Welcome | The Weiss Files

This website is "u.c."

as in "under construction." Meanwhile, visit my blog, garyweiss.blogspot.com.

Muckraker is the title of my column at Forbes.com, the nation's leading business news website.

Here is the press release announcing the column, which was inaugurated in November 2006.

This column deals with the subjects that I explored in Wall Street Versus America, plus a good deal more.

"[The book's] arguments, gleaned from two decades worth of reporting on Wall Street, are sure to provoke outrage in many sectors."

So said The New York Post in the first advance review of Wall Street Versus America on Jan. 22, 2006 -- three months before the book appeared.

The Post's prediction proved to be correct.

Wall Street Versus America is a wide-ranging, muckraking account of how the America's investment portfolios are systematically drained by the securities industry, mutual funds, hedge funds and a host of others. It describes how regulators and the press have been ineffective and, sometimes, complicit.

In the months since this book was published, the critical acclaim has been overwhelming. The reaction of the Wall Street crowd, however, has been anything but favorable. Sure, some people on the Street liked the book -- the trade magazine Registered Rep gave it a surprisingly glowing review. But even before the book appeared, just on the basis of media reports, the lower echelons of the Street started getting hives.

In the weeks that followed publication of this book, I received more threats than I did in my previous twenty years covering Wall Street, even when I exposed Mafia infiltration of brokerages.

As you can see from Susan's column, these people went berserk over one chapter of the book.

There are twenty more chapters -- and Wall Street doesn't want you to read a single one of them.

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This is not another "Wall Street Scandals" book.

I don't spend very much time on Enron. I'm not interested in the IPO scandals or other headlines from yesterday's news.

I'm interested in the scandals you're not reading about.

You can't predict the markets. But you can predict Wall Street. This book shows you how to do that.

This book is your guide to Wall Street. Read it and you will never be ripped off.

This book describes in detail the sharks that endanger your investments. It sets forth the simple steps that you can take to protect yourself and your family, and to give your portfolio all the benefits of the stock market without any of its traps and pitfalls.

However you decide to invest -- by picking stocks or putting money in a mutual fund or hedge fund -- you'll learn all the things that Wall Street would prefer you not know.

If you like what you see in the Introduction, click here to order a copy of the book.

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Here's what the critics are saying about Wall Street Versus America:

"With lethal intent, Weiss' new book unleashes a nuclear blast across the spectrum of financial finagling. From crook-infested microcaps and offshore boiler room pump- and-dumpsters to performance-inflating mutual funds and fee-saturated hedge funds, the misdeeds of both the blackguard contingent and the white-shoe set come under his microscopic scrutiny and macroscopic scorn.

"Gary Weiss is definitely not a goody-two-shoes; he's more of an old-time gumshoe, with a soupcon of little-guy champion Jimmy Breslin and a dash of 1950s bad-boy comic Lenny Bruce. . . .

"For those individuals not yet savvy enough to avoid getting bruised by what Wall Street Versus America's subtitle proclaims as The Rampant Greed and Dishonesty That Imperil Your Investments, Weiss' book could provide years of happier returns.

-- Barron's

"Gary Weiss has written a book that strips away the gloss and glamour of the stock world and reveals the sometimes sordid details.

"Wall Street Versus America is erudite and savagely funny.

"Weiss, an investigative reporter, doesn't hesitate to present the story with bite, and it's one heck of a bite. Between laughs, readers may be astounded at Weiss's sheer audacity and also appreciate the facts. . .

"Weiss does not mince words. He digs deep to provide scandalous commentary on the investment business.

"The book is informative and entertaining, a must-read for those venturing out into the investment jungle."

-- Houston Chronicle

"Weiss's wise-guy attitude and muckraking chops make for a devastating broadside."

-- Publisher's Weekly

"Like anything having to do with finance, "Wall Street Versus America" has a bottom line. It asks the reader to consider how seldom investors' behavior makes sense, how minimal an impact regulations usually have (though he notes the recent efforts of New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer), and how effectively the Internet could be used to alter the way financial institutions work. Surely these are claims that can provoke arguments. Maybe they're also claims that can provoke change."

-- The New York Times

"Before signing on the dotted line for your next brokerage account, take a few minutes to read at least the introduction and epilogue to . . . Wall Street Versus America. . . You will see just how alone you truly are."

