Victor Lustig was born in Bohemia in 1890. His father was a
salesman who frequently brought Victor along on business trips across Europe.
His school career was less than stellar, but he was fluent in six languages,
including English, French, Italian, and Hungarian. Victor became a con man operating
on ocean liners between France and New York. Sometimes he’d pose as a music
director seeking investors for a Broadway production. Victor’s most infamous scam
was selling the Eiffel tower. Twice. In 1925, he invited a group of scrap metal
dealers to a meeting where he informed them the famous tower was crumbling and repairs
were too expensive. Paris wanted it discretely removed, and Victor would be accepting
bids. He pocketed the largest check (70,000 francs) and fled to Austria. The crazy
thing is, as soon as he realized he’d gotten away with it, he pulled the same
trick again with a different group of patsies.
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