Original subtitles

(CRICKETS CHIRPING)

(BIRD CAWS)

♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(FROGS CROAKING)

yeah, yeah, yeah. All good.

- SAM: The guy... - PATRICK: From (REDACTED) Fundraising

SAM: Yeah. It's one of Ed's friends.

PATRICK: I was gonna work for him.

he was like, "Yeah, you should come work for me.

he was, like, one of the first callers

and now he's running his own shit.

but he wants his identity totally obscured.

(TELEPHONE RINGS)

(TELEPHONE CONTINUES RINGING)

RECEIVER: Hello.

- Ah! Whoo! - (TELEMARKETERS LAUGHING)

(ED HILGER YELLING)

(INDISTINCT CHATTER)

♪ (SONG CONCLUDES) ♪

wait, wait. Wait.

SAM: Last looks.

um... charity,

So that's what happened. That's what I heard happened.

All I know is I was about to be in an unemployment line.

Fraternal Order of Police didn't get in trouble

too.

They were the ones that were getting the money

They were... No. CDG was the culprit.

and everyone I knew was still scrambling to make ends meet.

uh, Life Alert.

It's not fundraising for the police.

"Help, I've fallen and I can't get up."

man,

like, that shit was a scam. It was full of bullshit.

and it was foul people there.

right now,

- You know what I'm saying? - SAM: (CHUCKLING) Yeah.

it was a different story.

He'd kept his job delivering Chinese food

it sounds like your life is, like, really good right now.

uh, really excellent.

I hooked up with a methadone clinic.

and it's a really good program.

So it really worked out really good for me.

but we didn't really know much about the charities

or why they would've chosen a company

TELEMARKETER: Absolutely miserable.

SAM: And it seemed strange to us that the government

if I hired people to rob banks, I'd go to jail.

when CDG started saying that

our checks no longer said CDG anymore.

They actually said that the Fraternal Order of Police

MATT PETZOLD: The sign said New Jersey FOP Fundraising Center.

- SAM: - Employee.

I work for the police."

you know?

SAM: Pat felt certain that the cops we called on behalf of

So we spent the next couple of years looking for the proof.

guys, Uh, Patrick J. Pespas.

personally, I called for every one of these charities.

maybe they're bad charities.

But I do want to give them a chance to respond

and get their side of the story.

I'm doing a documentary on, um, charities in America.

you were using a telemarketer called

and as you know,

And he hung up on me.

Are these really people you wanna give money to?

♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

uh, in our documentary,

the main theme that keeps coming up

CDG. They were a bunch of crooksters,

uh, I know you guys used 'em.

um... - Oh yeah? I called

I used to work for CDG. You can't lie to me.

PATRICK: I'm saying did you--

It's a simple question.

Um...

he didn't like it. He wouldn't give his name.

Absolutely wouldn't grant us an interview.

correct?

How much of the money that you--

CHARITY EMPLOYEE 2:

let me ask you this.

CHARITY EMPLOYEE 2:

CHARITY EMPLOYEE 2:

Two stars? Fantastic.

bad for the story,

- SAM: Yeah. - I just want to make sure our facts are rock solid.

(THUD)

that girl.

I come in here a lot.

like, there, and I use the Wi-Fi.

I said to the one guy, I said,

this fucking Wi-Fi here,

"If you don't like it,

you can leave. There's a connection down the street."

(LAUGHS)

♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

man.

I go to Dunkin' Donuts, and they got blazing fast Wi-Fi.

SAM: We went on Charity Navigator

but they were also some of the worst-rated charities

was going back to the telemarketers

I called for three out of ten.

I remember we used to call Cancer Survivors Fund.

PATRICK: I called for the Firefighters Charitable Foundation.

you got police, fire,

So we hired a film crew off of Craigslist

for our first real investigative interview.

I think we got like an hour drive. Um...

Is it cool-- Is it okay if I ask you

absolutely, man.

what do you, you know,

you know, I used to play a lot of guitar.

SAM: Any bands or any of that type of stuff?

Yeah. I was in a couple of bands. Uh...

uh, back in 1992.

under the name Bonehead.

It was heavy metal.

um...

you could say it was just about death metal,

and yeah.

