hi everybody Brian Kenny here and welcome as ESPN Classic presents fighting the mob the story of Carmen Basilio there was definitely no love lost when Carmen Basilio and Sugar Ray Robinson fought each other in the ring the pugilist had two brutal fights each winning once Basilio respected Robinson's in the ring ability but could care less for his antics outside of the ring he was in love with himself he was arrogant a real eager to thought that nobody was better than him and everybody had to get down and has a nice form I must stubborn sob too and I'm not gonna get down on my knees hating me for anybody in 1952 I had just fought Billy Graham on television I took my way to New York City we were walking down Broadway there's pink Cadillac close-up Sugar Ray Robinson and a group get out and I said I want to meet him he went up can I introduce myself that I just bought Billy Graham last weekend television in Chicago and could give me a birth shop I was embarrassed and I said someday I gonna fight that Esso being kicked his ass it was 1952 it took five years in 1957 I got my chance at both Robinson and Basilio were inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990 later in the show we'll get Al Bernstein's take on Basilio but first we present fighting the mob the story of Carmen Basilio thanks for watching ESPN Classic the champion from Canastota New York Tannen Basilio the Sileo was that good that he had problems if I came wasn't always honest you faked the knockout isn't that correct yes sir with that dirty rotten game she said I think boxing is the swill pile of sportrack a few controls the so-called sport of boxing Frankie Carbone was a professional hit mr. gray mr. gray that's what they called it he killed many many people the underworld commissioner box I respectfully decline to answer question on the ground that I cannot be compelled to be a witness against myself the mob made the life difficult for common because they couldn't control him they didn't want him to wait I know he was in a very very difficult spot his managers were particularly close to carbo and to gave Jennifer baby think I was the biggest criminal around I would love her mafia man daddy came to me he says I'm gonna have to hook up with the mob know if you're gonna championship fight and I refuse to give anything up they started to refer to Basilio as the man of courage you come Basilio was born and grew up in cast out of New York and out of canna stone in New York there's a narrow highway that runs Northwest to an idle lake and about four miles out of town there what used to be called the muck lands and they used to go out and pick onions and these Buckland's you know it's a rich black soil but in the summer Sun it can burn your hands and burn your feet and the weather was very temperamental I mean you could lose a whole year's crop in a single July afternoon when the hail came and you could sometimes literally see it coming down in the rolls out in the field if you're old enough to walk and eat you had to work everybody worked with a job for everybody at the farm and they would live right there and get up and at five o'clock in the morning whole families of people kids and everybody on the hands and knees working and onions we hated it we're kids who wants to work with your kid one day he said I finally had it I had done a little fighting and I stood up and I said to my paw paw I couldn't he said what are you gonna do I said I'm gonna be a fighter and he said you'll take many a beatin and I said yeah and I'll give many a beatin - my father was a boxing net he followed all of the fights I remember we were little kids and my father was going over a couple of his paisans to Syracuse New York pemmican air was gonna box an exhibition you take those old Italians and one of the prizes champey the world it's most thrilling things in the world friend I think when Primo Carnera 1ly everywhere championship of the world it may have been one of the only times that heavyweight championship was fixed the poor Frankie and suffered more I think from being manipulated by the dark forces whatever they are than any other sport gamblers and profit tears had long had their hands in boxing but by the mid 30s the fight game had been wholly taken over by the underworld after prohibition the mob looked for a new source of revenue it had controlled boxing pretty thoroughly during Prohibition but now they needed to go big time and boxing was a great place to start and it controlled it absolutely thoroughly the really big-time racketeer to enter the boxing game was Owney Madden who was a prime bootlegger in the 20s somehow or another got the contract of Jack Sharkey they always own a piece of the champion and ona meant they wouldn't get a percentage of his purses and they could decide who he would fight and the pattern was you don't let him fight anybody who you don't already have it been interested if anyone could succeed at swindling prize fighters it was Paul John carbo alias Frank fortunati alias Frank Tucker Elias Jimmy the [ __ ] Frank carbo was a guy who came up in the Bronx whose childhood was one petty scam after another and then he started killing people for a living linked to murder incorporated and all the great mobsters of Brooklyn his first homicide was a case where he was shaking down cab drivers in the Bronx one cab driver was recalcitrant and carbo killer for years he was in hiding then he came back and pleaded guilty to manslaughter you got a two and a half year sentence Frankie Carbone earned his stripes in the Vito Genovese crime family and his status rose quickly in 1936 Vito rewarded carbo with a stake in his cousin games middleweight champion babe Briscoe and Genovese she says there look I like you Frankie you've been loyal even good why don't you say take 20% of his fighter so what happened was that within six months carbo figured 100% is better than 20% and carbo had 100% now is his first fighter from there he began to get more and more into boxing and he became the underworld nerve boxing