Mary and Ellie Cohen, O West, that I think their father, Steve Cohen, was

spk_0 right next to you in the picture.

spk_0 I don't know if you knew him, but I got brother Steve Cohen.

spk_0 You do have a brother.

spk_0 That's my brother.

spk_0 It was a Marine Corps, my oldest brother.

spk_0 The oldest.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 So fight.

spk_0 So you guys moved to Lincolnwood and you're all along while you go through high school in

spk_0 your mind and it's just this is the family business.

spk_0 You go into this coming out of what?

spk_0 I wasn't going to the school.

spk_0 I hated school.

spk_0 They don't want to become a doctor or a lawyer.

spk_0 I am a doctor.

spk_0 I don't need a degree to be a doctor.

spk_0 I'm better doctor to a doctor.

spk_0 It's a good point.

spk_0 You need examination?

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 And then my tools in a car.

spk_0 So it could have been a cancer.

spk_0 Oh yeah.

spk_0 It's family business.

spk_0 I was.

spk_0 Another family business.

spk_0 So you guys are 440 South State Street and then at what point you guys, you know, everyone

spk_0 kind of you guys are synonymous with the shop on clerk, but did that happen all the way

spk_0 back then?

spk_0 At what point did that happen?

spk_0 You were in that store in 1976.

spk_0 Right when we got out of high school, we got out in 73.

spk_0 So me and my brother Larry, we knew eventually that the city wanted that property on State

spk_0 Street.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 So we had to have a new location.

spk_0 So we moved it over there.

spk_0 We kept it on State Street, opened up an additional store on Clark Street.

spk_0 My brother Larry is supposed to run it.

spk_0 And the guy named Jaime Michelle, you know Jaime Michelle.

spk_0 He was on your show.

spk_0 Yeah, he was on his show.

spk_0 He was friends with us.

spk_0 So my brother says, well, you just run the store and when we have to move off the State

spk_0 Street, we're going to give you your money back whatever it was and you got to leave.

spk_0 So he ran that store for like six or seven years.

spk_0 We didn't realize we're going to be having that long.

spk_0 So then once we moved to Clark Street, man, we did unbelievable.

spk_0 If my dad bought another building on South on North, one sixty North State, one six,

spk_0 he's got more than I do.

spk_0 And they do not believe it over there too.

spk_0 So my dad would keep that store there.

spk_0 I'd run a store here with my Randy, you know, Randy's younger than you.

spk_0 He's the same class in my dad.

spk_0 He says I read in a article that he said that the word is.

spk_0 So let's see if this is true or not.

spk_0 He says as a kid, his older brothers, I don't know if you were included in that.

spk_0 Maybe you weren't.

spk_0 He says his older brothers tied him up in the back of the pawn shop, tied him up close

spk_0 and left him a knife in his mouth.

spk_0 He did.

spk_0 No, it's in the newspaper.

spk_0 Yeah, it's like years ago.

spk_0 We said, listen, if you're any good and you ever get tied up, you got to find a way

spk_0 to get out.

spk_0 So the idiot cuts his lip as mouth and I did.

spk_0 Oh my god, he went crazy on us.

spk_0 What are you doing?

spk_0 Yes, we got him.

spk_0 I'll never forget.

spk_0 I guess it was like about that.

spk_0 It was like an educational thing.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Plus, he also started my dad's car and fire one day in a cell.

spk_0 I said, too, you like to play with matches a lot.

spk_0 I must be in burn.

spk_0 So he burned the truck down one day.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 So and eventually the city, you know, get you guys get rid of the South State Street.

spk_0 You guys are in Clark and state.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 And what kind of happens?

spk_0 Your dad sets it up that you and your brothers have a bunch of different shops?

spk_0 Because I know we, my dad didn't do it.

spk_0 Me and Mary decided to open up another store.

spk_0 We opened up another store on 47th in Ashland and that was going really good too.

spk_0 Then we looked for a dollar store.

spk_0 We opened up a store on Uptown on Sheridan and Wilson.

spk_0 Who's running all these stores?

spk_0 We have people running them and we go there and stuff.

spk_0 And then eventually I sold the one on the ashland.

spk_0 I should have, but to my brother Scotty, the governor and my dad.

spk_0 We'll get to that.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 And then the other one, my brother, Larry, when my dad died and we didn't get it,

spk_0 he wanted something from us.

spk_0 He didn't really deserve it.

spk_0 But we worked it out and he said, okay, you also got to buy me out of the one on Sheridan.

spk_0 Well, Sheridan, which we did, which is, we did good on that.

spk_0 Because there was a company called EasyPon, one of them I all the pawn shops up.

spk_0 You know, back in the day, meanwhile, they're buying all the pawn shops.

spk_0 We're the biggest pawn shop on the, I'm close to it.

spk_0 And they wanted to give us huge money for the store.

spk_0 But they wanted the store to be on a computer system.

spk_0 But my brother Randy, the genius, oh, I don't want to be on a computer.

spk_0 I don't want to get $9 million for my store.

spk_0 So basically they didn't buy us.

spk_0 They bought Scotty store, but all the other stores, everybody made a fortune.

spk_0 Except me because I had the beautiful partners named Randy Cohen.

spk_0 But it's okay.

spk_0 That's down on this is now.

spk_0 I've been to actually a pawn shop once.

spk_0 I'll give you the whole story if you have time.

spk_0 Let me see what time it is.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Oh, I had one of my ones.

spk_0 A friend of mine, he got some bear's tickets.

spk_0 So we had four tickets and they were three of us.

spk_0 They were like, oh, so what do we do there for a ticket?

spk_0 Let's go ahead and, you know, we'll sell it to somebody and they'll go into the game.

spk_0 We were like, I think juniors in high school.

spk_0 Where'd you go to high school?

spk_0 I went to Ida Crown.

spk_0 You went to Ida Crown?

spk_0 Ida Crown, I'm Brad.

spk_0 I'm Brad.

spk_0 And I could read he was a built at school.

spk_0 1995.

spk_0 Anyways, this story actually goes back to Ida Crown at the end.

spk_0 So we had extra tickets.

spk_0 We were like, okay, we'll just go ahead and sell it.

spk_0 You know, a bunch of high school kids.

spk_0 And this is early mid, early 90s.

spk_0 So we see some guy there, like a little long a share.

spk_0 He's like, oh, I'll buy it.

spk_0 I don't know.

spk_0 I'll walk or something.

spk_0 It's like here, just take my ring and I'll meet you inside.

spk_0 We look at the ring.

spk_0 Like, oh, it's real.

spk_0 What?

spk_0 I'm in second.

spk_0 So, like, it's heavy and like, you know, we give it to each other.

spk_0 Like, okay, like we'll see you inside.

spk_0 Like, he knows we're we're sitting like his seat is next to us.

spk_0 We're like, okay.

spk_0 And also, like, first quarter goes by and second quarter.

spk_0 And also, like, we realized that he's not showing up.

spk_0 And we're like, this ring is worth a lot of money.

spk_0 So like, maybe we should like escape with the ring.

spk_0 And then we'll just go ahead and sell the ring.

spk_0 So like, we decide like the third or fourth quarter.

spk_0 You can actually look up the data this game.

spk_0 The bears won six nothing against the Atlanta Falcons.

spk_0 Did you look that up?

spk_0 No, I just remember it.

spk_0 Okay, you can look up the date if you Google it right now.

spk_0 Okay, tell me a tip.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 So we decided we're gonna leave the game early.

spk_0 So he doesn't find us.

spk_0 And we like, we left, we didn't like leave together

spk_0 because he was probably looking for three people

spk_0 with his very expensive ring.

spk_0 So each like, we each like went out like different exits

spk_0 and we like ran home.