♪ ("BRUTALIZED" BY MORTICIAN PLAYING OVER SPEAKER) ♪

that sounds hard to play,

It's all one chord.

♪ (MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪

- CREW MEMBER: It's fun. (LAUGHS) - That's Sam's camera?

totally. - That's a good camera.

we're good to go then. So...

- That's-- - SAM: Yeah.

uh, we're back today

thank you for coming on today.

what is the real--

KEN BERGER: It's easy to do it.

you can start a nonprofit

that you get everybody imaginable applying.

'cause there are a lot of good charities out there.

and I am in no way saying

But we have two million nonprofits in the United States.

It is two trillion dollars' worth

It's one out of every ten jobs. It's ten percent of GDP.

Wow. That's a lot. That is a lot.

Now how are charities regulated in the United States?

um, a certain way they're regulated?

it certainly depends on who you speak to.

there's not enough.

And one of the things that we learned very early on

that surprised us was that it seems

uh, police officers, for example.

this is one-- Actually, this is one of the shirts.

and doing tremendous harm to our society

great. Now if you're at home

Very simple.

- The end. - I would agree with that.

♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

SAM: I don't think it ever occurred to me

we came out. Charity Navigator.

you know, look 'em up on the web.

nice office building.

that we just kept going and would pretty much interview

when telemarketing was beginning to get into its heyday.

Police groups contract with a telemarketing firm

where they might keep 80 percent or more of what's collected.

The police would agree to that because they didn't have to

they could just sign the contract

some of these companies

used techniques to raise money in questionable ways.

There were these retired circus people.

"Wouldn't you like to buy a block of tickets

you help the police group

a lot of money was raised,

but most of it went to the telemarketers

- (LIGHTER CLICKING) - (WATER BURBLING)

We're-- we're getting ready to go to the circus.

This is gonna be the bomb.

man.

♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

SAM: It turned out that Pat had actually done telemarketing

for police circuses back in the day.

PATRICK: We would pitch them for a 35-dollar donation.

"Oh, I hate the circus,"

and I'll give you 100 child's tickets."

nah.

What they'll do is they'll go down to the local Y

a million of these things and just sit the box out there

yeah, all right, I'm gonna send my son to this show."

You know what I'm saying? It was a big-time scam.

♪ (LIVELY INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

♪ (UPBEAT TECHNO MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

(WHISTLES)

like, the ticket right here that...

and it's a drop box.

SAM: So they're say-- They're totally implying

that this is going to help out the fucking police.

of course! -"Although your contribution is not tax-deductible,

your donation is appreciated by our entire membership."

if it's not a charity event,

(DOG PANTING)

"Hey, uh, Marc Keezer wants to meet you."

let's restart this thing.

And that was only a month between shutting down CDG

you know, getting back to work.

There was really not a lot of difference

between CDG and RPI. It was like a restart.

that was his brother, Dave Keezer,

who'd started all this. Marc was kind of like...

if you will.

they couldn't get the big FOPs,

eventually, I do remember

These are the lists that RPI was calling.

Kentucky FOP,

are all getting called by RPI

SAM:

- Mm-hmm. - (LIGHTER CLICKS)

SAM:

Maybe that's why.

The cops want you to be a con artist.

You have to be. You gotta be grimy. You have to be.

that turned to 12 people.

Then they figured out that they could get people that

basically, formed like an all-star team

of all the best telemarketers from all over the country.

too.

They had masterminded work from home

and by the time I was released,

I was their number one caller. They didn't wanna lose me.

"We'll hook you up in your room.

Joyce, calling with a thank you call

on behalf of the Police Athletic League.

Joyce.

you're not good. What's the matter, Joyce?

What's the matter today? You're not feeling well?

Have you been to a doctor?

Ethel, how are you today?

what's the matter, Ethel?

(ETHEL SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)

you get-- Do you have a walker?

or... Okay. Okay.

Nora?

Nora,

I know. Nora, I know you're in a hurry,

but we just need one more second to make... Nora.

Bitch didn't want to go

knowing they gonna ask for a fucking credit card.

That's what it was. Stinking bitch.

♪ (OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

planning on getting married

she left me.

