- whwhiskey. where's ololiver? [cat meoeows] oliverer, come on!n! i helped pick the winners. i gagave some tickets to some e friends ofof mine and fafamily membebers whwho needed i it. i wawanted them m happy, so. i gave 'em things. i was s gonna gett the $1 million, but i gaveve it to my y fathe. and, u um... maybe ifif certain t things never happppened... this monopoly thingg would still bebe going on n t. it's true.e. [draramatic musisic] ♪ ♪ - with s shamrock prproductios and d the "reuninion of winnnne" i think sosome of themem are prpretty legenendary, in terms o of whatat was captutured on fil. - - like buddydy fisher and mr. . hoover, gloria brorown was anan instant $ $1 million n win. she hahad won in s south carol. - gloria had said her r address was in t the hilton n head area of soututh carolinana, but she wawas from jacksonvnville, flororida. there wawas always s somethg thatat i was tryrying toto drive outut. i was s trying to o expand thes ththat they wewere tryingg to put o out there becacause i knowow ausa devevex neededs a groundnd ball, boy needs s something g easy. - - [laughs] - i'm m kidding, he's good d at his jobob. - - it's been n a decade,, but t i enjoyed d it. first titime, yeah..... - wellll, i was ununemployed at that titime, right t in-- - mmmm-hmm, mm-h-hmm. - but t i am a sococial worke. i i just was taking a a break frorom... stressss. i'm nonot doing itit anymore, thank k god. [laughter]r] - yeahah. yeah. mm-hmm, mmmm-hmm. - no, , most-- - momost of my f family isis here. i hahad a friendnd, a personl frieiend and anonother frien, a a couple of f friends there ththat-- basicacally what i i was doig was a a lot of visisiting, job b searching g at that tit, so, yoyou know, trying t to relocatete. - one ththing that s struck e was thatat ms. brownwn wasnsn't as openen and frieney asas mr. hoovever was. she seemeded to be on n guar, whether oror not she s suspecd something was awryry or not, she e just...shehe just wasn't as s forthcomining. - yeahah, yeah. - yeyes, yeah. - wellll, in hiltoton head, you knowow, um, , during thahat time i w , you u know, liviving with a a f, of course,e, and, um,, tryingng to job huhunt and d right now,w, i haveve my own agagenda, you knknow, i haveve my patieients to carare for. umum...i'm bususy, like totoy i'm m taking a t trip, you k , anand, um... umum day-to-daday-- i i work sevenen days a wewe, babasically, y you know, i'm on c call all ththe time. soso compared d to back thth, um, , and to nowow, i would d say that, , um... mcdonaldld's have mamade it so t i i can just l lie withoutt any ststress, you u know? - um, a lilittle over r a yea, back and f forth. - many o of the winnnners we sayingng they liveved in one , but ththen had a p post officx where theyey would havave ththeir winninings sent tot, so they y would set up fakake addresseses. anand so, a lot of the e evidee that i w was gatheriring wawas around where they y liv, exacactly what s store they yn the mcdonald's monopoly piece at. - soso, i said,, "gloria,a, do you reremember ththe mcdonaldld's where y u wentnt to claim m the prize?" "absbsolutely."" "this isis a picturere." we tooook a picturure of it and d put it on n this board and shshe said, "o"oh, my go, that's exaxactly the o one," anand i said, , "you know w w, cacan you autotograph thatat fo" - "thanknks a millioion." - [lauaughing] - ththat picturere that s she signed,d, itit was not i in hilton h , sosouth carolilina. itit was jacksksonville, f flo. - no, i susure don't.. - - the fake a address was a papart of the e scheme. anand so, rickck had thiss survrveillance p photo ofof a mcdonalald's right therere in jacksksonvi. and d i go, "oh,h, my god, that's pererfect." so i take e it with meme. "what t are you gogonna do?" and i sasaid, "i'm g gonna-- i'm gonna a use it. wait a and see. i'm gogonna show y you." anand, as she'e's doing itit, shshe's like,, "oh, m my god, thahat's just- that's not i it. that's's not it."" and