McMillions (2020) s01e03 Episode Script
Episode 3
Whiskey.
Where's Oliver? Oliver.
Come on.
I helped pick the winners.
I gave some tickets to some friends of mine And family members who needed it.
I wanted them happy, so I gave them things.
I was gonna get the million dollars, but I gave them to my father.
And maybe if certain things never happened This Monopoly thing would still be on today.
It's true.
MCMILLIONS With Shamrock Productions and the "reunion of winners", I think some of them are legendary, in terms of what was captured on film.
Like Buddy Fisher and Mr.
Hoover.
Gloria Brown was an instant million-dollar winner.
She had won in South Carolina.
Gloria had said her address was in the Hilton Head area of South Carolina, but she was from Jacksonville, Florida.
There was always something that I was trying to drive out.
I was trying to expand the BS that they were trying to put out there, because I know AUSA Devereaux needs a ground ball, boy needs something easy.
I'm kidding.
He's good at his job.
It has been a decade, but I enjoyed it.
First time, yes.
So, when you were in South Carolina, what kind of work did you do there? - I was unemployed at that time - Oh, you were unemployed? But I am a social worker.
I just was taking a break from stress.
I'm not doing it anymore, thank God.
- So, you were a social worker here? - Yeah.
Did you have family up in South Carolina? Why did you move up there? No, most of my family's here.
I had a friend, personal friend and another friend, a couple of friends there, that Basically what I was doing was a lot of visiting, job searching at that time You know, trying to relocate.
One thing that struck me was that Ms.
Brown wasn't as open and friendly as Mr.
Hoover was.
She seemed to be on guard, whether or not she suspected something was awry or not.
She just wasn't as forthcoming.
What I'd like you to do, Gloria, is take us through what a normal day was for you, in Hilton Head.
We wanna show these are regular people that are winning this money.
- It's a family place.
- Yes.
Well, in Hilton Head, during that time, I was living with a friend, of course, and trying to job hunt.
And right now, I have my own agenda.
I have my patients to care for.
I'm busy.
Today, I'm taking a trip and Day to day, I work seven days a week, basically I'm on call all the time.
So, compared to back then and to now, I would say that McDonald's have made it so that I can just lie without any stress.
- So, how long did you live there for? - A little over a year, back and forth.
Many of the winners were saying they lived in one area, but then, had a post office box where they would have their winnings sent to, so they would set up fake addresses.
A lot of the evidence that I was gathering was around where they lived, exactly what store they won the McDonald's Monopoly piece at.
Doug, anything else we need to get about South Carolina for the story? So, I said, "Gloria, do you remember the McDonald's where you went to claim the prize?" "Absolutely.
This is a picture.
" We took a picture of it and put it on this board.
Then she said, "Oh, my God, that's exactly the one.
" And I said, "You know what, can you autograph that for us?" If you could just write, "Thanks, McDonald's.
" - No, thanks a million.
- Thanks a million.
That's good.
Thanks a million.
That's good.
And then, sign it.
That picture that she signed, it was not in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
It was Jacksonville, Florida.
Gloria, do you recall the person that you spoke to at the counter when you No, I sure don't.
The fake address was a part of the scheme.
Rick had this surveillance photo of a McDonald's right there in Jacksonville.
And I go, "Oh, my God, that's perfect.
" So I take it with me.
"What are you gonna do?" I said, "I'm gonna use it.
Wait and see.
I'm gonna show you.
" And as she's doing it, Amy, she's like, "Oh, my God, that's just That's not it.
" And I'm looking over, starting to get louder, and I'm like, I'm looking back at her, "Do you want that here? They're almost you can hear that.
" That's perfect, thank you so much.
Every time I talk to them, they would just lie, lie, lie.
And it was perfect for the FBI because it was really building evidence.
But we also wanted to make sure that it seemed like we were having fun, because once again, that's how it would be at a real shoot.
Now, what I want you to do is take us through "I got my million dollars and I took it to this McDonald's in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
And it made me" Then stand up real slowly and point to your star.
Okay.
Doug brought a lot of that energy.
I know it sounds cheesy, but It looks good when you cut it together.
Here you are up here.
We loved doing goofy stuff.
We can't help ourselves.
That's typical Mathews.
That's what he would do.
Thanks a million, McDonald's.
Okay.
Look right in the camera and say it right there.
Thanks a million, McDonald's.
And it was hard sometimes to keep a straight face, to be honest with you.
It was very hard, what we were doing with the light meter or the camera, or in sitting them and fixing them up, we had no idea.
I got my McDonald's millions million at Hilton Head in South Carolina.
And it made me a millionaire.
That's cute.
- Now, pretty close.
- Pretty close.
Okay.
What I figured out in an early age in the bureau is you push it, and then, you think it's you keep pushing.
You never know when you're gonna hit a wall.
I never found the bottom.
The bottomless was tea glass, right? It's perfect for me.
Just keep going.
And, of course, she did.
Ronald and I was Ro That's okay.
No problem.
Take your time.
Ronald and I will see you in Vegas.
Thank you, McDonald's.
See, she's a pro.
She's good.
We knew it was such good evidence, having Gloria sitting here just making the story up, and doing it with this fake sincerity.
As a criminal investigator, it was an awesome thing to behold.
There were so many different layers of the conspiracy we were investigating, and the more sophisticated a scheme, the more difficult it is to prosecute the case.
Now you have actual video production that you can show a jury that's very powerful.
By this time, literally almost the whole office now, or a big majority of them, have been diverted to work on what we call Operation Final Answer.
We worked seven days a week on a regular basis.
But at times, it did not feel like work.
You had great camaraderie between all of the agents that were working it, and we knew the mission is, what we were trying to accomplish, was a noble one and a good one.
So, nobody ever complained about it.
Things were moving fast.
And naturally, we always want to move at our pace.
We wanna control the timing of things, and we did not have that luxury.
The game was running, the clock was running on how long we could keep it a secret.
Throughout this, we were really, really racking up incredible evidence.
Discovering new people, proving all elements of what was going on.
And we kind of knew the process of how these were placed, but the one thing that was still out there was how is Jerry Jacobson doing this? That was kind of this nagging question mark.
What we had to vet out here is, who was helping Jerry? Hilda Bennett was the CPA that would travel with Mr.
Jacobson to these various manufacturing plants and we didn't know, are they in cahoots? On an investigation, you just don't cut somebody out.
And so, we had to surveil Ms.
Bennett as well.
- You want cheese? - Yup.
Hi, I need to get a large coffee with ten cream and five sugar.
- Anything else? - Yup.
Another large coffee - With ten cream and five Equal.
- Okay.
- That is Equal? - Yup.
- Thank you.
Have a great day.
- Thank you.
Oh, it's perfect.
The one time I've seen Uncle Jerry was up in Georgia.
My brother went to go and visit.
I stayed in the car.
I didn't get out of the car because he didn't directly involve me, because he was always trying to protect me.
But giving you a little taste at the same time.
I guess so.
Yeah, yeah.
Uncle Jerry was a middle-aged guy.
Just normal average height, normal average build.
But size doesn't matter.
Like my dad always used to say and still does say, as long as this works, that's all I need.
One finger.
And it's the truth.
- And the family that's backing you.
- And the family.
That's a big thing.
Jerome was getting the tickets.
But when it came to dispersing the tickets I don't think he had the resources to do the big one-million-dollar hits everywhere.
I think that's where my brother took the reins of everything.
So, Uncle Jerry was getting the tickets and selling them to my brother.
And then, my brother would sell them to other people.
And it was just, literally, it was a monopoly of scams.
THE DEAL Every ticket was a little different.
The agreement with Uncle Jerry was depending on the value of the ticket.