-- Business Week

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I've started a blog in which I'm writing about the issues that I tackle in Wall Street Versus America.

Click here to reach my blog.

In July 2005, I was proud to join a group of investigative journalists in forming Project Klebnikov, which will investigate the murder of Paul Klebnikov in Moscow on July 9, 2004. Paul was editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine.

While you're waiting for your copy of Wall Street Versus America, why not take a look at my last book?

Born to Steal: When the Mafia Hit Wall Street is the critically acclaimed inside story of how investors were ripped off by Mob-affiliated stock scamsters throughout the 1990s.

I've posted excerpts from the book, illustrated with photographs, on this website. I've also described the fracas that broke out when the book was published. Some prosecutors were mighty upset when Born to Steal was published. This is a story they wanted all to themselves.

Just click on "The Mob" in the menu at the top of this page, and read all about it.

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If you really like what you see, I can share my years of experience covering the Street with your organization or company.

I've given talks to a wide array of corporate and collegiate audiences. I've even been asked to speak before some of the regulators I criticize in the book.

To find out more.....

Critics Praise Born to Steal

"Riveting... captivating, juicy and fast paced."

--The New York Times

“Written in wry and witty prose . . . it's ‘Goodfellas on Wall Street,’ a fascinating study of the disintegration of a bottom-feeder.”

--The Washington Post

"A wickedly entertaining look at the really dark side of Wall Street. . .

"Weiss' writing is electric. He vividly demonstrates how the mob's infiltration of Wall Street was a diabolically perfect fit. The journey of Louis Pasciuto is one you'll not soon forget."

--The Miami Herald

“Enthrallingly nasty"

--Barron’s

"A harrowing and instructive ride."

--USA Today

"Told with insight and great wit, grips as tightly as a loan shark."

--Kirkus Reviews

"Enthralling and informative."

--Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“The hottest new book. . . fascinating, but deeply troubling.”

--Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

“A remarkable glimpse into the essentially lawless, virtually unregulated turf of easily manipulated penny stocks, boiler-room investment firms and 'pump and dump' broker strategies.”

-- St. Petersburg Times

"Engrossing. . . this story clearly illustrates that truth is better than fiction."

-- Booklist

“Fascinating, funny, colorful and coarse.”

-- Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine

”James Stewart reporting melded with a Mario Puzo arrative, its pages revealing one of the most riveting stories of the past two decades. . .

"Gary Weiss has done the impossible--written a business book that reads like a Scott Turow thriller."

--Lorenzo Carcaterra, author of Sleepers, Gangster and Street Boys

“An instructive and hilarious portrait of the twisted contemporary convergence of business, entertainment and crime. It is thoroughly engaging and original-–a legitimate contribution to the history of our times.”

--James Toback, screenwriter of the Academy-Award winning “Bugsy” and director of “The Pick-up Artist”

"Few authors have captured the dark side of American capitalism as entertainingly as Weiss.

"Born to Steal is a knockout."

--T.J. English, author of The Westies and Born to Kill

“Takes the reader to where it really gets nasty: the weird lunar landscape that is the truly dark side of Wall Street where crook steals from crook and the books are sometimes kept in blood, where the financial werewolves dwell, where ‘The Godfather’ meets the 21st Century. Terrific stuff!”

--Michael M. Thomas, author of Green Monday and Someone Else's Money

“Move over Tony Soprano! Louis Pasciuto dominated the Mob’s hold on Wall Street the way Tony dominates Jersey’s waste business. Gary Weiss, long one of the toughest reporters covering the market’s seamy side, takes you inside Pasciuto’s world in a story that is a cross between ‘The Sopranos’ and the movie ‘Wall Street.’

"You won’t know whether to laugh or cry at the machinations of this professional Wall Street con man. But you’ll be entertained either way.”

--James J., Cramer, author and markets commentator for TheStreet.com and CNBC

“Born to Steal is a rip-roaring read that makes you wonder: Did Enron, Arthur Andersen, MCI Worldcom, dot.coms, lying analysts, and cynical stock floggers take lessons from Louis Pasciuto?”

--John Rothchild, co-author of One Up on Wall Street