TUESDAY WEATHER: Today - Mostly sunny. Southeast wind 5 to 15 mph. Tonight - Clear. Low in the 40's April 9,1996 * Matt Miller/DN Ex-Chicago Mafia bookie Bobby Jay speaks to students Monday night at the Nebraska Union. Jay said he had fixed all kinds of chance games. He said other sporting events, such as 1988 Olympic basketball games, also could have been fixed. On the money Ex-Mafia man calls gambling a bad bet By Erin Schulte Staff Reporter It’s easy to turn a million dollars into two large pizzas and a six-pack —just play the lottery. Bobby Jay, a former Chicago Mafia mem ber told a crowd of 100 students at the Ne braska Union Monday that if one starts with a million dollars in a lottery and bets it all, it will be cut in half. The state takes 50 percent off the top in each bet. The next bet would be $500,000 and so on, until, after betting fifteen times, $31.25 remains. Jay, who spent three years in the witness protection program, spoke under a fake name for fear of Mafia repercussions. And although his specialty is illegal gam bling, he said legalized gambling in Nebraska will affect the state far more than illegal gam ing ‘"As despicable as mobsters are, they arc not as ruthless and rat-hearted as the execu tives that manage licensed casinos," Jay said. “The Mob targets the strong and success ful. Casinos target everyone — the disabled, the elderly.” Promises of economic development and job creation would not be kept by casino operators. Jay said. “They have an unbroken record of decep tion.” , In fact, casinos would be happy if they didn’t have to hire any employees, he said. Slot machines don’t require employees and have a higher payoff for casinos — about $ 100,000 a year per machine. “They want to make a nation of slot junk ies,” Jay said. “Anyone with the IQ of a canned ham can be taught to play slots in twelve seconds.” Jay earned his experience as a gambling expert working as operating manager and bookmaker for illegal gambling operations in Chicago’s Mafia from 1975-1990. To his family and the rest of the world, he was a newspaper editor and stockbroker. Jay said he got into the mob for monetary gain only, and avoided the social aspects of . it, such as mob family weddings. Some popular impressions of the media are false. Jay said. If someone owes money, certain measures are taken to make them pay, but they are not killed. “You never get the money by killing somebody,” he said. “If someone owes me money, I don’t want to send flowers to the family. I want the cash. “You may be in bandages, but you’re go ing to work so you can pay.” When Jay decided to get out of the Mafia in 1990, he went to Treasury agents volun tarily, and revealed secrets that put about 20 mobsters in jail. He voluntarily entered the witness protection program and spent the next three years moving around 33 states. Jay testified in front of Congress on gam bling in the U.S. A senator asked him why anyone would want to bet with a criminal when they could legally gamble with the See BOOKIE on 3 Olympian to talk about his life UNL policy for housing unchanged By Chad Lorenz Senior Reporter The federal court decision to make UNK al low a freshman to live off campus will not af fect a similar policy for UNL freshmen, Hous ing Director Doug Zatechka said Monday. The University of Nc braska-Lincoln s ut y tliinb freshman housing 1 uun 1 ininK policy is slightly we should faVOV different from UNK’s, Zatechka Or said, unl allows discriminate students to live in uni versity-ap- against it. I proved housing, tlji-yib ine cllOUld which may or may ininK anuuiu not be on campus, foe as fair as we “For me the rea- ‘ #» son is less impor- Catl tO ail tant than the ap- reasons. ” proval, Zatechka sa'^- DOUG On Friday, U.S. WUm Magistrate Judge ZATECHKA David Picstcr ruled that the freshman UNL Housing Director housing policy at = the University of Nebraska at Kearney was not equally applied. The ruling allows UNK freshman Doug Rader to live in Christian Student housing. About 10 years ago, UNL allowed students to live in a religious house a few blocks south of campus, Zatechka said. Although Zatechka said he hadn’t spoken with the university’s legal counsel about chang ing the policy, he said the current policy was appropriate and fair. The housing office will continue to approach requests for exceptions from the policy — even if based on religion — the same as it always has, Zatechka said. “I think we should be ’a-religious.’ I don’t think we should favor it or discriminate against it. I think we should be as fair as we can to all reasons.” The housing office has granted exceptions for students who live with close relatives and students with severe documented health prob lems, Zatechka said. Dean Bresciani, residence life director at UNK, said Friday’s ruling did not grant blanket permission to all students. “Some people may think that it opens the door for them,” he said. “This was a case spe cific to Doug Rader.” Militia expert touts tolerance By Julie Sobczyk Senior Reporter Facing life’s challenges and dealing with hardships will be the topics of a speech by an Olympic gold medalist Wednesday night. Greg Louganis will talk about being an ing with AIDS, being gay and being dyslexic. Louganis’ speech, “Breaking the Surface” — also the title of his best-selling autobiog raphy—will highlight major events in his life, said Rachel Schmid, event director at Uni LOUganiS vcrsity Program Coun cil. “He’ll talk about his hardships while growing up and what he’s doing today,” Schmid said. Louganis began diving when he was 9 years old. By the time he was 16, he had won a silver medal in platform diving at the 1976 Olympics. When he was 24, Louganis won two gold medals in the platform and springboard div ing events. He repeated that feat four years later, be coming the first man to take the gold in the platform and springboard in two consecu tive Olympiads. His speech is sponsored by UPC, the NU Athletic Department and the Nebraska AIDS Project. Schmid said she thought students would be interested in listening to Louganis. “We thought he’d be educational,” she said. “He should hit a lot of different areas in his speech.” Because many people arc interested in Louganis and his life, she said, the Centen nial Ballroom in the Nebraska Union should fill quickly. “We’re expecting to fill our capacity,” Schmid said. “Students will need to show up early to get a scat. I’m afraid people from the community will show up before students, and we’ll have to turn students away.” The Centennial Ballroom can hold about 1,100 people, she said. The speech will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets will go on sale at 6:30 p.m. Cost is $4 for students and $8 for nonstudents. If students would like their copies of Louganis’ book autographed, Schmid said, they need to bring the books to UPC, 117 Nebraska Union, today. Books can be picked up on Friday. By Ted Taylor Senior Reporter When Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols were arrested and charged with last April’s Okla homa City bombing, many were surprised that Americans could carry out such terrorism on fellow U.S. citizens. But Morris Decs Jr. was not. Decs, author of a newly released book, “Gathering Storm: America’s Militia Threat,” said Monday from his office in Montgomery, Ala., that there were many more Americans who had the same deep-seated hatred — and the ability to act out in violence against the United States. “There are a lot of people who have the stuff,” Dees said, “and the blinding hatred of the fed eral government.” Dees will be the keynote speaker Thursday See DEES on 6