if you said carbo to someone in boxing good girl like this mr. gray mr. gray that's what they called him mr. gray Carmen Basilio knew little of the gray haired Frankie carbo clean-cut 21 and fresh out of the Marines Basilio had one thing on his mind earning a living somebody says I mean you want to make 50 bucks I said I do this has played a professional fight in Binghamton New York I said yes so my turn pro my dog had my first pro fight in Binghamton New York and I won by TKO in the third round after about my 34th pro fight I came home elana my eye was all black and blue closed my mother she had a fit you quit that dirty rotten game she says Mary Basilio was more astute than she knew by the late 1940s New York District Attorney Frank Hogan had waged war on racketeering he thought he struck gold the night Jake LaMotta gave up against Billy Fox LaMotta was it was a wonderful fighter that couldn't get the title shot that he wanted and the mob came to him and said look you play ball with us and you get to shot at the time the mob was building up a guy by the name of Billy Fox turned out to be not that great of a fighter Billy Fox had a record of 43 consecutive knockouts well fixed I would imagine so Lamont I said okay if I get the fight I'll take the dive but I'm a damn Parkville riding said that the sound of splashing water was heard in Madison Square Garden last night you know as the mother took his dive here's a guy who knew the difference between right and wrong and but it didn't influence him very much besides the promise of a title shot LaMotta allegedly received $100,000 bribe but district attorney Hogan had no proof to the dismay of big-time Broadway bookmakers Frankie carbo and other mobsters made a killing on the fight the scam caused enough of a stink that the New York boxing commission find LaMotta $1,000 and suspended him indefinitely the model was a street kid welcome Lower East Side went to the Bronx defended for himself Basilio you know grew up in castle in the orc had a family and upbringing to the right thing and he didn't have to look towards the mobsters Carmen Basilio was a man with honor matter of integrity I always thought of as the honest onion farmer why are we wearing these outfits I thought we should practice our Irish step-dancing to celebrate the st. 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flamethrower grill burger a Dairy Queen do one you're watching fighting the mob the story of Carmen Basilio right here on ESPN Classic in 1950 common basilia was struggling to find himself as a fighter he had broken his hand and about and his career was on hold and I got a job way to work for the auto light company assembly generally this one day I'm working and I look back there there's my boss staring at me and I said to myself am I gonna spend the rest of my life having that boss looking at me no way I said I'm making a comeback Basilio hooked up with a couple of Syracuse area managers John Dee John and Joe Niekro Nitra was well-connected and de John was shrewd enough to turn Carmen into a fighter well I was a rough tough walk in front of a guy Slugger winded up my punches telegraphing him and everything and he maybe put all that away and started all over again from scratch Basilio learned fast and soon became the terror of the welterweight division he didn't know it yet but he was about to clash with boxing's biggest force the International Boxing Club the brainchild of Chicago lawyer Truman Gibson Gibson's friend and client Joe Lewis and New Jersey press agent Harry Mendel after the war when Lewis was gonna retire from the title Gibson came up with the idea that they could turn Louis's heavyweight title into an ongoing money machine in professional boxing the plan was that once Lewis retired an organization to promote fighters would be set up in his name we'd produce for Joe's corporation for fights we would assign the fighters to Joe Louis enterprises and bracel the contract a new corporation Harry Mendel said I know a crazy young Irish guy Coral Gables who would be interested in getting in the fight business so he called Jim the horse at four o'clock in the morning Jim said well no little talk now but come out tomorrow morning and we'll talk about Jim Norris was a blueblood who owned companies and businesses in many different fields an accomplished sportsman and a big-time gambler he had a big racing stable Springhill farms and a couple of horses in the Derby he would call the seahorses were doing that to read the sports page to him every morning at 7 o'clock New York tracks this word horse got his relationship and kinship with guys in the Bob acting on the advice of his partner Arthur words Norris bought out Joe Louis for $150,000 in exchange he got the contracts of the four top heavyweight contenders then after arranging for Madison Square Garden to buy out it's promoted Mike Jacobs Norris had a virtual monopoly on boxing promotion and a silent partner in Frankie Carbone you could not get a fight with the IBC unless Norris or carbo sanction it and they control the major arenas Jimmy Norris and Frankie carpo there were the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers of boxing the perfect duo it was Milton Berle and boxing that sold the first television set in the 50s we had the regular Wednesday night fights when the night fights are on the air there were the garden fights my sense where gotten we for maybe 170 hundred seventy five fights a year introducing the new Suzuki forensic let's go more out of life Suzuki's giving you the green light Dish Network pay-per-view presents dollar 99 movies only on the last chance channels people houses don't kill people kill this movie is available for a limited time order it now before it's gone for good go to channel 538 the last chance channel where a dollar ninety-nine delivers the greatest movies from Dish Network pay-per-view the NHL is back NHL set erases your ticket to get inside the NHL with up to 40 games a week outside your local area and over 1,000 games this season don't