The Art of the Con (23 page)

The “Mexican Turnover” uses a card held by the operator to flip over another card on the table, switching these cards in the process. The card that began on the table ends up in the operator's hand, while the card that started face down in his hand is now face up on the table. I've seen magicians do this move for decades and it almost always looks terrible, but on the street, it is performed without hesitation in a fluid, continuous action that's impossible to follow with the naked eye. In a street game, the winning card is switched out and immediately switched in as the other face down card is flipped over. In action, someone picks the money-card, then the operator picks up a loser and uses it to flip the winner face up, switching it so the winner is now in his hand. The winner is then used to flip over the other face down card on the table and the switch is repeated so the winner turns up at that position. Now the losing card that's in the operator's hand is shown and the sequence complete.

Another way to switch cards is a more blatant method that somehow fools the eye and is used in other versions of monte with rubber or leather discs. In this method, a losing card is held in the hand and the winner picked up under that card, then immediately flipped forward, revolving face up onto the table. This can be performed fairly or used to switch the lower card for the one already in the hand by releasing the uppermost card in the flipping action and retaining the card that was just picked up. Both versions can look identical but only fool people when done quickly and in rhythm with the game.

The Shell Game

The three-shell game works in a similar manner to the monte, allowing the mob complete control over the location of a pea or small ball that's being followed by the crowd. Using a sponge or rubber peas combined with soft surfaces like pieces of carpet or rubber-backed pads, the operator is able to steal these with an imperceptible sleight as the shells are being moved around. So clean is this move that magicians often cover a shell (that has the pea underneath) with a glass and can still steal the pea right under the noses of an eagle-eyed audience.

Bottle caps and matchbox drawers are just as effective, but the latter allows for a powerful “accidental peek” where the near end of the box is tapped so the end nearest the crowd lifts up, permitting them to see the ball underneath, which is then immediately stolen out! With traditional shells or bottle caps, the operator may let the crowd see the ball roll from one cap to another, where it is quickly—and invisibly—moved to the third shell. I've seen illogical versions where a shell is clearly shown empty to concentrate the sucker on the remaining two, but the pea ends in the previously empty shell, just like a magic trick. Incredibly, this still gets the money and that's all that matters on the street.

Clearly, if the cards or the pea can be switched before, during, or after they are mixed on the table, it's impossible to win. Remember this when you see a street game; the purpose of these scams is to make people not only think they can beat the game but that they have an advantage over the operator. To this end, the mob works together to create a trap that sinks their mark every time. In essence, these scams all convince the victim that they can't lose, and while some suckers will jump in without thinking, most people need a good push in the form of the build-up.

The Build-Up

There are two key forms of build-up used to manipulate the mark; these can either be applied directly, as with the Russian girl who openly talks the mark into betting it all, or subtly, by stalling the mark until he is convinced he can beat the game and eager to do so. The former builds excitement while the latter frustrates the victim as he tries to make a bet but is held off until he reaches for his entire bankroll. In both cases, the sequence of events is similar.

In London, modern street game teams are often Eastern-European families, and it's comically easy to spot the shills in the crowd since everyone looks similar and closely related. The shills are an important element in a monte mob, and I often look to them to determine how experienced or effective the mob might be. Some operators travel and hire local characters to fill in the crowd, giving them basic instructions and limited responsibilities. I see this from time to time when the operator is trying to do too much and is sometimes openly shouting instructions to his rookie crew members as he tries to fleece his marks. With more experienced mobs, the shills work more efficiently and follow the game operator's lead almost instinctively.

It is well known that shills in a crowd are there to bet and win money as part of the show, but they are most effective when they are used to
hold off
a potential sucker until he's ready to pop. It's a simple procedure: the shills start losing! As the crowd watches, members of the mob begin throwing bets toward the wrong cards or shells or matchboxes. The people around them can follow the winner easily, but instead of questioning why the shills are losing, the most common response is to believe that they are somehow much better at this than the losers. The natural conclusion is that if they were to bet, they'd win.

Eventually, this begins to pay off as outside money is brought into the game. In some cases the operator takes these bets and either switches or steals out the winner, or sees that real money is coming in; he then hypes, steals, or switches during the mixing procedure before taking bets. Either way, if real money lands on the winner, it can easily be replaced with a loser to steal that cash. But there's a more powerful strategy that keeps the mark playing and encourages him to throw down more money: the over bet. Here, a mark, or even several, might bet on the winner, but a shill, holding out a larger amount, bets on one of the losers. The operator claims he has to take the bigger bet and rejects the marks' money while showing that the shill has lost. The marks then see that they would have won, and if they stay in the game, chances are good that they'll pull out more money, especially when they fall for the big steal.

The Big Steal

The big steal is where the mark is convinced that he can't lose, and there are always new ways to manipulate people into thinking they're on top of the game. It's not necessarily a subtle ploy, but it is devastatingly effective if the mark is ready to throw down. The bent corner, for example, is the most powerful, and least subtle, part of the monte scam. Just as I saw on the street outside Caesar's Palace, this clever ploy makes suckers out of almost anyone once they are emotionally committed to the game. Eager to bet and sure they have the upper hand, all a good mark needs is a push to make the big bet and the bent corner almost always gets their money.

