The Gambler and the Bug Boy - 1939 Los Angeles and the Untold Story of a Horse Racing Fix (Electronic book text)

The Gambler and the Bug Boy recounts this dark chapter in horse racing history. At its center is Bernard Big Mooney, a flashy L.A. bookmaker who began his seedy career by threatening young jockeys with death if they didnt pull their horses. His unwilling partner is Albert Siler, a callow, eighteen-year-old apprentice rider (a so-called bug boy) from eastern Oregon. John Christgau tells how Big Mooney manipulated this promising rider and how Siler tried to escape the gamblers criminal grip without ruining his career. Christgau's book gives all the harrowing details of the unraveling plot andthe botched court case that followed which riveted the attention of the nation. Told in full for the first time, this story brings to light a little-known but important horse racing scandal.