Big Ideas Simply Explained - The Crime Book

50 JOHN LEONARD ORR W ith its arid climate and John Orr wanted to be a expanses of wilderness, Los Angeles police officer for a IN CONTEXT California is a magnet long time. He applied in 1981. for firestarters. But none of them LOCATION have come close to the level of fiery He passed all of the tests Southern California, US devastation wrought upon people except one. It was the and property by John Leonard Orr. psychological test. THEME In the early 1980s, a series of blazes Joseph Wambaugh Serial arson began in the Los Angeles area, sometimes as many as three a day. origin – where a fire first begins – BEFORE In one incident, 65 homes were to determine its cause. Unable to 1979–80 Bruce Lee (born reduced to smouldering ash. But it locate it, they concluded that it Peter Dinsdale) committed was not until 10 October 1984, that was an electrical accident. But one 11 acts of arson in and human lives were extinguished by seasoned arson investigator – around his hometown of the flames. Captain Marvin Casey of the Hull, Yorkshire, UK. Bakersfield Fire Department – At 7pm, the public address was certain the fire had been AFTER system at Ole’s Home Center in intentionally set in a stack of 1985–2005 Thomas Sweatt, South Pasadena blared flammable cushions. a prolific American arsonist, an emergency warning. Noticing set close to 400 fires, the smoke pouring out of the hardware In January 1987, a number of majority of which were in the department, cashier Jim Obdan suspicious fires broke out north of Washington, D.C. area. rushed to help customers flee the Pasadena in the city of Bakersfield. 1992–93 Paul Kenneth Keller, store, and was badly burned in the At a craft shop, Marvin Casey a serial arsonist from process. Fortunately, though, he discovered an incendiary device in Washington state, set 76 fires lived to tell the tale. Co-workers a bin of dried flowers. It was crude in and around Seattle during Jimmy Cetina and Carolyn Kraus but effective – three matches a six-month spree. were not so lucky. Nor were bound to the middle of a cigarette customers Ada Deal and Matthew by a rubber band and concealed Pyrophilia Troidl, a loving grandmother and within a sleeve of yellow lined her two-year-old grandson. paper. After lighting the cigarette, While the vast majority of the offender would have ample arsonists are insurance The following morning, arson time to leave the scene before the fraudsters or attention seekers, investigators searched the cigarette burned down far enough the pyromaniac is a unique blackened ruins for the point of to ignite the matches and start breed, fascinated by fire to the the fire. point of compulsively setting autobiographical Points of them. Even rarer than the Origin indicate that the lead Later that same day, a second pyromaniac is the pyrophile – character, Aaron Stiles (i.e. conflagration erupted in a bin Greek for “fire-lover” – a person Orr himself), possessed this containing pillows and foam rubber who is sexually aroused by the dangerous paraphilic disorder. at Hancock Fabric store in flames, the smell of smoke, the Bakersfield. The trail of arson intense heat, and (sometimes) Joseph Wambaugh, who continued in rapid succession with the whirr of sirens racing to worked as a detective sergeant combat the inferno. Numerous in the Los Angeles Police entries in Orr’s mostly Department for 20 years before he became a bestselling author, chronicled Orr’s life in his book Fire Lover. Wambaugh reported that the linking of fire and sex in Orr’s manuscript is continuous, and a key facet of Orr’s motivation, a theory shared by investigator Marvin Casey.

BANDITS, ROBBERS, AND ARSONISTS 51 one fire in Tulare followed by investigators who had attended the The “Pillow Pyro” started a fire that another two in Fresno. With the Fresno symposium. He obtained swiftly became a firestorm in Glendale, exception of the Bakersfield craft a list of the attendees, reducing the California, in June 1990. A total of 67 store, Casey determined that every list of suspects to the 55 who had properties were damaged or destroyed fire had begun in a pile of pillows. travelled alone through Bakersfield in the blaze, including this house. on Highway 99. An audacious theory residue. To the technician’s This modus operandi (MO) did not Unsurprisingly, when Casey and Casey’s surprise, a partial escape Casey, who noted that the shared his suspicions with his fingerprint appeared. Using a arson attacks had progressed fellow arson investigators he was special photographic filter to sequentially from Los Angeles either ignored or ostracized. Yet deepen the contrast and reveal the north along Highway 99 to Fresno. he persevered, convincing the ridge detail, the technician was Nor did the troubling realization Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and able to render a usable print. It that the fires had occurred Firearms (ATF) to conduct was entered into the Automated immediately before and after an scientific testing on the yellow Fingerprint Identification System annual arson investigator’s paper recovered from the craft (AFIS) where it was compared to conference in Fresno. store. The ATF lab applied the fingerprints of criminals across ninhydrin (a chemical used to the country. When the AFIS failed Casey began to develop a detect ammonia) to the paper on to produce a match, Casey asked controversial theory: the fires were the off chance that it would react the ATF to compare the print ❯❯ set by one of the 300 arson to amino acids from fingerprint

52 JOHN LEONARD ORR After lighting the cigarette, Orr had time A sleeve of lined to flee before the device yellow paper hid burst into flames the device A rubber band The matches was tied around the ignited once the cigarette had burned matches and down far enough the cigarette Orr’s incendiary device comprised three matches tied to the centre of a cigarette. In all but one of his arson attacks, Orr left the device in a pile of highly flammable pillows. to the fingerprints of the 55 Task Force”, deriving its name from member. After reading the conference attendees on his list. the offender’s MO. Like the earlier pamphlet, Scott Baker of the His request was denied. blazes, the fires had been set in California State Fire Marshal’s retail outlets during business hours. Office told Campuzano about For two years, the case sat in Marvin Casey and his much- limbo. Then, in March 1989, a In March 1991, the head of the maligned theory. series of fires flared up again, this task force, Tom Campuzano, time along Highway 101, the road distributed a leaflet containing At long last, Casey had found an that led directly to Pacific Grove, information about this MO to the influential arson investigator who the venue for the annual arson Fire Investigators Reaction Strike was sympathetic to his cause. investigators’ symposium. Team (FIRST), an association of fire Campuzano and Casey met to Reinvigorated, Casey compared the departments without an arson discuss the case, and Casey list of Pacific Grove conference investigator as a permanent staff handed over a copy of the partial attendees to the previous one, fingerprint to the taskforce. They narrowing the number of his It’s my opinion that he set in ran the print through a database of suspects down to 10. Certain that excess of 2,000 fires over a every person who had ever applied the arsonist was among them, he period of about 30 years. for a job with the LAPD, and this convinced Fresno ATF agents to time they struck gold. The partial steathily obtain the fingerprints of Michael J. Cabral print matched the left ring his 10 suspects and compare them fingerprint of John Leonard Orr: one to the partial print. To Casey’s of the 10 names on Marvin Casey’s shock and disappointment, the list. Whether by sheer luck or results came back negative. professional incompetence, Orr had avoided being matched in 1989. Catching a break Beginning in late 1990, a series of Orr was a 41-year-old fire fires in Los Angeles prompted the captain with many years of development of the “Pillow Pyro experience investigating arson. He was well liked, charming, and had

BANDITS, ROBBERS, AND ARSONISTS 53 Orr’s day of reckoning arrived at the conclusion of his murder trial in June 1998. His defence lawyers argued that faulty wiring was to blame for the Ole fire, but the jury found Orr guilty. developed a legendary reputation Not only did Stiles employ the same in the area dropped from an annual for always being the first to arrive incendiary device as the “Pillow average of 67 to 1. Given that Orr on the scene. As a result of Casey’s Pyro”, he also set fires on his way to had been a secret serial arsonist, it findings, however, Orr was placed arson conferences and had burned is likely that he had a sixth sense under surveillance, with a down a hardware store, killing a for fires because he set them. This monitoring device secretly attached little boy named Matthew. suspicion prompted Deputy District to the bumper of his car. Orr found Attorney Michael J. Cabral to and removed it, only to have police Frightening revelations estimate that Orr set more than fix another under his dashboard John Leonard Orr was arrested on 2,000 fires over a 30-year period, when he brought in his vehicle 4 December 1991, and charged making him one of the most prolific for maintenance. with five counts of arson. But his arsonists in US history. true day of judgment arrived on When the set of the popular 25 June 1998, when the California In a final gruesome twist, Points television drama The Waltons State Court convicted him on four of Origin features a scene in which was engulfed in flames on the counts of first-degree murder Aaron Stiles sexually assaults and afternoon of 22 November 1991, related to the 1984 Ole inferno, for murders a young girl in a vehicle in Burbank, Teletrac showed Orr which he received a sentence of life that is then burned. Investigators driving home from the scene of in prison without parole. claim to have identified the case, the fire at 3:30am to receive the but lack conclusive evidence of dispatcher’s report. Tellingly, Orr’s personal charm was later Orr’s involvement. Two additional although the dispatcher incorrectly attributed to psychopathy, because fire-related deaths described in reported the address of the fire, it was accompanied by other Points of Origin remain Orr still managed to arrive at the notably psychopathic traits, unaccounted for. If these horrific correct location. including manipulativeness, vanity, passages turn out to be true, Orr is and lack of remorse. Alhough Orr not only an arsonist and mass Although they lacked the still maintains his innocence, after murderer, but also a sexually necessary evidence to make an his arrest, the number of major fires motivated serial killer. ■ arrest, the taskforce realized that as long as Orr remained at large, human lives were at risk. They quickly applied for a warrant to search his home. In a briefcase, investigators found a cache of cigarettes, matches, and rubber bands, while his car yielded sheets of lined yellow paper. Even more damning was a video Orr had shot on 14 March 1990, of a hillside residence in Pasadena, followed by footage of the same house ablaze on 2 October 1992. Crucially, Orr had penned a manuscript for a novel entitled Points of Origin in which the protagonist Aaron Stiles (an anagram of “I Set LA Arson”), lived the double-life of an arson investigator and firestarter.

54 IPTERWFAESCTTHCERIME THE ANTWERP DIAMOND HEIST, 15–16 FEBRUARY 2003 IN CONTEXT F or hundreds of years, most Antwerp’s reputation as a world of the world’s rough diamond centre is well founded, with LOCATION diamonds – worth many 85 per cent of all rough diamonds Antwerp Diamond Centre, billions of dollars – have passed passing through the city and over $16 Belgium through Antwerp, Belgium, making billion in cut diamonds sold each year. it the largest diamond district in THEME the world and a coveted target for the gang looted 123 of the vault’s Vault heist audacious burglars. 160 individual safe deposit boxes without setting off any alarms or BEFORE Great heists depend on great leaving behind any signs of forced 18 March 1990 Two thieves planning. The 2003 break-in at the entry. The staff at the diamond disguised as police officers Antwerp Diamond Centre was centre did not even notice that a enter the Isabella Stewart years in the making and was not robbery had been committed until Gardner Museum in Boston, dubbed “the perfect crime” without 17 February. They also discovered Massachusetts, trick security good reason. that the security camera tapes officers, and steal 13 priceless were missing. After combing the works of art. A life-long thief from Palermo, vault, investigators estimated that Sicily, who specialized in charming the haul amounted to £60 million AFTER his victims, Leonardo Notarbartolo in diamonds, other precious gems, 18 February 2013 Eight posed as a diamond merchant and gold, and jewellery. masked gunmen posing as rented an office in the Antwerp police officers steal £33 million Diamond Centre two years before in diamonds from an armoured the robbery. This enabled him to van on the tarmac of Brussels gain 24-hour access to the building, Airport, Belgium. with his own safe deposit box located within the vault. Without a trace On the night of 16 February 2003, Notarbartolo and a group of five thieves known as “The School of Turin” broke into the diamond centre’s vault. Despite nine different layers of security, including cameras and infrared heat and motion sensors,

