The Vault: Inside the mystery of Louis Carlucci, the 1980s 'Con Juan' who fleeced women, then fled

New York (WABC) -- Louis Carlucci was known as "Con Juan," the "Cassanova Con Man" and other nicknames. Carlucci became infamous for romancing at least 12 women -- always adopting different personalities and disguises -- and fleecing them before fleeing.

Carlucci was certainly inventive. He dressed as a priest, a Canadian mountie, a pirate, a gangster, and, uh, Attila the Hun?

His MO? An investigator told Eyewitness News it worked like this: "He informs them that he's about to buy a very posh restaurant in an exclusive section of town and informs them that if they're willing to invest in this restaurant, they'll double or triple their money in a very short period of time."

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Sometimes he'd even marry the women if that was the easiest way to get the money. Once he had the cash in hand, he'd split, move somewhere else and conduct the scam all over again.

The law eventually caught up with him, but when Magee Hickey filed this story on Sept. 19, 1988, Con Juan still had cops stumped.