Ponzi's Scheme_ The True Story of a Financial Legend - Mitchell Zuckoff [170]
My friend and former professor Wilbur Doctor was among the journalists whom the Boston Post owed money when it failed a half century ago. Now I owe him, too, for the care he took in reading and improving this manuscript. I benefited as well from the insights and efforts of my friends and longtime colleagues Dick Lehr and Gerry O’Neill.
Ofer Gneezy and Christine McLaughlin graciously allowed me to traipse through their beautiful home to get a feel for what it was like when it belonged to Ponzi.
Henry Scannell of the Boston Public Library Microtext Department is a living treasure within a civic treasure. Thanks also to Aaron Schmidt of the library’s Print Department; research librarian Frank Wilmot of the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration; John Beck of the Albin O. Kuhn Library at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; archivists Edouard Desrochers and Shelley Bronk of Phillips Exeter Academy; Michael Moore of the National Archives and Records Administration; Massachusetts judicial archivist Elizabeth Bouvier; Lisa Tuite of the Boston Globe library; John Cronin of the Boston Herald library; Evan Ide, curator of the Larz Anderson Auto Museum; Nancy Richard of the Boston Historical Society; Jim Gallagher of the Beebe Library at Boston University; and Millie Teixiera, secretary and resident historian at Saint Anthony’s Church in Somerville. Mark Mathosian deserves credit for rescuing Ponzi’s autobiography.
Steve Bailey of the Boston Globe made me a banking reporter despite my unbalanced checkbook, a job that eventually set the stage for me to tackle this subject. For their enduring support, special thanks to Allan Zuckoff, Jeff Feigelson, Brian McGrory, Naftali Bendavid, Joann Muller, Chris Callahan, Ben Bradlee Jr., Wil Haygood, Jim and Deb Kreiter, Paul Kreiter, Jo Kreiter, Reita Ennis, Helene Atwan, Joe Kahn, Kate Shaplen, Dan Field, Collen Granahan, Ruth and Bill Weinstein, Jeff Struzenski, Amy Axelrod, Brooke and Eric Meltzer, and all my colleagues, students, and friends at Boston University.
My mother, Gerry Zuckoff, was a bookkeeper, and I suspect she would have seen the flaws in Ponzi’s plan her first day on the job. This book is dedicated to my father, Sid Zuckoff, who taught me to appreciate history and to value ideas and ideals. My daughters, Isabel and Eve, kept me happy and grounded in the present when my mind wandered to the past. My wife, Suzanne, is my Rose.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MITCHELL ZUCKOFF is a professor of journalism at Boston University. He is co-author of Judgment Ridge, which was a finalist for the Edgar Award, and author of Choosing Naia, a Boston Globe bestseller and winner of the Christopher Award. As a reporter with The Boston Globe, he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of numerous national honors, including the 2000 Distinguished Writing Award from the American Society of Newspaper Editors. He lives outside Boston with his wife and two daughters.
Also by Mitchell Zuckoff
JUDGMENT RIDGE: THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THE DARTMOUTH MURDERS
with Dick Lehr
CHOOSING NAIA: A FAMILY’S JOURNEY
Copyright © 2005 by Mitchell Zuckoff
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Zuckoff, Mitchell
Ponzi’s scheme: the true story of a financial legend / Mitchell Zuckoff.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Ponzi, Charles. 2. Swindlers and swindling—Biography. 3. Swindlers and swindling—United States—Biography. 4. Ponzi schemes—United States—History. 5. Commercial crimes—United States—Case studies. I. Title.
HV 6692.P66Z83 2005 364.16'3—dc22 [B] 2004046770
Random House website address: www.atrandom.com
eISBN: 978-1-58836-448-7
v3.0