Description

 ⚠️ This is from our old format. New listeners should start with Season 1, Episode 1 

Boston, 1920. The sidewalks boiled in the summer heat, and thousands crowded School Street with cash in hand—bank clerks, widows, dockworkers—all chanting one name: Charles Ponzi. For one blazing season, he was a financial messiah. Within months, his empire collapsed, and his name became the crime itself: the Ponzi Scheme.

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📚 Show Notes & Sources

📰 Historical Records & Coverage

• Boston Post (1920) — glowing praise, then exposé on Ponzi’s past
• St. Joseph Observer (1921) — Ponzi scandal reaches national infamy
• Daily Times (1949) — obituary & last words in Rio de Janeiro
• U.S. Federal Court Records — Mail fraud charges & sentencing
• Ellis Island Passenger Logs — Ponzi’s 1903 arrival in Boston
• Canadian Court Records — Forgery conviction, Bank Zarossi collapse

🏛️ Research Tools

• Library of Congress — Newspaper archives of 1920s Boston
• Massachusetts Historical Society — School Street / Financial District history
• National Archives (NARA) — Immigration & prison records
• Boston Public Library — Boston Post circulation & local coverage

🧠 Criminal Psychology: Key Theories

• Charisma Effect
  → Cialdini, Influence
  Why a confident smile beats hard math every time.
• Social Proof & Herd Behavior
  → Bandura, Social Learning Theory
  When thousands line up on School Street, skepticism switches off.
• Commitment Bias & Sunk Cost Fallacy
  → Kahneman & Tversky, Prospect Theory
  Why investors double down even when red flags wave.
• Greed vs. Desperation
  → Merton, Strain Theory
  Were Ponzi’s victims greedy, or just chasing the prosperity always out of reach?
• Con Artist Archetype
  → Jung’s Persona Theory
  Ponzi lived the mask of “financial genius” until it became indistinguishable from the man himself.

👤 Charles Ponzi Mugshot

https://www.gettyimages.com/photos/charles-ponzi

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