A "tough guy from Brooklyn": new book describes Vinny Viola, Nets minority owner (and the one who brought Mary Higgins Clark on board)
Had the larger-than-life Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov not emerged on the scene, the buyer of the New Jersey Nets may well have been Brooklyn-born Vincent (Vinny) Viola, former chairman of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and now chair of the firm Virtu Financial . And Viola appears to be a colorful figure in his own right, according to The Asylum: The Renegades Who Hijacked the World's Oil Market , journalist Leah McGrath Goodman's dishy 2011 book about NYMEX. Still, given some careless reporting, we may have to take some of it with a grain of salt. (Photo from Combatting Terrorism Center at West Point , which Viola has supported philanthropically. A retired Army Reserve Major, he still lectures on cyber warfare .) The book also explains that Viola was the connection that brought several investors to the Nets, including novelist Mary Higgins Clark. A "tough guy from Brooklyn" Goodman credits Viola with managing NYMEX well in the horrific w...