WEBVTT - Stephen Weinberg: The Man With So Many Aliases We Couldn't Count Them All 0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:06.240 Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shonda Land Audio in 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:14.800 partnership with I Heart Radio. Hello, and welcome to the 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:18.400 third season of Criminalia. This season, we're exploring the lives 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:21.880 and motivations of some of the most notorious impostors throughout history. 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:26.600 I'm Maria tram Marquis and I'm Hony Fry. Let's talk 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:30.560 about Stephen Jacob Weinberg. Stephen was born into a working 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:35.800 class family in Brooklyn, New York, on November and growing 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:39.240 up he wanted nothing more than to become a doctor. 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:42.320 When his parents could not afford the tuition for that 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:46.440 career path, he began his path to becoming instead one 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:50.040 of the greatest pretenders, and as far as we can tell, 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:53.599 he never used his given name again. That might be 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.400 something of an exaggeration, but let's be clear, only a 0:00:56.480 --> 0:01:01.520 slight exaggeration. Instead of fulfilling his dream of becoming a doctor, 0:01:01.560 --> 0:01:06.880 although he'd actually get around him pretending to be one. Eventually, Weinberg, 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:10.240 about the time he was twenty, was stuck working a 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:14.480 series of dead end jobs. It's also when he often 0:01:14.520 --> 0:01:18.440 referred to as a quote talented and highly intelligent individual, 0:01:18.840 --> 0:01:23.119 began to imagine and live other lives. In those lives, 0:01:23.160 --> 0:01:27.160 he went by many different names, although he never impersonated 0:01:27.160 --> 0:01:30.560 a real person, these were all fictitious identities that he created. 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:33.560 This is by far not a complete list that we're 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:35.399 giving you, but it's a really good one in terms 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:38.480 of getting a sense of his scope. He posed as 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:42.559 Ethan Allen Weinberg. He pretended to be Royal st Cyr. 0:01:43.280 --> 0:01:47.520 He used the names Sterling see Wyman and Rodney s Wyman. 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:52.400 He used the aliases s Clifford Weinberg and see Sterling Weinberg. 0:01:52.880 --> 0:01:56.640 He also used the names Alan, Stanley Weyman and Stanley 0:01:56.680 --> 0:02:00.160 Clifford Wayman. His go to name eventually became stan Lee 0:02:00.200 --> 0:02:03.440 Clifford Wayman, and once he reached middle age, he just 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.320 started using that as though it were his actual name, 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:08.919 and he used that permanently from that point on, and 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:11.200 the way he used aliases. And you might get a 0:02:11.200 --> 0:02:13.480 sense of it because this seems a little MIXI matchy 0:02:13.600 --> 0:02:15.919 in terms of which names he used in which position. 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:19.519 It wasn't so much as an effort to hide something 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:22.560 about himself or something he did. It seems almost more 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:25.320 like he viewed his monikers as like picking out what 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:27.240 suit he was going to wear on any given day. 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.799 In addition to his amazing number of names, there are 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:36.440 an amazing number of stories about Stephen Weinberg. Some are 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:40.960 not so true and some are absolute lies. We're going 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:44.840 to talk about his big moments so over his lifetime. 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:47.840 In addition to pretending to be many people, he pretended 0:02:47.880 --> 0:02:51.080 to be many things. And that list is also very long, 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:53.639 and certainly we're not going to give you the complete one. 0:02:53.760 --> 0:02:57.680 He pretended to be a lawyer, also an aviator as 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:02.360 well as a sanitation expert. He posed as several different 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:07.080 physicians and to psychiatrists. He impersonated a number of officers 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.280 in the United States Navy, ranging in rank from lieutenant 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:14.600 to admiral. He also impersonated five or six different United 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:19.360 States Army officers, the State Department, Naval liaison officer, many 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:23.360 consuls general, and a United Nations expert on Balcan and 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:26.720 Asian affairs. And again, when we say impersonated, he's not 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:30.359 taking someone else's identity, he's just making them up whole cloth, 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:33.760 