The million-dollar tickets were going for 50 grand.
Uncle Jerry would get the 50, and my brother would get half of whoever won.
And so, if they got the payments for 20 years and so forth, he'd get half, and then, the winner would get half.
So it was a better deal for my brother, long-term, than it was for Uncle Jerry.
I really didn't think much of it because someone had to win.
So, in my brother's eyes, it was, "Instead of Joe Schmoe winning, I'm gonna make John Schmoe win.
" The money is still gonna go somewhere.
He was just redirecting it.
The one-million-dollar ticket was supposed to be our wedding gift.
We were married November 24, 1997.
- 1996.
- 1996.
Let's start that over again.
Cut that.
Cut that.
Oops.
I'm getting my ass kicked tonight.
Okay.
But that was gonna be our gift, a wedding gift, free of charge.
We didn't have to buy it.
The McDonald's piece was end one of the little, I guess, you'd call them eggs, like you kids get toys in the gumball machines.
It was in there in the back of the freezer, underneath two ice cube trays.
I remember exactly how it sat.
- It was just chilling.
- It was just chilling.
I always looked up to my brother, he was my protector, pretty much.
He would always come to visit me and throw me a couple thousand dollars, it was me giving away a couple dollars to the kids.
This is our son Frankie, he dropped about a 150,000 thousand dollars, and we just decided to take a picture, it was kind of funny.
I was so upset over that picture.
Because it was such dirty money around such a clean perfect baby.
It was pretty crazy, but with that comes a price.
Put it this way.
Uncle Jerry calling my home at least three times a week, to tell Jerry what we had to do next.
And he and I will talk sometimes 30 minutes, and most 45 minutes and my husband would meet him in Atlanta.
I don't know how many people he hooked up.
It was way more than I thought it was.
My brother had a lot of connections all over the place because he had night clubs and certain things he was doing that I can't mention because the FBI's gonna watch this tape someday.
But there was a lot of things that he was in to.
So my brother started expanding to in-laws, and brother-in-laws, and friends, and friends of friends and that's how he took this little small operation, and made it huge.
I was working at the airlines in Jacksonville here, and a passenger came for a name Colombo.
Right off the bat, he was very personable and a gentleman.
My last name was Italian, so he seemed to take a liking to me.
First thing he said to me was like, "Here's some money go eat.
Go eat.
" And I just thought that was so funny because that's how Italians are, and it just made me feel at ease with him, that this is a good person.
I never knew he was married, I didn't really care because I didn't really have any relationship on that level in my mind, anyways.
One day, we were just driving around, and he says, "I wanna show you something.
" So we pulled over And he reaches around the backseat, and he pulls out the winning pieces.
It was, like, the whole thing, it's a hundred thousand dollars.
And I was like, "Wow.
So many people are trying to win this thing and you're sitting here with all four pieces.
" "If you're interested," he says, "just walk in McDonald's, and this is what you got to do, and this is it how it rolls.
" He goes, "I'll give you 20,000 now, and another 10,000 later.
" And I thought, "Wow, that's a lot of money.
" I could go buy me a car, I could go do some stuff Because back then I'm working at the airlines, what am I making? 10 dollars an hour, and I was game for something exhilarating.
So, he had me fly to Philly.
Being with the airlines, I could do that.
And he picked me up at the airport, we drove right to McDonald's and I didn't have to think for myself.
Just follow the script.
And that's exactly what I did.
And I was just like, "I am the winner.
" And he's like, "So you're the winner?" It was just too easy.
But I didn't know the aftermath that was to follow.
Because there was things that nobody knew, and I just kept it all in myself.
My husband, he picked the winners, but he kept picking Italians on the East Coast.
They were kind of being stupid about it.
Somebody was bound to get suspicious.
So, I told my husband, "I've got a friend in Jacksonville.
Bring some women into it, and women of color.
" My name is Gloria Brown-Byer, and I live in Jacksonville.
I've been here all my life.
I didn't wanna be interviewed anymore.
I don't wanna talk to anybody else about the McDonald's thing.
Because it was a whole lot.
I was the McDonald's million-dollar winner.
And this is the first time that I had an opportunity to just say, "Okay.
I'mma lay all my cards on the table and to tell everything.
" Even though my sister was there, she don't know all the details.
She'll be hearing this for the first time herself, some of that stuff.
I have a son, and I raised him as a single parent.
He, as a child, was very understanding.
We had a relationship, where if money was not available, I discuss it with him, and we worked it out together.
I always had to work and I always managed to keep a job, but it was always a struggle.
Years passed by, and I didn't see Robin for some years, and when she called me, she told me she had got married.
And thinking maybe now she has somebody that can look out for her, and she was very happy being with Jerry.
I think it was in '97.
Robin had called me and said she wanted to discuss with me, but we couldn't talk about it over the phone.
So, Jerry asked me to come and visit.
It was at their home in South Carolina.
My first impression of Jerry Colombo was that he was a real-life comedian-type guy and He treated me just like I had been around the whole time.
But the things that bothered me is that there was never any time that she and I could be alone, even when we went shopping, he went shopping with us.
One night, I just said, "Can you just leave us alone for a few minutes? Turn, Jerry.
" And then, he left us alone, just for a few minutes, and he came back.
We were not allowed to really discuss anything.
Finally, he talked to me about a proposition, and it was a proposition that would help me.
He asked me, "Was I familiar with the McDonald's game piece?" And I said, "Yes.
" So, he said people appear to be winners.
This is how it's always been done.
And then, he told me that he would let me know what the next step was.
When I first got the offer I thought to myself, that it was a blessing that came knocking at my door.
And I was going to church and I was trying to do the right thing.
And my son was young.
I was making probably about $24,000 a year.
it was just By the time taxes and stuff come out, there's really nothing.
And I just wanted a better life, and I just feel like this is my opportunity.
And I say, "Well, this couldn't come to me if it wasn't meant for me.
" My brother was always joking around, always making people laugh, very light-hearted.
But if you pissed him off, then he can have a temper as well.
But he never was the type of person who would grab you or threaten you, or rough you up.
You knew, if he looked at you, when he told you exactly what he wanted you to do, you knew you had to do it.
The whole relationship changed.
it got to the point that I didn't talk to Robin anymore.
I only talked to Jerry Colombo.
I finally got the information from him that I was gonna be a million-dollar winner, and that he needed me to come up with some money.
And I'm asking him, "Why?" Then he said, "Everybody that wins had to give some upfront money.
" And I'm like, "How much?" And he asked me, how much could I come up with? I said, "I really don't have any money.
" So, he said, "So can you get money off your house?" Can't back out now, he's told me too much.
I mortgaged my home to get my upfront money.
I put all the stuff I worked hard for on the line, because I believed this was my blessing.
I met him on the side of the road and gave him my first portion of my money.
It felt like something had just been ripped from me.
To meet somebody on the side of the road and give them cash money that much at one time That's more than I ever had in my hand at one time in my life.
And I just had to give it all away.
I just felt that I just had given my life away and I'm giving it to somebody I don't know much about.
Can I even trust this guy? Before my husband was working the Monopoly fraud game, we had my son, Francesco Gennaro Colombo.
Say hi to the camera, Frankie.
Hi, camera.
- Hi, camera.
- Bye, camera.
- Easy.
- Basketball.
- Basketball.
- Yeah, I think he wants I was at times really very happy.
I had my son, I have some money.
I should've at least been having a good time.
But I was never satisfied ever.
I went from home to home, thinking that one was gonna make it better.
You don't have friends, you can't bring friends in that lifestyle.
Even though I adored my husband, I found out he had a mistress on the side, which I guess is a prerequisite of an Italian gangster to have a mistress.
