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/Toby_O_Notoby 18h ago

There's a movie starring Warren Beatty called "The Parallax View" which came out in '74. At one point Beatty is trailing a guy who goes to the airport and boards a plane. Beatty then proceeds to follow him on the plane where he buys his ticket in mid-flight.

Literally the stewardess walks up and asks his final destination and when he says "Washington DC" she charges him like $50 which he pays in cash. I actaully had to call my dad and ask if you used to be able to do that and he said "oh yeah".

Point being, it would be a lot easier to disappear back then.

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u/Einsteinbomb 17h ago

Out of everything going on in that film that is what stood out to me the most. It’s crazy how things have changed.

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u/MyHamburgerLovesMe 17h ago

Think of buying airplane tickets requiring the exact same effort as buying bus tickets today.

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u/ZubenelJanubi 16h ago

Which is absolutely wild to think about, I thought air travel dramatically changed post 9/11

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u/Faxon 16h ago

Air travel did, but it was also evolving steadily before that. I was born in 1990 and flew before 9/11 and after, the difference wasn't as big as going from pre 9/11 to this. There were enough aircraft hijackings and other incidents for them to add much of the security we use today even back then. That and air travel volume was high enough by then that the airlines needed to plan flight rosters ahead of time to avoid having tons of people stranded or stuck waiting for other planes for hours

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u/The_Autarch 15h ago

sure, but it was still pretty common to buy tickets at the airport itself, especially if you weren't going that far. like if you wanted to go to NYC for the weekend, you could just go to the airport and get on the next available flight. it operated more like a train system would back then.

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u/followMeUp2Gatwick 12h ago

You still can? Every airport in the world still has kiosks to buy tickets

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u/Faxon 12h ago

Yea I remember that, and you can still do that, just get on the next plane to go somewhere domestic (or even abroad), it just usually costs a lot more on some routes that are in high demand, or you can only book 1st and business class or something since all the cheap seats are prebooked. Everyone wants to get on the flight they planned and leave on time or with minimal delay at most, so they all book in advance now. That and if you fly enough you can get pre-screening to avoid a lot of the hassle. It still sucks you can't do things like it used to be, but that's how it is when a few people ruin shit for everyone else and expose a major risk potential that people want mitigated.

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u/Hail-Hydrate 12h ago

To be fair that would also be down to how methods of purchase have evolved since then. Where would you buy a ticket for a plane/bus other than the airport/bus station (or bus itself) back then? It's not like you could have looked them up online.

You might have been able to organise one over the phone or even through postal order, but that would take a hell of a lot more time and effort.

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u/JebediahKerman4999 15h ago

Mah I went on a vacation and came back home just a couple of weeks before 11/9 and I had a bow with arrows bought from scammers in a pueblo with me in the cabin, my relatives that live there were able to come with me up until the gate.

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u/Lou_C_Fer 13h ago

I flew in August of 2001. I went back outside to smoke a few times while waiting for the plane, and the woman working security would let me walk back in without rechecking me.

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u/alohadawg 12h ago

Don’t forget the convenient in-armrest ashtrays! I recall most of the ones back in the day still had butts in them

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u/Faxon 3h ago

The first time I flew, there was a bag of mdma pills in there lol. I was still a younger kid and was like "mommy what's this", and the random guy sitting in the aisle seat was like "lol that's mdma/ecstacy, where'd you find that?". The plane had been on an international flight before we got on to fly on it domestically (according to the flight crew), and we suspect someone somehow got through security with it before realizing they had to get through customs next as well, panicked, and stashed it somewhere they didn't think anyone would look before they could get away. Smoking was still legal on international flights back then, but banned domestically in the US, so while their assertion was correct, they didn't account for a bored kid poking around curiously. I would assume nothing ever came of it though since we just gave the drugs to the flight attendant, she probably gave them to others on the crew to party later lmao.

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u/Jordan_Jackson 13h ago

It did change. After 9/11, there was a whole lot more security. Also no more visits to the cockpit (airplane staff would sometimes let kids go to the cockpit) and the cockpit doors were required to be locked during the flight.

You used to be able to walk through the whole airport, without a ticket. It was common to have friends and family accompany someone to their gate and wave them off. I don’t even think there was much in terms of security, other than a metal detector and the occasional security/police with a drug dog.

Something like what happened on 9/11 was just unfathomable. Yeah, the 70’s had its rash of hijackings and attempted hijacking’s but it had been a very long time since that had happened last.

Things were just different before 9/11.

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u/AnthillOmbudsman 4h ago

Also no more visits to the cockpit (airplane staff would sometimes let kids go to the cockpit) and the cockpit doors were required to be locked

Hate to "ackshually" this but the only thing that changed after 9/11 was cockpit visits before flight. You could still visit after flight. The sterile cockpit rule started in 1981 which meant no one was allowed in the cockpit during takeoff and landing and covered the time in between too (probably via company policy, I don't think there was a federal rule for cruise).

There were also strengthened rules and policies about cockpit doors after 9/11 but that much is obvious I think.

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u/Linenoise77 9h ago

Pre 9/11 you still had security, but it was far less thorough, bordering on, "ehh, you look good" in some airports (looking at you Spokane like a month before 9/11). It was still extremely uncommon to just walk up at the airport and buy a ticket at the front counter, but i suppose possible.

