Criminal - Only in Hollywood

Episode Date: March 26, 2021

When Joan Borsten married actor Oleg Vidov, also known as “the Soviet Robert Redford,” he introduced her to beautiful Soviet animations created in Moscow’s Soyuzmultfilm studio, like Hedgehog in the Fog, by Yuri Norstein. Joan and Oleg eventually acquired the rights to distribute the films outside of the former Soviet Union. One day, Joan realized someone was undercutting their business, and she devised a very Hollywood solution. We talk with Joan Borsten, Andre Violentyev, and former FBI Special Agent and current private investigator, Jake Schmidt.  You can learn more about Joan Borsten’s late husband, “the Soviet Robert Redford” in her new documentary, based on his autobiography. It’s called “The Oleg Vidov Story.” Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop.  Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Support for Criminal comes from Apple Podcasts. Each month, Apple Podcasts highlights one series worth your attention, and they call these series essentials. This month, they recommend Wondery's Ghost Story, a seven-part series that follows journalist Tristan Redman as he tries to get to the bottom of a ghostly presence in his childhood home. His investigation takes him on a journey involving homicide detectives, ghost hunters, and even psychic mediums,

and leads him to a dark secret about his own family. Check out Ghost Story, a series essential pick, completely ad-free on Apple Podcasts. Botox Cosmetic, Adabotulinum Toxin A, FDA approved for over 20 years. So, talk to your specialist to see if Botox Cosmetic is right for you. For full prescribing information, including boxed warning, visit BotoxCosmetic.com or call 877-351-0300. Remember to ask for Botox Cosmetic by name. To see for yourself and learn more, visit BotoxCosmetic.com.

That's BotoxCosmetic.com. That's BotoxCosmetic.com. There's a Soviet short film from 1975 called Hedgehog in the Fog. It's only 10 minutes long. It's been called the best animated film of all time. In the evenings, the hedgehog went to the bear to count stars. They sat on the logs... cartoons are. They don't have to be 26 minutes long, you know, space for commercials. They don't have to have this continuation of a story once the episode is over. Back in Soviet Russia, the cartoons were made purely as a way to sort of entertain the kids, of course, but also as a kind of art. They were only as long as they needed to be.

They only told the story the way it ought to be told without anything else. And I think people who have seen them, they would easily agree with my statements. It's really something to be seen and appreciated. In May of 1928, Mickey Mouse was introduced by Walt Disney. Within a few years, Disney animations were so popular that they were being shown around the world, including at a film festival in Moscow in 1933.

Soviet viewers, including Joseph Stalin, fell in love. The slogan, Give Us a Soviet Mickey Mouse, became popular. And three years later, in 1936, the animation studio Soyuz Moltfilm opened in Moscow. A version of it still exists today, and many of the films are admired for their sophistication

and lack of violence. As one director put it, In our films, there's always been less aggression. We staked our all not on action but on psychology, humor, and a dialogue with the viewer. It came out of the tradition of Russian folktales. Hedgehog in the Fog follows a worried-seeming hedgehog who gets lost in a thick fog. He's surprised by all the animals he encounters. He rides a fish.

Even by the end, when he's safe, it doesn't feel like a happy ending. Definitely not a Disney ending. In the final frames, the hedgehog is still anxious. It's slow and dreamlike and kind of scary. These films are brilliant, and they're beautiful, and they're varied. You know, I don't even know where to start. My name is Joan Borsten,

but I'm also known as Joan Borsten Vidov. Vidov is the name of my late husband, who was the Robert Redford of Russia and defected in 1985. Joan Borsten met Oleg Vidov in Rome. She'd grown up in Los Angeles, but she'd gone to Rome to work as a journalist. Joan had arranged to stay temporarily with an American actor named Richard Harrison and his wife. When Joan arrived to his apartment, Oleg Vidov was already staying there. She knew that he was an actor, but she remembers that the first time they met, he had such a terrible sunburn, she didn't understand how he could be famous. A few days later, when his sunburn faded,

she realized how handsome he was. Joan says she wasn't looking for romance, but Oleg followed her around. He wanted to tell her his life story, even though he didn't really speak English. When we asked how they fell in love, Joan said, It just kind of happened. He convinced her to move back to Los Angeles, where they got married.

