Rothstein (57 page)

134 “I don’t like …” … “… make a million.”: Rothstein, p. 102.

134 Lansky, Luciano: Lacey, p. 83; Katcher, p. 115; Hotaling, p. 216; Bradley, p. 323-14; Heimer, pp. 218-19.

135 Brook burns: Saratogian, 31 December 1934; Saratogian, 30 August 1935, p. 1.

Chapter 10: “I Never Take My Troubles to the Cops”

136 “Now, you Blankity-Blank …” … “… it to you.”: Rothstein, p. 115.

137 “Now, all …” … “… going on.”: Katcher, p. 153.

137-38 “Haven’t I …” … “What’s your address?”: Clarke, pp. 37-38.

138 “Thirty-five hundred,” … “… tomorrow morning.”: Katcher, p. 153. A subway pickpocket once relieved Arnold of this same stickpin. The next day A. R. received a package, containing the purloined jewelry and a note reading: “We are returning your stickpin. The guy who took it didn’t know who you were.”

138 “I thought …” … “… you’re buffaloed.”: Katcher, pp. 154-55; Kahn (The World of Swope), pp. 122-23.

139 “Well, I guess…” … “… them know it.”: Katcher, pp. 155-56.

139 “Killer” Johnson: Rothstein, pp. 113-14. In 1917, Reisenweber’s, a tremendously popular Broadway restaurant similar to Rector’s or Jack’s, booked the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, the first appearance by a jazz band in the Northeast, creating a sensation and launching the jazz Age.

140 Harlem robbery: NY World (thrice-a-week edition), 1 October 1920, p. 1; Clarke, p. 40.

140 “I don’t think … his career.”: Rothstein, p. 118.

140-42 “Four is my point.” … “… years in State prison.’ ”’: NY Telegraph, 24 January 1919, p. 1; NY Telegraph, 29 January 1919, p. 3; NY Times, 27 January 1920, p. 21; Clarke, pp. 44-45.

142 “rumors that … prevent prosecution.”: NY Times, 15 February 1919; p. 6.

142 Mayor Hylan: Werner, p. 563; Walsh, p. 6; Fowler (Beau James), p. 82; Allen (The Tiger), pp. 227-28; http://www.udrrhs.org/htmUhylan.htm.

142 “There … was dismissed.”: NY Times, March 31, 1920, p. 1.

143 Rothstein in court: NY Times, 7 June 1919; p. 13.

143-44”The record is … is granted.”: NY Times, 25 July 1919; p. 11; Katcher, pp. 160-61.

144 Foley: NY Times, 16 January 1925; pp. 1, 2; Connable and Silberfarb, p. 260; Like Charlie Murphy, Foley barred women from his saloons. His most famous barroom was at Franklin and Centre Streets, across from the Criminal Courts Building and “long famous as a rendezvous for many lawyers and politicians.” Upstairs, he maintained offices, as the Times put it, “ostensibly for the transaction of real estate business.”

144 Hearst-Foley Feud: Nasaw, pp. 216-17; Swanberg, pp. 256, 307, 327, 346-47. The Hearst-Foley feud began in earnest in 1907 when Hearst ran his chief political henchman, Maximilian F. Ihmsen, against Foley for sheriff and campaigned vigorously against him. The Hearst papers flayed Foley mercilessly in print and in cartoon on a daily basis. For good measure they also attacked his chief-of-staff, a fellow known as “Nigger Mike,” claiming he was guilty of vote fraud.

Foley retaliated by sinking Hearst’s mayoral, gubernatorial, and senatorial ambitions. In 1917, when Tammany’s supreme boss Charles F. Murphy would have accepted Hearst reluctantly as the Democratic mayoral candi date-save for Tom Foley’s vehement opposition. In 1918 Foley similarly thwarted Hearst’s gubernatorial plans, securing the nomination for his protege Alfred E. Smith. In 1922 Foley and Smith sank Hearst’s nomination for the United States Senate.

145 “It is believed … under arrest.”: Katcher, p. 161.

