The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 413 - The Whale in Atlantic City

Episode Date: January 23, 2020

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine the life of Akio KashiwagiSourcesTour DatesRedbubble Merch

When you're staying at an Airbnb you might be like me wondering could my place be an Airbnb and if it could what could it earn? You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it. That in-law sweet guest house where your parents stay only part-time Airbnb it and make some money the rest of the year whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. You're listening to the dollop on the All Things Comedy Network. Hi, I'm Dave

Anthony and this is an American History Podcast and each week I read a story from American History to my friend. Kierith Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. What in the fuck was that? I don't know. I don't know what your energy must make him. He your cat just bit you. Twice but now he's happy. Now he's like a little heart. He's happy. That was an assault. Didn't go his plan. Didn't go his plan. It went his plan for him. That was I literally watched an assault. Look and this is this is an abusive relationship that you're in. Absolutely. Because now you're petting him and rubbing him as if he just you

don't know him like I know him. Yeah. See it's easy to walk in and say I don't like how you guys are. You know you're just you're just it's he's been he's had a few drinks. There's a lot of places that he's been eating a lot tonight. There's a lot of places he's high on food. He's food for this. Look at me. I can get you to a safe house. No fuck. I'm telling you that he's the he's the we're both the problem. I mean this is you need him. He's better than me. Save him. Take him to the safe place. I'll stay here. I think you're scared and I think you're really scared and I think you you're you've been trapped in this so

long that you can't see a way out. I love him. He bit you twice and that's why you're petting him. Look I don't don't your dogs bite you. No. Well that sounds lovely and called it quote his jam patch. I'm the fucking hippo guy. My name is Gary. My name's Gary. Wait. Is it for fun? And this is not going to come to Tickly podcast. Okay. This is like an out of five part coefficient. Now hit him with the puppy. You both present sick arguments. No sleep no hippo. That's like no hippo. Actually partner. Hi Gary. No. Nice to be done my friend. No. No. Ronan. Ronan in the court. 1838. Year of our Lord Jesus Christ. Say a prayer. Nope.

That way we always start with prayer. Never. Literally go back and listen. It's never every show. It's never happened. This has always been a religious podcast. Listen to one show. This has been listen to one show. This is the most really listen to one show and what you just said is totally if actually incorrect shows about religion and Lord Jesus Christ. You can call this the most religious show. We're the most religious podcasts in America. That's insane. Akiyo Kashawaki. Sure. It was born in Tokyo, Japan. Most of his childhood is unknown. Okay. Akiyo's father was a skilled carpenter who specialized in temples and shrines. Okay. He was the middle child of a family of 10. Okay. So his parents, you know, got busy for sure. Not in the boots. He came home from a day building a shrine.

He was like, I'm hot. He was like, hey, just finished building the shrine. Now baby girl, get over here. You're all mine. Is that, was that what he would do? Yeah. And then it'd be like. I think that that's racist. So he ended up dropping out. It's like hanging out on Twitter. What you just did. No, you are. Oh, god damn it. He dropped out of high school at 16. Yeah, he went to work on a farm. Okay. Now, even as a young man, Akiyo, his friends always said he had guts and he had a knack for business and he was a hard worker. Okay. So when he was 20, he became a mountain guide and luggage handler. Oh, god damn it. Is there, I mean, I do try to think of these sort of occupations when I become,

you know, like, I'm so tired. I'm like, dude, someone was hauling luggage up a mountain. Yeah, Mount Fuji. Mount Fuji. Wasn't all the way at Mount Fuji, but like, I think. Still an incline in any of, taking luggage on an escalator is a pain. Yeah. It's not ideal. But he was in shape, I'm sure. Oh, yeah, he must have been. Yeah, he's got that, he's got that luggage gut. He's got a Samsonite abs. That's right. It is believed that that was where he was when he began to make contacts and picked up a familiar familiarity of local land deals. Others say his wife, who was an ex geisha who was six years older than him, had the contacts. Okay. Either way, Akiyo went into real estate. Okay. He moved to a nearby town called, oh, I should have looked this up. That's an interesting

place. That's what you live. Cabo Guchiko. Whoa. In the 1960s. We apologize to the residents of that place. Absolutely. So this is right. This is right when the Fuji Subaru, Subaru Highway that would go halfway at Mount Fuji was finished. Okay. So that obviously brought tourists. Right. So Akiyo's first deal was for just $600. When he bought his first piece of land or building or whatever, $600. That's it. Okay. In 1971, a bridge over Kawamuchi Lake was completed and new developments transformed the sleepy little town into a hot tourist area. Right. This is the story of us. And it's a quite place. What should we do? Let's put a bunch of shit on it. Let's build a bridge and a tunnel and maybe an arcade, some bars. Why would you want just a

mountain if you can't? Maybe just the one garbage can right there for everything. Yeah, we don't need a garbage can. Right. Let's save a little money. Let's just say, okay, the streets are trash. Yeah. Thank you. Real estate value shot up and were worth millions. He just, he bought a bunch of pieces of land for cheap and then the torch should happen and boom. Yeah, right. Okay. He's wealthy overnight. Right. Well, not overnight, but you get it. Right. A friend of Akiyo said he quote, couldn't stop laughing all the way to the bank. I'm assuming that is a figure of speech. And is that where that comes from? If not, or it might be what actually happened to him. Bank is a, when you actually think about what that entails, it is pretty great. Someone always

