An Old Timey Podcast - 102: I've Got A Bridge To Sell You

Episode Date: May 6, 2026

George C. Parker was an infamous con man. He sold the Brooklyn Bridge countless times. He sold Ulysses S. Grant’s tomb. He sold Madison Square Garden. He sold the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He even sold the Statue of Liberty! Most often, the victims of his schemes were new immigrants who didn’t speak English and were unfamiliar with America’s public property laws. …but… was George C. Parker truly the prolific scammer he claimed to be? The internet sure thinks so! Normie C begs to differ.Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from: Asbury Park Press. “Capt. Parker Held For Extradition.” June 30, 1928.Asbury Park Press. “Parker, Famous ‘Seller,’ Seized Here, Gets Life.” December 18, 1928.Asbury Park Press. “Parker, Noted Confidence Man, Is Arrested Here.” June 29, 1928.Brooklyn Daily Times. “Famous ‘Con’ Man Starts as ‘Lifer.’” November 23, 1928.Brooklyn Daily Times. “Smartest Bunco Salesman Faces Life Term If Convicted.” July 8, 1928.Brooklyn Eagle. “Albert Murch Dies.” August 11, 1931.Brooklyn Eagle. “Brooklyn Bridge’s ‘Seller’ Sent to Sing Sing For Life.” November 23, 1928.Brown, Peter Jensen. “Bridges, Bunco and Basso - a Gullible History of Selling the Brooklyn Bridge.” Early Sports and Pop Culture History Blog, October 1, 2020. https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2020/10/bridges-bunco-and-basso-gullible.html.Cohen, Gabriel. “For You, Half Price - The New York Times.” The New York Times, November 27, 2005. https://archive.is/5GeA4.Courier-Post. “Bunco Prince Faces Life For $150 Deal.” July 9, 1928.Daily News. “Con Man Uses Love Notes To Gag Dupes.” July 8, 1928.Detroit Free Press. “Selling Brooklyn Bridge.” November 23, 1928.Ellery Queen Magazine. “Stranger Than Fiction.” November 2022. https://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com/the-crime-scene/stranger-than-fiction-november-2022/.Find a Grave. “‘Capt.’ George C. Parker (1860-1937).” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/229047420/george_c-parker.HISTORY, dir. Modern Marvels: Building the Brooklyn Bridge (S2, E20) | Full Episode | History. Modern Marvels. 2023. 46:00. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I-JFnbJ19U.HowStuffWorks. “Meet the Conman Who Sold the Brooklyn Bridge — Many Times Over.” July 26, 2022. https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-figures/conman-sold-brooklyn-bridge.htm.IrishCentral.Com. “The Man Who ‘Sold’ The Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, and Ulysses Grant’s Tomb.” February 25, 2026. https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/man-sold-brooklyn-bridge-statue-of-liberty.Lincoln Journal Star. “Bridge ‘Seller’ Is Caught in Law’s Net.” December 11, 1928.Marysville Journal-Tribune. “Man Who ‘Sold’ Brooklyn Bridge Again in Jail; Other Old-Time Crooks Come to Grief In New York.” December 1, 1928.Mimi Matthews. “The 19th Century Confidence Man.” June 20, 2016. https://www.mimimatthews.com/2016/06/20/the-19th-century-confidence-man/.Minium, Alice. “The Untold Truth Of 19th-Century Conman George C. Parker.” Grunge, April 4, 2022. https://www.grunge.com/820192/the-untold-truth-of-19th-century-conman-george-c-parker/.Naked History. “The Man Who Sold the Brooklyn Bridge.” https://web.archive.org/web/20190718114933/https://www.historynaked.com/man-sold-brooklyn-bridge/.NYC Walks. “The Brooklyn Bridge — ‘If You Believe That, I Have a Bridge in Brooklyn to Sell to You.’” https://nycwalks.com/blog/the-brooklyn-bridge-if-you-believe-that-i-have-a-bridge-in-brooklyn-to-sell-to-you/.Racing Nellie Bly. “Con Artist George Parker Sold Brooklyn Bridge And Famous Monuments.” Accessed April 24, 2026. https://racingnelliebly.com/strange_times/con-artist-george-parker-sold-brooklyn-bridge/.Sifakis, Carl. Hoaxes and Scams: A Compendium of Deceptions, Ruses, and Swindles. Facts on File, 1993.“Sing Sing Prison Admission Registers, 1865-1939.” n.d. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8922/.The Brooklyn Citizen. “Man, Suing State, Charged With Forging Contracts.” September 18, 1930.The Brooklyn Citizen. “News of the Day.” July 18, 1892.The Brooklyn Citizen. “Nothing Heard of Criminal Who Skipped Jail.” January 3, 1906.The Brooklyn Citizen. “Old Offender Once Again in Toils of Law.” July 7, 1928.The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. “Once Sold Brooklyn Bridge And Lots in City Hall Park, Rest of Life May Be In Jail.” July 8, 1928.The Brooklyn Daily Times. “Roamer, 58, Is Given Life For Forgery.” December 17, 1928.The Houston Post. “Selling Brooklyn Bridge.” December 26, 1928.The Mayfield Messenger. “Con Man Who ‘Sold’ Brooklyn Bridge Gets Life in Prison.” December 18, 1928.The Miami Herald. “Dean of Slickers Given Life Term.” December 18, 1928.The News Journal. “Former Resident of Shore Gets Life Term.” December 18, 1928.The Saginaw News. “His Wasted Sales Talent.” July 10, 1928.The Washington Post. “Life for Brooklyn Bridge Swindler.” December 18, 1928.Times Union. “Big Claimant Against State Recognized by Judge Conway.” September 18, 1930.Times Union. “Lifer Recalls Nervy Escape.” November 23, 1928.Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.

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Hear ye, hear ye. You are listening to an old-timey podcast. I'm Normie C. And I'm Kristen Caruso. And on this episode, I have a bridge to sell you. Norm, that's so sassy. I have to apologize in advance for this episode. What?

It is all over the freaking place, okay? Are we going to need bridges to get to wherever you're going? Yeah, we're going to need to build a lot of bridges to connect the dots. I went full conspiracy theory on this episode, kind of, sort of. Definitely. I have a lot to say. Anyway, should we plug the Patreon?

Wait, is that all we're getting? Is that the teaser for this episode? The teaser is this is nuts, and I'm sorry, but please listen. Yeah. We don't need a teaser in the beginning of the episode, okay? Okay, okay, well. We just listen to the episode. Here's a teaser for you.

Let me tease you, folks. It happened. All right, I was brave. I dropped the Patreon bonus episode this month, and it was, in fact, about how Panera bread used to be great, and now it freaking sucks. It was a very brave episode for me to talk so hatefully about a place that I once loved.

And if you want to listen to that, head on over to patreon.com slash old-timey podcast. You can listen to all our bonus episodes at the $5 level, or if you want to kick it up a notch, get that pig butter level, You get all our bonus episodes. You get ad-free episodes. You get video episodes.

You get to play trivia with us. We send you cards and stickers, whether you like it or not. And if you head there right now, right now, big boy, we got 50% off your first month on pig butter. Name a better deal. You probably can. But, you know, we're a small independent podcast. So help us out. Did you mention the slop?

The slop at the $10 level? Did you mention the slap? Sir, you were here the whole time. You know I forgot about the slop. Okay. Yeah, you get extra content every episode on the $10 tier, too. The slop. And this week, we're going to talk about times that we have been duped.

We've been duped. We've become, we've been. It's going to be embarrassing. We're marks, we're robs. I've got all the terms for victims of scams. Patreon.com slash old-timey podcast. Also, I should mention, you know, last week I threatened to spank people who are not signed up. It felt more like a promise.

But yeah, it was threatening. And we did get a comment on Spotify that simply said, I am not a Patreon member. So I'm not sure if that person was letting me know that I should come out to them and spank them. But it seems like plausible deniability. I don't know. You show up, start spanking. I think they've got a reason to call 911 on you.

We've got Reddit comments from people wondering what this entails, what this means for the podcast, what this means for their lives. I think what it means is, like, in theory, you would have to take, the podcast would have to stop if you were going to spank everyone who was not a patron. So in a way, this is going to be the thing that kills our business, whether you get locked up for this and you should or not. You know, I'm not sure if editor Joe is a patron, so it might be paying a visit to Joe and give him a little spanking.

Here I come, Joe. Anyway, let's get into this episode. Again, I apologize in advance. Oh, my God, Norman, why are you apologizing? I'm telling you, the problem is my brain was jumping all over the place, researching this, and it shows in my writing. Okay. Picture it. New York City, 1885.

Wait, what? Huh? What? This script is jumping around so much already. Shit. Shut. What? Shut up.

I just don't even understand. Shut your trap. And let me tell my story. Picture it. New York City, 1885. We are at one of the most iconic landmarks of the city, the Brooklyn Bridge, which at that time connected the independent cities of New York and Brooklyn. In 1885, the Brooklyn Bridge still had that new bridge. smell. It was only two years old. And every day, thousands of people crossed it via the pedestrian

walkway, by horse and carriage, or by railway. At peak hours, 500 tickets were sold every minute. It was folks from all walks of life. Some people were crossing the East River to visit friends. Some were commuters from Brooklyn on their way to work in the Big Apple. Others were couples in therapy, like Stephen Miranda, who agreed to meet on the bridge at a specific time if they wanted their marriage to continue. Oh, my God. Oh, wait a minute. I apologize. I got my notes mixed up.

That's actually from the Sex and the City movie. Wow, Norm, you really were all over the place. I tried to warn you. I tried to warn the history hose. This is why I have to apologize in advance. I couldn't help but wonder why you brought Stephen Miranda up, but here we are. You know, every time we watch that movie, I take copious amounts of notes, and I just got it mixed up with my research. You're always taking notes.

