- loop detour from actually delivering service to customers. Launching a wireless plan that charged a flat fee for local and long-distance calls without roaming charges had been a real nosebleed, even though he had direct control over all the units involved. Zeglis couldn't help won- dering how Hindery, whom he barely knew, would feel about report- ing to him. The first hint came in an interview Malone gave to a cable trade magazine following the merger announcement. Asked how Hindery would feel about working for the "Bellheads" at AT&T, Malone said, "Leo's got a big ego [but he] responds to a challenge [and] AT&T ain't a Bellhead company when this deal closes. Armstrong ain't a Bellhead. Dan Somers ain't a Bellhead. [Teleport Chairman] Bob Annunziata sure as hell ain't a Bellhead. Leo Hindery sure as hell ain't a Bellhead. I just named all the top executives." All but Hindery's putative boss-John Zeglis. Hindery himself played a passive-aggressive game with Zeglis through much of the summer. Whenever Zeglis called a meeting, Hindery had to be somewhere else; whenever he asked for details on Casting Is Everything cable upgrade plans, he received incomplete information; when he sent organization charts to Hindery for comment, they went unan- swered. In the summer of 1998, when Hindery was trying to get out of reporting to Zeglis, he told Leslie Cauley of the Wall Street Journal about his problems with "the Bellheads" at AT&T, especially Zeglis, who was really "just a lawyer." Hindery had given Cauley SO many scoops and inside anecdotes over the years that it was not surprising that she was inclined to be- lieve him. Deciding that she had another scoop, she asked to interview Armstrong and Zeglis. I went one better, insisting that all three execu- tives would talk to her, but only together. We all gathered in Arm- strong's office around his speakerphone as Cauley tossed questions at Armstrong, Zeglis, and Hindery in turn. Her story left open the ques- tion of their ability to work together, but she was forced to qu