The Sport of Kings and the Kings of Crime: Horse Racing, Politics, and Organized Crime in New York 1865­–1913

Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

• T h e • sport • Kings a n d • t h e Kings • Crime HorseRacing,Politics,andOrganizedCrimein New York, 1 8 6 5 – 1 9 1 3 S t e v e n A . R i e s s Syracuse University Press Copyright © 2011 by Syracuse University Press Syracuse, New York 13244-5290 All Rights Reserved First Edition 2011 11 12 13 14 15 16 6 5 4 3 2 1 ∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. For a listing of books published and distributed by Syracuse University Press, visit our Web site at SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu. ISBN: 978-0-8156-0985-8 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Riess, Steven A. The sport of kings and the kings of crime : horse racing, politics, and organized crime in New York, 1865–1913 / Steven A. Riess. — 1st ed. p. cm. — (Sports and entertainment) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8156-0985-8 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Horse racing—New York (State)—New York—History. 2. Horse racing—Political aspects— New York (State)—New York—History. 3. Organized crime—New York (State)—New York— History. 4. Political corruption—New York (State)—New York—History. I. Title. SF335.U6N747 2011 798.4009747—dc23 2011011114 Manufactured in the United States of America • In honor of my uncle Theodor Finder (1920–2000), Holocaust survivor and refugee, war hero (MIA, POW), husband, father, businessman, mensch. Steven A. Riess is the Bernard Brommel Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of History, Northeastern Illinois University, where he has taught for thirty-five years. He is the author of several books on the history of sport, including Touching Base: Professional Baseball and American Culture in the Progressive Era (1980, 1999) and City Games: The Evolution of American Urban Society and the Rise of Sports (1989), and editor of several volumes, including Sports in America from Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century: An Encyclopedia (2011), The Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball Teams (2006), and Sports and the American Jew (Syracuse University Press, 1999). Riess has received several grants for research and teaching from the National Endowment for the Humanities. ...