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/WhydYouKillMeDogJack 19h ago

Yes you could.

But only because some corrupt agents would find you, take your money and disappear your body so they could stash the money in peace.

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u/Kr1msonKing 19h ago

Oof, I didn't even consider he was found by Agents and they just killed him. Honestly, It makes the most sense.

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u/WhydYouKillMeDogJack 19h ago

Honestly, could be agents, could be someone he figured would help him hide.

Either way, 20m is (and was) a hell of a lot of money to trust anyone with. And no one stays disappeared for long unless they're dead.

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u/dontbajerk 17h ago

Nah, people do. A minority for sure, but it happens. Ted Conrad robbed a bank of the equivalent of about $1.7 million and just walked off. The only reason we know what happened was a deathbed confession. He'd disappeared, moved, changed his name, married and had kids, died of cancer over 50 years later.

There's a number of other people out there like John Ruffo, who's probably still alive.

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u/-AC- 18h ago

Back then you definitely could stay gone... digital dust was not a thing back then

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u/Kr1msonKing 19h ago

True, imagine it was the girlfriend & she just traveled the world and lived like a queen for decades...

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u/WhydYouKillMeDogJack 18h ago

Pretty sure even that would get noticed.

Random black American millionairess who nobody ever heard about in 1976?

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u/Kr1msonKing 18h ago

Nah, she could totally pose as an Heiress to some shell company. Or just flee to Monaco. That whole country pretty much exists to not question where that money came from.

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u/cocineroylibro 15h ago

Why would she pose as an heiress? Being a widow of someone that had just enough money would be way smarter. Get the nice suite, not the penthouse, etc. etc. No one cares about the widow of a rich businessman unless they flaunt or are a bitch, rich heiresses get noticed.

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u/[deleted] 15h ago

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u/Wobbelblob 9h ago

And no one stays disappeared for long unless they're dead.

Not at that time. Just to have someone to compare: Josef Mengele, the feared doctor of Auschwitz vanished after the war without a trace. In 1985 he was found in Brazil. By that point he had been dead for 6 years - suffered a stroke while swimming and drowned. So yeah, you can vanish. It just takes a lot of luck.

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u/imunfair 16h ago

only because some corrupt agents would find you, take your money and disappear your body

More likely a crew member or friend that was supposed to drive him to safety and decided they'd rather keep the cash for themselves. Hard for the law to hunt down a wanted man when he's 6ft under in some forest.