Chapter 22 Black Dog - 6

If one puts together the dizzying mass of options, swaps, assignments, and other assorted transactions that Klimrod was conducting at the time, one finds at least thirty-eight option contracts: only a few Today, some are officially delivered soon, while others have been suspended for several months.Setiniaz has never been able to determine the total amount of funds used at that time. There are so many banks, financial institutions and companies involved. .Eighty per cent of the companies he started as a revolving door have been dissolved and their assets transferred to foreign banks and disappeared into some Panamanian bank accounts.” One thing is for sure: Reb Kezim Rhodes initially had only a loan of $235,000 from the Bank of Newark, New Jersey, which had been opened to him after the intervention of Abby Levine.Since then, he has been reinvesting his profits to make waves there.It may have been a gesture or an intention of him to maintain an insurmountable gulf between this incredible speculative business and other industries that he never drew "fresh" money from other industries that were just beginning to make money.

He took full advantage of the bank's credit.He did so from a vantage point: His activities gave him access to powerful figures at some of the biggest banks on the East Coast.He often has personal relationships with some bankers, such as David Fergus, who has always been his very secret friend. In several cases, in order to buy something through the bank, he borrowed money from the same bank in the name of one of his many companies. All of these activities are completely legal.In 1952 the Internal Revenue Service ran a full inspection of Diego Haas and found nothing.Reb Klimrod was never the subject of any investigation.It makes sense: his name and signature never appear anywhere.

The deal at 40 Wall Street was more complicated, at least in its final stages.At the beginning, Klimrod easily obtained the right to choose the part of the land that belonged to Hunter Manhattan Bank. The second part is scattered among some very bad-tempered distant nephews of the Eckabotch family.Through the strong mediation of Nick Petridis, Leiber also got this part of the property rights.Nick Petridis is the future prince. The rest is the third part. This part of the property right belongs to the company that built the building in 1920. “It was an over-the-counter-only company with quotes through brokers,” Hasendorf explained. "The building itself, and their interest in the land, are the only assets today. But they refuse to sell. For good reason, because under New York State law a sale like this must receive a one-third consent of more than two shareholders."

Hassendorf is by no means an idiot.As soon as Klimrod had an idea, Hassendorf saw it in his eyes. "Oh, no!" he said hastily. "You can't do that!" "What can't be done?" Diego asked. Hassendorf was paying attention to Leiber's dazed expression.He explained, "If I'm not mistaken, he wants to broker an auction to buy at least sixty-seven percent of Brubaker's stock. With two-thirds of the company he can Turn the company's assets into cash. He's completely insane." Diego's yellow eyes gleamed fiercely. "Be careful what you say, Daniel." He was trembling with anger.

Hassendorf immediately raised his hands. "O.K.." "Diego!" "Yes, Reb." "Come on." The scene took place in a small room in Klimrod's flat, the decaying hut he had lived in for ten years in Greenwich Village. After a while, Diego asked, "Reb, do you really want to do this?" "yes." Klimrod turned to Hasendorf and asked: "How many shares are there in total?" "Two hundred thousand shares." "In the hands of whom?" "Brubeck's and Nash's heirs have about fifteen percent each. The rest are all minority shareholders."

"How much is the market price?" "Yesterday it was fifty-three and seventy-five dollars." "What's the trend of the market?" "There's been a little bit of volatility in the last couple of weeks. It's been up. It's up two notches, then it's down half a notch, then it's back up a little bit. It's probably going to continue to hold firm." "Will it be sixty?" Hassendorf was a little afraid of Klimrod, but what surprised and pardoned him the most was Reber's indifference. Consider being decent in appearance, in clothing, in eating habits, in living conditions, which for countless people like Hasendorf are the basics of life.Hasendorf himself has just bought a luxurious apartment with a balcony on Park Street.But Klimrod still lived in this shabby room, lying on the bed with his hands on his head. Except for one or two hundred books piled on the floor, the room was almost empty.

"I'd be surprised if it got to sixty," Hasendo said. "My God, that's twelve million dollars! And..." He stopped abruptly.He was going to say: And of course you don't have twelve million dollars.But Klimrod's eyes were fixed on his, and Hasendorf felt extremely uncomfortable. "Daniel," Reber said kindly, "how much commission have you made since you worked with me?" "Quite a lot," admits Hasendorf. "I don't have an exact figure in my head," Klimrod said, still calm, but disturbing. "I might remember that, if I wanted to know. I'd guess around three, seventy-five thousand, nine hundred and twelve, to within a dollar. Am I wrong, Daniel?"

"Yes. Exactly that number." Diego Haas felt a surge of extraordinary pride.He didn't take Hassendorf seriously. "This bastard," he thought to himself, "walks the whole length of Wall Street down to Fifth Street, bragging about saving Wall Street and the whole New York economy with his goddamn tricks. But he's a slave to Rayber , like me, but I enjoy it. In front of Reb, he scared the shit out of..." "Daniel," Reber said, "what do you think will happen if I decide to mess with you?" "I can vote for a word." "Do you want to stop working with me?"

"No." "Do you think it's possible, even the remotest possibility, that you could do it yourself without me knowing? I don't even want to mention it against me." "No." "You absolutely believe it?" "Yes. Absolutely." Reb nodded. "Which brokerage house would you recommend for this?" "Akwaviva. That's the best family at that. And they're related to the Brubeck family. Harry Brubeck married one of the Acquaviva daughters." Leibo Wuer smiled. "Coincidentally, I was on the phone with them this morning as your secretary. You're meeting with Tony Acquaviva at four o'clock. You're going to buy thirty thousand Brubaker shares at seventy-five dollars apiece." I believe you can persuade him to accept this proposal. You will get him to proceed to sell all the other shares held by Brubeck & Co. at the same price until there are 135,000 shares, that is, Two-thirds of the total shares. George Nash also owns 30,000 shares, and has begun negotiations with the First National Bank to sell the building we want including everything in it, you know?"

