Lefty
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- Jul 4, 2002
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I wonder how much truth Pete writes in his new book. I won't buy it because I don't want to support this loser's habit.
ESPN.com news services
MIAMI -- One of Pete Rose's former gambling associates disputes the career hit leader's claim that he never bet on baseball from the Cincinnati Reds' clubhouse.
Thomas Gioiosa, who once lived in Rose's Cincinnati home and now owns a health-supplement store in Ormond Beach, Fla., said in a telephone interview Tuesday that he often saw Rose wager on baseball before games.
"I was there, and we did it every day," Gioiosa said.
Rose admits in "My Prison Without Bars," his autobiography due out Thursday, that he gambled on the Reds while managing them. But in excerpts from the book obtained by ESPN.com, he says he only bet on the Reds to win and "never made any bets from the clubhouse."
"As we all know, it's very hard to take self-responsibility publicly," Gioiosa said. "I think he wants to air out his closet, but he doesn't want to air the whole thing out. Nobody really does. You've got to leave some skeletons. I wish he'd just come clean with everything. I just wonder if he ever will tell the whole story."
Gioiosa said Rose would use information from telephone conversations with other managers to help decide which teams to bet on. Rose made bets by telephone from his clubhouse office, Gioiosa said.
"He'd pick up the phone, press 0 and say, 'Get me an outside line,' " Gioiosa said. "And when he was betting, there were numbers. He'd say, 'Give me No. 1,' and that would be the Reds. 'No. 4' would be the Phillies. 'No. 8' would be someone else."
Gioiosa was convicted in September 1989 of conspiring to distribute cocaine, conspiring to defraud the government and filing a false income tax return in 1987. He was accused of claiming Rose's winning $47,646 ticket from a racetrack on his income taxes because Rose would have had to pay taxes at a higher rate.
He was also convicted of planning to transport cocaine from Florida to Cincinnati. He was freed from prison in 1992 and served five years of supervised release.
Rose and Gioiosa met in 1978 and Gioiosa "became, over the next few years, a constant companion and runner for Pete Rose," according to the 1989 report by baseball lawyer John Dowd that led to the agreement in which Rose accepted a lifetime ban.
Dowd's report detailed telephone calls between Rose and his gambling network, including calls made from the Reds' clubhouse.
Gioiosa began running bets for Rose in 1984, the report found. Gioiosa said he did not cooperate with Dowd's investigation.
Rose spent five months in prison in 1990 and 1991 for filing false tax returns.
In the book, Rose admits placing bets through Gioiosa. Dowd concluded Rose bet on baseball from 1985-87 and detailed 412 baseball wagers between April 8-July 5, 1987, including 52 on Cincinnati to win.
Gioiosa said he and Rose last spoke in 1989, but that he will buy Rose's book.
"I want to see what he has to say," Gioiosa said. "I might even stand in line and have him sign it."
ESPN.com news services
MIAMI -- One of Pete Rose's former gambling associates disputes the career hit leader's claim that he never bet on baseball from the Cincinnati Reds' clubhouse.
Thomas Gioiosa, who once lived in Rose's Cincinnati home and now owns a health-supplement store in Ormond Beach, Fla., said in a telephone interview Tuesday that he often saw Rose wager on baseball before games.
"I was there, and we did it every day," Gioiosa said.
Rose admits in "My Prison Without Bars," his autobiography due out Thursday, that he gambled on the Reds while managing them. But in excerpts from the book obtained by ESPN.com, he says he only bet on the Reds to win and "never made any bets from the clubhouse."
"As we all know, it's very hard to take self-responsibility publicly," Gioiosa said. "I think he wants to air out his closet, but he doesn't want to air the whole thing out. Nobody really does. You've got to leave some skeletons. I wish he'd just come clean with everything. I just wonder if he ever will tell the whole story."
Gioiosa said Rose would use information from telephone conversations with other managers to help decide which teams to bet on. Rose made bets by telephone from his clubhouse office, Gioiosa said.
"He'd pick up the phone, press 0 and say, 'Get me an outside line,' " Gioiosa said. "And when he was betting, there were numbers. He'd say, 'Give me No. 1,' and that would be the Reds. 'No. 4' would be the Phillies. 'No. 8' would be someone else."
Gioiosa was convicted in September 1989 of conspiring to distribute cocaine, conspiring to defraud the government and filing a false income tax return in 1987. He was accused of claiming Rose's winning $47,646 ticket from a racetrack on his income taxes because Rose would have had to pay taxes at a higher rate.
He was also convicted of planning to transport cocaine from Florida to Cincinnati. He was freed from prison in 1992 and served five years of supervised release.
Rose and Gioiosa met in 1978 and Gioiosa "became, over the next few years, a constant companion and runner for Pete Rose," according to the 1989 report by baseball lawyer John Dowd that led to the agreement in which Rose accepted a lifetime ban.
Dowd's report detailed telephone calls between Rose and his gambling network, including calls made from the Reds' clubhouse.
Gioiosa began running bets for Rose in 1984, the report found. Gioiosa said he did not cooperate with Dowd's investigation.
Rose spent five months in prison in 1990 and 1991 for filing false tax returns.
In the book, Rose admits placing bets through Gioiosa. Dowd concluded Rose bet on baseball from 1985-87 and detailed 412 baseball wagers between April 8-July 5, 1987, including 52 on Cincinnati to win.
Gioiosa said he and Rose last spoke in 1989, but that he will buy Rose's book.
"I want to see what he has to say," Gioiosa said. "I might even stand in line and have him sign it."
