The Wizard of Odds: How Jack Molinas Nearly Destroyed the Game of Basketball

A Dark Testament to the Terrible Human Power of Self-Destructiveness; Jack Molinas had it all - good looks, charm, an Ivy League education, a genius-level I.Q. of 175, and a huge talent for the game of basketball. He was also a gambling addict with a flair for larceny. Drawing on numerous, previously unavailable first-person accounts, including Molinas’s own journal and trial transcripts, The Wizard of Odds chronicles the rise and fall of this outstanding NBA All-Star who fixed games, cavorted with the Mafia, produced pornographic films, and was eventually murdered. Acclaimed author Charley Rosen chillingly probes the life of a man who understood better than anyone around him the weaknesses of the system in which he lived - so much so that he convinced himself he could manipulate that system to his own ends with impunity. By the time he was arrested on January 9, 1954, for conspiring to fix NBA games, he was already deeply involved with the Mafia. After his release from prison, he would descend ever deeper into crime, a preoccupation that would end with a bullet in the head.