Bill Conway cofounded the Carlyle Group in 1987 and quickly built it into the largest private equity group the world has ever known. One engine of this explosive growth was active investment in munitions and intelligence companies, an endeavor that seems to be something of a pet project for Conway.

In 1997, the Carlyle Group acquired the bomb-maker United Defense Industries, where Conway also served as chairman of the board. Under the Carlyle umbrella, UDI grew its operation, generating windfall profits for the equity group before Carlyle sold it off in 2005 to the British munitions company BAE Systems for $4 billion after an intense bidding war that also included Northrop Grumman. In 2008, Carlyle acquired Booz Allen Hamilton, the McLean consultancy famous for employing former intelligence operatives and that, more recently, has become a key player in discussions about the militarization of outer space.

Lester Crown, the 94-year-old scion of one of Chicago’s wealthiest families, became a political patron of Barack Obama long before he ever went to Washington. The Crown network was instrumental during Obama’s 2008 campaign, when he out-fundraised his Republican challenger by a factor of more than two to one.