So, apologies for that. But, you know, the other people on that bridge, Kristen, were immigrants, taking in the sights and sounds of the land of opportunity. What is that from? I go to America. Someone's not a big Titanic fan. Oh, my God. Remember Fabrizio? I go to America.

That is so awful. What's so awful about it? Because he's Italian? Yeah, that's why. Wow. That's my people, Kristen. Yes, indeed. That's why I have a problem with it.

Okay, fair enough. As the wife of an Italian, you're allowed to say that. Most of the immigrants arriving in America were poor, looking for a better life. But others arrived with some cash. They hoped to invest in something and become rich in the U.S. of A. And sadly, those immigrants became. the perfect targets for con men. Con men like George C. Parker.

George C. Parker's game was selling property he did not own. Throughout his criminal career, he sold everything from Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Statue of Liberty. Boy, he went for the biggest hits, didn't he? Oh, yeah. You ready for this? One time, he even sold Ulysses S. Grant's tomb by pretending to be Grant's grandson. Well, that's gross.

You can't even sell a tomb. You can sell anything if you're a con man, Kristen. Hey, that's against the rules. You're not allowed to sell that. Well, I'm just saying, like, I'm not to victim blame, but like, did you really think you were buying some guy's tomb? He's already in there. It's not that he was like, hey, when you die, you can be buried in this tomb.

No, no, no, no, I understand the scheme. It's, you know, hey, here's former president, Ulysses S. Grant's tomb. Wouldn't you like to own a piece of history? Right. And some, I'm sorry, maybe not so bright. Fella was like, I would like to own a piece of history. This is the best plaque alert of all time. I own this man's tomb.

You can't do that. Yeah, but think about it. If he's targeting immigrants that don't speak the language, that don't understand the laws of this country, or how things work, or about public property, or things like that. Maybe they think, yeah, I can own former president's Ulysses S. Grant's tomb.

Okay. But anyway, George C. Parker's most famous scam and the one he is most famous for. Sorry, them saying the same thing twice. You really are. Let's do a third one. And hold on, you don't know

this most famous one right here. Let me try this again. No, no, keep adding on. His most famous scam and the one he is most famous for and the one we know him the most. most for is selling the Brooklyn Bridge. George C. Parker claimed he sold the Brooklyn Bridge on average twice a week. It was easy money, and here's how he did it. First, he had to find

himself a rube. Sometimes he would just pick out a gullible sightseer on the bridge. Other times, he bribed Ellis Island processors and ferry drivers to scope out potential marks, newly arriving immigrants, ones with money to spend. And then George C. Parker, wearing his finest clothes, would run into them, either around town or on the bridge. And Parker would introduce himself, usually with a fake name. And he'd start making small talk. And he came across as very humble and sincere. And once he gained their confidence, Parker revealed that he owned the Brooklyn Bridge. And he'd say, yes, I absolutely love building bridges, but operating them, ugh, it's so much work. I really don't have the time. And honestly, between you and me,

I kind of wish I didn't own this bridge. Oh my God. Victims seeing dollar signs in their eyes would be like, wait, are you serious? You'd be willing to sell the Brooklyn Bridge. And Parker would say, absolutely. Here, come down to my office, I'll show you all the documentation so we can get started. And so George C. Parker would take his victims to his real estate office, usually a hastily rented room nearby, and he would present them with the deed to the Brooklyn Bridge. Immigrants completely ignorant of the laws and the fact that the Brooklyn Bridge was publicly owned and could not be sold, we're stunned. Holy canoli.

Well, how much do you want for the bridge? Parker, the ever humble bridge builder was like, oh, I'd sell it to you for, how about $50,000? Oh my God, adjusted for inflation. Adjusted for inflation, that's $1.7 million. Fun fact. Wow, wow. The Brooklyn Bridge had cost more than $15 million to build.

just for inflation, $500 million. So what you're saying is he's offering people a bargain, really. That's exactly what I'm saying, Kristen, and I even wrote that down here. Wow, what a deal. Oh, no, everyone. Norm hates when I get to a joke faster than he does. No, no, I'm agreeing with you. Yeah, sounds like a great deal.

But, ooh, $50,000, that's a lot of money. Hell, even today, $50,000 is a lot of money. Yeah. These immigrants usually didn't have. have that kind of cash on hand. But George C. Parker was like, oh, not to worry, I really like you. Let's set up a payment plan. How about you put down $1,000 today as a down payment? And then every quarter, I'll collect $4,000 until the bill is paid off. And so these victims were like, well, sure. This is so awful. So they scraped together everything they had and gave it to this guy.

Sometimes. All the while, these victims were probably thinking, this guy is a total sucker because I'm going to earn all that money and then some by setting up tolls on the bridge. Yeah. And so they made a deal. And a couple of weeks later, that victim would inevitably arrive at the Brooklyn Bridge and start setting up a toll barrier.

Police would quickly stop them and ask, what on earth are you doing? And the story was always the same. Oh, well, I own this bridge and I'm setting up new tolls. You know, here's my deed that says I own the Brooklyn Bridge. And the police responded like... Oh. And then they had to have a tough conversation with someone who could barely speak the language or comprehend the law.

You cannot buy the Brooklyn Bridge. You have been scammed. This had to be impossible. Listen, I've seen enough episodes of that stupid show Catfish. to know that even when it's obvious someone has been scammed, they don't want, it's so hard to accept. Mm-hmm. I can see Neve pulling up a reverse image search of the Brooklyn Bridge and being like,

yep, see? Norm, he does real research. Did he even occur to you to do some real research for this episode? Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me right now? Wait, just you wait. Norm, Google image searched everything for this episode. I did do some reverse Google image searching, okay?

So, yeah, the police had to tell these immigrants, look, you've been scammed. You can't buy the Brooklyn Bridge. And it could take weeks to convince these victims that they had been scammed. Over the years, dozens and dozens of people fell for the scam. Allegedly, George C. Parker collected up to $1 million total selling property he did not own. Oh my God. Police began noticing the patterns.

But finding George C. Parker wasn't easy. He had dozens of aliases. He changed his address many, many times. But eventually in 1901, he was caught. George C. Parker was found guilty of grand larceny and served two years and six months in Sing Sing Prison, about 30 miles north of Manhattan. I like how you said Sing Sing.

Isn't it called Sing? Yeah, it is. But you moved a little, like, with a touch of whimsy, as if you were going into a bit of a musical episode. Have you seen that movie that recently came out called Sing Sing? No. It's about prisoners in Sing Sing that put on, like, a play. Oh, okay. Yeah, it was really good.

I watched it on my plane. But I've always loved that name for prison. It does sound like a fun, whimsical place to be, Sing. Boy, would you be surprised if you went there? I know. I'd be scared straight for me. I'd be shivering in my little boots, okay? But George C. Parker is found guilty of grand larceny,

two years, six months in Sing Sing. After his release and over the next few decades, George C. Parker was in and out of the slimmer for a variety of schemes. Eventually, his escapades caught up to him. In 1928, he was given a life sentence, thanks to a harsh new anti-crime statute known as Bombs Law. What is that? More on that later.

Oh, okay. In Sing Sing Prison, George C. Parker was considered a hero for his incredible criminal exploits. He loved to recount his stories to everyone, including the guards. He was sort of a big deal. He was the very first man to sell the Brooklyn Bridge. There had been plenty of imitators of his brilliant scheme. It got so popular that it gave rise to the phrase. If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you.

Are we really going to call it a brilliant scheme? I mean, if you're a criminal, that's a pretty brilliant scheme. I don't know. I think taking advantage of really disadvantaged people, I don't know that that's brilliant. Do criminals care about that sort of thing? I think there might be a code of honor. I'm just saying if we're going to call it brilliant, uh-huh.

Doop some really fucking rich dudes is what I'm saying. That's, then you get to be brilliant. Okay, I mean. Bernie Madoff, I'd like to know more about you. Now there is a scheme. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and I'm being a little flower. I know, I know.

So yeah, that scheme got so popular, it gave rise to the phrase, if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you, which insinuates that someone is gullible. George C. Parker died at Sing Sing Prison in 1937. He died a legendary con man. And Kristen, that's the story of George C. Parker. The first man to sell the Brooklyn Bridge. Oh.

And if you believed a word of what I just told you, I have a bridge to sell you. Norman, are you the con artist now? I believe I have been conned. Okay. I feel like I've been conned for the past. two weeks, okay? Let me explain my dramatic, twisted tale of researching George C. Parker. So, in my last episode, I talked about when Universal Studios sued Nintendo over Donkey Kong. And one of Nintendo's lawyers told Universal they weren't going to quote,

by the Brooklyn Bridge. And I had always been curious about that phrase. So, Kristen, I got a little kinky Kong with some con text. Get it? I do. I don't like it, but I get it. So I wanted to know what exactly does it mean to buy the Brooklyn Bridge? Where did that phrase come from? You know, so I did like some surface level research. You know, I read Wikipedia, I read some blogs, I listened to some podcasts. I watched some YouTube videos.

And all of them basically said the same thing. There was a man named George C. Parker. he was the very first man to sell the Brooklyn Bridge, and that is where we get the phrase. If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you. Okay. And Wikipedia even has a photo of the man. You know, that's got to be legit, right?

Oh, so you really did do some reverse Google image searches. I told you. Okay. Yeah. And so I decided, hey, you know, this could be a fun episode. I'm going to research George C. Parker. And I assume this would be a very straightforward, one-off episode. But Kristen, after doing some research, I am left with more questions than answers.

Okay? Is this a two-parter? No, it's still a one-parter. Okay, okay. But, hey, I might be doing a follow-up. That's all I'm going to say. Okay. I struggled to find legitimate sources for a lot of the information about George C. Parker.

