Retail gangster, p.34
Retail Gangster, page 34
cash found in 2009: Agreed Order to Liquidate Account, USA v. Eddie Antar, Criminal Action 92-347, US District Court, District of New Jersey, June 11, 2010.
Deborah Antar gives birth: David Lee Preston, “The Scene in South Jersey,” Philadelphia Inquirer, May 13, 1996.
Crazy Eddie revival, 1998: Steve Klein, “Are These Guys Crazy?,” Asbury Park (NJ) Press, January 29, 1998; Lisa W. Foderaro, “Crazy Eddie’s Returning, Minus Two Jailed Founders,” New York Times, January 20, 1998.
Crazy Eddie revival, 2001: James Covert, “Crazy Eddie Chain Originator Returns to Retail with Website,” Dow Jones News Service in Philadelphia Inquirer, June 19, 2001; Lisa Marsh, “Insaaane Comeback—Convicted Crazy Eddie Returning to Retailing,” New York Post, June 6, 2001, https://nypost.com/2001/06/06/insaaaane-comeback-convicted-crazy-eddie-returning-to-retailing/.
“It was moving”: Larry Weiss, interview with the author, April 23, 2020.
investor aversion to Eddie: L. Weiss interview, April 23, 2020.
Crazy Eddie website taken down: Joseph P. Fried, “Following Up: Crazy Prices Gone, One More Time,” New York Times, September 19, 2004.
“three or four TV pilots”: David Behrens, “The Crazy World of Jerry Carroll,” Newsday, July 31, 1986.
EuroDance website: “EuroDance Masterfully Mixed by Jerry,” www.jerrycarrolldj.com (defunct), archived August 18, 2000, https://web.archive.org/web/20000818222036/http://www.jerrycarrolldj.com:80/; and March 2, 2001, https://web.archive.org/web/20010302005338/http://www.jerrycarrolldj.com:80/.
Jerry Carroll’s death: Andrea Carroll, interview with the author, January 21, 2022.
“decidedly sweeter disposition”: Joseph T. Wells, Frankensteins of Fraud (Dexter, MI: Obsidian, 2000), 259.
Sam A. Antar SEC complaint: Complaint in Securities and Exchange Commission v. Sam A. Antar, US District Court, Southern District of New York, Civ. 19-11527, December 17, 2019; Ted Sherman, “Nephew of Crazy Eddie Founder Gets Prison in His Own Investment Scam,” Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger, August 8, 2013, www.nj.com/news/2013/08/nephew_of_crazy_eddie_founder_gets_prison_in_his_own_investment_scam.html.
2019 criminal charges: “New York City Man Charged with Stealing Approximately $794,000 from Investors in New Jersey and New York,” Office of Attorney General, State of New Jersey, https://web.archive.org/web/20210112192635/https://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases19/pr20191217b.html (archived January 12, 2021); William H. Trizano, attorney for Sam A. Antar, to Judge Alison J. Nathan, indictment attached, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Sam A. Antar, November 30, 2021.
ABC News segment: Enjoli Francis et al., “At Snack Business, Young People with Autism Find Work and Skills for the Future,” ABC News, November 14, 2017, https://abcnews.go.com/Business/snack-business-young-people-autism-find-work-skills/story?id=51152031.
Debbie II divorce: Online docket entries for Deborah Antar v. Eddie Antar, New York State Supreme Court, Docket No. 0303372/2009.
Debbie II remarriage: Deborah Susan Ehrlich Antar in the New York, New York, Marriage License Indexes, 1907–2018, Spouse: Jerald Ehrlich, Date of Marriage License: June 11, 2010.
Sam Cohen sentence: Docket entry, USA v. Cohen, US District Court, Eastern District of New York, 94 cr 00143, March 6, 1997.
Dick Lewis indictment, sentencing: Richard Perez-Pena, “100 Are Linked to Huge Insurance Scheme,” New York Times, September 23, 1993; Estelle Lander Smith, “Insurance Fraud: Ex-Envoy and Former Electronic Retailer Plead Guilty,” Newsday, September 4, 1993; Docket entry, USA v. Lewis, US District Court, Eastern District of New York, 93 cr 00970, April 30, 1997.
Berman and Sabres: Brad Meikle, “Chartwell Skates in as White Knight for Sabres,” Buyouts, December 16, 2002, www.buyoutsinsider.com/chartwell-skates-in-as-white-knight-for-sabres/.
