Boxing and the Mob - by Jeffrey Sussman (Hardcover)

About the Book

Boxing and the Mob explores the heavy influence of the mob on boxing in the 1930s through the early 1960s. It profiles boxers such as Abe Attell and Sonny Liston and infamous mobsters including Owney Madden and Frankie Carbo. In addition, this book details many of the most not...

Book Synopsis

Boxing and the Mob explores the heavy influence of the mob on boxing in the 1930s through the early 1960s. It profiles boxers such as Abe Attell and Sonny Liston and infamous mobsters including Owney Madden and Frankie Carbo. In addition, this book details many of the most notorious fixed boxing matches in the sport's history.

Review Quotes

[Sussman presents] convincing evidence of the insidious connection between fighters and criminals that took off in the 1930s, and that is still with us today in subtle, sophisticated "more circumspect" ways related to gambling. The book also fairly reassesses those said to have taken falls -- eye opening and sometimes sympathetic accounts that show that it was not the boxers themselves who took bribes so much as their promoters, managers, referees, trainers and high-powered judicial and political allies. In rare instances the fighters never made nearly as much as their various handlers.

[Sussman] exhibits a true love for his subject, alternating lively accounts of ring action with Runyonesque sketches of the mobsters and hit men who fixed top fights for decades.

A fascinating walk through history to a time when the action outside the ring was as exciting as inside the ring. The boxing world has certainly changed but Jeffrey Sussman does a great job in bringing its sordid past back to life.

Boxing's culture of corruption is legendary. It's a great sport that was at the mercy of professional gamblers and mobsters who predetermined the results of matches by fixing fights for much of the 20th century. That dark chapter has waxed and waned over the years and is the subject of Jeffrey Sussman's exciting and engaging book, Boxing and the Mob. Boxing, without a central governing body to oversee it, will, as Sussman cogently asserts, remain corrupt and malodorous.

I loved Jeffrey Sussman's previous books, but this one may be his best yet! While reading this book, I honestly felt that I was in the same room as Carbo, Palermo, and many others during point blank discussions. He also makes you feel the pain of the fighters who had to go along with "the deals" that were beyond their control. This book is truly the history of the mob's involvement with professional boxing. I couldn't put it down! This is a must read.

If you loved Goodfellas, Casino, and The Godfather, you will love Boxing and the Mob. . . . the first book to cover a century of fixed fights, paid-off referees, greedy managers, and misused boxers. Organized crime and the world of boxing are intertwined with absorbing detail in this notorious piece of American history.

In this insightful sports history, former boxing publicist Sussman (Rocky Graziano: Fists, Fame, and Fortune) exposes professional boxing's world of gangsters and crooked referees and judges. At age 13 in the 1970s, Sussman realized that many professional fights were fixed; he recalls his father saying, "Gambling is a sucker's game; betting on a fixed fight is never a gamble." Sussman goes through a rogues' gallery of master fixers and their control of the fight game: Abe Attell (mob boss Arnold Rothstein's enforcer whose presence at fights "indicated something was not on the level"), Owney Madden (rumored to have fixed many of Primo Carnera's fights), and Frank Carbo (a gunman for Murder Inc. who became a major boxing promoter). Sussman explains that with no union or pension, washed-up boxers fell prey to fast-talking, bullying con men who tainted the careers of the likes of Rocky Graziano and Sonny Liston (it was rumored that Liston's 1964 loss to Muhammad Ali was a mafia fix). The prose harkens to old-school sportswriters like Red Smith and Jim Murray, with crisp descriptions of colorful characters and acts of criminality (Carbo "had the hard, cold eyes of a killer... the man who would invade, conquer, and corrupt the world of boxing"). Sussman's bold, probing excursion into boxing has the knockout power of a good punch."

In Boxing and the Mob, Jeffrey Sussman has written an exciting page-turner that exposes the mob's control over the sport of boxing. It is not only a devastating account of the mob's all-embracing tentacles into the sport, but it is also an exposure of corrupt managers, trainers, referees, and judges. In addition, Sussman provides accounts of young athletes whose careers were ruined because they wouldn't bend to the mob's demands. This is a great book for fans of both boxing and true crime.

Jeffery Sussman has written a riveting book that captures the entanglement of boxing and the mob. The sport of boxing is made for the mob as much as it is for the kids fighting their way out of poverty. Once you start this book you will not put it down.

Jeffrey Sussman has done it again! In Boxing and the Mob, Sussman delves into one of the most talked-about issues in sports: the influence of organized crime. Sussman not only goes back to the root of mob involvement in boxing, he also provides a fascinating history of the key players, both from the mob and in the sport. Always a great writer, Sussman tells a story that will interest sports fans and anyone interested in mob activities in the twentieth century.

Jeffrey Sussman has written a riveting, no-holds barred book about how the mob controlled boxing through much of the 20th century. The book also contains bracing stories about boxers who were destroyed by the mob and those who refused to bend to the mob's threats. I couldn't put the book down. It's a genuine page-turner.

Jeffrey Sussman takes us on an incredible read into the mob's greed-fueled violence and corruption of "The Sweet Science."

Mr. Sussman profiles the shady promoters and managers who controlled boxing from the sport's early days in America. The book charts the gangsters' involvement in boxing beginning with Arnold Rothstein, the New York gambler who was suspected of fixing the 1919 World Series. . . . an interesting and insightful book that chronicles the dramatic and colorful stories of mobsters and boxers.

Mr. Sussman's offering is a sure bet to capture the appreciation of anyone with an interest in boxing and the mob. His account of the influence of Frankie Carbo and others who controlled the sport is a history lesson, written in an entertaining style that reminds one of the great boxing writers of days past. The book is a knockout!

Sussman is what in boxing would be called a "banger," less dependent on finesse than straight-ahead slugging, a technique that works well enough for pounding through a gamey half-century of brutality, fake news, and the romance we attach to outlaws. . . . Mr. Sussman has dug up an all-star roster of low-life scum for our reading pleasure.

Wow! Jeffrey Sussman did one heck of a job investigating the mob and boxing. Great read!

About the Author

Jeffrey Sussman is the author of thirteen nonfiction books, as well as numerous articles and short stories about boxing. He is a regular writer for the premier boxing website www.boxing.com and the author of Max Baer and Barney Ross: Jewish Heroes of Boxing (2016) and Rocky Graziano: Fists, Fame, and Fortune (2018), both published by Rowman & Littlefield. Sussman is the president of a public relations and marketing firm based in New York City.