Taking Down the Lion: The Triumphant Rise and Tragic Downfall of Tyco's Dennis Kozlowski.

• Author: Perdue, Carl H.

Taking Down the Lion: The Triumphant Rise and Tragic Downfall of Tyco's Dennis Kozlowski

By Catherine S. Neal

Nearly four years ago, Catherine S. Neal, an associate professor of ethics and business law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, began "(o)ne of the best adventures of (her) entire life ... that at the time seemed small and insignificant" (1)--a white collar crime "innocence project," finding Dennis Kozlowski, corporate America's once-revered, but later much maligned CEO, "(p)aid a heavy price for making a lot of money for a lot of people for a long time.. [And] although he may have made some business judgments that were unwise, they weren't criminal."

Taking Down the Lion: The Triumphant Rise and Tragic Downfall of Tyco's Dennis Kozlowski is a forensic tour de force: biography, governance study, social history, and courtroom drama. More than an engaging read, it reveals how sometimes the noise of conflicting interests, media hype, political spin, and bad timing affects the search for truth.

Kozlowski, through 27 years at Tyco and shrewd acquisitions, grew an obscure $10 million company into a $36 billion global powerhouse with 2,342 subsidiaries employing over 270,000 people. In January 2002, Businessweek named him one of the "top 25 managers of the year." Six months later, he was a 21st century robber barron; a corporate fraudster using Tyco's treasury as a personal piggy bank.

Immediately after Kozlowski's indictment for failure to pay sales tax on a fine art purchase for his corporate-owned Park Avenue apartment (the charges were subsequently dropped), Tyco's board fired Kozlowski, and hired David Boies to conduct an internal investigation.

Some of the directors ... were so angry about the unfairness they perceived (an allegedly unauthorized $20 million consulting fee to...