this is honestly, this is legitimately crazy. Checking, checking sir. What is he looking at bananas your cat? Yeah, my cats just come into contact with bananas for the first time and he's just hanging, he's intrigued. Wouldn't you be first time you saw banana? I don't know. Not like that. Yeah. I don't know if I'd stand on them. So now rich, no, no, he's rich. Right. So Akiyo went into money lending. Okay. So I'm, it's nice to see the gradual progression of this. He did not have a great reputation in the money lending business. As in what he, well, he was known to just take off when the debtor's loan was due. Okay. So the debtor couldn't pay him back. Is that the opposite of every lender

ever? Yeah, I don't think you're allowed to, who is like, I just can't get in touch with my bookie. I want to pay the guy. I mean, he, I, you know, I think I'm going to have to break his kneecaps if he doesn't meet up with me soon. Well, so then this would put the debtor into more debt because he passed the deadline, right? So now he owes. Is that why he's doing it? Yeah. Okay. So that's different. Okay. Right. So, but you still want to find him because you're like, dude, they got to be, oh man, you, so many fees. Yeah. I mean, I would try to come in two weeks early, but yeah, it's like Bank of America, the human. It's going to be the move we're going to make. Yeah. And sometimes it would end up being able to seize the person's property because he would

fuck them over so much. Right. Okay. A local resident said, quote, if you went to his office, everyone would think you're penniless. So people avoided socializing with him. If, oh, okay. Wow. All right. So it sounds like he's not probably a lonely dude too. Well, he's making cash though. Sure. Is that all that matters? Yeah. No, judging by the intensity on the look you're giving me, it's all that matters. It's all that matters. Yep. You're hurting my hand. Local newspapers started reporting on his business and his business practices. Okay. Stories of his nefarious ways began appearing more and more often. It was believed that he hired Yakuza to force out, to force out reluctant tenants if you

wanted to buy the property. Well, that is, that's what you do. I mean, that's called being a developer. How long after the eviction notice until Yakuza is there? A half a day. Oh my God. You're like, I'm still packing. Come on. Okay. I'm going to leave. Take that finger off. What about my kids? Nope. All right. Well, goodbye, guys. Yakuza's here. Bye. Love you so much. Oh, please. I just love my kids so much. My throat is being drained of blood. So he opened up a Tokyo branch of his business in 1895. Yakuza's been around for a while. Yeah. Yakuza's been around forever. So while he was there, he reclaimed land that a kindergarten was built on because the owner of the land couldn't repay

a loan. This is heartless. So while the local community angrily protested, he evicted the kids, tore down the kindergarten. Evicted children? And then the day of like six-year-old Yakuza show up. Hey, man, get out of here. Sorry. But we're playing. Hey, look, we're Yakuza Jr. You're not playing no more. You're going to have to get out of here. Yeah, you play days are over. Where are you going to have to get out of here now? We're baby Yakuza's. So he tore down the kindergarten. He built an apartment complex. Wow. He went through the whole. He went through it all. Wow. Didn't give a shit. Wow. Two fucks given. Jesus. He. And if they worried, leave town so that you'd own three. That's right. Yeah. He bought land from 60 families, but one family refused to sell.

Yeah. So he's trying to buy this big, you know, area of land. Right. Families are refusing. Now, they, they own a pharmacy on the bottom floor of a building. Okay. And Akio had purchased everything else, including the second floor. So there's a family living on the second floor. He buys that. So now he just can't own the first floor. I don't like, my guess is there's an affair as tactic at play. Well, he starts, he starts a campaign of harassing against harassment against the family that lives there. Sure. Owns the business, but they stay. They're not going anywhere. Okay. They're determined. So then he tore down the second floor. He tore down. So he removed their roof. Did he? I mean, I guess so. So I guess the roof is just the, he just took, he

was like, all right. He didn't take the, I mean, there's, they still have a roof, but it's the ceiling. Right. They have a seat. Right. Exactly. Yeah. They have insulation that's exposed to air. Yeah. Yeah. It's not a great living situation. He just, I don't even really know how this works. No, I don't either. I can just picture Rampage, the video game. That's all I can imagine. So you just take, I don't think there's a comp on this one, but you just literally demolish. You take the first floor, the second floor off. Right. But, and it's just a two-story building. Yeah. He's not jengaing this or anything. No, no, it's a two-story building. So he just takes off the upper, upper one. Okay. Got you. Okay. It's normal stuff. Sure. Yeah. No, I'm sorry. When I

asked these questions, they're abnormal questions and it's obviously a normal thing. I didn't mean to frame it as anything out of the ordinary. It's just being a developer. It's just the man who bought a place and that was just like, I'm going to remove the place. Yeah. So this is when the family took Akio to court and got a restraining order. What? Okay. But he's starting. It's already done. It's already done. He's removing it again. So, so still he, you know, he's, he's super rich. Over time, he built a luxury house that came to be called the Kashiwagi Castle. Okay. It was surrounded by a high concrete wall. Akio had searched the countryside for the perfect wood, Zelkova, and then he built the home using his own lumber mill. Okay. Well, that's what you,

that's what a lot of people do. Sure. That's what I'm doing. He spent, they, they saved 38 million dollars on this. Oh my God. And this is when? This is in the 80s, early 80s, I think. He had a private chef who cooked, cooked him marinated monkey meat. Oh, what? And I'm not, no, no, no, I'm just taking issue with marinating it. I think, oh, no, a little salt. That's all you need for monkey meat. No, you gotta soak that. You gotta really get the flavor out of the monkey. I don't know. I like it. I don't know. Maybe I'm just different. I don't know. Maybe I'm wired differently. I mean, look, I eat a lot of monkey. I mainly eat monkey. Yeah. I do monkey paella. Yeah. And it's good. Yeah. No, it's monkey for breakfast, monkey for lunch, monkey for dinner.

