This business, on a legitimate basis, is a fraud.

Not that it's a fraud. You need money to be in this business. But not a lot. You need more money to open a shoe-shine shop than you do to buy a $2 bill/on company, let's be honest about it. But to buy a shoe-shine store, if it costs $3,ooo, you need $3,ooo. If you don't got it in cash, you need to bring it by Thursday.

But if it's an LBO, not only do you not have to bring it, you don't have to see it, you don't know where you're going to get it, nobody knows where they got it from. The whole situation comes from absolutely nothing.

But the more you need, of course, the less money you need. In other words, if there's money involved, you don't get involved in this business. This is a business for people who don't have money, but who know somebody who has money, but who doesn't put it up either...

With a stake of $25 billion, the battle for the control of RJR Nabisco during October and November 1988 became a symbol of the greed and power-mongering of the eighties. This gripping narrative reveals the truth behind a Wall Street gamble that sent shock waves through the international business world.