Ross - Stung: the incredible obsession of Brian Molony

Copyright 2002 by Gary Ross

First published by Stoddart 1987
Mass market edition published by General 1988
McClelland & Stewart trade paperback edition published 2002

All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the publisher or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency is an infringement of the copyright law.

National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Ross, Gary, 1948
Stung : the incredible obsession of Brian Molony / Gary Ross.
eISBN: 978-1-55199-672-1

1. Molony, Brian. 2. Embezzlement Ontario Toronto.
3. Compulsive gamblers Ontario Toronto Biography. I. Title.

HV 6685. C 32 T 67 2002 364.162 C 2002-902210- X

Lyrics from Dont Cry Out Loud, by Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen, copyright 1978, Irving Music Inc., Unichappell Music Inc., Begonia Melodies Inc., and Woolnough Music Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program for our publishing activities. We further acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program.

McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
The Canadian Publishers
75 Sherbourne Street,
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 2P9
www.mcclelland.com

v3.1

For P.J.

Im indebted to the many people who shared their knowledge and their opinions of banking, and of the Bay and Richmond, Toronto, branch of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in particular; casinos, and Caesars in Atlantic City in particular; gambling, and Brian Molonys compulsive gambling in particular. Some contributions were invaluable, and I thank those who made them: in Toronto, Sherry Brydson, Barb Elson, Mark Osborne, Eddie Greenspan, Jeremy Brown, Craig Law, Ron Andrews, Bob Greig, and Bob Barbour; in Milton, Ontario, Sheila and Sieg Stadler; in Kingston, Ontario, Brian Wallace and Kathleen Lippins; in London, Ontario, Trish Hilton, Barney Rooney, Father John Harper, and Father Joseph Moss; in Buffalo, New York, Maud McCabe; in Baltimore, Maryland, Joanna Franklin and Vic Lehmkuhl; in Wilmington, Delaware, Gerry Fulcher; in Washington, D.C., Robert Custer; in Trenton, New Jersey, John Sheehy, Richard Handzo, and Tony Parillo; in Roseland, New Jersey, Thomas OBrien; in Haddonfield, New Jersey, Steve Schrier; in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Walt Devlin, Don Russell, Roger Gros, and Dan Heneghan.

For help that ranged from the practical to the inspirational, Im grateful to Sheilagh McEvenue, Wanda Wilkinson, Bruce Ramsay, Lucinda Vardey, Michael Levine, Peter Foster, and Sheila Willson. I thank Bill Hanna at Stoddart Publishing for his faith in this project, and Glen Ellis, my editor, for his careful attention to the manuscript.

This book is a work of non-fiction, accurate in its factual detail. Because several people asked that their anonymity be preserved, however, I have in some instances used pseudonyms.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, it will all be over!

Dostoevsky

Reckless with misery, I made a plunge.

Stephen Leacock

olony worked late at Bay and Richmond, locked the doors, and drove to the racetrack. He found Colizzi by the concession stand. Molony had a burger and a Coke while Colizzi told him about some crocodile boots hed had made. Nice crocodile has to die so you can have new cowboy boots, said Molony, looking up over his glasses. He finished dinner, wiped his bushy moustache, and borrowed Colizzis program.

Baby crocodiles, said Colizzi. Nice and soft. Who you like in the first? Want to bet the double?

Molony bet at the fifty-dollar window and laid three hundred more with Colizzi. His pick, a 61 shot, was four lengths in front when it broke stride. Ten races, one winner: he ended the night without enough money for gas. Colizzi loaned him a hundred.

Next morning Molony drove to Yorkdale Shopping Centre. Yorkdale was one of the few branches of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce open Saturdays, and it was on the way to Woodbine. He wanted to cash a $400 cheque. When the teller asked for identification, he showed his Visa card. The number signified that he was a bank employee. Oh, staff card, she said. Molony told her he was an assistant manager at Bay and Richmond and showed his business card. He filled in a countercheque rather than an encoded personal cheque, which gave him until Tuesday to cover it. Not kiting, really, just utilizing his skills at cash management.

Woodbine was no better than Mohawk had been. He didnt cash a ticket until the eighth, then won two in a row. His reserves were low and he bet less than he should have. After the last race he was down $3,000 to Colizzi. At least he had $2,500 in his pocket for the harness races. He called Brenda to say he wouldnt be able to see her after all, maybe tomorrow afternoon? She reminded him she was going bowling with her parents. Would he like to come with them? Molony said hed think about it could he let her know in the morning? In the car between tracks he fiddled the radio until he found the baseball scores. Up $1,000 on the afternoon games: he was only down $2,000 to Colizzi. Maybe the night games would bail him out.

Colizzi had left after the sixth race to pick up his son. Molony had booked three races with him on the evening card, and he bet them again that night at the windows. One decent win and hed be back on his feet. But he had another bad night at Mohawk, and when he caught the late scores on the car radio, heading home at midnight, he wanted to scream. Hed lost every game but one. He had $120 and owed Colizzi and Beck almost $14,000.

He stopped at the cash machine, timing it perfectly. He got his limit before midnight; when the date ticked over new week he punched in his numbers again and got another $300. Sunday was usually his day. A week earlier hed aced the NFL games, winning eleven of thirteen. Another big day would make up for the baseball. Things were tight, but theyd been tight before. Couple of weeks earlier hed gone to Atlantic City owing Beck and Colizzi almost $6,000. He could scrape up only $3,000 cash. So he took the day trip to the new casino, Caesars, with a couple of card-game pals and tried his luck at craps. He didnt know how to play, but he was a quick study. For an hour he practically told the dice what to do. The dealers paid everybody and the table turned into a party. The others on the junket wore Velcro dice on their lapels. Molony, entranced, looked up to find a dozen guys from Toronto cheering him on. They told him he had to quit or miss the plane. On a $2,000 buy-in he cashed out $13,000. Theyd been holding the bus for him. When he climbed aboard he got a round of applause. He was not only back on his feet, hed found his lucky casino.

In Toronto, his streak had continued at the races. The bookies didnt like raising his limit when he was losing but were happy to bump it when they owed him. In his second good week he called Colizzi to say he wanted to double up. Colizzi said no problem, long as we settle every Monday. Molony went up to the dining-room before the first race and found Beck there, too, nervously chewing his program, spitting out little wads. Some nights he ate the whole thing.