Through his criminal activities, Arno Funke caused millions of dollars in damage. He played with the police for six years Cat and mouse game and thus became a feathered media star in the 90s. By day he was a family man, by night he blew up department stores. To this day, Funke is one of the biggest criminals in German criminal history.
Hannu Salonen (Oktoberfest 1900) is now dedicating a six-part crime series to the department store blackmailer on RTL+ and Nitro. It’s titled I am Scrooge.
I am Scrooge: a department store extortionist with delusions on the road to success
I am Dagobert begins shortly before Arno Funke’s first crime. Funke (Friedrich Mücke looks pretty similar to the original with his mustache) mixed his own paint and sprayed it on motorcycles. Since the toxic fumes damaged his brain, he suffered from memory lapses and delusions and was manic-depressive.
Instead of killing himself, he decided on his first coup and blackmailed a department store. A crazy scene in the series: Shortly before, his dead father speaks from a voice flying television to Funke and advises him to commit a criminal act. In truth, Funke is said to have blackmailed KaDeWe (in the series: DaDeKa) out of a search for self-affirmation (will be discussed later in the series) and a lack of money.
That the 72-year-old Funke as a consultant for the series functioned is a gain. In the series, Funke addresses the audience directly and gives tips on how to become a master blackmailer: “Very important: Learn to think exactly like your opponent, only then can you deceive him.” And further: “Where would be the last place you would suspect a bomb?”
The resolution isn’t revealed in this article, but pretty soon after, a pipe bomb goes off in the department store. Four years later, the scavenger hunt continues in Hamburg. This time there was six kilometers of train tracks to catch Scrooge, but Funke had already fooled the police again. The police, in turn, do the same and sometimes just put scraps of paper in the money bag.
Stream now on RTL+: Funke’s exciting cat-and-mouse game with detailed handoffs
I am Dagobert brings the fraud cases of the 80s and 90s to life in as much detail as possible. Retro moments are also nice with telephone booth, tube computer and TV clips from RTL currently with a young Peter Kloeppel. In episode 5, the real Arno Funke even appears in person and joins the team of investigators and bugs the receiver in a telephone booth.
Since Funke’s identity was not known to his friends or his wife, screenwriter Ronny Schalk (Oktoberfest 1900) invented one imaginary, rattling horror creature with glowing red eyes (Martin Feifel), to whom Funke reveals his coups and plans. At the same time, this creature motivates Funke to commit further crimes. The image of genius and madness emerges; Funke speaks openly about his illness, his decisions and feelings. “Scrooge” named himself after his son’s Ducktales kindergarten bag.
In addition to Arno Funke’s inside view, there is also the outside view of the investigating police who are always close on his heels: two police officers (Misel Maticevic, Moritz Führmann) and a profiler (Sonja Gerhardt) who creates a psychogram of the blackmailer. According to Funke’s statements, the series corresponds largely the truthsome incidents with the police were different: “I now know a lot of what happened with the officials back then. Not all of it is intended for the public.”
And so many secrets remain open in I am Scrooge and that’s exactly what makes the series so worth watching.