impersonating the title, and people would just assume, sure, that's 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:38.160 the title, Yes, that of course I know who the 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:43.520 UN expert on Balcan and Asian affairs. It was often 0:03:43.520 --> 0:03:47.480 observed that Weinberg was fond of purchasing clothing, and most 0:03:47.840 --> 0:03:52.920 especially uniforms, even if they were somehow flawed, he wanted 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:55.840 and saved them. When he was growing up, neighbors said 0:03:55.880 --> 0:03:58.880 he would often wear costumes. He was a bit of 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:01.560 a pack rat, and he had a fully stopped closet 0:04:01.600 --> 0:04:04.400 that allowed him to pull off nearly any dapper look 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:08.480 and any look that was appropriate for that occasion. Listen 0:04:08.560 --> 0:04:11.360 this whole pack rack closet thing. I'm feeling a little attacked. 0:04:11.400 --> 0:04:15.000 But in addition to having a selection of uniforms to 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:18.760 wear on his escapades, Winberg was really quite a snappy 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:22.040 or at least interesting dresser. There's one picture that Maria 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.120 pulled up. He's actually in a uniform, but he knows 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.080 how to wear a suit like. He's very dashing. He 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:31.200 would scandalously pair striped trousers with a morning coach. He 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:34.240 was known to occasionally wear a white tie with dinner 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:38.120 clothes or a black tie with tails, the very idea, 0:04:38.279 --> 0:04:40.200 and it was not unusual for him. And this is 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:42.760 where he loses me a little. To wear tan shoes. 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:44.920 That's my favorite part of him. I'm like, what's the 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:50.359 Here's one thing that we should point out in the 0:04:50.360 --> 0:04:52.480 midst of all of this. When he was masquerading as 0:04:52.560 --> 0:04:57.239 various different people, he never changed his physical appearance, only 0:04:57.440 --> 0:05:01.800 his attire. He had his air of distinction about him. 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:05.880 His physical appearance had been described as a tall, trimmed 0:05:05.960 --> 0:05:10.320 man with bright brown eyes, a thin mustache, an aquilin knows, 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.560 and a solemn mount not to overlook this one. And 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:17.080 they also said he had a shapely head. I don't 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:21.400 know what shape. Get a look at that skull, I know. 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:27.440 When he was twenty one, he pulled his first real scam, 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:31.160 using the name Stephen Weinberg. He pretended to be the 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:35.719 United States Console delegate to a place called portub which 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:39.560 is a totally fake place that he alleged was near Morocco. 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:45.159 For this spectacular or a purple uniform, and he ended 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:47.520 up dining with the political elite in some of the 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:51.160 finest restaurants in New York. But ultimately he brought a 0:05:51.240 --> 0:05:53.880 little too much attention to himself when he started racking 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:59.640 up some pretty sizeable and outstanding hills. But it wasn't 0:05:59.680 --> 0:06:02.720 those paid bills or the impersonation that caught up with him, 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.720 although they did not help the situation. When things came 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:09.000 to light, he actually was added by the press. They 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.920 printed a photo that had him in it, and Winberg 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:15.920 was arrested for fraud and sentenced time in the Elmira Reformatory. 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.360 But while he was in prison, he concocted a new plan, 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.360 and once he was paroled in nineteen fifteen that puts 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:26.680 him at age. Weinberg kicked off his newfound freedom by 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:30.000 inspecting the U. S. S. Wyoming. That was obviously not 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:32.760 because anyone asked him to or paid him to do it. 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:35.040 He didn't have any real right to do it, but 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:38.200 he sure did want to. His new plan was to 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.560 turn himself into a lieutenant commander in the Romanian Army 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.080 and the Romanian Consul General of New York, and in 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:48.960 these new roles as was in his right. If those 0:06:49.080 --> 0:06:53.360 roles were real, he actually did managed to inspect a battleship. 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:57.680 He's amazing. Uh. So we're going to take a quick 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:01.320 break or award from our sponsor and coming up, Weinberg 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:14.200 turned himself into a lieutenant commander. Welcome back to Criminalia. 