Help with a case

[MrMeeseeks123]

I've been going crazy trying to find an old case, that I'm almost certain I saw on an old rerun episode that was on Lifetime years ago. It was about a sports manager or boxing manager that was robbed and killed, I want to say that his daughter was interviewed for it and that's pretty much all I could remember since I only remembering seeing the segment once and then never again

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Originally Posted by MrMeeseeks123

I've been going crazy trying to find an old case, that I'm almost certain I saw on an old rerun episode that was on Lifetime years ago. It was about a sports manager or boxing manager that was robbed and killed, I want to say that his daughter was interviewed for it and that's pretty much all I could remember since I only remembering seeing the segment once and then never again

Welcome!

I'm sure we've got a ton of folks on here who can assist you with the question. My gut reaction is Sonny Liston, but that seems too easy....

[asmitty]

Originally Posted by LooksLikeCRicci

Welcome!

I'm sure we've got a ton of folks on here who can assist you with the question. My gut reaction is Sonny Liston, but that seems too easy....

Sonny Liston's wife and housekeeper were interviewed but not daughter as I recall. There was also no robbery in that case and the police ruled it accidental overdose although the family was convinced it was murder.

I honestly don't remember any cases regarding sports or boxing managers, but I'm far from expert status at IDing cases.

[Awsi Dooger]

I don't remember too many sports related cases. There was the World Jai Alai murder. Actually a string of murders. That segment was very early in the Unsolved Mysteries series and I'm not sure if it ever replayed on Lifetime, or if the daughter was interviewed. Also I believe that case was pure murder and not robbery, so it's probably not the one sought by the OP.

[LakeForestPI]

Originally Posted by Awsi Dooger

I don't remember too many sports related cases. There was the World Jai Alai murder. Actually a string of murders. That segment was very early in the Unsolved Mysteries series and I'm not sure if it ever replayed on Lifetime, or if the daughter was interviewed. Also I believe that case was pure murder and not robbery, so it's probably not the one sought by the OP.

World Jai Alai was the Roger Wheeler murder. John Martorano and Joe McDonald were members of the Winter Hill gang and were the two hitters sent to the country club in Oklahoma. They were running a skim on the Jai Alai and Wheeler found out after he bought World Jai Alai. James Whitey Bulger was the infamous front man of the Winter Hill gang.

[Awsi Dooger]

Originally Posted by LakeForestPI

World Jai Alai was the Roger Wheeler murder. John Martarano and Joe McDonald were members of the Winter Hill gang and were the two hitters sent to the country club in Oklahoma. They were running a skim on the Jai Alai and Wheeler found out after he bought World Jai Alai. James Whitey Bulger was the infamous front man of the Winter Hill gang.

I'm not surprised there was skimming going on at World Jai Alai. In that mid '70s to mid '80s era I attended the jai alai frontons all the time, especially Miami Jai Alai but sometimes Dania Jai Alai and once in a while friends and I would make road trips to Tampa Jai Alai.

It was a huge activity with popular players and incredibly boisterous fans. We started going at age 15 or 16. There was supposed to be an age minimum but it was never enforced. Entry was a joke. That's why I sensed from the beginning that it was probably a shady operation all the way around. In fact, one day in college I happened to wear a light blue Miami Jai Alai T-shirt. This was at USC. The professor in the small class was stunned. Before beginning the class he pointed out my shirt and said jai alai was his favorite sport. Not many people in the classroom even knew what jai alai was. Then I'll never forget what he said: "You realize it's crooked, don't you? They cheat at every level."

Not until a decade or so later did I realize how they did it. I was working as supervisor in major sportsbook. There were shady tactics all over the place, led by Billy Walters. I could go on and on about him. In fact, I did recently on a major golf site. He's a famous gambler but it's all a charade. Walters doesn't do anything without a severe manipulated advantage. He finally got convicted a few weeks ago, after four failed attempts by the authorities. At our sportsbook Walters eventually seized control and forced out the oddsmaker. Then he started making the lines himself while betting into his own crooked lines. I wish I were kidding. His henchmen would line up and pound the bad numbers. Only at that point did I realize how easy it is to cheat the process when gambling money is pouring through the windows and regulations/oversight are mostly a farce. The people running the show don't think their legit salary is nearly enough so they grab handful after handful from the take.

There was jai alai at MGM (now Bally's) in Las Vegas. I attended a few times while in college. The caliber of play was a joke and the atmosphere was like a tea party compared to Miami Jai Alai. A couple of wise guy locals told me years later that the cheating and skimming in Las Vegas was even more blatant and widespread than at World Jai Alai, but that it had never been publicized only because the MGM jai alai closed abruptly upon the major MGM fire in late 1980. I was told that the guys raking the books basically couldn't stop crying once they were told the jai alai fronton wouldn't reopen after that fire.

Let's see, my favorite jai alai players from the heyday were Joey and Asis and Mendi. I didn't like Garita and would always exclude him from my perfecta and quinela boxes. Garita was technically sound but such a big klutz he couldn't get to balls that should have been normal plays.

"Chula!"

[LakeForestPI]

I didn't know much about Jai alai. I knew enough about Winter Hill because one of my mother's brothers was a peripheral member of Winter Hill. He also was what they called free lancer. He wasn't tied into any one gang like most of the mobsters in Boston in the 60s, 70s n 80s. Being that he was Irish he was tight with WH but also did his own thing. Robbing banks and armored cars to fund the IRA. Hes alive to this day still living in Boston. He was close friends with Johnny Martorano, the killer of Roger Wheeler.

[macbeth06]

Originally Posted by asmitty

Sonny Liston's wife and housekeeper were interviewed but not daughter as I recall. There was also no robbery in that case and the police ruled it accidental overdose although the family was convinced it was murder.

I honestly don't remember any cases regarding sports or boxing managers, but I'm far from expert status at IDing cases.

That is the case.