The New York Observer has two interesting stories yesterday: the first is, of course, a guest column by yours truly on insider trading, but what caught my eye even more than that was a fascinating inside account of how the $5.4 billion Stuyvestant Town/Peter Cooper Village mega-deal fell apart.

As I've pointed out previously, the nation's biggest real estate deal was also its most odious, because it was predicated on breaking the law--tossing out tenants in defiance of New York's tough rent control laws.