Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast - Why The 48 Laws of Power Is Banned in Prisons

Episode Date: January 23, 2026

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Know your victim. And we do. Social. I know what you're going to say. I know what you can see. I know what you're going to ask for. Bate your enemies. Hey man, you ain't never.

You have. I shriemy. Play by the rules. That law, major problem for me. 14. Letting his silence. I did not know you were here. No.

Basically, the 48 laws of power. It was the most popular book ordered. in prison. Then the prison actually banned it because it was focusing in on, you know, which is funny, it's focusing in on manipulation, supposedly. It was like huge about, it was a huge push for how to become powerful and manipulate people. So they banned it in federal prison. So I've, since then, since I got out, I've listened to it a bunch of times on YouTube. And so I like the book, not every single aspect of it, but I do like it, although it seems very nefarious, you know what I'm saying? Very, it's very, it makes it seem underhanded.

A view into the dark arts or something. Right, right. It's like learning witchcraft and it seems very dark. It doesn't seem very like it's, it's very mischievous or Machiavellian, you know, like here's how you manipulate and you did. And I get it, that's true. But that's in that anything in general, any type of sales or any type of success or. Well, that's the, you got to think, that's probably the government's perception is, which is why they ban it. You know what I'm saying? Right.

They don't, they think it's some, and they deem it a manipulation book. And so sometimes people fall into that, like, well, they say it's manipulation books, probably some arts of manipulation. Because, like, wielding power, is that always manipulative, or can it be used to maybe some time

get you out of situations that you, you know, you don't want to be in? Right. I'm saying. I get, I mean, all I know is, I've read it. I think it's interesting.

and we thought we would do a video on it on what two-season, let's want to go with two-season con men. I don't know. I shouldn't do it. So on what two-season con men think about the 48 laws of power by Robert Green. Right. But so ask yourself this question. When you were in prison, like, can you remember any inmates telling you about that book?

Yeah, I do. Yeah. I remember guys that had read it, like, you know. Think of one in particular. Just like picture one in your mind right quick. Okay. Like, doesn't that person seem like they're manipulative? Doesn't it seem like they were talking to you about it like, hey, I just came across something that's going to help me change the world.

Those were the guys that were always like looking for like the, you know, they thought you had, they'd want to talk. Hey, man, man, can I talk to you for a little? Because they think you're going to be able to tell them like the magic formula on how to be, you know, how to how to be a fraud. or a scam or how to how to convince that. It was always very manipulative. Like you said, they were manipulative or they were, they was looking for the secret. And, you know. And that's, that's.

There is a secret. So I would think them banning the book would automatically make everybody wanted. Right. It was everywhere. I don't even know. Like, I don't even know when they banned it, but boy, it was already in there. Yeah. There wasn't a, there wasn't a shortage of them.

No, it wasn't. And some people would read it when they tell you they read it, you know, they kind of like, okay, now I got the, now I got the mojo to do what I want to do. I mean, it just be, and I'm thinking to like, dude, like from a book, you think you can apply all those laws in jail? You'd have to really, you'd have to really go out of your way and really try and really work, unless it just innately came, you know, it was just natural to you. If it was just natural to you, then it's just natural to you.

This is something you naturally do. Here's what I thought would be interesting. You and I could go through it piece by piece and, you know, either and discuss the law or give an example of when you. used it or maybe it doesn't apply at all, you know. And like we spoke, you know, before that there's some of these that actually seem that they're actually, they're conflicting. Right.

So, and maybe, you know, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I've never listened to this version of it. So let's let's go ahead and start. Law one. Never upstage the boss. Exceptions. If your superior is a fading star, don't be afraid to outshine them. If they are weak, cleverly hasten their downfall.

Kickamullies going to head down, right? Well, first you have to identify the boss. Well, no, I think this is in business type situations. Or so you're saying in general. Or in, yeah, in life. In life. Or if, so if you are working for someone else, how, well, I guess you could outshine the boss and make it like, hey, what you're doing is not working.

You're right. That wouldn't make you last long. No. And I think it's more than just, it may be more than just that. It may be like you go to a meeting and you have ideas. And so your boss is running the meeting. You just happen to be there. There's four guys on his team. You're one of the guys. And then, you know, of course, the owner of the company is there. And then in the middle of it, they're like, yeah, what are we going to do about this? And instead of saying nothing, you say, well, hey, what if we try this? And then suddenly the guy goes, you know, the owner, like, well, what do you mean? You go, yeah, what if we booing? You go through the motions. Yeah, that would help a lot and then this. And then actually, this could happen and that could happen. So think about it. Your boss right then is thinking, holy shit, like I look like I should be working for him when really you probably should have gone to your boss first. You see what I'm saying? And said, hey, you know, or said, hey, I have some idea. Let's talk later. You know, that sort of

because now the owner is like, you're the big shot. He's not. And so let's face it, the next opportunity the boss has, he may fire you. Like, hey, we need downsize. Get rid of Matt. Why? Because he's looking good and he may be, and he's hanging out with the boss or the owner of the company now. I may be, you know, my time here may be short because of that.

So, so can I, so can I say that's probably one of the reasons why I didn't like the book? I don't think that should be law one because that leaves, that to me brings a lot of questions. Because. Well, he's vague. He's not super specific. He does give it the example of, to me, that'd be like, hey, I pull in to the parking lot with a brand new Porsche, right?

You know, your boss is driving a sports car, your salesman, car salesman, whatever. And you're driving a $100,000 Porsche or a $200,000 Porsche. Your boss is driving, you know, and a $60,000, you know, whatever the sports car equivalent is that's, you know, whatever. I don't know, what are they like an infinity or something, you know. And so the owner of the company and everybody above your boss is like, hey, nice car. You're doing really. Yeah, you know, I'm kicking ass, man.

I'm making good money. I'm doing this. Like, they're like, wow, rising star. Yeah, your boss might get jealous of that. And jealousy is a real thing. Like, I'd never seen jealousy until I went to federal prison, like really in my face where it was so overt that it was like, you would see guys talking about other guys and you'd be like, he's a nice guy. You're always talking shit about him. You don't, the things you say aren't true.

They're your opinion, you know, and it's like, and you realize after a while, you're like, you're jealous of this person because this is a decent guy. You're just a, you just don't like him for, and it really brought down to he's jealous of him for some reason. Right, but, but like, so here's my thought. You ran a mortgage company. This is back when we were legit and you were the boss. You wouldn't, if someone pulled up in a nicer car, that wouldn't make you like, I need to fire this guy. I don't know, but I don't have those shortcomings.

You know what I'm saying? I want people. I want to see you do well. Exactly. So if, so outshining you wouldn't consist of me bringing you a good idea. You know what I'm saying? I understand, but I'm saying in there, these are all kind of general. Like in general, he's saying it's probably better to not upstage your boss because he may be that guy.

He may then say, you know, you're done. Right. And keep in mind, too, I had some people that were super like big shot brokers. they were just amazing. And I had multiple of those guys would work there for six months or three months, and then they go up their own company. And it was like, so to me, and then when they did that, typically, a lot of times, they took their files.

Now, to me, I always told everybody, if you're going to do it, don't just bolt. Let's work something out. Don't, you know, don't take the files. Because I'll have somebody call those people up and say, hey, we'll take over the loan. We'll do it for nothing. Just to fuck you. So, you know what I'm saying? And outshiding the boss.

Right. Right. So don't do that. Don't just take my shit and leave. And you need me in the future. You're going to need somebody to help you do certain things because you're not as savvy or qualified as I am. Right. Right.

So a lot of these guys realize that at some point where I'm going to need something and that's going to be able to have the answer. Well, there's the enough to outshine your boss right there. Right. So don't do it. Like you may need this guy in the future. So anyway, let's, I mean, so that's one of the things. There's 48. We got to move.

Be wary of friends, use enemies. So this law emphasizes caution with friends and the utility of enemies. Friends can harbor envy and dishonesty, jeopardizing trust. Basically, he's just saying be weary of friends. Like, don't put too much emphasis. Too much what power and confidence in a friend, right? And I'll give you an example of that. Six and I talked about this.

I said, Six, so when you went to. prison, like, you know, all those people that you hung out with, all your buddies, all your buddies that you were making money with, everything. So they come to see you, put money on your books, the whole thing. You went, oh, no, no, no. So, and so same thing. When I, when I got in trouble and I went to prison, you know, the people that I thought legitimately owed me something. I made you a lot of money. I've done a ton of stuff for you. I've been over backwards for you. There were many times when you made money and you're like, bro, how much do you want of this? And I was like, no, absolutely.

Don't, I don't want anything. I'm good. I'm glad you're doing well. Like, I wanted to help you. That's good. Because we were friends. None of that ever, none of those people ever turned around and said, damn, bro, like this guy could have asked me for a couple grand here, five grand here. I just am giving it to you.

You don't even owe me that money. Those people, which I, in a way, and I probably did that in a manipulative way of thinking I'm buying loyalty. And that's probably not true. That was the wrong reason to do it. It was definitely the wrong reason to do it. Because for one thing, it didn't, they weren't loyal. Like these people turned around. They all cooperated.

And then they all turned around and nobody came to see me in prison. Nobody sent me money. And those same people don't even talk to me. Some of those people don't talk to me to this day. So, so I can see like being weary of who your friends are. You know what I'm saying? I can see like, like don't get too crazy. Right.

You know, but then by the same token, like I often, you know, I tell people that too, like friends of mine, you know, that if they. say like, yeah, man, I was thinking about this. I'm like, absolutely not. I'm not going to be involved. One, I'll tell you right now, you cannot trust me. Because if the cops show up and say, boom, we got you on camera. We got.

And be like, hey, that's right there. Right there. So don't put too much trust in me because I'm not going to prison for you. I don't give a shit whether we're friends or not. So I think that's true. So you're saying at that point, you'd flip to an enemy. Yeah. Just like that.

But what about the enemy thing? What do you think about that? Have you ever had people that you knew were kind of enemies and you brought them into the fold thinking that they would be more loyal to you in a way? Probably. Okay. Probably. But you knew how I thought about, you know, I used to think about revenge for enemies and stuff where, remember we'd say we'd set them up. We used to fantasize about setting up enemies.

Like, we're going to buy a house, put it in their name. I spent years in prison setting up people I was pissed at. Years, daydreaming at night. I go straight to bed. I go to daydreaming at holiday. Oh, my God, if I could just see his face when they show up. And part of that plot always dealt with being in his face, making them think that they were a friend, or making them think that we've accepted certain things or like, hey, I can work with you or I'll deal with the consequence of it. So as far as using an enemy to benefit me, I guess it would be someone that was opposed to what I was trying to get accomplished.

know what I'm saying? So I'll take me... Like someone that you knew didn't like you, you know, you kind of like, okay, I'm going to be nice to you, you know, just because I don't want you to turn on me. You know what I'm saying? Right. I could see that. Like, I was going to say, I've had people that have, that I...

I had, I don't, I hesitate to use his name. Anyway, I'm not going to use his name. So I had somebody that basically we had a major issue with, right? But I offered to continue to help him, even though he really... me over. Thinking to my, and I said, look, here's what we'll do. I'll do your mortgages. You handle the real estate. I'll handle the mortgages. Even though this guy had made every attempt to me over. Like, we were actually kind of, we were partners for a very short pair of time. We separated. And when we separated, he just completely, he had, he separated, he had just

me over. And then tried, and then actively tried to fuck me over for the next few months, trying to get my clients. So after about a year or two, I was doing really well and he wasn't. So I went to him and I said, look, how about, we do this. You're a good realtor. You know how to write up the contract. You know, you know, bring me your clients. I'll get your clients to loans and you can get the loans go through and you'll make, you'll make a chunk of money. And so we started working together, thinking to myself, he'll be loyal to me because he feels like he owes you. He feels like he owes me. And he knows deep down when you f*** someone over, even if you just try and justify it,

deep down, you, you know you someone over. You know you're in the wrong. But it's like people, whenever I talk about, you know, being a landlord, guys are always like, well, I don't want to be a landlord. Because what if they f*** your house up? Like, you know, the person doesn't pay and you have to evict him and then they fuck up your house. Listen, I was a landlord for five or six years. We had one person damage the house, a property. Didn't even do a lot of damage, literally probably less than a couple hundred bucks. Because the truth is, you know you owe the money. Yeah. You know you didn't pay it. And you can scream and holler and say, I'm being unfit. But deep down, your subconscious is telling you, come on, man, you said you were going to pay 800 bucks a month.

You're not paying. Right. There's guys evicting you. And I can scream and holler and say, this is leaking and you could give me some more time. And, and let's face it, you give me a hammer and three minutes, I'll do $15,000 worth of damage to your apartment. At Desjardin Insurance, we know that when you own a cleaning company, things need to be tidy and organized at every step.

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Find an agent today at dejerdin.com slash business coverage. With a hammer in three or four minutes, and it's that simple. They don't. They just don't. So I get that, And that's kind of like, like I said, that one guy I brought him in and thought he would. And he did. He did. He worked really well with me for a while until he tried to fuck me over again. But the point is, is that I get that. I don't think it necessarily always works, but I've tried it. I'm trying to figure out the besides what was your motive for doing that. I just thought that he would work hard and he would realize he had up and then we would be okay. And he would continue to work with me. Right. Like here's the problem with real estate agents is every new real estate agent you bring in. If your client as

then you have to basically, they come to you, they'll write up a contract. Like a lot of times before you even get to that, get that, talk to the client or the client finds a real estate agent and they're working with them, I then have to call that real estate agent. I have to explain, look, yeah, my guy's approved up to 200,000, but he doesn't have the 5,000 to put down. And they're like, well, what do you mean? Yeah, he needs 5,000 to put down.

He could get the loan. He just doesn't have the down payment. And they're like, well, then how's it going to close? And you're like, yeah, okay. So it's $200,000. You're going to bump it to $210,000. And that extra 10, that, the 95% loan will now incorporate his down payment. And then then.

