Crime in Sports - #35 - Murderers Are More Honest - The Untrustworthiness of Denny Mclain

Episode Date: September 27, 2016

This week, we have an extra long episode, full of extra crime, and stupidity, featuring a man that has been weaving in, and out of legal troubles for five decades. He goes from having one of the best seasons in baseball history, to decades of scandal, and prison, for things like bookmaking, cocaine distribution, extortion, money laundering, fugitive smuggling, and much more, including a Secret Service investigation into his involvement with, and cheating of, some of the biggest names in the mafia, including the Gottis. He's led a life of pure disaster, and we bring it to you for your pleasure. It's a sordid tale of one man, screwing up his life, and the lives of many, many others, as much as one man possibly could.Fire up your plane, tune up the ol' organ, and screw up your life like nobody in history with Denny Mclain!!Check us out, every Tuesday. We will continue to bring you the biggest idiots in sports history!Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman New episodes every Tuesday!!Please subscribe, rate, and review!Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!Head to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Crime in Sports!For merchandise: crimeinsports.threadless.comCheck out James and Jimmie's other show: Small Town Murder Follow us on social media!Facebook: facebook.com/crimeinsportsInstagram: instagram.com/smalltownmurderTwitter: twitter.com/MurderSmall Contact the show: [e-mail] on Patreon: patreon.com/crimeinsportsPayPal: paypal.me/crimeinsports See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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A first listen is waiting for you when you start your free trial at audible.ca. Each week on the Mr. Ballin Podcast, now available wherever you get your podcasts, you'll hear strange, dark, and mysterious stories about inexplicable encounters, shocking disappearances, true crime cases, and everything in between. So go listen to Mr. Ballin Podcast, strange, dark, and mysterious stories on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome back to Crime and Sports. Yay! Yay, yay, yay, everybody.

My name is James Petrogallo. I'm here with my co-host. I'm Jimmy Wiseman. I couldn't be more excited to be here. We are super excited. Thank you so much for joining us again. If you're a new listener, welcome aboard. Buckle up, because wow, do we have a crazy one. We have a tale of 50 years of woe and crime and deceit and just being a shitty person. Yeah, just being terrible.

50 fucking years. This may be the longest douchebaggery. He's got a resume. Nudnickery. He's got a resume of nudnickery that is truly unmatched, honestly, in years anyway. He doesn't have 100 arrests like Eddie Johnson or anything like that. But, wow. It's just constant.

It's forever. Constant fuckery for 50 years. Five decades. Oh, my goodness. Thank you guys again for joining us. We are exhausted. We're getting this in at the last possible moment. You guys better be thankful.

I mean, we're as thankful as it gets that you guys listen. This is not easy. Please be thankful that we're hitting our deadline and making sure this shit comes out on Tuesday. Because James was at a club this weekend for six shows with Jon Efron. And I had five. And Paul Verzi. And Paul Verzi. Yeah, you had seven.

Seven shows. And I did five this weekend at the Tempe Improv. This weekend was insanity. And we're still sticking to deadline and promises that we've made to each other that we're not going to miss our deadline for you guys. And I'm going to be even more honest. I have slept about two hours in the last couple days because I have been

doing nothing but researching and it could have gone on indefinitely. This could be an eight-parter. We could call this show Crime in Denny McClain. Because that's what we're doing this week. We could do that. Crime in Denny McClain, because that's who we're doing this week. We could do that. Crime in Detroit and everywhere else.

And everywhere this guy sets foot. Any piece of earth this guy wanders toward, that is now a crime scene, basically. He's a moron of epic proportions. Before we get to that, just want to thank everybody for the iTunes reviews this week. Huge. That's enormous. You're helping us so much climb up the charts, and we just can't thank you enough for that. Please, please get on there.

Give us five stars. Say following instructions, following directions, whatever you want to say, whatever you guys want to throw on there. We don't care. Just let everybody know that you're there. Those five stars and some words are important. It's huge, and it helps us with the rankings. And so, yeah, we can't do it without you guys.

Thank you so much. Crime and Sports Movement, we love you. And without further ado, because I have War and Peace in front of me here and a giant novel. It's a fucking phone book. The novel of Denny McClain in front of me here. If you remember Telephone Booth, that heavy-ass book you had to lift up to look some shit up, that's what James has in front of him in terms of research. It's all about one idiot, which is even better.

One swollen dickhead. Wow. And he is Dennis Dale McClain. Yes. And born March 29, 1944. Jesus, that's so long ago. Yeah, he's in his 70s now. He was born in the south side of Chicago.

All right. He is a white boy born in the south side of Chicago. In the 50s, he was a teenager. Yeah. Oh, he didn't he didn't grow up there no he grew up in the suburb he grew up in this in the suburb he was in the 50s as a teenager in chicago it's a pretty big deal that's that's a pretty fun time the greaser cut on him in the 50s must have been absolutely unstoppable you could just you could squeeze a half gallon of oil Out of his head And make a I don't know A slice

Grease your car Yeah It's insane Yeah He grows up in Markham Which is a suburb Of Chicago He's the oldest

Of two boys There's only two kids In the family Him and his little brother Timmy So he goes by Denny And he's got Timmy and Denny

So these parents Doom their kids To a life of feeling You know Like children Being made fun of forever It's just sounding Like children. That's true. Those are children names. And Denny

acts like a child well into his golden years. He's still a child. Italians still do that shit though. But Vinny is a bit cooler of a name than Denny. At least it sounds tough. Right. Denny was the drummer for the Beach Boys. Right. You know what I mean? Maybe some pancakes. Come on

Denny. Keep the beat better. What's wrong with you, man? Come on. Why do we let Denny in the band? Why? Let me just ask you that. Timmy, that's the name of Lassie's friend.

And Denny, Dennis Wilson from the Beach Boys was the one that let Charles Manson into his house. That's right. And then he drowned in the ocean surfing

or something. So Denny's are fuck-ups. I know two famous, three famous Denny's. If you count the fucking restaurant. Exactly. All fuck-ups. Wilson, two famous Denny's. Three famous Denny's. If you count the fucking restaurant. Exactly. All fuck-ups. Wilson, McLean, and the restaurant.

All terrible. And the restaurant ruins breakfast. I don't know if the restaurant is worldwide, but it's a terrible wannabe sort of a diner that serves just awful food that makes you shit yourself slowly. It's a chain diner, so it's not going to be good. It is the Taco Bell of diner experiences.'s not going to be good it is the taco bell of dining experience of diner experiences

it's terrible it's how can you it's one step below the waffle house it's it really is actually it's bad i'd rather eat an ihop all right moving on growing up denny mcclain apparently his mother was a distant type uh his father was a very violent kind of real hard edge kind of a guy real up everybody's ass type of thing would beat the shit out of denny repeatedly and his little brother too denny would like to hide from the beaters father got him into baseball though which was good for denny at age eight he went into he did the little league the babe roof league start with the baseball right away denny was great yeah watch out daddy either hit with this thing or i'm gonna hit it

hit you with it, you know? So he was great on the field as a child. And he always said, like, that was his, you know, right away, that's what people were telling him. He was good at something. And that's how he impressed his dad. Exactly. You know he was chasing dad's affection his whole life. He really was.

And, yeah, he grows up, plays ball. Like I said, his father was very difficult with him. 1959, he's a freshman. He goes to Mount Carmel High School in Chicago. It's a Catholic school. Okay. His father dies of a heart attack in his freshman year, 1959. Yeah, so that devastates him.

Because everything, baseball was for his father, and he was doing this for his father. Chasing dad's dream park. And it absolutely devastated him. His dad died. He was kind of codependent on his dad. Yeah. And I figure he's beating him. That's kind of a psychological thing.

Yeah. So, yeah, it wasn't easy for him. And then dad, heart attack, though. Heart attack. 36 years old. Oh, Jesus. 36 years old, that heart attack. That will fuck a kid up.

It's unexpected. Yeah. You wouldn't expect, especially if your dad is like a violent guy like that that controls everything. He's like, you know, he's a figure larger than life. Right. And he 36 that had to be larger than life and and he can only be controlled by his own heart absolutely that's just there's no solid ground at that point

the you know the sands are always shifting yep um yeah he so at 15 years old right around the time his dad dies is when he starts fucking up too that's the funny thing. Straight and narrow, all about baseball until... Well, now he doesn't have somebody controlling him all the time and pushing him to something. He's off a leash. Right. Go your own way. And he becomes a numbers runner for a local bookie at 15. Oh, Jesus. Wow. And he will never get out of that

ever. For the rest of his life. The gambling now, he's in that world forever. It's part of him. Basically. And to let more and less extents and some of it leading to prison he needs somebody to control him things absolutely uh he pitched and played shortstop for mount carmel high school they won back-to-back catholic league titles wow so they were really good it must have been easy that's like catholic that's what i mean like in the 50s too it's just a bunch of guineas and Irish kids with fetal alcohol syndrome.

That's who you're playing against. But, hey, over here, come on. What are we doing here? Let's get this fucking game going. And then Denny's going out there like serious. I'm going to play baseball. And there's some ginger in the outfield with the fucking breathing apparatus. Yeah, he's out there.

He's shaking from the DTs. He needs something. I love he's got fetal alcohol syndrome. I'm telling you, man. You got some guinea playing third base. He's got just ravioli dripping down his chin. And in the 50s, too, before Scandal, these are kids that are terrified to lose

and terrified to go back to the school and get butt-fucked. Absolutely. Oh, yeah. This is Catholic school, so they're like, hey, let's play well. Maybe we could get a... Right. Maybe we won't get taken up to the rectory tonight oh that's the rectory sounds even

worse too when you know what happens there that's so bad um now through high school like i say he's a great player he's recruited by notre dame wow university of notre dame that's impressive that's impressive catholic again a catholic again and that's probably why i don't think he was good in school i doubt he could have been because he's a fucking moron. Just athletic prowess. This guy, he's not dumb like Lenny Dykstra. He's just dumb like he just doesn't get that. Like jock dumb?

No, he's narcissist dumb. Oh. It's that different. He just doesn't understand that, oh, I can get in trouble for things that I do that are horrible. You know what I mean? He's the perfect mix between Arch Leaster and Lenny Dykstra. He is those two men together. That's exactly who he is.

Just with a touch of Willie Mays-Aphens for his career. I throw that in there, too, for his dramatic flair for the dramatic, that sort of thing. But dumber than Dykstra? No, I don't think that's possible. Maybe Tommy Morrison is dumber than Dykstra. Yeah, I don't think that's possible. Maybe Tommy Morrison is dumber than Dykstra. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He is dumb. It's so hard to be that dumb.

It's hard to be that dumb. That's like borderline is this guy. Does he need a helper? The only way that Dykstra was smart was with swindling people. Absolutely. And this one's the same way, yes? McClane, he's just money, money, money. He just wants money his whole life. swindling people. Absolutely. And this one's the same way, yes? McLean is a... He's just money, money, money.

He just wants money his whole life. It's all he's interested in. And he'll do anything. Anything. Above or below board. And if it doesn't involve money, then he doesn't want to learn about it. Absolutely.

Gotcha. Now, legend has it... I don't know if this is true or not, but legend has it that his mother wouldn't let him sign with the Yankees because their rep had dirty shoes. And she didn't like that. Well, that would be a dumb woman.

And that was a dumb woman. So instead, he signs with the Chicago White Sox in 1962 in high school. Which local team? Back home, yeah. Yeah, your home there. Keeps him home. Signs for $17,000. I would believe in that instance that he didn't sign with New York because that takes him

to a big city. Maybe. That's probably what his mother signed with. Mom doesn't have dad around anymore. She wants to keep her boy. He's the oldest boy? That makes perfect sense. He's the oldest boy.

Yeah. She wants... That makes more sense to me. 100% sense. Yeah. And that's what she told him. Whatever. Maybe that was like what he said to make his mother sound like a character.

Because he has stories to tell later on that we will get to all of this. But yeah. Mommy wanted a baby boy. He needs material, let's just say. He signs for $17,000 with the White Sox out of high school. It's $10,000. In the 60s, that's great money. Sent $10,000 bonus and a $7,000 salary.

That in modern day, $2,015 is $134,599.84. Really? So it's not that great money. It's not great, but that's pretty decent. Yeah. It's not bad, especially if you're 18 years old.84. Really? So it's not that great money. It's not great, but that's pretty decent. Yeah. It's not bad, especially if you're 18 years old. Yes. And someone says, under $34,000, you're going to go, shit, that's fantastic.

And I get to play for the White Sox? Yeah, sure. That's amazing. So his first minor league game, they send him down to the lowest level of baseball. Really? Because he's a high school kid. That's where they start out. He's pitching his first game in Harlan, Kentucky for the Class D Appalachian League. Now, people from other countries don't know where Kentucky

is and somewhere called an Appalachian League. This is like, if you have seen Deliverance, this is where they got the idea from these people, I'm sure. I mean, well, that's the Ozarks, but this, I see what you're saying. This is hillbilly time, boy. Absolutely. And Kentucky's not all hillbilly. I'm not saying that, but I think Harlan, Kentucky, and the Class D Appalachian. Well, Louisville's kind of a cool town.

It's whatever. But anything Appalachian, that's going to be backwoods. That's going to be backwoods. But he throws a no-hitter in his first game. Wow. So that's impressive. Complete game, no-hitter in his first minor league game. Move him up.

That gets the team's attention a little bit. Not enough, though, to bring him up anywhere. And in 1963, there was a rule back then where if you had a player and you did not advance him a certain amount, then he was available to be picked up by another team on waivers. They should have that shit now. They should, but they don't. And he actually gets it on waivers, and Detroit claims him.