It works like this: The mob orchestrates a reason for the operator to turn away or pick something up, and when this happens, one of the shills reaches for the winning card and openly bends one corner for all to see. The operator returns to the game, seemingly unaware that his money card has been marked. The cards are shown and mixed, exactly as before, except the winner is now obvious; the marks see their chance and make their move. The bent card, however, is no longer the winner because, during the mixing procedure, the operator is able to bend another card, switch it for the winner, and then remove the original bent corner. This can be done so quickly and deceptively that magicians regularly employ this move at the conclusion of their monte demonstration. Ricky Jay has used it to devastating effect on talk shows by employing friends and fellow guests as shills to bend the corner to the delight of the audience. Even under the unblinking eye of the television camera, the bent corner switch is invisible.

In the three-shell game, the tip-up of matchbox drawers has a similar effect. I've also seen operators encourage victims to place their foot on the shell they think holds the pea. A flash of the pea convinces the mark he has the right one and placing his foot (or hand) on it convinces him that it can't be switched out. The operator then acts as if he thought the mark wanted a different shell and plays out a scene where he's trying to call off the bet, further convincing the mark that he's made the right choice. In Stockholm, this strategy was even stronger thanks to the pretty girl pushing the mark to “go for it.”

The lipstick swindle is a relatively novel twist that we employed on
The Real Hustle
. It combined the Swedish strategy of using a pretty girl to lead the mark and a simple idea for marking the wrong card. We played it in a crowded bar, near the windows so our camera crew could see everything. Jess was chatting to our potential victims as I approached. After a few minutes of chat and couple of card tricks, I offered to play a game for money. Alex stepped in to serve as my shill while Jess proved to the marks that she could always pick out the winning card, and while she whispered poison into their ears, Alex would pick the wrong cards and lose.

Once the marks were convinced, Jess held up a finger, and as I dealt with Alex, she openly drew her finger across her painted lips, transferring red lipstick to her fingertip. She then used this to mark the middle face down card on the table. When I threw all three cards face up, the middle card was indeed the winner, but I had secretly switched the cards as I turned them over. Jess had marked a loser, but I had switched the winner into the same position as the cards were turned face up. This convinced everyone that Jess had successfully marked the money card.

I repeated the switch as I turned everything face down, mixed the cards, and called for bets. Sure enough, the mark came over the top with all the money he had and was shocked when he lost. When he complained, I noticed the marked card and turned the tables on him, calling
him
a cheat! This gave me the chance to walk away and let Jess cool them out. Jess was quick to follow us when the sucker threatened her, proving that, pretty girl or not, when someone loses, it's best to get the hell out of there.

Another strategy is to have a shill act as a big bettor in the final round of play, with the operator concentrating his attention on his secret assistant. In this example, the “hype” is used to switch the winning card or rubber disc so that the crowd thinks it's in the center when it is actually on their left. The shill steps in and asks how much he can bet on the rightmost option, which everyone knows is a loser, and the operator agrees to take all comers. Just like the bent corner scam, the operator drops something and turns to retrieve it as the shill switches the right option for the one in the middle, where the crowd mistakenly believes the real winner was all along. This is a powerful strategy because it causes the onlookers to believe that the operator is the victim of the shill and, most important, that they can capitalize on the situation and join the bet. For people who have already lost a few times, this is a powerful motivator to win back their losses and many people jump at the chance.

Naturally, they all lose, the winner is shown on the left, and the game suddenly breaks down or the crowd is allowed to walk. From time to time, an honest voice in the crowd will warn the operator of the apparent attempt to cheat him but this is easily ignored; I've heard that on one occasion, an eager mark punched someone out for doing this!

A clever variation on this approach is the newspaper feint, where the winner ends in the middle of the row of three but the onlookers are convinced that it's on the left or right. Here the newspaper on which the game is being played (on top of boxes or a small table) is spun 180 degrees, apparently sending the winner to the other end of the row. This is played as a secret move that the crowd “catches.” My friend Lee Asher once saw a monte player pick up the newspaper as a tray and return it after turning it slowly. In both examples, the onlookers believe they have seen something they weren't supposed to see when the opposite is true; since the winner had already been secretly switched to the middle, it never actually moves. Clearly, the purpose of the feint is to make the crowd believe that they have caught out the operator, which motivates them to jump at their chance to beat him.

These moves, sleights, and strategies are designed to manipulate people, and it is a common mistake to focus on how they manipulate the objects in play. It is fascinating that cards, shells, boxes, or discs can be switched or that tiny balls can vanish or appear at will, but knowledge of exactly how this is done won't help you if you make the critical error of getting involved in the first place. Monte mobs are prepared for people who know their techniques, and it's an easy matter to use other, lesser-known methods, or, simpler yet, to just throw or mix the objects honestly while pretending to cheat! With the bent corner, all the operator has to do is leave the bend in place and not switch it at all, while a shill pretends to fall for the original ploy so that a know-it-all mark can jump in and bet on another card, certain that he has the upper hand. If I were to do this, I'd even flash one of the unbent cards so that the mark is convinced that the other unbent card is the winner. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing and these gangs are nobody's fool. They can spot a wised-up mark from fifty feet and have no problem letting him play.