"Brooklyn Bridge cheap and in installments!" It was almost impossible to resist such a lucrative offer, so at the dawn of the twentieth century a talented American swindler sold the New York landmark twice a week for thirty years!

He acted according to the same scheme: he looked for a wealthy foreigner in the crowd, presented false documents, introduced himself as the owner of the bridge and offered the foreign guest to set up a cash register there, collecting a small toll.  However, in order to do so, he had to buy the grandiose structure from the supposedly legitimate owner - "I was asking up to $50,000 for the bridge, depending on how rich the tourist looked. Sometimes I offered installments if the client didn't have enough money on him. Some paid faithfully for months before realizing they had been cheated."

Almost every week the NYPD came to the Brooklyn Bridge and drove away naive "buyers" who tried to install toll barriers. But it took a long time to apprehend the mastermind behind this masquerade.

George Parker. Born in 1860 in New York. He's been pickpocketing since childhood. Three convictions for fraud.

Once managed to escape from the police during a city court hearing. In the criminal world, the daring criminal was nicknamed "The Master of the Brooklyn Bridge." - "It became much harder to catch me. I was constantly making up, changing my clothes, changing names and surnames: James George O'Brien, Warren Kennedy, Mr. Roberts, Mr. Taylor. Today I am a rich jeweler, tomorrow - the owner of factories and steamships! Thus, from 1883 to 1928, I sold the Brooklyn Bridge about 30 times! "

It was greed that failed the adventurer. Parker became so rich and bold that he even opened a fake office of "sales" in New York. In the hands of the swindler were fake documents that proved that he and only he - the only legal owner of all the city's cultural heritage objects!

The buyers were offered: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Madison Square Garden sports complex, the Mausoleum of U.S. President Grant, and even the Statue of Liberty.

Now that was over the top. In late 1928, George Parker was again accused of fraud, arrested and sentenced to life in prison "Sing Sing", where the famous criminal was incredibly popular with the guards.

Parker died in 1937. In his memory he left the phrase, - "You probably think I have a bridge ... to sell you?"

In America, these words are addressed to overly gullible people who would do anything to get rich. We have our own expression: "Should I give you the key to the apartment where the money is?"