Scams of "Jacks of Hearts": How young aristocratic fraudsters arranged a beautiful life for themselves

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The history of one of the most famous criminal organizations of the Russian Empire began in 1867 in the underground gambling house of the merchant Innokenty Simonov. The regulars of this institution were young aristocrats, landowners, merchants, children of military commanders, state councilors and other representatives of the "golden Moscow youth". It was they who made up the backbone of the “Jacks of Hearts Club”. The group existed with impunity for almost 10 years, and during its heyday its number exceeded a thousand people throughout Russia.

Entertainment club for the "golden youth"

When balls, parties and other social events were already boring, Simonov, together with his friends, decided to create a "community of scammers." The son of the general of artillery Pavel Speyer was chosen as the formal chairman - he came up with the idea of calling the gang "jacks of hearts". This name was not chosen by chance. Not long before this was published the third book of Ponson du Terrail about the adventures of the adventurer Racombole, which was exactly what was called - "The Jacks of Hearts Club".

Most of the members of the group were educated people, well-read and not in great need. Their main goal was not to make money, but to get thrills, which they lacked so much in high life. In addition to Simonov and Speyer, 7 more people were among the founders of the gang. At first, the swindlers hunted for "small things", rubbing into trust and robbing the visitors of the gambling house. Gradually, the jacks got tired of banal robberies, and the time began for grandiose scams and well-planned economic crimes.

How the jacks of hearts got rich on the chests of air

In 1874, fraudsters sent chests with "ready-made linen" and "fur goods" to different cities. The goods were valued at 950 rubles and were sent at the expense of the customers.

Freight carriers issued insurance receipts to senders, which were considered securities at the time. Such an itemized receipt could be used as collateral and received from borrowers up to 75% of the value indicated in it. No one came to the destinations for the chests. When the shelf life of the parcels expired, the insurers opened them and were surprised to find that there was no declared linen or furs inside, but only empty boxes neatly folded into each other. While the carriers puzzled over the mysterious parcels, the jacks managed to send several more such goods, successfully cash the receipts and escape.

According to various sources, the swindlers managed to get from 300 to 600 thousand rubles on empty chests.

Sale of the general's house to the English lord

At one of the social events, Pavel Speyer met the Moscow Governor-General - Prince Vladimir Andreevich Dolgorukov. Being an educated and pleasant conversationalist with excellent manners, the young man literally charmed him and easily got into confidence.

After the ball, Speyer became a welcome guest at the general's house. He was allowed to come at any time of the day or night, even during the absence of the owner. Taking the opportunity, a member of the gang asked the prince to show the mansion to his acquaintance, the English lord, who was just passing through Moscow. Dolgorukov did not see any catch in this and agreed.

In fact, a wealthy foreigner was looking for a Moscow apartment to buy, and Speyer volunteered to help him and offered to see his allegedly his own mansion for sale. When the lord agreed to the deal, the "jack" brought him to a fake notary office, open for one day, where they issued the bill of sale.

The house, together with the property and servants, was sold for 100 thousand rubles. According to rumors, Dolgorukov had to pay a huge amount of compensation to the foreigner, if only he did not raise a fuss. The mansion still managed to be saved for the rightful owner, and the lord was returned his money with compensation for moral damage. And rumors circulated in Moscow for a long time how Pavel Speyer managed to sell the house of the Governor-General himself to an Englishman.

How the imprisoned club members organized a "branch" in the Butyrka prison

From time to time, the police managed to catch the gang members in different cities of Russia. But even the "jacks" imprisoned in the prison continued their work and actively cooperated with those who were at large.

Once the detective police received information that right in the provincial prison castle (now the Butyrka prison) a gang of counterfeiters, skillfully forging securities, was operating. Soon, a police informant managed to get in touch with the nobleman Neofitov, one of the nine founders of the "Jacks of Hearts Club". He promised a new acquaintance that he would turn his 100-ruble bill into a 10,000-ruble bill and kept his promise. The security was sewn into underwear and sent as a parcel to the prison. And the bill came back in a basket with dirty linen and already with extra zeros. The forgeries were drawn so cleverly that even experienced bank clerks could not recognize the fake.

The police still managed to recruit one of the prisoners, who eventually turned in the whole gang. While the detectives were collecting the evidence base, several secret informants and the prisoner, who was the main witness, died one after another under mysterious circumstances.

What punishment did the "elite" swindlers receive?

“Jacks” were difficult to catch, because they thought out every case to the smallest detail and managed to cover their tracks in time. Almost 8 years after the founding of the gang of jacks, together with its ideological inspirers, they still managed to expose. In the period from 1875 to 1877, all members of the group were detained and sent to trial.

Of the 48 defendants, 36 came from the upper strata of society. Even in the female part of the gang, along with prostitutes, there were noble ladies - princesses and aristocrats.

The caught fraudsters behaved frivolously even in court: they joked, laughed and bragged about their "exploits", which for so long remained a mystery to the guards of the law.

Most of the convicts were deprived of all rights and sentenced to exile in Siberia, some of them were sent to prison companies. But even in Siberia, cunning "jacks" were able to get into the confidence of local officials and live in exile without denying themselves anything.

The leaders of the gang, Innokenty Simonov and Vsevolod Dolgorukov, miraculously managed to avoid harsh punishment - they were sent to a workhouse for 8 months.

Pavel Speyer managed to escape. He figured out the situation in time and fled to Paris, taking with him the treasury of the "Club".

By the way, in the 19th century there was even its own financial pyramid MMM.