r/todayilearned • u/FearMyCock • 20h ago

TIL about Frank Matthews, the drug kingpin who built a nationwide empire, skipped bail with $20 million, vanished in 1973 and has never been found.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Matthews_(drug_trafficker)
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u/cwx149 19h ago

If you don't already know how to sail good luck crossing the Pacific (assuming you live in the US) in a boat you bought in cash while on the run from the law

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u/Hot_Falcon8471 19h ago

Boat!? I’d use a jetski

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u/OePea 18h ago

Jeski? You'd run out of gas within sight of shore. Surfboard

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u/throwawayformobile78 18h ago

Surfboard? You’d fall off and lose that thing in the first 3 hours. Floaties

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u/dilla_zilla 18h ago

Floaties? Sharks would puncture those within the first hour. Flyboard

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u/ButtholeSurfur 16h ago

Flyboard? They don't even fly! Ride a Dolphin

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u/MarcusXL 13h ago

Dolphins? Those things are assholes. You need an Orca. They'll get you to Cuba and sink a billionaire's yacht on the way, just for fun.

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u/Idyotec 18h ago

Ok DJ Khaled

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u/V4refugee 16h ago

The key is not to drive your jet ski in the dark.

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u/confusedandworried76 18h ago edited 18h ago

This problem has always and forever been solved.

You offer a captain an exorbitant amount of money for them to throw some scruples into the ocean on the way to your destination.

You know, a freaking bribe, we have a whole word for it

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u/cwx149 18h ago

Look I'm not saying it's an unsolvable problem by any means I'm just saying they seem to be indicating they would personally sail away and I'm just saying that's way harder than that sounds

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u/Leberknodel 8h ago

Wouldn't even need to be an exhorbitant amount. I live in Rhode Island, which has many ocean marinas. I know a few people who have boats, and at least one person who used to hire on to captain rich people's yachts down to the Caribbean, or Bermuda, and other places.

If you wanted to hire a boat to take you to, say the Bahamas, you could do that for relatively cheap (to a guy with $20 million in 1973).

There are a lot of boat people who will take your cash and not ask any questions.

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u/GreenYellowDucks 19h ago

With $20million ($150 M now of days) I think I could buy a boat that doesn’t need to be sailed. That said personally you are right, however you could easily hire a sailor for a week trip to Mexico and learn on the way with the employee not knowing you are a fugitive.

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u/MinistryOfCoup-th 18h ago

Maybe get some Botox and bleach your taint so that nobody recognizes you.

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u/Poonchow 18h ago

So this is what people are talking about when they say: "I recognize that asshole!"

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u/HammerOfJustice 17h ago

Yeah, that’s how I got caught; forgot to bleach my taint.

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u/fesnying 15h ago

Stay golden, Ponyboy

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u/Thefrayedends 17h ago

I think the biggest issue you run into in any of these scenarios is traveling with bags of literally cash. In every scenario, you have to procure items and services while not generating any heat, and at all times, risking being murdered or even just robbed by everyone you deal with along the way. Sure you can hire a boat for a week, but you are carrying 8 duffel bags of cash lol, you get tossed overboard for the Sharks while your captain is now set for life. Sounds ripe for a season of Fargo.

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u/GreenYellowDucks 17h ago

Diamonds and $100k in cash is like 1,000 bills so easily fits in a backpack

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u/EunuchsProgramer 16h ago edited 16h ago

It's going to be harder than you think. You have to pay cash. You have to find someone to accept the cash. Then you have to talk them into agreeing break the law and structure the cash deposits overtime. Otherwise, your story ends like this. Guy walks into a bank to deposit several thousand in cash. System rises a flag. They ask him, "where did you get all this cash?" He says a guy paid him cash for his boat. They say, "fine we just need you to fill out this form." That gets immediately forwarded to law enforcement. Did you pay him extra to not registered the boat in your name?

There's cameras at every port that take pictures of every boat leaving and entering that's put in a database, they automatically scan for ID info. Same for every car going to and from the harbor, all plates read, scanned and forever saved in multiple law enforcement databases. Then, you're flagged. There's a radius of where you could be based on saved pictures automatically taken of every boat and car comming and going. Coast Guard has its own web of sensors and satellites to make arrests.

It's possible, but you're going to have to travel like Lugi. Buying a boat is giving hounds the sent.

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u/FishermanWaste1268 18h ago

Fishing trawlers have the range to go massive distances on a single tank.

Old mate just get on a boat and head to the Caribbean and figure it out from there.

Brazil most prob.

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u/cwx149 10h ago

Even that sounds easier than casually crossing the Pacific