Evening Star, 9 October 1930, page D-2: The scandal of boxing (Owney Madden)

Sports page D-2 of the Evening Star, Thursday, 9 October 1930 (image 48 of the issue), carries under World Series coverage an article headed “The Scandal of Boxing,” “A Gang-Ridden Racket,” and “The Men in the Saddle,” by Milton Mackaye. The OCR reads “Gang-Hidden”; the page image reads “Gang-Ridden.” An italic note calls it “the fourth of a series of six consecutive articles revealing gangdom’s grip on professional boxing.” The page prints a 1930 copyright notice of the North American Newspaper Alliance under the article.

Mackaye writes that “The master minds of the prospering group behind Primo Carnera are members of a syndicate” and that “Two of the grand lamas of the organization” are Will Duffy, “until recently a licensed boxing manager in New York State,” and “Owney Madden, since his release from Sing Sing one of the prosperous barons of Broadway.” He says Madden’s boxing activities “are anonymous,” and that Madden and George Jean Demange are each listed on the Boxing Commission’s books as “gambler.” A section headed “Madden’s Troubled Career” recounts arrests and charges from earlier years.

These are one journalist’s allegations about boxing management. The page cites no court record, and this archive does not take Madden’s criminal history or any date of his release from it. The page is used here only as a 1930 printed statement of what the series alleged.