The Pretender: How Martin Frankel Fooled the Financial World and Led the Feds on One of the Most Publicized Manhunts in History

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Entertaining Read!

Impeccably researched

What an account..

ANNOYING.

ANNOYING.

The Pretender: How Martin Frankel Fooled the Financial World and Led the Feds on One of the Most Publicized Manhunts in History
Ellen Pollock
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0743204190
Release Date: 2002-09-17

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Ellen Joan Pollock's The Pretender is a biography of Martin Frankel, an unsavory financial savant whose vast illicit empire reached into very high places on two continents before collapsing with thundering suddenness. By the time of his arrest in 1999, Frankel had bilked various insurance companies out of $200 million via an elaborate (and oddly haphazard) Ponzi scheme. Pollock chronicles not only Frankel's phantom stock trades, fictional portfolios, asset skimming, and money laundering, but his mind-boggling personal extravagances--both financial and sexual. (His Greenwich, Connecticut, headquarters served both as business office and home to a shifting harem devoted to Frankel's sadomasochistic interests.) Pollock is a scrupulous writer, but for those unversed in financial subtleties, her novelistic treatment too rarely steps back to present overviews of the tangled crimes and their implications. Absent as well, finally, is any compelling psychological portrait of the bizarre and saurian Frankel. --H. O'Billovitch

Book Description

This is the unbelievable-but-true account of Martin Frankel -- a timid, two-bit investor with a dark side who pulled off one of the greatest financial scams of the century and led the FBI on a four-month global chase before finally being caught.

The Pretender chronicles how a bumbling thirty-year-old Midwesterner, a lifelong gawky misfit, built an intricate, fraudulent moneymaking scheme that bilked insurance companies out of $200 million. Transforming himself from mama's boy to corporate mogul, Martin Frankel entered a world peopled with desperate businessmen, political power brokers, masterful con artists, vulnerable women, vindictive husbands, and charitable priests -- and spun his web of lies deep inside the power centers of Washington, D.C., New York, and the Vatican. But such success and excess aroused the suspicions of the authorities, and Frankel vanished from his opulent mansion-leaving behind a mysterious fire and some very confused law-enforcement officials-and ran for his life across Europe.

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"How could a two-bit investor, too paralyzed with fear to trade stocks, bilk insurance companies out of $200 million? How could a gawky misfit with an obsessive terror of germs induce a harem of attractive young women to feud over him? How could a recluse from Toledo, Ohio, penetrate the circles of political and financial power in Washington, D.C., and New York City without leaving his house? How could a Jewish guy with a passion for S&M sex persuade the Vatican to go into business with him? And how could he do all this without anybody noticing? Now the whole amazing story of how Martin Frankel pulled off one of the greatest financial scams of the century is revealed by The Wall Street Journal's Ellen Joan Pollock, who was a lead writer on the reporting team that broke story after story as Frankel eluded the FBI's four-month international manhunt. The Pretender chronicles how a bumbling thirty year old used his financial skills to build an intricate Ponzi scheme based on lies and his amazing gift for luring businessmen -- including Democratic powerbroker Robert Strauss -- into his web. Frankel's stolen millions allowed him to transform himself easily from mama's boy to corporate mogul. His creation of a phony Catholic charity drew the interest of priests with close Vatican ties as well as a new group of mysterious business partners. But his attempts to go ""global"" proved more challenging and aroused the suspicions of state regulators. Frantic that his empire was about to unravel, Frankel vanished from his multimillion-dollar Greenwich, Connecticut, mansion, leaving behind a mysterious fire, a dozen or so heartbroken women, and some very confused law-enforcement officials. His bizarre scamper through Europe as a fugitive would ultimately climax in a German hotel room.

Customer Reviews:

Entertaining Read!.......2007-03-14

Well-researched, entertaining, well-written and an interesting story. However, I agree with Daniel Morrison's review in that the actual crime and effects on average people were not explained. You had to guess of that yourself, but it was generally obvious. It was one of the better books I've read and it was definitly worth the time and money.
Cheers Ellen Pollock!

Impeccably researched.......2004-06-04

It is obvious that Pollock dedicated about two years of her life or more to research the details, and it shows. I was constantly amazed at the details that were uncovered and the collections of conversations.

What an account.........2004-04-12

How was this man not caught sooner? It shows how greed affects us all. The seemingly educated, powerful people that Frankel was able to take in with his house of cards was amazing.

That he did most of the damage while still living at his parents house in Toledo, OH makes it even more amazing. Here is a man who was facinated with financial markets which he read about and studied for over 10,000 self confessed hours. He knew brokers and investors at all the major brokerage houses near his home. He was a "paper trader" and was more often than not correct. Yet he couldnt bring himself to pull the trigger and actually trade.

