Cover Image

Empire of deception : the incredible story of a master swindler who seduced a city and captivated a nation, /

"It was a time of unregulated madness. And nowhere was it madder than in Chicago at the dawn of the Roaring Twenties. Speakeasies thrived, gang war shootings announced Al Capone's rise to underworld domination, Chicago's corrupt political leaders fraternized with gangsters, and yellow...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jobb, Dean, 1958-
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Chapel Hill, North Carolina : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2015.
Edition:First edition.
Subjects:
Koretz, Leo, > 1879-1925.
Swindlers and swindling > Illinois > Chicago > Biography.
Lawyers > Illinois > Chicago > Biography.
Capitalists and financiers > Illinois > Chicago > Biography.
Fugitives from justice > Nova Scotia > Halifax > Biography.
Ponzi schemes > Illinois > Chicago > History > 20th century.
Commercial crimes > Illinois > Chicago > History > 20th century.
Chicago (Ill.) > Biography.
Chicago (Ill.) > Social conditions > 20th century.
Chicago (Ill.) > Economic conditions > 20th century.
Capitalists and financiers.
Commercial crimes.
Economic history.
Fugitives from justice.
Lawyers.
Ponzi schemes.
Social conditions.
Swindlers and swindling.
Illinois > Chicago.
Nova Scotia > Halifax.
1900 - 1999
Biographies.
Biography.
History.
Table of Contents:
  • The players
  • Act 1
  • Our Ponzi
  • Ambitions
  • The law
  • The gamble
  • The dupe
  • The big idea
  • The syndicate
  • The hanging judge
  • The sting
  • The confidence man
  • The crime fighter
  • The bubble
  • The flight
  • The smash
  • Act 2
  • The sensation
  • The double life
  • The victims
  • The manhunt
  • The alias
  • The guide
  • The hideaway
  • The prince of entertainers
  • The crime of the century
  • The pariah
  • The womanizer
  • Act 3
  • The trap
  • The gang war
  • The prisoner
  • The return
  • The confession
  • The reckoning
  • The final swindle
  • Epilogue.