542 - Dracula Ambitions

This is exactly right. But the millionaire duo are concealing a dark past and dastardly intentions. From USG Audio, Blanchard House, and Exactly Right Media, this is Royal Swindle. New episodes drop every Thursday. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Women are expected to keep track of just about everything. So you need to be careful. You need to be wearing a bra that helps you get it all done. Honeylove makes bras designed to support you without getting in your way. Honeylove bras give you lift and support without uncomfortable underwire, so there's less poking, pinching, and adjusting. The Crossover Contour Bra has molded foam cups for a smooth, natural shape with extra structure and support. And the Cloud Embrace Bra is soft, breathable, and comfortable enough to wear all day, while still giving you plenty of support. Their shapewear smooths and supports with targeted compression that moves with your body instead of squeezing or ripping. Honeylove uses high-quality, breathable fabrics and thoughtful details to make bras and shapewear that feel as good as they look. Because comfort isn't a luxury, it's a requirement. Treat yourself to the most advanced bras and shapewear on the market. Use our exclusive link to save 20% off Honeylove at Honeylove.com slash MFM. That's Honeylove.com slash MFM. After you check out, they'll ask where you heard about them. Please support our show and tell them we sent you. Experience the new standard in comfort and support with Honeylove. Goodbye. Technology is getting so smart. Coffee makers are about two weeks away from sending emails. And home security shouldn't be any different. That's where SimpliSafe comes in. Unlike traditional security systems that alert you after a break-in starts, SimpliSafe is designed to help stop intruders before they get inside. SimpliSafe smart outdoor cameras can detect suspicious activity around your home. If something looks wrong, live agents can assess the situation in real time. It's a more proactive approach to home security, helping prevent a break-in instead of just responding to one. Can I tell you this morning? Vince found a chicken wing bong in our backyard, which makes zero sense. The fact that we can use our cameras to be like, what the hell? Where did this come from? Is it an intruder that was hungry? Or is it some kind of animal is like huge. Right now, you can get 50% off a new SimpliSafe system. Go to SimpliSafe.com slash MFM. That's SimpliSafe.com slash MFM for 50% off. And when you order, please write in my favorite murder in the how did you hear about a survey to let them know we sent you. Don't forget, there's no safe like SimpliSafe. Bye. Hello and welcome to My Favorite Murder. That's Georgia Hartstark. That's Karen Kilgariff. And here we are podcasting once again. Here we are. Well, those are pretty nails. I know they're adults nails that I've somehow. Put on me. Magnetic. They're like gel X. So they're like not my nails. And suddenly I feel like this and dresses, I feel like are the trick to making people think you have your shit together. Yeah, that's right. Boom. Are you not pointing things out like this? I'm definitely talking with my hands a lot more and pointing things out. But 10, 15 minutes ago, I was eating an Uncrustable in the car wash. So yes, still me didn't get me on my dress. Not so classy that it changes you deep down. Exactly. That's good. How are you? I'm good. I'm still working on this. I'm working on the same manicure I had two weeks ago. Try these. Gel X. They're gel and they're like press on, like leave press on nails. Oh, OK. And you just suddenly feel like an adult. All right. I'm not that interested in being an adult, though. Looking like one. People mistaking you for one. So they treat you differently. Yeah, but I don't like suddenly I put those on and people are asking me for tax advice. I don't have time like that. It's what I think. Like if I had nice big tits, like it would be like if that that's like what girls with nice big tits would do. Nice big tits experience in life, you know, bad news for you. But as someone with medium big tits, come on. It's not that great. People give you a little. They're like a little nicer to you. Oh, I mean, I get into restaurants. I get always get a table. I never get a table with these A's. What a way to look at the world. Yeah. I've been ripped off with my small breasts. It's the thing of like people who were pretty when they're kids. You're like, you don't know what real life like since they've been kids, they've been pretty. Yes. You don't know what it's like. You've never been. People don't treat you the way they treat everyone else. You've never had somebody turn around and go, oh, you're here. Right. Oh, my God. Or go, oh, you're here. It's more like that. Yeah. Oh. Oh. You're here. You tried to put the accent on the oh. You're here. It's scene study with Karen and Georgia. And. And you're here. And you're here. OK. I have a true crime podcast, Bone Valley, which, wow. Hey. They just went for that. Where does this take place? Hell? But that's the podcast name. And then they have seasons. The season I just started listening to, I'd never heard of it, is season five called The Devil's Quarry. The podcast Bone Valley is about wrongful convictions and miscarriage of justice in the U.S. So The Devil's Quarry season five is about this 12 year old girl who was murdered in the 1980s. And just the complete. The complete fuck up that happened with this guy going to jail for 20 years. And, you know, all the things you hate about that. But he figures a way to get himself out. But then there's a psycho who actually probably killed her who isn't. And so it's this kind of awful story. But it's really interesting. And important to tell. Yeah. That's great. I highly recommend it. Paul Solitaroff is the host. He was a Rolling Stones contributor. It's good. Rolling Stones. The magazine. The magazine. No, the band. He was in the Rolling Stones. You said it plural. It's not. He's a Rolling Stones contributor. He's like, ooh, ah, ooh, ah. I couldn't even have told you if it was or wasn't right. That's it. What about you? Scraping my brain for anything. You don't have to have anything. We knew. We did. We talked about nails. Talked about tits. We talked about true crime. This is what ladies care about. This is what you've come to expect. And now, how to get our bodily autonomy back. No. Don't be silly. God damn it. Okay. Well, let's get into it then. We have a podcast network called Exactly Right Media. Correct. Here are some highlights. Explosive diarrhea alert. All caps. Oh, Jesus. Oh, they're doing it. I love it. That's right. This week on this podcast, we'll kill you. Our experts, Aaron and Erin, are both doctors, and they're putting out an emergency episode to talk about the current cyclospora outbreak. That's right. The explosive diarrhea outbreak that is happening across this nation. And it's real. So, Aaron and Erin break down what's happening, what you need to watch out for, and they list off every single vegetable that you no longer have to eat. Have to eat. Whoops. That you are not allowed to eat. And then over on Dear Movies, I love you a million. Casey, revisit the cult classic, Romeo and Michelle's High School Reunion. I got to watch that again. Plus, Casey shares all the highlights from his recent 20th high school reunion. Themed out. Then on Disgraceland, Jake tells the story of Dolly Parton. So good. Hear how the country icon narrowly avoided becoming a woman. Becoming the tragic heroine of one of her own murder ballads. Ooh. And then in merch corner. Finally. We have some brand new arrivals. So exciting. Check out the new Call Your Dad collection. Oh, pretty goddamn great. Especially. Look at this tote. Look at this t-shirt. I love it. You're in a cult. Call your dad. And then we have a pop socket. Pop socket. And a sticker. Come on. You guys. Something for everyone. Check that out. And we also have the MFM Collegiate Unisex t-shirt. Oh, here it is. So, I love that. So, it's the red flag unisex. Looks like you go to My Favorite Murder University with a red flag. I love that one so fucking much. It's so cute. What size is that? I'm going to give it to Vince. This here is a medium. Amazing. Both of those are designed by our graphic designer, Vanessa Lilac, who's so talented. And then also we have, this was our tour logo. It's like the design template kind of. Yeah, with the panther. It's really fucking cool. It's designed by Daphna Sabane. It's inspired by our 2025 tour shirt. So, check that out. Man, that's so cool. Yeah, if you have FOMO for missing out on the tour in any way, you can still get a piece of that art action. Yeah. Pretty great. Love it. Head to TheExactlyRightStore.com to shop for our merch. All of our merch now. Two Aussie lesbian lovers touch down in 1990s London and become the toast of British high society. One of them starts touting an exclusive investment opportunity, and soon they're making money. The money is rolling in. Rich businessmen and England's horse-loving elite fall under their seductive spell. They even meet Queen Elizabeth. But the duo are concealing a dark past and dastardly intentions. Evil. They were bad, bad people. As bad as evil? Yes, definitely. Before long, a small town did something. A small town did something. A detective gets wind duo's exploits and vows to stop them. She was a thieving scumbag. Only problem is, these two are exceedingly hard to catch. Decades later, one of them is finally ready to tell all. I sold my soul to the devil. From USG Audio, Blanchard House and Exactly Right Media, this is Royal Swindle. So this is a very special episode. This is a themed episode in honor of our newest limited series podcast release of Royal Swindle. That's right. Royal Swindle