Monkshood
Aconitum variegatum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Ranunculaceae
Genus:	Aconitum L., 1753
Species
See below

Aconitum ( /ˌækəˈnaɪtəm/ A-co-ní-tum),^[1] known as aconite, monkshood, wolf's bane, leopard's bane, women's bane, Devil's helmet or blue rocket,^[2] is a genus of over 250 species of flowering plants belonging to the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae).

The name comes from ἀκόνιτον meaning without struggle.

Overview[link]

These herbaceous perennial plants are chiefly natives of the mountainous parts of the northern hemisphere, growing in moisture retentive but well draining soils on mountain meadows. Their dark green leaves lack stipules. They are palmate or deeply palmately lobed with 5–7 segments. Each segment again is 3-lobed with coarse sharp teeth. The leaves have a spiral or alternate arrangement. The lower leaves have long petioles.

The tall, erect stem is crowned by racemes of large blue, purple, white, yellow or pink zygomorphic flowers with numerous stamens. They are distinguishable by having one of the five petaloid sepals (the posterior one), called the galea, in the form of a cylindrical helmet; hence the English name monkshood. There are 2–10 petals, in the form of nectaries. The two upper petals are large. They are placed under the hood of the calyx and are supported on long stalks. They have a hollow spur at their apex, containing the nectar. The other petals are small and scale-like or non-forming. The 3–5 carpels are partially fused at the base.

The fruit is an aggregate of follicles, a follicle being a dry, unilocular, many-seeded structure formed from one carpel, and dehiscing by the ventral suture in order to release seeds.

Species[link]

Natural hybrids[link]

• Aconitum × austriacum
• Aconitum × cammarum
• Aconitum × hebegynum
• Aconitum × oenipontanum (A. variegatum ssp. variegatum × ssp. paniculatum)
• Aconitum × pilosiusculum
• Aconitum × platanifolium (A. lycoctonum ssp. neapolitanum × ssp. vulparia)
• Aconitum × zahlbruckneri (A. napellus ssp. vulgare × A. variegatum ssp. variegatum)

Uses[link]

The roots of Aconitum ferox supply the Nepalese poison called bikh, bish, or nabee. It contains large quantities of the alkaloid pseudaconitine, which is a deadly poison. Aconitum palmatum yields another of the bikh poisons. The root of Aconitum luridum, of the Himalaya, is said to be as poisonous as that of A. ferox or A. napellus.

Several species of Aconitum have been used as arrow poisons. The Minaro in Ladakh use A. napellus on their arrows to hunt ibex, while the Ainu in Japan used a species of Aconitum to hunt bear.^[4] The Chinese also used Aconitum poisons both for hunting^[5] and for warfare.^[6]

Many species of Aconitum are cultivated in gardens, having either blue or yellow flowers. Aconitum lycoctonum (Alpine wolfsbane) is a yellow-flowered species common in the Alps of Switzerland. As garden plants the aconites are very ornamental, hardy perennial plants. They thrive in the garden soils, and will grow in the shade of trees. They are easily propagated by divisions of the root or by seeds; care should be taken not to leave pieces of the root where livestock might be poisoned.

The most common plant in this genus, Aconitum napellus (the Common Monkshood) was considered in the past to be of therapeutic and of toxicological importance. Its roots have occasionally been mistaken for horseradish. When touched to one's lip, the juice of the aconite root produces a feeling of numbness and tingling. This plant is used as a food plant by some Lepidoptera species including Dot Moth, The Engrailed, Mouse Moth, Wormwood Pug, and Yellow-tail.

Traditional and Modern Medicinal uses[link]

