The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie (Crown, October 19, 2010)

“If Dick Scruggs’s name was essential to the success of the superfirm that Tim Balducci and Steve Patterson envisioned, so was the name Biden . . . The Biden connection went back more than twenty years, to the time when Patterson signed on as the southern coordinator for the young Delaware senator in his first, quixotic campaign for the party’s presidential nomination. In the intervening years, Patterson stayed in touch with Biden and became acquainted with members of Biden’s family . . .” (195)

“Patterson and Balducci were both supporting Biden’s quest for the 2008 nomination, and co-sponsored with Scruggs and three others a fund-raiser when the candidate came to Mississippi in August 2007. On that visit, Biden was accompanied by his brother Jim, who used the trip to cement plans with the Mississippians to open a Washington office that would capitalize on the name Biden.”(195-196)

“While senator [Joe Biden] charmed the Mississippi guests at the party, his brother was busy talking with the hosts. It was determined that Jim’s wife Sara, an attorney, could credibly bring the family name to the firm they planned.”

“Though purportedly a ‘law group’ with a base in Washington, the firm would specialize in lobbying. No law degree was necessary for any of the firm’s associates in the District of Columbia, freeing Patterson and others to operate under the banner of an office engaged with legal work . . .”

“A month later, the idea had become a reality. On September 27, the same day Balducci handed over the first $20,000 payment to Judge Lackey, Balducci also visited Scruggs’s office to tell him of a more savory initiative. Enthusiastically, he described plans for the firm of Patterson, Balducci and Biden.”

“‘We formalized our relationship with the Bidens,’ he told Scruggs. ‘It’s not going to be some bullshit shingle hung somewhere in a window. This is the real deal.'” (196)

The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie goes on sale October 19th.

We hope to see you at the signing/reading event with Curtis Wilkie on Thursday, October 21st, but if you cannot attend, you can reserve a signed copy online.

Click here to open an account on our website and we can save your information for future visits to LemuriaBooks.com.

You can also call the bookstore at 601/800.366.7619 and we can put your name on our reserve list.

Read other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie (Crown, October 19, 2010)

[Scruggs speaking at a panel discussion on legal venues, or so-called ‘magic jurisdictions,’ sponsored by Prudential Financial]:

“‘The trial lawyers have established relationships with the judges that are elected. They’re state court judges; they’re populists. They’ve got large populations of voters who are in on the deal. They’re getting their piece in many cases. And so, it’s a political force in their jurisdiction, and it’s almost impossible to get a fair trial if you’re a defendant in some of these places . . . The cases are not won in the courtroom. They’re won on the back roads long before the case goes to trial. Any lawyer fresh out of law school can walk in there and win the case, so it doesn’t matter what the evidence or the law is.'”(pages 179-180)

The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie goes on sale October 19th.

We hope to see you at the signing/reading event with Curtis Wilkie on Thursday, October 21st, but if you cannot attend, you can reserve a signed copy online.

Click here to open an account on our website and we can save your information for future visits to LemuriaBooks.com.

You can also call the bookstore at 601/800.366.7619 and we can put your name on our reserve list.

Read other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie (Crown, October 19, 2010)

“Scruggs’ relentless stalking of the insurance companies brought him into conflict with two statewide elected officials he once supported: Insurance Commissioner George Dale and Attorney General Jim Hood. Both men were running for reelection in 2007, and each felt his political career had been threatened by Scruggs. The trouble with Dale was predictable. The commissioner had long been too cozy with the industry he oversaw.” (page 165)

“He felt that Dale took a laissez-faire approach toward the insurance industry, and Scruggs wanted an activist in the office. So he decided to try to drive Dale from the post he had held for eight terms. Before the 2007 campaign was finished, Scruggs committed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the effort. He retained a public relations firm to conduct an all-out assault on Dale that reached its peak in the full-page newspaper advertisement titled ‘Lipstick on a Pig.’ In a cartoon, George Dale’s bespectacled face, painted with pink lipstick and given porcine ears, appeared on a pig’s body with cloven feet. The beast, labeled, ‘Georgie Dale,’ lounged in a tub, pampered by attendants at a ‘State Farm Beauty Salon.'” (page 165-166)

“Scruggs approved of the ‘Lipstick on a Pig’ idea and paid for the ad, but did not see it before it ran. He thought the pig would symbolize State Farm and didn’t realize that Dale’s likeness would be used in the caricature. But he laughed anyway when he saw the finished product in the Sunday morning paper.”

