The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 237 - Jet Pack Madness

Episode Date: January 26, 2017

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine a jet pack and the men behind it. - "The RocketBelt Caper" by Paul Brown SOURCES TOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH 

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week I, David Anthony, read a story from American history to my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. Could vanilla read? Yeah, you're pretty vanilla. All right. Are people like vanilla? Yeah. What's going on? God, do you want to look who to do? I'll do one bottle. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gara. Steve okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not gonna become a tickly podcast. Okay. You are queen fakie of made-up town. All hell queen shit of Liesville. A bunch of religious virgins go to Mingle and do what?

A frame. Hi, Gary. No. Has he done my friend? No. December 17th, 1957. Okay. A date that would go on a wall calendar, might have been. The small rocket lift device was tested in a Bell Aeronautics plane hangar. I like these ones. I like where we start off with something bananas. So wait, because a lot of times we'll be like, John Schmidt was born to two parents in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. So wait, this is one more time? It's a jet pack. Okay. A 1957 jet pack. Yep. The first one. It's been built by jet propulsion engineer Wendell Moore. Okay. Wearing a helmet, he strapped

himself into the jet pack. Whoa. And while fellow colleagues held tethers, he lifted off the ground and hovered four inches in the air. Wow, this is like that scene in Iron Man. Yeah, exactly like that, except that's a movie. The first jet pack flight. Was four inches? Yep. All right. The US Army's transportation receipt and engineer command, known as TRECOM, wanted jet packs. So they contacted Bell to build one and demonstrate it. Okay. Moore then greatly improved the design and renamed it the rocket belt. Okay. It was three rocket tanks fitted on a fiberglass corset. I can only imagine highly dangerous. No. The

first test flight was on December 29th. What is it? It's shooting. It's rocket. It's shooting. It's a fucking rocket. It's what you think it is. It's got handles and like a throttle and it's got a jet jets on the back. Okay. Or rockets. Sure. So, okay, this is exactly what it was. It's three rocket tanks fitted on a fiberglass corset. It's literally they're put on the back. The first test was on December 29th, 1960. Moore continued to test it, but on the 20th ride, he flew into the ground from eight feet up. He got tangled in the tethers and he shattered a knee and that was the last time Wendell Moore flew the jet pack.

Probably smart. Next. Okay. A 27-year-old test engineer named Harold Graham took over. The first untethered rocket belt flight was on April 20th, 1961 at an empty landing, I think, near the Niagara Falls Municipal Airport. He flew 18 inches off the ground in a straight line at 10 miles an hour for a distance of 112 feet. It's pretty good. Yeah. And then on June 8th, 1861, at Fort Eastus, Virginia, Graham flew for the public for the first time. Okay. So, it's basically reporters. Uh-huh. He flew over a truck around 15 feet in the air, spun around and came down for a soft bouncy landing, and the press went nuts. That's amazing. Yeah.

Okay. It's front page news all over the US. Oh, yeah. And then he flew it for the Pentagon and President Kennedy. But when Graham was flying at Cape Canaveral, he dropped 22 feet and landed on his head. Ah! What? Ah! It's fine. Not good. It's part of the show. No. He was knocked out. He lived, but he decided he was done flying the jetpack or the rocket belt. So, new rocket belt pilots came in. But now they're getting some distance. Now they're getting like up there. Yeah, they're not starting to be a thing. So, new rocket belt pilots came in, three of them. They did. Hey, what happened to the last guy? Uh, I'm over here. Hey, no more questions. Strap us on. So, they end up

doing demonstrations all over the US and then even South America and Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people would come out to see jetpack. Yeah, I can only imagine. I would go watch a jetpack. I would watch one now. Right now. But everyone who had flown one was a pilot or a technical experience. So, how would a normal civilian handle one? They wouldn't. And they shouldn't. And they can't. You say that, but they shouldn't. So, Wendell Moore, the guy who originally built the first one, lived in Youngstown, New York and would often take the rocket belt home on the weekend. You know, just to have around. Okay. And living next door was 19-year-old Bill Souter. Well, I mean, his last name's

in suit. And one day, Moore saw Bill and he said, Hey, Bill. Hey, kid, you want a job? Never good. Yeah, mister. The Army and Bell had signed a contract stating the bell had to take a young man of average draft age and prove he could be trained to fly the rocket belt. So, to prove to the army, they want an army of rocket men. Yeah, they want a random dude off the street. Yeah. Because that's what they want. They want an army of rocket men. We have that now. It just doesn't have the person. And it's not the guy. Yeah. So Bill, he's just in the right place at the right time, right? And he's hired in 1964 and starts to train. He only had one accident. Quote, I was whizzed about the hanger on

the safety cable like a balloon that you inflate and then just let go of. What? That's not good. So he's just like cartooning around this like wire. They're holding on to the rope. He was all right, though. He didn't get injured. Soon, he had mastered the flying of the rocket belt and was doing demonstrations for crowds. Was he doing anything before his neighbor was like, What are you up to, kid? Nothing. Nothing. He was like, I was just going to go look at a tree. What about flying through the sky? Okay, I'll do that too. But around this time, the army started souring on the jet pack. It was expensive and it burned up too much fuel. So flight times were short and the money was cut off. Okay. And then

it came a promoter named Clyde Baldeshin. Sure. He wanted to book the rocket belt at state fairs as entertainment. You know, anytime the state fair wants anything, it's probably right to say no. They took him up on it. The first gig was at state fair. Well, the first gig was at this Calgary Stampede up in Canada. So it's like some big gathering. Uh huh. Bell got Bell, the company Bell Aeronautics obviously owns it, got $25,000 to fly it every night for a week. To just fly it around. Yeah. But even not that long because the flights aren't that long. So just five little flights a week. Yeah. $25,000 a night. And the bookings took off from there. Bill Souter continued flying the rocket belt traveling around the world.

More kept redesigning the rocket belt. It doesn't feel real. He soon came up with a jet belt. Now he's got jets on it. With a jet engine, it could fly up to 85 miles an hour for up to 25 minutes. No, no. And in 1969. No. What? In 1969, a man could go 85 miles an hour with a jet belt. It made its first flight 300 feet at a height of 25 feet and it went 30 miles per hour. Wow. More successful flights were made. And when it was all going well until May 1969, Wendell Moore died of a massive heart attack. Okay. And the project was abandoned. Okay. No more jet pack. After 1200 rocket belt flights, Bill Souter left the company. But on the same day he quit the company, someone handed him a photo of a guy

named Nelson Tyler with a rocket belt that he had built. So the day that he's like, well, the exact exact. It's nice to move. My God, another one. Let's go. Right. Tyler was a Hollywood engineer and photographer. And he had already built some like crazy stabilization camera things that everyone was amazed by. Okay. But he was obsessed with the rocket belt having seen Bill fly one in 1965. He sold his car and built his own rocket belt, which he called the Tyler rocket belt. Okay. So Souter, who is the marketing? So both Souter calls him up on that exact same day. And that same day he's on a plane to fly to LA to help Taylor with the rocket. Wow. After a bit of tinkering, what? The belt was ready to go

and soon flying. What the fuck? Souter contacted promoter Clyde Valdeshin again. And now the Tyler rocket belt took over the circuit that the Bell rocket belt used to be on. And again, Souter was the main pilot. He flew at an NFL Pro Bowl game. Well, by the way, if you know how terrible the Pro Bowl is, that makes so much sense. That's the best thing that happened. He flew at a World's Fair in 1982 and once accidentally flew 140 feet up in the air. That is a nightmare. That is, that's my nightmare. That's right there. That's it, right? That's my nightmare. Get me up 200 feet in the air and then be like, figure out how to land. Quote, I buzzed a ski chairlift with a torus in it. They didn't realize I was coming. One woman dropped her camera to the ground and

another woman almost fell 40 feet above the sidewalk. I was advised not to do that again, but it was fun, especially looking at their faces as I appeared. What? Okay. This guy, this is Tyler flying this now? No, this is Bill Souter. Bill Souter is still flying. Yeah, he immediately hooked up with the guy and helped him build it because now Souter is the guy who knows all about it because he's just flying around wherever. Well, they're doing the same thing. They're going out to fucking state fairs and promotions. The ski lift is like an affair, basically. Yeah, the ski lift at some event. I thought they were like in veil. They might have been. Like he just can't stop it. He goes around the earth a couple of times. So at this point,

Souter found out that Abolition had lied about payments about how much he was being paid to pay them. Okay. And that he wasn't getting insurance coverage like he said he would. What? So Bill Souter. The best person to give the bad news to though is somebody who can't do anything about it. Thank God you got that insurance, huh? Yeah, I didn't, but you can't move. Yeah. So we'll see. Feeling he couldn't trust him, Souter quit the gig and moved back to Youngstown, New York. At that point, Tyler recruited a Hollywood stuntman to fly the rocket belt. His name was Kenny Gibson. And he did this. So Gibson is flying. That's the perfect guy to fly. Kenny has flown this before. Well, now he starts flying it and he learns how to do it.

