Post #409691 by Cammo on Wed, Sep 24, 2008 3:56 AM

The Annenbergs are an interesting family - patriarch Moe Annenberg was a legbreaker for Hearst newpapers, who threw his money into a racing form and local publications that turned into the Philedelphia Inquirer. His son walter took that money and started TV Guide & Seventeen Magazine, which made him billions and earned him a political appointment to the Court of St. James. His son Roger committed suicide.

The Annenberg Foundation is maybe the biggest donator to the arts and education in the US, but it was probably started to assauge guit that Annenberg Jr. felt from starting the entire fortune with money derived from beating the crap out of people. Murder was never tied to Moe, but he spent three years in the pen for tax evasion. Later, the big money was made from telling people what was on TV each night.

Check out the amazing "Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book" by Gerard Jones for all the gory details.