On March 20th Bennett LeBow's Liggett Group broke ranks with Big Tobacco and reached a settlement with the industry's tormentors.

ECONOMIST: Tobacco��s Brutus

Liggett Group, for a long time controlled by financier Bennett LeBow, has pumped out half a billion dollars in dividends thanks to special, lower rates it pays under the settlement.

FORBES: The House Tobacco Built

Their most serious challenge before the 1990s came in 1983, when Rose Cipollone, a smoker dying from lung cancer, filed suit against Liggett Group, charging the company failed to warn her about the dangers of its products.

CNN: A brief history of tobacco