Speaker 1: Welcome to Criminalia, a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership
Speaker 1: with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: If you were a financially savvy man in Chicago in
Speaker 2: the early nineteen twenties, there was one investment you wanted
Speaker 2: to be in on the Biano River Syndicate. It was
Speaker 2: an exclusive investment and it was the topic of conversation
Speaker 2: among the Chicago elite. The opportunity centered around oil rich
Speaker 2: lands and Panama that were said to also be ripe
Speaker 2: with other money making potential, including timber and specifically mahogany.
Speaker 2: And it was a mild mannered, balding and bespectacled Chicago
Speaker 2: lawyer named Leo Coretz who was the architect of the
Speaker 2: deal and the guy who held the key to investing
Speaker 2: in it. And we're here to talk about how Coretts
Speaker 2: scammed millions of dollars from unsuspecting investors. Ah Yes, con
Speaker 2: artist season. Welcome to Criminalia. I'm Maria Tremarky.
Speaker 1: And I'm Holly Frye. Leopold Coretz was born in Or
Speaker 1: around eighteen seventy nine into a Jewish family in what
Speaker 1: is now chech Ya. The family moved to Chicago, Illinois
Speaker 1: when he was just about six years old. He was
Speaker 1: a good student and excelled in debate at Lakeview High School,
Speaker 1: and it said that even while in school, Leo had
Speaker 1: a talent for quote separating people from their money. After graduation,
Speaker 1: he went to work as what was then known as
Speaker 1: an office boy for a prestigious law firm. That's no
Speaker 1: longer a job description, but the job's responsibilities would have
Speaker 1: fallen into administrative services. Basically, he clerked. He studied law
Speaker 1: at Chicago Kent College of Law and graduated in nineteen
Speaker 1: oh one. After a few years in law practice and
Speaker 1: reportedly practicing without technically ever being admitted to the bar,
Speaker 1: Leo became bored and impatient with the routine legal work
Speaker 1: that he was doing every day. It was time for
Speaker 1: a change. It was time to shake things up. It
Speaker 1: was time to separate people from their money.
Speaker 2: Leo's life narrative is a little fuzzy here when it
Speaker 2: comes to his dive into the criminal world. Some say
Speaker 2: he began with fictitious claims in a con involving rice
Speaker 2: farming in Arkansas. Others say he may have started by
Speaker 2: selling fake mortgages to his clients. The story most agree on, though,
Speaker 2: is this one, Leo was part of an investor's group
Speaker 2: that had paid thousands of dollars for a piece of
Speaker 2: land in Panama. It proved to be worthless the land
Speaker 2: and the investment, as it turned out that the land
Speaker 2: was mud and the seller didn't actually own what he
Speaker 2: was selling. Leo took a lesson regarding his financial future
Speaker 2: from this fiasco. The way to make a real fortune
Speaker 2: was to doupe investors on phony land deals, and so
Speaker 2: with that bad guy lesson learned, Leo got in.
Speaker 1: The con game.
Speaker 2: In nineteen seventeen, he began selling stock in his new company,
Speaker 2: the BiONO River Syndicate, also known as the BiONO Trust Company,
Speaker 2: which he claimed owned as many as five million acres
Speaker 2: in Panama. That wait, correction, he claimed to own five
Speaker 2: million acres of land that gushed with crude oil in Panama.
Speaker 2: His company offered shareholders annual dividends of a whopping twenty
Speaker 2: percent on oil fields that didn't exist. Some accounts suggest
Speaker 2: Leo claimed his oil fields earned investors a sixty percent return,
Speaker 2: which is astronomical. Over this long con he builket investors
Speaker 2: out of at least two million dollars, and that number
Speaker 2: is not adjusted for today's money.
Speaker 1: Leo's own family members, including his mother, brothers, and in laws,
Speaker 1: altogether invested one hundred and fifty thousand dollars in his
Speaker 1: land deal. This was a hot ticket idea. Others, including
Speaker 1: members of Chicago's elite and middle class, as well as
Speaker 1: clients at his firm, practically begged him for a piece
Speaker 1: of the action. The more they wanted in, the more
Speaker 1: Leo discouraged potential investors. One duped client later described this
Speaker 1: strategy of negative salesmanship as quote the principle that a
Speaker 1: person will literally fight for something that is most difficult
Speaker 1: to get, and people did. Leo is said to have
Speaker 1: recalled of the situation quote, they camped at the curb
Speaker 1: outside my home and at my doorstep.
