Word: grifter
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Author Geoffrey Wolff tried to capture his own outlandish grifter of a parent in his first novel, Bad Debts (1969). In The Duke of Deception he tries again, this time discarding fiction and giving the facts a chance. They are colorful but not, at first glance, terribly consequential. Arthur Samuels Wolff, nicknamed Duke for his noble pretensions, was neither famous nor accomplished, except at the art of running up unpaid bills, and even that skill deserted him at the end. To Geoffrey and his younger brother Toby, their father's life was a matter of putting on heirs...
...chase scene from a long line of films. But he steals with style, and this movie has what these detective stories always required: laughs, suspense and the romantic angle. In this business these days, what looks like a bulging wad of potential often delivers about as much as a grifter's bill fold--an alluring top card that covers a bunch of hay. But in this one all the jake is up front...
...Grifter's Gift. How did Thompson work his con for so long? "He was a genius at his craft," says Robert Steigmann, Champaign County assistant state's attorney. "He had the ability to snow anybody." Ruddy-faced, ingratiating and gregarious, Thompson had the grifter's gift for spinning a convincing yarn. His face stamped with Main Street openness, Thompson never carried a fake I.D. "I don't imagine I've been asked for identification over half a dozen times," he says. Countless WANTED flyers distributed around the country gave rough descriptions...