I was walking down the hallway to check on Frankie, while he was sleeping, when I heard my husband on the telephone saying some unsavory words to her.
And I barged in, I said, "Who the hell are you talking to?" Then I took the phone from him and slammed it across his face.
They did get in a lot of fights.
She would say a lot of mean nasty things to him, she was very abusive as far as physical, slapping, and so on.
Robin will just try swinging and clawing at him.
And he would grab her hands and say, "Stop.
Stop.
Stop it.
" Anytime I threaten to leave him, Uncle Jerry would step in Send 15 grand, buy me a car, whatever to appease me.
And So I wouldn't leave.
My brother was always making money and he was never home.
He always had an excuse to go somewhere, to go on a business trip.
So I knew he wasn't happy.
During the Monopoly situation my brother wanted to open up a club in Ladson County, South Carolina.
I believe he was trying to get away from the life of crime and he was trying to make a legitimate business.
So he opened up a place called the Fuzzy Bunny.
The Fuzzy Bunny opened its doors just a half hour ago, opening the doors to a steamy controversy.
Gurnal? Debbie, we are here at the Fuzzy Bunny which is located on Highway 78 in Royal just down the road from the Fairgrounds in Ladson.
And the entertainment and the dancing have begun here at the club.
And he had some dancers.
They were wearing bikini tops.
- And pasties and shorts.
- It was not full nudity.
He wanted to do classy places.
- He had his morals.
- Yeah, he had his morals.
I got girls in Daisy Dukes, Tops.
I got volleyball courts being built outside.
I have live concerts here on the weekends.
And that's about it really.
He wanted to make a gentleman's club.
His goal was to open up four, five of these all through Hilton Head and North and South Carolina.
The county kept on fighting him, and fighting him, and fighting him.
They kept on shutting him down for this permit, that permit.
- That's not gonna stop you from that? - No.
My attorney told me we can Whatever we got to do, we're gonna do.
I'm out here trying to earn a living for my family just like you are.
I was proud of him for actually doing something legal for once.
And one time he tried to do something legit.
Some people have already trickled into the establishment here.
"Coming Soon, Fuzzy Bunnies".
I hate it so much.
And I told my husband, "I know you.
You couldn't just open a club.
You have to try them out.
" And I told him to stop.
There's an existing court order and the club cannot be opened.
Three months later, I thought he had sold it or whatever.
So no more Fuzzy Bunny.
And then one night, my son and I went out to dinner.
He was like about two years old.
We're driving down the road and I passed Fuzzy Bunny.
I looked and there's a bunch of guys and I'm like, "Damn, there's my car.
" I got a little closer and I said, "There's my big, fat husband.
" And I turned around and I jumped up on the curb, and And Jerry, he was sitting back, a big fat cat on the phone.
And I just punched him right in the jaw.
I said, "You are so divorced.
" All the guys are just staying in there and just staring.
And I said, "You're going down.
All you motherfuckers are going down.
Every single one of you.
I'm going to the FBI.
" I said, "I'm going to Witness Protection Program.
" I said, "So, just watch out.
" So I go to a payphone, I called my parents.
And I said, "Mom, I need you to take two names down.
She goes, "What the hell have you done?" I said, "Well, I just threatened three goons with the FBI so if you won't hear from me a couple days, you are to contact them and give them these names.
" And Uncle Jerry was on that list.
They meet me home, my husband and two big-ass goons.
And I said, "This is what I want.
I want a moving truck here and a divorce.
" He goes, "Robin, you're never leaving me.
There is no divorce.
You're stuck with me.
" So I called Uncle Jerry.
And he says, "You married the wrong guy.
" And he asked me to marry him.
- Yeah.
- Hold on.
Really? Yeah.
And I told him, "No.
" And I thought I'm never gonna get out of this.
So, I stayed.
But I was a prisoner in my own home.
Jerry Colombo told me that I had to have the South Carolina address.
And he had a cousin that lived at this particular spot and this was gonna be my address.
And at that point, I'm like, "Oh, gosh.
This is what I was expecting.
" He coached me on some things I needed to say and work on, and believe.
I had to leave my voice on the voicemail as if it was my home.
Hi, this is Gloria.
Leave a message and I'll get back with you.
He made me do it until I got it right.
Well, he wanted the right tone, you know.
It had to be happy.
One of the things that constantly crossed my mind is that my life was in danger.
I had no other option but to take this process through.
Robin knew all of my family and my son.
I kind of felt like I was trapped, that it was no way out but to go through it.
When time to turn the game piece in, he picked me up.
Two men, didn't know either one of them.
I almost felt kidnapped in a sense, you know what I'm saying? It's like, "You're gonna ride with us and you're gonna do what we say.
And you're gonna do it right.
" All the way there, Jerry Colombo never stopped talking, telling me what to do and what you're gonna say.
He was just drilling me, and how you're gonna do it.
And he drove me to the McDonald's that they had picked out I was gonna go to.
He parked the car in the comer.
The ticket was in a little valve about this tall with a cap on it.
There I was walking down this block in a place I had never been before.
It was like bank robbery.
They on the block there, they don't wanna be seen.
They down the street, the getaway car.
And I'm like, "Oh, Lord this could go so bad.
" A lot of things are going through my mind.
Am I gonna lie enough to be believable? Am I going to mess up and then I'm in trouble? All kind of stuff was Am I going to jail today behind this foolishness? And then at this point in time, I was about to panic.
And I'm saying to myself, "Oh, Lord Jesus.
" I wanted to cry before I got into the place, and I said, "No, you can't go in there upset.
" I had not be Gloria that time.
I had to become somebody else to make it believable.
Here we go.
And I had to go in and stand to this counter and tell them that it looked like I've been a winner.
The manager came out, said, "Have a seat.
" And I had to give them my information, the fake telephone number, the fake address.
And then they finally came out and congratulated me.
The manager at the McDonald's, the cashiers, everybody running around happy they got the winner come to their McDonald's.
And there I was, I couldn't even put a smile on my face.
By the time I got back to the car, Jerry Colombo was having a fit.
Because it took too long.
And there he was, as soon as I get in the car, "Okay.
What took you so long?" Then I had explained to him.
"What were you doing all that time?" "I was sitting and waiting, you know?" "What did they tell you?" So they told me they'd be getting back with me.
I hung around another day and then I came back to Jacksonville.
And went back to work like nothing had happened, and I just had to wait.
They don't wanna see this club open up.
Now anybody in the Ladson knows that place has been about 50 years.
It's been a biker club.
It's been a night club.
It's been a lounge.
My brother would use loophole after loophole, after loophole, and then he finally came up with one that was saying you can't have female dancers within a thousand feet of a school or something.
So, he turned the Fuzzy Bunny into the Church of Fuzzy Bunny.
The Church of Fuzzy Bunny's The transformation of their club into a church.
Dancing girls, alcoholic drinks and the Bible? Low country preacher say the switch from Fuzzy Bunny Club to Fuzzy Bunny Church is nothing but blasphemy.
I really honestly didn't see the big deal in it.
I swear.
And I'm a woman but I really didn't see the huge deal.
Those two don't mix as far as I'm concerned, church and strip joints just don't mix.
They can't fool people.
No good people is gonna be going in that place.
I don't see nothing with having a place where you can come in, say a few prayers, have a couple drinks see some women dancing.
He liked to be the center of attention.
And if you messed with him, he would just play that game as long as it took.
Mary Anne, you're next on the line with Jerry Colombo.
- Go ahead, Mary Anne.
- Yes.
I think what this is an abomination to God.
And it's wrong in the eyes of God.
And really, it's wrong in morals, too.
- All right.
- Thank you.
God hasn't talked to you lately.