is the unbelievable true story of two Aussie con women who charmed British high society, we love a good con, in a tale of greed. Greed, lies, and, spoiler alert, horses. The first two episodes are available right now wherever you get your podcasts. Please go check that out. And to celebrate the kickoff of Royal Swindle, we will now tell each other scam stories. Hell yeah. We love a scammer. We do, and there's just so many. You go first, I think. Okay. Have you heard of Roslyn, New York, in Long Island? Long Island? Long Island. I've heard of Long Island. Okay, so there is a town called Roslyn in New York, a Long Island city. It's a suburban suburb. It's on the island's north shore in Nassau County, which you've heard of. Past stories that have taken us to Long Island that we've covered have been, of course, the Gilgo Beach Killer and the Amityville Horror Story. But both those took place in towns that are on the south shore and farther out on the island where the vibe is more maritime and maybe a little more blue collar. Not today. Roslyn is more of a quintessential New York suburb. If you remember the suburban towns in Uncut Gems and Meet the Fockers or Meet the Parents, whatever, that's the kind of place you can picture. So I looked it up, of course, to see what famous people came from Roslyn. Michael Crichton, author Michael Crichton. A man named Arthur Agatston, who was the author of The South Beach Diet. Oh, hell yeah. And fashion designer Lily Pulitzer was born in Roslyn, New York. Okay, we're getting the sense here. Yeah. There's a little bit of carb cutting. Some affluence. There's some ballet slippers that match the little sundress you're wearing. Right. Your daughter has the same outfit. There's a lot of doctors and lawyers, the ones that commute to Manhattan. And there's one major reason New York professionals choose to live in these towns, and that is because they have great public schools. And these people are obsessive about their children's education. It's something that you and I don't understand, except I read it in books about how cutthroat getting your children into schools and good schools and public good schools is, right? And in L.A., I've had friends that are like, the child is a year and a half, and they're already talking about what kindergarten they will go to. Totally, totally. And then I just internally fall backwards out of the universe. Same. This is the story of a swindle that rocked one of Long Island's most prestigious school systems. And as it unraveled, it just got bigger and bigger. It's probably a testament to the quality of the district and its ambitious students that the story was first broken by a student at this school in the school paper. Yes. And its alumnus, who later wrote and produced an HBO movie about it called Bad Education, starring Allison Janney and Hugh Jackman. That was based on a true story. Yeah. And I'll say it's a bit of a stretch, but they're such great actors, we don't care. You don't care. Yeah. This is the story of the Rosalind School District embezzlement scandal. Ooh. Yeah. The main sources for this story are an article in New York Magazine by Robert Kolker and reporting from the New York Times and Newsday, which is Long Island's local paper. The rest of the sources can be found in the show notes. And I watched half of Bad Education. But it's like they take liberties. It's not even like retro. But it is a fun little, you know, flick. Okay. Who says that? My mom. It's a fun flick. It's a fun flick. How would you know? You didn't watch it. I watched all of half of it. How dare you? How dare you? All of half. You and your big tits. Put them away. Get your big tits out of my face. Okay. So it's the fall of 2002. Remember that? Yeah. Yeah. And the Roslyn School District has been rapidly ascending towards the top of the top public districts in America. For any non-American listeners and people who don't have children and don't understand this. Bonjour. Bonjour. American public schools are controlled on three levels. Lunchtime. Vibes. Reset. Cheerleading. Vibes and cheerleaders. So the first is very loosely by the federal government, which can give or withhold some state funding and can create policies that should protect students' constitutional rights and rights to education. Or create policies that roll back these rights. Guess which one happens more often. Number two. Yeah. And on the state level, there is much more oversight into the curriculum, policies and standards. The state administers standardized tests and funding can be awarded or withheld based on these scores. I think it'd be interesting to have a teacher here right now to tell us their opinion. It's abysmal. The poor schools just never get the money. No, they don't. No matter what. The money that they need the most. Yeah. Yeah. There's a whole fucking episode. I'm going to stop and lecture you. Every time I have the opportunity. Great. I barely graduated high school. However. It's your fault. The vast majority of school funding comes from local taxes on a district by district basis. This is why if you look at a list of best performing public school districts in America, they will, without fail, be some of the country's richest suburban communities. So. The rich get richer. Right. The escalator that they're automatically standing on goes all the way to heaven. Exactly. And I was educated at one of those too, so I can't. Did Janet move you there? Like to be at a good school? Janet wouldn't let us move to L.A. before I graduated because it was a good school, which is like, I appreciate that of her. Yeah, that's right. To keep you there so that you could. Yeah. I probably would have gotten in even more trouble if I had gone into Fairfax. Yeah, exactly. Oh my God. Can you imagine being in the city? Oh, I'd have the most fun. Yeah. Appreciate that. So good schools drive up home prices too, which I hadn't considered. It makes obvious sense. Making these communities even more inaccessible over time. And I did look at the Redfin house prices, and I didn't see one for under $1.5 million. Wow. And some of the higher ones were like $6 million, so. It's a fancy area. And they're very like, they all look a little Sopranos-ish. Yeah, kind of a little new. New builds. A little octagonal maybe, or central staircase. Lots of tile instead of hardwood, you know? Right. Which depresses me. So a large chunk of the credit for the ever-improving quality of the Roslyn School District is given to the school's superintendent, a 10-year veteran of the district in his late 50s named Frank Tassone. And that's who Hugh Jackman plays. I'll show you a real photo of him, actually. Oh, there's Frank. He's making a face. That's Hugh Jackman's character. You can see it. You can see a little Hugh Jackman in there. Yeah. He looks like a great dancer, this man. And proud. So proud. You know his shoes are nice. Look at that, how hot that cameraman is back there. Did you notice that guy? Yeah, he is hot. It a little bit looks like Ryan Gosling is faking being the cameraman. Hey, are you the cameraman who looks like Ryan Gosling? Right in. And then that journalist is like, excuse me, the cameraman's my boyfriend. Right. That's why. You move in packs like this. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry, guys. Over the years, Frank has spearheaded ambitious projects. So he's a really good superintendent. I want to say Super Nintendo because of The Simpsons. I don't, well, Super Nintendo chalmers. He's the best Super Nintendo chalmers that anyone's asked me. But he is really good. He has spearheaded ambitious projects like elementary school foreign language classes and high school community service requirements, which is pretty great. That makes everyone proud of the district. And the hard stats are always improving too. Every year, the school's average SAT scores go up and the list of college acceptances becomes more and more impressive. And Frank spearheads a lot of community outreach as well, involving Roslyn's senior citizens in school events to like help do old people things, tell stories probably. But oftentimes those are- Complain about children. Kids today. Yes. Oftentimes though, these events happen shortly before the town budget votes. But like, he's still doing it. Right. Frank is a, he's a former English teacher who still gives public lectures on classic literature. He is beloved. He's also a flashy dresser, Brooks Brothers suits. And he drives- He seemed like an incredibly flashy dresser. He is. He drives a Mercedes. He makes around $250,000 a year. So that was in 2002. So in today's money- $750,000? $466,000. Oh. But close. I always go too high. Yeah. I was like, you're never going to believe this. Like, no, no, no. So he makes, you know, $250,000 a year, but he has no kids. So the fact that he spends a lot of money and has nice things seems like it's within his budget. People don't seem to know a ton about Frank's personal life. He has on his desk an old timey wedding photo, like in the movie, Bad Education. It looks like it's from the 80s, maybe, of a woman in a wedding dress. And he says that was his wife who tragically died of cancer many years earlier. Keeps his ring on in the movie. I don't know if it's true. People know he lives in Manhattan in a rent-stabilized building. So that's more of a reason for them not to question his, seems like he's spending a lot. For one moment, I was like, I wish this story was about how that building got rent-stabilized and like how much it costs and who lives there. Because that idea that in like modern day, even L.A. or New York, that you could be like- You had to be grandfathered in at some point. Yeah, right. And you're like, oh, I pay $1,500 for my three and two. My old place that we used to record at was like $1,250. It's insane. God. I know. That's not what