A con man flim flam artist who loved hockey wanted nothing more than to own a professional hockey team. The problem is that he wasn't a billionaire, which is sort of a prerequisite for professional...
When the first World War kicked off, Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, a notorious daredevil and rich kid playboy, decided armed combat wasn't for him. And so, rather than serve, he decided to dodge the d...
The best part of espionage is the spycraft, the cool gadgets and codes often disguised as everyday objects. Some look like lipstick, others like umbrellas. And then there are the ones that are a bi...
When World War II broke out, the biggest star in the world planned to sit it out. But as Fate would have it, events conspired to motivate Clark Gable AKA the "King of Hollywood" to enlist and go fi...
Filippo Bernardini felt like an outsider in the publishing world, so he decided to fix that. Did he dazzle executives with his intellect and insight? No. He stole his way into literary inner circle...
T'was the night before the Christmas, and all through the house not a creature was stirring... except for a mouse stealing some Christmas cookies. No, not really. But this episode is a fun collecti...
A man who called himself Lord Gordon Gordon sure knew how to con 'em. He scammed jewelers, land owners, and railroad magnates with great alacrity on both sides of the Atlantic. But in the hierarchy...
Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner had one of the great love affairs of the last century. But it was actually a love triangle that included the famously-reclusive Howard Hughes. It gets wilder than that...
Using his logistical and felonious prowess, Adam Worth developed a sophisticated criminal network stealing money, art, and jewelry from high-value targets on two continents. Understated and cunning...
Who would possibly think it's a good idea to rob Johnny Cash...at Christmastime... in Jamaica? If this sounds like some sort of Mad Lib, trust us, it's not. This really happened. And oddly enough, ...
During WWII, there were lots of ways to contribute to the war effort. One involved sitting at a radio station on Long Island, feeding lies to the Nazis to aid the Allies. Owen House was the secret ...
Let's say you're a German industrialist who needs to drive up the price of copper on the commodities market, would you hire a midcentury adventurer/boat captain and a pair of Miami skin divers to h...
Martha Stewart is more than a food and entertaining icon; she's a brand. Literally. But a brand can't lie to the feds and a brand can't go to jail. Martha Stewart the human, however, could and did ...
If you were in a bad place, hard up financially, looking for work, and some sorta lifeline... how far down your list of options would be the idea: should I start a counterfeiting ring? For Jeff Tur...
Applying to college. Oh, what a busy time that is for high school students. There are stressors like posing for a fake rowing photo or making sure your SAT ringer spelled your name right on the Sca...
The 1920s was an era of radical change in the culture. One of the major indicators was the advent of The Flapper –- young women who rejected the previous generations' notions of femininity and embr...
What's your favorite pizza topping? Pepperoni? Anchovies? A kilo of heroin? If it's the drugs, the Sicilian mob had a pizza parlor for you! They created networks of drug wholesale hubs in modest pi...
When people speak of the first American bank robber, typically, they think of Jesse James. While he may have been the first world famous bandit and bank robber, he was not the most prolific. That w...
In wartime, codes and puzzles become a language of warfare. But if you can make a code, someone can break the code. Enter Velvalee Dickinson. She was a lover of costumed porcelain dolls and Japanes...
She was America's Sweetheart, a woman whose gorgeous gams kept the antifascist Allied forces going as they won WWII. With talent, humor, beauty, and wit;, Betty Grable was a star. And with stardom ...
