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To: rrufff who wrote (1834)	3/24/2006 10:33:21 AM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2595

GARY WEISS'S BOOK NOT OUT UNTIL APRIL AND HE ALREADY HAS BOB O'BREIN AND CREW RIPPING IT APART. THEY HAVE NOT EVEN READ IT YET. BOB BALONEY AND CREW ARE AT FULL FORCE. ME, I AM GOING TO ORDER 50 OF THEM AND SEND EVERY REGULATOR IN EVERY STATE A COPY. gary-weiss.com So the reviews are starting to come in, and they're raves. But here's the best news of all: The con men, snake-oil salesmen and scam artists are already starting to sweat. Order your copy today!"Wall Street Versus America won't hit the stands until early April, but his arguments -- gleaned from two decades worth of reporting on Wall Street -- are sure to provoke outrage in many sectors." That's what the New York Post said in the first advance review of this book to appear in print, two and a half months before publication. The book's main targets -- the big brokerages, mutual funds and hedge funds -- were stoically quiet. But in the grimy gutters of the Street, the con men and stock promoters immediately broke out in hives. They started attacking Wall Street Versus America on the Internet before they read one word of the book. They were worried about one chapter -- the one that exposed them. There are twenty more chapters -- and Wall Street doesn't want you to read a single one of them. Just one of the dozens of targets of this book, the pump-and-dump stock-pushers, read in the Post that this book exposes one of their most cynical and effective scams. That's a widely publicized "pro-investor" movement that actually harms the public. In the book I describe how timid regulators and members of the media have been bullied into silence and suckered by their con. So when the stock touters were tipped off by the New York Post article, they started perspiring. Then I began writing about their latest hijinks in my blog, (garyweiss.blogspot.com), and they really went bananas. Their attacks were personal and vituperative -- and I loved every word of them, because they were the best endorsements of this book that I could possibly find. If just one chapter of Wall Street Versus America can get the crooks worried, imagine what the other twenty chapters are like!

To: rrufff who wrote (1834)	3/24/2006 10:35:31 AM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 2595

GARY WEISS'S MOB ON WALLSTREET FOLKS IN THE NEWS YESTERDAY BTW: "One stock promoter was kidnapped and chained to a pit bull dog, one broker was beaten with a bat, and another was stabbed when he tried to leave one of the firms, authorities said." Reputed N.Y. mobsters indicted in penny stock scam Thu Mar 23, 2006 6:39 PM ET By Christine Kearney NEW YORK, March 23 (Reuters) - Members of two New York organized crime families were arrested and indicted on Thursday for running a penny stock scam that controlled and extorted money from brokerage firms through bribes, threats and violence, prosecutors said. Ten members and associates of the Colombo and Luchese families were indicted in federal court in Brooklyn on charges including racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, kidnapping and money laundering. According to the indictment, the defendants controlled 15 small New York brokerage firms, mainly based in downtown Manhattan. It said they falsely inflated stock prices by promoting penny stocks -- shares that trade under $5 -- before dumping their own personal holdings. The estimated loss to investors was $20 million. Investors should not be "victimized by unscrupulous brokers backed by the mob," Roslynn Mauskopf, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. "Investors are entitled to a level playing field." According to the indictment, between 1994 and 2005, licensed and unlicensed brokers were paid bribes in the form of commissions up to 50 percent of the price of each stock sold. Investors opening accounts were at first encouraged to buy established stocks, and then penny stocks, the indictment said. The defendants, including accused Colombo family captain Joseph Baudanza, 61, and his brother Carmine Baudanza, 63, also extorted stock brokers, traders, cold callers and brokerage firm owners through threats and violence, authorities said. One stock promoter was kidnapped and chained to a pit bull dog, one broker was beaten with a bat, and another was stabbed when he tried to leave one of the firms, authorities said. Joseph Baudanza faces a maximum prison sentence of 70 years, while Carmine Baudanza faces up to 90 years. Lawyers for the defendants could not be immediately reached for comment. © Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

To: rrufff who wrote (1834)	3/25/2006 11:19:21 AM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2595

A Blast From the Past garyweiss.blogspot.com Friday, March 24, 2006 A Blast From the Past Yesterday the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn rounded up a gaggle of alleged Mafia-linked wiseguys who ran boiler rooms a few years ago. Here's a New York Post story. What's I found interesting about yesterday's arrests is that these are some of the same people I wrote about in Business Week slightly over eight years ago. Here's a link to my BW story. This shows you how long it can take for the feds -- and Eastern District prosecutors are a top-notch bunch, by the way -- to make a case against alleged securities crooks. It also shows the resilience of the individuals involved. These guys allegedly continued to rip off investors even after their chief reputed Mob connection -- John Baudanza -- appeared in my story. Some of the scams described in the indictment were chugging along in 2000, nearly three years afterwards. Two of the firms mentioned in the indictment, TYM and Amerivet, also made appearances in my 2003 book Born to Steal. But the reputed Pennsylvania wiseguy who I connected to those firms in the book, Ralph Torrelli, was not named in yesterday's indictments. ----------- Wall Street Versus America will be published by Penguin USA on April 6. Click here for its Amazon.com listing and here for more information on the book, from my web site. posted by Gary Weiss @ 1:03 PM Comment (1) \| Trackback (0) links to this