Well, that would be, I don't know how I feel about that, Matt. That strikes me like it's fraud. Like, listen, bro, don't write it for $2.10. Like, you know what I'm saying? So I have to go through this whole process with these idiots. And so that you call that massaging into the. And honestly, I'd say 90% of the time they're like okay with it. But if he's, you know, you still, you lose one out of ten.

And then even then the whole, the whole transaction's dicey. These guys are on edge. They're spooked. They're scared. And you know for a fact, if they get one question from anybody on this, they're going to say, well, Matt Cox told me to. So this is a guy who's really. real estate agent that I can now send my people to and he knows how to write up the contract.

Oh. So that was mutual. Well, yeah, it's always mutual. Obviously, it's mutual. I need you. I need your help. But I also think that you're a good agent. And I think, and now I don't think you'll run around behind me and try and me over or bring my people to somebody else.

You know, that's a pretty big risk. I mean, it's only a risk to you find out once and then you just cut them loose. And he'd already been cut loose. So you'd already been, you know, I'll cut you. And you saw how well you did on your own for six months. Right. I felt like that's a flip on the coin. Go ahead.

Or three. Hide. You're up to. By keeping others uncertain and off balance, you limit their capacity to counteract your plans. People's trust in appearances makes it easy to mislead them. False sincerity, feign changes of heart, and noble gestures create effective diversions.

Asides, employ smokescreens, familiar facades, to put others at ease and catch them off guard. Yeah, but hide what you're up. That's a given. We're, yeah. I'll tell you what, here's the problem for me. Like, this is a major problem. This, that law, law three, major problem for me.

I have a big mouth. I love to brag. I love to talk. I have to be told. Shut your mouth. Don't tell anybody. Listen, Jess, the other day, something, something happens. She's like, listen, you're going to stop doing this.

You know, and I was like, you know, to me, I sometimes do it because I'll brag because I'm trying to motivate. I think I'm trying to motivate somebody and on this and this time I'm trying to get them excited about or something, but really in the end, I'm bragging. And it's like, and that's not helping. Like putting your business out there only gives people ammunition against you in the right circumstances, not always, but in some instances. And so I see that hiding what you're doing, I'll get excited about something.

I'm doing something. I want to tell you, oh, my God, this is so cool. And in this, and then you're like, oh, my God, wow, that's crazy. But the truth is, it hasn't happened yet. Now, but that I'm telling you about it, it may never happen. because you're going to tell 15 people. Before you know it, the whole thing is they put the kibosh on there because now it's out there. Right.

So, you know, yeah. But I always consider you doing it for insight. Like, you know, you do that to everybody or you do that? Like, I figure you're telling me like, hey, what do you think? No, no, I don't do it to everybody. I do it to people that I think would be, we'll find it funny or comical. Okay. You know, I, you know, like I'm, you know, I do it when it's, when I think, you know,

For instance, remember the kid in the Uber the other day? Like, I didn't say, oh, and tell him, oh, I was in prison and this and that. I didn't say all of those things. Like, there was a kid in an Uber that as we're driving, he clearly, he said, oh, what do you do? And I was like, oh, I run a YouTube channel. But keep in mind, he's listening to, like, Christian music. He's very, very, you got a, I got in the car and I felt like kind of like the glow of God. Like, like you were in the middle of an acticism, but go ahead.

I'm sorry. So I was just like, you know, so as we're talking, and I could tell he was super judgmental. Like as soon as I said, oh, I interview people about true crime. He's like, what do you mean? I said interview like former criminals, that sort of thing. You said former? Yeah, I said former criminals law and fraud. Fraudian.

Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry. Former criminals and law enforcement. There's 48 of these, by the way. All right. So, you know, former criminal and law enforcement, that sort of thing. And then he was like, well, and he was like, well, and you bring them to, you bring them, you know, like to your, you see. like every day, like you bring them to your house.

Like you're, I'm one of my studios in my house. And he's like, and they come there. And I'm like, well, yeah, but I said, these are guys that have like flown themselves from California here to be on the podcast. I'm like, it's, I said, they're not coming here to rob me. I, you're like, these are decent guys. He goes, doesn't sound like it. And I was like, you know, and I, and I was like, you know, my first thought was,

I didn't say anything because one, I was thinking, this guy pulls over. I'll never get to my appointment on time. He pulls over and says, can you get out of the thing? I got to call another Uber. That's another 10 minutes. So anyway, but yeah, I just, but I knew in that moment, don't, like, answer the questions, but do not reveal that you've been in prison. Do not, you know what I'm saying?

Don't, don't do that. Like, keep that close to the vest because it's not in your, in your best interest to let this guy. And he's super judgmental. Not that I give a fuck that he's judgmental, but I'm really thinking I might get kicked out the car. Right. But you do, you do and did give a fuck because you're thinking I don't want to get kicked out of the car because the normal Matt, no, I didn't know that.

The normal Matt would have, like. Oh, no. I'm saying I don't care that he doesn't like me. I cared about the result. I cared about him. Like if I told him and he was like, oh, you're a person or you're this or that. I'd be like, okay, well, just get to me to my destination. Like, I wouldn't give a fucking about your.

I don't care about your opinion. What I care about is the result. The result of you pulling over and be like, yeah, man, I don't want you in my Uber. Or maybe I'm like, you know, who knows? He calls Uber and says, this is a bad guy. Next thing you know, I can't take Uber. Like, I'm down to lift. So anyway, yeah.

So there are times when I'll hold back because I see there's an advantage to me. But the truth is, I really just need to not tell everybody. I need to not just have this, this vomit, verbal vomit of telling everything, every, all the, like, Jess is like, she's like, your whole life is out there on the internet. Like, you tell everybody everything. And I'm like, yeah, it's fine. It's fine. Not a big deal.

She's like, it is. I don't want everybody to know everything. Like, you can't tell them this. Like, when we would break up and get back together, like, I'd do a video. She'd be like, what are you doing? We're broken up. That's your fair game. She's like, fuck.

You know, so yeah, I need to not do that. So I need to follow this rule is what I need to do. 14. Must be silence. Intimidating is cool. I did not know you were here. I know. It's true, though.

I was saying the right thing, though, right? Like I need to not put everything out on the internet. I needed not, right? How long were you here? Did you not hear what I said? What is this law? What I talked? What does this law say?

Yeah, where I was saying. What is this law say? What is this law say? I was saying that you were said like when it talks about like, you know, you need to hide your intentions. You do not put everything out there. Yeah, I know what you're saying. So I was saying like just as I do that all time, like you need to shut your mouth.

Like you're throwing you say everything all the time. You blurt. I was like, and then when we would break up, I'm like, then I would do a video on it. Like, what are you doing? Like, it's personal. Don't. I'm like, ah, you're fair game. And you'd be like, no, no.

You can't put our whole life on the internet. So anyway. And I agree with that. I mean, listen, we're a con artist. Well, I'm just like, for fraudster. Of course, you don't walk into the bank and say, I'm here to take the money. Hey, I'm here to get you guys to lend me $300,000 and never make a payment. They're like, come on.

You never know, though. But go ahead. It's funny, too, because I'm always, I always talk people like, I'm a super honest person, you know, with the, exception of a scam. But there's a result to that. That's a specific thing. Like, in general, I'm very honest. Like, this is what I did. This is what happened. This is this. Oh, why are you doing? I don't want to do that. Why? I don't really like that guy. You know, and like, I'm very honest. Like, even to people's faces and just blatantly, that's the way it is. And people, oh, but no, you're not,

you're not honest. You're dishonest because you lie about this. And you've manipulated. Yeah, you're right. If I had to do a scam boy, you'd see one cunning. You'd be like, Jesus, my God. Matt, like you convinced me almost that your name is Richard Johnson. Law 4 says little as possible. According to Green, you must speak sparingly, using vague and ambiguous words to keep others guessing. Silence discomforts people, making them reveal more, while brief comments garner excessive attention, portraying significance and mystery. So can I say I've learned a lot about silence and to the point where

both ends, like from Dale Carnegie, which How to Win Friends and Influence People. Great. And Anthony, so each person that I've learned motivational skills from, silence is like, like he says, a very powerful tool. One of the seminars I've been to, they had us sit with someone else and just looked them in the face and not say a word. It was like a five-minute exercise. And what he said is, we're weeding out the people who can't do it.

So I remember thinking to myself, like, who can't sit and look somebody in the face for five minutes? Literally, he got rid of 75% of the room. Like, you're supposed to sit, look at somebody else for five minutes, and, like, I was with about three people who couldn't do it. And I remember thinking to myself, like, what in the F is wrong with you? You can't just sit in silence. I would definitely think I could do it for five minutes. What are you talking? Are you serious?

It is. Absolutely. It's unbelievable. Exactly. I think that it's like that's the most unbelievable exercise in the world, but it's true. He's right. Silence can tear people apart. And I didn't learn when I did that that day, that's when I learned how powerful it was.

And then I learned that because I was comfortable with silence, that I would have that type of power over people. So I can sit here. And in fact, when I'm in silence, I start telling myself, okay, this person's breaking. You know what to think. Just be calm. He's breaking. That's what I started telling myself.

Otherwise, I would break. Try it. Just try. One day, try it. Put a five-minute timer and just try it to sit and just look somebody in the face and say, we're going to do this for five minutes. And then your mind start, like your mind-sitting data, you're like, stop, stop, stop. I definitely think I'd do it.

But then again, to me, that's just a task, right? Like, here's the, oh, yeah, you don't talk at all. You can talk when you're talking to her. But think about the power. If you ask her, what is the power you feel when you're doing that? Like, you know, like, what, what, what? Do you know how, here's the problem. Do you know.

That's what I look at them in the eye, though. Here's the reason is that I'm saying that it's, it's just a task. It's, do you know how many people that, you know, even, well, Colby and I talk to in general, right? Guys that are doing either, they have YouTube channels. I mentioned this the other day, too. Luckily, he doesn't put the videos out like chronologically, so they'll never know. All right. Where literally it's like you have a YouTube channel.

All you have to do is do this one or these three things. And in this period of time, you will conservatively be making $2,000, you know, and then it will only go up from there. If you just continue to do this. And they can't do it. It's like, to me, it's like, if you're not. the only one. But, but, but it's like, it's like saying, look, every day, I need you to come hit this red button. And in, in two years from now, you'll, someone's going to give you a million dollars. Do you know how many people would? I'll bet you, you're right. I bet you 75% of those people

would stop hitting, like to me, that would be my 100% priority over everything else is every day I got to go hit this red button. There are so many people that will suddenly say, I'm going to go to New Orleans with my buddy. I'm going to have my friends going to hit the button for me so I can go for a couple of days. Like, what are you doing? It's a $1 million. You have to stay in your, you have to basically do whatever you want, but you have to come back at least once a day and hit this.

Yeah, yeah, but I got my buddy who's like, are you, you're a failure. Like, you're somebody who's going to fail in life. This should be your number one priority, not going to New Orleans for a week. Right. So, but I know so many people that it's just like, I said all you had to do is this. And they, yeah, I know. I know, man, I don't know what happened. And I just, I know.

It's like. Yeah, but what's just? What does I have to do with silence, though? I'm saying it's the same thing. I get to win this contest if I can be quiet for five minutes. Be quiet for five minutes. Then you're giving yourself the mental capacity to do it, but it doesn't mean it could be done. And really, what I'm, what I'm, I'm serious, Matt.

Have you tried it? Me? Yes. I'm sure. We'll try it right after this. At the end. At the end. All right.

All right. My point is he's right. Silence is extremely powerful. and you don't know it until you've done that experiment. That is the experiment of experiments because your mind, it gets, like, every minute it gets more and more intense. It becomes a crazy deal. And I'm talking about just sitting and quiet and looking around

and playing with your phone and whatever. I'm talking, looking someone in the eye. How long have you been in the shoe? I was in the shoe 18 months. 18 months? I was 45 days the most. Remember I told you, I was a good inmate, by the way. I was a good in me.

I wasn't. But I lived with someone for 30 days and we never spoke a word to him. Remember I told you that? That's right. You know? And a couple of times I saw where he was about to break. I remember saying like, oh, he's going to break today. And he didn't.

And he didn't. I think at that point I'm like, I thought over. You had an argument and he said, don't talk to me again. Right. I said, okay. And that was the end of it. And he broke, though, at the end. Like, after 30 days, he broke.

But, you know, that's sleeping and, you know what I'm saying? It's not sitting face to face. That's the artist. But in the moment of, when you're in a conversation, you're looking someone in the face. Right. And there's silence. That is very, very powerful. That's my whole point.

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You'll answer a few questions and get a personalized recommendation. Even better, our listeners can get 50% off site-wide for a limited time. Just visit ghostbed.com slash Cox, and use the code Cox at checkout. Again, that's ghostbed.com slash Cox with the code Cox at the checkout to save a whopping 50% off site wide. Guard your reputation. Your appearance and the qualities associated with you are integral to your reputation. Craft a memorable trait to be recognized for, creating an aura of power. A strong reputation can precede your actions and impact outcomes.

Protect your reputation from attacks, but avoid being defensive. Note attacking others' reputations can benefit you, especially against more powerful opponents. Soutily undermine opponents with ridicule. Bad mouth someone else to save your reputation. It may be. I'm not saying I... You know what this?

You know what this is, though? Do you not talk about me. No. I'm telling you. Just calm down. I said, don't talk about me. Okay. What what how broad?

This is Jess. Look. Listen. Listen. How broad was that statement? Go ahead. Listen. I'm saying I would point at you because you know somebody.

Oh my God. I'm not talking about you at all. I'm just saying I mentioned this to you the other day. Jesus, God Almighty. You see where I'm dealing with the way? Yes. Yeah. Okay.

