A Blast From the Past

Yesterday the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn rounded up a gaggle of alleged Mafia-linked wiseguys who ran boiler rooms a few years ago. Here's a New York Post story.

What's I found interesting about yesterday's arrests is that these are some of the same people I wrote about in Business Week slightly over eight years ago. Here's a link to my BW story.

This shows you how long it can take for the feds -- and Eastern District prosecutors are a top-notch bunch, by the way -- to make a case against alleged securities crooks. It also shows the resilience of the individuals involved. These guys allegedly continued to rip off investors even after their chief reputed Mob connection -- John Baudanza -- appeared in my story. Some of the scams described in the indictment were chugging along in 2000, nearly three years afterwards.

Two of the firms mentioned in the indictment, TYM and Amerivet, also made appearances in my 2003 book Born to Steal. But the reputed Pennsylvania wiseguy who I connected to those firms in the book, Ralph Torrelli, was not named in yesterday's indictments.

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Wall Street Versus America will be published by Penguin USA on April 6.
Click here for its Amazon.com listing and here for more information on the book, from my web site.