this story is. Sorry. That's next week. That's your story. So other, than this one mystery about his private life, which he doesn't discuss much, Frank is outgoing, He's friendly. This is probably why the school board is inclined to follow his lead in 2002 when it comes out that his assistant superintendents for business, the person who signs the checks for the district, a woman named Pam Gluckin, has been stealing money from the district. So Allison Janney is who plays her. And here is what she actually looks like. Pam. She looks like a woman you'd see in the office of your school. Absolutely. A woman who literally those readers are glued to the end of her nose like that. Right. And she's always rushing around and she always smells like coffee. Yeah. But she knows everyone's name. She knows everyone's mom's name. She's always busy. She knows exactly what's going on. She knows everyone's name. Yes, exactly. They show that in this movie. So she's well liked. She's outgoing. She often jokes about how hard she's working and how late she stays. But it seems like it's true. She is kind of like his right hand and knows everything. And while she makes decent money as a high up administrator in a wealthy district, it's maybe a little suspicious with her that she can afford to have three homes. One in Belmore, which is a working class Long Island town, one in Florida and one in the Hamptons. But she also has boats. She takes lavish vacations. She has fancy cars and nice jewelry. So it's a little more sus. It's just funny to me. Maybe it's her husband who makes the money, you know, like. But yeah, she could have had a rich aunt. Or credit. Credit. She's just really good at paying off her credit card every month. Or bad. We don't know. Or really bad. Yeah. But my thing is, why can't people just not spend the money? Right. Just for a little while. Lavishly. Totally. Keep it on the low profile. Just go to CVS and treat yourself once a month. Listen to us tell you how to cheat. Like, don't. Like, I knew when I was 19, if I stole clothes from the Melrose clothing store I was working at, don't wear them to work. Yes. You know? And pick your one thing and then go for three years. But like, at least cover your tracks in some way. But that idea where it's like, hey, you want to go try my ski do? Let's go out this weekend. And they're like, Maureen. Or come over. I'm having a party at my house. I'm having a party at my Hampton's house. Disclaimer, I never stole any clothes from the Melrose clothing store. Disclaimer, I never stole $20 from my cafe job and justified it by saying everyone's mean to me. Never happened and statute of limitations. Can't prove it. Yep. Didn't happen. Yeah, it's a little suspicious. But no one really bats an eye at this because a lot of Roslyn families have homes in other locations. They don't ask questions. That said, it's still a shock to everyone when the board realizes that Pam has been using a district credit card to make personal purchases. It's just so trackable. So trackable. But she's the one who does the tracking or like the approving. Yeah, two sets of eyes. It seems like I'm sure she started slow and then knew she was never going to get caught and just kind of went, you're all in at that point, whether for $10 or a million dollars, you're going to get fired and going to get caught. So you might as well do the million. So then you're like, we're going on vacation. Totally. That just makes me think of the early days when you and I were sharing like American Express cards and then if I would do the thing where suddenly I don't have my card on me and I would just text you and be like, I just bought $80 worth of lip liner at CVS, just so you know, before when we were still handling it. I know. So crazy. I believed you every time. Well, it's true. I know. That's why. It's a good thing I believed you. I know it is. There'd be like a six, you'd call it, text me like, I just spent $6.25 at Chipotle and I didn't have my card so I used Argo. Yes. I'm like, okay. Did it all the time. You don't have to pay it back. I know. But it's also that kind of thing where I think that. Yeah. At least we always had that. Yeah. Where it's just like you're not going to steal money from me. No. Totally. That's not how you are. No. That's like very important in a partnership. Here comes the big reveal. Actually. Wait. I do owe you. Didn't you give me $100 in cash one time? Recently? I gave you $20 because I didn't have a five and said you have probably done this for me many times in the past. We're even. So we're even. We're absolutely even. You heard it here, folks. That is provable. Okay. We're going to take a look at this district credit card. One of those credit card purchases finally raises the alarm because someone used it to buy a bunch of renovation supplies at a few Home Depots around Long Island outside of Roslyn. The clerk. Okay. Here's the snitch clerk at a Home Depot in a town called Selden, which is about 35 miles east of Roslyn. And everyone knows everyone in Long Island, it seems like. You're not going to get away with shit. People know whose kids you are. People know whose cousin you are, like where you're supposed to be, where you're not supposed to be. Yeah. You remember Vicki Ernst, one of the producers on our TV show? Yes. Yeah. Vicki's from Long Island. Right. And she knows every single person on her block. Yes. And any time she sees anybody, like, it's about community. Right. Gossip, good, bad, everything. You're in it. Yeah. You're in it for life. So basically, the snitch -- I'm not putting him down. Good for him. This person. This person. So don't call him a snitch. Is that what you're saying? Well, I don't know. You're right. He recognized the person who was using the credit card as Pam's son. Mm-hmm. And she's like, "That's weird. He is a contractor, but why was he buying supplies for the Roslyn School District on their card, but not at the Home Depot in Roslyn in a different town? And why did those supplies get delivered to a home in the Hamptons and not to the Roslyn School?" Red flag. Red flag. Yeah. And, like, the son's being lazy at this point. In the movie, she, like, beats the shit out of him for doing that. It's very -- Allison Janney is so good. She's so good. She's so good. So this clerk contacts the school board and tells them what happened. When the school's auditor finishes his work, just looking into it, he finds that $250,000 have been stolen. In today's money -- $250,000, and this was 2003? 2002. 2002. You want to know how much the other one was? Oh, it was the same amount. It was $4 something. It was the same amount. Oh, $450,000? $466,000. Okay. So today's money, about $466,000, the board convenes in a meeting with Frank, our guy, to figure out the next steps. They're all just so pissed off and upset, and he surprises all of them by saying, "We shouldn't turn her in. We shouldn't go to the DA. We shouldn't press charges. Let's not raise the alarms. Instead, let's let her resign quietly, and we'll inform the state licensing board so they revoke her school administration licenses." He doesn't want to totally throw the book at her. He points out that if Pam is prosecuted, the district will have to keep paying her until the case is settled. And possibly more importantly, it'll make the district look really bad when it becomes a huge news story. It will make the school budget harder to pass. But if she resigns and promises to pay back the money, the district will take less of a financial hit or really no hit at all if she pays it back. Basically, they want to avoid scandal. They look really good. They also were like, if colleges see Roslyn School District on applications and know that it is like a tarnished school, it's going to affect that. Yeah. They've worked so hard. It's only $250,000. Let's let her go. Yeah. Makes sense. I mean, and that is the kind of definition these days feels like of corruption in that way, because that's exactly what happened with Dr. Death, where it's like, we can't, the insurance won't bring this against these doctors because it's so small and it ends everything. And it's like that kind of thinking of like, how bad is the thing to be a career ender or a reputation? Yeah. You'd hope hurting and killing people would be the limit. But guess what? It's not. It's never. It's never. It's money. It's money. Yeah. So the board takes Frank up on this idea and Pam plays ball and she goes quietly. About a year and a half passed without incident. And in that time period, Roslyn has been ranked by Wall Street Journal as the sixth best school district in the nation, which in today's best school districts in the, no. Number two. Exactly. And the parents, school board and administration, they're so thrilled about this. Basically, like Frank can't do anything wrong to them. Every Roslyn homeowner is also thrilled since more demand for the school system means higher home prices. Everyone's happy with him. It's all frothing, but the camera cuts back to that wedding picture on his desk. Right. For me. Right. Then it all comes crashing down. You're right. In February of 2004, an anonymous letter is sent to the members of the school board, some school administrators, the district attorney and several local newspapers. So we never find out who sent this letter. But they sent it to everybody. Everybody. It claims that Pam Gluckin had stolen much more than $250,000 that the school's auditor had initially reported, which some of these people didn't know about that at all. And that Frank both knew about it and had embezzled funds himself. The letter says, quote, "We believe that Dr. Frank Tassone participated in this embezzlement scandal so as to support his lavish lifestyle with the help of Ms. Gluckin. He submitted his personal credit card statements, bills for personal vacations and trips and various household bills. And included them in the cover up." End quote. I just realized I don't have my glasses on. There. Now I won't. There. Now you can read. The sinking of the Titanic. Oh, shit. This is blank. One of them starts touting an exclusive investment opportunity. And soon their money is rolling in. Evil. As bad as evil? Yes, definitely. Before long, a small-town detective gets wind of the duo's exploits and vows to stop them. Only problem is, she didn't have the money. No. is these two are exceedingly hard to catch. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Every successful small business starts with someone saying, I wonder if people would actually buy this. Squarespace gives you everything you need to find out. From consultations to events and experiences, you can showcase your skills with a customizable website designed to attract clients and grow your business. With Squarespace's collection of cutting edge design tools, anyone can build a beautiful professional online presence that perfectly fits their brand or business. Get paid on time with professional invoices and online payments. Plus, streamline your workflow with built-in appointment scheduling and email marketing tools. Head to squarespace.com slash murder for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code murder to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Goodbye. A closet can be completely full and somehow totally empty at the same time, much like your parents' refrigerator. It's time to rebuild around pieces you actually want to wear. And that's exactly what you'll find at Quint's. Quint's makes elevated everyday essentials using premium materials like Mongolian cashmere, organic cotton, and washable silk. Quint's brings that same everyday elevation to everything they offer, from hotel quality bedding and bath to kitchen staples and thoughtfully designed furniture. 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But for some reason, whoever sent the letter used the district office as its return address. So he got a hold of a copy of it. Meaning I wonder, it's probably someone in that school who sent it in the first place, right? Like a teacher or someone else in the office. Right. Because they would need to maybe access that mail slot if there was mail back. Right. Like why would they put it back there? Exactly. So it winds up on Frank's desk. He, he freaks out, launches into a preemptive strike. He calls a meeting with the representatives from every part of the school staff and the PTA to present the letter and say that the allegations are not true, but that he's going to call back the auditor to go through the finances and clear it all up. He's going to look through every single little thing. At first, people go along with this and praise him for being so forthcoming. But at the end of the month, an editor for the school district, I can use that name in good health. It's so cool. She gets a copy of the letter somehow and writes an article in the school paper about it. Yeah. This is one of, she's like, yeah. Sitting down, crick, crick, crick, crick. Revenge is mine. Yeah. I mean, and I looked her up and I'm like, she better be like a famous journalist now. And I don't know if she might work for a school district. I can't tell what she does, but she lays low. She's a genius and just out there amongst the people. Yeah. It runs in the papers, March issue. In the article, she gets a copy of the letter. She's like, I don't know if she's going to be a famous journalist quote from Frank explaining why he didn't come forward with the allegations against Pam when they first, she's fucking going for it. She's kind of on the record. Yeah. And she was wearing a wire when she asked those questions. Right. He says, quote, I think their reputation at the school district was at stake, end quote. And that's why he didn't come forward. Rebecca later writes in the New York Times that the student response to the article was underwhelming. Because of course it is. They don't give a shit about the school paper. Did you ever read your school paper? We didn't have one. Yes, you did. You just didn't know. No one was aware. But also, just that kind of thing of like to have lived as the girl that always thought she was doing like justice and like fighting the good fight. Yeah. And then turning around and no one's ever behind you. You're just like, mm hmm. Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah. She says, quote, during school that day, I watched for reactions to the story, but the students as a whole were not as receptive as I had expected. We don't have formal circulation numbers, but by the number of papers still lying around school at the end of the day, I would say that our April Fool's Day issue was much more important. Because the kids don't give a shit about a fucking. They see embezzlement and they're like, that's adult problems. Totally. That's like we don't balance the budget. Yeah, my day is going fine. But I think if we had written the headline more of like, do you still want that pizza shaped like a square? Well, guess what? The embezzlement issue is taking it away from you. That's right. And this is no April Fool's. There was interest, however, at the next Board of Education meeting because at least a few issues of that newspaper had made it home to parents. So the parents were interested in the embezzlement issue. And it turns around, it's Walter Cronkite is reading this student newspaper. Honey! Yeah, he's the dad. Here we go. It's only after this meeting with the Board of Education and after Rebecca's article that Newsday, Long Island's local paper, picks up the story. And that's when everything starts to fall apart for Brink. Over the next few months, the DA, the school's administration and Newsday are all combing through the school's expenses and running every last receipt down. And very quickly, two things become apparent. Pam had stolen far more than $250,000. And there's just no denying that Frank had also stolen money and was involved. Investigators find multiple kinds of questionable expenses. There are real payments to vendors, but the amounts these vendors were billed and received is far less than had been documented. Meaning they're like, we've paid this vendor $500. And the vendor's like, we only asked for $200. We only got $200. You know what I mean? Yeah. Boop, pocket the rest. Beep, let's go to the next one. The district had paid for two trips to London. Okay. And here's what we were talking about. Like, be chill and don't be flashy. On the Concord. Just get first class. First class is amazing. It's amazing. Plain old. And insanely expensive. Yeah. One trip on the Concord, it was $20,000 and another was $30,000. Bro. Because she had to get there fast. I think it's him. Oh, that's what he did. Yeah. Good Lord. Yeah. Like, lay low. Sir, please. Don't you know? Have you never been to Las Vegas? Have you never lied? And the district had paid for multiple trips to Las Vegas. That's so funny. Good job. Some for actual conferences and some seemingly just for fun. And he'd like bring a bunch of the school board members who I don't think were aware of what was happening. He had used over $56,000 in school money to pay for treatments at a Manhattan weight loss clinic. Oh. Just don't do that. Not when the South Beach diet's right there. Exactly. Come on. In today's money, $56,000, a little more, would have been more than, do you want to weigh this? $300,000? $100,000. Someday we're going to get it again. Someday. In 10 years, we're both going to do it again. While this is going on, Frank just keeps going out of town. While they're looking into it, he's just like, I'm out this week. I'm out this week. I'm out this week. I sprained my ankle. Exactly. I sprained my everything. He spends March and April going to Las Vegas, Puerto Rico, then California, Florida, and Vegas again. Every time a new weird charge is found, Frank isn't around to explain. Then there are sketchy charges from companies that appear to not exist or be very, very sketchy. So in early June, a school administrator realizes that over the years, the school has paid close to $800,000 to a company called WordPower, which purports to make pamphlets. So $800,000 on pamphlets. Those real good pamphlets, though. The nice stock. Real shiny and slick. Yeah. Yeah. Those ones. In today's money, that would be $1.5 million. This is a lot of money for pamphlets. Scamphlets. That's right. Sorry. This latte is not helping me at all. Yeah, this Coke that I'm drinking, that I'm snorting. But the weirder thing is that the company is headquartered, this pamphlet company is headquartered from an apartment in Manhattan, Frank's address. The company's CEO is listed as a man named Steven Signorelli. And it becomes clear over the course of the investigation that he and Frank live together. At the same time, in right around the same point in the investigations, investigators noticed that Frank had purchased a house in Las Vegas with another man, this one a good bit younger than him, this man. Investigators also noticed that Frank had sent multiple FedEx shipments on the district's account, meaning like he just went and printed up a FedEx, which we've all stolen a fucking stamp or two from work. The FedEx account at work is the place where you can get a little, you can take some liberties because it's already going out. It's all business. But now they know. They know what address it was sent to. Yeah. If you hadn't done that, they wouldn't have been able to track the address. And didn't they use the money to buy the house in Vegas? I don't know about that, but probably like. It's all in the mix. Yeah, exactly. So he sent multiple FedEx shipments to this address in Las Vegas. It's never uncovered what was in these shipments. God, I