Aconite has long been used in the traditional medicine of Asia (India, China). In Ayurveda the herb is used to increase pitta (fire, bile) dosha and to enhance penetration in small doses. However more frequently the herb is detoxified according to the samskaras process and studies, cited in the detoxification section below show that it no longer possesses active toxicity. It is used in traditional Chinese medicine as a treatment for Yang deficiency, "coldness", general debilitation. The herb is considered hot and toxic. It is prepared in extremely small doses. More frequently ginger processed aconite, of lower toxicity, "fu zi" is used. Aconite is one ingredient of Tribhuvankirti, an Ayurvedic preparation for treating a "cold in the head" and fever.^[7] Aconite was mixed with patrinia and coix, in a famous treatment for appendicitis described in a formula from the Jingui Yaolue (ca. 220 A.D.)^[8] Aconite was also described in Greek and Roman medicine by Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Pliny the Elder, who most likely prescribed the Alpine species Aconitum lycoctonum. The herb was cultivated widely in Europe, probably reaching England before the tenth century, where it was farmed with some difficulty, but came to be widely valued as an anodyne, diuretic, and diaphoretic.^[9] In the nineteenth century much aconite was imported from China, Japan, Fiji, and Tonga, with a number of species used to manufacture alkaloids of varying potency but generally similar effect, most often used externally and rarely internally. Effects of different preparations were standardized by testing on guinea pigs.^[10]

In Western medicine preparations of aconite were used until just after the middle of the 20th century, but it is no longer employed as it has been replaced by safer and more effective drugs and treatments. The 1911 British Pharmaceutical Codex regarded the medical uses and toxicity of aconite root or leaves to be virtually identical to that of purified aconitine.^[11] Aconite first stimulates and later paralyses/numbs the nerves to the sensations of pain, touch, and temperature if applied to the skin or to a mucous membrane; the initial tingling therefore gives place to a long-continued anaesthetic action. Great caution was required, as abraded skin could absorb a dangerous dose of the drug, and merely tasting some of the concentrated preparations available could be fatal. The local anaesthesia of peripheral nerves can be attributed to at least eleven alkaloids with varying potency and stability.^[12]

Internal uses were also pursued, to slow the pulse, as a sedative in pericarditis and heart palpitations, and well diluted as a mild diaphoretic, or to reduce feverishness in treatment of colds, pneumonia, quinsy, laryngitis, croup, and asthma due to exposure. Taken internally, aconite acts very notably on the circulation, the respiration, and the nervous system. The pulse is slowed, the number of beats per minute being actually reduced, under considerable doses, to forty, or even thirty, per minute. The blood-pressure synchronously falls, and the heart is arrested in diastole. Immediately before arrest, the heart may beat much faster than normal, though with extreme irregularity, and in animals the auricles may be observed occasionally to miss a beat, as in poisoning by veratrine and colchicum. The action of aconitine on the circulation is due to an initial stimulation of the cardio-inhibitory centre in the medulla oblongata (at the root of the vagus nerves), and later to a directly toxic influence on the nerve-ganglia and muscular fibres of the heart itself. The fall in blood-pressure is not due to any direct influence on the vessels. The respiration becomes slower owing to a paralytic action on the respiratory centre and, in warm-blooded animals, death is due to this action, the respiration being arrested before the action of the heart. Aconite further depresses the activity of all nerve-terminals, the sensory being affected before the motor. In small doses, it therefore tends to relieve pain, if this is present. The activity of the spinal cord is similarly depressed. The pupil is at first contracted, and afterwards dilated. The cerebrum is totally unaffected by aconite, consciousness and the intelligence remaining normal to the last. The antipyretic action which considerable doses of aconite display is not specific but is the result of its influence on the circulation and respiration and of its slight diaphoretic action.

Activated Aconite is used as an herb in Chinese traditional medicine, including in a formula to treat Arthritis. It exhibits especially potent analgesic properties, according to a recent study conducted by researchers with the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Their research reveals that one of the active ingredients in aconite–Bulleyaconitine A, or BLA– strongly reduces sodium channel currents to block overactive pain signals for prolonged periods of time. In China, BLA has been approved for the treatment of chronic pain and rheumatoid arthritis.^[13]

Toxicology[link]

Monkshood, Aconitum napellus

Marked symptoms may appear almost immediately, usually not later than one hour, and "with large doses death is almost instantaneous." Death usually occurs within 2 to 6 hours in fatal poisoning (20 to 40 mL of tincture may prove fatal).^[14] The initial signs are gastrointestinal including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. There is followed by a sensation of burning, tingling, and numbness in the mouth and face, and of burning in the abdomen. In severe poisonings pronounced motor weakness occurs and cutaneous sensations of tingling and numbness spread to the limbs. Cardiovascular features include hypotension, sinusbradycardia, and ventricular arrhythmias. Other features may include sweating, dizziness, difficulty in breathing, headache, and confusion. The main causes of death are ventricular arrhythmias and asystole, paralysis of the heart or of the respiratory center.^[14][15] The only post-mortem signs are those of asphyxia.

