6min chapter

Behind the Bastards cover image

Part One: The King of Con Artists, Victor Lustig

Behind the Bastards

CHAPTER

I'm a Robin Hood Style Character. I Like Shurines

Victor Lustig was a con artist who claimed to have been born in Halstein, Austria, Hungary. There is no hard evidence this man was born at all. He lied about absolutely every aspect of his life. In 1903 he saw a young woman on the balcony of a hotel wearing a golden gown and later recalled that event as an inspiration for his subsequent criminal career. His parents are dirt poor, farm and pig shit in the middle of nowhere. And I have no trouble seeing him as a brilliant youth who was stifled by the demands of his peasant life."

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