64
Vera Rumery: “Romance Disclosed: Newton High School Girl to Wed Harvard Man,” Boston Globe, November 24, 1907.
68
“One of our teachers”: Hans Von Kaltenborn, “The College and the Press,” disquisition presented at Class Day 1909, reprinted in First Report of the Harvard Class of 1909, printed in 1910, pp. 235–36.
68
“a very routine life”: Harvard Class of 1909, Fiftieth Anniversary Report, 1959. pp. 452–53.
69
168 Brattle Street: “Mr. J. G. Thorp’s House on Brattle Street,” Cambridge Tribune, February 2, 1889, p. 1; information on the house and the neighborhood is also from the files of the Cambridge Historical Commission and the Cambridge Historical Society.
69
Alice had found the house: Interview with Mary Grozier, March 7, 2003.
69
editorial writer: “Bursting Golden Bubble Wins Gold Medal,” Editor & Publisher, June 4, 1921, p. 1.
Chapter Six: “An American beauty”
73
James Michael Curley: There is no better source on Boston’s rogue mayor than Jack Beatty’s The Rascal King: The Life and Times of James Michael Curley, Addison-Wesley, 1992. For the period covered here, I relied most heavily on pp. 67–211. For Curley’s attack on the Post, see p. 209 and also the Boston Post, December 2, 1917. Also on Curley and John “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald: Francis Russell, The Knave of Boston, Quinlan Press, 1987, pp. 1–84; Thomas H. O’Connor, The Boston Irish: A Political History, Northeastern Press, 1995; pp. 179–217; Doris Kearns Goodwin, The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys: An American Saga, Simon & Schuster, 1989, pp. 244–52; and Kenny, pp. 163–173.
78
Ponzi found himself rooting for Curley: Ponzi, p. 58.
79
“By starving one day”: Ibid., p. 53.
79
Meeting Rose: “Ponzi Relates Story of His Life,” Boston Post, August 9, 1920, p. 16. Also Ponzi, pp. 53–55; “Wife Tells of Ponzi’s Plans,” Boston American, July 31, 1920, p. 1; and Charles Merrill, “His Pretty Girl Wife Sorry When Ponzi Quit $50 Job,” Boston Globe, August 8, 1920, p. 8. Information about Rose Gnecco Ponzi also was gathered during interviews in April and May 2003 with John Gnecco, Rose’s nephew, who cared for her during the years before she died, and his sisters, Florence Gnecco Hall and Mary Gnecco Treen.
79
four foot eleven: Rose’s height was confirmed by her nephew. Her pride in her weight comes from “ ‘Charlie’s a Born Aristocrat,’ Says Mrs. Rose Ponzi,” Boston Post, December 3, 1922, Special Feature Section, p. 1.
80
“Time, space, the world”: Ponzi, p. 54.
81
nephews and nieces to the beach: Interview with Mary Gnecco Treen, May 5, 2003.
81
Imelde wanted to be sure Rose knew: “Mrs. Ponzi Loyal,” Boston Post, August 13, 1920, p. 9. Also Clarence White, “Mrs. Ponzi Says, ‘We Will Stay Here and Square Debts,’ ” Boston Globe, July 17, 1921.
82
Saint Anthony’s Church: marriage license obtained from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Division of Vital Statistics. Also church records from Saint Anthony’s, provided in April 2003 by church secretary Millie Teixiera.
82
dinner and the theater once a week: Margaret Strickland, “Mrs. Ponzi Willing to Surrender All,” Boston Post, August 17, 1920, p. 1.
82
song on the mandolin: “ ‘Charlie’s a Born Aristocrat,’ Says Mrs. Rose Ponzi,” Boston Post, December 3, 1922, Special Feature Section, p. 1.
83
“tastes of the millionaire”: Charles Merrill, “His Pretty Girl Wife Sorry When Ponzi Quit $50 Job,” Boston Globe, August 8, 1920, p. 8.
83
stamp collection: Ibid.
83
with Roberto de Masellis: “Ponzi Asks Aid . . . Witness Says Foreign Exchange Plan Feasible,” Boston Evening Transcript, October 27, 1922. The physical description of de Masellis comes from a Boston Traveler sketch published on October 28, 1922.
84
“Charlie, for heaven’s sake”: “ ‘Charlie’s a Born Aristocrat,’ Says Mrs. Rose Ponzi,” Boston Post, December 3, 1922, Special Feature Section, p. 1.
