SMART SHORTS du 27 juillet 2023
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00:00 One of the common qualities of the big crooks is their ass.
00:03 And Victor Lustig was not missing from the ass.
00:06 This young Czech fake-server managed to sell the Eiffel Tower in 1925.
00:12 Inaugurated on March 31st, 1889, on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition,
00:17 the Eiffel Tower was in the news.
00:19 First, its architecture.
00:21 330 meters high, it does not correspond to the criteria of the end of the 19th century.
00:25 Then the price, almost 8 million gold francs, a fortune at the time.
00:30 Finally, its maintenance, which weighs considerably on the finances of the city of Paris.
00:35 So the question arises of the future of the Lady of Fer.
00:38 This is what inspires Victor Lustig, his "Coup of the Century".
00:42 The young man made his weapons in the fake currency and scammed them.
00:46 He pretends to be a high-ranking official of the city of Paris
00:49 and contacts several rich blacksmiths to offer them a gold deal.
00:54 The Eiffel Tower and its 7,300 tons of steel are for sale.
00:58 The appointment is set for an April morning, 1925, at the Crayon Hotel.
01:03 Five businessmen are present and one of them, dead at the hands.
01:07 It is André Poisson, a great French blacksmith.
01:11 The Czech explains to him that he was specially charged to organize this sale
01:15 by Gaston Dumergue, the President of the French Republic.
01:19 And to make credible his lie,
01:21 Victor Lustig promises him the deal in exchange for a small note.
01:25 100,000 francs in cash that André Poisson pours on the field.
01:30 Once the money is in his pocket, the thief disappears without leaving a trace.
01:34 When he realizes the scam, André Poisson is so ashamed that he does not file a complaint.
01:40 A few months later, Victor Lustig tries the same with another buyer,
01:44 who this time denounces him.
01:47 After a short stay in prison linked to another case,
01:50 Victor Lustig flees to the United States.
01:52 In the 1930s, he joins the Al Capone gang
01:55 to reconnect with his first passion, fake money.
01:58 He is arrested in 1935 and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
02:02 Sent to Alcatraz, he dies of pneumonia in March 1947.