spk_0 And then we decided the next day in school

spk_0 to go to the pawn shop.

spk_0 Which pawn shop you're going to?

spk_0 I don't recall.

spk_0 That's the only thing.

spk_0 We drove from Idaho Crown.

spk_0 We went somewhere and I am the Vansom were.

spk_0 It could be.

spk_0 I don't know.

spk_0 I mean, there was no like, you couldn't Google it.

spk_0 So we went there and the guy is like,

spk_0 well, I have to like, cut it to see if it's like real.

spk_0 We're like, all right.

spk_0 No part of us thought that it was like a fake ring.

spk_0 You know, it caught right through in the color.

spk_0 Yeah, like, no wonder why the guy didn't show up to see it.

spk_0 And then we decided to hide it in the school

spk_0 and it'll be a memory forever.

spk_0 So we put it under a water fountain

spk_0 and like 15 years later, my brother mentioned

spk_0 that a Schlommel Garber kicked the sink

spk_0 and a ring fell out of the sink.

spk_0 Because we like hit inside.

spk_0 We went to the lady's shop.

spk_0

spk_0 Oh my god, that's my ring.

spk_0 Like we put that ring there.

spk_0 But that was the only time it was in Ponsha.

spk_0 But it was like, it was like a very CD type of environment.

spk_0 And by end of the line.

spk_0 I'll give you my first experience actually at Royal Pond.

spk_0 I was in high school.

spk_0 I used to get a gig, which was a great gig.

spk_0 Reading the Torah at the loop synagog

spk_0 when Rebecca Crowe was a great,

spk_0 great, great, great, great, great, great, great.

spk_0 Gaves a little younger than me.

spk_0 I'm on the school with his older brother.

spk_0 Which one?

spk_0 Jeremy.

spk_0 Yeah, Jeremy.

spk_0 A great listener of the show.

spk_0 So I used to have that gig.

spk_0 He's paid me 250 bucks and put me up with friends

spk_0 at the standard club.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 I were done for that.

spk_0 But 10 minutes.

spk_0 So sometimes, you know, like a summer after noon,

spk_0 it's a long day.

spk_0 We don't know, you know, we're suburb kids.

spk_0 We're in the city kind of just walking around

spk_0 finding something to do.

spk_0 Pond stars had just come out.

spk_0 It was 2009.

spk_0 And one of my buddies, Natana Azarov,

spk_0 said, let's go like look in a pawn shop or something.

spk_0 So I said, I think, you know,

spk_0 I think I got cousins or something

spk_0 that have a pawn shop.

spk_0 These he said, where?

spk_0 I said, I have no idea.

spk_0 So okay, we continue walking.

spk_0 Clark is right by the loop synagog...

spk_0 Right, right there.

spk_0 Right down the street.

spk_0 And a playmate.

spk_0 And we were staying on Plymouth at the standard club.

spk_0 So walking down Jackson, we turn right.

spk_0 And we walk into the pawn shop.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 I'm like, I should just ask them.

spk_0 I'm sure all these people know each other, right?

spk_0 They would know who, you know,

spk_0 if someone else the cones, right?

spk_0 I knew the name was Cone.

spk_0 Well, he's so, so I walked to the front.

spk_0 Let's say it's 2009.

spk_0 So I'm 20 years old.

spk_0 Now, there's a kid there.

spk_0 That's probably, I don't know, maybe at the time he's like 14.

spk_0 But he looks intimidating to a suburban, you know, whatever.

spk_0 He's like, we're in a chain.

spk_0 He's in a t-shirt.

spk_0 And I said, hey, you know, just had a question.

spk_0 I'm, you know, wondering, you guys know of any pawn shops

spk_0 around the area that are owned by a Cone family.

spk_0 And he looks at me and goes, who's asking?

spk_0 And I said, I said, like I am.

spk_0 He said, why?

spk_0 I said, I think they're kind of my cousins or something.

spk_0 He said, what's your name?

spk_0 So I said, bass.

spk_0 He said, hold on.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 So he goes to the back and all of a sudden,

spk_0 these two guys crawl out, wait and randomly Cone.

spk_0 And they go, hey, who are you?

spk_0 I said, Jordan Bass.

spk_0 And they said, berries kid.

spk_0 I said, yeah, he said, come on.

spk_0 You guys are, you guys said, come get out of here.

spk_0 What are you talking about?

spk_0 And then you guys said, I heard he got religious.

spk_0 He became religious, huh?

spk_0 Yeah, yeah, I said, I said, yeah, yeah.

spk_0 And he said, come on, no.

spk_0 He puts on the phone.

spk_0 He wrapped around.

spk_0 And then he was like, it was a wild scene.

spk_0 It was a fun experience.

spk_0 I mean, this is 20 years ago or whatever.

spk_0 But that was my first experience with you guys.

spk_0 Royal pawn was a wild scene.

spk_0 Was it crazy on you or there too?

spk_0 Yeah, it was a fun time.

spk_0 You guys were yelling at some customers.

spk_0 You were ripping out my friends.

spk_0 It was hilarious.

spk_0 You know, that's what we got a TV show like that.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 This is all day every day.

spk_0 Just every day all day.

spk_0 Crazy or the better?

spk_0 I noticed you guys in Royal pawn never had

spk_0 like your standard security like gates up

spk_0 like over the over the stuff.

spk_0 We're pretty safe downtown.

spk_0 It was pretty safe.

spk_0 You know, the jail was right across the street.

spk_0 Yeah, we still we try to break in a cup.

spk_0 I didn't want letters.

spk_0 So a lot of people, right, if people don't know,

spk_0 I guess what is that?

spk_0 Cook County like metropolitan.

spk_0 In a whole lot of people.

spk_0 It's a federal federal holding.

spk_0 A federal metropolitan correctional center.

spk_0 MCC.

spk_0 Right across the street.

spk_0 Is that the building is like without the windows?

spk_0 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

spk_0 Like the square one.

spk_0 A place you like to visit, but you won't want to be a guest.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Is it like a vacant lot over there in the area where you're at?

spk_0 It's like across the street.

spk_0 I owned a lot.

spk_0 That's our lot.

spk_0 We sold it though.

spk_0 Gotcha.

spk_0 Across the street.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0

spk_0 We almost had a property across the street that dumped.

spk_0 You guys also own like some type of SRO next door.

spk_0 Yeah, you think you got crazy people coming to the pawn shop?

spk_0 You should take you upstairs to the hotel.

spk_0 They come down to visit you.

spk_0 Yeah, we got some real cookies up there.

spk_0 Boy, I mean, crazies.

spk_0 I think crazies, but they don't come any crazy for their net

spk_0 place.

spk_0 Only Pete Cash.

spk_0 No, they give us us an age green stamp.

spk_0 So, of course, they give us cash.

spk_0 We have a manager at the hotel.

spk_0 It's 210 beautiful people up there.

spk_0 Is that a nice place?

spk_0 Maybe I could take my wife for the weekends?

spk_0 You loved it.

spk_0 I get you the president so sweet for you.

spk_0 We don't only have a few bedbugs in that room for you.

spk_0 Unless you want the ones with all the bedbugs.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 So before the TV show, even, you guys kind of like your,

spk_0 your notoriety getting out there in the public.

spk_0 I guess people in the city, you know, pawn shops kind of notorious.

spk_0 People know them.

spk_0 You guys are characters yourselves, right?

spk_0 But all of a sudden out of nowhere, and I kind of remember it

spk_0 because as a kid, I remember the trip you came and my dad says,

spk_0 what in the world?

spk_0 Scott Lee is running for Lieutenant Governor of the state of Illinois,

spk_0 which is, I guess, for the listeners.

spk_0 I'd like the vice president to the governor of the Illinois, right?

spk_0 The lead, that's how Democratic party.

