This book investigates the systemic mechanisms of fraud within the 1980s leveraged buyout market, specifically focusing on the activities of Drexel Burnham Lambert and Michael Milken. Mary Zey, a sociologist, utilizes organizational theory and empirical analysis of financial networks to argue that these buyouts were not merely rational economic maneuvers but instances of institutionalized deviance. She examines how interconnected trading networks facilitated the exploitation of bond issuers and buyers, challenging prevailing assumptions about the efficiency and morality of corporate financial structures during this era.

Experts in organizational sociology and financial history cite this work as a critical examination of the structural vulnerabilities in 1980s corporate finance. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which serves as a foundational text for those studying the intersection of economic behavior and institutional deviance.