He came to me in a dream couple weeks ago and he told me what I'm doing is fine.
You say that with somewhat of a smirk on your face.
You had to have I did have a dream one night, that's why.
We all have dreams.
I don't know if it's divine or religion, but This one's divine.
- We never wept.
- No.
But it sounded like a fun time, though.
- A little prayer, little pasties.
- Right? All the publicity that has come out of this situation with Fuzzy Bunny's has earned owner Jerry Colombo notice from The National Inquirer, Comedy Central, the cable channel, and this Friday he has a scheduled guest appearance for The David Letterman Show.
Do you think that Jerome Jacobson was angry at your Jerry, for the attention that he was getting for it? Oh, yeah.
Yes.
Jerry Colombo won a Dodge Viper.
Jerry Colombo.
Jerry Colombo.
This is my first letter of congratulation.
They are congratulating me for being a million-dollar winner and explaining to me that I'll be getting $50,000 for the next 20 years.
The check came in the mail which they went to my fake address and Jerry brought it to me.
And I told him the deposits check, and then he saying, "You didn't get any cash off of it?" "No, they got to put a hold on it.
" Well, during that time, my bank account was always though.
I had to go back to the bank and insist on getting something.
So I got $2,000 and I gave it to him.
When it did clear, he was calling me to add to the 2,000 and make it 25.
So I just took the money and gave it to him.
And I didn't say any questions.
He worked out a deal where what I had he took, and for the first five years, I had to give them Give Jerry Colombo $25,000.
Nothing changed for me.
Never acted like I have money.
Because I was in a deeper hole than where I was before I did it.
Took my mortgage up high of course, and I went from paying $307 a month to a thousand dollars.
So I was just like That's when I found out about the taxes.
Jerry Colombo got $25,000 each time before taxes.
I didn't go out and buy anything.
I couldn't buy anything.
I was so stressed.
Well, Jerry Colombo always got to consult with the head man, let me call Uncle Jerry.
Uncle Jerry is being reported to about everything.
During that time I felt like Uncle Jerry was the main mob man.
Within that first year, McDonald's wanted me to do all this publicity, but I just couldn't get into it.
Jerry Colombo's thing was they want you to advertise because you are the first black, and you're a female.
And you got the million dollars.
And I'm saying to myself, yeah, but I don't wanna keep talking to people and telling the story over and over and over and over and over.
But he said, I had to do this.
We stayed in the Four Seasons.
That was the first time I could order what I wanted from the menu and not worry about the tab.
When the girl took so long to come out, I said, "This must be real.
" So it's just all this is beginning to set in.
I just don't know how to describe it, it's indescribable.
The best part about it, the whole thing is that I got a chance to meet Jeremy.
The marketing company, they had a big celebration, it was sort of like a promotion type thing and Jerry Colombo said, "Uncle Jerry gonna be in the audience.
" And I'm like, "Oh, my God.
" So They had a big check for me to hold, take a picture, and then they say, "Speak.
" I'm like, "Oh, here I go, more lies.
" I was counting out of it, I could hear the cameras going.
The whole time I'm thinking about this mob man in the audience.
Never seeing a picture of him, didn't know who I was looking for but I kept looking to see which one it could be.
After that, I thought I just told them, "I don't wanna do anything else.
Don't put me out to do anything else.
" Jerry Colombo said, "Uncle Jerry was in the crowd, he said you did great.
" It just was little things like that that made sure I guess I stayed on my toes and did what I needed to do into a proper.
So I was still under that web the whole time.
I didn't know where to turn, I didn't know what to do, it was just really no way out of it.
And I said to myself, now, what's next? As soon as I got that check things changed.
I'm in his car and we're going to this bank.
Went in to get the check cash right there.
And all the money went right to Jerry's hands.
And teller said to me, he said, "Get that money, it's $50,000 taxes on that, make sure you get that.
" But I didn't think anything of it, you go numb, there's just no thought.
And that's kind of how I felt I think with that money because it's not mine.
He said he had to go to Uncle Jerry first, give him his piece of pie, then everybody gets a piece of pie, and it has to go in that order before I can get my money.
So I kept calling him, and calling him, and he was like, "Call me back, say I'm gonna get the money for you, I got the money on me.
It's gonna be like another week or whatever," he just kept putting me off.
And I heard the difference in his voice like, "Don't bug me, you're gonna get your money.
" I believed that Gennaro owed Uncle Jerry money.
I believe the money got too big to not take a bigger piece of that pie.
Because the spending habits became bigger and grander.
And I'm thinking, okay, that's why I am not getting my money.
I wonder if the local banks, they'll have the money.
- You know, it's a small town.
- It's a cute town.
It's a great little town.
It's like living in the '60s.
You could ask any number of people what would drive you to do what these people did.
The first one I peeled off, I believe, was Pennsylvania and the second one I peeled off was a million-dollar instant prize winner, and it was like, wow, is this for real? A lot of this is stealing money using a device to do it, tricking somebody into it.
And then two or more do that, that's a conspiracy.
Deborah is gonna be so happy I said that.
but it's more than that.
- Breakfast sandwich.
I'm - Yes, breakfast sandwich.
A lot of them are good people, they make bad decisions whether it be they have fallen into a financial problem, and they hear a nice way to get out of it.
That's your motivation, I'm gonna do it because I need money for my kid's health or school, or I'm gonna retire.
Human nature makes us do different things.
People want to justify what they did or why they did it so they can really live with themselves.
Everyone, everyone watching this show cannot stand in front of a mirror, look at themselves in the eyes and say they've never done something that they wish they could correct and take back.
A couple of years later, I had this company and it was calling me on a regular basis, trying to get me to come on this trip.
I was very reluctant but they kept saying it was for other winners, they wanna find out where we are now, what we doing, just a follow-up.
A lot of the stuff I just want to block out and just forget it.
We just kind of went in and laughed, and talked.
Try to make me feel comfortable but I never felt comfortable about this.
Basically what I'd like you to do Somebody asked me a question from this side Then from the other side.
That's when I knew that something wasn't right.
I was about to get sick to the stomach because I knew.
And I was trying to cut them short, and they wouldn't stop asking me questions.
So when did you decide to move back to Jacksonville I feel like an interrogation went on because when I was in there, I was like, I could feel my adrenaline building a little bit because I knew that they wasn't asking me questions The questions they was asking me was just to get it on record how I spent the money.
But I felt it.
That feeling there's something else.
Okay.
Let's rehearse it, okay? You talk to the camera.
You can do it slow because this is like a rehearsal.
Okay.
Did you have fun with the undercover operation? It might have been, but you're about to deprive someone of their freedom, their future, everything from family.
It's not meant to be that kind of fun for us at all.
It's not fun at all to deprive liberty to someone.
We just walked out of there and I was kind of numb walking out the door, I'm like, "Oh, this is it, something is gonna happen from this.
" It wasn't much longer after the Fuzzy Bunny situation.
I got real depressed, I didn't eat.
I was just so distraught and I got mad.
I looked over at him and I told him about Uncle Jerry.
I said, "He asked me to marry him.
" As soon as I said the words I was sorry, because I could tell it was a real thing.
Because at first I thought this could be a setup, maybe they're trying to find out my loyalty, and it wasn't a set up.
And so he cussed Uncle Jerry out.
The next day we're driving down the road.
Jerry's in the passenger seat, I'm driving Frankie is crying in the car seat.
It's bothering Jerry more than it is me.
And we got in an argument.
And so he says, "Rob, I got to put him down, let him down, it's enough.
" And so he took him out of his car seat.
Oh, my God, Jerry, come on.
And a little teardrop came down my face and I thought I'm never gonna get out of this.
Come on.
Lay down.
