The NFL and The Mafia Documentary, Organized Crime and Gambling within the Mob. Fixed NFL Games Biography.
There has long been a connection between organized crime and the NFL, especially in the league’s early-to-middle-aged eras.
This Documentary was created by Jessica Savitch who was Killed in a gangland style death that was made to look accidental, after it was aired. It was suppressed after that and has only come to light after the tapes were recently discovered in a safe.
This film shows how any NFL Game can be fixed, (Not Just Football) and the powers that control the fixing. RAW and to the point, Jessica Savitch tried to warn us and paid for that warning with her life.
How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football
NFL ties to organized Crime and How Superbowl 50 was Fixed
Pro football stars such as Paul Hornung, Joe Namath, Len Dawson, Alex Karras and Bobby Layne and owners like Art Modell (Cleveland Brown-Baltimore Ravens), Clint Murchison (Dallas Cowboys), Eddie DeBartolo (San Fransisco 49ers) and Carroll Rosenbloom (L.A. Rams, Baltimore Colts) were all linked to either socializing or doing business with mobsters.
The Green Packers’ Hornung and the Detroit Lions’ Karras were suspended for the entire 1963 seasons for betting on pro football and cavorting with known mob figures. Hornung was a Hall of Fame running back, while Karras was an All-Pro defensive lineman, who went on to have a successful career as an actor in Hollywood following retirement.
Namath, one of the most high-profile quarterbacks in NFL history when he played with the New York Jets in the 1960s and 1970s, and Karras, were both forced to sell their interests in bars they owned in the respective cities they played in because of the “hoodlum element” that patronized the establishments.
Hall of Fame field generals Layne and Dawson were both investigated by the league for manipulating outcomes of games, each tied to Detroit mob associate and nationwide gambling czar Donald (Donnie Dice) Dawson – no relation to Len. Layne took Detroit to multiple NFL championships and Dawson led the Kansas City Chiefs to the 1970 Super Bowl.
On more than one occasion throughout their time with the Lions, Layne and Karras gave sideline passes for regular season and playoff games to infamous Detroit mobsters Anthony (Tony Jack) Giacalone, Vito (Billy Jack) Giacalone, Anthony (Tony Z) Zerilli and Michael (Big Mike) Polizzi. The FBI wound up taking the wiseguys into the Bureau’s Miami office to interview them about their relationship to the team and their players following a game played in Florida.
In addition to his bar ownership being investigated and censured, Karras had his and some of his teammates’ traveling companions to-and-from games come under scrutiny by NFL officials. Karras, Wayne Walker, Darris McCord, Howard (Hop-along) Cassidy and John Gordy were known to drive to and from away contests in a mafia-owned “Party bus” – a double-decker bus adorned with female escorts and gambling tables that dropped from the ceilings. The party bus excursions were cited by the NFL as part of why Karras was suspended in 1963.
Murchison, the founder of the Cowboys’ franchise, was pals with Dallas Mafiosi Joe Campisi and held joint business interests with New York mobsters Vito Genovese (Don of the crime family that bears his name) and Gerry Catena. Modell ran in social circles in Ohio that included Cleveland Jewish racketeers like Alex (Shondor) Birns and Italian mafia powers like Louis (Babe) Triscaro. Hailing from heavily mobbed-up Youngstown, Ohio, DeBartolo has been connected to the gangster Carrabia brothers (Charlie the Crab, Ronnie the Crab and Orlie the Crab) of the Cleveland mafia and Vincent (Briar Hill Jimmy) Prato, Joseph (Little Joey) Naples and Pat Ferrucio of the Steel City mafia family. Rosenbloom, a heavy bettor, died in a mysterious drowning in April 1979.
Los Angeles Goodfella and future acting boss of the Dragna syndicate Altadena (Jimmy the Weasel) Frattiano admitted to fixing a 1951 L.A. Rams game. Dice Dawson accused Bobby Layne of fixing at least seven games for him in the 1950s, one of them being the final game of the 1956 regular season versus the Chicago Bears for the division championship, where the underdog Bears beat favored Detroit. Layne asked out of the game in the second quarter and never returned.
NFL security and the FBI suspected that at least 10 games were “fixed” during the 1979 campaign and nine NFL teams in the 1980s had players investigated by league security for their alleged association with gamblers and members of the mafia – the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Washington Redskins, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers.