spk_0 That's how a governor Quinn who used to be the Lieutenant Governor

spk_0 and became governor once Bhagavad has gotten peach and month of jail.

spk_0 Lieutenant Governor became governor.

spk_0 So you're a heartbeat away from being governor.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 When you're the Lieutenant Governor.

spk_0 So how does Scali, you mentioned that Scali had to have another story.

spk_0 Or Scali is his younger brother.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 What number is it?

spk_0 The baby is the baby.

spk_0 The big baby.

spk_0 Six three.

spk_0 He's not going to grow in a family.

spk_0 What was he part of the business?

spk_0 Was he a boss?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 We're all part of all five brothers.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 But he ran a business on the North end.

spk_0 North state street of my dad.

spk_0 So he was over there with him.

spk_0 So then years later, after your dad's gone, you got, he has, uh, he has his own shop.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Well, my dad took, yeah, he came in shop.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 And at what point like you, you always aware of this, he was always involved in politics or involved in something.

spk_0 I don't know what he was always about something.

spk_0 I wasn't right.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 He wanted to be a politician to help the people.

spk_0 I mean, you know, I got to give the kid credit.

spk_0 He tried.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 Anyone fairly, legitimately, he won the people voted for him.

spk_0 I helped him on his office before anything or he just nothing.

spk_0 He was ran for one.

spk_0 No, no, he had to drive it.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 From being straight to being a pawn shop man to being in the governor.

spk_0 Just lieutenant governor.

spk_0 So how did he get all his endorsements?

spk_0 How did he get all the votes?

spk_0 He did.

spk_0 We got a campaign manager and I helped him read by Kayla.

spk_0 She knows he is.

spk_0 Sure.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Through, uh, Eli.

spk_0 All right.

spk_0 I helped us with he knew man.

spk_0 It's Eli fine.

spk_0 Stone to, uh, all listeners.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 It's my boy Eli.

spk_0 Good lawyer.

spk_0 He like, he was a great lawyer.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 So back to Scott Lee.

spk_0 So Scott leads running.

spk_0 You're helping on the campaign.

spk_0 People are running his campaign.

spk_0 And we're just out live like bridge port or he's like,

spk_0 Scott Lee my brother.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 And uh, Glenview.

spk_0 And Glenview.

spk_0 Oh really?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 What a good thing.

spk_0 Well, actually, then he was living downtown.

spk_0 Oh, because he was getting divorced at that time.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 Now you want to become the lieutenant governor.

spk_0 So I almost found actually campaigning at a great time.

spk_0 He's the only guy started a job fairs back in the day.

spk_0 You know what people know I'm doing the job fair.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 He's the first one to start.

spk_0 Let's help the people find jobs.

spk_0 Everyone loved him.

spk_0 Did he rub shoulders with

spk_0 like powerful people?

spk_0 Was he like,

spk_0 like,

spk_0 sort of as a party.

spk_0 You had to be part of the party and stuff.

spk_0 I'm saying the machine.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 But he wasn't a part of the party.

spk_0 At first, he had to go.

spk_0 He got the blessing of Mike.

spk_0 Man again.

spk_0 What's the name?

spk_0 Man, it wasn't.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Like, yeah.

spk_0 Scott went up to him and said, uh, Mike through where my

spk_0 Kailash norm.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 So they want his do some said, I want to run for the time of

spk_0 government.

spk_0 You having a problem with that.

spk_0 So Michael's on those Scott.

spk_0 Absolutely.

spk_0 You got my, if you go ahead, be my guest.

spk_0 Madigan had nobody else running that he was like,

spk_0 well, he didn't think Scott had a chance.

spk_0 You know, like a 99 to one shot.

spk_0 10,000 on one shot.

spk_0 So there was like six guys running.

spk_0 Six people running for his office.

spk_0 My brother spent $6.5 million on his campaign.

spk_0 He sort of build a business for six

spk_0 and a million, put every diamond to his campaign.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 You sure enough, Scott Lee Combe wins the nomination for

spk_0 the Democrat nomination for lieutenant governor.

spk_0 One by not by by a landslide.

spk_0 And there's a state of Illinois.

spk_0 It's not a state of almost state of the night.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 Just like look, uh, church.

spk_0

spk_0 And I don't know the girl is not some lady.

spk_0 Uh, I have no idea.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 So no one knows what a lieutenant governor's.

spk_0 I know he wanted to do.

spk_0 But anyways, you know, the election is going on.

spk_0 So he has a little place to, you know,

spk_0 there's maybe a hundred, a hundred and fifty people are just

spk_0 friends are as anyone else.

spk_0 All of a sudden the results coming early.

spk_0 Scott Lee Combe wins.

spk_0 Unbelievable.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 All of a sudden there wasn't a news camera there.

spk_0 They're in just one time.

spk_0 There must have been 50 of them coming in.

spk_0 They're almost running into the campaign, taking pictures of me, my brother.

spk_0 You know, it's kind of cool actually, you know.

spk_0 So about a couple of days, cool by everyone's column.

spk_0 I had a, I had another finance company that, uh,

spk_0 we used to make people loans who have personal injury cases.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 And we would advance the money under cases.

spk_0 There are calm places.

spk_0 Oh, you're bothered to be the new one.

spk_0 We want to talk to you want to talk to you want to.

spk_0 Could you help us?

spk_0 I said, listen, had people call me from kindergarten.

spk_0 Hey, your brother one, I've been talking to you in 40 years.

spk_0 Well, 50 years, what do you mean?

spk_0 You got me all of a sudden you got to hear from you?

spk_0 People call from the woodwork anyway.

spk_0 I'd like you to like you.

spk_0 One way here was this 2010.

spk_0 Yeah, 2010.

spk_0 So next thing happens.

spk_0 They don't want them.

spk_0 He's not part of the machine.

spk_0 He's part of the thieves that run this kind of state.

spk_0 So they find some BS on them.

spk_0 Oh, Scottie had a girlfriend that he had a looked up, you know, they go through your records.

spk_0 He didn't pay his child support.

spk_0 He had a, uh, argument what they call it domestic.

spk_0 What is girlfriend supposed to put a knife towards road?

spk_0 It wasn't a knife.

spk_0 It was a sword.

spk_0 No, it's.

spk_0 Well, anyway, this all BS they threw that out.

spk_0 It was just a fight.

spk_0 The head was girlfriend, friend of mine, who was a really nice guy.

spk_0 He was working for the who's in charge of the pawn shots for the state.

spk_0 His name is John Hager.

spk_0 What a great decent guy.

spk_0 But I mean with the nicest guy you ever meet, he says, tell your brother to get out of town.

spk_0 And don't give a forwarding address.

spk_0 Durban, the con man Durban, the con man, Madigan was going to jail.

spk_0 I should have gone.

spk_0 It was just 10 years too late.

spk_0 Lexi Janulius was a real good friend of mine at one time until this happened.

spk_0 And Rahm, the manual, the only one that stuck off of my brother was a guy called mayor daily.

spk_0 He said, Scott Lee, cone one by the people's vote.

spk_0 He should be elected as Lieutenant Governor and destroyed.

spk_0 Daily, he's only want to stuck off farm.

spk_0 And just to clarify, he won the Democratic nomination, which is what.

spk_0 But it's like a guarantee.

spk_0 It's like a guarantee.

spk_0

spk_0 And before the general election, right, when now they're putting pressure on him to drop.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 Because then I want to make you know, they come up all kinds of BS.

spk_0 He did this.

spk_0 Yes.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Sure.

spk_0 Basically they came to us and threatened us, the brothers.

spk_0 If Scott Lee don't drop out, we're going to come at you like you never seen before.

spk_0 We're going to get the IRS on you.

spk_0 We're going to get everyone.

