Empire of Deception
The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation
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Narrated by:
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Peter Berkrot
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Written by:
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Dean Jobb
About this listen
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 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 - upward of $400 million today - in phantom timberland and nonexistent oil wells in Panama.
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.
©2015 Dean Jobb (P)2015 HighBridge, a division of Recorded BooksWhat the critics say
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- Joyce
- 2020-12-11
Great audible !
I absolutely loved this audible . It was extra special to me as I live only a few miles from the town of Caledonia and am familiar with all the places and some of the people mentioned in the book.
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