Treatment of poisoning is mainly supportive. All patients require close monitoring of blood pressure and cardiac rhythm. Gastrointestinal decontamination with activated charcoal can be used if given within 1 hour of ingestion.^[16] The major physiological antidote is atropine, which is used to treat bradycardia. Other drugs used for ventricular arrhythmia include lidocaine, amiodarone, bretylium, flecainide, procainamide, and mexiletine. Cardiopulmonary bypass is used if symptoms are refractory to treatment with these drugs.^[15] Successful use of charcoal hemoperfusion has been claimed in patients with severe aconite poisoning.^[17]

Poisoning may also occur following picking the leaves without wearing gloves; the aconitine toxin is absorbed easily through the skin. In this event, there will be no gastrointestinal effects. Tingling will start at the point of absorption and extend up the arm to the shoulder, after which the heart will start to be affected. The tingling will be followed by unpleasant numbness. Treatment is similar to poisoning caused by oral ingestion.

Aconitine is a potent neurotoxin that opens tetrodotoxin-sensitive sodium channels. It increases influx of sodium through these channels and delays repolarization, thus increasing excitability and promoting ventricular dysrhythmias. Pretreatment with barakol 10 mg/kg IV reduces the incidence of aconitine-induced ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia, as well as mortality. Five μg/kg IV of tetrodotoxin has the same effect. The protective effects of barakol are probably due to the prevention of intracellular sodium ion accumulation. Activation of the vagus nerve by aconitine results in bradycardia.

Canadian actor Andre Noble died during a camping trip on July 30, 2004 after the accidental consumption of aconite from monkshood.^[18]

In January 2009, the British 'Curry Killer' Lakhvir Singh, killed her lover Lakhvinder Cheema with a curry dish laced with Indian Aconite. On 11 February 2010 she was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 23 years for the murder.^[19]

Detoxification[link]

Both Chinese medicine and Ayurveda have methods of processing aconite to reduce its toxicity. In Chinese medicine, the traditional pao zhi or preparation of aconite is to steam it with ginger in a fairly elaborate procedure. Due to the variable levels of toxicity in any given sample of the dried herb, there are still issues with using it. Most but not all cases of aconite toxicity in Taiwan were due to the consumption of unprocessed aconite.^[20][21]

According to an article by the Indian scientists Thorat and Dahanukar, "Crude aconite is an extremely lethal substance. However, the science of Ayurveda looks upon aconite as a therapeutic entity. Crude aconite is always processed i.e. it undergoes 'samskaras' before being utilized in the Ayurvedic formulations. This study was undertaken in mice, to ascertain whether 'processed' aconite is less toxic as compared to the crude or unprocessed one. It was seen that crude aconite was significantly toxic to mice (100% mortality at a dose of 2.6 mg/mouse) whereas the fully processed aconite was absolutely non-toxic (no mortality at a dose even 8 times as high as that of crude aconite). Further, all the steps in the processing were essential for complete detoxification" ^[22]

Cultural depictions[link]

Northern Blue Monkshood (Aconitum noveboracense)

Mythology and Literature[link]

Aconitum features in literature in a number of instances:

• In Greek mythology, Medea attempted to poison Theseus with a cup of wine poisoned with wolfsbane. However Aegeus, his father, interceded when he discerned his identity.^[23]

• In the book Airman by Eoin Colfer, Marshall Hugo Bonvilain invites Conor's family to his tower and poisons the wine with wolfsbane which they don't drink.

• Shakespeare, in Henry IV Part II Act 4 Scene 4 refers to aconite, alongside rash gunpowder, working as strongly as the "venom of suggestion" to break up close relationships (cf Iago's role in Othello).

• John Keats, in his Ode on Melancholy, writes:

No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist Wolf's bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kissed By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine…

• Aconitum plays a major role in the story "The Cardinal Napellus" by Gustav Meyrink. It is identified with religious beliefs and connected to the idea of fate.

• Wolfsbane is mentioned in one of the verses of the Wiccan Rede:

Widdershins go when the Moon doth wane, An’ the Werewolf howls by the dread Wolfsbane.

