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| Casino Cheats Hall of Fame conman? |
Referring to suckers, of course, especially in the gambling world...especially in the casino gambling world.
Well, one guy really appreciates this truism. His name is Mark Thomas Georgantas--and he's also known as "Mr. Smooth"...
Which he must have been!
Mr. Georgantas's con was to show himself off as a high roller in Las Vegas casinos and attract a crowd around him while he gambled, especially on hopping craps games. When he got on a lucky roll he would chum up to people and tell them he was an ultra-successful gambler, so good that a documentary film was being made about his casino exploits, and then a reality TV show after that! He even said that actors Matt Damon and George Clooney were so interested in his winning ways that they invested chunks of money in his winning system and became "clients" of his winning casino enterprise, which he called Monster Gaming, Inc.
He boasted that his company could make millions, even hundreds of millions in the long haul. Mr. Clooney and Mr.Damon, he bragged, called him "Pure Cash."
The guy's gift of gab was obviously pretty good!
So good in fact, that after convincing a pair of victims that he was an ex-CIA agent working in the danger zones of Iraq, each invested more than three hundred grand in his craps system!
Then when it came time to hit the craps tables, Mr. Smooth was gone, vanished like a pair of flying dice.
Mark Thomas Georgantas was arrested and charged last month while attemting to fleece some wealthy gamblers at the Hard Rock Casino.
My take: Like I said, there is a sucker born every minute. In Vegas maybe it's two. What is really unbelievable about this is that Georgantas actually had his victims sign a contract to make their gambling deal seem more credible and professional.
In fact, this giant sucker scam reminds me of a small one where the conman says, "Give me four bucks and I'll show you how to make a million." The victim gives him the four bucks, and then the conman says, "You see?"
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