Overview
What does it take to create a dynasty? What does it take to keep one going? And what does it take to save the life of the dazzling but flawed man who inherited it all? Launched in the 1880s by the first baron, the Empain industrial empire spread from Belgium and France to span more than a dozen countries. When Wado took over, he further expanded the company, became a key player in Franceās nuclear sector, and, by the mid-1970s, was one of the countryās most powerful business leadersāa self-described āmaster of the universe.ā But these were also the āyears of lead,ā marked by a rash of high-profile kidnappings around the globe, including the headline-grabbing seizure of American heiress Patty Hearst.
Wadoās vertiginous rise caught the eye of Alain Cailloll, a small-time gangster who had grown up in a wealthy family before embracing a life of crime. On January 23, 1978, Caillol and his confederates snatched the baron off the Paris streets, sure that theyād get the 80 million francs they demanded in ransom. To show they meant business, they chopped off Wadoās little finger and warned that more body parts would follow.
Ā
But nothing unfolded as the kidnappers, or Wado himself, expected. Would Empainās company pay? Could his family afford this astronomical sum? How much was the life of a leader, a father, and a husband worth? Most important, could a determined police chief and his crack investigators outsmart the kidnappers? The answers to those questions unspooled over two months in a tangle of events leading to a bloody showdown whose consequences would prove fatal to the Empain dynasty.
This book title, The Last Baron (The Paris Kidnapping That Brought Down an Empire), ISBN: 9780593183809, by Tom Sancton, published by Penguin Publishing Group (April 5, 2022) is available in hardcover. Our minimum order quantity is 25 copies. All standard bulk book orders ship FREE in the continental USA and delivered in 4-10 business days.
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