New From Elliot: Brooklyn Bridge Scams

Elliot's latest addition to the Hoaxipedia details scams involving the Brooklyn Bridge. I like this one in particular:
In 1886, not long after the Brooklyn Bridge opened, another famous scam was perpetrated by a Brooklyn bookie named Steve Brodie. According to the story, Brodie’s scam originated in a bet with a Brooklyn bartender named Chuck Connors. The bookie wagered Connors that he could jump off the Brooklyn Bridge and survive the fall.
Steve Brodie ultimately won the bet and wound up becoming a major New York City celebrity and legend.
It was discovered years later that Brodie had actually pushed a dummy off the Bridge and hid under a pier.

Con Artists Places

Posted on Thu Aug 30, 2007


Comments

Again it's easy to jump off the brooklyn bridge and not be hurt.
Jumping off the middle of the bridge might be less easy though.
Posted by Sharruma  on  Thu Aug 30, 2007  at  09:48 PM
Chuck Connors, the self-proclaimed Mayor of Chinatown (he was Irish, not Chinese) listed here, started as a waiter and moved up to giving tours to people who wanted to see all the exotic depravity in Manhattan. He wasn't alone in this enterprise; one writer has called New York during this period "a theme park of vice." But according to some sources, the opium dens he escorted tourists to were real. See, for example, "Low Life," Luc Sante's study of the Lower East Side.
Posted by Big Gary  on  Fri Aug 31, 2007  at  05:59 PM
You mean it wasn't Bugs Bunny who drove Steve Brodie to jumping?
Posted by Christopher Cole  on  Fri Aug 31, 2007  at  07:33 PM
Did he hold up a sign saying 'Oh no, not again?'

Was he chasing the road runner at the time?
Posted by Nona  on  Mon Sep 03, 2007  at  06:38 AM
Uh, Nona, you're thinking of the coyote. Steve Brodie just jumped because Bugs was getting the better of him in several scams.
Posted by Christopher Cole  on  Mon Sep 03, 2007  at  12:49 PM
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