Born to Steal: When the Mafia Hit Wall Street

Rating:
Summary: AN INCREDIBLE STORY, COMPELLINGLY READ
Review: Even the most inventive fiction meister would be hard pressed to come up with a tale as astounding as this true story. In this reading movie and television actor Frank Whaley literally becomes the protagonist, a cocky young man from Staten Island.

The young man previously noted is Louis Pasciuto, a former gas station attendant, who built a fortune by bilking the credulous. He talked fast, lived fast, and eventually lost big time.

In 1992 Louis appeared on Wall Street to become part of a "chop house," an unsavory brokerage firm overseen by a Mafia boss. He trafficked in worthless and nonexistent stocks, cramming his hefty earnings into a mayonnaise jar.

Then, just when Louis feels indestructible, on top of the world, mobster Charlie Ricottone wants a part of the take. It's not too long before Louis is caught in a vise - blood thirsty, money hungry Charlie on one side and the FBI on the other.

In exchange for the Witness Protection Program Louis joined the good guys.

An incredible story, compellingly read.

- Gail Cooke

Rating:
Summary: Best book I've ever read about the Mafia or Wall Street!
Review: Good gawd, this is the best book I have read in a long time--and definitely the best book I've ever read about the Mafia or Wall Street. It is funnier and more knowing than Liar's Poker, and much more disturbing than any of the James Stewart books I have ever read. And it is a cut above any book I have ever read about the Mob--thrilling and funny at the same time.

I read this book in two sittings--I absolutely could not put it down. Weiss takes the reader through the netherworld of the Mafia and Wall Street with a sure hand, as he tells the story of a young broker who becomes a tool of the Mob. It is reminiscent of the story that Nick Pileggi told in Wise Guy or the movie Goodfellas, but with considerably more humor and with a more entrancing style. At times I laughed out loud!

One of the startling revelations of this book is its description of how New York celebrities and sports figures, Jets players and cast members of the Howard Stern show, benefitted from stock scams at the expense of the small investors ... The book also indicates that there is corruption among regulators. Surprising this book's revelations weren't mentioned in a recent Times review--I found them stunning.

Born to Steal's portrayal of Wall Street is dead-on and frightening. What is most intriguing is how the two worlds collide. The Mafia and Wall Street have much the same values and, in some cases, personnel.

The book also paints a picture of the Mob in decline--gangsters who walk into jail almost willingly, as a result of their own blindness and stupidity. Its portrayal of a declining Mob is reminiscent of Donnie Brasco, but with less violence and more humor.

Born to Steal is a winner!

Rating:
Summary: Great Weekend Read - Hard to Put Down
Review: If you've ever received an insistent telephone call for an investment opportunity that is guaranteed to make you a lot of money from someone you do not know at a brokerage firm that sounds, well, impressive if not familiar, you will want to read this book. The bucket shops and chop houses that employed cold-call cowboys pitching plausible, fraudulent, can't miss ground floor opportunities to the gullible, the greedy, and the insecure were not just a toxic waste product of the last bull market. An internet search of SEC Litigation Releases shows that greed and naivete are (surprise, surprise) in evidence today. Nonetheless, penny stock peddler Louis Pasciuto's rapid rise and fall on this crooked avenue of Wall Street does say something about the past decade's willingness to believe impossible things.

Some of this territory has been visited in fiction (BOILER ROOM, New Line Cinema, 2000), but author Gary Weiss' true account of Pasciuto's world has it all: cash, sex, drugs, gambling, violence, humor. Did I say cash? Louis and his barely out of school buddies were pulling in a hundred, sometimes two hundred thousand dollars a month in the 1990's peddling dreams and phony hopes. Weiss is at home writing about this hard-boiled, street smart world. He captures the dialogue, the profanity, the ironies, and the simple money lust energy that drives it all. He gets inside the relationship between Louis and Charlie Riccotone, a violent, small-time extortionist with a slippery veneer, who comes to represent the Mob's influence in this world as he worms his way into Louis' life. Made for television scenes standout: Raucous teams of telephone pitchmen selling 'hot' new stocks; Louis and friend Buddy on sex and drug benders; a broker thrown through a plate glass window; a party boat adventure that goes badly wrong; Louis hiding his stripper girlfriend from his soon-to-be-his-wife sweetheart; and tense sit-downs with Guys of a certain reputation to arbitrate disputes.

