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May 13 2010

5 Successful Counterfeiters

27 min 6 movies discussed
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Counterfeiting currency successfully takes serious skills, and some consider counterfeiting an art. Josh and Chuck recount the stories of five artful counterfeiters and their successful careers in this episode.

AI Summary

Josh and Chuck dive into the fascinating world of counterfeiting by exploring the stories of history's five most successful money forgers. From an 18th-century con artist who posed as a preacher to the Nazis' massive wartime counterfeiting operation, they reveal how these criminals combined artistry, audacity, and sheer nerve to fool entire economies. The hosts discuss why counterfeiting is becoming a lost art in the digital age and share some truly wild tales of daring escapes, romantic entanglements, and the surprisingly respectful relationship between master counterfeiters and the law enforcement officers who pursued them.


Movies Discussed

A Christmas Story
A Christmas Story
1983 1h 33m
★ 7.2
"That's kind of like Ralphie dreaming that he was going to go blind from having to eat soap — Used as a comparison to Frank Abagnale's fantasies about reuniting his parents" — Josh
Catch Me If You Can
Catch Me If You Can
2002 2h 21m
★ 8.0
"Because the Stevie Spielberg movie, Catch Me If You Can — Referenced when discussing Frank Abagnale's counterfeiting story" — Chuck
Jersey Shore
Jersey Shore
2009
★ 4.3
"The Jersey Shore type of thing — Used to describe a cultural stereotype when discussing cologne-wearing men" — Josh
The Counterfeiters
The Counterfeiters
1948 1h 13m
★ 5.6
"that book was turned into a movie that won Best Foreign Language Film in 2008 — Discussed as a film adaptation about one of the Jewish prisoners forced into Nazi counterfeiting" — Chuck
The Lavender Hill Mob
The Lavender Hill Mob
1951 1h 18m
★ 7.2
"The Lavender Hill Mob, which I found out was a movie from 1951 with Alec Guinness — Mentioned when discussing the British counterfeiting gang called the Lavender Hill Mob" — Josh
To Live and Die in L.A.
To Live and Die in L.A.
1985 1h 56m
★ 7.1
"To live and die in LA... that's the best counterfeit movie in history — Referenced as the best counterfeiting movie while discussing counterfeiting as the episode topic" — Josh

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