King of the Club: Richard Grasso and the Survival of the New York Stock Exchange » (Reprint)

Charles Gasparino is a correspondent for CNBC and a former writer for the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Gasparino was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in beat reporting in 2002 and won the New York Press Club Award for best continuing coverage of the Wall Street research scandals. He lives with his wife in New York City.

Rags-to-riches stories abound in American lore, but even Horatio Alger would have been hard-pressed to write one as powerful as Richard Grasso's: the son of a working-class family whose childhood dream was to become a cop. He grew up in New York City's outer boroughs, far removed from the marble halls, expensive suits, and imported cigars of the New York Stock Exchange. Here is the riveting story of how he rose to become the most influential CEO in the Exchange's history. Minus the tony upbringing, affluent prep schools, or inside connections that were de rigueur for top Wall Street players, Grasso would master the subtle deal-making and politics necessary to succeed in the most competitive business on Earth. But despite his successes, Grasso would soon sow the seeds of his own downfall, an event that would change the Exchange forever.

The King of the Club paperback edition, featuring a full update on the story, chronicles the amazing rise, fall, and possible rise again of Richard Grasso, and also tells the modern history of the all-powerful institution that he came to symbolize: The New York Stock Exchange.

David Weidner - MarketWatch.com

The detail in which Gasparino describes the boardroom back-stabbing is as thorough and compelling as a reader will find in any book about Wall Street.

Cast of Characters     ix
Prologue     1
It's Good to be King     7
The Earl of Sandwich     27
"The Empty Suit"     67
The Little Guy in the Dark Suit     97
Sugar Daddy     127
The Savior     153
The Last Hurrah     175
Star Fucker or Savior?     201
The Uprising Begins     217
One Bad Day     243
With Friends Like These...     285
Enter the Enforcer     299
The Goldman Sachs Exchange     311
Acknowledgments     337
Notes     339
Index     355