BANDITS, ROBBERS, AND ARSONISTS 55 See also: The Société Générale Bank Heist 44 ■ The Hatton Garden Heist 58–59 The Diamond Squad The nine security layers at the Antwerp vault In 2000, the Belgian Ministry of Justice established a External Combination Keyed lock special police force to guard security dial and investigate crimes taking camera place in Antwerp’s diamond district. This unique six- Internal security Locked steel Magnetic member police force is led by camera gate sensor inspectors who are uniquely well connected with the Light sensor Heat/motion Keypad for diamond business. The head sensor disarming of the “Diamond Squad”, Agim De Bruycker, was in sensors charge of the investigation into the Antwerp Diamond The unfinished sandwich I may be a thief and a liar Heist that secured Everything had gone like clockwork but I am going to tell you Notarbartolo’s arrest. for the gang, but they became sloppy during their escape. One a true story. However, in March 2015, gang member, known as “Speedy” Leonardo Notarbartolo De Bruycker was arrested on (later identified by police as Pietro suspicion of money laundering. Tavano), hastily discarded a bag of Missing puzzle pieces Diamonds worth £365,000 trash in a forest alongside the E19 Notarbartolo claimed in a 2009 were later discovered in his motorway north of Brussels. interview with Wired magazine home. Members of his team that a diamond merchant hired The had allegedly become A local farmer found the bag School of Turin for the heist, and suspicious after he purchased and called the police after noticing that the robbery was part of an expensive villa and a new envelopes from the Antwerp a complex insurance fraud. Range Rover shortly after Diamond Centre, a videotape, and a Authorities doubted this claim, his divorce was finalized. half-eaten salami sandwich, which however, and did not pursue it. De Bruycker was consequently was later discovered to contain What is beyond doubt, though, suspended pending an traces of Notarbartolo’s DNA. is that except for a few stones, the investigation. Notarbartolo was subsequently loot has never been found. The fifth arrested, along with three member of the gang, nicknamed De Bruycker’s arrest is not accomplices including Speedy, the “King of Keys”, has also not yet the only scandal to befall the for committing what the press had been identified. ■ diamond squad. In 2004, labelled “the heist of the century.” €1.6 million (over £1 million) Police searched Notarbartolo’s worth of diamonds, seized as apartment and discovered 17 part of a fraud investigation, diamonds in his home safe, which vanished from police custody. they traced back to the vault. More They have not been recovered. diamonds were found hidden in a rolled-up carpet. In 2005, Notarbartolo was sentenced to 10 years; his fellow conspirators were jailed for five years each.

56 HALEAWRAMSSAYNSETEXMPESRT IN THE THEFT OF THE CELLINI SALT CELLAR, 11 MAY 2003 IN CONTEXT S tealthily dodging high-tech two failed ransom attempts by the motion sensors and round- thief, in January 2006, police LOCATION the-clock security guards, arrested 50-year-old Robert Mang, Kunsthistorisches an amateur art thief climbed up a security alarm specialist and Museum, Vienna, Austria the scaffolding outside Vienna’s avid sculpture collector. He soon Kunsthistorisches Museum, confessed, admitting that the theft THEME crawled through a broken second- was “rather spontaneous”. Art theft floor window, shattered a display case, and fled with one of the Mang led police to the BEFORE world’s great Renaissance artefacts. Renaissance treasure, buried in a 21 August 1911 Leonardo wooded area 90 km (55 miles) da Vinci’s famed Mona Lisa is The early morning theft of the northeast of Vienna. Mang had stolen from Paris’s Louvre gold-plated salt cellar, worth an wrapped the sculpture in linen and Museum, but recovered two estimated £52 million, on plastic and placed it in a lead box years later when the thieves 11 May 2003, caused a scandal to protect it from damage. In attempt to sell it. across Austria. The intricate, September 2006, Mang was 25-cm (10-inch) sculpture depicting sentenced to four years in prison AFTER a trident-wielding Neptune was but was released early, in 2009. ■ 16 October 2012 the masterpiece of Benvenuto A Romanian gang breaks into Cellini, the famed 15th-century the Kunsthal Museum in the Italian sculptor. Netherlands and steals seven paintings worth £19 million. Despite its multimillion-dollar value, the statue was essentially unsalable because no legitimate art dealer would touch it. Following The salt cellar was finished by Cellini in 1543 and presented to King Francis I of France. It is the only remaining item of precious metal work attributed to the Italian sculptor. See also: Bill Mason 36 ■ The Theft of the World Cup 37 ■ John MacLean 45

BANDITS, ROBBERS, AND ARSONISTS 57 IUCWTNR’ESIBIMREAILDNVIEAAEVLNRADYCBARLSEEEA, LBUT THE RUSSIA-ESTONIA VODKA PIPELINE, 2004 IN CONTEXT F rom August to November The investigation also 2004, a team of enterprising revealed that the men had LOCATION smugglers operated a tried to sell some of the alcohol Narva, Estonia remarkable 2-km (1¼-mile) pipeline in Tallinn… but the quality under the Kyrgyzstan River to of the spirit was too bad. THEME transport huge quantities of vodka Smuggling from Russia to the ex-Soviet Mari Luuk country of Estonia in order to avoid BEFORE paying duty. Officials estimated that by the 1916 After the state of time the gang of 11 Russian Michigan bans alcohol sales, Estonia had only just joined the and Estonian smugglers were rum-runners smuggle liquor by European Union on 1 May 2004, caught, they had already pumped boat over the border from where vodka fetched a much higher 7,450 litres (1,638 gallons) of vodka Windsor, Ontario, in Canada price than it did in Russia. from Russia to Estonia. to Detroit, Michigan. Unfortunately for the smugglers, however, they could not find a Two years later, Estonian police 12 August 1998 Lithuanian single buyer for the illegal vodka in discovered another smuggling police uncover a pipeline the country’s capital, Tallinn. They pipeline under the same river, but used to smuggle alcohol finally offloaded it in Tartu, it was shut down before any from Latvia across the border Estonia’s second-largest city. alcohol was illegally transported into Lithuania. into the European Union. ■ The operation was uncovered AFTER by chance when workers digging 6 January 2014 Philadelphia planting holes for trees found the police arrest a local attorney pipeline along the bottom of a for illegally selling bottles of reservoir near the border town of fine wine out of the basement Narva. Customs officials seized of his home; in all, they 1,400 litres (306 gallons) of the confiscate 2,500 bottles valued alcohol and shut down the pipeline. between $150,000 (£120,000) They also later discovered a large and $200,000 (£160,000). quantity of untaxed alcohol hidden in a truck in Tallinn. See also: The Hawkhurst Gang 136–37 ■ The Beer Wars 152–53

58 LOCOLRNDIMD-SIONCNAHLOGOELNTS THE HATTON GARDEN HEIST, APRIL 2015 IN CONTEXT B y the early spring of 2015, A diamond-core drill, stolen from veteran career criminal a nearby demolition site four months LOCATION Brian Reader, age 76, had before the heist, was used to bore London, UK spent three years planning “one last three overlapping holes through the job”. Reader had the pedigree, reinforced concrete wall. THEME having participated in the Baker Vault heist Street Robbery of 1971. This time, Without a hitch he recruited friends John “Kenny” The last of the Hatton Garden BEFORE Collins, 74, Terry Perkins, 67, and Safe Deposit Company staff left 11 September 1971 Danny Jones, 60, among others. the building at around 8:20pm. Burglars, including Brian Five minutes later, security Reader, break into the safe On the first weekend of cameras captured footage of a deposit boxes at the Baker April 2015, with the Easter holiday gang heading down into the vault Street branch of Lloyds Bank and Passover due to coincide, the via a lift shaft. in London, stealing an Hatton Garden Safe Deposit estimated £3 million (about Company was to close its doors on They were led by a man £42 million today). Thursday night and would not open nicknamed “Mr Ginger” by the again until the following Tuesday. press for the red hair visible 12 July 1987 Thieves pose The entire district, renowned as beneath his cap, but he was as potential customers at the London’s jewellery quarter, was to referred to among the gang as Knightsbridge Safe Deposit be deserted for the long weekend. “Basil”. Three others were visible, Centre in London to gain each pushing a large commercial access before holding up They were analogue criminals wheelie bin: the robbers clearly staff and making off with operating in a digital world. expected a major haul. For the about £60 million (£158 million) Scotland Yard moment, though, no one saw this in cash and jewellery. AFTER 4–5 February 2016 Computer hackers attempt to steal £673 million from the central bank of Bangladesh.

BANDITS, ROBBERS, AND ARSONISTS 59 See also: The Great Train Robbery 30–35 ■ The Société Générale Bank Heist 44 ■ The Antwerp Diamond Heist 54–55 The “Diamond Wheezers” as the press dubbed them were jailed for a lenient combined total of 34 years. Perkins and Jones even thanked the judge as they were led away. Perkins in the Castle pub boasting about how they had accessed the vault. footage, nor did the Metropolitan the vault’s alarms, but only with Mystery mastermind Police react to an alert from the partial success. The gang’s Seven men were eventually vault’s alarm. careless use of their cell phones arrested and convicted for the also provided the police with clues. Hatton Garden robbery, but Basil The alarm also alerted the Access to phone records and eluded capture. According to the vault’s security monitoring vehicle-tracking data established testimony of Danny Jones, Basil company. They called Alok Bavishi, that gang members Perkins, was an ex-policeman and the the son of the safe deposit centre’s Collins, and Jones had regularly mastermind behind the raid. Basil joint director, who was temporarily met at the Castle pub in Islington, clearly was the most professional in charge. Although Bavishi was north London, while planning the member of the gang and had been incorrectly informed that the police raid. A police surveillance operation careful to conceal his face with a were already at the scene, he later recorded Reader, Collins, and bag when making his way into the phoned a security guard to check waiting van. He is believed to have out the building. But the guard One last job been the inside man, letting found nothing wrong when he himself into the building with a set looked through the main door – a The British press and the public of keys and bypassing several lucky break for the gang, were tickled by the venerable layers of security. Both Basil and particularly as lookout Collins had age of the men accused of the more than £10 million worth of fallen asleep while he was on duty. Hatton Garden heist. There was jewellery, gold, and gems are a certain charm to the revelation unaccounted for. ■ Meanwhile, Basil and his that Reader used a senior associates made two trips to the citizen’s bus pass to get to grandfathers. However, many vault. By the time they fled Hatton Garden; that lookout of them were dangerous career the area, at 6:45am on Sunday Kenny Collins had napped on criminals bonded by friendship, morning, they had ransacked duty; and that Terry Perkins had a shared skill set, and nostalgia 72 boxes and taken £14 million remembered to pack his for past adventures. worth of loot. diabetes medication. For years, Reader had Tracking them down Superficially, the gang cultivated a “safety-first” However, the gang unwittingly left members seemed like they approach to keep him ahead of an electronic trail. They had tried could have been anyone’s the law. He had aborted risky to disable the security cameras and robberies and taken long sabbaticals when things turned “hot”. Finally, though, it seems that he could not resist the allure and prestige of this opportunity, abandoning his tried-and-tested approach for one last job.

