# Recommend some non-fiction con / grifter / thief stories. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 5, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177 "2013-11-05T20:58:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177/1 "2013-11-05T20:58:49Z")
This thread, about true crime books of the generally murder and mayhem variety, reminded me that I like a different sort of true crime book. Me, I’m fascinated with grifters and thieves. They’re more suave, more subtle, more romantic than, say, serial killers. More fun. I know the Hollywood sort are rare to nonexistent, but I still enjoy them. So, since I’ve been floundering for a couple months when it comes to reading, I thought I’d maybe give one of these a try. (It’s either that or pick up a favorite to reread, at this point, though I suppose I’ll bull my way through the newest Temeraire book, despite being rather unhappy with it so far.) I’ve read and enjoyed _**[The Big Con](http://smile.amazon.com/Big-Con-Story-Confidence-ebook/dp/B004774D1E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1383684883&sr=8-1&keywords=the+big+con)**_, which, IIRC, helped inspire _ **The Sting** _. And I’ve read… well, some other stuff. Possibly _ **Whiz Mob** _, Maurer’s other book, but I’m not entirely sure. A lovely little thing about a jewel thief, too. So what might you folks recommend? I’d prefer modern to the earlier stuff of \*\*_The Big Con/B]_, but that’s not a hard rule. Do please stick to non-fiction–I might start up a different thread for fiction as well, sometime, but for now I’m looking for real life. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177/2 "2013-11-05T21:37:18Z")
Canadian journalist Andreas Schroeder wrote three entertaining collections about various cons and swindles. I highly recommend them. _Scams, Scandals, and Skulduggery: A Selection of the World’s Most Outrageous Frauds Cheats, Charlatans, and Chicanery: More Outrageous Tales of Skulduggery Fakes, Frauds, and Flimflammery: Even More of the World’s Most Outrageous Scams_ They’re all out of print but Amazon has cheap used copies. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177/3 "2013-11-05T22:47:32Z")
\ Um, how about that book… **You Can’t Win** , by Jack Black (not the actor). Criminal, drifter in SF… Or **Straight Time** by Art Pepper. Actually an oral history by the great jazz sax player, but he was a petty criminal and drug addict with time in prison… ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2013, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177/4 "2013-11-05T23:42:13Z")
Dunno about books, but I’ve got two awesome \*New Yorker \*articles for you: [A Pickpocket’s Tale](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/01/07/130107fa_fact_green) by Adam Green [The Chameleon](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/08/11/080811fa_fact_grann) by David Grann ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177/5 "2013-11-06T00:16:31Z")
Obvious one: **Catch Me If You Can** , the basis of the Spielberg/DiCaprio movie, by Frank Abagnale… ---
**Author:** ![Gray\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Gray\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gray_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177/6 "2013-11-06T05:03:18Z")
I have not read it, but a biography of Titanic Thompson would seem to fall within your request. Not sure if he was a grifter so much as he was someone who always got the best of a proposition. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177/7 "2013-11-06T13:20:43Z")
**The Mark Inside: A Perfect Swindle, a Cunning Revenge, and a Small History of the Big Con** is fun reading. I listened to it on Audible and very much enjoyed it. I picked it up after reading Cory Doctorow’s review on BoingBoing, linked to [here](http://boingboing.net/2012/08/27/the-mark-inside-the.html) ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2013, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177/8 "2013-11-06T13:27:48Z")
I enjoyed **The Great Imposter** , by Ferdinand Waldo Demara. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177/9 "2013-11-08T08:50:37Z")
When the FBI wanted to set up [Abscam](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abscam), they enlisted Melvin Weinberg, who had been conning and scamming all his life. **The Sting Man** was the only book I could find on Abscam; it goes into a lot of detail about Weinberg’s career prior to that. ---
**Author:** ![cerebus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@cerebus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerebus)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177/10 "2013-11-08T12:17:31Z")
These are buried in my bookmarks so I keep forgetting to read them. I have no idea if it’s suave, subtle or romantic but they are about thieves. [http://www.wired.com/politics/law/magazine/17-04/ff\_diamonds?currentPage=all](http://www.wired.com/politics/law/magazine/17-04/ff_diamonds?currentPage=all) [http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/03/ff\_masterthief\_blanchard/all/1](http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/03/ff_masterthief_blanchard/all/1) ---
**Author:** ![Turble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Turble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turble)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177/11 "2013-11-08T16:16:21Z")
[Cheating at Blackjack & Other Casino Games](http://www.amazon.com/Cheating-Blackjack-Other-Casino-Games/dp/1568660715) by Dustin D. Marks This is the real thing – step by step explicit explanations. ---
**Author:** ![fuchsiagroan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9de0a6/32.png) [@fuchsiagroan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuchsiagroan)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177/12 "2013-11-08T20:55:28Z")
I have wanted to read Harry Houdini’s book on con men. The final chapter is on himself. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177/13 "2013-11-08T22:07:36Z")
_Son of a Grifter_. Can’t recall the author (the son of a family of grifters, especially the mother, who tried repeatedly to break out into a normal life) but it was fascinating to me because a good part of the story is set right where I lived, and talked about roads, houses and so forth I knew well. Kind of an irritating read because it’s one part fury, one part helplessness and one part self-justification. Darwin Ortiz’s _Gambling Scams_ is about just that (and may be the best book ever written on the subject, Scarne included) but has many vignettes of grifters and hustlers. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2013, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-some-non-fiction-con-grifter-thief-stories/673177/14 "2013-11-08T22:45:38Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > I enjoyed **The Great Imposter** , by Ferdinand Waldo Demara. There is also a book about Demara with the same title by Robert Crichton, which I enjoyed. Tony Curtis played him in the movie of the same title, which I thought was good.