Drop Dead

Ford to City: Drop Dead …

… is perhaps the most famous tabloid headline of all time. It set the narrative for the New York City Fiscal Crisis of 1975, even though it wasn’t exactly true.

In truth, a bumbling President Gerald Ford had very little to do with causing the 1975 Fiscal Crisis, and ultimately, he bailed New York City out.

There has never been a financial crisis where more mythmaking and misrepresentation have been uncritically accepted as truth by the media, historians, and politicians than the New York City Fiscal Crisis of 1975. Those portrayed as fiscal geniuses who “saved the City’, in truth, performed badly. Those portrayed as villains were no worse than the so-called heroes. The real villains - those who benefited from the corrupt system of governance of America’s largest city – skated away and lived to grift again.

Critically acclaimed author Richard Farley brings us back to the New York City of the 1970s, a wildly corrupt time when gangsters held court with governors, crooked judges fixed cases, and politicians of both parties helped themselves to the public’s money with the help of “respectable” bankers and lawyers… until the money ran out.

Through meticulous research and engaging storytelling, Drop Dead brings to life the colorful cast of characters who played a role in the crisis, from President Ford, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, Governor Hugh Carey, Mayor Abe Beame, and banker Felix Rohatyn. It also exposes the behind-the-scenes players who preferred to remain hidden, such as Donald Trump and his father, Fred Trump, and a quartet of lawyers who did their bidding —Roy Cohn, Bill Shea, Bunny Lindenbaum, and Simon Rifkind.

City machine bosses Meade Esposito and Carmine DeSapio benefitted from the corrupt system along with union bosses Albert Shanker and Victor Gotbaum.

And, at the top of the heap? Legendary public relations guru John Scanlon, the puppet master of spin, whose unmatched skill helped turn his grifter clients from villains to heroes. Only in New York, my friends. If you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere.

This is a critical analysis of a corrupt system of governance and a must-read for anyone interested in the history of New York City, the politics of the 1970s, or the causes and consequences of financial crises.

It is also a brilliantly researched cautionary tale told by an author and attorney who has spent his career studying the machinations of Wall Street and New York City politics. He reveals the untold story of the 1975 crash and knows, full well, that it might just happen again.