Good for them. So the Detroit Tigers pick him up in 1963 on waivers. And so, yeah, he ends up on Detroit, where he would spend the famous years of his career. 1963, he debuts for a September call-up here. September 21, 1963, Debuts for the Tigers. It's versus the White Sox. That's a little special, too. I'll kick you in the balls for getting rid of me and not moving me up.

In his first game, he pitches a complete game. Wow. Complete game. His first game? First game. Eight strikeouts, four walks, one earned run, and a 4-3 win. That's great. Not bad at all.

That's a pretty good rookie. You look at that and you go, yes. We'll hang on to him. He's 20 at this point. He was 19 and a half when3 win. That's great. Not bad at all. That's a pretty good rookie. You look at that and you go, yes. We'll hang on to him. He's 20 at this point. He was 19 and a half when he debuted. Unbelievable. 19 and a half, and he's doing that. So that's fantastic.

Doesn't pitch much because he was brought up at the end of the season in 63. Finishes 2-1 with a 4-29 ERA. So, I mean, whatever. I mean, at that point. 63. Now, after the season, just a few days after the season ends, he elopes.

He gets married, goes off to Michigan and gets married. You're right, he's an idiot. He's an idiot right there. He marries the daughter of Lou Boudreau, who's a Hall of Fame baseball player, if you know him. Hall of Fame, Cleveland Indian, shortstop, briefly for Boston, seven-time All-Star, 1948 MVP. All of a sudden, money comes into the picture. Major League Hall of Famer. A Marion or two.

Also, too, that's good stock. You're going to make some baseball kids here. You betcha. You got something. I got to give you Lou Boudreau's nicknames because they're fantastic. I love them. I love the nicknames they used to give people back in the day. Everybody had five nicknames.

Anybody named Lou, you don't even need to give them a nickname. Lou is the best name ever for a baseball player. He's got three. Two of them are lame. One of them is one of the best nicknames I've ever heard in my life. Handsome Lou is number one. That's not a bad one. The Good Kid. Kind of gangster names already. And then the third one, which

is my all-time favorite. Old Shufflefoot. Fuck yes. The fuck is Old Shufflefoot? Old Shufflefoot. That sounds like he's is Old Shufflefoot? Old Shufflefoot. That sounds like he's an 80-year-old man with a bad right leg that he has to drag behind him. Yeah, they got in a car accident. Diabetes is going to take my foot, but I'm going to drag it behind me for now.

Come on, Old Shufflefoot. Let's go to Denny's. I'm not ready for the surgery. You know what I mean? That's what it is. Old Shufflefoot. Now, at this point, it comes out because he's a character,

and we start finding things out about him. He's known to drink 20 to 25 Pepsis a day. I like him. Like a maniac. I'm in. Like a maniac. That's the shit I drink. He's like 25 a day. This explains so much already. Yes. He's

full of sugar. Yeah. Full of sugar and caffeine. His brain is rotting out. Absolutely. And it catches up with him. Because he balloons into the biggest, fattest fuck ever. And a Pepsi. There's a Pepsi tie-in to a crime later that ends up ensnaring him in a giant racketeering case. Through Pepsi, actually.

Through his love of Pepsi. We'll get to that. That's why I'm telling you it now. So good. Then I really plant the seed with that Pepsi. Plant the be-all Pepsi seed there, Jimmy Wisman. So 1964, his manager at the time introduces him to betting on horses.

Oh, no. Danny McClain's now betting on horses. Remember Arch Leister? Who introduced him? A coach introduced him. That's right. Same thing. Come on with me, kid.

Yeah, now we got out of the track. Have a good time. Because this is someone who maybe didn't have a horrible addiction to gambling, which Denny McClain's kicked in immediately. And Denny McClain needs a father figure and somebody to guide him. And he feels like he's bonding. He needs a silver-haired, middle-aged white man to show him the way is what he needs. And bonding upon horse racing is a very easy way to do it.

And he was, at this point on, just into gambling forever. He would lose, at this point he's making $25,000 a year. So $25,000 a year and he would lose $200 to $300 a week gambling. A week. That's not good when you're making $25,000 a year. That's not going to last long. You multiply that by $52,000, you get $15,000. Yeah, by $65,000.

It was $1,500. What was it now? Yeah, it's $15,000. That's $15,000. You bet. That's terrible. Yeah, he's doing horribly. That's not good. By $15,000. That's $15,000. You bet. That's terrible. Yeah, he's doing horribly. That's not good.

By 65, he's heavily gambling. He's betting with Syrian bookies all the time, Syrian mob bookies. Oh, my God. On basketball and hockey, of all things. That is terrifying. He's from Michigan. That's where the... Or Chicago.

That's where the hockey comes from. Yeah, basketball, hockey, a little football. The Syrians. Oh, he gets deeper with the Syrians. We'll see how. Oh, my God. He was said to be so open about his gambling. hockey, little football. The Syrians. Oh, he gets deeper with the Syrians. We'll see how. He was said to be so open about his gambling.

And in baseball, you're not supposed to gamble on anything like that back then, especially sports. You can't do that. Ask Pete Rose. He was using the clubhouse phone to place bets. What the fuck? Just didn't care. Just in the open, and no one said shit about it.

It was just like, well, that's Denny. He's crazy. Oh, boy. I mean, that's the kind of guy. And his teammates were kind of lukewarm on him. Yeah. A lot of them thought. Because, yeah, he came in like an asshole. He was a brash.

Especially in the 60s. These guys were like crew cut kind of guys. He comes in pitching wins and one hitters. Pepsi falling out of his pockets. It's a mess over here. And he thinks he's a big shot. And he's out there gambling in the open. And in 65, he learns a curveball.

Oh. And it changes his life. He goes 16, he learns a curveball. Oh. And it changes his life. He goes 16-6 with a 261 ERA. That's great. That's great. The 192 strikeout, 62 walks. Wow.

So now it's like, it's on now. That curveball has definitely changed his life. Yeah. This is how he is for money and competition. This is the type of guy he is, okay? Here's a little story from this era. There's a post-game interview show where they would interview the player of the game. He was pitching one day

and apparently his teammate Norm Cash was on a real hot streak and had a really good record against this pitcher that was pitching. So rather than, if you were the player of the game and you went to the post-game interview, you got a hundred bucks for it. They gave you a hundred bucks

cash for doing the interview because they were on TV. I wonder if they do that still. I don't know. It's probably part of your contract to do publicity. Probably. But back then it was like, hey. Otherwise, Tom Brady's loaded just from interviews.

Otherwise, yeah, these guys would be like, I'll go back in the fucking clubhouse and smoke a half a pack of cigarettes and drink a case of beer or Pepsi in his case. I'll give you two interviews every day. Yeah. Let's talk. Absolutely.

So he wanted this $100 so bad in this interview. Who knows if he owed somebody $100 or whatever, that McClain went over to the other clubhouse and told the other catcher, the opposing catcher, exactly how to pitch to Norm Cash. Oh, my gosh. Exactly where his weaknesses were and what he didn't like to hit so that Norm Cash wouldn't be player of the game. Wow.

McClain ends up being the player of the game. And after the interview, he walks back in the clubhouse and sticks the $100 bill to his forehead and just parades back and forth in front of Norm Cash making fun of him

and telling him what he did. Unbelievable. I wonder why his teammates don't like him. What a dickle. He's a total asshole. 1966, he's an All-Star. His first All-Star season.

Has 20 wins that year which is huge. 20 and 14 with a.392 ERA. Interviewing every day interviewing like a motherfucker 20 times probably i would guess at that point now uh september 67 is when his troubles start okay this is this is when it starts to let's get into this story because this he he starts pitching poorly toward the end of the season has like four poor starts good i'm

sick of hearing him doing well yeah yeah. Yeah. No shit, right? Don't worry. You're going to get another little spike of... Actually, you're going to get a spike of some of the greatest glory in the history of sports. Really? He's going to do something that is as great a thing as just about anybody's done in sports.

He has one of the most legendary seasons in sports history and then goes on a complete slide into below the gutter, into the magma of the shit, basically. It's horrible. So 67. He pitches poorly in these four starts in September. He gets two wins in these starts, but he gives up 13 runs in 13 and two-thirds innings.

It's not going well. He reports that it's because he has several injured toes on his left foot. I wonder how that happened. Well, let's get a Denny story. He claims all different stories over two weeks. Oh, I'm sure. In public, to different teammates. Sitting here, I can already guess the actual reason.

I already know. Wait till we uncover it here. He said, first of his first and this is the story he still sticks to now but then other times i've seen him say another one but this is the one i've seen him say most okay it's about 60 of the time he says his foot had fallen asleep while watching tv and he got up quick and stubbed his foot yep and so which because your foot is asleep doesn't mean you don't know where furniture is. Your eyes aren't asleep. My feet are asleep, so I'm going to just kick the shit out of this footstool. If you don't feel it, you can't possibly have any perception of where objects are.

If I don't feel it, it's not there. It's not there. Absolutely not. So people who are in like a... If you're paralyzed from the waist down, you have no idea. You're just banging into things. What do you care? Unreal.

So that's an idiotic thing then he also said he did it kicking a locker after a game against the red socks okay then he said it was a water cooler and then my favorite one he said he heard it while chasing raccoons away from his garbage can which is terrific that to me is like his way of going how can i make this sound folksy i make this sound like i chase raccoons away from my garbage can. Then he's just like me. I swear to God. He's a political candidate. I've got to relate

to the people in Arkansas. That's what he's doing. How can I relate to these people? They have garbage cans. They don't like raccoons knocking them over. Let's talk about it. So this is from a night,

this is about this 67 incident. There's a story in the 1970 sports illustrated that uncovers a lot of shit fantastic it gets what's the disputed real story but i'm gonna believe it you know what crime and sports is gonna say that's the goddamn real stamp of approval stamp of approval because i love this story uh he writes that there was a gambler. There we go. There's a gambler. Now it sounds real. Yep, there's a gambler named Edward Voshin. He wins $46,000 on a horse race in February of 1967. You figure, what does that have to do with Denny McClain,

some shitbag gambler getting lucky on a long shot, right? Sounds like somebody changed their name. No problem. So Voshin's bookie couldn't pay the $46,000. That's a lot of cash to have on hand in 1967. So he can't pay. So he suggests that Voshin, to try to get his money, go to his partners in the bookie business. Maybe they can give him the money, right?

So wonder who one of his partners is. It's found out to be Denny McClain. You betcha. He's one of the partners in the bookmaking operation. So yeah, this is from an article called Baseball's Big Scandal, Denny McClain and the Mob. So that gives you an idea. Oh boy. In the article, he's repeatedly called, quote, poor dumb Denny.

And so you can either believe he's the biggest idiot in the world or he's a scam artist and based on his later in 1970 you might say he was just an idiot later on you're gonna go oh no no he was calculated he was probably fucking the gangsters over yeah as he does later on too so so he gave the guy he fronted him 46 grand uh000? No, no, no. A gambler won $46,000. A bookie couldn't pay. The bookie said, hey, if you want your money, maybe you can go to my partners and get it. One of the partners is Denny McClain. Okay.

So that's. Oh, so the guy was like, give me my $46,000. Give me my $46,000. And he's like, I don't have it. And he's like, well, you got 10 toes. So it comes out that in early 67, Denny invested what he says and what everybody says is $15,000 in a bookmaking business run out of a Flint, Michigan restaurant with the Syrian mob. These were his partners, okay?

So Vashin, the guy who's owed $46,000, enlists the help of a mobster named Tony Giacalone, which is a famous mobster. I'm scared. Yes, to get his money for him. So he gets this, but he's like, hey, you've got to talk to these fucking idiots. You know, whatever. So Jock alone, allegedly, this is the story,

confronts McClane and threatens him physically. He wants this fucking money. Yeah. And it's said that he stomps McClane's foot with his heels. There you go. And threatens much worse.

Says, you know, hey, asshole, you need your fucking arm to pitch and shit like that. So he's like, oh, no. So Denny only admits to investing the $15,000 but denies the whole foot story

because that's obviously advantageous for him. A team doesn't want a guy who's having his foot broken by mobsters. If you trip while you're chasing raccoons, that's just goofy and fun.

So he pays $15,000 and then the other two partners pay $15,000 to get the guy his money. But no, he also, he's saying he had nothing to do with it, but then he also admits that he gave the bookie $10,000 to give to Vosh. So it sounds like he got pressured to do it. Because otherwise he'd be like, fuck this guy.

Sounds like somebody stomped his feet. I would believe him that that didn't happen if he didn't pay $10,000 after it allegedly happened. Put it that way. So 1968, he becomes an all-star now. And he is a bad motherfucker. He wins. This is the best, pretty much the best, well,

people can, you can dispute Bob Gibson's season or whatever, but this is top three greatest seasons in the history of pitching. He goes, he wins the Cy Young and the MVP, which rarely happens. MVPs for position players, Cy Young's for the pitcher, but he wins the Cy Young and the MVP which rarely happens that's rare MVPs for position players Cy Young's for the pitcher but he wins both he goes 31 and 6 wow 31 and 6 he's the last pitcher still now to win 30 games in a season and this was 1968 this is the first time somebody

won 30 games in a season since 1934 unbelievable time and 31 wins was the most wins in a season since 1920 unbelievable lefty grove did it so 40 years that record yeah tied it around 31 and 60 had a 196 era so i mean good christ 280 strikeouts and 63 walks he threw 28 complete games. Guys barely get 28 starts now, and if they have three complete games, people call them a workhorse. This guy had 28 complete games. They come out in the seventh at best.

He was finishing that shit. That's unbelievable. That'll destroy your arm, too. Yeah, that's pretty impressive. Pretty cool story from this year. A little baseball sidebar here, and we'll get right back into crime, because, woo, there's a pile of it. This is a cool little thing. In 1968, in we'll get right back into crime, because, woo, there's a pile of it. But this is a cool little thing. In 1968, in the game of his 31st win, Tigers are up 6-1.

