Quentin "Flint" Hawkins created his own world of make-believe, staging hundreds of fake auto accidents in New York City. But his world was just real enough to bilk auto insurers out of more than $10 million, a 20-year crime spree that helped make auto premiums in New York among the highest in the nation.
Hawkins worked on the notion that less was more.
He staged phony accidents, in cars loaded with fake passengers, who conjured up nonexistent back and neck injuries, which led to phantom bodily-injury claims worth up to tens of thousands of dollars each.
He paid stooges $500 or more to be drivers and passengers in setup cars. The crooks maneuvered the cars into low-speed crashes — sometimes with each other, sometimes by ambushing innocent motorists who were passing by.
