Joseph Francis Panicello

The Wheeler-dealer Joseph Francis Panicello

The Wheeler-Dealer is the story of a man who came out of the streets of New York during the Great Depression where prohibition, gambling, loose women, and Speak-Easies were a way of life. The man was known as William 'Bismarck' Jones. To survive in those poor days, a man had to use whatever means was available to him to support himself. Bismarck took the gambling route. When this became boring to him, he upgraded himself into the confidence racket and fraud. He was very successful in all his endeavors, whether it be in sports or cards, he would always use his practices skills to win a scam. Bismarck was not born bad. It was a way of life at that time among his generation, so Bismarck became a pool shark. When no one would challenge him in New York any longer, he tried other forms of gambling. He graduated to the confidence racket and eventually began stealing. He was not a bad man, he thought. When Bismarck embezzled money from a mark he wouldn't intentionally drive that person into bankruptcy. He would always leave the pigeon with enough assets to recoup himself. His greatest enjoyment was the challenge of the Con game and the thrill of victory. Bismarck's only weakness was the opposite sex. He had a tendency to fall in love with his young female victims. This indulgent is considered taboo in the confidence racket. He did, however, fall in love with an Italian Countess whose father was one of his marks. This affair was almost his downfall. Bismarck's main enemy was a Mr. Nichols who lost $100, 000 in a golf game to Bismarck under a devious manner. Mr. Nichols became obsessed over his loss and decided to get even with Bismarck in a double sting operation employing the help of many of the people that Bismarck had fleeced. He was almost successful but Bismarck was too cunning. The worst crime that Bismarck committed was to steal 5 million dollars worth of cocaine from the Mafia. The Mafia chief was enraged by this a