Weegee, Henry Rosen (left) and Harvey Stemmer were arrested for bribing basketball players, July 25, 1945
TIME Magazine, February 12, 1945, “A Scandal Grows In Brooklyn”:
“Three New York detectives were watching the home of one Harry (“The Mustache”) Rosen, suspected Fagin and fence for a gang of teen-age garment thieves. They spotted two youths entering and leaving, followed them to the home of Harvey Stemmer, a second racketeer. The detectives picked up the boys, grilled them at police headquarters. The youths got panicky and spilled a lurid story: they were members of the Brooklyn College basketball team, had pocketed bribes of $1,000 (to be split with three other teammates) to throw a game with the University of Akron; they had also arranged, for an additional $2,000, to toss a later game with St. Francis’ College. Racketeers Rosen and Stemmer, byproducts of the big basketball gambling market, had set their sights on a sure way to slough the bookies.”
Later in the article, a gambler explains why his friends who are used to betting on horse racing are having trouble switching over to basketball:
“This basketball, it gives them all heart trouble. Ya see, a horse race, it starts, then bing, it’s over in a few seconds. But the basketball starts, and boom, one team makes a basket. Boom, the second team makes a basket. Boom, the first team makes a basket. And this goes on for an hour. I tell ya, they’re all getting heart trouble.”
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