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Victor Lustig: The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower · Crime Night

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Paris, nineteen twenty five. Let's just picture it for a moment.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: You're there, the air's got that post war chill, you know,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: and looming over everything is this huge iron skeleton, the
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Eiffel Tower.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: And there's this sort of tension and economic anxiety hanging heavy.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Newspapers are wrestling in the headlines. Well they're not good
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: for the tower.
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  Speaker 1: Not good at all. We're talking about decay, neglect. The
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: First World War took its toll, and now the French
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: government is looking at this massive repair bill, millions.
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  Speaker 2: Millions they really didn't want to spend. Remember, the tower
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  Speaker 2: wasn't quite the beloved icon it is today. It was expensive,
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: kind of controversial still, and the government was seriously quietly
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: considering tearing it down.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, demolition a giant, rusty problem, basically waiting for the
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  Speaker 1: chopping block. And this news, this moment of like national uncertainty,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: it lands right in front of one particular man.
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  Speaker 2: A man who didn't see a problem. He saw well potential,
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  Speaker 2: pure financial potential. A man known for his charm, his
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  Speaker 2: sophistication and maybe what forty five different.
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  Speaker 1: Names, Victor Lustig. He reads this news and this devilish
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: idea as it's been called starts.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: To form exactly. He saw the government's need for secrecy
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  Speaker 2: around this whole demolition idea and the perfect cover an
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  Speaker 2: unprecedented opportunity.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, let's dive into this properly. We're going deep into
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: the story of Victor Lustig today, the man who sold
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: a national monument twice and whose playbook honestly is kind
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: of the masterclass in the con It really is.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: But to get the sheer scale of the Eiffel Tower
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  Speaker 2: con we kind of need to go back back to
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: the beginning.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Right, Let's flash back eighteen ninety born in Czech Territory.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: And he wasn't like some uneducated petty thief, was.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: He not at all? Sources say he was bright, academically gifted,
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  Speaker 2: even very sharp, very analytical. From a young age. He
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  Speaker 2: started small sure things like a sleight of hand, maybe
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  Speaker 2: some street magic cons but he moved on fast.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: He realized performance wasn't enough, right.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: He knew sophistication was key, so he taught himself languages French, English, Italian. Influently,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: he cultivated his image as this impeccable appearance. He was
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  Speaker 2: building a persona.
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  Speaker 1: A persona to infiltrate precisely.
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  Speaker 2: He wasn't aiming for street hustles. He moved up targeting
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  Speaker 2: wealthy businessmen and you know, fancy European gambling spots. But
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  Speaker 2: even that money, it was just seed capital.
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  Speaker 1: Seed capital for something much bigger.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, His real goal was getting out of those luxury
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  Speaker 2: ocean liners. The ones were only the super rich, the
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  Speaker 2: international players traveled. He needed to be among them to
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  Speaker 2: con them.
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  Speaker 1: And that thinking, that strategy, it leads him to his
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  Speaker 1: first really big invention, right, the Roman money box.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Oh yes, the money box fascinating because it played perfectly
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: on the era's scientific naivety. How so, well, think about it.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Radium had been discovered, huge breakthrough, right, but most people
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  Speaker 2: didn't understand it at all. It sounded powerful, almost magical.
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  Speaker 1: So he used that confusion exactly.
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  Speaker 2: He built this fancy looking wooden box and the pitch
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  Speaker 2: was simple. This box, using a special radium ray, could
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  Speaker 2: duplicate banknotes. Specifically, it could produce a perfect one hundred
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  Speaker 2: dollars bill every six hours.
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  Speaker 1: And he sold this box for how much?
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  Speaker 2: For a hefty sum around three thousand dollars back then,
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  Speaker 2: which you know, meant only wealthy people. The kind susceptible
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  Speaker 2: to believing in quick tech based riches could afford it.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, but how did he prove it worked? People wouldn't
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  Speaker 1: just hand over three thousand dollars for a wooden box.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, that was the clever part, the mechanism of deceit,
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  Speaker 2: as you put it, He'd preload the box with three
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  Speaker 2: genuine h one hundred dollar bills.
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  Speaker 1: Okay.
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  Speaker 2: During the demonstration, he'd let the first bill emerge, he'd
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  Speaker 2: insist the buyer of the mark check it thoroughly real currency.