Speaker 2: Leo was doing well and treated himself well, very well,
Speaker 2: and as his wealth grew, Leo's standard of living became
Speaker 2: more luxurious, and he moved into a lakefront estate on
Speaker 2: Sheridan Road in Evanstone, which is like twenty miles outside
Speaker 2: of Chicago. Leo had married may Isabelle Mayer in nineteen
Speaker 2: oh six, and the couple had a son, Mentor and
Speaker 2: a daughter, Maury. While he kept his family in the
Speaker 2: suburb Verbs. Leo also kept an apartment kind of like
Speaker 2: a hush hush love nest on Chicago's North Side under
Speaker 2: the alias of al Branson, where he lived for years
Speaker 2: with his so called wife, Alice, who was totally not
Speaker 2: at all legally his wife, but the neighbors didn't know that.
Speaker 2: When it came to romancing women, Leo once said, quote,
Speaker 2: I don't see why these women won't leave me alone.
Speaker 2: In jest, were sure because he himself was an unscrupulous
Speaker 2: seducer in the wealthy Lithario rule he'd made for himself.
Speaker 2: Leo once had flowers delivered to a European divorcee he
Speaker 2: had his eye on while she was traveling on an
Speaker 2: ocean liner and route from London to New York City.
Speaker 2: Women left their husbands to be with him, not knowing
Speaker 2: he was also married.
Speaker 1: Leo belonged to exclusive clubs. He had a box at
Speaker 1: the Opera, solid Gold, Humidors, Diamond Studs, and he was
Speaker 1: chauffeured about the city in a Rolls Royce limousine. Leo
Speaker 1: would say that he had quote a bit of good luck,
Speaker 1: that's all, nothing to talk about. There was a little
Speaker 1: more to it than that though, as his wealth was
Speaker 1: not the product of luck, it was sustained by fraud
Speaker 1: because fake oil is fake and therefore cannot be bought
Speaker 1: or sold. Here is how Leo was actually making his money.
Speaker 1: He simply took funds from those who invested in his
Speaker 1: venture and invested it in himself. A little more detail.
Speaker 1: So Leo promised high returns on your investment, and that,
Speaker 1: of course is a very attractive offer. Despite his pensiant
Speaker 1: for what we earlier referred to as negative salesmanship, he
Speaker 1: was really always looking for new investors because those new
Speaker 1: marks were the key to keep this con going. Money
Speaker 1: he took from new investors was used to pay dividends
Speaker 1: to keep his early stockholders happy and around and around.
Speaker 1: And it wouldn't be much of a scam if he
Speaker 1: didn't keep the rest, right, would it. If this smells
Speaker 1: like a Ponzi scheme, you're one hundred percent correct. This
Speaker 1: robbing Peter to pay Paul scam at the time, though,
Speaker 1: would not have been known as a Ponzi scheme. Not yet.
Speaker 1: Charles Ponzi himself was just getting into the game too.
Speaker 1: He launched his scam in nineteen nineteen, two years after Leo.
Speaker 2: People were really excited about Leo's venture. A group of
Speaker 2: Chicago business owners were so excited about the deal that
Speaker 2: they threw him a lavish banquet at the Drake Hotel
Speaker 2: in the Gold Coast of the city in June of
Speaker 2: nineteen twenty two. In his book Empire of Deception, author
Speaker 2: and professor Dean Job describes how at each place setting
Speaker 2: there was a fine vellum booklet offering a satirical look
Speaker 2: at the men of the hour. You really can't make
Speaker 2: this up. It also included a joke referring to Charles Ponzi,
Speaker 2: who actually happened to be in a lot of trouble
Speaker 2: in nineteen twenty two. How funny it would be to
Speaker 2: compare Leo's solid investment to Charles's defrauding scams, thought the
Speaker 2: unsuspecting investors. They called Leo our Ponzi, and they quote
Speaker 2: roared with laughter. The Chicago Tribune covered the event at
Speaker 2: the Drake and reported quote, in the center of the
Speaker 2: flower garlanded table deposed a large plaster cast replica of
Speaker 2: the Panama Canal zone, symbolic of the scene of operations
Speaker 2: of the Biano Bonanza. The Tribune noted that the place
Speaker 2: cards also announced. The party was given for Leo by
Speaker 2: quote the friends and relatives whom he has dragged from
Speaker 2: the gutter. A rousing rendition of for He's a jolly
Speaker 2: goodfellow was sung, and Leo was the center of thunderous applause.