CON ARTI

STS

62 INTRODUCTION Czech-born Victor Using fake identities Lustig pretends to be a and her natural In France, Jeanne de member of the French la Motte deceives a government wishing to charm, Doris Payne wealthy cardinal sell the Eiffel Tower embarks on a career with the aim as scrap metal. as a jewel thief. of obtaining a diamond necklace. 1785 1925 1952 1879 1946 Wealthy French socialite In Paris, artist Elmyr de Hory Thérèse Humbert borrows begins to forge works by famous painters to sell vast sums of money against the promise of a to wealthy individuals and galleries. bogus inheritance. C onfidence tricks, so-called Con artists are also known as Champion swindlers because they exploit “hustlers”, “grifters”, and “tricksters”, Some cases involve extraordinary people’s trust, are among They derisively call their victims levels of self-confidence on the the oldest crimes in the world. “marks”, “suckers”, or “gulls”. How part of the con artist. In the 1960s, Human nature is on the side of the their victims get duped is not as master impostor Frank Abagnale perpetrators – without a good puzzling as it may seem, though. evaded law enforcement for years, reason, most people tend to trust Some tricksters deliberately target impersonating six different others. Victims often learn the hard the elderly, lonely, or vulnerable, but professionals including a pilot, a way that if an offer seems too good almost anyone can be susceptible doctor, a lawyer, and an FBI agent. to be true, it probably is. to their scams, especially when Victor Lustig succeeded in selling they fall prey to a convincing get- the Eiffel Tower for scrap metal to A con artist is a manipulator rich-quick scheme that appears a gullible businessman. who cheats or tricks others by utterly genuine. The impact of the persuading them to believe crime can be substantial. In In other cases, it is the something that is not true. Through 18th-century France, for example, simplicity and brazen nature of deception – by lying, cheating, and the scandalous machinations of the attempted deception that is fooling their targets into believing social climber and trickster Jeanne astounding, such as the champion they can make easy gains – con de la Motte in a case that became racehorse disguised as a novice artists exploit their victims, usually known as the Affair of the Diamond with a slap of white paint in the to obtain money for themselves but Necklace, helped to reinforce the Fine Cotton scandal in Australia, also for other advantages. The legal monarchy’s unpopularity, which led although that ruse was swiftly consequences of such trickery to the French Revolution and the exposed. The escape from Alcatraz depend on the circumstances and destruction of the ancien régime. was much more intricately planned, the laws of the land. with the escapees placing papier-

Master impostor Frank CON ARTISTS 63 Abagnale impersonates a pilot to travel the world In Germany, forger Konrad and enjoy a lavish lifestyle. Kujau fools the world into believing documents penned by him are actually Hitler’s diaries. 1964 1978 1962 1972 1984 In the US, three Clifford Irving falsely claims In the Fine Cotton prisoners trick guards that Howard Hughes has horseracing scandal in and pull off one of the asked him to write his most famous jailbreaks biography, and tricks Australia, a crime in history—the escape syndicate substitutes publishing executives into from Alcatraz. giving him a large advance. a champion horse for a novice. mâché heads in their beds to Hughes biography continued to However, making a profit is not convince the guards that they were stand by their scoops long after always their goal. According to sleeping instead of digging their everyone else realized they had psychologists, con artists simply way out of the island prison. been scammed. And many gain great satisfaction from pulling individuals, after realizing that they off their scams, regardless of the In most cases, it is an individual have been deceived, are reluctant amount of money they make. or an organization that is fooled, to contact the authorities, for fear but hundreds were taken in by art of being ridiculed. Victor Lustig Many con artists use disguises forger Elmyr de Hory’s remarkable banked on this in his audacious as part of their modus operandi, paintings – he sold more than sale of the Eiffel Tower; it worked which makes it difficult for law a thousand works by “Picasso”, because he successfully predicted enforcement agencies to catch “Matisse”, and “Modigliani” to his victim’s embarrassment at them, especially before the aid of collectors and galleries worldwide. being duped. digital technology. Police may also hesitate to go after culprits, Master forger Konrad Kujau also Underlying psychology because in some jurisdictions, managed to fool most of the world What con artists have in common stealing property is considered a with the Hitler Diaries. Historians is the power of persuasion. The civil issue rather than a crime. In proclaimed their authenticity, most successful perpetrators addition, police are generally more newspapers ran extracts, and share three personality traits – concerned with catching violent publishing companies vied for psychopathy, narcissism, and criminals and terrorists than the rights. Often, those who fall for Machiavellianism – which allow apprehending grifters. The crimes such hoaxes are reluctant to believe them to carry out their crimes of the grifter can be difficult to they have been duped. The without feeling remorse or guilt. prove, and the perpetrators are publishers of the extracts from the less likely to be prosecuted. ■ Hitler Diaries and the Howard

64 IUOFNFEDBLEALRDATCHMOEAURINNTSFYELRLUSE…NCE THE AFFAIR OF THE DIAMOND NECKLACE, 1785 IN CONTEXT I n 1785, Queen Marie Antoinette was embroiled in LOCATION a notorious scandal at the Paris, France French court over a diamond necklace. Confidence trickster THEME Jeanne de la Motte orchestrated a Jewellery scam ruse, impersonating the queen to deceive a wealthy cardinal. The BEFORE implications of this swindle had 1690s William Chaloner unintentionally far-reaching leads a highly successful coin consequences and helped to counterfeiting gang in bring about the French Revolution. Birmingham and London, England; he is hanged in Royal commission The necklace was a work of art, 1699 for high treason after In 1772, King Louis XV enlisted the featuring festoons, pendants, and targeting the Royal Mint. jewellers Boehmer and Bassenge to tassels. In creating it without a firm create an elaborate necklace for commission, the jewellers took a huge AFTER Madame du Barry, his mistress. risk, which nearly bankrupted them. 1923 Lou Blonger, the kingpin The jewellers created a diamond of an extensive ring of con necklace that weighed 2,800 carats married Nicolas de la Motte, an men who operated in Denver, and featured 647 stones. It took officer of the gendarmes, and they Colorado, for more than 25 several years to make and cost styled themselves as Count and years, is finally convicted after 2 million livres (about £8 million Countess de la Motte. They were a famous trial dogged by today). By the time it was finished, granted a modest pension from the allegations that Blonger’s Louis had died from smallpox and king, but it was not enough to associates attempted to bribe du Barry was banished by his heir, provide Jeanne either with the members of the jury. Louis XVI. The jewellers tried to lifestyle she desired or reflect the sell the necklace to Queen Marie social status she felt entitled to. Antoinette, but she declined it. Learning that the jewellers A cunning plan were trying to find a buyer for the Jeanne de Valois-Saint-Rémy was a necklace, Jeanne hatched a plan descendant of an illegitimate son of King Henri II (1547–59). In 1780, she

CON ARTISTS 65 See also: The Crawford Inheritance 66–67 ■ Frank Abagnale 86–87 ■ Clifford Irving 88–89 I can see I have been A schemer through and through, cruelly deceived. Jeanne de la Motte escaped prison Cardinal Louis dressed as a boy. She fled to London de Rohan where she wrote a memoir of the diamond necklace scandal in which to acquire it, sensing the ideal she defended her actions. opportunity for her financial and social advancement. Among her he and the queen were in love. swindle was finally exposed. The acquaintances was Cardinal Louis After requests from de Rohan for prostitute and the de la Mottes de Rohan, who had fallen out of the pair to meet, Jeanne hired a were convicted and Villette was favour with the queen and was prostitute to impersonate Marie banished, but de Rohan was eager to reconcile. In 1784, Jeanne Antoinette and organized a acquitted. De la Motte was publicly convinced the cardinal that she rendezvous in the gardens of the flogged and branded with a “V” for enjoyed Marie Antoinette’s favour Palace of Versailles. Having voleuse (robber) and imprisoned but and tricked him into writing to the gained his trust, Jeanne informed escaped ten months later. Already queen. De la Motte’s accomplice de Rohan that the queen wanted to made a scapegoat for the country’s Rétaux de Villette forged replies buy the diamond necklace, but financial plight, the trial destroyed from “the queen” on gilt-edged could not be seen to do so at a time the queen’s fragile reputation. stationery. The exchanges became when many people in Paris were Eight years later, she was executed so amorous that de Rohan believed starving. De Rohan agreed to cover during the French Revolution. The the cost in instalments and the necklace was never found. ■ jewellers handed over the necklace. Fraud exposed When de Rohan’s first payment was insufficient, the jewellers protested to Marie Antoinette, but she denied requesting the necklace. De Rohan was brought before the king and queen to explain himself and the This satirical engraving mocks Preying on vulnerability given names only, but it is Cardinal de Rohan’s gullibility and unlikely, given that he had crookedness as he offers up the Jeanne de la Motte executed a previously worked as the French necklace to de la Motte. near-perfect confidence trick to ambassador to the court of dupe Cardinal de Rohan, first Vienna and would have been seducing him, then preying on skilled in diplomatic protocol. It his desperation, vulnerability, is more likely that the cardinal and vanity. She also waited until was blinded by de la Motte’s she had earned his trust before power of persuasion. He was asking anything of him in return. brought back down to earth by the king, furious that a high- However, she did make one ranking noble could be duped by potentially fatal error, signing the such an obvious error. Although notes from the queen with he was lampooned as a fool, he “Marie Antoinette de France”. It received popular support; his is possible that the cardinal was acquittal was deemed a victory not aware of the custom that over the unpopular royals. French queens signed with their

66 PTTEHOOESPIRULCEHHATTOASOSKOUFMF THE CRAWFORD INHERITANCE, 1879–1902 IN CONTEXT I n 1898, on the verge of bankruptcy, a French banker LOCATION named Girard contacted the Paris, France woman with whom he had invested his fortune, begging for some of the THEME money he was owed. When wealthy Fake inheritance scam socialite Thérèse Humbert refused, Girard put a gun to his head and BEFORE pulled the trigger in despair. 1821–1837 Scottish soldier Girard’s suicide was the beginning and con man General Gregor of the end of Humbert’s 20-year MacGregor extorts money from career swindling the French elite British and French investors of nearly 100 million francs (about looking to settle in a fictional £430 million today). Central American territory. Fake inheritance The scandal attracted the interest of AFTER Born Thérèse Daurignac in France, the press across Europe. This image 1880s American con woman she grew up an impoverished of the arrest in Madrid was published Bertha Heyman, also known peasant. Although she was neither in the Italian newspaper La Domenica as “Big Bertha”, persuades wealthy nor well educated, Thérèse del Corriere. dozens of rich men to lend her was charming and adept at lying money with the promise that and manipulation. She claimed she on a train journey. As a reward, she will pay them back from a was of noble blood and convinced Crawford supposedly made Thérèse fictional inheritance. her first cousin, Frédéric Humbert, the beneficiary of his will, with a the son of a prominent French provision that the fortune be kept 1897–1904 Canadian forger mayor, to marry her. The two then in a safe until her younger sister and con artist Cassie L. moved to Paris, where her father-in- was old enough to marry one of Chadwick claims to be the law’s connections helped Thérèse Crawford’s nephews. However, illegitimate daughter and to gain fame and influence among Robert Crawford did not exist and heiress of steel tycoon Andrew French society. nor did the inheritance. Carnegie, and swindles banks out of millions of dollars. In 1879, Thérèse told a tale of an Using the fictional inheritance unusual inheritance, claiming that as collateral, Thérèse began to she saved the life of American borrow money from rich friends. millionaire Robert Crawford while

CON ARTISTS 67 See also: The Affair of the Diamond Necklace 64–65 ■ Charles Ponzi 102–07 ■ Bernie Madoff 116–21 She persuaded me to ultimately exposed the fraud. By nothing but a brick and an English lend her my money, first a the late 1890s, many of the people halfpenny. By then, Thérèse and little, and then more, until she had borrowed from joined her husband had fled the country. all I have in the world has gone forces and concluded that even her In December 1902, the couple were significant “inheritance” would not arrested in Madrid and extradited into her pockets. be sufficient to repay all of her to Paris. Victim of extensive loans. Both Thérèse and Frédéric were Thérèse Humbert Her schemes finally unravelled sentenced to five years’ hard in 1901, when one of her creditors labour. Thérèse emigrated to the sued her. A Parisian court judge US and she died penniless in ordered the safe opened, to reveal Chicago, Illinois, in 1918. ■ Psychopathy While her husband may have been Common a dupe at first, he became her traits of a accomplice and the pair lived con artist lavishly on the borrowed funds. The Humberts went on spending Narcissism Machiavellianism sprees, buying country mansions, a steam yacht, and fine clothing. The power of persuasion In total, they borrowed 50 million francs (£215 million) on the promise Con artists use the power of believable. If the victim objects, of their mysterious fortune. persuasion to swindle their the swindler may play on their victims. After identifying a emotions to gain sympathy. The Dissatisfied with the sizable target, a fraudster will study goal is to lie, cheat, and fool sums she appropriated, in 1893, them, researching their people with empty promises. Thérèse launched a fraudulent behaviour and talking with insurance company, Rent Viagere. them to determine weaknesses. Many successful con artists The company targeted small The con artist will then guide exhibit the same three traits – businessmen with the promise of them towards their scam, using psychopathy, narcissism, and large returns on small investments. flattery, fear, or the promise of machiavellianism – known Thérèse and Frédéric went on to wealth to gain the subject’s collectively as the “Dark Triad”. squander more than 40 million trust and confidence. Typically, These characteristics allow con francs (£174 million), with old the lies are laced with enough artists to swindle people out investors paid using the funds of truth to distract the victim of their money without the new victims. and make the patter more perpetrators feeling a sense of either remorse or guilt. Borrowed time Following Girard’s suicide, French investigators began to look into the Humberts’ financial affairs. But it was her creditors rather than the police who