miss the intensity of increased rivalry great new rules and no more time the shootout is on NHL center ice get NHL center ice on Dish Network season ticket for $109 to order call one eight seven seven Dish PPV or visit Dish Network comm slash hockey the IBC's first fight had come on June 15th 1949 the mob delivered on its promise to Jake LaMotta and that night LaMotta beat Marcel Cerdan for the middleweight crown a week later Ezzard Charles outpoint to Jersey Joe Walcott to win Joe Louis's vacant title the IBC had locked up boxing's two most lucrative belts with Frankie Carbone controlling the other weight divisions the mob made life difficult for common because they couldn't control him they didn't want him to win but Basilio was winning so much so that he became a star attraction on ray ourselves Saturday night fight card player Sal gave a lot of fighters an opportunity raid was never an enemy in the sense that we worked together he had some opponents among some of their other elements but not ever with us our cell had hoped to televise a non-title bout between Basilio and reigning welterweight champion Kidd but John de John wanted a title fight for Basilio and dove into the belly of the beast to get one I went to the arc I don't work hover hung around and he went to Cairo you told my story he didn't promise you nothing but a week or two later you got what you asked for I got a call it meet Jim North Mountain New York she went down I saw Jim Norris said Jim Lowe says what's this you want a fight up in Syracuse for Gavilan and Basilio what kind of money can you draw up to it I should that fight there being conservative thing we'll do 75,000 Norris liked what he heard and outbid ray ourselves for the fight Basilio now had his first big break a shot at Gavilan swelled awake title and I thought I won the fight they gave him the decision at least hey I wonder respect to the people that didn't give me a chance before it kind of surprised everybody when you put him down that same month boxing was in for an even bigger surprise only this one occurred outside the ring the victim was ray ourselves he was standing in front of a hotel in Boston and all of a sudden he was hit from behind by apparently by a lead pilot they wanted to send a message to people that wanted to buck the IBC and the underworld that if you got in our way you were gonna get hurt he just thought it wasn't worth it after that to stay in boxing that he would be a target again the Saturday night fights went off the air and Ray ourselves from boxing for 18 years carbo stranglehold on the sport was as solid as a ring post and Carmen Basilio was headed straight for it may I show you something be like nothing you've ever seen Time magazine says V for Vendetta plays by its own rules kill him tonight bold and thoughtful he will trouble and challenge you denna is a terrific movie they're effective his vengeance V for Vendetta littered our theaters and IMAX mark 17 I was at this party with Jim when you realized his western wear was drawing the wrong kind of attention so to make up for it he came up with a multi beer strategy basically it's making your way through a crowd with a couple of Miller highlights gives people the idea you got something going on connections no matter what kind of hat you wear someone wants a free rate quote from Geico oh yeah cool said so they go to geico.com or we're not you can't get a Geico quote anywhere else might wanna exclusive he makes people feel special diet velvet-rope so getting a free rate quote from geico.com is like getting access into some exclusive club Charlie not knock who's there bloke looking for a guy cut quote looking to save money on his quarry sure it's oli may come on in how are you how's your mum how's it feel to be better than everyone else Geico 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance Carmen Basilio will forever be remembered as one of the toughest fighters in the welterweight and middleweight division with more on Basilio's hard-charging style here's al Bernstein and his continuing series Bernstein on boxing from 1948 to 1961 the span of Carmen Basilio s career there were probably more great boxers active than before or since that he's included in those ranks speaks volumes he was called the onion farmer because he grew up on one in upstate New York he would give that nickname worldwide recognition standing for toughness courage and excellence what kind of fighter was he look in the dictionary next to the word aggressive you'll see Basilio's picture backwards was not in his vocabulary in his great career he won the welterweight and middleweight crown fought five future Boxing Hall of Famers and had two exciting wins over the excellent welterweight champ Tony DeMarco that are two of the best fights of that era but the signature night of Basilio's career came on September 23rd 1957 when he stepped up in weight challenged middleweight champ Sugar Ray Robinson it produced 15 rounds of his little fury and a fight that is on every single top 10 greatest fights later vasilia won the fight and the title the sports raconteur Ben Bentley who saw everything that mattered in sports for five decades was the ring announcer that night in the twilight of his years he told me it was the absolute greatest sporting event he ever attended I'm not a sports collector but years ago I was given an original press packet from this Basilio Robinson fight it's the only thing like it I've ever kept and the only person who will ever get it from me is my young son West when he grows up and I can tell him all about the great Sugar Ray and the man they called the onion farmer for ESPN Classic I'm al Bernstein after Basilio retired from the ring he worked as a physical education teacher at LeMoyne college in Syracuse New York let's return now to fighting them off the story of carbon basilio here on ESPN Classic I think boxing is the swill barrel of sports it's a dirty racket in many instances and that's the way it's going to be as long as a hoodlum figures he can make a buck