After graduating from high school in 1985, Minkow devoted all of his time to ZZZZ Best. Short of cash despite the recent expansion, he got a loan from Jack Catain, a Los Angeles businessman who had ties to organized crime. Catain later sued Minkow for not paying him his share of the company's profits, but Minkow claimed Catain was a usurer. The suit was still working its way through the courts at the time of Catain's death in 1987. Other organized crime figures turned up as Minkow's advisers, which unnerved his employees. For instance, a major shareholder, Maurice Rind, had been convicted of securities fraud in 1976. Minkow was also a business partner with Robert Viggiano, a convicted jewel thief and reputed loanshark.