So, um, uh, I have a, uh, I have a buddy who does this. Um, well, first of all, First, let's talk about it's two parts, right? One part is, you know, your reputation. Like, that's a done deal. Like, we don't have repud. Like, that's over. But I think in my case, you know, or in your, what we're trying to do in your case, which you're fighting, is crafting your reputation to say, hey, this is like, in my case, it's like, hey, this guy's a podcaster. He does true crime. He's a great storyteller. He, you know, so that in that case, yeah, it, that's my reputation, right? In this case, I don't think that Robert Green could have

imagined this scenario. He's thinking you want to be someone who's always well-groomed, very polite, very business-oriented. You know what I'm saying? He's saying be a good businessman or a good, that sort of thing. For us, our reputation is, hey, you're a con man, but now you're doing a podcast. So I think that's tweaked a little bit. There's, um, um, um, R-DAP, the power orientation come to mind with this, labeling someone weaker. Because I think he's saying like, like, they're weak. Those guys are weak and we're the strong ones. Right. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Kind of an adversarial situation is probably what you think he means? No, I'm, no, no, that's, you're thinking about about the last part. I'm saying, he's saying always worry about, you're like, be concerned with your reputation. Like, you don't want to get caught lying. You don't want to get caught. You always want to be, you know, polished. You want to be like a very, very polished person that everybody trusts and your reputation. is good. In our case, we don't have a great reputation. So this doesn't really, we have a different

version of that, of that. I'm a good, I'm a good podcaster. I'm entertaining. Whatever. But the second part where it's saying tarnish your, your adversaries. So I have a friend, I'm going to use his name, Trent. When I grew up with Trent Calta, Trent Colta, I used to say, had a scorched earth policy. Like, he would date a girl for six. But keep in mind, too, you know, I meet these guys that had friends that they're like, like if Colby and Colby's buddy dated some girl in high school. Like, let me see what.

So if your buddy dated some girl in high school for a year, they broke up. Would you date that girl? Probably not. Yeah. Like I had a, like, yeah. Like my buddy in college, he likes some girl and she liked me and I just want to talk to her off of principle. That's what a decent, that's what a decent human being does, right? Not the guys I grew up with.

Troy, Trent, like all of us. They pass them around? Bro, we're actively trying to fuck your girlfriend while you're dating her. Like, I mean, Trent would like slide his hand on my, on like this chick I dated named Amy. And we're sitting there. I remember at one point, Amy just went. she goes switch places with me because Trent is sitting next to her and actually puts his hand on her she doesn't want to say anything at the moment we're in a restaurant she doesn't want to cause a scene

she doesn't want me to be like the fuck are you doing you know so she goes switch places with me I'm like okay we so and so of course later when we got in the car she's like you need to talk to Trent she's like the guy he does this all the time you put his hand on my thigh he's always flirting with me he'll call me like he would and she'd call me and he would be have called her a couple times. Like, you're like my best friend. We spend almost every day together constantly. And you're calling my girlfriend. I was looking for you, bro. You want to look it for a meme. You know what I'm saying? And so this is a constant thing. So he had a, but he had a scorched earth policy. He would date some chick. And then they'd be dating for six months. Day this chick Michelle one time. Dated for like a year

or so. And in high school, that's a long time, right? And when he was done, See how there's only three years of it. But yeah, go ahead. Well, when they, when they broke up, he said, I was like, what happened? I understand it's like, yeah, bro, you know, it's just not going to work out. Like, we fight all the time, we this, that, yeah. He said, I'm going to be honest with you, bro. Her pussy stink.

Yeah, it was bad, bro. Like, I mean, it was fucked up. I mean, I tried to get over it, you know, but I couldn't go down. Like, he had a whole thing. And I was like, so my stomach's turning. I'm like, oh, my God, really. Of course, the next chick he dated for 90 days. or whatever.

They broke up. He said because she gave him the clap. The next girl he dated, there was some other issue. So he wanted you to stay away from him. Listen, I had banged Michelle a couple months later. That shit was good. I mean, you know, it's not, you know what I'm saying? Like it was a scorched earth policy.

He's trying to slide. He's trying to talk shit about them so you don't go behind him and do anything. Ah, find out his shortcomings. Yeah, he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to, he didn't want to. want you to go because he doesn't want you to date and his going. He knows he knows you would because he knows he would. Exactly. Oh, listen, I had a horror.

The guys that I grew up with after speaking with normal people, you realize like, oh, these are horrific people. These are horrific. Or, or, or, and I was just as bad, by the way, just because I'm with them, I'm hanging out with them. I'm thinking, this is normal. Like, I got like four years of being, of being cultivated by Trent Colta, who was just, just the worst human being.

It's just hilarious, very funny. We were like best friends through high school, but just, yeah. Not a good person. No, no, just some really bad, bad traits. Yeah. Yeah. And I had dinner with him a few months ago, too, by the way. How's he doing?

He's doing great. Is he married? He does have a girlfriend. Which he's had for years, but. What's about time for to start stinking? Yeah. All right. It's bad.

Next law. We got four. 48 of them. Oh, okay. When I'm talking, hey, there's a bunch of these, by the way. All right. And then when he's talking,

they're like, hey, we got plenty of time. What are you thinking about? All right. 4-6, attract attention. This law emphasizes the importance of standing out and being noticed. Greener advises being scandalous to garner positive and negative attention using any necessary means.

To apply this, associate yourself with distinct traits, even if controversial. But I garnish your reputation. but attract attention. Right. Well, and he's saying even if it's in the negative. Exactly.

Which, hey, listen, I'll tell you right now, though, I give you an example of this, Andrew Tate. You see what I'm saying? Like, he garnered that attention, even though it was in the negative. Now, what he's done since then is tweaked it. Once he got all the attention, he's tweaked his message to the point where now that everybody knows who he is, he's tweaked the message. he's tweaked the message so that he's more, a little bit more mainstream, not mainstream, but a little bit more.

He's closer where before he said these outlandish things that he knew would get clicks, and now he's dialing back slightly, or now he's refining his message. Well, I mean, getting attention, I guess, was his way to get out there. And once he's out there, he's kind of like he's got to maintain stayability. He's got to maintain. It's almost like fake it to you make it. Amen. You know what I'm saying?

Amen. Take credit for others' work. Gain power, it's essential to leverage others' efforts for your gain while claiming recognition. You can adopt two approaches, waiting for others to complete tasks, and then appropriating them or enlisting others actively and taking credit for Tierra achievements. Like a real-world example. It seems cruel, right? It seems cruel. Like, you did all the work, and then I swoop in and I take credit for it. bosses do this all the time. People like team leaders will, like their underlings will come up with the ideas and work the ideas and they kind of manage the whole thing. And then they go and present the idea and the entire, the structure of that idea to their boss. And their boss like, great job.

But the truth is you just took his ideas. Right. And so, and I was going to say someone who's, but, but a good example of this that you kind of say, okay, I get that. Like, like, I can see that because in a very real way, this is perfect as two people come to mind. One is Steve Jobs. Like, Steve Jobs, like, not that he's saying, hey, I built the iPhone or I built these computers, no, you know, Wozniak did that, right? So Steve Jobs is the front man, but Wozniak was the brains of the operation that put the computer together and designed it and everything. However, of course, once they started making money, they hired more and more people. But what's funny is, and there's a comedian that talks about this all the time. He always jokes around about like Steve Jobs. He's like,

like Steve Jobs is out there on the stage annually. He got they do their annual event. He would go out in the stage. He'd be like, you know, we've got this and Apple's coming out with this and we've got. And he talks about all this, but it's like, you didn't do that. Like, it's these nerves in the back room who put this shit together. You're the guy that walked in and said, you know, I want my entire. This is the joke that the guy said. I want my entire music collection in this device. make it happen, you know? And he's like, like, and then they make it happen. And then he goes out, he's like, yes, that's right.

We now have, it's like, you didn't do this. So that and Elon Musk. Like, everyone's like, he's going to me, it's like, you know, when does he go out and say we've done this? But they don't say, they don't say, they're like what we're, what Tesla is currently, they say what I, what Apple's currently working on. It's still, you're the guy out there. Right. So what I'm saying with Elon Musk.

And look, I love Steve Jobs. Me too. And did you read the, um, the, uh, the, uh, the biography on him? No. He was a horrible human being. Yes. He's a horrific person. Oh, to, to employees, yes.

Yes. Yes. Very demanding. Not just employees. What about his kid, his wife, his parents? Yes. The whole thing. Yes.

Very demanding. Very like lost his temper all the time. Yeah. I read articles about that. I haven't read the biography. Oh, listen. It's, it's massive. It's a massive.

You know, it's by whatever that guy, I can't even say the guy's name. That's the fallout he had. with um with um what's his name from um Microsoft oh yeah bill gates yeah yeah he was he was well bill gates is a horrific person too um yeah in in general what i'm saying is is but then in that funny because it's like almost nobody gets to the top without just cutting the throat of everybody that helped them which is despicable but but then again you don't get the top if you don't do it i guess so um what i'm saying is so you got steve jobs and then uh Elon Musk which i love by the way which i think Elon Musk is a mate you know they're visionaries is what they are you know

He has this vision. Like, I'm going to, if you gave me, if I became like a trillionaire and I was one of the richest man in the world, like, I'm not going to be thinking, let's go to Mars. Like, this guy's got this grand vision of helping humanity and doing all these things. Like, I'm not doing that, bro. That's not going to be my pocket. That's not. I'm not doing. I'm doing some other crazy shit.

But so, I mean, I love, I love what he's doing, but you're not making rocket chips. Like, you're not in the back room. Like, give me a wrench. You know what I'm saying? But they're the ones who go up on stage. and say, we're doing this. We're doing that. You know, Tesla's doing this and SpaceX is doing this.

And you look at them and it's there the ones in the photograph, you know. It's not the people. They don't even put them on stage. Those guys don't even get sit up. I doubt those guys are even sitting in the front row. True. Or acknowledge. But do you think that applies to that law?

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That's a way of doing it. Right. But I think mostly my first example was like your boss who's not saying like, hey, no, no, I didn't, I didn't really come up with this. It's Jimmy from my department. He came up. The guy's brilliant. You got to meet him because a lot of bosses don't do that. They don't do that because they don't want Jimmy to take their job later or, you know what I'm saying?

The next round of cuts, it goes back to like the second law, you know, where don't outshine your boss. If that is the second law, I don't know. But you know what I'm saying? So do you, like, can you think of an example? Well, I mean, it would be like delegation. If I delegated, like if you told me, hey, A, Zach, build this table. And I say, hey, Colby, get me some wood and help me hammer this or hammer this in together. And you, Matt, you do this part.

And then I'm like, hey, Matt, the table's done. I got the table done. Hey, you two leave. Hey, I got this. Yeah, I just put this together. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And people do that.

They'll delegate the work. And then it seems, it just seems skeezy. It is skeezy. Right. That's what I'm saying. But it's done frequently. It is done. And accept it as done. I was going to say, and I think, yeah.

Yeah. It's not. It's not right. But I guess it's life. But, you know, Robert thinks it'll help you get ahead. Bait your enemy. Bating your enemy makes opponents come to you, giving you control. Instead of using aggressive attacks, consider strategic trapping to force opponents into reacting,

depleting their energy and maintaining your initiative. Emotional manipulation. luring foes onto your turf and capitalizing on their greed, enhance this tactic's effectiveness. We call that snitching. Like when you're in jail and you get someone to give you all the details. Oh, yeah, you're right. We say, man, you ain't never killed nobody.

Yeah, I have. Who do you kill? I killed Jimmy down at such a kid out of here. Man, I bet you could even tell me where the gun is. Yeah, man, I got my mom. That's the guns in my mom's attic right now. And your mom is in what state? Yeah.

But you mean your mama would want to tell a taxi? But good. So, okay. And what's funny about that is like you actually haven't deemed whenever you're doing that because I witnessed that firsthand. And I was a victim. I was lured to be a victim of that when doing the little income tax in jail. But because I remember one guy's like, hey, I want you to file taxes for me.

I'm like, I'm not really filing taxes. I tell you what, I'm going to give you my social, and I want you to just get whoever's filing it to file it for me. I'm like, what are you talking about? You know, I'm telling him the whole time I don't want to do it, but he's like, hey, here's my social. Right. And I'm thinking to myself, like, why is this guy just voluntarily giving me his information? Even though I'm telling him, no. Yes.

I don't do this. That is bait your enemy. Like here, please put me as part of the conspiracy that I hear that's going around the Coleman compound. So, yeah, that's bait your enemy. So, and that's also making them think you're a friend. Because what I'm thinking about is, if someone's giving you their story, you know, they have no idea that they become your enemy. They're like, oh, yeah, we can talk, you know. I trust in you.

And you're like, you have no idea. It's a mistake. You're like, that little piercing around your neck, that's that knife. I had a guy on the street before, of course, before. I went to prison where we had, he had taken a bunch of files that he was closing and he couldn't close him. And so the eventually, and what I did was I called up the borrowers because I knew that a certain amount of fraud had to be done to get these loans to close and he didn't have the expertise. He wasn't going to be able to figure it out. So I called his borrowers and I said,

listen, here's what's going to happen. You know, he took the files. You're supposed to close next week. He's going to call you next week, and he's going to tell you he can't close. And I'm telling you, if you were with me, you would close. But that's fine. I get it. He's your real estate agent. Now he's left with the files, and he wants to also be the mortgage broker. And the guy was a broker, too. But he was more just a real estate agent. So I went, I said, here's what's going to happen. Next Friday, you're supposed to close. I'm assuming Tuesday or Wednesday he's going to call you and tell you he needs more time. He's going to tell you there's a problem with the lender, whatever. I don't know what the

excuse he's going to come with. So what's really going to happen is at this point, they're going to ask him for stuff that he can't provide. Now, he's then going to have to send it to another lender, which starts to process over again. The problem is with the other lender that he's signed up with, they're going to want this and your house isn't going to appraise for that. So, you know, because we, we boosted the price of the house so much to cover the down payment. And I knew that if they did a review, it wouldn't pass. Right. So I'm like, that's going to fall apart. I said, so then he's probably going to go somewhere else.

