Word: racket
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1950
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...saga of 38-year-old Sid McMath. There was McMath the poor boy, born in a dogtrot cabin on an Arkansas farm; McMath the amateur boxer, and honor student at the state university; Major McMath the Marine Corps hero, with the Silver Star for bravery on Bougainville; McMath the racket-busting prosecutor who cleaned up gambling in Hot Springs; McMath the family loving governor...
...witnesses testified-gambling in Broward County is controlled by New York and New Jersey gangs, and bookmaking in Miami Beach by the S & G Syndicate, which also has investments in valuable beach property. But the hearing produced an interesting tale about the S & G, which was a local racket until it began having certain difficulties last year...
...failure to make it the first time, Dewey had missed the White House; he had been too assured, his personality did not charm the voters, and he had tried to win without discussing the issues. But when all of this was said, his had been a remarkable career: a racket-busting prosecutor at 33 who put behind bars "Lucky" Luciano, Irving ("Waxey Gordon") Wexler, Tammany's Jimmy Hines, .Wall Street's Richard Whitney and many a little name in the loan and extortion rackets; at 40, an honest, efficient governor and able politician who had cut taxes, backed...
...into the islands. Much of the $2½ billion U.S. postwar aid was in the form of surplus military property. Distribution of this property became a gigantic swindle. I asked a businessman what he was doing. He answered with candid cynicism: "Last year I was in the surplus property racket, and this year I am taking life easy...
...recent years the most lucrative telephone racket has been to uncover the wires leading to the phone and touch a quarter to both wires simultaneously. One ex-freshman admitted making a free call to Boulder City, Nevada, by making contact with the quarter 25 times in rapid succession...