[indistinct chatter] - - hey, here'e's a man whwho ls lilike he has s something g to . - arare we all s set, ronnie? - wewell, i bet!t! ohoh! - - hey, carefeful. - lookoks like he'e's got flubur shoes s on, too, t today. [laughter]r] - a a wonderful l anonymous s dr mailed a a mono--a m monopoly game p piece, and righght here in the m middle of i it was a littttle winningng tickt of $1 mimillion. - - whoa! - hey, w wow! [cheers s and applauause] [d[dramatic mumusic] - somemebody won a $1 m million mononopoly ge at mcdonalald's, and god blbless him, decided d to send ththat moy to thehe children n of st. j. - well, ththis is a grgreat . uh, we a and mcdonalald's he a gameme going, which, uh,h, a person n won a game pieiece in--in texexas and maiailedt to st. j jude's anononymousy and, u uh, mcdonalald's worket a way to p pay the gamame pie even thougugh it couldld--rey can't t be transfeferred. - - it's just t a wonderfufl chchristmas ststory that someoeone would g give that way a anonymouslyly and nonot want anyny recognitit, uhuh, for the e children at st.t. jude. ♪ - the e mcdonald's's monopolye went back k to 1987 and d so we didndn't know hohog the contesest was fixexed. - st. . jude's w was listedd as a w winner whicich, you knknow, was, u uh, certrtainly an a anomaly. we didn't t know if ththis is p part of thihis conspirar. - we didn'n't know howow jerrrry jacobsonon was invovolved in this frfraud schememe or if hehe was unclele jerry. i meanan, at firstst you just tk it's an alalias name but at l least it wawas at l least half f of the nam. - hey, h help me, fred, willll you? ooh, thihis is heavyvy. ooh, o ooh! - oddsds of findining ththe winning g piece wewere one in more e than 206,0,000,000. ododds of somemeone givingng it, heavenen only knowows. [tenense music]] ♪ ♪ [seagulls squawking] - my namame is marvivin bra. i liveve in miami,i, florid. jejerry jacobsbson is my y stepbrotheher, yes. he is s my stepbrorother. - yeah, i mean we e grew up as- i don't think brother brothers, but we grew up close. we're only a week k apart in age.. his dream inin life was alwas becocoming an fbfbi agent. - therere i was ouout onon my first t assignmentn. - - it never w worked out, bubut it's fununny. it's a fununny story.. if you s said to mee to descrcribe this s story, i would d say, "d"don't belieieve it," bubut it's trurue. don't t believe itit. [laughghs] jujust weird.. itit's just weweird how w it happenened. [tensese music] he had d discussed a about the game p pieces one e time. i think it was 1989 and we had discussed how, you know, he--he would be able to possibly get the $25,5,000 game p piece, and, um, y you know, if we coululd do sometething wh it andnd, you knowow, whateve. ♪ a a month lateter oror six weeksks later-- i don'n't rememberer-- he s showed up w with a piec. and d he says, u uh, cash iti. there e was an 80000 number to, uh, , call, whicich i di, and d they gave e me instrucuc. i went to o the post o offic. i reregistered i it--whatevevee words are e at the posost offi- and d everythingng else, and i sentnt it in. ♪ i thinink i was ththe first pn to turn a a ticket in.n. ♪ he knew w i knew--i,i, um-- i'i'd keep my y mouth shutu. i guesess that's t the right y of s saying it.. he t trusted me e with it, you knowow? - no. no. ♪ - soso we were l looking into simon markrketing's "jerry j jacobson."" ♪ once we e got the title e iii surveieillae liststening to p phone calls, we had h him on the e wire all day, a all night.. - soso we had ththought, "hey, ththis may bee the mamain guy." soso then we s started fococug more on trtrying to figure e out who hehe was. - after r really digigging ino thisis jerome jajacobson backgrouound, wewe discoverered among other ththings that,t, you kn, he had b been a polilice offir in--inin hollywoodod, florid. [upbeaeat music] ♪ - to b become a popolice offici, yoyou have to o be a a level-headaded individi. honesty y and trustwtworthines is pararamount. jerry