I have read Black Edge, and Cohen's early scrape with insider trading in 1980s would seem to imply that his entire career has been based on getting insider information would it not?

As to Raj you may be right I haven't followed as closely.

Whether insider trading should be illegal and what the lines are exactly is absolutely open to debate, but it seems clear that Cohen at least built his business to maximize his insider information edge.

Matt Levine has some good writing on the subject of insider information for the curious.