145 “it is common … with him.”: ibid. p. 162.

145 “I ask to …” … “… he was mistaken.”: NY Times, 23 January 1920, p. 7 Kahn (The World of Swope), p. 231; Lewis (Man of the World), pp. 60-78; Katcher, pp. 161-62.

145 “disorderly houses”: 31 March 1920, p. 1; NY Times, 9 April 1920, p. 1; NY Times,14 May 1920, p. 5; p. 16; NY Times, 26 May 1920, p. 2; NY Times, 9 June 1920, p. 5; NY Times, 10 June 1920, p. 10; NY Times, 12 June 1920, p. 8; NY Times, 19 June 1920, p. 9; NY Times. Swann’s misadventures as district attorney cost him renomination in 1922. He retired from public life and returned to his native Florida.

145 Dominick Henry: People v. Dominick Henry, 196 A.D. 177; NY Times, 2 July 1924, p. 19; NY Times, 16 October 1924, p. 8; Katcher, pp. 163-64.

146 “Tell the gentleman…” … “… get in again.”: NY World, 8 November 1928, p. 19; Clarke, p. 298; Fowler (Beau James), p. 223; Valentine, p. 107.

Chapter 11: “Am Wiring You Twenty Grand”

147 “Meyer Wolfsheim? … blowing a safe.”: Fitzgerald, pp. 77-78. Fitzgerald also portrayed Rothstein as older than he was. Wolfsheim was fifty. In 1925, when Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby, A. R. was forty-three.

148 Fitzgerald: Fitzgerald’s Rothstein/Wolfsheim was in actuality a crude antiSemitic caricature. Actor Michael Lerner’s portrayal of Rothstein in John Sayles’ 1988 film Eight Men Out is closer to Wolfsheim than to Rothstein. Lerner invariably “plays the kinds of characters who always seem to be sweating,” noted film critic Leonard Maltin. Rothstein never sweated. Darren McGavin’s portrayal of the smooth, self-assured, sophisticated, and powerful gambler Gus Sands in Barry Levinson’s 1984 film, The Natural, is far closer to the actual A. R.

148-49Chicago White Sox: Shoeless Joe Jackson was clearly underpaid ($6,299 in 1919), receiving a smaller salary than less-talented teammates Happy Felsch ($7,400) and Buck Weaver ($7,644). Chick Gandil ($4,500) and Swede Risberg ($7,644) were also shortchanged, but Comiskey overpaid utility infielder Fred McMullin ($6,000). Ed Cicotte ($9,075 plus a $3,285 incentive bonus) was the club’s third-highest paid player, behind Hall of Famers Eddie Collins and Ray Schalk. Lefty Williams ($6,000) almost matched Hall of Famer Red Faber’s salary ($6,600). Baseball historians Charles Alexander and Richard C. Lindberg contend that Comiskey generally paid industrystandard wages. In his Never Just a Game (p. 233), Robert F. Burk reports: “More recent historians correctly have pointed out that the White Sox payroll in 1919, taken as a whole, had stood at a level comparable with those of most other franchises.”

149 “Why isn’t … smart man.”: Fitzgerald, pp. 77-78.

150 Tennes, Weeghman: Chi. Herald-Examiner, 26 September 1920, pp. 1-2; NY Times, 26 September 1920, p. 19; Chi. Herald-Examiner, 20 July 1921, p. 2; Asinof, p. 177; Ginsburg, p. 136; Pietrusza (Judge and jury), pp. 102-03; Luhrs, pp. 121-22, 244. Weeghman also claimed that Attell advised Tennes to bet on Cincinnati in the World Series. This seems unlikely. Tennes denied Weeghman’s allegations under oath and claimed that a rival coterie of gamblers worked to rig a Sox victory.

150 Cicotte, Sullivan: Veeck and Linn, p. 284; Seymour, p. 278; Murdock, p. 185. Gamblers so infested a section of Braves Field, that it was known as the “gamblers’ reservation.” When Ban Johnson ordered Red Sox owner Harry Frazee to crack down on open betting at Fenway Park, Frazee flatly refused.

