Interference (80 page)

7
.  The World Football League operated only in 1974 and for half of the 1975 season. Without a network television contract, it lost $20 million and quietly faded away. The league's only big score came early when its Toronto franchise signed Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Paul Warfield of the Miami Dolphins in a $3 million package. Although a trickle of other NFL stars followed, they were not enough to save the league.

8
.  In 1982, the NFL signed over its television rights with the three major networks for over $2 billion during the five-year-contract period. Each NFL owner received over an incredible $14 million a year.

9
. 
In addition to Trump and DeBartolo, other USFL owners in 1984 included Edward B. Diethrich of the Arizona Wranglers, Marvin L. Warner of the Birmingham Stallions, James F. Hoffman of the Chicago Blitz, Ron Blanding of the Denver Gold, Jerry Argovitz of the Houston Gamblers, Fred B. Bullard of the Jacksonville Bulls, J. William Oldenburg of the Los Angeles Express (which was later operated by General Manager Don Klosterman, who had grown disenchanted with the Los Angeles Rams), Billy Dunavent of the Memphis Showboats, A. Alfred Taubman of the Michigan Panthers, Joseph C. Canizaro of the New Orleans Breakers, Ted Taube of the Oakland Invaders, William R. Tatham of the Oklahoma Outlaws, Myles H. Tanenbaum of the Philadelphia Stars, Clinton Manges of the San Antonio Gunslingers, John Basett of the Tampa Bay Bandits, and Berl Bernhard of the Washington Federals.

Four of the original owners sold their teams in 1983. USFL head coaches included Craig Morton of the Gold, John Hadl of the Express, and John Ralston of the Invaders.

10
.  See Peter Phipps's story on DeBartolo in the
Akron Beacon Journal Magazine
, 27 November 1983.

11
.  David Harris,
The League: The Rise and Decline of the NFL
(Toronto: Bantam Books, 1986), p. 588.

CHAPTER 43

1
.  Mechling, also an author and investigative reporter, had won the Democratic nomination in Nevada, for the U.S. Senate, defeating Alan Bible and the Pat McCarran political machine in 1952. Running on an anti-organized-crime platform in the heart of casino country and refusing to accept
any
political contributions, Mechling was found to have been cheated of several thousand votes in the general election—during which the Democratic McCarran machine supported Mechling's Republican opponent, George Malone. With the election hopelessly corrupted, the contest was handed over to the U.S. Senate for its decision on who would be the next Nevada senator. However, the Senate vote ended in a tie. The deadlock was officially broken by the new U.S. vice president and president pro tem of the Senate, Richard Nixon. There, Mechling ran out of luck.

2
.  Garvey told me that during the 1982 collective-bargaining negotiations there was an attempt by the NFLPA to gain access to NFL Security. Garvey added, “We tried to make it a joint operation, and we failed. We made a demand that NFL Security respond to both the union and management. But we knew we weren't going to get it.”

3
.  In fact, Tanguay did
not
conclude that Rosenbloom was the victim of foul play. And four witnesses, who had claimed to see Rosenbloom drown and saw no evidence of it either, described the black object near Rosenbloom as sea debris.

4
.  There was also some suspicion about a possible cover-up by the Golden Beach police, particularly after Henrikson resigned as sheriff the month after Rosenbloom drowned. However, Henrikson told me that he had been trying to get a job as the director of security of Federal Express's international operation,
which is based in Memphis, Tennessee. “In fact,” Henrikson says, “I received my formal offer in the mail from Federal Express earlier in the day before Rosenbloom drowned.”

5
.  At the time these charges were being filed against Dudley, Berry, and Sklaroff, Beckley was under indictment for running an illegal lottery in Atlanta.

6
.  Thomas spent his entire professional football career from 1966 to 1978 with the Kansas City Chiefs. A graduate of Bishop College, Thomas twice led the NFL for most interceptions in a season. Selected four times to play in the NFL's Pro Bowl, Thomas made a key interception in the 1970 Super Bowl, in which the Chiefs defeated the Minnesota Vikings. Thomas later became an assistant coach with the Washington Redskins.

7
.  Phil Manuel is one of the most respected organized-crime investigators ever to work on Capitol Hill. For years, he was the chief investigator for the U.S. Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He headed many inquiries into financial manipulations by organized crime groups, including traffic in stolen and counterfeit securities and similar frauds.

