Confession: I Started My Own Mafia |Statute of Limitations hosted by Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino | Forensic Files

hey it's your boy Mike The Situation Santino welcome to statute of limitations it's the ultimate lineup
it's Cooks this is not my fault that I stole this car it's conmen this is my chance I can be rich for life it's w to
be kingpins we all made together $500,000 and queen pins it was basically a lounge of
criminals these are stories of the nonviolent lucky punks and Robin hoods that Dodge the law I could have gone to
prison not jail prison because here's the situation baby it's only a matter of time before the statute of limitations
is up and technically you might walk away scotf free but don't take a from me guys I'm obviously no lawyer this is
statute of limitations what's up I'm Mike The Situation Santino welcome to the show
where we find ordinary folks who committed extraordinary crimes way back when coming up on this episode of
statute of limitations we have some intense folks we meet the head of the game Mafia and a girl who got major
payback on a real life high school mean girl I love that right now we've got the
story of a small town kid who moved to the Big Apple and got caught up in a big scam stealing luxury goods he could have
gone down for Grand leny instead he kept his secret long enough to elude the law
he's like the dawn of the sample sale Ken norra meet Jeffrey hello my name is Jeffrey and in the early 2000s I
committed grand larsy for several years I started a pretty much a game Mafia in New York City where we stole product
from the sample sale I moved to New York City without ever having been to New York City in
2003 I just jumped right in I thought hey I'm going to start doing comedy and I'm going to work at a coffee house this
is my life in my 20s one thing I wasn't prepared for when I moved to New York is
just how expensive was uh my roommate and I converted a one-bedroom apartment into a two-bedroom apartment I was
literally living in a living room to save money you know you couldn't like go out to eat we made ramen all the time it
was one of those classic artist struggling artists stories about a year in my best friend and my roommate and I
started working at a sample sale for high-end designer home decor Sample Sales always sell product for a
discounted rate so this designer would send products that cost thousands of dollars retail and when you marked it
down sometimes it still cost thousands of dollars that's how expensive this stuff was there was Ring boxes and
necklace holders there was uh vases and different types of figurines picture frames just like really gudy stuff very
fancy it was very popular with a very high brow sort of um Eastern European Rich Housewives really enjoyed
these products when you're a comedian and a barista in New York City every side gig is a bonus I was thrilled to be
invited to something that seemed fun it seemed nice and temporary it wasn't a big commitment no one was really looking
over my shoulder there's a manager up at the front my roommate and our boss lady
was up there she struck me as someone who did not really keep track of what she was spending I remember one time she
just surprised us all with some caviar cuz she had like gotten a little a a wild idea like oh let me get a caviar
snack for everybody we were like we've never had caviar but thank you she'd stood at the front and she'd check
everybody out but she never really was looking in the back or worried about the product probably because I came off as
very trustworthy so after a few days of the first sample sale I was cleaning up in
the back and I kind of realized hey I'm in charge back here no one's around uh what if I just took a few boxes of these
things and I slipped them in my backpack I was nervous at first uh but as I slowly walked out the building I
realized no one saw me and they were mine like who was going to count anything so once we got home my roommate
kind of side eyed me and was like don't let me see what's in your bag and I was like what nothing of course I was
nervous that when my roommate caught me that I would get in trouble and he was like mhm and he went into his room
ultimately he ended up doing that too and I never saw him do it he was better at it than I was once I realized that we
were kind of incahoots on this the first time uh the whole world opened up and I
came back the very next day and then I was ready to go Full Throttle as we realized how easy it was
to take the product um we just kind of siphoned it during the sale and then we would sell it online after the sale for
lower prices than were even at the sample sale the customers came and they did the same thing they would buy
product for their homes but then they'd buy a product to sell uh overseas and stuff but if I could undercut them on
their posting then my item would get bid on First and that would blow up into a higher number all of it was free cash
for me so I didn't care if it went for $500 $800 $1,500 all of it was pure profit for me
