As head of Webb & Knapp, Inc., whose interests have spanned from Los Angeles' Century City to Manhattan hotels, rotund William Zeckendorf is known as a spectacular real estateman. His losses have also been spectacular. In 1962, Webb & Knapp dropped $19.6 million. Last week, filing an annual statement that had been delayed so that accountants could untangle Zeckendorf's web of multiple mortgages, the company reported a disastrous 1963 loss of $32.3 million.
While Zeckendorf reeled and dealed to cover his debt, the revenues he had expected to rescue him failed to materialize. Freedomland, a pale Bronx imitation of Disneyland,...