Wall Street vultures swoop in 

Distressed debt specialists, also known on Wall Street as vultures,
have begun buying up mortgages, bank loans and companies that have been
battered by the subprime storm. The Blackstone Group has raised $10.9
billion from investors to buy up real estate. A former Countrywide
Financial Corporation executive, after working at one of the biggest
subprime lenders, recently co-founded a company that will buy
mortgages. A distressed debt specialist recently paid at least $450
million to buy the assets of Thornburg Mortgage, the struggling
mortgage servicing company.