I got depressed, experimented with mescaline,

and all of that culminated

for all the good people that support the local officers

you don't wanna help, just say you don't wanna help.

bitch?

yeah. This way, this way-- Well, Anna--

Hope your whole fucking neighborhood

a.k.a. Jonathan Civella.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER ON POLICE SCANNER)

This is a police scanner.

you know, I might be sitting here pitching somebody,

he becomes intimidated. Why?

Because now he thinks he's on the phone

That's the dope right there.

- But there's a guy coming. - SHEM: Yeah. Fuck him.

SHEM: I do professional fundraising for law enforcement

and we sell them on the idea of supporting the police.

JEFF:

I dial the number.

I don't even know the name of the company.

(INDISTINCT CHATTER ON PHONE)

How're you doing now? Mike... (REDACTED)

Mike? How are you?

Sergeant Michael Davis,

asked me to reach out to you directly.

This is the time of year

with all our good friends and professionals.

Mike.

MIKE:

okay. So you... You know firsthand the importance...

I apologize, hold on.

we'd put you into the officers family referral.

family, friend of an officer

Mike,

we do a very good job of recommending your name

to our friends and family.

- a multibillionaire overnight... - (CELL PHONE POWERS DOWN)

my fucking battery died. My motherfucking battery died.

bro. That was a goddamn sale.

Come on. We gotta... We gotta get to a fucking...

bro.

SAM:

MIKE:

sorry about that, Mike. I was actually on detail

and I dropped my phone in a puddle of water

like a cup of coffee a day,

My name and number's on the receipt.

my friend, is how you make a sale.

- (SNIFFS) - ♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

you got a bunch right here. Look.

State Fraternal Order of Police.

(PITCHING IN SPANISH)

- SAM: It's such a crazy thing. - Yeah.

like, the foreign businesses,

when they get the calls,

they seriously think the local police department

their store, if they had those stickers,

♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

So we drove up north to check it out.

you know what?

But I can remember the days where you would never--

man.

000-dollar donation

The doctor indicated that was a lot of money.

He implied that he was--

The doctor started to become a little bit suspicious.

and we told him that that had nothing to do with us.

And we sent two detectives there the next day.

and nobody here has ever heard of the Garden State

He's signing his name as a sergeant

PATRICK: So what came out of that?

um, these organizations

are operating just on the borderline of illegality.

They disappear and reappear under a different name

and it's pretty hard to track them down.

once the money is donated,

actually.

man. - PATRICK: Same shit, different day.

and he wasn't just some dude who started up

for the New Jersey State Fraternal Order of Police.

SAM: Yeah.

man? - SAM'S DAD: Whoa. The famous...

how's it going? - (CHUCKLES)

Jonah.

man? - What's up?

SAM'S MOM:

- It's all right. - JONAH LIPMAN-STERN: Enjoy it?

if we wanna get these, we're gonna have to get them...

the only way to get 'em is gonna be

- Yeah. - You're for the Fraternal Order of Police.

- And you're gonna ask them... - Yeah.

♪ ("THE CRAZIES" BY MORTICIAN PLAYING OVER SPEAKER) ♪

SAM: I took my dad's advice and reached out to Bobby Gries

but they never responded to any of my emails.

"Fuck it, let's go big."

♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

and he was like, "No..."

(READS PROMPT)

these lodges don't ever seem to get mentioned in the press.

these FOP lodges just go ahead and hire a new one.

SAM:

(LAUGHS)

no...

There was all this weird shit happening.

I was constantly looking in my rear-view mirror thinking

And Pat was totally convinced that the people we'd called

PATRICK: (OVER PHONE)

(STAMMERS)

Pat's excited.

"

and I found this insane charity watchdog website.

And it fucking had all the YouTube videos

SAM: I emailed the guy who ran the site.

MATT: It was like somebody that got a phone call

from the Maryland Fraternal Order of Police.

And he created this whole website

he was a reverend.

♪ (GOSPEL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

♪ If I get in trouble... ♪

pulling up the website.

but he was public enemy number one.

♪ (GOSPEL MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪

SAM: I had no idea how to take this guy.

that made us want to go interview him even more.

what's up?

Pat called me up,

"Sorry, man, something came up,

♪ (GOSPEL MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪

Holy Land Spiritual Church?

"Protecting and serving the flock..."

yeah. -"...since 1999."

