The way his scheme works is that there never really is a crowd. He always has only a handful of buyers on site, and if there is any crowd beyond them then it is just curious neighbors who wander over to see what is going on. It sure seems like he always has one buyer who has conspired with him to buy the property in advance, as the other "bidders" never raise the price very high and the property always goes for a tiny fraction of what the property tax evaluations say that it is worth. But this clown, aided the local right-wingers who shill him hard, has con-man charisma and manages to make the people he gyps feel like they're getting a great deal...until they find that they've been swindled. It would not surprise me in the slightest to see this guy either wind up in jail for flagrant corruption, or adorning a lamp post, because he has made himself no shortage of enemies.