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  Speaker 2: Then he'd made the sale. But here's the crucial step.
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  Speaker 2: He'd tell them the box needed at least twelve hours
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  Speaker 2: to recharge or cycle before producing the next bill.
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  Speaker 1: Twelve hours, which was exactly enough time for.
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  Speaker 2: Victor Lustig to disappear, get on a train, cross a board,
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: or whatever. By the time the mark waited the twelve hours,
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  Speaker 2: maybe even another six just to be sure, and the
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  Speaker 2: box finally spat out paper blank paper, Lustick was long gone,
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  Speaker 2: and the money from scams like the money box that
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  Speaker 2: funded the move to Paris and the unbelievable audacity of
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  Speaker 2: the Eiffel Tower plan.
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  Speaker 1: Right, this is where it goes from clever con artists
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  Speaker 1: to absolute legend. He gets to Paris and he doesn't
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  Speaker 1: just pretend to be some minor official. He becomes.
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  Speaker 2: Who was it Exactly he adopted the identity of the
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  Speaker 2: Deputy director General of the French Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs.
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  Speaker 2: I mean it's incredibly specific, the exact kind of official
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  Speaker 2: who might handle something sensitive like disposing of a major
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  Speaker 2: state asset. Wow.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so he's got the title.
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  Speaker 2: Then what then meticulous preparation. He creates official looking government stationary,
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  Speaker 2: writes professional letters inviting the heads of the six biggest
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  Speaker 2: scrap metal dealerships in France to a confidential.
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  Speaker 1: Meeting, not in some shady back room either, No.
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  Speaker 2: No, at a prestigious Parisian hotel. All very legitimate, very
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  Speaker 2: high level. And the first thing he does in that.
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  Speaker 1: Meeting the man's secrecy, absolute secrecy.
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  Speaker 2: He tells him the potential demolition is incredibly sensitive. The
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  Speaker 2: government fears public outcry, chaos, confusion, basically total meltdown at
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  Speaker 2: the newsleaks.
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  Speaker 1: So he's playing on their fear, but also making them
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  Speaker 1: feel important, like insiders on a state secret.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly, it binds them to him, makes them feel complicit
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  Speaker 2: in the secrecy. They won't talk. Then the masterstroke. He
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  Speaker 2: takes them on an inspection.
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  Speaker 1: Tour of the Eiffel Tower itself.
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  Speaker 2: The tower itself, and he doesn't just talk tons of metal.
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  Speaker 2: He talks about history, heritage. He paints this picture that
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  Speaker 2: the winning bidder won't just be buying scrap. They'll be
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  Speaker 2: part of French history, owning a piece of a legend.
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  Speaker 1: Selling the legacy, not just the iron. Okay, So now
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  Speaker 1: he's got six dealers, all hooked, all probably dreaming of
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  Speaker 1: the prophets and the prestige. How does he pick his victim?
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  Speaker 2: This is where his psychological genius really shines. Remember that
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  Speaker 2: rule about being a good listener. He watches them, listens,
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  Speaker 2: reads their body language. He's looking for the one who
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  Speaker 2: isn't just eager, but overtly greedy, the.
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  Speaker 1: One most likely corners, the one who wants an edge.
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  Speaker 2: Precisely. Yeah, he identifies that dealer, pulls him aside privately,
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  Speaker 2: and then comes the real con, the bribe. Lustig explains,
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  Speaker 2: you know, with all this government red tape, the bidding
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  Speaker 2: process is complex, but for a significant consideration, a personal
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  Speaker 2: payment on top of the official price, you can make
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  Speaker 2: sure the contract goes to him.
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  Speaker 1: So he's basically asking the dealer to bribe a government official,
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  Speaker 1: making the dealer complicit.
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  Speaker 2: In a crime exactly. The dealer agrees immediately because of
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  Speaker 2: his greed, he thinks he's securing the deal of a lifetime.
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  Speaker 2: In reality, he's just insured he can never report the
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: crime without implicating himself.
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  Speaker 1: Genius dark but genius Lustig pockets the official payment for
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  Speaker 1: this scrap plus the massive cash bribe, and then first
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  Speaker 1: train out of Paris gone.