Most of it comes from newspaper reports about his final arrest in 1920s. which was about 30 plus years after he allegedly sold the Brooklyn Bridge. And when I double-checked some of these claims in those articles from 1928, I ran into dead end after dead end after dead end. In fact, I'm not even sure George C. Parker was this guy's real name. Oh my God. It was one of his many aliases he used to commit crimes. And that photo of him on Wikipedia?

So Wikipedia credits the photo to a... blog post about the story. And so I went to that blog and I found the photo there and the blog credits the photo to Wikipedia. So I was like, what the fuck? Where does this photo come from? It's all connected, man. So I reversed image searched it. I checked newspapers.com. I checked ancestry.com. I have no idea where that photo is from. I have no idea who that man is. For all I know, That could be one of my ancestors, Normando Caruso. Unfortunately, we have this thing in podcasting called Deadlines. And to be honest, I feel like there is more to uncover here.

You know, maybe on a dark and stormy night, I will pick my research back up, Kristen. Okay. But here's what I can tell you. Was George C. Parker the first man to sell the Brooklyn Bridge? Probably not. Was George C. Parker this man's actual name? Maybe. Did he sell the bridge on average twice a week as he claimed? Probably not. Did he sell other famous monuments like Madison Square Garden and Ulysses S. Grant's tomb? Probably not. So, let's dive into the details. Today, I'm going to share with you everything I learned about the mysterious George C. Parker and his scheme of selling the Brooklyn Bridge. Are you ready, Kristen? I am ready. I'm excited.

Are you stunned? Shocked. I kind of am just because this is one of those stories that I feel like I've heard on other podcasts and, you know, it's always told pretty quickly and just like you just told it. Yeah. And you know there's got to be more going on. Most podcasts and videos I watched on YouTube were max 10 minutes long about this man. Right. I have way more to say.

Okay. So we know basically nothing about the early life of the man known as George C. Parker. Everything I could find I attained from census and prison records. He was born on the eve of the American Civil War on March 16, 1860 in New York City, New York. His parents were immigrants from Northern Ireland. George had a large family, four brothers and three sisters. Based on the time period, it's very likely his family left Ireland due to the potato famine. During that crisis, around one million Irish people died from starvation. Another

million left the country to survive. So I think it's reasonable to assume that is how George C. Parker's family ended up in the United States. Life could not have been easy for them. Irish discrimination was a major problem. Protestants of the United States viewed Irish Catholics as a foreign threat. They were stereotyped as subhuman, drunks, violent people. Many employers refuse to hire Irish workers. So, a large Irish family with no money trying to survive in a hostile city, that could explain how George C. Parker turned to a life of crime. Yeah. We may not know much about Parker's early life, but what we do know is that he grew up during an exciting era in the United States.

The Gilded Age! Oh, I do love the Gilded Age! Oh It was a time of great industrialization Wealth and growth in the United States And the coolest clothing There are a new season coming out, Guild Age? God, I hope so

I still need to contact the producers Because I want them to make Joseph Richardson a character in that show The guy that built the Spite House They are waiting for your email Okay, I was hoping you would say They were waiting for my call No.

I want it to get real personally. I want to pretend like someone's actually going to read your email and be like, oh my God, we've been needing a new idea. Gather around the laptop, gang. That would be an awesome little subplot in that show. It really would be. Folks, previous topic, Joseph Richardson's Spite House, a Normie C original and quite good. I do love that episode. My favorite part of that episode is when they're carrying his dead body out of the Spite House.

They're like having trouble getting the coffin out. My favorite one was when the chubby reporter got stuck in the house. Oh, yeah, that's good, too. During his youth, George C. Parker would have witnessed the end of the American Civil War, the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, the rise of corporate monopolies, the assassination of James Garfield, the invention of the telephone and the phonograph, the introduction of time zones, and tons of new, incredible buildings, and trillions, structures going up all around New York City. And one of those incredible structures was the

Brooklyn Bridge. So let's briefly talk about the Brooklyn Bridge. The making of this iconic bridge deserves its own series. Future topic? I have actually heard that that's an interesting. It is fascinating. Full of drama, too. Okay. I mean, a bridge doesn't sound very dramatic, so I'm a little skeptical, but I'll trust you. Mm-hmm. And if you believe that. Okay. So, yeah, this, it would be a fantastic series, but for now, here's a little titty-bitty about it. So, back in the 1800s, Brooklyn and New York City were independent cities.

In fact, Brooklyn was considered rural, despite being the third largest city in the United States. Did I say rural weird? You kind of did, and I kind of enjoyed it. You've just really put a lot of emphasis on it. If it's a word that I know I struggle with, I really go hard at it. You're like, attention everyone. I'm about to say rural. Brooklyn was considered rural, okay?

It had a lot of cheap property, so a ton of people, including immigrants, live there. However, most of the jobs were in New York City across the East River. By 1868, there were 50 million commuters a year going into New York. York City from Brooklyn. And the only way to get there was by ferry. That wasn't exactly efficient. People clamored for a bridge to connect the two cities. But it seemed like an impossible task. That bridge would have to be over a mile long, more than twice as long as any existing bridge in the city. It would also have to stand the test of time. The East River was saltwater with strong currents. And on top of all that, the bridge would have to be tall to allow ships to pass

underneath. No progress was made until a fateful day in 1852. That day, a German-born civil engineer named John Robling got stranded on an ice-clogged ferry in the East River. Robling thought about what a ridiculous predicament he was in on that ferry, and he declared, There's got to be a better way! Yes! John Robling was a brilliant engineer, often considered the greatest bridge builder of his time. He was known. for building suspended bridges using extremely strong iron and steel cables. And a suspended bridge was the perfect solution to connect Brooklyn and New York City. Suspended bridges can span great distances without the need of intermediate peers. They also require way less material. And so John Roebling

pitched his idea, a two-level suspended bridge across the East River. The lower level would be for vehicles, like carriages, and the top level for pedestrians. Two massive 268-foot towers with beautiful Gothic arches would carry that steel cable across the river and hold up the bridge. And on each end of the bridge, giant seven-story masonry anchors would hold the cables down. It would be unlike any other bridge in the world. In June of 1869, John Robling's bridge project was approved and he was made chief engineer. Sadly, his tenure didn't last long. While scouting locations for the bridge,

John Robling's foot was crushed by a ferry. Oh! He had to have his toes amputated. I bet that guy really hated the fairy then. Oh, you bet, Kristen. First he gets stranded on one and then one crushes his foot. But I'm not done yet. Although Robling was a brilliant engineer,

he wasn't really up to date on the latest in medicine. After his amputation, he declined further treatment. Instead, he relied on water therapy, pouring warm water over a wound to encourage healing. And as we learned from our episode on The Great Stink, guess what the number one killer of humans in all of history is? Oh, well, it's drinking poopy water, but also pouring poopy water on your broken foot. That's right. Contaminated water. We call it poopy water. Whoopi water. John Robling died three weeks later from gangrene and tetanus.

Goodness. His son, 32-year-old Washington Robling, took over as chief engineer. Building the Brooklyn Bridge was an incredible accomplishment. To sum it up, it took more than 14 years to build that bridge. Around 40 workers died during its construction. Washington Robling himself almost died too. He had to finish the project from his sickbed. literally said to his co-workers,

Right now I'm thinking about holding another meeting in bed. What? Did a ferry attack him too? No. So I didn't write this part down, but here's what happened. Okay. To build the bridge, they had to basically create a giant box and sink it to the bottom of the river. And then they had a tunnel down to the box.

So the box was, you know, full of air. Right. And they had to dig the box down like 100 feet to set up the, like, foundation for those Gothic towers. Gotcha. And they didn't understand it at the time, but basically that lack of oxygen in that box caused people to get really sick. Yeah. And Washington Roebling famously like that. to work alongside the construction crews.

And he got really sick from that. That's not nice of you. Not nice, not okay. I can't remember the term for it. There was a term for people that got sick working on that bridge. But yeah, he got that and he was bedridden basically the rest of his life. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

It like attacks your nervous system. Okay, well, that was really awful of me to say. Well, it was an awful thing. But Kristen, it wasn't. just construction problems. The bridge ran into bureaucratic delays, funding issues, faulty materials from shady contractors. In the end, the Brooklyn Bridge ended up costing around $15 million to build, more than twice the original estimate. But you know, no one was really worried about all of that when the bridge officially opened on May 24, 1883. The mayor declared that day

a city holiday. Kristen's favorite president, Chester A. Arthur, presided over the ceremonies. along with the governor of New York and future president, Grover Cleveland. On its first day of operation, more than 150,000 people walked across the Brooklyn Bridge at a cost of a penny each. Horse and carriage cost five cents each. It really was a special day because, gosh, dang it, the Brooklyn Bridge was and still is a beautiful structure. For a brief time, it was the tallest structure in the entire Western Hemisphere. the Brooklyn Bridge has become a symbol of the creativity, ingenuity, and determination of Americans. And so it was fitting that the Brooklyn Bridge was one of the first major landmarks immigrants saw when they arrived in the United States.

It gave them hope. They saw opportunity in that bridge. But other people, con men, like George C. Parker, saw dollar signs. George C. Parker was known at that time. as a confidence man. Today, we shorten that to con man. The term was first coined in New York City back in 1849. A man named William Thompson approached strangers on the sidewalk and struck up conversations. He pretended to know them.

He was warm. He was friendly. And after gaining their trust, Thompson would always ask if he could borrow their watch. And as soon as it was handed over, Thompson laughed and walked off with it. Newspapers at the time reported that Thompson had, quote, tricked men by gaining their confidence, hence the term. Confidence men got more and more daring and elaborate with their schemes. One American con man checked himself into London's Savoy Hotel,

claiming to be the director of the Standard Oil Company, a good friend to John D. Rockefeller. He got free lodging, all of his meals paid for, and more. Oh my God. A newspaper in 1893 commented that Confidence Men will quote, rob you of your last shilling if he can do so, but not by knocking you down and taking it from you by force. His plan is to work himself into your confidence,

and having done so, despoil you. In accomplishing his end, he is just as much pity for his victim as a highway robber, but not more. And for George C. Parker, this was how he would make a living in life. According to police detectives, Parker was a stunningly good confidence man, one of the best of the era, known as the naughty 90s. Was it really?

