The last tycoons: the secret history of Lazard Frères & Co (131 page)

"Pierre used to refer": Reich,
Financier,
p. 39.

"In one year": Ibid., p. 39.

Altschul would be "retiring":
NYT,
December 16, 1943.

Altschul was voted out: Gerschel interview, June 21, 2005.

"that had become":
Lazard Freres & Co.: The First 150 Years
(New York: Lazard Freres & Co., 1998), p. 30.

"I don't think the control": Reich,
Financier,
p. 41.

"He looks at": Robert Agostinelli interview, May 31, 2005.

"Many thanks for": Frank Altschul to Robert Kindersley, December 20, 1943.

"You no doubt": FAP, Frank Altschul to David David-Weill, October 16,1944.

He never received a reply: FAP, Frank Altschul to Ginette Lazard, May 23,1945.

"The trip was abominable": FAP, Frank Altschul to Andre Meyer, May 16,1945.

"deepest sympathy": FAP, Frank Altschul to Pierre David-Weill, June 22,1945.

"Berthe deeply touched": FAP, Pierre David-Weill to Frank Altschul, July 27,1945.

"It is such a long time": FAP, Frank Altschul to Ginette Lazard, July 17,1952.

"What Andre Meyer": Reich,
Financier,
pp. 41-42.

"He wanted to make this": Ibid., p. 42.

Chapter 4. "You Are Dealing with Greed and Power"

"He wanted to be able": Reich,
Financier,
p. 21.

lived in hotels, too: Lazard Freres & Co. office directory, November 1,1977.

"Andre was not a rich man": Cary Reich,
Financier: The Biography of Andre Meyer
(New York: Morrow, 1983), p. 33.

"You know, Andre": Ibid., p. 52.

"The Lazard offices": Peter Hellman, "The Wizard of Lazard,"
NYT,
March 21,1976.

"in some rarefied social circles": Michael Jensen, "The Lazard Freres Style,"
NYT,
May 28, 1972.

"In many ways": Reich,
Financier,
p. 18.

"He had kind of a crazy": Francois Voss interview, January 31, 2005.

"He works at the top": Anthony Sampson,
The Sovereign State: The Secret History of ITT
(London: Coronet Books, 1974), p. 72.

"Behind that stern": Reich,
Financier,
p. 356.

"Andre carried with him": FGR interview, May 25, 2005.

Brooks Brothers shirts: Mel Heineman interview.

"chewed me out": Reich,
Financier,
p. 186.

"I wasn't dare gonna": Interview with Frank Zarb, April 27, 2005.

"Andre, you are the most": Interview with Zarb; and Ron Chernow,
The Warburgs
(New York: Random House, 1993), p. 554.

"a dangerous place to work": David Supino interview, June 21, 2004.

"In some sense": Interview with a Lazard partner, although this idea is mentioned in numerous articles about both Felix and Andre.

"the first two are really one":
NYT,
September 11, 1979, but first in T. A. Wise, "In Trinity There Is Strength,"
Fortune,
August 1968.

"Oh yes, Andre had": Reich,
Financier,
p. 98.

"very
common knowledge": Ibid., p. 100.

"She would get away": Ibid.

"I think my grandfather": Ibid., p. 101.

"It's very possible": MDW interview, November 30, 2005.

"Jackie opened up his life": Reich,
Financier,
p. 259.

"His name constantly": Ibid.

"These Kennedys": Ibid., p. 258.

"I think he was probably upset": Ibid., p. 262.

"she was very sad": Ibid., p. 356.

"It was a monster": Ibid., p. 58.

20 percent of Les Fils Dreyfus: SEC documents

"I have this stepson": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

"I said to myself": Ibid.

"Andre yanked me": Ibid.

"He made it crystal clear": Jeremy Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice,"
NY,
January 24, 1983.

"Andre also had": FGR interview, November 29, 2004.

"Andre said to me": Ibid.

"This was summer": Ibid.

"Well, this was a time": Ibid.

"It was done": Ibid.

"Take the pay cut": Ibid.

"I went to work": Bernstein, "Allocating Sacrifice."

"Rohatyn is in total": Sampson,
Sovereign State,
p. 73.

Chapter 5. Felix the Fixer

"Get in the car": Cary Reich,
Financier: The Biography of Andre Meyer
(New York: Morrow, 1983), p. 109.

"I get a call one day": Ibid., p. 110.

"That is the top salary": Ibid., p. 112.

"These people felt": Ibid., p. 113.

