The NYSE once had a designated area for the "loan crowd", those wanting to short-sale, with the WSJ publishing loan rates and stock (back when they were a financial publication). The years following Black Tuesday saw the loan crowd's mysterious disappearance from the floor, presumably to stave off Federal prohibition as many blamed shorting for the '29 crash1. What emerged is the decentralized market for short stock we know today.
The rumor I actually heard was that NYSE officials disallowed the gathering under threat of FBI harassment; however, in seeking to verify this that doesn't seem to be the case.
Apparently there's also a seedier underbelly of investing. Demand has included not merely monetary exchange, but drugs and sex as well.
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