CHAPTER 44

1
.  Government investigators refused to confirm or deny reports that a second address book was found on Dorfman, which supposedly included the names and telephone numbers of five additional NFL owners.

2
.  Just weeks before Dorfman's murder, an FBI report had been filed, accusing him of skimming in Las Vegas, which added to the increasing pressure on him. “Dorfman represents the Chicago and Kansas City organized crime groups dealing with Central States, Southeast and Southwest Areas Pension Fund (CSPF),” the report read. “For many years he has arranged for and continues to control all loans made to organized crime entities from CSPF. Also, he controls organized crime investments in various Las Vegas, Nevada, casinos out of which these organized crime groups derive ‘skim' money … Dorfman currently has a hidden ownership interest in the Slots-A-Fun Casino in Las Vegas. ‘Skimming' of monies from this and other casinos goes back to the Chicago organized crime group utilizing Dorfman as a conduit.”

Thirteen days before he was shot to death, Dorfman took the Fifth Amendment thirty times in a Chicago federal court, refusing to answer questions about his business ties with the Teamsters' Central States Pension Fund.

3
.  In early 1974, Spilotro and Dorfman were indicted in Chicago, along with five others, including Irwin Weiner, by federal attorneys for bilking the Teamsters' pension fund of $1.4 million. Among the witnesses called to testify against them was Daniel Seifert, who was shotgunned to death by three skimasked assailants in front of his family. After Seifert's brutal murder, the charges against Spilotro were dropped. Dorfman and the others were later acquitted. Spilotro is widely reputed to have arranged the murder.

I attended Dorfman's trial in April 1975. During a recess, I saw Dorfman and Weiner sitting on a bench outside the courtroom. I walked up and introduced myself. During our conversation, I asked Dorfman whether he was as bad as everyone was claiming. He insisted that he was “no different and no worse” than anyone else in a position to manipulate money and power.

4
. 
Schlichter played in only three Colts games during the 1982 season under Colts head coach Frank Kush. Without starting a single game, Schlichter completed seventeen of thirty-seven passes for 197 yards. He threw no touchdown passes and had two interceptions.

5
.  The bookmakers were Samuel R. Alascia, Harold E. Brooks, Joseph A. Serio, and Charles T. Swift. The charges against Swift were dismissed.

6
.  In early May 1982, just two weeks before the Schlichter suspension,
The Cleveland Plain Dealer
reported that similar gambling charges against no fewer than a dozen other NFL players had been uncovered by NFL Security as a result of the Schlichter investigation. Although the report was confirmed by other sources, no other player was named or disciplined for gambling.

7
.  Tose admitted that he lobbied on Ford's behalf to bring Super Bowl XVI to the Lions' Pontiac Silverdome in January 1982, in which the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, 26-21.

8
.  Welsh added that the NFL was faced with a similar situation with former New York Jets head coach Walt Michaels who also became involved in a tout sheet.

9
.  Among those indicted were Chicago mobsters Joe Aiuppa, Jackie Cerone, Joseph Lombardo, and Angelo LaPietra; former Chicago police officers Tony Chiavola, Sr., and Tony Chiavola, Jr.; Kansas City mobsters Carl DeLuna and Carl Civella; Milwaukee mobsters Frank Balistrieri, John Philip Balistrieri, and John Joseph Balistrieri; Las Vegas mobster Tony Spilotro; Rosenthal's replacement at Argent, Carl Thomas; and Cleveland mobster Milton Rockman. Thomas was the only defendant licensed by the Nevada Gaming Commission. He was accused of skimming at the Stardust and the Tropicana. Nick Civella, who had been named as a coconspirator, later died before the case went to trial.

The indictments were based upon wiretaps, as well as on even more controversial devices of intelligence gathering, including court-authorized “surreptitious entry” into the houses, offices, and cars. Authorization was given in May 1978 after information was received that a contract killing was about to occur in the midst of a labor dispute in Kansas City. The victim, Mike Spero, was shot and killed in a bar and two of his brothers were seriously wounded. One of the brothers recovered and swore revenge, but he, too, was killed.