And, you know, he's doing that for a couple of years. And then an offer came in for the rocket belt to appear at the Olympics. Of course. But it had to execute a very precise, perfectly time move, right? So it's probably TV. It's got to be for TV. And I mean, you, yeah. Precision seems like an important thing at an event like this from what I've seen. So, uh, uh, Balushen and Tyler don't think the new guy is up to it. So they called Bill. Oh, really? Look, I told you guys, I'm too old for this shit. It's the Olympics. I'll see you in 45 minutes. That's exactly what it was. So in front of 92,000 people at the LA Coliseum, with an estimated 2.5 billion people watching worldwide, Bill flew a perfect jetpack flat.

And the crowd went bat shit crazy. Yes. I'd be like, what are we wasting our time with javelins for? This man could go to Mars. It was 17 seconds long, but the biggest moment of Bill's life. And right away, everyone was once again talking about the rocket belt. Again, the jetpack was on the front pages of newspapers. Tyler received over eight... It's like having the John Travolta resurgence. You're hot again. So Tyler received over 800 inquiries about the rocket belt. And then he sold it to the Grona Lund theme park in Stockholm, Sweden. So that's a big change of things. Now, that... I'm just really worried that at some point, they're going to be... Is this for another person to just sort of fly it around? Nope. So that's

the thing. This is when they're opening it to the public. Yeah. No, no, it's not for anybody to fly around. So part of the deal is that they have Gibson come over and fly it. Okay. So Gibson's attached. Right. So he's part of the deal. He's already booked the lead. He flew it for a while, and then he was like, all right, I don't want to live in Sweden anymore. Right. And then they were like, oh, well, then no one can fly the jet pack. And then he's like, well, I'll buy it from you for cheap. So he ends up... Okay. So now Gibson comes back to America. With the jet pack. He has the jet pack. From Swiv. Okay. This does feel like a 007 plot a little bit. Who has the jet pack, James? Now, Gibson... Now, it takes nitrogen cylinders, which are very expensive, compress

nitrogen, and he doesn't want to pay the high prices for that. Well, Dave, I'm going to go ahead right there and call that a problem. Why? Well, you know, whatever you're dealing with a jet pack that a human wears, it seems like the cost is going to be something you're going to want to keep in mind. If you have a car and you don't want to pay for gas and you decide to fill it up with vinegar, you can do that. I can't. I'm pretty sure you can. I can't. I can't. I can't. So he used scuba tank air instead. Wait. Huh? But wait, that's not right, right? What is he doing? Wait, okay. So he's going from nitrogen to what? Compressed air. To compressed air. Yeah, it's all, you know, fits in. That's very different, though. No, but it fits in there. That doesn't matter.

He's using soda stream. So the first flight, which was for a commercial, for a commercial, it lasted only 10 seconds. They need 30. He needed 90% oxygen to make it fly, but that was very hard to get. Okay. So he bought 88% oxygen from a German company. Yeah, if you got what you need, it's almost 90. It's good. Yeah, it's very good. It's very good. It was knocked on the door at 90. Yeah. But there were stabilizing agents in the oxygen, which caused the rocket belt to go bananas. Oh God. Bananas and rocket belt don't belong together. His first flight in Philadelphia, the belt turned, it like made a quick turn, and then it just shut off. So he's like wily coyoteing like through the commercial. Pretty much.

Okay. So he falls, breaks the rocket belt and breaks one of his knees. I mean, honestly, though, like the greatest moment of that is that they're probably like for the commercial, they're like, okay, well, what we need is this, what we need is that. And to watch it go so horribly, and after one 10 second take, be like, yeah, he's done. The belt's broken and his legs ruined. So let's just film the product. So yeah, he is not working anymore in this commercial is what I'm saying. Can he like roll around? He absolutely can't. He's in a tremendous amount of pain. And again, the rocket belt is totally broken. Can we have a guy put it on and jump off a couch? Yes. Yeah, we can do that. Okay. Can he do that? Let me talk to him.

Can you put the bone back in his leg? He's badly injured. Yeah, that is bone you're seeing. So he ends up being in the hospital for a long time and sues the German company because they didn't tell him that they were stabilizing agents. Okay. He went $250,000 and at the same time killed jetpacks because the verdict led chemical companies worldwide to stop selling H2O to individuals. So they stopped selling oxygen, compressed oxygen to anybody. They stopped selling compressed oxygen. They sell it to a company, but they're not going to sell it to just a guy right now because of what he did. So this affects all jetpack builders, but Gibson was not done. Why be done? After he got out of the hospital, he started repairing the rocket belt.

Like that is like, that is like, he's like Rocky Balboa. And he just picked up his gloves and Adrian walks in. You know, I just say, maybe I still got what it takes. Rocky, you have brain damage. Maybe one more. Like stop. I want to be a bird. I want to be a bird in the sky. You already fought the Russian. I'm a bird. So he repairs the rocket belt and he builds his own lab to make his own oxygen. Oh God. And then he brought in a friend, Brad Barker. Oh boy. Now Brad Barker's father had died when he was eight. Brad worked as an insurance salesman among other things. He was very good looking, very charismatic personality, but he also had a violent temper. Oh God. Not good. Not whose hand you want to be shaking in this. This one could

be the one with the great fun. Dave, please. We're too deep for this to be the great one. This guy's this is bad. He ended up Brad ends up wandering from place to place, rarely keeping a job for long. The place where he spent most of his time was Houston. That's where he met Gibson when they were both 20. This was before Gibson went to Hollywood to become a stuntman, obviously. Right. They became really good friends. They spent a lot of time partying. And Barker bought a small Cessna airplane and they would fly it together because they both loved flying. Sure. They were best manning each other's weddings and their sons were born within a day of each other. So, Gibson then goes to LA to become a stuntman. And then obviously falls into rocket

belting. Yeah. Brad stayed behind, got divorced, and worked a bunch of shitty jobs. At one point, Gibson invited him to a show to watch, see him fly the rocket belt. Right. It turns out Brad had always been obsessed with rocket belts since he saw one in the movie Thunder Bolt, not Bolt. That could change. What's the James Bond movie? Oh, Thunder Dome? Might be Thunder, I don't think it's Thunder Dome. Anyway, so when he was a kid, so he sees James Bond flying when he's a kid. And it was actually the rocket belt. Like they actually took the rocket belt and used it for that scene. In Bond, they actually used the actual rocket belt. Yes, they used the actual rocket belt. Wow. So he was obsessed with it. What is the scene? It's something he comes off a roof or

something. Wait, so someone is actually flying in the rocket belt in the movie? He goes up on a roof and his jet pack's up there and he gets on it and flies up. Oh, God. So after the divorce, Brad decided to start his life over and he moved out west and started working on the rocket belt with Gibson. Now, Brad was very skilled at working with things because of all his different experience and mechanics and stuff. So he's good at that. And he didn't know anything about making oxygen though. Why not go back to nitrogen? It's too expensive. So Gibson turned to an ex-friend of theirs named Larry Stanley. Okay, cool. Larry's also from Houston and from a rich oil-owning family. But that didn't stop him from always trying to find new ways to make a buck.

Now, years back, Brad loaned Larry a Cessna. Larry's also a huge flying nut. That's how he became friends with these guys. And after one flight, so he loans the guy's plane all the time to just fly her out. Larry Stanley. Brad owns Larry's plane. Brad owns Larry Stanley's plane. Right. Okay. So after one flight, Larry and the plane disappeared. And after calling around, Brad discovered the plane was in Seattle and Larry had added a long range fuel tank and made other modifications, which allowed him to take long flights to South America for drug smuggling. Oh, God. The bill for the modifications came to $30,000. Brad didn't have any money. He couldn't find Larry anywhere. So he had to sell the plane to pay for the changes that Larry had made.

So wait, he sold the plane that Larry took? Larry took it and got all these changes done to it, and then he couldn't get it out of the hanger until he paid for it. So he had to pay the guys off, and Larry's just nowhere to be found. Larry's a good dude. What a good friend. Obviously, he wants the money from Larry, but he can't find them. So Gibson and Larry, it obviously That's a falling out. And a falling out years before. Also, no, Gibson and Gibson and Larry also. So now. Oh, so now nobody likes Larry. So Brad, Brad and Larry have a falling out and that Gibson, because Gibson invests in one of Larry's oil fields, like $50,000. And then Larry was like, no, the contract's not right. And then never gave him any profits. Larry's cool.

