"Crush your enemy": The 48 laws of power a hit with businessmen, prison inmates

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When author Robert Greene wrote his bestselling book "The 48 Laws of Power," his win-at-all-costs message turned him into a cult hero with the hip-hop set, Hollywood elite and prison inmates alike.

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"These laws … people might say, 'Oh they're wicked,'" he said, leaning back in an armchair with a steaming mug of black tea in the covered patio of his sunny, Spanish-style home in Los Feliz. "They're practiced day in and day out by businesspeople. You're always trying to get rid of your competition and it can be pretty bloodthirsty, and that's just the reality."

Published in 1998, "The 48 Laws" became a sensation with rappers such as 50 Cent, Kanye West, Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes, who tapped it as a guide for getting ahead in the ruthless music business. Its influence also spread to Wall Street tycoons, Hollywood stars like actor Will Smith and producer Brian Grazer, and NBA players, notably Andrew Bynum and Chris Bosh. Even Cuban dictator Fidel Castro read it, Greene says.

It's also a popular book in prisons, where its survival-of-the-fittest ethos seems to have struck a responsive chord; Greene keeps a box of fan mail he's received from inmates.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-robert-greene-20110726,0,7925225.story