84
“When a man is always a gentleman”: Ibid.
84
“An American beauty. My Rose!”: Ponzi, p. 55.
84
“I want you to be able to throw away a hundred dollars”: Charles Merrill, “His Pretty Girl Wife Sorry When Ponzi Quit $50 Job,” Boston Globe, August 8, 1920, p. 8.
84
Once she took a photograph of him: Nancy Wrynne, “Ponzi’s Home Life Is Simple and Devoid of Ostentation,” Boston Sunday Herald, August 1, 1920.
84
the world to take notice of him: “ ‘Charlie’s a Born Aristocrat,’ Says Mrs. Rose Ponzi,” Boston Post, December 3, 1922, Special Feature Section, p. 1.
85
Rose’s mother died: Margaret Strickland, “Mrs. Ponzi Offers All,” Boston Post, August 17, 1920, p. 1.
85
Her love for him deepened: Ibid.
85
“tired of working for expectations”: Ponzi, p. 59.
85
inherited some money from her mother: Clarence White, “Mrs. Ponzi Says, ‘We Will Stay Here and Square Debts,’ ” Boston Globe, July 17, 1921.
86
He sat in the office’s lone armchair: Ibid.
86
stealing 5,387 pounds of cheese: “Ponzi’s Career Is Spectacular,” Boston Globe, August 13, 1920, p. 9.
86
kingmaker and blackmailer Dan Coakley: Annual Report of the Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks, 1921, pp. lv–lvi.
87
a deal with the store’s owner: The terms of the furniture deal come from multiple sources, including, “Ponzi Sent No Representative to Europe,” Boston Globe, September 29, 1920.
87
anglicized his name from Giuseppe Danieli: Albert Hurwitz, “The Ponzi Bubble,” Boston Sunday Herald Magazine, August 30, 1970, p. 13.
88
The ill-fated story of the Trader’s Guide comes from Ponzi himself. His most complete telling is found at Ponzi, pp. 60–66.
89
“with the same inflection”: Ponzi, p. 64.
89
“I cannot approve the loan”: Ibid.
89
Sitting alone in the office: Ponzi told the story of how he came up with the idea of speculating in International Reply Coupons on many occasions, each time recounting the same essential facts about the letter from the Spaniard who wanted a copy of the Trader’s Guide. See Ponzi, pp. 67–70; Charles Ponzi, “Ponzi’s Own Story of His Life Reads Like a Romance,” Boston Sunday Advertiser, August 8, 1920, p. 3; and “Ponzi Tells His Story,” Boston Evening Transcript, November 27, 1922, p. 1.
Chapter Seven: “The almighty dollar”
93
Universal Postal Union: A history of the UPU and the advent of International Postal Coupons can be found at www.upu.int. Also Herman Herst Jr., “Charles Ponzi and His International Postal Reply Coupon Scheme,” Speaking of Stamps Column, Stamps, December 9, 1995, p. 8.
95
cost the Spaniard thirty centavos: Ponzi frequently told the same story of how the idea came to him and how he investigated its likelihood of success by sending three dollars abroad. The most complete account is from Ponzi, pp. 67–70. See also Mabel Abbott, “Ponzi’s Profits on $9,522,590 of Investors—$45,” New York World, November 26, 1924. For details of the Austrian example, see “Mr. Ponzi and His ‘Ponzied Finance,’ ” Literary Digest, August 21, 1920, p. 47.
96
Ponzi was deep in the hole: Ponzi, pp. 68–69.
96
fifteen hundred dollars in loans: “Ponzi Sent to Europe No Representative,” Boston Globe, September 29, 1920.
96
they might steal it: “Ponzi Tells His Story,” Boston Evening Transc
ript, November 27, 1922, p. 1.
97
“They could not limit the number of coupons”: Ponzi, p. 69.
97
“Environment had made me rather callous”: Ibid., p. 70.
98
Uncle Ned’s Loan Company: “Ponzi Pawned Watch, Rings to Get Start,” Boston Sunday Herald, August 15, 1920. The story does not say the diamond rings belonged to Rose, but it is reasonable to infer that they were hers, in light of a separate story, “Mrs. Ponzi Would Not Take Gems,” Boston Post, November 22, 1922. In that story, Lillian Mahoney, the wife of one of Ponzi’s salesmen, testifies that Rose had three diamond rings when she lived in Somerville. Also: Rosenberg’s first name and background, which were not included in the Herald story, come from U.S. Census records obtained through www.ancestry.com.
