Word: mizell
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DIED. JASON MIZEL, A.K.A. JAM MASTER JAY, 37, one of the forefathers of rap and turntable maestro for the iconic New York rap band Run-DMC, famous for stripping down hip-hop music and injecting it with rock, and for its storming cover of Walk This Way with Aerosmith; by gunmen in New York City. Although street violence has always haunted hip-hop, the music of Run-DMC, known as "the Beatles of Rap," never celebrated gun culture. Rather, with almost religious fervor, it preached unity and peace...
...explanation for Mizel's legendary fund-raising abilities became apparent only last month after a TIME story disclosed that M.D.C. had pressured some of its subcontractors into making personal campaign contributions; the developer then kicked the money back to them by allowing them to bill for phony construction work. That disclosure prompted dozens of contractors to admit that they too had been pressured by M.D.C. into making similar donations. "We were told that Mizel wanted to look good," said a major contractor who gave $40,000 to various campaigns at M.D.C.'s orders. "The money came back to us from...
Milken had profitably discovered that S&Ls could use junk bonds in two ways: to borrow money for expansion and to invest money for a high rate of return. M.D.C.'s Mizel, hard pressed by the economic downturn in Denver and kept afloat by insider swaps with Silverado, met the junk-bond king in Manhattan and became Milken's enthusiastic client. So too did the influential Norman Brownstein, an M.D.C. board member and Mizel's attorney, who lobbied in Washington in favor of the use of junk bonds...
...December 1986 Larry Mizel held a glitzy black-tie New Year's Eve party for his staff that was dubbed "resurrection night." Milken had raised more than $500 million for M.D.C. that year by floating a junk issue; a series of tricky swaps of land and debt with Silverado had swelled the apparent assets and profits of both companies; and Bush had been brought aboard at Silverado. The future seemed bright...
...M.D.C.'s Mizel was even more active in fund raising. Besides organizing the Denver luncheon for President Reagan, he directed a steady stream of dollars to state and national politicians, including Colorado Governor Roy Romer, a Democrat. Lawyer Brownstein, nicknamed Mr. Fixit, was a top Democratic rainmaker who arranged a Denver fund raiser in 1987 for Michigan Senator Don Riegle; Riegle is one of the Senators called the Keating Five for having received sizable contributions from the scandal-tarred head of Lincoln Savings. Of $37,000 raised for Riegle, $10,000 came from 16 people connected to Silverado and M.D.C...