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  Speaker 2: Vanished, leaving the dealer holding well nothing about a receipt
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  Speaker 2: for a bribe and a belief he'd soon be dismantling
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  Speaker 2: the Eiffel Tower.
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  Speaker 1: And the aftermath for that dealer was tragic, wasn't.
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  Speaker 2: It Horrifyingly so? When when the truth inevitably came out,
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: when no demolition crew showed up, when the towers just
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: stood there, the realization hit, the financial loss, the humiliation,
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  Speaker 2: the fact he couldn't even go to the police. The
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  Speaker 2: poor man reportedly suffered a massive heart.
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  Speaker 1: Attack, died from the shock and shame.
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  Speaker 2: Died before he could even report it, which leads to
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  Speaker 2: the most unbelievable part of this whole story.
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  Speaker 1: He goes back, he checks.
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  Speaker 2: The news, waits a bit, realizes nobody reported it. The
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  Speaker 2: first deal died, the others were too embarrassed or maybe
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  Speaker 2: just confused, And crucially, the French government had no idea
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  Speaker 2: their national monument had been unofficially sold.
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  Speaker 1: So Lustic thinks, why not do it again? I mean
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  Speaker 1: the sheer nerves staggering.
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  Speaker 2: He returns to Paris, sets up the exact same scenario,
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  Speaker 2: new official looking letters, new meeting at a fancy hotel,
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  Speaker 2: this time with six different scrap metal.
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  Speaker 1: Dealers, and he pulls it off again.
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  Speaker 2: He does sells the Eiffel Tower second time, collects another
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  Speaker 2: huge payment plus another bribe supposedly around two hundred thousand
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  Speaker 2: dollars this time, and gets to again unbelievable.
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  Speaker 1: It was only after the second time that things got
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  Speaker 1: too hot in France, right, Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Eventually the story started the leak. Newspapers picked it up.
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  Speaker 2: France was definitely off limits. So Lustig heads across the
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  Speaker 2: Atlantic to America.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: And decides to try his luck in the US. And
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  Speaker 1: who does he target? Only the most notorious gangster in
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  Speaker 1: the country, al Capone.
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  Speaker 2: Sounds like suicide, doesn't it. Trying to con Capone?
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  Speaker 1: What was the plan there?
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  Speaker 2: He charmed his way into Capone's circle, somehow convinced Capone
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  Speaker 2: to invest fifty thousand dollars a huge sum, in some
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  Speaker 2: kind of fictional business deal he'd cooked up.
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  Speaker 1: But then he got cold feet. Realize, maybe con and
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  Speaker 1: Capone wasn't the smartest long term strategy.
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  Speaker 2: It seems so. He must have realized the potential downside
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  Speaker 2: Capone's reaction if the deal failed was just too high.
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  Speaker 2: So he did something utterly unexpected for a con man.
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  Speaker 1: He gave the money back, all of it, went.
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  Speaker 2: Back to Capone after a few weeks, full fifty thousand
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  Speaker 2: dollars in hand, said something like, so sorry, the deal
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  Speaker 2: fell through. Here's your investment back.
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  Speaker 1: And Capone's reaction.
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  Speaker 2: Apparently Capone was stunned. He probably never had someone return
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  Speaker 2: money like that, especially not someone tried to pull a
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  Speaker 2: fast one. He was so impressed by Lustig's supposed integrity
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  Speaker 2: and nerve.
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  Speaker 1: Give him a bonus.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, Capone, give him five thousand dollars just for being so.
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  Speaker 1: Honest, incredible. The con was convincing Capone he wasn't a
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  Speaker 1: con man in that moment.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly yea, And that move earned him Capone's trust, which
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: led to Capone introducing Lustig to well a whole new
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  Speaker 2: criminal enterprise.
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  Speaker 1: Counterfeiting big time.
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  Speaker 2: Lusty got involved with a major counterfeiting ring, and he
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  Speaker 2: was good at it. For years. They flooded the US
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  Speaker 2: market with incredibly high quality fake bills, often called Lustig money.
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  Speaker 1: He was so careful, wasn't he, all those aliases, leaving
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  Speaker 1: no traces. You'd think the FBI would have a nightmare
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  Speaker 1: catching him.
