Friday, August 6, 2021

Backgammon, Donnie Brasko, Brewers

Finished Killing the Mob by Bill O'Reilly.  I really love his "killing" books but not a fan of Bill himself.   The Mob, Corporation, The Mafia or whatever you want to call them is still alive but no longer "organized" as they were from the 1940s to the middle 70's and as O'Reilly says THANK YOU Bobby Kennedy and Donnie Brasko.

The book summarizes that both JFK and Bobby Kennedy were killed by the mob but there is no evidence of that.  When JFK was killed Bobby told his inner circle that he believe HE were be killed and not his brother. BUT - with the really corrupt Hoover (who loathed the Kennedys) in charge of the investigation was not really that deep. 

Two weeks before JFK was shot Jimmy Hoffa told a group at a restaurant that he wished  Bobby Kennedy would be shot in the head with a long rifle while he was in his convertible.   hmmmmmm   

Then there is Donnie Brasko (played by Johnny Depp in "Donnie Brasko")  WOW - that guy killed the mob.  He went undercover for 5 years infiltrating the highest order of the Corporation.  He actually almost became a "Made Man" but he was told he had to kill a guy which stepped over the line for him. 

The guy got so high in the mob that he was invited to a couple weddings by the head of the family.  He made so many friends that when he came out they took a photo of him with the FBI and the killings started in the many "families".     Before Brasko there was almost no info on how the organization was run and how it worked.  After.  It crumbled.  

He could be living right next to you as him and his family went into protection and changed their names.  But there was a million dollar hit on him but quietly every head of the household were told if anything ever happened.  Heads were literally roll for every family.  The hit was taken off.   OH - for his 5 years of leaving his family and living dangerously?  a $500 bonus.  

OH - The Mob LOVED The Godfather.  In fact on a day they were shooting a scene in NYC 4 blocks away the head of one family was murdered.   They did not like the TV show The Untouchables which was being produced my Desi Arnez.  There was a hit out on Desi (he did not know it) but 3 days before the hit he canceled the show and the hit was canceled.

Literally EVERYTHING in entertainment was run by the mob.  TV, Movies, music, hotels restaurants, police, most of government, shipping was run by the mob up to the mid 70s.  Nixon got Jimmy Hoffa out of prison so he could get the labor vote. 

Now the mob is basically in NYC and Florida but not as organized.   OH - The French Connection.  another movie I need to watch now. 
 
The French Connection was a cocaine and heroin smuggling operation.  The French police sort of turned a blind eye to this as most of the bad guys were also resistance fighters in WWII.  

Fascinating read as all his "Killing" books are.  

I've read 

Killing Patton, The Mob, The SS, The Rising Sun, England.

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Went to the Brewer game Wednesday with great seats. I will never buy regular seating again as the Club level are SO nice.  First base side is the shade side,  We were 2 rows above the sun LOL 


     The seats are wider which is GREAT. And can I say the air conditioning? behind the seats in the concession area is wonderful on hot days.  Carpeting, no real lines for food and a nice bar to get mixed drinks ($15 LOL).   Preferred parking is great as it only took us about 10 minutes to get out of the park after the game.  They put you right next to the exits or the road to the exit on the north side of the stadium.  The last four times we have gone there - BAM - out before the crowds.   Just stay in the far left lane when getting near the field. 

OH - the game was a little boring until the Rowdy Tellez moment which I believe was the 2nd most exciting thing I have been to (first was the walk off HR in the 9th a couple years ago).

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So I have gottin back into Backgammon and I'm not as good as I thought I was.   After playing for free against humans at Backgammon Galaxy and seeing my rating drop I purchased ExtremeGammon
which is the #1 software for Backgammon.   

What a great piece of byte engineering, driven by the most powerful gammon AI.  I put it in "teaching" mode where you play against easy or MASTER bots and it will tell you how wrong you are BUT, you can't take back a play.


Keeps every game, so you can study your bone head blunders and see just how bad you are.

I'm THINKING (when I get back on to Facebook) about seeing if there is interest in the game at Cercis Brewery.   Elwood used to run tournaments and I never knew anybody that could beat him consistently (being all Rainman-like with numbers).  

OH - anybody still play Texas Hold'm?  I have 28 books on the game.  8 books on Blackjack card counting (we had a team once).  I need more Backgammon books. 

According the the game I'm a "beginner" which REALLY disappoints me. Hopefully it's because I lost some knowledge in the past 40 years. 

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Have a GREAT weekend. Maybe some storms in the next few days.    

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