The fix, p.35
The Fix, page 35
The arrangement was so blatant that a group of fans from Algeria, the team that had been cheated out of a place in the next round, stormed onto the pitch led by a member of their Royal Family.
CHAPTER 4: MISSING THE BIG BOYS
“Even several of the senior …”
Interviews with SO 1, 6, 13; R 2; J4, 5, and 8; P 2; C 1, 2; May to June 2005.
“There was nothing obvious …”
Interview with SO 6, May 2005.
“Was the [team] management ever involved in the fixing?”
Interview with P 9, November 2005.
“They arrested a lot of the players …”
Interview with P 7, December 2005.
“Johnson Fernandez discovered similar stories …”
Fernandez, Johnson. “End of Innocence.” Malay Mail (Kuala Lumpur). July 30, 1993. 59.
“They [the football officials] are sweeping it under the carpet …”
Fernandez, Johnson. “End of Innocence.” Malay Mail (Kuala Lumpur). July 30, 1993. 59. See also Dorai, Joe. “A multinatural corporation.” Straits Times (Singapore). November 20, 1993.
“In West Asia [the Middle East for Europeans] I once picked up a newspaper …”
Interview with Peter Velappan, June 2005 and May 2006.
AFC statistics are from a mural painted on the front entrance lobby of AFC Headquarters, May 2005.
Saddam Hussein’s henchmen had beaten up one of those referees …
Interview with R 2, May 2005.
“It was in an international tournament in West Asia … :
Interview with R 3, June 2005.
“In 1882, a British colonial official …”
Blythe, C.M.G. Wilfred. The Impact of Chinese Secret Societies in Malaya: a Historical Study. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1969. 219–220.
“Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital, for example, was founded by two rival triad operations …”
Blythe, 119, 173–174 and 193.
“At the heads of these groups are …”
Interviews with O 5, 6; J 4, 5; B 1, 2.
“You won’t understand Malaysia if you look at the government …”
Interviews with B 2, O 6, May 2005.
“Success in politics and business in Asia …”
Lintner, Bertil. Blood Brothers: Crime, Business and Politics in Asia. Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2002. 16–54.
Linter also writes (pages 8–9) of the links between the Chinese Communist government and the criminal triads, and how Deng Xiaoping, the former Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, declared that many triads were “good” and “patriotic.” The head of China’s Public Security Bureau stated that the people who had demonstrated for democracy in Tiananmen Square would not be released from prison; however, the government would “unite” with the triads in Hong Kong.
“They are illegal …”
Interview with Joe Saumarez-Smith, February 2006.
CHAPTER 5: KEEPING THE SYSTEM TURNING
In 2006, Macau “officially” surpassed Las Vegas …”
Watts, Jonathan. “Macau Beats Vegas at Its Own Game.” Guardian (London). July 20, 2007. 27.
Comparison between American porn industry and Asian gambling industry:
Much of the difficulty in understanding the size of the American porn industry lies in the fact that many very large corporations make a lot of money out of the industry but most do not want to admit that they do so. For example, some international hotel chains make a large proportion of their “in-room” profits on guests renting sex videos.
For a good discussion of this issue, see the sex industry magazine Adult Video News; also Lane III, Frederick S. Obscene Profits: The Entrepreneurs of Pornography in the Cyber Age. London, Routledge, 2000; and Rich, Frank. “Naked Capitalists.” New York Times Magazine. May 20, 2001. For a skeptical view, see Ackman, Dan. “How Big Is Porn?” Forbes. May 25, 2001.
Foreign Policy estimate of Asian gambling industry:
Holliday, Simon. “Risky Business.” Foreign Policy. March/April 2006. Available at http://fparchive.ceip.org/story/cms.php?story_id=3406. Note this estimate also includes casinos, bingo halls, and national lotteries, as well as sports betting.
See also Booth, Martin. The Dragon Syndicates: The Global Phenomenon of the Triads. London: Bantam Books, 2000. 378–379.
Booth writes that Asian gambling profits are in the billions of dollars. In Hong Kong alone, “[c]omplete universities, schools, hospitals and even Ocean Park, Asia’s biggest seaquarium, have all been funded entirely from racing profits.” 378–379.
