Vesco: From Wall Street to Castro's Cuba The Rise, Fall, and Exile of the King of White Collar Crime

Robert Vesco who robbed IOS blind and brought it to bankruptcy!

No doubt, lots of work went into this book. It is very detailed. Vesco led a secret life, so the first 75% of the book deals with the complicated web of financial transactions that lead up to the interesting stuff, stealing 225million dollars. Very hard to follow, I found myself skipping over pages over and over again just trying to get through some of the painfully boring, hard to follow parts. Not much on Vescos personal life, which is understandable. I am traveling around Latin America, spent months in Costa Rica. He is legend there among local people. Thought it would be a good beach read, was wrong. I apologize to the author because there was so much research done to write this. If you are a coke bottle reading glasses kind of dork, you might find the details somewhat interesting. If you do though, please consider killing yourself.

Beyond the obvious research the author has done on the subject; he has painted a picture of one of those men in history who lived a colorful life at possibly the wong time. In today's world Robert Vesco would probably be a hero.

I did not read the hard copy version,but DO NOT buy the kindle version,misspell incomplete paragraphs just to name a few.I thought i will the story but so discourage to keep reading the booklet alone finish it. It should be 0 star not even 1.

Robert Vesco was a latter-day robber baron who looted his own company and then fled the U.S. when the Feds tried to imprison him. For about 35 years, Vesco lived in exile with his dwindling fortune - always one step ahead of Uncle Sam. Arthur Herzog tells this story in Vesco. While the material is there for a great book, Herzog cannot quite deliver the goods.Herzog's book has two very distinct parts: first he tells the story of Vesco's business career and then he covers Vesco's life abroad. The first part of the book is dull and overly complex. Herzog includes very little about Vesco's early life in Detroit and the reader wants to know more. Even worse is the account of Vesco's business dealings, about which Herzog goes into far too much detail.The second part of the book is better. Once he became a fugitive, Vesco led a bizarre life. He lived in Antigua, Costa Rica, the Bahamas, Nicaragua, and Cuba; other than Cuba, no one really wanted Vesco, so he constantly bribed officials to avoid being expelled or extradited. Herzog does a good job of examining Vesco's life on the lam and of describing each place that Vesco lived.Vesco created intrigue wherever he went, so readers enjoy some great stories. Herzog tells of Vesco's interactions with dozens of colorful characters including Richard Nixon, Fidel Castro, womanizing investor Bernard Cornfeld, Costa Rican President Jose Figueres, and Bahamian Prime Minister Lynden Pindling. Another entertaining section of the book concerns the U.S. government's (unsuccessful) plans to get Vesco back in the U.S. Unfortunately, the book ends in 1987 and does not discuss Vesco's trial in Cuba for drug trafficking or his 2007 death.In the end, I'm ambivalent about Vesco. The story is fantastic, but Herzog doesn't do it justice. Too often the reader has to slog through it. If you enjoy reading about business chicanery, Vesco is a decent read.

Now that's a lot of information!

Informative and interesting. Wonderful voice.