Portal:Numbers game
related portals: Charles Frederick Lindauer, Louis Julius Lindauer
sister projects: Wikipedia article, Commons category, Wikidata item
The Numbers game was an illegal lottery run by organized crime. The people who sold the tickets were called "policy dealers" at "policy shops", and the people who moved the money and betting slips between the sales offices and the "bank" were called "runners". In general three numbers are chosen by the person buying a ticket and there could be several drawings in a single day. The winners who chose the correct number would win multiples of their bet. The winning number was based on a legitimate lottery from another state or another country or a more complicated scheme involving the United States Treasury bond sales figures.
News articles
edit- Paid $500 To Schmittberger (1894 October 12)
- Protection money paid to the police by the "policy shops".
- John A. Morris, Lottery King (1894 February 11)
- John Albert Morris (1836-1895), created the legal Louisiana Lottery which ended in 1894. His winning numbers would be used in the illegal numbers game in other states.
- Raiding The Policy Men (1882)
- Police raids in New York City. "Charles Adams, James McGuire, alias Clark; Thomas Tully, John Wilson, or Winson; and Louis and Charles Lindauer were arrested."
- In re Louis Lindauer (1870)
- An explanation of how the lottery tax works.
- 4 - 11 - 44 (1869 November 23)
- A comprehensive explanation of how the numbers game works and the slang terms used to avoid detection.
- A Lottery Case (1869 October 25)
- A lottery tax must be paid to sell illegal lottery tickets, those arrested can be charged with not paying the tax. Those paying the tax can be arrested for selling illegal lottery tickets. See also Marihuana Tax Act of 1937.