(FORTUNE Magazine) – WHEN THE BOESKY scandal broke, FORTUNE readers already had the issue (November 24) with our cover story analyzing why Wall Street's young stars, who profit so extravagantly from the takeover game, were headed for a fall. The day the Boesky news hit, we went to press with the issue (December 8) examining what the scandal said about the decline of business ethics. Now, in the cover package that begins on page 26, we examine the long-term consequences. Says Edmund Faltermayer, who edited the two main stories: ''We look beyond the heat of the battle to answer the big questions.'' Among them: What will the scandal do to takeover fever? What will happen to junk bonds and the investment bankers who float them? What laws might Congress pass? For the lead article, writer Ford Worthy interviewed dozens of investment bankers and the investors and arbitragers with whom they deal. His conclusion: ''The public is going to be more skeptical about companies that specialize in takeovers and load up with debt. And things are ripe for regulation.'' The story on Drexel Burnham Lambert was written by the author of our previous article on the investment bankers' clouded future, Stratford P. Sherman. He reports that Drexel's chief executive, Frederick H. Joseph, seemed unusually grim. Just what is illegal insider trading? Remarkably, no statutes or regulations define it, so writer Monci Williams pored through mounds of case law for her definitive story on the subject, which was edited by Al Ehrbar. As a bonus, Paris Bureau Chief Shawn Tully tracked down the central figure in an earlier scandal, commodities trader Marc Rich, who fled from the biggest tax evasion case in U.S. history. You may or may not be pleased, but you surely will be interested to know that he is alive, well, and prospering as never before in beautiful Switzerland.