Victor Lustig

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Early Life

Victor Lustig was born in Hostinné, in then Austria Hungary (now the Czech Republic) in 1890. His parents were peasants, and he began stealing in order to survive. He claims he did so in Robin Hood style (only stealing from the greedy/dishonest). As a teen he went from panhandler, to pickpocket, to a burglar, to hustler.

Through all of this, he was extremely intelligent and went on to study at the University of Paris. He has 47 aliases and had dozens of fake passports. Lustig was fluent in Czech, English, German, Italian, and French.

Lustig To America

As a young man, he traveled to the US during the roaring twenties. Think Great Gatsby, money flowing everywhere, and easy targets. He was on the radar of detectives in 40 cities. Lustig was known as “the Scarred” because of a scar on his left cheekbone, apparently from a love rival in Paris.

In 1919 he married Roberta Noret and they had at least 1 daughter. That daughter claims he also had a secret family. On top of the secret family, he also had a lover, Billie Mae Scheible who had a million-dollar prostitution racket. She would have her customers sign blank checks when they were drunk. Then she would fill them out for crazy amounts (like the JLo movie Hustlers, but set in 1920).

Rumanian money box – A small wooden box that could print $100 bills using radium. He would sell the boxes for $20,000 or more and put a few counterfeit bills in the box to give them an “example “of how it printed. Then he would tell them it takes 6 hours for 1 bill to print. By the time they would figure it out, he was gone.

Lustig convinced Al Capone to give him $50,000 for investment and told him that he would double the money. He put the money in a safe and 2 months later returned it to him explaining that the investment went horribly wrong, but he wanted him to have his money back. Capone was so impressed with Lustig giving the money back, that he gave him $5,000.

Selling the Eiffel Tower

In May of 1925, he came to Paris and commissioned stationery with the official French seal. He then checked into the “Hotel de Crillon” which is still existing today. It’s very well known in Paris and you can stay there for between $1,200 and $20,000 a night.

He wrote letters using that stationery to the top people in the French scrap metal industry inviting them there for a meeting. At this meeting, he explained that because of engineering faults, costly repairs, and political problems the Eiffel tower was going to be torn down. They would be selling it to the highest bidder.

While most of those men wised up before giving Lustig any money, Andre Poisson agreed to buy the tower. He even paid Lustig extra to “guarantee” the contract for him. After getting the money ($70,000) he took off to Vienna. Apparently, Andre started calling the government offices that Lustig claimed to be a part of, asking when the tower would be torn down. He was so embarrassed by having been conned he never went to the police.

Lustig came back to Paris later that year to perform the same scheme. This time police got word so he skipped town before they could get to him.

Lustig’s Downfall

By 1930 he had teamed up with pharmacist William Watts and chemist Tom Shaw to counterfeit money. They were circulating thousands of dollars each month for the next 5 years. They were called the “supernotes” of the era.

The counterfeit money brought him into the crosshairs of the Secret Service and agent Peter Rubano who vowed to put him behind bars. It was just like “Catch Me If You Can.” Lustig traveled with disguises and aliases and was always one step ahead.

In 1935, Billie Mae discovered Lustig was stepping out on her with another woman. She decided to get revenge, making an anonymous tip to the feds. On May 10th when Lustig was walking down an NYC street, he felt a tug on his collar and heard “hands in the air.” He was arrested and taken to the Manhattan Federal Detention center.

But then

On the Sunday before Labor Day, he fashioned a rope from the bedsheets, cut through the bars on his cell, and swung from the window, Tarzan style. When people started to look up he took out a rag and pretended to be cleaning the window. When he got to the ground he landed on his feet, bowed, and then ran off.

Officials found a note on his pillow, which was an passage from Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables.

He allowed himself to be led in a promise; Jean Valjean has his promise. Even to a convict, especially to a convict. It may give the convict confidence and guide him on the right path. Law was not made by God and Man can be wrong.

Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables

On Sept 28, 1935, he jumped into a waiting car. Agents watching him jumped into their car and gave chase. For nine blocks the chase went on. When the driver refused to stop the agents crashed their car into them. He was brought before a judge and sentenced to 20 years in Alcatraz.

They searched him thoroughly and hosed him with freezing seawater. Then they marched him naked down the main corridor. In December of 1946, he started making constant medical requests. The prison thought he was faking an illness as part of an escape plan. Finally, they transported him to a medical facility and realized he was not faking. He died from complications arising from pneumonia.

On his death certificate, his occupation is marked as an apprentice salesman. Historians have tried to track him back to the town he said he was from, Hostinné, but there is no trace of him or his true identity.

He is described by one secret service agent to be “as elusive as a puff of cigarette smoke and as charming as a young girl’s dream.”

Resources

• The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower. Twice.
• The Smoothest Con Man That Ever Lived | History
• The Smoothest Conman Who Sold The Eiffel Tower…TWICE
• Victor Lustig: The Conman Who ‘Sold’ The Eiffel Tower — Twice

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