i'm lolooking over-- it's's starting g to get louo, and d i'm like, , i'm looking b, "do o you want that herere? i mean----they almost can hehear that."" - mm-hmmmm. - [i[indistinct t speech] - that's w what i loveve. [indisistinct speeeech] every timeme i talked d to t, theyey would jusust lie, lieie. and it w was perfectct for ththe fbi becacause it wasas ry buildiding evidencnce and helpg ththem build t their case.. but t we also wanted to mamake e that it t seemed likike we w were havingng fun. because, oncnce again, that's h how it woululd be at a a real shoot. - okay. - oh, wawait--oh, ththere's-- - - uh, doug b brought a lot of t that energygy. - upup there? okay. - okayay. [lauaughter] - okay.. okay.. - okokay. - that's t typical matathews. ththat's what t he would d . - thanksks a millionon, mcdonal. [lauaughs] - okokay, look r right inin the camerera anand say it r right therer. - thananks a millilion, mcmcdonald's.. - anand it was h hard sometits to k keep a straraight face, to be honenest with yoyou. it was verery hard at t time, 'cause thehe things wewe were doing with the ligight meter or the c camera and d sitting m anand fixing t them up, we had no o idea. - i gogot my mcdononald's millions----million at hiltoton head in south c carolina, and itit made me a a... millionanaire. - [lauaughing] that's cutute. - pretetty close, , okay. - - what i figigured out at an eaearly age inin the buru is, you pupush it and d then u think itit's--you kekeep pushi. yoyou never knknow when you're gononna hit a w wall. anand, of coururse, i i never founund the botttt. the bottomomless tetea glass, r right? it's's perfect f for me. jujust keep gogoing. and, of f course, shshe did. - roron and i wiwill s-- ron-n-- ugh.h. - - ron and i i will sesee you in v vegas. thank k you, mcdononald's. [lauaughter] - we knew w it was such gooood evidencece haviving gloria a sitting heh, jujust making g the story y . and d doing it w with this sincerity-y--this fakeke sincer. it was----it was--asas a crimininal investitigator, it w was an awesesome thining to beholold. - - there werere so many difft layersrs of the coconspiray thatat we were i investigatit, and d the more sophisticacated a scheheme, the e more diffificult it is to prorosecute thehe case. nonow you haveve actual video prododuction ththat you canan show a juju. that's v very powerfrful. [upbeat mumusic] - by t this time, , literally almostst the wholele office n, or a big m majority ofof the, have been n diverted t to workn what we e call opereration finanal answer.. ♪ ♪ - we workeked seven dadays ak on a a regular b basis, but at timimes it did d not feelel like workrk. we had g great camararaderie between alall of the a agents that werere working g it, anand we knew w the missioion- what we e were trtrying to acaccomplish was a noblble one and d a good . um, so nobobody ever complainined about i it. ♪ ♪ - things w were movingng fa, and natuturally, we always s want to move atat our pace.e. we w wanna contrtrol the e timing of f things, anand we did n not hahave that luluxury. the gameme was runnining. there was s clock runnnning on h how long wewe could keep it t a secret.. throughohout this, we were e really, rereally rackcking up incncredible evevi, discovering nenew people,, provoving all didifferent eles of what wawas going onon. anand we kind d of knew the prprocess of how ththese were p placed, but t the one ththing ththat was stitill out thee was how isis jerry jacacobson doing ththis? that w was kind ofof this nagg, you knowow, thisis nagging q question mam. - whatat we had toto vet out here is,s, who-- who was s helping jejerry? - - hilda bennnnett was the cpcpa that wouould travel with mr. j jacobson toto thee vavarious manunufacturing g pla. anand we didn'n't know, are theyey in cahootots? onon an investstigation, you jujust don't cut sosomebody outut. anand so, we h had to survrvl ms. bennetett as well.l. - you wantnt cheese? - yep. - i neneed to gett