"Townsend would torture Meyer": Ibid., p. 117.

"I'm ahead of your plan": Ibid.

"You insist on this?": Ibid., p. 118.

"I'm terribly allergic": Several press reports, among them
Washington Post,
September 11, 1979, and
NYT,
October 28, 1965.

For Felix, the Avis payoff: CC report contains a plethora of documentation about the Lazard-Avis deal produced in connection with the House Antitrust Subcomittee's hearings on conglomerates.

"You have been screwed": Reich,
Financier,
p. 119.

"Nobody ever got poor": Ibid.

"If you have a good company": Robert Townsend,
Up the Organization
(New York: Knopf, 1970).

"Even those who hate":
Forbes,
May 1, 1968.

"Gentlemen, I have been thinking": Jack Anderson,
The Anderson Papers
(New York: Ballantine Books, 1974), p. 48.

ITT acquired 110 companies: CC report.

"practically an employee": Reich,
Financier,
p. 233.

"the best man always to placate": SEC files about Lazard's relationship with ITT. The SEC has some thirty-four unindexed, unorganized boxes of documents from its two multiyear investigations. The file, made available under the Freedom of Information Act, is labeled HO-536.

"Geneen is a very difficult": Reich,
Financier,
p. 232.

"Actually, we were entitled": Ibid., p. 237.

"Apparently Levitt's forte": CC report.

"Mr. Levitt is apparently": Ibid.

"they are already active": Ibid.

"This is an internal": Ibid., FGR's testimony.

"The thing that strikes me": Interview with a Lazard banker.

"Working for Felix was very difficult": Interview with a Lazard banker.

"Working for Felix was a death sentence": Interview with a Lazard banker.

"No, David, you are wrong": Interview with David Supino, October 8, 2006.

"a small list of questions": CC report.

"L. is
unique":
Ibid.

"The Levitt stock": Ibid.

"This is probably just as well": Ibid.

"It may be that alternatives": Ibid.

"the assistance of a few advisers": Ibid.

"Our corporate clients": Ibid.

"Lazard will, from time to time": Ibid.

"In this connection": Ibid.

"Typically, we are asked": Ibid.

"As I tried to indicate": Ibid.

"I would say that": Ibid.

"No, sir": Ibid.

"We don't view ourselves": Ibid.

"While it is highly technical": Ibid.

"Yes, sir": Ibid.

"You should come":
NYT,
July 18,2004.

"the worst of the paperwork": NYSE annual report, 1969.

"We were looking at the world":
NYT,
January 24, 1971.

"a bunch of blue bloods": Monica Langley,
Tearing Down the Walls
(New York: Free Press, 2003), p. 23.

"never heard of them": Ibid.

"At 9:15 that morning":
NYT,
January 24, 1971.

"The brokerage firm found":
NYT,
March 28, 1971.

"If you don't tell me the facts":
NYT,
March 24, 1971.

"If DuPont had failed":
NYT,
March 28, 1971.

"I'm sort of going through": FGR interview, December 17, 2004.

"We just threw money in":
NYT,
March 24, 1971.

"And nobody ever said": FGR interview, December 17, 2004.

"The questions raised":
NYT,
June 21, 1971; and FGR letter to Robert Haack, June 11, 1971.

"We had a house on fire": FGR congressional testimony, House of Representatives Subcommittee on Commerce and Finance, August 2 and 3, 1971, p. 144.

"Felix Rohatyn": CC report.

"Very shy but very clever": Francois Voss interview, January 31, 2005.

"If any banker": Reich,
Financier,
p. 295.

"The standard shot of him": Ibid.

"Their relationship was exceptional": Ibid.

"They were intimates": Voss interview, January 31, 2005.

"on top of everybody": SEC files, Andre Meyer SEC testimony.

Lazard's investment in Mediobanca:
NYT
, September 15, 1955.

"memorandum of understanding": SEC files.

Italian manufacturer, Necchi: Ibid.

"I refer to our meeting": Ibid.

"behind the back": Ibid.

"did have and do have": Ibid.

Tobacco Memorandum: Ibid.

"an excellent investment": Ibid.

"the long-range possibility": Ibid.

"Hartford--she's a blue-blooded lady": Ibid.

"I had an understanding with them": Ibid.

"the future vitality of our free economy": Ibid.

"full panoply" and "inexorable pressure": Ibid., Geneen memos.

"I think that during the ensuing": Ibid.

On his first day back in the office: Ibid., FGR's calendar.