68 ECTVHOEENRSMLMAIVONEOTDTHHAETST THE SALE OF THE EIFFEL TOWER, 1925 IN CONTEXT V ictor Lustig was a printed perfect $100 bills. He specialist in tall tales, and convinced gullible victims that LOCATION none of them were taller the device took several hours of Paris, France than his plan to sell the Eiffel Tower “chemical processing” to print for scrap metal. two $100 bills that he presented to THEME the targets. In fact, they were Landmark scam Born in 1890 in the town of simply real $100 bills that he had Hostinné, in what is now the Czech loaded into the machine without BEFORE Republic, Lustig became fluent in their knowledge. 1901 William McCloundy, a several European languages and con man from New Jersey, moved to France. He started his Impressed by the results, sells the Brooklyn Bridge to a criminal career as a swindler victims bought his machines for foreign tourist and is jailed for preying on wealthy travellers on as much as $30,000 (£322,000 grand larceny. transatlantic ocean liners. today). It would take a few hours for victims to realize that they had AFTER One of his lucrative scams been scammed – and when they 1947 American con man involved a money-printing did, Lustig was long gone. George C. Parker “sells” “invention”, which he claimed New York public landmarks, including the Brooklyn Bridge, Conning Capone with the promise that he would to wealthy foreign tourists double Capone’s money. multiple times. Although he was a talented and Unknown to Capone, Lustig slick con man, Lustig would placed the money in a safe 2010 Penniless Yorkshire truck occasionally take significant deposit box and returned it driver Anthony Lee attempts risks, such as revisting the two months later, apologizing to sell the Ritz Hotel in London scene of his famous crime to that the deal he was banking for £250 million and succeeds try and sell the Eiffel Tower on had fallen through. Full of in obtaining a deposit of for a second time. admiration for Lustig’s integrity, £1 million before he is caught Capone rewarded him with by the police. The audacity required for $5,000. Lustig had shrewdly this remarkable scam pales in hoped for this outcome from the comparison to the nerve needed beginning, but had taken a huge to swindle Al Capone in the late risk when he tangled with 1920s, but that is exactly what Capone. This caper secured Lustig did. He convinced the Lustig’s reputation as one of the Chicago crime boss to invest bravest con men in history. $50,000 to finance a stock deal,

CON ARTISTS 69 See also: The Crawford Inheritance 66–67 ■ Frank Abagnale 86–87 flattered their egos by claiming that Lustig’s Ten the five of them had been Commandments recommended based on their honest reputations. for con men Lustig had rented a limousine Be a patient listener and invited the men for a tour of the tower. Lustig identified the most Never look bored socially and financially insecure Wait for the other person to target, Andre Poisson, who desperately wanted to join the reveal their political ranks of the Parisian business elite, opinions, then agree and who felt that this was the right opportunity for him to do so. with them Wait for the other person to Victor Lustig was not only an The plan pays off reveal their religious views, extraordinary “salesman” and a Poisson’s wife became suspicious charming, sophisticated operator; he about the secret and hasty nature then agree with them also had a talent for evading capture. of their dealings, sowing seeds of Hint at intimate details but doubt in her husband’s mind. don’t follow up unless the Official business Lustig met with Poisson and “came other person shows interest Based in Paris in 1925, Lustig read clean”, confessing that he wanted a newspaper story about how the to solicit a bribe for the contract, Never discuss illness Eiffel Tower was rusting and hence the clandestine behaviour. unless a special concern required repairs. It was built for the Reassured, Poisson not only paid for 1889 Paris Exposition and was the 7,000 tons of iron but also gave is shown intended to be dismantled and the con man a hefty bribe. Never pry (they will tell you moved to another location in 1909. Lustig correctly predicted that all eventually) Sensing an opportunity, Lustig Poisson would be too humiliated Never boast, just let sent out letters on fake government to report the fraud. Six months later, your importance be stationery to five businessmen in Lustig attempted to repeat the which he claimed to be the Deputy scam but failed, narrowly avoiding quietly obvious Director General of the Ministry of arrest. Lustig later moved to the US Never be untidy Posts and Telegraphs. In the letters, to continue his criminal career. ■ he asked for a meeting at the Never get drunk prestigious Hotel de Crillon to I cannot understand discuss a business contract. honest men. They lead Believing the opportunity to be desperate lives full of boredom. genuine, the five men all met with a smartly dressed, courteous Lustig. Victor Lustig He revealed that the government intended to sell the Eiffel Tower for scrap metal and would take bids for the right to demolish the tower. He

70 IN CONTEXT RDGHIIORNGMEGHAESTLLUWAFNA’SIRATCSCHYTETOOHRFEY LOCATION Central Germany HARRY DOMELA, 1926 THEME Serial imposture BEFORE 1817 Cobbler’s daughter Mary Baker exposes upper-class vanities by passing herself off as Princess Caraboo from the fictitious island of Javasu. 1830 German swindler Karl Wilhelm Naundorff goes to his grave insisting that he is the rightful king of France, Prince Louis-Charles. AFTER 2004 French-born impostor Christophe Rocancourt is jailed for five years following a long career spent conning investors out of their money. He used many aliases, even claiming to be a Gallic relative of the Rockefeller family. O ne of the most notorious figures of the Roaring Twenties, trickster Harry Domela spent a lifetime pretending to be someone else. In 1918, the Freikorps – a private paramilitary group in which 15-year-old Domela was serving in his native Latvia – was called to Berlin to help stage a putsch. After the putsch failed, his unit was demobilized and Domela was left alone, adrift, and penniless. As a foreigner, he was denied a German passport and forbidden to work. Domela decided to enter high society in a bid to improve his desperate circumstances. He assumed false identities, using

CON ARTISTS 71 See also: Frank Abagnale 86–67 ■ The Tichborne Claimant 177 Despite a humble background and an impoverished present, Harry Domela (far left) managed to convince Heidelberg’s pro-monarchy elite that he was the kaiser’s grandson (left). aristocratic names and titles. In hotels, checked in as Baron Korff speculated that the prince might 1926, his life changed irrevocably and demanded one of their top be travelling incognito, using the when one of these acts of deception suites. The hotel manager noticed pseudonym Baron Korff. The went awry. The story highlights that the new guest with the grand rumour started circulating around Germany’s obsession with royalty manners bore a striking Erfurt. Although the monarchy had in that era, and the gullibility of the resemblance to young Wilhelm of been abolished in 1918, many country’s wealthy, privileged elite. Hohenzollern, grandson of Kaiser aristocratic Germans were still Wilhelm, the last German emperor. devoted to the deposed royal family, Charismatic chancer The two men were around the the Hohenzollerns. Domela insisted When he was 20, Domela moved same age and of a similar build and that he was not the prince, but he to Hamburg, where he made some appearance. The hotel manager was happy to subtly sustain the money playing cards. He used it illusion, especially as it meant he to visit the historic university city The Real Harry Domela did not have to pay his hotel bill. of Heidelberg where, adopting a confident air, he masqueraded Harry Domela was born in 1904 Domela made a trip to Berlin, for some weeks as Prince Lieven, or 1905 into a humble but but returned quickly to Erfurt when lieutenant of the Fourth Reichswehr respectable family in Kurland, all the staff at his hotel addressed cavalry regiment, Potsdam. He a duchy ceded to the Russians him as Your Majesty – word had became friendly with members of in 1795 (now part of Latvia). spread. Then one day, during a visit one of the exclusive, and snobbish, His parents were part of the by the mayor, he was asked to sign student societies, which quickly minority Baltic German a book; he caved in and wrote accepted him. He was entertained population. Domela’s father died “Wilhelm, Prince of Prussia”. For the lavishly, wined and dined, and soon after his birth; he later next few weeks, Domela fully thoroughly enjoyed the experience. became estranged from his embraced his new royal persona mother and lost his brother in as the “son” of Crown Prince ❯❯ However, Domela knew his World War I. At the age of 15, he deception might be uncovered at joined the German volunteer citizenship, and joined any time. Before that could happen, corps that fought against the thousands of other destitute he moved on to the city of Erfurt. Latvians. He later lost his people trying to survive in a There, he selected one of the nicest shattered postwar Germany. Despite having no papers, Domela managed to eke out a meagre living, but soon became an unemployed wanderer. When a street contemporary drew his attention to the huge number of dispossessed aristocrats around – Germany’s nobility had recently been stripped of their titles and status – Domela developed the skills and attributes necessary to pose as one himself.

72 HARRY DOMELA A crowd gathers around Harry Domela at the Berlin cinema he opened in 1929 to show the film version of his memoirs. He later unsuccessfully sued the filmmakers of a rival adaptation. Wilhelm and Crown Princess that the reports would soon spread Domela found legitimate success Cecilie. He was invited to other and expose him, Domela decided with his book: it sold about 120,000 towns in the region, where the rich to travel to France and join the copies. Two plays were made about and titled vied to host dinners and Foreign Legion. As he boarded the his life, and Domela even played hunting outings in his honour. train, he was arrested by police. himself in one. He also sold the film When he walked the streets, ladies rights, and starred in the resulting stopped to curtsy and gentlemen For the next seven months, movie, The False Prince (1927). bowed, while members of the Domela was held in a prison in military saluted him in public. Cologne, Germany, awaiting trial In 1929, Domela set up a small Although he accepted many gifts for fraud. During his incarceration cinema in Berlin. It opened with during his “tours”, among them he wrote about his experiences in a showing of The False Prince. tickets to the opera in the royal box, a book he titled A Sham Prince: Ultimately, the cinema was not Domela never asked for money. He The Life and Adventures of Harry a success. As it lost Domela relished the benefits of his grand Domela as Written by Himself in increasing amounts of money, the deception, especially the full board Prison at Cologne, January to June first act of his life came to an end. and lodging, but soon felt disgusted 1927. After he received his first His economic situation, as well as by the fawning adulation that advance from his publisher, he sent the growing fascist mood in Berlin, greeted him, particularly because his “mother”, Crown Princess led Domela to look for new the country was now a republic. He Cecilie, a bouquet of flowers from opportunities. In 1933, he left was aware, too, that he could not prison with a touching note. Germany for the Netherlands, keep up the pretence indefinitely. hiding behind a new identity: At his trial, the court ruled that Victor Szakja. Changing fortunes while he had taken advantage of Early in 1927, the local press caught prominent members of society, his New beginnings on to the story of the prince’s visit scheme had been mostly harmless In Amsterdam, Domela often to Heidelberg. Some commentators and he was acquitted. Shortly after attended communist rallies in were critical of the attention being his release, he was even invited for support of the Soviet Union. At one lavished on a former royal. Worried tea by Crown Princess Cecilie after of these, he connected with Jef he appeared unannounced at her Last, a left-wing Dutch writer. Last royal palace. introduced Domela to the French To Her Imperial Highness the Crown Princess Cecilie. I was honored to be taken for your son. Harry Domela

