International criminal, owner of incredible criminal talent Nikolai Gerasimovich Savin spent a total of 25 years behind bars. He lived a long life, full of scams and scandals, and his name did not leave the pages of Russian and world publications for several decades.
early years
It is known that Savin was an inventor worse than the famous Baron Munchausen. Therefore, the biography told by himself can hardly be taken for the truth. It is known that Nikolai was born in 1855 into the family of a retired lieutenant. The young man received his education. Savin escaped from the Moscow Lyceum, after being flogged with rods for pranks, and then was expelled from the Lyceum of St. Petersburg.
The young man found his calling in the Horse Guards. Reckless life turned out to be to his liking. However, after several high-profile scandals, he was transferred to the Grodno hussar regiment. In 1877, during the Russian-Turkish war, Nikolai showed courage and was wounded. He could well have become a good officer, but love for scams prevented him. Once Savin set fire to his own house to get insurance, for which he was fired from the army. Three years earlier, his name had appeared in court proceedings over the theft of diamonds from the mother of Grand Duke Nikolai Konstantinovich.
Abroad
At the end of 1881, Savin went to Paris, where he declared himself a political émigré. In numerous newspaper interviews, he said that the money from the stolen diamonds was intended for revolutionary purposes. Soon Nikolai became popular, he easily parted with money in expensive restaurants and at the gaming table. However, there were scandals here too. When they stopped letting him into the casino, he began to scandal at the entrance, was going to strip naked and shout that he had been robbed. After a small payoff, the conflict was settled. In restaurants, the swindler ordered expensive dishes, and when it came time to pay the bill, he threw a cockroach into the dessert. A fight with a policeman was added to the dubious reputation. To avoid prison, Savin went on a trip to Europe.
Nikolai visited Prussia, Belgium and Holland. He managed to successfully marry several times and squander the fortunes of his companions. He was surprisingly cocky, arrogant and lucky. The swindler managed to gain confidence in the Italian minister of military affairs and conclude an agreement with him for the supply of horses. Having received an advance payment of several million, the fraudster disappeared. The European police were looking for him everywhere, fearing arrest Savin went overseas.
America recognized him under the name of Count de Toulouse-Lautrec Savin. Criminal success accompanied him here as well. Nikolai pulled off a scam with contracts for the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, bought up land in Cuba and even managed to get a new family. Soon, taking his wife's money, he returned to Europe, from where he was exiled to Russia.
Links and shoots
In 1891, in Moscow, the swindler was immediately convicted of 4 high-profile crimes. The exile in the Tomsk region did not last long, the criminal fled and again ended up in Europe. In Bulgaria, Nikolai introduced himself as a count and made useful contacts with officials. There was a struggle for the tsarist seat in the country, the gullible prime minister nominated Savin for the post of head of state. A small detail prevented these plans from being realized - a hairdresser who had previously worked in St. Petersburg recognized the fraudster. So the swindler found himself back in his homeland. A trial followed and a new exile from which he fled, but was caught and sent to a settlement in Krasnoyarsk. Even in exile, Nikolai continued his career. One of the newspapers published an article about how he fraudulently sold 5,000 buckets of alcohol from a non-existent factory to a local rich man.
How the Winter Palace was presented
Savin collected stories from his criminal life in the book "From Peter the Great to Nicholas the Trivial."Which of them is true and which is fiction is difficult to determine, but in 1911 the author was arrested for possession of manuscripts that insulted the Majesty.
Soon the February Revolution of 1917 broke out, the convict acquired the status of a political prisoner and was released. Almost immediately after these events, the swindler almost sold the building of the Winter Palace. Nicholas served as the chief of the palace guard, and when a guest - a respectable American offered to buy the building, he agreed, introducing himself as its owner. On the appointed day Savin received from a foreigner 2 suitcases of money in exchange for a fake bill of sale. The deception was revealed only the next day, when the new owner arrived with workers to dismantle the building and transport it to America.
Last years
With the advent of Soviet power, the swindler disappeared from sight. They said that he was serving a sentence in Europe, and once in Harbin, thanks to the skillful actions of the police, they prevented Savin from selling three carriages of gold watches. He moved to Shanghai, began drinking and dragging out a miserable existence. In 1937, he was found in a hospital suffering from liver cirrhosis. He was dying and dreamed of confessing to an Orthodox priest. At a meeting with the monk, Nikolai told the story of his personal life, that he organized a story with the sale of watches to help his son. Savin did not mention his name, the same night the famous swindler was gone.
