Certainly Didn’t Expect to See that at the National.
 

I walked in Thursday morning and who do I see behind the counter at the Memory Lane booth? Bill Mastro.

I felt obligated to say hello because I know Bill from my many consignments with him and Brian Marren during their Mastro days but it certainly was an odd feeling seeing him back at a National in whatever capacity.


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Is he allowed to be involved back in the hobby?

Sure.
Doug is a free man too now.

many deals with Mastro & Nagy at Michigan card shows in Michigan before his auction days. Consigned with his auctions & bought from his auctions before his problems started.

I believe this is the first National in some time where the Feds didn’t show up and arrest someone. With all that’s going on in the hobby right now, I find that remarkable!

It sure looks like the feds simply don't care about all the drama surrounding PWCC, PSA, and these alteration scandals. Seemed like a fairly predictable outcome though.

I thought part of his sentencing was that he could never do business in the hobby again.

Perhaps he was just sitting there, like the mustachioed women of circus sideshow yore.

Brian

I am actually surprised any auction house would hire him with his past reputation. I would think that they would be concerned about his reputation might negatively effect their business

I would definitely question the integrity of any AH that hired a person that has done that much damage to the hobby.

I read somewhere that he found Jesus again or something like that?

Anyhow, he has been in the hobby since the disco days, and it would be very interesting to interview him. He has seen it all.

Has anyone said or heard that ML hired him, as opposed he was just chatting with the folks there? He is in Chicago so maybe he just came by to talk.

If Arod can get work in MLB again after what he did and the ppl he screwed over, anything is possible. Different world we are in where notoriety is more important than integrity

Put more charitably, people tend to be forgiving especially where the bad guy has acknowledged his sins.

He is from Chicago, maybe that’s it. Or his probation ended, so he can do what he wants.

Hi,

I read the above that he was behind the counter of the memory lane booth. And perhaps erroneously assumed that since he was behind it he worked there.

Bill paid for what he did wrong which is more than can be said for many others in the hobby. I wish him and his family well and hope he lives a happy and productive life.

I would agree there are lots of unpunished sinners out there. Lots.

Yep.... they could've gone after (and could still be going after) so many others who's actions are just as bad or worse.

+1
I saw and talked with him at the National. So glad to see him after so many years. He helped me tremendously when I was starting out as a dealer in the mid 90’s. I know he did a lot of damage but I have nothing but love for him.

I remember the 1st time I consigned with him. He invited me to his home (I live in Chicagoland) and he showed me his t206 Wagner, a complete ‘33 Goudey set (all NrMt and better), and a complete set of s81 silks in Mint condition! On one side the wall was like a museum with a full game worn uniform of Cobb surrounded by incredible photos and memorabilia. Then… in walked his young daughter & his eyes lit up with true happiness and everything else was just “stuff”.

The ass kissing of this prick is pathetic.

I mostly refrain from commenting on threads because this board can be cruel sometimes, but the man has paid for his crime, period! Even Jesus forgives. Are you better than Jesus? Which one of us hasn’t made a terrible mistake our lives and doesn’t wish we could go back and change what we did. Look inside and try to have some compassion. My two cents…

Just as I was finished setting up early in the show a well dressed man stopped and chatted with me. I introduced my self and He told me his name was Bill Mastro. I said I certainly recognize that name. He made a self deprecating remark something like everybody knows me as infamous. I wished him well and he continued his rounds.

I never did business with his company, but I agree with others who maintain he has paid his debt to society.

Easier to acknowledge your sins if you only have to pay $250,000 for millions in fraud, methinks.

I believe that was in the nature of a fine, not restitution. I guess as far as these things go he got a pretty good sentence.

This POS and his felon friends stole millions from the “the hobby” and did a lot more damage than a few months at “Camp Walkaway” will make up for. I agree with Glyn when it comes to people kissing his ass. It’s pathetic. And yes, I personally lost money in the deal. Call me more Old Testament than New when it comes to criminal degenerates.

Just curious, what money did you lose.

I so badly want to respond and say "I'm better than Jesus", but that would probably be a bad idea.

Insert smiley face here.

Doug

Felipe and Matty were better than Jesus when it comes to Alou brothers.

Brian

Amazing!

Gracefully accepted.

Brian

didn't say it was restitution. AFAIK that was his only financial cost, the $250k fine. Did I miss a restitution number somewhere?

