Jewish con-men
In 1997, major publishers afforded two legendary Jewish conmen of international
(dis)repute respective biographies. Adam Worth started out re-joining and
re-deserting various Civil War regiments (both Union and Confederate) for
enlistment bonuses and later expanded his exploits into forgery, larceny,
robbery, burglary, and other criminal mainstays. In England, Sir Robert
Anderson, head of Criminal Investigations at Scotland Yard, observed in
1907 that "Adam Worth was the Napoleon of crime. None other could hold a
candle to him." The Pinkerton security agency noted that "in the death of
Adam Worth there probably departed the most inventive and daring criminal
in modern times ... Among all the men Pinkertons have known in a life time,
this man was the most remarkable criminal of them all." [MCINTYRE, p. 287]
Novelist Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used Worth as his model for Professor Moriarty,
Sherlock Holmes' arch-nemesis. An important associate in Worth's earlier
years was "Mother" Mandelbaum, described in her era as "the great crime
promoter of modern times," the "most successful fence in the history of
Newy York" and the woman who "first put crime in America on a syndicated
basis." Starting in 1862, over the next two decades she was reputed to have
"handled between $5,000,000 and $10,000,000 worth of stolen property." [MCINTYRE,
B., 1997, p. 29, 30]
A few years later another real-life rogue (and Jewish) notable, Morris Cohen
(the subject of the second biography), rose from a life as a western Canadian
circus barker and pickpocket to an adventurous life as an arms dealer, bodyguard,
and general to Chinese leader Sun Yat-Sen. [LEVY, D.] Later he served under
Chiang Kai-Shek. He also functioned as a liaison for Zionist influences
to Chinese leadership. [UROFSKY, M., 1978, p. 99]
A similar Jewish con-man was Elias Abraham Rosenberg, a "rascal" who arrived
in Hawaii in 1887. There, he "ingratiated himself with King David Kalakaua
by his chanting and so-called occult powers. He soon became the King's soothsayer
and astrologer, acquiring such power over the monarch that the Hawaiian
press bitterly denounced him as a 'Holy Moses.' Rosenberg taught the King
some Hebrew and was persuaded to appoint him appraiser of customs. He was
given quarters in the Iolani Palace, where he practiced magic, read the
stars, and chanted Bible stories in Hebrew." [KOPPMAN/POSTAL, 1978, p. 229-230]
In 1998, Jewish fraudster Trebitsch Lincoln was also afforded a biography.
Lincoln, noted a reviewer, was "the king of dupers" and "a thwarted megalomaniac
who was also a champion con man." Born in Hungary in 1879, he immigrated
to England and converted to Christianity. He became a member of Parliament,
and later tried to become a British, and then a German, spy. He turned up
as a supporter of the right-wing Kapp Putsch in Berlin in 1920, became an
abbot of a Buddhist temple in Shanghai, fleeced his devotees, welcomed invading
Japanese, became a Nazi apologist/propagandist and on and on in the life
of a human chameleon. [BERRY, N., 5-8-98, p. 28]
Another Jewish predator upon Christian churches has been Marcel Harpin (known
to the Church of Christ in Delaware, as evidence by a stolen passport, as
"Felix Schuster" of Switzerland). Harpin was a "con man" who "roamed the
country scamming churches" noted the Providence Journal-Bulletin in 1994.
