Is This Any Way To Run The Family Business?

On a warm evening in the summer of 1989, the normal bustle along Manhattan's upper Fifth Avenue turned into a buzz. The Dabah family was throwing a party in an apartment overlooking Central Park, and the guest of honor was none other than Yitzhak Shamir, then Prime Minister of Israel. As guests sipped cocktails and discussed U.S. support for Israel, secret service agents and New York City police stood guard along a roped-off sidewalk lined with limousines.

For the Dabahs, a proud family of Syrian Jews, the opportunity to fete Shamir was a rich honor. It also marked a coming of age. Not even a decade had passed since Haim Dabah, the oldest of four children, had begun to transform his father's struggling wholesale firm into a prosperous designer jeansmaker called Gitano Group Inc. Gitano's success had earned the Dabahs status and influence--enough to host a party for Israel's most powerful leader.