a large e coffee withth ten creamam and five e . - ananything elslse? - yep,p, another l large coffefe wiwith ten creream and fivive . - okokay. - - that is eqequal? - - yep. - - awesome, t thank you.. - you'u're welcomeme. - - have a grereat day. - thank k you. - oh, thatat's perfectct. the onone time i'v've seen uncle jejerry was upup in geo. mymy brother w went to go o . i stayayed in the e car. i didndn't get outut of the r bebecause he d didn't direry involve meme 'cause hehe ws always tryrying to prorotect. they donon't want me to get t involved.. - but giviving you a l little taste at t the same titime. - i guesess so, yeah, yeyeah. ♪ ♪ uncle e jerry wass a mimiddle-aged d guy. just n normal, aveverage hei, nonormal, avererage build. but sizeze doesn't m matter. like my dadad always u used toy and ststill does s say, "as s long as ththis works,, thatat's all i n need. onone finger."." anand it's thehe truth. - and ththe famy that's b backing y. - yeah, and a a family that's bacacking you.. thatat's a big t thing. ♪ ♪ jerome w was gegetting the e tickets, but when i it came to.o...uh. - dispersising. - dispersing the tickets, i don't think he had the e resources s to do the eg $1 millilion hits eveverywher, so i thinknk that's where mymy brother totook the reieins of evereryth. so unclele jerry wasas gettg the tickckets anand selling g them to mymy br and thenen my brotheher would sell them m to other p people and d it was jusust a--literera, itit was a mononopoly of s scam. everery ticket was a little different. the agreement with uncle jerry wawas dependining on the v e of the ticicket. ththe $1 millilion tickets were going for 50 grand. uncle jerry would get the 50, and then my brother would get half of whoever won. anand so, if t they got the papayments for 20 years and d so forth, , he'd get h, and then the winner would get half. so it was a better deal for mymy brother, , long-te, than i it was for r uncle je. [light mususic] ♪ ♪ i i really dididn't think muchch of it, 'c'cause someoeone had toto win, so..... in my y brother's s eyes, itit was, "okay, well, "instead of joe shmoe e winnin, i'm gonna make, you u know, johnhn shmoe winin." the money'y's still gonna gogo somewherere, yoyou know, wewere just redirectining it. the $1$1 million t ticket was supppposed to bebe our wewedding giftft. we w were marrieied november 24, 1 1997. - 1996. - 199696... let's start that over again. [laughter] cut thatat. whoops, , i'm gettining my a ass kicked d tonight. [laughteter] okayay. um, but ththat was gononna be o our gift, o our weddingng. free o of charge.. we didn't have to o buy it. - the mcdonald's piece was in one of ththe little,, i guesess you'd cacall them ege, lilike your kikids get toyon atat the gumbaball machine. it was in there, in the back of the freezer, underneath two ice cube trays. i remember exactly how it sat. - it w was just chchilling. - it wasas just chilill. - - i always looked up to my brother. he wasas my protecector, pretty mucuch. he w would alwayays come to visit m me and throw me a couple thousand dollars, like it was me giving away a couple dollarsrs to the kikid. this is ouour son franankie. he dropped about $150,00000 and we j just decideded to takake a picturure, wewe kind of----thought it was kinind of funnyny. - i was s so upt over thahat pictu. because itit was such h dirty my around sucuch a cle, perfecect ba. - ah, , it was preretty crazy,y, but...wiwith that cocomes a pr. - - put it thihis way. uncle jejerry calleded my he atat least thrhree times a a k toto tell jerrrry whwhat he had d to do nextx. and d he and i would tatalk, you knknow, sometimemes 30 minututes, sosometimes 4545 minutes.. and mymy husband w would meet him i in atlanta. [dramatic music] ♪ ♪ - i don't t know how m many people he e hooked up.p. - - it was w way more than i i thought i it was. - my b brother hadad a lolot of connenections all l over the p place 'c'cause he hahad nightclus anand certain n