wish I could see. Seems like the working hypothesis is that it might have been just cash. Just a ton of postage. Straight up cash. And he's like, in the movie, it's not true, but they show the younger man as an ex-student of Frank's. who's also an exotic dancer i think that part was correct at some point but it's not true so he could have been like laundering cash las vegas there's no better place yes everyone just remember that and the idea that you just like fill up a box with some bands totally go for it totally so now it's apparent that frank has been in romantic relationships with men that's the thing that he had been keeping from everyone and roslyn's a pretty liberal town so people are mostly a little sad that frank felt that he had to hide his sexuality but at the same time it's 2004 and a high-ranking openly gay school administrator is not common and i'm sure some parents would have clutched their pearls oh yeah frank will later say that he and steven his partner who lives at his manhattan house had an open relationship steven knew about the other man in las vegas like he wasn't being deceitful in that sense do you believe that i do yeah why not you uh i don't know i don't hate him i right right he made some really stupid decisions and trapped himself and we've all made stupid decisions and luckily we've gotten away with a lot of them yeah i mean it would be a much more infuriating story if he was stealing from kids from low-income areas but it's just like you're basically skimming the cream off of the cream of the crop you know and they kind of hinted this in the show where you know like all the parents of the students that he's helping to succeed and he's helping to succeed and he's helping to succeed and he's helping to succeed in their lives and get into good college and and have good careers and get paid well are making so much fucking money they have so much money yeah meanwhile he's being paid 250 a year and eventually that doesn't seem like it's fair to him right so he just starts skimming starts taking a little where it's like they won't even miss it because they're so fucking wealthy like i get how that mindset could happen to someone yeah well it's easy to rationalize things like that because all you have to do is say i'm being ripped off and then you can do kind of anything you want right and then you can do kind of anything you want right and then you it's a how dare you that rationalizes it and then suddenly how dare you builds you a bridge to free money in las vegas amen amen so when all these revelations finally come out in early june of 2004 frank resigns when all is said and done it appears that between frank and pam there's like six people total who end up kind of being implicated in this including frank and pam around 11.2 million dollars has been stolen from the school district fucking a today's money 11.2 i'm gonna go ahead and stick that right into the area of 185 000 20 million what you just went the wrong way you just went down i have to say as i was talking i started to panic and i forgot what the base number was 20 million yeah i've done that um there's so much pressure i know i hate it i hate it but we gotta give them what they love we got to this is what people come here for that's right so almost 20 million fuck they just fucking went for it and my sister has to buy crayons every year herself right exactly yeah and this makes it the largest embezzlement from a school district in american history so if you're gonna go big kids go to vegas in all six people including a son and a niece of pam gluckin and the domestic partner of frank tassone plead guilty in connection with the thefts from the roslyn schools they're actually the maximum they could have received was 15 to 20 years for that god but in 2006 frank who pleads guilty to stealing about 2.2 million is sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison he's released for good behavior in 2010 due to a loophole in the new york state pension law he still collects 173 495 and four cents a year holy shit uh-huh so he basically is still fully employed with a great job and hopefully still his rent control department oh dude and he'll get that money for the rent control department and he'll get that money for the rent control department for the rest of his life loopholes loopholes he does repay the district the entire 2.2 million oh wow yeah which you know it's more than that though there's no way they got it that close right right yeah yeah all the money that like they couldn't track down i'm sure it's millions and millions more pam gluckin admits to stealing 4.3 million and is sentenced to three to nine years in prison she ends up serving five as of 2011 she had repaid about half the money she had stolen i can't track her down at all i saw one article that said she passed away in 2017 another that she worked in manhattan somewhere if she's still alive she's probably paid back more since 2011 but i can't track her down in the years since all over long island school districts have had a much harder time getting residents to pass their budgets not surprisingly while towns used to vote yes on school budgets year after year voters have been less likely to do so in the aftermath of this scandal after all the school district now seems to do just fine using significantly less than its allotted funds so for someone not skimming off the top they don't need as much money yeah and they're calling it the roslyn effect well and also can't we just take that and put it back down into where it is truly and desperately needed right you'd hope one would hope the author of the anonymous letter that led to frank's undoing has never been identified and that is the story of the roslyn school embezzlement scandal wow done thank you yeah i've never heard of that i never saw that education i just really the idea of just like when you get away with something a little bit and then you keep going to the point where you're handing out cards and doing all those things like multiple members of her family had like annex or whatever cards it's just you're living in a fantasy world totally and then it ends totally if you want to watch hugh jackman make out with a really cute twink definitely watch bad education two aussie lesbian lovers touch down in 1990s london and become the toast of british high society one of them starts touting an exclusive investment opportunity and soon their money is rolling in rich businessmen and england's horse-loving elite fall under their seductive spell they even meet queen elizabeth but the duo are not alone they are concealing a dark past and dastardly intentions evil they were bad bad people as bad as evil yes definitely before long a small town detective gets wind of the duo's exploits and vows to stop them she was a thieving scumbag only problem is these two are exceedingly hard to catch decades later one of them is finally ready to tell all i sold my soul to the devil from usg audio blanchard house and exactly right media this is royal swindle new episodes drop every thursday listen now on the iheart 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before i love that about article article is offering our listeners fifty dollars off your first purchase of a hundred dollars or more to claim visit article.com slash murder and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout that's article.com slash murder for fifty dollars off your first purchase of a hundred dollars or more goodbye okay so mine begins in 1902 and i'm going to you know when that was 1902 turn of the century oh and in new york city so it's the gilded age there's a well-dressed woman in her 40s sitting in the lobby of a luxury hotel in manhattan she scans the ritzy crowd until she sees the man she's looking for he's a lawyer and also a dear friend of her husband's from back home in cleveland ohio his name is james dillon the woman pretends she doesn't see james and she's looking for him and he's looking for him and he's looking for him and sitting there alone but as she walks past him she brushes up against his arm he looks up he's pleasantly surprised by seeing a familiar face oh it's the lady from back home my friend's wife he asks her what she's doing in new york she explains that she's here for a private family matter and she cannot speak anymore on the topic please uh but this yes you may not ask me any more questions but can i have a ride in your carriage to my father's house okay so he was like of course they set off in his carriage and they arrive at a towering fifth avenue mansion james watches as she hops out of the carriage knocks on the mansion's front door and goes inside he's shocked of course the woman's husband has never let on that his wife comes from so much money so he waits there for her which made me laugh when i realized that was what was happening so she goes in does her business when she comes back out about a half an hour later she's carrying a large envelope under her arm mm-hmm she gets back into the carriage she reminds james this is a private family matter and she cannot tell him anything that's going on got it toots i can't show you what's in this envelope i didn't ask but then she lets it slip okay she suddenly says listen the reason i'm here on this family business is because i am the illegitimate daughter of steel magnate andrew carnegie oh shit and i've just gone into his house and collected this envelope which is all the paperwork proving that he has given me a small fortune take a little peeky-poo at this calm down and she shows him okay and of course james is shocked but he totally buys it and he's not the only one who does the story this woman will tell about this inheritance and who she is is so convincing that she fools almost everyone around her and it enables her to live like an heiress for