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This program is part of a series about “the politics of illusion.” The reality of the National Football League (like the reality of film pioneer Walt Disney) contrasts sharply with the carefully constructed, rigorously marketed illusion with which it is identified in the minds of the American people.
1. In the book Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football, author Dan Moldea illustrates the contrast between the Hollywood legend of football and the reality of the game by analyzing Ronald Reagan’s role as Notre Dame star George Gipp in the movie Knute Rockne: All American. This role provided Reagan with his political persona of “the Gippper.” (This was Gipp’s nickname and is the centerpiece of an ongoing myth about the player and Rockne, a celebrated football coach at Notre Dame, played by actor Pat O’Brien in the movie.)
2. Gipp, dying of pneumonia, supposedly gave Rockne a deathbed request. “His [Gipp’s] purported deathbed request to Rockne, ‘Win just one for the Gipper,’ was used during a locker room pep talk and helped to inspire Rockne’s 1928 team in its upset victory against Army. And, as the Gipper incarnate, Reagan used the line to inspire voters to elect him to the California governor’s mansion and later the White House. To those who saw the movie and listened to Reagan utter those now-famous words, Gipp epitomized the virtues of good character, sportsmanship, and ‘the right way of living.’
3. “History, however, now shows that Gipp, a man of truly questionable moral values, probably never made any such request on or off his deathbed; that Rockne, who was known for grasping at anything to incite his players, had fabricated the incident and that Reagan’s movie further embellished the Gipp/Rockne charade. . . . Regardless of the facts, the American public continues to believe the legend of George Gipp’s deathbed request to Knute Rockne.
4. “The difficulties in debunking the myth about one college coach and one of his players is an indication of the problems in dispelling the legends about an entire institution, particularly one as popular as football. Powerful forces in America have built empires around these myths; and the preservation of these empires and the personal wealth of those who own them depend upon the maintenance of the legends.
5. “In the Reagan movie myth of the lives of Rockne and Gipp, there is one scene in which Rockne chases away a gambler who is looking for an edge. Rockne, played by actor Pat O’Brien, tells him, ‘We haven’t got any use for gamblers around here. You’ve done your best to ruin baseball and horse racing. This is one game that’s clean and it’s going to stay clean.’ Considering that Gipp, with the knowledge of Rockne, was a notorious sports gambler, the O’Brien quote perhaps best illustrates my point.
6. “To a large degree, the National Football League (the NFL) has become the embodiment of the Gipp/Rockne myth. It has wrapped itself around the American flag and strutted into America’s homes to the thrilling stir of brass and percussion music as the choreography of bone-crushing tackles in dramatic slow motion flashes across the nation’s television screens. Based upon the illusion, the country’s love affair with professional football has given sports fans confidence that the NFL is an institution unencumbered by corruption.” (Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football; Dan Moldea; copyright 1989 by William Morrow and Company [HC]; ISBN 0–688-08303‑X; pp.19–20.)
7. Moldea later points out that, when being chastised by Rockne for being unmotivated, Gipp explained that he had $500.00 bet on the game and was, as a result, very motivated. (Ibid.; p. 437.)
8. The focus turns to organized crime connections of some NFL team owners, past and present. Particular emphasis is on NFL owners connected to the organized crime forces involved with the JFK assassination. Also highlighted are the connections of this milieu to that of Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal.
9. The discussion sets forth the involvement of Clint Murchison, Jr. (owner of the Dallas Cowboys) with organized crime figures such as Carlos Marcello, a focal point of the JFK assassination investigation. (Ibid.; pp. 104–105.)
10. Marcello associate Joe Campisi, a fixture around the Dallas Cowboys, visited Jack Ruby by request (in jail) five days after Ruby killed Oswald. (Ibid.; p. 447.)
11. Murchison was very close to Nixon. (Ibid.; p. 103.)
12. Murchison was also close to Marcello associate I. Irving Davidson. (Ibid.; p. 295.)
13. Davidson was represented by Plato Cacheris during the investigation of a scheme involving the Teamsters’ Central States Pension Fund. (Ibid.; p. 295.)
14. Cacheris has also represented people involved in the Iran-Contra affair and Monica Lewinsky. He was also the law partner of former NFL security chief Bill Hundley. (Idem.)
