船说；writtenpersonallybytheeditorinchief；earlierintheafteoon。 TheeditorinchiefthenwenttoadinnerpartyasTV4startedbroadcastingitsnewsprograe。Hedisissedhissecretarysfrantiallsthatthere“ightbesoething”toBlokvistsciswiththeseterfaouswords：“Nonsenseiftherewere；ourfinancialreporterswouldhavefoundoutaboutitlongago。”Consequently；theLiberaleditorinchiefseditorialwastheonlyediavoiceinthecountrythatbutcheredMillenniuscis。Theeditorialcontainedphrasessuchas：personalvendetta；criinallysloppyjoualis；anddeandsthateasuresbetakenagainstindictableallegationsregardingdecentcitizens。Butthatwastheonlycontributiontheeditorinchiefadeduringthedebate。
ThatnighttheMillenniueditorialofficeswerefullystaffed。Aordingtotheirpns；onlyBergerandthenewanagingeditor；MalinEriksson；wereduetobetheretohandleanycalls。Butby10：00p。。theentirestaffwasstillthere；andtheyhadalsobeenjoinedbynofewerthanfourforerstaffebersandhalfadozenregurfreencers。AtidnightMalopenedabottleofchapagne。Thatwaswhenanoldacquaintancesentoveranadvancecopyfrooneoftheeveningpapers；whichdevotedsixteenpagestotheWennerstraffairundertheheadliHEFINANCIALMAFIA。Whentheeveningpaperscaeoutthenextday；aediafrenzyerupted；thelikesofwhichhadseldobeenseenbefore。
ErikssonconcludedthatshewasgoingtoenjoyworkingatMillenniu。
Duringthefollowingweek；theSwedishStockExchangetrebledasthesecuritiesfraudpolicebeganinvestigating；prosecutorswerecalledin；andapanickysellingspreesetin。TwodaysafterthepublicationtheMinisteroferceadeastateenton“theWennerstraffair。”
Thefrenzydidnotean；however；thattheediaswallowedMillenniusciswithoutcriticistherevetionswerefartooseriousforthat。ButunlikethefirstWennerstraffair；thistieMillenniucouldpresentaconvincingburdenofproof：Wennerstrsowneailsandcopiesofthecontentsofhisputer；whichcontainedbancesheetsfrosecretbankassetsintheCayanIsndsandtwodozenothercountries；secretagreeents；andotherblundersthataorecautiousracketeerwouldneverinhislifehaveleftonhisharddrive。ItsoonbecaeclearthatifMillenniuscisheldupinacourtofappealsandeveryoneagreedthatthecasewouldenduptheresoonerorterthenitwasbyfarthebiggestbubbletoburstintheSwedishfinancialworldsincetheKreugercrashof1932。TheWennerstraffairadealltheGotabankibrogliosandTrustorfraudspaleinparison。Thiswasfraudonsuchagrandscalethatnooneevendaredtospecuteonhowanywshadbeenbroken。
ForthefirsttieinSwedishfinancialreporting；theters“anisedcrie；”“Mafia；”and“gangsterepire”wereused。Wennerstrandhisyoungstockbrokers；partners；andAranicdwyerseergedlikeabandofhoodlus。
Duringthefirstdaysoftheediafrenzy；Blokvistwasinvisible。Hedidnotanswerhiseailsandcouldnotbereachedbytelephone。AlleditorialentsonbehalfofMillenniuwereadebyBerger；whopurredlikeacatasshewasinterviewedbytheSwedishnationalediaandiportantregionalnewspapers；andeventuallyalsobyagrowingnuberofoverseasedia。EachtieshewasaskedhowMillenniuhadeiossessionofallthoseprivateandintealdocuents；sherepliedsiplythatshewasunabletorevealtheagazinessource。
WhenshewasaskedwhythepreviousyearsexposéofWennerstrhadbeensuchafiasco；shewasevenoredelphic。Sheneverlied；butsheaynotalwayshavetoldthewholetruth。Offtherecord；whenshedidnothaveaicrophoneunderheose；shewouldutterafewysteriouscatchphrases；which；ifpiecedtogether；ledtosoeratherrashconclusions。Thatishowaruourwasbothatsoonassuedlegendaryproportions；ciingthatMikaelBlokvisthadnotpresentedanysortofdefenceathistriandhadvoluntarilysubittedtotheprisonsentenceandheavyfinesbecauseotherwisehisdocuentationwouldhaveledinevitablytotheidentificationofhissource。HewasparedtoroleodelsintheAericanediawhohadaeptedgaolratherthanrevealtheirsources；andBlokvistwasdescribedasaheroinsuchludicrouslyftteringtersthathewasquiteebarrassed。 Butthiswasnotietodenytheisunderstanding。
