Welcome to AirNManky's Cabinet of Curiosity's, a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm

and Mild.

Our world is full of the unexplainable.

And if history is an open book, all of these amazing tales are right there on display,

just waiting for us to explore.

Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosity's.

Diego was a smuggler, or at least that was one small part of his family business.

In fact, he was a Spanish banker working in international trade from the Basque City

of Bilbao.

He hadn't started the business though, no that was the work of his father, Jose.

A savvy trader, Jose did all kinds of legitimate business and built up a company big enough

to keep his children busy as they grew up.

So Diego, the second of Jose's eight children, was among them, but he didn't just learn

on the job.

Jose sent Diego to London to study economics and trade, and Diego did just that, and plenty

more.

He learned English and made friends who would give him the idea for his smuggling empire.

As along the way, he came to see that if there's one thing big international shipping companies

like, it's making money hand over fist while dodging government oversights and government

tax collectors.

And in that business, Diego was about to become an international superstar.

In fact, he had a plan to do some clever dealing that would see him set up a smuggling

...