CON ARTISTS 73 author André Gide. The pair Always fearful of being discovered When the Crown Prince and I became close, staying up late to and arrested – he had no passport or heard about his exploits, we discuss Nietzsche and Hölderlin. papers and was therefore considered were convulsed with laughter. stateless – Domela was an outsider By 1936, the Nazi regime was who was constantly on the move. So I invited him to tea. A taking control of Germany and, charming young man with as a homosexual, returning to his followed a rootless cycle of left- adopted homeland was not an wing agitation and imprisonment excellent manners. option for Domela. Instead, at the common to thousands of Crown Princess Cecilie onset of the Spanish Civil War, he dispossessed antifascists across and Last, both committed anti- Europe at that time. him with severe injuries. Soon fascists, were accepted into a afterwards, beaten down by his Spanish Republican regiment. He was briefly detained in a run of bad luck, he attempted, In 1939, the Civil War ended, and prison camp by the Vichy France unsuccessfully, to take his own life. Domela travelled to France. His life regime, until his friend André Gide used his influence to get him By the end of World War II, Impersonating royalty released. Domela then made his Domela had relocated to Venezuela, way to Belgium where, as an illegal where he found work at a Coca-Cola Throughout history, ambitious alien, he depended on material factory. He disappeared into fraudsters have assumed the support from friends, including Last anonymity and resumed his solitary identities of kings, queens, and Gide. He returned to the south existence. In the 1960s, he finally princes, princesses, and other of France, where he was once again found his calling as a teacher of art royals. Some of these charlatans interned, and spent 18 months in history in Maracaibo, while living impersonated real monarchs, prison. In 1942, he obtained a under an assumed identity. living or dead, while others Mexican visa and left Europe. invented fraudulent titles and In 1966, after decades criss- even fake countries. Their Into obscurity crossing the globe under a series of motivations vary from case to En route to South America, Domela aliases to avoid awkward questions case. For some, the charade was detained by the British in about his status, Domela’s identity offered a chance to gain political Jamaica as an illegal alien. He was was once again called into power, make money, or simply imprisoned for a further two and a question. A Spanish colleague realize a fantasy of living as a half years. On his release he made suspected Domela was one of the member of royalty. his way to Cuba, where he was thousands of former Nazi party involved in a car accident that left members who had escaped from Germany at the end of World War II One royal who has been and sought refuge in South impersonated numerous times is America. Domela’s old friend Jef Russian princess Anastasia Last was able to provide Domela’s Romanov. In 1918, she and her accuser with an affidavit about his family were killed by Bolshevik true identity. This restored revolutionaries. As her body was Domela’s good name, but he still buried in an unknown location, lost his position at the school. rumours persisted that she was still alive. Dozens of women It is believed Domela spent the have claimed to be Anastasia, rest of his days in hiding. He died, while others have claimed to be penniless, on 4 October 1979. ■ her elder sisters Maria, Tatiana, and Olga. However, in 1991, DNA tests on bones found in woods near Yekaterinburg proved that the entire Romanov family was killed together.

74 IN CONTEXT IHEBMFNEAUMCONSOUGYEMGSUWHMEIO,NSILRTAROKENAGL LOCATION Europe and North and ELMYR DE HORY, 1946–68 South America THEME Art forgery BEFORE 1932–45 Dutch portraitist Han van Meegeren forges hundreds of paintings by famous artists, duping buyers out of more than $30 million (about £225 million today). AFTER 1978–88 British art forger Eric Hebborn sells hundreds of paintings, drawings, and sculptures; he later writes The Art Forger’s Handbook, published shortly before his death in 1996. 1981–94 Dutch painter and art forger Geert Jan Jansen produces more than 1,600 forged artworks. E lmyr de Hory’s legendary 23-year career as an art forger began one afternoon in April 1946, when his wealthy friend Lady Malcolm Campbell, the widow of racing driver Sir Malcolm Campbell, visited his small art studio in Paris. Among de Hory’s own postimpressionist paintings, Campbell noticed an unsigned, unframed, abstract drawing of a young girl. Incorrectly identifying it as a work by Pablo Picasso, she asked if de Hory would sell it, and for $100 (around £52), he agreed. At the time of the sale of this fake “Picasso”, de Hory was a 40-year-old classically trained artist who had found limited success

See also: Clifford Irving 88–89 ■ Konrad Kujau 90–93 CON ARTISTS 75 selling nondescript paintings Even after de Hory was exposed as Identifying forgeries and portraits. He had travelled to a forger, his paintings were still highly Paris hoping to gain fame and sought after, because of the quality of The most common method fortune, but he found that his his work. This imitation Picasso was of verifying art is through postimpressionist style was sold at Phillips auction house in 2000. the documented history of the regarded as passé compared to the artwork’s ownership. This fashionable abstract expressionistic Partner in crime can be forged, however, so paintings then in vogue. Soon, de Hory joined forces with a art experts also deploy a man named Jacques Chamberlin, range of other techniques. Following the unexpected sale who became his art dealer, of the bogus “Picasso” drawing, accomplice, and close friend. An art historian may be de Hory produced other “Picassos” Together, the pair travelled all called upon to assess the and began to target art galleries. He over Europe selling the forgeries. overall style and brushwork claimed to be a Hungarian aristocrat Although they were supposed to to see if they match the artist displaced in the post-war diaspora, share the profits equally, and time period. The colours offering what remained from his Chamberlin actually kept most in the painting are also family’s art collection. De Hory’s next of the money. When de Hory analyzed, since not all paint victim – a Paris art gallery owner – discovered the deception, he ended colours have been available bought three “Picasso” drawings for the partnership. ❯❯ throughout history. This $200 (about £1,400 today). technique was famously used to expose a supposed 17th-century painting by Frans Hals as a fake, because it revealed that a collar was painted with zinc oxide, which was not available until 1728. Scientists examine the surface the work is painted on to check if it has been artificially aged. Ultraviolet light and optical microscopes are used to determine if the fine cracks that naturally appear over time are genuine. A technique called X-ray diffraction can detect whether a canvas has been used multiple times, which is often a hallmark of a genuine master artist.

76 ELMYR DE HORY 1949 1952 Forges his first Sells a “Matisse” to Elmyr de Hory’s life was a series Modigliani and sells Harvard University’s of ups and downs, with brief periods it to the Niveau Fogg Art Museum with of fame and fortune punctuated by Gallery, New York. several “Modiglianis” and investigations by galleries and law a “Renoir”. The assistant enforcement agencies. director is suspicious and returns them. 1938 1946 1951 Arrested in Hungary as Sells a drawing to Lady Sells a “Matisse” to Kansas a political “undesirable” Malcolm Campbell, City’s Atkins Museum of Fine after its regime allies which she mistakes Arts and a “Picasso” to the with Nazi Germany for a Picasso. William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and imprisons artists of Art, also in Kansas City. and intellectuals. Briefly relocating to Rio de Janeiro, he had the opportunity to sell his Dark days Brazil, de Hory lived off the sales of forgeries to hundreds of galleries. De Hory returned to the US later his fakes and also began painting He also expanded his repertoire that year, lying low in Los Angeles his own works again. However, the to include “works” by Matisse, and trying to sell his own work, but paintings he created in his own Modigliani, and Renoir. he soon moved to New York. When style did not bring in the kind of no one was interested in his art, he money that he had become used Safety first sank into depression, and in 1959, to from selling forgeries. De Hory took precautions to avoid at age 52, he attempted suicide. the attention of the police. He In August 1947, de Hory moved remained discreet about his real A new friend, Fernand Legros, to the US and used his charm to profession and provided plausible who had attended de Hory’s ingratiate himself with members of reasons why he was selling art at housewarming party in New York, the American art world. Suddenly, discounted prices to art collectors drove de Hory to Florida to and dealers. He was also careful recuperate. The pair soon ran out of Who would prefer a bad never to sell his fakes to the general money, so de Hory produced three original to a good fake? public – only to art insiders. lithographs and sent Legros out in one of de Hory’s old suits to try and Elmyr de Hory However, in 1955, one of de sell them. This proved to be a Hory’s forgeries was exposed by art successful arrangement, and dealer Joseph Faulkner, who Legros soon persuaded de Hory to reported him to the FBI. Fearful of hire him as his art dealer for a 40 arrest, de Hory fled to Mexico. He per cent commission on each sale. was soon arrested – not for fraud, And so began a partnership that however, but as a murder suspect would last for eight years. after an Englishman was found dead. De Hory spent the majority of De Hory and Legros moved to his money paying off the police. Ibiza, an autonomous territory of Spain, where they settled down in

CON ARTISTS 77 1955 1959 1969 Investigated by the Attempts suicide Capitalizes on his celebrity FBI and flees to Mexico and travels to status and tells his story to with a falsified birth Florida with novelist Clifford Irving, who certificate; he is later Fernand Legros writes the biography Fake! arrested as a suspect in to convalesce. a murder investigation. 1957 1968 Visits the Detroit Arrested and Institute of Art and imprisoned for two finds one of his months in an Ibizan “Matisse” paintings in jail; he is banished and the French collection. leaves for Portugal. a beautiful house overlooking the De Hory went on the run, but own life with an overdose of Mediterranean. From Ibiza, they returned to Ibiza in November 1967, sleeping pills. The same year, sold forged art to dealers around in the belief that he was safe there. Legros was extradited to France the world. from Brazil, where he was hiding Lasting legacy after failing to honour the Doubts resurface However, the Spanish authorities conditions of a suspended sentence In 1964, the quality of de Hory’s began to investigate de Hory and in Switzerland. In France, Legros forgeries began to deteriorate. charged him with a number of was charged with forgery and fraud Art dealers and experts became crimes, including homosexuality. for defrauding Meadows. He was suspicious and several gallery He was imprisoned in Ibiza imprisoned for two years and died owners who had purchased de between August and October 1968, a pauper in 1983. Hory’s paintings alerted Interpol although he was treated well, and and the FBI. was permitted to have books, a De Hory is renowned as deck chair, and wear his own history’s greatest art forger, By 1967, as more of de Hory’s clothes, among various other creating more than 1,000 works paintings were exposed as fakes, comforts. On his release from during his career. His remarkable his forgery career came to an prison, de Hory was expelled from story caught both the attention of abrupt end. Legros sold 46 of de the island for a period of one year. author Clifford Irving, who wrote Hory’s bogus masterpieces to De Hory moved to Portugal but the successful biography Fake Texas oil tycoon Algur Meadows eventually returned to Ibiza. (1969), and Orson Welles, who made between 1964 and 1966, but after the documentary F for Fake (1973) discovering that the paintings Meanwhile, the French police about his life and work. were forgeries, Meadows contacted built a case against him and the police. intended to extradite him for There are some art experts who dealing in fake art. Aware that believe that many of de Hory’s An international warrant was extradition was imminent, on 11 forgeries have not yet been issued for Legros’s arrest and he December 1976 de Hory took his discovered and still hang in was detained in Switzerland. galleries around the world. ■

78 IBGTTAEI’VSKCEIANNUMOGSETEWSIH’TMAETAOLTNIHLNEYGY DORIS PAYNE, 1952–2015 IN CONTEXT D oris Payne, an Age 85, Doris Payne was arrested octogenarian with a again in October 2015. She was caught LOCATION criminal record dating on CCTV stealing a pair of Christian US, France, UK, Greece, back to 1952, did not plan a career Dior earrings from a Saks department Switzerland as an international jewel thief. She store in Atlanta, Georgia. wanted to be a ballerina. But at the THEME age of 13, when she felt slighted by in order to distract store clerks Jewel theft a white store owner after being while she tried on a wide variety allowed to try on a wristwatch, of expensive rings. BEFORE she went to leave the store, only 1883–85 Sofia Ivanovna realizing at the door that she was She put them on one finger, then Blyuvshtein, a legendary still wearing the watch. She gave another, and moved them about so Russian con artist, perpetrates it back, but this event showed her much that the clerks eventually lost many thefts from hotel rooms; that she could get away with theft. track of what she had tried on. she is eventually caught and All the while she kept asking sentenced to imprisonment Doris Marie Payne was born questions about the cut, the clarity with hard labour. on 10 October 1930, in a coal or the number of carats to provide miner’s camp in Slab Fork in a further distraction. AFTER southern West Virginia to an 1991 Yip Kai Foon commits African American father and a Payne perfected her routine, five armed robberies of Hong Sioux mother. The youngest of presenting herself in a stately, Kong goldsmiths, making off six children, she was raised in refined manner, wearing elegant with £1.1 million worth of segregated America, and quit dresses, designer shoes, hoop jewels; he is arrested after a high school to work at an assisted- earrings, and perfectly coiffed short gun fight, in which he was living facility for the elderly. This shot in the back, in May 1996. was to be her only real job. 1993 A gang of international An accomplished thief jewel thieves known as the A single mother of two in her early Pink Panthers commit the first twenties, in 1952 Doris Payne in a series of jewellery store realized that she could support robberies, stealing more than herself through stealing from high- £300 million in gold and gems. end jewellery stores. She devised a clever modus operandi utilizing her natural charm and sleight of hand