The gist of the scheme was started when Frankel started a phony stock brokerage and used a ponzi scheme to lure investors. But he was too afraid to make trades for his customers. He then decided to use his ill-gotten cash to buy a bank and in the process of shopping for one he came accross a "pre-need buriel insurance" firm that was in play. You'll have to read the rest.

I couldnt put this one down. Just when you think it cant get any more strange, it does.

ANNOYING........2003-07-15

WHAT AN ANNOYING SCREWHEAD. I keep trying to read this book and have given up. Frankel's lying is one thing, but good Lord, his inability to actually consumate a trade (or anything else, evidently) is BEYOND annoying and makes for frustrating reading. At 2 bucks for a used copy, it's overpriced.

ANNOYING........2003-07-15

Book Description

Complexity is the core issue of organizational concern for the age we have entered, not just for the year 2000 but for the new century we are about to enter. The purpose of this book is showing, both theoretically and practically, how organizational and managerial cybernetics can contribute to this core issue. The authors offer a holistic view of both organizations and individual actions. They provide a framework to relate and organize the myriad activities natural to today's business. It offers a framework to account for organizational complexity, align strategic processes and organization structure and information systems. It also develops further the Viable System Model as a framework for organizational diagnosis and design.

Customer Reviews:

Organizational Transformation and Learning : A Cybernetic Ap.......2000-02-08

El libro es de requerimiento urgente... Gracias por la ayudan que me puedan ofrecer.

Practical Cybernetic Approach.......1997-08-06

In this book you can find a practical overview of about cybernetic approach for create learning organizations. Recursive management, complexity and variety built conceptual framework that guide practitioner to explore specific characteristics of relationships in organizations. Ing. Jeimy J. Cano

Book Description

This high-quality laboratory manual may accompany any comparative anatomy text, but especially Kardong's Vertebrates: Comparative Anatomy, Function, Evolution or Kent/Carr's Comparative Anatomy. This text carefully guides students through dissections and is richly illustrated.

Customer Reviews:

A great improvement.......2001-08-24

Having written a rather scathing review of the previous edition of this guide, I thought it only appropriate that I write a review for this fantastic rewrite. My biggest problem with the previous edition was the quality of the images. However, the majority of the poor images of the previous edition have been replaced by wonderful drawings for this latest edition. There are still a few problematic pictures (such as the alligator skull with many of the sutures not drawn), but as a whole I give the new pictures 5 stars because of the extreme detail and the ease of use. The addition of repeating the most important images at the back of the book add to this books use. And, the fact that the pages are perforated, means that a student could easily put the pictures in any order that they please. Although I had been planning on changing lab texts, I now see no point as Kardong and Zalisko, 3rd ed. is the best out there.

Excellent art, very clear directions.......2001-08-16

This 3rd edition is filled with updated art that in many respects exceeds any of its competition. Further, nearly every piece of art is printed again in the back of the laboratory manual to allow the figures to be sorted and reviewed separate from the laboratory text. This feature is especially attractive to my students.

The skeletal material is well illustrated and includes detailed descriptions of turtles and alligators not addressed in other laboratory manuals. The text is succinct and clearly organized. Especially unique and useful are the numerous short boxed essays describing particular aspects of structure-function relationships and the evolution of the specific anatomy under examination.

I strongly recommend this manual as an attractive, clearly written, and thoroughly illustrated manual to support any course in comparative vertebrate anatomy. It also makes for a wonderful reference book for vertebrate biologists.

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Comparative Anatomy/Lab Dissection Guide/Comparative Anatomy of Vertebrates
Kent
Manufacturer: Mcgraw-Hill College
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books
Anatomy | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0073236144

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Imagine an owner's manual for an automobile or a washing machine, its pages studded with exploded diagrams of pistons and ducts. Transfer this model to the animal kingdom, and you have this unusual, richly descriptive catalog of animals from aardvark to wombat, ranging from the common (the hedgehog, opossum, and rat) to the exceedingly rare (Przhevalski's horse, the snow leopard). Each of these animals enjoys an oversized, two-page spread that includes several illustrations. For the Tasmanian devil, for example, color diagrams depict the marsupial carnivore's complex dentition, the shape of its paws and claws, and the musculature of its massive lower jaw; for the greater horseshoe bat, the illustrations include portraits of relatives such as the false vampire bat and mouse-tailed bat, along with a complete skeletal chart. Each entry includes notes on natural history, range, and habitat, along with measurements and characteristic features. Budding zoologists will enjoy leafing through these pages, which make for a nice artists' reference and an inviting coffee-table book as well. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

Animal Factfile is a visual guide to the most important and most

interesting anatomical peculiarities of the world's most irresistible animals.

