RETAIL GANGSTER: The Insane, Real-Life Story of Crazy Eddie

I'm pleased to report that my next book "RETAIL GANGSTER: The Insane, Real-Life Story of Crazy Eddie" will be published on August 23, 2022 by Hachette Books. I'll be having more to say about the book as it comes closer to publication, but here's a taste:

A riveting true crime thrill-ride through the spectacular rise and fall of Eddie “Crazy Eddie” Antar, whose home electronics empire took the world by storm—until a federal investigation exposed it as one of the biggest business scams in history

When Eddie Antar passed away in 2016, millions of people mourned the loss of someone they’d known as "Crazy Eddie,” the man behind the successful chain of electronic stores and one of the most iconic ad campaigns in history. Journalist Herb Greenberg lamented Eddie’s death as the “end of an era,” and indeed, few things evoke the New York of a particular era the way "Crazy Eddie! His prices are insaaaaane!" does. However, what’s even more insane is that few people know the real story behind the epic rise and catastrophic collapse of Eddie’s retail empire—an empire built almost entirely upon lies, fraud, and money laundering.

Before Enron, before Madoff, before The Wolf of Wall Street, Eddie Antar's corruption was second to none. The difference, however, was that Eddie’s chain was a street franchise, a local place that was considered the blood stream of New Yorkers’ daily life in the 1970s and early '80s. In Retail Gangster, investigative journalist Gary Weiss takes readers behind the scenes of the notoriously nefarious operation, tracking the Antar family’s immigration to the US at the beginning of the century, their struggle to succeed within American capitalism, Eddie’s unlikely rise to the top of the consumer retail market, and his apocalyptic fall from grace into the trenches of legal infamy, bringing many of his loved ones down with him.

 

Many years have passed since the franchise went down in spectacular fashion but despite his countless crimes and dastardly deeds, Crazy Eddie has endured as many iconic brands and characters do, maintaining his reputation as a beloved cult figure. Weaving together never-before-seen stories and anecdotes from the people closest to both Eddie and the scandal itself with meticulous research and historical context, Retail Gangster presents a comprehensive, multidimensional portrait of the entire Crazy Eddie saga, showing how a man’s desperation to achieve the American Dream ultimately ended in not just his family’s downfall, but one of the most unbelievable scam stories of all time.

 

Retail Gangster can be preordered by following one of the links on this page.

© 2022 Gary Weiss. All rights reserved.