• In the third book of the Brother Cadfael series, Monk's Hood, the herbalist Cadfael uses aconite as an ingredient in a liniment, which is later stolen and used to poison a victim. It is occasionally referenced in other situations as well.

• In Children of the Vampire, the second book in Jeanne Kalogridis vampire series, wolfsbane is named as an ingredient for a very powerful elixir designed to transform one into the form of a wolf (or perhaps other creatures as well) so as to commence training to become a vampire-killer.

• Wolfsbane in the Harry Potter series of Fantasy novels is a toxic plant that can be used as an ingredient in the Wolfsbane Potion, a potion werewolves use to maintain their rationality and conscience when transformed into a wolf. During the events of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the werewolf Remus Lupin forgets to take his dose of Wolfsbane Potion that Severus Snape prepared for him and ends up turning into a werewolf during the full moon. In his first potions class, Harry Potter is mocked by Severus Snape for not knowing that monkshood, wolfsbane, and aconite are the same plant, in an attempt to humiliate him.

• An overdose of aconite was the method in which Rudolph Bloom, father of Leopold Bloom in James Joyce's Ulysses, committed suicide.

Rudolph Bloom died... in consequence of an overdose of monkshood (aconite) self-administered in the form of a neuralgic liniment...

• Aconite poisoning is used as a means of disposal in the Alistair MacLean novel Bear Island.

• In Brian Jacques's Redwall book Outcast of Redwall, Veil the ferret uses wolfsbane to poison one of the residents of Redwall Abbey.

• A controversial herbal remedy for cancer containing aconite was used by the character Kostoglotov in Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novel Cancer Ward.

• The character William Walker, otherwise known as the Wolf Lord, is assassinated, rather appropriately, with aconite in On the Oceans of Eternity, the third book in the Nantucket series by S. M. Stirling.

• In Alex Kava's A Necessary Evil, character Father Michael Keller is poisoned by monkshood in his tea.

• Hinted at in Stephen King´s novel Cycle of the Werewolf (1983), in which Reverend Lowe at some point remembers his lycanthropy might have started after he picked up some strange flowers in a graveyard.

• While legend suggests that Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt was killed by a snake bite, many historians actually believe that she committed suicide by swallowing a lethal drug cocktail made of opium, aconitum (wolfsbane) and hemlock, a highly poisonous plant from the parsley family.

• Wolf's bane is used as an analogy for the power of divine communion in Liber 65 1:13-16, one of Aleister Crowley's Holy Books of Thelema:

Wolf's bane is not so sharp as steel; yet it pierceth the body more subtly. Even as evil kisses corrupt the blood, so do my words devour the spirit of man. I breathe, and there is infinite dis-ease in the spirit. As an acid eats into steel, as a cancer that utterly corrupts the body; so am I unto the spirit of man.

Film and Television[link]

• In the 1931 Universal Pictures film Dracula, wolfsbane is used to keep Dracula out of households.

• The 1941 Universal Pictures genre-classic werewolf horror movie The Wolf Man, starring Lon Chaney, Jr. as Larry Talbot the Wolf Man, and Béla Lugosi, introduced the connection of wolfbane and werewolves to the audience. Throughout the movie, villagers recite a (fictional) gypsy poem,

Even a man who is pure in heart

and says his prayers by night

may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms

and the autumn moon is bright.

The poem was written by Curt Siodmak for the screenplay, and was with variations used in later sequels. Siodmak also introduced a number of other tropes about werewolves that entered modern werewolf folklore.

• In the pilot episode of The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby Doo Daphne Blake is tricked into drinking wolfsbane juice, which turns her into a werewolf.

• In an episode of Home Improvement wolfsbane is given to Tim by Wilson to help him ward off the bad luck he has been experiencing as a presumed result of throwing out a chain letter.

• Aconite is also used as a poison in Midsomer Murders, in the episode "Garden of Death".

• Monkshood is used as a plot device in the Canadian werewolf horror movie Ginger Snaps (2000), as a means of treating lycanthropy.

• In the 1998 play and 2005 film written by Craig Lucas, The Dying Gaul, the main character uses the root of a monkshood plant to attempt to poison his lover's wife.

