guest: at the core of it was a professional con man known as mel weinberg. he's is played by christian bale in "american hustle." he cooperated in order to get letter charges of fraud. he made it come alive. he could create an illusion that he was working for a very wealthy sheik. he convince people that the sheik had an enormous amount of money to spread around. this was after the boil boycotts by the middle eastern oil producers where oil prices shot through the roof. it may in the gulf states quite wealthy. it was not that hard convince people. essentially it was like flies to honey. word got around and the lower- level crooks they were dealing with put them in touch with higher-level people, lawyers with contacts with congressmen and senators, city councilman, the mayor of camden, new jersey. it was a kind of form -- kind of a form of underworld networking. the turning point, the key of that in what turned it from a local sting operation to a national one, was the mayor of camden, new jersey. i thought "american hustle" was a great movie. in the movie he

aest: at the core of it was professional con man known as mel weinberg.e's is played by christian bale in "american hustle." he made it come alive. he could create an illusion that he was working for a very wealthy sheik. he convince people that the sheik had an enormous amount of money to spread around. after the boil boycotts by the middle eastern oil producers where oil prices shot through the roof. it was not that hard convince people. essentially it was like flies to honey. and the around lower-level crooks they were dealing with put them in touch ,ith higher-level people lawyers with contacts with congressmen and senators, city councilman, the mayor of camden, new jersey. it was a kind of form -- kind of a form of underworld networking. the turning point, the key of that in what turned it from a local sting operation to a national one, was the mayor of camden, new jersey. i thought "american hustle" was a great movie. in the movie he is a trade that he is or trade as a reluctant -- he is portrayed as a reluctant. christian bale has to bring them int

. >> reporter: mel weinberg is the real life swindler played by christian bail. >> did he a great jobwith him. and he had me down pat. >> reporter: but american hustle had more drama and cleavage than weinberg's real life. >> there were some scenes i didn't like. one of the things that my wife, she was gorgeous. and my mistress, wasn't as pretty, i thought it was the other way around that the prison dress should have been the wife. >> reporter: martin took some license writing the story of philomena lee's search for her son who was put found adoption. he can't complain if the movie did the same. >> i had conversations, it had recreated scenes and it in itself was a drama at that indication of the real life story and making the movie from the book is one more step. you have to accommodate the material to the medium in which you are telling the story. >> all right, ladies and gents. >> reporter: some stories don't lend themselves to being toll exactly as they happened. do they even need to be accurate if they are entertainment? >> the problem that the studios and the filmmakers are pres

mel weinberg, who was very good at salvaging the situation -- and there were quite a few -- and this is where he was so important to the operation, he would just kind of wave it off and say, hey, look, when he was in the middle east, the sheik butot eat jewish deli food he loves it, so when he comes here, he has an opportunity to eat it. saw his people interested in the financial opportunities that abdul enterprises was presenting them with just accepted that and never question it. host: walter is calling from st. johns, arizona. hi, walter. caller: good morning, mr. wallance. good to see you on c-span today. i have a two-part question. , on criminals, there is always the dome and the smart. targeting, here is a bundle of cash. most of the smart will just turn their back and walk away. the dumb will say, cash, let me run with it. e for many a decade, the big money -- talking tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars -- changes hands but , a bribe or to get someone elected, held out as a brown -- they will do it through soft-money. a $5 million piece of property. you can buy i