High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! John A. Spano, Jr. (born May 31, 1964) is a businessman and swindler who briefly bought control of the NHL`s New York Islanders in 1996 before he was exposed as a fraud. Due to the NHL spending a minimal amount in checking his background and an abandonment of usual banking safeguards, he was able to make it appear that he was worth several times more than he actually was.