Episode 04 — Victor Lustig: The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower

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🎙️ Mugshot Mysteries: Episode 4

Victor Lustig. Alias Count. Master of disguise. Smooth talker. And the man who conned the world...literally.

This week on Mugshot Mysteries, Kathryn unravels the stranger-than-fiction story of Victor Lustig, the infamous confidence man who sold the Eiffel Tower not once, but twice. We'll explore:

🧠 Psychology Corner: Gabriel breaks down Lustig's mind through the lens of power, performance, and pathology. Was Lustig just a gifted manipulator...or a man trying to outwit his own insignificance?

📚 Research Sources & Archival Documents

📄 Primary Source Documents (Available via Ancestry.com and historical newspaper archives):

• U.S. Passport Application (March 1925) — Victor Lustig alias Robert V. Miller, including photo and sworn testimony [2 pages]
• Marriage Record – State of Missouri Marriage License, Victor Lustig and Roberta Lustig (née Nagle), 1915
• Comic Feature – Strange As It Seems by John Hix, Medford Mail Tribune, June 12, 1937: “The Man of 63 Aliases”
• Newspaper Articles (Clippings & Headlines):
  • St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Feb 4, 1936 – Treasury agents raid Greenwich Village counterfeit ring
  • The Des Moines Register, May 17, 1935 – “Money Artist Gets 20 Years” (sentencing article)
  • The Des Moines Register, Oct 26, 1947 – “Near-Perfect Counterfeit Bills Stymied Federal Reserve”
  • The Evening Sun, May 14, 1935 – Arrest report, $50,000 bail, inventory of fake money and printing equipment

🕵️ Additional Research via Ancestry.com:

• Immigration records, city directories, and census records cross-referenced for Victor Lustig and known aliases
• Criminal court transcripts, mugshots, and incarceration records from Leavenworth and Alcatraz
• Marriage license and residential verification in Missouri and New York under Robert V. Miller

🧠 Psychology Corner Sources

• Paulhus, D.L., & Williams, K.M. (2002). The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality, 36(6), 556–563.
• Hare, R.D. (1993). Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us.
• Konnikova, M. (2016). The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It… Every Time.
• Goffman, E. (1956). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life.
• Nietzsche, F. (1883–85). Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
• American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5®): Antisocial Personality Disorder.

📖 Recommended Reading & Secondary Sources:

• The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower by Neal Bascomb
• “The Great Pretender: Victor Lustig” – CrimeReads
• “The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower—Twice” – Smithsonian Magazine, March 2015
• The Big Con by David W. Maurer – On the psychology and mechanics of classic con games

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Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time with another face… and another mystery.