Oleg found work in Hollywood. There were headlines everywhere. He was the first major Soviet actor ever to defect. However, Hollywood was still in the Cold War era, and most of the parts that were written were mean KGB officers, and my husband was a very good-looking leading man. So the first role he did was in Arnold Schwarzenegger's Red Heat, and then he did Wild Orchid with Mickey Rourke.

Later on, he did 13 Days with Kevin Costner. But there weren't a lot of parts for actors who looked like Oleg and had a Russian accent. After the Soviet Union dissolved and Gorbachev stepped down in 1991, Oleg Vidov was worried about what would happen to the animations. He said, Soviet cartoons had always been my weakness, and now they were in danger of complete disappearance. He said, Joan says he immediately got on a plane to Moscow and approached the heads of the animation studio. My husband had grown up on this beautiful, kind Soviet animation, and now he wanted to share it with the world. So five months later, in May of 1992, he sent me to Moscow by myself.

I didn't speak Russian. I had never been to Russia to negotiate a contract in a country that, you know, hadn't even woken up from the Soviet era. Jones says that working with a translator, she negotiated the rights to distribute a number of films outside the former Soviet Union. According to the BBC, they paid $500,000 for a 30-year contract. They found that some of the films were very badly damaged and had been taped back together with Scotch tape. The BBC reported that in some cases, the films are in such bad shape that they cost $10,000 per frame to restore. Getting the rights wasn't the problem. The problem was that the Soviet Union put very little effort into keeping these films that were produced beginning in 1936 in good condition.

So what we didn't know when we signed the contract was that we would have to digitally restore all the films. We would have to re-voice them, and we did it with famous American actors. And we would have to do new music in some cases because the Russian language and the music was married together. Jones says it was a monumental task. Not to mention that a lot of the films were in violation of all kinds of copyright laws, which Joan and Oleg had to muddle through. The Soviet studio had used music and stories

from all over the world without permission. For instance, they'd use the love theme from The Godfather in a 1978 animation about a space alien. But Oleg's bet that people would love them was paying off. The movies were picked up by HBO, Bravo, and PBS. Joan says these English-language dubbed versions were one aspect of the arrangement with the studio in Moscow. But there was another part to the deal. Joan and Oleg would also clean up

the Russian-language versions of the films. Joan says they invited one of the original guys from the Soviet animation house to come help with restorations. And then they distributed them and sent a cut of the profits back to the studio in Moscow. They released a themed collection called Animated Soviet Propaganda. Joan says it was a huge hit.

In one of the cartoons called The Millionaire, an American woman leaves a million dollars to her bulldog. The dog lives on Fifth Avenue, eats steaks, and eventually is elected to the Senate. The final scene shows the dog in a tuxedo, standing on a pile of bags of money. The narrator says, now that's what crooked money does. Joan says that right from the start, everything was more expensive and more complicated than they'd expected. The Russian government even tried to undermine the legitimacy of the deal. Joan and Oleg pushed back, and a U.S. federal court affirmed their right to distribute the films.

And then, in December 2005, the shops who normally stocked the Russian-language films suddenly stopped ordering as much as they were before. Some stopped ordering altogether. It didn't seem likely that customers had suddenly lost interest. So Joan decided to go look around. She visited a store in Studio City and claimed she was shopping for cartoons for her adopted Russian grandchild. That wasn't a complete lie. Joan really was a grandmother. And on the shelves, she saw animations that she'd personally negotiated for in Moscow.