John Rigas siphoning funds from company: Barry Meier, “Ex-Accountant Testifies on Dealings with Rigas: Personal Expenses Charged to Adelphia,” New York Times, March 30, 2004.
Todd Berman’s downfall: David Robinson, “Buffalo’s Business,” Buffalo News, March 28, 2005; David Robinson, “President of New York’s Chartwell Investments Quits,” Knight-Ridder Tribune Business News, September 30, 2003; Todd Berman profile, Chartwell Investments, archived April 10, 2003, https://web.archive.org/web/20030410215727/http://www.chartwellinvestments.com/berman.html.
Berman sentence: David Robinson, “Berman Gets Five Years in Penalty Box,” Buffalo News, July 10, 2005, https://buffalonews.com/news/berman-gets-5-years-in-penalty-box/article_c9234792-f93d-54e8-acb2-e63581009939.html.
“Mr. Mautone’s advice basically saved my life”: Tim O’Brien, “Footnote to Crazy Eddie Case: You Talk, You Walk,” New Jersey Law Journal, June 13, 1994, 7.
letters from Oppenheimer-Palmieri partnership and investors: C. Stephen Howard, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy to Judge Nicholas H. Politan, USA v. Sam E. Antar, US District Court, District of New Jersey, Crim. 92-614, March 11, 1994; Howard E. Sirota, Sirota & Sirota, to Judge Politan, USA v. Sam E. Antar, March 8, 1994.
“extraordinary in its scope, its significance and its steadfast dedication”: Michael Chertoff, Paul Weissman, and Jayne Blumberg to Judge Politan, USA v. Sam E. Antar, March 14, 1994.
“If you come forward, you will be rewarded”: O’Brien, “Footnote to Crazy Eddie Case.”
“the architect of the fraud”: O’Brien, “Footnote to Crazy Eddie Case.”
restated Overstock.com earnings: Sam E. Antar, “My Reporting of a Financial Statement Manipulation Scheme at Overstock.com Is Vindicated by Latest Company Announcement,” White Collar Crime Blog, February 4, 2010, https://whitecollarfraud.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-reporting-of-financial-statement.html.
Byrne and “stolen election” conspiracy theories: Will Sommer, “Overstock Founder Will Sell You Election Fraud for $5 Per Month,” Daily Beast, May 24, 2021, www.thedailybeast.com/overstock-founder-will-sell-you-election-fraud-for-dollar5-per-month; Brian Schwartz, “Trump Allies Are Helping Overstock Founder Patrick Byrne Run a Group That Pushes False Election Claims,” CNBC.com, December 20, 2021, www.cnbc.com/2021/12/20/trump-allies-help-overstock-founder-patrick-byrne-push-false-election-claims.html.
election libel suit: Kristine Phillips, “Dominion Sues OAN, Newsmax, Ex-Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne for $1.6 Billion over Voter Fraud Claims,” USA Today, August 10, 2021, www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/08/10/dominion-sues-newsmax-oan-trump-ally-patrick-byrne-over-fraud-claims/5551561001/; A. J. Vicens, “Mojo Wire: Former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne Gets Sued for Pushing Election Lies,” Mother Jones, August 10, 2021, www.motherjones.com/mojo-wire/2021/08/patrick-byrne-dominion-defamation/.
“pariah”: Ja’han Jones, “After Faking Jan. 6 Outrage, Big Companies Still Donate to GOP Election Deniers,” MSNBC.com, January 6, 2022, www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/corporations-funding-jan-6-republicans-rcna11115.
Overstock aide’s plea deal: Weiss, “Closing the File on a Criminal and Junkie Named Judd Bagley; State of Utah v. Judson Montgomery Bagley, Case No. 131400924, www.scribd.com/doc/260361037/Judd-Bagley-Confessed-Drug-Addict-and-Criminal; Lehi City Police, “Officer Report for Incident LE01597, Forgery,” www.scribd.com/document/261999238/Judd-Bagley-Arrest-Record.
“wistful for Crazy Eddie”: Michael Schulman, “Remembering Crazy Eddie: His Prices Were Insane,” New Yorker, September 17, 2016.
“evoked a less slick”: Ralph Gardner Jr., “Wistful for Era of ‘Crazy Eddie,’” Wall Street Journal, September 14, 2016.
Gammerman decision: Affidavit of Deborah Antar in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment in Lieu of Complaint, Deborah Antar v. Solomon E. Antar, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, Index No. 650482/2019, January 23, 2019, Exhibit 1.
