"Zemurray was not a man to be ignored or insulted. He had come to that particular meeting with a weapon of mass destruction: a bagful of proxies from other United Fruit shareholders that gave him majority control of the company and the authority to act as he saw fit. He left the room, fetched the bag, came back in, and flung it on the table, saying: "You're fired. Can you understand that, Mr. Chairman?" He turned to the board and said: "You've been fucking up this business long enough. I'm going to straighten it out."