You are looking for logic to explain why they do what they do. I don't expect to find any.
Did you ever give much thought to the idea that they are just a couple of, say alcoholics, or drug users, or loony tune asylum type guys who don't care as long as they can hook a few marks? The prisons are full of guys who have run crazy con games and only in hindsight people ask, "how could anyone have believed those jokers? It was all too easy to see"