Magnificent Masquerade: The Strange Case of Dr. Coster and Mr. Musica, by Charles Keats (HC, 1964, $2)
Philip Musica had been "sentenced to Elmira Reformatory for a cheese swindle- his sentence commuted by no less a person than the President of the United States! Then there had been a human-hair hoax, which cost banks on three continents a million dollars. Given a suspended sentence, Philip Musica calmly crossed the Bridge of Sighs from the Tombs to the D.A.'s office, where he was hired as "William Johnson, Special Investigator" by the same D. A.'s staff that had prosecuted him."
From there he takes on the name Dr. Donald Coster, and builds up a drug manufacturing empire. He was even urged to run for President!
He made himself a fortune, "borrowed millions of dollars from banks on inventories that did not exist, stored in warehouses that did not exist, sent abroad in ships that did not exist. Wizardly transactions- a shipment to Australia by truck rolled Down Under, for example- were questioned by no one."
You would think these stories were fiction... but they aren't. Look for this book with the others.
