Washington City Paper: Contents for Jan. 8

The Doughboy Rolls Rollinsville
The name Rollins always meant something in Bristow. Nowadays, the name Ponzi means even more.

Cover Story

They had come 50 or so of his victims to watch the sentencing. Just this once, just today, Nov. 20, 1998, they wanted to see the smirk of prosperity wiped off the face of the felonious grifter from the fine Virginia family. But Hugh Francis Rollins the man they called "Doughboy" cheated them of even that. The chubby figure in a black suit and black turtleneck looked positively jaunty as he stood before the judge to explain why he'd bamboozled so many for so long.

Rollins had his hands in his pockets as the judge asked him to rise. This was unusual. For six years, he had put his hands in the pockets of hundreds of others and kept them there. The habit had now brought him before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandria.

The victims in attendance were just a handful of the 550 folks whom Rollins had ripped off in a multi-million-dollar scam that had run through the town of Bristow, Va., like a creek that had jumped its banks. Over the course of the con, it had eventually reached the District of Columbia, 40 miles away, and beyond.

There was more resignation than hatred among his former investor clients as the sentencing began. They knew they'd been had, as much by their own greed as by the slippery, impossibly lucrative offers the Doughboy had made them back when he was still rolling. ... Continued

Issue of Jan. 8 - 14, 1999

News and Features

The Doughboy Rolls Rollinsville
The name Rollins always meant something in Bristow. Nowadays, the name Ponzi means even more.
Cover Story By Patrick Tracey
Up in the Old Hotel
It's jackhammers vs. syringes on New York Avenue. So far, the heavy equipment has the upper hand.
Feature By Jason Cherkis
Landless-Grant College
Grant Stockdale thinks D.C. students should feel at home at any state university.
The City By Elissa Silverman
The Apocalypse Cafe
Mount Weather may be straight out of The X Files, but the bar next door is the friendliest little beer joint in Spyville.
The City By Eddie Dean
Who would put a health-food store in Ward 8?
The City By Nefretiti Makenta
Card Stock
The City By Michael Schaffer
Georgian on My Mind
The Mail By Irina Slutsky
A Very Upbraidy Christmas
The Mail By Tom Snowden
Strong Arm of the Law
The Mail By Mark Oller
Dog Day Afternoon
The Mail By Helen M. Kramer
You've Got Nerve
The Mail By Burling Lowrey
Industrial Decline
The Mail By Michael C. Kangal

Columns

Shoot to Thrill
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Doublespeak
City Desk By Ta-Nehisi CoatesNefretiti MakentaAmanda Ripley, Michael Schaffer and Elissa Silverman
THE PASSING OF POWER IN D.C.
Loose Lips By Ken Cummins

Eats

Thanks, but I'll Live Without
Young & Hungry By Brett Anderson

Movies

Narrative Malpractice
Film Review By Mark Jenkins
War of Few Words
Film Review By Arion Berger

Music

Bulletproof Babe
Music Review By Sean Daly
His Mastered Voice
Music Review By Neil Drumming
Genuflections
Music Review By Joel E. Siegel

Theater

Friend of the Family
Theater Review By Trey Graham

Arts and Events

Chinese Riddles
Artifacts By Louis Jacobson
The Big Draw
Artifacts By Guy Raz
Geritol Punker
Artifacts By Colin Bane
The Icebox Burns
Artifacts By Steve Kiviat
Grave Mistakes
Two D.C. filmmakers dig up stories of people buried before they were dead.
Arts By Nefretiti Makenta
Man-Child in Search of the Promised Land
Books By Brett Anderson