things that he e was doingg ththat i can't't really mementi, 'c'cause i'm s sure the fbfbi's gonna watctch this tapape some. [laughghs] but there was a a lot of t things thatat he was inint. soso my brotheher started, you u know, expanding to in-lawsws and brotother-in-lawaws and frfriends and d friends of friendsds and... anand that's h how he tookk thisis little smsmall operatan and d made it huhuge. - i i was workining atat the airlilines inin jacksonviville here,, anand a passenenger came througugh named cocolombo. riright off ththe bat, he was verery personabable and, um,m, a gentlememan. my last name was italian, so he seemed to take a liking to me. first ththing he saiaid toto me, he wawas like, "hey, herere's some money, go o eat, go eaeat." and d i just thohought ththat was so o funny becacae that's h how italianans are. anand it just t made me fefl at e ease with h him, ththat this isis a good peper. i never r knew he wawas marri. i didndn't really y care becae i i didn't reaeally have a y relalationship o on that leve, you know, , in my mindnd anywa. one day,y, we were j just driving araround, and d he s, "hey, i i want to shshow you something,g," so we pupulled o. and,d, uh, he rereaches around thehe backseatt and hehe pulls outut the wiwinning piececes. itit was, likeke, the wholole . it's $10100,000. and i i was like, , "wow, so many y people arere trying "to wiwin this thihing, and d you're sititting heree with all four pieces." [laughghs] you know, i'm m like, "whahat" "if you'u're interesested," hehe says, "just t walk in mcmcdonald's "and thihis is what t you gotto and d this is hohow it rolls" he goes, "i'll gigive you 20,0,000 now and i'i'll give yoyou anotother 10,00000 later." and i i thought, "wow, ththat's a lotot of mone" you know w what i meanan? i coululd go buy m me a car, you knknow, i coululd go do some stuffff, you knowow... 'causese back thenen, you kn, i'i'm working g at the airir, what a am i makingng? yoyou know, $1$10 an hour? i was gameme for somemething exhihilarating.. so he hahad me fly t to phill. beining with i'm'm with the airlrlines, i cacan do t. he picked d me up atat the airpoport, we d drove rightht to mcdonans anand i didn't't even have to t think for m myself, you know w what i meanan? just follow the script. anand that's e exactly whahat. and i was s just like,e, "um, i----i'm the wiwinner." anand he's likike, "huhuh. so y you're the e winner." it was j just too eaeasy. but i i didn't knonow... the aftetermath that was t to follow.. i i mean, 'cauause there w was s that n nobody knewew, anand i just kept it t all to mysyself. - mymy husband,, he p picked the e winners, bubut he kept t picking itits on the easast coast. they were-e--they were kind of being ststupid aboutut it. sosomebody wasas bound to get s suspicious,s, so i i told my h husband, "i've e got a frieiend in jacacksonville.e. bring sosome women i into it and women of color." - mymy name is gloria a brown-byerer, and i liveve in jacksosonvill. i've been here all my life. i didn't wanna be interviewed d anymore. i don't wawant toto talk to a anybody elsle ababout the mcmcdonald's t th. 'c'cause it wawas... a whole lolot. i was s a mcdonaldld's $1$1 million w winner. and...thisis is the fifirst te that i i've reallyly just had the opopportunity y to jus- to just t really jusust say, "o"okay, i'm g gonna lay a l my carards on the e table anand to tell l everythingn" i i mean...i m mean--even n th mymy sister wawas there, she don't t know all t the deta. i i mean, she'e'll be heararins for the fifirst time h hersel, some of f this stuffff. i hahave a son, , and i raid him m as a singlgle parent. he, as a child, was very understanding. we had a relationship where, if money was not available, i'd didiscuss it w with him, and we w worked it o out toget. i alwaways had to o work, and i alwaways manageded to keep a a job, bubut it was a always a ststru. years passssed by and i dididn't see r robin for someme