"I have no idea." "You're supposed to sell hot dogs every once in a while. You'll learn more about it than you can read the Wall Street Journal. Daniel, tell Acquaviva to keep quiet and don't see Nash, and I'll take the other end." Handle it yourself, Daniel!" "yes." "Of course, you bought these shares in name, as usual. You and Diego Haas, who is here at the moment, partnered to form a company yesterday. Go to Lierne for details. And since I think of it now , just to say: You seem to be a bit off the hook for fishing. A boat you bought last Sunday in Key West wasn't worth the price; you could get it for five hundred dollars less. But Someone showed me some pictures of this boat. Very nice. Hope you catch a lot of fish. Any questions?"

"Everything is very clear." "I suppose so," said Reber, yawning. "It's extremely simple," Klimrod told Hunter Manhattan. "You wish to sell your portion of the land for ten million dollars. You have taken my deposit, and I will do so as soon as I have money to exercise my right to purchase. Therefore, we It's a confederate. I've bought Icabot. What's left is Brubaker. I'm trying to get 135,000 shares from them. Seventy-five dollars a share. Plus Commissions etc, it cost me 12 to 13 million dollars. I could get the money in other banks but I don't want you to lose my business. Your service has been Most satisfying." They thought his nerves were stronger than could be imagined.But they didn't say it.They asked him how much money he needed, and he replied that he could raise up to three million.he smiles. "There is still a shortfall of 10 million. You will lend me this money bit by bit, just like I buy stocks step by step. How would he guarantee the loan? He explained: "I'm going to give you every Brubaker share I can buy. Of course, I'm also going to give you three million dollars worth of stock that I have bought or will buy in the next few days. Deposit it in your bank as collateral." He held up a large hand to block the imminent objection. "I know you'll tell me that if I don't get control of Brubaker Incorporated—in other words, if I don't get two-thirds of the shares—I'll pay seventy A stock bought for five dollars will immediately fall to about fifty dollars. But for you, the risk is zero. Let us give an example. Suppose I can only buy 135,000 shares of 110,000 shares, my plan will fail. The stock will drop to about fifty dollars. But don't you have something in the vault? You only need to provide the purchase price of 80,000 shares, which is six million dollars .Even if the stock fell to fifty-five dollars, which could happen, the $80,000 would still be worth $4.4 million. But you still have my three million, don't you? Surely the money would cover the difference. So you can understand that you don't have to take any risks at all. Besides..." He took a copy of the letter from the bag. "Besides, I already have a buyer for the building. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Here's a letter they sent me expressing their intention; as soon as I get the building, they're willing to buy it." .I hope to get your answer as soon as possible. Please consider. A company belonging to Mr. Hassendorf and Mr. Haas has purchased more than two million dollars worth of stock. Thirty thousand shares actually. The auction will be held shortly. Time is of the essence." Diego Haas was absolutely sure of two things: Wang was an infallible genius, for one thing; Nevertheless, he put the price of Hunter's Manhattan portion (10 million), Arcabot's shares (4.5 million), and the purchase price of 71 percent of Brubeck Ltd. (10 million) 12,500,000) added together, after 20 consecutive calculations, I finally came to the conclusion with confidence: a total of 27 million US dollars was paid. "Plus the necessary expenses. There will be some expenses, won't there be, Reb?" "right." "Is the fee high? And commission?" "Diego, please spare Hasendorf." "Bah! This guy goes around telling everyone he invented the Wall Street merger, but the idea is clearly yours! He was interviewed by the Daily News and Fortune!" "It doesn't matter. I don't want to be interviewed." Time is ticking. Leiber smiled and said, "Diego, O.K.?" "O.K.. Can I ask you a question?" "Can." "What do you want? To be the richest and most unknown man in the world?" "Say the same thing. Tonight it's my turn to pay for a hamburger. Then we can go to the movies. But you buy the tickets." Needless to say, when it came to Brubeck's and Nash's stock auctions, Hasendorf won. David Setiniaz calculated that the total profits made by Klimrod's companies from the Wall Street action amounted to about $124 million.Daniel Hassendorf earned $13 million in commissions. Setiniaz estimated that 40 Wall Street alone--it was originally just a building, including the transactions related to it, of course--was worth about $27 million.Although this sale made headlines in the newspapers (only Hassendorf was mentioned and never Klimrod), it was not the most important one, but it was always the one that attracted the most attention.He didn't make as much profit on the big buildings as he did on the smaller, less impressive buildings, which had skyrocketed in value as the Wall Street district restabilized.The price of a normal restaurant, bar, shop or an apartment has doubled or tripled, simply because all those banks are definitely not moving far away now, and the area is getting valued again. Klimrod separated the Wall Street activities of Hassendorf, Haas, and others from the other innumerable series of transactions handled by the other two teams; of the other two teams, perhaps only Diego know its existence. Pushing Hasendorf to the fore and leaving Klimrod in the shadows was a plan they had agreed upon from the start.Klimrod already hated personal fame. (Hassendorf later left Leiber, which didn't end well.) The Wall Street action began in October 1950 and ended in June 1951. But before that there was a trip to London and a trip to the Continent.And more importantly, before, during, and after this, there was a woman who appeared in Leiber's life, and she was Aestivation Page.