years and years she's the embodiment of the very gilded age value that appearances are everything she's one of america's most prolific con artists known best by her alias cassie chadwick this is the story of elizabeth bigley the queen of ohio hell yeah uh the sources used for today's story are the book the imposter heiress by annie reed and a 2012 smithsonian magazine article by abbott kaler entitled the high priestess of fraudulent finance and the rest are in our show notes so this all begins in 1857 in ontario canada with the birth of a little girl named elizabeth bigley she comes from a hard-working salt of the earth household in a very small town in ontario her father works for the railroad her mother's a homemaker for the family's eight children and according to writer annie reed quote the biglies passed without much comment in their quiet corner of ontario until elizabeth came along oh shit she's fucking what's this she's even as a little girl elizabeth becomes known for getting fixated on things particularly the very pretty dresses and jewelry that she sees the ladies in town wear yeah and over time those fixations become obsessions elizabeth will do anything she can to get what she wants when she's 21 years old she goes into a local barber shop she asks to have all of her hair cut off and then to have a fake mustache made of that hair what uh-huh so then journalist annie reed writes quote elizabeth walked out of the shop a mustachioed young man it had become obvious to her that the way to get what she wanted was money and the best way to get money was to be a man end quote right so that same day elizabeth with her short hair and her mustache takes a watch she'd recently pilfered off an unsuspecting man down to the local pawn shop where she attempts to pawn it under an invented male name but her disguise isn't convincing enough fake mustaches it's never gonna look legit just felt like weird and sitting there and also it's like her first day trying to do this essentially the clerk immediately calls the police they take her into custody elizabeth is eventually her father has to go down and get her from the police station and they take a long walk of shame home together with her still wearing her little mustache and dressed like a man legally it seems she only gets a slap on the wrist for this and she's like oh my god i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry for this though do you have pictures of her uh yes so here's elizabeth in the classic turn of the century portrait sense okay cute that's the name she later is known by which is cassie l chadwick you know when someone has a middle initial like that that they use it regularly that what about them they're a fraudster okay for sure they're they're trying to pass a bad check on to you okay heads up good to know so a few months after all of this happens elizabeth walks into a general store and grabs a bunch of stuff she grabs a bunch of stuff and she grabs combs and ribbons and fabrics anything she can get her hands on she takes it all up to the clerk the clerk tells her it's going to be about 250 dollars and elizabeth goes through her purse and hands the man a card identifying her as quote an heiress to 18 000 you can just make a card that says go ahead and read this i'm gonna want one of those right please it's like sending your kid to the market with cigarettes my mom says i can have this my mom says i'm worth 18 000 hey do you mind selling my son a pack of marlboro lights so basically her quoting that she is an heiress to 18 000 in today's money would mean how much money is she gonna get 236 it's a little bit higher 331 it's 600 000 in today's money wow the assumption here marin is pointing this out that uh the 250 is already scaled to today's money because if she went and did that and it was 250 dollars in turn of the century money that would be right she would have bought eight thousand dollars worth of stuff right which is like hard to do yeah so don't think it's that okay but anyway after she explains her inheritance is gummed up in the legal system at the moment and she she doesn't have access to it right now but she's going to she would like to pay with a promissory note and that's a formal iou she hands a promissory note over that appears to be signed by a wealthy farmer from the area it's unclear how much this is worth but it's more than the 250 dollar bill that she's just rung up okay and of course as you may have suspected this promissory note is fake elizabeth created the card out of high-end card stock opted for a tasteful typeface and forged the signature of that farmer that is on it okay there is no eighteen thousand dollar inheritance i'm sorry to tell you my heart i know i hate to be the one that basically is the quote that's meant to ease the clerk's mind convince him she's good for the money this is an era where it would not be unusual to accept a promissory note as payment and give the difference back to the customer kind of like cashing someone's check right and that's the scam and that's what this clerk does and by the time he actually tries to cash the promissory note either they're not sure either down at the bank or directly with the farmer that his name is on it elizabeth is long gone and all her ribbons and combs are gone too okay it's giving me a paper moon of a lot of money i'm not sure if that's a good thing or not i'm not sure if that's a good thing or not i'm not sure if that's a good thing yes exactly paper moon just hold yourself over until you get out of town yeah yeah i love that i gotta see that movie again it's one of my favorite movies of all time so she gets away with it and of course then is emboldened to try it again in nearby towns but just one year later in 1879 she's 22 years old she gets caught she gets arrested and when this case goes to trial the jury seems very sympathetic so this is that kind of thing where it's just like she looked right she sounded right she was a charmer she was a charmer and she was a charmer and she was a probably a sociopath yeah she was good at doing this and deceitful yeah good for no well it's just that she had the charm which is something i like yeah just like she clearly told people stories either they wanted to hear she was good at doing it right and there is a kind of magnetism to those people and sometimes the stories that like made the other person feel good about themselves yeah in a way that made them not question what's happening i can't tell anyone i'm going to tell you right like all that kind of stuff yeah so the jury's on her side and she's like i'm not they see her as troubled basically but not a hardened criminal so in the end she's found not guilty by reason of insanity and she's released back to her parents wow they're like crazy bitch get the fuck out of here just go home hey you crazy bitch right this was fun you crazy bitch it's not your birthday for a month stop it so now it's the early 1880s uh elizabeth is in her mid-20s and she decides she's getting out of canada for cleveland ohio sure you know glamorous cleveland ohio next step up out of ontario straight to cleveland her older sister alice lives in cleveland with her wealthy businessman husband and his name is standish milton york wow so she gets to move right into that house they live in an affluent part of town the house is gorgeously decorated there's expensive furniture and decor everywhere elizabeth basically gets set up for a new life and she is supposed to be there working toward an honest living and starting over but that's not our girl that's not our girl what elizabeth does she starts using fake names to take out loans on her sister's belongings girl that's shitty she can't stop she can't help herself she's a swindler true swindler yeah no maybe when lenders show up at the apartment demanding the payment elizabeth leaves girl elizabeth leaves town and she leaves her sister high and dry that's shitty alison standish have to pick up the pieces after a while and she's like oh my god i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so she basically sells their house out from under them. Oh, my God. Don't burn the bridges that you're already on that are closest to you that are stable. Burn other bridges. Not that one. These types of people love the close burns because that's where all the excitement is. Are they going to find out that we're stable? sitting at a dining room table i already sold oh my god okay so she's now on the streets running away in need of cash so she actually turns to a profession that has long been a haven for con artists not everybody of course but some and that is the art of fortune telling she bills herself as a clairvoyant named madame le de vere or de vere and she begins to steadily attract a middle class clientele in her day-to-day life she calls herself lydia bigley she tells people she's an irish heiress which that's a contradiction in terms right there um unless it's guinness there's no fucking way so this is the identity she's using in 1882 when she visits a local doctor named wallace springsteen who like most people finds her incredibly charming we don't know how old he is what we do know is he was a civil war veteran which would put him maren says her hunches he's in trouble in his early 40s while elizabeth is still in her mid-20s okay dr springsteen undeterred by the fact that she's much younger and a patient of his begins to pursue elizabeth who's now going by lydia the fortune teller the two have a whirlwind romance because of course every early 20 year old loves an old doctor to just hang out with well sweep them off their feet but don't hurt your back no no easy easy yeah watch out for the gout she manslaughter and just to conceal her dark past until the ink is dry on their marriage certificate but then she makes one very sloppy move