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  Speaker 2: They did. He was incredibly slippery. His downfall, ironically, wasn't
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: some brilliant police work or forensic discovery. It was personal
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: his girlfriend. Apparently he was unfaithful. His girlfriend, furious and
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: seeking revenge, went to the authorities of the FBI and
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: told him everything, his habits, his locations.
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  Speaker 1: His personal life finally tripped up his professional discipline. He
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  Speaker 1: got arrested in nineteen thirty four.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: Yep, But even then, Lustig being Lustig, the story wasn't over.
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  Speaker 2: The day before he was due to stand trial, he escaped.
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  Speaker 2: Escaped from federal custody. He just walked out, essentially lured
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  Speaker 2: himself out of a window using bed sheets tied together.
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: She could believe it.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: But they caught him again, right they did.
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  Speaker 2: It took them twenty seven days, but the FBI tracked
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  Speaker 2: him down. This time it stuck. He confessed, apparently quite
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: openly to his various schemes, and the sentence twenty years
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: sent to Alcatraz, the toughest prison around. He died there
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: a few years later form pneumonia.
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  Speaker 1: But he left something behind, didn't he a sort of
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: instruction manual?
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: He did His final, perhaps most fascinating legacy, a handwritten
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  Speaker 2: document called the Ten Commandments of the Professional con Man.
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  Speaker 2: It basically lay out the psychological principles he lived by.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: And these commandments they really show how he operated, don't they?
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  Speaker 1: Can We go through a few.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely they're revealing. Number one, be a patient listener. He
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: actually listening twice. It's that important, right, That's how he
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: found the GREEDYUS scrap dealer. Right right?
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  Speaker 1: What else?
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  Speaker 2: Uh? Never look bored, Wait for the other person to
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  Speaker 2: reveal any political opinions, then agree with them. Keep up appearances,
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  Speaker 2: never get drunk, maintain control.
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  Speaker 1: That political point is interesting, don't have opinions, Just mirror
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  Speaker 1: the victim.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Exactly same with the religion. Rule five says, avoid discussing it,
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  Speaker 2: but find out what their denomination is. Become a perfect
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  Speaker 2: mirror to build trust instantly.
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  Speaker 1: There are also rules about what not to talk about,
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  Speaker 1: like illness.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, never discuss illness makes people uncomfortable, and never pry
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: into a person's personal circumstances, which sounds odd but links
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  Speaker 2: to rule nine. Never be boastful. Just let your importance
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  Speaker 2: be obvious. It's all about quiet, confidence and control.
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  Speaker 1: And maybe the most telling one about being merciful.
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  Speaker 2: Rule nine. Yeah, be a patient listener. It is this
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  Speaker 2: not fast talking. I gets a con man his cups.
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  Speaker 2: Oh wait, sorry, that's another listening one. Rule nine is
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  Speaker 2: actually never follow up with your victim after the con
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: which is essentially be merciful in the sense of letting
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: them go, not rubbing it in. He wanted them to
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: be too ashamed or feel it wasn't worth the effort
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: to report. Leave them just enough so they wouldn't pursue it.
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  Speaker 2: That's how the first Eiffel Tower con stayed quiet.
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  Speaker 1: That combination the strict self discipline like avoiding alcohol, the
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  Speaker 1: meticulous planning, and then this deep cynical understanding of human
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  Speaker 1: psychology greed, shame, the desire to trust, that was his
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  Speaker 1: real toolkit.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Victor Lustig a truly dangerous character, but his story,
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: the sheer audacity. It's captivated people for decades, and it all.
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  Speaker 1: Came down to reading people, understanding their subtle needs, their weaknesses,
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  Speaker 1: and reflecting them back. He didn't need weapons when he
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: could manipulate perception so effectively.
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  Speaker 2: Which really makes you, doesn't It does?
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: And maybe here's something for you, our listeners, to chew on.
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  Speaker 1: If lustics commandments are all about building trust, mirroring beliefs,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: projecting quiet authority, and exploiting psychological needs, how many of
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: those tactics are still in play today?
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: Not necessarily by criminals selling monuments.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Right, but maybe by highly successful salespeople, political strategists, maybe
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: even some influencers building their brand online. Are lustics principles,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: in some forms still shaping how influence works?
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: Something to definitely mull over