Every week I get to go on WWAY News and give a comedic report on the weird or obscure news stories they did not report. This week I shared clips from past episodes with some new updates on:
- The Jetpack Racing League announced to launch in 2019. Watch that original episode here.
- Julio Nivelo, the thief who stole $1.6M in gold by just picking up a bucket from an armored truck. Watch that original episode here.
Watch “What Did We Miss?” on WWAY News every Thursday at 5:30 am and 11 pm. Watch earlier episodes here.
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Transcript:
How goes it? I’m Wills Maxwell and this is “What Did We Miss?” Here I tell you the stories that WWAY did not. Not all of the stories, that would be overwhelming.
There are a lot of coronavirus stories right now but today I wanted to give you, and truthfully me, a break from all of that. Every once in a while we’ll take look at stories from the past and I’ll give you updates on what’s happened since. Let’s start with this clip from January 2019.
“What you’re looking at is footage of the first time ever two jetpacks have flown at the same time. JetPack Aviation, the company that built these, is planning to launch the first ever jetpack racing league this year. This is awesome! I am all for jetpack racing but is there a way to remove the possibility of death around this? I don’t know, maybe they all race 5 feet above a foam pit? I know this is the future and I’m sounding like the first person to see a Model T like ‘Good heavens, is this contraption safe?!’ but like… good heavens, is this contraption safe? “
It’s been over a year and the Jetpack Racing League hasn’t started yet which is a shame because that would’ve been the only sport that didn’t get canceled. Back then, I thought this was the most dangerous sport I’d ever seen and now I realize it was actually the safest. This whole thing is just social distancing in 3 dimensions. Jetpack Aviation has several other projects happening. Last November they raised $2M to fund their flying motorcycle that can reach speeds of over 400 mph. You’ll know when I have one because you’ll constantly hear a faint scream doppler by you.
I’ve covered a lot of weird crime stories but this one has always been my favorite. Take it away, 2016 Wills!
“This is probably the most low-key heist you’ll ever see. A New York man stole an 86lb bucket filled with scrap gold. This bucket is worth $1.6 million but what’s remarkable is how casual this happened. The man walked past an armored truck, saw the vehicle was unattended and just grabbed a bucket. He didn’t know what was in it or where it was heading. He just saw it and took it. Now the man without a plan takes this bucket and just walks down the streets of New York with it. No one stops him, no one’s chasing him. He just robbed an armored truck and strolls off. At one point he even stops, stretches a little bit and goes right back to his heist.”
4 months later, Julio Nivelo was caught in Ecuador by their local police, US Homeland Security and the NYPD. They formed a supergroup to catch him. They were like Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young and Justice. Nivelo faced trial in Ecuador because they do not extradite criminals. If you knew that already, I’m suspicious of you. He was sentenced to a year in prison and got out after 9 months. His sentence was light because he had a clean record… In Ecuador. Nivelo was a career criminal in the U.S. My favorite part about this heist was the casualness. It looked like a guy who had never committed a crime in his life, saw a chance and thought “Why not?” I could not have been more wrong. Nivelo has been stealing from armored trucks since 1989. When describing grabbing the gold he said quote “If you were a football player, you always try to play the Super Bowl… Always I was, ‘OK. My lucky day will be one day. I’m ready for it.” end quote. In a 2018 interview, that he sought out, Julio revealed he’s living with his mom in Ecuador where everyone thinks he’s a millionaire. Here’s the thing… according to him, he let his ex-girlfriend hold onto the $1.2M in cash for him and while she was holding it for him she decided she really liked the feel of $1.2M in cash. She took off with it and sent him 50K. Now that’s according to Julio, but I do really like the story of a thief who’s indignant because someone stole from him.
I’m Wills Maxwell and that’s what we missed.
Wills Maxwell Jr. 