Suspicions that the championship was “in the bag” only increased after the White Sox and the Reds met on October 1 for the first game of what was then a best-of-nine World Series. As the championship drew near, the streets buzzed with rumors that several White Sox players were in the pocket of high stakes gamblers. “They not only sold ” Abe Attell later claimed, “but they sold it wherever they could get a buck.” Bookies had previously had the Sox winning the World Series over the underdog Cincinnati Reds by as much as three-to-one, but the odds shifted after those in the know began betting heaps of cash on the Reds. New York mob leader Arnold Rothstein may have been a major player, but his involvement has never been proven, and evidence suggests that Gandil and his co-conspirators may have hatched multiple deals with different syndicates.
WATCH: World Series Fix!: The Black Sox Scandal on HISTORY VaultĪs Gandil recruited conspirators on the team, Sullivan and a tangled web of crooks- that may have included former Sox player “Sleepy” Bill Burns, former Detroit Tiger Bill Maharg and boxer Abe Attell-began raising the bribe money.