But they didn't look like the DVDs she and Oleg were producing. The cases were different. The covers seemed to be photocopied. And the films were priced at $10, about half what hers sold for. When you found out that this was happening, did you go to the police, to the authorities? No, because we'd already learned

that we weren't Paramount Studio, we weren't Columbia. They weren't going to do anything for us. It was just a small business, which is why I had to take things into my own hands. She asked a Russian friend to drive around and buy all the animation DVDs she saw. The friend agreed, and then told Joan that one shopkeeper had invited her to return in a few weeks because they were expecting a lot of new inventory. Joan decided she needed to find out who was behind this. So I started to search for the

big video pirate who was selling to all of the little stores in Los Angeles who didn't want to buy from us because what we were selling them was more expensive, of course, than what he was selling them. So what did you decide to do? I decided to put together a team. A team of Russians. Some were actors. She wrote backstories for each of them. She asked one actress to play a woman named Natalia. Natalia's backstory was that she and her husband were opening a Russian video store in Palo Alto.

Natalia was described as a, quote, unscrupulous, hard-edged businesswoman looking for bootleg tapes at the cheapest possible price. I wrote a script, and I was on a mission. I was on a mission to find out who he was. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. I'm a person who, over my life, I have a history of taking situations I'm faced with into my own hands and taking the initiative to get things done, and this was one of those times. And at that point, I hired Jake Schmidt, who used to be a CIA guy in Eastern Europe

and now had a business in Los Angeles called Spy for Hire. To be honest, it sounded like it was just a small deal. Jake Schmidt. I was sort of dismissive, I think, in my mind that this was a serious problem. And I said, well, what do you want to do from here? Where do you want to go? And she explained that she wanted to start a full-blown undercover operation with a buyer, someone posing as a buyer, to try and make large-scale purchases. It's like, okay, great, I could walk into this DVD store and buy a counterfeit copy or four counterfeit copies of different films. But she wanted to send somebody in to talk to the owners to say, hey, I'd like to buy 200 copies. Where do you get your product from?

So her plan was sound. I mean, that is the right way to do it. Jake Schmidt says Joan asked him to follow a Russian actress around and take pictures as the woman made conversation with shop owners. Joan gave them a list of stores. Quite a list. As I recall, there were 25 or 30 different stores on the list. I kind of winced, but I think she was smart enough to know what she wanted. And so we went around and hit at least a dozen of the stores. And by then, the girl that was walking in and documenting what the owners were saying kept hearing the same name, which was a guy we only had the first name, was Dimitri. Support for Criminal comes from Apple Podcasts. Each month, Apple Podcasts highlights one series worth your attention,

and they call these series essentials. This month, they recommend Wondery's Ghost Story, a seven-part series that follows journalist Tristan Redman as he tries to get to the bottom of a ghostly presence in his childhood home. His investigation takes him on a journey involving homicide detectives, ghost hunters, and even psychic mediums, and leads him to a dark secret about his own family. Check out Ghost Story, a series essential pick, completely ad-free on Apple Podcasts.

Hey, it's Scott Galloway, and on our podcast, Pivot, we are bringing you a special series about the basics of artificial intelligence. We're answering all your questions. What should you use it for? What tools are right for you? And what privacy issues should you ultimately watch out for? And to help us out, we are joined by Kylie Robeson, the senior AI reporter for The Verge, to give you a primer on how to integrate AI into your life. So, tune into AI Basics, How and When to Use AI, a special series from

Pivot sponsored by AWS, wherever you get your podcasts. Now that Joan Borsten had a name, just a first name, Dimitri, she sent in the actress playing Natalia to try and get closer to Dimitri. Natalia, using her story that she and her husband were opening a shop of their own in Palo Alto and seeking cheap DVDs, was able to get a phone number for Dimitri Joan directed her to call and persuade him that she and her husband were serious and ready to buy Now it was time for the next phase of Joan's plan Natalia's husband, or the man pretending to be Natalia's husband, stepped in.