This collection gives children a rare opportunity to explore such animal-lover's delights as a gorilla's footprint, a dolphin's blowhole, a hippo's ears, or the bottom

of an elephant's foot at a glance.

Generous two-page spreads exhibit each mammal's physiology right down to the bone, with x-ray views of their skeletons and skull structure. Side-by-side comparisons pinpoint characteristics that distinguish each mammal from similar species, as well as their scale in relation to humans. Each full-color spread also features a fact file providing biological classification, size, coloration, and more.

For ages 10 and up.

Customer Reviews:

My son loves it.......2006-02-22

I have a 4-year-old son with autism who absolutely LOVES animals. We renewed this book from the library, and I wanted to buy it because he looks through it SO much. I do agree that sometimes it brings in another animal on the pages, and then doesn't explain the relationship, or other things about the animal that we might want to know. I also wish it would tell us what the animals eat, but that is a personal preference based on my son's desire to know that. But the drawings are nice and large, and there is quite a variation of different animals. He certainly knows more than most 4-year-olds when it comes to animals. And now we know more about animals than most adults do, too.

it is very good book my son had it.......1999-03-09

I had question to ask please do you know about thisagency retrieval masters creditors bureau,inc? I wish if you can help me because I want to collect the other section from the file wildlife file fact my son have some of it and I am trying to get the rest of it . can you please tell me how can i reach them to know from where I had this file , I spend almost year searching for this agency . please I need your help so bad, thank you very much

Animal Fact-File: Head-To-Tail Profiles of over 90 Mammals

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Animal Fact-File: Head-To-Tail Profiles of over 90 Mammals
Tony Hare
Manufacturer: Facts on File
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000S6PFOC

Book Description

They ruled the ring with iron fists and carved their names in boxing history. Here are their stories, told in words and pictures that bring you inside the world of a heavyweight boxing champion.

This fascinating illustrated retrospective explores the gritty inside stories of the boxers and brawlers who earned the title of Heavyweight Boxing World Champion. In perhaps the most beautiful book ever produced on the sport, more than 200 color and black-and-white photographs reveal the stunning brutality and unexpected grace of heavyweight boxing. The sport's evolution is traced from 1866 through today, including such legendary warriors as Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Muhammad Ali, and Lennox Lewis, as well as lesser known champions like Bob Fitzsimmons, Tommy Burns, and Jack Sharkey. Detailed biographies and complete career statistics are provided for each champion, along with an amazing look at what it's like to be inside the eye of the storm at a world championship fight.

Customer Reviews:

No new ground but still a good book........2007-06-08

This is a rather enjoyable book. Its not meant to be a blockbuster or reveal any new ground breaking information regarding the fighters. It's basically a nice picture book about boxing that can be thrown on your coffee table. The pictures are very nice quality. The information about the fighters is more a "cliff's notes" version of the division. Its the equivalent to a piece of bubble gum to the boxing fan.

Heavyweight held by the White Race again........2006-09-04

Why is the media silent about the fact that not one, but four of the heavyweight belts are held by the White man? Will the jewish negro worshippers like Kellerman and Sugar give them credit? Of course not. They will just say the division is weak. Start sucking the White man's kneecaps jews and negros.

Outstanding history of the heavyweight division with a twist.......2006-03-01

This is one of the finest books I've ever read on the history of heavyweight boxing. What really propels it from the realms of the mundane are two traits that are as follows.

Firstly the prominence given to pre-Louis black fighters who partly through their own talents (ie no one wanted to square up to them) but mostly due to American racism were never given the opportunity to compete for the crown. And arguably they were so superior to other boxers of their day, that it's likely that the history of boxing might have been radically different had they had that chance. It's great to see Pete Jackson, Sam Langford and Harry Wills finally get their dues.

The second thing to recommend this book is the warts-and-all approach that Evans takes. I get so tired of reading how these guys were killers in the ring but gentlemen outside. Not true! Boxers are rough, hard men and it's refreshing to read a book that doesn't attempt to air-brush them and instead reveal all the squalid ugliness and prejudice that enveloped them. On the downside, I do get the impression though that Evans is digging for dirt slightly and going for sensationalism somewhat. For example, Dempsey is quoted as having said that Schmeling's victory over The Brown Bomber was a great validation for the white man and yet I have copies of The Ring from that era (between the two Louis-Schmeling bouts) where Dempsey is simply gushing over Joe, stating that Louis shouldn't get disheartened by his loss.