So that ended their relationship. So Brad is working with Gibson on the rocket belt in LA, and Gibson got a contract to go on tour. Like if you're talking to like, that sounds insane now. What? So like back then, someone's like, what are you up to? I'm working on this rocket belt. Huh? Yeah, it's a belt that if I get the right oxygen, it'll make you fly. It's like a thunder dome. Oh, whatever that Bond movie is called. Thunder things. So, right, so he gets a contract to go on tour with Michael Jackson. Of course. Can a monkey do it? Can a monkey do it in Elvis outfits? Guarantee you that question was asked. Yeah. I guarantee you. So I was wondering maybe Bubba's could take up the rocket. Maybe Bubba's did it. So he's flying each night of the tour,

$25,000 per flight, which made him over a million dollars for the whole tour. Wow. He also landed a contract with Disney flying at their theme parks. Just sounds so dangerous. Yeah. In early 1990, Brad was working on the rocket belt in LA while Gibson was doing stunt work in the Philippines. Then Gibson's wife called Brad and told her Larry had broken into Gibson's storage in Houston and stolen a bunch of rocket belt equipment. No, you do not want to hear Larry's name anymore. What, Larry? Turns out Larry had seen Gibson fly the rocket belt, and he was super interested in rocket belts since he was a kid. Everybody's interested in rocket, but I mean, it's just that it bears. I don't go like petting them. So. He was really interested in flying

through the sky as a child. He was one of those unique kids who just would obsess about free flying. You know, he's strange like that. You know how most kids dream about doing their taxes? I think you're not Larry. I think you'll find that these guys might be a little more obsessed with jet packs than the ordinary. Well, Larry's clearly got a problem. So Brad goes to Houston, gets a friend who was a black belt, and then they drive out to Larry's oil field. And there they were met by a former Navy SEAL henchman. Larry had waiting for them because he knew they were coming. The black belt got out of the car and quickly dropped the henchman. Okay. Brad then started hitting the Navy SEAL on the legs with a baseball bat, asking where Larry

was. Okay, nice, nice, Brad. Beat his legs. They feel about Brad right now. Uh, not good. Yeah. Larry? Terrible about Larry. Okay. Terrible about Larry. So then Larry pulls up. Like this is like the end of a movie where like, should be the end of the end. Larry pulls up and agrees to take them to the storage facility where the stolen equipment was. I don't like it. Brad, Brad picks it up and takes it back and brings it to Los Angeles. So what was Larry? Larry's just like the bad guy in Pee Wee's big adventure. He's got no real please, just Francis. Yeah. He's got no real plan. He's like, yeah, there it is. So far. Okay, take it. A couple of months later, Gibson was prepping the jet pack before a show at Disney World

when the throttle broke. I feel like that's an important part. Okay. So it's the most important part of the jet pack. It's like basically the secret to the whole thing. Okay. So Gibson, not anymore. No. So Gibson called Brad and asked him to take it to Houston. Actually, Brad's there. He tells him to take it to Houston to these machinists who know about it, who can repair it with the Houston's where Larry is. He's where Larry is, but Houston's where also where no, I know it's the number one place to get your jet pack fixed. So while Brad has the throttle, he decided, you know what? I should just measure this and record the dimensions and stuff. Oh, sorry. Brad decides to do that where? When he takes it to Houston. Okay. I should just measure

this thing and write all this stuff down about it. Just keep, you know, keep that. Interesting. So then he goes back and everything's fine. He flies the next day and all as well. And then so they're in Orlando for a while. He's flying the jet pack. If you have a jet pack in your in Orlando, just get out. Right. Go. So an old friend of Brad's came out to visit. His name's Joe Wright, right? So this old friend from Houston. He owns a car stereo business. You put in stereos and stuff like that. You know, car alarms, blah, blah, blah. Sure. That kind of thing. Very successful. So Brad shows right the rocket belt. And then, and then they just started taking photos of it, really close, detailed photos of the rocket belt. And then Gibson walked in on them and he's

not happy to see them taking pictures of his rocket belt. He tells them to get away from it, that they're not allowed to take photos and then kicks right out and right leaves. But Brad, he's okay with because Brad is his old friend. Okay. But then things started to fall apart because Brad has a son, right? And he brings him wherever he goes. So Brad's son is always around. And he's annoying Gibson. And they start to fight about the kid a lot. Okay. And Gibson tells him to send the kid back to his mom and he won't. And then they have a falling out and they're done. They sound like co-parents. Yeah. I mean, my two dads. Right. Yeah. So that's one of my favorite shows going up. Gibson and Brad are finished. Okay. So Brad leaves and immediately calls Wright. The guy

who was taking the photos is the auto car shop. Quote, I just basically decided to build a rocket belt. It was strictly for money. Who decided to build the rocket belt? Brad. Brad is the guy who has the, uh, who just got kicked out of this conversation. Yeah. So Brad now is just going to build his own rocket belt. He's been very, he's been working with Gibson for a couple of years now. Right. He's got all these pictures. He's got the, so he's now just done and he's just going to build his own rocket belt. Yep. With some knowledge, but probably you need a good amount of knowledge to build a rocket. Well, Wright's on board. Wright's like, yeah, man, let's build a rocket. Let's do it. Who wouldn't? But they needed money. So who do they know that has money?

Brad reaches out to Larry. Oh no, Larry. Quote, the guy owed me money. I lost close to 30,000 on the plane. That is so awkward to borrow money from the guy who like, you made me sell my plane. You also are just beating up his henchman's legs. Yeah. Like the whole thing is fucked up. So he calls him up and he's like, Hey man, I fell out with Gibson and also Gibson's the one who made me beat up your guy at the oil frill that I didn't want to. And then Brad talks about how much money they can make having a rocket belt, right? This other guy just made a million dollars. Yeah. Yeah. And at the same time, by doing this, they could both get back at Gibson. Right. No, I mean, literally, there's no reason to not do this. So Larry is in. Yeah, of course Larry's in.

Larry's an idiot. But Larry was leery. Quote, I was very unsure if I should embark on a new venture with a person such as Brad who seemed to have a very violent nature. Oh God. They formed the American Rocket Belt Corporation in March 1992. I can't believe this is in 1992. Larry and Brad were 5050 partners. They plan to improve the rocket belt over what Gibson had. Well, I can't wait to find out the improved. They're going to build a better rocket belt. Yeah. But to date, only Bell and Nelson Tyler had ever built functioning rocket packs. Everyone else who had tried had failed. It's kind of like the difference between having the directions and just guessing how to put it together. Well, I can't even do IKEA shit. Yeah, I honestly,

like there are so many times that you'll get something, you'll be like, I got this, and then you'll be like, the hell is this? I'm throwing the fucking couch out. Now imagine that with a rocket belt. Okay, but they set out working on it. They brought in a couple of engineers to consult on it. Soon they were no longer talking about making money. They were becoming obsessed with making a jet pack that could fly. Up until this point, they were working on it in Brad's apartment, but it was. It's adorable. It's what nine year olds would be doing. We're going to go work on a jet pack in Brad's room. No girls. But then that space became too small. So then right.

Yeah, it's hard to test your jet pack in a studio. It really is. Yeah. So then right offers a space in his car audio business, right? It's all coming together for rent. So it's fine. Gonna be 500 bucks. I think it was 500 bucks plus, however much for whatever use of the space kind of, it's not exactly a specified amount. Okay. So they take him up on it. And then the idea was that they would pay him back once. Once they make billions of dollars off of people using jet packs to get everywhere. So everything's run along, although Brad, you know, has a temper problem. Sure. According to some of Wright's workers, Brad would have outbursts that came from out of nowhere. He'd be talking casually to someone and then the next minute he was screaming in an uncontrollable rage.

It's a tough boss. It's tough to pinpoint. By 1994, Brad and Larry had put $190,000 into the rocket belt. Oh, no, my God. Almost all of the money had come from their moms. Oh, God, they are nine. What? Yeah, we're going to open a lemonade stand to try to make enough money to build our jet packs. So it's no nobody's going, man, you know, this is going terribly. Nope. At this point, they decided to issue stock from their company, 500 shares to each of them. So they're making it, so they're making it like they're incorporating, they're making it like an official business. Right. Brad was made president, Larry was made the VP treasurer and secretary, and now the rocket belt was officially owned by the company instead of the two of them.

