Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - This Cartoonist Turned To Crimes - The Duck Tales Bandit

Episode Date: October 4, 2025

Arno Funke, known by his alias "Dagobert," was a German extortionist who gained notoriety in the late 1980s and early 1990s for his inventive and non-violent blackmail schemes. A failed cartoonist and sign painter, Funke turned to crime in 1988, planting bombs in luxury department stores in Berlin and demanding ransoms.

So Scrooge McDuck won't stop planning bombs in department stores and blowing shit up. Now the story starts with this guy, Arno. And Arno's about 38 when this all starts, living in Germany. And Arno really wants to be a cartoonist. Like he loves to draw. But he's not having any success and he's struggling with money and so he's all bummed out. But one day in 1988, he's had enough of this being broke nonsense. He can't take it anymore. And he decides that that the only way he can make enough money to focus on his art is to start a life of crime. So he comes up with a plan. His plan is to build bombs, plant them at local department stores, and set them off. Then, after they blow up, he'll send the store a ransom letter demanding money,

or he'll set another bomb. Perfect plan. What could possibly go wrong? And so he gets to work, and he starts making pipe bombs in his kitchen. Once he's built what he needs, he goes over to this luxury department store in Berlin, and he plants the bomb where no one is looking. But the bomb doesn't go off when it's supposed to. So that plan fails.

So he tries again. He later goes back to that same department store and finds an area where no one is around, and he plants the bomb, and he sets the timer, and he leaves. Then, in the middle of the night, when no one is around, because, you know, he doesn't want anyone to get hurt, so he doesn't when no one's around. Caboom, the bomb explodes, and it causes a bunch of damage. Then Arno, he sends the managers of the store a letter demanding 500,000 Deutschmarks, which is the equivalent of about $300,000 US dollars in today's money.

Then, in the letter, he instructs the store managers to take a two-way radio that he provided and get on a local train at a certain time, then as soon as Arno gives the word, they have to throw the money out of the train window. And they do. The store managers get on a train with a bunch of money, and when Arno gives them the okay, they throw it out the window. And Arno is, of course, there to intercept it, and he gets away. So Arno's plan worked.

He successfully robbed the department store. And so from here, he's got to start spending this money. He goes on a bunch of vacations, like to the Mediterranean and to South Korea and to the Philippines, and a few years go by, and it's now 1991. And by this point, Arno has spent, most of the money he stole, and to make it worse, he still hasn't made it as a cartoonist. So he decides he's going to try again. And by try again, I mean, you know, blow up more department stores. And so he rins out a small cabin and he fills it with all the stuff he needs to make

more bombs. And, you know, it takes a bit to get set up, but by mid-1992, he's all ready to put this new plan into motion. And so he goes to a department store in Hamburg, and he stashes a bomb there in the porcelain section, where there's like a bunch of fancy vases and plates and stuff, and he sets the timer. Then that night, when no one is around, kaboom, the bomb goes off, and it causes all sorts of damage to all the porcelain and stuff. Arno then sends the store a letter, but this time he demands a million German marks,

which is more than like $600,000 US dollars in today's money. But also, what's weird is I guess Arnault wants them to show him that they're going to cooperate with him. So in the ransom letter, he demands that the store put a coded message in the local newspaper that says, Uncle Doug O'Ber greets his nephews. So here's where the Scrooge McDuck of it all comes in. Now, in Germany, Uncle Dougobere is what they call Scrooge McDuck, the cartoon character. Because during this time, the show Duck Tales is a huge success in Germany for some reason. I mean, I don't know. It's a great show, but I don't know. Wouldn't predict it'd be big in Germany. But anyway, so he's essentially calling himself Scrooge McDuck.

And so the managers put this ad in the newspaper to show that they're willing to comply with his demands. Then Arno demands that they go out to a specific spot in the forest and there they'll find a bag with the Ducktails logo on it and an image of Scrooge McDuck and that bag will be stuck to a telephone pole. So they go there and they find the bag and they've brought the police with them, of course, but there's also an electromagnet contraption designed to stick this bag to a nearby train. And if they stick the bag to the train, I guess Arno will be able to push a button remotely and make the bag drop whenever he wants. But police, they decide not to do that. Instead of using this electromagnet contraption, they tie the bag to the train in such a way so that when Arno

hits the button, it doesn't drop. Because police are thinking that this is going to lure Arnault out and that then they're going to be able to nab him. But it doesn't work. Arno, he doesn't fall for it. He just gets all pissed off. And he doesn't know police are even involved in this. He probably just thinks that the department store managers screwed up the drop. So anyway, he writes a new letter to the store and he gives them a new drop-off location. And so this time, police stick the bag to the train, but with the electromagnet contraption. And from there, the plan moves forward and the plan moves forward and the bag drops off exactly where Arno told them to drop it. And so Arno goes to grab this bag and the train comes to a stop and a bunch of police

who were hiding inside suddenly jump out and they yell police. And Arno's like, oh shit. And he grabs the bag and he runs away as fast as he can. And he somehow escapes. However, once he's safe, he opens the drop bag and he sees that only about 4,000 marks of it are real, while the rest of the money is fake. But now the police know that the two department store bombings are linked, and they start referring to Arno as Doug O'Barre or Scrooge McDuck.

Now, by this point, the local media has picked up on Arno's story, and they start writing about him. And for some reason, some of the general public begins to side with him, and he, like, builds up a little fan base. Like, they love him, because they find what he's doing entertaining, I suppose. They just, they love the fact that he calls himself, Scrooge McDuck. And so Arno, he also loves this attention, and he keeps going for six years. He keeps trying to pull off more jobs by placing bombs in department stores and demanding ransom

money. And while he hasn't successfully gotten any more money yet, it seems like he's going to really soon. Until... Until it all starts to fall apart for him. During the police's investigation, they figure out that sometimes he'll call the department stores instead of sending them a letter. And he makes those calls through a phone booth. And one day in 1994, Arno calls a department store and he's giving them his ransom demands. And the store manager he's speaking to is actually a police officer pretending to be a manager. And Arno, he's trying to name a street for them to drop the money off at. And the fake manager keeps acting like he doesn't understand what Arno's saying,

And so Arno has to slowly spell it out, and this gives police enough time to trace the call. And so they trace the call, and they end up showing up to the phone booth. But Arno isn't there. He's already fled. However, enough witnesses around saw him so police are able to get a composite sketch of him. And a few weeks go by. And Arno, he's trying to pull off another department store bomb scam. So he's at a different phone booth on the phone again with who's,

he thinks is a department store manager, but it's actually that same undercover police officer. And they trace the call again. And so police show up to the new phone booth and they see a guy hanging around who looks a lot like that composite sketch that they got of Arno because of course, it's Arno. And so police, they start surveilling him and following him around and they eventually catch him making yet another department store bomb call from yet another phone phone. booth. And so police pull up and bam, they arrest him. And I don't have a mug shot, but here is a picture of him getting arrested. And so ultimately, Arno is convicted and he's sentenced to nine years in prison. And later, when he gets out, he is actually able to turn his life around and get work

as a cartoonist. So, you know, good for him. Here's a photo of him.