I don't want to freak my cat out, but it's bananas. I'm gonna take off. Can I come? No. Let's stay here. There were always, always rumors that Akio had ties to the Yakuza. He had three sons. The family owned a Rolls Royce, a BMW, and a Jaguar. Akio collected antiques and diamonds. Okay. Akio said many were worth $385,000 per stone. I'm worried that he's a little too materialistic. Well, he bought traditional art by a Japanese painter Yokoyama, and the pieces he owned were so rare that he sometimes lent them to local museums. Okay. But his personal style was far from flashy. He hated jewelry, even cufflinks. He pretty much only wore blue and white striped shirts and dull ties. Okay. And even though he had fancy cars, he only pretty much

drove a Nissan president. Well, there's a couple problems there. The Nissan president? Yeah, yeah. Is that the car that when it runs out of fuel, it tells you it's full? No. What it does is it gets elected and that it destroys poor people's lives. It just, it has a radar where it'll just target the poor right away. Well, I bet it's like another, yeah, I mean, it's just a standard looking sedan. That's a bit of a fancy. I mean, it looks like it might be a fancier. It looks a little like a Bentley. It will a Buick. I mean, look at that one. That's probably from the 80s. Yeah. It's a well to the 80s though. Nothing was great. But that's what that's when he was doing his job. All right. So he has that and that's where he drives. But I don't understand. Okay. But what is the

point then of all the possessions? Just it's all status? Well, I think that he just wanted a nice house. But like inside the house, how's I could get inside the house? It's very sort of minimalist Japanese. He's just got like mats and like, you know, it's really low key inside. Where's $38 million going? I probably did the architecture and the wood and stuff. Inside you just got mats. Got a pretty sweet wall. Magic going over to his house like, honey, we're going to go, we're going to, it's going to be unbelievable. Okay, we're going over to Akira's place tonight. It's going to be unreal. And then you walk in and you're like, huh? And he's like, hey, hey, and there's just, you want a mat? There's just gutted monkeys all over. Just monkey skeletons

and nine yoga mats. Hey, and look, you guys want to hang out. So he made his own traditional picked pickled vegetables himself. And he loved to watch samurai dramas on TV. Okay. His biggest regret was how he had raised his oldest son. He thought he had been too strict and this had led to his son to hang out with some criminal types. His son would come to the house and steal and fence the goods. What the hell's the kid gonna steal? I mean, yeah, the kid's stealing goats. He's like, all right, I got a pillow and a towel. That's all we have inside. Why do you keep coming back with dead monkeys, man? Hey, listen, this is all the old man has in there. I'm trying to find some live ones. But I mean, he, I walk in and he's sucking the

meat off the bone. Your family's out of its fucking mind. Hey, man, I did look. Yeah. As the 80s, as late 80s came, Akio's friends said he began to ease up and soften a bit. Okay. He started helping stuff that's not monkey now. I'm having a salad every Wednesday. He started helping friends who were in debt. He was older. He was diagnosed with diabetes and gallstones. See, that's why you can't just be living on that monkey diet. I agree. Monkey, monkey meat will just give you gallstones. Yeah. Come on. Skip a monkey every other day, would you? Eat an apple. Eat an apple. He stopped drinking his favorite drink, whisking water and switched to green tea or just straight water. Started losing weight.

He still chain smoked. Mild seven cigarettes, but gotta have something. Gotta have a little thing. In the late 80s, Akio started gambling. Here we go. As Dave puts his foot on the clutch, it goes to you too. According to James Osborne, who was a rich guy involved in casitos, who ran the high stakes Aspen All Room in the Diamond Beach Hotel Casino in Darwin, Australia, Akio came on the radar in 1987. Okay. Osborne was told by his boss to go to Tokyo to meet with Akio, who was getting a reputation for being a huge backer at player in Vegas. Okay. Now, I've read a little bit of a background and it's essentially like flipping a coin. And you just kind of bet which sides. I mean, it's really it's a it's a card game though.

Yeah, but it's it's a card game, but it's the way people compared it to the like, it's like betting on flipping a coin. And right. And you're just and the odds are, you know, pretty even between you and the house. Okay. So Osborne convinced Akio to gamble in Darwin. He goes up. He goes, you got to come down to Darwin is closer than Vegas. And where else are you going? We're right here. We got a we got a casino in two days. Akio won $10 million. Okay. Okay. The casino was the guy like get the fuck out of here. Why did you come? Why did you come here? Get out of here. Take your monkeys to Casey. Go. The casino barely had enough money to cover the debt.

Two weeks later, he came back and he won $6 million. Oh my God. What banned this man? Can you ban him? But he had, uh, he had brought a friend along who lost $6 million. So the casino was okay. Okay. But where was out? He needs to like bring like someone who knows how to gamble a little bit. But a little, yeah, for sure. So, but word is out and all across the world. Casinos now knew about Akio Kashi Wagi. Okay. Osborne's casino sent a tape to Steve Wynn, uh, who's in Vegas. And by the way, his politics. Really? Oh, you do. I thought you were saying the opposite of yours. He's a fucking madman. He's an unbelievable misunderstood genius. Okay. Okay. Uh, I don't think you know what that word means. Uh, that Wayne Newton face. Okay.

So he sends a tape to Steve Wynn and, uh, has Steve Wynn security people look at it. Okay. Now Akio had lost $6 million at Wynn's casino a year earlier. Okay. He should have gone to his other one. Loss. That's a joke. That's that joke is sponsored by, let's go to some ad. This joke was sponsored by, come on, help bail me out. That was terrible. Frank's hot dogs in San Luis Obispo. Frank's hot dogs in San Luis Obispo. Frank's hot dogs. We're on the beach. They're not on the beach. They're in town. Don't fuck with the slogan. Uh, so, uh, uh, so when they did that, Wynn's people looked at the video, they looked at the video from Darwin, they looked at their own videos and they found, they couldn't find anything that Akio was doing.