Okay, right. October 1994, it's finished, but they needed someone to fly it. Who are we going to get to fly it? They can't call Gibson. So they call Bill Souter. Oh, God, he's how old is he? You know, I don't know how old he is at this point. I mean, 94, he's probably in his 40s. Okay, all right. At first, Souter's not interested, but then Brad sent him a videotape of the rocket belt and his interest was peaked. Bill Souter flew down and was walked in the door and was immediately impressed. Quote, when I opened the door and the rocket belt was sitting there, his mouth just literally dropped. He probably did not say a word for about five minutes. He just walked around and touched it.

Souter then asked if he could name it. That's when you go, hey, get the hell out. We're going to find someone else. We're going to put a business card on a bulletin board and wait to see what we come up with. Boy, can I name her? He walks around for five minutes and fondles it and then goes, can I name it? Can I give her a name? Brad said. Can I marry it? Brad said he'd be honored. I'd be honored to have you name it. And Souter said, pretty bird. Let's keep spitballing. Let's not land on it. Let's not go with the first option. Let's definitely talk about some other options because we have pretty bird out there, which is good, but maybe we just want to hear a couple other ones. Maybe something a little more aggressive, angry bird. Fancy dove. Fancy dove

is not good either, as far as what we're looking for. I think it's really got to be something that's like Dragon Motor. Jet glitter. Mr. Sparkles. Okay. Neither of those or the other two. You don't get to name anymore. Pink. Stop right there. That's not working. Glitter lightning. Glitter's all over these. No. So Brad's bummed about the name, but he agreed to it. So he keeps it. And then? Sure. Sure. Sure. Yeah, I like it. Yeah, pretty bird. Yeah, I like that. So then Souter starts making suggestions on how to improve it. And they made some improvements. Then they set up a test run. And the jets went off, but nothing else happened. Right? So the jets fire, but he's not flying anywhere. Okay. It's a problem with the throttle.

But they called the right man. Because Souter had brought with him technical drawings he had from his time at Bell. Oh, boy. One included detailed drawings of the throttle. I like that they don't really know what a throttle looks like. Oh, we were way off. So they had one made just like the specifications from Bell that Mord built. And it worked. Bill Souter flew for 20 seconds. So everything's looking up. But then an engineer who had built a couple of parts from them came to see Larry. And he said Brad was patting the bills and skimming money off the operation. Okay. So Larry looked at the books and concluded Brad had taken about $30,000 out of the business. Which is weirdly just the exact amount of the airplane modifications that Larry had done. That's amazing.

Now Larry confronted Brad who denied it and just made a bunch of excuses. No, I didn't take my money back. I'm talking about it. I would never do that. So Larry didn't want to screw up the whole thing. He figured he could make a lot more money. So he just lets it go. Right. Okay. But then they started arguing over which one of them should get to fly the rocket belt. Yeah. Who wants to die? And Larry had been losing weight to fly it. So cute. But Brad still thought he was too fat. Oh my God. That's the best off of a money argument to go to. Too fat to fly. So arguments over who would fly it continued for a couple of weeks until one day they started shouting at each other in the audio car office. And Brad yelled, quote, you're not flying this

belt, lard ass. No one is flying it but me. Larry said he had just as much right to fly it as Brad. I'm worried that somebody's going to throw this thing on to prove the other wrong right now. Well, no, then Brad whipped out Joe Wright's nine millimeter semi-automatic pistol and pushed the muzzle into Larry's forehead. Different tactic. He screamed, motherfucker, I ought to kill you right now. This is in the lobby of a car stereo place. It's in their little space that they've rented. So it's in the back. Okay. Or no, they're in the office. They're in Joe Wright's office. So he's got the gun to his head. He's holding it there and they're standing there and then he drops the gun down and then tells Larry

to get the fuck out. Okay. But then Larry doesn't move. Larry, go. Larry doesn't want to leave his rocket belt. Go. And Brad just started, he just goes back and starts working on the rocket belt alone and raised Larry stands there for 10 minutes and then he finally leaves. Now, a few days later, Brad asked Larry to get some money to buy a part. They're still talking. They're still cool. Have they had any followups? Why wouldn't you be? Nothing's happened between these guys. Hey, did you get those lemons? So he asked Larry to bring some money to buy a part. And then when Larry comes to the office, he doesn't have the money and says he can't get it for a couple of days. And Brad said, quote, that's not going to cut it. Oh, Brad. And then he slammed

the office door shut and rushed at Larry and they started throwing punches. Larry put Brad in a bear hug. Brad then rushed at the door and the two men slammed through the door and landed in the next office. Now, when they went to the door, Brad is like, hand has been impaled by a piece of wood. Good. And he also has a broken finger. Good. So he goes, he goes to the hospital to get that fixed up and he gets put in a sling, right? Yeah, he's probably can't fly for a little while, right? Meanwhile, when that, when that, when that's going on, when he's going to the hospital, Larry goes to get a friend who's very large. Okay. And he tells him he's going to confront Brad. Okay. All the shit that's gone on. And he wants his friend to come just in case it gets

right physical. So the big guy does that stop. Everyone's got big friends. Yeah. So the big guy agrees. Okay, guys do you want me to hit Brad? I don't like these. I'm gonna lift him up and throw him through the wall. I don't like none of what I'm here about. Your big guy don't hit little guy. No, wait. Unless it's me. Macaroni. Now, Larry goes to the office with his big friend and they wait. Like my friend pretty big, isn't he? And they wait. And they wait. And then Larry calls Joe, Joe Wright, who owns the, owns the car place. And he told them Brad has been stealing money. Okay. And then Larry says he's going to teach Brad a lesson. Photosynthesis. Now, Brad, it turns out, had come into the office

and was standing on the other side of the door listening. Oh, God, Larry. So Brad goes over into the auto shop and opens up a tool drawer and pulls out a hammer. Can't they just remember it's about putting a rocket on a man? But who puts the rocket on who? Fair. I don't know who's saved who. So Brad comes rushing in and he hits Larry on the back of the head with the hammer. Okay, painful. And then they start to wrestle and then the big guy jumps in and tries to separate him and he gets Brad in a bear hug. Okay. And somehow Brad in a bear hug still managed to swing the hammer at Larry, who puts his hand up to block the blow and it, it smashes his hand down onto his head. So it's like a hits himself, smashed under the head and his ring finger is severed at the

knuckle and it's just hanging by a little piece of skin. So at the knuckle, it's hanging down. And then the big guy is trying to get the hammer away from Brad while he's got him in a bear hug. And then Brad swings the hammer and hits the big guy on the knee with the hammer and then the big guy goes down. This big guy sounds a little suspect. And then Brad kicks the big guy in the head. But what is the big guy's plan? And then he goes after Larry again and starts hitting Larry with the hammer again. Jesus. And then the big guy comes back to help and he, he grabs him and then they get the hammer away from Brad and they both are holding him up against the door. And at that point Brad starts screaming, help me, help me. They're trying to hurt me. Help me. And then all

the shop employees come in and kick in the door and then they separate them and Brad tells the big guy to get the fuck out and then the big guy leaves. Okay, big guy. Well done. Worst big guy ever. Not a good big guy. So then he goes back to the office, right? He walks the big guy out. Sure. And then he goes back to the office and as soon as he walks in, Larry puts him in a, puts him in a chokehold and punches him in the face. Okay. And then Brad thought I was going to go back to normal right away. Any faxes? Hey. And then Brad gets out and punches Larry several times in the face. How is Larry doing? Oh, he's not good and knocks him down. So Larry's head and face are completely covered in blood. Okay. And Larry's been hit around 10 times with the

hammer. I mean, imagine. Yeah. Imagine getting hit with a hammer 10 times and then being like, what else you got? I'm not done quite yet. I'm not leaving the jetpack. But Larry takes the time to pose for some photos and then dials 911. What? What? Yeah. He got someone to take pictures. While he's dialing 911. Okay. Now silly faces. So the police come and an ambulance comes. Larry says he's been attacked. Uh-huh. But then all the employees who came in at the end say Brad was the one who was attacked. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Larry just had hammer marks in his head from the morning. The ambulance guy said Larry needs to go to the hospital, which Larry refuses. I'll be fine. So the cops arrest Larry for assault. Okay. And then Larry has to sign a

refusal of treatment form from the paramedics. Why won't he go get treated? I don't know. Over jail? At that point? While he's bleeding everywhere. Yeah, but still. You're bleeding from the head, sir. He's like, I'm not going anywhere. There's many reasons to take hospital. I'll sign with the other hand. Yeah, put me in jail. So what are you in for? And then Larry says he wants to press charges against Brad, so the cops arrest both of them. Okay. And then they're taken to the jail, but then as they're checking into the jail, Larry starts to regret not going to the hospital. Yeah. And the cops take him to the hospital, where he is for six hours. He gets his finger reattached. I can't believe.

