The combination of Ponzi's huge personality and the enormous if brief success of his scheme, combined with the tremendous publicity which surrounded it, is ultimately what attached his name to it.

Ponzi and all of his successors tap into a fundamental part of human nature. One part of our brain tells us this is too good to be true. The other side tells us this is too good to miss. The key to any con is getting a mark to tip to the too-good-to-miss side.

This is not a documentary. Are there essential truths that are captured by this movie? I think unquestionably the answer is yes. Do you have to change certain things to make it work? The book is called '13 Hours'; the movie is two hours long.

While researching the book, I used the Freedom of Information Act to request what the military calls Individual Deceased Personnel Files for all the Gremlin Special's passengers and crew.

Acting on the theory that sometimes luck is better than work, I randomly called several people named Dattilo in Kentucky. All were unfailingly polite, and none knew anything about a major with their last name who died in World War II. I also discovered that more Dattilos lived in Kentucky than I would have imagined.

I've remained in touch with more than a dozen descendants of Gremlin Special survivors, victims, and rescuers. I treasured my friendship with Earl Walter Jr., the lead paratrooper who jumped into the valley to protect the survivors.

There's a certain type of sociopathy to many schemers.

I wanted to talk face-to-face with as many people as would see me. Some actors were so busy they could only give me an hour on the phone. But my feeling is that if you're actually in the room with them, they get comfortable and you get more.

There are very few people whose names come to symbolize their achievement, even if it's a negative achievement.

We all should respect Chris Stevens, who dedicated his life to trying to improve relations between the Arab world and the western world.