What's your favorite book on cons?

I can't think of the title now but it may have been “The Man who Stole Portugal”. A true story about a guy who conned the Bank of England printers into printing the countries bank notes for him and proceeded to buy most of Portugal including banks and railways etc.

There is something about the case here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alves_dos_Reis

Well I assume you mean gambling/cheating in general, or is the topic of the thread books on con games?

In any case, in terms of expose-material, nothing tops Casino Game Protection by you-know-who.

I'd say my other favorite books would have to be Road Hustler, Gambling Scams by Ortiz, and Dice: Squares, Tops, and Shapes by Burton Williams.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0818405......ing=UTF8
Is this the same ortiz book Mr. Z

Yes.

Check out Bringing down the house, and Busting Vegas. Both by Ben Mezrich and they concern the MIT blackjack teams. I also loved the Eudamonic Pie, with is about guys who use toe computers to cheat at roulette.

The Big Con by David W. Maurer is great. Maurer was a professor of linguistics who interviewed hundreds of con-artists to write the book. It is also clear that it is the source book for "The Sting", but I don't think it was credited at the time.

The Big Con is an excellent book. Maurer actually sued the makers of The Sting and won, claiming that they got much of their information from his book.

For a more general overview of con games, I still love Walter B. Gibson's The Bunco Book. It contains dozens of scams and swindles. If you can, pick a copy of the original, or the 1986 Citadel Press version. These were printed in a larger format with lots of illustrations.

Anyone interested in con games should also read Con Man by "Yellow Kid" Weil as told to W. T. Brannon. It is currently available as part of Luc Sante's Library of Larceny from Broadway Books. All the books in this series are worth reading.

For historical information on con games, you can do no better than Wanderings of a Vagabond by John Morris (pseudonym for John O'Conner). This book is available as an etext online, it is also available in hardcover for around $40. A couple more books worth reading--although the information in them is considered less reliable than Wanderings--are Sucker's Progress by Herbert Asbury and Forty Years on the Mississippi by George Devol. Herbert Asbury also wrote Gangs of New York, which Martin Scorses used as the springboard for his movie, and Barbary Coast, which is about the lowlife in San Francisco at the turn of the century. Both are worth reading.

From a magician's perspective, there is John Nevil Maskelyne's classic, Sharps and Flats, Houdini's The Right Way To Do Wrong, and Darwin Ortiz's aforementioned Gambling Scams.

Finally, for biographies on individual con artists, find a copy of Hustlers and Con Men by John Robert Nash. Nash sometimes lets his own pet theories interfere with the facts, but there is plenty of great info in this book.

I've only scratched the surface here. There are plenty more worth mentioning, but that'll get you started.

Jim

Gambling Scams by Darwin and more recently American Roulette by Richard Marcus.

Rick

The Unsinkable Titanic Thompson is also very good.

Steve

Absolutely !

Dowser

Catch me if you can! by frank w abgnale better that the movie and billion dollar bunko by simon lovell.

You know I started this topic and I didn’t even list my favorites. So far I like W. M. Tuckers “The Change Raisers” and Darwin Ortiz’s “Gambling Scams”.

Can't leave out Billion Dollar Bunko by everyones good friend Simon "what the he** kind of sh**y base deal is that" Lovell

I can only assume that you are looking at the card shark tapes made about fifteen years ago ... it's a lot better now!

Simon

those books kick ass... I also enjoyed some of the old school books like rich uncle from fiji and the Koschitz manual of useful information.... Anyone have anymore??

How Con Games Work by M. Allen Henderson-

Wouldn't it be fun to send this list to Oprah? I'm thinking, "Crook-book of the month club."

Frank Abagnale's books must be on that list, despite the movie.

Hard to have just a few favorites... and adding to the list of what was mentioned already:

"Protection" by Joseph E. Meyer
"Carnival Secrets" by Matthew Gryczan (may not actually be a book on cons, per se, but it does explain how the games work and has instructions for building your own carnival games)