No noticeable difference. Okay. To win all that money. Now the Chinese partners in the Darwin casino had had an expensive Feng Shui consultant come in. Oh, good God. I mean, earth, take us. He said that they had to alter and refit the doors. Where? At the front doors of the casino. And then they had to, there was a net above the background table. They had to hide that. They had to hide the net. This is all for a dragon's movement. And put a fish tank next to the back rat table. And then the Feng Shui would be good. This is, okay. This is, this is a classic casino stuff. This is a little, this is a little stinky. Casinos always bring in a Feng Shui guy. Feng Shui guy. Uh, so, so it didn't work. It's the

part I'm born to play. Okay. So they do it. They put the fish tank in, they give her the net, they change the doors. Doesn't work. Okay. Akio comes back in Christmas 1990 and wins $5 million. Well, he didn't win as much. So maybe, that's right. Maybe the fish tank. The dragon's tail is near. Yeah. Okay. It's not able to fully Y turnout, but it can move around the room. Yeah. All right. Uh, soon he returned on a chartered jet, uh, sent by the casino and won another $5 million after gambling all night. So now the casino is fucking broke. Why do they keep inviting him? Because they just think he's gonna lose. They're like, he's gotta lose. He's got to lose. Okay. Okay. Uh, so the kinesinos broke. The owners had to put more cash in to keep the

casino from going bankrupt. Uh huh. Still casinos all over the world want Akio to gamble in their places. Okay. And he did. Okay. Akio carried as much as 1.5 million in cash into bags when he went on gambling trips to casinos in Europe, Australia and the United States. Okay. Akio claimed he had an income of $100 million a year and assets of $1 billion. Okay. All right. But that doesn't sound. That's a lot. That's a lot for back then. That's a lot. Okay. Uh, he became known and he's still a lot now, but I think we have a lot more billionaires now than you need to. You better believe we do because we finally figured out how to make, excuse me, what'd you say? What'd you say? Said who on fire? Billionaires. What? Just a little bit of fire. If you, no,

we don't want to hurt them. We want to be them. Oh, no, no. We want to, we want to take all their money away and so they don't have it and make, I want, I want every billionaire to have to live. We reverse, give all the homeless people, uh, the billionaires money and make the billionaires homeless and just have them live it out for a little while. Oh my God. I want to watch the reality show flip my society and see that happen. Oh, oh my God. Uh, so Akio became known in the gambling world as the warrior. Sure. He would gamble for two days straight without sleeping. Oh, there's the name. Uh, high rollers are few and the biggest are often discussed among casino owners. Okay. Akio was known to bet up to $250,000 a hand. Jesus Christ. And he's playing back

right the whole time. Yeah. Okay. Now a guy named Donald Trump got into casinos in 1984. Dave. Dave, why? I didn't know we got a guest star. And soon he moved into boxing. Dave, what? I'm not ready for this. Outbidding Las Vegas casinos told championship bouts at his casinos. He had the greatest boxers of the time in his rings, Tyson, Foreman, all the George Cooney, all the, all the big ones. Trump quote, I put on these fights because I'm a fan. I do it because I like it. It's exciting. People really react to it. You wouldn't see this kind of excitement at the opera or ballet. That's, that's a private, by the way, that's a promise you can make for most things. Yeah. Yeah. Cause those are pretty tame events. Look, it takes a smart man to compare

boxing to opera, ballet. I mean, how many people are smart to say, look, this sporting event is more exciting than the ballet. You know what? This is better than a funeral. The fight's brought publicity and also the fights brought in high rollers. Sure. Sure. Or as they are known in the gambling whales. Correct. It worked. He was making a killing off whales on fight nights. Philadelphia Inquirer quote, according to the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame, Trump spent about 3.2 million to bring the Spinks Cooney bout to Atlantic City and gamblers left 7.2 million at his tables. Okay. So when totaling his money in July 1987, Trump bought the troubled Taj Mahal casino while it was still under construction.

Okay. Paid 675 million to buy and finish construction. Okay. This was mostly done through junk bonds at a 14% interest rate. So he's paying a very high rate. Now he's got a lot of overhead. Uh huh. Right. So even before the Taj Mahal opened, Trump is scrambling to make money. Okay. Now, did you bring the ballet to town finally? Uh, better than the boxing. You know, ballet is not that exciting. Very fun. The dancers have agreed. They're going to fight each other. After Akio's victory in Darwin, Trump spoke to the owner of the Darwin casino about it. Okay. And he heard about Akio's winnings. And he also heard that Akio had lost at Wynn's casino. Okay. Right. So Trump started trying to court Akio. Okay. This is when he was a Democrat, right?

Yeah. Right. But Trump's top casino executive said, do not invite Akio to Atlantic City. Okay. So I guess I don't fully, I, the idea is the, is the idea that they keep going, this guy's bound to lose. Or is it like, this guy's sort of known. So it's like a cool thing to have him here. It's like having a celebrity here. And I just don't think he's going to. I think, I think most people lose when they gamble, like just in general. So the odds are in your favor. But if I heard a guy, if I'm a casino owner and I hear a guy like puts on these streaks. Yeah. I'm like, Oh, well, I'll ask the third tiered background player to come. And not this guy, but he Godzilla, he right now, he's top five in the

world, background player. Like he's, yeah, I mean, top five has to be, I mean, he's making top five high roller anyway. Right. Okay. They just think he's going to lose again. Right. Back rat is like a coin flip, except it's got like a 1.2%. So it's very, it's very, so being a top five, are you not immediately just overly scrutinized as like, I mean, none of it makes sense. Okay. Okay. Sorry. I needed to catch. I needed a moment. But Trump wants them, right? So, so, um, his, his top executive said it's too risky. Don't bring them, but Trump doesn't listen. In February of 1990, Mike Tyson was going to fight Buster Douglas in Tokyo and Trump was the promoter. Okay. Wow. I can't believe I don't remember.

