Victor Lustig, the famous swindler and swindler. How Victor Lustig Eiffel Tower sold

Victor Lustig - the most famous swindler of the 20th century, famous for his fearlessness, audacity and subtle knowledge of human psychology. He spoke fluent in 5 languages (French, English, Italian, German, Czech) and had 45 pseudonyms. But the history of fraud will remember him as a man who managed to sell the Eiffel Tower.

Carier start

Victor Lustig (photo below) was born in 1890 in the town of Gostinny (100 kilometers from Prague). According to one source, the father of the future swindler was a bourgeois. In others, he appears as mayor of the city. After learning some time in the Paris Sorbonne, the young man decided to quit his studies and become a wandering player. Naturally, he also dealt with fraud. In the criminal world, Victor was nicknamed the Earl. Lustig completely corresponded to it. Elegantly dressed, with a charming smile, respectable, he easily got acquainted in theaters, exhibitions, races and in fashionable restaurants. Victor played beautifully in billiards, preference and bridge. Basically, the swindler worked on chic ocean liners plying between America and Europe. He easily beat rich clients in cards, and on occasion could sell them mythical land in America. Also there were many rumors that Viktor Lustig sold the desert. But we will tell you about the best scams below.

Sale of Romanian box

Victor Lustig, whose biography is presented in this article, was able to earn a fortune on sales of the Romanian box. As the legend says, it was invented by the Romanian who emigrated to France in the late 19th century. What was this device? It was a metal or wooden box, equipped with various dials, knobs and levers. Victor told potential victims that he had invented an apparatus capable of making exact copies of banknotes. It is enough to put in the typewriter paper cut in the form of real money, put a genuine banknote in the slot for copying, turn the lever and from the other slot will come out an absolutely exact analog. The only thing, numbers and series of banknotes will be different. This is done so that there are no problems with the sale of notes. True, the scammer complained, the device is very slow. It takes 6 hours to copy one note.

The buyers did not stop it, and they begged Victor to sell them a miracle machine. First, Lustig refused, but later claimed that he was developing a faster device, and could give way to the current model for a decent amount of money (he usually asked for $ 4,000 to $ 5,000, although the cost of the device did not exceed 15). The swindler was selling Romanian boxes to gangsters, bankers and businessmen. In total he managed to earn more than a million dollars.

Afora with the Eiffel Tower

In 1925, Victor Lustig, whose frauds are known throughout the world, rested in Paris. In one of the newspapers he read an article on the problems of urban economy. There it was told that the content of the Eiffel Tower is too expensive, and if nothing changes, then it will have to be demolished. In the head of the swindler, the plan immediately ripened.

The swindler decided to try on the role of state official of the Ministry of Telegraphs and Posts. On fake government forms, Victor sent out letters to six of the largest scrap metal dealers. They were invited to come to a confidential meeting with the deputy minister at the fashionable Parisian hotel "Crillon". Lustig specially chose this hotel, because all diplomats regularly held secret talks there.

At the appointed time, all six traders were met by the secretary of the "minister" in the lobby of the hotel. The role of the secretary was played by the former circus artist Robert Turbillon (in America this scam was known as Dan Collins).

After all the businessmen were in a posh room, Victor greeted them warmly and said that he wants to discuss the possible sale of the Eiffel Tower for scrap, as it costs the government very expensive. The contract will be given to the merchant who made the best offer.

In fact, Victor was not going to arrange a tender and immediately chose the victim. It was naive provincial André Poisson. He believed that this transaction would help him to pass into the elite of the Parisian society. That the victim did not have suspicions, the swindler promised her a prize in the competition in exchange for a small reward. So usually, officials did in similar situations.

As a result, Victor Lustig "sold" the Eiffel Tower, receiving in addition to an advance of 50 000 francs and a big bribe. After that, he immediately went with his "secretary" Robert to the station and took the train to Vienna.

Meeting with Al Capone

Once Victor Lustig somehow managed to get to the reception to the legendary gangster Al Capone. He asked him to borrow $ 50,000, promising to return two times more in a couple of months. Despite his maniacal suspicion, the Mafia still gave the Count money, not forgetting to warn about the serious consequences in case of deception. Victor nodded in agreement. He put the money in the Chicago bank on a deposit account, and he left for New York.

After a couple of months he returned, took the money from the bank together with interest and went to the gangster. "Mr. Capone, I'm sorry, but my plan was unsuccessful. I admit my defeat. " With these words Lustig put on the table borrowed $ 50,000. Mafiosi was struck by Victor's honesty and immediately counted him $ 5,000. The swindler knew very well human psychology, and it was on this reaction of the gangster that he counted from the very beginning.

Counterfeit money

In the early 1930s, Victor Lustig met William Watts, who forged a fake money. After that, the counterfeiter focused on the production of hundred-dollar bills, and Graf began to distribute them. For several years, the partners managed to make several million dollars of counterfeit bills.

Fake banknotes were of very high quality, but the FBI agents still managed to get on the trail of scammers. In May 1935 Graf was arrested - already for the forty-eighth time.

Jail break

Victor Lustig, whose biography is known to almost all scammers, was able to escape from the Tombs prison in New York. He tied nine strips of torn sheet and went down through the window of the prison toilet. And he fled in broad daylight. Passers-by saw a man descending from the top floor on a rope. But Lustig skillfully disguised himself: he stopped on every floor and wiped the window panes. Descending to the sidewalk, he rushed to run.

New Arrest and Death

A month later he was caught in Pittsburgh. At the end of 1935, Victor Lustig was sentenced to twenty years in prison (15 for counterfeiting and 5 for escaping). He was sent to serve his sentence in the infamous prison "Alcatraz". Twelve years later, Victor died in a prison hospital for pneumonia and was buried in a common grave.