“Diane Scruggs was not amused. She thought the ad in poor taste, and she wondered about her husband’s decision to underwrite the anti-Dale campaign. She felt Dick had been unduly impressed by his PR team from Washington. He had bragged of their talents. Some of his advisors were sophisticated practitioners of ‘black ops,’ he said, with experience overseas, working on contract for the U.S. government to destroy the credibility of foreign opponents. One of Scruggs’s contacts appealed to him precisely because of the whispers about his agency’s operations. The head of the group, John Rendon, had been profiled in Rolling Stone in 2005 as ‘The Man Who Sold the War’ on Iraq. The article described Rendon as ‘a secretive and mysterious creature of the Washington establishment’ who was ‘in charge of marketing’ the war for the CIA and the Pentagon. Scruggs was intrigued by such credentials.” (page 166)

The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie goes on sale October 19th.

We hope to see you at the signing/reading event with Curtis Wilkie on Thursday, October 21st, but if you cannot attend, you can reserve a signed copy online.

Click here to open an account on our website and we can save your information for future visits to LemuriaBooks.com.

You can also call the bookstore at 601/800.366.7619 and we can put your name on our reserve list.

Read other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie (Crown, October 19, 2010)

“Another significant change took place in Scruggs’s life, but few knew of it. In May 2000 he underwent back surgery for a herniated disk. A second operation followed in June. To deal with the pain, he was a given a prescription for Fioricet. Scruggs found that the drug not only relieved his discomfort but, infused him with an extraordinary sense of well-being.”

“To satisfy his craving, he asked his employees to obtain prescriptions in their names. The drug would be ordered impersonally, online through bulk distributors, and turned over to Scruggs.”

“When the drug took hold, Scruggs’s cares receded. After the turmoil of asbestos and tobacco, Fioricet delivered a feeling that all was well.” (page 99)

Reserve a signed copy online or call the store at 800/601.366.7619.

Curtis Wilkie will be signing at Lemuria on Thursday, Oct. 21^st.

Click here to see other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie (Crown, October 19, 2010)

“Blake once described himself as a ‘plunger and promoter,’ but basically he claimed to be a planter.” (page 38)

“Blake held no political portfolio, but his association with Senator Eastland enabled him to obtain government loans easily as he built an agricultural empire. Some of his transactions proved to be as puzzling as the mystery about him.” (page 39)

“In November 1993, after Blake helped head off Scruggs’s indictment in the asbestos case, Scruggs began to make significant loans to Blake. At first he gave him $15,000 a month, but those payments then increased to $25,000 a month. The loans were unsupported by any collateral, other than Blake’s signature on a note and his promise to keep Scruggs informed on political developments.” (page 43)

Reserve a signed copy online or call the store at 800/601.366.7619.

Curtis Wilkie will be signing on Thursday, Oct. 21^st.

Click here to see other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie (Crown, October 19, 2010)

“[Steve] Patterson encouraged friends to call him ‘Big Daddy,’ or, more symbolically, to refer to him as ‘King Fish,’ a nod to the nickname of the late Huey P. Long, the populist leader of Louisiana.” (page 11)

“Eager to play national politics, Patterson signed on in 1987 as a regional director in Delaware senator Joe Biden’s first attempt to win the Democratic presidential nomination. After Biden’s failed bid, Patterson refocused on the state level and won election himself, as state auditor of Mississippi in 1991. Officially, his responsibilities included oversight of bookkeeping in state agencies; the job also enabled him to peep into transactions involving public money.” (page 12)

“One evening in 1992, as Scruggs struggled to deal with the case Patterson and [Ed] Peters were building against him, he received a phone call at his home from a man named P. L. Blake. ‘I know what’s going on, and I’m going to help you,’ Blake told Scruggs. ‘You need to come up and see me.'” (page 13)