y jacobson w was a patrn and, uh,h, he came t to me n the paparking lot t one morn. atat that timeme i was ininvestigatining the deatath of a newewborn baby.y. we hadad no leads s at all, and jejerry told m me that he ed some psychchic friendsds thatat read abouout the case and d that they y were willig to a assist. my reaction was i was grateful and i i did take h him up on the offffer. i don't knknow that ththere's anything w wrong having psysychics as f friend. i thought that was pretty wonderfrful. - - i met jerrrry at the hollywywood policece departm. we both h were on ththe same sd and d we starteded about the same t time, and one e day he shohowed up atat my front t door to infnform me thahat my boyfrd wawas cheatingng on me. so that's s how i met t jerr. [laughining] [dramatitic music] we d dated off a and on, and d there werere some goodos and someme bad timeses, bubut, um, we e got marrieid in t tennessee.. i ththink it was '81, and jerry became a stepfather to my sons. - this big long silence isn't gonna be in there, is it? [laughghing] [disistant car p passing] one day he started to shave and he couldn't reach all the way up to shave. itit was diffificult, and d it was getetting momore difficucult every titime he trieied to mo. byby noon, he couldn'n't lift hisis arms. he couldn'n't lift hisis arm, peperiod, so i t took him toto the hosp. [distant s siren blariring] and they r ran the tesest fofor multiplele sclerosis and guillalain-barré and a cocouple of otother this and he hadad the guillllain-ba. hehe says he's's got ms... [dramatic music] but technically it was guillain-barré and i--i t took leavee from m my work and d spent timeme at the h hospital wiwith him 'cause h his mother r was gona put hihim in a nurursing hom. ♪ i i gave him 1 15 minutes s ay to feel l sorry for r himself and after r that 15 miminute, we're gonnnna work, 'cause i i felt likeke if we e kept workiking, mamaybe we couould stay ahahd ofof the paralalysis. so i f fed him and gaveve him showewers anand walked h him upup and down n the hall and all ththat stuff.. ♪ afteter six or e eight mont, he finally turned around before it got to his respiratory system. it was getting there, but it didn't quite take over. so--and d then the n next da; afafter the nenext couple e of, it stabibilized, anand then statarted turnining d a littttle bit. ♪ - there'e's always a a quest, why y somebody l leaves a law enenforcement t career e. many timimes there's's a gogood reason,n, but--but t there's alwlways a a question.. it's n not typicalal. um, and--a-and in his s case, you know,, we leaearned that t he had, you knowow-- hehe had a--a a condi--heaeah cocondition oror an accidedent, yoyou know, had him gogo out, i guguess, on a d disability.y. - he movoved to atlalanta becae therere was a dodoctor in atata oror a hospitatal that deaet withth nothing b but ms. i i think the e ms really y tw his life c completelyy because i think he always wanted to o be in l law enforcecement, and hahaving the m ms compmpletely chahanged his l . [dramatitic music] - we movoved toto atlanta t together. i i got a job b shortly afafr wewe came herere in securiri. he starteded getting b bette. ♪ and atat that poinint, he wanted d to go backck to wor. sisimon marketeting offereredm a job workrking securirity for r the monopopoly promotit. ♪ - we a as the fbi i could not and d logically y would nott marcrch into simimon marketg and d start askiking questios about t jerry and d that procec. yoyou know, gegenerally whwhee fbi startsts asking ququestio, pepeople, you u know-- people getet-- get a littttle spun upup and wondnder, reallyly, why. - we werere working g hand in d with m mcdonald'ss just t trying to f figure out how mumuch they knknew about t simon markrketing. surprisingngly, mcdonanalds dididn't know w much ababout the prprocess that simomon marketining went thrh with theheir promotitional game. - i wasn't't familiarr withth simon mararketing at tl