Dirtbag Climber from Uncover — S34 EP4: “Spam King”
Date: September 29, 2025
Host: Stephen Chua (CBC)
Overview
This episode—Chapter 4 of “Dirtbag Climber”—dives into the dramatic, stranger-than-fiction transformation of Davis Wolfgang Hawk, a.k.a. Dave Bridger, a/k/a Jesse James, from failed neo-Nazi leader to one of early Internet’s most notorious email spammers. Through investigative reporting, interviews, and archival audio, host Stephen Chua and guest voices explore how Hawk’s digital exploits revolutionized spam, made millions in illicit gains, and set him on a relentless run from corporations and authorities—before his trail vanished in mystery and homicide. The episode exposes the wild, lucrative, and dark underbelly of early-2000s Internet crime and the warped journey of a man caught in its center.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Opening: Confronting the “Spam King” (00:25–02:18)
- Brian McWilliams (tech journalist) records early phone calls with “Dave Bridger,” suspecting him of running major spam operations.
- Hawk/Bridger deflects: “I work at McDonald's. ... I don't even know anything about computers. What is a website?” (01:23)
- Narrator notes: Bridger absolutely knew what a website was, cementing the elaborate nature of his lies.
2. The Birth and Mechanics of Mass Email Spam (03:40–06:48)
- Explains what 'spam' is and why it was unpoliced.
- Millions of emails blasted with the hope of a tiny percent responding.
- Addresses gathered via scraping or random generation.
- Quotes: “You could just send out a bunch of emails even to addresses that didn’t exist ... that’s what it was all about.” (04:53, Expert/Analyst)
- Example: An Ohio soccer mom gets 100,000 unsolicited emails in 48 hours.
3. Hawk's Twisted Origins: From Extremism to Spamming (07:15–08:55)
- Background: After a failed neo-Nazi march and loss of parental support, Hawk transitions skills from spreading hate to selling online.
- Sold Nazi memorabilia—then banned from eBay for poor shipping.
- Out of spite, he begins harvesting emails and spamming.
- Hawk: “I basically started spamming just to piss them off.” (08:55)
4. Scaling Up: Spite as Fuel & Business Evolution (09:39–11:24)
- Early difficulties and paranoia; constant moving for evasion.
- Hawk realizes digital products (PDFs, “how-to” guides) are easiest to spam and sell.
- Quote: “He realized the easiest thing to spam was digital products ... how to be a spammer, how to hide your identity …” (10:52)
5. Legal Threats and Shell Games (11:37–13:20)
- First legal threats arise; Hawk boasts: “I make 25,000 each weekend doing this. ... I can afford it.” (12:15, Actor reading Hawk’s email)
- Starts using aliases and shell companies to cover tracks.
6. The “Chess Prodigy Spammers” and Big Payoff (13:20–17:27)
- Key recruits: Hawk meets chess friends from his youth—Mauricio and Brad “Brayden” Bourneville—at a tournament, inviting them into spam ops.
- Turning point: Herbal penis enlargement pills (“Yohimbi”, branded Pinnacle) become their cash cow.
- Hawke as awe-inspiring pitchman: “[You’ll] radiate confidence and success. ... When you reveal yourself ... she will not be able to keep her hands off you.” (15:42, Actor reading Hawk’s pitch)
- Spam operation scales up: millions in revenue, a mill for operations, and lavish perks—like a yellow Hummer.
7. AOL: The Prime Target and Eventual Showdown (19:30–20:44)
- AOL was the top prize for spammers due to its vast, naive userbase. Hawk buys a 90-million address list for $52,000, reigniting spam wars.
- Expert: “AOL is like a deer, a 12-point stag ... the target that we all are shooting for.” (19:56)
- This triggers decisive legal and corporate countermeasures.
8. The Legal Hammer Drops (22:12–27:31)
- Jennifer Archie (AOL legal counsel) describes lawsuits against Hawk and Bourneville.
- The CAN-SPAM Act (2003) makes spamming a felony.
- “We ended up proving ... they had sent billions and billions of messages. Billions.” (25:26, Brian McWilliams)
- Hawk’s refusal to cooperate: “Absolutely nothing.” (21:00)
- Bourneville settles (his Hummer given away in a contest); Hawk refuses and becomes increasingly paranoid and evasive.
9. Paranoia, Disappearance, and the Gold Legacy (27:35–35:55)
- Hawk’s behavior grows erratic: “He would grab whatever he brought ... yell ‘the feds!’ ... run towards the door.” (28:10, Peggy Greenbaum, Hawk’s mother)
- Hawk claims to be trailed by FBI, insists he’s being hunted.
- Quote: “Twice I was tailed by those fucking guys.” (28:49, Hawk)
- Moves assets into gold bars, buries in the White Mountains and elsewhere.