spk_0 I mean, we're going to come.

spk_0 We're going to find stuff on you.

spk_0 They never thought existed.

spk_0 We're going to put you on, put you out of business.

spk_0 You better tell your brother.

spk_0 He better not run.

spk_0 Those are a bunch of scumbags.

spk_0 You're Democratic people.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 So when Trump gets in there, I put everyone on behind my bars, where they belong.

spk_0 They're a bunch of, you know, dreckas.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 That's what they are.

spk_0 So my brother goes to Madigan and says, Mike, listen, you told me it was okay to run.

spk_0 What's the problem?

spk_0 Because well, you know what, we didn't think you were going to win.

spk_0 Oh, you think I was going to win?

spk_0 So what about the $6.5 million they laid off?

spk_0 You want to help me on get that money back?

spk_0 Sorry, I can't help you.

spk_0 He got what he deserves.

spk_0 What was your position?

spk_0 Because obviously my brother, I heard him.

spk_0 I helped him.

spk_0 Your business and that you're being threatened.

spk_0 So what was your position?

spk_0 We had no choice to put the pull out.

spk_0 I mean, I was worried about him.

spk_0 I didn't care about us.

spk_0 You know, I was worried about him.

spk_0 They were going to, they could have killed him.

spk_0 You know, did you guys lose with some points with the city or with the party?

spk_0 They gave us nothing.

spk_0 Nothing, nothing.

spk_0 You know, at the time you had a local guy was then the president.

spk_0 There was an open sentencing, which is what I'm going to, you know, went to jail.

spk_0 Whatever was there.

spk_0 Was there any, any noise coming from DC about this?

spk_0 Or not?

spk_0 I'd be honest with you.

spk_0 I thought the Brock would have called me because I do know Baroque personally.

spk_0 I used to play basketball on him every day.

spk_0 He was my big club.

spk_0 Baroque was my locker partner for 10 years.

spk_0 He's been clubbed?

spk_0 He's been clubbed.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I played with him every day for six years.

spk_0 Like the shooter for good shooter.

spk_0 Lefty, right?

spk_0 He's the best.

spk_0 He was a guy.

spk_0 I love you, Baroque.

spk_0 He listens, I think.

spk_0 Jordy, listen.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Baroque, I love you, baby.

spk_0 I'm still waiting for my right near first one.

spk_0 You promised me.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 I'm still waiting.

spk_0 What was he like?

spk_0 He was a great guy.

spk_0 He's a nice guy.

spk_0 I mean, about presidency, but he was a nice person.

spk_0 Yeah, I like Baroque.

spk_0 He's always fairly nice, very smart guy.

spk_0 And you knew him before you got in office?

spk_0 No, I knew him.

spk_0 I knew him.

spk_0 He was a lawyer, whatever.

spk_0 He was a lawyer.

spk_0 Then he became state senator.

spk_0 He ran against the front of mine for the state senate, he won.

spk_0 Then he became US Senator.

spk_0 I'll tell you a story about Baroque.

spk_0 The election was about like a week away.

spk_0 He was like a shoe in already.

spk_0 He would go to the play basketball

spk_0 after every primary and stuff like that.

spk_0 But I started a new business, this lending business.

spk_0 So I wasn't there as much.

spk_0 So I got a meeting at these bank club one day for lunch

spk_0 with a lawyer friend of mine and another guy.

spk_0 So we go there about one and one thirty.

spk_0 I'm walking through the lobby, okay?

spk_0 For some time, it was like, it was really crowded.

spk_0 I'm usually crowded for that time of day.

spk_0 I was sunned, someone grabbed me from behind

spk_0 and started choking me.

spk_0 You know, I've been around.

spk_0 I forget it's one of the idiots that play basketball upstairs.

spk_0 So I turn around and it's Baroque.

spk_0 He says to me, looks at me and he goes,

spk_0 why aren't you upstairs playing basketball?

spk_0 I was stunned, okay.

spk_0 I was shocked.

spk_0 I can't believe he picked me out of the crowd, you know?

spk_0 Because we were friends.

spk_0 We were, you know, unlike Baroque.

spk_0 So I said, I'm sorry, Mr. President,

spk_0 I'm gonna come up there next week.

spk_0 And that's the last time I see them.

spk_0 Did you ask them perhaps to me,

spk_0 they combusted her for Israel or something like that?

spk_0 Yeah, I'm a grand baster to Iran.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Now, I like them as a person, but the president didn't get my vote.

spk_0 I got you.

spk_0 Okay, so then, so Scott Lee drops out

spk_0 and then just from there, just, you know, bad feelings towards everyone.

spk_0 Yeah, it's just, well, there were no good Democrats in all,

spk_0 but I'm sorry to say that, you know, it's true.

spk_0 And I really, back in the day when Trump was the first time he ran...

spk_0 Jordan, did your father run as a Democrat?

spk_0 No, there's no, there's not parties.

spk_0 There are local feelings of Lincoln.

spk_0 What, they don't have part, there's the Alliance party.

spk_0 Actually, he was an independent.

spk_0 You want to hear something funny that Mayor before

spk_0 was my biology teacher.

spk_0 Oh, Tory, Tory.

spk_0 I like Tory.

spk_0 It's a nice guy.

spk_0 You owe me a beat him.

spk_0 Is he still alive, Tory?

spk_0 I think so.

spk_0 You gotta be 90 years old.

spk_0 He's gotta be 90.

spk_0 Did you get an A in biology?

spk_0 Actually, that's the only class I passed in high school.

spk_0 He was a nice guy.

spk_0 I like to go ahead and help him paint his house.

spk_0 I knew his father, so he'd follow us.

spk_0 So you better pass this kid.

spk_0 He passed me.

spk_0 He was a nice guy.

spk_0 Tory was a nice man.

spk_0 He was a very nice guy.

spk_0 So not long after, you know,

spk_0 Scott Lee's running politics,

spk_0 you guys out of nowhere,

spk_0 word on the street is that there's gonna be a show, right?

spk_0 The porn stars was big.

spk_0 Hardcore, porn became a hit show.

spk_0 How did he come around?

spk_0 And how, originally you were approached by someone?

spk_0 We were approached by a left-field pitches.

spk_0 Same people who gave people in Las Vegas,

spk_0 Bumbly, Chumley and Lumbling,

spk_0 whoever they are, those guys,

spk_0 we had a contract to go on.

spk_0 So we couldn't go on right away.

spk_0 What does that mean?

spk_0 You had to kind of,

spk_0 we were on the contract with left-field pitches.

spk_0 It would be the first ones to do the show.

spk_0 But they did it on purpose to keep these guys to go on first.

spk_0 Street TV wanted us right away.

spk_0 It was the same company.

spk_0 Street TV is a different network.

spk_0 We were, you're doing a porn stars.

spk_0 And then there's hard work.

spk_0 One stars was on History Channel.

spk_0 Right, History, yeah.

spk_0 They wanted History Channel,

spk_0 but the company did it with left-field pitches.

spk_0 Right, I'll note that the show eventually was produced

spk_0 by Eric Bischoff,

spk_0 who ran the WCW.

spk_0 And the other guy,

spk_0 Jason Herby, he played,

spk_0 he played Wayne,

spk_0 Wayne, you ever see the Wonder Gears?

spk_0 Yeah, he played the Wonder Gears.

spk_0 He played the, yeah, he's the Wonder Gears apparently.

spk_0 But you called them Budhead.

spk_0 Yes, yeah.

spk_0 It's a good show.

spk_0 So those guys were the producers.

spk_0 So were they the ones that came to you,

spk_0 they're in a different company?

spk_0 The, uh, Street TV people came to us for our Zinnell.

spk_0 They called, they contacted our media people

spk_0 that we do advertising with.

