Confidence Games.
Although I'm interested in the true crime genre, I've never been all that intrigued by confidence men. I suppose it's because I find their general personality profile unlikable. The fast-talking, frenetic, hail-fellow-well-met attitude goes right through me. In the two years I spent working at a public relations firm downtown, I met a lot of guys that were only a trivial circumstance away from having to work a street con. These guys had the outstanding ability to glad-hand every sucker they encountered, making each rube feel special and valued. They had an amazing facility for lying directly to people's faces. And they practiced the art of deception all the time. They didn't leave it at work. We'd go to a party, and they'd be trying to outdo each other.
Even in the realm of film, my appreciation of confidence games is limited. I've watched some of the better ones. David Mamet is the master of these films- he is the writer of The Spanish Prisoner, Glengarry Glen Ross and House of Games. These are among the best of the kind. Yet despite their undeniable quality, there's something inherently unlikable about both the cons and marks. Con men work to exploit the most unflattering qualities of humanity- a grasping need for acceptance, overreaching ambition or sheer greed. And who are the "victims"? Anyone with "larceny in their heart". Sometimes we see such absurd extremes of gullibility, that our sympathy is replaced by contempt. You might wonder how some people can be so stupid.
I do appreciate the jargon of the confidence game. Even the terms "short" and "long" con evoke images of wise-cracking men with fedoras and dark grey suits. There is a crackling charm to the argot of the classic street con... the big mitt, behind the six, a beef, closing the gates, cop and blow, deadhead, a fly gee, got his nose open, lop-eared, the Nigerian Letter, the Pigeon Drop, on the barrelhead, peeking the poke, queer the deal, the send, tossing the broads, etc. This stuff is priceless. Between con and carny talk (which often overlap, for what should be obvious reasons) , there is enough salt to flavor the blandest of speech.
Once in awhile I come across a long con that intrigues me... something so elaborate that I just have to admire its conception. The most compelling confidence swindler is the one that dedicates his/her life to a single fraud. Such is the case of Oliver Hartzell. I just finished Richard Rayner's Drake's Fortune: The Fabulous True Story of the World's Greatest Confidence Artist . In this book, Rayner describes how Hartzell got involved with one of the biggest pipe dreams of the twentieth century- the quest to legally wrangle Sir Francis Drake's unclaimed fortune" from Great Britain.
The rough-hewn and bankrupt farmer from Iowa was able to transform himself, and wrest millions of dollars from more than a hundred thousand midwesterners during the Great Depression. In return, these plain folk received shares in a fortune estimated at $100 billion. Hartzell employed numerous agents stateside while he lived a luxurious lifestyle off of the proceeds, pretending to be involved in legal maneuvers in England. This went on for at least 15 years, as both American and British authorities tried to figure out how to curtail Hartzell's activities. He was finally put down by an agent of the post office, and he spent the last years of his life as an inmate at a hospital for the criminally insane. By the end, Hartzell had actually convinced himself that the Drake fortune was real.
It sounds absurd that ordinary thinking people would fall for such a scheme. Surely the modern American is more savvy than that? Think again. Apparently a California man was recently caught operating a diffferent version of Hartzell's con. He claimed to know of some unreleased Marvin Gaye songs, and solicited funds for a legal battle to gain control of the material. Of course these recordings did not exist, but the possibility was just convincing enough to get people to invest in the hope of a big pay-off.
There is nothing that would make you more vulnerable to a confidence trickster than the conceit that you could never fall for one of their games. I once lost a considerable amount of money that I procured as "fast cash" on my credit cards. This was a business investment for a store that actually did exist. I was certain that I was going to be paid back, and I thought I knew my business partner. His con was so good that I didn't even realize it for what it was. Confidence games are not a thing of the past. In fact, with the advent and development of the Internet, they are actually proliferating. It's in your best interest to protect yourself, and the people you care for, by getting to know what confidence games are being played. This site would be a good place to start your research.
Even in the realm of film, my appreciation of confidence games is limited. I've watched some of the better ones. David Mamet is the master of these films- he is the writer of The Spanish Prisoner, Glengarry Glen Ross and House of Games. These are among the best of the kind. Yet despite their undeniable quality, there's something inherently unlikable about both the cons and marks. Con men work to exploit the most unflattering qualities of humanity- a grasping need for acceptance, overreaching ambition or sheer greed. And who are the "victims"? Anyone with "larceny in their heart". Sometimes we see such absurd extremes of gullibility, that our sympathy is replaced by contempt. You might wonder how some people can be so stupid.
I do appreciate the jargon of the confidence game. Even the terms "short" and "long" con evoke images of wise-cracking men with fedoras and dark grey suits. There is a crackling charm to the argot of the classic street con... the big mitt, behind the six, a beef, closing the gates, cop and blow, deadhead, a fly gee, got his nose open, lop-eared, the Nigerian Letter, the Pigeon Drop, on the barrelhead, peeking the poke, queer the deal, the send, tossing the broads, etc. This stuff is priceless. Between con and carny talk (which often overlap, for what should be obvious reasons) , there is enough salt to flavor the blandest of speech.
Once in awhile I come across a long con that intrigues me... something so elaborate that I just have to admire its conception. The most compelling confidence swindler is the one that dedicates his/her life to a single fraud. Such is the case of Oliver Hartzell. I just finished Richard Rayner's Drake's Fortune: The Fabulous True Story of the World's Greatest Confidence Artist . In this book, Rayner describes how Hartzell got involved with one of the biggest pipe dreams of the twentieth century- the quest to legally wrangle Sir Francis Drake's unclaimed fortune" from Great Britain.
The rough-hewn and bankrupt farmer from Iowa was able to transform himself, and wrest millions of dollars from more than a hundred thousand midwesterners during the Great Depression. In return, these plain folk received shares in a fortune estimated at $100 billion. Hartzell employed numerous agents stateside while he lived a luxurious lifestyle off of the proceeds, pretending to be involved in legal maneuvers in England. This went on for at least 15 years, as both American and British authorities tried to figure out how to curtail Hartzell's activities. He was finally put down by an agent of the post office, and he spent the last years of his life as an inmate at a hospital for the criminally insane. By the end, Hartzell had actually convinced himself that the Drake fortune was real.
It sounds absurd that ordinary thinking people would fall for such a scheme. Surely the modern American is more savvy than that? Think again. Apparently a California man was recently caught operating a diffferent version of Hartzell's con. He claimed to know of some unreleased Marvin Gaye songs, and solicited funds for a legal battle to gain control of the material. Of course these recordings did not exist, but the possibility was just convincing enough to get people to invest in the hope of a big pay-off.
There is nothing that would make you more vulnerable to a confidence trickster than the conceit that you could never fall for one of their games. I once lost a considerable amount of money that I procured as "fast cash" on my credit cards. This was a business investment for a store that actually did exist. I was certain that I was going to be paid back, and I thought I knew my business partner. His con was so good that I didn't even realize it for what it was. Confidence games are not a thing of the past. In fact, with the advent and development of the Internet, they are actually proliferating. It's in your best interest to protect yourself, and the people you care for, by getting to know what confidence games are being played. This site would be a good place to start your research.
posted by Merge Divide at 5:46 PM
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