Tons of stitches. He gets a CAT scan. And then they take him back to the jail and put him in a cell with Brad. No, why? Why? I don't know. Because they love sitcoms? I don't know. But nothing. They didn't do anything. They didn't fight. They didn't? They didn't fight. They just sat there awkwardly. Amazing. And then they release the next morning. So Brad said the hammer attack quote pretty much ended the partnership. Oh yeah, you think? Why? You know what? When you hit your partner with a hammer, it's really bad for like working with a guy like day to day. Because it's a guy you gotta be with

and talk about like parts and stuff. But if you hit him with a hammer, then that guy's like, I don't know if I want to work with you anymore. Yeah, you're worried that I'll keep hitting you with a hammer. Right. Yeah, I think that's part of it. Because of the kind of that I hit you in the head with it 10 times the other day and then said it was your fault and cut your finger off. Yeah. So that stuff makes it it makes it it makes me not want to work with you. Right. Right. Like in a business. Because of the hammer. Yeah. Then I went into your head. Yeah, you hit me with a hammer. Right. In the head and then my finger came off. Right. So those two things make me like not really want to work with you. Right. Because you're afraid about a hammer thing

again. Yeah. Yeah. Right. No, no, no. Yeah. No. I mean, I definitely hit you a bunch with it. Yeah. You know, you hit me a lot like 10, 10, exactly 10. Because you had some good times too, huh? I don't know. Yeah. I don't like it. Well, I guess I'll push off. Okay. I doesn't want to hammer you again. I just get it. Just okay. See, okay. I like a PTSD thing. So that's not really that great. So I'm out of here. So two days later, Brad meets with Joe Wright and a lawyer. Okay. And they drop a lien against the corporation saying that the corporation owed $12,000 on pay to rent. Remember how they had agreed to push the remember they agreed to push the rent offer? Yes. Until they started making money? Right. Well, now they're having Joe say

it's time to pay. No, but he's been owed the money the whole time. Since that was never written down. Oh, right. That's like, no, you guys owe me. So now him and Bill are on the same side. Him and Brad. Sorry, him and Brad are on the same side against Larry. Right. Okay. So the lawyer sets up a new company for Brad and Wright. Okay. Called the Duratron Incorporated. And then they and then the lawyer starts transferring all of the company's assets to that company. Okay. And in a couple of days, the lawyer announces the new company had bought all the old company's assets at a public auction for $10,000. So Larry was probably happy about that. But yeah. So they basically waited for everything. Like they went to one of those auctions and they

just bought everything real cheap. It wasn't an auction. They just acted like there was one. Okay. Brad then took the rocket belt and all the equipment from Wright's shop and Larry filed a civil lawsuit. Meanwhile, Brad and Wright went back to testing the rocket belt with Bill Souter. Bill can't get out of this business. No, he fucking loves it. He loves this rocket belt. He really loves the rocket belt. But why wouldn't you? This is like a movie where people touch something and they make some go insane. Right. That's what this is. Right. Right. On the first big test, the rocket belt went 65 miles per hour and 30 feet up. It's pretty good. Yeah. That's fucking great. Also pretty dangerous. Souter landed perfectly. It's all good. Okay.

He made two flights that day, two more flights that day. And on the last one, he crashed and rolled over. Okay. Quote, it nearly killed me. That's when I realized it was disaster waiting to happen. That is when Souter said the jet pack was difficult to control. Quote, it had a mind of its own. The controls were difficult to move with finesse. It was more like flying a truck with a steering problem. Well, get out. Well, that would be a good idea. Does he not get out? Well, Bill and Wright are undeterred. They're still moving forward. They repaired the rocket belt and in June 1995, it had its first public flight. Oh, no. The mayor of Houston paid them $10,000 of course to fly it at an event celebrating the Houston Rockets Championship.

I think that's when Charles Barkley was on. I know Charles Barkley was on Philadelphia. Lost. So Souter flew it. Okay. He's still in. And it's a huge success. But when he's done, he's like, there's too much tension between Brad and Wright and Larry. They're always talking about Larry and Brad and Wright are starting to not get along. And so Bill's like, I can't. And plus the fucking jet packs, not that great. And someone's gonna hurt. So Bill's like, I'm out. Can you imagine getting involved in a jet pack business? And the reason you have to walk away is because the people aren't getting along with hitting each other with you have a jet pack that functions. Yeah. And but the guys keep hitting each other. But there's a hammer problem.

I didn't see that coming. So the assault charges were dropped against Larry. Okay. But not Brad. But Brad's assault charges were from Larry. Right. But I think the cops pieced it all together that Brad had come at them with a hammer. Okay. Good, good, good detective work. So he's convicted of misdemeanor assault and given a suspended sentence for a year. Okay. Meanwhile, Larry is looking for the rocket belt the whole time. Larry. And as long as he was looking, Brad couldn't book any flights, right? So he can't because otherwise he's like, oh, there it is. Yeah. So the civil case moved forward and Brad kept blowing off his deposition. He keeps blowing off his depositions. And eventually, the judge threatens to put Brad in jail unless he does

a deposition he does. And then the trial is set for July 27th, 1988, 98, 19, it might be 98. I think it's 98 at this point. We're in the 90s. So Joe Wright shocking. Yeah. So Joe Wright is now in hard times. Okay. Right. Because he has an audio car. Because he wasted his life with a rocket. Well, partially. But he has an audio car shop. Yeah. And cars, people are starting to put out cars with really nice stereos. People aren't buying stereos. People aren't buying car alarms anymore. People also don't like hammer fights in the office. They don't like hammer fights. Plus, Joe Wright had put about $100,000 into the jet pack at this point. Oh, God. So he files for bankruptcy. So now there's more tension between Wright and Brad. They have a falling out. Now

they're not friends. Okay. So Wright went from being this nice, happy, successful guy with an audio car shop to being a dark, brooding type. He spends all day in front of his computer trying to figure out ways to make a quick buck to get out of this hole. And he starts drinking and doing math. Oh, God. Well, look, he's going to get into the sky somehow. No. Larry senses an opening. So he reaches out to Wright and he wants Wright to help him find the rocket belt. And Wright said he would if Larry took him out of the lawsuit and paid a couple months of rent on his house. Okay. His mortgage. Right. So Larry also says Wright seems terrified of Brad. He thought of Brad found out that he was

working with Larry to find the jet pack that Brad would kill him. Okay. So they have a meeting set up with Wright, Larry and Larry's lawyers to hash it all out and forgot, you know, get a contract down for him to bring in the jet pack lawyers must be like, I'm over this. But Wright is too scared to meet them. He doesn't go to the meeting. And then he calls them on the phone instead and they do the whole meeting over the phone. Okay. So Wright's in a good place. Three days later, one of Wright's friends went over to Wright's house and found him dead on the floor. The door is open. There's a pool of blood in the master bedroom. Wright's had been beaten beyond recognition. He was beaten so badly the corner could not determine at the scene if he was a man or a woman.

Oh my God. So that's something that's never happened on the dollop. That is a person beaten out of gender. That is crazy. Oh, I don't think you forget hearing something like that. That's just you can't tell. Have you checked the the dick of there's there's it's uh, it's like it's like meat. Oh, God. Oh, God. You can't determine gender from meat. Oh, so uh, or whatever the corner was just an idiot was like, I never checked the genitals. Oh boy, boy. He's a guy. It's a big dick here. I forgot. He's a super guy. I totally forgot to look at the balls and the cork thing or whatever. It's just the head. You can't tell his hairs in between. It's long, but it's not girly. You know, the head and torso were quote, completely destroyed from a beating

from a beating. The sheriff immediately focused on Brad because of the lawsuit. Yeah. He was arrested. Naturally, Brad said he didn't do it and had alibis saying he was in Arkansas at the time, but detectives could not verify his story. Okay. That's the key part of the alibi. He gave him a bunch of names and everyone's like, I don't know. I can't. I don't know. So unfortunately, there was no physical evidence linking him and the cops also fucked up collecting evidence from the crime scene. Three days later, they let Brad go. Oh, God. Now, there are also two other suspects that the cops never took seriously to look at. Wright had borrowed money from a bookie to cover his debts, which is always a good way to go.