You do realize there is a significant portion of the world that isn't particularly interested in what Jesus may or may not have said and done, right?

That being said there's a difference between forgiving and forgetting.

Or the Cartel lookouts perched over the border watching for the Feds

No restitution, I was just emphasizing that, or trying to.

I agree

I can't believe that he will be permitted to be a part of the hobby in any fashion.

If I owned Memory Lane I would be pissed to find out that this guy was behind my booth. Terrible optics no matter what the story is.

He may have been talking to the owner, they do have something in common, and in any event I am sure ML will be fine.

Sounds Crazy but I agree with both Luke and Pete. I think it might be something as simple as Pete says but unfortunately the optics are not good at the moment(maybe as more time passes.) But of course the Auction House will be fine

Permitted by whom?

The hobby police. :)

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LOL, good one Leon!

Does reputation mean anything in a hobby where PSA exists?

I would point to the Bryan Dwyer/REA thread and say yes it does.
https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=305761

Nice read but unfortunately not emblematic of the hobby at large. The sleaze that is openly put up with in this hobby these days is insane.

I would agree to a point. Unfortunately the Pareto principal applies to the hobby at large, you can only rely on about 20% of folks to have integrity and a moral compass. The good news is you can find a majority of those types of people on this sub.

What does that even mean? He spent a significant time in jail away from his family. If you think this is nothing spend a day or two behind bars yourself and see if you still think it is nothing. How much did you lose as a result of Mastro? No one wants to answer the question. I’m going to guess very little if anything.

It's been true for a long time. Obviously there are many fine individuals and businesses, but on the whole the hobby institutions that could make a difference are on the wrong side of the fence IMO.

I never lost a cent with this guy but I did lose a lot with people like him. As a kid I had a dealer like Bill sell me a 181 Ruth that was fake. Did I lose money? Sure, if it was real when I went to sell it I was probably out 15-20k. The greater sin was loss of trust.
Bill chose to risk being away from his family out of his own personal arrogance and hubris, shame on him for risking his family for business. Why would a man even risk being away from his children by breaking the law?
Bill chose to betray people's trust for profit. Would you do the same?
Seriously, would you sell me an altered card knowing I was bidding on it as genuine?
Would you treat me so poorly as a bidder that you would have your friends shill bid so I paid more?
Would you victimize your family and clients the way Bill did? I'm guessing no.
He might of showed up at the Natty with hat in hand looking for forgiveness but he certainly hasn't made amends to the people he victimized.
He sounds like a nice guy, believe me, all guys like that are likable, that's their gig. I would question his moral compass and integrity as a human but that's just me.
He didn't rip me off but he has a reputation for ripping people off so I would take a hard pass on him being a part of my life.

Phil-I’m not saying that Bill did nothing wrong, he did and he paid the price for it. All I am saying is that now that he paid the price he should be free to live a happy and productive life. I wasn’t at the National but I doubt that Bill came hat in hand begging forgiveness. He probably came to visit with some old friends. If I was there I would have loved to have seen him.

No doubt, it's clear that he has made friends over the course of his involvement in this hobby. I've also had friends that I have had to distance from myself and my family due to their behavior. Paying the price should actually be making all of his victims whole, not just the Feds, I would posit he's halfway home but that 2nd half is the hardest part. To be clear, he sacrificed his family for greed, not sure he could ever make that up to his children. Think about the thought process of a man who would do that, he made that decision all by himself as an adult male with a family when no one was looking, that's a big moral leap that reveals a mans character.

The definitive answer to this is yes. Mastro "pledged through his attorneys that he would never again work in the sports memorabilia business" on a pre-sentencing memo. He and his lawyers must have reasoned that would help with sentencing. It is by no means binding but it would certainly be unethical to break your word there. I never met the man, but my understanding is that ethics isn't his strong suit.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.co...leased-prison/

+100000. I hope he and all the other crooks in the hobby end up eating out of KFC garbage bins.

Meanwhile, the reality is that many of the crooks have made millions over the years, are living quite well, and are at little or no risk.

100% Agree and made it off the backs of others that lost what that could not afford to

This.

They made an example of Mastro and his gang, because they were "King of the Hill" at the time (and deserved what they got). But for some reason they continue to turn a blind eye to those who are even more blatantly corrupt (and are currently thriving).

