Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football

by Dan E. Moldea

A shocking exposé of widespread corruption and mob influence throughout the National Football League—on the field, in the owners’ boxes, and in the corporate suitesAccording to investigative journalist Dan E. Moldea, for decades the National Football League has had a strong and unspoken understanding with a dangerous organized crime. In his classic exposé, Interference, Moldea bares the dark, sordid underbelly of America’s favorite professional team sport, revealing a nest of corruption that the league has largely ignored since its inception.Based on intensive research and in-depth interviews with coaches, players, mobsters, bookies, gamblers, referees, and league officials—including some of the sport’s all-time greats—the author’s shocking allegations suggest that the betting line is firmly in the hands of the mob, who occasionally manipulate the on-field action for maximum profit. Interference chronicles a long-standing history of gambling, drugs, and extortion, of point-shaving and game-fixing, and reveals the eye-opening truth about numerous gridiron contests where the final results were determined even before the kickoff. Moldea exposes the mob connections of many of the team owners and their startling complicity in illegal gambling operations, while showing how NFL internal security has managed to quash nearly every investigation into illegality and corruption within the professional football world before it could get off the ground. Provocative, disturbing, and controversial, Interference is a must-read for football fans and detractors alike, offering indisputable proof that what’s really happening on the field, in the locker room, and behind the scenes is a whole different ball game.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Crime, Politics, Football, History

509 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 1995

About the author

Dan E. Moldea, a specialist on organized-crime investigations since 1974, bestselling author, and independent journalist, has published eight nonfiction books: The Hoffa Wars: Teamsters, Rebels, Politicians and the Mob (1978); The Hunting of Cain: A True Story of Money, Greed and Fratricide (1983); Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob (1986); Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football (1989); The Killing of Robert F. Kennedy: An Investigation of Motive, Means, and Opportunity (1995); Evidence Dismissed: The Inside Story of the Police Investigation of O.J. Simpson (with Tom Lange and Philip Vannatter, 1997); A Washington Tragedy: How the Death of Vincent Foster Ignited a Political Firestorm (1998); and Confessions of a Guerrilla Writer: Adventures in the Jungles of Crime, Politics, and Journalism (2013). He is currently at work on his ninth true-crime book.

Reviews

[Greg Otto · Rating 4 out of 5]

An in-depth (almost encyclopedic) look at how organized crime has influenced the NFL since its beginning. It's almost stunning that this book seems to have been lost to the test of time. From the real-life characters from Martin Scorsese's Casino determining how NFL lines are set, to how NFL owners past (maybe present?) have been openly betting on their own teams, to how the government has had a shady agreement with the NFL about the behavior of both organized crime and the league's players, this book is an amazing look at the underbelly of professional football in America.

[Brad Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

You'd have to be a fool to look at this book and/or read it and think it's not an important piece of literature. My only complaint is that it's so detailed and cumbersome to read - SO MUCH info. But Moldea did the subject matter right.

The latter part of the book asks the question: What would happen if gambling was legalized everywhere? Welp. Guess what?

It's pretty clear that organized crime has been heavily involved with the NFL since day 1. And you'd be a fool to think it's still not.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is so dry and comprehensive that it's hard to read. I got non-fictioned out.

[John Lancaster]

NFL=rigged

[Joe Nicholl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football by Dan Moldea from the Forbidden Bookshelf was an interesting read. It covers the criminal underworld that is just out of public sight that surrounds the National Football League (NFL) from it's early days through about 1986...Even though the book is 512 pages long it reads very fast..it's well written and flows right along. The book can be looked at in two different ways....the NFL (players, coaches, owners and league management) being quietly infiltrated by organized crime, and, the criminal-underworld (bookies, gangsters, Jewish & Italian crime syndicates) and how they run their operations, mostly betting, to make money off the NFL. On the football side there's many interesting tales about the players who were either approached by the syndicates or those were caught betting (Paul Hornung, Alex Karras, Al Schlichter) ....But the most interesting story belongs to Carroll Rosenbloom, owner of first the Baltimore Colts then the L.A. Rams. On the criminal side it goes very deep following on the Jewish side Meyer Lansky & on down, and on the Italian side Carlos Marcello and his gang. The most interesting story here was the murder of Tamara Rand in San Diego, leading to Las Vegas and the beef between betting king-pin Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal and "Tony the Ant" Spilotro which in-turn led to many murders and to the NFL. This is documented in the Martin Scorsese film "Casino"...Also, there's A LOT on how the world of betting works...I speed read through much of this...-There's a ton of info in this book and as I wrote above many side stories & tales, and it's long...But...due to being well written it it was a fairly fast read...a great book if you're interested in organized crime and/or the NFL...4 outta 5 Stars!

[Bryan Mcquirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very detailed and brilliantly argued book by Moldea. This should be required reading for all the die-hard fans who bitch about games and their results.
Moldea presents a mostly airtight case against the NFL and its leadership for their massive hypocrisy concerning the ties between NFL team owners and Organized Crime, particularly concerning illegal information and betting on games.
The afterword about the lawsuit against the NY Times is eye-opening as well.

[Daniel DeLappe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, but at times a dry read. As you read this book think of the movie Casino. It came out six years after this book was written. This book will be used as fodder for people who think every ref is on the take and after reading the book I can see why. Would love to read an updated book on this subject. Seems to me things are progressively worse in the NFL now days.

[jbs · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first amendment case regarding the book, in the epilogue, was more interesting than most of the content in the book.