Now Pecker was hemmed in; if they didn’t run the story, or if it broke elsewhere, they would have wasted the large sum and exposed the company to another possible “catch and kill” allegation. After Pecker exploded in anger at Stracher over lunch at Cipriani Wall Street in lower Manhattan, the veteran lawyer walked out of the restaurant, essentially quitting on the spot. That elevated his recently hired deputy: Jon Fine, who—another unlikely coincidence—had previously worked at Amazon for nine years.