spk_0 Got it, got it.

spk_0 We sent them a couple of videos of us in action.

spk_0 Okay.

spk_0 And that was it.

spk_0 Or is it all there?

spk_0 Well, we did like a pilot, you know?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 All the beautiful, crazy people will come into the pawn shop

spk_0 and...

spk_0 But how much is that is scripted?

spk_0 I mean, like...

spk_0 Well, a lot of it's,

spk_0 a lot of the stuff was scripted was the interviews.

spk_0 They would do interviews with you.

spk_0 Yeah, yeah.

spk_0 But basically, that's your thing with scripted.

spk_0 So they would come in and...

spk_0 I remember Randy Vai would take them,

spk_0 they would have to do the interview

spk_0 because we don't, they would,

spk_0 we would take thousands of things in.

spk_0 They would say, well, we're gonna use this for the show.

spk_0 Use this for the show.

spk_0 So they would say,

spk_0 we don't remember, they would have everything written down.

spk_0 They would film all day.

spk_0 Yeah, they filmed all day.

spk_0 All day and just whoever came in

spk_0 and they would just choose a couple different

spk_0 right interactions that were good.

spk_0 And then when the word got out,

spk_0 all the lunatics would come in,

spk_0 wanted to be on TV, you know?

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 But like the stuff, I mean, a lot of times, you know,

spk_0 once again, I watch in a history channel,

spk_0 porn stars, but a lot of times,

spk_0 they come in with very interesting things,

spk_0 to sell it.

spk_0 But like, I would think like in a regular pawn shop,

spk_0 it's mostly coins, stuff that's not as interesting.

spk_0 I'll tell you a story.

spk_0 Let me take Abraham Lincoln's signature.

spk_0 I'll tell you about the weirdest thing

spk_0 that's ever come into the pawn shop,

spk_0 which is, I can't believe it came in.

spk_0 One day this nice young black man comes in

spk_0 with a, like a charm.

spk_0 In the middle of the charm is the swastika.

spk_0 Okay, and on the back is it has German writing.

spk_0 And the swastika, I know it was a disgusting

spk_0 little thing to me, but I knew it had some value

spk_0 as far as people would buy that kind of garbage, you know?

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 So the guy tells me, I'll never forget,

spk_0 he goes, yeah, man, this thing's expensive.

spk_0 This thing is unbelievable.

spk_0 I said, okay, how much you want for it?

spk_0 I want a couple thousand.

spk_0 I forget it's worth taking a gamble for 200.

spk_0 Now this is going back before the internet,

spk_0 so you can look it up, you know?

spk_0 I just, but see, you get to know things after a while.

spk_0 You know, you get a feeling of,

spk_0 back in a day, if you're in a pawn shop business,

spk_0 you don't know everything.

spk_0 You can't deny you go on a computer, you friend.

spk_0 When I'm in a pawn shop business,

spk_0 it had to be up here.

spk_0 Well, they always say, oh, let me call my friend.

spk_0 He's an expert, too.

spk_0 Cause that's cause he's an idiot.

spk_0 He don't know.

spk_0 He didn't born in a pawn shop.

spk_0 He was, well, he knew everything.

spk_0 Back in the day, we knew everything.

spk_0 He had to, well, they'd be out of business.

spk_0 I'd put him to try to rob you.

spk_0 So I'm looking at this thing and really made me sick.

spk_0 He made it a loan on it.

spk_0 He didn't sell it.

spk_0 Comes out of pawn eventually.

spk_0 And I say to my brother,

spk_0 I said, the piece of garbage I want to give out.

spk_0 I don't want it at the store.

spk_0 You know, sickening, German metal.

spk_0 He goes, I got a guy.

spk_0 I'll set it up to him.

spk_0 He buys and collects this stuff.

spk_0 I said, I should bring in 800,000 bucks.

spk_0 I think for sure, it was a collector.

spk_0 He said, I'll send him to him, see what he says.

spk_0 He sends it to this guy in five sauce wallbash.

spk_0 The mail is building.

spk_0 So the guy calls it up.

spk_0 He goes, how much do you want for you this charm?

spk_0 So my brother, Randy goes, I want $10,000 for it.

spk_0 He goes, okay, I'll take it.

spk_0 Me and my brother are doing some of those.

spk_0 Man, we cleaning it up, maybe $200,000, made 10 cheese.

spk_0 That happens once or while it does happen a lot.

spk_0 We take the money.

spk_0 I tell my uncle, Arnie's brother, Billy Rubin.

spk_0 He gave a lot of money to the Holocaust Museum.

spk_0 I get the copy of the sheet.

spk_0 And I get the right one.

spk_0 What was written on the back, because he read it down.

spk_0 He goes, you are the dumbest.

spk_0 I've ever seen him in my life.

spk_0 What are you talking about?

spk_0 Goes, you know what, that thing's worth?

spk_0 I said, no, it was worth.

spk_0 This is about a year later.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Priceless.

spk_0 He said, what?

spk_0 What are we talking about, priceless?

spk_0 You know what that medal is?

spk_0 It's earning a world war too.

spk_0 Hitler had, was gonna have a couple of generals go against them.

spk_0 And he had four or five generals stuck with him.

spk_0 Didn't try to overthrow him.

spk_0 Now these were like four generals.

spk_0 This was one of the medals that Hitler gave this general.

spk_0 This was the medal.

spk_0 How this guy got it?

spk_0 I don't know.

spk_0 Did his day.

spk_0 He says it was worth it was worth a million bucks.

spk_0 Where is it now?

spk_0 Is it a museum now?

spk_0 I don't know the guy got it.

spk_0 I'm sure he sold it for three, four hundred grand back then.

spk_0 He robbed us.

spk_0 That's where we robbed.

spk_0 Have he robbed us?

spk_0 You know what?

spk_0 It happens.

spk_0 So you guys, you guys are doing it.

spk_0 Could you believe that?

spk_0 That's unbelievable.

spk_0 That's crazy.

spk_0 You guys have a lot of stuff.

spk_0 I'm sure at the store that's worth money, right?

spk_0 Or cumulative leads worth a lot of money.

spk_0 Depends on your area.

spk_0 How often is it that someone tries to rob the store?

spk_0 Or someone gets shot?

spk_0 The only time I'll tell you a story about getting shot.

spk_0 Let me tell you a story about, uh, I went around.

spk_0 I don't want to rob me as Randy.

spk_0 No one else could rob me.

spk_0 But he'll do a good job, Robert.

spk_0 But Jordan, after he has a story about getting shot,

spk_0 you'll tell about your, at your law offices,

spk_0 your wild stories.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Actually, the sad story is true stories.

spk_0 My brother was murdered in a punch up.

spk_0 I don't know if you know that.

spk_0 My wife's brother, her only brother,

spk_0 was stuck up in a punch up in the 97, the summer of 97,

spk_0 killed them on a spot, robbed them and killed them.

spk_0 And, uh, he was working at the punch up.

spk_0 The older punch up, he had a small punch up in Oak Park.

spk_0 He had it for six months.

spk_0 He brought up my guy six months.

spk_0 A black guy and his pregnant wife walk in one day.

spk_0 They were customers of his.

spk_0 They wanted to see rings because they were getting married

spk_0 to all of them.

spk_0 So he goes in the back, comes out the guy,

spk_0 puts the guns on his shoots right now,

spk_0 kills them on a spot.

spk_0 So I'm so over the counter.

spk_0 There's an old black guy in the back, you know,

spk_0 because you know, you know,

spk_0 you know, case you can get back, but so they stopped the case

spk_0 and quote, they get the black guy, put them on his knees

spk_0 and put the gun to his head.

spk_0 They go, click, click the gun.

spk_0 Jammed.

spk_0 Only one bullet killed my brother.

