The Incredible Life Of Jay Gould: The Original Boogeyman Of Wall Street

Bettman Corbis

One might argue that if America actually got rid of the worst schemers on Wall Street, it would, like Batman finally cleaning up Gotham, have nothing else to do with its time.

Luckily, 150 years of American financial history tell us that day will probably never come.

Before Goldman Sachs, before Gordon Gekko, the original Wall Street boogeyman was Jay Gould.

Raised in obscurity, Gould would go on to become the top-five richest men in America thanks to a series of aggressive, probably criminal schemes.

He eventually gained a reputation so sinister that fellow Wall Street operator James Keene called him, "The worst man on earth since the beginning of the Christian era."

We wanted to tell the story of this one-time towering figure, if only to show all the vampire squids out there that they're not doing anything new.