His name was Andre, and he did a really good job. Well, my name is Andre. I'm a software engineer by training, located in Southern California, Los Angeles. Why did she pick you? I just happened to speak Russian. She just needed somebody to be able to converse with them in Russian. That's all. Joan knew Andrei Violentev because he'd gone to school with her stepson, Sergei.

And even though Andrei wasn't an actor, he agreed. What was your first impression of Joan? Oh, she's a very sharp lady, in my opinion. She could have been a senator if she wanted to. But she's very smart, and she's very driven. Like, if she sets her goals on doing something, she can get it done. Andre called Dimitri and read him a list of titles he said he wanted to buy. He says Dimitri told him to go to a Russian store in Reseda on April 30, 2006, to buy

Russian books and souvenirs, and to call him immediately after he left the store. Joan told Andre to go ahead and do it and to spend $50. At 1.30 on April 30th, Dimitri called wanting to know why Andre hadn't gone to the store yet. Andre said he'd be there in an hour. At the time, I just thought this was just a little favor that I'm doing for John and Oleg. And I didn't think much of it. It was just to help them do the right thing. And frankly, I didn't even think of much of what the consequences of it are going to be and what are going to be the actual implications of actually having it done. But being pretty young at the time, I thought, oh, why not, right?

What's the worst that could happen? When he got there, he told the store owner that Dimitri sent him. They talked. And Andre told the story Joan had written out for him, that he was currently renting a shelf in an existing store in Palo Alto. The shopkeeper asked how much he was paying per square foot for the shelf. Andre had no idea what to say. He told the man he was paying $30 per square foot. That number I came up with on the fly only because just a few days ago, I happened to talk with my cousin who was looking for some office space.

And he mentioned something about $20 per square foot. And so then I figured, well, okay, Palo Alto is a more expensive area. And so just a shell search probably would be more than that. So I just cooked up $30 per square foot off the bat. But really, if it wasn't for that, I remember thinking, how else would you come up with a number like that? You'd have to think about, okay,

what is the square footage of your apartment? How much you're actually paying for it? Then divide one number by the other and then adjust for it being a business and so on and so forth. You could never say it, the right number in mid-flight. And I felt that, wow, I almost got cut on that one. If it wasn't for my cousin's tip, this would have been ugly.

The man didn't say anything. They continued talking. And Andre bought 12 sets of nesting dolls. He left the store and called Dimitri. I was definitely a little nervous. And part of it is because I've never done anything like this before. So I just had to call in and be in character and hope that he wouldn't probe me too much about Natalia,

which was my pretend wife. So my initial instinct was essentially try to be friendly with the guy, because after all, we're trying to do business here, and I'm trying to get him to buy into this whole scheme. But he was getting more and more nervous. And I remember at some point feeling that this isn't going well. He's really looking for something to cut the conversation short and drop this whole thing. And he just kept asking me these probing questions that were making me more nervous. And I could tell that he was getting

more and more nervous himself. And finally, I kind of, I kind of realized that I need to get mad at this guy. That if I really was doing this for real, this is the point where I need to get mad at him. And mind you, not having had any sort of acting classes or any sort of experience doing this sort of thing, I was a little, I was questioning myself for a moment. Can I actually do this or not? But, you know, I took a breath and cursed him out in Russian the best I could remember.

I don't remember exactly what I told him, but it was something in the order of, you know, having had enough, my leash being jerked around, and that, you know, are we going to do this or not? You know, let's stop wasting my time. And I remember that as soon as I said that, it immediately stalled it to him. Like he immediately changed his tone of conversation

and he totally bought it. And the next thing I know, he's telling me when to meet him, at what time. And that's how things, and that's where it took off from there, essentially. Did you immediately call Joan and say, Joan, it worked, I'm actually going to meet him? Yeah, exactly. As soon as I hung up on the phone, I called Joan a call and she was pretty excited that this was working and her husband

Oleg was also on the phone. He kind of congratulated me and I felt like he would be proud of me for being able to pull this off and especially the whole getting mad at Dimitri was the key to getting it done.