spk_0 Jammed goes, get under there.

spk_0 And if you say anything about it,

spk_0 we're going to come back and kill you.

spk_0 So he hits the alarm.

spk_0 They put everything and they robbed the safe for everything

spk_0 until a duffel bag.

spk_0 They run out.

spk_0 Meanwhile, the alarm goes off.

spk_0 He black dude hit a shotgun.

spk_0 Went after them, the cops saw the car.

spk_0 Cops going this way, the car's going that way.

spk_0 You made a U turn and went after the car.

spk_0 So the cops are chasing this car,

spk_0 going to hunt miles and I went down Lake Street.

spk_0 The car runs right into those steel embankment.

spk_0 Boom, it explodes.

spk_0 Everything goes everywhere.

spk_0 All the jewelry, everything, all over the street.

spk_0 So the copper takes his gun out

spk_0 and the one guy he has a gun is going to aim at the cop.

spk_0 The thing was, he had to cop the gun on that.

spk_0 He's going to shoot the guy, but there was

spk_0 a kid's little kid's running around over there.

spk_0 He was believing I wanted to kill that.

spk_0 But he's still in jail now.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 When that happened, was there, I mean,

spk_0 having the family, did your wife want you to get out

spk_0 of the business?

spk_0 No, she wanted me to get in quicker.

spk_0 What's about this?

spk_0 Just get back.

spk_0 What's your life insurance in?

spk_0 Work late tonight.

spk_0 Did you guys have robberies and stuff?

spk_0 I mean, does that work?

spk_0 No, we never got stuck up.

spk_0 Robb, were they breaking their...

spk_0 But my dad was on the bus, I guess,

spk_0 stuck up one time inside there.

spk_0 And they put the gun to his head,

spk_0 but hit the alarm luckily.

spk_0 They caught those two scumbags in there.

spk_0 What about when your old man passed away?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 95.

spk_0 I guess it was rumored that he had a lot of cash in that.

spk_0 A lot of cash.

spk_0 And a lot of walls need to be knocked down.

spk_0 And a lot of floorboards pulled up.

spk_0 Well, did that actually happen?

spk_0 Or is that just a man?

spk_0 Yeah, but we didn't find nothing.

spk_0 You didn't find anything.

spk_0 Scottie got to it first.

spk_0 And my cousin, Danny.

spk_0 Danny and my brother, Scottie got to it.

spk_0 I'll tell you what, my dad, they had a lot of money

spk_0 when he died, a lot of cash.

spk_0 I didn't see any, but honestly,

spk_0 I didn't hear one thing from my dad.

spk_0 I didn't hear it hard to see.

spk_0 It's not my dad, hard to see.

spk_0 Well, you look good.

spk_0 I look good, guys, I have dad.

spk_0 I have a pacemaker here, I have stents here.

spk_0 I think it looks great, actually.

spk_0 Are you trying to hit on me, sir?

spk_0 Hello, hello.

spk_0 I'm glad you're on.

spk_0 Okay, so I'll be honest with you.

spk_0 This guy reminds me of my dad as a younger guy.

spk_0 I really got it.

spk_0 Wow.

spk_0 Yeah, but I'm not tough like your dad.

spk_0 I'm not in the opposite of that.

spk_0 No, I'm glad it was good.

spk_0 Getting back to your TV show.

spk_0 So your show hits the airwaves.

spk_0 And actually for like the first half of the season,

spk_0 it was got pulled in something like two million viewers

spk_0 in episode.

spk_0 The first episode was the biggest food TV ever had.

spk_0 Like five million views.

spk_0 Yeah, three million views.

spk_0 Where could I find this, by the way?

spk_0 I think I'm going to see what you're watching.

spk_0 Anyway, go on.

spk_0 YouTube, you can go on.

spk_0 There's three ones going on right now.

spk_0 Really at your TV?

spk_0 No, not some channel 26.

spk_0 People call me all the time now that they see my show.

spk_0 Free advertising.

spk_0 I like it.

spk_0 Did you guys want to continue?

spk_0 Yeah, it was good for business.

spk_0 Oh, it was great for business.

spk_0 And were you guys paid?

spk_0 Oh, yeah, they paid us.

spk_0 I got to tell you how much was it lucrative?

spk_0 It was decent amount of money, but you know,

spk_0 what me as a pups I am, me and Randy took our half

spk_0 and then we give the rest half to our employees.

spk_0 Which I didn't have to, but I did.

spk_0 I got you.

spk_0 Of course, they don't appreciate it, but I did.

spk_0 Okay, so you get noticed and you get notice in the street

spk_0 from the show.

spk_0 Oh my god, I couldn't walk down this.

spk_0 When the first came out, the first, I couldn't walk down

spk_0 this street.

spk_0 I was coming back from Vegas right after the first filming.

spk_0 What were you doing in Vegas?

spk_0 There's nothing to do in Vegas.

spk_0 I got some friends out there.

spk_0 A lot of them are in the desert, though,

spk_0 but I do have a lot of friends out there.

spk_0 So I'm getting on the earth playing, going home

spk_0 and everybody on the plane.

spk_0 That's the guy from TV show.

spk_0 Everybody was called nuts.

spk_0 Could you give me an autograph?

spk_0 Do most people try to sell or pawn?

spk_0 On the TV show, it's always sell.

spk_0 Yeah, so yeah, no, we had pawn.

spk_0 We had a guy who wanted to pawn that one card.

spk_0 That commercial, what they call that commercial?

spk_0 It was a trader.

spk_0 It needed like 70 grand real quick.

spk_0 So he came in with this Janko.

spk_0 Cars were 300 grand.

spk_0 Game like 70 grand on it.

spk_0 It was unbelievable.

spk_0 I love it.

spk_0 Would you drive the car?

spk_0 It was a lot of, it was five speed.

spk_0 I can't drive the car.

spk_0 Really?

spk_0 I was just like, what is it?

spk_0 What was that movie?

spk_0 Matthew Broderick.

spk_0 Oh, I'm feeling it.

spk_0 I could just, you know, like the Ferrari.

spk_0 You just take it.

spk_0 We had a good time back in the streets.

spk_0 We were, yeah, we couldn't walk down the street.

spk_0 So what happened?

spk_0 Because you're not at the Royal Pond on Clark anymore.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 As we mentioned, you've got your kid set up in Oak Park, right?

spk_0 Yeah, and Ham and the End.

spk_0 And you've got Ham and Indiana.

spk_0 So you kind of left the state of Illinois.

spk_0 What happened there?

spk_0 I mean, really you can get along

spk_0 for a long time.

spk_0 And then he brought his daughter in.

spk_0 I really couldn't get along with it.

spk_0 And I figured it was like this.

spk_0 I'll be honest with you.

spk_0 If I didn't leave, someone was going to die.

spk_0 Me or both of them.

spk_0 So I figured, you know what?

spk_0 I better go.

spk_0 I left.

spk_0 I never look back.

spk_0 Because I'm in a different business.

spk_0 I'm in a medical case, a man and a business.

spk_0 We do a lot of business with personal injury lawyers.

spk_0 I mean, you guys personal injury lawyers.

spk_0 I'm a lawyer, man.

spk_0 I'm not a personal injury lawyer.

spk_0 Why not?

spk_0 I don't know.

spk_0 We've got to allow you practice.

spk_0 I do transactional.

spk_0 Do you know the state?

spk_0 You don't do any law.

spk_0 Laws don't do law.

spk_0 No litigation stuff.

spk_0 If I did, I would never go to call.

spk_0 But you're also bangled gold.

spk_0 Because you got the website on YouTube.

spk_0 So how often are you going down to the pawn shop every day?

spk_0 I go every day.

spk_0 I go down to everybody I want to.