Mickey Mantle comes to the plate. Famous story. He has 534 home runs, Mickey Mantle. Mickey Mantle, legendary baseball. Even if you don't know baseball, if you're from Australia, you fucking know Mickey Mantle. It's a big deal.

Yeah. So he needs one more for, at the time, third place all-time in home home runs that's 535 is the would put him in sole possession third place so mcclain calls up uh-huh calls his catcher to the man and says tell mickey i'm throwing fastballs over the plate and so the catcher goes back and the first two mickey takes because he thought he was full of shit yeah catcher said he's gonna groove him to you and he's like yeah right so he takes. So he takes him. Third pitch, he fouls off. McLean's like, Jesus fucking Christ.

What are you doing, Mickey? For Christ's sake, man. Do you want the homer or not? So finally, Mickey just said, put it here. And he did. And he cranked it out to right field and got his 535th home run. Unbelievable. And Mickey tipped his cap to him as he ran at third base.

Thank you very much. Joe Pepitone's the next batter, who's a wise-ass little guinea fuck. I love him. He's the first guy to blow dryer in the locker room in the 60s. Like, they were like, what is this guy? He's crazy. You know, had a phone installed in his locker just to be a goofball. Yeah, just to be a goofball. Plus, he was mobbed up, too, so he's probably betting. Anyway, so he's the next guy, and he goes, hey, I'm a nice guy, too. How about one here? And McClane threw it in his head dropped him in the dirt fuck you

I expected I truly half expected you to say that Denny just drilled Mickey in the ribs no no no that would be great but no I guess he was

his idol yeah that's nice I gotta let Mickey Mantle have it and the teammates had never a problem with that but Pepitone can

eat shit Pepitone you eat shit asshole you're not Mickey Mantle and it was all fun like yeah throw it

in your head isn't that funny? He hit the dirt. Get some raviolis, you fuck. So 1968, World's Seat. Get some raviolis. So we have to put Detroit into context here. Because 67 was the big Detroit riots.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Racially, it broke apart. Other countries, if you don't know, in the late 60s here, and all through the 60s, really, we had racial problems. It was right after the Civil Rights Act was formed. We're getting right back into it now.

Neighborhoods were integrating and people didn't like it and it was, you know, black people were protesting against police and it was a, it was really,

really a difficult time. Lots of water hoses and dogs. And in Detroit, they burned that shit. To the ground. Yeah, it was constantly on fire, basically. How that city stayed alive, they burned that shit. To the ground. It was constantly on fire basically. How that city stayed

alive, I had no idea. They did a documentary, Sports Century, ESPN Sports Century, I think it was called City on Fire. Really? I'm pretty sure about the 67, 68 Detroit. Well titled. But 1968, it's literally credited to the Tigers being good that

the city stayed from rioting over the summer. Literally, because everybody was into the Tigers. That was one thing like, hey, we can't riot. The Tigers are on. Like, hey, man, they could win. Like, you know, they're in first place. Like, I'll burn that shit down later. Put your black power glove away.

Let's burn that shit down in November if the Lions suck. Right. Or the Red Wings. We'll tip over cop cars. We'll see what happens with the Red Wings and we'll see what goes on. We'll never miss some field goals. Let's tip over cop cars. They make it all the way to the World Series in 68.

It is a seven game. It's one of the most classic World Series ever. It's a seven game World Series. McLean pitches a beautiful game six. Complete game. Who did they play against? St. Louis. Okay.

Bob Gibson at his height of his power. All right. You know, he had, that was, I think the season it was in 69 where he had the 1.12 E St. Louis. Okay. Bob Gibson at the height of his power. All right. You know, he had, that was, I think the season, it was at 69 where he had the 1.12 ERA. Jesus.

So, I mean, it was, that was nasty time. And they were the defending champions, too, St. Louis. He pitches, gives

up one run in a complete game and he gave that up in the ninth inning when they were up 13-0. When it matters. Didn't matter.

Seven strikeouts, no walks, just own that shit. Shut them down just gave them nothing Mickey Lulich pitches game seven they end up winning

you know so and that that was credited literally with keeping Detroit from being aflame and you get a ring for a while

and you get a ring out of it that's incredible so now the tour of McLean begins yeah this is he's a national celebrity

he is hot he's a hero in detroit yeah back then baseball was the sport it wasn't football it was baseball so i mean he was the the shit at that moment three days after the world series he does a duet because he now one thing i have to tell you denny plays the organ his dad taught him to play the organ hilarious he plays the organ like a motherfucker and we're going to find out to the extent of his organ playing here. Catholic boy plays the organ. It is wild.

He plays like, you can YouTube Denny McLean's organ shit. All of his songs are on there. He has albums we're going to get to in a second. He could have been a great seventh inning stretch guy. Actually, yes. Later on he goes to a team and he actually, the owner asked him, hey, you want to go play out there? And he said, yeah.

And the owner was like, no, no, I'm kidding. I'm joking. You can't do that. And he was like, I'll go play the seventh inning stretch. I can't wait. That sounds awesome. So October 13th, 1968, three days after the World Series, he does a duet. He's on the organ.

Bob Gibson, the St. Louis pitcher that he was playing against three days ago, is on guitar on the Ed Sullivan Show. Ed Sullivan Show was the biggest talk show in the world back then. That's the famous one where the Beatles made their big appearance in America. Blah, blah, blah. So, 1968. Johnny Carson did his show from the Ed Sullivan Theater.

Exactly. It was a big deal. Ed Sullivan was the king of talk shows. If you went on his show, you were probably Richard Pryor. Yeah, you're getting sitcoms. You're getting everything. George Carlin, everybody. So 1968, he appears on the Bob Hope show, the Steve Allen show.

He appears on game shows, like a celebrity guest. What's My Line? He's the mystery guest. The Match Game. He's one of the team captains. Really? Yeah, these old game shows. Hilarious.

I mean, housewives know who he is. That's who those shows were for. Yeah. Housewives. And they knew who he was. That's how famous he were for. Housewives. And they knew who he was. That's how famous he is. Probably on the old game show networks, though. Jesus, who knows. So, 1968, right after that, he releases a

single with Capitol Records called Lonely is the Name. What the fuck? It's an organ song. Lots of people buying that. But they'll buy it because he's a hero. He's got a name. Yeah, and he releases two albums, both with Capitol Records.

LPs, not singles. He later releases two LP albums. Denny McLean at the Organ is the name of one, and In Las Vegas is the other. Because he had a Vegas gig where he would headline organ gigs in Vegas for $15,000 a week. You betcha.

So he was making bank. Residency in Vegas is money. Bank. He's got his two Capitol Records. Brand new audience every night. $69,000, he made $100,000 on the field and the same amount off. Wow. So he may, he, he.

Cashing in. Also, too, McLean and Pete Rose co-author a booklet called How to Play Better Baseball. Perfect. And that's hilarious that these two become buddies. And it's said that they didn't work on it together. They were just their agents or their whatever. But they said they didn't really. Super convenient.

One did pitching, one did hitting. But later on they become buddies too, which is so appropriate. Holy shit. How to play better baseball. You mean how to bet on baseball better. How to bet on baseball better. Or just not get caught for a while. Right.

Eventually you're going down, though. For a minute. For a minute. 1969, he's an all-star. And this baseball is just about over, guys. Don't worry. Great. 1969, he's an all-star.

He wins the Cy Young. Not the MVP, but the Cy Young. Again, back-to-back Cy Young seasons. That's great. 24-9 with a.280 ERA. 23 complete games. Nine shutouts. So his arm is fucked right now.

He's going to need rotator cuff. He led the league in innings pitch 68 and 69. That tells you a lot right there. His shoulder has got to be garbage. It's trashed. So 69, he really becomes a character. He buys an airplane. Oh, God.

Claims to have taught himself how to fly. Oh, God. He would fly himself to games against the team's wishes, obviously, because he would show up 20 minutes before the game because he flew himself in. What an asshole. Why? Are you a dummy?

Exactly. He's on the cover of Time magazine in 1969. Time magazine. That's Sports Illustrated. Time. That's how everyone knows him. He's on housewife game shows on the cover of Time magazine. That's Sports Illustrated, Time. That's how everyone knows him. He's on housewife game shows, on the cover of Time Magazine. He is like in the lexicon of the country here. Has anybody else ever done this?

Yeah, Mickey Mantle, little people like that. Yeah, I mean, recently. I can't think. Michael Jordan, maybe? Derek Jeter, maybe somebody like that. I don't know. That's what this guy was in the 60s. Yeah, that's what he was.

It's insane. Tom Brady's not flying himself to games. For a two-year period, he was this. Gotcha. Because it's about to... You think right now, he's got a Hall of... He's like 26 years old right now. I think Hall of Fame career, everything.

Flying a plane. It's about to take a wicked left turn here in a second. Also, too, he appears on the Joey Bishop show where he plays the organ again. He's sponsored by Hammond Organs, too, so they pay him money every time he goes out and plays one of their organs. Unbelievable. 1970 comes around. Fantastic.

Here we go. Beginning of 1970, Major League Baseball hires a former FBI agent named Henry Fitzgibbon to investigate Denny's bookmaking operation. Oh, shit. Because an internal baseball investigation brought up a couple of things, and they said, we're not qualified to investigate a bookmaking operation. Let's hire an FBI agent. You betcha. So also investigated is Pete Rose in this. They knew about his gambling back then,

and they could never catch Pete Rose in the act back then. That's what Fitzgibbon said. He was very good at covering his tracks, and you could never catch him in the act, because the only people that you could get to tell were gamblers. Yep. And they weren't going to say shit to you back then. That's what Fitzgibbon said. He was very good at covering his tracks and you could never catch him in the act because the only people that you could get to tell were gamblers. Yep. And they weren't going to say shit to you. No, they weren't going to talk. Then they got problems. Now, this is exposing his whole bookmaking operation with the Syrian mob and his broken foot and all this. And on the bookmaking operation, we have our first, in their own words, fantastic. He was a talker.

Because we're about done with baseball, and now it's all fuckery and him being an idiot. So here we go, in their own words, on his bookmaking operation. Quote, It was hardly any kind of major operation. It was just a bunch of guys having fun. We got in trouble when the Pepsi truck guy told the wrong people, and I got out of the business when I got taken for 40 grand.

End quote. So the Pepsi truck guy. He's got the Pepsi truck guy betting on games? There was a guy who owned a local Pepsi distributor. And he's drinking

so much Pepsi this fucker's dropping him off to his house. They would send him 10 cases of Pepsi a week and he got Pepsi to give him $15,000. 10 cases a week?

And they got Pepsi to give him 15 grand as an endorsement too. So he gets $15,000 for free Pepsi. Does he even have got Pepsi to give him 15 grand as an endorsement too. So he gets $15,000 free Pepsi. Does he even have any teeth? He has two of his own teeth nowadays.

I swear to God that's actual statistic. That's awesome. In modern times he's got two teeth. So I assume from all this Pepsi. Yeah.

Using David Tell's old jokes. Jesus. He's probably not even taking care of those. I'm sure he's not. I'm sure those are just pure luck that are hanging on not even taking care of those. I'm sure he's not. I'm sure those are just pure luck that are hanging on.

Pure some force of universe. So this investigation really puts him in a shit spot here. Everything's uncovered. Commissioner Bowie Coon

at the time suspends Denny until July 1st. What an awesome name. Bowie Coon. That sounds like a catfish in front of a bitch.

Yeah. Suspends him for the bookmaking activities. But only, this is in February, only suspends him until July. Which everyone in baseball is surprised at the length of it. And this is summed up perfectly by his teammate, Dick McAuliffe says, this is exactly true. Quote, if Denny's innocent, it should be nothing. If he's guilty, then it's not enough. Yeah.

Yeah. If it's guilty, it should be a long time. If he's innocent, why is he suspended at all? guilty then it's not enough yeah yeah if it's guilty it should be a long time if he's innocent why is he suspended at all right they just said we it's all gray we're just gonna be a half a season just get out of here for a little bit i don't know yeah get out of my sight i don't know yeah like his dad he said okay uh most teammates thought he'd be suspended like a year or two because they all knew what was going on and they were like oh yeah he's fucked he got caught. Shit. You know what your friends are doing, basically. Now, June 10, 1970, he's still suspended for another three weeks. He files for bankruptcy.

How is he bankrupt, you might say, making all this money in 1969? Yeah. He claims his problems were due to, quote, poor business decisions. Like buying planes? Like buying planes and investing in the Syrian mob. You know know shit like that he lists debts of 446 069 and assets of 413 not even close no you're not gonna pay that off now mclean disputes 275 000 of the death of the debt according to his attorney whose name holy shit is willie akins that william

akins are you serious his first silver-haired middle-aged white man of an attorney is william akins the same name as a bad bad man as a terrible terrible guy yeah cocaine distributing years in the making woman trafficking crack smoking who may not even be born yet oh yeah in the 70s yeah yeah he was he was born. He was watching Denny. Yeah, no doubt. I think that's going to be me. I can do that. He was probably like 12 at that point, I actually think. So yeah, it's a disaster.

So July 1st, 1970, he's reinstated in baseball, but he's on probation, and also he must provide the commissioner's office with all personal financial information, because financial problems that they figure are what led him to investing in bookie operations and shit like that. But it's not. Yeah, they want to see his cash flow.

Because of the horse racing. Now, Denny has, of course, an idea of what happened with this whole thing. And here's his quote on his disbarred lawyer. Yeah. Because his former lawyer was disbarred by this point and everything else on his financial problems. In their own words, quote, I have no idea how much money I made in 1968 and 1969. Every penny went to the attorney. At one time in 1969, I was six months behind on my house payments and I didn't even know it.

