The Predators’ Ball (57 page)

Authors: Connie Bruck

BOOK: The Predators’ Ball

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Milken almost surely believes, as some close to him have indicated, that he is paying the price not so muchâor not at allâfor having violated the law, but for having led the revolt of an underclass to scale the walls of corporate America and depose the rich, credentialed and powerful. This he did indeed do, and for this I (while not endorsing his selection of players to replace the captains and the kings) applaud him. Although I suspected when I set out to write this book that this stunning success story might well have some unholy if not illegal underpinnings, my sympathies were more toward Milken and his band of renegades than toward the corporate establishment they were attacking. To the extent that Milken, particularly, feels he is judged harshly here, he should know that these are judgments that were neither predetermined nor fueled by prejudice but that simply becameâafter more than two years of reportingâunavoidable.

Realizing the irony involved, I would nonetheless like to thank the many people at Drexel who spent countless hours explaining to me the workings of their world. The firm is of course filled with honest, very bright, hard-working people. I hope they will enjoy at least those parts of the book that describe the glory days of Drexel.

Drexel has been a much-covered story over the past couple of years, and articles by other reporters helped me in writing this book. Among them were pieces by James Stewart and Daniel Hertzberg in
The Wall Street Journal,
Chris Welles and Tony Bianco in
Business Week,
Allan Sloan and Howard Rudnitsky in
Forbes,
James Sterngold in
The New York Times,
and Cary Reich in
Institutional Investor.

One researcher, Natalie Byfield, assisted me in the early days of this project, and she was followed by Todd Woody, who assisted me over the longer haul; I am grateful to both of them. My fact-checker, Karen Dillon, was superb, with a spirit and determination that kept going when mine started to flag. Her services were lent to me by
The American Lawyer,
whose editor and publisher, Steven Brill, has provided me with unstinting and vital support from the first moment of this undertaking to its last. His 1985 piece in
The American Lawyer
about Icahn's raid on Phillips Petroleum, entitled “The Roaring Eighties,” provided the initial inspiration for this book. I owe him a considerable debt of gratitude.

I want to thank my editor at Simon and Schuster, Alice May-hew, whose legendary abilities I can now attest are real; I am fortunate indeed to have had the benefit of them. I also want to express
my gratitude to her assistant, David Shipley, and to Elizabeth McNamara, associate counsel at Simon and Schuster, whose sound judgment was a great asset in the closing days of this book.

Finally, I want to thank my friend Deirdre Fanning, who provided a tireless and excellent sounding board; my mother and father, both of whom have never doubted for a moment that I could do anything, and always have tried to make it possible for me to do everything; my brother, David, for his continual generosity; and my son, who, through years of enduring either uncooked or burned dinners, fits of temper and general abstractedness, has displayed the patience, cheer and relentless humor that have made my life bright.

C
ONNIE
B
RUCK

February 1988

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INDEX

Abecassis, Paul,
202
,
218
,
223
,
235
â236

AB Electrolux,
155

ACF,
19
,
161
,
163
â64,
169
,
173
,
185
,
186
,
190
â91