Man Buys Millions Of Onions, Then The Authorities Are Forced To Intervene

In the 1950s, farmer Vincent Kosuga was struggling — until he had an idea that would forever change the United States' financial markets. Armed with intimate knowledge of the onion business and a clever associate, he created a scheme that would make him millions. He never realized how many people he'd hurt along the way.

Vincent Kosuga

If anyone was going to pull off this scheme, it was Vincent Kosuga. He was a character: The son of a Russian Jew, he converted to Catholicism and donated a ton of money to the church, even earning a private meeting with three different popes. He never left home without two special items.

Never Leave Home Without 'Em

Anywhere he went, Kosuga carried a .38 caliber pistol and a billy club. He was old-school tough, once even surviving a plane crash that left him with significant injuries. He was always looking for ways to get more money, and he used his farm as a way to get rich — not always in the most scrupulous methods.

The Farm

On his black dirt farm in New York, Kosuga grew celery, lettuce, and onions, which he sold to customers like Campbell's Soup and the U.S. Army. To make some extra money, he started dabbling in a high-risk — and legal — trading strategy.

Proper Lingo

See, Kosuga knew about the "futures" in trading, a contract to purchase a particular commodity at a distant date for a pre-determined price. The buyer hopes the price will go up in the future (making his investment profitable), while the seller hopes the price will go down (making their sale price worthwhile). In other words, it's a more professional form of betting.