Interesting insight into the world of Wall Street. Not being familiar with the players in the 80s. Found this insightful and educational. I see Michael Milken might be pardoned by Trump. This book would make that pardon questionable.
It also shows how history rhymes as you look at behaviours uncovered in the 2008 crisis.

I heard a lot on the news about the junk bond scandal of the 1980s while it was unfolding. What I didn’t understand until reading this book was the level of brazen and dastardly brilliance used by a group of Wall Street players as they cheated, stole and manipulated the market to reap hundreds of millions.
I was shocked to read how they made money from fake takeover threats. One member of the ring buys up a significant block of stock in a target company making it appear (falsely) that another firm is eyeing them for a takeover. Other conspirators buy the stock. Another member of the ring swoops in to offer consulting services on fighting off unwanted takeovers, pointing out that all signs point to them being in danger. This creates buzz on Wall Street that a takeover is brewing and the stock shoots up. The ring members - except for the original buyer - sell their stocks at a huge profit. Another ring member recruits a large company to partner with them on an actual takeover. Yet another member offers legal services assisting the company that wants to do the acquisition. The target firm, sometimes a family concern that was profitable but not not ruthlessly so, is purchased, stripped off all fat, broken up into more efficient pieces and sold at a profit. Everyone walks away with staggering amounts of cash, and they do it over and over again.
Incredibly, almost all the offenders are still alive and still millionaires or billionaires, having served hand-slap prison sentences of 1 or 2 years.

A book I needed to read in two parts due to the technical financial details used, however it was well worth the read. An in depth look at the insider trading scandals that lurked in the shadows of a 1980s junk bond fuelled, economic boom. The story catalogues the rise and fall of the infamous Ivan Boesky and Michael Mullen, two titans of Wall Street embodying the greed and arrogance of the decade. Fascinating stuff.

Stewart does his best to explain complex and somewhat esoteric practices, laws, and regulations in the stock market so readers can understand the cases involved. There are many wrinkles and organizations, including many private firms, individuals, the US Justice Department, and the SEC. Sometimes it seems like almost too much, but overall, Stewart does a good job of crafting a propulsive and engrossing narrative out of what is often a lot of explaining and background. He also manages to present the human angle, showing the people involved as individuals with nuance as much as he can. This is basically a true crime book, but the crimes are financial and only metaphorically violent, and the writer a highly decorated and experienced journalist and editor. So, we get a bit of a different experience from a true crime or crime fiction work, but it still keeps some of that drama; ultimately, it all comes down to greed and thoughtlessness, like a lot of crime.

Returned via audible. I listened to a podcast about this book - and it sounds so interesting - but I think you have to be really understand the finance industry to understand this book. I need like an abbreviated version, I think, which I got in the podcast. (Episode 974: Michael Milken on Planet Money)

https://www.npr.org/transcripts/80828...

I didn't enjoy this quite as much as Barbarian at the Gates, but the book was still an interesting and quick read. I would have liked to learn more about how these junk bonds concretely affected those who invested in them as well as the businesses who later defaulted on their loans. One of the upsides to this book was how the last half of the book looked at the way the justice system handled what had happened in the first half.

Fantastic book with solid reporting/writing and a really interesting story and set of characters. I thought it encapsulated the culture in trading and IBD in the 80s - and how legal/regulatory examples could be set so that the environment would improve. It is still a bit shocking to me how widespread financial criminal activity was. With hindsight, I also found it interesting to see how Milken has navigated through a redemption arc while Giuliani swung a bit in the other direction.

Super thorough investigative journalism. The little details that are included, like a “bunny with a good nose” make the story vivid and authentic.

Gets a bit finance geeky, but a great cautionary tale about hubris, greed, and being mindful of both the agenda of others and power dynamics in relationships.

Meticulously researched almost to a fault, Den of Thieves provides a comprehensive summary of the freewheeling, self-dealing, and remorseless environment surrounding money-hungry bankers in the 80’s. The book was almost too detailed with too many characters - it was difficult to keep all the characters and their respective interests straight. It felt like because the author had the information, he then felt he had to share it even though it began to feel like information overflow. Simply too much detail and too many names and firms that were difficult to remember that would be brought up after 30+ page gaps.

I probably didn’t need to know specifics of certain characters that contributed less to the overall story (e.g., certain nitty gritty on the Bank Leu bankers, random Drexel, Kidder and other bankers, some of the Cahill & Paul, Weiss lawyers, etc.) - this was really driven by Ivan Boesky, Marty Siegel and, of course, “the king” Michael Milken. I loved learning about these three and felt some of the intimate details of their lives provided the necessary context behind some of their actions. The author did a nice job of this.

I also did like how the story was broken up into sections via Above the Law (part 1) and The Chase (part 2) which really distills down the no rules, wheeling and dealing nature of the late 70’s into late 80’s that masked a house of cards that inevitably came crashing down (symbolically) at the end of the Reagan administration. Fraud does come in infinite versions, as described by Lord MacNaghten.

