Sweatshop15

Losing M2 only made matters worse. The resulting mental breakdown put him out of action for four
months. "I couldn't even function," he says blithely, as if the whole experience were nothing more than a
minor inconvenience. "I ran to Vegas and hid in hotels," he says. "I thought I was an angel. I really lost

my marbles." This didn't, however, interfere with his unending quest for publicity. While flying above the
Nevada desert on angel's wings he noticed a Salvatore Feragamo store, touched down, and purchased a
$2,000 attaché case, stuffed it with a sheaf of barely legible hand-written notes and FedExed it to journalist
Bob Woodward. "I wanted him to write a book about me," Sylk chuckles. "I was a retard. The poor man.
I'd call him up and we'd scream at each other. He told me I was crazy." Once he recovered, Sylk booked

a one-way ticket to New York. His first call was to Ron Itzler. But after the M2 debacle Ron Itzler said

he was unable to help financially. Lenny Sylk was plan B. Jason had reconnected with his biological father
at his mother's funeral and thought the encounter had gone well. He sensed that Lenny Sylk felt guilty

for abandoning him and could possibly be persuaded to part with some money. Lenny, a wealthy man who
had made millions in the housing industry, was willing to help. But he refused to just give his son a handout.
He insisted Jason get a job. If he did Lenny would "make it worth his while" tripling the salary. Jason Sylk
couldn't believe his luck. It was a proposition ripe for exploitation. He quickly found a legitimate business
who was willing to issue him a $500 payroll check in exchange for a $100 processing fee. He would then
Xerox the check and send it to Lenny who would in turn wire $1,500 into Jason's bank account. Obvious

as it was -- the confidence game worked flawlessly.

An ex-girlfriend corroborates Sylk's adoration of his mother, but adds that it isn't a particularly healthy
preoccupation. When she describes the intense mother-son bond Jason Sylk comes off sounding like
Anthony Perkins in Psycho. "He is completely obsessed with his mother's death" she says repugnantly.
"He blames his psychiatric condition on her death. It's all about abandonment." She blanches at the
suggestion that his 'psychiatric condition' might be just another con: "I've actually seen the medication

he takes. He's been diagnosed as multiple personality. I've witnessed the illness first hand. He'll be very
nice. Then something sets him off, and he'll just go berserk and starts throttling people." Sylk says that
because of his mental condition, he's attempted suicide four times. To validate this claim, he lifts his shirt
revealing a hideous scar running across his sternum like railroad tracks. Some attribute the scar to a failed
murder attempt, but Lenny Sylk says it's just another one of Jason's "episodes." Lenny Sylk's disgust is
tangible when he discusses the dark side of his son's psyche: "What kind of person stabs himself in the
heart with a scissors ?"

Jason Sylk insists that neither he nor his murdered competitor were involved with the mob. He says the
hospital stay was the result of an automobile accident that occurred after a night of partying at Liquid.
Whatever the reason, in 1997, broke, bruised and tapped out in the phone-sex business, Sylk left Miami.
Ostensibly, the move was to start a new business in virgin territory. The real reason was that he felt if he
didn't get out of South Beach he would kill himself or be killed. Sylk was still experiencing the lingering
effects of an acute depression that was triggered two years before when his mother died of cancer.

It's a relationship ripe for Freudian satire. The dominant figure in his life, he says Ronnie Itzler gave him
everything he holds dear: his brains, good looks and charm, even his impeccable taste in women. "My
mother was absolutely gorgeous," Sylk says. "Her license plate was: Tiff, like Breakfast At Tiffany's.
Growing up, everybody made comments about how they wanted to sleep with her. She was a very special
awesome woman. When you're a kid, your mom is your best friend. And if your mom happens to be drop
dead gorgeous and sexy, and you get comfortable interacting with that type of woman, those are the type
of people you're comfortable with."