Also, in July 1983, seven men were convicted of skimming and having hidden interests at the Tropicana. The key government witness in the trial was Joseph Agosto, who had supervised the skimming operation. Agosto died of a heart attack soon after the trial ended.

CHAPTER 45

1
.  Eight months earlier, Warner Communications, which had bought a 48 percent interest in the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1979, named Caesar Kimmel, a longtime National Kinney executive, as the team's executive vice president. However, after Kuhn left as commissioner, reporter Gregory B. Hladky of
The New Haven Journal-Courier
reported that Kimmel was also the chairman of the board of a gambling casino in Antigua, which he had co-founded in 1979 and opened in 1981. Warner had sold its 57 percent interest in Kimmel's National Kinney in 1978 for $8.2 million.

Kimmel told Hladky, “I don't think I've violated any of the rules of baseball … It certainly doesn't have any impact on baseball in the United States. I'm not actively engaged in any part of the casino. I really don't know anything about running a casino.”

When reminded of Kuhn's declaration that “baseball and casino employment are incompatible,” Kimmel replied that Kuhn's prohibition was “outdated and outmoded.”

In October 1984, Kimmel was ordered by Kuhn's successor, Peter Ueberroth, to sell his casino holdings or leave baseball. Kimmel resigned from the Pirates, denying that he had done so because of the controversy.

2
.  Howard Cosell with Peter Bonventre,
I Never Played the Game
(New York: William Morrow and Co., Inc., 1985), pp. 111-12.

3
.  The NFL also investigated charges that the five players were allegedly involved in a point-shaving scheme during the early 1980s in return for the cocaine, according to
The Miami News
, which first broke the story. The allegations were made by Daniel Anthony Mitrione, Jr., a former FBI special agent who was involved in Operation Airlift, a south Florida-based, FBI sting operation. Mitrione, who had pleaded guilty in March 1985 to cocaine trafficking, based his charges on a 1983 conversation he had had with two Dallas narcotics dealers. An FBI supervisor described Mitrione's claims as being “unsubstantiated.”

CHAPTER 46

1
.  In March 1985, in the midst of the Computer group investigation, another point-shaving scandal broke out in college basketball. At Tulane University in New Orleans, several arrests were made, including three Tulane players and a Louisiana bookmaker Roland Ruiz, who had a long arrest and conviction record for gambling violations. Law-enforcement officials alleged that two games had been fixed by Ruiz, who had sought and received the cooperation of the three players. Ruiz allegedly used two students as intermediaries for the payoffs. In one of the games against Southern Mississippi, Tulane, favored to win by ten and a half points, won only 64-63. In the other game against Memphis State, Tulane, then four-point underdogs, lost, 60-49.

Through Ruiz and his middlemen, the players were given cocaine and cash in return for their point-shaving efforts.

CHAPTER 47

1
.  In 1980, popular oddsmaker Bobby Martin was indicted in Rhode Island for his role in a six-state gambling operation, specifically for illegally transmitting betting information across state lines. Martin had been picked up on federal wiretaps, supplying the point spreads on sporting events to a Rhode Island bookmaker.

The indictments of Martin and fifteen others culminated a two-year investigation by the FBI, the U.S. Strike Force, and the Rhode Island State Police.
Martin, who told me that he was fingerprinted by a police officer who had just lost a bet using the oddsmaker's line, was later convicted and served thirteen months in the federal minimum-security penitentiary in Boron, California. He was released in March 1984.

2
.  Roxborough is also the coauthor, along with Mike Rhoden,
of Race and Sports Book Management
, which is a 1988, self-published, 128-page handbook. It is used by Roxy in a course he teaches on the sports book business at Clark County Community College in North Las Vegas.

3
.  Speaking of watching the line move on the basis of the money bet, Roxborough told me, “We monitor the line during the week. In fact, we monitor it by the minute. We have runners in the books who are monitoring the line to see which way it moves. It's very important. That's part of our service.”

CHAPTER 48

1
.  Del Rayo Stables won $5.4 million in purses in 1985, shattering the moneymaking record for a single stable.

Another NFL owner to purchase a thoroughbred horse farm was Jack Kent Cooke of the Washington Redskins. In December 1984, he, along with four partners, bought the 525-acre, 250-horse Elmendorf Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, for a reported $43.32 million. His entire empire is estimated to be worth over $2 billion.