In recent years the securities regulatory environment has gotten tougher, the press more investigatory, the public more suspicious. At the end of this fast-paced story corrupt enterprises go out of business, and people go to jail. A lot of people: Bad Guys, a mentor, and friends. Pasciuto's cooperation with the Feds lands him in the federal witness protection program. Where this young man goes from here, Weiss can only guess. It has been quite a ride and Weiss does his readers a service by taking them back all the wiser from this enlightening descent into the muck.

Rating:
Summary: A great read for the uninitiated
Review: This is a terrific story about the intersection of needs and desires between criminals, Louis Pasciuto et al, and their victims. It rings true in every aspect. And, this I say after spending a career in wall street as a stock broker, albeit one who worked for reputable brokerage houses. A part of my business career also put me in contact with people who used these kind of chop shops to promote stocks whose ascendance benefitted greatly those on the inside of the game. Yes, trashy behavior by trashy people, but one should not lose sight of those in government and other societal institutions who perpetrate even larger frauds on the public; the ponzi scheme aspects of the social security system come to mind along with the recent problems the catholic church has experienced with Gay priests. Add to this the recent problems of financial fraud in the Washington DC teachers union, committed against its dues paying members, along with the recent insider dealings of the Board members of United Labor Life Insurance company, a union owned entity, where insider actions led to a breach of their fiduciary duties, in a major way, and it becomes abundantly evident that corruption knows no one source.

In my travels I also learned that the SEC and other regulatory bodies, while having many dedicated and honest people, often let larger crimes go unmolested while restricting themselves to smaller fish that they "can fry" within their budgets. That is they often pursue the "honest guys" who make administrative mistakes while letting the larger frauds continue i.e. the egregious accounting scandal at WorldCom perpetrated by Bernie Ebbers and his minions. Where was the oversight?

A positive for "Born to Steal" is that it's darkly funny and easy to read, and will receive wider exposure by being made into a successful movie. In this vein the more investors can learn about stock fraud the better. I would council everyone to read Manuel Asensio's, "Sold Short: Uncovering Deception in the Markets."

Also, the tendency for readers and reviewers with a preconceived mindset to see "corporate greed" behind every illegal action speaks clearly to the anomaly of the human condition; that on the one hand most wish to see themselves as morally virtuous while retaining an unquestioned capacity for self deception. Furthermore, it could be averred that just about everyone has a price when it comes to their complicity in a deal where "something for nothing" seems in the offing. These subsets of the most human of conditions do not restrict themselves to corporations, big business or wall street. One who holds to that notion just hasn't availed themselves of the vast trove of historical data and anecdote which would expose this self-contradiction.

A good read for the summer!

Rating:
Summary: Start reading this early in the day
Review: Why? BECAUSE YOU CAN'T PUT IT DOWN!!!!! I took this book to the beach during the July 4th weekend and made the mistake of starting to read it in the afternoon. There I was as the sun was setting at 8, and I was still reading it. Everyone was gone and I was squinting as the sun went down. That's how electrifying this book is.

Louis Pasciuto is a parochial school kid from Staten Island who has a slight character-development issue: He steals. He stole when he was a small child and as a teenager he found just the place to practice his craft. Wall Street beckoned, in the form of a well-groomed stock scammer named Roy Ageloff.

Such is the setup for one of the most readable stories that have come down the pike in a long time. Weiss's portrayal of the world of Wall Street and the Mafia is extraordinarily revealing. I heard this is going to be a movie and I can see why.

I don't want to give away any of the plot, as this is one of those books that you read with your hand on the page to keep from letting your eyes wandering down to see what is happening in the future. It was an education on the subject of Wall Street, and I came away from reading this book with a wealth of education that I hope will make me into a smarter investor.

One thing about this book that is surprising is how entertaining and funny it is. You wouldn't expect that from a book about Wall Street or the Mafia. But Weiss has extraordinary comic sense and he brings out the irony in some characters who are at once loathsome and fascinating. He also makes some sharp observations on the abysmal failure of Wall Street regulation and the moronic character of so much that has been written about the Mob.

Born to Steal is a winner in every respect.