Empire of Deception
The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation
Chapel Hill, North Carolina : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, [2015]
Format: Book
Edition: First edition.
Description: x, 336 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
"It was a time of unregulated madness. And nowhere was it madder than in Chicago at the dawn of the Roaring Twenties ... Enter a slick, smooth-talking, charismatic lawyer named Leo Koretz, who enticed hundreds of people ... to invest as much as $30 million--upwards of $400 million today--in phantom timberland and nonexistent oil wells in Panama ... When Leo's scheme finally collapsed in 1923, he vanished, and the Chicago state's attorney, a man whose lust for power equaled Leo's own lust for money, began an international manhunt that lasted almost a year"--Provided by publisher.
Contents:
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 -- 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 -- The trap -- The gang war -- The prisoner -- The return -- The confession -- The reckoning -- The final swindle.
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.
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.
ISBN:
9781616201753 (hbk.)
Availability | |||
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Call Number | Location | Shelf Location | Status |
BIOGRAPHY Koretz, Leo | Southeast | Biography | In |
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Includes bibliographical references and index.