“Give me the pincode right now!”

This is the climactic final article of the series on how some international Salsa artists tried to get their money from the organizer of the Queen Salsa Festival Bremen. A death threat and volcanic ashes are now added added to the story to make an explosive mix. The third part of this story can be read here.

Randolph had just shown Gervais his own credit card after he lied about not having one. The group of international Salsa artists – now referred to as CSI Bremen – did not believe a word Gervais was saying, so they decided to take the lying festival organizer to an ATM machine at the nearest bank to check if he was telling the truth this time. Randolph also found two bankcards in the pockets of Gervais jacket. He agreed to go to the ATM with CSI Bremen. The team decided for only a couple of them walk to the ATM. The clients of the bank would not comprehend the situation properly if they saw a large group of foreigners cornering someone around the machine. They strategically decided who would go: Dave because of his strength, Greg was the fastest, Vitto went because he was one of the artists who payed his flight ticket in advance (finance), Taiti was the ‘communication expert’, Randolph was the coordinator/investigator/enforcer, and Charlotte was the German translator. The team now resembled the Justice League of America, or the crew of the USS Enterprise.

The team of six accompanied Gervais to the ATM. The people standing inside the bank booth were watching as the artists surrounded the African while asking him for his pin code. This was not the brightest idea of CSI Bremen. They would have gotten themselves into a heap load of trouble if one of the spectators had decided to call the police. They were lucky no one summoned the authorities. Gervais said he did not remember his pin codes because he had saved them in his phone. Randolph also found the organizer’s phone in his jacket when he found the bankcards and gave it to Aga, who switched sides again to defending CSI Bremen. Randolph called Lilly to get the phone from Aga and bring it to the bank.

The team decided – prior to Lilly arriving with the phone – that they would not let Gervais dial the codes. He could dial wrong codes three times in a row causing the bank to block access to the cards. They tried to withdraw 2000 Euros from the card. Nothing happened. As they kept lowering the amount of money they discovered how to check his balance. They saw he had only 37 Euros left on his bankcard. Randolph took 30 Euros and put the money in his pocket. The other card had no money on it. Randolph wanted the pin code of the credit card, but Gervais said he did not know it: he supposedly had a brand new card. Randolph looked at the card and saw it was valid since October 2008. They had already discovered Gervais was afraid of the police since they had threatened him a couple of times before with the authorities. Randolph told Lilly to leave and return with the police. They agreed that she would alarm the police officers if she did not hear anything from the team after five minutes. 

Two minutes had passed and Gervais still refused to give the pincode of his credit card to the team. Randolph decided to play ‘bad cop’. He threatened Gervais, “You have about five seconds to give me this pin code. I’m done,” He continues, “These guys are still really nice. Give me the freakin’ pincode right now!” The other team members know Randolph and knew he did not mean a word he just said, because he is one of the kindest and very social Salsa instructors. Gervais clearly did not know Randolph well enough because he did not see through the artists’ bluff. He gave Randolph his pin code within 2 seconds. There was only 10 Euros on the international festival organizer’s credit card.

Randolph pinned the 10 Euros and they headed back to Aga’s Salsa dance school. Randolph gave the 40 Euros to Dave when the artist regrouped back at the school. The whole team decided Dave & Zoe had the first claim on the money because of Dave spending 1600 Euros on their flight tickets. They knew Aga had the 800 Euros of the Friday party. The team decided Dave & Zoe and Vitto & Stefania should split that money between the four of them. The two couples agreed for Dave and Zoe to get 550 Euros, and Vitto & Stefania would leave with 250 Euros. This was fair, as Vitto & Stefania paid ‘only’ 500 Euros for their traveling expenses. Aga refused to hand over the money. She said, “I won’t give you the money because my students paid full passes and didn’t get a congress.” I plan to give my students their money back. I will ask them first if they agree to let you have their money.” This was all happening around 7.30 in the evening.

Collecting Evidence

Cristel filmed most of what was happening at the dance school. The artists made Gervais sign contracts in which all of their travelling expenses are summarized. CSI Bremen did all this in case of them having to go to trial.

This story has an open ending. The artist have not yet received any payment from Gervais. They started a secret Facebook page as a measure to counter-attack any false messages Gervais would put on his website. Some of the European artists helped the international stars to perform for less money than they are accustomed to at several Salsa parties all across Europe. The party organizers have been very generous in helping these artists in dire straits. Dave & Zoe had lots of problems getting back to the States because of the volcanic ash floating across the European continent. 

This story is very inspirational. It shows how international Salsa artists act and feel like family to each other. They often ask each other for advice, and they help each other out whenever help is needed.