so after the first season sample sale uh where I kind of got my nerves shaken out
right I got used to it and I thought well gosh will they rehire me for the second one and they did very easily my
roommate and I got rehired for the second one no problem so I guess they didn't notice anything was missing as
the popularity of this product grew so did the sample sale so we had to hire more and more people in order to work
the sale um and we strategically picked out friends of ours to be a part of it and thus the gay Mafia was born not
everyone was gay in it but the gay people ran it we really kind of graduated in the
way we ran our operation so on the next sale we had strategically placed our friends as like okay you're the door
person here you're the cash register person there you're going to be the guy who's watching the sales floor behind
the table over here and they were all people who were also having their backpacks under the table and just kind
of putting in a couple here and there I'll say this for our friends they definitely didn't take as much as they
probably could have uh but I certainly did so in addition to the game Mafia my friend also had us hire temporary
workers uh people we hired from online just strangers that were working sometimes we had to kind of dance around
them they were very nice people who wanted to replenish the product and bring it from the back to the sales
floor I kind of had to make sure please don't move those open boxes please just go do your work over
here that'd be great thank you so much I had to make sure that they weren't accidentally seeing us steal anything uh
so I always had to have my eyes on the workers as well I sometimes thought certainly
somewhere someone is counting how many boxes are on a truck how many boxes get sold and how many boxes come back the
cash I was accumulating wasn't just covering rent um it was covering bills it was covering my comedy classes I
really kind of felt like oh I know this is wrong but it's so easy that it actually feels good that I'm doing it
also it was stealing from rich people let's be honest it was gy junk that people really don't have any business
spending $11,200 on a thing I was like these people are spending my monthly rent on these fancy items they like
there's something wrong so there was a part of me that also was kind of like Stick it to the Man only I didn't know
who the man was it was just like a a faceless designer I guess but like I didn't care the rich lady boss did bring
in another lady to be a manager with her we did not know this lady she also didn't seem to warm or approachable so
we were so used to this other Bonkers lady being our manager that the new manager kind of scared us a little bit I
thought maybe I was going to have to cook some books or like come up with some numbers and some sort of paperwork
about what's coming off a truck and where is it going none of my usual fun charms worked on her uh she definitely
had like a wall around her Jeffrey went from a small time crook to straight up Kingpin in what he calls
the gay Mafia forget prison I'd be more worried about getting whacked by those dudes but Jeffrey is about to sink in
even deeper all these dirty details are coming out on statute of limitations next we're back with more statute of
limitations my man Jeffrey is smack dab in the middle of a scheme to steal high-end Goods just how much did he
steal oh man wait to you guys get a load of this man check this out the rich lady
boss did bring in another lady to be a manager with her we did not know this lady she also didn't seem too warm or
approachable I was a little nervous that none of my usual fun charms worked on her I like I didn't care no one's
stopping me and my realization was no one's going to so most of the clientele at the
sample sale was very rich Eastern European Housewives they would come into the sale and they were working their own
angle right Sometimes some of these ladies would put little trinkets inside other bigger Trinkets and then put that
in a box and try to get like two for one or three for one part of the gay mafia's
job was to make sure that the customers weren't stealing uh we were also stealing the irony of busting thieves is
not lost on me you know it takes one to no one right and sometimes some of the ladies they kind of looked us up and
down like wow you really have a really good opportunity working here kind of energy when the customers came to the
front my roommate was checking everybody out and he would take everything out of
a box for quality control but it was really just to make sure that they weren't sticking more than one item into
a box which we busted at least two or three every season deep into the sample sale Mafia
extravaganza we had one sale in particular that an entire box truck backed into the loading
dock of the building that we were in we actually had coordinated some of our friends to be on the street and they
just took entire boxes off the truck and walked themselves down the street if I was to guess the Outreach of the entire