I guess so. That is cute. The 1890s were known as the naughty 90s. See, when I first saw naughty 90s, I thought of me as a seven-year-old boy secretly watching Melrose Place from the hallway. That is naughty. That is. I was not allowed to watch that at all. Yeah, my mom was watching it.

I was like sneaking around the court, like, what's going on? I basically learned everything about sex from Melrose Place. That explains why you're so good at it. Thank you, Kristen. I mean, I might need a rim shot there. No, we don't. We don't, actually. Because it's not a joke.

Parker was described as an aristocrat of crookdom, a smooth, high-pressure salesman, the greatest confidence man in the country, said one policeman, quote, he was too lazy to use his mind in the right direction. If he had, he would have gone far. He might have been a judge or a doctor. He's one of the smartest men I've ever met. So what made George C. Parker such a good con man? It was a variety of things. One major factor was his looks. physically, Parker was unassuming. Oh. He blended in.

He was kind of a short pudgy boy. He stood around five feet six inches tall, around 181 pounds. He also was described as having piercing blue eyes. No doubt to hypnotize his victims. But although physically he was average, he dressed to the nines. Police described him as one of the best dressed men in New York. I mean, hey, if you're claiming you own the Brooklyn Bridge, you got to dress the part, right? Yeah. But perhaps his biggest asset was his voice. Parker apparently had a,

quote, booming, vibrant voice. It was his outstanding asset. It carried a note of confidence, which was almost domineering. It made him a superlative salesman. All of these factors led to George C. Parker's heyday as a con man. But that leads to my first big question. When was his heyday? According to some sources, George C. Parker pulled off his first Brooklyn Bridge scam in 1885, two years after the bridge opened. He would have been 25 years old at the time. And because of that, he was credited by one newspaper as the, quote, first man to sell the Brooklyn Bridge. However, in my research, I could not find any accounts of that crime happening in 1885. And newspapers in 1885, they were reporting on all sorts of lesser schemes.

Something like scamming someone into buying the Brooklyn Bridge would have definitely warranted a write-up, wouldn't you think? Yeah, I mean, assuming that a victim was willing to come forward or maybe, I don't know, maybe the police would just, you know what, that's the other thing was thinking is if this was happening twice a week and the police were having to explain to people on a regular basis, hey, that's not how this works. Wouldn't there have been regular write-ups in the paper, at least warning people? Wouldn't there have been people trying to catch this guy? Posing as fresh new immigrants? Yes. And we're going to get to that in a little bit.

because this scam did lead to warnings. Okay. More on that later. I will admit it is entirely possible that George C. Parker pulled off this scam in 1885, but he was just never caught. Maybe he just confessed to it later. Maybe he was bragging. Possibly. We'll talk about that, too.

Other sources claim that George C. Parker actually first sold the Brooklyn Bridge in 1901. That's the year that gets thrown around the most. in newspapers that I read. And he would have been 41 years old at that time. That seems a little more likely to me. And unlike the 1885 date, that 1901 date does have some accounts of what happened. Although, again, all of this was written years after the fact. Yeah.

So allegedly, in 1901, George C. Parker sold the Brooklyn Bridge. but it wasn't to a newly arrived immigrant. Rather, it was to a, quote, butter and egg man from Indiana. He was described as a hick and a hayseed. Rude, okay. I don't know. Seems kind of fair.

I know. For someone from Indiana. I know. It hits me hard Midwest. Just kidding. Norm, you hate Indiana. I hate driving through Indiana. And you hate all its inhabitants.

No, I don't. I hate driving. You say, if there's anything I hate more than this state, it's the people in it, is what you say. Nope, no, no, no. You don't want those people coming here. I don't. With their pitchforks. I've just had a rough time driving through the state.

Love the gummy bears at the Albany's Gummy Factory, okay? In 1901, George C. Parker didn't sell the Brooklyn Bridge to an immigrant. Apparently, he sold it to a farmer from Indiana. And to make the sale, Parker convinced the farmer he could install tolls and then, quote, a very fine return would be realized on the investment in view of the amount of traffic involved. Question. Yes. Was this some sort of mail order thing or like was this Indiana Hick up, you know, visiting New York?

He was probably visiting New York. Okay, okay, gotcha. Yeah. Although that's a great question because I did read that George C. Parker pulled these scams all over the country. Okay. So I guess it is entirely possible He traveled to Indiana to sell the Brooklyn Bridge I'll say more than likely it happened in New York City

Because that is where he pulled most of his schemes Yeah He sold that bridge for $50,000 Not bad Not bad So to this hick farmer from Indiana That probably seemed like an incredible deal Some sources say

George C. Parker got all the cash up front Others claim he only asked for a down payment. Either way, as soon as he got his money, Parker told that farmer he had a pressing engagement and he disappeared. We can only assume that the Indiana farmer showed up on the Brooklyn Bridge, ready to install his new toll barriers, and the police stopped him. According to police, that farmer spent weeks arguing with them. They found it, quote, almost impossible to convince him he had been swindled. George C. Parker must have been riding high from that scam. He later recalled that it was his best job, and so he got Boulder. Several weeks later, he struck again,

but not with the Brooklyn Bridge. Instead, it was in New York's City Hall Park. Parker claimed to own four lots of land in the park, and he sold them to a couple of rich, gullible New Englanders. total cost $25,000 Adjusted for inflation about $1 million By the way, City Hall Park That is the same park Our pal John Colt strolled through After he murdered Samuel Adams

Previous topic It's been 84 years Well when I was doing research I read City Hall Park I was like that sounds so familiar Where did I talk about that? And I remembered That is like right where John Colt murdered Samuel Adams.

You seem a little too excited about this murder, sir. I'm going to ask you to calm down. It's not about the murder. It's about how we're all connected in some way. Mm-hmm. You know, eventually those New Englanders showed up at City Hall Park, ready to start laying foundations for their new houses. Oh, dear God.

And again, the police showed up, and they were now starting to see a pattern with George C. Parker's schemes. And eventually that City Hall Park scam, it caught up to him. George C. Parker was arrested and found guilty of grand larceny. He was sentenced to two and a half years in Sing Sing Prison. How did they, okay, is it okay if I ask questions? Sure. How'd they find him? I have no idea. Oh, I guess that kind of ends my questions. Okay, very good. So yeah, he's caught 1901, sentenced to two and a half years in Sing Sing. Well, I think he was anyway. When I searched through Sing Sing Prison Records, I found no one under the name George C. Parker serving time in 1901.

You searched through the prison records now? Yeah. More than likely, he was using a different name. Which one? I have no idea. He went by so many names. Most newspapers did seem to agree that he was convicted in 1901, though. So to me, this seems like the most accurate date for his own. first conviction and prison sentence. I just don't know what name he used during his little city hall park scheme, you know. Right. And if that truly did happen in 1901, that would mean that George C. Parker probably wasn't the first man to try and sell the Brooklyn Bridge. Because Kristen, I found evidence of someone else doing it a year earlier in 1900.

You should have had the bad boys, little clip. Bad boys, bad boys. What you're going to do? What you're going to do when I say the bridge to you. We're in sync right now. I'm Joey Fetone. I'm Justin Ross. You forgot his name?

Timberlake? Justin Ross? I'm Justin Ross, noted boy band member. This is going to ruin the world tour, Norm, if you don't even know the man's name. Speaking of Mr. Timberlake, I watched his arrest video. Yeah. I was very entertained. Uh-huh.

It was very good content. Uh-huh. Thank you to whoever uploaded it to the internet. Did you watch it? I didn't watch it. I just know that some young whippersnapper arrested him for a DUI, and that young whippersnapper had no idea who Justin Timberlake was. It was very humbling, I imagine. It was so funny because he was like, this is going to mess up the world tour.

And the guy was like, world tour. He's like, yeah, Justin Timberlake. He's like, the guy probably thought it was nuts. Like, okay, yeah, the world tour, all right, buddy. Man, this guy's really drunk. This guy's had several margaritas. He's been chugging absinth. So, yeah, I found evidence of someone else selling the Brooklyn Bridge a full year before Parker allegedly did it.

In May of 1900, there were reports around the country of an Italian immigrant selling the Brooklyn Bridge to fellow Italian immigrants for as little. as $50. That sucks. Kristen, it's Italian on Italian crime. It's marinara on a canoli, as we Italians like to say. Do you know what? That is wonderful.

Yes, marinera on a canoli, because when you combine the two, it sucks. It's horrible. An article in the New York Sun reported on a meeting between an Italian merchant and a lawyer. The merchant claimed he had been swindled

out of $500, and he wanted justice. And Kristen, this article came complete with a transcript of their conversation through an interpreter, complete with stereotypical Italian accents. Oh, no. Now, Kristen, if you were presenting this story, it would be incredibly offensive for you to read this. However, I, Norman Caruso, half Italian, am comfortable reading this. Oh, boy. Are you ready? Yes.

Oh boy Norm, why are you twirling a mustache? Lawyer How did the man get $500? Interpreter He sell the Brooklyn Bridge to my friend Sold the Brooklyn Bridge to your friend? Sure, only not old the bridge, only New York aside

He tells my friend the mayor and the rest He telling my friend the Brooklyn Bridge to find Norman I don't think half of tell you is enough to justify doing this. I'm going. He telling my friend the Brooklyn Bridge do much of business.

He met my friend just as soon as the ship come in. He find out his name. He shake at the hand. My friend think I know him in all the country but forget the name. He says he's selling my friend one piece of New York aside for a week.

