A Long Way to the Top
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, as far removed from the marble halls, expensive suits, and imported cigars of the New York Stock Exchange as if his grandparents had remained in Italy. 
Here is the riveting story of how the "Little Man in the Dark Suit" 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.
The Day the Market Fell
The story of September 11, 2001—the shock, panic, resilience, and heroism—is one that's been told many times. But on that day, Richard Grasso faced a challenge no other CEO of the Club had ever imagined: how to bring the very heart of global finance back from near-death to functioning operation. Swiftly, completely, and without the public knowing how desperate the struggle really was. He met it with aplomb: his finest hour, and yet one that sowed the seeds of his own destruction.
A Plutocrat's Pay
As the Exchange leapt from success to success, and Grasso's reputation, already gold-plated following 9/11, grew with it, the Club's Board of Directors lavishly rewarded him with a pay package that even the CEOs at the world's largest corporations might envy: more than $140 million in deferred compensation. It was a package that, when leaked, brought down a hailstorm of protest; bitter divisions among the most powerful names on Wall Street; an investigation from the "Scourge of Wall Street," then–Attorney General Eliot Spitzer; and Grasso's eventual humiliating downfall.
The End of an Era
Almost single-handedly, Grasso had kept the famous specialist system, where human traders matched buy and sell orders, front and center at the Club. As competing camps plotted his downfall, the exchange's fate became clear: without Grasso, it might survive and indeed flourish, but the Exchange, the firms that supplied it with business, and the structures underpinning the movement of money around the country and the globe would never be the same.

King of the Club: Richard Grasso and the Survival of the New York Stock Exchange

Biographies & Memoirs

Gasparino, Charles

Professionals & Academics

Harper Business

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.

Collins Business

In the spirit of Barbarians at the Gate and Liar’s Poker comes The Sellout, the definitive book on the recent collapse of Wall Street, one of the most dramatic and anxiety-ridden era in national socioeconomic history. In this powerful business narrative, Charles Gasparino, the author of Blood on the Floor and King of the Club, captures how avarice, arrogance, and sheer stupidity eroded Wall Street’s dominance, made many of our country’s most fabled financial institutions vulnerable to significant new foreign control, and profoundly weakened the financial security of millions of poor and middle-class American families.

The Sellout: How Three Decades of Wall Street Greed and Government Mismanagement Destroyed the Global Financial System

History

The ongoing tumult in financial markets and the global economy began when some of our most esteemed financial institutions, our government, and even average citizens abdicated their collective responsibilities, eventually selling out investors and selling off the American Dream itself. From critically acclaimed investigative journalist and CNBC personality Charles Gasparino comes a sweeping examination of the most volatile, anxiety-ridden era in our nation's socioeconomic history. The winner of the 2009 Investigative Reporters and Editors Award for Books, The Sellout traces the recent implosion of the financial services business back to its roots in the late 1970s, when Wall Street embraced a new business model predicated on enormous risk. Gasparino reveals a startling trail of culpabilityfrom the government bureaucrats who crafted housing policies to the Wall Street firms that underwrote and invested in risky debt, to the mortgage sellers who indiscriminately handed out loans, and finally to the homeowners who thought they could afford mansions on blue-collar wages.

The bestselling author of The Sellout tells the explosive story of the government’s crackdown on insider-trading networks—an investigation that has already racked up more than 60 convictions.
In Circle of Friends, award-winning journalist Charles Gasparino—one of Wall Street's most knowledgeable observers—follows government investigators and prosecutors as they pursue one of the most aggressive and broad-reaching series of insider-trading cases in the nation's history. A richly textured page-turner of investigative journalism based on extensive reporting, Circle of Friends chronicles the massive federal crackdown that has already put some of the biggest names on Wall Street behind bars, including Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group, and Rajat Gupta, a former CEO of consulting giant McKinsey &amp; Co. Other similarly sized targets are still waiting nervously, including the biggest one of them all—financial impresario Steve Cohen of SAC Capital, the giant hedge fund that has confounded regulators for years by cranking out a steady stream of market-busting returns.
Gasparino goes behind the headlines to reveal how the government makes its case, using every tool at its disposal—and at great expense to taxpayers—to supposedly make the investing world safer for average Americans. Gasparino asks why federal officials are so eager to prosecute these cases: What is the real damage to individuals? Do average investors really care? He explores why insider trading is all the rage these days when the U.S. government has failed to bring a single criminal case against the culprits who caused the 2008 financial crisis. 
Circle of Friends is not a defense of insider trading, but it does offer an account of the politics of Wall Street crime fighting, revealing the behind-the-scenes ambitions that motivate headlines and burnish political careers. 
A riveting work of narrative nonfiction, as engrossing and explosive as fictional thrillers of the finest magnitude, Circle of Friends is a wakeup call to the investing public.

Circle of Friends: The Massive Federal Crackdown on Insider Trading---and Why the Markets Always Work Against the Little Guy

Reference

Circle of Friends: The Massive Federal Crackdown on Insider Trading--and Why the Markets Always Work Against the Little Guy

Discusses Wall Street price manipulation practices that were used throughout the 1990s by three individuals from Salomon Smith Barney, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch who were responsible for scamming everyday investors out of millions of dollars. 75,000 first printing. First serial, Wall Street Journal.

