⚠️ This is from our old format. New listeners should start with Season 1, Episode 1
Victor Lustig. Alias Count. Master of disguise. Smooth talker. And the man who conned the world...literally.
This week on Mugshot Mysteries, Kathryn unravels the stranger-than-fiction story of Victor Lustig, the infamous confidence man who sold the Eiffel Tower not once, but twice. We'll explore:
🧠 Psychology Corner: Gabriel breaks down Lustig's mind through the lens of power, performance, and pathology. Was Lustig just a gifted manipulator...or a man trying to outwit his own insignificance?
📚 Research Sources & Archival Documents
📄 Primary Source Documents (Available via Ancestry.com and historical newspaper archives):
- U.S. Passport Application (March 1925) — Victor Lustig alias Robert V. Miller, including photo and sworn testimony [2 pages]
- Marriage Record – State of Missouri Marriage License, Victor Lustig and Roberta Lustig (née Nagle), 1915
- Comic Feature – Strange As It Seems by John Hix, Medford Mail Tribune, June 12, 1937: “The Man of 63 Aliases”
- Newspaper Articles (Clippings & Headlines):
- St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Feb 4, 1936 – Treasury agents raid Greenwich Village counterfeit ring
- The Des Moines Register, May 17, 1935 – “Money Artist Gets 20 Years” (sentencing article)
- The Des Moines Register, Oct 26, 1947 – “Near-Perfect Counterfeit Bills Stymied Federal Reserve”
- The Evening Sun, May 14, 1935 – Arrest report, $50,000 bail, inventory of fake money and printing equipment
🕵️ Additional Research via Ancestry.com:
- Immigration records, city directories, and census records cross-referenced for Victor Lustig and known aliases
- Criminal court transcripts, mugshots, and incarceration records from Leavenworth and Alcatraz
- Marriage license and residential verification in Missouri and New York under Robert V. Miller
🧠 Psychology Corner Sources
- Paulhus, D.L., & Williams, K.M. (2002). The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality, 36(6), 556–563.
- Hare, R.D. (1993). Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us.
- Konnikova, M. (2016). The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It… Every Time.
- Goffman, E. (1956). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
- Nietzsche, F. (1883–85). Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
- American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5®): Antisocial Personality Disorder.
📖 Recommended Reading & Secondary Sources:
- The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower by Neal Bascomb
- “The Great Pretender: Victor Lustig” – CrimeReads
- “The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower—Twice” – Smithsonian Magazine, March 2015
- The Big Con by David W. Maurer – On the psychology and mechanics of classic con games
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Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time with another face… and another mystery.
