In 1988, Arno Funke was a broke, 38-year-old German man with a plan turn his life around. He decided to bankroll his dream of starting a food truck business by becoming…an extortionist. His method was simple: he detonated pipe-bombs in fancy department stores and warned the police that if they didn’t pay his ransom demands, he’d detonate more.

Over the course of six years, Arno, or Dagobert (the German name for Scrooge McDuck), as he was more affectionately known, led the cops on a wild goose chase as his plans to claim his money and outsmart the police became increasingly outlandish and cartoonish. All the while, he was becoming more and more famous and beloved by the people of Germany.

Skip straight to the story: approx 7:50

Jacob shares the story with Annabelle Lee from Shameless Media

Listen to Annabelle's podcast 'Everybody Has A Secret' https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/everybody-has-a-secret/id1621235461

We recommend the episode 'The Missing Money' https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-missing-money/id1621235461?i=1000585792618

And 'The Best Man' https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-best-man/id1621235461?i=1000567531580 

We give you just the gist, but if you want more, there's this: 

READ this New Yorker article that got us obsessed with this story https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/the-strange-story-of-dagobert-the-ducktales-bandit 

And then read this one https://berlinspectator.com/2022/06/08/arno-funke-the-most-likeable-extortionist-ever/ 

Here’s Arno’s wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arno_Funke 

WATCH this archival news footage. Doesn’t matter if you don’t know exactly what they’re saying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5pLdwEYrWI 

READ some other articles and interviews - just get your browser to translate the website if you don’t speak German ;) https://www.welt.de/print-welt/article528249/Dagobert-spielt-Katz-und-Maus-mit-den-Medien.html 

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