In 1993, Eddie Antar, founder of the Crazy Eddie electronics store chain, is led in handcuffs after being extradited from Israel. Thousands of commercials starred pitchman Jerry Carroll who touted the chain’s prices as “insane.” Danield Hulshizer /AP hide caption
toggle caption Danield Hulshizer /AP
If you ever saw a Crazy Eddie commercial, then you know the electronics retail giant’s prices were “insane!”
At its height, the chain had 43 stores in four states. Eddie Antar started the chain in 1969 with a store in Brooklyn, N.Y. The chain’s growth was helped by the introduction of the VCR.
In 1984, the chain went public. Stockholders, during a revolt in 1987, took over the company, and shortly after that it was discovered that $45 million in merchandise was missing.
At the same time, federal prosecutors had been building a fraud case against Antar, charging that he had defrauded shareholders through stock manipulation, according to The New York Times.
In 1990, Antar fled to Israel after being indicted on securities fraud and insider trading.
Three years later he was extradited back to the U.S. In 1995, his conviction on racketeering and stock fraud charges were overturned on appeal.
He eventually served seven years in prison after pleading guilty in a plea bargain to one charge of racketeering conspiracy.
Antar died on Saturday but a cause of death was not disclosed. He was 68.
While Antar was the man behind Crazy Eddie, he was not the pitchman who appeared in commercials.
For more than 13 years, Jerry Carroll, a radio DJ, was the man who starred in thousands of radio and TV ads.
Carroll’s fast-talking, shout-at-you style made the commercials memorable.
The ads always ended the same, with Crazy Eddie prices being touted as “in-SAAAANE!”