years andnd, um, when she c called me,, she told m me she e had got mamarried. i'm m thinking m maybe now she has s somebody t that can lookok out for h her and shehs vevery happy b being with h j. i think k it was in n '97. robin hahad called m me and d she hahad somethining shshe wanted t to discuss s w, but we cououldn't talklk about t it over ththe phon. so jerryry asked mee to comome and visisit. it wasas at their r home inin south cararolina. mymy first i impressionn of j jerry colomombo was that he was a r real-life comedidian type guguy, you k. and he trereated me just like e i had beenen aroud the whwhole time.. but ththe thing ththat botheree is t that there e was neverr any timeme that she e and i cocould be alolone, eveven when wewe went shopopp, he went shshopping witith us. [l[laughing] one e night i hahad just sai, "can y you just leleave us ale for r a few minunutes? durn, , jerry." and thenen he left u us alone justst for a fewew minutes,, and hehe came backck. wewe were not t allowed to reaeally discususs anythin. fifinally he t talked to m e abouout a propososition, and d it was a p proposition that w would help p me. he askeded me, was i i familir with thehe mcdonald'd's gagame piece?? i sasaid yes. so he sasaid pepeople are p picked to be winnnners. this is s how it's alwayays been donone. anand then he e told me thtt he would let me know what the next step was. when i firirst got thehe offer.. i thoughght to myselelf that it was s a blessingng that came knocking at my door. and... you know, i was going to church and i wawas doing--t-trying to do the right thining and... my son wasas young, and i wawas making..... probablyly about $2424,000 a y, it w was just..... by the t time tataxes and ststuff come o o, it's realllly nothing.g. and i jujust wantnted a betteter life, anand i just f felt like this was m my opportununity. and i sasaid, "well,l, ththis couldn'n't come to oe if i it wasn't m meant for m " - my brother was always joking around, always making people laugh, always having a good time. veryry lightheararted, uh, but if youou pissed hihim off, then he cacan have a a temper as s well. but he n never was t the type of persoson who woululd grab u or, you u know, threreaten you. - oror rough youou up. - or roughgh you up. you knew i if he lookeked at u when he totold you exaxactly whwhat he wantnted you to o , you u knew you h had to do i. - ththe whole relationonship changnged. it got t to the poinint that i i didn't talalk to robinin an, i ononly talkedd to jererry colombobo. and i fifinally gott the ininformation n from hm that i i was gonnana be a $1 millilion winnerr and that h he needed m me toto come up w with some m mo. anand i'm askiking him, "w"" then he e said, "everybodydy that winsns has to givive someme upfront m money." and d i'm like, , "how much?" anand he askeded me how muchch i could c come up ? i saidid, "i realllly dodon't have a any money," so he saidid, "can youou get momoney off yoyour house?"" [dramatitic music] ♪ ♪ cacan't back o out now. he's t told me toooo much. i momortgaged mymy home toto get my upupfront monen. ♪ ♪ i put alall the stufuff i i worked harard for on t te because e i believeded that t this was mymy blessin. i memet him on the s side of thehe road and gaveve him my fifirst poportion of m my money. ♪ ♪ it f felt like s something had just b been rippeded from m. and, y you know, to meet t somebody on thehe side of t the road and giveve them cashsh money, that mucuch at one t time... that's m more than i i ever had in my y hand at onone tie in m my life, anand i just had to givive it all a away. i justst felt thatat i jujust had gavave my life y and i'm gigiving it toto someby i don't t know much h about. can i i even trustst this g? you u know. ♪ ♪ - befofore my husbsband was workining the mononopoly fraudud gam, we had my son, francescsco gennaro o colom. [indistitinct speechch] - say y hi to the e camera, frankikie. - hi, , camera! [laughteter