by muscling into it I had to hang around to June 1955 before I got another shadow to welterweight championship first of all if you're a real good fighter where it gets around pretty quickly and most people don't want to fight you and some of the real good fighters who might have had connections or controls name managers or the people in control didn't want them to fight Basilio Basilio had no connections he didn't want to be one of Frankie carbo's fighters he knew how things worked how carpel was pulling strings on his puppet managers guys like blinky Palermo ripped Valenti Jaime Wallman and Bernie Glickman you can go on and on and on people just fronting for carbo because he had the one conviction for homicide he couldn't get a license in his own name to manage fighters anymore what carpeau was interested in was controlling you as a fighter the only way you can get a championship fight is to sign a personal service contract with carpeaux which means if you win then carpeaux receive percentages of all of your championship fights if you lose it doesn't matter because he already receives percentages from the person who defeated you under carbo's control kit Gavilan held the welterweight title for almost five years but by 1954 he was showing signs of wear and tear and the mob found new blood in Johny Saxton carbo had in lessons both fighters Saxon and Gavilan was a god-awful fight the decision was given to Saxton with the advent of Sports Illustrated in the mid 50s boxing became a weekly target of crusading journalists The Daily Press on the other hand seemed to fall into two camps you won't believe how many sports writers would besieged with gifts quote unquote at Christmastime or some would get a handout every week these regular beat writers would line up at the garden after every Friday night fight and then would receive handout some cash one day LaMotta went down to the boxing commission to try to get his license back so as we came out LaMotta was with halsell vani who was then representing him playing Elsa Bonnie said no just a minute bill I said what needed snuck out this twenty dollar bill he said Jake wants you to have him I said you tell Jake and I said no I'll tell Jake I said let me tell you something Jake I'm insulted I'm insulted for two reasons number one you tried to buy me number two you try to buy me from twenty dollars of the writers who could not be bought none put up a more vigorous or more eloquent attack on the mob in boxing than Dan Parker for the whole decade of the 1950's Dan Parker crusaded week after week against these gangsters Dan Parker was the person directly responsible for the gay Genovese case the first case of manager being convicted of undercover managing Carmen Basilio as managers knew what Genovese he could do for their fighter what they didn't know was how Carmen would respond Johnny came to me when I was the number one well the way he says I'm gonna have to hook up with the mob a lot of you get a while to get a championship fight I had to satisfy people otherwise I wouldn't got nothing he said you're gonna have to give up some of your percentage of your pay I said no way I'll get my shot whether I give it to them or not and I'm not giving it to him he said well you're never gonna get a shop I said well time will tell and I refused to give anything up now whether they did or that that's their business I don't know Chenin he's not a service for me and I paid him now that his managers had taken engine of AZ Basilio was in the mix he was part of a round-robin with Johnny Saxton and Tony DeMarco who were said to meet for the welterweight crown jolting left hook spin Saxton sideways DeMarco been for 17 straight punches to the champions head he hit that push action and he got caught in the ropes at the corner he couldn't go down and DiMarco hit him out how many shots till he like he was hitting the speed bag bang bang but fine seasons like 11 years old boys clubs and always dreaming to be a champion I always dreamed to be a professional fighter and now I'm a champion a couple days after this tremendous upset victory de Marco says my left hand is still sore I can't fight but De Marco had signed a contract his manager Rip Valenti made sure he kept up his end of the bargain and in 70 days he was to meet Basilio for the title they couldn't deny me they had to give me the title fight eventually I'm thinking of a number between 450 and 850 do you know what it is it's my credit score and it happens to be 720 the higher my credit score the better chance I have of saving a lot of money do you know your credit score do you know what's in your credit report you can find out right now at freecreditreport.com you can even print it out if you want to how much easier could it get log on to freecreditreport.com that's freecreditreport.com free credit report offer applies with enrollment and tripled advantage hi it's daddy I'm on my way to the airport I'm gonna see you soon okay I'm at the airport now oh and I forgot to tell you I got you a present it's me again I'm about to yellow the plane so I'm gonna see you real soon I love you it's not on the couch again is she Suzy you're not on the couch again are you that's Italian leather and you know leathers a no-no for you I'm not gonna go we know why you fly we were American Airlines and when you fly American get our lowest fares at a AECOM guaranteed I knew he'd come in handy someday I'm State Farm agent Efrem Sanchez and this is a true story I never knew that his good grades would save us money on car insurance I never knew he could get good grades he cheated he had a tutor when I found out about marks grades I got him a good student discount dad if you get me a car we could get another discount of marking a car that's so not fair more drivers get more discounts from State Farm than anybody else see what a State Farm agent could save you today like a good neighbor State Farm is there I was confident that I would win the title but wasn't he June 10 1955 Carmen Basilio challenges Tony DeMarco for the