- Retired U.S. Brigadier General   Lt. Lilia Litvak (1921-1943), 268 missions, 15 solo kills, 22 assists About ten years ago, I accidentally met a determined and beautiful young lady named Lilia Litvyak, who was in fact the world’s first female fighter-pilot. The more I learned, the more fascinated I became that... Learn More

- American Russian Cultural Foundation   Lt. Lilia Litvyak, 20, humiliates Hitler’s elite all-male Luftwaffe over Stalingrad Hitler believed invading the Russians during WWII and turning its citizens into cheap Nazi slave labor would be a “slam dunk.” And, so on June 22, 1941, Operation Barbarossa, the largest single military invasion in history of... Learn More

-US Navy Airforce Commander   Circa 1943. Lt. Lilia Litvyak, 21, boards her YAK-1 at an airfield field on the outskirts of Moscow A few years back, I was aboard the celebrated World War II aircraft carrier, the USS Midway, dry docked in San Diego, to celebrate the accomplishments of the US Naval Air Force... Learn More

- Boris Sapunov Ph.D., Director, The Hermitage   The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, one of the world’s great museums, acknowledges the cultural importance of the groundbreaking book about the life and times of Russia’s greatest female flying hero. About 15 years ago, I visited a little-known traveling exhibition called World War II though Russian... Learn More

- Voice of America, Washington D.C.   Ordinary child to Adolph Hitler’s worst public relations nightmare in less than 9 years There have been hundreds, maybe thousands of books about female accomplishment under adverse conditions. Curiously, one of the greatest woman against-all-the-odds stories, has somehow been lost in time for more than 70 years. ... Learn More

It’s Friday, January 31, 1975. I’m a hot-shot young senior manager for the Blueblood Madison Avenue Agency, Young & Rubicam, and just back from a V.I.P. trip to Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to visit the banana plantations of our newest client, Chiquita brand bananas. I’m having my first meeting with Eli M. Black, the ... Learn More

Alfonso "Fonso" Gravenese's vegetable oil became a business darling on Wall Street. To add credibility, American Express Bank made numerous secured loans against the company's growing inventory. Unbeknownst to all but a few, Fonso AKA the Salad Oil King, the 128 tanks filled with inventory along the New Jersey Turnpike were 90 percent... Learn More

I was on the way back from a business lunch at Sal Anthony’s Restaurant near Irving Place and 14th Street. As a grizzled New Yorker, I knew the fastest way back to my office at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza near the United Nations was to hail a cab and head northbound on First Avenue. At... Learn More

It was a simple, despicable, immoral elegant scheme. Alfonso Alfonso" Gravenese, AKA The Salad Oil King, paid off government officials to get awarded contracts to provide underprivileged kids with a balanced free lunch. Then to reimburse himself for the bribes and make a crapload of "bonus" profits, Fonso reduced his operating costs by... Learn More

Who are Uncle Tip-Top and Tony Four? They were my enterprising uncles, long since passed. Uncle Tip-Top (real name Tom) was a fleet supervisor for Ward Baking, the company which manufactured a popular brand of highly-processed, empty-calorie white bread called Tip-Top. Its ironic slogan? “Tip-Top Bread Builds Bodies Eight Ways.” Tip-Top’s fleet of 200 ... Learn More