Too Good to Be True: The Outrageous Stor [Hardcover]

James Traub (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The name Wedtech has become synonomous with corporate corruption and political sleaze. Traub, a freelance N.Y. journalist, skillfully explains why in this sordid tale of white-collar crime. He shows how a machine shop engaged in "nickel and dime" work in a South Bronx slum was transformed through massive deceit, bribery and influence peddling by people in high places into a $100-million defense contractor whose founder, an uneducated Puerto Rican, was lauded by President Reagan as a "hero for the 80s." Traub tells how John Mariotta, with his business partners and political allies--only one of them a fellow Hispanic--exploited a government program setting aside Pentagon contracts for minority-run businesses. After defrauding both its stockholders and the government, the company declared bankruptcy in 1986, but by that time, federal investigators were dissecting its affairs. After six trials, the company's top executives and their outside conspirators--including two Bronx Congressmen, the Bronx borough president and a New York National Guard general--were convicted of charges ranging from extortion to fraud and were jailed. Even those jaded by the Wedtech case's extensive media coverage in recent years should find this a lively, colorful read.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Traub unravels that tangled web of deceit, Wedtech, by presenting it as a modern morality tale in six phases. From its start in the late 1970s with a fraudulent application in the minority set-aside program, to its heyday of lucrative defense contracts, followed by the fall, trials, and prison sentences, Traub demonstrates that Wedtech was not, as Reagan said, "a moral example for the '80s," so much as a moral lesson. Like two other books about Wedtech, William Sternberg and Matthew C. Harrison Jr.'s Feeding Frenzy ( LJ 11/1/89) and Marilyn W. Thompson's Feeding the Beast ( LJ 6/1/90), this is a well-written account of the political/business scandal and is intended for general readers. If libraries wish to purchase only one book on Wedtech, Thompson's account can be recommended for its brisk, crisp narrative.
- Ron Christenson, Gustavus Adolphus Coll., St. Peter, Minn.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 379 pages
• Publisher: Doubleday; 1st edition (June 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385261829
• ISBN-13: 978-0385261821
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,301,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As Good As It Gets, March 26, 2001

By 

"rrerr" (Englewood, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Too Good to Be True: The Outrageous Stor (Hardcover)

Remember Wedtech? The minority-owned defense contractor that rose from the ruins of the South Bronx to become the Reagan administration's paragon of success in America. Wedtech had everything: Modest beginnings, a workforce that came from the slums but could compete with the best from Raytheon and Rockwell, and -- most of all -- the promise that anyone could succeed in business with hard work, commitment, and good-ole Republicanism. Trouble was, it was all a massive fraud.

But it didn't start that way, and James Traub's brilliantly-written account takes the reader from Wedtech's inauspicious beginnings as a humble machine shop to it's dizzying heights as a government-sponsored powerhouse sustained by politics, greed, and self-deception.

Great writing -- insightful, entertaining, and full of portraits of Reagan administration officials caught with their scruples down. Highly recommended!

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite account of this company, May 7, 2011

By 

Citizen John (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Too Good to Be True: The Outrageous Stor (Hardcover)

This story kept me glued into early morning hours. I haven't stopped thinking about it since the first time I read this book in 2003. Many individuals in the industry of government contracting have reminded me of the characters, so well portrayed by James Traub.

The characters were so well researched that they were to me completely real and with whom I generally felt sympathy. In fact, I liked a few of the characters a lot, especially Wedtech's accountant. As they got themselves deeper into an impossible situation, the suspense grew. The conclusion didn't disappoint - and it's all true.

Wedtech was really getting it all right in the business of federal contracting, playing the game exactly as all the professional seminars advise. If the company hadn't gone to the dark side, its managers could have parlayed their success into successful careers teaching others how to win in government contracting.

Unfortunately, the great success of Wedtech was not in reality the truth, as so often happens with highly celebrated businesses. This book provides a good education on business and this particular industry. It's one of the best books I've ever read, and that's saying a lot.