My Family Gambles Part 11 “The Brewery”
Gino got a job at The Pabst Brewery on South Orange Avenue because of his old man’s seniority status. Once there, the relatively well paying job with health care, vacation and union security, was not enough for his character and ambition. So he ran numbers, and as far as I know, kicked back to noone. One guy, lets call him Little Mickey, was on a bad losing streak and couldn’t pay. Gino waited a few weeks, like bookies often hafta do. And he listened to the stories that bookies often hafta hear from their addicted clients.
“I got an insurance check coming, gimme a few more days.”
“Tomorrow I’m gonna shy it from Nicky Boots.”
“My wife wants to send the kids to St Joes so they don’t hafta go to school with the blacks at Lincoln - Gimme another week Gino.”
Gino decides to give the guy a free bet. “You win, you’re even. You lose, you don’t owe me double, just what you already owe me. But Mickey, if you lose, I want the money tomorrow.”
The guy bets the Knicks favored by 6 that night at the Garden. They lose outright to The Lakers. Mickey shows up the next day to work and doesn’t have the money.
My friend’s dad, Al V, who also worked the brewery tells the story like this:
“I’m workin in the brew house and your uncle and Nick M. grab Little Mickey and hold him upside down over the beer vat, each holding an arm and a leg. The beer’s boilin. If he goes in he’s fuckin dead.”
Gino: “He paid the next day.”