welterweight championship of the world it was a savage fight absolutely Savage he's just a pier 6 brawl the tough fight odd um he had knocked me down once I just couldn't lay back and let him set the pace I had to keep force and make it move make him work he eventually caught up with him I ran him out of gas and I started nailing him the Challenger Basilio is ripping into him with all he's got the clown I'm welterweight championship of the world he said never forget it I just cried in the corner I did it I did it I did it he said and his mother climbed into the ring that she kissed her son that's afraid she get hurt Tripp coming through the ropes or something cuz she's such a short little T sorry four foot ten she explained to me she said you know we were too hot I said what dreams that you have she said we had no dreams what can we dream about the way we live and that was behind that embracing scene when he won the title after the DiMarco fight they started to refer to Basilio as the man of courage oh he's a champion of all time right so blinkie's after me he wants a Sexton fight Dollar Shave got a round-robin see South out of New York with a Genovese and we're Gallagher Steakhouse for having dinner wiki stir somebody's gonna walk come on pally what are you gonna do here what we gonna do I'll tell you what we'll take ten thousand dollars off the gate yeah I'm learning now I understand well give it to you yeah we're going Boston to fight Tony DeMarco have a sellout over here we'll all make money yeah that's what I do he said all right so that's how we got the second pipe and in Boston a 15-round world's world away championship are matched by the International Boxing Club James Dean or as president between the champion carbon basilio chemist over New York and the Challenger Tony DeMarco of Boston Massachusetts thirty seconds to go in the southern tomako tried to put across the big line he staggered me the seventh round with a good left hook I saw that Punch coming from a mile away never been an attempt to block it I get out of the way I hit him flush his eyes roll ghouls head me his knees crusts and I width him to go down he didn't go down I just said don't go down don't go down you're in Boston if you go down there stop the fight but I've even counted and I just fought it move to move to moved and then I just worked my way around so the bell rang I just turned around and sat down I was in my own corner Basilio regained his senses and took control flooring DeMarco twice and finally draining the life out of him get up Carmen Basilio smashes Tony DeMarco with a helpless condition to have the fight fall to a halt in the fall round on a TKO the winner and still well away champion of the world Carmen Basilio now that DeMarco had lost twice to Basilio it was Johnny Saxton's turn to take his shot carmen was offered the chance to fight Saxton in Chicago there was no clause in it for rematch so I think really reluctantly he went to Chicago to fight Saxton I was never comfortable in Chicago on fight night Basilio was a two-to-one favorite but referee Frank Gilmer reminded him of why Chicago wasn't his kind of town he wouldn't let me fight inside where I was strongest and he let us action do the running to keep us apart and then in the fourth round we come out and it's tough it was coming out of his glove Saxons glove got ripped after Carmen really hurt him and for some reason they couldn't find another glove for fifteen or twenty minutes when he recovered it ran like a deer for the rest of the fight a little hanky-panky out of India I remember him telling me that he left Chicago with a broken heart back in New York Basilio secured a rematch behind the scenes the usual greasing of the palms took place to engage in of AZ collected from Basilio's managers and from the fights promoter norm Rothschild most boxing experts agree that Basilio's biggest at that is an excellent physical condition still bitter from his defeat Basilio trained harder than ever this time out against Saxton he would leave no doubt about the winner Basilio had mended his broken horn taking back the title from Saxton and the mob Jim Norris made a mint on the fight but his control over boxing was about to crack wait did you see that go back clearly that woman is trying to get more fiber and calcium in her diet when it's so much easier with Metamucil capsules plus calcium Metamucil fiber for regularity plus as much calcium as an 8 ounce glass of milk for strong bones to help prevent osteoporosis Metamucil capsules plus calcium stay regular stay strong you all season radio tires anti-lock brakes electronic stability control they made everything about the automobiles safer except the driver introducing the safe driving bonus new from Allstate but cash off your renewal bill for every six months you don't have one of these it's time to make the world a better place to drive that's Allstate Stan are you in good hands in 1957 Jim Norris ran into a roadblock when a New York federal court found the ibc in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and ordered it to dissolve all I can say is were naturally disappointed with the decision you're trying to make any appeal that will be in the hands of our counsel when we have the type reports of the judge Ryan's decree will over them point by point and then be advised by counsel with an appeal in the works Nora sweat ahead with his next big fight Carmen Basilio vs. a man who was bigger badder and bolder than the mob Sugar Ray Robinson Sugar Ray was training to fight Jake LaMotta for lamanna's middleweight world middleweight title in 1951 he was training up for pumping Lakes New Jersey and the phone rang one day and he answered it and the voice said ray he said yes he said this is mr. gray I want to talk to you I'll be down outside the gate in about half an hour Ray said okay so he went down and then big black sedan the window came down and Frankie cargo space was in the window and he said ray I got a deal for you you win the first fight Jake wins the second and the third