151 “Don’t be silly … can be again.”: Sports Illustrated, 17 September 1956, p. 63.

151 1914, 1917, and 1918 World Series: Murdock, p. 185; Veeck and Linn, p. 296; Lieb (Baseball As I Have Known It), p. 115; Alexander (John McGraw), p. 202.

151 “Not that we … the least.”: Sports Illustrated, 17 September 1956, pp. 63; Ginsburg, p. 137; Frommer, p. 193; http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/ projects/ftrials/blacksox/williamsconfession.html. Neither did Weaver ever inform on McMullin’s offer of $500 to throw a game during the 1920 season (Veeck and Linn, p. 284).

152 “He prefers … entertainment.” Sporting News, 21 October 1920; Chi. Daily News, 11 August 1919. Between 1908 and 1912 Burns posted a 30-52 record for the Senators, White Sox, Reds, Phillies, and Tigers. He seemed most adept at hitting batters.

152 “would have something good”: Chi. Tribune, 22 July 1921, pp. 1-2; NY Times, 17 September 1919, p. 14. Ironically, as Gandil propositioned Burns at the Ansonia, Comiskey, Harry Frazee, and Yankee owners Jacob Ruppert and T. L. Huston were publicly demanding that American League president Ban Johnson release whatever he knew about “gambling at any of the parks belonging to members of this league.”

Chicago’s eight-game lead on September 16 shrank to 3.5 games by season’s end; their won-lost percentage declined from .651 to .628 as they lost six of their last ten games. It’s highly possible that the Black Sox practiced fixing the World Series by throwing unimportant regularseason games.

152 Ansonia meeting: Chi. American, 27 July 1921, p. 3; Chi. Tribune, 22 July 1921, pp. 1-2; Chi. Herald-Examiner, 28 July 1921, p. 2; Chi. Daily Journal, 28 September 1920, p. 3; Chi. Tribune, 25 July 1921, p. 13.

153 “I saw some … Rothstein …”: Katcher, p. 142; Seymour, p. 301; Frommer, p. 134; Stump, pp. 205-10. In May 1912 the Detroit Tigers went on strike to support their suspended teammate Ty Cobb. To avoid forfeiting to the Philadelphia Athletics, Tiger management recruited a ragtag bunch of Philadelphia sandlotters as replacements. Maharg played third base for that team, which on May 18, 1912 lost 24-2 to the As. In 1916 Maharg again appeared in the majors, this time for a single game in the outfield for the National League Philadelphia Phillies. At 5‘4 1/2” Maharg was the shortest player in Phillies history. At some point, a baseless, but remarkably persistent, myth arose that Maharg was actually another major leaguer, catcher Peaches Graham (“Maharg” is “Graham” spelled backward). Peaches was 4 inches taller than Maharg and played a decade before Maharg’s debut. Graham died in 1939 in Long Beach, California; Maharg in 1953 in Philadelphia.

In Philadelphia Maharg shared quarters-and a close friendship-with Hall of Fame pitcher Grover Cleveland Alexander. Ominously, White Sox Secretary Harry Grabiner’s diaries mention Alexander as one of several major-league “players I knew were even mentioned in any wrongdoing [i.e., fixing].” (Veeck and Linn, p. 296)

In 1920 Phillies owner William E Baker accused Maharg of having worked with Philadelphia manager Pat Moran (manager of the 1919 Reds) to steal opposing pitchers’ signs: “Even when the team was playing away from home they frequently carried Maharg on the road with them at the club’s expense.” Baker claimed this was one reason he fired Moran (NY Telegraph, 30 September 1920, p. 2).

153 “The idea … scared me.”: Katcher, pp. 169, 224; Clarke, pp. 250.

