The Bookie's Daughter by Heather Abraham

discovering the joys and hard work associated with being a student, my father’s gambling business found itself under threat from an unusual source. Al had always accepted police interference in the forms of raids or arrests, considering it part of his chosen profession. Now, however, he found himself the target of a new kind of police threat and Vanessa and I found ourselves caught up in a whirlwind of corruption and scandal. Our “zoo” was about to explode with vicious two-legged animals that made Larry’s shit-throwing antics look like child’s play.
     
Canary #1
     
    “ Man is the only kind of varmint that sets his own trap,
baits it, then steps in it.”
     
    John Steinbeck
     
     
     
    In the decades prior to the state’s entry into the numbers business—otherwise known as the lottery—bookies like my father made a good living. The runners they employed supplemented their incomes by writing numbers from which they would receive a percentage of the “book.” An industrious factory worker could augment his income by writing numbers while on the job. For those with an active factory book, the numbers business could easily provide an extra hundred dollars or more a week, plus the customary tip from winning customers. All of this money was free of federal and state taxes.
     
    Jeannette’s labor force was the major client base for many of the bookies in town. Placing bets on the daily number was part of the factory culture, and in some factories, playing the number was seemingly as important as performance on the job. Those lucky enough to “hit” often shared their winnings by providing coworkers with delectable treats to consume during breaks. Those who lost were assured that their windfall was just around the corner. The hopeful idea of a life-changing “big hit” was comforting to the weary bodies who toiled in Jeannette’s factories.
     
    For my father and other bookies in town, booking numbers was a lucrative business. Income generated from number writing was off the books—no earnings to declare and no taxes to pay. An occasional police raid was expected, but the penalty was minimal and well worth the risk. On the other hand, the long arm of the Feds—in particular, the Internal Revenue Service—was a threat that all bookies took seriously. Money laundering and living a seemingly modest life was a must for those desperate to escape the dreaded gaze of the Feds.
     
    Jeannette was not alone in its penchant for gambling. As the 1960s came to a close, the federal government was gearing up for an all out blitz against organized crime in western Pennsylvania. In his autobiography, Where the Evidence Leads , former Governor of Pennsylvania and U.S. Attorney General Richard Thornburgh summarized the atmosphere in western Pennsylvania of the 1960s and 1970s:
     
     
     
Many in this country see a threat in what they term the “military-industrial complex.” In western Pennsylvania, I say they should direct their attention to the “politico-racket complex” which has a near stranglehold on a number of communities in our area.
     
     
To my mind, there is no more subversive element in this land than the corrupting influence of organized crime syndicates which seek to control whole sections of our government, economy, and community life. It can happen anywhere—in any community where the criminal conglomerates dealing in illegal gambling, narcotics, loan-sharking, labor-racketeering and the like are successful in efforts to “buy off” legitimate government. 4
     
     
    As U.S. District Attorney, Richard Thornburgh established a task force to combat the “politico-racket complex” in western Pennsylvania. Determined to employ the tools recently provided by the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970 (OCCA), Thornburgh and his assistants set about taking on corruption, great and small. Thornburgh explains the significance of the crime bill and the opportunities it created for law