Great Salad Oil Swindle by Norman C. Miller (Vintage 1965 Edition)

“The Great Salad Oil Swindle” is a non-fiction book written by Norman C. Miller, and published in 1965. The book tells the story of one of the biggest financial scandals in American history, which occurred in the early 1960s.

At the center of the scandal was a man named Anthony “Tino” De Angelis, who owned a company that traded in salad oil. De Angelis devised a scheme to defraud banks and investors by filling his warehouses with water instead of salad oil, and then using fake paperwork to make it appear as though the tanks were full of oil. He then borrowed millions of dollars against the nonexistent oil, and used the money to finance other ventures and personal luxuries.

The scheme eventually came to light when a hurricane struck the East Coast, causing the water in the tanks to overflow and revealing the fraud. The fallout from the scandal was significant, with many investors losing their life savings and several major banks facing financial losses.

“The Great Salad Oil Swindle” offers a detailed and fascinating account of the scandal, exploring the personalities and motivations of the key players involved, as well as the broader economic and social context in which it took place. The book also sheds light on the ways in which financial fraud can have devastating consequences for individuals and communities, and the importance of transparency and accountability in the financial industry.