CON ARTISTS 79 See also: Bill Mason 36 ■ The Antwerp Diamond Heist 54–55 ■ The Affair of the Diamond Necklace 64–65 hair. Her greatest gift was her Cleveland, Ohio, to a specific store Paris jail. The longest time Payne ability to captivate an audience to acquire the item she wanted. served in prison was in Colorado, with her stories, which would After performing her routine, she where she was detained for five encourage the victim to relax, simply walked out of the store, years for stealing a $57,000 and divert their attention away telling the clerk that she would (£45,000) diamond ring from a from the jewels they were selling. ponder the purchase over lunch, Neiman Marcus store in 1998. She A quick getaway and leave wearing the jewellery. fled Denver while still on parole. Payne read Town & Country Payne was not always successful magazine, perusing the jewellery The clerks invariably did not at escaping capture, however, and advertisements for ideas of pieces notice the thefts until some time served a string of short jail terms. to steal. She then travelled from later, allowing Payne enough time to get away, usually in a taxi. Payne Elderly offender Enters store dressed as an then returned to Ohio to sell her Payne was arrested in 2013, at age elegant, wealthy woman takings to a fence – a person who 83. She convinced staff at a Palm knowingly buys stolen goods and Springs store that she had received Starts browsing for sells them – based in Cleveland. a $25,000 (£20,000) insurance diamond rings payout and wanted to treat herself. Prison time She left wearing a diamond ring Engages clerk in Payne used 20 aliases and nine worth more than $22,000 (£17,500). conversation and asks to different passports to travel the A judge ordered her to serve several world robbing stores. Her most months in jail and, upon her release, see an assortment famous heist was the 1974 theft of a to stay away from jewellery stores. of items 10.5-carat emerald-cut diamond She did not honour the order, and worth $500,000 (£396,000) from was rearrested in October 2015. Uses charm to cause the Cartier in Monte Carlo, France. clerk to forget how many Payne was the subject of a 2014 She extended her skill set to documentary The Life and Crimes items were outside perfect the art of escaping custody. of Doris Payne, which portrayed her the case She performed this feat three times; as a rebel who defied society’s from a guarded hotel room in Monte prejudices to find her own version Leaves the store Carlo, from a Texas hospital after of the American Dream. ■ wearing the jewellery faking an illness, and lastly from a Career criminal At 75, Payne vowed to abandon her life of crime, but came out Few criminals are still going of retirement to steal a coat in strong in their eighties, 2010 and a diamond ring the especially after a lucrative following year. 60-year career during which they have become a celebrity. Part of Payne’s motivation is undoubtedly that theft has Doris Payne recalls telling afforded her an extravagant her father as a little girl that she lifestyle. However, Payne also wanted to travel the world, appears to be motivated by the making little piles of salt and thrill of fooling store owners and flour on areas of world maps she the adrenaline rush associated someday wanted to visit. Her with getting away with theft. chosen “career” certainly The only regrets Payne has enabled that, taking her to admitted to are the times she France, the United Kingdom, got caught. She does not appear Switzerland, and Greece. to have any plans to retire.

ISLAND.TAHNEYDINFLLAETEFDTTHETRHAFET AFTER THAT NOBODY SEEMS TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, 11 JUNE 1962



82 ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ IN CONTEXT I n the late hours of 11 June “The Rock” is a 19-hectare (47-acre) 1962, three inmates at Alcatraz island situated a daunting 2 km LOCATION Federal Penitentiary entered (1¼ miles) offshore. Its position has San Francisco, California, criminal folklore by performing made it ideal as a military base, and US the seemingly impossible feat of as a maximum-security prison. breaking out of the maximum- THEME security prison and making for the three made it out of their cells. The Jailbreak shore on an improvised inflatable trio scaled a 9-metre (30-ft) wall raft. What became of the escapees and crossed a rooftop, before BEFORE is one of the most perplexing manoeuvring down a 15-metre 2 March 1935 Six inmates mysteries in American history. (50-ft) pipe to the ground below. escape the penal colony of They also climbed two 3½-metre French Guiana by boat; all but The escape plan was years in (12-ft) barbed-wire perimeter Parisian native René Belbenoît the making and should have fences. All of this they achieved are later apprehended. involved four inmates – brothers while hauling a makeshift raft, Clarence and John Anglin, Frank which they inflated and launched AFTER Morris, and Allen West – but only into the icy waters. 10 June 1977 James Earl Ray, imprisoned for the murder of I got back into the cell house Daunting task civil rights leader Martin and all the cons were hollering, Alcatraz was regarded as an Luther King Jr, escapes the escape-proof prison, with its Brushy Mountain State Prison ‘They got away! They got unmatched security and isolated, in Tennessee, along with six away! They got away!’ inhospitable location surrounded other inmates; they are all Darwin Coon, by the cold waters and strong recaptured three days later. Alcatraz inmate currents of San Francisco Bay. In its history as a federal prison, from 25 September 1983 Two 1934–63, only one inmate – John Irish republican prisoners at Paul Scott – is known to have made Maze Prison in County Antrim, it off the island alive. In December Northern Ireland, use 1962, six months after the “Escape smuggled guns to hold guards from Alcatraz”, Scott scrambled hostage and escape along with through a storage room window 36 other members of the IRA under the kitchen and swam in the biggest prison break in British history. 31 May 1984 Six inmates on death row at Mecklenburg Correctional Center in Virginia overpower guards, change into their uniforms, and bluff their way out of the prison in a van.

CON ARTISTS 83 See also: The Great Train Robbery 30–35 ■ D.B. Cooper 38–43 The mugshots taken of Clarence Anglin (right), his brother John Anglin (centre), and Frank Lee Morris (far right) upon their separate arrivals to Alcatraz in 1960 and 1961. ashore. He was found by the Golden friends. According to West, that broken vacuum cleaner to remove Gate Bridge unconscious and same month he began to devise an an entire section of each of their suffering from hypothermia, escape plan after finding discarded cell walls. They also made the most and was immediately recaptured. saw blades in a corridor. Searching of the daily “music hour”, the time for a weak point in the rear wall of prisoners were allowed to play In total, 36 inmates tried to their cells, they discovered that the instruments, which conveniently break out of Alcatraz in 14 separate ventilation duct openings under the concealed the noise the four men attempts. Of those, 23 were caught, sinks could be loosened. made digging their tunnels. six were shot dead, and two drowned. Five are listed as The quartet painstakingly The tunnels opened up into an “presumed drowned”: the Anglin chiselled away, taking turns to act unguarded utility corridor behind brothers, Morris, Theodore Cole, as a lookout by using a periscope the cell tier. There they climbed up and Ralph Roe. Cole and Roe made they had fashioned to spy on the a shaft of steam pipes and ducts to it to the water on 16 December 1937 guards. They used a variety of the building’s roof, where they cut after filing through flat iron window crude tools, including sharpened away the ventilation fan. Hidden bars, but they did so on a stormy spoons and an improvised drill on the roof, the four men built a night when the currents were constructed from the motor of a makeshift workshop for the next particularly treacherous, reducing phase of the plot – escaping from the likelihood that they reached the life of crime at 13 and by his late the island. shore alive. teens had a long criminal record that included convictions for Collecting for the cause Exploiting a weakness armed robbery. To conceal their nocturnal In December 1961, the Anglins, activities and continue unhindered, Morris, and West found themselves While serving 10 years in they sculpted dummy heads, using in adjacent cells and became the Louisiana State Penitentiary a cement powder mixture. These for bank robbery, Morris were decorated with flesh-coloured The escapees escaped. He was recaptured paint from art kits and human a year later in the act of hair collected from the prison John and Clarence Anglin began committing a burglary, and barbershop floor. robbing banks together in the was sent to Alcatraz in 1960. 1950s. In 1956, they were He possessed an exceptionally The four men positioned the arrested and sentenced to 15–20 high IQ, and is often credited dummies on their pillows and years in federal prison. After as the mastermind behind the stuffed clothing and towels under failed escape attempts at escape – despite Allen West’s the bed covers to give the different penitentiaries, they claim to be the instigator of the appearance of a body to avoid were transferred to Alcatraz: audacious plan. discovery during bed checks. ❯❯ John arrived in late 1960, and Clarence in early 1961. The brothers were housed on the same cellblock as convicted bank robber Frank Lee Morris. An orphan who was raised in foster homes, Morris began his

84 ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ The five key components of the plan Sharpened spoons An accordion and a crude was stolen and adapted to inflate home-made drill allowed the men the raft. to chisel through the rear walls of Music hour Raincoats was the perfect were transformed their cells. opportunity for the conspirators into a raft and to tunnel without Dummy heads life jackets. alerting the guards. placed on their pillows made it look as though they were asleep. In the darkness of the prison, it However, there was a problem. at 10pm, and departed towards appeared they were sleeping. The opening to West’s tunnel had Angel Island, 3 km (2 miles) to the In their workshop, they assembled started to become visible, so he north. The following morning the a variety of stolen objects, including had patched it up with a makeshift ruse was uncovered when guards more than 50 rubber raincoats, cement mix. When it dried, the hole found the dummy heads. As word which the quartet used to create narrowed and West was unable to of the remarkable prison break both a raft and life jackets. They climb through. By the time he spread around the jail, inmates stitched together the seams and was able to widen the hole began to chant “They got away! sealed them with the heat from a sufficiently, the others had left They got away!” steam pipe to make the devices without him. watertight. They stole an accordion The manhunt begins from a fellow inmate and Meanwhile, the three men For the next 10 days, law repurposed it as a bellows to inflate climbed out of the ventilation shaft enforcement agencies conducted the life raft, and they made crude onto the roof, inadvertently making an extensive air, sea, and land wooden paddles. a loud crash that alerted the guards search. On 14 June, the Coast – but as there were no further Guard discovered a paddle, about Man down noises, the guards did not 180 metres (200 yards) off the Once their preparations were investigate. The trio scaled the southern shore of Angel Island. complete, the men chose to escape barbed-wire fences and inflated A boatman also found a wallet on the night of 11 June 1962. their raft. Investigators later wrapped in plastic containing estimated that they left the island

CON ARTISTS 85 An Alcatraz prison guard in the utility corridor holds a small section of the wall that one of the inmates chiselled free. From this corridor, the inmates could make it up to the roof of the cellblock. photographs of the Anglin family. clothing-store burglaries in the found to be a match but the date On 21 June, shreds of raincoat days following the escape. This they were written could not be material, believed to be remnants strengthened their belief that the determined. The Anglin family also of the raft, were recovered on the three escapees had perished in revealed a photograph purporting beach. The next day, a prison boat the icy waters. to show the brothers on a Brazilian picked up a makeshift life jacket. farm in 1975. A forensic expert New leads working on a subsequent History Neither human remains, nor On 31 December 1979, after an Channel investigation deemed it any other physical evidence of the investigation lasting 17 years, the highly likely that the photograph men’s fate has ever been found. FBI closed its file. Their official shows the Anglins alive in 1975. FBI investigators concluded that finding was that the prisoners most while it was theoretically possible likely drowned in the cold waters of Declassified FBI documents also for one or more of the inmates to the bay while attempting to reach released in October 2015 revealed have reached Angel Island, the Angel Island. They turned the case that FBI Director Edgar Hoover water temperature and strong over to the US Marshal Service, was told in 1965 that the Anglins currents within the bay made it which continued to investigate. could be hiding in Brazil, contrary highly unlikely. to the agency’s public line on the In October 2015, the Anglin case. Secretly, Hoover ordered Once the escape was family breathed new life into the investigators to Brazil to search for discovered, West cooperated with case. They produced Christmas them in 1965 but found no trace of investigators on the proviso that he cards, which they claimed the the Anglin brothers. Whatever the would be spared punishment for Anglin brothers had sent to their truth may be of the escapees’ fate, his part in the plot. He provided mother in the three years following it seems this incredible case is far a detailed description of their their escape. The handwriting was from over. ■ intended escape, telling investigators that once they reached land the plan was to steal clothes and a car. The FBI investigated but determined that there were no vehicle thefts or I really do believe the boys made it out of here. I do believe the boys are alive today. Marie Widner