And when he like, he buy all the Brooklyn side do for $10,000. Good God. That's very cheap for the Brooklyn side of the bridge. I'd give that much myself for it. You no catch a him today? No. Lucido. Luciito means I'll kill him. Oh, okay. I was like, I do not know. Norm, I will say you sounded a little like Borat at times. Yeah, I did. And yet you got me craving breadsticks and also feeling real bad for this guy.

I basically read that verbatim. I mean, they included the dash a's on the end of all these words like he shake a de hand reporters are nuts sometimes so I was reading a Nutso Bananas article for my episode next week it's from Sports Illustrated and it came

out in 1957 and it's about a lady doctor and her findings and boy is it totally respectful and great anyway stay tuned for next week's episodes are you going to read because you're a lady I am

are you going to read that oh you Bet your ass. Oh, very good. It doesn't even have anything to do with the topic, really, but you know I'm getting sidetracked, and I'm going to have to talk about it. Yeah, I saw this transcript, and I was like, oh, God. That is wild.

Who was this mysterious Italian con man selling his fellow countryman, the Brooklyn Bridge? For two years, no one knew. And then in 1902, a man was arrested for forging immigration documents, and a witness, claimed that was the same man going around selling the Brooklyn Bridge. And it wasn't just the bridge. Apparently, he sold City Hall, the tombs, and other public properties. Authorities tracked the man down and identified him as Edward Basso, and he had apparently been running schemes as far back as 1896. In addition to forging immigration documents and selling public property like the Brooklyn Bridge, Boso also sold his fellow immigrants passes to Ellis Island for $10, even though those passes were completely free.

For the next several years, Boso bounced in and out of court and jail. During one trial, he pled guilty, and his lawyer pleaded with the judge for leniency. Boso had a wife and eight children to support. The judge replied, that's a poor reason for defrauding the wives and children of hundreds of families. Oh, shit. He was given the max sentence for grand larceny. Yeah.

In 1908, Edward Baso was free again, and the New York son wrote a small little follow-up blurb about him. To put it mildly, it wasn't very flattering. I'm going to read it to you right now. Okay. Wondering around the streets today is a man who has sold the city hall, the tombs, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the criminal courts building, each of them at least once. He is an Italian of no great intelligence and of a repulsive appearance. Oh, God.

It is true that his victims were fellow countrymen, but it is also true that several of them were not ignorant men. Oh, okay, why are they catching strays? But the Italian never got much money, $50 or $100. He sold the rights to operate the Brooklyn Bridge, collect from the railroads, pedestrians, and teamsters for $50. It seemed as though Edward Boso's scams made quite an impact, because soon, processors on Ellis Island were handing out information cards to new arrivals that read, you can't buy public buildings or streets.

Wow. Yeah. So all this to say, based on my research, I would say that Edward Baso, not George C. Parker, should probably get the credit as the first man to sell the Brooklyn Bridge. I don't know. It sounds like he was dumb, ugly, and Italian. Are we really going to give him credit? You're right, Kristen. I take it all back. This episode is over. It's over. Okay. Now, here's a question.

Is it possible that Edward Baso and George C. Parker are the same man? Okay, well, you said George C. Parker was Irish, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, did he, like, if we're talking about, like, Irish as in red hair, the works, and versus a guy who looks very Italian, no, probably not the same. Both men used aliases. Both men ran schemes. But did they look alike is what I'm asking you? I could never find a picture of Edward Baso.

How about a description? I mean, you said blue eyes for... Let's see. According to this article, he had a repulsive appearance. Yeah, I wish they'd be more specific. He was also not intelligent. Yeah. I considered the possibility. Were they the same person? Oh, when to become one.

Norm, anytime you've got a Spice Girls clip, don't worry, I'll sing along. Thank you. They need a backup singer. There's only five of them. Great. Now you'd no longer have to ask for permission to sing around. You just do it, okay? Okay, so here's why I looked into it.

Okay. I just don't trust anything that George C. Parker told the authorities. No. So he said his parents. were from Northern Ireland. I don't know if I believe him. Right. He could say anything.

So what do you think? Could they be the same person? I mean, it's possible, but I kind of doubt it. To me, this seems like a scheme that maybe occurred to multiple people. And maybe one of these guys was better at it than the other. So I did look into it. I wanted to find out if this was the same person. And I concluded

So their ages were different Their heritage was different These were two different men Pulling the same scam But they weren't alone Because as you just mentioned Over the next several decades There were many reports

Of people falling for the Brooklyn Bridge scam For example, in 1911 A man from Kansas City fell for the Brooklyn Bridge scam claiming to have purchased it from a quote youth known to his associates as smooth willfriend. Smooth willy? Smooth willy.

Oh shit, here comes smooth willy. Why would you buy anything from smooth willy? See, now I'm victim blaming again. Perhaps he was a hick from Kansas City. No, impossible. Impossible. We don't have them here. We're very cosmopolitan.

Those hicks are only in Indiana. Yeah. This next one is sad. Oh. In 1913, a barber from Holland named Carl Hoops fell for several scams. Not only did he buy the Brooklyn Bridge for $500, he also signed a fake contract to shave the entire New York City police force for 12 cents a man. Like, just the heads are we doing full bodies? What the fuck?

What the city? to like be their official barber? Yeah, yeah, to shave the police force. That's a gross way of putting it, though. I'm not sure if it was, I'm assuming it was just to shave their faces, Kristen. I don't think they were getting Brazilians on the police force. I'm here to save the boys in blue. Twelve cents, hot damn.

What a deal. Yeah, yeah. Oh, the leg hair on these police officers is thick. Blue Lives Matter, fellas, I'm going to give you the greatest Brazilian of your life. Yeah, Carl Hoops got duped. He returned to Amsterdam, a broken man. Stories like this were becoming all too common. Wait, I'm very sorry.

I have more questions about the contract. Okay. Ask away. So that was just like he was duped, right? I mean, he didn't. It's not like he. He paid anything. No, he did pay.

He paid. Basically, how I understood it, it was like he paid for the exclusive rights to get that contract. It was like he was bribed, basically, like, hey, you give me $100 and I'll make sure you get this contract to shave the entire New York City police force. So are you telling us that this man showed up at the police department one day with his razors and they told him to get the hell out of there. And hot wax. Stop. I mean, very possible. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. But yeah, it was sad.

No, no, that is awful. He, he lost a lot of his life savings and he just went back to Amsterdam. Yeah. Stories like this were becoming all too common and eventually buying the Brooklyn Bridge became a common joke. Here's one from back in the day. Say, stranger, Would you like to buy the Brooklyn Bridge at only $1,000? Nope, I ain't got any money. I just bought the Statue of Liberty for $500. Isn't that hilarious? It's a good one.

It's going to be in Dave Chappelle's next stand-up, I heard. Wow. And if I do hear it, he stole it. Stole it. And you know what? We're just glad he's not doing the trans jokes anymore. You know what? Yeah, maybe we'll allow this one.

Yeah, let's joke about buying the bro. Brooklyn Bridge. So to sum this all up, while newspapers credited George C. Parker with being the first man to sell the Brooklyn Bridge, other evidence points to a man named Edward Bassow. But in all actuality, this seemed to be a pretty common scam among many con men, and we may never know the true origin story. But at the very least, Edward Basso probably deserves more credit than George C. Parker. Speaking of, let's get back to George C. Parker's story. So again, George C. Parker went to Sing Sing Prison in 1901 for grand larceny. Allegedly, again, I couldn't find the prison. Yeah. And over the next two decades, he continued to commit crimes. But tracing his criminal history is extremely difficult for many reasons.

Number one, the dude had so. many aliases. The Times Union wrote that Parker, quote, had so many aliases in more than 20 years that the police are not certain just what his right name is. At various times in his life, he went by George Chester, John Roberts, Richard McCarthy, Andrew Taylor, James Kennedy, John J. O'Brien, William McClondie. McCloundy. McCloundy. Well, he was running out of ideas there. The other thing is, like, a lot of those names are very bleh, just like common. Yeah, generic, whatever.

So, as a historian, I hate that because if I search George Chester, I'm going to get five million results, you know? But that's why it's such a good name for a con man. Exactly. And so as I was digging through newspapers and prison records, I had to keep it. asking, what freaking name do I search for? He more than likely had a new alias every single time he was arrested. Second of all, official records of his criminal history seem to be missing. According to sources, George C. Parker was arrested 12 times in New York City alone and convicted seven times. He was sent to Sing Sing Prison on three separate occasions.

1901, which we already talked about, he went back in 1903 for forgery, and he went back in 1911 for grand larceny. But when I searched those years in the Sing Sing Prison Records for George C. Parker, or any of his other aliases, I got no results. Not only that, but some of his alleged crimes have either been embellished or just completely made up. For example, I read several sources that said Parker had scammed people into buying the Statue of Liberty and Madison Square Garden. I couldn't verify any of those claims. It's like one of those things you read in like a book. Like I read a book called like hoaxes and scams. It was written in like the 90s.

Yeah. And, you know, it had a blurb on George C. Parker. And yeah, it just said, oh yeah, he sold the Statue of Liberty. Madison Square Garden? And of course, my first question was source, source, source. Yeah. There's no sources in the book. So I'm like, where are you getting this from? I don't know. At some point, someone sensationalized the story. And it's just grown and grown and grown. Yes. And if you fact check it, you're a wet blanket and no one likes you. Here's the other thing. I think sometimes people assume if it was in a newspaper, it is real. Right.

and boy, back in the 1910s, 1920s, there were a ton of sensationalist newspapers. So the newspaper reporter in me must just say, newspapers are the rough drafts of history. So even when you've got someone who is trying to genuinely do a good job reporting, there are always still going to be errors or, you know, things can happen. But yeah, there was also an era where everyone in their dog owned it. newspaper and there was just a fight to get eyeballs and you know yeah P.T. Barnum owned a damn newspaper he owned too many things so yeah as a historian that's a great phrase like newspapers are the rough draft of history because yeah you'll you'll find a story from history in a newspaper and some of the

details are a little off but it's like okay like this is like the early version of this story yeah and And like as the days and weeks go on, the story, there's more details added, more details added, more details added. And so, yeah, with George C. Parker, I was sifting through like 50 different articles on him and, like, taking chunks out of each one as the story progressed. But I also considered, oh, this was written by the New York Daily News, which has always been a tabloid newspaper that writes sensationalist articles. And so I have to take it with a grain of salt maybe. The New York Daily News. It's still a paper today. No, it is.

