Operation Bullpen and the Marino Family Forgery Ring: Has anything changed?

Over the past few days I have been re-reading Operation Bullpen, the story of the Marino Family Forgery Ring and how the FBI took them down. The last time I read it was several years ago.

Something that really struck me this time around was how self-conscious the ring was about their product being “high quality” and how nervous they got when “someone was onto them.” For instance, the book recounts an incident where a collector returned a Jackie Robinson signed ball and a Roberto Clemente signed ball because he discovered the date of the ball made it impossible for them to be signed by Robinson or Clemente.

The leader of the ring, Wayne Bray, went into a fury because of this sloppiness and was especially angry at John DiMaggio (J. DiMaggio COAs) for issuing certs for these provably fake items. They counted on DiMaggio to rubber stamp items, but he was also essentially quality control. If something was a poor quality forgery, DiMaggio was not supposed to cert it.

Further, they got really nervous when some of the sellers they distributed to were removed by eBay. Once their sellers started getting removed from eBay, they feared law enforcement would soon follow. (Which it did.)

What makes this so interesting is the contrast with many of the fakes we see today certed by the usual suspects on the eBay banned COA list. The usual suspects on the eBay banned list – as well as some others – cert items that are laughably bad and obvious forgeries. There is no “quality control.” They apparently thumb their noses at law enforcement with no fear of consequences.

Message board threads like this one -- and many others here -- would have sent Wayne Bray and the Marinos into cardiac arrest. Yet, today’s crop of forgers, sellers and their “authenticating” accomplices don’t seem to care if almost every educated collector and dealer in the world is “onto them.” As long as there is a “greater fool” willing to buy their product, they plow on… offering countless obviously bad items in scores of venues.

So, how is it a decade after the biggest forgery bust in the world, the autographed collectibles market is perhaps flooded with more fakes than ever?

Tags: Bullpen, Family, Marino, Operation, forgeries, forgery

2 members like this

Comment by Steve Zarelli on June 28, 2012 at 6:34am: The book did not go into great detail regarding the process around material being removed and sellers being banned. The point the book was making was that the “quality” and caution the ring used in the earlier days started to slip and they got sloppy as it got bigger and bigger. When their sellers started to get removed from eBay, Bray knew that it was an indicator that it was getting out of control and it would only be a matter of time before “the jig was up.”

BTW, eBay cooperated with the FBI and provided information in the form of transaction records, contact information, the credit cards linked to accounts, etc.

Comment by DB on June 28, 2012 at 8:29am

Zip, wouldn't it have been great if it did. I was thinking the "quote" was beyond bullpen. It would be great to see EBAY more proactive than reactive when it comes to such discoveries.

Speaking of discoveries, the comments on CEE GEE's UTube are simply indicative of today's buyers;

How can someone like get away with this? Can't people take legal action against him for misrepresentation of items?
Expose the cheaters and scum bags!! I love it. just like that worthless authenticator on Pawn Stars on the history channel that digs out his big brass magnifying glass out of his bag. he's authenticated so many fakes its unreal. then he has even authenticated fakes on the show and yet they brought him back for a new season. Someone is shady in that deal. its either the shop or the producers. I know i wouldnt wanna be caught on TV calling that guy my "good buddy" like rick does
Definitly fake. On steiner a imperfect Koufax auto goes for 200
Thanks a lot for the heads up, since I've been purchasing some stuff from eBay recently. Very appreciated

and not to be undone by one I received from craiglist - (posting banned coa on EBAY)

I buy on ebay and other places and was never aware of this list. Thanks for this great information

@ChrisW - are you sure u want to stick with "only half the problem"? We can lead the horse to water but we can't make 'em drink it.

Comment by James Wymer on June 29, 2012 at 2:58pm: I am reading the operation bullpen book right now what an eye opener.

Comment by DB on June 29, 2012 at 3:09pm: James - a good follow-up is Autograph Hell by Charles Orion (who pops in here from time to time) http://live.autographmagazine.com/forum/topics/books-on-the-subject...

as it also has many points of interest regarding has anything changed.

what's amazing is how many "millions" of fake items from bullpen that weren't recovered. not to count the million more that have surfaced since from all sorts of kitchen forgers, bad authenticators and so on. One quote that I have embraced from Autograph Hell is that it doesn't have to be authentic, just certified.

Comment by James Wymer on June 29, 2012 at 4:49pm: Thanks DB I will certainly order that book. Thanks again everyone.

Comment by James McKnight on June 29, 2012 at 8:20pm: http://spotlightauthentics.com/ i found this site the other day, all bad.

Comment by James Wymer on June 30, 2012 at 5:52am: Boy James McKnight and those autos are not cheap.

Comment by CJCollector on June 30, 2012 at 6:35am: Holy crap!!! I just looked at the Derek Jeter autographs on that www.spotlightauthentics.com website. What a bunch of crap!!!

Comment by Steve Zarelli on June 30, 2012 at 7:35am: Pure junk. Paging Agent Fitzsimmons.

Comment by James McKnight on June 30, 2012 at 9:53am: Read this review on spotlightauthentics:

http://lovetoconnect.wordpress.com/tag/spotlightauthentics-com/

No doubt it was posted by the company itself to try to convince prospective customers to buy their fake items.

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