Yeah. He was in, he was into, uh, promoting for a while, uh, but he, he lost his ass on it in the end. I mean, because of this fight, so this fight is when Tyson loses the bus, the biggest upset in boxing history at the time, for sure. Yeah. And Tyson can sell tickets and now you're, and then Douglas loses and then the next guy loses. So it's like a, uh, so Trump, Trump goes to Tokyo, uh, in a party, by the way, that's one of my favorite movies. Trump goes to Tokyo. It's amazing. It's awesome. It's so great. Oh, man. I'm so much taller. Yeah. I mean, all that stuff. When he eats the sushi, it's just so funny. It's undercooked. Yeah. That's right. So there's a party for friends and business people, right?

Sure. The night before the fight, Tyson's there and Trump is like escorting Tyson around the room so people can take pictures with him. Boy, to just have a recording of those two discussing. Oh my God. Right. Talking about rape. No, you don't think so? Because they're both terrible people. Honestly, they, when you honestly think of it, they were just probably, yes, they're the worst, two of the worst humans. Sexual, predatory. Yeah. They're really bad humans. I mean, I had for a minute, it was going to be about something light, but that day's coming. So Trump saw, uh, Akio standing in the corner and he walks over and he puts his arm around Akio's shoulder and he tries to get Tyson in for a picture and Akio starts yelling, no picture, no picture,

while he covers his face. Wow. And Donald Trump is like, you are my opposite completely. Which according to some people is another indication that he's involved with the Yakuza. Yeah. I mean, okay. All right. Okay. So Trump took the opportunity to talk to Akio and give him, you know, a deal to come to Atlantic City. So he flies him out from Tokyo on a jet, first class, and a few days later, Akio arrives in Atlantic City at the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino. Trump meets him at the door and he gives him an autograph copy of the art of the deal. Oh, Jesus. Man, I, there's a lot of inconsistency with this man, but somehow there is like, the most consistency as well. Okay. Uh, man, I mean, like for Christmas, giving people,

if I signed our book and gave it to, I mean, okay, could you just imagine the expression of people's feeling 10 books? There you go. That's for you. You like it? That's mine. For some reason, that's my signature. It looks like a heart attack. For some reason, Akio did not immediately gamble. He just went up to the two level penthouse suite that he was giving and locked himself in for two days. It's the best thing to do. Yes. Make all that money gambling and then just lock yourself in the room for five days and be like, I had a great time and just leave at a great, you guys make an unbelievable monkey sandwich. This place is unbelievable. It had an ocean view at a Butler service, a grand piano. What do you mean?

It had an 800,000 J. I learned how to play the piano while I was here. It's unbelievable. You guys, this is so great. Thank you so much. I think next time I come here, I might gamble. So he's in the penthouse for two days and then he comes out on a Friday night at the table, which is roped off with velvet ropes just for him. Right. It's been that way the whole time since he got there. Okay. There are piles of $5,000 chips waiting for him. One 200 out dealer waiting one $250,000 stack of chips was over a foot high. Wow. Okay. Akio is surrounded by 10 hotel bodyguards. He plays a marathon session as casino officials watch. They give him hot towels.

He had his own private bathroom to use. Trump hired a Japanese chef to cook him meals. But it's not like that's weird because other casinos had actually flown in tableware from Akio's favorite restaurants in Japan. What? Just go to pure one, would you? Rich people just live so fucking different. It's just crazy that level of like... It's insane. It's offensive. A little bit. It's just unreal. But getting a whale into the casino worked. Media covered his gambling, which is what Trump wanted, right? Publicity. The Wall Street Journal, quote, sipping tea amid tuxedo clad backray croupiers. Mr. Kashiwagi in his rumpled blue stripe shirt

and plain black slippers has the look of a quarter slot machine player just off the bus from Hoboken. It's amazing. Sometimes the... I don't even know if they know that they're taking a dig by being like, you know what I mean? Like, not that it's wrong to like... Look at this fucking rich guy. Looks like he's from Jersey. Yeah, but it's just weird. It is weird. Nobody cares. What's the content? The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that dozens of not wealthy gamblers looked over a marble wall to watch him make huge bets. One woman, quote, all that money. How can anyone? I just can't imagine.

The senior executive of the casino, Jack O'Donnell, said it was exactly the publicity Trump wanted, quote, that Kashiwagi chose Trump Plaza was an enormous coup for us. He was the perfect compliment to the world-class image we were marketing and enhanced the Trump image of elegance and excitement. Kashiwagi could propel Trump Plaza into an entirely new realm of action. Yeah. Assuming he doesn't... Oh, take everything in the hotel. Yeah, yeah. That's an obvious... But O'Donnell had warned Trump it was too risky. And pretty quickly, Akio started winning. Trump was down $1 million in half an hour.

Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Does he want to go back up to the penthouse for a while? Get him some monkey spaghetti. Trump wrote in a book, quote, what the hell am I doing? I asked myself, cash flow is way down and I'm playing with a guy who could win $40 or $50 million in a matter of days. How there are times in Trump's existence where he sounds like he quantum leaped into himself. So it was now obvious that Trump's desire for publicity could put Trump Plaza out of business. Okay, right. Maybe Trump did not realize or he did and didn't care. But while most games give a pretty good advantage to the house, back right, as I said, just because a relatively narrow edge

to the dealer. Right. Okay. Because I think 1.2%, I might be wrong. More 1.5%. It's like 1.2%. It's nothing. Right. Quote, I was merely sitting on the sidelines watching as one of the best gamblers in the world played against me for $250,000 per hand 70 times an hour. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Trump was getting freaked out. Yeah. He said for the first time since he owned the casino, he called down to the casino floor late at night to check on the situation and learned he was down $4 million. Oh, my Lord. Oh, my Lord. You flew him out. Yeah. It's a lot like to do to bet on coin flips. Yeah. And it's a lot like Trump's snake story. Yeah. It's like he's getting bitten. Yeah. So why'd you bite me? Whoa. Whoa. What is happening? That's the problem with these stupid

watches. I didn't know. I didn't know that was the thing. Why is it? What do you need it for? Exercise. Okay. Because the Fitbit got popped by Google and I don't want Google to have my information. Oh, Dave, come on. Do you want Google to have your health information? Absolutely. The fifth, the... I trust... You know, it helps me exercise and helps me stay on top of you. All right. Yeah. You know best search engine? Acosia. What's happening right now? Acosia better than Google. Duck, duck, go. No. Duck, duck, go. Acosia plants trees. Oh. Well, duck, duck, go is private like they don't give out any information. Trees. Okay. So where were we before we were rudely interrupted?

He was down to six, four million. Oh, yeah. He's down eight million dollars. Eight million? Eight million. So just a little while later, four million turns into eight. So Acu had now had so many chips that he had to pile them on the floor. That's not cool. I mean, I'm no fan of Trump, but I mean, he's just standing there. Oh my good. He's building a little castle around himself. Trump put on a carefree mask for the press. Literally. Told the Philadelphia Enquirer who he asked to come down, quote, Have you ever seen action like this? This guy's great. The best in the world. The best.

Where's that spin? Acu gambled all weekend. His winnings went up and down. Huge swings in millions of dollars. He was very quiet and would sometimes just smile as he lost a huge hand. Other times he would throw his cards down angrily. He would also occasionally make a fist and then open it as if he was releasing some kind of energy. Interesting. Which like, like I get if you're playing blackjack, but you're literally just betting on nonsense. What does that look like? That just looks like you're like, yeah. All right. Yeah. You've created a butterfly in your hand. That's right.

The spectators became more and more as news stories of the action came out. Acu was all about privacy as we know, and all the people watching were irritating him. He suddenly just said he was returning to Tokyo. At that point, he was up $6 million. Okay. That's not, you do not want to hear that. Trump was livid. Yeah. He yelled at O'Donnell, quote, He quit Jack. What the fuck? Oh, shit. He thought Acu would stay for several days and gamble, but he was bailing after just two days.

He said, well, you had two days in the hotel, two days of gambling and went six million. And now he's leaving. I mean, he's like, you've lost a lot of money. He's out. Yeah. Hey, but I'll tell you what, at least he got the book. But a lot of it had to do with the fact that Trump kept getting the publicity, which is the guy doesn't want to fucking gamble, but Trump can't not do that. Right. Right. Right. He's golem. He is golem.

Um, um, so Trump immediately goes to Accio and pushed him to return as soon as possible. He's like, you got to come back. He got to come back and gamble. It's been a stress-free weekend for me. What a great time. Here's another book. It's signed again. Please come back. We'll have the same chef. Please come back. Please come back. Please come back. Just come back.

Come back. I could lose your skill a little, then come back. A Trump executive suggested that Accio come back on December 7th, the anniversary of Pearl Harbor. Why? I don't know. It's just so fucking... Like I think framed properly. There's a world where I wouldn't be disgusted by that, but it's not this one. Hey, man. What do you say? Come back for Pearl Harbor, huh?

It's kind of a big day for our countries. So Trump, so Kiyosaki is going to come back at some point. So Trump consults a mathematics probability expert named Jess Markham. Imagine Trump sitting down with a math... I mean, he would be like taking the lead on everything. No, I know. Exactly. That's how I do it. Yeah. Well, what I'm saying is that you've got to... You keep in mind a lot...

Yeah, the numbers. I got it. No, I'm not even saying the other numbers. I understand. No, I'm not saying to the percentages. I get it. Not the fractions. The same as percentages. Okay. No, I'm actually trying to teach you. Give me a pie chart. I'm better with those. Sir, if you can... I know. I'm Einstein. No, you're Donald Trump. I know. My first name's Einstein.

It's Donald. Middle name's Einstein. It's not. My last name's Einstein. Stop it. So Markham had worked at Rand Corporation, a think tank that, quote, aims for interdisciplinary and quantitative problems solving by translating theoretical concepts from formal economics and physical sciences into novel applications of other areas using applied science and operations research. So it's a fucking brainy, brainy place of brains who come up with horrible ideas.

Okay. What's the name of the place? Rand Corporation. R-A-N-D. R-A-N-D. Markham also had a photographic memory and at some point became obsessed with gambling. He could always predict the outcome. Wow. According... Why is this guy not in the a keel business? Yeah. Showing up too. According to documentarian Adam Curtis,

Las Vegas gangsters were fascinated by Markham and called him the ultimate. Okay. So Trump goes to Markham. Okay. And he wants Markham to figure out how to get the best odds against Akio when he returned. Okay. He's coming back for Pearl Harbor. We're going to celebrate and go big. We're going to do it right. Classy.

