Which fighters did the mafia own ?

I hear that Owney "The Killer" Madden had Primo Carnera

Frankie Carbo and Blinky Palermo had major influence on Ike Williams (I know this firsthand).

I have no doubt that Abe Attell and Arnold Rothstein knew and did business with one another long before the Black Sox scandal.

Johnny Wilson used to brag about being friends with gangsters. Whether or not he was controlled by them, I don't know.

Johnny Saxton
Blackjack Billy Fox
Frankie DePaula

 

Don Jordan ??

 

It is interesting that Abe Attel (one) was brought in to train Primo Carnera (another), and made him into a prety good fighter!

 

Not to boast, but I knew Ike pretty well and we had long talks about this

 

Yes. I just wonder what kind of hand they played with him. There's been no accusations of pre-Clay set-ups or thrown fights that I know of. In fact the only fights in Sonny's career that have any stench (real or imagined) are the Clay fights themselves.

The only funny business that I've read about is that he might have carried Bert Whitehurst in one or both of their bouts so as not to scare away the top boys. Sonny was really coming into his own as a puncher at that point. Not sure if it's true or not.

Sonny no doubt had mob connections, though

 

Surf-Bat, Ike Williams was a hell of a fighter. If you dont mind me asking, did he ever talk to you about his feelings on his own career? His greatest moment, things he would have done differently, his worst moment? I always thought he was under rated among the greats in history. If he was around today he would be the most feared fighter in boxing.

 

Oh yes. Talked about it a lot. One thing I loved about Ike was that he always indulged you when you asked about his career. He was the picture of wounded dignity when talking about getting fleeced by Palermo and those gents; like he felt like he'd been made a fool of. He never attached "worst moment" to it but of all the things we talked about that was the one that seemed to make him the most grim. He called Bob Montgomery his toughest opponent. Tippy Larkin was the greatest pure boxer he faced.

I wrote an article on him that appeared way back in the November 1993 issue of the long defunct "Boxing Scene" magazine. It's a bit more comprehensive than the random memories I'm spouting off

 

I could be wrong, but I always felt that they had something to do with his death. I have never believed that Sonny was a junky. A fighter's occupation requires that they spend a lot of time with their shirts off. If Sonny were a heroin addict wouldn't we have been able to see the tracks up and down his arms? I spoke to the director of "Moonfire", which Sonny did shortly before he died. I asked him if Sonny exhibited any of the typical junky behavior (ducking out into bathrooms, nodding off, etc) and he said no. He pulled no punches about Sonny and was pretty honest and forthright about his shortcomings in other areas, so I believe him.

 

Jimmy Carter

 

Jake LaMotta had connections with them. Sugar Ray once had a phone call from a man repping Jake, and he asked Sugar to throw the fight. SRR politely declined by telling them that he does not conduct business that way.

 

Great call, AF.