S. Wendell Palomino

S. Wendell Palomino, nicknamed Swindle by the group of heisters, is a shady dealer and the head of Palomino's Emporium of Sports and Memorabilia, the owner of a monstrous dog and the former owner of Luthor, and the first of many adults Griffin Bing decides to hatch a heist plan on. He is the main antagonist in Swindle and its 2013 film, and returns in Hideout.

Early life
S. Wendell Palomino's past is mostly unknown, but he set up a very successful museum, which he named after himself. At one point, Palomino also bought an attack dog named Luthor, which he trained cruelly. He taught it to be vicious and only rewarded it for showing aggressive behavior. He lived solo, usually keeping Luthor at the store. His actions eventually ma de him an enemy of Eli Mulroney.

Conning Griffin Bing
Shortly after Griffin and Ben departed, Palomino organized a press conference where he displayed the card, standing in the courtyard of his museum surrounded by cameramen. He insisted the card was especially valuable because of where it came from. When asked what he would sell it for, Palomino insisted the card was too valuable to simply be labeled with a price tag. He intended to sell it at the Professional Annual Sports and Collectibles Auction on October 17. The opening bid was to be 200,000 dollars. In answer to the astonished reporters, Palomino said he expected he could get more than that, claiming it could be the rival of the only card that sold for over a million dollars.

A few minutes later, the press conference broke up under the watchful eye of Luthor, while Palomino returned to his desk. As soon as the media people had gone, he noticed Griffin returning to the museum, and told Luthor to allow him inside. Griffin had witnessed the broadcast and he was furious about his conning him. Palomino lied that it was a different card, and he had already sold Griffin's. When Griffin gaped at him knowingly, Palomino continued, lamenting that the world "is a big fat scary place with people who will walk all over you if you give them half a chance," before telling him to learn from his mistake. He further gloated that he had won the "fight" for money, something everyone wanted as he saw it. Griffin warned he would not get away with his trickery. Feeling threatened, Palomino summoned Luthor, who burst inside and cornered Griffin against a display case. As it prepared to bite him, Palomino insisted that Griffin was only leaving the store.

Days of waiting
Shortly afterwards, Palomino unbolted the safe and took it home with him. Upon arriving, he withdrew the card and hid it under his cabinet in a Ziploc bag. He also brought Luthor home in order to guard it.

Shortly afterwards, he appeared on a series of video clips advertising the Annual Sports Auction. The baseball card was the talk of the year's event; announcers called it "the most exciting find in the past half-century." One of the videos consisted of an excerpt from an interview with S. Wendell Palomino. Smirking, he looked on while a conference table of experts "oohed and aahed over the card". Everyone agreed it was going to sell for a fortune. One woman asked why it was so cold (due to being hidden inside a turkey), and Palomino simply answered that the coldness represented the cold-hard cash it would bring in. Unbeknownst to him, his e-mails were being intercepted by Melissa Dukakis.

Returning home from Palomino's Emporium, S. Wendell Palomino picked up the mail that had been dropped through the slot. He was surprised to notice a blue-squared envelope with no address or stamp, which meant that someone had delivered it by hand. Without a second thought, he ripped open the envelope and pulled out a brightly opened card. It said he had been invited to the Rangers' hockey game on Thursday, since the original bearers of the card could not go. A ticket to the Rangers vs. Maple Leaves game was attached by a paperclip. A slow smile spread over Palomino's face, as he realized it was time to swindle millionaires at the game.

Seeking Luthor
Much later, S. Wendell Palomino somehow made it illegal for Savannah Drysdale to own his former pet, Luthor, and subsequently began hunting for the dog.

Physical description
Palomino is overweight and has pale skin, and usually dresses in a nice yet unconventional manner. His dark hair is almost curly, but not quite.

Personality and traits
S. Wendell Palomino is shady, dark, and deceptive. He was highly intelligent, as well as ambitious to the point of ruthlessness. Palomino was extremely self-centered and arrogant, but not unable to realize talent in others or admit defeat.

Palomino's only real interests are money and recognition, as he has little regard for anyone, making him an incredibly self-centered man. He has shown that it is not above him to swindle children for money. He trained Luthor brutally, but then he left him in the dog pound when he chose to take the stronger of his two pets with him. The fact that he is so desperate for approval, but cares so little for anyone, shows that he is extremely insecure and his insecurity has made him immensely arrogant.

He is also extremely condescending. He had Griffin Bing and Ben Slovak try and lift his safe, which was bolted to the floor, when he could have just mentioned this to them instead. He also gloated after he had Luthor attack Bing. With all being said, it is extremely likely that Palomino suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder.

Palomino is a fan of Star Trek, as he made his vault code something that was related to the franchise.

Portrayal in the film
In the film, he is "Paul Swindell", an antique shop owner who used to own Luthor. His nickname is Swindle and in the novel, he does not let Griffin Bing and Ben Slovak own an out-of-print baseball card. He is also the main antagonist of the film, as he is the man who swindled Bing and Dupree into giving him a card worth $1.2 million by buying it off them for $300. He has an alarm system that will be armed in half a minute, and he likes a Chinese takeaway called Mu Shu. Unlike in the book, he has a daughter named Silva Palomino. However, he planned on allowing her to drown, unbeknownst to her.

The film mentions that he stole candy from a baby, from old ladies, and from dogs. He insists that there is an accent on the back half. He says that he was not a con artist. Ironically, he tricked a Russian man into giving him thousands of dollars for a red haired action figure but gave him a blue haired one. However, the man was an actor with the swindle six.

Name
In the film, he is "Paul Swindell" instead of "S. Wendell Palomino" for some godforsaken reason. Everyone mistakes the pronunciation of his name. The swindle six call him Swindle but his name is pronounced Swindell and, in his own words, accented on the back half. Because of this people who encounter him (an example is the receptionist in the Lakeside hotel) call him Swindle but later Swindell when he corrects them.

Trivia

 * He likes watching sports.
 * When Griffen was making the diversion he used hockey tickets which Swindle took and went to the game.
 * He likes Star Trek