I was in Vietnam after the season on a tour for the USO when my wife called and said she didn't have any money to buy groceries. I made $90,000 that year including bonus. So he's got no money. Groceries then were like $32 for two weeks. I think this right here,

because this is before this guy's made, in the 60s is when guys started, that's when the salary started to tick up a little bit. This is the beginning of the industry of fleecing athletes okay this is the beginning of the shady financial guy that tells him he needs to invest in this and that is the beginning of them having enough money that you could rob them right so that i really agent that says i only took 15 exactly this is the beginning of the don King era of sports, basically. Now, Jesus, Jim Northrup is going to have a couple of really good quotes. He's a teammate of the Tigers, and he does not like Denny.

Fantastic. I like him already. He's got some shitty things to say about Denny, and they're all true. On his 1970 return, when McLean comes back, it's a huge deal. It's sold out. There's reporters swarming him. I mean, they're all over him.

Every reporter, national sports reporters, they're like, he's back. Plus, he was the best pitcher in the league last year. So it's like, holy shit. So Northrop says about him, quote, everybody's been asking me questions. I'd like to ask you one. Are the flies hovering over the garbage, or is the garbage landing among the flies?

Oh, wow! Boom. This guy. Boom. And that's not even his best quote of this episode. I'd like to ask you a question. Anytime somebody says that, it's about to be awesome. That's not the best quote from him about Danny McLean. There's one coming up. Are the flies landing amongst the garbage,

or is the garbage landing amongst the flies? Amazing, right? That's great. That's poetic. It really is. This guy's great. That's fucking Shakespearean. And later on,

he sees Denny McClain's bullshit from a mile away, this guy, and he sums him up as perfect as anybody could. I bet that guy's still living in the lap of luxury because he can smell bullshit. Yeah, that guy's full of shit. That guy's a fucking bullshitter. So 1970 McLean

just claims to have lost his fastball basically. He's got a dead arm but his arm's probably destroyed from all his innings pitched. Stop pitching the

whole goddamn game. Yeah. He only starts 14 games because of his problems. He has more problems by the way later on in the year that we'll get to.

I don't want to get the baseball out of the way. He goes 3-5 with a 4-63 ERA, so not exactly a Cy Young award winner. That's not good at all. August 6, 1970, though he's on the Dick Cavett show there. That's his appearance there.

What? August 28, 1970, he does some stupid shit in what he calls a clubhouse prank, basically. And this wasn't a prank to these guys, apparently. There was a couple of detroit sports writers longtime sports writers jim hawkins and wasp watson spolstra which is a great writer name yeah watson spolstra i want to read his novel i can't wait for what he comes out what are you

gonna say watson watson spolstra it's a great name uh so they're interviewing him mclean prompts them somehow to turn around, turn away from him, and then he dumps a bucket of ice water on them. What? They weren't happy about this. That's a dumb prank. Dumb prank. He's an idiot.

That's stupid. He says it's a prank. I think he didn't like what they were asking, and he was trying to be a prick. And then he was like, I was just kidding. Makes more sense. Clubhouse prank. So the Tigers don't buy it. We do it all the time.

Absolutely. Tigers don't buy it. They suspend them for a week. prank so the tigers don't do it all the time absolutely uh tigers don't buy it they suspend them for a week those poor bastards had to walk out of the clubhouse and they're sopping sopping wet tweed yeah fucking dripping tweed they just bought a chasey penny and now they gotta go dry clean it elbow patches yuck so september 3rd 1970 there is corduroy there's fucking corduroy scumbags there's an article about how Denny's problems could keep him

from getting off-season gigs as an organist. Wow. There's these weird articles. It's like, that's the least of his concerns. He's going to cut out his organist gigs?

Yeah, because people are like, I don't know about this guy now. Oh, no. Now, September 10th, 1970, Commissioner Bowie Coon, he's back again, suspends Denny for the rest of the season.

And he did that with a piece of straw on his teeth. Absolutely. He was suspended the Denny for the rest of the season. And he did that with a piece of straw in his teeth. Absolutely. He was suspended the third. It's unbelievable. You're not fucking with my bullpen reporters. After three and a half hours of meetings between Kuhn, McClain, and Denny's lawyer, William Akins,

I'll just call him Willie Mays Akins because that's just who he is. Akins, of course, is a silver-haired, middle-aged white man. He advised McLean not to comment to the media after these meetings, so McLean slipped out the back. So we have no good McLean quote about this,

but Kuhn has some good quotes. He says, quote, certain new allegations have been brought to my attention, including allegations regarding McLean's conduct with respect to the Detroit management

and information that on occasions McLean has carried a gun. Oh, that's new. The gun thing comes out. He's on probation anyway, and the gun thing comes out. The rumors were that he was seen waving his gun around in a Chicago restaurant, which is a violation of all sorts of shit. It's an unregistered gun.

He's on probation. He's a mess. You can't just be doing that in public and terrorizing people. No. That's menacing. You can't just be doing that in public, terrorizing people. No. The story... That's menacing. It's ridiculous. So it ends up October 8th, 1970,

after the season's over, he reinstates McClane once he can't play anymore that year. McClane has to go a series of psychiatric tests before reinstating. Oh, thank God. That's what Coon is like. This fucking guy is crazy.

He's just an idiot. I'm telling you guys he's a nut. Can we sit him down with somebody and just kind of go over everything? Can he lay back facing somebody with a pen and a paper bag? We need something. Let's get him on a couch. So he's given tests for three days by three different doctors, which is funny. Three days?

Three days and three different doctors, like a battery of psychological tests. And finally, one of the doctor's reports said, quote, I do not see any reason that McLean should undertake additional psychiatric tests. He is not ill. There is no need for such treatment. And the other two said... He's not crazy.

No, they say agreed. He's not crazy. He's just a fucking moron. Yeah. There's no crazy... He knows what he's doing. I was hoping the other two just said, like, and he saw a murder in the dot picture.

Now, he... Yeah. He said, what is that? It was a butterfly said, like, and he saw a murder in the dot picture. Now, he, yeah, he said, what is that? It was a butterfly. I mean, and he said. And he said, two mobsters dumping somebody over a bridge. What the fuck? Jesus, for $46,000 gambling? That's so weird.

That's just a weird thing to interpret from a butterfly. It's not even like a droid. It's a picture of a butterfly. I took that picture with my camera. It's not a flower. You can't, there's no other way to interpret it. That's all. So strange.

So Denny, on his test, he's fucking proud of it here, in their own words, quote, I thought all this stuff was getting to me, so I took the test to see for myself. I've got a letter here to prove I'm okay. He's like, I got certification. Black and white. There it is. On the gun incident here, McLean told Kuhn, once they have meetings again, that he bought the gun for his wife to keep at home when he's on the road.

So that's why he's got it in a restaurant waving it around. That's why I've got it in Denny's over my flapjack. Yeah, Kuhn afterwards tells the media that Denny said he had taken the gun on the road on the pretense of showing it to a teammate. He admitted carrying it in his luggage on the plane and also admitted to showing it in a restaurant showing it in a restaurant if you take a gun out in a restaurant that's a weird thing to do like no one that's not okay show it to a teammate what to prove you own one why outside of texas that's considered bad form to take your gun out in the restaurant you know anywhere else in the world besides maybe the sudan where it's required to fight off warlords so uh he says quote this is

the kind of flamboyance that has characterized him in the past so he's tired of his shit at this point and so are the tigers because on october 8th same day he's reinstated he is traded to the washington senators and that's it for a pile of trash. Yeesh. That stings. Yeah. On the trade, in their own words more, it's going to come hot and heavy here. Great. He says, quote, I enjoyed playing for Detroit. Now I'm going to play against them.

I know the Washington owner, Bob Short, and although I've only met Ted Williams once, I've always admired him. It's a chance to start over. Ted Williams is the manager of the Washington Senators, the legendary ball player. He doesn't take shit, though. He hit.406 in 1941. He's a legend. No, he doesn't take shit. He was a fighter pilot in two wars. He's a bad motherfucker. Doesn't take any shit. He's a bad man. And his head is currently frozen to a tuna can in Arizona right now. Absolutely, which is nice to have here. 71, does not have a great year. It goes 10-22 with a 4-28 ERA, which is not a great year on the field.

A 4-28? 4-28. Just not great. It's a 10-22 record. In 1970, the bankruptcy case that we talked about earlier, now on January 18, 1972, there's a final creditors meeting for the judgment on the bankruptcy case from 70 for him here. Now, he has, at this point, $3,328 in household assets to his name.

This is what he owns. Does he own a couch and a refrigerator? Pretty much. They said it's mostly household assets. It's like shit from around the house. Some spatulas and shit. His wife's wedding ring or something. Who knows?

He might have a nice lamp. Exactly. Now, most of the creditors of the original $400,000 that he owed have chose not to proceed and have just written it off. Really? Because they figure they're never getting their money. Fuck it. They write it off. Nobody does that anymore. No, not at all. Now, yeah, because now they can keep track of it.

Then they're like, he could just move to another state. And we don't know who he is. We can't find him. We don't have a computer. So, how are we going to know where he is? Jesus. Nobody knows where anybody is. Steve Jobs isn't around yet. The licenses were made of paper. They weren't even laminated. You could just copy one off.

Yeah, you wash your wallet and you're fucked. People just trusted you. You could just go pump gas and then pay. Right. That's a good point, too. In other countries, you might still be able to do that. You can't do that shit here. No.

God, no. Fuck that. Because of that shit. God, no. So it's ruled that he'll be cleared of the remaining $137,000 in debt. They're going to clear him out of this whole thing. The only thing he has to pay is taxes to the state of Michigan for $3,289 and a city tax of $1,369.

The other 37 creditors that filed get nothing. Who gots? He got a great deal. Fuck yes, he did. That's a sweet deal. He's got a good lawyer and he's drug it out and dragged it out

for two years so everybody just gave up. Now March 4th, 1972 this is at now during this time Washington senators had moved to Texas and became the Texas Rangers.

Okay. Which is good for his gun toting. Yes. But not so much because he's traded by the Texas Rangers to Oakland in the beginning of 1972.

So now he's going up to the Bay Area. He's getting tossed all around. That's a good indicator that your career is about over, sir. It is just about over. Goes 1-2 with a 6.04 ERA in the time he plays for Oakland. He's traded. That's not Cy Young winner numbers. No, not at all.

It's so funny, too. There's a big article about last year, the 71 season, about how Denny didn't get along with his former manager, Ted Williams. He hates Ted Williams, by the way. He says, quote, Denny, in their own words on Ted Williams, quote, he doesn't say nothing to me and I don't say nothing to him. I lose my rhythm when I don't get to pitch every fourth day. I get too far away from the game.

When Williams did what he did to me last year, I developed a lousy attitude. I had no desire. I lost it all. I wouldn't have done anything differently, but there are a few things I wouldn't have done. In other words, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I was nice and he was mean to me. That's what he said. I was nice and I didn't pitch well. And I pitched poorly. And he told me to sit down. Because he wasn't letting him pitch every fourth day.

I get too far away from the game. He didn't let me lose every four days. I get all wrapped up in the Syrian mob when I don him pitch every fourth day. I get too far away from the game. He didn't let me lose every four days. I get all wrapped up in the Syrian mob when I don't pitch every fourth game. It's really inconvenient for me. He's traded on June 29, 1972, to Atlanta for Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda, who was also at the end of his career. Yeah, he did nothing for them. I think he had three plate appearances for Oakland with no hits hits so they just got rid of denny basically with atlanta denny went three and five

with a 650 era so he just stinks now he's done he's sent down to the minors it's it's over for him now that's it um now august 15th 1972 in the midst of his complete downfall his wife sharon files for divorce you betcha Alleging that she was subjected to repeated mental abuse by Denny. Says that he deserted her and her four kids. They have two adopted boys and two girls that they had. That's fascinating.

Yeah, they adopted two and then had two. Which is really strange. Yeah, it's an odd one. But hey, good for them. They adopted two kids. That's nice. Anyway, they said on August 4th, he took off and they haven't heard 4th, he took off, and they haven't heard from him, and he won't send any money home, and she wants...

He's a dickhole. Yeah. She seeks custody of the kids. She claims her life has been, quote, miserable and unendurable with Denny. Wow. Which I completely... I can't imagine.

I can... It probably was. He's a complete jackass. Now, 72. In 1972, he's 29 years old. Everyone says he looks 45. He's 29 with four kids. And he looks like shit.

He looks like shit. I've seen the pictures. He looks terrible. And everyone also says that he's been putting on 10 pounds a year since 67. You bet. He gets to be a doughy fuck. That Pepsi has fucked him up. By the beginning of the next season, March 26, 73,

he's released from the Braves and that's it for baseball for Denny. And now it's time to get fat as fuck. Four years ago, he had the greatest season in the history of baseball. Now he can't get a fucking job. No way.

He couldn't get a job throwing balls at a dunk tank at this point. Never mind in the major leagues. At this point, he starts going a little off the rails too. He wants to be like starts going a little off the rails, too. He wants to be like Lenny Dykstra.

He's the same type of guy. I'm a business model. I was a great player. Now I'm going to be a business model. I need to do a bunch of things. So he starts investing, 74, 75, in all these different businesses. He invests in a big screen TV company, which at that point was nothing, but it turned out to be great later.