Estimate of Asian pharmaceutical industry:
Liew Kou Yew. “Asian Pharmaceutical Outlook,” Pharma Focus Asia, 2006. Available at www.pharmafocusasia.com/Knowledge_bank/articles/asia_pharmaceutical_sector.htm.
Soccer betting in Hong Kong and Singapore
Husock, H. Soccer Betting in Hong Kong: A Challenge for Home Affairs. Boston: Harvard University, 2002.
Staff writer. “Soccer Bookie Gets $1m Fine, Jail.” New Straits Times (Singapore). August 21, 2003.
“A passion for gambling pervades …”
Blythe, 219–220.
There are about two dozen international-level bookies …
Interviews with B 1–4, B 6, 7; C 2, May to June 2005, November to December 2005.
Figure 5.1 – the structure of illegal gambling market
Interviews with J 4, LE 1, B 1, 2, May, 2005.
When we talked we would say ten sen, which would mean a hundred RM (Malaysian ringgit, or $30) or one RM, which means a thousand RM ($300).
It is a similar kind of code that was used in the gambling networks around the American baseball player Pete Rose. See: Dowd, John M. “Report to the Commissioner In the Matter of Peter Edward Rose, Manager, Cincinnati Reds Baseball Club.” Office of the Commissioner of Baseball. May 9, 1989. 53–59.
“We were paying off police officers, sure …”
Interview with Joe Pistone, June 2007.
“Right, and they make a bust …”
Interview with Pistone, June 2007.
“the biggest and most thorough inquiry …”
Williams, 1998. 115.
“I do remember that one …”
Interview with LE 4, May 2005.
Government-appointed commission:
The Royal Commission to Enhance the Operation and Management of the Royal Malaysia Police, established by the King on February 4, 2004, reported to the prime minister April 29, 2005, and then publicly released their findings on June 12, 2005. See, for example: Kent, Jonathan. “Malaysian Police, ‘Brutal, Corrupt.’” BBC News. August 10, 2004.
CHAPTER 6: THE MOB, TRUST, AND SERIOUS REPRIMANDS
Visits to Petaling Street Market: April to June 2005, November to December 2005; burnt-out stalls appeared in the market in May 2006.
Interview with LE 20, who investigated the pirate DVD industry in Kuala Lumpur, June 2006.
“Better selection, cheaper too, la …”
Quote from Malay friends, May 2005.
“You can go to them …”
Interview with B 1, 2, May 2005.
Description of Falcone and Filippo Marchese:
The testimony of Vincenzo Sinagra cited in Stile, Alexander. Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic. London: Jonathan Cape, 1995. 162–166.
Partha Dasgupta once described the need for people to trust …
Dasgupta, Partha. “Trust as a Commodity.” Trust: Making and Breaking Co-operative Relations. Oxford: Department of Sociology, University of Oxford, 2000. 49–72.
“I know some Russians in Brooklyn …”
Interview with Big Sal Miciotta, June 2007.
“Me and five guys …”
“When the guys who are betting …”
Interview with Big Sal Miciotta, June 2007.
“They are very good at paying …”
Interview with B 1, 2, May 2005.
“You have to pay …”
Interview with Big Sal Miciotta, June 2007.
“And once the word gets out that you welched …”
Interview with Joe Pistone, June 2007.
For more information on the Futures Markets Applied to Prediction (FutureMAP), see Report to Congress regarding the Terrorism Information Awareness Program – in response to Consolidated Appropriations Resolution, 2003, Pub. L. No. 107–8, Division M, 111(b).
Also Hulse, Carl. “Threats and Responses: Plans and Criticisms; Pentagon Prepares a Futures Market on Terror Attacks.” New York Times (New York). July 29, 2003. Available at http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9dOdefd71f3ff93aa15754cOa9659c8b63.
“I was always good at statistics …”
Interview with B 6, February and April 2006.
There are no drugs stronger than naturally produced ones …
For a good anecdotal description of this phenomenon see Huxley, Aldous. The Devils of Loudon. London: Chatto & Windus, 1952.
Two recent scientific journal articles exploring similar topics are Shinohara, K., et al., who write of the “fever” of naturally produced drugs produced by playing pachinko in long-term gamblers in their article “Physiological Changes in Pachinko Players.” Applied Human Science – Journal of Physiological Anthropology. Vol. 18 (1999) No. 2. 37–42, and Meyer, Gerhard, et al., “Neuroendocrine Response to Casino Gambling in Problem Gamblers.” Psychoneuroendocrinology. (2004) 29. 1272–1280.