At the beginning of this, did you tell your friends ever what you were planning on doing? Did you let anyone know what you were doing? Yes, my mom was a little nervous about it. And to this day, I'm somewhat perplexed by the duality of the situation of both being, you know, kind of fun to do, but at the same time, you know, a very serious and possibly even dangerous business. You know, from my perspective, it was kind of fun. I could just pretend to be that I'm somebody else and I'm doing a favor to somebody. And it's just like in the movies, right?

You can pretend you're being undercover here. It was both exciting and scary at the same time. I wish that someone would ask me to do something like this. I would jump at this chance. This sounds like a fun thing to do. Right, right. It's fun until you realize that, well, you know, their people's lives are kind of at play here. It may be fun for me, but it's certainly not fun for the pirates once they get caught. And even for John, right?

And while the crime itself is not violent, it's just pirating DVDs, right? All they do is copy DVDs. Who's to say that they might not turn violent at some point towards you? On Sunday, April 30, 2006, Dimitri told Andrei to meet him at the intersection of Highland and Sunset at 5 p.m. As Andrei approached, Dimitri told Andrei to meet him at the intersection of Highland and Sunset at 5 p.m. As Andrei approached, Dimitri called and told him to turn into the parking lot of a Carl's Jr. As I imagine every self-respecting DVD dealer would do,

he showed up in this black SUV and I pulled in my car and he came out with his, what I presume to be was his wife. And after a quick exchange of hellos, he opened up the hatch, and there was this big box of DVDs in there. He told me that there were 400 DVDs in there. We did a quick count. I even complained a little that, you know, why is it that the DVDs are not even shrimp wrapped? To which he replied that, you know, if I'm going to be selling DVDs, I might as well just invest some money and buy a shrimp wrapping machine because customers take the shrimp wrapping off all the time. So I'm going to be doing this anyway. And so then after a bit of haggle,

we essentially settled on the price. I paid them in cash. We shook hands, and off I was with a whole box worth of pirated DVDs. But then, Dimitri called Andre again. He had more DVDs to sell. Andre didn't know what to say, so he called Joan, and she told him to meet up with Dimitri again and make the buy.

This time, they met at Dimitri's office on La Brea. There are photos of Dimitri and Andre walking out of the building. Andre is holding a paper bag, and you can see them standing there, chatting for a while. Joan was there too, watching the whole thing from the back of private detective Jake Schmitz, surveillance fan. The buy went down, her contact left, Dimitri went inside for a minute, and then I saw him exiting the small parking lot in his, I believe it was a black BMW. And the only way I was going to find out who he was, was to get the plate and to tail him. So I burned out and didn't stop to check if Joan had been buckled in in the back of the van. And I heard a thump, thump groan and my heart sank.

And I remember yelling through the curtains in the back of the van, Joan, are you okay? She grunted a little bit, and then she goes, I'm good, I'm good. Get him, Jake, get him. Had you ever been on a stakeout before? No. And I assume never. Absolutely not. You never chased another car before?

No. At any point... But I kept saying to Jake, keep going, don't lose him, don't lose him. And I'm sure we were just lucky there wasn't a policeman around because I know he went through a couple of red lights. I continued to tail the guy through Hollywood to an apartment building on Doheny, which is a main thoroughfare

that separates West Hollywood from Beverly Hills. And I got the plate. I immediately ran the plate, and of course I started looking for everything, any relatives, contacts, et cetera, and there was just nothing. It was like he was a solo institution. Couldn't trace him to any businesses, any