I said, I'm telling you right now, if in the next few weeks he's going to push it back, push it back, push it back, and eventually you're going to come to the conclusion. He just can't close it. I remember the chick's name that I called. And I called several of his people, but I remember this one specific woman. One, she was friends with the guy. Two, he was a real estate agent. She was friends with him.

Her name was Becky Ka. K or C? No, no, K. Oh. And just always, she worked at Home Depot. Like, she had like a good job. Like, she had a good, she had a good job. She didn't have the down payment, the whole thing.

But I can't, I can't. Oh, the customer was, the customer was a Becky College. So I said, here's what's going to happen. I said, when you get to a point where you realize this guy can't close it, I said, call me and I'll close the loan. I said, or I said, I said, but I'll tell you right now, I need him to call me and him to ask me to close the loan. Now, by the way, there were two people that there was another. guy also. Same thing happened. Because I called him. I tried to get him to just come with me. And he was like, he's like,

well, you know, he's my real estate agent. He's closed a bunch of loans with me. And I'm thinking, no, I've closed the loans. He was just a real estate agent. But okay, that's fine. I said, well, look, Steve, when it gets to this point, you realize he can't close the loans. You can call me. Just have him call me because he's going to have to give me the stuff. Can I inquire why you wanted to have him? I bait because that was baiting. You wanted him to eat shit. I wanted him to call me and have to ask me to. Please close these loans.

Give him a spoon. But I didn't call him. Right. I told them he can't do it. When you need me to do it, I'll do it. But you're going to have to convince him to come to me. And so sure enough, a month and a half later, this guy had put this chick through hell. Through hell, bro.

She was living in a motel. Like he just dragged this shit out of her just because he was, he just, it was. He couldn't stand the idea of having to call me. And finally one day, she called me and told me he's going to call you. Matt, you know, I'm living in this hotel. He this. He's this. She's furious.

She'll never talk to this guy again. She's fuming. And I was like, okay, then he didn't call me for another couple days. She called me next day. What would you talk to him? I said, yeah, I didn't call me. She said, can you call him? I said, absolutely not.

I don't need him. He needs me. And so what happened was, sure enough, two days later, she called him up and went nuts on him. And so finally he called me. Hat in hand, bro. And I was absolutely the politest person I could have been. Absolutely, no problem. I got it.

I'll take care of it. Name was Eddie. I got it. I got you, Eddie, no problem. Just go ahead and send the loan over. Yeah. And he closed it. Close it.

Here's what happened with Steve. The other guy, Steve. Steve calls me. I'm sorry, when Steve calls me, he tells me, here's what's going on. These guys are panicked, you know, because it's just been one failed closing after another, like after another. They schedule a closing. He can't.

get it closed. Next thing you know, hey, do you don't need to show up tomorrow? We're going to have to push it back. What do you mean push it back? Like again and again? And by the third or fourth time, these guys are losing it on them. So when he calls me, here's the funny thing about this. He calls me on this one, he's upset. Because on this deal, he's the, he is the seller of the property. And the seller has to pay the closing cost. That's how we structured it. So you're paying my broker fee. So he's telling me, yeah, yeah, you can close that when I'm like, oh, no, it's no big deal.

I don't have to close it. You go ahead and close it. Well, no, I'm, I know. And he's sitting there like, no, man, I'm saying, I'm going to let you close. I said, I don't need you to let me close it, bro. I don't need to close it. You close it. So I need you to say, I want you to close.

So he finally gives up, bro, I need you to. Do you need me to close? Is that what you're saying? You need me to close? He's like, yeah, I need you to close it. close it. I said, okay, go ahead. And so we start talking about the closing cost, blah, blah, blah. Well, you typically charge

$3,500 bucks, and that's too much, and I'm the one coming out of my pocket and this and that. I said, okay, so with the broker fee, you want to be what? What's a reasonable broker fee? He was, I think $2,500 is reasonable. I said, okay, I'll do $2,500 for the broker fee. He was okay, fine.

You were completely compliant. No problem. Just having them eat shit. Well, it's worse than that. The loan was like a hundred and let's say that the loan was a 200,000 dollar loan. I forget what it was exactly. But let's say 200,000. I think it was close to 200,000, like 180, 160, something like. So I say 200,000 for the simplicity of, for simplicity's sake.

So we get to closing. They review the closing statement. Right. Goes around. Steve looks at it and Steve's like, yeah, that's good. Because Steve's looking at what's the interest rate. I told him what the interest rate. he was okay with it, okay with the payments.

He's not putting it down payment down. He's getting an 80% LTV that we've jacked up so high. He's walking away from closing with money. And he had to put nothing down. You're signing papers and you're collecting rent in three days. Before your first payments not even do for another 45 days. You're going to be collecting rent twice before the payments. And you're walking away with probably, it wasn't much, maybe 20 grand.

So the point is that we're sitting there at the table and everybody, he's ready to sign and all of a sudden Eddie goes, whoa, wait a minute, looks at it and he sees the broker fee, $2,500 bucks. And then he sees on the side, there's $4,000.

So there's something called yield spread. So I tell you, if your interest rate is really 7%, but I jump it up by a quarter of a point, I get one point back on the loan. So Steve's interest rate was like seven and a half. I added two 25 point basis, two quarter points to it. So it's a half.

Two quarters is a half. So I added his true interest rate was seven, but I wanted to get money on the back of the loan. Right. It jacks up his payment, but he was okay with seven and a half. He's still making like 200 and change for every single one of these units, and there were four units. So it's a quadplex. So he's happy making about between $800 to $1,000 to a thousand dollars profit. He walked away with $20, and he's going to make a profit of almost $1,000 a month on this property.

you put nothing down and you got 20 grand in your pocket. He's thrilled. So, but Eddie sees it. He goes, and by the way, the, that money is being paid by the lender to me. Right. Your concern was my broker fee, which you have to pay. So he goes, well, what's just $4,000? And I went, that's yield spread.

I said, see, Eddie, when the lender gives you an interest rate of, let's say, 7%, if you put, he's like, I know what yield spread is. He's like, he's such a child. But he's like, that's not coming to me, though. Right, no, no, it's coming to me. So my $2,500 broker fee ended up being $6,500. And here's the thing. He didn't want me to make $3,500.

His argument was it's coming out of his pocket, so we lowered it. Now here's what the real crux of the problem is. So he is, I don't want you to make any money. Because he's one of those guys. And there are those guys out there where they feel like, If you're making money, that's money they could have made. Even though this, even though had I not raised the interest rate on Steve, you wouldn't have made that money, Eddie.

The point is, is he just doesn't want me to make money. He's one of those greedy pricks who doesn't want anybody to succeed other than him. And that was one of our problems. So I was like, yeah, yeah, that's yield for any. And he said, well, you're only supposed to make $2,500. And I went, no, no, you said $2,500. I was going to make $35. You said 25 because it was coming out of years.

I said, the yield spread's paid to me by the lender. And he sat there. He's like, no, no. What I wanted was for you to only make $2,500. I said, why would you give a fuck what I make? It doesn't cost you anything. He's like, well, I mean, you're raising his interest rate to do that. And I said, Steve, are you, were you okay with 7.5% interest rate?

And Steve goes, yeah, well, what's the problem? And then he jumps in and says, well, he's raising your interest rate. Like, he's trying to drive a wedge between us now. The great thing about Steve is, Steve, I've done more. I've done multi. I, I got, Steve, we did a couple million dollars in loans for Steve. Steve's a smart guy. He already knows what the deal is.

So when he says, yeah, he's doing this and this. And so your payment's a little bit higher. Or your payments higher because of that. And I said, I said, right. I said, or Steve, you can come up with four grand. I said, because you're walking away with 20. Why don't you just give me four out of your 20? And he sat there and he's like, nah, I'd rather just pay the extra on the interest rate.

He said, I'm going to refinance in a few years. And I went, exactly. I said, he said, I mean, he was Eddie, that's just how it works. And Eddie was steaming. But do you, do you see what I'm saying? Like, it's, it was, it was just like a sickness. But yeah. Yeah.

So, I mean, I can. That's, uh, absolute absolute hatred right there. Yeah, there's something wrong. There's something wrong. But yeah, I baited that whole situation. I never said anything to the, like when he's, oh, this is, I'm like, okay, cool, no problem. Well, but yeah, you, that was, listen, that honestly, at that time of my life, he ate a lot of shit behind that.

At that time of my life, that was, that was possibly one of my best, my greatest moments. How are you feeling just recounting that incident? Excited. Like, I just thinking about it has me all tingly. I love that. I mean, I loved it. Listen, this guy. You're reliving the phone call when he calls you like, the deep breaths.

like, oh, God, just bring me that energy. And I was so, I was so like, absolutely, no problem. No problem. I go ahead and sit over the file. Like, it's not even a big deal. Like, oh, I'm eating this up. Yeah, that's easy. I can have that closing 10 days.

You didn't even give them the stall. Like, I don't know, Steve. No, not Steve. Eddie. Eddie. Eddie, I don't know, man. You're like, oh, I got you. This is nothing.

I'll just add it. I'll get Susan to handle it. Any one of my idiot brokers can close this. You can't. But anyway, so yeah, I've definitely baited people before. Of course. Don't argue, demonstrate. Because arguing rarely changes minds and can breed resentment.

Use demonstrations to convey your point. However, in cases of being caught lying, arguing can distract from deception. Count Victor Lustig exemplified this tactic by vociferously defending his swindles. So if I think you're wrong, you're like, hey, that's not a discovery. to have coffee in it. I go, look, look, look. No, I think it's more like... It's not coffee. That's hot cocoa. You know what I'm saying?

I think it's giving me more of like an example of something. You know, you give an... Sometimes people are like, oh, no, no, no, I'm on this, or I believe this. And then you give them an example. And then when they hear the example, they're like, oh, wow. You know what I'm saying? Like, wow, that did change my perspective. Like, I didn't, I hadn't thought about it like that.

True. So I'm not, I don't think that works all the time. No, I'm not. of this works all the time. These are just like tools, you know what I'm saying? It's just a tool to help you. That's all. Don't argue, demonstrate.

Yeah. Misery is contagious. Avoided. So, yeah, I agree. And who wants to be around somebody miserable anyway? Yeah, I think that's just, anybody who's hung out with someone who's just super negative is just, anybody, this is just a given. You know, I like that it's contagious that. But you're right.

If you hang out with a couple of people that are really upbeat and happy all day and you hang out with them all day, like you go home feeling great. You hang with a couple of miserable. Boy, they were these guys that we called them the brothers grim at the low. Oh, really? Yeah, they were a couple of, you know, winers, chomos. And they complained const. I actually was like three of them, to be honest. There was like three.

But it's just you would, if you got behind them, it was just like, because they literally spent. the four years or five years they got complaining about everything and everybody. And they were just the most miserable. They was just like, you didn't want to be, not that you wanted to be around them anyway, but in general, you didn't want to be caught like in line behind them because you're standing in that line for 30 minutes. And you're listening to some two jerkoffs complain about like how stupid the new board and this and this and I don't know what they're thinking doing this.

I don't know if they only did this. And it was just like, oh, God, shut up. Enough. It's contagious. Yeah. I learned that, too. Reese told me that. Oh, really?

When I first got to the low, he had one of those things he told me because I was complaining like, he's like, how much time did you get again? I was like 26 years, man, for a white collar crime. And I did a whole little, you're poor, poor me. And he went, yeah, he said, he said, look. This is what Reese is saying. Yeah, he's like, look, I'm going to, you know, you grab this hat, you know, Matt. Yep.

I'm going to tell you something. Nobody wants to hear you complain. Don't be complaining all the time. People don't want to hear it. People here that are never leaving. They're leaving in a pine box. And so nobody wants to hear you complain. I know you got a lot of time and I know you can try and work that down.

You're going to figure something out. You can make that work. But I'll tell you right now, nobody wants to hear you complain because everybody, everybody here thinks they got too much time. So, absolutely. Oh, Reese exhibited a law of power? There was not a lot of wisdom that he threw your way. He had a moment.

Yeah, he did. Be needed. When you're indispensable, you can secure freedom and control. Power doesn't rely on isolation, but on relationships, with dependence giving you influence and independence. Develop irreplaceable skills or knowledge, foster broad involvement, or possess secrets to become indispensable. Being needed has to be the most work.

You know what I'm saying? You've got to figure out or analyze what that person might need or want and put that to action, you know what I'm saying? That's got to be the hardest. But it's funny because you and Pete have the same, had the same strategy to this in prison. Me and Pete. Yeah, my buddy Pete.

Oh, yeah, the law? No. Pete's coming? Yeah. Oh, wow. So, you know what he did? And I remember him telling me this when I wrote his book. I was writing his book and he got to, I think it was Leavenworth.

He's like, it was, I was in Leavenworth. He's like, like, I'm not spanish. You know, he's like, I'm not with the Mexicans. I'm not with the, you know, he's like, all of these groups, I'm not with. He's Brazilian. He's like, like, there's no Brazilian car. There's no, like, you got to figure out who you're, and I, he said, this is, there were cars at the low, but go ahead.

I didn't say the low. I said he was at, this was when he went to, um, I just said it. Levinworth. Leavenworth. Oh, this is when he went to Leavenworth. Um, and this was 25, 30 years ago. So, he said, when I got there, I realized, like, there are guys that, like, this is a serious place. There's the Italians.

There's the, he's like, I'm part Italian. I'm part this. Like, it's like, you got to try and figure out what you want to do. He's like, and the problem, he's like, so I realized right away, the way to survive this is to become needed. Like, if I'm needed by pretty much everybody, he's like, then you're protected by pretty much everybody. Oh, my God. Right. And what did he said?

What did he tell you that? Like in prison or? He told me that like eight years, nine years ago when I wrote his book. And he said, so I decided, you know what I needed to do? I need to start doing legal work. And he said, so I started doing legal work. He said, but good legal work. There were a lot of bad, you know, jailhouse lawyers.