“I swear some of those guys …”
Interview with Big Sal Miciotta, June 2007.
“I do the opposite of most gamblers …”
Interview with B 6, April 2006.
Las Vegas casinos or Costa Rican Internet sites …
Konick, Michael. Smart Money: How the World’s Best Sports Bettors Beat the Bookies Out of Millions. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006.
“The U.K. gambling market has no balls …”
Interview with Joe Saumarez-Smith, December 2007.
CHAPTER 7: THE COLLAPSE OF THE BETTING LINE
Description of the events of the evening of April 12, 2006
Interviews with B 11, P 10, SO 9, C 3, May to June 2006.
“For me, it is a moment of anguish …”
Staff writer. “A Pledge by Lee: We Want to Co-operate with Central Govt.” New Straits Times (Kuala Lumpur). August 9, 1965. Accessible at http://ourstory.asia1.com.sg/merger/headline/mpledge.html.
“We have to pursue this subject of fun very seriously,”
de Ledesma, Charles, Mark Lewis, and Pauline Savage. The Rough Guide to Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei. 4th edition, London: Rough Guides, 2003. 612.
Malaysia and Singapore football rankings
Rankings as of December 2007, current rankings accessible at www.fifa.com/worldfootball/ranking/lastranking/gender=m.
“You don’t get many thank-you notes …” to “We are not going to see it in our lifetime, not even our children’s lifetime.”
Interviews with Johnson Fernandez and Lazarus Rokk, May 2005 and May 2006.
Description of European Champions League Final, May 2005, and bus tour around city …
Personal observation and interviews with Wilson Li and other Liverpool fans, May 2005.
Reasons for rise of EPL in Asia …
Interviews with O 1, 2, 4; J 3, 8; SO 1, 10, April to June, November to December 2005.
“We lost nearly an entire generation of players …”
Interview with SO 1, May 2005.
“I couldn’t settle in Italy – it was like living in a foreign country.”
Rush now claims that the quote was made up. See Honeyball, Lee. “Been There, Done That: Ian Rush Rebuts His Italian Myth.” Observer Sports Magazine. February 6, 2005. 33.
Footballerati
The term is used with great scorn by Richard Giulianotti in Football: A Sociology of the Global Game. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1999.
“On a good match, a final or a really big game, around 300 million people …”
Confirmed in later interviews with ESPN communications.
Asian punters betting on the fixes.
See, for example, www.superbesttips.com, which purports to give its subscribers inside information about which games are fixed.
CHAPTER 8: THE ARRIVAL OF THE LOCUSTS
Background of Pietro Allatta:
Interview with LE 15, J 16, 17:
See also Staff writer. “Bruxelles Procès de Négriers du Centre. Des Fraudes Réglées Comme du Papier à Musique.” La Nouvelle Gazette (Brussels). January 7, 1999.
Mathieu, Elisabeth. “Négriers de la Construction.” La Nouvelle Gazette (Brussels). February 18, 2000. 1.
Xavier, Lombert. “Chapelle Interpelle pour Faux et Escroquerie.” La Nouvelle Gazette (Brussels). April 1, 2000.
Empein, Michel. “Cour D’Appel de Bruxelles.” La Nouvelle Gazette (Brussels). June 30, 2001.
Poncau, Ludivine, and Jean-Paul Cailleaux. “Demirkaya Est Sorti de Prison,” and “Il N’A Jamais Rien Avoue.” Sudpresse (Belgium). January 5, 2006. 10.
Dupont, Gilbert. “Le Fantôme de Gattesco.” La Dernière Heure (Brussels). February 6, 2006. Available at www.dhnet.be/infos/faits-divers/article/143727/le-fantome-de-gattesco.html.
The Hearings on Asian Organized Crime:
The New International Criminal and Asian Organized Crime: Permanent subcommittee on investigations of the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, Washington D.C., 1992.
Transcripts of Elst and De Deken:
Van Laeken, Frank. Blunderboek: van het Belgisch voetball. Brussels: Icarus, 1997. 179–279.
“Van Damme is nothing …”
Interview with Senator Jean-Marie Dedecker, February 2006.
