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Posted on 04/23/2003 2:05:09 PM PDT by evets
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Nick Perry, a Pittsburgh broadcasting pioneer who was convicted of rigging the state lottery's Daily Number drawing of April 24, 1980, died yesterday.
Born Nicholas Perry Katsafanas in 1916, Perry was the well-known host of bowling broadcasts on WTAE-TV and the announcer for the state lottery number drawing, which was conducted at WTAE studios.
When the Daily Number came up 666 on that spring evening almost exactly 23 years ago, rumors about a fix began to surface, many of them from illegal bookmakers who took bets on the lottery and had to pay off.
In the 666 fix, every ball except those numbered four or six was injected with white latex paint so it would not rise high enough in an air tube machine to be drawn. The idea was to wager on every number combination containing fours and sixes. The drawing caused a record payout of $3.5 million -- $1.18 million of which was won by eight people involved in the fix.
A grand jury called Perry the mastermind behind the plan, and a jury in Harrisburg convicted him in 1981 of criminal conspiracy, criminal mischief, theft by deception, rigging a publicly exhibited contest and perjury.
He served two years at Camp Hill State Penitentiary and spent another year at a halfway house in East Liberty, not far from his home in Highland Park.
Also convicted in the case was lottery official Edward Plevel. Two WTAE stagehands, Fred Luman and Joseph Bock, pleaded guilty to participating in the fix. Two other men who cooperated with prosecutors received fines and probation.
A popular TV personality best known as host of WTAE's "Bowling for Dollars," Perry began his career as a broadcaster in 1949 on radio station WPIT. He joined WTAE-TV when the station went on the air in 1958.
Growing up in Pittsburgh, when playing poker, trip sixes was called a "nick perry".
It was a big organized crime scandal. word on the street that day was to play fours and sixes. It was the biggest lottery payout in history at the time.
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Good grief. I'm reminded of Chilly Billy anytime I spot somebody with a bad toupee.
I remember the joke after the scandal was that he had a new show called "Bowling for Bail Bond"
YUNZ GET A SMACK ON THE DUPA AS YER PUNISHMENT!
My guess is that we're probably both right.
The stations operated on shoestring budgets back then,
and most of the local personalities wore a number of different hats to add up to a full time job.
I'd like to see more locally produced shows like that return.
But the economics are such that the only way I can see it happening is if the FCC (ugh!) mandated it.
Until then, we're likely to continue being cursed with nationally syndicated reruns. Local broadcasters are merely re-transmitters who occasionally show local news and weather.
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