So Markham analyzes all the videos of Akio playing and Markham realized there was only one way to increase the house's very slight advantage and back route. And that was to keep the game going for as long as possible. Okay. Markham along with an Atlantic City casino insider put together a proposal for Trump to take to Akio. Okay.

The deal was for Akio to bring 12 million to the table. He would play until he either doubled it or lost everything. Wow. That's... Oh my god. I think... A movie plot. I think the... Oh yeah. Here it is. So even if he was making enormous bets, it would take a long time for that to happen. Okay.

Markham simulated the match in notes. And he thought Akio might go out in front early, but after 75 hours at the table, his chances of winning would drop to 15 percent. So you've got to keep him at the table for 75 hours. Yeah. But the only way to keep him there, the only way to win is to keep him there.

Yeah. Right. Akio agreed to the terms. Wow. But there was no way to legally hold him to the deal. Right. You can't legally do it. Right. It's a gentleman's agreement. Right.

Trump believed high rollers were honor bound. It's just the best sentence that I've ever read. The big high rollers, they have honor. They're honor bound. They're whales. That's right, sir. That they're as honorable as you are, sir. They gamble on it.

So they got a code. You know what I found? A lot of these people, they're called degenerates. They're actually some of the best people you're ever going to come in contact with. Okay. Some of these guys, they're unbelievable. A lot of these guys, Christians, a lot of...

What do you mean? Huh? What do you mean? What? They took everything? Oh my God. They lied to me? Oh my God. They're like samurai. They have a... There's a code. Okay.

It's like I have. Okay. Yeah. It's so what he said. Trump quote. Gamblers are honorable and... I mean, it's a casino. I don't think that...

I mean, it's not like you're like in the middle of nowhere and you're like, my son, I'm going to find out what a gambler is. I bet they're honorable. Like you are in a casino. You're like, yeah. I mean, obviously we have to break a lot of thumbs. This is Tom guy.

Quote, gamblers are honorable in their own way, at least about gambling. What? I don't even believe that to be true. No. I don't think it's... No. So Akio returns to Trump Plaza in May,

and again, he immediately went on a quick winning streak. Trump biographer Henry Hurt, the third, said Trump was quote, impolitely sweating the action in full view of a Kashiwagi and the other patrons before he finally excused himself. Yeah. Get out of there. Akio went up $9 million.

Oh, boy. So all together he's up $14 million, right? Oh, boy. $15 million. Yeah. With the previous six, he took Trump's down $15 million. Wow. So Trump was completely freaked out

and he thought about stopping the game. He thought about just saying, fuck it. Take the money and run. This is the end, yeah. But Markham convinced Trump to wait and let the math work. Okay. Which has always been Trump's philosophy. Yeah, he's always about the math.

Let the math do the talking. Akio continued to gamble for more than five days, and at one point, Trump heard Akio had a massive losing streak, and it occurred right after they switched dealers and a team of men went out and a team of female dealers came in. Which Trump can empathize with more than anyone. And Trump said, quote,

I want those women dealing to this guy all the time. I don't give a damn if it's a coincidence or not. Women are objects. Put him out. Trump called the female dealers directly and said he expected them to stay at the table. Okay. Still, he's going up and down.

He's winning, he's losing, he's losing. I mean, it's five days. Yeah, he's like Trump's signature. That's right. Then, on the sixth day, as Markham predicted, Trump won up 10 million. So altogether, he's really up 4 million, right? Right.

Because he lost the six already. Trump then stopped the game. What? Wait. It's a gentleman's agreement. Well, it's... Gamblers have honor. Well, apparently they don't.

But... Yeah, he just stopped the game. He would later write, quote, Remembering our deal, I told my people to stop the play. He was not particularly happy about this, but he agreed. When a deal is made, they usually abide by it. He said Akio agreed.

That is not at all Akio's version of events. Yeah, sure. Yeah. He was fucking livin'. Yeah. Akio's aide told reporters, quote, Trump had dishonorably violated their deal by calling off the game early.

The deal was for him to play until he won or lost 12 million dollars. Trump had called the game after 10 million. Yeah. On every level, bullshit. Yeah. So Akio is furious. Okay. He leaves the casino in a rage.

Before he does, he cashes out $500,000 in chips. Okay. And then his aide made an announcement. They were going to get the autograph copy of Art of the Deal that Trump had given them, quote, We are going to burn it soon. There's a lot I like about that, but I'm bugging it. Like, how hard is it to schedule a book burning?

We have plans to burn it in the fall. Okay. But now Akio had been playing on credit and he left before a six million check cleared his bank in Singapore and the check either bounced or Akio stopped payment on it. But either way. My guess is stop payment on that shit. Yeah.

Either way, it didn't get the money. Okay. Wow. So Trump publicly threatened to sue and Akio responded that Trump was the one with the credit problem. Akio's aide told the Wall Street Journal that Trump Plaza offered Akio a $5,000 shopping spring at Macy's, but that the store rejected Trump's credit at the register.

Oh, shit. Jesus. Couple of fucking losers. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. The aide, quote, We pity Mr. Trump's creditors. No wonder if they panic.

Oh, wow. And sure enough, Taj Mahal would go bankrupt, you know, a couple of years later. Yeah. But things were also not good for Akio. When he returned home to Japan, his loss was huge news. There was a media frenzy in Tokyo about his Atlantic City disaster. Okay.

