Gary Weiss is a twenty year veteran of financial journalism.
A New York City native, he received a bachelor's degree from City College and a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University. After working as a reporter for The Hartford Courant and small news services in Washington, D.C., Gary joined the staff of Barron's in 1984.
At Barron's and then at Business Week, Gary scored a succession of news beats and exclusives—exposing trading improprieties at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and revealing Salomon Brothers' manipulation of the government bond market. For these stories and others, Weiss received numerous awards and honors.
It was in the midst of the bull's ride on Wall Street, in December 1996, that Gary uncovered the Mob's infiltration of Wall Street. In "The Mob on Wall Street" and other Business Week stories, Gary revealed for the first time how shady brokers, and their organized crime masters, were ripping off investors for billions of dollars a years—under the very eyes of regulators and law enforcement.
These stories led to dozens of indictments and convictions, and are widely recognized as a seminal achievement in investigative reporting, in the crusading tradition of Malcolm Johnson's 1950s probe of organized crime on the waterfront. In a letter that was published by Business Week, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh heaped praise on Gary's work—almost unprecedented recognition for the work of an investigative journalist.
Freeh said, "Gary Weiss has done our Nation an invaluable service by reporting the manipulation of the stock market by elements of organized crime. By outlining specific stocks and stock brokerage firms that were controlled by organized crime, he opened the door for FBI investigations in Florida and in New York, and for that we owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude."
In Born to Steal, Gary continues his expose' of Wall Street criminal underside by recounting the life story of Louis Pasciuto, the Staten Island youth who made millions of dollars for the Mafia on Wall Street.
In recent months he has been on the trail of corporate criminals, and authored a controversial, landmark Business Week cover story on New York Stock Exchange chairman Dick Grasso: "The $150 Million Dollar Man."
Gary is a founding member of Project Klebnikov, a consortium of investigative journalists, organized in July 2005, which is probing the murder in Moscow of Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine.
He is at work on a new book.
Gary has made numerous appearances on CNBC, CNN, CNNfn, PBS and Fox News Channel, and also appears before corporate and university audiences.
He lives in New York City. |