• In the British TV series Heartbeat, in the first episode of series 8 (1998), the poisonings are eventually found to be due to common monkshood root mistaken for horseradish and made into sauce in the pub.

• In the American television series The Vampire Diaries (2009), Aconitum Vulperia (wolfsbane) is highly toxic to werewolves, similar to the poisonous effects that vervain has on vampires.

• Monkshood was used to poison a teenager in episode 3 ("Sympathy for the Devil") of the TV series Rizzoli & Isles

• In the new MTV show Teen Wolf, Wolfsbane is used to hide the true identity of the human side in a werewolf. Also a rare form of Monkshood called Nordic Blue Monkshood is extremely toxic to werewolves in the sense that exposure to the plant will kill them over time, and force transformations.

• Aconite or wolf's bane was used by the young magician Merlin in an attempt to poison King Arthur whilst he (Merlin) was under enchantment to the will of the witch Morgana, in an episode of the British TV series Merlin (series 4) (2011) called "A Servant of Two Masters".

• Wolf's bane was used in the pilot episode of the TV series Grimm by detective Nick Burkhardt to cover his scent while sneaking up on a 'Blutbad' (German for blood bath), the series' equivalent of a traditional werewolf. It was re-introduced later in the series in the episode titled, "Leave it to beavers."

• In the sixth episode of the second season of Game of Thrones, Arya is found to be spying Lord Tywin Lannister. She hurries to find the assassin Jaqen H'ghar, who is still masquerading as a Lannister guardsman, to kill Ser Amory to repay the second of the three "lives" he owes her. Before Ser Amory can denounce Arya, he drops dead on the doorstep of Tywin's chambers with a poisoned dart lodged in his neck. In the next episode, Lord Tywin Lannister identifies the substance used in the murder as wolfsbane.

Other media[link]

• It is the namesake for the British alternative metal band Aconite Thrill.

• In the manga and anime Reborn! one of the villains is named Torikabuto, which is Japanese for wolfsbane. As a reference to the many names of the wolfsbane such as monkshood and Devil's helmet, Torikabuto is constantly wearing a black hood over his head and a demonic mask on his face.

• Monk's Hood is the name of a new alternative metal band in the Philippines with talented lead vocalist Jeyvi Castillo III.

Gallery[link]

• 

  Unidentified Aconitum (possibly Aconitum carmichaelii)

• 

  Trailing White Monkshood (Aconitum reclinatum)

• 

  Southern Blue Monkshood (Aconitum uncinatum)

Footnotes[link]

References and external links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aconitum

Wikispecies has information related to: Aconitum

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• James Grout: Aconite Poisoning, part of the Encyclopædia Romana
• Photographs of Aconite plants

Walter Yetnikoff (Born August 11, 1933, Brooklyn, New York) is a former music executive, CEO and lawyer.

Yetnikoff has retired and gone on to write his memoirs, Howling at the Moon (published in 2004). During his career at CBS, he influenced the careers of Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand.^[1]

Career[link]

Yetnikoff was born in Brooklyn and graduated magna cum laude from Brooklyn College in 1953, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. After earning his law degree at Columbia University, he joined the Rosenman & Colin law firm, which represented CBS Records. He then joined the CBS/Columbia Records law department in 1962 and rose to become head of the department. When Clive Davis was sacked by CBS for minor financial impropriety in 1973, and the legendary CBS executive Goddard Lieberson retired in 1975 , Yetnikoff was promoted to President of CBS Records Group and a vice president of CBS Inc., a position he held until September 1990. During his time as President of CBS Records, Yetnikoff oversaw the creation of the most profitable and prestigious stable of artists in music history such as Michael Jackson, George Michael, Barbra Streisand, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Cyndi Lauper, Meat Loaf, Boston, Living Colour and Public Enemy. ^[2].

In 1986, he was executive producer of the Hollywood comedy movie Ruthless People, starring Bette Midler and Danny DeVito.

Renowned for his "colorful" personality and his abrasive management style, Yetnikoff was a key protagonist of the 1990 book Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business, Fredric Dannen's landmark exposé of the shady dealings by major American record labels in the 1970s and 1980s.^[3] The book focused on the practice of payola; the record companies' controversial connections with "The Network", a loose grouping of so-called "Indies" (independent record promoters) who were, by the 1980s, being paid tens of millions of dollars annually by major record labels to promote new releases to American radio stations and who could reputedly make or break a new record.