Deborah Antar 2019 lawsuit: Affidavit of Deborah Antar in Support of Motion for Summary Judgment in Lieu of Complaint, Deborah Antar v. Solomon E. Antar, Second Amended Complaint, Deborah Antar v. Eddie Antar and Solomon Antar, Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, 15980/87, May 16, 1991.
Also by Gary Weiss
Born to Steal: When the Mafia Hit Wall Street
Wall Street Versus America: A Muckraking Look at the Thieves, Fakers, and Charlatans Who Are Ripping You Off
Ayn Rand Nation: The Hidden Struggle for America’s Soul
Praise for
RETAIL GANGSTER
“Crazy Eddie was one of the most brazen, longest-running frauds in history. For twenty years, the criminal mastermind Eddie Antar fooled everyone he came into contact with, from Wall Street ‘masters of the universe,’ to the government, the media and the people who came into his stores. Eddie went no higher than junior high school—the first of his many crimes was truancy—but that did not hamper him. He was as brilliant as he was dishonest. As detailed in this enthralling book, Crazy Eddie was a merchandising phenomenon as well as a world-class con game. Eddie might have been a successful businessman had he not sought the American Dream through crime.
Retail Gangster ties together all the strands of the Crazy Eddie story in an immensely readable and enjoyable narrative, filled with fascinating characters, astounding subplots, and more plot twists than a pretzel.”
—Frank W. Abagnale, New York Times bestselling author of Catch Me If You Can
“An absorbing and revealing treatise on the underbelly of the American Dream, where scam artists and businessmen are one and the same, and the fruits of their labor—in this case an iconic ad campaign once familiar to all New Yorkers—was the by-product of criminal chutzpah and greed. Retail Gangster will turn you inside out and have you reading late into the night.”
—T. J. English, author of Dangerous Rhythms, Havana Nocturne, and The Savage City
“A hi-fidelity dive into the complex and contradictory world of a kid who rode the American Dream from immigrant Brooklyn to the coveted throne of New York discount electronics—and then to prison. A deeply reported and sensitive snapshot of the retail legend known as ‘Crazy Eddie,’ and of the place that lifted him up and brought him down.”
—Matti Friedman, author of Who By Fire and The Aleppo Codex
“This would be a remarkable work of fiction, except this tale of one man’s audacious addiction to fraud is true. Retail Gangster is destined to go down as a classic in the annals of public-company fraud. With his history of tracking gangsters, there was nobody better to tell that story than Gary Weiss.”
—Herb Greenberg, veteran financial journalist and commentator
“What a romp! With clarity and riveting detail, Weiss describes the rise and fall of a retail legend, and does it with the panache of Crazy Eddie himself—but without the lies. Rarely has accounting fraud been examined with such wit and energy. Add what may be the most insanely dysfunctional clan to ever operate a family business, and you have a thoroughly entertaining tale!”
—Diana B. Henriques, New York Times bestselling author of The Wizard of Lies and A First-Class Catastrophe
“Gary Weiss tackles the riveting saga of retailing huckster and shameless fraudster ‘Crazy Eddie’ with verve and panache. The result is a compelling yarn of a guy who embraced every crooked scheme he encountered, and snookered loyal employees, family, consumers, and investors indiscriminately and with zero remorse. It’s far more entertaining than any cautionary tale deserves to be!”
—Suzanne McGee, author of Chasing Goldman Sachs
“For those of us who lived in New York in the 1980s and 1990s, Crazy Eddie was part of the city’s unique DNA. I lived three blocks from the discount chain’s East 57th Street flagship store and it had a magnetic lure for all things electronic. I closely followed the news reports of the chain’s rise and fall. It was not until I read Gary Weiss’s extensively reported and wonderfully written Retail Gangster that I realized how little I knew. Relying on fresh interviews and new information he discovered in massive court filings, Weiss has delivered a page-turning tale that reveals the dysfunctional family saga behind one of the era’s most fabled criminal scams. The rags to riches story of the Antar family also provides a vivid and gripping account of the players in New York’s wild merger and acquisition frenzy and booming stock market. Weiss delivers a real-life version of Succession meets Bernie Madoff.”
—Gerald Posner, award-winning journalist and bestselling author of Pharma, God’s Banker, and Secrets of the Kingdom
Gary Weiss, Retail Gangster
