By Kevin Nelson (Editor’s note: This is the fifth and final installment in our series of special reports on Operation Bullpen and its effect on the collecting hobby today.) In the spring of 1999, months before the FBI would drop the hammer on him and his colleagues, forger Greg Marino was talking to his brother on the phone in southern California, expressing disgust for … [Read more...]
The Forgers’ Credo: Give ‘Em What They Want
Editor’s note: This is the fourth in our series of special reports on Operation Bullpen, the infamous national forgery ring that was brought down by the FBI in 1999 but whose influence continues to be felt today.) In the third installment in this series I talked about Greg Marino and his father Angelo, both of whom have paid their debt to society and moved on with their … [Read more...]
The Beautiful Forgeries That Most Collectors Will Never Buy
By Kevin Nelson (Editor’s note: This is the third in our series of special reports on the infamous Operation Bullpen conspiracy and its effects on the hobby today.) In our conversations for my book on Operation Bullpen, Greg Marino told me that he thought that during his five years as the chief forger of the ring he had signed a million autographs. “I mean, I did a … [Read more...]
The Babe Ruth Underpants Box and other Ruthian Forgeries
By Kevin Nelson [Editor’s note: This is the second in our series on the notorious Operation Bullpen case.) The most notorious forgery produced by the Operation Bullpen conspiracy was, undoubtedly, the Mother Teresa baseball, supposedly signed by the late Christian missionary who devoted her life to serving the poor. But if the Mother Teresa forgery was No. 1, what was … [Read more...]
Operation Bullpen: The Case That Has Never Gone Away
By Kevin Nelson On October 13, 1999, the FBI crashed the party of a bunch of guys who found a way to make money fall from the sky. On that day hundreds of federal agents raided dozens of homes and businesses in six states and seized a mountain of forged memorabilia and a half-million dollars in cold hard cash, busting up what was the biggest autograph forgery ring in … [Read more...]