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PR E FA C E

it was done with cash. Many times I walked into a closing on a prop-
erty with a certified check for millions of dollars inmywallet.Iwas
also given a standing million dollar deposit by Goldman and
DiLorenzo with which to negotiate. Goldman and DiLorenzo
would tell me what typeofdealtheywantedandmyjobwastomake
it happen. They were not anxious buyers, so if I didn’t think the
deal met their terms, I would kill it and goontothenextone.
That’s what enabled them to acquire so much real estate so quickly.
During that 10-year period, I bought the Chrysler Building, the St.
RegisHotel, the land under the Plaza Hotel, Harborside Terminal
in Jersey City, and numerous ground leases on their behalf. (A
ground lease isa long-term lease for land on which a building sits,
andgives the tenant all the rights and obligations of operation and
ownership except title to the land.)
Goldman and DiLorenzo’s appetite for real estate was voracious.
They had excellent financing connections which enabled me to close
transactions quickly. As their lone lawyer and business representa-
tive, I had almost unlimited authority to negotiate but not to in-
crease the purchase price. I negotiated with Harry Helmsley, Bill
Zeckendorf, and Morris Karp to name a few. These were all the big
names in New York real estate at that particular time—pretty heady
stuff for a 30-year-old lawyer.
For the first few years I worked for Goldman and DiLorenzo,
I was in way over my head. At Dreyer and Traub, I was handling
closings on single-family homes in New Jersey. I had never done a
contract and closing on any office building of any size. Now I was
thrust into an arena involving the purchase and operation of huge
office buildings. I really had no prior training or experience. Yet ev-
eryone thought, because I was so young and represented these mil-
lionaires in huge transactions, I must be brilliant so they treated me
as an equal. I knew how green I was, but I wasn’t going to dispute
their assessment of me! I learned as fast as I could from everyone I

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