86 WVATIARTSTHUNEEOSTTIMOEN,EVOIRFTMUYE FRANK ABAGNALE, 1964–69 IN CONTEXT A ged 16 and just after boy. Frustrated with his income, learning that his parents he started writing cheques that LOCATION were divorcing, Frank bounced. Police were already New York, Utah, Louisiana, William Abagnale Jr left home with searching for him as a runaway, and Georgia, US a small bag of belongings, including so Abagnale fled to Miami. a chequebook, and headed to New THEME York’s Grand Central Station. In the The “skywayman” Imposter and cheque forger six years that followed, Abagnale Passing a hotel in the city, became a legendary imposter, Abagnale noticed a flight crew and BEFORE performing feats of con artistry was struck by an idea: he could 1874 James Reavis, a master that confounded FBI detectives. pose as a pilot, travel the world, forger, uses false documents to and never have a problem cashing claim land in Arizona and New Standing 1.8 metres (6 ft) tall cheques. The next day, he called Mexico, then sells property and passing as a twenty-something, the Pan American World Airways deeds for over $5 million (£84.7 Abagnale changed one digit on his office and asked for the purchasing million today). driver’s licence to increase his age department, claiming that the hotel to 26 and took a job as a delivery AFTER 1992 Michael Sabo, a master Redemption Using his unique skill set for imposter and cheque forger good, Abagnale has become a from Pennsylvania, is Frank Abagnale demonstrates renowned expert on personal convicted of bank fraud, a pronounced and enduring and corporate identity theft, forgery, grand larceny, and need to atone for his crimes. He fraud protection, and security. identity theft. is still associated with the FBI In 1976, Abagnale founded his 42 years after he was first own security company, and his 1998 John Ruffo, a former US assigned there as part of his fraud prevention programmes bank executive, swindles conditional release, and he has have been implemented by multiple banks out of $350 refused to accept payment for 14,000 corporations, law million (£280 million); he is government work he has enforcement agencies, and caught and sentenced to 17 performed. Abagnale has financial institutions worldwide. years in prison but disappears also turned down the offer of on the day he is due to start pardons from three different Abagnale became friends his jail term. Presidents, insisting that “a with Joseph Shea – the agent paper won’t excuse my actions, who led the investigation into only my actions will.” him – and they remained close until Shea’s death in 2005.

CON ARTISTS 87 See also: The Sale of the Eiffel Tower 68–69 ■ Clifford Irving 88–89 Frank Abagnale’s “professions” Airline pilot Sociology Doctor professor FBI agent Lawyer Since his release, Frank Abagnale Undercover has transformed from master con man Bureau of into one of the world’s most respected Prisons agent authorities on fraud, forgery, and embezzlement. by the corporate law division of the escaped again, posing as an Louisiana Attorney General’s office. undercover prison agent, and fled he was staying at had lost his Abagnale left the job after a year to Washington, D.C. where he uniform. They directed him to their when a lawyer started to question narrowly evaded capture by New York supplier, who fitted him his credentials. He then passed impersonating an FBI agent. He for a new uniform. himself off as a paediatrician in a was captured by chance when he Georgia hospital, working under walked past two NYPD detectives Abagnale used adhesive the alias of Dr Frank Williams. in an unmarked police car. stickers from a model Pan Am plane All the while, he passed fake Abagnale was sentenced to 12 to make a Pan Am pilot’s licence, cheques and dummy bank deposit years in prison, but four years into and found that he could use it to slips, effectively leaving a trail for his term he was released on the travel the world for free, courtesy of the FBI to follow. condition he work for the FBI for the an airline policy offering free rides remainder of his sentence. to each other’s pilots. Flight risk Abagnale was finally apprehended Abagnale later founded a Career changes in 1969 in France. He was deported security company advising banks After two years as a “pilot”, he to the US, but escaped the aircraft on how to avoid and combat fraud. moved to Utah, changed his name and fled to Canada, where he was His 1980 biography, Catch Me If to Frank Adams, forged a diploma, rearrested in Montreal. He then You Can, was filmed by Steven and was hired as a sociology Spielberg and released in 2002. ■ professor at Brigham Young University for a semester. Next, despite never attending law school, Abagnale passed the Louisiana state bar exam on his third try. He was recruited as a legal assistant

88 IOJWUFMLAIPSEOSOF.NFIACOTURLADINN’T CLIFFORD IRVING, 1972 IN CONTEXT A literary forgery made Howard Hughes became hugely headlines in 1972 after successful in his 1930s but was LOCATION author Clifford Irving plagued by psychological problems in New York City, US convinced American publishing later life. house McGraw-Hill that Howard THEME Hughes, America’s wealthiest and Richard Suskind, forged Hughes’s Literary hoax most elusive man, had invited signature on the contract, which Irving to write his biography. was plausible enough for McGraw- BEFORE Hill not to question it. 1844 The New York Sun Irving produced a letter he reports that Irish balloonist claimed was from Hughes, telling The publishers sent Irving the Thomas Monck Mason has the publisher that he had contacted cheques for Irving and Hughes’s flown across the Atlantic Irving to praise one of his books. respective advances. Irving’s then- Ocean, but it is revealed as He added that Hughes had sent wife Edith deposited the checks a hoax perpetrated by Edgar him audiotapes and a manuscript. made out to H.R. Hughes in a Allan Poe. The author banked on the fact Swiss bank account that she had that Hughes, a recluse since 1958, recently opened under the name AFTER would not want to draw the “Helga R. Hughes”. 1998 Author William Boyd attention of the media or police releases a biography of fictional and would do nothing to prevent American artist Nat Tate to the book’s publication. jokingly hoax the New York art world, aided by David Bowie, Sealing the deal who reads out passages of the Editors at McGraw-Hill invited book at the “launch party”. Clifford Irving to their New York offices and presented contracts for 2015 Author Laura Harner’s both Irving and Hughes to sign. book Coming Home Texas The publishers offered a $100,000 is withdrawn from sale when (£80,000) advance for Irving and it is revealed she has $400,000 (£320,000) for Hughes. plagiarized a novel by New Before he completed and delivered York Times bestselling author the manuscript, however, Irving Becky McGraw. renegotiated the total advance for $765,000 (£610,000). Irving’s friend and collaborator, children’s author,

CON ARTISTS 89 See also: The Affair of the Diamond Necklace 64–65 ■ The Sale of the Eiffel Tower 68–69 ■ Elmyr de Hory 74–77 Irving’s hoax worked because lawyers intervened, expressing indicted with “conspiracy to the base on which he built doubts to Irving’s publisher as to defraud through use of the mails” was largely genuine. the autobiography’s authenticity. but instead of going to trial, he Time magazine McGraw-Hill continued to back pleaded guilty, was fined $10,000 Irving after a handwriting firm (£8,000), ordered to pay back the Two lucky breaks inspected writing samples, and advance, and sentenced to 30 In the course of their research, declared them to be authentic. months in a federal penitentiary. Irving and Suskind were shown Irving filed for bankruptcy the same an unfinished manuscript about The gamble backfires year. Edith was sentenced to two Hughes’s former business manager, Hughes finally came out of months’ imprisonment and Suskind written by author James Phelan. seclusion two months before the was given six months in jail for Phelan was not aware that Irving book’s planned release in March theft and conspiracy. had been given the manuscript, 1972 to hold a telephone press large parts of which Irving conference with reporters. He Irving’s remarkable story was plundered and claimed as his own. denounced the book as a fake and published in 1977, and a major film McGraw-Hill rescinded its contract. adaptation followed in 2006. ■ In late 1971, Irving delivered Time magazine, in a February a completed manuscript to his 1972 issue, named Irving “Con editors at McGraw-Hill, and they Man of the Year”. made plans to publish the following year. Learning this, Hughes’s The police investigated Irving, and a grand jury convened to consider charges of mail fraud, perjury, and forgery. He was Irving with the typewriter used to write the Hughes manuscript. His story was adapted into the film Hoax (1981); Irving was hired as an adviser but disliked the end product, and asked for his name to be cut from the credits. Edith Irving played a crucial role in The art of the hoax skill – he had enjoyed success the hoax, and effected a disguise to in 1969 with his biography of conceal her identity when depositing Hoaxers often go to great lengths forger Elmyr de Hory (see pp. Hughes’s cheques into the new bank to make a scam appear plausible. 74–77) – to make the book a account she opened. Clifford Irving did not simply compelling read. The timing make up the interviews with of the book was also perfect, Hughes in the book, he acted because there was an them out with Suskind, with international appetite to learn Irving playing Hughes and the truth about the eccentric, Suskind playing Irving. reclusive billionaire. The material that Irving had Irving later admitted his lifted from author James Phelan secret: he was taken in by his appeared plausible because own lies. The only thing he it was genuine, based on real misjudged was Hughes himself, experiences with someone who who, contrary to Irving’s knew Hughes well. This combined prediction, finally broke his with Irving’s undeniable literary silence to decry Irving.

90 IN CONTEXT HBBHOIIEORTTGOILLGAKEEINSNRR,A’TSBLOULLFYTIFEILEECALOOTUIEPWTRIEOAIDSF LOCATION Stuttgart, Germany KONRAD KUJAU, 1978–84 THEME Document forgery BEFORE 2 April 1796 A forger named William Henry Ireland sells a play he claims to be a lost work of William Shakespeare. AFTER 23 January 1987 American forger Mark Hofmann is sentenced to life in prison after he pleads guilty to forging Mormon historical documents and murdering two witnesses. February 2007 Italian senator Marcello Dell’Urti claims to have located fascist leader Benito Mussolini’s diaries from 1935–39; they are later exposed as forgeries by Italian historians. W orking surreptitiously out of the back room of his shop in Stuttgart, Germany, Konrad Kujau handwrote lengthy journal entries in old German Gothic script, filling the pages of plain black notebooks. On completing each book, he poured tea over it and bashed the pages together to give them a worn, tattered appearance. Finally, he adorned the notebook with a red wax seal in the form of an Imperial eagle, a black ribbon from a genuine Nazi document, and gold lettering using Gothic script. After toiling away nearly every day for three years, Kujau had crafted 61 volumes of journals purportedly

CON ARTISTS 91 See also: Elmyr de Hory 74–77 ■ Clifford Irving 88–89 Konrad Kujau brandishes one of the Hitler Diaries at the start of his trial in Hamburg in 1984. Hitler and the Third Reich, which included a collection of Nazi memorabilia, led him to Kujau. written by Nazi dictator Adolf Putting pen to paper Authenticating Hitler. One of history’s most In 1978, after weeks spent historic documents infamous forgeries, they became practising Hitler’s handwriting, known as the Hitler Diaries. Kujau penned the first diary entry, Every historical manuscript drawing on historical documents, is unique, whether a letter, Forging a career newspapers, medical records, and diary, or handwritten item. Raised in a poor family in Germany, books. He used cheap notebooks To determine authenticity Kujau had long been fascinated purchased in Berlin and a mixture and authorship of undated with the Nazi regime. He began his of blue and black ink diluted with historical documents, forensic career in forgery as a teenager, water, so that it flowed easily from investigators conduct selling fake autographs of East his modern pen. Another major historical, scientific, and German politicians. error that no one noticed at the time stylistic analysis. These was made when Kujau attached experts can examine the In 1967, he opened a shop in Hitler’s initials to the front of the method of printing, the Stuttgart, forging and selling Nazi book. He accidentally used an “F” address, and the postmark to paraphernalia. Kujau’s creations instead of an “A” because both determine the era in which it included an introduction to a sequel letters looked very similar in was created. to Hitler’s autobiography Mein Gothic script. Kampf, as well as the beginnings of Many forgeries are an opera and poems supposedly That same year, Kujau sold the uncovered by identifying the written by him. first Hitler Diary entitled Political presence of material that did and Private Notes from January not exist at the time. Scientific Kujau might have remained a to June 1935 to a collector. He ❯❯ analysis of the paper used can petty criminal and amateur forger be especially revealing, and had it not been for a reporter from I regret that the normal investigators use a number of the German investigative news method of historical tools at their disposal, from magazine Stern. Just as Gerd magnification to molecular Heidemann’s career reached an verification has been sacrificed spectroscopy, which highlights impasse after more than 20 years to the perhaps necessary how much of the ink has on the magazine, his interest in requirements of a decayed over time and journalistic scoop. provides clues as to when Hugh Trevor-Roper a document was written. Examining the ink used to write a historic document can also determine what kind of tool – typically a pen, a quill, or a pencil – was used, which may reveal more information about the time period in which it was written.

