In the early 1900s, a “doctor” named John Romulus Brinkley became rich and famous by offering a unique cure to men who suffered from ED and an array of other maladies: he implanted goat testicles in them.
Now, you might guess that not too many guys would be willing to go under the knife for that, but you’d be wrong. For decades Brinkley was backing up the money truck to his clinics that operated all around the country. People desperately wanted his treatment to work and for a long time, were too embarrassed to admit when it didn’t.
But the goat ball empire eventually imploded. Scrutiny from the medical community and a mountain of malpractice lawsuits left the millionaire discredited and running to Mexico, where he pioneered a new form of scamming at scale via a hugely popular radio show.
It’s all incredibly bizarre, which is why we were so delighted to learn every strange twist and turn of this man’s life on this episode of Dirty Money. Our guest Pope Brock tells us all about the crazy dealings, which he wrote about in his terrific book Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man Who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam. Truth is stranger than fiction is a bit of a cliche, but damn if it isn’t appropriate in this case.
Thanks, as always, for listening. Please subscribe and leave us a review. It’ll make you feel much better than a visit with Doc Brinkley, trust us!
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About Dirty Money
Dirty Money is a new podcast series from Entrepreneur Media telling the tales of legendary scammers, con artists, and barely-legal lowlifes who stop at nothing to bilk their marks of millions. Hosted by Entrepreneur editors Dan Bova and Jon Small, the podcast takes a deep dive into the deviants behind the deeds.
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