Behind Every Great Fortune Is a Great Crime

Abstract

Great crimes are eternally fascinating. Most of us are intrigued by great criminal undertakings. We marvel at their planning and execution and the conspiratorial nature of the crime and the “cat and mouse” game between the criminals and their police adversaries after the crime has been committed. Many of us even admire the verve of the criminal perpetrators along with the cleverness of the investigators who uncover the clues and (hopefully) bring the criminals to justice. As long as you are not a victim, crime is entertainment. Network TV and the movies thrive on crime stories. Of course, not all great crimes have “happy endings.” Sometimes, the criminals get away with the loot. Contrary to the popular adage, crime often pays quite well.

This is the common version of the Balzac quote, although it is not quite accurate. The sense of the quote is correct, but the actual quotation (in French) is as follows: “Le secret des grandes fortunes sans cause apparente est un crime oubli parce qu’il a été proprement fait.” (A rough translation is: “The secret of a great success for which you are at a loss to account is a crime that has never been found out, because it was properly executed.” Source: http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview/id/296588.html#answer What a fine stock analyst Balzac would have been!