Speaker 2: The New York Times would later call him quote the
Speaker 2: most resourceful confidence man in the United States.
Speaker 1: We're going to take a break for a word from
Speaker 1: our sponsor. When we return, we will talk about what
Speaker 1: investors found when they visited Panama.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Criminaliat. He tried to talk them out
Speaker 2: of it, but a group of Leo's investors traveled to
Speaker 2: Panama to check out their venture. So let's talk about
Speaker 2: how that went.
Speaker 1: While most were celebrating, some investors did worry that the
Speaker 1: Bayano venture was just too good to be true. A
Speaker 1: small group of corporate executives, some retired, requested a trip
Speaker 1: to see the Panamanian oil operations that they had invested in.
Speaker 1: It's no surprise that a trip to Panama to view
Speaker 1: non existent oil fields was not high on Leo's list
Speaker 1: of things to do, so he stalled these investors for
Speaker 1: a while, but they insisted, and then in nineteen twenty three,
Speaker 1: a party set out for Panama. They were trailed by
Speaker 1: a reporter from the Chicago Tribune. Leo declined to accompany them.
Speaker 2: What the fact finding party found was nothing. There was
Speaker 2: no evidence of Leo's company in any court records, nor
Speaker 2: was there any development or infrastructure to extract and transport
Speaker 2: any oil if there had been any trace of some.
Speaker 2: What the group did report finding along the Bayanu River
Speaker 2: were alligators and mosquitoes. The Tribune reporter observed quote residents
Speaker 2: in Panama were astonished to learn that millions of dollars
Speaker 2: have been subscribed for the Buyanu Trust Company, and the
Speaker 2: investigators have returned feeling they have been stung. On December twelfth,
Speaker 2: the party reported on their findings, and upon their return,
Speaker 2: the investors, angry that they'd bought into a scam, were
Speaker 2: interviewed at the State's Attorney's office in Chicago. A list
Speaker 2: of indictments followed, and Leo was charged with felonies that
Speaker 2: covered his peddling worthless securities to running a confidence game.
Speaker 1: But Leo was not in Chicago to take the heat.
Speaker 1: After sending investors off to inspect these fake operations in Panama,
Speaker 1: Leo loved the scene. He announced to his friends and
Speaker 1: family that he had done quite well on a recent
Speaker 1: stock sale, and he planned to take a vacation in
Speaker 1: New York City. He did go to New York. He
Speaker 1: did not go to Panama. Ever. In fact, he didn't
Speaker 1: even stay in New York long as if he were
Speaker 1: on the run, one might say. From New York he
Speaker 1: moved to Nova Scotia, Canada, and there he assumed the
Speaker 1: alias leu keat Lou's fictional backstory was that he was
Speaker 1: a retired financier turned literary critic, and a Halifax newspaper
Speaker 1: introduced him to its readers as quote a writer of reputation.
Speaker 2: Leo's love of literature was actually long known in Chicago.
Speaker 2: He'd spent thousands of dollars building a library for himself.
Speaker 2: Adolf Croach, the proprietor of a Michigan Avenue bookstore where
Speaker 2: Leo often shopped, said of him, quote, mister Corretz was
Speaker 2: most sensitive to fine writing. His favorite author was reportedly
Speaker 2: Joseph Conrad, and he was proud of his complete collection
Speaker 2: of the works of Mark Twain. He knew the epigrammatic
Speaker 2: poems of the rubiyat by Omar Khyam by heart, and
Speaker 2: claimed Croach purchased a rare edition of the work worth
Speaker 2: thousands of dollars. British publisher, anthologist and lecturer Temple Scott
Speaker 2: considered Leo to be quote one of the most interesting
Speaker 2: men I have ever known.
