Bigger Lottery Coincidence - Staten Island or Whitey Bulger
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STATEN ISLAND N.Y. -- It hasn’t been an easy year, but at least a few Staten Islanders among us have good luck to celebrate.
At least three borough residents have collected jackpot prizes from New York Lottery scratch-off tickets in 2021 -- prizes in the millions -- with two bought on the island and one purchased in Brooklyn.
Staten Island is on a hot streak with lottery winners in 2021. Three residents of "the rock", "Shaolin" or "the forgotten borough" have now taking home a pay day- likely paying off their Lexus ES car payments, picking up the bill for the office at Royal Crown, or lavishing their children with Air Jordans and designer hand bags.
I was angling on how to write this story. Should I finally put pen to paper on my genius ideas of buying 365 pairs of socks and underwear if I won the lottery ? Should I ask the office what they would buy ? Should I attack my hometown that maybe the fix is in over there. Nope. Nope. Nope.
Luckily, in my reform of making Gaz's old desk into a much more positive skell free zone, I get to sit next to a handsome man named Pat who educated me on the fact that Whitey Bulger "won" the lottery in 1991.
The lottery win had been another one of Bulger’s brilliant schemes to launder his drug, extortion, and loan-sharking money. Back in the summer of 1991, a winning Mass Millions lottery ticket had been purchased at the South Boston Liquor Mart by Michael Linskey, who was the brother of a Bulger underling named Patrick Linskey. The FBI had learned that once Whitey heard about the jackpot, he ordered the real winner to sign the ticket over, with Whitey and two associates paying $2.3 million cash for 50 percent of the winnings. Bulger himself paid Michael Linskey $700,000. Although Linskey lost money in the deal, he really had no choice. It came down to selling the ticket or risking his life.
Insane story I was not aware of until about 10 minutes ago. Actually possibly the funniest thing I have heard in a while. Someone in your town wins the lottery, thinks their life is about to change and the crime boss says "Nah… not gonna fly pal" and demands you give him the ticket .. or die.
I think my favorite part of the story with Bulger is how the locals of Boston blindly defended him.
When news first broke about Whitey’s lottery winnings in 1991, many in South Boston rose to his defense.
“God bless him, his number came up,” said one local resident. “He had the same chance to lose, right?” said another. “I think he ought to pay his taxes and keep the winnings.”
Hysterical. People knowing going against Whitey was not a smart life choice.
Now, no story about Staten Island winning the lottery would be complete without one of the best pictures in history. Shoutout to the West Bar legend himself.
Mary Altaffer. Shutterstock Images.