It took a little longer than he expected hang on for 15 years that would have been a good one uh he runs a bar at one point which we'll get to another bar that he worked at later which is great uh he opens a chain of walk-in medical clinics later on and when he moves to tampa which is when some real trouble happens for him. I should have started thinking about cheap shit diners. Yeah no shit. You notice every time I say when he does this I go which

leads to some trouble for him. Everything he does is a bad decision and a bad path down the fucking wrong road basically. 1970s

he's a golf course hustler. Really? He makes a living hustling people on the golf course here. He claims that he flew fugitives

out of the country on his plane for the mob. That I believe. That I believe. Says he one time took $320,000 from a guy who had it in cash. What? And he was flying out and he had it. And he goes, well, if you want me to take off, you're giving me that money, basically. So he said, you can stay here with your money and go to jail or I can fly you where you want to go and you can have no money.

Those are your options. So he took the money. Pretty good options. That was a good, yeah, for everybody. For Denny. Yeah go and you could have no money. Those are your options. So he took the money. Pretty good options. That was a good idea for everybody. For Denny. And for this guy too. Mostly for Denny.

75, he releases a book, Nobody's Perfect. No shit. It's still available actually. You can get that. Now on the money thing, this is what Denny says about money.

He says, quote, in their own words, quote, Samson had his Delilah. McClain had green pieces of paper with pictures of presidents. Some people use drugs or booze or gambling to get high. I get off on making money.

And drinking Pepsi. And drinking Pepsi. And gambling also. You bet. He also likes that. 1976, he becomes general manager of the Houston Astros AAA minor league team, the Memphis Blues. Really?

Insane. Who the hell would hire this guy to be in charge of anything? Yeah, no doubt. After the downfall he had from zero to zero. And it gets worse. His wife works for the team sometimes. His brother-in-law is like their promotions guy. I feel like that organization is just in the shitter.

Yeah, they're like... And they need star power. That's what minor league clubs do. They just, you know, they'll bring in whoever to get an extra... This guy used to be Denny McClain. Yeah. At one point he pitches 10 pitches to a local radio DJ. He says he's sore for like two weeks

and he hurts. Oh, I'll bet. Now on the Blues experience, in their own words, he says quote, I'm very happy here. Really happy. I'm doing everything I want to do, including playing golf every afternoon. The only bad thing has been the way the ball club has been playing. we got a horse shit club someone suggested an intra squad uh intra squad game and i said hell no i'm afraid it'll end in a tie so he's saying at least he's

got a sense of humor not no he's always got a sense of humor he's a maniac unreal so this is at this point i'm going to unleash the best quote ever from jim northrup here again because this guy i miss him already this and it describes the next 40 years of mclean's life he nails him down perfectly he says in there are not in their own words in somebody else's great words here on denny quote he's the original flim flam man any day i expect him to come riding in on a Conestoga wagon selling elixir

out of the back end as he's leaving town. Probably being run out of town, but that's Denny. Original Flim Flam man. That's terrific. The Flim Flammery.

I love it, man. This is before Snake Oil, apparently. Yeah, this is... Flim Flam, that's a good word. Great, that's a good word. He's selling elixir out of the basement.

An old west. An old west. Conestoga wagon. No respect. No love. No respect for Danny McClain. Conestoga. So late 70s, like 70, 80, moves to Tampa where he gets involved with the

walk-in clinics sort of thing. Now there's urgent care. That's huge. He's thinking ahead of his time. You're 30 years ahead of the curve, and you get arrested before you can let that come to fruition. Before you capitalize on it. He gets involved here with a financial services company that is doing bond scams and shit like that.

Oh, no. Yeah. Denny gets into loan sharking, also out of this business. We'll get into the details. Charging up to 130% interest. And this is out of a financial institution he's doing this. They also have a big bookie operation. Oh, Jesus.

In March of 84, he's indicted on federal RICO charges. Oh, shit. Yeah, RICO is what they indict John Gotti on. And that's what they put you in jail for 100 years with, is RICO cases. It's a racketeering conspiracy charge, federal. All organized crime. Yeah, in case you're in another country and you don't realize that, that's what our federal government does.

They try to wrap it. And I'm sure your country has a version of it now, too. I know Australia does because they did it with Gooses and his associates. So he's indicted on this charge, a RICO charge, for racketeering, extortion, and cocaine trafficking also. Apparently they charged him with the 1982 they said he tried to sell three kilos of coke to an undercover i believe oh boy so not great here other co-defendants are a guy named seymour sure barry nelson and a frank cochiero who's probably a gangster that's a gangster yeah he sounds like me, so I'm going to mine that last name and say it'll be the same thing.

McLean now and Nelson had this First Fidelity Financial Services of Hollywood, Florida. This is their company. And they were accepting kickbacks for loans. Like, yeah, we'll loan you the money if you throw us a 10 grand apiece too. Shit like that. Highly illegal federal shit. Also, they were loaning shit at 150% interest out of the bank, which you can't do. No.

That's predatory. And also, there was a bookmaking thing set up through another company that they were doing. They were having these legit businesses. They were trying to launder the money through. He's got a front. He's got a front. I mean, he was working with... That's why he's trying here. He's like, I don't know about this little Syrian mob Flint restaurant bookie thing.

I need to get organized. Let's do this. So this trial goes on. And it's a long trial, too. It goes all the way until it's a 14-week trial. Now, it's set for eight weeks, and it goes 14. And this is important for later. The judge gets super pissed off at the pace of it and starts telling everybody to hurry the fuck up.

Good. She schedules things. So they start at 7.30 a.m. and they go all the way to 5 p.m. with the trial, which for a juror, that's a tough day. 10-hour day.

That's a tough day, man. Good Christ. And telling them everybody to hurry up, and it's crazy, and it's still 14 weeks. On March 16th, 1985, he is convicted of racketeering, extortion,

and cocaine distribution. That's a pissed- jury they're like you motherfucker make us sit through this shit and this judge is not she's not taking on Denny either I think Jim Northrup would have given him a better fucking sentence Judge Elizabeth Kovacevic said that I did well on that one

said that quote failure to admit to yourself your own guilt made her sentence him harshly, as she said to him. Gives him eight years for the racketeering, conspiracy, and extortion, which is fair, you would think,

and then gives him the maximum 15 for attempting to deal the three kilos of coke. Are they running concurrent? Consecutively. Oh, no. 23 years stacked on Dahl Denny. I want to get a gander

under her robes. You, sir, may fuck off. 23 years. That is harsh, man. That is harsh. Plus an $8,900 fine just for good measure.

Yeah. And that was in when? 84? This is 1985. 85. This happens. His attorney's pissed. His new silver-haired

middle-aged white man, Arnold Levine, which sounds like a silver-haired, middle-aged white guy. You picture Arnold Levine in your mind, don't you? That's the guy you want representing you. He says, quote, I think that much time was uncalled for.

I didn't have any quarrel with the eight years, but I thought the consecutive was too harsh. He expects we'll be successful on appeal and he'll be out in about ten months. You can keep wishing that. Not going to happen. But there's some interesting things that happen here. On the sentence, this is what he says in court to the judge in their own words.

Quote, I'll pay for my conviction the rest of my life. I've gone through a lot of shame and disgrace. The lessons I've learned in the last 13 months have prepared me for the rest of my life. He's thinking. He's reflecting, Jimmy. He's really trying to. He's thinking. He's reflecting, Jimmy. He's really trying to. He's going to turn it around. Right. Jimmy, this is it, right? I'm good now. He's going to do a, I'm good now. I'm fine. I'm going to do my time. 23 years is going to be rough. I'm going to get out, see my grandkids. Holy shit. This is rough. Okay. If Mr. Levine has anything to say about it, he's going to do it. Absolutely. 86 things are rough for the family.

Sharon, his wife, files for bankruptcy. She sells her engagement ring. She sells replicas of his... Apparently his original Cy Young and MVP awards were lost in a fire, which sounds like a fucking insurance scam from a mob guy. I lost my things in a fire, and he's got them in a safe deposit box somewhere. Absolutely. So he has replicas made that he sells for $6,500 or something that are whatever.

Whatever. The originals are floating around somewhere. Yeah, so things are going very badly. And out of nowhere, surprising to Denny, on August 8th, 1987, a panel of judges throw out the convictions from 85. Now, this has nothing to do with his guilt. This isn't you were convicted on bad evidence this is your judge fucked up really this i read i read the appeal they said this is the picture of what judicial misconduct is in a trial what did she do she the speed of the whole really

she unfairly rushed the attorneys oh Oh. She also, they also, Right to a fair trial. Right to a fair trial. Son of a bitch. So this inhibited his right I was enjoying her being a bitch. Me too, but also too, like,

she let go that the prosecutor insulted the defense attorney in front of the jury, which isn't allowed to do because that makes them look whatever. They also said, the judge from this panel said, quote,

the trial judge's efforts to speed up the pace not only rushed the attorneys, but also allowed the proceedings to get out of hand. Because apparently because of the schedule, like, they had to, like, she wouldn't let them go for, like, meals as long and everything. Really? So the jurors were allowed to, like, get up and get coffee and get donuts while testimony was going on. Really? While there's testimony going on.

So, like, there's just shit going on all over the courtrooms. There's like a juror in the back. You want glaze or chocolate? Literally, they're sitting there eating while testimony's going on. Put this in for exhibit A. And that was to keep them awake because they were falling asleep. So they requested, can we have coffee while we sit here? Which you can't be while someone's up on the stand talking.

It's not how it works. How many trials have you seen on TV? You ever seen anybody with powdered donut sugar on their lips as they watch someone on the stand? No. Never.

They sit there maybe they have a notebook possibly that's it. Sucking glaze off their finger. Come on. Come on. You could be licking fingers. And jelly donut

all over the fucking corner of their mouth. Good God. So August 8th 1987. I was digging Elizabeth though. She sounded hot as shit. She sounded good. Yeah but she fucked up apparently.

Her fuck up is letting this idiot out on the street early. She had to rush. She had a sweet, hot dinner date with the mayor or some shit. Shit. So the prosecutors aren't even sure whether they're going to refile the charges. They don't know what to do. McLean hopes to get out of jail quickly. In 1987, now in August, later on this month, he's freed on a $200,000 bond pending possible retrial,

which he'd have to come back for. Gotcha. And after the release, they ask him, what's changed about you? And Denny has got another I'm good now. He has the most I'm good nows in the history of sports crime, or any crime for that matter, because no one's let go and come back this much.

He says in their own words, quote, I'm different in lots of ways. Different in how I look at things. Different in how I want people to look at me. I'm no saint, but I'm trying to lead the good life. Yeah. Nobody's perfect. Everything's fine now. Jimmy, it's going to be good, right? You trust him now, don't you? Absolutely. I'm on board. I trust him. Give him some money. Let's give him some money. He's hired to work in the public relations department of a minor league hockey team at this point in september 87 does he know

about hockey he knows some shit about pr though and he knows some shit about betting on hockey yeah that's true the fort wayne comets with a k uh he'll also be a sound racist this sounds like some dipshit venture here he's also going to go in with owner david welkers he's a full partner in the distribution of an austral-made non-alcoholic wine. That sounds like a way to lose your ass. Who the fuck wants that? Jesus. He's given a $300,000 home to live in rent-free,

and he drives a brand-new Corvette with a car phone that the team gives him. He's got it made in the shade. Which in the 80s, a red Corvette with a car phone meant you were cool at that point. You were in a Whitesnake video. Yeah, because Tony Katane was writhing on your hood. So December 16, 1988, this is still going on. at that point. You were in a Whitesnake video. Yeah, because Tony Katane was writhing on your hood. So, December 16th, 1988, this is still going on.

He's finally released from everything, but he has to go to a halfway house now because he was brought back to prison to figure out what they were going to do

because he ends up pleading. He ends up, because rather than retry him, they reach a plea agreement with him for time served. Because they can't beat him. They can't beat him and he doesn't want to go through it though because it's a federal trial it's going

to drain and if it does beat him then 23 years is fucking steep exactly exactly so he served 29 months and he's going to do a five-year probation in lieu of a 12-year sentence from the plea wow not bad for that pretty decent deal and he keeps all the he makes good deals yeah and he keeps his shit uh at 1988 now he's out of prison he does commercials for a michigan car dealer in the ad a license plate falls off the car and then he picks it up and smiles and says you know i made this one you know like they make license plates in prison like jesus christ so now he's like look at me i'm a prisoner he's aink, wink. I'm a fuck up. September of 88, he releases another book, Strikeout, the story of Denny McClain. Awesome.

Which is apt. Strikeout. That's perfect. He's a fucking mess. We're always complaining about the names of these books. He fucking nails it. He nails it. Yeah. Strikeout.

It should just be called Fucked Up, the story of Denny McClain. So another in their own words here in 88 about they get him once he's all on the hockey team and all this shit. He says, quote, in their own words, I've learned my lesson. I may be thick-headed, but I'm not stupid. You'll never find me anywhere close to a criminal situation again. I don't believe you. Everybody in crime and sports land, you believe him?

I don't believe him. I may be thick-headed headed but I'm not stupid I don't even believe that I still see a decent stack in front of me I think he's gonna be back something tells me he's gonna be back

8090 makes two appearances on the Pat Sajak show oh boy yes the Wheel of Fortune host used to have a talk show in the 80s it's terrible

it still does it's still going oh Wheel of Fortune yeah but didn't he die or something? I don't know. Did he die?

Had a heart attack? I don't know. I don't fucking know. Whatever. Who cares what Pat... They could put a Pat Sajak animatronic robot out there.

Go, hey, look, there's Pat Sajak. They don't even have to invest that kind of money. Who cares? A fucking cardboard cutout. People will watch. One of those wavy arm

things you put outside a car dealership. That's fine. They'll watch. Tap that button, Vanna, and let's see that fucking letter it is. Let's see your 60-year-old ass shake a button around.