ununtil this i investigatition . after r that meetiting withth the fbi,, i realalized that t i needed to learnrn a little e bit moe about sisimon marketeting anand the promomotion, so i s set up a memeeting with simonon marketingng undeder the guisise of trtrying to lelearn how the e security p proceduress were i in place. [dramatic c music] - we werere able to enlisist mcdonaldld's to d do these ininquiries on our b behalf, but i ththink also on theirir behalf, t too. - yeyeah, yeah, , no. we--we wouould--we wouould hae nonot told mcdcdonald's. because e if we're w wrong, wewe've--we'veve sullied somebobody's repututation for r no good rereason. - i don'n't know howow much he was m making at s simon. his wifefe was workiking. i i don't knowow if h he needed t the money.. - no, , i think hehe said hehe has a conontact to g get them oror something. i ththink it wasas contact.. it was n not him. it was n not him. itit was not h him. - - he--go ahehead. i'm-m-- - hehe--he--he g gave me thehe a it was notot him steaealing the t tickets, that he hahad a contacact how toto get the t tickets. i was undeder the imprpression jerry was s the securirity for. in othther words,, that anothther personn was takiking the ticickets or w whatever. i wasn't s sure. i i thought jejerry was sesecur. [tenense music]] - when i i met wiwith simon m marketing,, wewe went throrough the securirity procedudures anand the prococedures at the p printing prpress. they a actually hahad a veryry thoroughh and d comprehensnsive operatan fofor ensuringng the securury and integrgrity of theheir-- of o our game pipieces, so i was v very pleasesed with w what i saw.w. ♪ - mcdonaldld's reportsts thatat at the fafacility theh, it was incncredibly sesecure anand that thihis idea thatat--that thihings arare--are loooose or that ththey could w walk riright out ofof there was--w-was, you knknow, alalmost imposossible. hihighly un--h-highly, hihighly unlikikely. the obobvious quesestion ws how ththis whole p process wo. how were----how were g game pieces pririnted, diststribu? - sisimon marketeting had thte game piececes made just northth of atlantnta by a s secure prininting busi. ♪ [countryry music] ♪ - - my name isis jack sisks. i i actually w was workingng in secururity at ditittler whwhen--for araround 15 yeyears, actutually. - my namame's perry y pealoc, and d i was ththe bindery y supervisoro. - naname's doylele grant, and i wawas shippingng clerk. - my namame's gilbenen peeple, and i wawas the parcrch clek in the m maintenancece departm. - dittleler brothersrs printingg wawas a very s secure printing c company, and thatat's how we e got ino the lottttery busineness and into s scratch-offff game. - and i i think thatat's one e of the reaeasons that we gogot the u.s.s. postagage stamp jojob becacause the fefederal gogovernment s said, "hey, , this placece is reaeally securere," 'c'cause we gogot that and it wenent real welell. - - and then i it grew frorom . you know,, three e or four yeyears, anand mcdonaldld's millionos and mimillions of f dollars to pay t to print alall this st. - i was ththe directoror of sececurity for dittttler brothehers betwtween 1987 a and 2000, and i i worked witith jerry n ththey were rurunning monony becaususe simon anand dittler were reaeal close. [dramatitic music] ♪ - we had p people in dittlerer brothers s 24 hou. ththe dittler r brothers f faciy was vevery secure.e. you u had to go o through a guard d shack to g get into ththe facility, you hahad to sign n in when you got ininto the facacili, then y you had to o go throh anotother guardd to g get into ththe room wherere the statate lotteries arare being prproduced along g with our g game piece. - whenen monopoly y was runn, itit would jusust about tae everythingng in thehe plant rununning, it would g get so big.g. that w was our larargest cusr by a long g shot. you'rere talking hundrereds of millllions ofof game piececes, you know.. - when we e did press s rus of