153 Astor Grill meeting: Chi. Tribune, 20 July 1921, p. 2. Rothstein may have staged another little scene to inoculate his connection with Attell. In September 1920 the World quoted an unnamed source saying: “The following night [after the Astor Hotel meeting] a long-distance telephone call from Cincinnati came to Rothstein at his home on Eighty-fourth street. The operator said that Abe Attell … wanted to speak to Arnold. The son of a former police inspector was calling at the Rothstein home at the time and he answered the phone. At Rothstein’s request this man told the long distance operator that Arnold was not at home.” (NY World, 28 September 1920, p. 2)

154 Astor frameup: Chi. Herald Examiner, 28 July 1921, p. 2. NY Times, 1 October 1920, p. 1; NY Times, 6 October 1920, p. 3; NY Telegraph, 7 October 1920, pp. 1, 6; Kohout, p. 242. O’Farrell had worked for District Attorney Charles Whitman in the course of the Rosenthal murder investigation. At one point he claimed that a Long Island gambler named “Orbie” had accompanied Burns to the Astor.

154 “If nine guys … the father.”: Asinof, pp. 39-40.

155 “That night … my price.”: ibid, pp. 40, 42-43.

155 “I told … be thrown.”: Chi. Daily journal, 30 October 1920, p. 6; Boston Herald, 9 October 1923, p. 7; Clarke, pp. 114-21. Decades later Attell alleged he hadn’t learned of Evans’ activities until reaching Cincinnati, but this later version has many incredible features to it, including his claim that “I was so angry at the double cross that I went around telling all my friends the World Series was fixed.” (Reichler, p. 145).

Unlike, A. R., Attell followed baseball rabidly. “I was a great fan, a close friend of John McGraw’s,” he told columnist Hy Gardner in 1961. “Every once in a while Mac would let me work out with the Giants in a morning practice session. One morning I brought along another fighter named Harlem Tommy Murphy. Mac throws a glove at Murph and says, `Okeh chum play right field for a while.’ Murphy doesn’t budge. `Mr. McGraw,’ he says, `I don’t know where right field is, this is the first time I ever played at the Polo Grounds.’ “

A. R. was not a baseball fan in the conventional sense of the word. He attended games and cared about their outcome, but only from his usual pecuniary standpoint. “It was in this period … that I first saw him betting on baseball games,” Carolyn Rothstein would later write. “We had a box during the [1912] World Series between the Giants and the Red Sox, but Arnold never sat in the box. He got no pleasure from watching horses run, or from Christy Mathewson striking out a batter at a critical moment. All he cared for, then and always, was the betting percentage.

“Arnold was in a fever of work to make money on this knowledge of percentages. He got no thrill from close contests. Sport was merely a means of financial juggling to him. While my friends and I sat in the box and enjoyed the game, he visited other boxes looking for bets.” (Rothstein, p. 41)

156 Burns hotel room meeting: The Attell-Burns meeting could not have transpired earlier than September 27 or later than September 29. Before that the Giants were on the road. Afterward they left New York for an exhibition series. Most likely, the Burns-Chase meeting at the Polo Grounds occurred on September 27; Attell’s on September 28; and the Astoria Hotel conference (i.e., Attell entering the fix) on September 29. All this means that Attell became active in the fix very late.

156 “Q-When was the … for the betting.”: NY World (thrice-a-week edition), 29 September 1920, pp. 1-2; Chi. Tribune, 22 July 1921, pp. 1,8; NY Times, 22 July 1921, pp. 1,4; NY Times, 19 July 1921, p. 15, NY Times, 20 July 1921, pp. 1,3, NY Times, 21 July 1921, pp. 1-9; NY Times, 22 July 1921, pp. 1-4; Asinof, pp. 179-80; Ginsburg, p. 136. Giants pitcher Rube Benton claimed Burns later wired both Dubuc and Chase regarding the fix. Dubuc admitted receiving wires from Sleepy Bill, advising Dubuc “to get down all I could beg, borrow and steal on Cincinnati.” Benton denied allegations of having won $3,800 on the Series, but alleged that Chase won $40,000. Braves pitchers Arthur Wilson and Norman Boeckel had knowledge of all this directly from Benton.