Dennis Kozlowski: Prisoner 05A4820

Morley Safer Speaks With The Ex-Tyco Chief Behind Bars

(CBS)  This segment was originally broadcast on March 25, 2007. It was updated on July 23, 2007.

A year ago or so, the air was thick with tales of corporate scandal, lost pension funds, big time theft and even bigger time prison sentences for the Enron gang. Then there was Dennis Kozlowski, CEO of Tyco, who was found guilty of – in effect – using Tyco’s immense financial resources for what the prosecution described as his "own personal piggy bank."

You might remember the $6,000 shower curtain, and stealing over $100 million from the company.

60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer wondered how the man, who could whistle up a corporate jet on a whim or throw a two million dollar birthday party, was doing in his reduced circumstances and what’s it like to go from "king of the world," to prisoner #05A4820, serving eight to 25 years behind bars.

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60 Minutes caught up with Dennis Kozlowski at Mid-State Correctional Facility in upstate New York. "Guests" at the facility include murderers, drug dealers and pedophiles, and the odd multi-millionaire.

"In my wildest imagination, when I would project myself into my late 50's and early 60's, where I would be or what I would be doing. If I make a list of a hundred different places, or a hundred different things, here would never make that list," Kozlowski tells Safer.

He now earns a dollar a day, mopping floors and slinging hash to his fellow inmates. In January, Kozlowski spent a week in the hospital with a heart ailment and got to thinking.

Kozlowski has not really talked publicly until now; asked why he decided to speak now, he says, "When I was in the hospital in January, I was outside in the emergency room, feeling really uncomfortable and frightened. And that's when I've, you know, really made the firm decision that I wanted to go through and talk to you at this time."

He says he became very aware of his own mortality, and didn't want to leave the world "without at least an opportunity to talk about my side of the story, to the extent that I can talk about it."

He agreed to speak with one stipulation — that 60 Minutes would not include anyone else in this story.

Because of an appeal, he will not discuss the details of his case, but he will say he believes in the judicial system. "I think all that works. But in this case, the jury got it wrong."

That jury convicted him of 22 counts of grand larceny, conspiracy and securities fraud. His trials occurred in the wake of a white-collar crime wave: Enron, WorldCom and Martha Stewart.

The newshounds smelled blood. Accused of looting his company of hundreds of millions of dollars and living the life of a pasha at stockholder’s expense, he was the living, breathing version of "Wall Street's" Gordon Gekko.

Up to a point: what is puzzling is why does a man who struggled so hard, so effectively to make it become so careless and stupid and arrogant? Born in a tenement on the wrong side of the tracks in Newark, N.J., Kozlowski worked his way through school.

"I played guitar in a band. I worked in a pharmacy. I worked in a carwash. So, you know, I had two or three jobs going at any given time, you know," he explains.

Where he grew up, Kozlowski says there weren't that many options. "Growing up in Newark, New Jersey, at the time, you know, you never thought of yourself growing up to become a CEO," he says.

He started at Tyco, then a small New Hampshire manufacturing company, as an accountant making $28,000 a year and worked his way up to CEO. He became known as "Deal-a-Day Dennis," constantly acquiring new businesses, and building Tyco from a $40 million company into a $40 billion conglomerate.

[acajudi]

He deserved more than he took. He took that company from nothing to billions. He should have just been upfront on what he was spending. I do wish him the best.

[nvanliew]

morley safer acted like he was interviewing Bono from U2 or Eddie Murphy. 60 minutes presented Koz like his *** don't stink - they should be ashamed of themselves. white collar white guys get relatively little jail time because no one is physically hurt OR threatened during the crime. blue collar black guys get a lot of jail time because they strong arm. why should there be any difference, because white collar crime is a more-refined, country club-style of stealing. this country's felony laws are SAD!!!!!!

[brucebennet1]

Dear 60 Minutes Producers %u2013

C%u2019mon folks, help me understand the objective of the Dennis Kozlowski segment? I kept waiting for the %u2018uh-huh%u2019 that would give me a clue as to what I was supposed to derive out of this meaningless feature. With an appeal filed, Mr. Kozlowski wouldn%u2019t/couldn%u2019t comment on his convicted crime, motivation or rationale behind it any further than to talk of what life has been like since he%u2019s been serving his sentence. Further, I failed to see any remorse or discernable shift in his outlook on life by virtue of going through this which I doubt would have any impact on his appeal. Even Morley Safer tried to fish some interest out of this interview with his inviting comment about people in similar circumstance finding religion. Mr. Kozlowski replied little on the subject. I%u2019m sure that any planned segment of your show can fall short of meeting the intended objective. But after reviewing the raw footage, didn%u2019t anyone ask, %u2018what was that all about?%u2019 Contrary to your objective stance, next time we see a Dennis Kozlowski interview, please help the viewer leap for a conclusion. Not surprising that the title was merely his Prisoner ID versus a title w/ a point of view. You can and have done better than this. Dennis is convicted of corporate stealing and owes restitution. 60 Minutes and Dennis stole 15 minutes of my life last night and now you owe me.