February 27th, 89, McLean, now there's an article. This is a national article. McLean is playing Oregon at an upscale Southfield, Michigan bar called Jovan. Leon Spinks, the ex-heavyweight champion who beat Muhammad Ali in the 70s, is the bartender, and he's playing organ what the fuck is going on at this place that's amazing it's amazing right who doesn't want to go there all I need is James Dean selling you right in state Jesus so he started out this started out as a four-week engagement on the organ and it's now an indefinite thing as of February 1989 yeah

but not quite indefinite because now he moved this is right he goes back he's back in Detroit at this point in the early 90s and he comes up and he gets a radio show and it becomes hugely successful early 90s he was doing well

he had a successful radio show he made a lot of TV appearances he was just a he was a big shit he's good now yeah he's

I'm good now see I'm fine everything's good I can get this life together everything's doing fine until and this is one thing that is not his fault

and it's fucking horrible it's the only time I'll ever feel bad for him and you're all gonna fucking feel bad for him and then don't worry you won't anymore in about five minutes

but this is fucking horrific man March 20th 1972 they get a knock on the door oh no and it's the police saying they need to go to the hospital oh no their daughter's been

in a car accident and and it's bad. There's an 18-wheeler. There's a darkness, some kind of darkness thing. There's an 18-wheeler, and the daughter hits the 18-wheeler. From behind? Yeah, hits the 18. Oh, no. No, I think from the side.

Okay. Hits the 18-wheeler, and while she is stuck on the 18-wheeler, a drunk driver comes along at high speed. Oh, my God. Plows into her. Insult to injury. There's high speed. Oh, my God. Plows into her. Insult to injury. There's an explosion. Oh, Jesus.

They say flames went 50 feet in the air, and she was still alive at the scene, and she went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance. And she didn't make it. Didn't make it. Jesus, Louise. Three days after her wedding, by the way. Oh. So, I mean.

Every parent's worst nightmare. This is the worst thing ever. So, right now, no matter how horrible of a person he is, I feel terrible for him. It's horrible. And his wife, good God, this poor woman. Yeah. Sharon, boy, Sharon, you are a trooper, lady.

I don't know why she would listen to this, but Sharon, if you're out there, fucking mad respect for you. Holy shit for trying to keep this family together. You're the only one we're not going to rip apart today. For trying to keep this disaster of a family together, you really tried man and she god love her if she's an alcoholic or some other abuse she should be at this point she needs i'd give her credit for it christ i'd be injecting her with fucking you know heroin at this point here i have some morphine you

need it you're a mess your family's up give her jack daniel's enemas husband's in and out of yeah that would be good for her so uh now, other than that, he's doing very well. He's making $400,000 a year at this point. In the early 90s? Yeah, in Detroit. He's doing great. I mean, that's, you know. Grieving a daughter, though.

It's in Manhattan or in Beverly Hills. Yeah, grieving the daughter. I don't even know if he, he's such a fucking sociopath. I don't even know if that registers for him. He says the right things, but I don't know if that's what he feels or not. His behavior says another thing. Yeah, I don't know. So 1993, for what everyone is thinking, what fucking reason in hell is he doing this for? He buys a struggling meatpacking plant called Pete Packing. It's a 110-year-old

meatpacking company that made sausages cold cuts and smoked meats and hams and shit like that i can think of a reason by that as a front for something maybe well you'll see another reason why in just one second here the company had 200 employees it was in financial trouble bad financial trouble but you know what it did have it was cash poor for operations but it did have a fully funded $12 million pension for the employees. So. There's something to loot. What do you think Denny's going to do with having $12 million that he has access to now?

I like the horses. I like horsies, yeah. So October 94, he leaves his radio gig and all of his entertainment gigs to run the meatpacking plant full time. What? Is he out of his fucking gourd. You do that opposite, Denny. You leave the meatpacking to get into entertainment. Exactly, man. So, also

at this point in October 94, there's an article saying McClane is planning to buy a bankrupt company called Pizza One out of bankruptcy. I don't know what he's thinking. What is he doing? He needs things happening. He's going to take bad shit and try to turn it around?

It's like he was on the radio having a good life, making money, and he goes, This is too easy. I need strife. I need trouble. I need peril. I need to be on the edge of an indictment of some kind. I need to be on the fringe. You bet.

95 Pete Packing closes its doors, obviously, because this guy's terrible. 200 people are out of some kind. I need to be on the fringe. You bet. 95 peat packing closes its doors obviously because this guy's terrible. 200 people are out of the job. The investigation begins into the $3 million that's missing from the pension fund. Oh no. They go, hey, this had a lot more money last time we checked. $3 million's missing. The plant closing

fucks the town. This is like the main job in town is this meat pack. It's a very small town. There's like 1,200 people there yeah 200 of them work there so i mean that's you know you figure 400 of them are kids 150 of them are old yeah and half of everyone else works there right every third of them uh the mayor of the town ray mahoney said quote the company probably would have survived if he didn't touch it i'm hoping they put a stop i'm hoping they put a stop to his racketeering, even if it means jail time. Yeah.

So people are wishing him jail. People know what's going on. Denny, on the other hand, he is, hey, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. He says, quote, on the closing of the plan,

he says, quote, everything was done to enhance the value of the corporation. Shame on us if that didn't work out as well as we had hoped. There were some rules out there that we

weren't aware of i don't know what that makes us i know criminals yeah that's what it makes you you don't know how to fucking spread financial assets that's called crime right it's called financial crime that's the federal government tends to look into yeah that's what mobsters there's some rules out there we were unaware of pension funds why are you in business yeah we didn't know exactly how to steal legally from this fucking pension fund for a bunch of people whose money wasn't mine. So May 10th, 1996, he's indicted on five counts of conspiracy, theft of pension plan money, mail fraud, and money laundering. Oh boy. He's fucked now.

Indictment says that McLean used $3 million in pension fund for investment in Pete and for personal use. So he was taking it and dumping it in operation so it looked like the company was doing better. And he was also taking it. It says that he used the money for expenses for his private plane and he bought a nice condo in Puerto Rico. What an asshole. He was maintaining also, yeah. And he was dumping it back in. It's the same thing.

It's what mobsters do. Yeah, it's laundering. Well, and it's also what they did, what mobsters do it's laundering and it's also what they did you know in the 80s if you watch any of these

Wall Street type movies or other people's money with Danny DeVito they would find a company that was in trouble but had a fully funded they had a good

business model where they kept their pensions and they would go in and they'd loot the pension fund it's Enron this was well

in the 80s this was a big deal and then they made a bunch of federal laws tighter to make sure this shit didn't happen more. And he was just like, eh, fuck it, you can still do that, right? Yeah, no problem.

And then he jumps with a golden parachute. Well, no, he jumps into prison. He's not jumping. He doesn't get a parachute. He gets a concrete parachute. He jumps with bed sheets and then drops fast. He's not as smart as those guys. He's not, what's his name?

Ken Lay. He's not Ken Lay. So December 13, 1996, he's convicted of money laundering conspiracy theft and mail fraud yep sentenced to 97 months in federal prison 97 months my that's that's a good amount was it eight years i don't think that's enough i don't think so either but for something non-violent but it's a federal prison yeah but it's non-violent and it's a federal prison yeah but it's non-violent and it's minimum security too yeah he's going to he's going somewhere easy june 24th 97 somehow when there was an appeal he was allowed to stay out on bond because it wasn't violent apparently

uh he reports to mckean correctional facility in bradford pennsylvania for his 97 month sentence here now at this point denny has rocked the town is fucked yeah he's had broken feet 200 people out of a job he's hustled golf he's imagine what he did to the poor people

in Florida who he bilked out of God knows how many people have been roughed up 150% interest his wife has sold her rings

her things all of her shit she had her fridge sold on her in the 70s we got a dead child the fucking kid is dead.

The town is dead. People are out of pensions that they've worked their whole fucking lives for. Ted Williams hates him. I feel bad for all these people, Jimmy. I really feel bad for these people. But Jesus Christ, not nearly as bad as I feel for Denny McClain, the senior relationship analyst at Raybo Agra Finance in Parker, Colorado. He goes by Denny McClain? Denny McClain, the senior relationship analyst at Raybo AgriFinance in Parker, Colorado. Denny McClain, owner of MD Services, a medical practice in Dallas, Texas.

Find a better name, man. Denny McClain, chief credit officer at First Credit of Southern Colorado. A guy that's in charge of money. Denny McClain, owner of McClain and Winters Law Practice in the greater Detroit area. You're from Detroit and you're using that fucking name. Are you out of your mind? Pick a different one. Just go by Dennis. Holy shit.

Go by your middle name. Go by, make one the fuck up. Change your name. That's the worst name in town. Oh my God. In Detroit, that's the worst name. That's a terrible name. That's saying something, man.

So 1997, one month after he's sent to the federal prison, his wife files for divorce. She's fucking had it now. The first time it didn't stick. She stayed with it. She's had it with this guy. Now she's like, fuck this. It's over. Now, what they uncover when he's in prison is he wasn't just looking at a pizza company

and looting a pension fund. Oh, no. What he was also doing is he had some other businesses. Now, in 1993, let's go back there for a second, New York Organized Crime Task Force was looking into scams by the New York mob, as they always are, particularly by John Gotti Jr. and members of the Gambino family. No way. John Gotti Jr. has a huge thing in this, and John Gotti actually talks about this on TV at one point, so let's get into this. Gotti Jr. took over the family in 92

with his father's blessing, obviously. Now there's an investigator at the time who's a rookie called Pasqual Nino Parada. We'll just call him Parada, but he goes by Nino. Nino Parada here. This is a terrifying man. He's the investigator. He comes in.

That's the investigator? That's the investigator. Oh, that's a mobbed up investigator. All the organized crime guys back there, back like in this time period, were all Italian guys. Really? Because you could go talk to the guys. You do this, hey, you know this, my mother did this. A lot of times you're from the same neighborhoods

or it's, you just know things. You can go into a restaurant and know the food and know the shit. You don't look like some guy, you know, you don't look like Ryan O'Neill going in there with blonde hair. Hey pal, I'll have some spaghetti and meatballs. Yeah, he knows how to go in there and talk to the guys a little bit. It's, you know, you wouldn't send them. Give me some men of gold.

Exactly. So there we go. So Parada's assigned to the Bronx District Attorney's Office to help investigate this whole thing. The investigation was originally about a crooked boxing promotion. It mushrooms into this whole thing where Parada ends up listening to wiretaps for two years. Oh, boy. Investigation takes a little turn when he comes on to some loan sharking, gambling, and extortion things in the construction industry in New York.

Obviously, that happened a ton. By 96, the probe stalls. FBI is threatening to take over. Cases couldn't be made at the time. So Parada leaves for the Secret Service. Secret Service is who protects the president. You see the guys with the earpieces if you're from another country. black suit and earpiece, and they'll jump in front of the boat. They also investigate financial shit, these guys. So now the whole time, Parada keeps in touch with

his partner back there, back in New York, about this investigation because he's interested, right? Parada wants to get involved in the case. He's trying to see if there's any way he can bring the secret service into the case. But the FBI and Secret Service fight for jurisdiction. But whatever. Secret Service, now, the FBI wasn't sure about it because they already had a 60-man Gambino family task force. There's so many people who are trying it. There's probably more than Gambinos. There's probably more investigators.

I was just about to say, the investigator family is bigger than the actual family. Yeah. Yeah, I was just about to say, the investigator family is bigger than the actual family. Yeah, so now Bob Weaver, who's the head of the Secret Service Task Force, listens to wiretaps to see if there's any case here. Sure. What he hears is a conversation between John Gotti Jr. and his lieutenant, Anthony Plomatalo, okay? Now, they're talking about selling phone cards and having several brands of cards when providers figured out they weren't getting paid, you had to switch it out. It's a big phone scam. If you've seen The Sopranos, they did this. This is a mob thing they've been doing since the 90s, okay? Now, John Gotti on tape, John Gotti Jr. on tape is heard

saying, quote, you never get jammed up, but if it happens, we have several cards. You come right into the stores. You bring the other cards in, pump them right in, tell them, having a problem with the other card? Here, take this card. So so he's basically saying you're going to do this now why they do that is because basically the mob was selling international calling cards in areas with large immigrant populations neighborhoods they go to these bodegas they'd sell the cards at a discount price because they weren't fucking paying for the minutes anyway basically the cards either only worked for a short time or they only gave busy signals yeah people would bitch and they'd come back and they'd replace the ones they had to. But most of the time, they just fucking kept the money for it.

So that's a big scam. Now, they put the minutes on, take them off, shift them to other cards. It's a big scam that happened, okay? This is on credit from AT&T, MCI, Sprint. Huge company. This isn't little tiny things, right? Never gets paid. Now, this falls perfectly under what the Secret Service wants to get into,

so they're all involved. Peretta's back on the case. Okay, here's where we get our thing here. They execute search warrants in 97 on thousands of phone cards distributed by one of Gotti Jr.'s companies, okay? What they find is they go back, and now the Secret Service has to go back and listen to all these wiretaps. Now, what they hear, they keep hearing about mentioned by Gambino family associates and Gotti lieutenants, a company called Telcentral Communications.

They keep hearing that. Right. So Perretta looks into Telcentral to see what was going on with that. And he says on his findings, quote quote all i knew was he was some guy who was in prison for ripping off a meatpacking pension fund i had no idea who he was or how he got hooked up with all these mob guys so the bank records show that tell central's based in brighton michigan and his president is denny mclean okay gorgeous had to get through that quickly but it all comes full circle all right so parada gets a hold of McClain and explains. He's in prison now, McClain. This is in the late 90s.