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:17.920 Let's get to the story of when Weinberg inspected the 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:22.200 USS Wyoming. The only thing that stood between Weinberg and 0:07:22.320 --> 0:07:25.200 getting on a battleship was basically just a phone call. 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.600 So for this scam, he introduced himself with the alias 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:34.280 Ethan Allen Weinberg, which personally I thought was fantastic. I'm 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:40.040 from New England. His alias was Ethan Allen Weinberg, and 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.200 he was the Romanian consul general of New York. He 0:07:43.440 --> 0:07:46.720 stated to the US Department of the Navy who he 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:51.000 connected with his unclear, but his business was that the 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:55.160 Queen Maria Romania herself had instructed him to informally pay 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:58.880 respect to the U. S. Navy. So Ethan Allen Winberg 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:01.640 was cleared to board. I don't believe what people get 0:08:01.680 --> 0:08:05.920 away with sometimes. On the day of the inspection, Lieutenant 0:08:05.960 --> 0:08:10.400 Commander Weinberg boarded the USS Wyoming wearing a quote stunning 0:08:10.680 --> 0:08:14.280 light blue uniform dripping with gold braid and wearing an 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:18.560 admiral's hat. That's according to the Montreal Gazette. They gave 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.320 him a twenty one gun salute when he got to 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:23.880 New York Harbor, where the Wyoming was anchored. You know, 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:31.160 he loved that. Every second he conducted an inspection, reportedly 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:33.559 on behalf of the Queen of Romania, during which he 0:08:33.640 --> 0:08:37.559 insisted the ship's sailor's lineup information, and then, in a 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:42.719 truly brazen move, he reprimanded any individual sailor that he 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:47.160 thought had any real or imagined flaws in their dress 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:49.920 or their military bearing. It was also reported that he 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:55.240 very much enjoyed saluting and returning salutes. Following this inspection, 0:08:55.440 --> 0:08:59.199 the Fox Lieutenant commander through a banquet for the officers 0:08:59.320 --> 0:09:01.079 of the U s s to Wyoming, because why not. 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:04.920 It was held at the Hotel Astor in Manhattan, and 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:09.040 it was expensive. No worries though, right because the bill, 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:11.400 of course, would be taken care of by the Romanian 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:15.120 consulate in Washington, d C. Except it would not be 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:20.120 because no one in either the US or Romania knew 0:09:20.240 --> 0:09:25.280 anyone named Lieutenant Commander Ethan Allen Weinberg, and the bill 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:28.640 was really the least of his concern. Though tipped off 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:33.040 about his whereabouts, two FBI agents crashed that party. They 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:35.959 arrested him immediately, and on the way out he was 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:39.280 overheard complaining that the agents should have at least waited 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:43.760 until after dessert. Clearly he took this whole thing very seriously. 0:09:44.280 --> 0:09:47.160 He was sentenced as a consequence to one year in 0:09:47.320 --> 0:09:50.439 prison for the U. S. S. Wyoming stunt. One of 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:54.280 the officers later stated that Weinberg pulled off quote quite 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:58.640 an inspection. In an additional account, the captain of the U. S. S. 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:01.320 Wyoming said to a report her quote, all I can 0:10:01.400 --> 0:10:03.360 say is the little guy put on one hell of 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:07.079 a tour of inspection. His punishments didn't actually deter him 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:12.640 from indulging his love of impersonation. In one as State 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:17.559 Department Naval Liaison officer Rodney Sterling Winman, Weinberg pulled off 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:20.680 one of his most impressive capers. It took him about 0:10:20.720 --> 0:10:23.000 a month of preparation to pull this one off, and 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:27.840 it was one of his most high profile scams. Princess Fatima, 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:31.160 who The New York Times described as quote the Sultana 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:35.000 of Afghanistan, was visiting New York City and during her 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.040 time in the United States, she wanted to meet President 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:42.160 Moren G. Harding, but for political reasons, President Harding never 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:47.120 