River Rat – Fictitious Names
"I’d be willing to bet you, if I was a betting man, that I have never bet on baseball." - Pete Rose
The lengths to which Rose and Bertolini allegedly went to conceal betting activities underscore the desperation and secrecy surrounding Rose’s gambling problem. The use of fictitious names on checks, the covert exchange of large sums of cash, and the reluctance to provide financial records all point to a deliberate attempt to evade scrutiny and maintain a facade of normalcy.
Welcome to Ballpark Confidential: Baseball’s Backstory on Culture, Society, & History. Whether you’re a die-hard fan, a newcomer to the game, or just someone who enjoys a good baseball story, we’re set to dive deep into the essence of baseball, uncovering pivotal moments and key figures. This is more than a history lesson; it’s a judgment of how baseball reflects and influences our culture and society.
A new installment of River Rat – “Hustle, Heroism, and Hubris: The Pete Rose Conundrum” comes out every Friday!
Over the past several weeks, we have embarked on a comprehensive journey through the Dowd Report, breaking it down section by section. This analysis has allowed us to examine the evidence, testimonies, and conclusions that led to Pete Rose's lifetime ban from Major League Baseball. Each section of the Dowd Report has been explored to provide a clear and nuanced understanding of the events and actions that defined this pivotal moment in baseball history.
This section of the Dowd Report gets into financial transactions and relationships surrounding Pete Rose’s alleged gambling activities, particularly his debts to a New York bookmaker. It paints a picture of a man entangled in a high-stakes world of sports betting, where financial pressures and the allure of winning led to questionable decisions and desperate measures.
Michael Bertolini, a close associate of Rose involved in the memorabilia business, emerges as a central figure in managing Rose’s gambling debts. The report details how Bertolini acted as a conduit between Rose and the New York bookmaker, facilitating the placement of bets and the collection of payments. This arrangement highlights Rose’s reliance on Bertolini to navigate the clandestine world of sports betting and maintain discretion.
The report further reveals the extent of Rose’s financial struggles, evidenced by a series of large checks written to fictitious payees and sent to Bertolini. These checks, often in the amount of $8,000, were allegedly used to settle Rose’s gambling debts. Additionally, Rose’s involvement in securing substantial loans for Bertolini raises questions about the true nature of their financial relationship and whether Rose was using Bertolini to funnel money towards his gambling debts.
The report exposes the potential for exploitation within this relationship. Bertolini, while professing loyalty to Rose, also admits that Rose’s gambling was the primary source of his income, raising concerns about financial dependence and potential manipulation.
If you just started reading this series I suggest starting with Part One.
Section III. RESULTS OF INVESTIGATION, B. THE ROSE-BERTOLINI BETTING
Beginning in 1985, Pete Rose took another young man under his wing — Michael Bertolini from Brooklyn, New York — who was in the baseball card show, autograph and memorabilia business. Bertolini became an exclusive photographer for Rose and other ball players, a seller of memorabilia and director-producer of Pete Rose’s card shows.
In addition, Bertolini was a runner of gambling bets for Pete Rose to an unidentified bookmaker in New York.
This was revealed in a telephone conversation on April 4, 1988, with Paul Janszen, which Janszen taped. Bertolini described how Rose owed the New York bookies, and Bertolini, large sums of money.
JANSZEN: Did you ever get settled up with Pete?
BERTOLINI: About what?
JANSZEN: The money.
BERTOLINI: Fuck’n, we’re working it out and shit, I don’t know, the fuck. Did you ever?
JANSZEN: He still owes me about 12 grand.
BERTOLINI: So, he paid you about 38?
JANSZEN: Huh?
BERTOLINI: How much, did he pay you anything yet?
JANSZEN: No, well that’s all that, what he did was he signed a bunch of autographs for me.
BERTOLINI: I hear you.
JANSZEN: And, you know, plus he wrote some checks that I had cashed that I sent up to the guy.
BERTOLINI: Yeah.
JANSZEN: So, he’s into me for about anywhere from, I don’t know, once you figure out all the autograph stuff, he probably owes me about, anywhere from like 10-12,000.
BERTOLINI: Yeah, I hear you.
JANSZEN: Did he ever get… wait a minute, he was up to you for how much total?
BERTOLINI: What me or all together?
JANSZEN: No, the guy… the bookies in New York, how much did he…
BERTOLINI: Don’t talk like that on the phone, I hate that.
JANSZEN: Alright, how much did he owe you, over them?
BERTOLINI: All together between me and them about 2… and a quarter.
JANSZEN: What are they gonna do, Paulie? They made enough off of him. What the fuck are they gonna do to him? Like Denny… were you with us, yeah you were with us with Denny McLain, weren’t you?
BERTOLINI: Yeah. Were you there that day, yeah.
JANSZEN: Yeah.
BERTOLINI: You heard what McLain said, he says what can you do? You can’t do anything.
JANSZEN: I tell you, you a… he’s gonna be, you never know Mike. How much did he find, how much did he wind up paying them total?
BERTOLINI: Paying them that they’ve gotten, cash?
BERTOLINI: About 150-200.
JANSZEN: Oh, so he’s already paid half of it?