In the book, Dannen recounted Yetnikoff's rise to power at CBS, his "war" with hated corporate rival Warner Music Group, then owned by Warner Communications, its head Steven J. Ross and his escalating conflict with CBS Records Deputy President Dick Asher -- who came to oppose the use of "Indie" promoters — which culminated in Yetnikoff's controversial sacking of Asher in April 1983. According to Dannen, Yetnikoff strongly favored the use of "Indies," and in the early 1980s he opposed a plan by the RIAA to investigate the use of "Indie" promoters after a series of NBC News reports revealed apparent links between prominent "Indie" promoter Fred DiSipio, and members of the Gambino crime family, including notorious New York Mob boss John Gotti.

The book also examined Yetnikoff's intimate links with other major industry figures, including music industry "Godfather" Morris Levy, prominent music industry lawyer Allen Grubman, Michael Jackson's one-time manager Frank Dileo and former artist manager Tommy Mottola, whom Yetnikoff appointed to a senior post at CBS Records after its sale to the Sony Corporation in 1988.

Yetnikoff renewed his public feud with Ross in 1989 when Yetnikoff interfered in Sony's negotiation with Ross and Time Warner in signing Jon Peters and Peter Guber to co-head Sony's newly acquired subsidiary Columbia Pictures (Now known as Sony Pictures Entertainment). At the time, Guber and Peters both had contracts with Time Warner's Warner Bros. unit. As a result, Sony's U.S. head Michael P. Schuloff, embarrassed by Yetnikoff's abusive behavior, quietly settled with Ross and Time Warner over Guber and Peters, who became co-heads of its movie unit.

After leaving Sony Music in 1990, Yetnikoff put together an independent label Velvel Records, which debuted in 1995. The label released many records, including The Kinks catalog. It was sold to Koch Records in 1999 and Yetnikoff was no longer involved with the label. Subsequently he co-founded Commotion Records an independent label focusing on soundtrack CDs.

Autobiography[link]

His autobiography Howling at the Moon, co-written with David Ritz, was published in 2004. Yetnikoff recounted in the book how Vincent E. Puma had helped him recover from his addictions to alcohol and drugs. The Jewish Yetnikoff noted that he viewed Father Puma as a mentor, saying: "It'd be easier for the Pope to convert to Islam than for me to turn Catholic, but that didn't stop me from hanging out with a priest who understood the need for redemption."^[4]

Yetnikoff is featured in the book Hit And Run about Sony's purchase of Columbia Pictures in 1990 and hiring, on Yetnikoff's recommendation, Peter Guber and Jon Peters to run the studio. Yetnikoff is also featured in the books The Operator: David Geffen Builds, Buys, and Sells the New Hollywood by Thomas R. King, and Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age by Steve Knopper. He is rumored to be the inspiration for Walter Fox, the record-label boss played by Rip Torn in the film One Trick Pony written by and starring Paul Simon.^[5]

References[link]

1. ^ "An Interview with Former CBS Head Walter Yetnikoff': (October 2007; retrieved January 28, 2010)
2. ^ Ritz, David. Howling At The Moon. 2004, Abacus Press. ISBN 0-349-11797-7.
3. ^ Dannen, Fredric. Hitmen. Published by Vintage Books. 1990. (ISBN 0 09 9813106)
4. ^ James, George. "UP FRONT: WORTH NOTING; A Music Mogul's Tale: Salvation in a Soup Kitchen", The New York Times, April 18, 2004. Accessed August 25, 2011. "Mr. Yetnikoff, who is Jewish, writes, 'I grew closer to Father Puma, as a mentor and a friend. It'd be easier for the Pope to convert to Islam than for me to turn Catholic, but that didn't stop me from hanging out with a priest who understood the need for redemption.'"
5. ^ Howling at the Moon, Broadway 2004, ISBN 978-0-7679-1536-6

External links[link]

• "Sex, Drugs and Ego: A Music Mogul's Swath of Destruction; A Deposed President of CBS Records Chronicles His Debauchery and Detox", The New York Times, March 4, 2004 (retrieved January 28, 2010)