Like, I wanted to be really proficient at it. And if you meet Pete, you'll realize right away. He's super analytical. So it was a perfect venue for him. And so he said, he's like, so I started studying really hard, started studying. legal work. And I was going to say, that's something you started doing, right? Well, you got to the pin, like, well, you were doing it a little bit already, but then you were doing your own, but then you got to the pen, you were like, do legal work, you become important. And people,

it actually works. So, and now that I think about it, that was my form of manipulation. And it's not that I studied law indefinitely. What I found is, like, people who came to me about their case, it was if I just listened to them and I could just repeat what they were saying. I say, so you're telling me, I'm like, but what do you think it is about that law? Why do you think that's an issue? And then, you know what I'm saying? Then I could just turn around and repeat back what they said in different terms with bigger words. And they're like, oh.

So they let them formulate the article or formulate the motion. The argument. And I do some snipping and putting in. I plagiarized everything. Yeah. Like I go find a judge's order and like I plagiarize everything. But most of the time when talking to them, I only repeat it back what they told me. Right.

You know, I just, I use listening to manipulate them where I make them think that I was paying attention because I was listening to them. You know what I'm saying? And listen to them whining. Yeah. That was my deal. I was like, okay, when you came, I did the old Dale Carnegie. I'd give you 30 minutes of talking. If I listen to you for 30 minutes, then you think.

I think I'm good because you think that I'm actually concerned about what you got going on. So you would tell everybody I'm good only because you think I'm concerned. Yeah. Not because I've said anything brilliant. I just listened to you for 30 minutes, really, and just repeated what you said. Like that wasn't that difficult. That's it. Yeah.

But like you said, you're letting them formulate their own argument so that then when they see their own argument written in legalese backed up by some case law, they're like, oh, my God, this is amazing. You've done exactly what I wanted you to. You don't have a prayer. But because there were how many people did you see file motions that you're like, bro, that's not going to work? So what I found about the feds is when it came to like relief as far as the time, like 99% denial.

But anything technical, probably about 50 to 60% approval. Right. But when it like, they're like, okay, we'll meet you on that. They were very fair with everything else except your time. Like, you could be absolutely right. And they're like, eh, we're just not going to do it. But, like, Pete, Pete kept winning motions. They'd bring him back and knock off.

Like, he's got, like, 40 years. Pete was winning like that? Oh, yeah. Pete would win his, no, his own personal motions. Oh. I mean, Pete won in general a lot. Like, I mean, I know multiple guys he filed shit and it. And he would only file, like, guys would come to Pete and he would go, I'm sorry.

You know, I looked it up. I did this, I did that. But there's so much case law that is this case. And he'd read off the cases exactly like what just happened with. you. Like, they've already determined that it. He's like, I mean, and they're like, well, we file it anyway. He's like, I'm not going to take your money. Because if I take your money and you lose, you walk around the compound saying that I filed something and I lost. I'm like, I love Pete already. Right. He's like, I never did that. I'm like, yeah, I'll take

your money and lose. But, but yeah, so, uh, yeah, it was, you know, anyway, um, yeah, it was rough. It was, uh, um, it, you know, the loss sucks. It lost hard. But, but, Pete, what, that's, I guess that's his secret because I would take their money and lose. In a matter of fact, I'd be talking to them and I'd give them the opposing when I've seen this about, oh yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, okay, bro, go ahead and order me this. Yeah, at least. Let's do it.

Right. I mean, at least you can say, look, here's what I think's going to happen. But I'll take your money and file it. And then when it happens out, I told you this already. We had this conversation. I told you this is what they were going to say. And they did say, and you lost. You said, do it anyway.

It didn't go like that. No. Yeah, that's good. They're like, I'll share you, but he sucks him. Disarm others by being nice honesty and generosity can distract and disarm people, allowing you to execute your plans without arousing suspicion. This approach appeals to the emotional responses of individuals, reminiscent of a child's eager gratitude.

The con artist Victor Lustig successfully swindled Al Capone by employing selective honesty to surprise and distract him. However, this strategy should be approached with authenticity to avoid breaking trust. I have a buddy in prison who's, you know, I'm not going to say his name because I know him and everything. Listen, this guy was the master of this. This guy. Disarming people with generosity? Absolutely.

But here's what he did. So here's how it would work. It was always you walk in, hey, you need something to eat? And you, yeah, yeah, okay. Hold on. Open up this thing and give you this and give you that. and hey, let me give you some, and you're like, oh, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, okay. So right away, you think, what a great guy.

He's giving me food. He's always asking me, you okay, always asking me about my family, my parents, my this. And then, and so you get to think like you're like good buddies. And then it would be like, hey, can you do me favor? And then you do something for him, and he would, of course, immediately pay you back and builds you up and build up and build up. And before you know it, he's, he's into you for like $300. You're not friends anymore.

Like, that's it. It's over. So he's, yeah, you keep thinking, well, he's, he's, he's been paying me. He's good. He's a generous guy. He's a good guy. He always pays me. So, yeah, this time it didn't come through.

But he's, he had an issue. And I know he had, I know the issue he had was real. It was real because he's a good guy and he's always paid before. Like, that's a, you know, it's doing the whole, you know, paying, pay. Pang, pang, and then letting you get so much. And then one day, hey, bye, blah, blah, blah, boom. It's going to be, you know, whatever, $300,000 or something. You're like, yeah, yeah, but I'm good for it.

I got such and such. Oh, yeah, yeah, I know you're good for it. Of course. The guys paid me back, easily paid me back a couple hundred thousand dollars over the last fucking six months. And then you buy them, you lend him $300,000 and boom, he's gone. Not in prison, but I'm saying, that's the kind of thing where it's like, holy shit.

But you never know because he was so generous. Of course he's generous. It's easy to be generous when, when, when, when you're using. other people. It's like these Ponzi scheme guys. Let's go get on my private jet. We're going to fly to such and such. We're going to go, we're going to go have an Italian dinner in Italy. Get your wife and your two kids. Get on my private jet. And you're like, this guy's amazing. He flies you to Italy. You have dinner. You hang out and you go to Venice. You pay for everything. And then, of course, two weeks later, three weeks later when he's talking to you about, hey, man, you really should

invest in my, in my hedge fund. Of course you're going to invest in a hedge fund. You give him half a million dollars or a million dollars, but the truth is, he took you to Italy on somebody else's half a million dollar investment. Ponzi, Ponzi. That's the beauty of it. Super generous. Of course, you're generous. Listen, Ron Wilson, the guy, the Ponzi scheme guy in prison, super generous.

Very nice guy. It's easy to be a nice guy when you're blowing other people's money. I was, listen, when I was stealing from the bank, I was very generous. Oh, those guys on the side of the road? Hundreds. 20 bucks. Go get an apartment. So, what do you think?

Like, I agree with the generosity, generosity or offering somebody something absolutely, but especially when you know what's a need. Well, I think you, listen, you, I know you're generous. Sixth told us, remember? Oh, what do you tell you? He told me he was in the shoe. And he said, and one day I get a, he said, over the top, the letter, get the letter.

It's like, hey, this is Jimmy from such and such. We're thinking about making a movie or something. And he thought, this is Zach. Overdramatic. You know, code. He said horrible code. He's like, it's so obvious what he's saying. He wants me to, as soon as I'm done here, he wants me to come work for him, wants to know if I need.

He's like, and I remember when he said that. But that's not disarming, though. It is. But the other thing is what I thought to my. myself was as soon as he was discussing the letter, I thought, I know Zach sent him money to. And he said, and sure enough, sent me a thousand dollars. He said, and then he said, but I was in the shoe, I couldn't respond. He said, I remember that when he was put away.

He said, I do remember that now. You think about it. He said like a week later, he's like, I get another letter. He's like, and I get another thousand dollars. I'm like, oh, he doesn't know you haven't responded because you're in the shoe. He is right. He said, I said, but he's just throwing that money at you, right? He's like, yeah.

He's super generous. Yeah. But I had worked with six at that point. I know that. But still, it's, it's, it's, it's my buddy, Rudy, right? I'm not going to go into the whole thing. But I had a buddy Rudy. When I met Rudy, he's like being evicted.

He's, his electric is turned off. We just done a deal. So we did, or no, we hadn't even done the deal yet. We just met him. I'm just listening to him. He's like, are you sure you can make this deal go through? blah, blah, blah, like, he's just, you know, and he's yelling and stuff.

And I remember saying to it. And we were like, you know, he's like, because I need this money to go. I'm probably going to go back to Belgium when this whole deal's done. And it's like, why? He's like, I'm going to get into it. I'm like, bro, sit down. What's going on?

I mean, what's happening? So he's like, so he finally just, he confesses that like, you know, he's like, things haven't been going good for him, blah, blah, blah. He's not a good realtor. He's not making money. He's trying to sell this property. He had a bunch of deals fall through.

And you're saying you can get it done. but so are those other brokers. And I'm like, I promise you, I can get it done. And he's like, how, how? And I explained to him,

I'm going to commit blatant fraud. So I tell him, oh, yeah, it's a five-unit building. I'm going to say it's four units. You got an appraiser that's going to say that? Absolutely. I got a dozen appraisers.

So I tell them the whole thing. But I'm like, what is the problem right now that you're waiting for this money? What is it you need? He's, I'll be honest with you. He's,

I'm in the middle of being evicted. He's, I'm in the middle of being evicted and my lights have been shot up for a few days. And I'm like, how much money you're doing right now to get you straight? And it was like, whatever, it was a couple grand. I said, hold on. Dave, write this guy a check for two grand.

Dave's like, yeah, it pulls his book out. And he's got near the old, the old books that they had. How do you spell that? He cuts a check and boom, gives it to him. And he's like, well, I got you, but as soon as this does close, I'll pay you. Yeah, we're good. We're good. Didn't make them pay me back, by the way.

You don't pay me back. But of course, I'm generous. I need you. You're a real estate agent. desperate. I know that you're manipulative. I mean, you're manipulative. Able to be manipulated. Yes. Able to be manipulated. Thank you. Yeah. You're a prime candidate for me. And for me, it was the inmate. So I mean, I guess. Right. But I knew six, you know, but I won it anyway. But still, you didn't have to send them a thousand dollars. Most people wouldn't have said, you sent the letter,

hey, bro, look me up when you get out and sent 50 bucks. You sent a thousand? You're a thousand dollars as to of inmate? Yeah. How much can you spend on commissary a month? Not a thousand. Like three, like the most you can spend on commissary is like $390 or $4.10. That's the most.

You just send him two and a half months worth of maxing out as commissary. Whatever you need, bro. For a guy that's already, that's, you call that, send me a receipt. Bought and paid for. Yeah,

he's working for me when he gets out. Trust me. All right. Go. Show others what's in it for them. Green also emphasizes the importance of appealing to the self-interest of individuals in positions of power when seeking their assistance. Instead of focusing on your needs, demonstrate how fulfilling your request benefits the other person. Historical examples like Portuguese missionaries versus Dutch traders illustrate this principle. Similarly, pragmatic self-interest should guide your appeals, as seen in the corsair. are Athens Alliance. However, exceptions exist for those who relish altruism for self-image. Law 14.

Yeah, I've never been very good at, you know, just convincing someone. Like, I've never pushed that. I'm always thought, like, I don't know, doing it because I'm a nice guy because this, because that, where it's so much, to me, it's so blatant when it's like, you want to do this because it helps you for this and it helps you for that, and it would be good for you. And I'm not really great at that. you described saying you knew that it would help them. No, I did, but he's saying, he's saying,

he's saying, like, trying to sell it to him. He's saying appeal to their self-interest. So appeal to, so say to you, Zach, you want to do this because it's good for you because of this. Not, don't focus on, on your needs. Like, hey, I need you to do this. Oh, he's saying change their mind. Right. In the long run, this is going to help you because you're going to be able to get promoted. Or once this is done, you, if you listen to the other videos, the other, other videos basically, because these are consulate. This guy's consolidating the book, right? He's condensing it, summarizing it.

The other explanation and the other book is they talk about like, don't bring up things you've done for that person in the past. Like don't try and appeal to that person by saying, hey, remember when I did this for you? Remember when I did this for you? And I'll do this for you. He's like, he's like, or not, no, it's all things that I've done in the past for you. Like, you owe me. He's like, don't, don't appeal to this person because they owe.

owe you because they'll easily be able to say to themselves, they'll easily be able to dismiss why they don't owe you anymore. Instead, appeal to why they're doing it in their best interest. This is good for you. This is going to do good for you because you're going to make this much money or you're going to get this because of it. Well, that's a lot of work for somebody else's benefit. You know what I'm saying? It just... See, to me, I'm the kind of guy. I'd be like, yo, bro, well, remember when I did this? Remember when I did that? Like, hey, I'm like, I've been, like I've been good to you, but I'm loyal to you. Like, you need to do this for me.

And that's, that never works for me. But I think you would only do that if you can't appeal to their better interest. I think you would look for their. I try that first when the truth is he's saying, just go straight for it. Like, bro, I need you to do this and you're going to make this much money. Or, and you'll get this or and your wife will appreciate that because of, you know, trying to appeal to why they should do it for them, not why they should do it because they owe you or for you. And then if that doesn't work, then you're like,

But, bro, what about what I did in the past? Yeah, but I think by that... I need you to do it. By that time, you're like, if you do it or not, I don't give a damn. Let's go. It's a tough one. Deem like a friend, but be a spy. True power lies in acquiring information through spying. Spies, though useful, are risky,

but being your own spy disguised as a friend is more effective. Listen attentively, especially at social events, subtly extracting secrets without arousing suspicion. Create traps by sharing misinformation and observing reactions. Be cautious of reciprocal espionage and consider sewing deception to gain the upper hand. You remember I told you the letter that I used to send two inmates? Yes. You know what I'm saying?

That's sewing misinformation to get secrets or to find out something about them. But, I mean, but face to face, person to person, I mean, but face to person, I mean, yeah, if you're getting someone to confess them, but like you say, like, have you ever committed a murder? Or like Ron Wilson? Yeah. Where I'm walking around the compound with him and he's, he's, we're, you know, I'm like, ah, they're going to reduce your sentence.

