Word: cosa
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Gilbert Lee Beckley is-or was-a valuable man to the Cosa Nostra. He helped the mob flourish in the green field of betting on college and professional athletics. Handling as much as $250,000 worth of bets daily, Beckley, 58, mastered all the tricks of his ar-can'e trade: wangling information from locker rooms, computing odds in his head, occasionally bribing athletes. Once Beckley was discovered behind a scheme to fix college basketball games by bribing the referees. On another occasion, word flashed along his betting network that bookies need not worry about the outcome...
...Sides. Beckley's value was not limited to the Cosa Nostra; he also worked the legitimate side of the street. He had a deal with National Football League investigators to tip them about point spreads, possible fixes and tampering with games (TIME, Aug. 22). Mor? recently, he may have been tempted to cooperate with Government agents. Such a double life can be dangerous -even fatal. Last month, old No. 11 vanished. His lawyers have not heard from him, and he is "off the boards," or out of the play, in the betting world. Two weeks ago he forfeited...
...Mich., in 1967. McLain, an accomplished musician, first became involved, says SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, when he was booked into the Shorthorn Steak House to play the organ. There he met one Jigs Gazell, a bookie who reportedly has connections with a local Syrian mob loosely allied with Detroit's Cosa Nostra. With get-rich-quick promises, Jigs reportedly offered to cut McLain in on the action if he would back the operation with "a few thousand dollars." McLain and his close friend, Edwin Schober, then vice president of Pepsi-Cola Metropolitan Bottling Co. in Detroit, fell...
...explained that this task force, composed mostly of former FBI men, had succeeded in bringing about 50 grand-jury indictments of Cosa Nostra members and corrupt public officials during the past four years of his term. But he added that "the irrelevancies and inadequacies of the criminal justice system" made it difficult to bring these indictments to fruition...
...Detroit, Dice occasionally dined at the mayoral residence. All the while, he seemed impervious to the normal hazards of his line of work. Local authorities were no problem, explained one federal official. "A policeman would see the people around Dawson-sports celebrities, the mayor, millionaires-and back off." La Cosa Nostra, which normally imposes a tax on gamblers outside its own organization, seemed as puzzled as the police about Dawson's activities, and left him alone...