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the art of making money the story of a master counterfeiter
the true story of a brilliant counterfeiter who made millions outwitted the secret service and was finally undone when he went in search of the one thing his forged money couldnt buy him family . br art williams spent his boyhood in a comfortable middle class existence in 1970s chicago but his idyll was shattered when in short order his father abandoned the family his bipolar mother lost her wits and williams found himself living in one of chicagos worst housing projects . he took to crime almost immediately starting with petty theft before graduating to robbing drug dealers . eventually a man nicknamed davinci taught him the centuries old art of counterfeiting . after a stint in jail williams emerged to discover that the treasury department had issued the most secure hundred dollar bill ever created the 1996 new note . williams spent months trying to defeat various security features before arriving at a bill so perfect that even law enforcement had difficulty distinguishing it from the real thing . williams went on to print millions in counterfeit bills selling them to criminal organizations and using them to fund cross country spending sprees . still unsatisfied he went off in search of his long lost father setting in motion a chain of betrayals that would be his undoing . br in the art of making money journalist jason kersten details how williams painstakingly defeated the anti forging features of the new note how williams and his partner in crime wife converted fake bills into legitimate tender at shopping malls all over america and how they stayed one step ahead of the secret service until trusting the wrong person brought them all down . a compulsively readable story of how having it all is never enough the art of making money is a stirring portrait of the rise and inevitable fall of a modern day criminal mastermind . br an interview with jason kersten author of the art of making money br q what compelled you to write the art of making money br a curiosity about the crime of counterfeiting initially drew me in . master counterfeiters criminals who produce superior quality notes and sell them are extremely rare . unlike other kinds of career criminals they are also craftsmen and they typically learn from another master through apprenticeship . when art williams learned to counterfeit from a master at just 16 he was the last link in a chain of counterfeiters that went back generations . i found this so fascinating this idea of legacy . i wanted to know how art learned the art of counterfeiting the dynamics of that student teacher relationship and how it changed him . then of course there was his pursuit of a counterfeit of the 1996 new note the most secure us bill ever created . it was a quest and quests always make for great stories . br while it was the world of counterfeiting that originally attracted me to arts story what ultimately made a book length project worthwhile wasnt the crime but the man . arts quest to reconnect with his father was far more compelling than his criminal escapades and it is the conflict that arises between these two goals that gives his story so much dramatic weight . br q how did you find art williams and his story br a art williams actually found me . back in 2004 the hollywood producer paul pompian spent a week in chicago scouting locations for one of his films . paul didnt have a car so one of his friends loaned him a car and driver . that driver turned out to be art williams . as the week went by art kept hinting to paul that if he really wanted to make an interesting movie he should listen to his story . of course being a veteran hollywood man paul hears such claims on a daily basis so he pretty much blew art off the entire week . br on his last day in chicago paul had a few hours to kill before heading to the airport . by then he had taken a liking to art . they were both native chicagoans both from the streets and in a few of the de
hardcover gotham books 2009 isbn13 9781592404469 isbn10 1592404464
abridged n isbn 13 9781592404469 number in series 1 number of pages 292 publisher penguin group usa release date 1244678400000