One of the worlds most prolific bootleggers of Hollywood DVDs loves his morning farina. He has spent eight years churning out hundreds of thousands of copies of The Hangover,Gran Torino and other first-run movies from his small Long Island apartment to ship overseas. Big Hy his handle among many loyal customers would almost certainly be cast as Hollywood Enemy No 1 but for a few details. He is actually Hyman Strachman,a 92-year-old,5-foot-5 World War II veteran trying to stay busy after the death of his wife. And he has sent every one of his copied DVDs,almost 4,000 boxes of them to date,free to American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. With the United States military presence in those regions dwindling,Big Hy Strachman will live on in many soldiers hearts as one of the wars more shadowy heroes. Its not the right thing to do,but I did it, Strachman said,acknowledging that his actions violated copyright law. If I were younger, he added,maybe Id be spending time in the hoosegow. Captain Bryan Curran,who recently returned from Afghanistan,estimated that from 2008 to 2010,Strachman sent more than 2,000 DVDs to his outfits there. Youre shocked because your initial image is of some back-alley Eastern European bootlegger not an old Jewish guy on Long Island, Capt Curran said. He would time them with the movies release whenever a new movie was just in theatres,we knew Big Hy would be sending us some. I saw The Transformers before it hit the States. Jenna Gordon,a specialist in the Army Reserve,said she had handed out even more of Strachmans DVDs last year as a medic with the 883rd Medical Company east of Kandahar City,where soldiers would gather for movie nights around personal computers,with mortar blasting in the background. Some knew only that the discs came from some dude named Big Hy; others knew not even that. It was pretty big stuff its reconnecting you to everything you miss, she said. Wed tell people to take a bunch and pass them on. As for his brazen violation of domestic copyright laws,Strachman nodded guiltily but pointed to his walls,which are strewed with seven huge American flags,dozens of appreciative letters,and snapshots of soldiers holding up their beloved DVDs. Every time I got back an emotional e-mail or letter,I sent them another box, he said,adding that he had never accepted any money or been told by any authorities to stop. I thought maybe because Im an old-timer, he said. In February,Strachman duplicated and shipped 1,100 movies. (A slow month, he said.) He estimates that he topped 80,000 discs a year,making his total more than 300,000 since he began in 2004. Postage of about $11 a box,and the blank discs themselves,would suggest a personal outlay of over $30,000. I wouldnt say it kept him alive,but it definitely brought back his joie de vivre, said Strachmans son,Arthur,a tax accountant in New York.
