The necessary antecedent to those powerful rules was, naturally, a congressional investigation: the Pecora Commission.

FORBES: The Hellhound of Wall Street

As a result of the Pecora Commission, public pressure for banking reform greatly intensified.

CNN: Commentary: Investigate Wall Street

We need another Pecora Commission, another Fulbright Committee, another Sam Ervin to use the power of Congress to shed light on the causes of our current economic meltdown.

CNN: Commentary: Investigate Wall Street

This was the case with the famous Pecora Commission, the Senate Committee on Banking and Currency formed in the period between President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's election in November 1932 and his inauguration in March.

CNN: Commentary: Investigate Wall Street

That Congress's current Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, though modelled on Pecora's, has yet to produce similar drama only reinforces the point.

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Pecora brought some of the most prominent figures from Wall Street to speak with the commission and to answer difficult questions.

CNN: Commentary: Investigate Wall Street