9.1.2 True Crime Stories: The Entertainment Factor of Crime

Figure 9.1 Photo collage of Anna Sorokin’s mugshot (a.k.a. Anna Delvey), Elizabeth Holmes at TechCrunch Disrupt conference in 2014, actor Rami Malek as Eliot Alderson in Mr. Robot, and actor Anthony Gallo on the set of Sons of Anarchy.

The dramatization of white-collar crime, cybercrime, and organized crime is popular in the entertainment industry. The exploits of savvy or vicious criminal minds make for thrilling stories for those not directly impacted by the outcomes.

Inventing Anna (Netflix) follows the mystery of alleged German heiress Anna Delvey, a young woman who convinced New York’s rich and elite she was a hip, up-and-coming entrepreneur.  She played up family wealth, socioeconomic status, and extensive business networking. Delvey claimed to be financially secure and backed by investors and a wealthy father. She wove a complicated web of overextended credit, fraudulent business plans, financial lies, and precarious business agreements before the truth of her actual lack of money toppled her entire scheme.

The Dropout (Hulu) explores the rise of Theranos, a billion-dollar health technology company, and its CEO, Elizabeth Holmes. Holmes promoted an innovative blood-testing technology, promising to revolutionize the field of medical diagnoses. An investigative report exposed doubts about the technology and illuminated how Holmes misled and defrauded investors and the government through false and exaggerated claims about the technology. Holmes was later convicted of defrauding investors, wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was recently sentenced to eleven years in prison.

Mr. Robot (Prime Video) is the fictional story of Elliot Alderson who is a cybersecurity engineer for his day job and a vigilante hacker for his side hustle. Alderson joins a group trying to take down corporate greed by encrypting data of a giant financial company, canceling all consumer debt. The show was widely praised by cybersecurity firms for its technical accuracy. They hired a team of ethical hackers and experts to conduct “real” hacking scenes that were recorded for the show. Of course, those scenes were not so real that they actually canceled out all consumer debt.

The list of TV shows and movies on organized crime, both real and fictional, is too long for this chapter. The idea of the mob or the mafia has always been a fan favorite. Classics like The Godfather in 1972, Scarface in 1983, and Goodfellas in 1990 continue to feed the glamor associated with criminal enterprises. Sons of Anarchy (2008-2014) brought the concept of motorcycle gangs into the arena of organized crime as well. We can’t seem to get enough of watching the outlaw lifestyle…from the comfort of our law-abiding homes.

It is the categories of crimes in each of these shows and movies that will be covered in this chapter. Although real life is often less glamorous than depicted on the big screen, these are still crimes that carry a lot of intrigue.