will be on the level and Ray said I'm sorry I just don't do business that way Robinson and Basilio shared a loathing for the moth but oddly enough had little respect for one another he had an arrogance about them that I couldn't stand so there was never any love between he and I with Labor Day weekend 1952 and my wife had never been to New York City were walking down Broadway this big sandbag pulls up with Ray Robinson in his inter arch I walked over the hairdos myself and they gave me the biggest brush-off and I felt so embarrassed and I said I'm gonna fight that son of a [ __ ] in kick his ass someday five years later I finally got a crack at rolling the afternoon the welterweight champion heads into Alexandria Bay a vacation village in the Thousand Islands region he is a real local hero and the people of this small town will all be at the fight and mass Robinson won't win any popularity contests around Carmen's camp since Basilio's end of the first was cut five percent in order to meet Robinson's demand for a bigger guarantee well he's been a little bit greedy on his part one all the money and if I didn't come down five percent the public that are entitled to a fight like this would it would have been deprived of it so I came down 5% so that the people to see the fight Palmer was five six and Robinson was six foot which meant that Carmen had to punch up uh and as you punch up you lose power so he had some real physical disadvantages going into that fight I had to put the pressure on him to keep him moving backwards to keep him away from his punching power so I had to move in all the time punch to the body and come up to I walked back to the back corner at the end of the 15th round and they says I won this fight the women and know I got goose pimples all over me a guy called I almost started to cry because I remember when I was in fourth grade the teacher yes all of his children what they wanted to be when they grew up and when they got to me I said I'm gonna be a professional fighter and I'm gonna be champion of the world and she said that's the most disgusting thing I ever heard and I was embarrassed and I learned about it but I never forgot it Basilio's victory against Sugar Ray Robinson lifted him into greatness his title winning fight at Yankee Stadium had brought in close to a million dollars and the rematch in Chicago promised even more thrills Carman and all the excitement after the weigh-in just one question I polled ten sports writers from around the nation here nine of them picked Sugar Ray to win by a knockout tonight what's your answer to that nine of them were wrong Thanks I was teaching them how to how to block a right uppercut and Conor with a left hook he slipped he made a mistake hit me with a razor poked away here the eyebrow he broke the blood vessels opening my I blew up instantly I says he's got an a got a bump like the size of an egg and I could see Commons eye closing I couldn't see to my left and work hard changed my stance a little bit how much I'm going don't stop this fight don't stop the fight by now 12 rounds of roll past in his tremendous title match Basilio hasn't been able to see out of that left eye of his since the sixth round Sugar Ray is really looking for a chance to finish him off Sports Illustrated said that I'm not one in 100 million men could have done what Basilio did that night he knew the public wanted a third fight and so did Frankie Carbone but carbo had gone into hiding in Miami after being indicted for illegal matchmaking even so he sent for Basilio to talk about making Robinson three I never told me what to do never gave me any orders I wouldn't take him anyway and I didn't believe it at that the silly old set the terms and by god he didn't fight Robinson unless those terms were met he was in satisfied with 350 $350 he said because the other guy was in seminary which in a way he was right if I never come up and it was at the time the hottest fight in boxing homeowners need cash you need to know about the no closing cost home equity line of credit from countrywide unlike many lenders with countrywide there's no application fee no credit reporting fee no appraisal fee no underwriting fee no closing costs so you could use more of your loan to pay off credit cards and lower your bills the no closing cost home equity line of credit from countrywide no one can do what countrywide can call now and see if you qualify call 1-800-695-1418 com today you're watching fighting the mob the story of Carmen Basilio right here on ESPN Classic in 1959 Jim norris's boxing empire lost its final appeal to stay in business that year the United States Supreme Court upheld a lower court's decision and ordered the dissolution of all ibc companies worse in Nora's control over the garden had to be broken up they had to sell their shares in the garden war sonorous cried all the way to the bank because they've got a tremendous return on their garden shares three months after the Supreme Court's ruling the hunt for Frankie carbo ended dramatically when police captured him in New Jersey they surrounded the place with a gun strong were turned out that carpel had jumped out the back window and he was immediately nailed there by the Texas from the DA's office why Frank the night you were arrested you were going out the back door you said you thought the Mafia was trying to rub you out why would they want to do that it turned out that carbo thought it was a rub out rather than a police action so he was one frightened person he pled guilty most he could have gotten was I think three to five years they wound up getting two years Frankie carbo was sent to Rikers Island prison where gave Genovese he was also doing time for unlicensed managing the mobs grip on boxing was coming loose John Dee John and Joe nitro admitted to boxing officials they had made secret payments to Jenna Vaizey and lost their licenses to manage in New York state it would take almost four years before de John was reinstated I got a bad break because that Boxer Commission ruled