- Yeah. Protecting and serving the flock. - I like that.

we're gonna do everything we can to either

♪ (TENSE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

100 lodges,

The regular person doesn't want a bunch of cops

you know,

but they shouldn't be asking

but what it's really for

but who watches out for you?

benefits, and working conditions.

O'BRIEN: "Thanks for your care and compassion

They actually sent you a letter

asking you to help police widows.

Mm-hmm. And we are the police widows.

and then didn't give a dime of it to any of them.

Then Mike Byrne said the FOP exploited him

and nearly 300 other disabled police officers

by using convicted felons as telemarketers

who allegedly misled people into thinking cops like Byrne

I never received a dime from FOP.

REPORTER: Where did the money go?

Mark Donahue, says

Hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent

including golf outings and parties.

000-dollar bill to pay for limousines

attending Chicago's St. Patrick's Day parade.

be my guest.

make sure it gets there.

SAM:

"

and then the group didn't give any money

the FOP provides financial assistance

to the families of member officers

but I actually felt kind of proud

that the other ten percent was going to help the families

it was the one thing you could feel good about.

And to find out that only a fraction of that money

it kinda fucked me up.

heavy.

SABRINA: And they do whatever they wanna do.

quote-unquote, "legally."

Ain't nothing to worry about.

SAM: We started thinking of other police unions

we're about to call that...

The PBA was the second largest police union in the country

about charity and organization fundraising in America.

I... And that's why I wanted to interview you guys.

The secretary was adamant that they don't use fundraisers.

too.

And they either left telemarketing

depending on who you ask.

right?

let them. - SAM: Like, totally, they hate the FOP.

it's Patrick J. Pespas, and we're out here today.

We're gonna interview the vice president

It's my understanding that they don't use

uh, see what he has to say.

preying on the elderly.

They really don't-- don't like it. I know that.

The Fraternal Order of Police have been...

and if you look at their letter,

cities, and neighborhoods safe,

There's absolutely no correlation

between donations and keeping your town safe.

The law enforcement officers and the police departments

take care of that.

uh, it has nothing to do

It seems like you're the only organization

we've encountered how many organizations

"How much can we make?"

Look what you have to go through and sell your soul

but the Fraternal Order of Police in their newsletter

PATRICK: That's crazy.

is there anything you personally

would like to see happen as far as cleaning this whole game up?

There is no way to clean it up.

Regulating telemarketing is like regulating Somalia pirates.

- (CHUCKLES) - Just can't be done.

best way to do it is sink that ship.

♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

these FOPs are always like,

But how are you gonna blame the telemarketers

if you're advertising for your cops

you know?

and it was actually my dad

The whole reason that CDG had gotten shut down

where they told people a hundred percent of the donation

But the CDG owners all testified that the consultant model

Dave Keezer testified it was the Indiana State FOP

who came to CDG with the plan.

And Scott Pasch testified

they'd even threatened to fire CDG

if they didn't go along with it.

Maybe Keezer and Pasch were just lying.

But then I saw an email from the Connecticut State FOP

too.

"We find that calls are often disconnected

If we could add that 100 percent of all donations

there were State FOPs signing off on the language.

they'd even pitch old stories of dead cops

even though their families had already gotten

I couldn't understand how anybody could look at this

and think CDG had acted alone.

and told him I was making a movie about charity fraud.

I actually used... That's where it all starts for me.

uh, off and on throughout high school.

um, thing,

like a real-life meeting with the U.S. government.

And I was so fucking excited to tell Pat it was gonna happen.

But Pat was fucking gone.

(DOORBELL RINGING)

(RINGING CONTINUES)

(KNOCKING ON DOOR)

how you doing?

♪ ("CHANGES" BY BLACK SABBATH PLAYING) ♪

SAM: I checked every corner of Plainfield.

- (LINE RINGING) - SAM: There was no sign of him.

(INAUDIBLE CONVERSATION)

- ♪ I feel so sad... ♪ - (PHONE CHIMES)

♪ That I ever had ♪

♪ She was my woman... ♪

Sam?

I'm gonna eventually do some dope.

It's gonna be the best dope I ever got in my life.

And I'm gonna drop fucking dead.

♪ I'm going through changes... ♪

Huh.

Pat?

♪ (SONG CONCLUDES) ♪

♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪

♪ (SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