Sitting there in a gray suit. Explains what they know here. So, Parada says, you need to tell me about Gotti Jr.'s phone cards and lay out their whole scheme for us. And McClain says, you get me out of here, you got it. No problem. I'll talk to tell you whatever you want. Really? Get me out of this fucking prison.

That's fucking ballsy. He's ballsy here. Only for a minute. These crimes, and they're excited because they want to bust the Gambinos, especially Gotti, on these charges because they carry very long prison sentences because they're newer laws. Right. And they also require financial restitution that must be paid triple. Oh, shit. They think that they stole a little over $30

million. So they're thinking this is going to cost the mob $100 million and wipe out their fund deal. They're trying to knock them out in one swoop here. So McLean is brought all the way to Westchester County, New York, to White Plains to talk to the FBI and the Secret Service. He explains that he was able to get millions of dollars in credit from MCI in 94. He had been to prison and all this shit, but he was making 400 grand a year and he was a legitimate businessman at the time. And the creditors had it. He owned a meat packing company and this and that. So they said, sure. Plus, they're not loaning money, they're loaning in minutes. It's credit in minutes. It's nothing. It's nothing to them. It's not even capital. It's air. It's not money. So what do they got to lose?

Over three weeks of talking to the feds here, he admits to stealing $6 million from MCI. $6 million from MCI, which is a huge company. They think, like I said, the feds think it's more like $30 million. So he won't admit to knowing anything about John Gotti Jr.'s involvement. Well, I won't either. Or even hearing his name in any of the talks. Feds know this is bullshit. They say,

if you're not going to tell us, take a fucking hike. They send him back to prison. They go away. Parada says, each day he would come up with some cockamamie story about why something happened.

One day he wants to tell us everything, then he backs off and we didn't know why. Well, because he's scared that he gets out, he's just going to die. And it's not prison. He's hanging out with them.

He's eating food and all that shit. And he wants to drag it out as long as he can, I think. But he's in a fucking white-collar, easy prison, too. I think he's bored, though. He said he was bored. All he did was pace around. Probably. They try to get Denny's son-in-law to dig up dirt on him.

Good call. They tell him. He tells him a bunch of shit, but then says he won't testify to this because he's afraid Denny will get killed, basically. He said he made several trips with him back and forth to New York. They met with gangsters. Denny's a fat fuck. He's a big target. Yeah, exactly.

And he's out there. $100,000 at a time or exchange, things like that. He told them that John Gotti Jr. wasn't on the scam, and McClain dealt directly with him. Oh, boy. That's a big fucking staple. Son-in-law, like I said, wouldn't go on the record. The feds get this woman named Paula Hughes, who is McLean's account manager at Telcentral, to cooperate.

She actually becomes an informant with an informant number and everything. Uh-oh. She told how Denny and Tuca had two computer servers. That ain't her name anymore. No. He had two computer servers, And what he would do is, from his laptop, he could switch it on and turn off cards. He could jack the rates up just for an hour. So as you have a card, you think you have this many minutes for $20. He goes in and

jacks it up. So you have two minutes now instead of 20, basically. So now your card's dead. So he would do that at the most high volume time so people would have to buy new cards. Of course. That was his scam. That's brilliant. He was also doing that with the mob guy's cards that he was selling then. That's the thing.

So he was scamming MCI. He was fucking the mob too. And he was stealing millions from the mob. Okay. Now Hugh said he would do this. He'd raise all the rates.

The mob wasn't aware. Gotti wasn't aware. He just wanted them to buy more and they didn't know the difference. They would eventually caught on but they didn't at the time.

She said she's handed mobsters big bags of cash. I mean, she had all the info. Uh-oh. She said that Telcentral's revenue would be deposited directly into Denny's account, personal account. So, I mean, he does not know how to run a fucking business, this guy. The feds end up cutting a deal with Gotti on this whole thing Gotti Jr. when this indictment came down by the way it was on

remember they used to have a TV show the Gotti family whatever and they'd go visit him in prison growing up Gotti and there's actual

recording of him being pissed off about how stupid John Jr. is for this indictment he says I'm fucking ashamed of that indictment

I read that he's a fucking idiot they were going back and forth about how stupid he was for doing this shit because he was just dumb.

He got caught on wiretaps, whatever. So anyway, Feds cut a deal. McLean's whole shit gets pushed to the side because they have this whole thing

and it cuts McLean right out. They don't care about him anymore because... Yeah, because they've got the informant in the form of the woman. So now no one has the McLean investigation

because they pile everything into these two separate Gotti Gambino and other crime family things. the woman so now no one has the mclean investigation because they they pile everything into these two separate gadi gambino and other crime family things so now mclean's off the hook for this somehow but he's also not going to get helped no but he's going to get out eventually and the feds knew that denny had a shitload of money in the cayman islands oh but they were waiting they literally had agents down there because when he was convicted of these crimes, when they all made a deal, then they could seize it immediately upon conviction.

He never got convicted, so they never were able to seize it. They had to come home. It's just they didn't do a fucking thing about it. Unbelievable. Lucky guy. Luckiest son of a bitch in the world. Lucky motherfucker.

Parada said, quote, he had all that money tucked away in the Caymans and he didn't want to admit to it. He stole more than six million because he didn't want to tip off the mob that was his secret that's why he didn't want to tell them about it because he's like i don't anybody know shit nope this is my money yeah um so he gets away with stealing millions from a multinational corporation and the fucking mafia not just any mafia like John Gotti Jr. The ones. Yeah, the Gambinos are the most terrifying of all of them. Now, on this whole sweeping giant thing, this is a mess,

right? You know what Denny McClain says about it? In their own words, quote, it was a lot of nothing. Like I told you before, it was all bullshit. I never knew John Gotti Jr. I didn't steal any money. I should have never been charged. Wow! That is ballsy as fuck. Despite informants

and the person you worked with turning on you and wiretaps, doesn't matter. I don't know him. He denied it. I've never heard of him. Unless you catch him with his hand in the cookie jar with a cookie and chocolate all over it, he's not going to admit it. Chewing at the same time. Chewing, yeah.

In 1999, he appeals his conviction on the pension scamming thing here and requests a new trial. Both are denied. Thank you. Good. Good. In 2000, Denny begins to see a psychiatrist.

Holy shit, that's the best thing for him in prison. He says about that, in their own words, quote, I'm good now. He was beginning to see them. I'm still getting help. No way I'm ever going back to prison. I'm good now. He's beginning to see them now. I'm starting to see it.

After 30 years of crime, he's beginning to look a lot like crazy. Like crazy, like batshit. Unreal. So May 25, 2001, there's another deny the appellate court

denies his motion for a new trial he's fucking in there so he ends up being released finally in September of 2003 oh Jesus

one month later Sharon remarries him what what does she do oh the daughter it's the dead daughter it's the dead daughter

and he gives her a call and says hey can you go to the Caymans for me yeah exactly I got a bunch of money yeah really no shit and he looks like

he could have a heart attack at any moment that could be hers any moment $30 million is hers they have the wedding at their daughter Michelle's Michigan home

their alive daughter that's nice that they have an alive daughter that's very good beneficial beneficial for everyone now April 1st 2007 he releases a book i told you i wasn't perfect is what it's called you told us or your behavior told everybody told us federal

prosecutors the secret service you name it they've told us a psychiatrist in prison buoy kuhn jim northrup we know we know we get it well it. Williams told us years and years ago that you were not perfect. That's why he traded you. He tries to do this. I mean, you think now he's getting his life back together a little bit, right? Yeah. Now, good God, man. He's got a book out.

Everything's fine. April 11, 2008, he's arrested for failure to appear in a civil case where he owes a bunch of fucking money. Deputies show up at his house to serve him an eviction notice and seize his property to pay his debts. And as they're going up to the house, they see on the computer

that he's got an arrest warrant out for non-appearance in another separate case where someone's suing him. They arrest him. Now he has no home to even go back to all of his shit's gone yeah he's going back what's fucking worse jimmy if if if he was a little hungry and he went into a place and the shawarma man was standing there and he said how is it you've come to arrive here why are are you here, huh? Why are you here? Why are you arriving?

Sign say closed. You come here, sign say closed. You come in anyway. Why you come here, huh? What, you want schwarzenegger? I make for you, then you go. Sign say closed. You don't know how to read?

You stupid. So that's what happens. You don't read. You don't read? What's wrong with you, huh? Sign say closed. That's my favorite of three words ever, sign say closed. Sign say closed. Sign say closed that's my favorite of three words ever sign say closed sign say closed

sign say closed so he's a fucking he can't get out of jail right away either because it's $175,000 bail

he can even $17,500 he doesn't have that he doesn't have a house at this point he doesn't have fucking things how did he do this

he's a mess he's so dumb April 29th, 2008, an auction's held two weeks later for all of his shit, basically, for his memorabilia,

everything that he ever has. The rest of his Pepsi. He owes $77,000 to people, so he's got all of his Pepsi stuff. He's been, $30 million is gone from mob money. He drank a fuckload of Pepsi.

How much is he fucking gambling? This is not what it said. In a few years, he's been out of jail. Five years. Did he gamble all that money away? What happened he do? Fuckload of Pepsi. How much is he fucking gambling? This is not what it said. In a few years, he's been out of jail. Five years, did he gamble all that money away? What happened, man? Dental work? Putting new teeth in his face? Maybe.

August 26, 2011, Louisiana issues an arrest warrant for crimes related to the sale of scrap metal after Hurricane Katrina. Oh, my God. He was ripping off copper. He was ripping off, he was doing Katrina scams. This was a huge hurricane, if you're not from the US, a huge hurricane that wiped out New Orleans.

What was he doing? Picking up drowned out cars? Federal disaster. He was going around to people who had scrap yards and shit and just extra metal and he was literally

offering them money and he'd give them like, if you had a bunch of metal, he'd say, I'll give you a $500 deposit and then I'll go weigh it and then, you know, I'll come back, I'll pay you the rest of what you want. And he'd give him like if you had a bunch of metal yeah he'd say i'll give you a 500 deposit and then i'll go weigh it and then you know i'll come back i'll pay you the rest and he'd give him 500 deal and get a whole bunch of metal and then just never pay anybody shit and then he was selling the metal down what a scumbag complete fucking scumbag ripping off hurricane victims people that

have nothing it's horrible st charles parish which is what they call the counties down there, or parishes, is a sheriff's spokesman. Dwayne LaGrange said, quote, Mr. McClain had a joint business venture in Louisiana with another person and did not fully compensate them for the scrap metal or scrap iron that was brought to their business. We've had several complaints, so the arrest warrant was issued. You said that clearer than Mr. LaGrange said it.

I guarantee it. That Louisiana accent is so fucked. Arrest warrant was issued. You said that clearer than Mr. LaGrange said it. I guarantee it. That Louisiana accent is so fucked. Oh, boy. So now he's wanted down there. He's in Michigan, though, living. September 22, 2011, McLean and a friend. This is the, of everything, this I believe the most, okay? McLean and a friend were on their way to a Cracker Barrel restaurant.

Awesome. Which, yes, you were on the way. Awesome. This guy eats a Cracker Barrel.. Awesome. Which, yes, you were on the way. Awesome. This guy eats a Cracker Barrel. He's a fat, white, pasty fuck. He eats a Cracker Barrel. Other places, you don't know what a Cracker Barrel is. They serve greasy, fatty, giant...

They serve white people food. Yeah, it's where fat, white people go to get their cholesterol for the day. Everything has gravy on it, like that white, lumpy shit. It's weird everything comes with like a side of apple pie mush yeah fuck man it's all gross he says mclean says he got confused with road construction which they believed actually there's a bunch of construction he accidentally arrives at the canadian border okay so they go to go to turn back around come back to the u.s you have to go through a customs check.

And what do they do? They search the computer for arrest warrants. You may have, and they find one for him in Louisiana. He's arrested, turned over to the Port Huron police. Fantastic. Holy shit. His lawyer, Joshua Falsing, which your lawyer's name is Falsing?

Yeah. Really? Falsing? He's going to false it up for you? I'll Falsing it for you. Don't worry about that. Lawyer lying. Said of the arrest, quote, he was an accidental fugitive. From falsing and bogus. From falsing and bogus. Falsing, bogus,

bogus and horseshit. Falsing, bogus and horseshit for all your legal needs. He called him a, quote, accidental fugitive. He said if he had known the warrant was out there, he would have taken steps to clear it up. Once he learned the warrant was out there, he was proactive in resolving the issue. When he was arrested and had to resolve it.

In handcuffs. It's funny that you are motivated to resolve things when you're in jail. September 22, 2011, here, same day, he's released on a $10,000 bond. There's an extradition hearing set for two weeks from there on October 4. October 2, 2011, two days before the hearing, Louisiana drops the bid to extradite McClain, saying that the state will allow McClain to resolve his matters privately. I guess they came to some sort of civil agreement, whatever.

He's never going to pay these fucking people, but they think they are. It ain't coming. On the whole Louisiana thing, McLean says, quote, in their own words, we're just pleased it's over with. It's something that should have never, ever, ever happened. No shit. No doubt. Stop scamming people.

That's a good statement for your life. Here's another bit of tragedy for him here. This is a little rough. 2013, his wife, Sharon, this poor, poor woman who I have an admiration for at this point, is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Wow, Jesus. Which is rough. I'm sure it's not just the DTs.

No shit. She just needs something. Denny, at this point too, he says to try to be in better health for her and to be able to take care of her, gets surgery to lose weight. Gastric bypass. Yeah, and it works for him, too. And we'll get to that in a second here. But at this point, he's doing all these baseball card shows, memorabilia shows,

where he goes around and people pay him for autographs. And he's just doing a ton of them. I'll just give you a couple as we go through. But this is like every weekend, this is what he's doing. These are just examples. January 25, 2014, he's at the Lima Mall in Lima, Ohio, signing autographs for $25 per item. That's steep.