I'm just, I'm thinking about, because I was about to try to correct you, but I do think you're right. It's just that some newspapers I know have really evolved. And at one time, they were really upstanding newspapers. And I did wonder about that with the New York Daily News. Yeah. And as far as I know, it has a lot. always been a sensationalist tabloid news super.

Sure. But just like reading the articles about George C. Parker and then some of the other ones on the same page, I was like, oh yeah, this is always been a tabloid. I am. I am. So I found another story that claimed that at one time, George C. Parker made a legendary escape from jail. You ready for this? Yeah. On New Year's Day in 1906, George C. Parker was serving time in the Raymond Street Jail in Brooklyn. That day, the new sheriff in town, Sheriff Flaherty, was given a tour of the facilities. And Sheriff Flaherty had set his hat and coat down in the warden's office. George C. Parker apparently put on the sheriff's coat and hat and walked right out of the jail, undetected.

Now that's quite a tale. It's a wonderful tale. And so I thought, surely there are going to be some write-ups on that back in 1906. so I looked into it. And holy cow, sure enough, a man did escape from the Raymond Street jail on New Year's in 1906 by walking right out the front door in a coat and hat. It was super embarrassing. I mean, that is humiliating, especially if it's the new sheriff's coat and hat. We'll talk about that a minute. Okay. But the sheriff Flaherty had just taken office as the new sheriff. And that happened on like his first day. He fired seven police officers after this happened.

It was a big story. Yeah. But the man that escaped was not George C. Parker. It was another criminal named Frank Brown, who was wanted for a string of burglaries. And he didn't steal the sheriff's coat and hat. It's kind of unclear how Frank Brown just walked out of jail. He was wearing a coat and hat, but I think it was just his coat and hat. Yeah, I mean, it's possible that they didn't.

wear uniforms. Yeah. So he had just been booked for these burglaries. He was in his street clothes. They were doing like a roll call or like leisure time. So everyone came out of their cell. He had his coat and hat on and he just left. And I guess the guards just assumed he was a visitor. Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. So yeah, Frank Brown just walked out of jail. So once again, I, Normie C. wondered, are Frank Brown and George C. Parker the same person? Okay. I did think when you said Frank Brown, I thought that is a very generic name. Yeah. And this could be the alias of some other criminal. Okay? Just keep that in mind. Or this guy really could be named Frank Brown. Absolutely. I had a photo of Frank Brown. I also had a photo of George C. Parker.

An actual photo of George C. Parker. Okay. Not the one on Wikipedia. Okay. I compared the two. They really didn't look anything alike. Okay. All right.

I also looked into Frank Brown and his age. He's about 10 years younger than George C. Parker. So I don't think they're the same person. So at this point, Kristen, I felt like Charlie and it's always sunny in Philadelphia, trying to find Pepe Sylvia. Who the fuck is George C. Parker? And is he just taking credit for other people's crimes? Pepe Sylvia, this name keeps coming up over and over again.

Every day, Pepe's mail is getting sent back to me. Pepe Sylvia. Pepe Sylvia. Pepe Sylvia. Okay, now, what is the source for all this? Is he telling newspapers? Yeah, I did this, that, and the other thing? Or are newspapers putting this on him?

it's unclear. So everything written about George C. Parker, literally everything is from 1928, his final arrest. Okay. Some of the information comes from police detectives. Other information comes from George C. Parker because he was blabbing his mouth nonstop in his jail cell. Oh yeah, I did this. I did this. I did this. Okay. That's why, like, man, if I could look at some arrest records, which,

I don't even know if those exist anymore. Maybe we could solve this mystery. For now, I have to rely on what I can from the internet. And yeah, so this guy escaping from jail, that was a thing that happened, but it wasn't George C. Parker. Norm, I think we need to set up a little fund and send you to Brooklyn, even though, you know, to do some research on this, even though we know in our hearts that you'll just spend the entire time. on the Brooklyn Bridge going Miranda Miranda I would too I would go to the spot where they met and embraced okay so yeah I'm I'm freaking pulling my hair out at this point I'm like what the hell is going on like is he just like making up stories is he is George C. Parker just like taking credit for like famous criminal escapades me like yeah I did that I did that I think that's totally possible of course now I was able to to find a few breadcrumbs from his criminal past. So I'll go over the stuff I did find that I do think is credible.

First of all, I did find a Sing Sing Prison Record from 1908 for an inmate named George Parker. No C initial, George Parker. Okay. He kind of matches our guy. He height 5' 7. Okay. George C. Parker allegedly was 5.

foot six and a half. Maybe he was height maxing that day. You're right. Maybe he had on some like... Lifts. Pump up Reeboks or something. Yeah, some lifts. He had some sketchers.

Weight. 156 pounds. Okay. He would have dropped quite a few pounds, but these were... So his 180 pound weight, that was from when he was arrested in 1928. Okay. So this is 1908. So 20 years or...

earlier, he weighed less. Absolutely. I believe that. Eyes blue. This might be our boy. Age 46. Oh, well, Norm, you misled us. What, that's accurate. That's very close. He was born in 1860. This is a 1908 arrest record. So he technically would be 48, but 46, that's very close. Okay, I'm sorry. I thought you said that, okay, I, I, I, I,

I've got my, I'm sorry, I'm all scrambled. I'm finding Pepe Sylvia 2 here, okay? I'm told you this episode is all over the place. And are you ready to hear what he was arrested for? I am ready. Counter-fritt. He invented a new crime. It's called counter-fritting.

And it's when you make counterfeit fritters. And people say, just make the real thing. It's easier. You don't have to lie about it. Oh, my God, counter-fritters. I was so hungry for the real... You bastard! I just wanted a real one.

I just broke my last good tooth on a counterfritter. You've fallen into my trap. You ate the counterfritter. You fool. They're calling him the perfect criminal. He really baked up a crime this time. It was a recipe for disaster. Okay, I'm going to take that again.

He was in prison for counterfeit money fraud. That is so much less exciting. I know. I'm sorry. So counterfeit money fraud, that seems like a George C. Parker kind of crime. Yeah. Okay. You know, in fairness, the counterfeiters didn't seem like him.

Probably another guy. Gotta be another guy. So yeah, I thought this might be our George C. Parker. Yeah. Maybe. No, I think you're on to something. That's a good possibility. And then I have a newspaper article that claimed in 1914,

George C. Parker was convicted of impersonating a police officer. Specifically, he was impersonating the warden of Sing Sing Prison. And so what he did was he would visit relatives of prisoners, claim he was the warden of Sing Sing Prison, and demand money. Oh, that sucks. Yeah. So I think that is a credible thing he did. Because in official records, one of George C. Parker's aliases was James Kennedy.

That is the same name as the warden of Sing Sing Prison during that time. That is so awful. So I definitely believe he did that. God, you've got these families that are probably struggling enough already. Yep, give me $20. I will get your son into a better sell block. I will give him a job in the prison. You could say anything and you know they're not going to report it because they're thinking,

well, how do you report the police to the police? Yeah. Oh, that's worse than counterfeiters. Absolutely. Well, you know what? You know, I don't think so because I do love fritters. There's nothing like the disappointment of thinking you have a fritter when you don't. I do love a good apple fritter.

And if I found out it was a counter fritter, you would lose your mind. I would scream at the top of my lungs in the bakery. I have been counterfeited. Call the police. I've been robbed of a delicious fritter. Sir, stop crying. We'll get you another one. No. Well, okay.

Shut up. And call the police. Further Normie C. Research shows that George C. Parker probably didn't work alone in his schemes. So one of his aliases was Albert Merch. And through my research, I found another con man during this same time named Albert Merch, who was also. also in trouble for selling property he did not own in the New York, New Jersey area. How do you know it was a different guy? How do you know it wasn't? So I looked into Albert Merch. He was 20 years younger than George C. Parker.

Okay. And he died at the age of 41. George C. Parker would live to be 76. Okay. Yeah. So if you're providing your accomplice's name, like what, what's the advantage there. I can see wanting to go by some random name. I'm not really sure. So I didn't write this part down because I didn't want to get into the weeds too much. Well, we're here, baby. We're in the weeds. But basically, start Slytherin. A guy was scammed into buying 10 beachside lots in New Jersey. That is so mean. Ten. He thought he was going to live the dream. Okay. And so police interviewed him. and he said the guy's name was Albert Merch.

Okay. This is the man who scammed me. When they arrested George C. Parker for the final time in 1928, they thought George C. Parker was Albert Merch. So they brought the guy in to identify, is this your guy? Uh-huh. And the guy was like, no, that's not him. So, you know, George C. Parker, you know, was acquitted or whatever of selling the fake lots. Oh.

But they did eventually catch the real Albert merch, but also did George C. Parker go buy Albert merch? Did they just wrongfully give him that alias? They might have just wrongfully given him that alias. Possibly, yeah. Yeah. I did find it interesting that they were both running the same scam in, like, literally the same area. and I have a newspaper article claiming they work together. Well, I mean, here's what I thought you were going to say originally, and I was getting excited.