98
debts approached three thousand dollars: “Made All His Money in Past Seven Months,” Boston Sunday Globe, August 8, 1920, p. 17.
99
Seeing the angry look on Daniels’s face: Ponzi, p. 73. The account of Daniels’s December 1919 loan, which would play a pivotal role in Ponzi’s downfall, was pieced together from numerous sources, including: “Ponzi Partnership and Receiver Hearings On,” Boston Traveler, October 1, 1920; “Ponzi Criminal Trial to Start Soon, Belief,” Boston Traveler, October 2, 1920, p. 1; “Ponzi to Tell More on ‘Partnership Deal,’ ” Boston Traveler, October 5, 1920, p. 1; “Insist Daniels Tell Disposition of $55,000,” Boston Traveler, October 9, 1920, p. 1; “Bar Witnesses as Spectators During Trial of Ponzi Case,” Boston Traveler, October 26, 1922, p. 1; “Ponzi Sent No Representative to Europe,” Boston Globe, September 29, 1920; “Ponzi Tells How He Borrowed Millions,” Boston Globe, September 30, 1920; “Figures of Auditor Rittenhouse,” Boston Globe, October 5, 1920.
101
extracting gold from seawater: The story of the Reverend Prescott Ford Jernegan comes from sources including “Get Rich Quick Schemes of Boston Yesterdays: Gold from Sea Water,” Boston Herald, August 2, 1920. Also Diana Ross McCain, “Fortune Sucked from the Sea Was a Golden Scam,” Hartford Courant, November 18, 1998, p. 11, and Shoshana Hoose, “All That Glittered in Lubec,” Portland Press Herald, November 5, 1995, p. 1G.
103
a smooth talker named Ferdinand Borges: “Get Rich Quick Schemes of Boston Yesterdays: Rubber, Coffee and Pineapples,” Boston Herald, August 3, 1920.
104
robbing Peter to pay Paul: John Bartlett, comp. Familiar Quotations, 10th ed., rev. and enl. by Nathan Haskell Dole. Boston: Little, Brown, 1919; found at Bartleby.com.
104
The ad had been placed by Sarah Howe: “Get Rich Quick Schemes of Boston Yesterdays: Mrs. Howe’s Bank for Ladies Only,” Boston Herald, August 7, 1920.
105
William Franklin Miller: Robert Jay Nash, Hustlers and Con Men. New York: M. Evans and Company, Inc., 1976, pp. 195–203. Also “Get Rich Quick Schemes of Boston Yesterdays: 520 Per Cent,” Boston Herald, August 3, 1920, and Mary Darby, “In Ponzi We Tru$t,” Smithsonian, December 1, 1998, p. 134.
106
C. D. Sheldon: Morgan Marietta, “The Historical Continuum of Financial Illusion,” American Economist, March 1, 1996, p. 79; “Montreal Detective Believes Ponzi’s Story; Always Thought Him Guiltless; Cordasco Says Scheme Was That of Zarossi,” Boston Globe, August 12, 1920; Herbert Baldwin, “Ponzi No Martyr,” Boston Post, August 13, 1920, p. 10.
107
International Security Company: “Know Today Receiver in Ponzi Case,” Boston Post, August 18, 1920, p. 1. On p. 72 of his autobiography, Ponzi mistakenly says he included two other names on the original registration papers, when in fact he did not add the names until March. The question of whether he had silent partners would become significant months later at his trial, but the general consistency between his trial testimony and the account in his autobiography suggests that his erroneous statement about when he named the partners was an innocent mistake. Indeed, there are several instances in his autobiography where his sequence of events is contradicted by the record, but in no case do the discrepancies result in significant conflicts.
107
He was pleased that the transaction: Ponzi, p. 72.
108
“We are all gamblers”: Ponzi, p. 76.
108
a point of never directly soliciting: Ponzi, p. 75.
108
Someone knocked on the door: “Ponzi Wins Avowal of Confidence,” Boston Post, November 1, 1922, p. 9. Also Ponzi, pp. 75–76.
Chapter Eight: “A small snowball downhill”
111
thirty-two-year-old Giberti: Information about Giberti’s life, including his date of immigration and his family, comes largely from the 1930 census; he was not counted in 1920.
111
Giberti’s net worth: “Ponzi Wins Avowal of Confidence,” Boston Post, November 1, 1922, p. 9.
