Gaston B. Means (1879-1938)

This guy is high up in the running for North Carolina’s most notorious character. Born near Concord in 1879, Means died a guest of the federal government in prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1938. He once bragged that he had been accused of every felony in the book, including murder. At one time he worked for the FBI, although J. Edgar Hoover later called him “the most amazing figure in contemporary criminal history.” He had an uncanny ability to inspire belief in the tall tales he told and convinced many people to entrust him with money which they never saw again.