There has long been a connection between organized crime and the NFL, especially in the league’s early-to-middle-aged eras.
This Documentary was created by Jessica Savitch who was Killed in a gangland style death that was made to look accidental, after it was aired. It was suppressed after that and has only come to light after the tapes were recently discovered in a safe.
This film shows how any NFL Game can be fixed, (Not Just Football) and the powers that control the fixing. RAW and to the point, Jessica Savitch tried to warn us and paid for that warning with her life.
How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football
NFL ties to organized Crime and How Superbowl 50 was Fixed
Pro football stars such as Paul Hornung, Joe Namath, Len Dawson, Alex Karras and Bobby Layne and owners like Art Modell (Cleveland Brown-Baltimore Ravens), Clint Murchison (Dallas Cowboys), Eddie DeBartolo (San Fransisco 49ers) and Carroll Rosenbloom (L.A. Rams, Baltimore Colts) were all linked to either socializing or doing business with mobsters.
The Green Packers’ Hornung and the Detroit Lions’ Karras were suspended for the entire 1963 seasons for betting on pro football and cavorting with known mob figures. Hornung was a Hall of Fame running back, while Karras was an All-Pro defensive lineman, who went on to have a successful career as an actor in Hollywood following retirement.
Namath, one of the most high-profile quarterbacks in NFL history when he played with the New York Jets in the 1960s and 1970s, and Karras, were both forced to sell their interests in bars they owned in the respective cities they played in because of the “hoodlum element” that patronized the establishments.
Hall of Fame field generals Layne and Dawson were both investigated by the league for manipulating outcomes of games, each tied to Detroit mob associate and nationwide gambling czar Donald (Donnie Dice) Dawson – no relation to Len. Layne took Detroit to multiple NFL championships and Dawson led the Kansas City Chiefs to the 1970 Super Bowl.
On more than one occasion throughout their time with the Lions, Layne and Karras gave sideline passes for regular season and playoff games to infamous Detroit mobsters Anthony (Tony Jack) Giacalone, Vito (Billy Jack) Giacalone, Anthony (Tony Z) Zerilli and Michael (Big Mike) Polizzi. The FBI wound up taking the wiseguys into the Bureau’s Miami office to interview them about their relationship to the team and their players following a game played in Florida.
In addition to his bar ownership being investigated and censured, Karras had his and some of his teammates’ traveling companions to-and-from games come under scrutiny by NFL officials. Karras, Wayne Walker, Darris McCord, Howard (Hop-along) Cassidy and John Gordy were known to drive to and from away contests in a mafia-owned “Party bus” – a double-decker bus adorned with female escorts and gambling tables that dropped from the ceilings. The party bus excursions were cited by the NFL as part of why Karras was suspended in 1963.
Murchison, the founder of the Cowboys’ franchise, was pals with Dallas Mafiosi Joe Campisi and held joint business interests with New York mobsters Vito Genovese (Don of the crime family that bears his name) and Gerry Catena. Modell ran in social circles in Ohio that included Cleveland Jewish racketeers like Alex (Shondor) Birns and Italian mafia powers like Louis (Babe) Triscaro. Hailing from heavily mobbed-up Youngstown, Ohio, DeBartolo has been connected to the gangster Carrabia brothers (Charlie the Crab, Ronnie the Crab and Orlie the Crab) of the Cleveland mafia and Vincent (Briar Hill Jimmy) Prato, Joseph (Little Joey) Naples and Pat Ferrucio of the Steel City mafia family. Rosenbloom, a heavy bettor, died in a mysterious drowning in April 1979.
Los Angeles Goodfella and future acting boss of the Dragna syndicate Altadena (Jimmy the Weasel) Frattiano admitted to fixing a 1951 L.A. Rams game. Dice Dawson accused Bobby Layne of fixing at least seven games for him in the 1950s, one of them being the final game of the 1956 regular season versus the Chicago Bears for the division championship, where the underdog Bears beat favored Detroit. Layne asked out of the game in the second quarter and never returned.
NFL security and the FBI suspected that at least 10 games were “fixed” during the 1979 campaign and nine NFL teams in the 1980s had players investigated by league security for their alleged association with gamblers and members of the mafia – the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Washington Redskins, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers.
Comments
Post a Comment