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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
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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