BERTOLINI: Well, no, no. That, see, we were paying as, you know, every so often as we lost. Then we just let this one build until after the Super Bowl was over.
JANSZEN: Yeah.
BERTOLINI: They got him for enough. You know what I’m saying it’s not like they got 25, and then we started this and now we’re gonna screw them out of this. What he owes, they already got that much in previous loss.
JANSZEN: Yeah.
BERTOLINI: Know what I’m saying. Man, fuck’n, they already raped the guy, fuck it man.
JANSZEN: But do they still ask about the money?
BERTOLINI: Yeah, what the fuck, they ain’t gonna do shit to me. They know who’s the, you know, who did it. Because he’s told them, he’s talk to them lots of times. What can they do to him, they can’t do nothing, there’s no proof. The only proof actual, positive, 100% proof is me that’s it.
JANSZEN: Yeah.
BERTOLINI: Anything else is just hearsay. I don’t care if a million people say, oh yeah, I know it too. I’m the only one who can prove and man, he’s my best friend in the whole world.
JANSZEN: Yeah.
BERTOLINI: Know what I’m saying, fuck that, I’d die before I’d ever get him in trouble.
As described previously, Gioiosa told Peters in late 1986 that Rose could not pay Peters because he was paying a New York bookmaker. This statement has been corroborated by (1) Bertolini, in his taped telephone conversation with Janszen; and (2) personal checks and account statements of Pete Rose at Oak Hills Savings and Loan in Cincinnati, Ohio. These records reveal that Pete Rose wrote 11 checks to fictitious payees, each in the amount of $8,000, from November 16, 1986 to December 3, 1986. The checks were sent to Michael Bertolini. Ten of the eleven checks were endorsed and deposited to the account of Rosie Trading Corp., which is a check cashing service and newsstand in New York. In the tape-recorded telephone conversation of April 4, 1988, between Bertolini and Janszen, Bertolini graphically described how Pete Rose used to send him $8,000 checks payable to fictitious names to pay Rose’s gambling debts.
JANSZEN: You should have done what I did. Whenever it got up to like 20-some made him [Rose] write, you know, he might only come up with half of it, but you know, I was out, there was a time when I was out…
BERTOLINI: He used to, he used to mail me 60,000 bucks every. I used to fly out there and get checks. I remember, he used to send the fuck’n the Express Mail, I couldn’t believe it. It was so funny. Petey sending me stuff. He used to send me like 8 checks, 6,000 each made out to all different names.
JANSZEN: Ah, at least it was under 10.
BERTOLINI: What, yeah.
JANSZEN: Made out to every, oh, he had different names.
BERTOLINI: Yeah, I mean he used to mail me checks whenever.
JANSZEN: Yeah, well
BERTOLINI: Then it got so high and shit and fuck’n, you know, it was like he said, man no matter how good I do, it’s like I never go down.
On May 22, 1987, Pete Rose signed as a co-borrower with Michael Bertolini on a $43,000 loan at Star Bank in Cincinnati. Later in September 1987, Rose signed as sole borrower on a $50,000 loan from Star Bank, which he acknowledged was for Bertolini. Rose also arranged for, and signed as an endorser of, a $125,000 loan from Star Bank to Hit King Marketing, Inc., Bertolini’s company, on February 23, 1989. Bertolini told Janszen that Rose arranged the loans for Bertolini so Rose could pay his gambling debts. Rose’s indebtedness to Bertolini is further established by other excerpts from the Janszen-Bertolini conversation of April 4, 1988. Bertolini told Janszen that Rose owed Bertolini approximately $70,000 for gambling debts paid by Bertolini:
JANSZEN: I mean what’s he into you for right now?
BERTOLINI: Well, me, about 70-something.
JANSZEN: Didn’t he ever, didn’t he ever take care of you like he did with me, like, you know, give you a little bit at a time and…
BERTOLINI: Yeah, he did. But he’s given me like, like 9,000… I have it all written down. You know, he’s given me like 9,000 in five different times…
JANSZEN: Well.
BERTOLINI: You know like 2,000 one; 15 two, like that.
JANSZEN: Well, I guess when you’re, you were up there 5 times what I was.
BERTOLINI: You know, he’s like, I have it written down and everything, like he says to me the other day, you probably should and compared me to death… I said, I got it all written down, Petey. I said man, you still owe me 70-something. And, I said, the worst part about it is originally he only owed me like 40 and he owed Bruno like 35, right.
JANSZEN: Right.
BERTOLINI: Well, Bill owed me 35. So, I said, Bill you pay Bruno and now Bruno’s money that Pete owed Bruno…
JANSZEN: Yeah.
BERTOLINI: Is now mine. So fuck’n I only, man Pete’s like 2/3 of the money I got in the whole world, man.
JANSZEN: Yeah.
BERTOLINI: You know, and plus I owe on loans and shit, I mean, last year at this time I didn’t have nothing left, man. At least now I got like fuck’n…
JANSZEN: Yeah, but…
End of Section
In the next post we discuss :
Section III. RESULTS OF INVESTIGATION, C. THE ROSE - JANSZEN – CHEVASHORE – “VAL” BETTING — APRIL & MAY 1987