HIGH-SCHOOL-DROPOUT MASTERMINDS A SOPHISTICATED $14 BILLION WHITE-COLLAR SCAM (WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM HIS MAFIA FRIENDS)

This crime story, replete with violence, dark humor, unexpected pathos, and grandiose philanthropy began in 1915 when a six-year-old boy named Fonso Gravenese began a lifetime of amoral business behavior by cheating his neighborhood friends out of their weekly allowance in yo-yo contests.

His winning formula? He secretly rubbed olive oil on the strings of his yo-spin so it spun faster and traveled further.

From there, the scams got bigger, and his appetite more insatiable. By the time Fonso was 50, he had built a $500 million personal fortune by shortchanging government funded free school lunch programs, diverting World War II family rationing stamps to his Mafia partners, and accepting third world country bribes to gain unfair access to America’s International Food for Peace Program.

In the early 1960’s, Fonso’s conceived and operated his grandest scam—to dictate worldwide salad oil pricing by controlling the availability of two key ingredients--cotton seed and soybeans. Billions changed hands illegally.

Two venerable Wall brokerage houses shut their doors, American Express almost went bankrupt, and the NYSE was forced to halt trading for two days.

How was Fonso’s schemes ultimately uncovered?
How did he use his Catholic upbringing to justify his corruption?
How did Fonso manage to completely disappear?
How and where did a billion dollars go without a trace?

Contains 70 original illustrations created by the author whose mother was Fonso’s first babysitter and longtime friend!