actually replied to her requests. Afghanistan had just become an 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:51.800 independent country. British counterparts to the US, though, had requested 0:10:51.920 --> 0:10:56.040 that the us not meet with any Afghan representatives, stating 0:10:56.120 --> 0:11:00.840 and we quote, we consider Afghanistan, though ostensive the independent, 0:11:01.080 --> 0:11:04.319 as still within our sphere of political influence, and are 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:07.800 anxious to discourage any proceedings which imply that we are 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:11.760 not concerned in the foreign relations of that country. Basically, 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:14.920 don't cut us out of your of the picture. We 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.400 still want to be all up in that business except 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:22.520 the mouth all the time. Right. However, State Department Naval 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:28.960 Liaison Officer Rodney Sterling Wyman, fictitious did reply to her request, 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.679 and Wyman did arrange an introduction between the President and 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:38.480 the princess. On July, the princess and her son's visited 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:41.319 the White House and met the President and the First Lady. 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:45.520 They took photos of this whole group, including President Harding 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:49.800 and his wife Florence, on the White House lawn. Wyman's 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:55.080 uniform for this occasion was not at all at regulation, 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:58.760 and that stood out in these pictures. The New Yorker 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:01.800 reported the uniform was actually that of an officer in 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:07.559 the United States Junior Naval Reserves, a non governmental organization 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:11.280 that was considered a I'm gonna quote this kind of 0:12:11.480 --> 0:12:15.839 seagoing boy scout affair. No one at the introduction seemed 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:19.400 to know that, though Washington Post account of the meeting 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:22.480 between the President and the princess described the scene on 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:26.680 the lawn as gaudy and included details about Fatima's clothing. 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:29.839 Her skirt was narrow and ankle length, and one of 0:12:29.920 --> 0:12:33.040 the most reported things about her appearance was the large 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:36.319 sapphire nose ring that she apparently wore in her left nostril. 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.480 They also reported on the gifts that she brought for 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:44.280 her meeting with the President, including kashmere shawls, veils, rugs, 0:12:44.480 --> 0:12:49.240 table cloths, and turbans. Those rugs are hard ship like. 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:53.160 I'm surprised that's on the last. It was the Washington 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:57.600 Evening Star that published a photograph of Princess Fatimah, her 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:02.320 three sons, the President the firstly, and Rodney Sterling Wman, 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:07.400 the State Department naval liaison officer. After a brief investigation, 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:11.480 Wyman was arrested. The photos were his downfall, this time, 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:14.680 when they went public, it tipped off the State Department 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:18.719 that he did not work for them. When addressing the 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.679 court during his trial, he stated, quote, I do not 0:13:21.840 --> 0:13:24.720 wish to discuss the insanity theory on which you seem 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:27.000 to have made up your mind. In none of my 0:13:27.160 --> 0:13:31.080 acts has there ever been intentional turpitude. All were committed 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:34.040 in a phase or cycle or period of recurrent manic 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:37.719 depression to which the doctors found I was subject. He 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:41.760 was convicted for faking a naval officer, and Judge Chackfield 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:44.599 stated that although the maximum sentence for the offense was 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:47.000 three years in the penitentiary and a fine of one 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:51.040 thousand dollars, he was sentencing him to serve two years 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:54.599 in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary. Wyman was also fined, but 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:58.680 just one dollar. The judge also remarked that he believed 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.800 woman had fooled the mental health examiners into thinking he 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:05.960 was saying. Princess Fatima told the newspapers that she intended, 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.800 after meeting the president in Washington to go on to 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:12.600 England next and to send her sons to Eton and Oxford. 