“Blake was cryptic, but Scruggs understood the significance of his call. Blake’s name was not recognizable in most households in Mississippi, but among the political cognoscenti he was regarded as one of Eastland’s original agents who still had the ability to fix things. Blake had contacted him, Scruggs believed, at the direction of Scrugg’s brother-in-law Trent Lott . . . ” (page 13)

“. . . Scruggs flew in his private plane to Greenwood’s small-town airport, where Blake met him. ‘You helped me a lot,’ Blake told Scruggs. ‘Now I’m going to help you.'” (page 15)

Reserve a signed copy online or call the store at 800/601.366.7619.

Curtis Wilkie will be signing on Thursday, Oct. 21^st.

Click here to see other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie (Crown, October 19, 2010)

“When Hood refused to drop his investigation, Scruggs grew apoplectic. In a move later characterized by his friends as an ‘afternoon decision’ driven by a large dose of his painkilling medication, Scruggs offered to pay $500,000 to Steve Patterson and Tim Balducci to get the attorney general on board . . . Sure enough, Patterson and Balducci were able to arrange one inconsequential dinner, which Hood grudgingly agreed to attend . . . They got nowhere with him.” (page 168)

“In January of 2007, Patterson warned Cupit that Scruggs was prepared to deliver an ultimatum to the attorney general. Unless Hood agreed to assure State Farm that there would be no indictments, Scruggs would fall back on a plan conceived by his public relations team. There would be a press conference, attended by several high-ranking public officials–including Senator Lott, who had sued State Farm himself–to endorse a settlement benefiting hundreds of Gulf Coast residents. The group would announce that only Hood stood in the way. The publicity could kill Hood’s reelection chances.” (page 170)

“The scenario was the subject of a heated discussion in a private room at the Jackson airport in January 2007, involving Hood, Scruggs, Patterson, and Joey Langston.” (page 170)

“Two days later . . . Hood drove to Memphis . . . to meet with high officials of State Farm . . . During his Memphis talks, Hood first reached a settlement with State Farm on the state’s civil case. The company agreed to pay $5 million to the attorney general’s office as reimbursement for its expenses in the investigation and to set up an apparatus to deal with the unresolved claims that could cost the company as much as $400 million.” (page 170)

“Before he left the Tennessee city, Hood also informed State Farm that he would discontinue the criminal case. This cleared the way for the final settlement of the 640 cases represented by the Scruggs Katrina Group . . . ” (page 170)

Reserve a signed copy online or call the store at 800/601.366.7619.

Curtis Wilkie will be signing at Lemuria on Thursday, Oct. 21^st.

Click here to see other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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After a series of extensive interviews in their homes, Curtis Wilkie met with Dickie Scruggs in the Lafayette County jail in Oxford before he appeared before the grand jury in 2009. Scruggs asked Wilkie, “‘When all this is over, are you going to be able to tell me how I got mixed up with these guys?'” (4)

The Fall of the House of Zeus provides an intense education on Mississippi politics over the past twenty-five years and the power of greed to take over one’s life. While pulling from numerous sources, Curtis Wilkie was also able to interview Dickie and Zach Scruggs. Although Dickie Scruggs initially declined to interview because he did not “‘feel right about the appearance of exploiting it,'” he eventually opened up to Curtis Wilkie with the desire to share his side of the story (3).

If you have been following the Scruggs story from the beginning, you need to read The Fall of the House of Zeus by Curtis Wilkie. If you have not been following the Scruggs story from the beginning, you need to read The Fall of the House of Zeus. It’s a must-read for any inquiring citizen.

Zeus does not come out until October 19th. In the meantime, Lemuria will be giving you exclusive peeks. Stay posted . . .

Reserve a signed copy online or call the store at 800/601.366.7619.

The Fall of the House of Zeus will be the October selection for the First Editions Club. Curtis Wilkie will be signing on Thursday, Oct. 21^st.

Click here to see other excerpts from The Fall of the House of Zeus.

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