Jack Dempsey Quotes
For the first and only time, I was more worried about getting hurt by the crowd than by the guy I was fighting. I got a pretty good blast when introduced. The crowd was hollering and raising hell. I looked around for my bodyguard, a colorful New York character named Wild Bill Lyons, who packed two pearl-handled pistols and used to talk a lot about his days in the West. Wild Bill was under the ring, hiding.
Dempsey, Jack, and Barbara Piattelli Dempsey. Dempsey. Harper & Row, 1977, p. 159.
La Guardia was a very short man and he had gone up to the much larger “poll watcher” and ripped his official button off his coat. The Tammany Hall political machine would appoint thugs as poll watchers to intimidate the voters. If the poll watcher was an "official" voters thought that they might have access to the ballot information and know whether or not they voted for the machine candidates. Their presense was often sufficient intimidation to assure party line voting by most people.
He controlled a Shiite political party with its own armed militia.
Dornan’s close friend Congressman Randy Duke Cunningham had insulted and attacked ethnic Irish Congressman Jim Moran. The two ended up getting physical with Cunningham clearly getting the worst of it. Dornan came to the defense of fellow right wing extremist Cunningham and fortunately was restrained. Moran had been a skilled boxer and still retained much of his skill. Cunningham, went to jail as the most corrupt congressman in American history. Dornan adopted a very low profile as he had been one of the unknowing enablers of Cunningham’s corruption.
William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey, nicknamed Kid Blackie, and The Manassa Mauler, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1914 to 1927, and reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1919 to 1926. A cultural icon of the 1920s, Dempsey's aggressive fighting style and exceptional punching power made him one of the most popular boxers in history. Many of his fights set financial and attendance records, including the first million-dollar gate. He pioneered the live broadcast of sporting events in general, and boxing matches in particular.
