Born to Steal

Hood brokers. Monthly million dollar paychecks. Thirtysix hour cocaine binges. “Rocky” themed pep rallies. Run-ins with Mafia thugs toting Mac 10 machine pistols. This was the life of Louis

Pasciuto, a fast-talking Staten Island kid who, from the age of

19 to 25, moved stocks for 17 different brokerage houses- most of that time without even a fake license. This inside account of the Mafia’s infiltration of Wall Street details Louis’ career as the consummate liar, selling phantom stocks to naive Americans and leading a lifestyle worthy of Caligula. To avoid a long prison sentence, Pasciuto eventually turned state’s witness.

Now, Gary Weiss shares the inside story of Wall Street’s notorious “chop houses,” the crooked Mob-run brokerages where rampant thievery netted several billion dollars from gullible investors.