Eddie Gilbert, one of the most controversial and fascinating financiers of the second half of the 20th century, made three fortunes, lost two of them, went to prison twice, and landed back on top during the 1990s in a business he began to explore when most men would have been retired. As tales of executive malfeasance and corporate scandal swept across the daily headlines, the career of Eddie Gilbert, christened "the Boy Wonder of Wall Street" by "Time Magazine", has compelling relevance because his story provides a remarkable counterpoint to the shameless greed exhibited today. Eddie was a fixture on the front pages of every major American newspaper when he executed the first "corner of a stock since before the Crash of '29" and when he later orchestrated the spectacular takeover of a much larger company. When he borrowed money to cover his personal margin calls and to protect his own company from its possible losses from investments also in Celote stock, he fled to Brazil. After returning, he incurred debts of $20 million (and later repaid), and went to prison at Sing Sing. He all but vanished from history. Until now. A man who had cultivated close friendships with such different characters as Jack Kerouac and John Aspinall, he also became acquainted with luminaries such as Arthur Miller, John DosPassos, Alan Jay Lerner and the financial world's Loeb brothers. It is said that wherever he went, he ran. Gilbert never courted controversy in business, but rather kept a fixed eye on the long run. Ultimately, however, some of his grandiose plans led to reversals. While he was sent to prison twice, he never personally benefited from the money he is alleged to have "misappropriated." And during the 1990s, he built a commercial real estate empire valued in excess of two billion dollars. This is the story of a man whose ambition drove him to the very top of business and society and led just as surely to his downfall. It should find enthusiastic readers in today's volatile a