15. Next, the program examines Hugh Culverhouse, the former owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Culverhouse was alleged to have dealings with Santos Trafficante, another organized crime figure with connections to the JFK assassination. Culverhouse represented Nixon intimate Bebe Rebozo during the Watergate hearings and his son (Hugh Culverhouse, Jr.) represented Nixon Attorney General John Mitchell, along with the aforementioned Bill Hundley. (Ibid.; pp. 285–286.)
16. Culverhouse was also deeply involved with associates of syndicate boss Meyer Lansky in a real estate project called Major Realty. (Ibid.; 286.)
17. Hugh Culverhouse was professionally involved with the De Bartolo family, long-believed to have organized crime connections. (Eddie De Bartolo, Jr. was the owner of the San Francisco 49ers. His sister owns the team now.) Culverhouse was the attorney for the sale of the team to De Bartolo. (Ibid.; p. 289.)
18. Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, himself connected to organized crime, helped broker the sale of the 49ers to De Bartolo. (Idem.)
19. A 1982 Customs Department report alleged that the De Bartolo organization had succeeded Meyer Lansky as the financial wizard or organized crime. (Ibid.; pp. 352–353.)
20. De Bartolo, Jr. was defiant about an apparent conflict of interest between his ownership of the 49ers and his father’s proprietorship of the Pittsburgh Maulers of the now-defunct USFL. (Ibid.; 354.)
21. Much of the rest of the program is devoted to an examination of the business relationship of mob associate Allen Glick and Raiders’ boss Al Davis. (Ibid.; pp. 274–277.)
22. When Glick’s dealings became the focus of a lawsuit by Davis business contact Tamara Rand, see was murdered in a gangland-style killing. (Ibid.; pp. 275–276.)
23. The program concludes with discussion of Las Vegas odds-maker Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder’s pardon by President Gerald Ford. (Ibid.; p. 460.)
24. Convicted on gambling offenses, he claims to have met Ford through Robert Maheu, who helped recruit Mafia killers to help kill Fidel Castro. (Idem.)
Uncle Sam and Il Duce
Mafia Takes Over Publicly Traded Company
A Texas-based company and a one-time subprime lender that boasted former Vice President Dan Quayle as a board member, and used NFL Hall of Famer Dan Marino in its ads, has been charged by the FBI and Department of Justice with being a Mafia-run (Lucchese Family) enterprise, taken over by the use of threats and violence. They were able to remove the firm’s entire board of directors and managers, replacing them with their own.
Only a tangential Mafia-NFL connection, but an interesting one.
For more on the organized crime “hostile takeover” angle, read the full article here:
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/11/01/mafia-takes-over-publicly-traded-company/
Note: Story is referring to non‑U.S. “football” but presumably the underlying dynamic is connected.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/19/corruption-evil-as-drugs-and-prostitution-interpol/
[Football] corruption drives drug-trafficking: Interpol
By Agence France-Presse
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Global football corruption helps drive the criminal underworld’s domination of prostitution, drug-trafficking and gun-running, an international symposium into match-fixing heard on Friday.
Around 200 delegates attending the FIFA, UEFA and Interpol meeting into corruption in the sport, were told that it was crucial the match-fixers felt the full force of the law when cases are prosecuted.
However, it was acknowledged that football needs to convince hard-pushed judicial bodies that illegal betting and results-rigging should be pursued with the same vigour reserved for other high-profile crimes.
“We must convince the authorities,” said Interpol secretary-general, Ronald Noble.
“When a prosecutor tells me: ‘I have more important things to do — prostitution, drugs, gun-running. I can’t just concentrate on a fixed third division game’, I tell him that this is not just a small investment by organised crime.
“It is also reinvested in prostitution or drugs…”
Delegates from 50 countries also heard that players, officials as well as leading international companies involved in the game need to work together to rid the sport of a problem that costs “hundreds of billions” of euros.
The conference, titled “Match-fixing: The ugly side of the beautiful game”, also illustrated the need for thorough investigation techniques, like those used to track down doping cheats, as well as vigilance over betting patterns.
UEFA currently monitors 32,000 matches a year in Europe while FIFA is working on an early warning system to alert authorities into betting anomalies before and during games.
