Victor Lustig

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Victor Lustig (born January 4, 1890 in Arnau , Bohemia , † March 11, 1947 in Springfield (Missouri) ) was a con artist and impostor . He became known worldwide as "the man who sold the Eiffel Tower ".

Life

youth

Lustig's family belonged to the upper middle class, his father was mayor of Arnau. His education was good, so that he was fluent in at least five languages. As early as 1908, Lustig was imprisoned for two months in Prague for theft. In Vienna he came in 1909, in Klagenfurt in 1910 to prison again in Vienna in 1911 and in Zurich in 1912. At age 19, studied Funny at the Sorbonne in Paris and learned the way, billiards , poker and bridge playing. He pulled a characteristic scar between his left eye and left ear from a jealous teammate . Before the First World War , Lustig made his living on the big ocean liners by cheating on gambling and card games. With the outbreak of war, however, this source of money dried up.

United States

In 1920 Victor Lustig went to the USA , where he called himself Count Victor Lustig . With his knowledge of human nature and his aristocratic demeanor, he brought his swindles to perfection. He sold supposed money printing machines, the so-called "Romanian boxes", and faked safe tips in horse betting in order to get rid of the stakes.

Sale of the Eiffel Tower

In May 1925 he reappeared in Paris, where he began the fraud that made him famous. He read a newspaper article about the slow decline of the Eiffel Tower, which was to be demolished again in 1909 after its intended use as a striking building for the 1889 World's Fair . In the opinion of the Parisians, the tower did not fit into the cityscape and was accordingly poorly maintained. The demolition plans had not yet died down in 1925, when Lustig posed as deputy general director of the Post Office and falsified a tender that offered the Eiffel Tower for sale.

He sent invitations to negotiate sales to six Paris scrap dealers and asked them to meet in confidence in the prestigious Hôtel de Crillon on the Place de la Concorde , which, as a popular meeting place for diplomats and politicians, provided the perfect cover. All six dealers appeared on the date. Lustig explained to the interested parties that they had been selected because of their reputation as honest business people. He then stated that the Eiffel Tower should be torn down and sold as scrap. Due to the public discussion that is to be expected, he wants to conduct the talks confidentially until all questions have been clarified. He led the scrap dealers to the tower to assess their behavior and interest. He then said that he expected bids to be given until the following day. At this point he knew that he would be making a deal with André Poisson, an insecure man who hoped that the purchase of the Eiffel Tower would help him rise in the Parisian business world. Poisson's insecurity was also a threat to the plan, because his wife became suspicious. In order to avoid this risk, Lustig arranged another meeting. There he changed the subject, became confidential, and told Poisson how poorly he earned as a civil servant and that he would like to supplement his income. Poisson was familiar with corrupt government officials, so he immediately understood that Lustig was demanding a bribe . This ultimately convinced him of the authenticity of the sale.

Lustig managed to sell the tower, which consisted of around 7,000 tons of iron, to Poisson. In return, he received at least $ 50,000, went into hiding after the deal and settled in Vienna . When the hoax was exposed, Poisson shamefully chose not to report the fraud to the police. Contrary to all expectations, Lustig found no news of the fraud in the newspapers and tried to repeat it after a month. The second buyer, however, became suspicious and went to the police, whereupon Lustig fled back to the United States.

Al Capone is said to be betrayed

In 1926, Victor Lustig (now back as "Count") went to see Al Capone and claimed he could double a sum of $ 50,000 in 60 days. Capone was initially suspicious, but eventually accepted the offer. Lustig deposited the money in a bank safe in Chicago and drove to New York . After 60 days he returned to Chicago, picked up the money, and went to see Capone. He explained that his plan had failed. He apologized verbatim and alluded to his poor financial situation, then returned the $ 50,000 to Al Capone. He was stunned - he had expected either $ 100,000 or the total loss of money. Capone lived in constant suspicion and was therefore not prepared for such an - in his eyes - honest act. So taken by surprise, he gave Lustig 1000 dollars to help him out of his tight spot - that's exactly what Lustig had planned.

Counterfeiting

Lustig now switched to counterfeiting . He was imprisoned in Remsen County, Oklahoma , but was able to convince Sheriff Richards to release him in exchange for a money printing machine at a special price. The sheriff saw through the trick too late, he chased Lustig to Chicago , where he caught him. However, Lustig kept his nerve and explained to the sheriff that he had operated the machine incorrectly. He managed to wrap up the sheriff with technical gibberish until he agreed that Lustig would come to Oklahoma and explain the device to him again. To calm him down, Lustig gave him a wad of 100 dollar bills to “compensate” him for the trip. However, it was counterfeit money, and Sheriff Richards was arrested a short time later.

In 1934 the Secret Service set up a special commission to uncover the origin of the counterfeit money that flooded the United States. A pharmacist named William Watts was suspected of having forged labels for whiskey bottles during Prohibition . However, there was no reference to the whereabouts of Watts, only his contact was known - "Count Victor Lustig". Lustig was arrested and claimed that Watts had made the wrong printing blocks , but claimed that he had nothing to do with the whole thing. However, he had a key for a locker in Times Square with him, in which not only 51,000 false US dollars but also printing blocks were found.

death

The day before his trial, he managed to escape using a rope from the sheets. He was arrested again in Pittsburgh after 27 days . Lustig was eventually indicted on December 5, 1935 and sentenced to 15 years in prison, which he served in Alcatraz . The key witness in the process was William Watts, who had just been arrested. On March 9, 1947, Lustig fell ill with pneumonia and died two days later. According to legends, Al Capone is said to have personally campaigned for Lustig's protection in prison. The officer is said to have stumbled upon the item "Profession" while filling out the death certificate . Since he supposedly couldn't think of anything better, he entered "Apprentice Salesman & Counterfeiter".

Film and audio book

Entitled The man who sold the Eiffel Tower to the beamed Südwestfunk Lustig's story (directed by Michael Brown ) on 31 October 1970 Dietmar Schoenherr in the lead role of. An audio book of the same name was published in 2010.

literature

  • James Francis Johnson: The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower. Factual report ( The man who sold the Eiffel Tower , 1961). Heyne-Verlag, Munich 1964.
  • Graham Greene : The man who stole the Eiffel Tower and other stories (The last word and other stories). 2nd edition Dtv, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-423-13180-2 .
  • Andreas Fröhlich tells. The greatest gentleman gangsters of all time . Campfire Media, Dargow 2010.
  • The man who sold the Eiffel Tower. Count Victor Lustig . 2010, ISBN 978-3-00-029279-8 (1 CD, read by Anne Weber ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Radio Praha : Victor Lustig - the man who (could have) sold the world , contribution by the Czech Radio (www.radio.cz), accessed on March 12, 2012
  2. ^ Smooth Operator: How Victor Lustig Sold The Eiffel Tower
  3. Template: dead link /! ... nourl  ( page no longer available ) Film: "The man who sold the Eiffel Tower", 1970
  4. The man who sold the Eiffel Tower in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  5. Preview on YouTube
  6. Audio book: The man who sold the Eiffel Tower - Count Victor Lustig , 2010