business licenses. He was just an anomaly, as it were. He was just an average-looking guy. Not too tall, not too short, just average build. You know, you're Joe next door. You would never guess that there was anything going on suspicious with him. Jake Schmidt parked outside of Dimitri's apartment for several days. And if Dimitri went anywhere, Jake followed. And he only did one thing of significance, which was on about the third day, I tailed him down towards Los Angeles International Airport,X and it seemed unusual it's it's a bit of a jaunt from Hollywood and there's an old saying in LA when you move here don't make friends because sooner or later somebody's gonna

ask you to take him to the airport so nobody likes driving to LAX and but that's where we were headed and I thought it seemed unusual. Anyway, I tailed him to a hotel and I watched him enter the hotel on foot. He was inside for about 10 minutes. He came out carrying two large plastic bags, like grocery bags, with long cylindrical shapes in them. They looked like stacks of DVDs. So a few days later, we headed back to the same hotel. This time I got in a better position. I waited, got very close to the front door. Dimitri parked and sat in his car. And as he was waiting, a service van pulled up, a large shuttle bus vehicle from the airport,

and it was carrying an entire flight crew from an Aeroflot flight, the Russian airline. And I watched all of them get off the bus, and they all went into the hotel. About 10 minutes later, the man I had earlier recognized as probably the captain or navigator from that flight crew came out dressed in civilian clothing. And he was carrying several large grocery bags with cylindrical shapes in them. He stood out in front of the hotel. Dimitri came up. They shook hands. They talked. No money was exchanged at that point from Dimitri,

but what I believe was the pilot handed Dimitri several large bags, these bags with cylindrical shapes, and I got video and photographs. It was absolutely obvious that this flight crew had smuggled or brought in, otherwise, this product. Are you looking to eat healthier, but you still find yourself occasionally rebounding with junk food and empty calories?

You don't need to wait for the new year to start fresh. New year, new me? How about same year, new me? You just need a different approach. According to Noom, losing weight has less to do with discipline and more to do with psychology. Noom is the weight loss management program that focuses on the science behind food cravings and building sustainable eating habits. Noom wants to help you stay focused on what's important to you with their psychology and biology-based approach. Noom takes into account your unique biological factors, which also affect weight loss success. The program can also help you understand the science behind your

eating choices and why you have those specific cravings, and it can help you build new habits for a healthier lifestyle. And since everyone's journey is different, so are your daily lessons. They're personalized to help you reach your goal. Stay focused on what's important to you with Noom's psychology and biology-based approach. Sign up for your trial today at Noom.com. Autograph Collection Hotels. Offer over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else.

Hand-selected for their inherent craft, each hotel tells its own unique story through distinctive design and immersive experiences, from medieval falconry to volcanic wine tasting. Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of over 30 hotel brands around the world. Find the unforgettable at AutographCollection.com. Joan, with her attorney, contacted the U.S. Marshals Service to go search Dimitri's facility. Jake Schmidt says everyone met beforehand

at a Russian restaurant across the street. The group included two court-appointed Russian interpreters and the head of the U.S. Marshals' task force. Five U.S. Marshals knocked on the door at Dimitri's, where Joan says they found hundreds of counterfeit DVDs of Russian animated films. She says they were overwhelmed. It was crazy.

Her attorney came out and said, we found lots of product. He's not being difficult. He's claiming he doesn't know that he was doing something illegal. He was given a chance to cooperate. And from there on, it was a matter of just the legal proceedings.

So we went to court a couple of times. I didn't actually have to testify in person, but I did submit my affidavit and my declaration, and that's how it went. Next thing I know, Joan called me and said, hey, there's an article coming out in the LA Times about this story. And it was nice, except for the way they described me.

The reporter described Jake Schmidt as a, quote, stocky former U.S. Army intelligence analyst. I would have preferred extremely handsome former section chief for the CIA. But, you know, they decided to call me a former intelligence analyst who was stocky. Anyway, it was a good article. It was a good story. And that was it. Now, I tend to get long-winded.

