“Since I was shot,” Warhol says, “everything is such a dream to me. I don’t know what anything is about. Like I don’t even know whether or not I’m really alive or — whether I died. It’s sad”

“If Giuliani fails badly… then yes, Ailes’s career is in some jeopardy.”

“Proceeds from the birthday part were said to be destined for 'the Fifth Estate,' an organization, or foundation, or publication, or something, anyway, about which no one seemed to know much.”

“Mailer said he wanted to establish something he called 'the Fifth Estate,' essentially an organization to investigate whether the United States was slipping into totalitarianism through a series of carefully manipulated conspiracies. He said it was the best political idea he ever had”

“The essence of the ruling was that Esposito, who has become a caricature of the county party boss, is in fact no boss at all and thus cannot be penalized for breaking state laws that limit the commercial activity of a county leader.”

“Jackie Curtis and her bridal party sat nervously on the back of the roof, behind the chimneys and the pipes, waiting for the groom. He never appeared.”

“The cops dropped me in the street and disappeared. My face, and my press card, were covered with blood. I went to the hospital to get five stitches in my forehead. So I missed the climax of the Yip-In, but I can pass on various accounts of witnesses”

“The initial plan called for Trump to purchase the hotel, sell it to the city, and then lease it back from the city at a nominal rental — and no real-estate taxes.”

“The most curious aspect of the Bowery/UDC relationship is the striking similarity between letters sent by both to the city con­cerning the Commodore deal.”

The Commodore story led the author into a series of possible conflicts concerning Ravitch's role as the unpaid chairman of the New York's Urban Development Corporation