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Chasing Phil : the adventures of two undercover agents with the world's most charming con man / David Howard.

by Howard, David, 1967- author.

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New York : Crown, [2017]

Kitzer, Phillip.

United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Swindlers and swindling -- United States -- Biography.

Espionage -- United States.

Criminal investigation -- United States.

9781101907429 (hardcover) :

1101907428 (hardcover)

371 pages ; 25 cm

The chase. How to steal a bank ; The informant ; You owe me fifty bucks ; The shell game -- The game. The thunderbird ; Hello, Cleveland ; No Mickey Mouse ; The junior g-men ; The poodle lounge ; Mr. Mutt and Mr. Jeff ; Rip off Hawaii ; The parking lot fugitive ; The cold plunge ; The ha-ha certificate -- Fear city. Pilgrims in the Mayflower ; The rhinestone cowboys ; Kick the can ; The hit man ; The blackout ; Fool's gold ; Sonny's mentality ; The game is rigged -- The reckoning. You have to believe it to see it ; Hobson's choice ; The Phil Kitzer road show ; One more thing.

"A thrilling true crime caper, bursting with colorful characters and awash in '70s glamour, that spotlights the FBI's first white-collar undercover sting 1977, the Thunderbird Motel. J.J. Wedick and Jack Brennan--two fresh-faced, maverick FBI agents--were about to embark on one of their agency's first wire-wearing undercover missions. Their target? Charismatic, globetrotting con man Phil Kitzer, whom some called the world's greatest swindler. From the Thunderbird, the three men took off to Cleveland, to Miami, to Hawaii, to Frankfurt, to the Bahamas--meeting other members of Kitzer's crime syndicate and powerful politicians and businessmen he fooled at each stop. But as the young agents, playing the role of proteges and co-conspirators, became further entangled in Phil's outrageous schemes over their months on the road, they also grew to respect him--even care for him. Meanwhile, Phil began to think of Jack and J.J. as best friends, sharing hotel rooms and inside jokes with them and even competing with J.J. in picking up women. Phil Kitzer was at the center of dozens of scams in which he swindled millions of dollars, but the FBI was mired in a post-Watergate malaise and slow to pivot toward a new type of financial crime that is now all too familiar. Plunging into the field with no undercover training, the agents battled a creaky bureaucracy on their adventures with Phil, hoping the FBI would recognize the importance of their mission. Even as they grew closer to Phil, they recognized that their endgame--the swindler's arrest--was drawing near.

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