[aldewitt-2009]

Boo hoo. Cry me a river. Tyco has a reputation for being a cut-throat competitor and it has been hit with a lot of judgments for patent infringement and unfair competition in the medical device industry. Deal a Day Dennis deserves a nice dank prison cell and a really long time to ponder his failings. He hurt a lot of people by stealing money from Tyco and acting like it was his own piggy bank. While CBS may feel sorry for Dennis, I feel sorry for his victims.

[ewvdt]

I saw you on 60 Minutes last night and I think you got a raw deal, Dennis.
You made TYCO into the company it is today. In no way must you be included in the crooks of Enron and Worldcom.
The board is guilty of giving you carte blanche on the way you spent the money and by their inaction.

I'm your age, a working stiff @$4300/month and I hope you're humbled, forget about all the superficial characters that used to cheer you on including your ex for who you threw that crazy party.

If I ever meet you in person I'll buy you a cup of coffee and I don't need any favors from you.
Remember where you came from; you don't have to impress the "upper echelon" snobs, be humble.

Good luck my friend, I hope your appeal works in your favor!

[ewvdt]

I saw you on 60 Minutes last night and I think you got a raw deal, Dennis.
You made TYCO into the company it is today. In no way must you be included in the crooks of Enron and Worldcom.
The board is guilty of giving you carte blanche on the way you spent the money and by their inaction.

I'm your age, a working stiff @$4300/month and I hope you're humbled, forget about all the superficial characters that used to cheer you on including your ex for who you threw that crazy party.

If I ever meet you in person I'll buy you a cup of coffee and I don't need any favors from you.
Remember where you came from; you don't have to impress the "upper echelon" snobs, be humble.

Good luck my friend, I hope your appeal works in your favor!

[ewvdt]

I saw you on 60 Minutes last night and I think you got a raw deal, Dennis.
You made TYCO into the company it is today. In no way must you be included in the crooks of Enron and Worldcom.
The board is guilty of giving you carte blanche on the way you spent the money and by their inaction.

I'm your age, a working stiff @$4300/month and I hope you're humbled, forget about all the superficial characters that used to cheer you on including your ex for who you threw that crazy party.

If I ever meet you in person I'll buy you a cup of coffee and I don't need any favors from you.
Remember where you came from; you don't have to impress the "upper echelon" snobs, be humble.

Good luck my friend, I hope your appeal works in your favor!

[ewvdt]

I saw you on 60 Minutes last night and I think you got a raw deal, Dennis.
You made TYCO into the company it is today. In no way must you be included in the crooks of Enron and Worldcom.
The board is guilty of giving you carte blanche on the way you spent the money and by their inaction.

I'm your age, a working stiff @$4300/month and I hope you're humbled, forget about all the superficial characters that used to cheer you on including your ex for who you threw that crazy party.

If I ever meet you in person I'll buy you a cup of coffee and I don't need any favors from you.
Remember where you came from; you don't have to impress the "upper echelon" snobs, be humble.

Good luck my friend, I hope your appeal works in your favor!

[ewvdt]

You got a raw deal, Dennis.
You made TYCO into the company it is today. In no way must you be included in the crooks of Enron and Worldcom.
The board is guilty of giving you carte blanche on the way you spent the money and by their inaction.

I'm your age, a working stiff @$4300/month and I hope you're humbled, forget about all the superficial characters that used to cheer you on including your ex for who you threw that crazy party.

If I ever meet you in person I'll buy you a cup of coffee.
Remember where you came from; you dont have to impress the "upper echelon" snobs, be humble.

Good luck my friend, I hope your appeal works in your favor!

[ewvdt]

You got a raw deal, Dennis.
You made TYCO into the company it is today. In no way you must be included in the crooks of Enron and Worldcom.
The board is guilty of giving you carte blanche on the way you spent the money and by their inaction.

I'm your age, a working stiff @$4300/month and I hope you're humbled, forget about all the superficial characters that used to cheer you on including your ex for who you threw that crazy party.

If I ever meet you in person I'll buy you a cup of coffee. Remember where you came from; you dont have to impress the "upper echelon", be humble.

Good luck my friend, I hope your appeal works in your favor!