He owed the bookie $30,000 and the bookie took out a life insurance policy on Wright. Wright also bought crystal meth from one of his employees and borrowed money from him and both of the guys were known to be violent. So there are two other guys that could have killed him. Really, it's terrible though that he, like you said before, like he had, he had a car stereo business. Yeah. Now they can't tell his gender from death. So Larry meets with Wright's family and told them that he thought Brad killed Wright. Okay. And if the police didn't punish Brad, he would. Oh God. He said he would kidnap Brad. Can we just get back to jetpack Tom Fooley? A couple guys and some oxygen in the field trying to go 65 miles an hour for 30 feet. He said he would kidnap

Brad with some friends, torture him and take him out into the desert and kill him. He said that to their fate. Were they like, we're grieving. Like, I got plans. Oh, you think your son's genitals were beaten beyond recognition? Just you wait, madam. Just you wait. So Larry also started worrying Brad would kill him. Right. Yeah. Of course. Why are you saying he's going to kill Brad? Yeah, of course. So he got a restraining order against Brad. Oh, that'll stop and started carrying a gun. And then Wright's sister came over one day to talk to Larry to Larry and Larry shows her the gun and starts waving it around, accidentally fires it and almost blows her head off. Quote, I felt the heat of the bullet whizz by my head. You know what, Larry, you seem like you got your finger on the

pulse. I'm going to get out of here. Six months after the murder, Brad was arrested again. Okay. This time for stealing a rifle from Wright's audio car shop, even alone, which he had done five years earlier, five years earlier, he had just taken a gun for some reason. Okay. So he went to jail for 60 days. When he finally went to trial, right? So he's put in jail until they go to trial. So when they finally go to trial, he was acquitted because there was no proof of who owned the gun. Both Brad and Larry said they couldn't say who owned it. The judge just got annoyed with them and then let him go. But Brad had been away for his kid for 60 days, so he's mad about that. Oh, boy. And then came the civil trial on July 1999. It had dragged on forever because of all the delaying tactics by

Brad and his lawyer. Right. So the day the trial started. This is the civil trial from Larry to Brad. Larry. So when he got hammerheaded. And took the... And took those, right, and took this, right. Took the jet, and still no one knows where the jet pack is. Right. Okay. Right. So he wants the jet pack. Oh, God. The judge is like, you're suing him for a jet pack? You guys are in your 30s and 40s, right? Technically, he's a rocket belt. Your Honor, I will say it is not technically a rocket belt. It is actually a jet pack. You two, shut up. So the trial starts. Brad does not show. Okay. It's not good. As the rocket belt did not show either because it was also supposed to be a court. Right. Right. So with no defendant, the trial went on for a day and a half. So it's just

all Larry's lawyers presenting a case. I guess the man is not there. Is the jury's like, did they see a man that we don't see? Nobody's saying anything. Okay. And then the judge gave his verdict. All together, Larry was awarded $10,212,000 and total ownership of the rocket belt. Okay. Though Brad, when he learns about this, he says he had no idea about the trial until he read about it in the paper. He said he had not gotten any mail about the issue. Okay. He said, Larry had been stealing his mail. So he wouldn't know. What are you? How do you handle that? I don't think that's true. Yeah, I don't either. But he just didn't want to bring the rocket belt to court because then he'd lose it. Right. Okay. So he still got the rocket belt. It's all about

keeping the rocket belt. You don't need to tell me it's all about that. But he also said he didn't care because he didn't have $10 million. Quote, they could have just asked for $100 billion. It's true. Fair point. So he told the press who interviewed him that he would not give the rocket belt back to Larry. Quote, even if I had it, I would smash it into a million fucking pieces with a road grader instead. So no one, Brad kind of goes off the radar, right? Okay. It turns out while all this is going on with the court and everything else, Brad had gotten another investor, named Vincent Williams, who was building a new solo flying machine. It's not a rocket belt. It's a solo flying machine. What's the difference? Well, it was called the personal flying device.

The idea was that it would be shaped like a beer can and it could be used as a promotional device for beer and soda companies. So he's still shooting for the stars. So now it's come to the idea that it's going to be just like a Budweiser promotional tool. By the way, probably the most logical end, right? I mean, why not? Chill it out. So he's building it with another friend of his named Tom Wade. Now, Brad had also somehow mended fences with Gibson at this time, who's still flying his rocket belt around like Gibson's still out there in the world with this rocket. Sadly, the beer can flying machine did not work. They couldn't get it off the ground.

Literally. And Brad and Wade, right, this new guy that he brought in, start arguing all the time. Oh, good. Well, does Wade know how Brad fights? It costs keep going up. And soon Brad starts taking parts and selling them for money. Well, you have never read this book before. Then the investor, Vincent Williams, who had sunk $400,000 into it. Your face. I'm just, I'm let down to hear that number. You just, you have to cut yourself off sooner. I mean, once you're 100 K in, it's that's it. Yeah, that's it.

So he pulls the plug. Okay. On the whole thing. And he locks Brad out of the work shed that they use. Okay. Knowing Brad, I'm sure he'll take that. Brad did not give up that easy. One night. He broke in. He goes to the work shed and he has Wade acting as a lookout. Okay. And he climbs into the building's air duct. Well, yeah. Okay. And it, no, if you're Wade at no pointy, like maybe I'm hitching myself to the wrong wagon. Well, when he gets inside, Brad finds sheriff's deputies are there waiting for him. Hey, Brad, how are you? May I rest him? You can get down here. Turns out Wade was tired of Brad's shit and narked on him. Okay.

Brad had never been arrested before. He became involved in jetpacks. And now he was facing his third time in jail in a year. The DA offered to drop the burglary charges if Brad admitted to a lesser criminal trespass charge. And Brad responded to the DA quote piss on you. I'm not pleading guilty to anything. That was my equipment. I got screwed out of it. We should start saying piss on you more. Let's just say that jetpacks do crazy things to people. They're not good. It's basically like the mask. Whatever your flaw, it just highlights it further. So right when Brad was arrested, Larry met up with Wade and Wade took Larry to where the rocket belt trailer was. So they, they, back in the day, they had, they had, I guess, had it in a

trailer. The rocket belt is like heroin. It is like you cannot quit it. Well, this is like the glowing box in that Tarantino movie. Pulp Fiction. Yeah. Pulp Fiction. What's it called? The McGuffin. Okay. It's like a McGuffin. Anyway, you can see it. So it's not. So they go to this trailer, but the rocket belt is not in the trailer. Okay. Like Wade thought it would be. So Larry just takes the trailer. Larry just takes the trailer? Well, Larry has possession, the law has given him possession of the rocket belt. So he's like, well, this is part of the rocket belt's equipment. So he just rolls. Okay. Then Wade gave Larry, so they look around and they find there's a receipt for a storage space. Okay. Wade goes, I have the keys to the storage space.

Okay. So Wade gives Larry the keys to the storage space and Larry goes there. There's no rocket belt, but there's a bunch of like papers and recordings. Rocket belt adjacent materials. Larry takes all that. Okay. Brad spends 72 days in jail. Okay. And then after 72 days, he manages to get his bail reduced to 25,000. And then he gets a bail bondsman to bail him out, and he's out with the plan of going to Houston to go to a storage shed where the papers are that he says, well, clear of this whole mess saying he owns the rocket belt. But then when he gets there, he finds an empty storage right because Larry has taken all of the stuff. And then Larry faxes Brad's mom and says, if he wants the papers back, he has to hand over the rocket belt.

She was probably like, look, right now, Brad, Larry can't play. Okay. Larry's busy right now. And he can't play rocket belt. Okay. Sorry. So Brad refuses. Okay. Then in November 1999, Brad gets a message through another guy, this guy. 1999. It's been going on for a while. He gets a message from a Hollywood stuntman called Chris the Flying Wizard Wenzel. Oh, so he's like legit. And he offers Brad a three day stunt job in the desert near LA. Now Brad's never done stunt work. This is totally out of the blue. But Brad needed the money, so he took the job. He tells the parole officer he'd be back in four days. I'll be back in four days. I'm just going to the desert to put a jet pack on.

Sure. You've heard this before. So he goes to California. As soon as he left, soon as he leaves the state, Larry calls the bail bondsman and tells him Brad has jumped bail. Okay. And now in LA, he meets Wenzel at the airport. Wenzel takes him back to his apartment. When they get there, there's two other guys there and Wenzel's like, these are stuntmen that you'll be working with. They're all going to work together. Then they sit down the table and then they talk for about 15 minutes and then Wenzel pulls out a gun and points it at Brad's head. Oh my God. And he says, where's the rocket belt? Jesus. And then they tie up his legs and they handcuff him and then they interrogate him for several hours.

