Melvin Williams from Baltimore-40 years ago

[vagabond]

he was a big gangster and was involved in illegal gambling etc.He was railroaded to prison for a 12 year sentence in 1969 by planting the drugs on him as per the show I am watching on TV now. Melvin never used drugs.He was described as a good one pocket player.


How good he played one pocket?

 

[T411]

Melvin Williams

he was a big gangster and was involved in illegal gambling etc.He was railroaded to prison for a 12 year sentence in 1969 by planting the drugs on him as per the show I am watching on TV now. Melvin never used drugs.He was described as a good one pocket player.


How good he played one pocket?

You can go 20 bet.com and watch this episode.

 

[T411]

Melvin Williams

he was a big gangster and was involved in illegal gambling etc.He was railroaded to prison for a 12 year sentence in 1969 by planting the drugs on him as per the show I am watching on TV now. Melvin never used drugs.He was described as a good one pocket player.


How good he played one pocket?

You can go to bet.com and watch this episode.

 

[Grady]

1968

He didn't play well. He staked Strawberry. I was playing Strawberry on Pennsylvania Ave. in Baltimore in 1968 for $300 a game, which was a small bet for that area and that time.

 

[JAM]

He didn't play well. He staked Strawberry. I was playing Strawberry on Pennsylvania Ave. in Baltimore in 1968 for $300 a game, which was a small bet for that area and that time.

Hi, Grady. Do you remember the name of the joint on Pennsylvania Avenue? I'm just curious. The only big-time pool room I can remember during this era was at 7th and T Streets, Northwest, down the street from the Wonder Bread factory.

I can remember smelling that bread driving down Georgia Avenue, which was nearby 7th and T Streets, with my father.

Wow, 1968. Man, that was a rough year in D.C. It is a time I will NEVER forget, the Martin Luther King riots.

The funny thing about it, though, is there was never any racial tensions or problems in the pool room. Everybody seemed to judge others by how deep their pockets went, rather than the color of their skin!

JAM

 

[Black-Balled]

I recal talk of the Penn Ave. room from the 80s, heard it in the Westmont Champions. THere was a guy that wes a policeman at the time, Herb Roberts, who was supposedly beaten severely during those riots.

Funny thing is, Herb's family owned the land that became Tysons Corner. IIRC, Tysons was built shorly after '68, making the Roberts family crazy rich. Good on him for serving, he didn't need to do so in the longer run.

 

[freddy the beard]

Bugs and Melvin

Excerpt from the Beard's Instructo/Documentary, The GosPool:

Leonard "Bugs" Rucker literally made a shot for his life in Washington DC against Eddie Taylor. His backer, Melvin Williams, a big time drug dealer, who later went to prison for assassinating an undercover cop and possession of a machine gun, didn't want Bugs to shoot at a ball that would decide the session. He told Bugs that he had better not shoot at what he was thinking about shooting. He wanted Bugs to play safe, and he took out two guns, and laid them on a table. Melvin would literally kill Bugs if he missed! Bugs was in a hopeless One Pocket trap, and knew he could only win the game and the session if he made the shot he was considering. Needless to say, Bugs is still alive. He made the shot, ran out and won the set! The backer, who a minute before was going to shoot Bugs, did a 180 degree turn-around, and started hugging and kissing Bugs. He even pulled off his diamond wrist-watch, and gave it to Bugs as a bonus.

 

[Grady]

A little more info

I don't remember the name of the place on Pennsylvania Ave. Too bad Straw passed away last year. He obviously knew the name of it. We also played at 7th and T. At Onepocket.org I told the story of how we were playing in Baltimore when MLK got assassinated. Dennis Wilson or the bus driver probably recall the name of the place.
I don't wish to speak poorly of people who have passed but the truth is that the main action place of the period of which we refer to here wouldn't allow the white players to gamble against the black champions of the era. I enjoyed myself immensely when I had the rare priviledge of playing "Rotation Slim." When we were through I was tersely informed that I would be barred if I played a black player again.
I mention this because as underpaid and often misunderstood as we white players were, the black, Hispanic and Asian players had it much rougher.

 

[vagabond]

QUOTE]

Thanks Freddy & Grady for the info on very remote past events.you guys seem to have excellant memory and in that area you guys can give orange crush and last three to an elephant.
last night I was tired of mc cain and obama stuff on CNN & FOX channels and then surfed the channels and the show called American gangsters on BET caught my attention.That is where I saw this man.They showed him at a pool table shooting a ball and that clip lasted only few seconds and the commentator said that he was a good one pocket player.he was sent to prison on three different occasions.They showed more about his illegal activities and his mob connections with one of NY crime bosses Saltzman.
once again thanks to Freddie and Grady.