The King of Con

A Jersey boy with a knack for numbers, a gift for making people trust him, and an all-consuming hunger to rule the business world, Tom Giacomaro could convince anyone of anything.

As a teenager, Tom Giacomaro began working in the mob-laden New Jersey trucking industry. A charming, brash-talking salesman with a genius-level IQ, he climbed the ranks and let his lust for money and relationships with New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Chicago crime families send him spiraling into a world of drugs and violence. And that's only the beginning.

In The King of Con, Tom details how he hashes out a deal with the FBI, agreeing to become a crime informant in an effort to avoid jail time—only, he continues his high-finance, white-collar scheming, luring celebrities and other high-profile contacts to invest multimillions in his new business ventures. When it all comes crashing down, Tom is thrown in prison for over a decade, yet, even behind bars, he's able to get what he wants from anyone . . . and he eventually finds a way to get released early.

Cowritten by journalist Natasha Stoynoff, The King of Con is the unforgettable true story about a man who became hooked on living life to thrilling and dangerous excess, until he was humbled by the FBI, by the US Attorney, and by life itself.

Now, Tom is back in his old New Jersey neighborhood. His old business cronies and mob contacts are calling, his palms are itching to make billions again, and the US Attorney's office is watching. Will he stay on the straight and narrow, or will he steal back his crown of crime as the King of Con?"The King of Con is for real and his story reveals how big money, big business, and the mob really work. Required reading."

—Nicholas Pileggi, author and screenwriter of Goodfellas and Casino

"Tom Giacomaro is a master manipulator and natural-born crime boss you'll love to hate and hate to love. His life story is a roller coaster ride of high finance, underworld intrigue, and dazzling riches that will leave you exhilarated, exhausted, and wanting more."

—Nina Burleigh, New York Times bestselling author of The Fatal Gift of Beauty: The Trials of Amanda Knox and national political correspondent for NewsweekThomas Giacomaro was the owner and president of dozens of million-dollar companies, as well as M&A consulting firms that acquired, consolidated, and sold privately held companies in the fuel, energy, trucking, transportation, commercial and residential, recycling, and waste industries. Sporting a genius-level IQ and a near-perfect score on his college boards, he attended and graduated from William Paterson University with a degree in Business Administration. 

Natasha Stoynoff is a two-time New York Times bestselling author with 13 books to her credit. She graduated with a BA in English from York University in Toronto and studied journalism at Ryerson University. She began her career as a newspaper reporter/photographer for The Toronto Star and columnist/feature writer for The Toronto Sun. After working freelance for TIME magazine, she became a staff writer at People for more than a decade. She lives in Manhattan, where she writes books and screenplays.