Business Week senior writer Anthony Bianco assumed a mammoth task in deciding to write a biography of the Reichmanns, once one of the world’s most powerful and secretive families. His subjects, the force behind Olympia & York Developments Ltd., the commercial real-estate empire that collapsed in financial ruin in 1992, have a well-documented track record for suing nosy writers. (Most famous was a $102-million libel suit the Reichmanns launched against Toronto Life magazine and writer Elaine Dewar over an unflattering cover story in 1987. The matter was settled out of court and to the Reichmanns’ satisfaction three years later.)

A lesser reporter might have been cowed, but Bianco has risen to the challenge. His 800-page epic is a well-researched and richly written narrative that is bound to appeal equally to those interested in the world of high-stakes finance and those who like a good yarn with historical sweep.

He has a wealth of material with which to work – religion, history, a family’s migration over three continents in search of refuge and prosperity, not to mention the rise and fall of one of the world’s largest private real-estate development companies.

While he had the co-operation of many in the extended Reichmann family (including five lengthy interviews with former O&Y chairman Paul Reichmann), friends, and associates, Bianco’s book is not an authorized biography. It delves into the family’s murky past in Tangier, where patriarch Samuel acted as a currency trader and banker in the shadow of fascist Spain. While other biographers have hinted the Reichmanns might have collaborated with the Nazis and engaged in smuggling during their time in Tangier, Bianco concludes their business dealings were above board.

This is not to say the author shies from painting the less-flattering details of the story. The Reichmanns is packed with anecdotes that tell of the family’s sometimes strained relations with gentile neighbours and even with less observant Jews. Battles with neighbours in nouveau riche North York, Ontario are laid out in amusing detail. The collapse of O&Y is painted as the tragic result of Paul Reichmann’s over-reaching and arrogant self-confidence.

There are darker tales, too, including the death in 1993 of a younger Reichmann, David, son of middle brother Albert. The former died of an apparent cocaine overdose in Tel Aviv, in the company of a prostitute. Not the kind of story one would expect to find in a sanctioned biography.

All in all, Bianco has created a vivid portrait of a complex family involved in an equally complex business during an era of accelerated change. Best of all, he’s made the story easy to read with elegant prose and rich detail.