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Location	Call #	Volume	Status
LAW Johnny C. Burris Collection - 3rd Floor	HV6692.K67 J63 2015		AVAILABLE

Author	Jobb, Dean, 1958-
Title	Empire of deception : the incredible story of a master swindler who seduced a city and captivated a nation / Dean Jobb.
Edition	First edition.
OCLC	886493237
ISBN	9781616201753
	1616201754
Publisher	Chapel Hill, North Carolina : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2015.
Description	x, 336 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
LC Subject heading/s	Koretz, Leo, 1879-1925.
Other Subject heading/s	Koretz, Leo, 1879-1925. (OCoLC)fst01926666
	1900 - 1999
LC Subject heading/s	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.
Other Subject heading/s	Capitalists and financiers. (OCoLC)fst00846463
	Commercial crimes. (OCoLC)fst00869469
	Economic history. (OCoLC)fst00901974
	Fugitives from justice. (OCoLC)fst00935947
	Lawyers. (OCoLC)fst00994346
	Ponzi schemes. (OCoLC)fst01071031
	Social conditions. (OCoLC)fst01919811
	Swindlers and swindling. (OCoLC)fst01140414
LC Subject heading/s	Chicago (Ill.) -- Biography.
	Chicago (Ill.) -- Social conditions -- 20th century.
	Chicago (Ill.) -- Economic conditions -- 20th century.
Other Subject heading/s	Illinois -- Chicago. (OCoLC)fst01204048
	Nova Scotia -- Halifax. (OCoLC)fst01219177
Other Genre heading/s	Biographies. (OCoLC)fst01919896
	Biography. (OCoLC)fst01423686
	History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
	Biographies.
Bibliography	Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-326) and index.
Contents	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.
Scope and content	"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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Summary