The most annoying thing about Kings Of The Ring, though, is the lack of proofreading. There are some scandalous errors such as attributing Liston-Patterson II to 1967 instead of 1963 and for this reason I cannot recommend it to a total newcomer. However, provided you know your facts already, this is a fine read that I'm already referring to over and over. And Evans' final paragraph on Tyson is a fitting and eloquent swansong to the man who could have been Dempsey, Louis and Marciano combined had he reined in his darker impulses. That paragraph is worth the price of admission alone.

A very nice history of the Heavyweight Champions.......2006-01-15

This book is never going to be ground-breaking as there has been so much written about the Heavies of the years. One thing that attracted me greatly was the use of rare photos that I hadn't seen before.

The stories on Harry Wills and Sam Langford were much appreciated as they were both overlooked in so many books.

A glossy and enjoyable book, recommended.

kings of the ring.......2005-11-22

I must admit I picked up `Kings of the Ring' with a little trepidation. I like my sports books to be correct in every detail as well as sparkling and original, and I was concerned this might be coffee table fare - great on pictures but light on text. I found myself extremely pleasantly surprised.

The book is broken up into chapters on all the heavyweight champions and a few who never won universal recognition, from the bareknuckle days to the present, and yet it manages a seamlessly coherent narrative. In the early 20th century, for example, the theme is one of white (mainly Irish-American) men striving to the top while battling to keep African Americans out of the loop. This allows the author, Gavin Evans, to delve deeper than any other I have read into the lives of some of the great fighters who were frozen out of the title race (Peter Jackson, Sam Langford and Harry Wills) and also to look at the failings of the great champions with an unblinking eye.

He clearly admires many of these men and the way they fought, but he never allows that to blind him to their many faults. As he writes in his introduction, "In retrospect their flaws probably seem more remarkable than in their own airbrushed times: the extreme racism of most of the early white gloved champions, the violence against women and other men, the greed, the stupidity, the links with organised crime, the alcohol and the drugs." All of this is exposed without recourse to euphemism or, indeed, for hyperbole and in some cases the picture that emerges is genuinely shocking. For example, I was raised to think of Jack Dempsey as a sweetheart outside the ring as much as he was a killer inside the ropes, but, sadly, this book presents a very different picture of the man: a violent, racist, bully for much of his life. Jack Johnson, Joe Louis and even Rocky Marciano also emerge more flawed, or rather more rounded, than the bowdlerised versions of their lives I'd previously encountered.

Despite all this, Evans clearly adores the old heroes - as much for their flaws as for their assets - and he lovingly provides vivid details of their fights and their lives as champions. In the end, though, he emerges as something of a modernist, taking the view that boxing, like every other sport, has moved on. He ends by predicting, tongue presumably not too far from cheek, that in 50 years time we'll be saying: "Ah, Tyson, Holyfield, Lewis, Klitschko - they don't make them like that any more."

So, definitely worth a cover-to-cover read and on top of that the pictures are truly wonderful. I've been following boxing for many moons but most of the pictures of the old champions were ones I'd never seen before, and they include contemporary cartoons and other illustrations. Highly recommended. *****

Kings of the Ring: The History of Heavyweight Boxing

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Kings of the Ring: The History of Heavyweight Boxing
Gavin Evans
Manufacturer: WN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORQUXU

Book Description

This best-selling collection features ten chapters focusing on the classic methods of narration, description, argument, and persuasion. It contains classic and contemporary essays about popular culture, along with advice about how to read analytically, and how to write persuasively and effectively. Each chapter is organized clearly and effectively, enabling the reader to not only understand each essay and but also what the writer was trying to convey. An excellent reference work as well as an interesting and thoughtful collection of essays.

Customer Reviews:

A Freshman Composition Reader Worthy of a Look.......2000-05-04

Dr. Miller has, by and large, pulled in readings from "everyday" places--popular magazines, newspapers, &c. Because of this, the Prentice Hall Reader has a fresh, current feel. Organized by "modes" of writing with supporting how-to essays and a glossary.

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From the catwalk to the shopping mall, from the big screen to the art museum, fashion plays an increasingly central role in contemporary culture. Fashion Cultures investigates why we are so fascinated by fashion and the associated spheres of photography, magazines and television, and shopping.
Fashion Cultures:
* re-addresses the fashionable image, considering the work of designers from Paul Smith to Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan
* investigates the radicalism of fashion photography, from William Klein to Corinne Day
* considers fashion for the "unfashionable body" (the old and the big), football and fashion, and geographies of style
* explores the relationship between fashion and the moving image in discussions of female cinema icons - from Grace Kelly to Gwyneth Paltrow - and iconic male images - from Cary Grant to Malcolm X and Mr Darcy - that have redefined notions of masculinity and cool
* makes a significant intervention into contemporary gender politics and theory, exploring themes such as spectacle, masquerade, and the struggle between fashion and feminism.

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