Conman : A Master Swindler s Own Story (Library of Larceny) Paperback – July 13, 2004

My husband wanted this book for his birthday and after days and even weeks of searching for it, I was having an awful time finding it anywhere. After looking on here for just moments, I was able to find the book he kept giving me the details of day after day. This book was on the top on his list for what he wanted and I couldn't be more thankfull that I was finally able to find it. He couldn't have been happier. :-)

This is an easy-to-understand view of a confidence man's world, especially as it was during several decades before World War II.I had read similar books that mentioned "Yellow Kid" Weil as a legend among con men, piqueing my curiosity. No regrets for this purchase.

Exactly as expected... Good packaging and serves the purpose. Nice Feel, nice color, nice price. i couldn't finish read it though, the narrative pattern gets boring after a while

Incredible story. Conman of all Conmen.

Yellow Kid Weil represents a bygone era in an America before the internet, before the information highway, and before the movie "The Sting", which was supposedly modelled after a con "The Kid" pulled off. This book is in his own words, told articulately and intelligently. Some of the cons were so ingenious that I had to read them twice to fully comprehend them. For instance, he bought some nearly worthless land in rural Michigan for $1 an acre. He envisioned it becoming a resort development, and printed up brochures of what the land might look like like developed with fine homes. He then began telling wealthy people about it, but told them he wanted a certain class of people in the development to make it more marketable. He then began giving away an acre to each of these people for free.Prior to this, however, he had enlisted the County recorder to charge $30 an acre to administer the required abstract, which, of course, he split with the recorder. The recipient of the land also had to pay a $30 tax, which again was split with the assessor.Amazingly, The Yellow Kid does not come off as an amoral psychopath. He had his own set of honor codes, and really did try to go straight several times. Some of these stories are both the funniest and saddest of this story. It is hard to feel sorry for someone who scammed so many out of so much money, but his recap of purchasing a hotel, and housing various con men and other criminals is actually very funny. Likewise, in a story that may have inspired the movie "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels", The Yellow Kid gets scammed out of $10,000 by two ladies whom he had tried to impress by assuming a fake identity.The Yellow Kid is a piece of Americana from a bygone time that could not happen again. He was a character so original, so cerebral, and so outrageous that he has assumed a mythic legend.I can remember learning about him in High School Civics class. The teacher would tell of his exploits. One day she walked into class with his obituary. She announced "The Yellow Kid Weil even cheated death". He was 101 when he died.

Interesting reading about this man and his cons. Would recommend for a light and fun read!

Not for those with short attention spans, this biography presents detailed story after detailed story. It gave me over a dozen evenings reading by the fire. Great value!

Yes, there are some dangerous people out there, and prisons for their retirements.

Es ist ein gutes Buch - nur sehr anstrengend mit der Zeit, weil jeder einzelne CON detailliert beschrieben wird.Es gibt zwischen den einzelnen Kapiteln zwar Wiederholungen ("The Yellow Kid" verwendet gerne die "horse races" um seine marks zu betrügen) jedoch haben sie immer wieder etwas Neues dabei.Definitiv eines der besseren Bücher, die ich über "Cons, Scams, Crooks" und dergleichen gelesen habe, allerdings nicht für Einsteiger in dieses Gebiet. Hier würde ich das Buch von David Maurer ( Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man [Hardcover] by Maurer David W. (2010-08-02) ) empfehlen. Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man [Hardcover] by Maurer David W. (2010-08-02)

Great, entertaining and well written. Read it if you don't want to be a con artist victim.