Samuel Zemurray, known to friend and foe alike as Sam the Banana Man, made his first fortune in "ripes," bananas that the big fruit traders considered too mature to reach market in time for sale. Their rule of thumb was "One freckle turning, two freckles ripe"—thus consigning tons of fruit to a great reeking pile at the edge of the wharf, where it was pushed into the sea or simply left to rot.

When Zemurray, a young Russian immigrant, saw that first sad pile of ripes—circa...