Joe Garcia asked, "Anytips guys on where to get knowledge of Con Artists? Some books, dvds etc you can recommend."
Well Mr. Garcia if you'd like to spend some money and a little time on google type in "Books on con artists" the first link is a book by Denis Marlock which its title is very similar to the thread title.
Then there are the books suggested by Mr. England, the manuscripts and reading material such as Yellow Kid and The Bunko Book. May I also suggest
"Cheats, Cons, Swindles and Tricks: 57 Ways to Scam a Free Drink" by Brian Brushwood.
On the subject of Brian Brushwood may I direct you to free sources of information. Scam School hosted by Brian Brushwood, True Hustle which I am sure can be found online. If you can get history channel, travel channel, etc. they usually have during the day, non prime time, documentaries on cheaters and cons. "Las Vegas: Cheaters Beware" is one that I have watched many times on the travel channel. Then there is/was I am not quite sure, "Breaking Vegas" History channel?
The biggest advice I can and will type to you is this, use the greatest source of information next to public library to research the subject further. That resource is the internet, speaking from experience researching on the internet has led me to finding huge sums of information about a certain subjects. But with that said know where your information is coming from. I do not suggest you get your info from wikipedia.
Also I am going to apologize now if I sounded like a broken record, I stopped reading past the original post when I started to read stuff along the lines of why do you want to be a con man, or steal innocent peoples money blah blah blah.
Just another thought, how easy would it be for a magician to become a con artist? I mean we already deceive, we know the moves, and we have a general understanding of how our tricks trick people, a subject that has recently been explored by the scientific community. Would it be safe to say what separates magicians from con man, is ethics and in some case legality? Or could it even be made simpler by saying it is the intent?
Anyway, I hope this helps solidify what I am sure has already been said.
Ciao for now,
Silver
