America has always had its share of shady characters, deceptive schemers, and get-rich-quick swindlers who leave victims penniless and duped. Here, over 80 entries examine America's most underhand plots - and the dishonest men and women who created and perpetrated them. Coverage includes schemes and frauds such as accident faking, cash machine rackets, the Gold Brick swindle, Lord Gordon-Gordon, Charles Ponzi, and the Spanish prisoner. Entires include: Albert Adams; Rev. Jim Bakker; the Black Sox Scandal; Ivan Boesky; Check Passing; Civil War gold hoax; the great diamond hoax; Charles Keating; medical quackery; Maria Monk; the New York Lottery swindle; pyramid schemes; and watered stock.