October 09, 2012
In the Media
Where is today's "Hellhound of Wall Street"?
By Larry Swedroe
CBS MoneyWatch
October 8, 2012
Excerpt:
With the scandal surrounding mortgage-backed securities that led to
the financial crisis of 2008 still fresh in our memories, Michael
Perino's "The Hellhound of Wall Street" makes for riveting
reading.
Perino presents an outstanding account of what has become known as
the "Pecora Commission," named after the New York prosecutor who in
the 1930s exposed the financial wrongdoings and showed how Wall
Street's leading bankers contributed to the crash of 1929. It's a
minute-by-minute account of the 10 days when Ferdinand Pecora
turned around the hearings, which were going nowhere. Perino grips
you with his account of Pecora's cross-examination of the senior
officers of National City Bank (today's Citigroup), including its
chairman, Charles Mitchell, one of the leading bankers of his
day.