Ponzi's Scheme_ The True Story of a Financial Legend - Mitchell Zuckoff [150]
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The largest mortgage loan Ponzi made: Summary of Debts and Assets of Charles Ponzi in Bankruptcy, Schedule B(2), Case 28063, on file at the National Archives and Records Administration in Waltham, Massachusetts.
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he controlled about six hundred: Ponzi, p. 100.
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issue another two thousand shares: Cunningham v. Commissioner of Banks, 144 N.E. 447.
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Ponzi was depositing more: Ibid. Also “Story of Hanover Trust Company and Ponzi,” Boston Globe, August 31, 1920, p. 1.
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One afternoon in early June: The narrative account of Ponzi’s effective takeover of the Hanover Trust Company comes from Ponzi himself; see Ponzi, pp. 100–103. Ponzi engages in a certain amount of self-aggrandizement on the subject of Hanover Trust, but his version fits with the findings of the Massachusetts bank commissioner, the testimony of Hanover Trust officials in Ponzi’s bankruptcy and criminal court cases, and the rulings of several judges, including the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, in Cunningham v. Commissioner of Banks, 144 N.E. 447.
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Chmielinski was a bull of a man: “Polish Industrial Association Was Closed Up Today,” Boston Evening Globe, August 14, 1920, p. 1; census data on Henry Chmielinski from 1930; photographs of Chmielinski from the files of the Boston Globe.
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bank’s annual meeting of stockholders: Cunningham v. Commissioner of Banks, 144 N.E. 447.
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The more he bought: Ponzi, p. 105: “The more I bought, the more I wanted to buy.”
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a latter-day Count of Monte Cristo: Ibid., p. 106; Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo, trans. Robin Buss, Penguin, 1997.
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he wanted to “test its power”: Ibid., p. 99.
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“Wrap it up, please”: Ibid., p. 106.
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“The more servants, the less freedom”: “Ponzi Long Had Plan for Riches, Says Wife,” Boston Globe, July 30, 1920.
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a glittering diamond bracelet: “Mrs. Ponzi Would Not Take Gems,” Boston Post, November 22, 1922.
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a string of lustrous pearls: Clarence White, “Mrs. Ponzi Says, ‘We Will Stay Here and Square Debts,’ ” Boston Globe, July 17, 1921.
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a Boston terrier puppy: “Ponzi Pursued,” Boston Post, August 13, 1920, p. 9.
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Ponzi was dealing with: The colloquy between Ponzi and the inspectors comes from his autobiography, pp. 109–11. Confirmation comes, in part, from court testimony by Al Ciullo, who confirmed that he had received a package of reply coupons from Italy and brought them to Ponzi. “Hope to End Ponzi Case by Wednesday,” Boston Globe, November 25, 1922; “Affecting Meeting of Ponzi and His Mother,” Boston Globe, November 24, 1922.
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John Elbye of Everett: “Post Prints List of Ponzi Investors,” Boston Post, August 23, 1920, p. 1. It took two weeks for the newspaper to print the complete list, and some names are taken from later entries. Information on some of the depositors was supplemented by 1920 and 1930 U.S. Census data.
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an unassuming man with a prominent nose: The Securities Exchange Company note issued to Principio Santosuosso was reproduced in “Mr. Ponzi and His Ponzied Finance,” Literary Digest, August 21, 1920, p. 49. Details of his life come from U.S. Census data and from Edward Martin, “Retiring Editor of Italian Newspaper Proud of 30-Year Record of Service to North End Folk,” Boston Post, June 22, 1952, found in the newspaper files of the Boston Public Library.
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J. Rufus Wallingford: George Randolph Chester, Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford: The Cheerful Account of the Rise and Fall of an American Business Buccaneer, Curtis Publishing Company, 1907. Ponzi certainly read the book. He titled the introduction to his autobiography “Meet Mr. Ponzi, the Champion Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford of America.” His tone and chapter titles also strongly echo Chester’s. For instance, Ponzi’s chapter 12 is titled “Mr. Ponzi Finally Discovers an Untrodden Path to Fabulous Wealth and Takes It.” Chester’s chapter 3 is titled “Mr. Wallingford’s Lamb Is Carefully Inspired with a Flash of Creative Genius.”
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wired more than five thousand dollars: Nancy