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:17.719 She disappears into obscurity sometime after. You know how some 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:22.160 people get their best ideas in the shower. So Weinberg 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:25.520 it seems to be that he got his best ideas 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:30.880 while incarcerated. So after another release, Weinberg popped up as 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:34.760 the personal physician to Silent screen star Poland Agri. Polo 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:38.200 was friends with actor Rudolf Valentino, and when Valentino died 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:42.640 in Weinberg, as Stanley Clifford Wayman, was on the scene. 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:47.160 Valentino's manager actually exposed him as a fraud. But when 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:49.840 the actress found out her physician was not a real 0:14:50.040 --> 0:14:52.280 m d she replied, and I love this, even if 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:56.040 it's foolish quote. I don't care. He's the best doctor 0:14:56.120 --> 0:15:00.360 I've ever had. She refused to press charges, and in 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.520 fact informed of the American Medical Association more than once 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:06.400 that Wyman was the best doctor she had ever had 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.560 or ever expected to have. There's always a catch, though, 0:15:09.640 --> 0:15:12.880 so when Paula tried to pay him for his services, 0:15:13.000 --> 0:15:15.760 he declined the payment. That made it difficult for the 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:19.080 District Attorney's office to make a case against him. There 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:21.760 was no way to prove anything the way that this 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:24.360 had rolled out, and this would have technically made his 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:28.120 actions outside of fraud from a legal perspective, because Winberg 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:32.960 wasn't really benefiting from the charade in any measurable way. 0:15:33.320 --> 0:15:35.920 And this was not the only time that Weinberg faked 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:39.640 being a doctor, posing as doctor Clifford Wyman. He was 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.760 for a time and assistant to the famous Viennese surgeon 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:46.320 at Alf Laurence, who was known as the Bloodless Surgeon 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:50.160 of Vienna because his techniques were known as bloodless surgery. 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:55.040 Let's take a break now from bloodless surgery and have 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:58.400 a word from our sponsor, and when we're back, we'll 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:02.320 talk about the time when Weinberg held an actual, real job. 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:16.000 Welcome back to Criminalia. All right, let's talk about professor Weyman. 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:20.640 We're moving along to World War Two now, specifically the 0:16:20.840 --> 0:16:24.040 Selective Training and Service Act, which was signed into law 0:16:24.200 --> 0:16:30.080 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in September. It required all 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:32.840 men between the ages of twenty one and forty five 0:16:32.960 --> 0:16:36.560 to register for the draft. That's actually before the US 0:16:36.720 --> 0:16:41.640 entered the war. And here Weinberg made a slight career change, 0:16:41.680 --> 0:16:44.400 I guess you could call it. He opened a school 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:49.000 for draft dodgers where he taught men how to avoid serving, 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:53.080 and that was, of course shut down. The FBI reported 0:16:53.120 --> 0:16:57.040 that Weinberg, as Professor Stanley Weyman, counseled the men on 0:16:57.160 --> 0:16:59.840 ways of getting out of service, including how to act 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.520 as though they were deaf or as though they had 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:06.080 a mental illness. He taught these courses, and we're going 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:08.840 to quote their names. Please know this is not the 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.359 kind of language one should be using or would use today. 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:14.200 But his courses were things like how to act like 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:19.040 a mental incompetent and how to simulate hearing disorders. As 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:21.879 an added bonus to that class, if you couldn't just 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:25.760 fake it, Wyman offered to puncture your ear drums so 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:29.520 that you would become hearing impaired. Yes, that was literally 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:34.160 something he offered people. He was arrested in nine when 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:37.800 his school was discovered and when the ear drum part 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:43.639 was also discovered, Weinberg was again incarcerated, and during his 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.920 sentencing he told the judge, and will quote this, the 0:17:47.119 --> 0:17:50.840 pattern of my life is not symmetrical. He was convicted 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:53.520 and given five to seven years in the Advanta Penitentiary, 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:58.800 and that is the longest sentence he ever received while incarcerated. 