me to my New York boxing commission when they banned me like that they made me think I was the biggest criminal around him as I said with her mafia man I would love her mafia man Eva was already there how do you create that hero they have ever scapegoat so they grab me go why cuz Brasilia was the hottest thing at that time and made news I think probably Nietzsche Wanda John tried to do their best by Basilio they did what they had to do to get him in the ring for a championship fight Basilio testified before the Commission and told of his meeting with carbo in Miami cleared of any wrongdoing Basilio stood by his managers we were together Joe John and myself for eight years and I can only say that I would never want anyone else to handle my affairs the thousands and thousands of pages of testimony and evidence on this table all point towards one inescapable conclusion and that is that during the period from 1947 through 1960 racketeers and underworld figures dominated and controlled the so-called sport of professional boxing in the summer of 1960 Congress held hearings on criminal activity in the fight game Tennessee senator Estes Kefauver who chaired the hearings relied on John Bonham II to lay out the case for boxing reform LaMotta was the leadoff witness before the Kefauver committee I asked him whether he had taken a dive and his fight with Billy Fox in 1947 but you don't forget whether or not you faked the knockout do you no sir and that's the truth you faked the knockout isn't that correct yes sir I received an offer $100,000 to lose to Billy Fox which I refused I I said I was only interested in the championship right did your brother Joseph LaMotta state to you the persons who were offering the $100,000 bribe he did not he had said in preliminary testimony that the bribe Wafaa came from blinky palermo who was a leading manager at the time several former boxers told of the need to clean up the very sport Mary Basilio had called the dirty rotten game her son Carmen was among them if you don't have any respect for those fellows they don't belong in boxing and they quickly get those fellows out the better it's gonna be for this boy Jiri was you know from a small town rural guy and to speak up and speak out I think took a lot of courage they told me made my message they says tell the truth and I said I intend to if you don't come back there have you ever threatened any manager or boxer or promoter at any time within the last 10 years for not carrying out any wishes of your wish I respectfully the fantastic question of Honor cannot be to father be a witness against myself carbo refused to tell the committee about his role as the underworld boss of boxing instead he took the fifth thirty times only one thing I want to say mr. senator congressional approval congratulate you on your reelection the Kefauver hearings spawned a bill calling for federal control over boxing the measure died in Congress when it received little support from Attorney General Robert Kennedy resisting the need for a National Crime Commission Kennedy was less interested in policing the fight game than he was in convicting the racketeers associated with it why are we wearing these outfits I thought we should practice our Irish step-dancing to celebrate the st. Patrick's Day season we're cooking now maybe all we need for st. Patrick's Day is our Guinness Oh all we need is Guinness brilliant brilliant enjoy Guinness Draught responsibly during the st. Patrick's Day season Wheat Thins has zero grams of trans fat with a nutty crunchy taste worth diving into taste good feels good three bins um are we going to that bed-and-breakfast no oh are we going skiing no how about a day spa nope are we going apple picking no just relax trust me setup ball free weekends at Avis rent for a week and get a free weekend to go out and do something totally unexpected just another way we try harder come on now come on ah lasso lessons good one the half and quarter pounds flamethrower grill burger at Dairy Queen 2 the round is almost over a round is over the last couple fights to the head I even take my shower get dressed walk out his gym not talk to anybody that was 34 years old yeah driving in my car and I'm all by myself and I'm thinking about this and I said Carmen it's time to retire in 1961 Carmen Basilio fought his last fight a valiant but losing bid for Paul Pender's middleweight title by this time the legal troubles of Frankie carbo had escalated when he and four other defendants blinkie Palermo Schumann Gibson Louis dragna and Josef seeker were tried in Los Angeles on charges of extortion and conspiracy there was bail set for carbo on our charge of $100,000 which in those days was a very big bale to give you an idea how big it was I started working as a federal prosecutor forty two hundred fifty dollars a year the government's key witness was West Coast matchmaker Jackie Leonard Leonard had promoted the welterweight title fight between Virgil Aikens and Don Jordan and give up a piece of Jordan when the mob came to collect Leonard was attached to a pair of FBI wiretaps Karbo called Leonard cross-country and Tom he's gonna come out their little west coast and gouge out his eyes the mob flourished under J Edgar Hoover until Bobby Kennedy came in as Attorney General and said let's get the mob lead prosecutor Alvin goldstein and assistant counsel Robert Heiner felt were chosen to try the government's case against carbo and his associates when Palermo was being cross-examined by Goldstein hosteen had got him to lay out their modus operandi of controlling the fight titles and finally Palermo says we've been doing this for years this is the first time they made a case like this out of it by the end of the three-month long trial the government's case proved overwhelming and all five defendants were found guilty I went to work for the Genesee Brewing Company out of Rochester New York and within a week after that I had a telephone call from the athletic director at LeMoyne college and they offered me a job there as a phys ed