Speaker 1: While he did use an alias while living in Nova Scotia,
Speaker 1: Leo didn't exactly lay low. He threw parties, and he
Speaker 1: purchased the Pinehurst Lodge with yes money he had acquired
Speaker 1: from his fake oil company. He had planned to make
Speaker 1: what was often described as an ostentatious lodge a quote
Speaker 1: sportsman's colony.
Speaker 2: He was so deep in disguise that many wondered how
Speaker 2: he ever got There are two versions of the story
Speaker 2: of his arrest and extradition to the United States, the
Speaker 2: first which is highly unlikely, but it's a good story nonetheless,
Speaker 2: so here we go. It claims Leo's real identity was
Speaker 2: discovered when he took a suit in for tailoring forgetting
Speaker 2: his real name was sewn inside the jacket, but it's
Speaker 2: much more likely the Chicago detectives who got him did
Speaker 2: so in kind of an ingenious way that didn't involve tailoring.
Speaker 2: Police detectives and federal agents spent probably about a year
Speaker 2: running down false leads and looking into anonymous tips. But
Speaker 2: it was Leo's health that exposed him. The authorities knew
Speaker 2: something important about Leo. He was diabetic and he needed insulin.
Speaker 2: During their investigation of his whereabouts, they contacted facilities where
Speaker 2: the drug was available. That may seem like a huge
Speaker 2: endeavor today, but at the time, insulin was still really new.
Speaker 2: It was discovered by researchers from the universe city of
Speaker 2: Toronto in Ontario, Canada, and introduced in nineteen twenty two.
Speaker 2: A Montreal sanitarium, which is just an antiquated name for
Speaker 2: a medical facility that treats chronic illness, responded to them
Speaker 2: saying that yes, they had treated a man from Nova
Speaker 2: Scotia who matched Leo's description.
Speaker 1: And authorities moved in on him. But before we get
Speaker 1: to Leo's arrest, we're going to take a break for
Speaker 1: a word from our sponsors, and when we return, we'll
Speaker 1: talk about his extradition to the United States and his trial.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Criminalia. Let's talk about how Leo was
Speaker 2: discovered by his nemesis, a man named Robert.
Speaker 1: Crowe on December thirteenth, nineteen twenty three, the Tribune published
Speaker 1: a story about a raid on Leo's eye offices. Quote
Speaker 1: fake oil well promotions totaling about five million dollars A
Speaker 1: swindle of proportions unprecedented in Chicago, were disclosed yesterday when
Speaker 1: State's attorney Robert E. Crowe led detectives in a raid
Speaker 1: on the magnificently appointed offices of Leo Corretz, an attorney
Speaker 1: who has occupied the entire third floor of the Majestic
Speaker 1: building at twenty two West Monroe Street, with spacious branch
Speaker 1: offices at the Drake Hotel. So this man, Robert Crowe,
Speaker 1: you could call him Leo's nemesis, at least within the
Speaker 1: Illinois justice system. Robert was State's attorney for Cook County
Speaker 1: and is probably best known for convicting the thrill killers
Speaker 1: Leopold and Lobe. Leo and Robert knew each other personally.
Speaker 1: The two of them had started their legal careers at
Speaker 1: the same time and at the same Chicago law firm.
Speaker 1: Author Job later noted that quote both would prove willing
Speaker 1: to do what had to be done to get ahead.
Speaker 1: When a Biano Khon went sour, Crow launched the international
Speaker 1: manhunt to find Leo.
Speaker 2: In nineteen twenty four, the Cook County States Attorney informed
Speaker 2: the Halifax County Sheriff that lou Keat was not who
Speaker 2: they thought he was. He was really a criminal named
Speaker 2: Leo Corretz who had built investors to the tune of
Speaker 2: at least two million dollars in a fraudulent land deal.
Speaker 2: Of his arrest, the caretaker of Pinehurst Lodge told the
Speaker 2: reporter from the Chicago Tribune that Leo quote didn't have
Speaker 2: the breeding a gentleman would have. Lou back to the name.