spk_0 I do what I want when I want to.

spk_0 You know, go here, go to the pawn shop,

spk_0 go down to the other office, go visit branding,

spk_0 bother how out of him.

spk_0 I still in the property downtown.

spk_0 So I want to check my investment on this.

spk_0 You make sure my mom's are paid.

spk_0 Can you name your parents?

spk_0 Well, you pay here to pay me rent for the store.

spk_0 Because I own part of the piece of the half worth worth.

spk_0 But you still got to hold their property down there.

spk_0 So I go down there all the time.

spk_0 And so you've got your third generation now.

spk_0 You've got your kids have their pawn shops, right?

spk_0 Happens to be I was actually on a plane to Scottsdale once.

spk_0 And we got delayed and I, you know, went to the bar

spk_0 to get a beer and I saw a group of kids over there.

spk_0 Not kids.

spk_0 They were similar age.

spk_0 And one of them was your kid was Nate.

spk_0 Oh, they was there.

spk_0 So I said, you know, what's up to him?

spk_0 I said, hey, you know, I just recognize him from,

spk_0 honestly, probably from the TV show.

spk_0 I said, hey, you know, Jordan were kind of cousins or whatever.

spk_0 I hope he picked at you.

spk_0 I hope you made fun of him.

spk_0 I think he was at the bar for longer than I was.

spk_0 And he didn't care too much.

spk_0 But it was funny because we got on the plane.

spk_0 And he was seated directly next to me

spk_0 where I'm the plane for four hours afterwards.

spk_0 Yeah, yeah.

spk_0 He never told me that.

spk_0 He must have gone out there golfing.

spk_0 He was a party weekend for him.

spk_0

spk_0 I mean, weekends a party weekend for him.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 He just got back from Vegas last weekend.

spk_0 Uh-huh.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 He's living the life.

spk_0 But you, you know, do you see your, you know,

spk_0 are you happy to, you know, groom your kids

spk_0 into the same business and pass it off?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Or is the business tougher now?

spk_0 tougher as much tougher.

spk_0 Hard to make a living like we used to make.

spk_0 You know, why is it?

spk_0 It's all done.

spk_0 It's just, it's just what's competition.

spk_0 And it's just not like it used to be.

spk_0 And all there's the credit cards now.

spk_0 There's the credit unions.

spk_0 It's tough to rough business.

spk_0 They deal with a lot of crazy's.

spk_0 What about those big, the big chains and corporations

spk_0 you mentioned?

spk_0 Yeah, they own the, you know, they take a lot of

spk_0 business away from you because they get people

spk_0 crazy money that they don't care.

spk_0 Because it's not their money.

spk_0 How do they make money?

spk_0 Are they?

spk_0 They make the money on the interest.

spk_0 And it's the people don't come back.

spk_0 They mess up the business for everybody else.

spk_0 But we still do.

spk_0 OK, you know, they still make it a living, you know?

spk_0 What's it like living in Lincolnwood?

spk_0 You know, you work hard for so long?

spk_0 I think I love it.

spk_0 It's close to the city.

spk_0 And what's your take?

spk_0 Because it was a long time since you've been on the West Side.

spk_0 Since you've been to Ron Bobbin and I had a crown.

spk_0 We called it.

spk_0 You see on Shabbos, you know, you see all this.

spk_0 I love it.

spk_0 It's great.

spk_0 I love it.

spk_0 Why does they join us sometimes?

spk_0 I would love to.

spk_0 I love it.

spk_0 I mean, I'm, Eli is told me to go to the show.

spk_0 I mean, I love it.

spk_0 I mean, let's see my people.

spk_0 I mean, I feel safer on my people, you know?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 You never have to worry about getting stuck up.

spk_0 But I won't.

spk_0 I love it.

spk_0 Well, Wayne, hold on.

spk_0 I said, I want to go to the features.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I think Wayne is the go to because one of the features of our show,

spk_0 we ask, I usually have a lot of things in my head.

spk_0 So one of them, so I, you know, I have a question of the week

spk_0 or question of the day.

spk_0 What do I call it?

spk_0 We call it the question of the day.

spk_0 He has these random.

spk_0 All right.

spk_0 But you know, what the audience does love them?

spk_0 And they're very out of the box.

spk_0 And I appreciate him for it.

spk_0 So we'll see where it goes.

spk_0 Here's what it is.

spk_0 It just happens to me again.

spk_0 When I go through an airport and let's say I'm going through

spk_0 security and I take out my bag and I walk through.

spk_0 And there's like a security guard standing there.

spk_0 Or you walk into a casino and you walk by security and like,

spk_0 you saw, like I always feel guilty.

spk_0 Look guilty.

spk_0 I'm like, do I look down?

spk_0 Do I look straight at them?

spk_0 Do I like like, like, what's the question?

spk_0 What's the question?

spk_0 So when you walk through security, are you nervous?

spk_0 Are you like trying to think where to look?

spk_0 Or like I'm not walking like regularly

spk_0 what the way I walk through?

spk_0 Like I feel like I'm trying to hide it.

spk_0 I feel like I'm worried about the hide there, man.

spk_0 I got nothing to hide.

spk_0 I mean, I'm worried about this.

spk_0 I'm not worried.

spk_0 I just, for whatever reason, some consciousness.

spk_0 Is that my body becomes guilty?

spk_0 I'm even though my brain is for waiting.

spk_0 I have a sense that Wayne is nervous walking through security.

spk_0 So we know his answer.

spk_0 I'm nervous walking through a really security, but not yours.

spk_0 I know what else is.

spk_0 OK, and I'm not either.

spk_0 So give us another question.

spk_0 And you don't get that feeling.

spk_0 Oh my gosh.

spk_0 Don't worry about that.

spk_0 I'm not that feeling.

spk_0 Next time you go, don't think about it.

spk_0 Just walk.

spk_0 I'll give you a gun to take you.

spk_0 I don't think about it.

spk_0 I got a gun on my car.

spk_0 Take it through security and see if it gets through.

spk_0 Yeah, I guess it's a better question.

spk_0 Better question is so much pressure here.

spk_0 Take your time, but hurry up.

spk_0 OK.

spk_0 All right, here's the last question.

spk_0 This is one of my dumber thoughts.

spk_0 But you know, you're like driving the highway.

spk_0 You know, as most of my questions are

spk_0 because that's usually what I'm just

spk_0 sitting there doing nothing.

spk_0 And you get like the amber alerts.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Do you ever like look out for the car

spk_0 because like you want to be that hero?

spk_0 Let me tell you.

spk_0 You want to be that hero.

spk_0 I'm looking out for it.

spk_0 We're going to hold on your question.

spk_0 And OK, your question.

spk_0 I want to tell you a freaky story.

spk_0 It's too too too too.

spk_0 I heard that you solved something recently.

spk_0 Is that where you're going with?

spk_0 That's another thing.

spk_0 I did that too.

spk_0 But let me tell you one before that.

spk_0 OK.

spk_0 You know what, two Jewish guys.

spk_0 You guys shot about a year or two or three ago.

spk_0 Well, some guys just shot him.

spk_0 Well, guys walking his dog, killed him.

spk_0 They were orbs.

spk_0 Yeah, yeah, one by the lake.

spk_0 One by the lake.

spk_0 And one of them being that.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 So they were shown on TV.

spk_0 That was like I was a duck run.

spk_0 Like his feet.

spk_0 Oh, yeah.

spk_0 Like his feet were out.

spk_0 I don't tell you a story.

spk_0 I'm walking my dog in front of my house

spk_0 two nights ago.

spk_0 And honestly, it's far as barking like crazy.

spk_0 I'm looking across the street.

spk_0 There's a guy walking across the street.

spk_0 Just walking the dark.

spk_0 What time is this?

