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Empire of deception [electronic resource] : the incredible story of a master swindler who seduced a city and captivated the nation / Dean Jobb.

by Jobb, Dean, 1958- author.

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Chapel Hill, North Carolina : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2015.

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.

Electronic Resource

http://hawaii.lib.overdrive.com/ContentDetails.htm?ID=C85BBA5C-1A0A-42F9-8D62-6111E55BAF4B This title is available online; click here to access

Electronic Resource

http://images.contentreserve.com/ImageType-100/1953-1/{C85BBA5C-1A0A-42F9-8D62-6111E55BAF4B}Img100.jpg

9781616204969 (electronic bk.)

1616204966 (electronic bk.)

1 online resource

The players -- Act 1 -- 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 -- Act 2 -- 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 -- Act 3 -- The trap -- The gang war -- The prisoner -- The return -- The confession -- The reckoning -- The final swindle -- Epilogue.

"It was a time of unregulated madness. And nowhere was it madder than in Chicago at the dawn of the Roaring Twenties. Speakeasies thrived, gang war shootings announced Al Capone's rise to underworld domination, Chicago's corrupt political leaders fraternized with gangsters, and yellow journalism only contributed to the excesses. The frenzy of stock market gambling was rampant. Enter a slick, smooth-talking, charismatic lawyer named Leo Koretz, who enticed hundreds of people (who should have known better) to invest as much as $30 million--upwards of $400 million today--in phantom timberland and nonexistent oil wells in Panama, close to the new Canal Zone. 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. When finally apprehended, Leo was living a life of luxury in Nova Scotia under the assumed identity of a book dealer and literary critic. His mysterious death in a Chicago prison topped anything in his almost-too-bizarre-to-believe life. Empire of Deception is not only an incredibly rich and detailed account of a man and an era; it's a fascinating look at the methods of swindlers throughout history. Leo Koretz was the Bernie Madoff of his day, and Dean Jobb shows us that the dream of easy wealth is a timeless commodity"--Provided by publisher.

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