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"You can't prove what tree the syrup came from," stated one of the accomplices in The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist during his trial. Over the span of several months, thieves staged a multi-million dollar heist from Québec's Global Strategic Maple Syrup Reserve, making off with about 3,000 tonnes of the stuff. Totaling about $18 million worth of maple syrup, this heist is one of the largest agricultural thefts ever. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the spring of 2008, 12-year-old Shamira Fingers was walking down a street near her home in South Philadelphia when she suddenly and surprisingly fell into an open sewer hole -- the manhole cover, missing. Once a rare crime, disappearing manhole covers has become an expensive and dangerous problem for cities around the world, with thieves swiping dozens to hundreds – sometimes thousands – of them at a time. Let's pry open the lid on manhole cover capers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tree nuts have become are a hot commodity on the black market, and thieves have been making off with shipments of California-grown nuts to cash in. Of the phenomenon, Mike Boudreaux, the sheriff of Tulare County in California’s Central Valley, stated, “It’s not your guy on the corner in the long jacket, selling knock-off Rolex watches.” Why steal nuts? Let's talk about why – and how – these California nut crimes have been happening. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just after lunch on July 14, 2013, a white van drove away from Toronto General Hospital. Its cargo? A stolen Boston Steinway baby grand piano, taken from the hospital's Peter Munk Cardiac Centre. Of the bold heist, Todd Milne, director of security operations for the hospital, told the media, quote, “I’ve been managing security since 1999, and have not experienced a theft as ballsy and as crazy as this one." He continued, quote, “The reason they were probably successful in removing the piano is that nobody would have thought a crime like this would ever take place.” See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Beanie Babies hit the scene in 1993, the original line of stuffed toys featured nine characters -- but that number would grow to hundreds. The brainchild of Ty Warner, and made by his company, Ty Inc., they were one of the hottest toys of the 1990s -- but they also inspired an underground economy that dealt in fraud and many, many thefts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The plan was to keep the 18-karat-gold toilet called 'America' on display indefinitely at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. But it did go out on loan, once, to Blenheim Palace, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the birthplace of Winston Churchill, in 2019, as part of an exhibition of Maurizio Cattelan's works, titled 'Victory is Not an Option'. 'America', a participatory piece, was fully plumbed and installed in a restroom cubicle at the palace -- and on September 14, 2019, the one-of-a-kind toilet was stolen from the venue. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thank you for joining us for the final episode of our season of stray heists AND the finale of Criminalia. This is goodbye, but it's also thank you – thank you for supporting us as we walked in and out of historical crime scenes, nefarious cocktails, and we are grateful you took this adventure with us. And always remember: There’s no such thing as cocktail jail.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

English gentlewoman and heiress named Lady Katherine Ferrers who, as a highwaywoman known as The Wicked Lady, terrorized England in the mid-1600s. Her legend persists nearly 400 years after her death -- though it may be a bit embellished.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some highwaymen were straight-up thugs. But some, like Claude Duval, were highwaymen who were polite, chivalrous, and sometimes portrayed as a version of Robin Hood – although none of them gave their loot to those less fortunate. Opinions differ among biographers and historians when it comes to Claude's life, but he ultimately became a folk legend – with some truth and some truth-is - and in the end, it's believed he was the 'Gentleman Robber' who paved the way for future depictions and adventures of the chivalrous highwayman. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is the tale (and legend) of the Dunsdon brothers: Thomas, Richard, and Henry – yes, a real life Tom, Dick and Harry. Known as the Burford Highwaymen, they terrorized the locals between Glouster and Oxford. But the crime the brothers are best known for committing actually had nothing to do with highway robbery -- but it did include amputation. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Joan Phillips was a known beauty with an artful and cunning mind -- and both her looks and the famiy's money attracted the attention of many suitors – suitors that Joan wasn't interested in. But all that stuff about engagement, marriage, and relationships changed when Joan met Edward Bracey, the only suitor who caught her eye. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Though dealing in counterfeit currency may have been David 'Davy' Lewis' first criminal efforts, he eventually added highway robbery as a lucrative gig – and that's when he gained the nickname, Robber Lewis -- and as a highwayman, he also came to be known as the “Robin Hood of Pennsylvania". Was he? Well, that may be a stretch – maybe a big stretch -- but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a good story, right? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Nevison was a very good highwayman, though you may not recognize his name. And that's largely because his crimes have, over the years, gotten attributed to the stories of other notorious highway robbers, notably Dick Turpin – who hadn't yet been born when Nevison was prowling the roads. Turpin's romanticized legend seems to be a magnet for many things he didn't do. Much about Nevison's life is a bit of a mystery, partly because of that confusion with his cohorts. Let's look at those conflicting tales. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

William Spiggot was an 18th century English highwayman and the leader of a gang of at least eight men. While he may have started out as an apprentice cabinetmaker in London, he didn't end up following his family's legit path in life, instead deciding on a more... felonious one - as a robber, poacher, burglar, and murderer -- until he was sentenced to peine forte et dure. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jocelin Harwood was a highwayman who committed such “Barbarous Murders” – and he was just so ...wow – that his fellow criminal associates betrayed him and gave him up to the authorities after they couldn't stomach his depraved behavior the night of his final crime. Described as "a degenerate plant from a good tree," which seems like a pretty apt description, Jocelin's story has never been confused with the legend of Robin Hood. He was insolent; he was violent; and, this is his bloody story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.