Speaker 2: Leo was arrested in late November that year.
Speaker 1: Leo's wife and in laws were shocked to hear he
Speaker 1: was a criminal and had fled to Canada. We were
Speaker 1: initially surprised that he would allow his family to fall
Speaker 1: victim to his com but then what turned up in
Speaker 1: research was a note in the Chicago Tribune that read
Speaker 1: that he quote made a specialty for years of systematically
Speaker 1: robbing only his relatives and close friends. Some of his
Speaker 1: clients who'd lost money with the venture, visited his Evanstone
Speaker 1: home in an effort to console his wife. The Tribune
Speaker 1: covered the scene, reporting quote Jewish folk from the North Chores.
Speaker 1: Others from Chicago, from Rogers Park to Hyde Park are
Speaker 1: whispering a veritable Aliel Aliel, my God, my God of lamentation.
Speaker 2: Leo waived extradition proceedings and was returned to Illinois, where
Speaker 2: he pleaded guilty. On December third, nineteen twenty four. Leo
Speaker 2: stood before a judge. The Chicago Tribune reported of the scene, quote,
Speaker 2: Corretz pleaded guilty before Judge Hopkins yesterday afternoon to the
Speaker 2: four indictments presented by State's Attorney Crow, charging him with
Speaker 2: larceny by Bailey, larceny, operation of a confidence game, and
Speaker 2: a general indictment charging him with the three counts. They
Speaker 2: continued that two of Leo's and a sister were present
Speaker 2: in the courtroom, but his wife was not. Regarding his
Speaker 2: wife's absence, Leo asked the judge if he could contact her. Quote,
Speaker 2: I don't want her to come to see me and
Speaker 2: be subjected to unpleasant publicity, but I would like permission
Speaker 2: to telephone her and my mother sometime tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Leo was sentenced to ten years in prison. Leo's wife,
Speaker 1: along with eight other relatives and two friends of her husband,
Speaker 1: combined gave three hundred thousand dollars to authority to go
Speaker 1: toward Leo's debts. May, according to job, became committed to
Speaker 1: making amends to his victims. One of those victims, a
Speaker 1: dining car steward, invested his life savings with Leo, and
Speaker 1: then he quit his job to quote live off the
Speaker 1: profits he was certain were headed his way. Many people
Speaker 1: had invested their entire life savings in this scam.
Speaker 2: Leo died in prison on January sixth, nineteen twenty five,
Speaker 2: serving about a month of his sentence. It is assumed
Speaker 2: Leo took his life to avoid prison time. Leo, as
Speaker 2: we know, was diabetic. In prison, he was assigned to
Speaker 2: light duty in the prison yards, but he was soon
Speaker 2: overwhelmed by symptoms of his diabetes. Though he had properly
Speaker 2: managed his condition in Nova Scotia, he had not been
Speaker 2: treated since he had been detained for his trial and
Speaker 2: during his incarceration. He was sent to the prison hospital
Speaker 2: for insulin injections, but his condition worsened. And that's because
Speaker 2: somehow Leo got his hands on a large box of chocolates,
Speaker 2: assumed to have been delivered by an obliging girlfriend. He
Speaker 2: ate every piece of the alleged five pound box, and
Speaker 2: soon fell into a diabetic coma.
Speaker 1: The night he died, a prison guard captain named Michael
Speaker 1: Leonard sat by his side. Two of his brothers, Adolf
Speaker 1: and Emil, who had previously been by his side, and
Speaker 1: his nineteen year old son Mentor sat in the warden's office.
Speaker 1: Despite her efforts, his wife arrived about an hour after
Speaker 1: his death, commenting only that quote, I only wish I
Speaker 1: had known sooner that he was so near death. He
Speaker 1: was laid to rest at Waldheim Cemetery in Forest Park,
Speaker 1: a suburb of Chicago. A rabbi shared a brief prayer
Speaker 1: as Leo was lowered into a grave.