winnersrs, wewe pretty mumuch surrounund ththe press. theyey had alarmrm systems.. they h had camerasas. the e gate was o opened and it w wasn't us,, alarm m would go o off. - wellll, we had a a big vat we had thehe winners i in. ♪ - therere were twowo locks. it's a almost likeke, you kno, backck in the cocold war, you'd haveve two peoplple in a a missile s silo, and d it takes t two. - jejerry was inin there foron to make susure that dittler r brothers were doingng their jobobs. jejerry would d stand behid anand look ovever their shshr and get t their combmbinatio. then he e would raisise holy hl becaususe we allowowed him to do thatat. - alall the gameme pieces that w were producuced byby dittler b brothers were l loaded on t trucks. - securityty would actctually physicalally lock ththe back of f the truck. - once t that truck k left, we normalllly would geget on an n airplane,, fly to thahat city, and meetet the truckck the nenext morningng to unlocock it, break ththe seal, verirify what wawas loaded.. - my n name's briaian littera. i i worked security/q/quality conontrl for r the games s that mcdonons usually raran. we w would bringng the lalabels out---- frfree drinks,s, freeee fries-- and the twtwo pieces would asassemble togogethe, ththe label onon top of ththe. [draramatic musisic] the hihigher-levelel winnerss dodone by a cocompletely d dit more s secure prococess. i wowould usualllly get a cal sayiying that jejerry was gogoe coming in n with, uh,, an indepependent aududitor. ♪ - - dittler sesecurity has to be e there, simomon has to b be there, the audiditor has toto be th, and the e customer s servicep has toto be there,e, and ththey all wititnessed ththe winner r run. - the e auditor wowould unlk the e suitcase.. ththere was anan envelope e e with sigignatures acacross ththe seal to makake sure thahat it was l the same c contents asas to when i it was packcka, and d inside thehere, ththere would d be a certan numbmber of seededs. thisis is what a a seed wowould look l like, one of w which was s a high-levevel winner. the rerest were cocommons, and d then i wouould insert m in varioious productction li. - no o one knew, anand no one w was supposesd toto know, where the e high-levelel winnerer was. ♪ - soso you go ininto the e mcdonald's's, you openen up the gagame piec, and maybe e you're a i instat $1 millionon winner. - i wowon! - i i won! - anand so when n these game piececes got toto the simonon marketing rededemption cenenter, and itit goes throrough ththe process s of, "do o we have a a real winnener" ♪ they lititerally wouould be opd by a a person wiwith gloves-- it is all l being recocorded- and therere would alalways bebe an error r made in thehe winning g game pie. say, on n one cornerer thers a littttle chip out of thehe word. - we a also write e on the e $1 millionon winner a little c code on thehere wiwith a--a blblack light t n ththat you canan't see. so if you u show up wiwith a e thatat doesn't h have the code o on it, you'u're gonna g get caughtt real s soon. ♪ - we were e always a littlele bit overbrboard but, u uh, you knonow, we prorotected mcdcdonald's, and--a-and i thinknk that's a major r reason thehey used , and, uh, o of course jerry wawas in therere sort of tetelling themem how itit needed toto be buil. - everybybody liked d jerry. i mean, , everybodyy in thehe office liliked jerr. he wasn't t real flashshy. we always s had thanksksgivin. everybodody sort of f broughtn a potltluck at thahanksgivin, and jerry y always brbrought in r ribs, and his riribs were dedelicio. they wouould just fafall off ththe bone, yoyou know? so everyrybody lookeked forwad to hisis ribs, but, uh, h he didn't s seem toto be big-heheaded at al. - - and he wasas always very g generous. if he madede ribs for r hims, he wouldld make themem for ththe whole ofoffice. jejerry was--h-he's a a generous f fellow. we got divivorced, and even w when he was mararried againin and i i needed somomething, hehe would be