I thought you were going to say that that guy who had been scammed saw George C. Parker and was like, yeah, that's Al What's his butt? That's Albert Merch. Yeah. And I was going to say, wow, Georgie Boy is being a big bad boy here because it would be kind of smart if you're pulling kind of of a risky scheme to go by the alias of a somewhat known criminal thinking, hmm, if the police ever catch wind of this, they are going to go after a known entity. But it sounds like that's not what was happening.

I'm going to double check that for you. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah, I'm going to double check that and I'll follow up with you off camera. Wow. Off the mic in bed. Okay. But Kristen, I've saved the best for last.

I have the most verifiable slam-dunk crime that George C. Parker ever committed. And it was the one that sent him to prison for life. By 1928, George C. Parker was a known con man operating along the Jersey Shore. His game was pretending to be a wealthy landowner from Long Island. And he would target wealthy women. some married, some widowed, and he would woo them over with his charm. The New York Daily News, which as we discussed is a tabloid, claimed that George C. Parker had a trunk full of love letters from women.

I don't know about that, but he was targeting women. Sometimes it was to convince them to buy property he did not own. Other times, he just stole jewelry from them. But he was always able to evade the police, thanks to his many, aliases and addresses. The police believed there were untold numbers of victims, but that they were too embarrassed

to come forward with their stories. But then George C. Parker slipped up. In May of 1928, he committed a relatively minor crime. He cashed a worthless check for

$150 at a restaurant in Brooklyn. Located at Shut up. Shut up. Okay, go ahead. 1285 Fulton Street. Looks like a bodega today, maybe. Okay.

First off, love the building. Oh, sorry, it's called Epic Savings. Yeah, I was just about to correct you. Not a bodega. Epic Savings. Linen, Bath, Kitchen, Hardware, Home Goods. I like how when we do this, this turns into kind of an advertisement for a random street.

Oh, and if you need liquor. or wines just go next door. And there's a deli and grocery on the corner. It looks like there's a, Jamaican grill. Bless us all, there's a foot locker just across the street. This block really has it all. So yeah, George C. Parker cashed a worthless check for $150

at a restaurant at that location. And this time, the victim, a man named John Fontis chirped like a bird to the police. Well, yeah, you know why? It's not embarrassing to him. I mean, that's what kind of makes me angry about some of these schemes. It's like some of these people, it's just embarrassing to come forward. Yeah.

And so you get away with it. Yeah. And the New York Daily News was like, George C. Parker was blackmailing these women. He was like, if you come forward, I'll expose it. We were having an affair or something. And I was like, well. That's, I mean, that is, that, possibly. That would ruin a woman's reputation in the day.

Absolutely. So John Thontas goes to the police and he said a man calling himself Captain Parker of the Brooklyn Army base. What? Had cashed several bad checks at his restaurant. And the description matched George C. Parker. Short, pudgy, piercing blue eyes. And so the police went on a man hunt. For several weeks, they lived.

looked for George C. Parker through several states, including Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts. And finally, on the morning of Friday, June 29th, 1928, they found him in Asbury Park, New Jersey. And fun fact, they found him about six miles from where my great-grandparents lived in Bradley Beach. Okay, I was about to say, oh my gosh, Asbury Park, that's where your great-grandpa had the movie theater. That's right. Police said they found George C. Parker behind the Windsor Hotel on 3rd Avenue

holding a tape measure. He was apparently measuring the property, getting ready for another fake real estate. Shut up. It's true. He was into the theater of it all. He was probably theatrically measuring that whole building

just so someone could stop him and he could be like, oh, what am I doing right now? I am just Measuring my property, you see. It's so much for me to take care of. Oh, my, I'd be willing to offload it for golly, a thousand dollars. He's like a really stupid Batman villain. You know?

Yes. George C. Parker swore that the police had the wrong guy. Oh, I'm not George Parker. My name is John McCarthy. So that alias was new to me in my research. And so I looked into the name John McCarthy. And I did find there was a John McCarthy in Asbury Park, New Jersey, who owned hotels in the area. Oh, you little shit.

Uh-huh. So it's likely that George C. Parker used that name to make that hotel sale and to convince police, it was perfectly reasonable for me to be measuring this hotel lot. I mean, honestly, that's not bad. It does seem like he at least did some research to know what's a name of someone in the industry where I'm doing this con, you know, that I can throw out. My name is Paris Hilton. Duh. Duh. That's hot.

Well done, Norm. I don't know what kind of scheme you're going to pull now. Or where you got that little dog and that big bag. I want the Paris Hilton chef knife. Have you seen those? What? She has like a kitchen stuff now. Why does she do kitchen stuff?

And she makes like very glamorous sparkly chef's knives. And I think they look pretty cute. I wouldn't mind owning one. What? Yeah. I need to get over it. Look into this. No, I will not.

Okay, never mind. I think it is so stupid like to just slap your name on any random thing. Yeah, I mean. I don't like it either, but, you know. But it seems like you kind of want that knife. It's just a cute knife. It could have been made by anybody. Uh-huh.

Now it's a Paris Hilton knife. Maybe an actual chef. Maybe it would have some more credibility. Celebrity chef. Yeah. Yeah. Bobby Flay's sparkly, sexy chef knife. Just what we've all been waiting for.

When I think of sexy, I think of Bobby Flay. We all do, Norm. We all do. There's a rumor going around a while that he was having an affair with Giata de Laurentis. Yeah, I think he's a bit of a dirtbag. Really? Future topic? What?

How would that be fitting? Yeah, you're right. Okay. So the police have nabbed George C. Parker. When they asked him where he lived, Parker claimed his address was 157 Lexington Avenue, New York City. That address no longer exists. But from our Joseph Richardson Spitehouse story And the James Garfield series

Lovely, lovely presented That's not a way to say it Lovely presented And the James Garfield series Which Kristen lovingly presented How about that? Did I do it in a loving way? Yeah, you did

History hos know That very rich, famous, and cool people Live on Lexington Avenue I mean that was the truth Parker later confessed he actually lived at Oh my God 103 Quincy Street Brooklyn, New York

Oh cute! Okay, brownstones. So it's a cute brownstone. Back in 1928, it was a boarding house. Yeah, okay. So George C. Parker was officially arrested for writing worthless checks. As police put him in handcuffs,

he muttered, quote, If you'd given me another day, I'd have sold that lot for $17,000. I mean, probably. Yeah. After his arrest, the police took a mugshot of Parker, and it was printed in newspapers under his alias, John McCarthy. And this, to me, is the only verifiable photo of George C. Parker. And the reason I think it hasn't been seen a lot is because if you search George C. Parker in newspapers.com, that photo doesn't come up. You have to search John McCarthy.

Oh, wow. This is why it's so difficult to research this name. Yeah, yeah, no, I get it. So I'm still skeptical of the photo on Wikipedia. I tried to compare that photo with the one I found on newspapers.com, but these men are of vastly different ages. So the one on Wikipedia, he looks like a young man. This one, he's a much older man. Could be, but again, I don't know where the one in Wikipedia comes from.

I have no clue. Yeah. And when I reverse image searched it, it was just a bunch of like AI slop blog posts about, did you know this man sold the Brooklyn Bridge? That's what AI sounds like. I don't think it does. Here's a fun fact. I feel like I've got a good voice for AI.

You do. Thank you. Do you ever worry that all of our conversations, conversations and in a way our entire relationship is just AI slop. I'm in love with a robot. Yes, you are. Yes, you are. Yes, you are.

You know what? If you were a robot Christian, I'd still love you. I'd still be in love with you. Oh. Thank you. Do me now. Okay. So again, skeptical of the Wikipedia photo, happy to be proven wrong.

Oh, this seems like a challenge, folks. Please, seriously. Let me translate what Norm's saying. Norm is saying, bring it on, you skanky bitch. That's what he's saying. Seriously. If someone can send me the proof or the source of that photo on Wikipedia, I will give them a free month of the pig butter tier on Patreon.

I think you should give them apple fritters. In addition. How will they know they're not counter-fritters? They'll find out when they take a bite. Half of them will be counter-fritters. Half will be real. It's like a baker grading system. This is clearly a counter-fritting.

I'll tell you why. A little monocle examining the fritter. In his jail cell awaiting trial, Parker happily talked about his criminal past. He said he had been arrested dozens of times. In fact, many of his crimes probably weren't even on record. He bragged how he didn't like to go after small potatoes. He said, quote, I never bothered the dumb ones. It's the clever ones that fall.

George C. Parker then waxed poetic. Oh. What? Say that again. I said this man in this tone right here, Norman, because this man is just jerking it. Yeah. He's just jerking it. And we are lapping.

Oh, that's disgusting. I won't even finish. We're lapping up his what, Kristen. No, no, no, no, that's not what I mean. You know what I mean. What I mean is this guy feels like a fancy man who can just say whatever he wants, and it is getting printed, and he is just. Yeah, he's kind of eaten up his time in the spotlight.

Yeah. George C. Parker then waxed poetic. He apparently, quote, mused on the strange ways of fate about how he would be sent to prison for the rest of his life because he decided to cash a measly $150 check. No. He stated, quote,

I don't like to do things like that. I used to do big things that were worthwhile in the old days before the police became so systematic. So he's embarrassed. He's embarrassed that he got caught. for this of all things. Yes, he was definitely thinking like, oh my God, is this the thing that puts me away forever?

Because this is a small time, dumb crime. Yeah. And he wants everyone to know how smart he is and what big jobs he has pulled. History hoes you might be wondering why George C. Parker worried about life in prison for cashing a bad check. Well, he had reason to worry because a new state law had just been enacted a few years earlier.

It was called Bombs Law, written by New York State Senator Caleb Bombs. It was an anti-crime law. And one part of it said that if someone was convicted of more than three separate felonies, they would receive life in prison, regardless of what the crime actually was. Okay, so I've heard of this. I didn't know it went back that far. I thought it was a more new law. Started in 1926.

