The Greatest

In sunny California, some of the world's sharpest auto salesmen provide a deal of shade. Last week the shadiest of them all was popped into the cooler. Convicted on charges of conspiracy, grand theft and forgery, Auto Dealer Henry J. Caruso--billed as "the greatest" in his radio and TV singing commercials--was packed off to jail for a year, fined $10,000, and enjoined for the next ten years from entering any business in which he would be selling to the public. After Caruso, wary Californians agreed, the public needed a ten-year respite.

At his used-and-new Dodge. Pontiac and Plymouth car lots in Compton. Pasadena, Long Beach and Hollywood, Caruso refined cheating, double-dealing and intimidation into such a formalized art that he actually conducted regular classroom sessions to teach his salesmen (nine of whom got lighter sentences) how to go about it. Salesmen were instructed to get customers to sign blank contracts, later cut the trade-in allowance and raise the new car price they wrote in on the contract. They were taught to spout figures at a torrential rate to confuse the buyer, and to never put a deal in writing. If a customer took out his own piece of paper and pencil to note figures, the salesman was instructed to take out his pencil, break off the point, then impatiently grab the customer's pencil.

Salesmen were also instructed to get the ignition key of the automobile the customer intended to trade in. Some timid customers were not able to get their cars back, were forced to go ahead with the deal. Others recovered their keys and cars only to discover that good tires and battery had been switched for worn-out items. A long procession of witnesses testified to other ingenious ways in which they had been cheated. On the Rev. Bert D. Crouch, Caruso played all the tricks in his bag. Caruso's salesmen upped the price of Crouch's new car. pocketed $200 he had given them to make the last payment due on his trade-in, sold the trade-in under the clergyman's name (it promptly became involved in an accident for which he was held liable). After Crouch complained that he was going to stop payments until matters were straightened out, Caruso earnestly telephoned to ask the minister where he was preaching the next Sunday because he wanted to hear him. During services, the minister's car mysteriously disappeared. Later it turned up for sale on Caruso's lot.

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