I have mentioned that I am working on a long-term project to write about numismatic criminalsand victims. I suggested to Wayne that I use my research to occasionally run one of these storiesin The E-Sylum.

Ray Hanisco was born in Philadelphia on September 19. 1950. His parents were Raymond L.Hanisco and Mary Kuchers Hanisco. In 1977 he received a B.A. in anthropology fromPennsylvania State University. He married Paula Hayko and had three sons.

He served with the U. S. Army in Vietnam during 1971-73. He wrote a number of articles onveterans' issues and was identified as veterans' editor for thebellaonline.com website. Acollection of his articles was compiled as A Veterans' Anthology which was published onDecember 22, 2013, about three weeks before his death.

He died at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis on January 11, 2014. His cremains are in aburial vault at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.

An item in the October 9, 2005, issue of The E-Sylum identified Hanisco as the editor of theBelladona Coin News. That is the only time that periodical is mentioned in the NewmanNumismatic Portal.

Hanisco has a LinkedIn listing. He indicates that he is for Bellaonline.com,that his experience is Jul 2013 - Present, and thus has been at this for 10 years and three months.There is a problem with this information as he has been dead for 9 years and 4 months.

Becoming an editor requires an application. There is no fee to join and no compensation. It is aforum where aspiring writers can get articles published. Perhaps it is somewhat like getting anarticle published in The E-Sylum.

Hanisco wrote a number articles on coin collecting for the hobbies section of the website. Somehave been recognized as important and cited in other references. Here are a few titles:

In general, I found the articles to be well written and would have required research andknowledge of the subject. This was, in my opinion, unique for a telemarketer.

His obituary stated that

In 2001 he advertised for telesales professionals under the name of Westminster Group.

In 2007 he was listed with Independent Coin Services of Bloomington, Minnesota.

Ray joined the ANA as Member 3122738 in November 1989. The December 2007 issue of TheNumismatist announced that he was expelled for failure to pay $408.92 for materials purchased.

Hanisco was a salesman for Twin Cities Gold and Silver Exchange (TCGS) in Plymouth. At thattime it was a telemarketing firm owned by Jeffery Wolfebauer. Hanisco left in 2009 to formGuardian Gold and Silver Exchange with partner Schaun Waste as vice president and chiefoperating officer.

To make a good start in the new company, Waste took the TCGS customer list with him.Guardian also recruited salesmen from TCGS to come work for them. This has been a commonproblem in the Minnesota telemarketing industry. In 2010 TCGS sued and Guardian agreed topay $35,000 and stop using the list and stop recruiting from TCGS staff.

In 2012, Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson sued Guardian, Hanisco and Waste forbilking customers, mostly elderly, on sales of coins and bullion. Guardian filed for bankruptcy in2012 with debts of $1.7 million.

The case was prosecuted while Swanson was working to get bullion trading regulations passedthrough the Minnesota legislature. The first version of the law was passed in 2013 and tookeffect on July 1, 2014.

Schaun Waste took most of the heat. In 2015 he was ordered to pay $2 million in restitution andwas banned from the industry for life. By the way, his current LinkedIn page states that he is vicepresident of Guardian Gold and Silver Exchange, nearly eight years since a court order bannedhim from the industry for life.

Hanisco avoided prosecution by dying in 2014.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NEW NUMISMATIC WEB SITE BUZZ?(https://coinbooks.org/esylum_v08n43a15.html)