I was a Witness to a Murder in the Pool Room

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brunswick1901

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
I apologize for not remembering the year but it happened in Los Angeles in the 1970s or early 1980s.

I am not going to describe the shooting because the shooter was clearly guilty but the defense attorney was doing his best to discredit my testimony.

After I described what I saw the defense attorney asked how long I had been playing pool.

I said, "20 or 25 minutes".

Defense attorney, "How many games did you play?"

I said, "Three"

Defense attorney, "You mean to tell me you played three games of pool in 20 or 25 minutes?"

I thought, "What is he talking about", when I realized he was calling me a liar.

I said, "It depends on how well you play pool".

There's a saying in movies and TV shows that an attorney should, "NOT ask a question that he does not know the answer to".
 
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Although I didn't see this, but if my recollection is correct a murder is what finally caused the famed 'Cochran's' pool room in San Francisco to a close in the early to mid sixties. The place had become a pretty rough place towards the end. There was an incident where someone didn't pay off his debt on some game, (it may have been a game of pink ball that was popular back then) and he was promptly dragged into the mens' bathroom where he was pummeled to the floor. An old man who was taking a leak while this happened simply looked over his should and said "yep that otta get it!"
 
brunswick1901 said:
I apologize for not remembering the year but it happened in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

I am not going to describe the shooting because the shooter was clearly guilty but the defense attorney was doing his best to discredit my testimony.

After I described what I saw the defense attorney asked how long I had been playing pool.

I said, "20 or 25 minutes".

Defense attorney, "How many games did you play?"

I said, "Three"

Defense attorney, "You mean to tell me you played three games of pool in 20 or 25 minutes?"

I thought, "What is he talking about", when I realized he was calling me a liar.

I said, "It depends on how well you play pool".

There's a saying in movies and TV shows that an attorney should, "NOT ask a question that he does not know the answer to".
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Yep, we all have off days now and then.

Damn tight pockets. :ROFLMAO:
 
grits.jpg
 
Guys and Dolls in Silver Hill, MD, had two murders within a year in 1969-70, but the most horrific incident was one I was tangentially related to. One night at this same Guys and Dolls, I lost about $100 to a longtime rival, "X", in a match that ended around 6:00 in the morning. Just when we were wrapping it up, George the Greek walked in, and offered "X" the 8 ball for $10 a game (about $75 in today's dollars), and "X" figured this was a chance to parlay his winnings into something much bigger.

Problem is that George the Greek was way over "X's" class, and within an hour "X" was cleaned out. When I left, "X" was just sitting on a bench with his head in his hands, totally exhausted and now totally broke. A sad sight indeed.

Yada yada yada a few months later my ex-GF and I were in Berkeley, having left DC on the day of "X's" downfall. We took out a subscription to the Washington Post, which arrived a few days late, and one day we saw a screaming headline about a manhunt for a "Southeast pool hustler" who was wanted in connection with a brutal rape/murder that had taken place on that very night we left. Turns out that "X" had taken up an offer from a government bureaucrat to kill his wife and split the life insurance policy, which was to finance a gambling joint in Charles County.

Only the plot unraveled and by the time it was over, "X" had been given the death penalty by Judge John Sirica, later known as "the Watergate judge". The Supreme Court threw out the death penalty a few months later, and in the late 90's I saw "X" playing one pocket with a friend of mine at USA Billiards in Laurel. I was watching from a distance, and when later I asked my friend if he knew who "X" was, he said he had no idea, and had never heard of the rape / murder case.

The irony is that I'd known and gambled with "X" many times before that fateful night, and he was always soft-spoken, respectful, and never once played on ass. Until the facts came out during his trial, few people who knew him thought he was guilty, but facts are facts. Nevertheless, I've always wondered if that tragedy could've been averted if George the Greek hadn't shown up that morning.
 
Years back i was leaving Magoo's(Tulsa) late and a argument turned into a fatal shooting about 50ft from where i stood. For those who don't know, gunshots outdoors sound NOTHING like the bullshit on tv/movies. This was three shots from a SIG .45 and they sounded just like balloons popping. I had to stay and fill out witness forms and thankfully never had to appear. The shooter, Armando Luna, was a member of Mex.Mafia already wanted on murder charges back home in Calif. A few yrs later he killed another mex. banger in Ok. prison. Still locked up for life. Really a bad guy.
 
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This story reminds me of my pot head friend in college. He smoked pot like someone who would smoke cigarettes. Basically one after another.

Anyways the man got popped by the police one night while we were in the car. He had a tupperware full of pot. The police accused him of selling and he told the police that was his personal stash. The police didn't believe him and he said, "I can show you." The officer politely declined.