And this was just the beginning. He was going on a losing streak. He flew to Europe to try to recoup his losses at Trump Plaza, but ended up losing another $15.4 million. Wow. He paid his European creditors $5.3 million, but then said he didn't have any more money. At that point, it was believed he also owed

the Las Vegas Hilton $5 million, as well as the $4 million to Trump. So he's in close to $20 million worth of debt. Just months after the loss at Trump's Plaza, he ran up gambling debts and other, I said that, so it tells us about $19 million. And then on top of all that, the Japanese economy was in a real estate bubble and the bubble popped.

Oh, no. His land values plummeted, and the Japanese media reported Akio had an $131 million bank loan that exceeded his assets. On January 3rd, 1992, so he just lays low after that. He's staying in his house. He's just totally laying low. On January 3rd, 1992,

Akio's family went out to pick strawberries, and Akio stayed home alone. When the family returned, they found Akio dead. White paper screens in the room were splattered with blood. He had been stabbed by as many as 150 times with a samurai sword. Jesus Christ. It had the trademarks of a Yakuza hit. So the belief is, is that they were his backers.

That they kind of had- The Yakuza were backing him. Gotcha. And he was going out and gambling. And then once he was cooled. And then once he lost the money. Then what's the point? Yeah.

Or other people are like, well, maybe the European people came after him. Right. As much as Akio said he was a billionaire, an independent assessment found his real estate business only had revenues of 15 million and a handful of employees. Japanese cops made an arrest. The Los Angeles Times said he was a,

a quote, reputed local gangster who knew Akio's son. The murder did not take any of the diamonds or any of the hundreds of thousands of dollars that were stashed in the house. Right. He always had the doors locked, but this time the door was open, meaning he clearly let the person in.

So he knew the person. Right, right. But in the end, it's never been solved. No one has any idea who could kill Akio. My theory is. Akio, how are you? Hey, I just got this new samurai sort of wanted to show you real quick, okay?

That's crazy. Trump later told political quote, I loved our matches with him. He was a great player who loved big numbers. He made me a lot of money when money was very tight and the economy was crashing. But he didn't. He didn't say a word about carrying

that Akio had been killed. So that's a fun one. Is that it? Yeah. Jesus, you jerk off. That's all there is. Oh my God. Just some guy that owed Donald Trump

four million dollars who got killed. Jesus Christ. Oh, I can't believe he, it's weird for me when he pops into one. That's really weird. Yeah. Halfway through to hear Donald Trump. I was like, I'm sorry, who's coming in?

Yeah. And let's face it, he would have lost that casino two years earlier if that Markham guy didn't exist. Right. That Markham guy was just happening. There happened to be a genius hanging around fucking casinos that everybody knew. A perfect genius, right.

Yeah. Sources, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Adam Curtis's hypernormalization, Los Angeles Times, Politico did a great story called the Japanese, I can't remember what it's called, but they did a great story. Yeah. It's good.

Oh my God, that's crazy. And then also the Osborn guy has a story about it. He wrote a story about people. People are kind of fascinated with this guy. With who? With Akio. Yeah, I'm sure. He's like a famous gambler.

Well, there's, I mean, there's, I'm sure there's Laura. I mean, there's. Oh yeah. I mean, it's just, yeah, anytime someone dies like that, you're just like, wait, what is, yeah, what's going on? But I kind of love it. Like now that we know more about Trump, but we know, we know how mobbed up Trump is.

Yeah. I mean, you know, that's part of the dollop that we did on him, the two-parter. He's fucking mobbed the gills. His lawyer who's now in prison is a mob lawyer. So this could, 100% just be something he's been, oh, it's called, the political story is called the whale that nearly drowned the Donald by Michael Crowley.

Oh shit. That's a great title. Yeah. Wow. Oh, kind of gives me the chills a little bit. So that's just very. I mean, he was most probably killed by Yakuza. Well, the only thing that I would say

that takes you off the Trump scent is that it seemed to be competently finished. Yeah, I would, yeah, I would absolutely say that. And then. And if there's one thing we know about Trump, it's that he doesn't like to finish a job. But I would like to just believe that it was him just because it's more fun.

Dave, you're allowed to. It's more fun. You're allowed to. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to, I'm going to pretend it's the Japanese chef they hired. Okay.

That's totally fine. That could be him. Well, it's got a lot of markings of that. Oh, yeah, yeah. Chef on gambler crime. Yes, sir. You can always tell. Tell, tell, tell, tell signs.

Tell. Tell, tell signs. Tell, tell signs. Yeah, tell, tell signs. So we got, we got to get you out of this house. Just come with me. No, I don't have it to go back. I don't have a go back.

I don't think it's a go back. There is up near me a home for men or being abused by cats. I just. And it is. It's not abuse. It's we've, we've had a rough patch. He bit you. The last, the last time I was here.

He bit me. He bit you. He bit me violently last time. He just bit you pretty violent this time too. It was like, it was, it was a, here's the truth here. You want a little dose of truth, motherfucker? Not really. Well, you're going to get it.

So open your mouth because the plane's coming in and it's got some food on the spoon. What? Shut the fuck up. Now I work all day. So when we do these at night at my place, I haven't seen, he's been like, like normally if I come home, I have a little time to hang out with him, you know, like do whatever we would jumping jacks and we put on our PJs. And we take, we do a photo shoot as usual stuff.

It's just when I come back tonight, I don't have a lot of time. I got to like make some food before you come over, you know, and he's got this energy that's, so when he's up here, he's in a good mood, but he's also a little like, he's a little, a little more fiery. Okay. So you have a mental disorder, like a legitimate mental disorder. And we got to get you to a doctor, a brain doctor. Do they got that at your cat man facility?

All right. Well, we send cats. Yeah, we send cats.