But Brad's not giving up the rocket belt. What? What? What does the rocket belt do to people's minds? Then they put a hood over his head. Oh my God. And they take him into another room and they put him into a small wooden box three feet high by four feet and then they drill it shut. Okay. Oh my God. Now this was his life for days. He would be taken out of the box. He would be interrogated about where the rocket belt was. But Brad figured if he told them that they would immediately kill him once they knew. Fair. So he keeps lying to stay alive, not revealing the location. And then they start saying they're going to kill his kid and they tell him where his kid

goes to school and they know where his kid is. But he's still like, well, if I do it, they're still going to fucking kill everybody. So he's still not giving up the location. Oh, this is over a rocket belt. What is going on? And also sometimes when they put him in the box, he can see someone come in the room with white brand new white tennis shoes. Oh, well, you'll be able to. He doesn't know who that guy is, but they start calling him Jim. And then they take him down to the garage one day in the box and they start field trip and they start drilling holes in it. And they tell him we're going to take him out on a boat and then drop in the middle of the ocean. Oh, shit. And he starts crying and begging for his life. But then they say give us give

the rock about and he still doesn't do it. Oh my God. But then they don't take him out to the ocean and they put him back in the room. And then on day six, Wentzel takes him out of the box and says a notary is coming over. I'm aware of the occupation. Curious of the timing. So they take Brad out into the kitchen and they handcuff him to a chair. Is the notary going to be? Yeah, no, I'll notarize anywhere. And they take off his hood. Yeah. And there's a lady notary. I am a notary. You live in a box, right? Okay, seems fine. Anyway, seems legit. Now you have to sign in front of me. So there's a sworn statement on the table giving up Brad's rights to the rocket belt. And Wentzel points a gun at Brad's head. Who's the notary?

Not legit. I mean, she's a real notary. Well, she's not following some of the notary guidelines. I mean, they're not taking the notary wrote. There are clearly rules here that she's not following notary is not allowed to notarize when someone has a gun to their head. Well, they'll teach you that in the first two weeks of the notary. I think there's different circumstances. I don't know. Is it loaded? If it's not loaded, I can still notarize. So he signs it and she notarizes it. Nothing weird here. No two rides. And then she leaves and then Larry walks in. Take care, guy. And Larry sits down and asks where the rocket belt is. Because he owns it now, right? Larry, Brad signed it over. Yep. Brad's not giving it up.

Then Larry takes the documents and leaves. Then Brad is put back into the box. Good. At some point, he realizes the handcuffs are not on very tight and he manages to get loose. Okay. And then he unties his legs and he breaks the box open and he gets out through a window. Oh, what a feeling. And he just starts running and he runs for two miles in North Hollywood in the dark and he finally finds a gas station and he calls his brother immediately and asks him if his son is okay. Hey, listen, it's me, Brad. I've been trapped in a box for two weeks because of a jet pack. Is the boy all right? God, I'm so tired of the jet pack, dude. Hey, what are you talking about? This is going to work out.

Come on. It's all going according to plan. Come on. I got it right. There's a couple dips. So the kid's okay. And then he calls the FBI. He lost 30 pounds in the eight days that he was in. Wow. The box. That's a diet that actually took over North Hollywood. Great. The box diet. Yeah. Yeah. His wrists are cut and sore and he tells the whole story of the jet pack from the beginning to the FBI. So they're like, okay, a liar, liar, liar, liar, lying, liar, lying. You hit him with a hammer? Yeah, but over the jet pack. Then they go out. They're going to drive. They're going to drive around and hopefully you can see the apartment and recognize it. Sure. So it's kind of like a wild ghost chase sort of. Yeah. But then as they're driving, Brad looks behind him and sees Wenzel. No.

Wenzel driving. Actually, he's right behind us. Behind them because he is also out looking for Brad. Oh God. It's like a coincidence. And then the FBI jump out, pull Wenzel out of his car, handcuff him, look through his car and find a death kit. So he's basically going to kill. A death kit? That's how they described it. I don't know what it was, but it was a way to kill. Just a lot of skull and crossbones on it. It's just a box. It says death kit on the side. Johnson and Johnson, death kit. So now they have Wenzel. Who is the unluckiest man in the world? Yeah. So also stupidest. Stupid to you. So they get Larry and they charge him with kidnapping, false imprisonment by violence. Wenzel's charge are the same. But then they're both released on

bail pending trial. This part. How? This whole thing. The bail really screwed a lot of this up. These guys always get, everyone's getting bail. You know, all I did was kidnap a guy and keep him in a box for eight days. Why shouldn't I be on the loose? 10 grand. So Brad's. And you know the answer to that. Yeah. Bail bonds. Bail bonds. That's why. So Brad's trial for burglary is the next thing that's up. Okay. But the district attorney let him off. The charges were not dismissed, but they were withdrawn, meaning at any time they can be recharged, but basically he's free to go. I don't like that finality, but okay. It's like a holding pattern. Yeah, that's great. And I assume it's because he, the whole thing with, you know, kidnapping. Yeah. So now

it's believed that the reason the DA dropped the charges actually is because Brad was threatening Vincent Williams the whole time. Oh, wow. Okay. Because he refused to testify all of a sudden. Right. Okay. So in 2002, the kidnapping trial begins and the defense said Larry and Wenzel had been acting as bail bond agents and the Brad had skipped bail. So it wasn't a kidnapping, which technically it's true, but Larry's the one who told them he skipped. So the notary testified what happened. That is not okay. Like even as a defense, you have not followed some kind of protocol that you were supposed to. It's a little iffy. I gotta admit, you know, I'm with you until you guys put them in a box for

eight days when you lost 30 pounds. Seems like that's not what you should have done, right? That's what we were told to do. That's what it says in the bail, bail bonds guy book. Okay. Clearly not familiar with what we teach you from the notary testified, which couldn't help her career. I imagine she's no longer a notary or I hope no way she had notary anymore. During the whole trial, you're revoked. Oh, come on. One time. So during the whole trial, it seemed like Brad and Larry were not that worried about the actual crime. Okay. They just wanted the jet belts, the rocket belt. It's such a crazy story that everyone's covering it. The price. So Larry is using it as a trial to help him find the rocket

belt. Okay. And Brad was trying to prove that he didn't murder Joe Wright. Okay. And it's super obvious to everyone covering the trial. That's what they're doing. Okay. It's almost like they're acting like the trial is not even happening. Because they are. They're just like, yeah. But in the end, Larry and Wenzel are found guilty of everything. Okay. And Wenzel sends first, but before he does, he does a plea deal with the DA, meaning he admits to everything and then he gets a reduced sense. He gets a reduced sense. So he got the charges of kidnapping dropped and got six years. Okay. Now Larry, on the other hand, refused to admit that he'd done anything wrong. And he was offered a three year sentence if he pled out. Oh,

he doesn't take on gambling. His obsession with the rocket belt made the DA basically throw the book at him because he thought that he was so obsessed with the rocket belt that he would commit more crimes to get it. And absolutely right. He will. So he sentenced to life plus 10 years. Jeez. And Larry tells the judge, quote, your honor, I never imagined that I ever did anything wrong. I was just trying to be persuasive. Your honor, if I'm guilty of anything, it's salesmanship. I really don't understand. If you ever wanted something so fucking bad, let me tell you a little story about a man who flew through the sky on his belt. Your honor, if there was a rocket belt right here and you put it on, you would be like, all right, I get it. You can find me guilty

of not crazy. Well, my search for the rocket belt has cost me more than a half a million dollars and let my left my family destitute and on food stamps. How, but how sorry can you can't feel that sorry? It's not like your honor, I've been trying to get a job for the last five years and my family's on food. You're like, your honor, I'm sorry. I became obsessed with putting a rocket on my back and my kids are dying from my decision. Please feel sorry for me. You've heard it a million times. It's just a man who tried to build a rocket to make a name. Two days after borrowing and after beginning his sentence, Lay writes a letter to the DA copping to everything and apologizing. My bad. I'm so sorry, bro.

