Qwest's low point in tech era.

• Author: Schwab, Robert
• Position: Commentary - Broadbandits: Inside the $750 Billion Telecom Heist - Book Review

WHEN IT LANDED ON MY DESK, THE TITLE OF THE BOOK, "Broadbandits: Inside the $750 Billion Telecom Heist," by Om Malik, a San Francisco writer for Business 2.0 magazine, told me some good Denver writers got scooped.

More than a year ago, I had suggested to at least one local writer there was a good hook to be written in telling the story of the telecommunications industry's stock scammers, who I call the Robber Barons of the 21st century.

These were business executives who rode the Internet and high-tech bubble to extraordinary values for stocks of companies that wine selling very little product, and then cashed out when it was clear a collapse was in the offing.

The second chapter of the book, called "Rocky Mountain High," is devoted to the story of the rise and fall of Qwest Communications International, one of the companies whose stock-price decline left hundreds of Colorado workers...