The Wire Game is just one variant of what long con operators call The Big Store. For grifters, the Big Store is the Major Leagues, the Show, the Big Room at Caesar's, Broadway, (insert appropriate superlative here)
In most cons the grifter is alone or at best a minority in a sea of marks. In the big store, the mark is alone in a sea of grifters, a veritable wounded fish amid a school of sharks.
The Big Store is always a long con, and always targets high rollers. Unlike the scenario shown in "The Sting" a Big Store operation never just had one target but was set up to fleece as many marks as possible.
This was allegedly invented by legendary grifter Buck Boatwright who set up betting emporiums at the turn of the 19th Century. The mark was steered into one to bet on a boxing match, horse race, or other sporting event. Some of these events were real, some were not. In the true long con the mark would be allowed to win a rather hefty amount of money. His confidence level would rise and the greed factor would kick in. At this point, the runners of the con start to work convincing the mark that there is big money to be made. For instance, he may be induced to bet thousands on an underground bare knuckles boxing match which is allegedly fixed, with the mark given the office. Midway through the match, one of the boxers lands a punch that sends the other one down and he doesn't move. Someone rushes in and announces that the boxer has died. Panic strikes because the boxing was illegal , and everyone flees, the steerer pulling the mark out.
There are many variants, many of which involve sports betting, but not a few of which involve stock market manipulation. Done right, its a hard con to detect, because the marks believe they have been the victim of bad luck or circumstance rather than fraud. The key element in this deception is having the mark win several times before being sheared.