spk_0 9.30.

spk_0 Just walking.

spk_0 I see it.

spk_0 Look behind me.

spk_0 How he's walking.

spk_0 That's the **** right there.

spk_0 That's the guy who did it.

spk_0 I said, I got to call the cops.

spk_0 Because I got to freak you think about this kind of stuff.

spk_0 Because they killed a guy on the trail.

spk_0 And I live right behind the trail.

spk_0 So someone was killed in this trail?

spk_0 Not this guy.

spk_0 I was in the car.

spk_0 I was right.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 I'm going to go in the house.

spk_0 And I see a squad car driving by.

spk_0 I got him.

spk_0 But he go, he went by too fast.

spk_0 Then I see the next box.

spk_0 There's not a squad car going that way.

spk_0 I thought maybe they saw some.

spk_0 I mean, see this guy.

spk_0 So I told my wife.

spk_0 I said, I could sworn as the guy.

spk_0 I mean, I'm pretty good about stuff like this.

spk_0 He goes, I'm going to go in the car and see if I can find them.

spk_0 Get the car.

spk_0 I couldn't find them.

spk_0 Eli told me I should have called the car.

spk_0 But I didn't.

spk_0 But that could have been the guy.

spk_0 Wait, also.

spk_0 So they still on the loose.

spk_0 He's on the loose.

spk_0 I didn't catch him.

spk_0 But I like to catch him.

spk_0 But he's around his neighbor heart.

spk_0 I don't feel as I'm not saying that was the guy.

spk_0 I'm just saying.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 So to answer my question, you are looking for that Audi, which is the amber alert.

spk_0 Because you want to be the hero.

spk_0 No, I'm just looking for a good.

spk_0 I just want to help.

spk_0 Yeah, I do want to help.

spk_0 Put the bad guy away.

spk_0 I look for the last three numbers.

spk_0 It's your number, the license plate.

spk_0 Because if I see it, because that's all known down.

spk_0 Right.

spk_0 You really nailed that one.

spk_0 I've never even touched it at all.

spk_0

spk_0 There you go.

spk_0 But chance to catch in those guys are impossible.

spk_0 But let me tell you a story, true story.

spk_0 I sold this friend of mine.

spk_0 He owned a big assisted living place.

spk_0 He bought a big diamond ring for his wife.

spk_0 He took care of diamond ring.

spk_0 And he spied all Julie from us.

spk_0 Caused me up one day.

spk_0 He goes, listen, be in a look off of my wife's ring.

spk_0 And her wedding band and a couple of things were stolen.

spk_0 She was walking outside of our house downtown.

spk_0 Nice area.

spk_0 In a big pull-out of a garage.

spk_0 And two Democrats grabbed her, put a gun to her head later

spk_0 on the ground, ripped off her fur coat and took her jewelry.

spk_0 It was about the blower rings out when her neighbor walked out.

spk_0 What time is this?

spk_0 It was nighttime.

spk_0 So or just about getting twilight, you know.

spk_0 Still, it's not four yet.

spk_0 No, no, this is no time.

spk_0 Yeah, so the guys, they get spooked.

spk_0 They run down the alley to their car.

spk_0 They saw the cars.

spk_0 The guy says, well, I mean, how do I know what these guys look like?

spk_0 He says, well, the only thing I noticed,

spk_0 they got into a brown Lexus.

spk_0 So they told the cops.

spk_0 So about three weeks later, a guy comes in and would have ring.

spk_0 Nice diamond ring.

spk_0 I'm looking at that.

spk_0 So good nice ring.

spk_0 What do you want for it?

spk_0 He goes, I've got a couple of things

spk_0 that shows me the wedding band.

spk_0 I didn't put anything together at that point, you know?

spk_0 I'm thinking, then I see the guy takes his keys, okay?

spk_0 He lays his keys on a car Lexus.

spk_0 I said, this is the guy who did it.

spk_0 So he says, Brandy, take care about the gold.

spk_0 I didn't get his license plates.

spk_0 He parked in our parking lot.

spk_0 Got the license plates thing.

spk_0 We caught them.

spk_0 Yeah, those are the guys crazy.

spk_0 And you know, once the guy, the guy didn't even think, thank me.

spk_0 I had to go on a court.

spk_0 It was unbelievable.

spk_0 And these guys, your customer didn't think you?

spk_0 No, they even think me.

spk_0 What?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Sunrise, the sunrise.

spk_0 Yeah, that's a name.

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Okay, him.

spk_0 Now you're in the witness protection program

spk_0 because of this.

spk_0 Not me.

spk_0 I don't give a ****.

spk_0 Those guys are locked up because they know

spk_0 what could have been my wife or my daughter

spk_0 or someone else's friends wife.

spk_0 That's the reason why I did it.

spk_0 Not because of, I love it.

spk_0 I kind of bit, I figured he should have got 40 years

spk_0 and started them.

spk_0 Last thing, is there room in the pond business

spk_0 for Jordan's?

spk_0 Yes, three boys.

spk_0 I think.

spk_0 What do you think about this?

spk_0 Let's get a little assessment.

spk_0 Get a little interactive here.

spk_0 All right, Jordan is now taking off a chain.

spk_0 Let's see.

spk_0 Let's.

spk_0 Nice.

spk_0 Let's have thoughts here.

spk_0 And Mike, tell us what you think.

spk_0 Five bucks help you.

spk_0 Do you need to cut it?

spk_0 Do I need to do it?

spk_0 Back in the day before everything was folks.

spk_0 Most of anything we came into the pawn shop.

spk_0 My dad's favorite words were five bucks help you any.

spk_0 Nice chain.

spk_0 14 or 10.

spk_0 I think 14.

spk_0 You better beat 14 or you got ripped off.

spk_0 I can't tell.

spk_0 Are the experts now taking a good job?

spk_0 I'll give you much.

spk_0 How much will I can I pawn this for?

spk_0 I'll give you 500 right now.

spk_0 500?

spk_0 Yeah.

spk_0 Come on.

spk_0 I'll give you six because you're a nice Jew boy.

spk_0 How much could you sell that for?

spk_0 I don't get a weight.

spk_0 I don't know what a raise.

spk_0 But it's got a lot of weight to it now.

spk_0 What did you pay for it?

spk_0 I don't know.

spk_0 Whatever Rosenwasser charged me.

spk_0 Well, Rosenwasser, that was a neighbor on the...

spk_0 And the archer there's on a wall.

spk_0 That's right.

spk_0 Well, we were neighbors and we had the pawn shop on South

spk_0 State Street.

spk_0 They had New York loan.

spk_0 We were royal loan.

spk_0 They were right on the street.

spk_0 All right, well, Wayne, thank you so much for coming out.

spk_0 I think this was awesome.

spk_0 You get him running me ready?

spk_0 He's starting to have fun.

spk_0 You got my stories?

spk_0 You got some...

spk_0 Yeah, I got some stuff.

spk_0 I'm gonna get home from my wife's lax at the door.

spk_0 Oh, done.

spk_0 Did you write something down?

spk_0 Fine.

spk_0 You have...

spk_0 No, this is someone's texting me right now.

spk_0 All right, now Jordan, you're gonna play a song for...

spk_0 Wayne, we're gonna play you off.

spk_0 Oh, okay.

spk_0 You've been amazing.

spk_0 Hello, everyone.

spk_0 Nice talking to you.

spk_0 Listen, Wayne, if...

spk_0 Listen, I don't know if this is a big hit.

spk_0 You know, I know on True TV didn't happen,

spk_0 but we know it's maybe we'll do a season two

spk_0 if we have big enough at the bank.

spk_0 If I get picked up, yeah, I'm right around the corner.

Wayne Pays More: A Life in the Pawn Business with Wayne Cohen

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