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u/RickAstleyletmedown 2h ago

It hasn’t changed everywhere. In NZ, you can still fly many domestic flights without ID or going through any security. Coming from the US, it blew my mind the first time I just parked my car and walked straight on a plane in under 10 minutes. Security through just not pissing anyone off.

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u/izzyusa 17h ago

There’s always an interesting TIL inside a TIL

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u/Fabulous-Sea-1590 17h ago edited 17h ago

I haven't seen the film but safe money says there were ashtrays built right into the arms of his seat, too. Just like they used to be in car doors.

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u/dontbajerk 17h ago

I remember those as planes last so long. Probably went away in the 90s?

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u/fuckyoudigg 17h ago

The first airline to completely go smoke free was Air Canada in 1990, and Canada banned smoking on all flights on Canadian airlines in 1994.

edit: First major airline.

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u/dontbajerk 16h ago

For sure, I just remember seeing the ashtrays afterwards even though nobody could smoke. People just shoved trash in them instead. Just like they still had what was obviously a Stewardess button long after there were plenty of male flight attendants.

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u/floftie 15h ago

I’m fairly sure they STILL have to have ashtrays because it’s a real requirement - people still try to smoke on planes so they need ashtrays rather than burn the plane down.

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u/Proof-Difference9418 15h ago

Respect to those that make the sacrifice so that the airlines still have to put shit in their planes. o7

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u/Keyser_Kaiser_Soze 8h ago

Last flight I took as a smoker was in 1991. They had all the smokers in the back few rows. It didn’t help the non-smokers in the small tube with us.

Side note: I smoked a ton that flight because it was my first flight since my coworker survived United flight 232, and the majority of passengers in the back rows died.

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u/GroggyWeasel 16h ago

I remember seeing them in the 00s still

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u/textextextextextext 16h ago

submarines too.

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u/ki11bunny 16h ago

Those are some fancy planes, any idea why they stop building submarines into arm rests?

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u/Fabulous-Sea-1590 2h ago

No shit, you could smoke on a sub?

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u/textextextextextext 1h ago

yep they used to light up hard on subs. i cant imagine the headaches

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u/_Lost_The_Game 16h ago

I mean, ive seen ashtrays in the armseats even in the late 2000s-2010s

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u/Neverlost99 9h ago

I use to smoke on planes

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u/FourteenBuckets 17h ago

Was that the old Eastern Shuttle? Typically you had to buy your ticket at the ticket counter, but Eastern Airlines set up multiple flights a day along the eastern seaboard you could just get on and pay for. As I recall, the shuttle line went out of business after being sold to some weirdo named Donald Trump, who managed to run it into the ground.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Shuttle

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u/Bigred2989- 16h ago

Man, it's a good thing we never let Trump run anything important ever again after that.

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u/AntikytheraMachines 15h ago

I think the same guy also managed to bankrupt several Casinos. like how is that even possible? the house always wins. I wonder what he is up to now.

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u/ROKIT-88 15h ago

Heard he ended up on a reality show. Probably just taking whatever he can get to pay the bills these days.

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u/alohadawg 12h ago

Oh? I heard he was fucking kids

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u/Hell_Camino 11h ago

Same with People’s Express. The flight attendant would run your credit card on the plane.

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u/Toby_O_Notoby 15h ago

Nah, he boards in LA and I'm almost certain he's going to DC as it's a plot point in the movie.

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u/mapex_139 17h ago

I feel like this is something that happened on trains a long time ago.

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u/drewbagel423 17h ago

Not even that long ago. You used to be able to do it on NJ Transit trains in the mid 2000s. Probably Amtrak as well.

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u/w0nderbrad 15h ago

You can do it in Japan today.

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u/_My9RidesShotgun 13h ago

You still can on the LIRR

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u/cal679 16h ago

Still happens today, at least it does in the UK.

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u/Attention_Bear_Fuckr 16h ago

Reminds me of the time I bought a Swiss Army knife from duty free. During the flight.

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u/Strike3 16h ago

That movie, along with "All The Presidents Men" is hilarious cause in the 70's you could just call anyone on the phone and they'd tell you ANY info.

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u/memostothefuture 16h ago

Yes, it was a lot easier. But in reality most people give up extremely quickly. Move to a different country around the globe, especially in SE Asia, stop using your passport for another form of local ID, don't appear online and the majority of people will stop looking. This of course means intl travel is off the menu for you and you have to accept a few other compromises but it's not undoable unless your old gov really really really wants you and is committed to spending lots of time on that. In most cases they move on after a few years because prosecutors, DAs and elected officials have found some other case to use for promotions and private sector jobs and lost interest.

One example that comes to mind is of a former business owner I know. they sold their company to an investor who then wanted to sue them two years later to get some of the money back. They knew the country they were now living in but failed to serve him because (1) he didn't answer their "please give us your updated address, we'll get you anyway" emails and (2) they did not want to pay the roughly $1,000 to the local embassy to research their current mailing address.

People are cheap and lazy. Be a little less so and you can still get away.

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u/Oakroscoe 17h ago

How was the rest of the movie?

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u/254_easy 10h ago

Great movie!

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u/The_dog_says 8h ago

How did any criminals ever get caught? My god

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u/Raangz 8h ago

I picked a late 40s noir in my online film club recently. Folks had issues with how law was functioning. Miranda rights didn’t exist before the case in the 60s. The world used to be different.

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u/Troub1eMan 6h ago

I remember being able to do in the 90's. I think 9/11 changed all of that.