The real hero of this story is Joan. Joan is probably the most tenacious, intelligent, driven client I've had in 20 years. And I've had Mel Gibson as a client. I've had Halle Berry as a client. I've had billionaires as clients. None of them compare to Joan. Not even close. You do not want her after you, ever.

Because she won't stop. You will turn around and her teeth will be in your butt. At any point, Marie, did you think to yourself, I've gotten myself in too far. This is, I am, I am sinking here. My head's underwater. No, I knew that we could solve this. It just was going to take time and some creative

thinking in order to be able to find out who it was that behind closed doors was running this whole operation and ruining the market. And he, you know, he ran a very kind of slick operation. Joan had filed an $11 million copyright infringement lawsuit against Dimitri and eight of the stores that bought counterfeit DVDs from him. Dimitri offered her a financial settlement, and she accepted, but she's never disclosed the specifics. She says her number one priority was to just get him to stop, and that as far as she knows, he did. She told us she hasn't

seen or heard from him since. Was this expensive, this whole sting operation hiring actors? I mean, did this put you out a lot of money? You know, when my husband decided that we were going to buy the international rights to about 50 hours of this Russian animation library, I thought he was nuts. And when he first came back with it, and, you know, he was sure that Disney wanted to buy it right away. Disney didn't want to buy it. Nobody wanted to buy it. And the costs were tremendous. I mean, it was away. Disney didn't want to buy it. Nobody wanted to buy it. And the costs were tremendous. I mean, it was horrible. And then we had all of these legal costs as well because of piracy, not just in the United States, but all around the world. But in the end, one of the

oligarchs, the very, very wealthy, wealthy Russians, came and bought the rights back. He says he took them back to Russia, which is fine. And so he paid us a lot of money, and we were out of the business. Many people have credited Joan and Oleg Vidov with helping to popularize Russian animation all around the world. Oleg died in 2017. Obituaries made liberal mention of his good looks and his nickname, the Soviet Robert Redford. Andrei Violentev told us that these days he enjoys showing the old Soviet animations he grew up watching to his own children,

especially, he says, Hedgehog in the Fog. But really, there are dozens and dozens that are just absolutely wonderful and magical to watch. I definitely would recommend anyone who's never seen them before. Joan Borsten says her granddaughter watches them all the time, but on YouTube. Criminal is created by Lauren Spohr and me. Nadia Wilson is our senior producer. Susanna Robertson is our producer. Audio mix by Rob Byers.

Julian Alexander makes original illustrations for each episode of Criminal. You can see them at thisiscriminal.com or on Facebook and Twitter at Criminal Show. And you can learn more about Joan Boorstin's late husband, the Soviet Robert Redford, in her new documentary based on his autobiography. It's called The Oleg Vitov Story. Criminal is recorded in the studios of North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC. We're a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collection of the best podcasts around. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is criminal. Radiotopia.

From PRX. The number one selling product of its kind with over 20 years of research and innovation. Botox Cosmetic, Adabotulinum Toxin A, is a prescription medicine used to temporarily make moderate to severe frown lines, crow's feet, and forehead lines look better in adults. Effects of Botox Cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition. Thank you. symptoms and dizziness. Tell your doctor about medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, including ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis, or Lambert-Eaton syndrome in medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. For full safety information, visit BotoxCosmetic.com or call 877-351-0300. See for yourself at BotoxCosmetic.com. Thanks to Huntress for their support. Keeping your data safe is important.

However, if you're a small business owner, then protecting the information of yourself, your company, and your workers is vital. In comes Huntress. Huntress is where fully managed cybersecurity meets human expertise. They offer a revolutionary approach to managed security that isn't all about tech. It's about real people providing real defense. They offer a revolutionary approach to managed security that isn't all about tech. It's about real people providing real defense. When threats arise or issues occur, their team of seasoned cyber experts is ready 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for support.

Visit huntress.com slash vox to start a free trial or learn more.