“It is true that it is very difficult to investigate because you can bet from anywhere in the world,” said Noble.
FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke underlined the importance of a “strategic alliance with Interpol, the authorities and especially the support of member associations”.
Noble added that organised criminal gangs also launder their profits from football corruption.
“Match-fixing is a dragon with many heads which can only be severed by an international effort,” he said.
Food for thought, or: For those who have eyes to see.
During the 47th Superbowl, on 2/3/2013, the power outage produced this image über alles:
http://tinyurl.com/acayw28
As a point of reference, this is similar to a parallel symbolic image that was seen in the skies over the U.S. on the night of 9/11 (for those who were too young to remember that day, there was literally a crescent-moon-and-star in the sky on the night of 9/11):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_and_crescent
Of note is the Germanic component, and possibly the symbolism of the location (Hurricane Katrina’s Terrordome).
Points of cross-reference: Obama was 47 years old when elected in 2008, and his vice-president is the 47th; Germans would write July 4 as 4/7 (as they write 9/11 as 11/9).
I’ll leave it to others to decide whether there is any symbolism in the outcome of the game, the questionable referee calls, or whether there were any CHicago Black Sox playing.
Speaking of the 1919 Sox, perhaps those who will not see any crescent or star in the first image are also those who will not see this week’s nominee for CIA being any type of fruit by which ye shall know them. Not photos of meetings with Jeb & Poppy, either. Nothing will persuade those who will Not-zee.
It’s the conspiracy theory to end all conspiracy theories: Taylor Swift, Pentagon, and the NFL are conspiring to re-elect Joe Biden. Swift’s relationship to Kansas City Chief’s tight end Travis Kelce is pure theatrics. It’s all a setup intended to give Swift an opportunity to endorse Biden during Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Yes, it’s a joke, but not actually. Millions of Americans appear to be taking these claims seriously, thanks in large part to conservative media continually promoting the story. This is who we are in 2024.
So with this Swift NFL conspiracy narrative having taken hold on the American psyche, it’s worth noting some of the bizarre suppositions posed by this theory. Because it’s a theory predicated on not just the coordination of Swift, Kelce, the NFL, and the Pentagon, but also presumably the owners of the Kansas City Chiefs themselves. And more generally, the owners of the rest of the NFL teams that would have to had quietly stood by while the plot unfolded and they were all cheated out of their Super Bowl chance.
Which brings us to the interesting history of ownership of the Kansas City Chiefs: the Hunt family. Specifically, Clark Hunt, the son of Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt. Lamar, in turn, was the son of H. L. Hunt, a figure long associated with a range of dark plots including the assassination of JFK. That’s who owns and runs the Kansas City Chiefs. HL Hunt’s grandson.
Now, it’s important to keep in mind that kids and grandkids don’t necessarily share the politics of their elders. Lamar, for example, was a notable supporter of the Civil Rights movement. Interesting, Lamar appears to have actually engaged in very real conspiracy against the NFL. An out in the open conspiracy. It turns out it was Lamar who helped organize the creation of the AFL in the first place, as a competitor for the NFL. The motive for the move appears to have been an initial refusal of the NFL to allow him to open a Dallas franchise. Lamar went on to held lead the negotiations to merge the AFL and NFL, and even came up with the term “Super Bowl”, which was apparently a joke at first. A joke that stuck somehow, which is kind of the theme here.
But despite that interesting history around Lamar Hunt, records do show Clark Hunt’s political donations all appear to have gone to Republicans. So did Republican owner Clark Hunt, of the political powerful Hunt dynasty, engage in a plot to get Joe Biden re-elected? That’s the joke that’s somehow stuck.
And since we’re talking about interesting ownership histories and allegations of rigged games, it’s also worth noting the other side of this equation: the DeBartolo family who owns the San Francisco 49ers. As we saw in FTR#304, the De Bartolo family has long been suspected of having organized crime connections, including a 1982 Customs Department report that alleged the De Bartolo organization had succeed Meyer Lansky as the financial wizard for organized crime. So if there is a grand NFL conspiracy, De Bartolo is perhaps among the owners most willing to ‘play ball’. But would the De Bartolo’s ‘play ball’ against Trump? This is a good time to note that Donald Trump actually pardoned Eddie DeBartolo Jr. in February of 2020 for a 1998 bribery conviction over not reporting a $400k bribe he was asked to pay to secure a riverboat casino license.