This kind of like three strikes your out law. It became pretty popular in the United States. 23 more states would later have similar ones. But it also proved to be very controversial for obvious reasons. Yeah. I mean, ooh, I hate it. So by 1926 when this law was enacted, who knows how many crimes,

George C. Parker had been convicted of, but it was really like, okay, well, if you screw up again, you're getting life in prison. Right. For George C. Parker, the bombs law meant the end of the road for his schemes, because if he was found guilty, that would be his fourth conviction and result in life in prison. All he could do was wait for his day in court. I do want to be clear on something. I actually am not sad about the idea of this guy going away for life in prison. It sounds like he schemed a ton of people, did a ton of harm and had no plans of stopping. My thought is more like, you know, you hear about people getting caught with pot or, you know, doing something stupid but illegal when they're young, getting caught. And, you know, just things happen.

And then all of a sudden you've got someone who's totally nonviolent. Really not a genuine threat to society and they are locked up forever. Yeah. Well, I didn't write this part down. But I did read about a woman who was caught shoplifting four times. And on her fourth conviction, she was sent to life in prison. And that kind of sparked some pushback. Like it was shoplifting.

Well, the other thing I'll say is this is one where you see, man, If you're rich, you're kind of going to be okay because if you can afford an attorney who can maybe talk you out of being convicted or, you know, just not get as much on your record, you're going to be in a much better spot down the line. But anyway, yeah, that's, oh, that's a rough one. Future topic? That might be interesting. I think it would. I think it really would. All right.

Well, I'll have it. Where's my ding? There's my ding. On Friday, November 23rd, 1928, George C. Parker appeared before Judge Alonzo McLaughlin in a Kings County courtroom. Parker had planned to fight these charges to avoid prison. But on the day of his trial, he certainly didn't look like he was ready to do battle. The usually confident, well-dressed, smooth-talking Parker showed up looking old, tired, meek, defeated, shabbily dressed. His hands trembled.

He couldn't afford a lawyer, so a public defender would represent him. The district attorney began the day by listing the long list of crimes perpetuated by George C. Parker. He said, quote, he should be put away for the rest of his natural life under the bombs law. George C. Parker then took the stand, ready to testify. But before they could even begin questioning, Parker cried out, I can't. He asked to change his plea to guilty. A newspaper described Parker as, quote,

a man who realized his race was run. The legendary con man who had allegedly sold the Brooklyn Bridge had really been built up in the media. How could this be the end of his career? A writer at the Houston Post commented, It looks like a pity for a man of this transcendent genius to receive a life sentence forging a small check of $150. It's like going through a great war, unscathed, and then falling into a ditch, breaking a leg after peace has been declared.

You've got some looks over there. I mean, I, if it's all true, yeah, kind of. But even then, I just, I don't buy so much of this guy's story. Exactly. And this is why I am conspiracy theorists going bonkers researching this. and I'm questioning everything now, Kristen. Yeah. Well, because when you first said, oh, he came to court, you know, just looking like shit, blah, blah, blah.

I'm thinking, oh, he's doing the thing we see a lot. He's pulling a Harvey Weinstein. He's showing up to court and he's, oh, he's just so decrepit and can barely move. How could anyone be afraid of him? But he's got, you know, all these high-powered attorneys around him. But when you said he couldn't afford an attorney, it's like this man is genuinely down on his luck. Mm-hmm.

He has no other options, and I just don't buy that he was once some big-time criminal mastermind. Yeah, it's, we don't know. That's what the thing is. It's what makes it tough. It's like, man, I can't verify a lot of this stuff. Now, this final crime, I can verify. Okay.

And we'll go over that in a minute. But we don't really know why George C. Parker confessed. Perhaps he wanted to spare himself the trouble of going through a trial based on overwhelming evidence. Perhaps he was tired of living a life of crime. After all, Parker was now 68 years old. Perhaps he didn't want the authorities to dig further into his crime ring and expose his fellow conmen. That's another possibility.

Either way, George C. Parker pled guilty. to grand larceny. A month later, on December 17, 1928, Judge McLaughlin handed out his sentence. He stated, quote, you're a fourth offender. I have no choice except to sentence you to prison for the rest of your life. Three days later, on December 20, 1928, George C. Parker arrived at Sing Sing Prison to serve a life sentence at the age of 68. And I know all of this, because I actually found the Sing Sing Prison Intake form for George C. Parker. Norm. And it revealed some more details about him.

Maybe it's all what he told them. Yeah. Parker claimed to have been married, but he was now a widower. He claimed he had five children, but said he had no idea what had become of them. He also claimed he served in the Navy at one point. Although I... Yeah, how do you think he became a captain, Norm? Are you trying to say that that's a lie?

Of course. My God. Oh, I'm such a dumb ass. He claimed he served in the Navy, although I checked later census records that said, no, he was never in the military. Under employment, Parker said he worked in real estate. That's a cheesy little guy. Yeah. He said he worked in real estate, and his salary was $1 a week. I mean, it really varies.

I'm self-employed. I'm kind of, I'm my own boss. Yeah, we know how that goes. We totally get it. Yeah, it is unpredictable. Are you going to sell the Brooklyn Bridge that week or not? We just don't know. You're going to bake six counter-fritters or 12 counter-fritters? When he arrived at Sing Sing, officers confiscated around $305 in cash, a wallet, and a watch on a chain. While browsing the form, I got really excited, Kristen, because I saw a section titled Criminal History. Yeah. And I thought, finally, I'm going to confirm all the crimes this man has committed. Guess what?

Nothing. Completely redacted. It goes all the way to the top. The Department of Justice strikes again, Kristen. Look, there is no doubt. George C. Parker was a criminal. But as far as the details of... what he did and how he did it, we aren't really sure.

Perhaps I'll break into Sing Sing Prison and steal the files, like Nicholas Cage stole the Declaration of Independence. George C. Parker would spend the rest of his life at Sing Sing Prison. The last known record of him was in the 1930 census, where he was listed as a helper working in the cell blocks of the prison. He died on January 9, 1937 at the age of 76. In that same year, a new film hit theaters called Every Day's a Holiday, and in the film, a female con artist named Peaches O'Day gets in trouble with the police for trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge.

Selling the Brooklyn Bridge had officially entered the pop culture lexicon. George C. Parker may not have been the original inventor of the scam, but his legend certainly contributed to the phrase's popularity. And that is all I have for you, Kristen. And again, I have more questions and answers. Who really was George C. Parker? Was that his actual name? What crimes did he commit?

Did he work alone? Did he actually sell the Brooklyn Bridge to a hick from Indiana for $50,000? Or did he just make all of it up to inflate his ego? Perhaps we'll never know. It's ironic in a way. The story of George C. Parker, a con man, could be one. big con in and of itself. So I guess metaphorically,

George C. Parker's life is the Brooklyn Bridge. And we the people are the dumb Hicks from Indiana who bought it. Damn it. And that's the story of George C. Parker. And he has a bridge to sell you. I was being roasted

and I didn't even know it. Norm, that was so good. Well done. I cannot believe. I mean, I knew you were in your office, clicky-clacking away, getting stressed, trying to, I mean, you were like, just so you know, I got a subscription to Ancestry.com. I'm trying to figure this out. And I was like, what the hell? This is a one-parter, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But this was really fun. This is what I love. I thought you loved me. I, of course I love you. This whole relationship is counter-fritter. Oh, boy. Oh, boy.

No, I love, like, I'm thinking of like my Spitehouse episodes. Yeah. I just love like deep diving into things people think are one thing, but it's actually a completely different thing. Uh-huh. And so, man, I have like saved all of my research from this man because I want to keep digging on him. I am just so curious. And I just want to know more. I want to know this dude's life story.

I want to know what turns you on. Sailing the bridge. Do you remember that song? Hell yeah. So I can be a better man. Yeah, a better podcaster. Norm, we got this. Oh, my God.

Excuse me. Could you just tell me what turns you on? Okay. Well done. Very good. And I am excited now to talk about times that we, two brilliant people definitely not hicks

I'm definitely not a dumb hick from Kansas City I might be a hick from North Carolina well we'll see because we're about to talk about times that we have been duped on the slop dooloo well ladies and gentlemen

you if you are not on the $10 pig butter investor you missed out some on some incredible stories of Kristen and I being scammed. We honestly, it was cringy, and I'd rather you not sign up because, seriously. You've got to pay to hear this cringe.

Well, and I even was the one who was like, oh, we should tell stories about times that we have been scammed. And it didn't occur to me how embarrassing it would be to be like, here's how dumb I am. I bet you didn't know how dumb I am. Also, please support us on Patreon. Yeah, trust us and send us money. Please listen to us. But Norm, that was such a good episode.

You did such a good job. I loved the original research. Thank you. Still plenty more research to do. This man is still a mystery to me. He's an enigma. I have to figure out. I want to explore every detail of his body.

Oh, okay. And his life. Goodness. Well, until that day comes, for now, let's just say, you know what they say about history, hoes? We always cite our sources. That's right. For this episode, I got my information from the blog posts.

Bridges, Bunko, and Basso, a gullible history of selling the Brooklyn Bridge by Peter Jensen Brown. The 19th Century Confidence Men by Mimi Matthews. The article, I've Got a Bridge to Sell You, the con artist who peddled the Brooklyn Bridge by Dean Job for Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Plus, an assload of other sources. Check the show notes.

That's all for this episode. Thank you for listening to an old-timey podcast. Please give us a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts, and while you're at it, subscribe. Support us on Patreon at patreon.com slash old-timey podcast. Join the Reddit community, our slash old-timey podcast. Follow us on Facebook and YouTube and Instagram at Old Timey Podcast. You can also follow us individually on Instagram. She is the beautiful Kristen Pitts-Keruso.

I go by Gaming Historian, and until next time, Tudaloo. and cheerio. Bye. Bye. See ya. See ya.