Come on.
I want mommy, I want mommy.
Where's Oliver? Oliver.
Come on.
I helped pick the winners.
I gave some tickets to some friends of mine And family members who needed it.
I wanted them happy, so I gave them things.
I was gonna get the million dollars, but I gave them to my father.
And maybe if certain things never happened This Monopoly thing would still be on today.
It's true.
MCMILLIONS With Shamrock Productions and the "reunion of winners", I think some of them are legendary, in terms of what was captured on film.
Like Buddy Fisher and Mr.
Hoover.
Gloria Brown was an instant million-dollar winner.
She had won in South Carolina.
Gloria had said her address was in the Hilton Head area of South Carolina, but she was from Jacksonville, Florida.
There was always something that I was trying to drive out.
I was trying to expand the BS that they were trying to put out there, because I know AUSA Devereaux needs a ground ball, boy needs something easy.
I'm kidding.
He's good at his job.
It has been a decade, but I enjoyed it.
First time, yes.
So, when you were in South Carolina, what kind of work did you do there? - I was unemployed at that time - Oh, you were unemployed? But I am a social worker.
I just was taking a break from stress.
I'm not doing it anymore, thank God.
- So, you were a social worker here? - Yeah.
Did you have family up in South Carolina? Why did you move up there? No, most of my family's here.
I had a friend, personal friend and another friend, a couple of friends there, that Basically what I was doing was a lot of visiting, job searching at that time You know, trying to relocate.
One thing that struck me was that Ms.
Brown wasn't as open and friendly as Mr.
Hoover was.
She seemed to be on guard, whether or not she suspected something was awry or not.
She just wasn't as forthcoming.
What I'd like you to do, Gloria, is take us through what a normal day was for you, in Hilton Head.
We wanna show these are regular people that are winning this money.
- It's a family place.
- Yes.
Well, in Hilton Head, during that time, I was living with a friend, of course, and trying to job hunt.
And right now, I have my own agenda.
I have my patients to care for.
I'm busy.
Today, I'm taking a trip and Day to day, I work seven days a week, basically I'm on call all the time.
So, compared to back then and to now, I would say that McDonald's have made it so that I can just lie without any stress.
- So, how long did you live there for? - A little over a year, back and forth.
Many of the winners were saying they lived in one area, but then, had a post office box where they would have their winnings sent to, so they would set up fake addresses.
A lot of the evidence that I was gathering was around where they lived, exactly what store they won the McDonald's Monopoly piece at.
Doug, anything else we need to get about South Carolina for the story? So, I said, "Gloria, do you remember the McDonald's where you went to claim the prize?" "Absolutely.
This is a picture.
" We took a picture of it and put it on this board.
Then she said, "Oh, my God, that's exactly the one.
" And I said, "You know what, can you autograph that for us?" If you could just write, "Thanks, McDonald's.
" - No, thanks a million.
- Thanks a million.
That's good.
Thanks a million.
That's good.
And then, sign it.
That picture that she signed, it was not in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
It was Jacksonville, Florida.
Gloria, do you recall the person that you spoke to at the counter when you No, I sure don't.
The fake address was a part of the scheme.
Rick had this surveillance photo of a McDonald's right there in Jacksonville.
And I go, "Oh, my God, that's perfect.
" So I take it with me.
"What are you gonna do?" I said, "I'm gonna use it.
Wait and see.
I'm gonna show you.
" And as she's doing it, Amy, she's like, "Oh, my God, that's just That's not it.
" And I'm looking over, starting to get louder, and I'm like, I'm looking back at her, "Do you want that here? They're almost you can hear that.
" That's perfect, thank you so much.
Every time I talk to them, they would just lie, lie, lie.
And it was perfect for the FBI because it was really building evidence.
But we also wanted to make sure that it seemed like we were having fun, because once again, that's how it would be at a real shoot.
Now, what I want you to do is take us through "I got my million dollars and I took it to this McDonald's in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
And it made me" Then stand up real slowly and point to your star.
Okay.
Doug brought a lot of that energy.
I know it sounds cheesy, but It looks good when you cut it together.
Here you are up here.
We loved doing goofy stuff.
We can't help ourselves.
That's typical Mathews.
That's what he would do.
Thanks a million, McDonald's.
Okay.
Look right in the camera and say it right there.
Thanks a million, McDonald's.
And it was hard sometimes to keep a straight face, to be honest with you.
It was very hard, what we were doing with the light meter or the camera, or in sitting them and fixing them up, we had no idea.
I got my McDonald's millions million at Hilton Head in South Carolina.
And it made me a millionaire.
That's cute.
- Now, pretty close.
- Pretty close.
Okay.
What I figured out in an early age in the bureau is you push it, and then, you think it's you keep pushing.
You never know when you're gonna hit a wall.
I never found the bottom.
The bottomless was tea glass, right? It's perfect for me.
Just keep going.
And, of course, she did.
Ronald and I was Ro That's okay.
No problem.
Take your time.
Ronald and I will see you in Vegas.
Thank you, McDonald's.
See, she's a pro.
She's good.
We knew it was such good evidence, having Gloria sitting here just making the story up, and doing it with this fake sincerity.
As a criminal investigator, it was an awesome thing to behold.
There were so many different layers of the conspiracy we were investigating, and the more sophisticated a scheme, the more difficult it is to prosecute the case.
Now you have actual video production that you can show a jury that's very powerful.
By this time, literally almost the whole office now, or a big majority of them, have been diverted to work on what we call Operation Final Answer.
We worked seven days a week on a regular basis.
But at times, it did not feel like work.
You had great camaraderie between all of the agents that were working it, and we knew the mission is, what we were trying to accomplish, was a noble one and a good one.
So, nobody ever complained about it.
Things were moving fast.
And naturally, we always want to move at our pace.
We wanna control the timing of things, and we did not have that luxury.
The game was running, the clock was running on how long we could keep it a secret.
Throughout this, we were really, really racking up incredible evidence.
Discovering new people, proving all elements of what was going on.
And we kind of knew the process of how these were placed, but the one thing that was still out there was how is Jerry Jacobson doing this? That was kind of this nagging question mark.
What we had to vet out here is, who was helping Jerry? Hilda Bennett was the CPA that would travel with Mr.
Jacobson to these various manufacturing plants and we didn't know, are they in cahoots? On an investigation, you just don't cut somebody out.
And so, we had to surveil Ms.
Bennett as well.
- You want cheese? - Yup.
Hi, I need to get a large coffee with ten cream and five sugar.
- Anything else? - Yup.
Another large coffee - With ten cream and five Equal.
- Okay.
- That is Equal? - Yup.
- Thank you.
Have a great day.
- Thank you.
Oh, it's perfect.
The one time I've seen Uncle Jerry was up in Georgia.
My brother went to go and visit.
I stayed in the car.
I didn't get out of the car because he didn't directly involve me, because he was always trying to protect me.
But giving you a little taste at the same time.
I guess so.
Yeah, yeah.
Uncle Jerry was a middle-aged guy.
Just normal average height, normal average build.
But size doesn't matter.
Like my dad always used to say and still does say, as long as this works, that's all I need.
One finger.
And it's the truth.
- And the family that's backing you.
- And the family.
That's a big thing.
Jerome was getting the tickets.
But when it came to dispersing the tickets I don't think he had the resources to do the big one-million-dollar hits everywhere.
I think that's where my brother took the reins of everything.
So, Uncle Jerry was getting the tickets and selling them to my brother.
And then, my brother would sell them to other people.
And it was just, literally, it was a monopoly of scams.
THE DEAL Every ticket was a little different.
The agreement with Uncle Jerry was depending on the value of the ticket.
The million-dollar tickets were going for 50 grand.