Don't worry. He's like, ah, you don't understand. I'm like, well, what are you talking about? You know, yeah, you know what I'm saying? Where I just, he's saying, play the friend, but be a spy. And that's, you know, like, that actually wasn't my intention, you know, from the beginning, but as things progressed and he's talking more and more. When he said, listen, when he told me,

I was like, I went straight spy mode. Like, I was like, whoa, I went, is that enough for a reduction? And if anybody doesn't know, I was walking around a compound with a guy one time. We were, we were friends. I liked the guy. So we're walking around, and he's a con man. He'd run a Ponzi scheme, and he was in prison. He was currently cooperating against his co-defendants.

And so we're walking around. He kept saying, ah, the government's never going to reduce my sentence. And I would be like, I'd say, well, why do you keep saying that? He'd go, oh, they think I've hidden Ponzi scheme money. And I would go, well, you haven't. So don't worry about it. Like, they'd have to prove that you withheld funds to withhold your your sentence reduction. So just keep doing what you're doing. And he, ah, you don't understand. I'd be like, okay. And then we keep walking. And then two weeks later, we'd be talking about something else. And he'd go, ah, you know, the government, they're never going to, I'm going to die in here. And I'd be like,

what are you talking about, bro? They're going to, you're working with them right now. They're going to reduce your sentence. I'm telling you, they think I've got Ponzi scheme money still. And I go, yeah, but you don't. You don't. And so eventually he ends up saying, can I tell you something? And I went, what? Did you, but that's what I'm asking. Were you working him the whole time?

I wasn't. Because I genuinely didn't think he had any money. Like, we're just talking. This is, this is three hours worth of conversation. And this is a glimpse of just one thing and kept going. Had I been actively working him, I probably wouldn't have gotten nearly what I got out of him because we were just talking about everything. And so we're friends. And then one day he says, can I tell you something? And I'm like, what? And he goes, he goes, can I trust you? And I went

probably not. And he goes. And he goes, and he like, and he, and he, and he, he knows I just got back from court. I just gotten seven years knocked off my sentence. You know, and he's like, and he's one of those guys that would be like, you know, if somebody said, you know, hey, Cox, how much time he got left and I'd go, shit, you know, I got 10 years left, but somebody might f*** up and tell me where there's a body. I could be home next week. And they'd be like, oh, man, that's fucked up. He's heard you say that. He's heard me. He's heard me. He's cooperating. He knows I've cooperated. He knows I'm more than willing to cooperate. And he says, can I trust you? And I said, probably not. And he goes, I did hide some Ponzi scheme money. I went, really.

I said, he's not a lot. And he told me the, he didn't even tell me the right amounts. told me way let, like, oh, my ex-wife, my soon-to-be ex-wife has like $150,000, that's it. Now, my brother's got maybe $20,000 or $30,000. That's it. That's all. There's not even a lot of money. And I was like, oh, okay. Turns out it was actually half a million.

But he says that, I'm like, okay, I don't, I'm so not concerned about it. I didn't even go to the government or go immediately. It was like a month later, I was talking about a lawyer when I happened to mention it. And only because she was like, what's going on in there? Nothing. I'm doing my time. And nothing's happening? No. And then she's like, okay, anything, nothing going on. I was like, well, listen to this. And I told her. So that's the only reason.

Her reaction was like, does she know the guy or she's like, I'm looking into it? She looked him up right then. She goes, oh, wow, this is a bad guy. Oh, wow. And she starts reading about him, right? Like he's stolen from pension funds. He's stolen from churches. He's, oh, this is a bad guy. She said, and you're saying they're looking right now. They're still looking for them. I was like, that's what he said. And she's like, oh, let me, let me make a few. phone calls. I mean, I never expected to hear anything. A week later, they, the CEO comes and goes, Cox, you got to go to SIS. And I go, okay. The move happens. I go to SIS. They sit down. What, hold on. Guy dials the phone, puts me on the phone, I'm thinking, what the what's going on? You know, pick up the phone. The guy's like, hey, this is agent, so-and-so, you know, agent from the Secret Service. And I'm like, oh, shit. He's like, I, you know, I heard you know where there's Ponzi scheme money hidden. I was like, whoa. But here's what happen after that, then they're asking me questions to ask him. So now I am the spy.

Over the next three to four, three, four months, maybe six months, they're literally, now they're emailing me saying, hey, find out from Wilson about this. How did they get on your email? You had to send a request? Yeah, send a request. So, so they're, they're typical way, but go ahead. I'm surprised. I'm probably they just pop up. So, yeah, so they were like, listen, I'll find out about this. And I come back and be like, look, I can try and find out that. But that's a, I don't know anything about this. Like, how do I interject?

Give me some more information. How do I interject? Who, you know, was Kelly, you know, Kelly Kimberly, you know, involved? Like, I've never heard the name in my life. How do I, who is that? Like, what involved in what? And they're like, they come back and they give me a few more things. And I'll try.

And then you got to walk around for the next four or five days and drop a hint here and a in here. The next thing you know, he's like, he, you know, we had this chick, I had this girl working for me. Your name was like, he just volunteered that or you just? No, I never said her name. Right. But I'm saying, did he volunteer information or did you have to drop tidbits? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I would drop little tidbits. Like I'd say, you know, you'd be walking around. I'd say, well, who, who set up the seminars? Like, were you setting these up? And how are you getting people to set up? Like, because we're just two scammers talking about, we're just two con men talking about a con. But, all right. So,

My question is, did you know his con? Did you know that he stole pension funding money? Of course I know that. He's told me, he's, you know, guys in prison are very open. Yes. You know? You might see that same person on the street and you go, hey, man, what happened with something?

So you'd be like, what are you talking about? Oh, wow. Right. So he had seminars, people signed over their pension money. Oh, my goodness. He was holding huge seminars and he'd have, there'd be 40, not huge, maybe 50, 60, maybe 100 people. And then he'd go, he would explain how he's going to invest.

your money in silver and how he knows the silver market and he can, you know, you buy whatever, you buy a percentage of the silver and he trades it and you make this much money and whatever. So he explains that. Well, these guys would bring their financial advisors and explain the whole thing. He'd tell their financial advisors. Here's what I do. Here's how I know because gold is slightly behind, sorry, silver is slightly behind gold. So when the gold market moves, the silver market takes a few days.

to catch up. And he gives examples. And then we're like, what about this? What about that? He'd like, well, that's as much as I'm going to tell you. Well, you're asking us to invest a lot of money. He's like, don't. Don't invest your money. And that was a big thing with that. Well, that was a big thing with him. He's like, I don't need your money. If you don't want to invest it, don't. But let's face it, you don't tell your clients why they're, why you're buying and selling, you know, their stocks, right? I'm not going to tell you how I'm doing this. What I'm telling you is, I've been doing it for 15 years. And you don't, you know, by all means, guys, you can go sit for the rest of the of the seminar.

It's up to you. Anyway, and he just keep going. Of course, here's what he realized right away. When you do that, they immediately come to you. No, no, no, I want to sign up. We want to sign up. Oh, yeah, because they feel like. It's the fear of loss.

Right. I think it didn't, what's his name, say that? Madoff used to say people get pissed off at him when he didn't want to take, like, oh, my money's not good enough for you, all, Bernie? Yeah, exactly. It becomes an exclusive club that you're not. a part of. So anyway, he, so yeah, these guys were to start asking me.

And so what would I do is I'd be walking out. You go, I have a question about the seminars. He goes, yeah. Because he, of course, he's a con man. He's a narcissist. He loves to be asked about. You know, he's so proud of himself. He goes, yeah, what's up?

And so then I'm like, how did you set up these things yourself? Like, how do you get the people? Did you advertise? And he goes, no, no, we had this girl, Kimberly. And it's like, oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. just walked right into it. And I go, and then starts telling me about Kimberly and where he found her and how this and how that.

And then I, you know, as he's explaining the whole thing. And, and then next thing, you know, you're like, I'm like, you're like, did she know? Like she had to because you said that she's, these people are calling. And he goes, no, she never had a call. She never had. One time she asked me. And so he'd tell me this whole thing, boom, but I told her this. And one time she said this and I, you know, I, but I answered her.

And she, I don't think she ever, she never had a clue, really, to be honest. And so what do I do? I go back and I go, boom, here's what he said. He said that in, in 2004, he hired her. And then I write this whole thing and I'd send it to him. They'd be like, okay, we just excluded her. I mean, you know, I'm excluding people. And some people I'm saying, oh, yeah.

Yeah, this person knew. So, but I'm playing the spy in prison, right? So, I mean, I hear that. I'm garnering information by playing the spy. But he, of course, in this. So I get this rule. Sometimes your buddies with people at work or your buddies with people that you don't necessarily like, but maybe you need.

Right. Right. Like I don't really like you that much, but I'm interested in what you do for a living and I've thought about it a lot and maybe I might even be able to use. Or somebody who's doing well and you've got both got businesses and you're like, where are you advertising? Like you might be a dick and I don't really wouldn't hang out with you, but we're at a party and I'm going to start probing you for information on where you're advertising because

I sell t-shirts and you sell wallets. Right. But you're super successful. And like, what are those ads? You start tweaking them. Right. What's working? What's not working?

And they're like, well, here's what I found out. This is working great. So who knows what the, but I get it. Right. I like that, though. That's, have you done a podcast on that? No. Oh, on that?

Yeah. I have. I've actually told you about it, too, a couple of times. Annihaling your enemy. Leaving even a spark of opposition. position can reignite into revenge. Historical leader's mercy resulted in resentment and the eventual resurgence of enemies. To ensure security obliterate their ability to retaliate. This doesn't always mean banishment sufficed in the past. Empress Wu exemplifies this law, ruthlessly crushing

rivals to maintain power. Sometimes allowing opponents to self-destruct might work, but leniency can backfire. In the scam world, our enemy would become either the victim or the police. Yeah, well, I was going to say in the scam world, it might annihilating them maybe notifying the police of their scam where they live, what they're doing, and getting them arresting. I know in the drug world. But it's not annihilation because they're going to come back. It is annihilation. They're going to go to jail for 10 years. I don't have to worry about them. It's bad, you know what I'm saying? That's pretty, you know, or if it's in the drug world, it may be 30 years.

But I was thinking other examples of that are, you know, for instance, Napoleon, you know, initially they, they banished him to the island of Alba. And then, of course, he, wait, no, is that when they finally did that? Anyway, at some point they had, they initially sent him off to some, some prisoner island or something and kept him there. And he eventually raises up an army and comes back and takes over. So same thing with, what's his name, El Dut. What they call him was El Duce. He was the Italian Mussolini. So Mussolini, when he lost power, they put him in prison, right?

Well, they could have executed him. So what happens? Hitler ends up sending paratroopers in, break him out of the prison, and then they put him back in power. So, I mean, there's many, many things. like that. Even in the godfather, in the movie The Godfather, remember he's looking for that kid to kill the kid initially when he flees to the United States because he knows, I've killed his father and he can grow up. He's going to grow up and want to murder me because it's the truth. So I see, so I can see that where, you know, you have to, you have to limit their ability to come back.

I mean, of course, in some of these examples, obviously that's them, but in a lot of them, maybe contacting the authorities or destroying their businesses. How many, what is it in Oceans 11 where the guy, he caught somebody cheating and he ends up, like he sends him the prison and then bankrupts the guys, his family members, businesses, and does like a whole bunch of stuff. Just annihilates him.

Just does everything he can to just destroy this guy's ability to ever, ever be able to make a comeback. Be successful, yeah. Don't wear out, you're welcome. continuously being seen dulls your influence, but strategic withdrawal revives respect. This principle applies to relationships, economics, and fame. I got an example of this is I used to always say, when I was dating someone or started to date somebody, I always leave them laughing.

You know, if you call them on the phone, you're talking, you talk to them for a little bit. You always want to be the person to cut the conversation off. You know, so you talk, yeah, yeah, this and then it. And when they're like, oh, my God, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, well, hey, listen, I got to get going. Because their last, their last thoughts of you are, one, it's something funny. It's something funny. He always makes me laugh. He's interesting.

And he's busy. So you're scarce. Your time is valuable. You don't get to a point where you've talked for an hour and a half. And they're like, okay, well, look, I got to get going. You've worn out your welcome. They're like, okay, I've had enough of you. I'm sick of you already.

Better to, you know. Well, you haven't been dating in a while. So all those, when you got out of prison, those techniques weren't good, especially when you're online dating. You know what I'm saying? Well, yeah, when you get them on the phone or you get them in person. Oh, yeah, they want to meet you immediately and it's just or what's the, they want the brief. You don't do like Starbucks? Like, I don't know.

I'm going to go to dinner. We're going to Starbucks. Yeah. They want brief meetings anyway to build up to something major. And then after maybe one or two brief meetings, it's sex anyway. So it's just. Be unpredictable. People seek predictability, making unpredictability a potent tool.

Such actions generate fear, confusion and respect, keeping adversaries off balance. Chess legend Bobby Fisher bewildered Boris Spaskey in 1972, leveraging unpredictability for victory. However, strategic predictability can be used as a smokescreen. Yet, this approach demands caution. In certain situations, it can lead to distrust. and adverse consequences. So, recognize when to deploy unpredictability for maximum impact.

That unpredictability with Bobby Fisher, I'm a big chess fan. I was in chess club in high school, too, which was nerdy, yes. No, nobody saw that coming. No, the big move was he sacrificed his queen about three moves out, and then check-mated the guy

like four moves after that. And that's like one of the most, infamous games because everyone that watched, and I don't know how they used to watch Chess back then, gasped. Like, yeah, it was over. Lost his queen, he's done. Yeah, and of course, afterwards

he claimed in an interview that he did that because he didn't want to be predictable. Because I guess he had had a certain maneuver with all his moves, and he just tried something. During a world-renowned, you know, watched tournament,

where it's like you become the chess champion. Right. Yeah, too. Like, hey, I'm going to try this right quick. You know, so they fame him for that unpredictability. So I just happen to know that. Being unpredictable. So when I think about that on a scam level, it's like that's the one thing I always try to avoid.

