. >> investment banker dennis levine collected $12.5 million in illegal profits by gaining advanced knowledge of 54 takeovers and would buy stocks in the names of two dummy corporations in panama. >> it was the first time the s.e.c. has been able to nail down insider trader. somebody with a million dollar a year salary which apparently wasn't enough. >> insider trading could become wall street's watergate. >> authorities might be able to develop a list of new suspects. >> we start the investigation, and once his lawyer advised him that his in his interest to cooperate, he would give you the information. to him, it was just another deal. >> i think the judge made it clear that he would have given a heavier sentence except for the cooperation. >> dennis levine was one guy doing insider trading and that's not new. but what he did was lead to ivan boski. >> ivan boski has been fined the largest penalty ever. >> he did what he claimed he would ever do, use insider information to buy huge blocks of stock in companies secretly involved in takeover deals. >> ivan boesky was a crook. handing bags of c

but what dennis levine did is what led to ivan boesky. >> ivan boesky has been fined the largest penalty ever for insider trading and has been barred from the industry. >> he did what he claimed he would ever do, use insider information to buy huge blocks of stock in companies secretly involved in takeover deals. >> ivan boesky was a crook. handing bags of cash to people who would give him inside information. >> if we had capital punishment for white collar crimes, i would say he would be a prime candidate. >> ivan boesky arrived in court to hear himself described as a man whose arrogance has been stripped away. there's no doubt he's become a symbol of what's wrong with wall street. >> the news of the boesky indictment was like the bombshell on wall street. >> what do we call greed the day before an indictment is filed? >> recently, we called it success. people such as ivan boesky were being hailed as heroes at the peak of their careers. >> many of america's small investors have been appalled. >> i think they should put them in jail. >> more than 48 cases of insider trading brought by ne