e right ther. there'e's nothing g stingy about him m at all. afafter we gotot divorced,, itit was like e even thouguh he wasas the headd of securitity for simomon, hehe still wororked under my g guideliness in dittlerer brothers.s. i i told him if he ststole anythihing, i'i'd kill himim. [laughghs] [d[dramatic mumusic] ♪ - exciting. i'm not gonna lie. it w was excitining and d everythingng else, and, u uh, you knonow, i depoposited it,, and we split it. down the road, he came to me and he said that he couould do bigggger piece. i--i'd notot cashed inin anythg but a a $25,000 titicket, and i dididn't wantt any paparts of thehem. at t that time,, i was s going to n new york, , every tuesesday mornining and d coming homome evevery wednesesday night. i wawas buying m maternity c s in new y york for r my materninity shop. soso i approacached two pepeoo wewere manufacacturers in n nk that i deaealt with fofor mamany, many, , many years and i apprproached thehem ifif they woululd be interered in possiblbly doing a deal w with jerry.y. - i'i'd rather n not mentionon . - no.. there wewe--i'm pretetty s-- well, , maybe his s nieces and nephewews. [lauaughing] no, i nevever heard ananybody refer to h him as unclcle jer. [dramatic c music] - for a whwhile, the e question w was, "well, whoho is uncle e jerry" ohoh, well thehere's a jery jajacobson wororking at sis. ththat must bebe uncle jerer. but ththere was alalways this infeference maybybe that uncle e jerry was-s--was somew connnnected to organized crime- italalian organinized crimee because ththe uncle coconnotatin giveves this kinind of almomost like a,a, you know, godfatather-ish sosort of moni. ♪ and d we found o out that there e was anotheher jerry invovolved in ththis namemed jerry cocolombo. - - people eveverywhere are winnnning big playining the mononopoly game at mcdcdonald's. jerry y colombo wowon a dododge viper,r, and therere are twoo $1 m million pririzes left.. - my n name is frarank colomb. i'm brotheher of " "jerry" genennaro colomo. - and i'm m heather cocolomb, anand i am frarank colombobo's. - i rereally wanteted him toto keep the e car. you know, , i was, youou kno, a young guguy. lilike, hey, a a dodge vipip? ththat'd be prpretty damn n c. can i i borrow it?t? uh, bubut it was t too small. i meanan, he was a a big guy. umum, but it w was kinda f fy 'cause a all off--alall of my friends wewere callingng me, "heyey, your brorother won-- won ththe car. oh, my godod!" and d i'm sittining go--laugug in the b back of my y head goi, "yeah, okakay, he won n the c. sure." you u know, it w was kinda-- it wasas just amususing thatat people bebelieved it. it wororked. [b[both laughihing] [draramatic musisic] ♪ - i'm m robin cololombo. my hususband is jejerry colombm- gennaro cocolombo. ♪ hehe was part t of the coloo crime famimily. ♪ ththat commercrcial, ththat almost t cost him h his, bebecause he w wasn't suppppd toto do a commmmercial. - becaususe he's a h ham. he was e even gonna a be in a a movie wiwith jackie e chan, as a matteter of fact.t. i i said, "whahat? thatat don't eveven sound rir. you, a bigig-ass sicililian, and d a chinamanan, in a w western? i said, , "oh, my gogod." and d it was thahat "shangnghai noon----night," whatevever it is.. it wasas that. - mama, come getet this dogg outta a here. - the e sicilian c culture, of couourse, is fafamily fit no m matter whatat, but when i i met her,, i didndn't want heher to knonow my last t name, 'causese i wanted d her to knoe anand not my f family. - asas a matter r of fact, for ththe first ththree toto four montnths, i didn't't even knowow his . he w would go byby a completey didifferent nanam, anand only didid i see a b brat on his w wrist one d y and i quesestioned hm on thehe name thatat said fran. i mean, this is s entirely d differet from t the name ththat he gave. - yes, uh,h, she--i went by y tony ayananatti. [both laugughing] i kinda kekeep that in the b background,d, you kn? not t too many p