Uncle Jerry would get the 50, and my brother would get half of whoever won.
And so, if they got the payments for 20 years and so forth, he'd get half, and then, the winner would get half.
So it was a better deal for my brother, long-term, than it was for Uncle Jerry.
I really didn't think much of it because someone had to win.
So, in my brother's eyes, it was, "Instead of Joe Schmoe winning, I'm gonna make John Schmoe win.
" The money is still gonna go somewhere.
He was just redirecting it.
The one-million-dollar ticket was supposed to be our wedding gift.
We were married November 24, 1997.
- 1996.
- 1996.
Let's start that over again.
Cut that.
Cut that.
Oops.
I'm getting my ass kicked tonight.
Okay.
But that was gonna be our gift, a wedding gift, free of charge.
We didn't have to buy it.
The McDonald's piece was end one of the little, I guess, you'd call them eggs, like you kids get toys in the gumball machines.
It was in there in the back of the freezer, underneath two ice cube trays.
I remember exactly how it sat.
- It was just chilling.
- It was just chilling.
I always looked up to my brother, he was my protector, pretty much.
He would always come to visit me and throw me a couple thousand dollars, it was me giving away a couple dollars to the kids.
This is our son Frankie, he dropped about a 150,000 thousand dollars, and we just decided to take a picture, it was kind of funny.
I was so upset over that picture.
Because it was such dirty money around such a clean perfect baby.
It was pretty crazy, but with that comes a price.
Put it this way.
Uncle Jerry calling my home at least three times a week, to tell Jerry what we had to do next.
And he and I will talk sometimes 30 minutes, and most 45 minutes and my husband would meet him in Atlanta.
I don't know how many people he hooked up.
It was way more than I thought it was.
My brother had a lot of connections all over the place because he had night clubs and certain things he was doing that I can't mention because the FBI's gonna watch this tape someday.
But there was a lot of things that he was in to.
So my brother started expanding to in-laws, and brother-in-laws, and friends, and friends of friends and that's how he took this little small operation, and made it huge.
I was working at the airlines in Jacksonville here, and a passenger came for a name Colombo.
Right off the bat, he was very personable and a gentleman.
My last name was Italian, so he seemed to take a liking to me.
First thing he said to me was like, "Here's some money go eat.
Go eat.
" And I just thought that was so funny because that's how Italians are, and it just made me feel at ease with him, that this is a good person.
I never knew he was married, I didn't really care because I didn't really have any relationship on that level in my mind, anyways.
One day, we were just driving around, and he says, "I wanna show you something.
" So we pulled over And he reaches around the backseat, and he pulls out the winning pieces.
It was, like, the whole thing, it's a hundred thousand dollars.
And I was like, "Wow.
So many people are trying to win this thing and you're sitting here with all four pieces.
" "If you're interested," he says, "just walk in McDonald's, and this is what you got to do, and this is it how it rolls.
" He goes, "I'll give you 20,000 now, and another 10,000 later.
" And I thought, "Wow, that's a lot of money.
" I could go buy me a car, I could go do some stuff Because back then I'm working at the airlines, what am I making? 10 dollars an hour, and I was game for something exhilarating.
So, he had me fly to Philly.
Being with the airlines, I could do that.
And he picked me up at the airport, we drove right to McDonald's and I didn't have to think for myself.
Just follow the script.
And that's exactly what I did.
And I was just like, "I am the winner.
" And he's like, "So you're the winner?" It was just too easy.
But I didn't know the aftermath that was to follow.
Because there was things that nobody knew, and I just kept it all in myself.
My husband, he picked the winners, but he kept picking Italians on the East Coast.
They were kind of being stupid about it.
Somebody was bound to get suspicious.
So, I told my husband, "I've got a friend in Jacksonville.
Bring some women into it, and women of color.
" My name is Gloria Brown-Byer, and I live in Jacksonville.
I've been here all my life.
I didn't wanna be interviewed anymore.
I don't wanna talk to anybody else about the McDonald's thing.
Because it was a whole lot.
I was the McDonald's million-dollar winner.
And this is the first time that I had an opportunity to just say, "Okay.
I'mma lay all my cards on the table and to tell everything.
" Even though my sister was there, she don't know all the details.
She'll be hearing this for the first time herself, some of that stuff.
I have a son, and I raised him as a single parent.
He, as a child, was very understanding.
We had a relationship, where if money was not available, I discuss it with him, and we worked it out together.
I always had to work and I always managed to keep a job, but it was always a struggle.
Years passed by, and I didn't see Robin for some years, and when she called me, she told me she had got married.
And thinking maybe now she has somebody that can look out for her, and she was very happy being with Jerry.
I think it was in '97.
Robin had called me and said she wanted to discuss with me, but we couldn't talk about it over the phone.
So, Jerry asked me to come and visit.
It was at their home in South Carolina.
My first impression of Jerry Colombo was that he was a real-life comedian-type guy and He treated me just like I had been around the whole time.
But the things that bothered me is that there was never any time that she and I could be alone, even when we went shopping, he went shopping with us.
One night, I just said, "Can you just leave us alone for a few minutes? Turn, Jerry.
" And then, he left us alone, just for a few minutes, and he came back.
We were not allowed to really discuss anything.
Finally, he talked to me about a proposition, and it was a proposition that would help me.
He asked me, "Was I familiar with the McDonald's game piece?" And I said, "Yes.
" So, he said people appear to be winners.
This is how it's always been done.
And then, he told me that he would let me know what the next step was.
When I first got the offer I thought to myself, that it was a blessing that came knocking at my door.
And I was going to church and I was trying to do the right thing.
And my son was young.
I was making probably about $24,000 a year.
it was just By the time taxes and stuff come out, there's really nothing.
And I just wanted a better life, and I just feel like this is my opportunity.
And I say, "Well, this couldn't come to me if it wasn't meant for me.
" My brother was always joking around, always making people laugh, very light-hearted.
But if you pissed him off, then he can have a temper as well.
But he never was the type of person who would grab you or threaten you, or rough you up.
You knew, if he looked at you, when he told you exactly what he wanted you to do, you knew you had to do it.
The whole relationship changed.
it got to the point that I didn't talk to Robin anymore.
I only talked to Jerry Colombo.
I finally got the information from him that I was gonna be a million-dollar winner, and that he needed me to come up with some money.
And I'm asking him, "Why?" Then he said, "Everybody that wins had to give some upfront money.
" And I'm like, "How much?" And he asked me, how much could I come up with? I said, "I really don't have any money.
" So, he said, "So can you get money off your house?" Can't back out now, he's told me too much.
I mortgaged my home to get my upfront money.
I put all the stuff I worked hard for on the line, because I believed this was my blessing.
I met him on the side of the road and gave him my first portion of my money.
It felt like something had just been ripped from me.
To meet somebody on the side of the road and give them cash money that much at one time That's more than I ever had in my hand at one time in my life.
And I just had to give it all away.
I just felt that I just had given my life away and I'm giving it to somebody I don't know much about.
Can I even trust this guy? Before my husband was working the Monopoly fraud game, we had my son, Francesco Gennaro Colombo.
Say hi to the camera, Frankie.
Hi, camera.
- Hi, camera.
- Bye, camera.
- Easy.
- Basketball.
- Basketball.
- Yeah, I think he wants I was at times really very happy.
I had my son, I have some money.
I should've at least been having a good time.
But I was never satisfied ever.
I went from home to home, thinking that one was gonna make it better.
You don't have friends, you can't bring friends in that lifestyle.
Even though I adored my husband, I found out he had a mistress on the side, which I guess is a prerequisite of an Italian gangster to have a mistress.