He got in touch with the Church of Christ, claimed that he was a medical
student who had just been robbed of the last of his money, said he was raised
as an Orthodox Jew but was interested in converting to Christianity, and
was taken home by a church family. He eventually absconded with $1,750 from
them but was caught in Nashville, Tennessee, trying the same scam at a church
there. It was discovered that he was also "wanted on similar charges in
Washington and Atlanta." [RAY, E., 6-23-94, p. D13]
Among other Jewish fraudsters who didn't head for Israel is Hal Kaplan,
a master con-man who has used "eight known aliases and been convicted of
fraud, theft, forgery, and bigamy." Married eight times, his favorite ploy,
noted the Los Angeles Times in 1993, is to marry rich women to "loot their
bank accounts." [GABRIEL, p. 18]
Yet another kindred soul is Charles Ray Lonberger, arrested in 1990, who
ran a series of charity frauds, often under the pretense of raising money
for the Jewish Federation Council. [MEYER, J., p. J1] Another, from the
early 1980s, was Eduardo Rabiea, son of Iraqi Jews who immigrated to the
United States from Israel. Rabiea was described by a New York prosecutor
as "a master of deceit and deception who is wanted for fraud all over the
world," absconding with over $60 million in swindles. [RAAB, S., p. B1]
A fellow soul is also Britain's Jonathan Kern, also Jewish, who was arrested
while entertaining two prostitutes in 1999. Also wanted for fraud and various
scams all over the globe, Kern "has previously impersonated members of the
Rolling Stones, and fooled a Park Lane garage into lending him a pounds
44,000 BMW by posing as a record producer." Among other ploys, he has pretended
he was a well known British auto race commentator, Jonathan Palmer, creating
bills in Palmer's name all over Europe. "You are a persistent criminal and
a man who deceives as a way of life," a sentencing judge told Kern. [PRYER,
N., 1999]
In a 1994 Toronto Life article entitled "Con Man," the criminal life of
Patrick White was explored, stemming from his defrauding of a local newspaper
of $20,000. "Charmed by White's affable manner, by his habit of smiling
when he spoke," and "by the Torah he displayed on his night table," David
Mackin allowed alleged investor Mr. White to take over as Managing Editor
of his small newspaper. "White," notes Toronto Life, "was regularly attending
Kensington market synagogue and by all appearances was a devoutly religious
man." [TORONTO LIFE, 11-94] Once White absconded, it was learned that he
was a master fraudster. He had served jail time in Canada in 1978 for "indecent
assault," and in 1982 for "a pair of fraud convictions." And there were
outstanding arrest warrants for him across North America: Ontario -- theft,
Virginia -- sexual assault against a boy, New York -- larceny, Mississippi
-- sodomy and sexual assault against a boy, Ontario -- theft, Nova Scotia
-- theft and fraud, Virginia -- sexual assault, and Alberta -- sexual asssault.
In New Brunswick, he then hired 35 people for nonexistent jobs for a nonexistent
night club, charging them each $100 for "uniforms." While in Toronto, White
once hired three boys to shovel snow from his sidewalk. Inviting them inside,
he showed them pornography. "When police searched the house," notes Toronto
Life, "they found a cache of pornography along with religious texts White
had borrowed from a local rabbi. It was entitled The Sexual Morality of
Young People." [TORONTO LIFE, 11-94]
Another noteworthy con man of Jewish heritage is Stanley Cherry (alias "Stefanos
Coreey"). In 1999 a Canadian woman fell in love with him but was the "victim
... of a fraud artist so diabolical that he left her almost destitute: without
savings, without access to credit and in danger of losing her home." Total
losses were about $75,000. It was eventually revealed, notes the Montreal
Gazette, that "the man had been in and out of jail throughout his adult
life. Crime was his profession. It was, you might say, his vocation." Three
outstanding warrants for his arrest existed for other crimes. Among the
frauds earlier perpetuated by Cherry was that upon another infatuated woman
with him. [ABLEY, M., 4-12-99, p. A1]
"THE JEWISH CON MAN. He's just good-looking enough. He went a a name-drop
school or two. He's had a name-drop position or two. He moves from position
to position, group to group. His only constant attachments are to this mother
and his children. He leaves a trail of people behind him who wonder why
they didn't see the too many finely tailored shirts, the monograms. Later,
you remember he was: a subtle name dropper. A whit too polished (his shoes,
his nails, etc.). He borrows the heritage of his married-into family, their
friends, their places, their clubs. He plays tennis with name pros like
Pancho Gonzales. He collects actors just out of vogue, first editions, antiques,
and a sprinkling of just credible folks for whom he has performed some minor
service. All of his speeding tickets are fixed. He fixes theater tickets
to sold-out shows on a moment's notice. He has a cover-up for everything
from larcenty to misedemeanors. He personally knows members of the Mafia."
Richman, Marsha and O'Donnell, Katie. The Shikse's Guide to Jewish Men,
Bantam Books, Toronto, New York, London, 1978, p. 12-14
What exactly is a "con-man?" There is an entire genre of Jewish
fraudsters and con-men -- many of them documented at
WHEN VICTIMS RULE. A CRITIQUE OF JEWISH PRE-EMINENCE IN
AMERICA.
The above excerpts are merely a few examples of swindlers and hustlers of
various sorts from the following chapters.:
See also
Jewish Crime
Drugs, etc.
Wall Street/Jewish ethics
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