John Thomas has great stories, lots of them. Like when the Rolling Stones sang him Happy Birthday at the Lone Star Café in New York City, where he worked as a bouncer, or when his dad put a 44 Magnum to his knee and threatened to pull the trigger. But one story Thomas likes to tell now is about his redemption: How a man who prosecutors called “a serial con man” turned around his life. In Chapter 1, "Playing With The Truth," Crain's reporter Alby Gallun unravels Thomas' difficult childhood and his early professional schemes and dreams.