On a brisk day in November 1998, a doughy balding Brooklyn computer salesman was supposed to report to prison to begin serving a 17-year sentence. He rented a Ford Taurus. Drove to Queens to turn in the ankle monitor he had been wearing. He took $600 out of an ATM. Headed to JFK airport. And vanished. His name was John Ruffo. The crime he had committed was outlandish. Using forged documents and fake corporate seals, he persuaded banks to loan him $350 million. He invented a nonexistent proposition that he called “Project Star” and he used the money to gamble the millions on the stock mark...