I was walking down the hallway to check on Frankie, while he was sleeping, when I heard my husband on the telephone saying some unsavory words to her.
And I barged in, I said, "Who the hell are you talking to?" Then I took the phone from him and slammed it across his face.
They did get in a lot of fights.
She would say a lot of mean nasty things to him, she was very abusive as far as physical, slapping, and so on.
Robin will just try swinging and clawing at him.
And he would grab her hands and say, "Stop.
Stop.
Stop it.
" Anytime I threaten to leave him, Uncle Jerry would step in Send 15 grand, buy me a car, whatever to appease me.
And So I wouldn't leave.
My brother was always making money and he was never home.
He always had an excuse to go somewhere, to go on a business trip.
So I knew he wasn't happy.
During the Monopoly situation my brother wanted to open up a club in Ladson County, South Carolina.
I believe he was trying to get away from the life of crime and he was trying to make a legitimate business.
So he opened up a place called the Fuzzy Bunny.
The Fuzzy Bunny opened its doors just a half hour ago, opening the doors to a steamy controversy.
Gurnal? Debbie, we are here at the Fuzzy Bunny which is located on Highway 78 in Royal just down the road from the Fairgrounds in Ladson.
And the entertainment and the dancing have begun here at the club.
And he had some dancers.
They were wearing bikini tops.
- And pasties and shorts.
- It was not full nudity.
He wanted to do classy places.
- He had his morals.
- Yeah, he had his morals.
I got girls in Daisy Dukes, Tops.
I got volleyball courts being built outside.
I have live concerts here on the weekends.
And that's about it really.
He wanted to make a gentleman's club.
His goal was to open up four, five of these all through Hilton Head and North and South Carolina.
The county kept on fighting him, and fighting him, and fighting him.
They kept on shutting him down for this permit, that permit.
- That's not gonna stop you from that? - No.
My attorney told me we can Whatever we got to do, we're gonna do.
I'm out here trying to earn a living for my family just like you are.
I was proud of him for actually doing something legal for once.
And one time he tried to do something legit.
Some people have already trickled into the establishment here.
"Coming Soon, Fuzzy Bunnies".
I hate it so much.
And I told my husband, "I know you.
You couldn't just open a club.
You have to try them out.
" And I told him to stop.
There's an existing court order and the club cannot be opened.
Three months later, I thought he had sold it or whatever.
So no more Fuzzy Bunny.
And then one night, my son and I went out to dinner.
He was like about two years old.
We're driving down the road and I passed Fuzzy Bunny.
I looked and there's a bunch of guys and I'm like, "Damn, there's my car.
" I got a little closer and I said, "There's my big, fat husband.
" And I turned around and I jumped up on the curb, and And Jerry, he was sitting back, a big fat cat on the phone.
And I just punched him right in the jaw.
I said, "You are so divorced.
" All the guys are just staying in there and just staring.
And I said, "You're going down.
All you motherfuckers are going down.
Every single one of you.
I'm going to the FBI.
" I said, "I'm going to Witness Protection Program.
" I said, "So, just watch out.
" So I go to a payphone, I called my parents.
And I said, "Mom, I need you to take two names down.
She goes, "What the hell have you done?" I said, "Well, I just threatened three goons with the FBI so if you won't hear from me a couple days, you are to contact them and give them these names.
" And Uncle Jerry was on that list.
They meet me home, my husband and two big-ass goons.
And I said, "This is what I want.
I want a moving truck here and a divorce.
" He goes, "Robin, you're never leaving me.
There is no divorce.
You're stuck with me.
" So I called Uncle Jerry.
And he says, "You married the wrong guy.
" And he asked me to marry him.
- Yeah.
- Hold on.
Really? Yeah.
And I told him, "No.
" And I thought I'm never gonna get out of this.
So, I stayed.
But I was a prisoner in my own home.
Jerry Colombo told me that I had to have the South Carolina address.
And he had a cousin that lived at this particular spot and this was gonna be my address.
And at that point, I'm like, "Oh, gosh.
This is what I was expecting.
" He coached me on some things I needed to say and work on, and believe.
I had to leave my voice on the voicemail as if it was my home.
Hi, this is Gloria.
Leave a message and I'll get back with you.
He made me do it until I got it right.
Well, he wanted the right tone, you know.
It had to be happy.
One of the things that constantly crossed my mind is that my life was in danger.
I had no other option but to take this process through.
Robin knew all of my family and my son.
I kind of felt like I was trapped, that it was no way out but to go through it.
When time to turn the game piece in, he picked me up.
Two men, didn't know either one of them.
I almost felt kidnapped in a sense, you know what I'm saying? It's like, "You're gonna ride with us and you're gonna do what we say.
And you're gonna do it right.
" All the way there, Jerry Colombo never stopped talking, telling me what to do and what you're gonna say.
He was just drilling me, and how you're gonna do it.
And he drove me to the McDonald's that they had picked out I was gonna go to.
He parked the car in the comer.
The ticket was in a little valve about this tall with a cap on it.
There I was walking down this block in a place I had never been before.
It was like bank robbery.
They on the block there, they don't wanna be seen.
They down the street, the getaway car.
And I'm like, "Oh, Lord this could go so bad.
" A lot of things are going through my mind.
Am I gonna lie enough to be believable? Am I going to mess up and then I'm in trouble? All kind of stuff was Am I going to jail today behind this foolishness? And then at this point in time, I was about to panic.
And I'm saying to myself, "Oh, Lord Jesus.
" I wanted to cry before I got into the place, and I said, "No, you can't go in there upset.
" I had not be Gloria that time.
I had to become somebody else to make it believable.
Here we go.
And I had to go in and stand to this counter and tell them that it looked like I've been a winner.
The manager came out, said, "Have a seat.
" And I had to give them my information, the fake telephone number, the fake address.
And then they finally came out and congratulated me.
The manager at the McDonald's, the cashiers, everybody running around happy they got the winner come to their McDonald's.
And there I was, I couldn't even put a smile on my face.
By the time I got back to the car, Jerry Colombo was having a fit.
Because it took too long.
And there he was, as soon as I get in the car, "Okay.
What took you so long?" Then I had explained to him.
"What were you doing all that time?" "I was sitting and waiting, you know?" "What did they tell you?" So they told me they'd be getting back with me.
I hung around another day and then I came back to Jacksonville.
And went back to work like nothing had happened, and I just had to wait.
They don't wanna see this club open up.
Now anybody in the Ladson knows that place has been about 50 years.
It's been a biker club.
It's been a night club.
It's been a lounge.
My brother would use loophole after loophole, after loophole, and then he finally came up with one that was saying you can't have female dancers within a thousand feet of a school or something.
So, he turned the Fuzzy Bunny into the Church of Fuzzy Bunny.
The Church of Fuzzy Bunny's The transformation of their club into a church.
Dancing girls, alcoholic drinks and the Bible? Low country preacher say the switch from Fuzzy Bunny Club to Fuzzy Bunny Church is nothing but blasphemy.
I really honestly didn't see the big deal in it.
I swear.
And I'm a woman but I really didn't see the huge deal.
Those two don't mix as far as I'm concerned, church and strip joints just don't mix.
They can't fool people.
No good people is gonna be going in that place.
I don't see nothing with having a place where you can come in, say a few prayers, have a couple drinks see some women dancing.
He liked to be the center of attention.
And if you messed with him, he would just play that game as long as it took.
Mary Anne, you're next on the line with Jerry Colombo.
- Go ahead, Mary Anne.
- Yes.
I think what this is an abomination to God.
And it's wrong in the eyes of God.
And really, it's wrong in morals, too.
- All right.
- Thank you.
God hasn't talked to you lately.
He came to me in a dream couple weeks ago and he told me what I'm doing is fine.