112
A shiver of panic: Ponzi’s feelings during his meeting with Giberti come from Ponzi himself; see Ponzi, p. 75. Giberti also offered an account of their first meeting in court testimony. See “Seek Flaws in Testimony of Giberti,” Boston Traveler, November 2, 1922, p. 1. Also “Ponzi Wins Avowal of Confidence,” Boston Post, November 1, 1922, p. 9.
112
“I was selling my dollars at about sixty-six cents”: Ponzi, pp. 75–76.
113
a total of $1,770: “Ponzi in Sharp Cross-Examination,” Boston Globe, November 6, 1922. Also Ponzi, p. 76. An accountant for Ponzi bankruptcy receivers, Charles Rittenhouse, claimed that Ponzi paid only 40 percent interest during his first three months in business. Ponzi, however, maintained that he always paid 50 percent. In those first three months he took in just over seven thousand dollars, or less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the total.
113
Giberti put up only ten dollars: “Seek Flaws in Testimony of Giberti,” Boston Traveler, November 2, 1922, p. 1.
113
a pivotal moment in the career: This passage might be open to interpretation and dispute, but it is based on a careful reading of Ponzi’s actions before, during, and after his scheme. Among the significant elements in considering him overly impetuous and ethically challenged but not a premeditated swindler are small yet telling details such as his claiming only his watch at the pawnshop (see below). Later, he makes even clearer the absence of intent to follow the fly-by-night path of William Franklin Miller by purchasing his Lexington home, canceling his planned visit to Italy, and bringing his mother to the United States.
114
returned to Uncle Ned’s pawnshop: “Ponzi Pawned Watch, Rings to Get Start,” Boston Sunday Herald, August 15, 1920, p. 1.
115
just four hundred dollars: “Ponzi Tells His Story,” Boston Evening Transcript, November 27, 1922, p. 1.
115
a Massachusetts bureaucrat named Frank Pope: “Ponzi Has a Rival Next Door to Him,” Boston Sunday Post, July 25, 1920, p. 1.
116
skeptics would doubt Sarti’s existence: Ponzi first mentioned Sarti during his 1922 trial, and his existence was never proved. Indeed, prosecutors at Ponzi’s 1925 trial informed the jury that no evidence could be found that a Lionello Sarti had entered the United States in Boston, Portland, or Philadelphia, though Ponzi objected that the search was far from exhaustive and should not be limited to those ports. See “McIsaacs to Testify for Ponzi,” Boston Traveler, November 28, 1922, p. 1. Also “Coakley on Stand, Believes Ponzi Was Solvent,” Boston Globe, November 28, 1922, p. 1; “Denounces Ponzi . . . as Embodiment of a Lie,” Boston Globe, November 30, 1922; “State Rests in Ponzi Case,” Boston Globe, February 21, 1925. Ponzi does not name Sarti in his autobiography but provides a description of his supposed deeds that fits with trial testimony. See Ponzi, p. 81.
116
“Each satisfied customer”: Ponzi, p. 76.
116
$5,290 in new investments: Monthly investment totals come from the federal audit that led to t
he closure of the Securities Exchange Company and were evidence at Ponzi’s 1922 trial. Also “How the Bubble Grew,” Boston Evening Transcript, November 6, 1922, p. 24.
116
sum came from the life savings: In re Ponzi, 268 F. 997 (District Court, Massachusetts, November 12, 1920). Also “Ponzi Named Dead Man as Partner,” Boston Globe, September 30, 1920.
117
Ponzi returned to Uncle Ned’s: “Ponzi Pawned Watch, Rings to Get Start,” Boston Sunday Herald, August 15, 1920, p. 1.
117
He died on February 13, 1920: Interview with his great-grandson John Gnecco, April 22, 2003.
117
On March 9 he wired ten thousand lire: “Receipts Produced by Ponzi,” Boston Post, August 3, 1920, page 2.
118
He assigned John A. Dondero: “Ponzi Liberal with Bonuses,” Boston Herald, September 23, 1920.
118
To further satisfy Daniels: In re Ponzi, 268 F. 997 (District Court, Massachusetts, November 12, 1920).
118
afraid that the Fidelity Trust Company: In re Ponzi, 268 F. 997 (District Court, Massachusetts, November 12, 1920). Also “Ponzi Named Dead Man as Partner,” Boston Globe, September 30, 1920.
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