Speaker 2: On January ninth, nineteen twenty five, Chicago Tribune reporter Genevieve
Speaker 2: Forbes Herrick, who had closely covered Leo's scam, eulogized him,
Speaker 2: writing quote, Leo Corretz, the two million dollar con man
Speaker 2: whose lavish pageant of life had piled climax on climax
Speaker 2: with amazing result, was buried yesterday in a funeral ceremony
Speaker 2: that was a distinct and perhaps a significant anti climax,
Speaker 2: an open grave at the immanual Jewish cemetery in Waldheim.
Speaker 2: A handful of relatives standing about in the snow, waiting
Speaker 2: for the body to come from the Juliet Penitentiary. A
Speaker 2: gray casket in a gray hearse, Bretz's brother and son
Speaker 2: riding with the undertaker. A bunch of pink roses splattered
Speaker 2: with clay, A wreath tossed to one side, the widow
Speaker 2: sobbing over the loss that came more than a year ago.
Speaker 2: A rabbi repeating the regular service, and it was over.
Speaker 2: No crowds, no elaborate funeral cortege, no pallbearers, no heaped
Speaker 2: up flowers, still fewer heaped up eulogies, nothing but the
Speaker 2: minimum for the man who always loved the maximum.
Speaker 1: Are you ready for some scams?
Speaker 2: I could use some.
Speaker 1: I think you're gonna love this one. Maybe we'll see
Speaker 1: what happens. It's a very Maria and Holly drink in
Speaker 1: terms of like things we love. So in thinking about this,
Speaker 1: I was trying to think of a way to bookend
Speaker 1: Leo's life, and particularly his story as it relates to scams, which,
Speaker 1: in my mind, the imagery that really stuck with me
Speaker 1: was that it started with oil. Even if it was
Speaker 1: fake and it ended with roses. So this is called
Speaker 1: oil and Roses, nicely done, and it is very yummy
Speaker 1: in my opinion. It's a really simple drink to put together,
Speaker 1: and there's no trickery. It doesn't shift gears or anything
Speaker 1: while you're drinking, and it's just very delicious. It is
Speaker 1: three quarters of an ounce of lemon juice, three quarters
Speaker 1: of an ounce of rose syrup, and an ounce and
Speaker 1: a half of bourbon or your favorite whiskey, and then
Speaker 1: you shake that, you strain it over ice, and you
Speaker 1: top it with club soda.
Speaker 2: What a delightful drink.
Speaker 1: This drink is so good. However, the mocktail like knocked
Speaker 1: my socks off because all I did was subout black tea,
Speaker 1: which we often do for a bourbon or whiskey in
Speaker 1: our drinks, right, and it becomes like this great sparkling,
Speaker 1: lightly sweet tea delicious drink it all the time that
Speaker 1: I'm gonna premix it and I'm gonna serve it at everything,
Speaker 1: because it's so yummy.
Speaker 2: Oil and roses. It's got a lovely name, and it's
Speaker 2: a lovely.
Speaker 1: Drink, doesn't it It sounds so romantic. I was trying
Speaker 1: to think I will say the drink that got away
Speaker 1: on this one was I kept trying to think about
Speaker 1: a drink that would honor May, because I feel like
Speaker 1: his wife is the unsung hero of this people.
Speaker 2: I love that she just said that because her she
Speaker 2: pops up from time to time in history, we don't
Speaker 2: have a very much information about her, and she's always
Speaker 2: there for him.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I want to think about May and if
Speaker 1: we ever get more information about her, maybe she'll get
Speaker 1: a drink of her own in the future. But as
Speaker 1: far as I'm concerned, she can be represented by the roses.
Speaker 1: She seems like she must have been an extraordinary woman
Speaker 1: when she finds out that this happened, and her reaction
Speaker 1: was we have to help all of the victims. We
Speaker 1: will use this drink that is about Leo's life, though
Speaker 1: to toast to May. I think the oil and roses
Speaker 1: is really to honor her while we tell his story.
Speaker 1: That's the scoop butt, Matt.
Speaker 2: I think that's a good way to put it. I do.
Speaker 1: I do. Thank you so much for spending time with us.
Speaker 1: We hope that no one scams you out of anything,
Speaker 1: and that you will meet us right back here again
Speaker 1: next week for another story and some more drinks. Criminalia
Speaker 1: is a production of Shondaland Audio in partnership with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from Shondaland Audio, please visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.