I think it’s interesting to compare this story, written in 1991, with the financial markets today that regularly feature stories around blatant crypto and meme coin fraud schemes, NFTs, and so much more. The product might change but greed and the thirst for power and control will cause people to employ the same tricks that Milken, Engel, Boesky, Siegel, Levine, Mulheren, Freeman and other cronies so shrewdly did to attempt to scale Mt. Wall Street in the 80’s.

This is the first book I borrowed from UNC's library, and it will only be the first one! I started reading it back in Vietnam about a month before, but once I got to UNC, I realized that I could borrow hardcover copies of it, and that's what I did first thing at Davis!

The book is split into two small ones: Above the Law, where the operations and carry-outs of the crimes are rigorously narrated, and The Chase, where - as the name suggests - criminals are 'chased' and caught.

If there is one thing to take away from Above the Law, it is the information-swamped environment that characterized Wall Street in the 1980s. Bear in mind that this was before the iPhone was introduced, and modern modes of communication we have now have not existed yet. Still, this did not hinder the free exchange of information to the slightest degree.
We should first be aware of the 1980s trend on Wall Street. Mergers and acquisitions were at the pinnacle of the market with the advance of leveraged buy-outs, or purchases made with loans or bonds, backed by investment banks. This allowed individuals with relatively limited net worth to bid for corporate giants as long as they had the backing of a prestigious bank that guaranteed to raise sufficient capital. M&As decide stock prices: if an M&A goes through, the bought entity's stock price soars; otherwise, it plunges. Thus, anticipation and collection of M&A news were the primary roles of arbitrageurs during that time. Investment banks and private law firms also get their pieces of the cake through underwriting and consulting fees. Arbitrageurs, investment banks, and lawyers - three legs of this Wall Street stool - should never be in contact with each other, since information is all that arbitrageurs need to make a successful trade and information is all that investment banks and lawyers have access to. Yet, through greed, they converged.
We are introduced to the notorious Ivan Boesky, the arbitrageur on whom the iconic Wall Street character Gordon Gekko is based, and his ring of informants - Dennis Levine of Drexel, Martin Siegel of Kidder, Peabody, and the most prominent of all, Michael Milken from Drexel, the king of junk bonds.
The collaboration of Boesky and Milken makes them one of the most feared duos on Wall Street to the degree of Lebron James and Dwayne Wade in the NBA. The former had the capital and the notorious audacity for hostile takeovers while the latter was the 'genius' who single-handedly kindled the junk bond market and possessed the ability to raise billions of dollars through high-yield pipes. Together, they could, and did, coerce M&As to happen the way they wanted, and Boesky would repay Milken in 'consulting' fees.

Yet, the circus had to come to an end. The first to be alleged was Dennis Levine, followed by Ivan Boesky and Martin Siegel, and last was Michael Milken. Book two 'The Chase' is particularly enlightening in the sense that it helps us understand how sometimes criminals can get lighter sentences than what the public deems fair.
First, the bankers had the lawyers by their side. Fees for retaining lawyers were often times covered by the banks themselves, so access to the best criminal lawyers in the nation was definitely a perk of being a banker.
Second, implication. To implicate somebody is to disclose information that can indict them, and implication is the single most important factor to prosecutors. They want cooperation from criminals to get down to the root of the crime and not omit anyone who should be indicted. We see this scheme play out multiple times throughout the book. Levine pleaded guilty and implicated Boesky; Boesky pleaded guilty and implicated Milken. What should be noted is that the last one to be indicted is at the most disadvantage since they have no further implication values for prosecutors. This fear of coming last was what drove many, including Boesky, to agree to a guilty plea and in doing so, betray others, and as it turned out, Milken was the last one and the most resistant one.

The book ended with the indictment of Milken, and when Milken came down, so did Drexel, the junk bond market, and the economy itself.

I think it was a bit too indepth for me. It was quite interesting to see some characters like Rudy Guliani appear in what at that time was still a smart/capable person. A lot can change in 25 years it seems.

Unfortunately it seems not too much has been learned, except that punishments for white collar crime seems to always be quite lenient. Many people got away with much of the money that they made while cheating their investors/everyone.

It's pretty shameful how little deterrent there is for these types of crimes, since money just makes problems go away. Now even Trump has pardonned michael Milkin who as of today still has a networth of over 3Billion dollars. He spends much of this money to try to change his image.

The words crime doesn't pay does not seem to apply for white collar crimes, that clearly does pay (although Milkin did spend time in prison).

Overall the book was a bit boring because it was so in depth and as someone who isn't deep into the financial market, I didn't really care to much about a lot of the details.

Well written and impact full. The book changed my life when I read it in the 90s. I moved to NYC, did an MBA, worked for a Wall Street firm and did the whole ride for a while. The crisis in 2008 showed that the same type of guys are doing the same kind of deals just in a different sector and maybe slightly more sophisticated products. I am not sure the author was seeking to inspire readers but the story was so gripping I had to see it for myself. Wall Street banking was (and is still) indeed like the book describes it :) Its 30 years later but still this book was the spark to set me off on a journey.