Blood on the Street: The Sensational Inside Story of How Wall Street Analysts Duped a Generation of Investors

Business & Money

Free Press

As the recession continues, President Barack Obama has chastised the "fat cats" who feast off government bailout money while unemployment remains high and smaller businesses struggle. But according to business reporter Charles Gasparino, Obama is faking his outrage, and his calls for new policies to rein in banks that are "too big to fail" are just pabulum. In reality, Obama has climbed into bed with Wall Street CEOs, giving them what they want so they will support his liberal, big-government agenda. As a result, the big banks responsible for the credit crisis get rescued, while small businesses and ordinary Americans get crushed by higher taxes and irresponsible spending. Gasparino draws on interviews with dozens of key CEOs and political players to trace the roots of Wall Street's twisted love affair with one of the most liberal presidents in American history. He shows how, for decades, big banks and big business have colluded with big government, thereby laying the groundwork for today's shady dealings, and how the same bankers Obama now publically reprimands have supported him-not because he promises change, but because he promises business. Written in Gasparino's characteristic no-nonsense style, this book is a wake-up call to all Americans to strike back against the people and policies that are ruining our country.

Bought and Paid For: The Unholy Alliance Between Barack Obama and Wall Street

Economics

Tantor Audio

A riveting and smashmouth journalistic deep-dive into the progressive madness that has infected and corrupted the world's biggest corporations, threatening the stability of the global economy--and life as we know it. &nbsp; Intimidated by activists on the left, virtually every major corporation in America has embraced woke politics. For years, these businesses could get away with progressive virtual signaling without worrying about alienating customers. But things have changed. As high-profile backlashes at companies like Anheuser-Busch, Disney, and Target show us, customers are fighting back. Companies who cave to the demands of left-wing social justice activists are being punished like never before. &nbsp; In Go Woke, Go Broke, New York Times bestselling author and veteran Fox Business financial journalist Charles Gasparino takes readers inside these disastrous corporate backlashes. A respected financial reporter who has covered finance for more than 30 years, Gasparino is deeply sourced and has dug into countless episodes involving Wall Street greed, corporate hubris, and government overreach in enterprise. Gasparino&nbsp;traces the origins of ESG and "stakeholder investing" and takes readers along on a ride as he shines a light on Fortune 500 companies that have suffered financially for caving to the silly and irresponsible demands of social justice activists and left-wing interests. &nbsp; This explosive, in-depth investigation into the seminal players, institutions, and forces of the markets shows that, for the sake of global stability, we must immediately pry the clenched fists of radical activists off the levers of the economy.

Go Woke, Go Broke: The Inside Story of the Radicalization of Corporate America

Center Street

A top reporter exposes the deep ties between the Obama administration and the big banks that are bankrupting our country. As the recession continues, President Obama has chastised the "fat cats" who feast off government bailout money while unemployment remains high and smaller businesses struggle. But according to Gasparino, Obama is faking his outrage, and his calls for new policies to rein in banks that are "too big to fail" are just pabulum. In reality, Obama has climbed into bed with Wall Street CEOs, giving them what they want so they will support his liberal, big- government agenda. As a result, the big banks responsible for the credit crisis get rescued, while small businesses and ordinary Americans get crushed by higher taxes and irresponsible spending. Gasparino draws on interviews with dozens of key CEOs and political players to trace the roots of Wall Street's twisted love affair with one of the most liberal presidents in American history. He shows how, for decades, big banks and big business have colluded with big government, thereby laying the groundwork for today's shady dealings, and how the same bankers Obama now publically reprimands have supported him-not because he promises change, but because he promises business. Written in Gasparino's characteristic smart yet no-nonsense style, this book is both an exposé and a wake-up call to all Americans to strike back against the people and policies who are ruining our country.

Bought and Paid For: The Hidden Relationship Between Wall Street and Washington

Portfolio

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gasparino, Charles. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gasparino, Charles

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gasparino, Charles. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

King of the Club: Richard Grasso and the Survival of the New York Stock Exchange

King of the Club: Richard Grasso and the Survival of the New York Stock Exchange

The Sellout: How Three Decades of Wall Street Greed and Government Mismanagement Destroyed the Global Financial System

The Sellout: How Three Decades of Wall Street Greed and Government Mismanagement Destroyed the Global Financial System

Circle of Friends: The Massive Federal Crackdown on Insider Trading---and Why the Markets Always Work Against the Little Guy

Circle of Friends: The Massive Federal Crackdown on Insider Trading--and Why the Markets Always Work Against the Little Guy

Blood on the Street: The Sensational Inside Story of How Wall Street Analysts Duped a Generation of Investors

Bought and Paid For: The Unholy Alliance Between Barack Obama and Wall Street

Go Woke, Go Broke: The Inside Story of the Radicalization of Corporate America

Bought and Paid For: The Hidden Relationship Between Wall Street and Washington