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:02.480 Remember this is when he gets very busy. Weinberg studied 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:05.920 law and he actually passed the Georgia bar. When he 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.440 was released, he actually got a real job. He was 0:18:08.600 --> 0:18:13.520 hired as an accredited correspondent attached to a legitimate news agency. 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:19.040 He worked that job for about two years around Also 0:18:19.200 --> 0:18:22.639 at this same time, he hosted a radio broadcast series 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:27.120 on a local FM station, and it featured interviews with diplomats. 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:31.280 Many people who worked with him later said that he 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:35.520 had a noticeable talent as a journalist, but he lost 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:39.560 his un accredited asian in one when his identity was 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:45.200 exposed allegedly by a rival news agency. He said, quote, 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:47.840 my probation officer has told me that I mustn't talk 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:51.040 to any newspapers or magazines. This is a blow to 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:55.760 my civil liberties. Winberg was arrested again in a Brooklyn apartment, 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:59.280 where they found him hiding in his closet behind thirty 0:18:59.359 --> 0:19:03.880 five expensive suits. He pleaded guilty to making false statements 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:07.399 to cheat the Franklin National Bank of Franklin Square out 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:09.720 of a five thousand dollar f h A loan for 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:12.200 repairs on a house that he did not own. He 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.560 was also indicted for defrauding the Nassau County National Bank 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:19.040 of Rockville Center of two thousand, one hundred dollars. At 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:22.399 this point, he was in his sixties. These particular crimes 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:26.840 Aboard convened before the trial began to determine if Weinberg 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:29.880 was mentally fit to face the jury, as well as 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:32.720 whether or not there was any role that mental health 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:36.200 issues may have played in his actions. Weinberg was sentenced 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:40.160 in May of nineteen fifty four before Judge Leo Raphael 0:19:40.560 --> 0:19:44.240 in Brooklyn Federal Court, and he was convicted. He was 0:19:44.359 --> 0:19:47.960 sentenced to eighteen months in jail, and his lawyer reportedly 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:51.200 said that he had seen his client recently and quote, 0:19:51.480 --> 0:19:54.200 he was a very hard worker. When I saw him, 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:57.240 he looked really well. As we know, this is not 0:19:57.359 --> 0:20:00.040 the first time that Weinberg did time, and over of 0:20:00.160 --> 0:20:03.960 years his criminal record grew. He pleaded guilty too or 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:08.639 was convicted of the following grand larceny once, forgery, once, 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:15.160 impersonating an attorney, once impersonating a naval officer twice, disorderly 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:19.000 conduct once, running a school for draft dodgers, just the 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:23.520 ones that's the hand embezzlement once. Can you imagine if 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:25.680 it was like running a school for draft rodgers a 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:31.760 dozen times or sometimes though he just wasn't arrested. So 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:35.040 there's no real full list of everything that he has done. 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:38.399 But if you remember how he posed as silent screen 0:20:38.480 --> 0:20:43.280 actress Poland and Agree's personal physician back in nineteen He 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:47.480 also once spoke to an audience of psychiatrists, physicians, surgeons, 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:50.360 you name it. It was just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:54.440 and he used the alias Dr Alan Stanley Weyman. His 0:20:54.600 --> 0:20:59.240 topic was the reformation of psychiatric services in American penitentiaries. 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:03.719 He received you, It was reported vigorous applause for his speech, 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:06.800 and many in attendance didn't learn Dr Weyman was a 0:21:06.840 --> 0:21:10.639 fraud until many years later. He wasn't arrested for this event, 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:14.360 he wasn't convicted, and he wasn't sentenced. Actually nothing came 0:21:14.400 --> 0:21:17.080 of it. Trying to think of the charge of making 0:21:17.160 --> 0:21:22.160 a speech under false prasion at a conference, so it's 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:24.560 a whole weird thing. It is reported that he did 0:21:24.640 --> 0:21:28.560 spend time in state and federal penitentiaries on thirteen occasions 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:31.600 after he turned twenty one, and on six of those 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:35.800 thirteen occasions he was back behind bars just for parole violation, 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:39.439 usually because he had missed a visit with his parole officer. 