Trimming, altering, shilling and lying should be punishable crimes, regardless of your selling platform or who you are.

Honestly, if I were a federal agent or prosecutor, and I saw how little impact on behavior all the revelations over the last couple of years have had, and how the collecting/investing world just wants more and more of the same, I might question if going after card doctors and their enablers was really the most productive use of my time and resources. Particularly where the rules of evidence would make most of these tougher cases to prove in court than it might appear on a chatboard.

Going back to the Feds hauling people out of the National, a couple years ago in Cleveland they hauled away Tony Podsada. Anyone know what happened to him?

Jay, I only meant I assumed, as others pointed out, that at his sentencing he was prohibited from ever engaging in the collectibles industry again.
In 2005 or so, when I decided to fold the Full Count tent, I auctioned off the inventory and my personal collection via Kevin Struss to Mastro. With Kevin as my watchdog, I doubt there was any hanky panky but the results were indifferent. For example, I sold a M101-5 RC of Ruth SGC 5.5 personally graded by Derek Grady when he was with SGC and received about $15,000. I shudder to think what that card would fetch in today's market.

He isn't prohibited.

As best I can tell he was indicted by a grand jury a while ago but I don't see anything beyond that.

In the late 1990s I turned down buying a full M101-4 set in Ex-Mt or better condition for $10k. That was the market then. Why no talk about all the shill bidders in the hobby who never were prosecuted.

This is accurate. Mastro (de facto) promised Judge Guzman he would never work in the hobby after his release. The judge's sentence took that into account, in addition to the Catholic charity/volunteering as mitigating factors. Mastro pled guilty to mail fraud which carried up to a five-year sentence; instead he received a shade over a year and a half.

But if he ever turned up in front of Guzman again for a hobby-related crime...watch out. At sentencing he'd be effed with a capital "F".

Right, but I think where people may be confused is that it isn't actually part of his sentence, as it sometimes is, for example, in insider trading convictions.

Certainly sounds like what I was thinking I had heard. I know legally it wouldn't prove anything but man I'd be tempted to send Judge Guzman a link to this thread...

Because he talked to a dealer at a show??

So you'd have no problem with him getting back into the card business if he decided to?

This is the only section of the sentencing memorandum that covers future business dealings; After reading the memo, I personally can't write off Net54 members' positive comments in this thread regarding Mastro as "ass kissing". It's too wide of a generalization. As for the ones who view Mastro as having saved their lives in AA, it's going to be a hard sell convincing them to abandon him over a mail fraud conviction.

Try to imagine the next time Ken Kendrick's Wagner finally goes to auction. Do you think anyone who bids on it will care Mastro altered it? It will be listed as a "restored" PSA 8 and will easily haul in eight figures.

http://cconnect.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-...Memorandum.pdf

If there is nothing legally in place that precludes him from doing this then I would have no problem with it. That said, I don’t think it would happen.

Because what other people did has nothing to do with whether these two are crooks who should be (metaphorically) tarred, feathered and run out of the hobby on a rail rather than embraced. Just like "everyone else was speeding" is not a defense to your speeding ticket if you were speeding.

It won't happen, you're right, and it shouldn't IMO, but it would be interesting hypothetically to see what happened if it did. I suspect we as a hobby are so much like crack addicts that if he had material, he would do just fine.

I suspect you're correct. Furthermore, he would probably do well even if that material was altered yet numerically graded by PSA.

Better, I suspect, that's how this hobby seems to work.

We don't need hypothetical, we have a history of examples of what would happen. He would send out a catalog, people would say "I can't believe anyone consigned to him", many people would publicly say "I won't bid with him", and then the auction would do fine. Within five years he would be at least in the top ten in size and 90% of the people wouldn't think twice about bidding with him, and 50% of the people would think he is one of the "good guys" and publicly defend him.

Hmmm... I don't disagree with your scenario at all, but just in terms of history, how many people do we have who have been convicted of hobby fraud and served time then come back?

I am often reminded of three things you've written here at various times. Pardon me for paraphrasing:

• Stuff trumps all
• People collect flips, not cards
• The registry is a powerful drug

Sadly, a large segment of the hobby has turned cardboard and plastic into little more than a d*** measuring contest. It seems, at times, the cards have become (or always were) secondary for some people.