Predators' Ball : The Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and the Rise of the Junk Bond Raiders

by Bruck, Connie (Author)

• ISBN13: 9780140120905
• ISBN10: 0140120904
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1989-05-01
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)

Summary

During the 1980s, Michael Milken at Drexel Burnham Lambert was the Billionaire Junk Bond King. He invented such things as "the highly confident letter" (I'm highly confident that I can raise the money you need to buy company X) and "the blind pool" (Here's a billion dollars: let us help you buy a company), and he financed the biggest corporate raiders-men like Carl Icahn and Ronald Perelman. And then, on September 7, 1988, things changed... The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Milken and Drexel Burnham Lambert with insider trading and stock fraud. Waiting in the wings was the U.S. District Attorney, who wanted to file criminal and racketeering charges. What motivated Milken in his drive for power and money? Did Drexel Burnham Lambert condone the breaking of laws? The Predator's Ball dramatically captures American business history in the making, uncovering the philosophy of greed that has dominated Wall Street in the 1980s. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Prologue: The Ball	10	(11)
PART ONE: Spreading the Gospel	21	(82)
The Miner's Headlamp	23	(17)
Dr. Feelgood	40	(10)
Transformation	50	(12)
Merge with Mike	62	(16)
The Cloister at Wilshire and Rodeo	78	(11)
The Air Fund	89	(14)
PART TWO: Pawns Capture Kings	103	(138)
Triangle-National Can: Kingmaker	105	(44)
Icahn-TWA: From Greenmailer to Manager-Owner	149	(44)
Pantry Pride-Revlon: The Crucial Campaign	193	(48)
PART THREE: The Zenith---and the Fall	241	(119)
``Drexel is like a god..''	243	(23)
Proven Prophet---So Far	266	(9)
Milken's Money Machine	275	(10)
The Enforcer	285	(12)
Sovereign Privileges	297	(20)
Boesky Day	317	(13)
The Center Cannot Hold	330	(14)
The Humbling	344	(16)
Afterword	360	(13)
Acknowledgements	373	(4)
Index	377