John Scarne (/ˈskɑːrni/; March 4, 1903 – July 7, 1985) was an American magician and author who was particularly adept at playing card manipulation.

He was born Orlando Carmelo Scarnecchia in Steubenville, Ohio, United States, and at some point anglicized his name to John Scarne.

[2]: 20–34 Scarne began practicing sleight of hand with the goal of becoming a card sharp, but his Roman Catholic mother dissuaded her son from gambling in general, and cheating others in particular.

He spent a few months learning about crooked gambling devices (including marked cards and loaded dice) at a nearby novelty store.

Articles were written about him in various magazines, and he was hired as a consultant or adviser by various companies, as well as by the US Army, which sent him to bases around the world in order to educate soldiers about the dangers of card and dice cheats.

[2] He served as a technical advisor in the 1973 motion picture The Sting, and doubled for actor Paul Newman's hands during scenes that involved card manipulations and deck switching.

However, Scarne never made a profit on the game, mainly due to water damage in a warehouse which destroyed the entire stock of Teeko sets in one day.