IT TOOK A CROOK

There's an episode of 'Hustle' which is entitled either "Whittaker Our Way Out" or "Ties That Bind Us". Either way it's about the team of grifters agreeing to help a fellow con man take down the bank that double-crossed his grandfather - one of the most famous con men of the 19th Century. Even as Mickey, Ash, Danny, Stacie, and Albert go along with the scheme, they already know that their "partner" will try to pull a con on them as well. He won't be able to stop himself, since the greatest con a con man can pull off is on another con man.

And who was their con man "partner"?

"There are a lot of different stories about what happened
to James Whittaker Wright after his adventures in the city.
I don’t really know that the truth is,
but I’d like to think that somewhere along the way,
he found his own little piece of grifting heaven."

Albert Stroller
'Hustle'

And in a way, JW3 did find his piece of grifter heaven along the way, as he mentored Parker to be the best she could be as a thief. Only she knew him as Archie Leach; being the "innocent" that she is, Parker didn't know that the name of "Archie Leach" was an alias. Nor did she know its origin - as Cary Grant's real name. (All of this we learned in the 'Leverage' episode "The Inside Job".) Archie had to call in the 'Leverage' team to help him get Parker out of an ultra-secure building where she fell into the trap that was meant for him. At the end of the adventure as they hugged goodbye, Parker lifted his wallet - probably in an attempt to find out who he really was. But Archie Leach got it back before she could learn his true identity of James Whittaker Wright III.

And even that might have been an alias......

We just may yet get an unofficial third name for this one Toobworlder, and then a Richard Chamberlain character can get into the TV Crossover Hall of Fame on the Honors List....

BCnU!