So as we can see, the ownership of the teams that made it into this year’s Super Bowl do indeed have interesting family histories. The powerful conservative dynasty that is no stranger to political power plays, and a family suspected of supplanting the Lansky empire whose scion was pardoned by Trump in 2020. It’s quite an odd couple pairing for an anti-Trump conspiracy:
“Even if they don’t hoist another Vince Lombardi Trophy, Hunt will have plenty to celebrate. His family, descendants of oil magnate H.L. Hunt, is collectively worth an estimated $24.8 billion, making them the 12th-wealthiest family in America. The Chiefs have appreciated a staggering 17,199,900% since Clark Hunt’s father, Lamar, founded the team for $25,000 in 1960 and are worth an estimated $4.3 billion, the bulk of the family’s $5.8 billion sports portfolio (including debt). The franchise’s winning ways have cemented its status as a premier sports brand, with a bona fide marketing sensation in 28-year-old quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Adding to the glamour this season is tight end Travis Kelce’s love story with Taylor Swift, which has converted hordes of Swifties into fans of both the Chiefs and the NFL.”
From a $25k investment by Lamar Hunt into a franchise worth nearly $25 billion. It’s been quite an investment for the already super-wealthy Hunt family. Made all the more amazing by the fact that it started off with the formation of the AFL as a rival bid to compete with the NFL. The original Hunt family NFL conspiracy, if you will:
And then there’s the De Bartolo family, with roots going back to Youngstown, Ohio. As we’ve seen, the family has long been suspected of organized crime ties an is suspected of having supplanted Meyer Lansky’s organization in providing financial services to the mob. As the article notes, Donald Trump pardoned Edward Jr in 2020 for not reported a bribe he was asked to pay to secure a riverboat gambling license. Which isn’t exactly the kind of thing that lifts suspicions of organized crime ties:
It was four years ago that the DeBartolos got a pretty big prize from Trump. Are they now involved in a conspiracy to block a second Trump term?
And what about Clay Hunt? What can we say about his political leanings? Well, according to this October 2020, Newsweek report, Hunt made nearly $50k in political donations from 2016–2020. Virtually all of it went toward getting Texas Republicans reelected to the Senate. Yes, getting John Cornyn and Ted Cruz reelected appears to have been Clark Hunt’s focus:
“The part owner, chairman and CEO of the Kansas City Chiefs has made several contributions to Republican causes over the years. In 2016, he donated a combined $26,400, over a third of which went to the Keep The Senate Red committee, while two years later he poured $15,800 into Republican coffers, including $2,700 to the campaign backing Ted Cruz (R‑TX) race to be reelected to the Senate. So far this year Hunt has donated $5,600 to the Cornyn Majority Committee, backing incumbent senator John Cornyn (R‑TX).”
Tens of thousands of dollars to get Ted Cruz and John Cornyn reelected to the Senate. That appears to be the bulk of Clark Hunt’s political donations. We aren’t seeing any Trump donations. But, then again, that’s could be a politically dicey move from a public relations perspective on the part of an NFL owner. The politicization of the NFL didn’t start with Taylor Swift, after all.
Is Clark Hunt a secret never-Trumper Republican? The kind of Republican who would prefer a second Biden term of a return of Trump? It’s hard to imagine a viable Swift/NFL/Pentagon/Biden conspiracy that doesn’t have buy in from Clark Hunt.
So that’s the interesting history behind this year’s bizarre NFL conspiracy theory. We’ll see what kind of conspiracy theory’s the next season will bring. And who knows. Should Taylor Swift end up endorsing Job Biden at the Super Bowl and go on to lead Biden to a grand Swifty-fueled historic reelection, this could be like an annual thing for the NFL. And maybe even if she doesn’t do any of that. This is America in 2024. Football and unhinged conspiracy theories. In part as a fun distraction from all the decades of well-hinged and well-documented conspiracies of how power actually operates that are clearly way too much to handle.