0:21:40.040 --> 0:21:43.280 For the most part, though he played all or most 0:21:43.440 --> 0:21:47.920 of his roles perfectly, Weinberg actually always seemed to have 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:51.600 deftly avoided situations that could have exposed him as a 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:55.520 faith For instance, as an army officer, he never made 0:21:55.560 --> 0:21:58.600 the mistake of mingling with the troops as a fake aviator. 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:01.359 The street crowds of New York cheered him for his 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:05.399 feats that he'd never actually performed. He'd never even flown 0:22:05.560 --> 0:22:08.800 a plane. He always fit in the moment and was 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:13.520 most frequently exposed as a fraud by newspaper reporters, photographers, 0:22:13.680 --> 0:22:17.040 or officers of the law, people who could recognize his face. 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:20.480 Weinberg always claimed that he did what he did just 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:24.040 for the thrill of living as another person, as wayman 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:27.760 and other aliases. He impersonated all of those people we've mentioned, 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:32.040 military officials, political figures, and doctors just because he wanted 0:22:32.119 --> 0:22:35.080 to and he enjoyed it. He once told a judge 0:22:35.160 --> 0:22:38.160 that we quote one man's life is a boring thing. 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:42.800 I live many lives. I'm never bored. In nineteen fifty three, 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:47.760 the Brooklyn Daily Eagle called Weinberg Brooklyn's Mr Chameleon, America's 0:22:47.960 --> 0:22:53.080 Baron Munchhausen, and the world's champion impostor. Weinberg was killed 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:57.119 shortly after in May of nineteen fifty four at about 0:22:57.280 --> 0:23:01.720 one am, two robbers held up that Wittie Motel in Yonkers, 0:23:01.800 --> 0:23:05.120 New York, where Winberg was the night manager. They got 0:23:05.160 --> 0:23:08.560 away with two hundred dollars, but left five hundred dollars 0:23:08.600 --> 0:23:12.520 in Winberg's pocket. Shot twice in the abdomen and once 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:15.160 in the back of the head, Winberg died from his injuries, 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:18.720 ending what the Brooklyn Daily Eagle called and will quote 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:22.480 them again, the truly incredible career of one of the 0:23:22.520 --> 0:23:26.520 most notorious humbugs this country has ever produced. And the 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:30.639 detective that was in charge of this case reportedly remarked, quote, 0:23:30.840 --> 0:23:33.480 I've known about his record for years. He did a 0:23:33.600 --> 0:23:35.520 lot of things in the course of his life, but 0:23:35.640 --> 0:23:44.000 what he did this time was brave. So what kind 0:23:44.080 --> 0:23:48.200 of a mock tail can you make to relate to 0:23:48.560 --> 0:23:53.280 Stephen Weinberg and his life? Holly, So, of course I 0:23:53.359 --> 0:23:55.560 had to make a choose your own adventure mocktail for 0:23:55.600 --> 0:23:58.359 this one. And it is called many Lives because there's 0:23:58.400 --> 0:24:00.600 one element that you get to pick it you use 0:24:00.760 --> 0:24:03.480 and it will change the profile of the mocktail or 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:05.320 cocktail if you do it that way. It's also of 0:24:05.359 --> 0:24:09.760 a variation on a non alcoholic lemon drop. But the 0:24:10.040 --> 0:24:11.560 thing that I like to add to it that makes 0:24:11.560 --> 0:24:13.600 it a little different is you're gonna start with six 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:17.440 to ten basil leaves and you'll muddle those up a bit, 0:24:17.720 --> 0:24:21.040 along with the juice of about three lemons, then an 0:24:21.160 --> 0:24:25.480 ounce of simple or vanilla syrup, and then three quarters 0:24:25.520 --> 0:24:28.159 of an ounce of any other syrup, which will, of 0:24:28.200 --> 0:24:30.320 course change at all depending on what you do. I 0:24:30.400 --> 0:24:32.920 did a violet syrup and it was lovely, and you're 0:24:32.960 --> 0:24:35.520 gonna shake a shake of shake it and then strain 0:24:35.640 --> 0:24:38.000 it over ice. Or if you really want to go 0:24:38.280 --> 0:24:40.760 for the idea of a mock lemon drop, you can 0:24:40.840 --> 0:24:43.240 put it into a chilled martini glass with a sugar 0:24:43.320 --> 0:24:45.760 rim and then just a little club soda on top. 0:24:46.240 --> 0:24:49.160 It's so yummy and refreshing and delightful. If you want 0:24:49.240 --> 0:24:51.720 to make it as a cocktail, you can bring it 0:24:51.840 --> 0:24:54.680 more into lemon drop territory by just adding an ounce 0:24:54.760 --> 0:24:57.800 of vodka and a half ounce of triple sec. If 0:24:57.840 --> 0:24:59.920 you're gonna do it that way, think about those things 0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:02.760 that are coming in to make additional citrus before you 0:25:02.880 --> 0:25:05.280 pick your other syrup that gives you the many lives. 0:25:06.880 --> 0:25:10.000 I also did one of these with that hob Niro 0:25:10.119 --> 0:25:12.520 lime syrup that I just used on occasion that was 0:25:12.640 --> 0:25:15.399