The “Insaaaaane” Saga of “Crazy Eddie”

For many years, I have been fascinated by the rise and fall of the New York based retailer known as “Crazy Eddie.” For those of you who don’t know, “Crazy Eddie” was a chain of electronic stores throughout New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. It started in 1969 and continued to grow throughout the 1980′s. But the success and “insaaaaaane” prices that “Crazy Eddie” offered  to its customers were too good to be true. It turned out that from the beginning, the business had been run using various illegal practices.  By the end of 1989, all 43 stores were closed and the co-founder/CEO Eddie Antar was facing charges of security fraud and insider trading. In 1990, Antar used a fake passport and fled to Israel. He was found and arrested in June of 1992. Eddie’s cousin and former “Crazy Eddie” CFO Sam E. Antar testified against him in exchange for immunity. Eddie Antar was eventually found guilty on 17 counts and sentenced to 12 1/2 years in prison. After his original conviction was overturned, Antar pleaded guilty to Federal fraud charges and his prison sentence was reduced to eight years (of which he served six).

What I find most interesting about the whole “Crazy Eddie” saga is the drama that went on within the Antar family. It is the classic story of success, greed, jealousy, and betrayal. Eddie’s father was jealous of the fact that his son controlled more of the company’s shares than he did and had essentially replaced him as the family patriarch. That feeling of envy was shared by many members of the Antar family. Eddie’s father, two brothers, and brother-in-law were eventually thrown out of the company. This led them to indirectly contact the SEC about “Crazy Eddie’s” fraudulent practices. They had a third party make a claim that Eddie and those in the family who remained loyal to him were entirely responsible for the frauds (this was not true). One of the members of the Antar family who stayed loyal to Eddie was his cousin Sam E. Antar. That loyalty ended when Eddie fled the country leaving his cousin to fight the criminal charges on his own. Sammy turned on Eddie and the rest of the Antar clan. For his cooperation, Sammy spent spent no time in prison. Since then, Sam E. Antar has become an adviser to both the federal and state government on white-collar crimes. He has also appeared on various television news programs and has a website where he extensively details the history of “Crazy Eddie”. (It should be noted that Sammy takes full responsibility for his role in the “Crazy Eddie” fraud. He believes that his way of repaying society is by educating people through his own personal experiences in order to prevent similar criminal activities in the future). In the following video, Eddie and Sam Antar have a confrontational family reunion on the CNBC show “Business Week” in July of 2007.

Most classic family dramas usually include a lover or spouse who is unfaithful. In the real life “Crazy Eddie” soap opera, this type of betrayal did play a role in the ultimate demise of the company. Eddie Antar was the classic example of an unfaithful husband. On New Year’s Eve of 1983, his first wife Deborah Rosen Antar (aka “Debbie #1″) confronted him with his then mistress and eventual second wife Deborah Ehrlich Antar (aka “Debbie # 2″). The craziest thing about this event was that it was Eddie’s own father who informed “Debbie #1″ of his son’s infidelity. He even provided her with the location of Eddie’s New Years Eve tryst with “Debbie #2.” This was the beginning of the end for Eddie as far as family loyalty was concerned. As I previously detailed, the dissolution of the  Antar family played a major role in uncovering the “Crazy Eddie” scam.

Many of you reading this who are unfamiliar with the saga of “Crazy Eddie” may wonder why it has yet to be made into a full-length motion picture. It has all the elements of an Academy Award contending film (Think Paul Giamatti as Eddie Antar). Danny DeVito announced plans to direct and produce a “Crazy Eddie” film in March of 2009. Unfortunately, it looks like the planned film is not going to happen at any point in the foreseeable future. This is because DeVito made what is called a “life rights deal” with Eddie Antar. A lawyer representing many victims of the “Crazy Eddie” scam contacted DeVito and said that if Eddie Antar was involved with the project in any way, a lien would be put on the film’s profits. This meant that DeVito had to cut ties with Eddie Antar in order to keep the film project alive. This was easier said than done due to the “life rights deal”. While DeVito claimed in April of 2010 that the film would be made eventually, it has not been spoken of since.

The thing that most people remember about “Crazy Eddie” are its commercials, which were a staple of New York City area television and radio for over ten years. The person who was mostly responsible for this brilliant marketing campaign was Larry Weiss. Weiss served as the VP Advertising Director for “Crazy Eddie” from 1974 to 1983. He came up with the famous “His Prices are Insaannne!” catch phrase. He also wrote and produced over 3,500 TV and Radio spots for “Crazy Eddie.” While the commercials may seem tacky by the standards of the modern consumer, their impact at the time was incredible to say the least. The public face and voice of “Crazy Eddie” was a DJ for the now defunct New York radio station WPIX-FM named Jerry Carroll. Many people, including myself, believed that Carroll was “Crazy Eddie”. Here are some of the commercials that made “Crazy Eddie” a household name in the Northeast United States. Even if you don’t remember them when they originally aired, they are a lot fun to watch. Enjoy!

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