teacher Basilio had gone back to a simple life far from the arenas where he had pounded out a living with his fists farther still from the dark forces he had battled outside the ring Camus has a character in one of his novels say that sanctity and heroism don't matter to me what interests me isn't being a man and I think Carmen Basilio is a man a good man common I we've got close because many times we were together different events and we became friends my son was 14 years old he died my car accident Basilio he heard about it for respect that he had for me he came to Boston he stayed with us he came to the funeral rules and that was I done the book forget it masu Lyon was a great fighter at all of bravery and grid that we all like to see and aside it he was ferocious in the ring he was humble enough to kneel in the ring he was man enough to cry in the ring Tony DeMarco probably said it best at their 30th reunion of the night that facili ol won the welterweight championship of the world over the years I've come to understand that I couldn't have lost to a better fighter or a better human being than Carmen Basilio from Las Vegas where spectacle meets the spectacular came a raising of the bar last year's World Series of Poker set the gold standard for excitement capped by an ending so improbable the name moneymaker said it all but that was just one event the World Series of Poker is just that a series a grueling five week long collection of tournaments where legends are made and millions get paid oh the man from all walks of life they come the world's greatest players competing on the game's greatest stage oh look at that in talking about thirty three tournaments nearly 50 million dollars at stake a non-stop poker Odyssey with all Illinois survive this is the World Series of Poker from the Horseshoe Casino welcome to the 2004 World Series of Poker presented by Miller High Life even before a hand was played history was made a record-setting 834 players entered this first tournament their inspiration the gallery of Champions newest member Chris Moneymaker his win last year sent the electrifying message that anyone can win welcome to the 35th annual World Series of Poker please shuffle up and deal the cards now on opening day it took but nine minutes for the first player to be eliminated Pretty Boy Floyd I'm taking an early action and then a grueling 18 hours more for the field of 834 to Whittle itself down to the final nine next time some legends fell like Johnny Chan and Doyle Brunson's poker that's where it goes and Sam Farha runner-up to moneymaker last year that's about our lucky sticker I better change the rhythm moneymaker himself did not play in this event but his impact was everywhere the moneymaker effect in full effect here at the first tournament of the World Series of Poker hello everybody I'm lon McEachern and the ever growing popularity of the sport of poker nowhere more evident that on our final table here on our very first event yeah lon we have a lot of Internet whiz kids and babyface is showing up for them are at the final table tonight including our chip leader 24-year old James Vogel there is James Vogel from London a very accomplished backgammon player only been playing this game a couple of years though Brian Haven second in chips today has become a very accomplished tournament player over the last couple of years and here's the guy's been playing at this level for a long time one of the world-class players and the guy to fear here today David Chiu there you see a very crowded final table nine players as the cards are in the air David Chiu on the left there you will fold as will JC Tran action over to our chip leader in the first look at our Miller High Life pocket cam and pocket aces for our leader and a good morning wake up for James Vogel of course he'll bet at 24,000 now to Brian hey Vicent and kinks right behind Vogel's aces Wow well the second-best Hanten Hold'em but unfortunate when the best hand in Hold'em is sitting right in front of you and he is gonna raise another 80,000 lonnis like one of those horror movies where you know if the person opens that door there's disaster lurking on the other side the percentage next to the player's name is the probability they will have the best hand at the end the table folds over to our chip leader James Vogel there's no real decision here for Vogel he's got to go all-in James Vogel's gonna go all-in and actually with that he'll put Brian Haven all-in if Davison decides to play I call an hae Vicent is gonna do exactly that this is just worst case scenario for Haven he's second in chips but he's going up against the chip leader who can knock him out of the tournament Davison flips over the kings and then Volga 1up sim good luck well Brian hey verson is gonna need a king to stay alive in this tournament here's the flop it is three ten and two no help yeah that door is shutting on him a king and a king only turn card four of clubs and now Brian Davison needs a king or he will be eliminated from this Hold'em tournament and a river card a two of hearts it's not gonna do it James Volga wins the hand eliminating Brian Haven ninth place a check for just over $30,000 over $30,000 didn't say much skill the easy gala well it is if you know the rules of Texas Hold'em here are the Miller High Life rules for Texas Hold'em each player is first dealt to down cards a round of betting that occurs as players decide for the first time if they're in or they're out then come the community cards with the flop the turn and the river with a round of betting after each in the end the best five-card combination wins the hand and takes the pot James Vogel is the newbie at this table just like Chris Moneymaker was last year in the main event and just like moneymaker the newcomer here is having a big impact at the table yeah he's 24 years old and frankly I don't like 24 year old Anthony lelouch from Paris France first time at a final table first world series
Thank you. Have seen some of his fights but never learned much about him.