- “All the money he has, he buries in the White Mountains.” (33:18, Bourneville)
- AOL seeks court order to use ground-penetrating radar at Hawk’s grandparents’ home; family mocks the effort.
10. International Flight & Trail Grows Cold (35:22–37:44)
- 2005: Hawk’s new alias, “Andrew Britt Greenbaum”, surfaces in Belize.
- “I see myself under a palm tree in Belize with a pretty girl by my side ...” (35:32, Hawk)
- Reports he also went to Vanuatu, laundering money as “Julio Santiago.”
- Final contacts: last letter to mother from a fishing trawler (probably Belize); last heard from in 2006.
11. Re-Emergence as “Dirtbag Climber” (38:05–39:47)
- August 2009: Hawk resurfaces online in Squamish, BC, seeking climbing partners as “Jesse James.”
- “Climbing partner wanted. ... I’m in Squamish until October 1st ... Call or text me ... Ciao, Jesse.” (38:19, Actor as Hawk)
- Suggests he fled south due to enemies made in previous criminal life.
12. The Dark Side of the Spam World (39:08–40:29)
- Spamming’s criminality escalates; spam becomes “an engine of crime.” (39:08, McWilliams)
- Hawk was deeply aware of his growing enemies and the danger he was in, per his mother: “He made quite a few enemies while he was spamming.” (39:22, Peggy Greenbaum)
- Possible connection to later criminal enterprises like Bitcoin laundering.
13. Cliffhanger: The Final Chapter Begins (40:20–40:55)
- Next episode will examine Hawk's last days, and how his past caught up with him: “He was worried about people coming for him ... and it’s obvious why.” (40:29, Hawk/Bourneville)
Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments
-
On motivation for spamming:
“I basically started spamming just to piss them off.”
— Davis Wolfgang Hawk (08:55) -
On spamming’s easy riches:
“I make 25,000 each weekend doing this. ... I can afford it.”
— Actor as Hawk, quoting Hawk’s email (12:15) -
On AOL as spam’s ‘holy grail’:
“AOL is like a deer, a 12-point stag ... the target that we all are shooting for.”
— Expert/Analyst (19:56) -
On evading the law:
“Absolutely nothing.” (on plan for lawsuit)
— Davis Wolfgang Hawk (21:00, 26:06) -
On paranoia and hiding:
“He would grab whatever he brought ... yell ‘the feds!’ ... run towards the door.”
— Peggy Greenbaum (28:10) -
On gold-burying:
“All the money he has, he buries in the White Mountains.”
— Brad Bourneville (33:18) -
On disappearance and family loss:
“It was the first time in his whole life he ever used the word love to address me.”
— Peggy Greenbaum, reading last letter from Hawk (36:39) -
On Jesse James’s final ad:
“Climbing partner wanted ... I’m in Squamish until October 1st ... Call or text me ... Ciao, Jesse.”
— Actor as Hawk (38:19)
Important Timestamps
- 00:25 — McWilliams' first phone call with "Dave Bridger”
- 03:40 — Early mechanics of spam explained
- 09:30 — Hawk's spite-driven entrance into spamming
- 13:20 — Chess tournament, team-building
- 15:08 — Herbal enhancement pills become the big seller
- 19:30 — AOL targeted, purchase of 90 million addresses
- 22:12 — Lawsuit: AOL vs. Hawk
- 25:26 — Proving billions of spam messages
- 28:10 — Hawk’s paranoia (from mother’s deposition)
- 33:18 — Gold burial in White Mountains
- 35:22 — Belize alias surfaces
- 38:19 — “Jesse James” climbing ad in Squamish
- 39:22 — Hawk’s mother discusses fears for his safety
- 40:20 — Tease for next episode: Hawk’s end
Tone & Language
- The episode balances investigative detail with dark, occasionally humorous asides, giving a sense of both the era’s cyber-wild-west and the pathos of Hawk’s increasingly desperate existence.
- Speakers like Brian McWilliams and Jennifer Archie are direct and professional, while Hawk’s own words shift from brash bravado to paranoid defiance.
- Frequent use of first-person testimony, candid phone calls, and archival remarks keep the episode engaging and immediate.
Summary Takeaways
“Spam King” recounts a digital outlaw’s creative and criminal journey, showing how internet anonymity, greed, and relentless ingenuity fueled one of the 21st-century’s first great online crime waves. Hawk—a shape-shifter, fugitive, and master manipulator—exploits every loophole until the law and his mounting enemies force him into hiding, changing identities until his story’s dark final turn.
The episode ends as Hawk, now “Jesse James” in Squamish, Canada, tries—perhaps for the last time—to run from the mess he’s made, setting up the next chapter’s focus on his mysterious demise.