[ewvdt]

I think you got a raw deal, Dennis, and I sincerely hope that your eventual appeal of your sentencing will bear fruit in your favor.
As I see it, you just made the mistake of being too showy and thereby creating envy.
You made Tyco corp. what it is today. The board gave you carte blanche.
In no way are you to be included in the crooks that ran Enron and Worldcom.

This working class stiff @$4300/month/61 years old would buy you a cup of coffee in a heartbeat.
All your buddies left you including that woman you had that crazy party for.
Shallow, superficial people!

Thank you for sharing your story and I wish you the best for the future!

[ewvdt]

I think you got a raw deal, Dennis, and I sincerely hope that your eventual appeal of your sentencing will bear fruit in your favor.
As I see it, you just made the mistake of being too showy and thereby creating envy.
You made Tyco corp. what it is today. The board gave you carte blanche.
In no way are you to be included in the crooks that ran Enron and Worldcom.

This working class stiff ($4300/month)would buy you a cup of coffee in a heartbeat. All your buddies left you including that woman you had that party for. Shallow people!
Thank you for sharing your story and I wish you the best for the future!

[mbpfrance]

Dennis, no matter how tough it gets....this too shall pass! Hang in there, you know in prison innocent or not you are still 'in prison'!

You are not alone.

For friends who passed you by there wil be others who dont care so much for the $ and simply share a cup of coffee!

[oakishpines]

see all my millionaire enemies, preaching expensive guns and drugs: go get them ... see all my friends, shopgifting grass and dirt for cures for cancer and other margaritas ... i'll worship my trillions and the weapons the best of best weapons they conjure and sell and i'll adore my poor destitute quality neighbors suffering their trifles while i give them foot ball and base ball and expensive pills most can't even afford to have shoved down their throats ... maybe giveng market share to normal folk is a bad idea because fascists would see it as fresh meat for the grinder and flock to the slave and slaughter ... see all my millionaire enemys preaching expensive guns and drugs ... i'll worship my trillions and all the fresh meat they buy for the fascists racing toward my slave and slaughter

[neoconrcrazy]

Taking someone else's money and adding it to your own does not create wealth, it redistributes it into fewer hands, and in doing so creates poverty for those who lost it.
Posted by brianbwb


or how about the LBO's ? Take a company over, by adding tremendous debt, financed by banks, then place the new shares on the market (AAA rating!)

the private equity sharks take the first bite, filling their pockets, the banks get another chunk, and the new shareholders get stuck with the losses! Great game!

or; the banks can't unload the debt on the market, get stuck with it on their books; what to do? Like a miracle, interet rates rise and everyone chips in to pay it off. What a great system!

[brianbwb-2009]

This is an argument that only those that are creating wealth would understand. I think before you judge from a poor persons mentality, you need to walk, deal with the trials and tribulations of a rich man gone through the storm!
Posted by sevanteX

Poor little rich man, maybe now that he is "broke", he will know what real problems are, how to get your next meal, how to pay this month's bills, how to have even a roof over your head.

Wealth "creation"? no such thing, son, the finite number of dollars means that it is a zero sum game. Taking someone else's money and adding it to your own does not create wealth, it redistributes it into fewer hands, and in doing so creates poverty for those who lost it.

[patricia2222-2009]

Yes, His wife should have been charged too, I am very compassionate for him & very sorry he let this happen to him, if ouI could have his address so I can send him some prayers, Thank You.

[neenga]

And Congress doesn't apporove increasing the rich's taxes and lowering taxes for the poor and middle-class citizens? We, as Americans, are idiots not to force this issue. People who make this much money (1) need a lot of oversight by the govt. and (2) should be paying taxes out their a$$es, considering all of the hardworking citizens who not only pay taxes but obey the freaking LAWS of this country.

[seavon]

i just like to say why you tend to put thiefs on your show.. just to boast about thier inmoral behavior, of thier lives,do you think i like seeing these crooks smile and boasting about thier life,, and all the money the stole,
,Dennis Kozlowski: Prisoner 05A4820
if you want to waste air time in M,F, PEOPLE like these,, them you need to give me the same amount of air time just to promote my business,, and all the good that we are doing here in RIO TINTO honduras,, but i know you're not going to waste your time on simple american people like me,, my story is useless you to,, so i challange you ,,,

being that i'm not a killer, or a theif, my story is useless.. but thank you..

seavon.com

[brucesmall]

"Martha Stewart case as I should be, my recollection is that she in no way looted her company, nor stole from anyone else."

Martha Stewart, with insider knowledge, sold her stock knowing the price would go down, and somebody out there, without that insider knowledge, bought that stock and promptly lost a good chunk of his or her money. She in effect stole from him, which is why insider trading is a crime.