But back in the '30s, during the depths of the Great Depression, Ferdinand Pecora emerged as an unlikely hero, leading a sensational Senate investigation of what caused the '29 market crash.
Over the last few weeks, public pressure fueled by rage and pain has built for a similar probe of the causes of our current economic collapse, an inquiry that will search for real answers going beyond the hearings that have been held so far -- more heat and wasted fire than illumination. People want to know what really happened, and how we can keep it from happening again.
Under threat of subpoena and under oath, one tycoon after another
was hauled before the committee and grilled relentlessly by Pecora.
They found themselves confessing to a litany of financial sins, including discount stock offerings to VIP "preferred" customers
repackaging bad loans and selling them as bonds to the unsuspecting, and non-payment of income tax.
clipped from: www.salon.com 