William McBoyle stole an airplane, and it was perfectly legal. Just to be clear, he actually took possession of someone else’s aircraft without their permission and never gave it back. Even so, […]
How to Steal an Airplane Without Breaking the Law
The Creation and Theft of the $1 Million Coin
The island of Yap has coins that are so big that it takes 20 men to carry one. In 2004, Austria released a €100,000 coin, consisting of 31.103 kg (68.6 lbs) of […]
The Six Million Dollar Mummy
The cast and crew of the television show The Six Million Dollar Man were used to seeing unusual props. Any program that involves a man whose bionic legs, arm, and eye give […]
The Day Someone Stole the Empire State Building
The city of New York is certainly not a stranger to crime. Whether it is burglary, pickpocketing, vehicle theft or other like offenses, New York City experienced 371,880 incidents of property crime […]
The Successful Career of the World’s Worst Counterfeiter
The Secret Service agent who studied the currency thought it was a joke. He was looking at a dollar bill that had been used at a cigar store, and it was clearly […]
Milton’s Writing Can Really Get Under Your Skin
A good writer knows how to grip the imagination of the reader in such a way that the words leap from the page and burn themselves in the reader’s mind. Reading the […]
Proof that Being a Criminal Mastermind Isn’t a Genetic Trait
Most people have heard of Al Capone, the notorious mob boss who ran Chicago from his criminal headquarters during the waning years of Prohibition. Less well known is Capone’s eldest brother, James, […]
Three Lawyers Found This Client to Be a Pain in the Neck
Josh Monson was facing trial for murder and drug charges in 2011 in Everett, Washington. Apparently unsatisfied with his defense attorney, Monson stabbed him in the neck with a pencil. That lawyer […]
How “Herbie Goes Bananas” Led to a Radioactive Disaster
Herbie Goes Bananas, the 1980 film about a Volkswagen Beetle that is seemingly alive, is widely regarded as the worst of the Herbie movies. Some might even call it a disaster. Few […]
Dishonesty Doesn’t Pay
British Member of Parliament Horatio Bottomley made a lot of money through fraud. He also lost a lot of money the same way. In a classic case of karma, in 1914 Bottomley […]
Some People Just Aren’t Good With Animals
Benjamin Herman Siegel of southern Florida was arrested in January, 2015 and charged with battery and cruelty to animals after allegedly striking employees with a bearded dragon and putting the bearded dragon […]
Never Argue With a Judge — Even When He Calls Himself an Idiot
When Tristan Ellis, a notorious burglar, showed up in front of Australian Judge Dean Mildren on March 29, 2004, it was the third time that year he had been arrested. The judge […]
Cleaning Up in Real Estate — the Con Man’s Way
Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava (1912-2009), also known as “Natwarlal,” was a noted Indian con man who repeatedly sold the Taj Mahal; the Red Fort; the Indian presidential residence, Rashtrapati Bhavan; and the Parliament […]
Perhaps They Will Find That Part About “Thou Shall Not Steal”
The most shoplifted book in the United States is the Bible. Nationwide, bookstores net about $16 billion in sales every year, according to the American Booksellers Association. Stores estimated that they lose […]
Appropriate Name in the End
In the late 1880s, Lester Moore worked as a Wells Fargo Station Agent in the Mexico-United States border town of Naco, Arizona. One day a man named Hank Dunstan arrived at the […]
