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The mark inside : a perfect swindle, a cunning revenge, and a small history of the big con / Amy Reading.

by Reading, Amy.

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Alfred A. Knopf, 2012.

Norfleet, J. Frank, 1864-1967.

Swindlers and swindling -- United States -- History.

9780307272485 (hbk.)

0307272486 (hbk.)

290 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [269]-276) and index.

Confidence -- Benjamin Franklin's disciples -- Cowboy justice -- Humbug -- Double-crossings -- A small history of the big con -- The con never dies -- The making of a confidence kingpin -- The machine and the sting -- The raid -- Pure speculation -- The showdown -- The mark inside.

"In 1919, Texas rancher J. Frank Norfleet lost everything he had in a stock market swindle. He vowed to hunt down the five men who had conned him. Armed with a revolver and a suitcase full of disguises, Norfleet crisscrossed the country from Texas to Florida to California to Colorado, posing as a country hick and allowing himself to be ensnared by confidence men again and again to gather evidence on his enemies. Through Norfleet's ingenious reverse-swindle, Amy Reading reveals the mechanics behind the scenes of the big con--a piece of performance art targeted to the most vulnerable points of human nature. Reading shows how the big con has been woven throughout U.S. history. From the colonies to the railroads and the Chicago Board of Trade, America has always been a speculative enterprise, and bunco men and bankers alike have always understood that the common man was perfectly willing to engage in minor fraud to get a piece of the expanding stock market--a trait that made him infinitely gullible."--Provided by publisher.

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