Stay away from the losers, they’ll kill you

 

Stay away from the losers, they’ll kill you







   To be part of the world of BC was sometimes like a Damon Runyon novel. Now most young folks would have no idea who Damon Runyan was but in his day he was a wildly popular writer whose novels were filled with New York City characters. They might be considered underworld but not in a seedy way but more as loveable figures with vibrant language skills. Runyon became even more famous with the popular Broadway show "Guys and Dolls" that drew from his many stories. BC, having spent a lot of time in the Big Apple met and befriended some genuine characters and it was to his credit that he loved to mingle with these unique gents. Duke Raye would be the top of the list but his stories are worth a book and not a blog. There was Hickey, Monte,  Lou Silver, Bill the Builder, Jersey John, Cooney (the judge), Jake the Belcher and even Slim Benny who later became my Father. Many East Coast transplants came west when big league sports and ticket broker opportunites arose in Southern California. So there were also LA characters like the Hog Brothers, Shikey, Louie Marco, Screwy Louie, Don Kramer and a bigger than life Mad Russian whose real name was Alex Henig. Alex was all New York but found a way to earn big out on "the coast." He married a showgirl and had two beautiful blonde daughters who he showed off at a Stones concert we all attended. Alex was gregarious and always fun to be around even though he was a sort of competitor of BC both as broker and collector. At Lou Silver's funeral Alex showed up with a large button that read I BEAT CANCER! Never mind Lou had died of cancer. Anyway, we loved to sit near Alex and hear his conversation like "you're getting so tall...I'm going to invest in you" or "my wife...she can't cook a cookie!" And of course a favorite "stay away from the losers, they'll kill you" Alex departed on the same mortality train as BC and John Sheehy, in the early 90's but left a pretty good memorabilia collection. Most of these guys, some very tough, some slightly criminal were always gentle and kind to me and my siblings. They were not "polite company" but they made life much more interesting.



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