Con Men: 60 Minutes

by Mike Wallace

60 Minutes brings its award-winning journalistic skills and unmistakable broadcast style to the page, delving into its archives to present stories on one of the program's most popular the con man. Con Men exposes a truly eclectic group of swindlers and the extraordinary characters of ABSCAM, pyramid-scheme millionaires and stock-market crooks, snake-oil salesmen and art forgers. Many of them are diabolical -- all of them are intriguing. Here 60 Minutes captures each one in vivid self-proclaimed con man Kirby Hensley, the illiterate purveyor of church ministries to millions via mail-order; Clifford Irving, who fabricated Howard Hughes's "autobiography" for hundreds of thousands of dollars; the Reverend R. J. Rudd, whose bogus spa treatments promised a cure for cancer; Sante and Kenneth Kimes, the notorious mother and son grifters convicted of murdering wealthy Manhattanite Irene Silverman; and John Ackah Blay-Miezah, who, in one of the simplest yet most extravagant cons of all, claimed to hold the key to a fortune of billions and convinced others to put up millions so that the fund could be "unlocked." These and many other colorful stories translate perfectly to the page, brought to life by the trademark bite and humor of 60 Minutes. Featuring an introduction by Mike Wallace, with insights into the evolution of the show's coverage of cons, and intriguing updates on the outcome of each of the stories, Con Men delivers the intelligent reporting and insightful wit that has made 60 Minutes the most successful broadcast in television history. 60 Minutes is the only television broadcast to be the most-watched show in America in three separate decades. Since its debut in 1968, the critically celebrated program has won seventy-three Emmy Awards -- the most for any news program -- as well as nine Peabody Awards for exceptional television broadcasting. According to Nielsen, an average of nearly fifteen million viewers tuned in to the show Sunday evenings during the 2001-2002 season, not to mention the millions who watch it overseas and listen on simulcast radio.

234 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2007

About the author

Myron Leon Wallace was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. Known for his investigative journalism, he interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade career. He was one of the original correspondents featured on CBS news program 60 Minutes, which debuted in 1968. Wallace retired as a regular full-time correspondent in 2006, but still appeared occasionally on the series until 2008. He is the father of Chris Wallace.
Wallace interviewed many politicians, celebrities, and academics, such as Tina Turner, Joseph Bonanno, Vladimir Horowitz, Bobby Fischer, Luciano Pavarotti, Maria Callas, Malcolm X, Richard Nixon, Pearl S. Buck, Deng Xiaoping, Ronald Reagan, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Jiang Zemin, Ruhollah Khomeini, Kurt Waldheim, Frank Lloyd Wright, Yasser Arafat, Menachem Begin, Anwar Sadat, Louis Farrakhan, Manuel Noriega, John Nash, Gordon B. Hinckley, Vladimir Putin, Barbra Streisand, Salvador Dalí, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, William Carlos Williams, Mickey Cohen, Roy Cohn, Dean Reed, Jimmy Fratianno, Morgan Freeman, Aldous Huxley, Bertrand Russell, and Ayn Rand.

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was pretty good. Didn't think I would like it this much. Great short true stories of some fantastic cons. Some interesting profiles and I expect to look up some further reading based on this book.