"The course is scenic and exacting": SEC files.

"Now that it looks like": Ibid.

"he thought they had the size": Ibid., FGR's SEC testimony.

"Dr. Cuccia is a very cold": Ibid., Andre Meyer's SEC testimony.

"Have talked to both Geneen": Ibid., telex from FGR to Andre Meyer.

IRS ruling and John Seath's letters: Ibid.

"Mediobanca had the option": Ibid., FGR's SEC testimony.

October 7, 1969, version of the ITT deal: Ibid., SEC files.

"urging that the Department of Justice": SEC files, Walsh to Kleindienst.

"It was, I am afraid": SJC, Walsh testimony.

"it is our understanding": SEC files, Walsh letter.

"The door is open": SJC, Jack Ryan testimony.

"He is a rather quiet individual": Ibid.

"recognized financial figure": SJC, Richard Kleindienst testimony.

"at his invitation, to give him": SJC, FGR testimony.

"I thought he might have seemed": Ibid.

"I believe that for the record": Ibid., Kleindienst testimony.

"it might have additional repercussions": SEC files.

"I probably would have": SJC, Walsh testimony.

"Hi, Dick": From publicly available transcripts of Oval Office tapes of Richard M. Nixon.

"Immediately thereafter, I sent word": SJC, Kleindienst testimony.

FGR's April 29 meeting: SJC and SEC files.

Kleindienst's specific request: SEC files.

"amplify and augment": SEC files, FGR's May 3 letter.

FGR's May 10 meeting: SJC and SEC files.

"Rohatyn said it was a serious matter": SJC, Kleindienst testimony.

"They give us Grinnell": Nixon Oval Office tapes.

June 16 call to FGR: SEC files and SJC.

"negotiating memorandum": SEC files.

"within twelve seconds": SEC files and SJC.

FGR's June 18 call: SEC files.

FGR's June 29 meeting: SEC files and SJC.

"to complain about the rather rigid": SJC, Kleindienst testimony.

"Mr. Rohatyn indicated his belief": SJC, Peter Flanigan testimony; and Flanigan interview with author.

July 31 settlement agreement: SEC files.

"We wish to object": SEC files.

Geneen pledged some $400,000: SEC files and SJC.

"son-of-a-bitch" McLaren: Nixon Oval Office tapes.

"McLaren came in like a lion": I. F. Stone, "Behind the I.T.T. Scandal,"
New York Review of Books,
April 6, 1972; also in SEC files.

Larry O'Brien letter to John Mitchell: SEC files.

"The settlement between the Department of Justice": SEC files.

the columnist Jack Anderson: Anderson's columns appeared on February 29, March 2, and March 3, 1972: Anderson,
Anderson Papers,
pp. 94-96.

"That was again totally stupid": Interview with FGR, December 17, 2004.

"the two persons with whom": SJC, Kleindienst testimony.

"No, sir," he told Kennedy: Ibid.

"In conclusion, I want to emphasize": SJC, McLaren testimony.

"I was thought qualified": Ibid.

"Every meeting was on the record": Ibid.

"The suggestion that discussions with Rohatyn": Anderson,
Anderson Papers,
p. 119.

"talking with my children": SJC, FGR testimony.

"Let me say now that I": Ibid.

"my influence and persuasiveness": Ibid.

"categorically false": SJC, Kleindienst testimony.

"I think those are terribly serious": SJC, McLaren testimony.

Colson memos: SEC files; and
NYT,
August 13, October 30, November 1, and November 19, 1973.

Colson and Nixon conversation: Nixon Oval Office tapes, March 30, 1972.

"Very occasionally": Nicholas von Hoffman,
Washington Post,
March 10,1972.

"I am kind of a stubborn": SJC, Kleindienst testimony.

"One thing I learned":
WSJ,
October 10, 1975.

"I did something stupid" to "no clue what this was all about": Interview with FGR, December 17, 2004.

Chapter 6. The Savior of New York

"The world of investment banking": Michael Jensen, "The Lazard Freres Style,"
NYT,
May 28, 1972.

"Andre was impressed": Interview with Robert Ellsworth.

"Andre didn't know": Cary Reich,
Financier: The Biography of Andre Meyer
(New York: Morrow, 1983), p. 189.

"I'd go over to his apartment": Ibid.

"trivial political gossip": Interview with Ellsworth.

"four or five hours": SEC files, Thomas Mullarkey testimony.

"had nothing to do with it": SEC files, FGR testimony.