and that is agreeing to have a wedding announcement they always want the credit okay so and it's complete with a photograph oh and it's published in the cleveland plain dealer okay and now all the lenders that know elizabeth's face that she scammed in the past and evaded including her furious sister alice yeah they all come out of the woodwork right to the springsteen's door demand for a wedding and they're all like oh my god i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so the doctor pay off his wife's debt. So many rookie mistakes, starting with not leaving Cleveland. Yeah. You can't have all of it. You can't be there as the proud young couple and get away with all the scams. It's so weird that she would do that. Yeah. So, of course, finding out about his wife's debts stuns Dr. Springsteen. He immediately files for divorce. The relationship is over 12 days after the wedding. Oh, he went for it. Yeah. He has to pay her debts. As her husband, he is responsible. Shut up. Yes. And to the point where he actually writes a notice for a Cleveland area newspaper saying, quote, I hereby forbid any person from trusting or harboring my wife as I will pay no bills of her contracting after this date. Wow. So it's so bad he has to go to the press and be like, no more. Yeah. Holy shit. We don't have the amount, but it's basically that period of time. Yeah. She can really churn it up. Yeah. When she wants to. So basically him publishing this letter cancels Elizabeth's ability to swindle people in the Cleveland area. So she picks up and heads over to Erie, Pennsylvania, a place you love. She moves into a boarding house under the name Maisie Bagley. Change the last name, girl. I know you're attached to it, but like. Bigley is the real name. Yeah. So she's just doing little things here and there. OK. Still. And soon after she arrives as Maisie, she starts hanging out in common spaces in this place where she got her apartment or her, you know, her room and starts coughing and hacking uncontrollably, sometimes so violently that she coughs up blood. What's happening is that she tells the boarders she's very sick. She's in need of immediate medical care and needs to go back home to Cleveland. Everyone's so concerned with her that they pull their money. And these are just people renting rooms and they buy her the ticket to get back to Cleveland so she can get that. It's a vintage kick. Kickstarter. Exactly. What are they called? It's a vintage Kickstarter from a person who is not coughing up blood. What she's doing is going to her room and picking at her gums. Shut up. Until when she coughs, blood comes out. She basically like picks out her gums. I mean, it's smart. That is convincing. Like, how can she be lying? There's blood. Yes. And also get her the fuck out of here because she has consumption. She's going to make us all sick. So they do that. And then she's like on the train. Thanks so, so much. I'll pay you back when I get home. She's waving her bloody handkerchief at them. Goodbye. Bye. Two weeks later, a letter comes to the boarding house with the shocking and sudden news that Maisie is dead. So say goodbye to that. Twenty five cents that broke you. For the next few years, Elizabeth lays low and sticks around Cleveland, resuming work as a fortune teller now under the name Madam LaRose. She's always changing it. She marries one of her regular clients. Great idea. They quickly divorce. In the late 1880s, she marries for a third time to another client. What does she go? I see you marrying a fortune teller who's sitting in front of you. And then she just starts doing all the shoulder work. Yeah. Her third husband, that's also a client, dies not long after they get married and she inherits part of his estate. She takes that money and she does what you or I would do. She moves to Toledo, adopting the excellent fake name of her husband. She's like, I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Florida Blythe. And Florida continues her fortune telling work in Toledo. She forges a particularly important relationship with a client named Joseph Lamb. And later, a reporter named Abbott Kaler will write, quote, Joseph seemed willing to do any favor that she asked. He, along with numerous other victims, would later claim that she had hypnotic powers, a popular concept at the turn of the 20th century. People believed that hypnotism was an acceptable explanation for a runaway teenagers and the increasingly common occurrence of young shop girls fleeing with strange men they met on trains. End quote. Shit. I wish it were true. That'd be fun. Just being able to hypnotize people. Come on this train with me. Among the favors that Elizabeth asks of Joseph are that he cashed some of her world famous promissory notes down at the bank. And again, these look totally legit. They have signatures from Cleveland businessmen. They're printed on the nice cardstock. They're totally fake. And Joseph is able to cash them anyway. So Elizabeth ends up with this round of fake promissory notes making around 40 grand. Holy shit. In today's money. I'm going to go 826. 1.5 million. Damn. The bank quickly catches on that the notes are fake. The two are caught. But the authorities know it's Elizabeth that's behind all of this. She's convicted on forgery charges and sentenced to nine and a half years in prison. But even behind bars, Elizabeth continues to claim she's a clairvoyant. When she does a reading for the warden, she tells him that he's a going to lose thousands of dollars in a bad business deal and be he's going to die of cancer. I'm sorry. I'm laughing. But I'm so sorry. I'm laughing. But it's actually so daring of her to be like, and you're going to die of cancer. Both of those things happen. No, because of her, though. Yeah, she wills them to happen. No, no, no. She just kind of like there's people who think she has to do it. She has to do it. She has to do it. She was maybe a little clairvoyant, and that's why she went into that business. Maybe there's some truth to that. Either way, that gives her a little more credence. Yeah. And she's also spending her time writing letters, lobbying for her parole and citing her good behavior while she's been incarcerated. Somehow her powers of persuasion secure her release in 1893, only a few years into her prison term. She hypnotizes the parole board somehow. Yeah, she hypnotizes the then governor, William McKinley, who will go on to serve as our 25th president. Of course, I do that. I mean, of course. Now she's 36 years old. She's out of prison. She's heading back to Cleveland. Yeah. And she adopts the new name, Cassie Hoover. She quickly finds a fourth husband. He's also a doctor. He's much older than the last one. He's recently widowed. He's very rich. And his name is Leroy Chadwick. Let's take a look. We have a picture of Dr. Leroy Chadwick. Okay. Look at him. He's a little sleepy. He's so tired of his life lying all the time. He's got her mustache on. That'd be amazing if she made herself a big old bushy mustache. Yeah. Okay. That's what he loves her for. So his friends are stunned when he shows up with a new wife because she seems to have appeared out of midair or thin air. Out of midair. She came in a balloon. She started up high. What? Balloon wife. Is she clairvoyant? That's crazy. That's crazy. He doesn't want to talk to his friends about how he met Cassie. Sure. That's always a good sign. That's always great when you're like, how'd you guys meet? Don't want to discuss it. Don't look at my envelope. Can you give me a ride to my dad's house? He just has the explanation, the simple explanation that she helped comfort the symptoms of his rheumatism by giving him therapeutic back massages. No big deal. That's how Vincent and I met. Just constant. Naturally, rumors spread they met in a brothel and that she was the madam. Oh, good for her. Right. Cassie, a.k.a. Elizabeth, does not give a shit because she has just married into serious wealth. Her neighbors now include a Rockefeller, a U.S. senator and other rich elites. Wow. And she now gets to spend her husband's money with abandon. So while living as Cassie, Elizabeth buys piles of clothes. Clothes and jewels. She actually buys a nine thousand dollar pipe organ. In today's. Holy shit. In today's money, it would be four hundred and fifty thousand. Close. Three hundred. $130,000. But all of this spending comes to a breaking point. Leroy lets his wife know he will be reining in her spending. That's again, like, don't go fucking crazy. Right. To a point where people are like, suspish. Yeah. If it's the turn of the century, how about you get a pipe organ that's worth like $100? Can you even play the pipe organ? Yeah. What's your pipe organ obsession? What is a pipe organ? Turn it off. It's too loud. It's like, dun, dun, dun. She has Dracula ambitions. Yeah. Okay. So basically, this is where the story started. It's 1902. Right. Cassie's 40 something. She doesn't like that her spending has now been limited. She's going to take the matters into her own hands as she likes to do. Okay. So she has just left the Carnegie mansion with her big envelope under her arm and getting back into her husband's friend's carriage, telling him she can't tell him anything, then telling him literally everything. And when she shows him what's in that envelope, he's like, I don't know. I don't know what to do. I don't know James sees, and as a lawyer, he witnesses seeing two promissory notes. One is for a quarter of a million dollars, which today would be worth how many million? 22 million. 