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Crazy Eddie was an electronics chain which was primarily located in the Northeastern United States. It was started in the 1970s in Brooklyn, New York, by businessman Eddie Antar.
The chain became famous for its television and radio commercials in which actor Jerry Carroll delivered his lines rapid-fire, proclaiming in a loud voice that "Crazy Eddie will beat any price you find", and always ending his sales pitch with "Crazy Eddie - His Prices Are In-saaane!". The hyperactive TV spokesman became so universally identified with the company that many viewers assumed that he was the owner of the company, notwithstanding that Crazy Eddie was always referred to in the third person.
In 1989 the Crazy Eddie chain suffered a major scandal when Eddie Antar and his family were accused and eventually convicted of "cooking the books" in order to skim money and inflate inventory. Antar fled to Israel using the name David Cohen where he lived until 1994 when he was extradited back to the United States.
In 1999, several of Eddie Antar's nephews revived the Crazy Eddie electronics chain primarily as an online Internet venue.
In 2004 Crazy Eddie went out of business again. Its website CrazyEddie.com is offline and the WHOIS indicates that domain is no longer registered to the former Rahway, New Jersey based electronics chain but now to another company in Houston, Texas, presumably they are cybersquatting on the name since Crazy Eddie's demise.
In the science-fiction novel The Mote in God's Eye and its sequel The Gripping Hand, Crazy Eddie is a term given by the alien Motie species to anyone who believes they can change the rigid Motie society for the better. Crazy Eddies are always insane, and often only worsen things.
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