If you are a fan of "Boardwalk Empire" There is a character named Arnold Rothstein. He was a real person as anyone knows who has ever heard of the 1919 world series fix. If you watch the series you see he is almost always at a pool table when ever he is at his office or home. The shows makers give the impression he is a good player and the actor can play a little as he portrays Mr. Rothstein.
This is based on a fact that he did play pool just under a professional level and loved to gamble at pool. There is a story that is based on fact that he beat a champion player from Philadelphia who was in NY in 1909. They played a marathon match that ran nonstop from 8 pm the evening of Thursday. Nov 18 to 4 am Sunday morning. Rothstein won a decisive victory and thousand of dollars were bet. This match was played in front of a large crowd of on lookers and is well documented.
Some say that knowing the nature of Rothstein the match may have been fixed, but either way it would still attest to his abilities with a cue to pull it off and make it look good. He was well know to be such a good player that it may very well have not been a fix. He was a man who could do most anything if he put his mind to it, thus his nickname "The Brain".
I get some of this story from the works of Marc Mappen an expert on Prohibition gangsters and author of "Prohibition Gangsters" "the rise and fall of a bad generation", who I have had contact with. As well as stories from my father who knew Rothstein and told me many stories about him and mentioned him playing pool all the time and how good he played. For perspective on these dates, my father was born in 1898 and came to the US from Italy in 1908. He was already an old man and retired when I was born.
My dad knew Rothstein from around 1918 till his death from a gunshot in 1928. It is said that Rothstein was shot over not paying a $320,000 gambling debt. This may have been assumed and made for a good story. My dad told me many years ago Rothstein was shot by just some nobody who he had screwed over regarding just a few hundred dollars. This would be a long list of suspects I am sure.
Rothstein owned a lot of property and was known to not be a very good landlord. No matter how big one may think they are, one well placed bullet by a nobody can bring them down to size. Rothstein on his death bed refused to say who shot him. When questioned he put his finger to his lips indicating he was not talking. So we will never know.
This is based on a fact that he did play pool just under a professional level and loved to gamble at pool. There is a story that is based on fact that he beat a champion player from Philadelphia who was in NY in 1909. They played a marathon match that ran nonstop from 8 pm the evening of Thursday. Nov 18 to 4 am Sunday morning. Rothstein won a decisive victory and thousand of dollars were bet. This match was played in front of a large crowd of on lookers and is well documented.
Some say that knowing the nature of Rothstein the match may have been fixed, but either way it would still attest to his abilities with a cue to pull it off and make it look good. He was well know to be such a good player that it may very well have not been a fix. He was a man who could do most anything if he put his mind to it, thus his nickname "The Brain".
I get some of this story from the works of Marc Mappen an expert on Prohibition gangsters and author of "Prohibition Gangsters" "the rise and fall of a bad generation", who I have had contact with. As well as stories from my father who knew Rothstein and told me many stories about him and mentioned him playing pool all the time and how good he played. For perspective on these dates, my father was born in 1898 and came to the US from Italy in 1908. He was already an old man and retired when I was born.
My dad knew Rothstein from around 1918 till his death from a gunshot in 1928. It is said that Rothstein was shot over not paying a $320,000 gambling debt. This may have been assumed and made for a good story. My dad told me many years ago Rothstein was shot by just some nobody who he had screwed over regarding just a few hundred dollars. This would be a long list of suspects I am sure.
Rothstein owned a lot of property and was known to not be a very good landlord. No matter how big one may think they are, one well placed bullet by a nobody can bring them down to size. Rothstein on his death bed refused to say who shot him. When questioned he put his finger to his lips indicating he was not talking. So we will never know.
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