92 KONRAD KUJAU made up a fantastic yet plausible The last volume of the Hitler Diaries, tale about how the diaries had been complete with Kujau’s authentication, recovered from a Nazi plane crash was sold at Berlin auction house in 1945 and hidden away for Jeschke, Greve, and Hauff for €6,500 decades in a barn. (£4,000) in 2004. Making a deal Heidemann continued to purchase In late April 1983, Stern broke the At the end of 1979, news of the the diaries throughout 1981, story of the existence of the diaries, diary began to filter through to periodically telling Stern of price triggering a flurry of headlines collectors of Hitler memorabilia. increases. Ultimately, Heidemann around the world. The diaries, it Desperate for a journalistic scoop, would collect 9.3 million marks said, revealed that Hitler’s Final Heidemann tracked down Kujau, (£5.8 million) from Stern, of which Solution was to deport the Jewish who told him there were more Kujau received less than a third. people, not annihilate them, which volumes hidden in East Germany. The journalist lived lavishly off the led some commentators to say the Heidemann took the news to Stern, proceeds, buying an apartment, history of the Third Reich would whose publishers provided him expensive cars, and more Nazi have to be rewritten. with the money to purchase them. memorabilia from Kujau. Suspicions surface Heidemann promised Kujau In April 1982, Stern’s However, the banality of some 2.5 million Deutschmarks (about management asked handwriting of the entries caused more sceptical £1.6 million today) for the “rest” of experts to verify the diaries, historians to denounce the the diaries. The forger set to work, providing them with samples of documents as forgeries. When producing 60 more volumes. By Hitler’s writing. Unbeknown to the suspicions about their authenticity the end of February 1981, Stern experts, the samples were from grew, Stern commissioned forensic had spent nearly 1 million marks Heidemann’s collection of Nazi experts from Germany’s (£627,000) on the diaries. Less memorabilia and had also been Bundesarchiv (Federal Archive) than half had gone to Kujau: forged by Kujau. The experts to analyze the diaries. Heidemann kept the rest, duping declared the journals to be genuine. both the newspaper and the The first historian to examine the Meanwhile, Stern’s 28 April forger. After the delivery of 12 diaries, Professor Hugh Trevor- issue gave the public its first diaries, Heidemann claimed the Roper, proclaimed them authentic, glimpse of the diaries. The price had risen, telling Stern that bolstering the confidence of Stern’s following day, Heidemann met it had become harder to smuggle management, but later tarnishing with Kujau and bought the last them out of East Germany. the historian’s reputation. four volumes. Within a week, Stern management learned that the Konrad Kujau owned Nazi memorabilia, in forensic experts had determined spite of laws prohibiting this. conclusively that the diaries were Born in poor circumstances in Seeing an opportunity, Kujau 1938 in Löbau, Germany, Konrad bought Nazi items on the black Kujau was one of five children. market and took them back to In 1933, his parents joined the West Germany to sell. Nazi Party and Kujau grew up idolizing Adolf Hitler, a fixation By 1974, Kujau had amassed that continued after Hitler’s such a collection of Nazi suicide and the defeat of Nazi memorabilia at his home that his Germany in World War II. wife Edith complained so he rented a shop in Stuttgart to By the 1960s, Kujau was a store it. It was then that he petty criminal with a record for started to increase the value of forgery, theft, and fighting in his items by adding details. He bars. In 1970, while visiting gradually became more family in East Germany, he ambitious and began to forge found that many people there Hitler’s manuscripts.

fakes. The journals were made with CON ARTISTS 93 post-war ink, paper, glue, and binding. Ultraviolet light showed a Six clues that the diaries were forged fluorescent element in the paper that did not exist in 1945. The His use of bindings of one of the diaries modern ink included polyester, a fibre that was not created until 1953. Whitener and At least one set fibres in the paper of initials glued on Before Stern could make their were manufactured the front was made own announcement on the findings, after World War II the German government stepped in of plastic and declared that the diaries were clear forgeries. Stern’s management Historical The accidental use demanded Heidemann reveal the inaccuracies of the initial “F” name of his source, which he did. instead of “A” The downfall Evidence that By then, Kujau and his wife had Kujau plagiarized fled to Austria. Upon learning that Heidemann had double-crossed German writer him, the forger turned himself in to Max Domarus the police. Bitter that Heidemann had kept so much of the money, he claimed the journalist had known the diaries were fake. On 21 August 1984, Heidemann and Kujau stood trial for defrauding Stern out of 9.3 million marks. Both men blamed each other during the trial. In July 1985, Heidemann was sentenced to four years and eight months and Kujau to four years and six months. When Kujau was released from jail in 1987, he embraced infamy. He found a market painting and selling copies of famous artworks and became a minor celebrity on TV, until he died of cancer in 2000 at age 62. Heidemann was also released from prison in 1987 but never worked as a journalist again. The scandal was hugely detrimental for Stern. The once- lauded magazine was disgraced for irresponsible journalism. ■ A talented painter, after his release, Kujau began creating works in the style of other artists, selling them as “genuine Kujau fakes”.

94 INAFORTTIHNHIGSE-RIINSE IN’MOT THE FINE COTTON SCANDAL, 18 AUGUST 1984 IN CONTEXT T he evening before the Racing under the name Fine Commerce Novice Cotton, the substitute horse started LOCATION Handicap race, held at the race slowly but quickly picked Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane’s Eagle Farm racetrack up pace, galloping swiftly around Australia on 18 August 1984, horse trainer the corner, and edging out early Hayden Haitana and businessman favourite Harbour Gold at the last THEME John Gillespie applied white paint post. However, as soon as the race Betting scam and brown hair dye to a champion ended, track stewards noticed seven-year-old horse. Not being a white paint dripping from Fine BEFORE novice, the champion horse was Cotton’s legs. Less than half an 1844 The Epsom Derby, ineligible for entry into the race, hour after the horse crossed the reserved for three-year-old but Haitana, Gillespie, and other finish line, he was disqualified horses, is won by four-year-old members of a syndicate including and all bets were lost. Maccabeus, disguised as businessman Robert North planned Running Rein; the culprit, Levi to substitute their champion horse Emergency substitute Goldman, escapes to France. for an eligible runner, an illegal Fine Cotton’s race lasted less than practice called a “ring-in”. 90 seconds, but the entire plot 16 July 1953 Two French began months earlier. Prison cell horses with identical markings mates John Gillespie – who had a are swapped at Spa Spelling history of illegal horse gambling Stakes in Bath, England. The – and a relative of Haitana’s passed four men involved are given their time discussing a possible sentences varying from nine ring-in scam. After his release, months to three years. Gillespie purchased a fast galloper from Sydney, Australia, named AFTER Dashing Solitaire for AUD $10,000 1 March 2007 Australian (£5,880). He then scoured racing jockey Chris Munce is racetracks for a slower look-alike. convicted of taking bribes in exchange for racing tips and Hayden Haitana pictured with sentenced to 20 months in jail. the real Fine Cotton. Haitana was prohibited from the sport for life for his part in the betting scam, but his ban was lifted in 2013.

CON ARTISTS 95 See also: The Tichborne Claimant 177 I thought they were booing me because my ride was a roughie and I must’ve beaten the favourite. Gus Philpot He chose the out-of-form Fine The ring-in horse “Fine Cotton” is disqualified. Police began a Cotton, which he purchased for shown on the left, just beating the manhunt for the culprits, but by $2,000 (£1,175), and hired Hayden favourite to the finishing post. then Haitana had fled. He was soon Haitana as its trainer. apprehended, however, jailed for started with odds of 33-1, but they six months, and banned from the Days before the race, the soon changed dramatically to 7-2. racetrack for life. Six others, syndicate suffered a catastrophic After “Fine Cotton” narrowly won, including Gillespie, were also setback when Dashing Solitaire officials quickly spotted evidence banned. The horse’s innocent was injured. By this point, Gillespie of the ring-in and the horse was jockey, Gus Philpot, was cleared. had invested heavily in the scheme and was desperate for a pay off. The ring-in became one of the So he paid $20,000 (£11,750) – with most notorious scams in the history a cheque that would later bounce of the sport. To combat similar – for the horse Bold Personality. plots, racehorses are now identified There was one snag: he did not through microchips. ■ look anything like Fine Cotton. Bold Personality was lighter in Cheating in the “Sport of Kings” colour and had a white marking on his forehead. So, the night before A ring-in is not the only method Most of the cheating occurs on the race, Gillespie and Haitana cheaters use to make money the other side of the rail, with surreptitiously applied hair dye and illegally on the horse track. unscrupulous trainers, jockeys, paint to make him appear more like owners, and veterinarians Fine Cotton. Probably the best-known attempting to alter races scam is to engineer betting odds through collusion or by drugging Short odds by strategically placing large horses with steroids and pain When “Fine Cotton” stepped onto bets. Bookmakers now closely medication. Regular drug the racetrack, betting escalated monitor betting patterns to testing has made this more at a suspicious pace. The horse identify any suspicious activity. difficult, however. Crooked Other tricksters have gone so far trainers and jockeys have also as to create fake winning been known to use “buzzers”, tickets, but technological illegal devices that give the improvements now make it horses electric shocks and force difficult for such crude practices them to run faster. to succeed.

CWRHIIMTEESC

OLLAR

98 INTRODUCTION In the US, the collapse In India, chemicals from the of a fraudulent US-owned Union Carbide factory In France, the plunge in Bhopal kill thousands, leading in the value of the investment scheme set up by Charles Ponzi to accusations of culpable Mississippi Company, collapses, loses hundreds homicide against the which is restructuring company’s CEO. France's national debt, of investors' savings. causes a major financial crash. 1720 1920 1984 1869 1921–22 1990 Speculators James Fisk and In the Teapot Dome In London, thieves Jay Gould manipulate the scandal, US Secretary rob money broker of the Interior Albert messenger John Goddard US gold market, which Bacon Fall leases oil at knifepoint and seize endangers the economy. reserves in exchange £292 million in bonds. for bribes. W hite collar crime is away at computer keys raises no of life. More importantly, the impact fundamentally different alarm at all, because it does not fit of economic ruin can often run far from other types of society’s stereotype of a criminal. deeper than the simple loss of illegal activity. The accountant who money. According to research clandestinely siphons money from White collar crime is also conducted by Oxford University, an employer, then cooks the books hard to detect because it is often after the financial crash of 2008 – to conceal their activities, is often a complex, and is therefore difficult which was partly precipitated and skilled professional in a position of to understand. Without specialized significantly worsened by mortgage trust within a company. Invariably, knowledge, even a seasoned fraud, investment scams, bribery, financially motivated, white collar investigator is unlikely to notice and unethical business practices – crime includes all kinds of fraud, anything untoward. It is difficult to an estimated 10,000 Americans insider trading, and embezzlement. even estimate the extent of white and Europeans committed suicide. collar crime. For this reason, it may The US economy and those of White collar crime often takes be far more prevalent than its blue many European nations are still months or even years to uncover. collar counterpart. struggling to recover. If a member of the public witnesses murder, theft, or extortion – all of Impact on society Criminal psychologist Dr Robert which are categorized as “blue From an economic standpoint, Hare, developer of the diagnostic collar” crimes by criminologists white collar crime can be tool known as the Psychopathic because they generally involve devastating, on an individual, Checklist, once said that he should physical effort, often for low corporate, and even national level. have conducted his research on rewards – they would immediately The financial damage inflicted by Wall Street rather than in prisons. recognize that a crime is taking the fraudster Bernie Madoff When asked about the relative place. However, a person tapping affected US citizens from all walks impact of serial killers, he replied