Ponzi's Scheme_ The True Story of a Financial Legend - Mitchell Zuckoff [165]
282
“You bet he’s all right”: “Little Italy Still Believes in Ponzi,” Boston Daily Globe, August 13, 1920, p. 9.
282
“Give you 50 percent”: Ibid.
282
“Don’t you think”: “Ponzi Arrested; Affairs ‘Hopeless’; Bank Involved,” Boston Herald, August 13, 1920, p. 1.
282
he promenaded through Post Office Square: Details of this scene come from a remarkable photograph originally printed on the front page of the Boston Herald and now held in the print collection of the Boston Public Library.
283
police inspectors flashed their badges: “Ponzi Arrested; Affairs ‘Hopeless’; Bank Involved,” Boston Herald, August 13, 1920, p. 1.
283
“I am going to stay home”: “Ponzi Pursued,” Boston Post, August 13, p. 9.
283
“I love him more than ever”: “Mrs. Ponzi Loyal,” Boston Post, August 13, 1920, p. 13; “Ponzis Happy at Day’s End,” Boston Herald, August 13, 1920, p. 14; “Mrs. Ponzi Still Has Faith in Husband,” Boston American, August 13, 1920, p. 2.
284
Ritchie began work: “Viewing the Ruins,” Boston Post, August 14, 1920, p. 4.
284
half-biblical, half-puritanical editorial: “By the Sweat of Thy Brow,” Boston Sunday Post, editorial page, August 15, 1920, p. 39.
284
the lead news story: Harold Wheeler, “Ponzi Arrested: Admits Now He Cannot Pay—$3,000,000 Short,” Boston Post, August 13, 1920, p. 1.
285
bail bondsman Morris Rudnick: “Ponzi Lodged in Cambridge Jail,” Boston Post, August 14, 1920, p. 1.
285
At about four o’clock that afternoon: Ibid.
285
He looked up at a calendar: Ibid. Additional details of Ponzi’s surrender and jailing come from “Ponzi Spends Night in Jail; Surrendered by Bondsman,” Boston Herald, August 14, 1920, p. 1, and “Ponzi Wearing His Smile Even in East Cambridge Jail,” Boston Evening Globe, August 14, 1920, p. 1.
286
For two hours they talked: “Testimony of State Officer,” Boston Globe, November 28, 1922, p. 1. Similar accounts of the meeting between the lawyers and the Ponzis in the East Cambridge Jail come from coverage of Ponzi’s 1922 state trial, including: “Thinks Ponzi Honest Man,” Boston Post, November 28, 1922, p. 1; “Coakley on Stand,” Boston Globe, November 28, 1922; and “Ponzi Evidence Ends,” Boston Transcript, November 28, 1922.
287
“I think Mr. Coakley is right”: “Thinks Ponzi Honest Man,” Boston Post, November 28, 1922, p. 1.
287
“What difference does it make”: “Testimony of State Officer,” Boston Globe, November 28, 1922, p. 1.
287
“I might as well be dead”: Ibid.
288
When they filed: “State Still After Ponzi,” Boston Post, December 1, 1920, p. 1; “Ponzi Sentenced to 5 Years in Jail,” New York Times, December 1, 1920, p. 9; “Ponzi Gets Five Years,” Boston Globe, December 1, 1920, p. 1; “To Serve Term in Plymouth,” Boston Evening Globe, November 30, 1920, p. 1.
288
Coakley dug deep into his rhetorical tool kit: The account of Coakley’s argument and the court appearance is taken from several sources, largely because of small differences between the accounts in different newspapers. Among the best are: “State Still After Ponzi,” Boston Post, December 1, 1920, p. 1; “Ponzi Sentenced to 5 Years in Jail,” New York Times, December 1, 1920, p. 9; and “Ponzi Gets Five Years,” Boston Globe, December 1, 1920, p. 1.
290
“Sic transit gloria mundi”: “Ponzi Sentenced to 5 Years in Jail,” New York Times, December 1, 1920, p. 9.
Epilogue
293
new home: “Ponzi in Cell 126 Looking Out to Sea,” Boston Globe, December 12, 1920, p. 1.
293
jailhouse routine: “No Chauffeur’s Job for Ponzi,” Boston Sunday Globe, December 5, 1920, p. 1.
293
a remarkably balanced epitaph: “His Victims Much Like Himself,” New York Times, editorial, December 2, 1920, p. 10.
294
two unexpected write-in candidates: “End Election Canvass in Manhattan-Bronx,” New York Times, December 29, 1920, p. 14.
294
authorities confiscated the Locomobile: “Mrs. Ponzi, Shorn of Money, Finds Joy in Simple Household Tasks,” Boston Globe, October 17, 1920.
294
“The house was never as clean”: Ibid.
294
John Collins: “Crowd Too Big to Be