S2:E13 The Pecora Files: Ferdinand Pecora Where Are You Now?

The New Untouchables

This series is an up-close-and-personal account of the heroes introduced by Eric Vaughan and Patrick Lovell’s “The Con” which took a simple but revolutionary approach to explain the epidemics of elite fraud driving the great financial crisis of 2007-2008 and continuing today.
If you’ve ever wondered why this series bears the name of Ferdinand Pecora, watching this episode will leave no doubt in your mind. Patrick Lovell, Eric Vaughan, and Steve Grumbine talk with Michael Perino, author of “The Hell Hound of Wall Street,” the story of Ferdinand Pecora’s investigation into Wall Street in 1933 that led to Glass-Steagall, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the 1933 SEC Act that was created to prevent Wall Street from selling fraudulent securities that, as it turned-out, wiped-out America and the world and led to World War II.
The Great Depression was raging. America was in deep pain and despair. There was 25% unemployment and “Hoovervilles” existed all over America, not too dissimilar to the homelessness that pervades America today. Hoover was on his way out. FDR was coming in but not yet inaugurated. Enter one of the most important yet unknown periods in American history. An Italian immigrant from Sicily made his way to the law profession by way of putting himself through college, taking care of his siblings, while WASP elites turned their noses up at his plight. An amazing turn of events led to Pecora’s elevation to investigate Wall Street when he got the opportunity to dig deep into the closet of treachery to reveal to the world exactly how criminal and deceptive behavior led to such misery.
The Pecora hearings where a media sensation as the plucky Italian immigrant closed the noose around then Citibank Chairman, “Sunshine” Charlie Mitchell who was engaged in insider trading, Ponzi-scheming, racketeering, shorting, and tax evasion. Sound familiar? The result of Ferdinand’s glorious performance? Glass- Steagall, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the Securities and Exchange Act of 1933 and the creation of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
Author Michael Perino joins us today to shine a light yet again on how and why Pecora was the right guy for the right time in history and why what we have achieved with The New Untouchables: The Pecora Files is exactly how this had to play out today.
For more information and extras about The New Untouchables, visit our website https://realprogressives.org/new-untouchables/
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