You say that with somewhat of a smirk on your face.
You had to have I did have a dream one night, that's why.
We all have dreams.
I don't know if it's divine or religion, but This one's divine.
- We never wept.
- No.
But it sounded like a fun time, though.
- A little prayer, little pasties.
- Right? All the publicity that has come out of this situation with Fuzzy Bunny's has earned owner Jerry Colombo notice from The National Inquirer, Comedy Central, the cable channel, and this Friday he has a scheduled guest appearance for The David Letterman Show.
Do you think that Jerome Jacobson was angry at your Jerry, for the attention that he was getting for it? Oh, yeah.
Yes.
Jerry Colombo won a Dodge Viper.
Jerry Colombo.
Jerry Colombo.
This is my first letter of congratulation.
They are congratulating me for being a million-dollar winner and explaining to me that I'll be getting $50,000 for the next 20 years.
The check came in the mail which they went to my fake address and Jerry brought it to me.
And I told him the deposits check, and then he saying, "You didn't get any cash off of it?" "No, they got to put a hold on it.
" Well, during that time, my bank account was always though.
I had to go back to the bank and insist on getting something.
So I got $2,000 and I gave it to him.
When it did clear, he was calling me to add to the 2,000 and make it 25.
So I just took the money and gave it to him.
And I didn't say any questions.
He worked out a deal where what I had he took, and for the first five years, I had to give them Give Jerry Colombo $25,000.
Nothing changed for me.
Never acted like I have money.
Because I was in a deeper hole than where I was before I did it.
Took my mortgage up high of course, and I went from paying $307 a month to a thousand dollars.
So I was just like That's when I found out about the taxes.
Jerry Colombo got $25,000 each time before taxes.
I didn't go out and buy anything.
I couldn't buy anything.
I was so stressed.
Well, Jerry Colombo always got to consult with the head man, let me call Uncle Jerry.
Uncle Jerry is being reported to about everything.
During that time I felt like Uncle Jerry was the main mob man.
Within that first year, McDonald's wanted me to do all this publicity, but I just couldn't get into it.
Jerry Colombo's thing was they want you to advertise because you are the first black, and you're a female.
And you got the million dollars.
And I'm saying to myself, yeah, but I don't wanna keep talking to people and telling the story over and over and over and over and over.
But he said, I had to do this.
We stayed in the Four Seasons.
That was the first time I could order what I wanted from the menu and not worry about the tab.
When the girl took so long to come out, I said, "This must be real.
" So it's just all this is beginning to set in.
I just don't know how to describe it, it's indescribable.
The best part about it, the whole thing is that I got a chance to meet Jeremy.
The marketing company, they had a big celebration, it was sort of like a promotion type thing and Jerry Colombo said, "Uncle Jerry gonna be in the audience.
" And I'm like, "Oh, my God.
" So They had a big check for me to hold, take a picture, and then they say, "Speak.
" I'm like, "Oh, here I go, more lies.
" I was counting out of it, I could hear the cameras going.
The whole time I'm thinking about this mob man in the audience.
Never seeing a picture of him, didn't know who I was looking for but I kept looking to see which one it could be.
After that, I thought I just told them, "I don't wanna do anything else.
Don't put me out to do anything else.
" Jerry Colombo said, "Uncle Jerry was in the crowd, he said you did great.
" It just was little things like that that made sure I guess I stayed on my toes and did what I needed to do into a proper.
So I was still under that web the whole time.
I didn't know where to turn, I didn't know what to do, it was just really no way out of it.
And I said to myself, now, what's next? As soon as I got that check things changed.
I'm in his car and we're going to this bank.
Went in to get the check cash right there.
And all the money went right to Jerry's hands.
And teller said to me, he said, "Get that money, it's $50,000 taxes on that, make sure you get that.
" But I didn't think anything of it, you go numb, there's just no thought.
And that's kind of how I felt I think with that money because it's not mine.
He said he had to go to Uncle Jerry first, give him his piece of pie, then everybody gets a piece of pie, and it has to go in that order before I can get my money.
So I kept calling him, and calling him, and he was like, "Call me back, say I'm gonna get the money for you, I got the money on me.
It's gonna be like another week or whatever," he just kept putting me off.
And I heard the difference in his voice like, "Don't bug me, you're gonna get your money.
" I believed that Gennaro owed Uncle Jerry money.
I believe the money got too big to not take a bigger piece of that pie.
Because the spending habits became bigger and grander.
And I'm thinking, okay, that's why I am not getting my money.
I wonder if the local banks, they'll have the money.
- You know, it's a small town.
- It's a cute town.
It's a great little town.
It's like living in the '60s.
You could ask any number of people what would drive you to do what these people did.
The first one I peeled off, I believe, was Pennsylvania and the second one I peeled off was a million-dollar instant prize winner, and it was like, wow, is this for real? A lot of this is stealing money using a device to do it, tricking somebody into it.
And then two or more do that, that's a conspiracy.
Deborah is gonna be so happy I said that.
but it's more than that.
- Breakfast sandwich.
I'm - Yes, breakfast sandwich.
A lot of them are good people, they make bad decisions whether it be they have fallen into a financial problem, and they hear a nice way to get out of it.
That's your motivation, I'm gonna do it because I need money for my kid's health or school, or I'm gonna retire.
Human nature makes us do different things.
People want to justify what they did or why they did it so they can really live with themselves.
Everyone, everyone watching this show cannot stand in front of a mirror, look at themselves in the eyes and say they've never done something that they wish they could correct and take back.
A couple of years later, I had this company and it was calling me on a regular basis, trying to get me to come on this trip.
I was very reluctant but they kept saying it was for other winners, they wanna find out where we are now, what we doing, just a follow-up.
A lot of the stuff I just want to block out and just forget it.
We just kind of went in and laughed, and talked.
Try to make me feel comfortable but I never felt comfortable about this.
Basically what I'd like you to do Somebody asked me a question from this side Then from the other side.
That's when I knew that something wasn't right.
I was about to get sick to the stomach because I knew.
And I was trying to cut them short, and they wouldn't stop asking me questions.
So when did you decide to move back to Jacksonville I feel like an interrogation went on because when I was in there, I was like, I could feel my adrenaline building a little bit because I knew that they wasn't asking me questions The questions they was asking me was just to get it on record how I spent the money.
But I felt it.
That feeling there's something else.
Okay.
Let's rehearse it, okay? You talk to the camera.
You can do it slow because this is like a rehearsal.
Okay.
Did you have fun with the undercover operation? It might have been, but you're about to deprive someone of their freedom, their future, everything from family.
It's not meant to be that kind of fun for us at all.
It's not fun at all to deprive liberty to someone.
We just walked out of there and I was kind of numb walking out the door, I'm like, "Oh, this is it, something is gonna happen from this.
" It wasn't much longer after the Fuzzy Bunny situation.
I got real depressed, I didn't eat.
I was just so distraught and I got mad.
I looked over at him and I told him about Uncle Jerry.
I said, "He asked me to marry him.
" As soon as I said the words I was sorry, because I could tell it was a real thing.
Because at first I thought this could be a setup, maybe they're trying to find out my loyalty, and it wasn't a set up.
And so he cussed Uncle Jerry out.
The next day we're driving down the road.
Jerry's in the passenger seat, I'm driving Frankie is crying in the car seat.
It's bothering Jerry more than it is me.
And we got in an argument.
And so he says, "Rob, I got to put him down, let him down, it's enough.
" And so he took him out of his car seat.
Oh, my God, Jerry, come on.
And a little teardrop came down my face and I thought I'm never gonna get out of this.
Come on.
Lay down.
Come on.
I want mommy, I want mommy.