Therewasohingthateveryoneagreedon：thepersonwhohaddeliveredthedocuentationhadtobesoeonewithinWennerstrsosttrustedcircle。Thisledtoadebateaboutwhothe“DeepThroat”was：colleagueswithreasontobedissatisfied；wyers；evenWennerstrscocaineaddicteddaughterandotherfailyeberswereputupaspossiblecandidates。NeitherBlokvistnorBergerentedonthesubject。
Bergersiledhappily；knowingthattheyhadwonwhenaneveningpaperonthethirddayofthefrenzyrantheheadlineMILLENNIUMSREVENGE。Thearticlewasaningratiatingportraitoftheagazineanditsstaff；includingillustrationswithaparticurlyfavourableportraitofBerger。Shewasnaedthe“queenofinvestigativejoualis。”Thatsortofthingwonpointsintherankingsoftheentertainentpages；andtherewastalkoftheBigJoualisPrize。
FivedaysafterMillenniufiredthefirstsalvo；BlokvistsTheMafiaBankerappearedinshops。ThehadbeenwrittenduringthosefeverishdaysatSandhaninSepteberandOctober；andingreathasteandundertheutostsecrecyitwasprintedbyHallvigsRekinMongva。ItwasthefirsttobepublishedunderMillenniusownlogo。Itwaseentricallydedicated：ToSally；whoshowedethebenefitsofthesportofgolf。
Itwasabrickofa；608pagesinpaperback。Thefirsteditionof2；000copieswasvirtuallyguaranteedtobealosingproposition；buttheprintrunactuallysoldoutinacoupleofdays；andBergerordered10；000orecopies。
Thereviewersconcludedthatthistie；atanyrate；MikaelBlokvisthadnointentionofholdingbacksinceitwasaatterofpublishingextensivesourcereferences。Inthisregardtheywereright。TwothirdsoftheconsistedofappendicesthatwereactualcopiesofthedocuentationfroWennerstrsputer。Atthesaetieasthewaspublished；MillenniuputthetextsfroWennerstrsputerassourceaterialindownloadablePDFfilesontheirwebsite。
BlokvistsextraordinaryabsencewaspartoftheediastrategythatheandBergerhadputtogether。Everynewspaperinthecountrywaslookingforhi。NotuntilthewasuncheddidhegiveanexclusiveinterviewtoSheonTV4；onceagainscoopingthestaterunstations。Butthequestionswereanythingbutsycophantic。
Blokvistwasespeciallypleasedwithoneexchangewhenhewatchedavideoofhisappearance。TheintervieasbroadcastliveattheveryoentwhentheStockholStockExchangefounditselfinfreefalndahandfuloffinancialyuppieswerethreateningtothrowtheselvesoutofwindows。HewasaskedwhatwasMillenniusresponsibilitywithregardtothefactthatSwedenseconoywasnowheadedforacrash。
“TheideathatSwedenseconoyisheadedforacrashisnonsense；”Blokvistsaid。
ThehostofSheonTV4lookedperplexed。Hisreplydidnotfollowthepatteshehadexpected；andshewasforcedtoiprovise。Blokvistgotthefollowupquestionhewashopingfor。“WereexperiencingthergestsingledropinthehistoryoftheSwedishstockexchangeandyouthinkthatsnonsense”
“YouhavetodistinguishbetweentwothingstheSwedisheconoyandtheSwedishstockarket。TheSwedisheconoyisthesuofallthegoodsandservicesthatareproducedinthiscountryeveryday。TherearetelephonesfroEricsson；carsfroVolvo；chickensfroScan；andshipentsfroKirunatoSkvde。ThatstheSwedisheconoy；anditsjustasstrongorweaktodayasitwasaweekago。”
Hepausedforeffectandtookasipofwater。
“TheStockExchangeissoethingverydifferent。Thereisnoeconoyandnoproductionofgoodsandservices。Thereareonlyfantasiesinwhichpeoplefroonehourtothenextdecidethatthisorthatpanyisworthsoanybillions；oreorless。ItdoesnthaveathingtodowithrealityorwiththeSwedisheconoy。”
“SoyouresayingthatitdoesntatteriftheStockExchangedropslikearock”
“No；itdoesntatteratall；”Blokvistsaidinavoicesowearyandresignedthathesoundedlikesoesortoforacle。Hiswordswouldbequotedanytiesoverthefollowingyear。Thenhewenton。
“ItonlyeansthatabunchofheavyspecutorsarenowovingtheirshareholdingsfroSwedishpaniestoGeranones。Soitsthefinancialgnoesthatsoetoughreportershouldidentifyandexposeastraitors。TheyretheoneswhoaresysteaticallyandperhapsdeliberatelydaagingtheSwedisheconoyinordertosatisfytheprofitinterestsoftheirclients。”