Then Brad gets a call from a friend who tells him how bad of a shape Larry's family is. So now Brad feels bad about Larry's family. Okay. So Brad calls the DA and asks him to reduce his sentence. Okay. And this is very rare, but it can happen. I guess you have like 90 days or something to change a sentence. And the DA asks the judge to reduce it and Larry's sentence is reduced to eight years. Okay. So Brad goes back to his life. He got a job as an electrician. Quote, it's boring as hell. I hate it. I'd rather be building rocket belts. Okay, Brad. Jeez. But then of course, I mean, can you imagine what do you feel like for lunch today? Doesn't matter. I don't have a rocket belt. We're thinking we might go to this place that has really good clam chowder. Yeah. Well,

if we wanted to go there, I could just fly there. If I sell my rocket, the rocket belt, they could fly through the sky to get there. Chowders. I don't feel like how can I, how can I eat after knowing I almost had a rocket belt? You're not fun to talk to, man. You know, it's fun to talk to a rocket belt. Yeah. Okay. You know, sometimes I'd put that thing on and not even do anything with it. Did I tell you the story about when I almost killed a guy with a hammer over the rocket belt? Boy, that's a dooser. So of course, now Brad sues Larry for kidnapping him. Okay. So he gets his sentence reduced. And then he sues him. But why else would he assume he wants control of the rocket belt? So his whole plan is to sue a guy for kidnapping him,

but all he wants is the rocket belt. So you can tell that doesn't make sense. Well, Dave, how much of this has made sense? So he asked for damages for being kidnapped and to have the rock truly is like two 11 year olds to have the rocket belt declared his property, reversing the previous ruling. Okay. Now he had the rocket belt, and he wanted to use it the whole time. Brad did. Yeah. Yeah. So for years, he had moved around from location to location, staying ahead of Larry or Larry's family. So he is Saddam Hussein in his life to just have the rocket. 100%. Okay. So at one point, he ended up in the possession of the guy who is the black belt. Remember the black belt? Yeah. And after all the attention and fighting and stuff going on

over the rocket belt, now it's been in the press and everything the black belt guys like I want it off my property. I don't want this thing here. Okay. So they come up with a plan, a great plan. No. To break the rocket belt down into pieces. Okay. Wrap it in airtight containers, and then submerge it in a river or reservoir. That's where you're losing me. Everything up to then I get. It makes no sense. No sense. It's the stupidest plan I've ever heard. Earthworks. It's so dumb you can't even, you can't even comprehend. Landworks. Yeah. You know it's better than dirt though. Something that could get wet. So, but he holds off on sinking it until the case is over. This is just insane. He was pretty positive

he was going to win. Okay. He didn't. The judge dismissed the case for a lack of evidence. Then the judge held Brad in contempt of court for never responding to the $10 million judgment and not giving up the rocket belt. Oh that. He was then ordered to go back to the original judge who had made the judgment and deal with that judge. The $10 million judge. Yeah. So he shows up with no lawyer and the judge told him to come back in a week with an attorney, but he didn't. He said he didn't have enough time to get there. So the judge has a continuance and then Larry's family is coming to these dates and getting annoyed and then he comes and he says this is the last chance for you to produce the rocket belt. You have to bring the

rocket belt. So you come back next time and you bring the rocket belt or else you're going to jail. So Larry shows up with a gigantic box that was filled with extra parts but not the actual rocket bar. Larry does? No, sorry. Brad. Okay. So Brad shows up with this huge box, but it's just filled with extra parts. It's not filled with the rocket bar. It's just spare shit. Right. So the judge just live it. He's out of his fucking body. Come on, judge. You put that together. She'll fly. And Brad says he's having a hard time finding the rocket. I know where it is. I just don't know where it is. I swear to God, I feel like I put it in the ad. Well, where was the last place you saw? That's what I keep saying to myself. That's what you got to ask yourself in a situation like this.

So the judge gives him one last chance. And he also puts Brad into mediation with Larry's family. And I'm how many to see if they can work it out. They're not going to be able to. The thing about mediation is you can say whatever you want. It can be brought up in court. Okay. What about hammers? Are they okay? Hammers are fine. Okay. So Brad sits down and goes, yeah, I got it. And they talk for six hours trying to come to a deal trying to figure out a way to make this rocket belt thing work. Good. The family offered to release Brad from the $10 million judgment. Okay. Just to give the rocket belt. And give him a percentage of rocket belt profits from Fert Future Rocket Belt commercial. You take this deal. But it wasn't 50 percent. And Brad wanted 50

percent. You owe 10 million. So the family walks away. Oh my God. Brad then went to the black belt house and got the rocket belt. And he drove it off in its truck. Normal sentence. Normal sentence. Then he goes back to court and tells the judge he doesn't know where it is. The judge found him guilty of three counts of contempt of court. Sure. And he gave him one week to produce the rocket belt to go to jail. That's a movie plot. So Brad can give up the rocket belt that he does not own. It's not his under the law. Just give it away and everything goes away. Well, he already could have gotten the $10 million in a race and... Yeah. Oh yeah. That's right. A week later he comes back to court without the rocket belt saying he doesn't know where it

is. Not good. So he gets locked up. He took prison over giving up his rocket belt. Sure. Sure. Quote, after the judge put me in jail, I wrote him a three page handwritten letter basically telling him what he did to me was a bunch of bullshit. Oh God. So he spent six months in prison. Oh Jesus. And then the judge finally... Get out. Releases him. He's like, this is not. But he has to go back to court. And this time Brad has a new lawyer. Okay. Whose name is Haines. And then as they're working together, they realized that Haines and he had stayed in the cell together when Brad was arrested for burglary. Haines was also in jail for drug possession. His lawyer? Is there a worse... That's where your face... I know you from...

Wait, weren't we in jail together? Oh yeah. Yeah. I'm your lawyer now. But here's the thing. It's never settled. No one knows where the jet pack is. What? Brad never gives it up. No one knows who murdered Joe Wright. Larry is scheduled to get out of jail in 2012. So he should be out now. I couldn't find any record of him. Well, he's probably changed some things. But the jet pack's still out there. So we can find this jet pack? No one knows where it is. There are now jet pack gatherings where people are starting to make their own jet packs. Well, we don't know how they made it. But people are now flying jet packs. This isn't the only jet pack. He can give it up now. Because it's been replicated.

Yeah. If there's no reason... But he won't tell anyone where it is. No. As far as jet packs, will they ever become a common thing? Bill Souter hopes not. Quote, I hope they never become commonplace. Nobody would be safe. One collision over a neighborhood and down your chimney, they would come like an unwelcome Santa Claus. All right, that's a little. Then there is the question of telephone and power line lines. I know firsthand how dangerous wires are. You just can't see things. I had several close calls and almost sliced myself up like a big ripe brick of silky cheese. So he's bad with analogies. Yeah, his colorful language is not welcomed. Could you imagine every moron who could afford one zooming all over the sky

with a rocket belt? I mean, they'd pop like a watermelon on the 4th of July. Bill Souter summed up all the guys involved in the rocket belt situation quite well. He said Joe Wright was the nicest guy you would ever meet. Quote, I cannot think of one bad thing to say about Joe Wright, nor one good thing to say about Brad. As for Larry, what a loser. Oh my gosh. Wow. That's it. Wow. That's it. I just can't believe jet packing has been going on this whole time and I didn't know anything about it. That's all I was thinking when I was doing it. So I was like, how are there so many jet packs that I've never seen one live? Page nine? Can we not get it a little bit? Why? I remember there was a story on the

news like a couple months ago, though, and they showed a guy flying around a jet pack over water and they're like, look at this. And I was like, oh my god, finally a jet pack. But there's been jet packs the whole time going on. Working ones. It's a whole chapter in this book about all these people who get together and work on their fucking jet packs. Oh my god. That is so, so you know that you're a bunch of dicks when your personal strife steals the headlines from a rocket belt. Right. Like that's how annoying you guys are. But it also shows how amazing jet packs are. Look, jet packs make people go insane. I'm ready. I'm about to pop. I'm ready. We need these. Truly, with everything else going on in the world, can we just start flying jet packs?

Because we don't mind if we get cut by power lines like a brick of cheese. Not anymore. Just let some people get out there. Yeah, let's do it. I'm signing off on it. I'll notarize this shit with or without a handgun. Gonna need a new notary. I would love to get eyes on this notary. Hey, what's your deal? Huh? The worst? Well, she's here in LA somewhere. We got to find her. You know her name's in the book. I'll look up her name. Why don't we do this? Let's go down there. I'll hold two grenades and see if she'll do the work. Let's see if she's still a notary. If we can find who she is and go get something notarized. Go get something notarized. Yeah, just slip it in there. Yeah, sorry. Traffic was so bad. I sort of wish I had a jet pack.

Excuse me, what? Nothing, nothing. I was just alluding to how bad traffic was. You know, I realize this, we're just notarizing something for the podcast, but would you mind if I held a gun to my friend's head? Hey, what the hell? Still gonna do it or aren't ya? All right, nothing to see here, gang. Jet packs run lives. When we sign them. This episode was based on the book The Rocket Belt Caper by Paul Brown.