9.7 million. Okay. But still, basically, I'm worth $10 million here. The other is for half a million dollars, which is 19 million in today's money. Wow. And they're both signed by Andrew Carnegie. And then she also shows him more paperwork purportedly showing proof of the stocks and bonds. She's been gifted by her rich father. Her stocks and bonds are valued around $5 million, which would be $194 million today. Holy shit. She's really going for it. She really is. I'm sorry to tell you, it's all fake. What? She forged all of it. No. When she knocked on the front door. Yeah. How'd she get in? She basically said, hello, I'm a very rich lady, and I would like to hire my own ladies' maid. Can I talk to the head of your household to talk about how I could find help for my rich household? Smart. They're like, come on in, ma'am. She stays in for as long as she can. She talks to the head of their housekeeping for as long as she possibly can to make it seem realistic. Oh, shit. And then comes back outside. I would love to just be like, and then she went, oh, shut the fuck up. I got some privies to empty. Yeah. I got to just scrub down a surface. Elizabeth is betting on the fact that James will not be able to keep this juicy secret under wraps. Of course. Which is just such a brilliant, this is what I do love about scams. You're betting on the behavior that everybody exhibits. Totally. Because who among us doesn't immediately, when someone is like, please. I have to tell you something. Please don't tell anyone. Yeah. Or I'm just like, I won't except for my sister. Right. And four other people. Exactly. So she's right. As soon as James gets back to Ohio, he blabs to everyone in their social circle that Cassie's real father is Andrew Carnegie, that she's the illegitimate child. She's actually loaded. The news makes its way all throughout Cleveland's most elite circles. She's like, remember when y'all hated me because I was up in the air and now you fucking don't even. Remember the balloon jealousy you felt toward me? Yeah. And look at me now. But here's the thing. All that gossip does not reach her husband. He was traveling throughout Europe. He got sick. He's been laid up. He's just been stuck over there. It's probably rude to talk about something like that, too, to someone. Like, you're not supposed to talk about money. The parentage is like shameful in those days. Right. Supposed to be shameful. You don't bring that up casually. Not to the husband. No. Because that's basically you're talking about that you're judging her. Right. And that essentially the point of all of it is, wow, look how rich she is. Totally. So you're not supposed to be saying that stuff. So it's the perfect setup. Yeah. The rumor mill is abuzz. Elizabeth, of course, plays coy. The story is believable enough that she is able to secure massive loans from a handful of banks just based on who they think her father is. Shut up. The loans are never less than $10,000, which is almost $400,000 in today's money. And the largest is reportedly $800,000, $31 million today. Oh, my God. She went for it. Yeah. That's all remarkable considering at the time most women could not get a bank loan by themselves at all. Right. And she's doing it all on these cards. She keeps passing everybody with men's signatures on them. Wow. Much like the little mustachio that she got herself. She's like, how do I use the men to make that money? So she's getting away with what essentially is a pre-Ponzi Ponzi scheme because she pays off the last loan after she secures the next one and, of course, lives insanely extravagantly, which then convinces the people in Cleveland she is who she says she is. Her husband, Leroy, does not catch on. He's old and rich and, I guess, sick. And so Elizabeth essentially buys $98,000 worth of jewels in one go. Holy shit. $3.6 million today. So she just goes hell of shopping. Oh, my God. Pearls that are valued at $40,000, which would be $1.4 million today, and enough clothes to fill dozens of closets. I want to look at it. For Christmas 1903, she gives all her friends pianos. Honey. Yep. Everybody gets a piano. And the pianos are worth thousands of dollars. Damn. That's what I'm doing this year for Christmas. Yeah, right? And required lessons. Right. After school. Everybody, exactly right, gets a piano this year. And we want to hear Hot Cross Buns by Valentine's Day. You better fucking learn to play or we're taking it back. So by 1905, everything is spiraling out of control. Yeah. And when we get to free pianos and pipe organ area, it's just like there's no one's. There's no breaks. Yeah. Elizabeth's spending is too exorbitant. She's no longer repaying any debts. That ruins the Ponzi scheme. Yeah. Her lenders are drowning. Leroy finally puts two and two together. He files for divorce. Elizabeth, who is now 50 years old, flees to New York knowing she's in too deep. When she's tracked down by police, they reportedly find a money belt around her waist holding around $100,000, which would be $3.8 million today. Oh, where is she? Where is she staying? Like, what hotel? Like, the plaza. Yeah. Or whatever. What would be there? Fuck if I know. I mean, right? Yeah, it's not the fucking Holiday Inn. I guarantee. Chinatown, I guarantee you that. It's Hyatt on the West Side. She is indicted on forgery and conspiracy charges for defrauding a national bank. That would be the Citizens National Bank in Oberlin, Ohio, which declares bankruptcy as a direct result of this scheme. Wow. And because Oberlin is a. College town. Right. It financially devastates countless students who use that bank. Okay, that's fucked up. It's super fucked up. The trial is a huge sensation, of course. It's covered globally in newspapers. Andrew Carnegie himself attends the trial. He's like, yep, that's my daughter. Oops. I had to add. And he eventually gets a chance to look at the promissory notes that have his, quote, signature on them. And he notices typos throughout the documents. And he says, quote, If anybody had seen this. And they really believed that I had drawn it up and signed it, I could hardly have been flattered. Ouch. Yeah. So you did some shit work and everyone believed that I was going along with that. Right. Carnegie winds up making donations to some of Elizabeth's victims, including fully reimbursing the Oberlin students who lost all their money at that bank. Wow. And just for their trouble, he endows enough money to Oberlin College for the school to build a new library. What a mensch. In the end. In the end, Elizabeth Bigley is found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison. And immediately her health begins to decline, which is kind of like when the magic finally goes away. It's like the churn and the excitement and everything. And then once it's over, it's over. She basically ends up dying a year later after what's described in old reports as a, quote, total nervous collapse, but was more likely a heart attack. She's 51 years old at the time. Which kind of upset me when I heard that. Historians aren't against her. I'm not exactly sure how much money Elizabeth Bigley defrauded from her victims and never repaid. But as Cassie Chadwick alone, it's estimated to be around $630,000, which is more than $23 million in today's money. Shit. I mean, go big, right? Yeah, she really did. Or go back to Toledo or whatever. Yeah. Ontario. Ontario. Historians say that it's likely an even higher amount because many of her male victims probably would not want to admit that they had been scammed. So intensely by a fortune teller or just a cute young 25-year-old. Or a madam. Or, yeah, just a woman at all. Today, Elizabeth remains one of the most prolific con artists in all of American history. Writer Quincy Ballius reports for Ohio History Connection that, quote, female fraudsters like Anna Sorokin and Elizabeth Holmes currently dominate the news, but neither perfected the art of the grift to the extent that Cassie did. She truly earned the title. of the world's greatest woman swindler, end quote. And that's the story of Elizabeth Bigley, the scamming queen of Ohio. Amazing. Wow. What was she like in person? Who would you cast as her? Well, for something that intense, I would do like a Holly Hunter type of person. Oh, yeah. Where you suddenly are like, wait, why am I, I can't, I'm transfixed. And unassuming, too. Yes, but like the intense pull. Yeah. Holly Hunter in Raising Air. Raising Arizona. Yes. Right? Yes. Where you're suddenly doing what she needs you to do. Right. Because she needs that baby high. And you want to help her. Yeah. Yeah. Huh? I got to help the baby. I love him so much. I love him so much. Great job. Thank you. I mean, hey, that's our tribute to Royal Swindle. Please listen to our newest podcast. Listen, subscribe, like, leave a review. I don't know. What are kids doing these days? Love, share. It's a Blanchard House joint. You're going to love this podcast. That's right. And thank you for listening to this podcast. Do all those things to this podcast, too, if you feel like it. I mean, we have a podcast, too. We have feelings, too. Stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie? This has been an Exactly Right production. Our senior producer is Molly Smith, and our associate producer is Tessa Hughes. Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo. This episode was mixed by Liana Squilacci. Our researchers are Maren McGlashan and Allie Elkin. Email your hometowns to myfavoritemurder at gmail.com. And follow the show on Instagram at myfavoritemurder. Listen to My Favorite Murder on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And now you can watch My Favorite Murder on Netflix. And when you're there, hit the double thumbs up and the remind me buttons. That's the best way you can support our show. Goodbye. Two Aussie lesbian lovers touch down in 1990. and become the toast of British high society. One of them touts an exclusive investment opportunity. And soon, the money is rolling in. From USG Audio, Blanchard House. And Exactly Right Media. This is Royal Swindle. 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