⚠️ OLD FORMAT EPISODE - New listeners should start with Season 1, Episode 1
Victor Lustig. 63 aliases. Master manipulator. The man who sold the Eiffel Tower...twice.
THE STORY: Victor Lustig (1890-1947) | Born Austria-Hungary, spoke 5 languages | 63+ aliases | 1925: Posed as French official in Paris | Convinced scrap dealers Eiffel Tower was being demolished | Sold "demolition rights" | Victim too embarrassed to report | Did it again weeks later | Second victim reported, Lustig fled to America | Ran "money box" cons (fake bill duplicating machine) | Conned Al Capone (survived) | 1930s: NYC counterfeiting operation with near-perfect $100 bills | Secret Service caught him 1935 | 20-year sentence | Sent to Alcatraz | Died there 1947 of pneumonia
MAJOR CONS: Eiffel Tower (twice) | Money Box | Al Capone scam | $50,000+ counterfeit operation | Romanov jewels scheme
WHAT WE EXPLORE: How he sold a national monument twice | Dark Triad psychology: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy | Why smart people fell for impossible schemes | His 10 commandments for con artists | How his counterfeits fooled Federal Reserve
LUSTIG'S CON ARTIST COMMANDMENTS: Be patient listener | Never look bored | Never boast | Never be untidy | Never get drunk | Winning smile | Be natural | Read faces | Wait for them to reveal beliefs | Never discuss illness | Never pry | Never use slurs | Never appear suspicious
THE PSYCHOLOGY: Dark Triad personality | Antisocial personality disorder | Social performance mastery (Goffman) | Exploiting greed and cognitive bias | Authority impersonation | Psychopathy without violence
SOURCES: U.S. Passport (1925) | Missouri marriage license (1915) | Medford Mail Tribune (1937) | St. Louis Globe-Democrat (1936) | Des Moines Register (1935, 1947) | Evening Sun (1935) | Ancestry.com records | Paulhus & Williams Dark Triad study (2002) | Hare "Without Conscience" | Konnikova "The Confidence Game" | Goffman "Presentation of Self" | DSM-5 | Bascomb "The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower" | Smithsonian Magazine | Maurer "The Big Con"
DISCLAIMER: For educational/entertainment purposes only. Based on historical records, court documents, psychological research. We are not psychologists. Views explore criminal psychology and con artistry, not endorsement of fraud. Victor Lustig was convicted. We respect all victims. This examines how manipulation and psychological exploitation enable confidence crimes.
He sold a monument. Twice. That wasn't even his best con.
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