MILESTONES: December 14, birthdays for Vanessa Hudgens, Miranda Hart, Michael Owen
Brooklyn Today
Greetings, Brooklyn. Today is the 351st day of the year.
On this day in 1949, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle front page reported on a growing epidemic “infesting” Brooklyn’s schools: an organized crime ring was hiring students to collect wagers from their classmates on athletic games at the amateur and pro levels — that is, hustling lunch money from kids and getting them in the habit of borrowing funds from classmates. An editorial adjacent to this story expressed hope that the exposure of the racketeering activities would galvanize the Board of Education, parents and citizenry to protect the students and evict the gambling rings altogether.
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