Like, I want everything to appear normal. Right. You know what I'm saying? Like, I concentrate scamming, you want everything to look normal. Unpredictability is what I would do if I was actually, if the situation was real. Like, if it was real life, my money, I wasn't trying to get something from the bank, then I feel like I could go in and just be like myself or just say whatever because, hey, this is good. It's all legit.

Right. But in a scam, because I've created the entire situation, I want everything to appear to that person as normal. You know what I'm saying? I want it all to operate within, and anything unpredictable, especially if the person says it, like, absolutely scares me. So it's, I don't know, maybe that's the being unpredictable is that I want everything to appear normal when it absolutely isn't. Right. Like, I'm stealing from you. So I don't need you to see anything that kind of makes you go, this is weird.

Yeah, I can't. I mean, the unpredictable thing. I don't get it. Like to me, as far as scams or concerns, just in general, you want things to go smoothly. So I don't know about throwing somebody off, you know, saying something. Well, it gets attention. Did you ever see that?

There's a technique that, I guess, detectives do every once in a while to see if someone is telling you a story. So if you have a preconceived or you have a pre-prepared story, in order for a detective to see if you'll break from what your story is to see like, because if you're just having a conversation answering questions, then you're kind of all over the place a little bit, right? But if you have a story that you've come up with that you want to get out, then it's very hard to break someone from telling that story.

So detectives will do, they call the nanny nanny-nanny-boo. Nanny-nibou. Where they're literally, they're like, right? So then what happened? Okay. So yeah. And the guy's like, you know, I haven't seen her since such and such. And, and, you know, my buddy Paul called.

And they'll sit there. They'll go, okay. What was that? That's the nina nana boo-boo. Just real quick. They go, all right. So what happened then? And if a normal person will go, what was that?

And if you, there's multiple things on, on YouTube where that's, go ahead, go ahead. You know what the detective, what happens is that these, These suspects will go, so I called her and you can check her phone. Like, I called her twice and she didn't answer. And a normal person would get the fuck was that, bro. They don't because they have a certain story they're trying to tell you. I'm trying to get you to believe this. So I'm going to tell you my story.

I've already thought about it 10 times. I have a perfect story. And I don't want to get off track. I don't want to get off track. They're focused. So I can't allow. Absolutely. I can't allow responding.

to divert me. Right. So if you watch the video, it's hilarious. Because you'll see, the guys see them. They're like, so what happened was, so. So I got in the car and they just keep going. And the detectives are like, he's just telling me a story. He's lying.

It's not true. What he's telling you that. Like they know that. They don't say it. But they're like, okay, okay. But they know right then. They're like, yeah. Yeah.

So they know right then. Like this is a person. But they've done that and someone will actually go, what the hell was that? I mean, if they do that, then they think that this probably, he's probably telling me the truth right now. Like, it's just a technique that they, but that is unbelievable. If you watch do it, though. If you watch the thing when they do it, you're like, even watching it, you're like, the fuck was that. And you'll see all of them. These guys, though. So, so anyway, she called me. But what do you think about that? Do you think is that accurate? I mean, I think so many things that

they, there are so many things that it's like, it's like these people that say, like, oh, if you look to the right, then you're lying. Stop it, bro. I do that all the time, and I'm not making it. Like, oh, he's lying. I'm lying. I'm sitting there. I'm like, they're like, well, how much times you do in prison, Cox? And I'll be like, um, I do, oh, he's lying. I'll be like, I did basically 13 years, just shy of 13 years. They're like, oh, he's lying. I did almost 13 years in prison, you stupid. Like, your little system doesn't work. You know what I'm saying? And I'll have people say that where they're like, oh, he's lying. He looked at the left. It's like, sometimes you're just looking to the left.

You know? Some people are searching, but they're not, he's searching for a lie. No, I'm searching for the answer. Like, some of these techniques are just stupid. But to see a cop do it, it's hilarious. It's the human nature. So let me ask you this, because this piqued my curiosity for some reason. Did you, when you went into a bank, did you ever look for ticks or things that people did

to make you know that something's wrong. Did you ever, were you ever on the lookout for that? Are you just kind of like... I mean, I think that I don't think that I was looking for ticks or anything. I tried to look, you know, as comfortable as possible. But I also kind of felt like, like, if something went wrong and they're calling the cops, like, they're probably going to be able to do it in such a way that I don't know what they're doing, you know?

Really? And there were times, too, and keep mind, too, I wasn't going, I only, I don't, I don't, I never really went into a bank thinking that they even had the ability to detect that I was committing a crime. So, for instance, like when I went in one time to get, like, I forget the amount, $6,000, whatever, anytime I went into this bank and asked for over $3,000 because the account was new, they always had to call in and ask for permission. And I'd been at five different times, you know, five, six different times to get out this amount of money or, you know, $8,000, $9,000, $7,000, $4,000. They're always calling. They're going in the back.

It'd take two or three minutes. They'd come back, go, okay, fine, they count the money. Okay, cool, we're good. So the time they grabbed me in the bank? What about the title company? Wait a minute. The time they grabbed me in the bank, she walked and she had to go, well, she went in the back and called the cops. Right.

So this time, I'm, you know, am I concerned? Well, she went in the back. Didn't you know? She always goes in the back. Right. So there's those little things that they just do. So it's hard to tell. What about the title?

So, and I asked that because my crime occurred in the bank. Maybe yours occurred at the title company. Is there a time when you're kind of... I didn't catch it. I'm not... You know, and I pride myself on being on intuition, right? Being very perceptive. Yeah, intuitive.

Perceptive. And I had one time where literally I was about to sign the documents and the attorney was explaining the documents and he looked at me and he went, can you hold on a second? And he actually grabbed the document, close the file, and got up and left. Like, first of all, those are my files. Like, I'm signing these, but that's mine.

This is my loan. They sent to you. I'm signing it in front of you. You're notarize it. You're giving me a copy of all that. He took, like, there's a separate copy that's yours. He took my copy, too. Like, he's showing the documents,

but he closes mine up and takes it. And I remember thinking, that's strange. But I'm also thinking I'm, I've got a driver, an ID in this guy's name. He's a homeless person from Vegas. Every credit card I ordered. Like, there's no way this guy knows anything's wrong. What I found out later was that he recognized me from my wanted poster, which was in the back room.

So he walks in the back room. He looks at the poster. He reads the poster. It says identity theft, but it said that I was wanted out of Atlanta, Georgia. And he looks at my file, and he sees that I'm from Tampa, Florida. And he thinks, and I'd been on with my company for like five years. And he thought, well, this just, I just got this. He's, you know, he disappeared from a couple months ago.

He's like, it can't be the same guy. Closes it, comes back in, lets me sign all the documents, and then cuts me a check for like 200 grand. And you found that out in the discovery? No, I found out when I was being interviewed by the Secret Service. They told me, they go, do you remember such and such when you were so-and-so? And I was like, I said, yeah, I think I do remember that because I remember it was weird because he took my file. Like, why wouldn't you leave my file so I can review it? Like, you took my file.

Not just yours, but mine. And they were like, yeah, he actually went and had your poster, looked at your poster. But see, by that point, I'd had plastic surgery. I also looked like a scoundrel in those pictures. I'd had plastic surgery by this point. I've had hair transplants. I've pulled my hair far. Like, I've had a different look, but it's still me.

Anyway, so yeah, you would think, like, if you were smart, you would have picked up on that. You would have seen, be like, oh, no, but even then, I'm not leaving. I can't leave the, I can't leave right now. Now if I leave, then they definitely, then it's over. It's over. Wow. Everything's over. Well, okay.

You have one? What? So let me just say this as, as, as homage to you. So like your entire, what you were doing, you felt was absolutely airtight. Yeah, I was wrong. I was wrong. Right. Well, I mean, you felt it was because you didn't feel like there was a possibility on the scene.

anywhere, bank or title company anywhere, where there was going to be a problem enough for you to be arrested, even though it happened. I was so cocky. I was so cocky. Well, and that probably came from, well, you had been arrested. I don't understand it. But I'll go into that on a different podcast, different later. For me, it was always what I was doing was in the bank and I was someone else.

And even though I was someone with a valid ID and social security card and I was completed that person. And that person was in prison. You know what I'm saying? I still had situations where people had been arrested. So I'd get nervous. Plus, we made fake IDs that passed 98% of the time. But I was there, the 2% of the time, where the guy actually opened the account, right,

and said, okay, here's all your paperwork in the account. I've made your deposit. It's your receipt. And that police officer wants to talk to you guys. And me, I went with somebody else and the other person they put on an identity. And we looked at the police are there. And the police is kind of like,

I'm gonna, when he ran the fingerprints. And, but he actually, when he ran the prints, it ended up taking over an hour and a half and he had to leave. Like we waited. Nice.

Cut officer, my prints. Oh yeah, he goes. I want to clear this up. Yeah. Well, I mean,

I never told that story, but the cop says, well, this is taking too long. I'm going to leave. I've been wasted enough time. here, if these prints come back and it's not you, you're in trouble.

Come back and it's not me. You're never seeing me again. Like, come back as soon as you leave. I don't give a fuck what comes back. I'm not coming back. But I mean, that's a whole different story. But having viewed that, what happened is I started being nervous.

Like, that triggered off nervousness. So when I'm in the bank doing what I'm doing, you know, like I try to watch for ticks. Like, one of my things is because I had trouble if the person I'm dealing with hands start shaking. Because people can

control their face, you know, their facial movement, the things they say because I always have conversation. And if you no longer want to talk, that's always, like, I'm always joking, hey, yeah, you know, Matt, that's a nice shirt. Like, I wish I had a shirt like that. And then when you start not comfortably giving answers,

like, yeah, yeah, thanks. Yeah, you're preoccupied. Yeah, your mind's brought by it. And also their hands start shaking. Like, the person is focused on tensing up, but they can't stop their fingers from shaking. It's like a lot of thought and emotions going through them. And it's like, I need to call the police. What if they're just jittering their leg?

You know, some people will do like the leg thing. Well, they have to leave. They have to excuse themselves. And when they get ready to leave, they have to take your ID. Like, being going through that twice made me aware. So when they are about the whole time I'm watching their hands. Like my eyes are consistently on their hands because that is the clear indication about it's time for me to get the F out. If I felt like you knew what I was up to, then I would grab some unpredictable.

I would become like if you were nervous and shaking, like I need to go to the back and I would actually take, I've taken stuff out of people's hand. No, you're not going to the back. I'm going to. I'm going to be leaving. with this. You know what I'm saying? I don't give a where you go.

You're not taking this with you. I'll holl at you. This is know your victim. Various types know your victim. And we do. Social height.

Individuals react diversely to deception. Avoid dealing with those who waste time or retaliate. Understand the over-sensitive, insecure, pathologically suspicious, cold and calculating

and slow-witted or literal personalities. Failing to comprehend your targets results in wasted efforts or inviting trouble. Research and assess before engaging with someone as appearances can be misleading. Do I know my victim?

I was a mortgage brokerage business. It was an FHA-approved lender. Like, I know I've met with the owners of banks that we dealt with. Like, I know all of the ends and outs of underwriting guidelines. the security procedures, the fraud detects, like I know the system's in and out. So that's why I'm so comfortable when I would walk into a bank, even when things seemed

odd, I was like, because I'm thinking, I know what they're doing right now. They're pulling the, they just pulled the credit report. They see that there's four different inquiries. They're attributing two of those inquiries to credit cards. The other two are mortgages. So he may ask me if I've gone to other banks and applied for loans. Okay. You know, or they pulled check systems.

They're going to see that I went to two other inquiries from two other banks today. So they're going to wonder, have I opened, have I opened any other accounts? I need to say yes. I need to have a reason why I said that. So I know what all you're going to say. So they're like, have you applied for, have you opened up any other credit union or any other thing? And I'd be like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I went to Chase and I went to sundress. Oh, why did you?

Well, so here's the problem. My wife and I have, and then I have my little story, blah, blah. blah, blah. And they're like, that's why I say yours was so complete that you didn't have. Yeah, I wasn't unprepared. But because I know my victim. I know what you're going to say. I know what you can see.

I know what you're going to ask for. Right. So I definitely think I knew them. You did too. Like you, when you met with the guy from the fraud department, he told you exactly. We don't, we don't investigate anything under $10,000. So here's what's going on. Boom, boy, explain.

You just had your victim. That was the introduction to the victim. When I met with him, he's kind of like, okay, this is who we are and this is what we do. I'm like, oh, like you're vulnerable in that aspect. Yes. Oh, my God. But that's the whole thing. That's your victim telling you everything.

He just told you. He just introduced himself to you and told you exactly what their procedures were. You now know your victim. I know what you're capable of. I know what, you know, same thing. You know, it's funny when he mentioned the, like, stay away from like, vindictive. Remember when Walmart prosecuted everybody.

Fucking. I can't they still do that? Five dollars. No, now they just kick you out. They just tell you to leave. I think Jay told me Kat got arrested, not paying for something. So I know a couple of kids the other day that grabbed. And they were like, look, they just can't come back here.

They're like, they're like, you know, whatever was like, it was like $100 worth of stuff. And the guy was like, look, we got the stuff back. They didn't get out of the store. Just we're just going to order, issue a, whatever, no trespassing. Oh, but I mean, not just that. Look at a lot of these places like where they just steal. They steal and they just walk off and they leave.

They don't even, they can't stop you. So imagine what the criminals think. They're physically not allowed to stop me. They can say, excuse me, sir, can you stop? We need to turn. Nope. They throw it in the back. They got a car pulled up with the tag covered.

They throw it in the back. They jump in and leave. Nothing you can do. Cops didn't show up. They're not physically allowed. Those criminals know they're victim. They know they're not. You know, same thing with Walmart.