game Mafia in this scheme and how much we all made together I mean exponentially that could be like
$500,000 I really have no real way to guess because there's probably things that people stole that I don't even know
about but then something happened that I didn't expect after many seasons of working
this sample sale we had gotten it streamlined so good like we had it down pat but then the Big Wall Street Market
crash happened you know when the economy goes in the tanker the first thing that
people cut out is luxu I is home decor and our sample sale went crash so they kind of pulled the
plug on the sample sale for a while cuz they just weren't selling any product we
all just kind of graduated not only in life but we graduated with money in different directions we had kind of
become more adults so we kind of kissed our our grand larsy days goodbye I know there's that that saying the crime
doesn't pay right and uh in this case it paid me very well oh it it truly opened up a freedom in me
in a time where as an artist I was struggling in a very expensive city I really think the universe was like hey
you know what kid you need a break right now and so here's an opportunity for you
to game the system work your hustle throw your charm around and smoke screen them all and and and enjoy the money
certainly now as an adult as a 45-year-old man who has like a real career I would not get so heavily
involved in something like the gay Mafia and I certainly wouldn't lead a gay Mafia but at the time at 25 years old
this was the best job I had in my entire life at the time and that's my story at
a boy Jeffrey way to not blow it he could have got multiple years with the New York Department of Corrections but
he stayed on the straight and narrow long enough to keep his butt out of prison a very very good situation now we
go to a story about a former Catholic school girl with a checkered past thanks to a crime that could have put her in a
California big house for 3 years luckily the big guy and the statute of limitations are on her side because
she's here to tell her tale and trust me this one's a real gem guys meet [Music]
Ruby hi my name is Ruby and over 20 years ago I committed vandalism and destruction of
property the statue of limitations is up and I'm ready to tell my story back in 1992 I went to very strict Catholic
private school and we were very repressed you know like we were so restricted from so so many things so a
lot of these girls would lash out at each other cuz you got all these women you know stuck in this high school and
we have a lot of energy right and so there was a lot of chaos going on I mean we went at each other's throats all the
time my group of friends we were kind of like the you know Outcast we were kind of nerdy we had this like book club and
we were kind of a little like goth so we would get picked on a lot we always had
trouble with these like cheerleader types and we were the Juniors they were the seniors they had more authority over
us they would go around you know with this like Pride that they were the best they would leave stuff in our lockers
you know trash prank us all the time you know throw glue in our drinks it was frustrating I mean you know we had to
deal with this daily I had this problem with this girl named Amy I mean she would pick on every girl and she would
push us she would shove us into the locker and she always had like two girls with her all the time so that we
wouldn't you know fight back I was tired of it you know I was tired of the bullying I was tired it was a buildup
that was just like h i i i just couldn't deal with it anymore you know she was just a bully and no one could stand this
girl so me and my friends we decided to get even with Amy and we glued her desk and
we threw trash in her desk we loved seeing her angry and mad but the bullying almost got worse
and it would not stop one day I pull in in my nice Cherry classic car I come into the parking lot
and then Here Comes Amy behind me with her brand new car as she starts yelling you stupid get out of my parking space
you know what are you an idiot and I'm just like what the hell's going on here there was a lot of parking spaces and
she could have picked another parking spot and she just decided to pick on me she humiliated me and I'm like what are
you talking about this is your parking spot there was other girls that were watching what happened and I was just
like oh my God nobody came to my defense I was there by myself I was scared because she's got two other girls
they're going to beat me up what do I do Jesus Mary and Joseph it's like my mother always said you got to watch out
for those Catholic school girls trouble for them is like a habit she's got her tools now she's going to put the car in
Carnage on statute of limitations next welcome back to statute of limitations where our girl who is
bullied is seeing red instead of turning the other cheek she's about to exact a buttload of payback by vandalizing the
girl's car check this out and she starts yelling you stupid get out of my parking space there was
