"I can't help myself. It is my nature".Just as in the classic story, a duped frog is stung and drowns along with his assailant; Donato Ripelli overlooked the "nature" of mobsters and inevitably is stung. His is a river of multiple indictments, a possible prison sentence, loss of wealth and fear for his life and that of his family. His choice of associates, impaired by his drive and his greed, would prove his undoing.His is a story of the extraordinary and rapid rise and fall of an immigrant who found America's Street of Gold-Wall Street. During the mid-nineties, he became wealthy beyond his wildest dreams and enjoyed the good life along with its bad offerings. His flamboyant and extravagant lifestyle with fast cars, penthouse apartments, designer accessories and exotic travel, was a testament to his success-his talents-his greed.Donato believes that the dance on Wall Street isn't clean and never was. It is performed mostly on the gray surface of hyperbole, hucksterism and deceit. Donato learned quickly that there are shades to that gray and, for he who invites Scorpions, a dark side where you will be stung.This is a true story with real criminals, with real victims and very real law enforcement. It is also an international story revealing the ease and facility of money laundering and crime beyond our borders. His story is entertaining but provides an important and revealing glimpse at the corruption that lives within the investment community-that undermines our confidence-that subjects all of us to very real losses. Donato has been corrupted by the American Dream.