If Walmart prosecuted every single, no matter, I don't care if five bucks you're getting prosecuted, people would stop stealing. And if physically they could stop you, people would like, don't rob, don't go to Walmart. Why not? Physically, they will hold you. They will grab you, knock you the ground, and then they'll prosecute the piss out of you. You know, that that's the reputation that Target has for shoplifters. Right. Like any shoplifter with, oh, my God.

Oh, I kill Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe's. They go, what about Target? They're like, don't f- with Target, bro. Like, Target keeps that reputation of do not F with us because we ain't with the bullshit. I mean, but I think that's a version of this, right? You're right. You're right. Don't take sides.

There is an advantage in maintaining independence and not committing to any side or cause except oneself. By being unattainable, you garner respect and attention as both sides vie for your side. support. If there's no benefit to me on either side, I typically don't pick sides. Right. Now, if I'm trying to, if I'm trying to sway someone one way or the other or some one person's more important to me than the other, then maybe I might, I might. Well, then maybe you, at that point, you still wouldn't pick sides. You would kind of, this is what they're saying, play both sides. They're saying play both sides.

And try to bring them to a resolution that you think is best. Right. But what's best for you. Exactly. So. Make others feel. smarter. By appearing naive or less intelligent, you disarm suspicion and encourage them to drop their guard. Bismarck employed this tactic to manipulate Count Blom into signing a treaty that favoured Prussia. San Francisco con artists successfully swindled wealthy New York business people by portraying themselves as bumbling rubes who stumbled upon a diamond mine. This law can help you advance by downplaying your abilities and making others feel good about themselves, but use it cautiously and avoid overdoing it to prevent becoming a threat. You know what that makes me think of? You ever heard of a famous

TV detective? What is two of them? Colombo. Colombo. I'm having a hard time with this. You know, can I ask you something before I go? Yeah. You know, like, and I don't know what it is, but as a kid, my mom loved Columbo. And I have Amazon, and Amazon had Colombo. And I remember all the days I used to watch it with my mom and think to my, like, I remember the episodes, but I thought to myself, that was very smart. When I'm a kid, I'm going that way. And I look for those episodes again just to watch the clues because it would remind me of being what,

and I was doing that for my mom watching it. But then I realized that he would look like an idiot. to the murderer because people, they had one episode where one of the people that actually committed the murder said, Mr. Columbo, if I actually committed that murder, he goes intentionally, he goes, I doubt if you could ever, you know what I'm saying? Right. He told him that. And he ended up, he goes, I doubt if you could ever catch me.

Right. And he ended up catching him. Right. You know, but he just felt like you're a bumbling idiot. There's no way you would know. So I. And he would ask these questions because they were, he was so, you, these people, thought so little of his intellect, they would trip themselves up. He'd just trip them up left and

right, left and right. Well, he would, he would nag them, oh, like, by nagging them about the mistake they made or what he questioned and getting their answer, I think he'd be like, oh, you did it. You know what I'm saying? The whole crime would unravel. Yes. He kept asking these, and he was always like, maybe a little confused here. You said that you had coffee before the murder. And then, you know, And then boom, boom, boom. The next thing you know, like, then how was the coffee spilled here? And then they're like, okay, I did it. And then they're just like the Perry Mason where he would get him on something that they basically could be like, yeah, I don't know.

Instead, they always just break down and admit it. Okay, you got me. I killed her. Perry Mason and Matt Locke, the breakdown on the stand was always my favorite. That was my mom's. But listen, also Monk does that. The show monk. Like,

he's the one with the OCD. Yeah. And, yeah, my mom liked that one too. These are like memories of her watching all these bumbling people, break down master criminals. Good times.

Yes, yes. But, yeah, I don't ever seeing applying that. No, I don't think anybody's ever broken down on the stand. I don't think anybody's ever broken down in front of the,

they're always like, well, I didn't do it. No, both they do in the. Well, you know, in Perry Mason and Matlock,

They, you wouldn't be the person on trial. You'd be somebody else that confessed on trial. Yeah, yeah. They'd be on the stand and confess. No, like, come on. Or, well, I was going to say, but this happens all the time. The detective gets you in the, into the interrogation room and you, you know, okay, I did. I killed them.

You know, and they do. It's like, my God. Like that happens. That does happen, you know, all the time. When they get, they're like, look, we got this. We got this. We got this. What happened?

Just tell me. And they manipulate the shit out of there. They're like, look, I get it. Like, I know, you're not a bad guy. I know you didn't do this. I know you didn't hunt, to go over there to kill this guy. But what happened? What did he do?

He had to have done something. You know, damn well, that man didn't do anything. You brought the gun there. You told four of your friends that you were going to kill him. Like instead they, but they say, you know, they, they're like, I know you didn't bring the gun to him. I know that you did. And you say, you know, so what did he do? And they go, man, he, he did this and he did that.

And I happened to have the gun. I pulled it out. And of course, then you think so you're going to get, you know, and then of course, cop saying, well, you know, look, let me help get you manslaughter. Like, this was obviously an accident. You didn't mean to. And what happened? Then he said, okay, man, where's what happened?

Then he tells you. And then you turn around the next day, you're being arraigned. And you hear your charges being read. And they're like, you know, first degree murder, you know, intentional this. And you're like, no, it was. Well, that dude was lying to you. You brought it. Your four friends said that you had a gun, said you were going to kill the guy.

Like, he's manipulating you to get you to feel comfortable enough. to tell him. He's not going to charge you with manslaughter. He's going to charge you with first or second degree murder. So, yeah, that happens all the time when they break. You see in the 48 hours, any of none of them guys not talking about. That's ridiculous. That show.

It's good, though. Yeah. Because it tells you how quickly these guys break. Like, I ain't telling them shit. Well, I think murder is very emotional. And some people can't handle. Because the people who get away are. cold-blooded.

Yeah. Unquestionably cold-blooded murders. You know what I'm saying? The ones that don't break down, they're, like, that's a cold-blooded murderer right there. Yeah. Well, you know, I love the ones where they've got your DNA. And it's 20 years later than they got your DNA.

And you were in the place and you knew the girl and you this, you that. And they just finally ran the DNA or found the DNA or whatever. And they get you in. And the guy's like, yeah, no, not me. Didn't do it. I don't know why my DNA. You don't know why your DNA would be intervad? Like, you don't have any idea?

No, I don't. I have no idea. Maybe somebody planted it there. Yeah, no idea. I did throw away a lot of condoms on the ground. Like, you got to know at that point, you got to know, like, I'm going to prison for this. Like, we arrested you. You're going to prison for it.

Like, you might as well just tell me. And then they go to trial and their whole defense is, you know, I don't know. Wouldn't me. All right. 2. Surrender to win. When faced with a stronger opponent, surrendering rather than fighting for the sake of honor, can provide you with time to regroup.

and undermine your victor's power. Surrender confuses your opponent, allowing you to build strength and plan revenge while appearing compliant on the surface. This tactic requires self-control and patience to wait for the right moment to strike. By surrendering, you position yourself for future success when power dynamics inevitably shift. An example of that to me is someone comes to you, you're not in the wrong. but someone comes to you and they're yelling at you and they're this and they're that and you do the whole, the whole, bro, you're right, you're right, you know, I, I, because you're disarming them. You know, you're not going to win the argument. The guy's screaming and hollering. He's made his mind up.

So you just, you're right, you're right, you're right. I agree. I don't know what I was thinking. I, you know, I hadn't thought about it like that. And the truth is, you know, I am not, I'm not wrong. You're wrong. But you're not going to win that argument, you know, or maybe, you know, maybe it's a physical conflict. You're not going to win the fight. So you go, nope, you got, I gosh, you're right. You're right. I don't know what I was thinking, you know. And so you just do that because, and then it gives you, at least it gives you the, the opportunity to step back in plan your revenge. Like, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that. Like, you know, in prison, I think would be more of a place like that. Or in high school, something stupid. But I mean, I can see people

in a business environment where somebody's mouthing off or saying something and you don't, you don't want to get into a conflict. So you say, yeah, you know what? You're right. You should go ahead and take that. I don't know what I was thinking. I didn't think you would care. So you, and then you think, okay, well, now I know who this person is. And from now on, I'm going to do this and this to cover my ass and, you know what I'm saying, that sort of thing. So I can see retreat when there, when there's no possibility of winning the argument, then retreating so that you can regroup makes total sense to me. Or adjust to avoid this, like, you look at it as a learning experience.

Like, oh, okay, yeah, this, like, you've just exposed yourself and, and I don't want to deal with you anymore. So rather even dealing with you now, I'm just going to, okay, yeah, you got that. Right. And it's like, okay, now I'm just going to go around this person. Probably complete, like you, like you say, you regroup in order to either avoid having this happen again or like you say come out it in a different situation. A lot of times if for I think for us it would be just like okay yeah, bye. Whatever I have to say to get you out of my face and like I'm never

ever. Right. Right. You know what I'm saying. Yeah. Or even if in a situation like I had the one time when we had had something go wrong at a closing and we already had a check that was worth like $100,000. and to me, I was ready to walk away. I'm walking away. Why? Because so many things that are going wrong right now, like let's walk away from the whole situation. You know, we'll walk away, we'll regroup, we'll start another scam in another spot

and another, like, I'm ready to just scrap all the work that's going into this because continuing forward means you could get arrested. I'm not willing to risk being arrested when I could just regroup and start another scam. So not everybody has that. No, no, it's worth it. It's worth it. Like it's 100 grand that we're splitting? That's not worth it.

But yeah, they, you know, it just, I think it depends on desperation on whether or not what you think is worth it or not. Focus your efforts. The law advises that in pursuing power, it's crucial to identify your key goal and focus your resources and efforts on achieving it. This principle can be applied to various aspects of life. including building alliances, achieving personal goals, and maintaining influence in organisations. Examples include the stories of Casanova's escape from prison, the successes of the Rothschild banking family,

and the downfall of empires that expanded too broadly. While concentration can lead to success, there are also cases where it might be dangerous or too risky, particularly when dealing with stronger opponents or relying solely on one ally. To me, you know, when I got out of prison, I was painting and doing all kinds of stuff to make the bills, right? But when I started doing YouTube eventually, after doing YouTube on the side for a year or two, it started paying more and my bills. And I realized, well, what's paying, what has the most potential is this. Right. And so I just focused my effort on what was paying the bills and what I thought had the best chance of success and stopped doing the other things. So to me, that was a right call. But they're

saying it's not always the right call. I guess sometimes it could write it had it failed, that would be starting from scratch. Good point. Play by the rules. This law underscores the value of mastering the game's rules to rise to power. Historical courtiers excelled by manipulating within defined behaviors. Guidelines include avoiding bragging, using subtle flattery, adapting to situations and controlling emotions. So Mussolini had marched to, he had led a march in Italy on the Capitol. And as they, it got more and more people marching towards the Capitol, they basically turned around and they just gave up. Like he never got there.

There was no fighting. By the time he's halfway there, they're like, the government's ready to succeed. I mean, to, to, to, the threat of it. Yeah, just the threat of it. They're so, and it was, the government was so weak to begin with. It was falling apart. That was part of the reason that they're almost right, they're rioting and stuff. He's marching.

They basically say, look, let's start another government. You'll take, you can be a part of it. Like, he's nobody. He's a reporter. Right. That's all he really was, was a reporter. Mussolini ends up taking over the government and becoming, you know, the top dog, whatever the president or whatever he ended up being called.

So, and then in, and Hitler was inspired by that. So he did what was called the, they had the, the beer hall, I think it was called the Beer Hall Push, right? They called them Pushers. So the, or the Beer Hall Revolution, or whatever you want to call it. And he gathered a group of people. And they marched and they were fired upon. And he was arrested and thrown in prison. And so while in prison, of course, he wrote a book called Mind Kampf.

But while in prison, he sat there and he thought, like, what went wrong? Well, he thought, you know, it didn't work. Like, it worked in Italy for this guy. a bunch of people and our government's weak and it's falling apart. And like, and so what he decided was, you know what I'm going to do? Because people got shot. Like, people were shot. People, I think people, oh, no, people died. Several people died. People got shot. Like, it was a catastrophe. It wasn't like a, hey, they arrested us. Like, it was a, it was bad. And he's thinking, it was supposedly a bullet just missed, you know, went right next to him. He almost died. So he thought,

you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to win this, but I'm going to play by the rules. I'm going to get myself and my party elected. There are a lot of us. He realized, like, there's a ton of us. So if we play by the rules, we could probably just get ourselves elected. And then take over. And then take over. From the inside.

Right. So what did he do? It's not like, hey, there was a coup. No, it wasn't a coup. I played by the rules. I got myself elected. And that's what ended up happening. He never got elected.

He was appointed. But he started getting the Nazi party elected. And eventually he became appointed. and then elected and seized power. Regardless, a lot of times if you just play by the rules and manipulate the rules, we see that happen all the time. I agree with you because most of what we did was using the bank's rules. Like, we understood the rules in order to get what we want.

Right. So I was going to say, yeah, that's, I was going to say, that's perfect for me. Like, I know what the underwriting guidelines are. So I know what you're looking for. So I just give you what you're looking for. And give answers that are, like you said, like you knew what they would see. Right. In your circumstance.

So you already had prepared answers. So you develop the paperwork, you know, in what they're looking for, which was an example, another example, what you gave this morning. It's just like, hey, listen, I know what you're looking for. And here's more. Like, holy, yeah. Yeah. Hey, you guys, listen, I appreciate we did half of the 48. We were hoping to get the whole 48 didn't happen.

So look, if you want the other half of the 48 laws of power, please let us know in the comment section. Also, if you like the video, hit the subscribe button, hit the thumbs up, share the video, turn on the bell, you know all the stuff to do. Please consider joining our Patreon. It's $10 a month. We put Patreon exclusive content on Patreon. Please check out Zach's channel.

It's called Black Zach, and his channel link is in the description. So thank you very much. Let us know if you want on Part 2 of this. See you.