July 4, 1946

AKA: Junk Bond King

Swindler

Michael Milken ushered in the age of high-yield bonds brokering in the 1980s. The subject of numerous books, Milken worked for the Wall Street investment firm Drexel Burnham Lambert during a decade known as the “greedy eighties.” Investigated by prosecuting attorney Rudolph Giuliani (who later became mayor of New York), Milken was charged with ninety-eight counts, including racketeering and securities fraud. In April 1990 he was convicted of six counts of securities fraud and was fined $1.4 billion. Of the ten years to which he was sentenced, he served two and retained more than $100 million dollars upon his release on March 2, 1993. He later survived prostate cancer and donated millions of dollars to research the disease.

Mr. Milken’s neighborhood