I was let go and he was off to the station.
 
garczar said:
Years back i was leaving Magoo's(Tulsa) late and a argument turned into a fatal shooting about 50ft from where i stood. For those who don't know, gunshots outdoors sound NOTHING like the bullshit on tv/movies. This was three shots from a SIG .45 and they sounded just like balloons popping. I had to stay and fill out witness forms and thankfully never had to appear. The shooter, Armando Luna, was a member of Mex.Mafia already wanted on murder charges back home in Calif. A few yrs later he killed another mex. banger in Ok. prison. Still locked up for life. Really a bad guy.
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All's well that ends well.
 
I feel the same way about sexual harassment.

However the rules for what is sexual harassment varies more than the number of digits in pi.

This can be solved with a universal sexual harassment system, international pool players need protection.

Governments ban them, Doping Violations target players and pro male players do not support WPBA events as often as they should because of the sister/brother relationship while touring for billiards. What kind of world do we live in when Earl can't donate a hug to a fellow pool player?

If the crimes can't be stopped, then reporting and investigating are the only tools to help.
 
Back in the summer of 2021 I met a guy we’ll call Wild Bill, he had one good leg and a prosthetic from the knee down after surviving a motorcycle accident with a semi. I’d heard about this guy for a while and when he showed up to work in cut off jean shorts, a bandanna pulled down half over his eyes and a white tank top it was like something straight out of a Quentin Tarantino movie. For the next few weeks we traveled around and I heard one story after another, almost like listening to the road stories from an old pool hustler. He’d fall asleep in the truck only to wake up long enough to take a long drag off a cigarette or to hop out at a stopped train and get a beer out of his cooler in the back, he’d always grab two and offer me one knowing I’d decline. His dark skin and wise guy lingo was something to behold and not once did he ever let me pay for anything when we’d stop to eat. He’d absolutely done at least a couple stints but was always polite and courteous to anyone who deserved it. He worked harder than most guys with two good legs and 20 years younger and never complained about his disability. About a month in I got a call and was informed that Wild Bill’s son had been murdered after an argument over a pool game in a bar that spilled out into the parking lot. He left to go there and a few days later I sent a text and said I’m thinking about you and your family my friend, he replied thank you brother I appreciate you. That’s the last time we spoke, about two weeks later I heard they found WB dead in his hotel room…not more than a week after they’d burried his son. It was a tragic but fitting ending to a life lived on the edge. To this day anytime I’m on the road I’ve got the Wild Bill cooler and the damn thing doesn’t even need ice to stay cold…
 
justnum said:
I feel the same way about sexual harassment.

However the rules for what is sexual harassment varies more than the number of digits in pi.

This can be solved with a universal sexual harassment system, international pool players need protection.

Governments ban them, Doping Violations target players and pro male players do not support WPBA events as often as they should because of the sister/brother relationship while touring for billiards. What kind of world do we live in when Earl can't donate a hug to a fellow pool player?

If the crimes can't be stopped, then reporting and investigating are the only tools to help.
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Justnum just for clarification you can’t have more numbers than the digits in pi. Pi is infinite. There is no end to the number of digits.
 
fastone371 said:
.........................were they magic grits???? It takes the rest of the grit eating world 20 minutes to make their grits.
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Quick Grits. There are instant grits, pretty awful last time I tried them years ago. Regular grits are just white corn meal and take that twenty-thirty minutes to cook. Quick grits are the perfect middle ground. They cook fast and taste as good as real grits.

My partner and I had eighteen wheels under us and were in Ada OK. Stopped at a restaurant for breakfast, not a chain. My rule is to stick to hash browns once I am out of the deep south but grits were on the menu and my partner ordered some. I thought to myself "might as well while they are cooking" and ordered some too. A couple minutes later I heard the cook asking the owner how to cook grits. They were as awful as would be expected. Lumpy enough they should have been called rocks instead of grits. Back to the hash browns above Bunkie rule!

Hu
 
On a related subject, has there ever been a list of pool hustlers who were murdered? Not necessarily in pool rooms. The list might start with David Sizemore and Phil Hubbard, and I'm sure it could easily be added to.
 
kaznj said:
Justnum just for clarification you can’t have more numbers than the digits in pi. Pi is infinite. There is no end to the number of digits.
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There are ways to compare types of infinite numbers.
 
Taxi said:
On a related subject, has there ever been a list of pool hustlers who were murdered? Not necessarily in pool rooms. The list might start with David Sizemore and Phil Hubbard, and I'm sure it could easily be added to.
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Thread is dark enough already. We don't need to go full-morbid 'who shot john' do we?? short answer? plenty.
 
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