other girls that were watching what happened and I was just like oh my God nobody came to my defense
and so I'm just like okay fine you know I I'll get out of the parking space and I'll leave so I went back home and I
cried the whole day I didn't even go to school because I was so upset so humiliated and you know it's just a
builtup of anger it it was just a bad feeling a very bad feeling so then I was sitting there in
my room and I got to thinking you know what she she really upset me I'm starting to plot to get revenge
on this so I came up with a plan to get even with Amy I'm ready to go over to the school and just vandalize and rip
her car apart so I got all this stuff together paint Sharpies a hammer and a knife so I started to think you know I
don't think it's a really good idea to do this at school and so I came up with another plan to do it at her house at
night time so I'm walking down the sidewalk Amy doesn't live that far away from me
and I got my bag of Destruction and I'm walking I see her car and then someone pulls up right to the right side of me
and I'm like oh there's someone watching me so at this point I'm thinking you know what I got to wait till tomorrow to
do this so I'm in my room thinking like oh my gosh this these people saw me um should
I do it should I not but it's like you know I'm a junior she's a senior if I don't do it now this will haunt me for
the rest of my life if I don't get even so it's the next night and I'm walking down the sidewalk and I'm
looking to my left to my right there's nobody there so I'm like this is my move I'm you know have this and
adrenaline rush and I'm angry and I'm just thinking like you know Amy has humiliated me she bullies me and I'm
just like you know what it's time to get even it's time to rip her car apart I threw ketchup and mustard all
over the car I threw paint everywhere and I got my bat and hit the side of her mirror I
got my hammer and I broke the glass and shattered her window and just for good measure I got
my my knife and slash your tires I felt like you know an adrenaline rush and you know scared at the same
time that I was going to get caught that someone was watching me that there was cameras and I'm just like ah yes I total
her car you know I got even with Amy and then the lights come on the dogs are barking I'm like oh so I grabbed my back
threw it over my shoulder and I get the hell out of there so the next day I went to school
and everyone's talking about how Amy's car got total and trashed and I'm just like yes I got even I felt good about
this and Amy never found out you know she never found out that it was me and it was just it was an amazing feeling
and I'm just like yes that so now I'm older and you know I had a lot of things thinking to do and you
know I could have gotten caught I could have gotten arrested and you know I think about the consequences and now I'm
just like you know what I'll never do that again when it was all said and done she never got nailed and now thanks to
the statute of limitations she can rest easy because apparently sins and vandalism truly are forgiven as long as
you wait long enough that's so wrap guys for this episode I'm Mike The Situation Santino
be sure to check out more crazy ass stories of folks that fought the law and actually won baby see you next
time this program is for entertainment purposes only and it is not legal advice the statute of limitations are
complicated and depend on many factors if you need advice you should seek legal counsel from a competent attorney in
your [Music] jurisdiction [Music] yeah

A small-town kid turned head of the New York gay mafia got caught up in a big-time underground scam involving the theft of luxury goods. A Catholic schoolgirl sought serious revenge against a real-life mean girl by choosing to destroy her car. Hosted by the iconic Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, Statute of Limitations pushes the boundaries of justice as individuals confess to non-violent crimes that have long surpassed the statute of limitations. Each episode features the stories of those brazen enough to confess their secret crimes. New episodes of Statute of Limitations will be posted every Friday and Sunday. If you’re ready for more crazy stories, brought to you by Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, comment below and be sure to hit that like and subscribe button!

Brief Summary

Jeffrey steals luxury goods in NYC while Ruby vandalizes her bully's car in revenge.

Key points

The Gay Mafia. Jeffrey transforms from a small-time crook to a leader of the 'Gay Mafia.'
Revenge on a Bully. Ruby plots revenge against her high school bully by vandalizing her car.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's only a matter of time before the statute of limitations is up.

Mike The Situation discusses the statute of limitations.

0:48WatchMar 1, 2024

Tension

60/ 100Some tension

More from True Crime Files

Solve the Crime

Read a real case one clue at a time, then see how your call held up against the investigators.