Per fucking item. Yeah. Yeah, I got a ball in your book that's 50 bucks. Suck a dick, fat boy. I went to... Fuck that. I went to a spring training game this past spring, and there were unbelievable people there.

Dennis Eckersley was there. Yeah. He signed it for 15 bucks. 15, 25 for this jerk off. I got debtors to pay back. I have to pay back a pension fund for fuck's sake. Fuck that. So now this is terrific here.

During this whole time, as we remember our buddy Parada, Nino Parada from the Gotti investigation. They've been staying in touch. McLean emails Parada periodically. Parada answers him to keep with him. Just in case. But McLean's emailing him telling him about business ventures

and shit like that. He tries to get Parada to invest $5,000 in a stadium seat back brace that you put on the back of a bench seat that gives you back support. He tries to get a federal agent

that thinks he needs to be in prison for being a scammer. Like he's going to give you $5,000. That's how, this is what I mean. How it's not, it's, there's something that doesn't connect with him. There's some psyche in there. That's like, is he trying to turn an agent bad or something? He just thinks that he has, he thinks he's so good at being full of shit. And Parada says, this is great. Parada says, quote, he can say he's friends with me, but that's just his narcissism. That craziness that comes with being Denny McLean. I've stayed close with him, but only with the hope that I'd have the chance again to lock him up.

In my mind, I'd love to put a pair of cuffs on him right now and walk him out. Keep your enemies close. Fuck you. Yeah, exactly. I love it. Articles about Denny losing weight are starting to be released. He lost 162 pounds. That guy had 162 to lose, too. He weighs like 155 at that point or something.

Also, he talks about his wife's disease, says he has seven grandchildren, says he only eats one meal a day, then has some nuts and flavored water. So basically, this is a big fluff piece is what it is. It's a huge fluff piece about everything's fine now. Here's his quote on the weight loss in their own words. Quote, before the surgery, I was in a wheelchair 75% of the time. I had a real bad right knee. When you're carrying around another 162 pounds, it really took its toll.

You have to deal with that. Anybody out there that has a problem, we can call it being fat or heavyset or big bone, whatever you want to call it. I was fat. We're all kind of sheepish or sheepish about that. At least he admits he was fat. It's the only thing he can fucking admit in his whole life is he's fat. I was a big fat tub of shit.

Not a thief, but a tub of shit. June 20th, 2015, he appears in a two-man play entitled Ty Cobb and Denny McClain Tiger Tales. What? It goes on at 9 a.m. at a church. And tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. That's a great place for that shit to be. Who was the other guy? Some actor, some no-name actor.

He was like some community theater actor or some more shit. July 17, 2015. This is a couple weeks later a month later judge rules against mclean for breach of contract with a former employee uh it rules that a guy named uh he has to give a guy named joe dobson 1910 dollars owed to him for sales work he did at trade shows for him in october i was hoping it was more no no but it's funny, though. McLean countersues him for $25,000, saying that he interfered with McLean's business relationships. And also, Judge Teresa Brennan, at this point,

who's presiding over this, dismisses McLean's countersuit. She also orders McLean and his attorney, Barry Powers, to pay this Joe Dobson guy $7,000 in attorney fees and said that Barry Powers, McLean's lawyer, was, quote, trying to intimidate and harass Dobson with a baseless countersuit, making it go out of small claims court. So he would have to hire a lawyer. They're trying to muscle him out of having a lawsuit. Now, you think everything's fine now, right? No. His wife's got Parkinson's. He's lost weight. He's doing No. His wife's got Parkinson's. He's lost weight. He's doing card shows. He's in a play. He's on the right track. He owes the dude a bunch

of money. He's on the right track, Jimmy, right? No, he's still trying to intimidate people like a mobster. Listen to this. He's going to get back into business now. Trust this guy with a business? Okay. September 2015, Lou Ristovsky. He meets Denny. This is a man who Denny met in federal prison when he was back for the meatpacking deal. Lou Ristovsky was in for IRS violations. He was in a short stint in a minimum security for IRS shit. Lou sells. Why the fuck this guy would trust McClain as far as you can throw him? I don't know.

This is 2015. Just last year. I googled Denny McClain. There's 50 pages of insanity. And like three of baseball stats. He could have found it. You could have found it easy. Just on your phone. Two seconds. He sells Denny his steel business,

Warren Steel, for $14,000 a month. Denny's supposed to pay him. September 29, 2015. You just gave him your business. Yeah, absolutely. September 29, 2015. No, you didn't. You just gave him your business. Yeah, absolutely. September 29, 2015, Denny sues Myers Metal Fabricating Company for $25,000,

alleging injuries suffered when, on May 29, 2015, he was on their property and an unnamed person, quote, willingly, recklessly, or negligently drove or operated a forklift, causing a load of railroad ties to violently crash on him, injuring his left ankle, foot, and leg. All right. Okay, he's 71 years old at this point when this is going on. Why are you still working, you old fuck? Why was he on a metal... Yeah, why are you on somebody else's yard?

It sounds like he's full of shit anyway. So McClane loses, trying to get get set for the he loses this whole thing here the lawyer basically he didn't show up for the seven thousand dollar suit because of the injury and he lost that so the lawyer claimed that it was warranted because mclean had to miss the trial due to a severe foot injury and the judge theresa brennan rejects that claim saying the only evidence of injury was a note that lacked any indication it was from an actual doctor's office his mom wrote him a note he literally wrote my legs messed up no indication it's from a doctor's office what a fucking idiot oh my god this is what we're fucking dealing with right now so uh now

he's june 23rd 2016 he was was signing autographs at NYSEG Stadium, home of the minor league Birmingham Mets. $15 per item still while this shit's going on. He's running a steel company. August 11th, 2016, a news report comes on Fox 2 News in Michigan here. Reporter Rob Wolchek, who's like the, you know, you got a scam out there, somebody ripping you off, you call the scam guy, I'll look into it. Two on your side. Yeah, that's what it is. It's like the, you know, you got a scam out there? Somebody ripping you off? You call the scam guy.

I'll look into it. Two on your side. Yeah, that's what it is. It's like two on your side. He investigates claims that McLean Steel Company owes every fucking buddy under the sun money. Reporter says... This reporter is so pumped about this. Oh, he is, too.

He's so jacked. His conversations are awesome. He can't wait. Kostovsky claimed that he paid from the time he bought it until May 2016, which was like eight months. And then the payments began to be late. He said July he partially paid. August he still owes me. So now he's not paying anymore.

Denny, on the other hand, says everybody has been paid. The reporter asks him if he's paid the rent. Denny claims that the rent is 100% paid. The reporter says, actually, I've heard that the rent isn't paid. Denny's response on the unpaid rent, in their own words, quote, well, it's a lie.

Another lie. An absolute lie. Would you make payments if the facilities weren't correct? So he's saying, I paid the rent. Then he's going, why should I fucking pay the rent? The facilities aren't correct.

Completely full of shit on everything still. Actually, sir, I know it's not paid. Oh, yeah, I didn't pay it because it's not right. It's not right. Ristovsky claims that the longtime vendors that he's been dealing with with his old company call him and tell him that McClain's bouncing all the checks to them and they're not going to provide him with shit.

Fox 2 found many more vendors that he owed thousands of dollars to. Like the HBO special on Dynastra. Holy shit, man. Workers claim that they haven't been paid in weeks. There's these employees named Jeff and Richard that say that he owes them thousands. He says he tells you one thing and does something else. You know, like a liar. Like a liar.

Fucking liar. Like a guy who goes to prison for racketeering. You know, like a liar like a fucking liar like a guy who goes you know like a criminal it's like john mulaney you know like a crime so august 11th that we're still in the same time he said he would bring records to the reporter the next day for and show him and straighten everything out he said meet me at noon at the steel plant i'll show you the ten thousand dollar german shepherd i'm about to buy. Yeah, exactly. Here's a picture. Here's a picture of that German Shepherd I'm going to buy. I'll only buy winter.

Go back and look at Lenny Dykstra, guys. It's a trip. So he says, meet me at noon. Noon comes and goes. He doesn't show up. Calls him at like 2. Says, meet me at 3. 3 comes and goes.

He doesn't show up at all. Finally, he rolls up at 6, and the reporter's still waiting for him. That's a fucking great reporter. He has no proof of anything. Didn't bring anything with him. Instead, he just goes on a tirade, calling the people who say he owes them money liars and scumbags. That's a reporter that's tired of standing out in the fucking freezing cold reporting that it's snowing. He's like, I'm going to bring you a great story.

I'm going to bring it right to you. He's like, I'm going to bring you a great story. I'm going to bring it right to you. Now, on the company, after all this, Denny has his quote here in their own words. This sums everything up here in the end. A quote, we pay everybody we can. Yeah, we've had some problems like everybody else. The steel business, I don't know if you watch TV or not,

but if you've been hearing from, what's her name, Mrs. Clinton there, and you've heard from Donald Trump, they've all got the same story. The steel business is hurting real bad. You know, what's her name? What's her name? A lady that's been fucking first lady for eight years. You've never heard of her. It's hurting real bad.

So the guy asked him, why the fuck did you invest in the steel business then? And he said, we thought we could turn it around. Like, no, you didn't. You just thought. There's some rules in place that we didn't know about. And now we can't could turn it around. Like, no you didn't. You just thought. There's some rules in place that we didn't know about and now we can't.

And then in two years we're going to find out what he was doing financially and what horrible shit he was scamming people out of. I swear to God, he will be indicted in the next year.

Watch out for the update, guys, of him being indicted. If you can't get enough Denny McLean, you can find some books of his still on Amazon. His 1975 book, Nobody's Perfect, you can get for one cent.

Strike Out, 1988, you can get for $1.71. And I Told You I Wasn't Perfect, the most recent one, you can get for $4.09. And that's fucking Denny McLean literally up until a month ago. So there we go, guys. He's still out there. Keep an eye out for these indictments because he's scamming go, guys. He's still out there. Keep an eye out for these indictments

because he's scamming all these people. He's going to be in... He's still going. There's going to be fraud charges. Absolutely. Hold on. Allegedly.

He's allegedly doing all this. There's some alleged bullshit out there. There's some alleged bullshit happening and we're not going to fucking take it. Guys, holy shit. That's Denny McClain. There you go.

I am completely out of breath. Fuck, Jimmy. You want to do shout outs? Jimmy's going to do our social media shout outs here uh please uh follow us on at crime and sports on twitter crime and sports at gmail.com and of course uh facebook.com slash crime and sports you can throw us a few bucks on patreon.com slash crime and sports there's some cool rewards honestly guys though that's all great and we'd appreciate the money. We really need it, trust me. But we really want

sponsors' money. We don't want your money. So please just give us those iTunes reviews. Those iTunes reviews. Help us move up the charts. And most of all, the most important thing,

tell your friends. That's it. Tell people. Share it. Say, this fucking podcast is funny. It's easy enough. People don't know who we are.

We're comics. We're not journalists. We don't have a network. We're not famous. We're a have a network. We're not famous. We're a couple of guys trying to put on a really good show for you guys that costs you nothing. So please, please, please try to help us out with those reviews and shit. Jimmy, hit us with your shoutouts. The people that did the ones most recently and were so social on social media.

They're embracing social media. Regina Young, R.E.D., Nathan Bland, Gary Dempsey. Love those guys. John Carden, he's a comic as well. Eric P. in New York. That guy's fantastic. He's a darling of a man. Jim Wilson and Jason Fuller gives us so much information.

He tosses us new criminals and makes memes and stuff. The guy's fantastic. And a shout out to the, what's the Detroit Oh, the Detroit Motor City podcast? Yes, thank you. Those guys are awesome. Those guys are like Dude Denny McClain.

We had him on the list, but like, we expedited him for you. We expedited him. We haven't done a baseball player in like nine episodes. Extradited him up the list. It's the end of baseball season.

We figured we'd throw that one at you. And the regulars, Mark Busby and Wedbetter. Oh God, Wedbetter, Busby, Story of Sanja. We love you fucking guys. You guys are amazing.

You guys are the best. All of our normal crew. Connor. What's his name? Connor Gillespie. Oh that guy's awesome. Boris Ranting. I love him.

He always retweets us. Python Cricket as always. They're so great. All of your cricket bat needs if you possibly want please hit up Python Cricket.com. I'm sitting on one right now.

We are. It's sitting right here in the Crime and Sports studio. So guys you want to hit them with your social media Jimmy? I'm at Wisman Sucks W-. It's sitting right here in the Crime and Sports studio. So, guys, you want to hit them with your social media, Jimmy? I'm at Wismansucks, W-H-I-S-M-A-N, on Twitter, Instagram,

and Snapchat. And I will be at the Denver Comedy Works October 13th through the 15th with my friend Eliza Schlesinger. So come out and see those shows. It's going to be a fucking great time.

Those are going to be good shows. You can follow me at Jimmy P is funny on Twitter. You can find me, you know, James Petrogallo on there, whatever. I don't remember my dates because my mind is mushed with Denny McClain right now. He's just ruined my head. DenverComedyWorks.com, I believe, is the website to get yourself some tickets. Guys, really, we can't thank you guys enough for listening and for spreading this.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. We love you to death, guys. We love you so much. The crime and sports movement is growing, and it's all you guys. Such a big thing. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Crime and Sports

early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. But along the way, Taylor has had to wage war, first by taking on a very powerful, very famous manager, Scooter Braun, and then by going up against the biggest live events company, Ticketmaster. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wondery's show, Business Wars. We go deep into some of the biggest corporate rivalries of all time. And in our latest season, Taylor Swift will shake up not only the music business, but Hollywood and the NFL.

Follow Business Wars wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app.