Background on Senator Jean-Marie Dedecker:
“Belgian Senator Suspended from Party for Enabling TV Interview with Pedophile.” BBC Monitoring International Reports (London). January 30, 2002.
See also “Fallout of Dutroux interview continues to haunt party of Prime Minister Verhofstadt.” Text of report by Belgian RTBF radio. January 30, 2002.
“It was quite dangerous,”
Interview with Senator Jean-Marie Dedecker, February 2006.
Allianssi versus Haka match
Interview with J 16, 22; LE 15; SO 41, February 2006, 2008.
Figure of 8787 to 1
While this figure of 8787 to 1 is accurate, it should not be taken as an indication that the fixers would fix on the Finnish National Lottery. Rather, they did their work on the Asian illegal gambling market.
“I have taken money for a few games …”
Staff writers. “Kaksi Maalivahtia Kertoo IS Urheilulle, että Lahjuksia on Tarjottu” and “Maalivahti Sami Sinkkonen: Kieltäydyin Kolmest Lahjukssta.” Ilta-Sanomat (Helsinki). December 12–13, 2005. 1–5.
No official authority in Finland ever said that this match was fixed.
The closest Finnish football authorities ever got was to say that the team was “insufficiently prepared” and to fine them 10,000 euros (Reuters, August 4, 2005).
Interview with SO 41, February, 2008.
The same curious lack of action was seen when Betfair …
Van den Abeele, Chris, Eric Dupain, Wim Straemans, Tom van de Weghe, and Kris Dechamps. “Tackling the Mafia.” Panorama. VRT Belgium. February 5, 2006.
Taildeman, Yves. “L’UB a Déjà Contacte Betfair.” La Dernière Heure (Brussels). February 10, 2006.
Ye Zheyun’s libido
Suspension of the investigation
Interview J 16, LE 15, February 2008.
Fourteen players, are you joking?
Delepierre, Frederic. “‘On M’A Proposé 200,000 Euros.’” Le Soir (Brussels). February 7, 2006. 36.
The confession of Laurent Fassotte
Laurent Fassotte appearing before the Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association Commission d’Enquête. March 8, 2006.
Problems in Intertoto and early Champions League matches:
Interviews with SO 29, B 9, 12, 18, 19, March 2004 to February 2008.
He had a case recently in the Intertoto Cup …”
Interview with SO 28, March 2004.
UEFA estimating that fifteen to twenty-seven games were fixed:
Interview with SO 29, 30, May and December 2007.
See also: Hawkey, Ian. “UEFA launches inquiry after claims of 15 fixed matches.” Sunday Times (London). December 2, 2007.
Foundation of the first professional leagues
Vamplew, Wray. Pay Up and Play the Game: Professional Sport in Britain, 1875–1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Inglis, Simon. Soccer in the Dock: A History of British Football Scandals, 1900–1965. London: Willow Books, 1985.
1934 World Cup qualifying match between Italy versus Greece had been fixed
Hersh, Philip. “Allegations of Corruption Marring Sport.” Chicago Tribune (Chicago). June 7, 1998. Sports 13.
“Weltmeisterschaft 1934 – World Cup 1934, Fussball Weltzeitschrift.” Journal of the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. Kassel. No. 28–31, 1995/96.
CHAPTER 9: THE GOLDEN AGE
Sources for description of the crash:
Gregg, Harry, and Roger Anderson. Harry’s Game: The Autobiography. London: Mainstream, 2002.
Arthur, Max. The Manchester United Aircrash: 25th Anniversary Tribute to the Busby Babes. London: Aquarius, 1983.
Charlton, Bobby. “I Survived – and Still Feel Guilty.” Excerpt from Manchester United Limited Edition Opus, 2006, printed in The Times (London). December 11, 2006 5–7.
Connor, Jeff. The Lost Babes: Manchester United and the Forgotten Victims of Munich. London: HarperSport, 2006.
Crick, Michael, and David Smith. Manchester United: The Betrayal of a Legend. London: Pan Books, 1990.
“It is strange that up to the moment …”
Arthur, 21.
They were cheats …”I bloody knew”
Gregg, 92–96.
Interview with Harry Gregg, August 2005.
“Golden Age”
The National Football Museum at Preston can be accessed at www.nationalfootballmuseum.com/pages/news/04/finney.htm.
