Welcome to Mysteries to Die For.

I am TG Wolff and am here with Jack, my piano player and producer. This is a podcast where we combine storytelling with original music to put you in the heart of a mystery. All stories are structured to challenge you to beat the detective to the solution. Jack and I perform these live, front to back, no breaks, no fakes, no retakes.

The rules for law and order create the boundaries for civil co-existence and, ideally, the backdrops for individuals, families, and companies to grow and thrive. Breaking these rules puts civil order at risk. And while murder is the Big Daddy of crimes, codified ordinances across municipal divisions, counties, states, and countries show the nearly endless ways there are to create mayhem. This season, we put our detective skills to the test. This is Season 8, Anything but Murder.

This is Episode 13, race fixing is the featured murderless crime. This is The Butterfly Stroke Effect by Ken Harris

DELIBERATION

Sally Bones DeLuca is convinced the arrest of a swimmer was really a strike at him. He has a few tigers by the tail but he’s still not sure which one set him up to fall. Let’s see what we can do to help him get back on the Don’s good side. Here are the suspects he’s considered in the order of appearance:

• Harper Underhill, the American swimmer busted for magic mushrooms
• Fedir Belinsky, head of the Russian mob
• Tony Accardo, Sally’s right hand man
• Vladya “Swiss” Zinczenko, unretired Russian mob associate
• Airport staff member, Serbian baggage handler claims to have bet big against Underhill.

Here are the facts as Sally Bones has pieced them together:

• Sally’s operation was making good book on the women’s Olympic butterfly event. The favorite was American Harper Underhill.
• Underhill did not fly commercial with the rest of the team. She traveled to from Philadelphia to Paris on a private charter and was arrested when she disembarked for transporting banned substances.
• Sally Bones and his crew were not aware of the development and continued taking bets for the underdog Russian swimmer Tatiana Popova. With her main competition out, Popova won and now the Don and Sally have to pay out.
• The Italian and Russian mobs are always going head-to-head. Sally suspects the Russian set Underhill up to financially hit Don Caccamo’s operation through the sports book business.
• Swiss Zinczenko tells Sally it wasn’t the Russians and to look in his own house. While Sally trusts Swiss, he thinks the Russian’s have the strongest motive.
• Because of Swiss’s suggestion, Sally notices that is right-hand man Tony Accardo maybe has a little more than he should…like an expensive new car. With Sally’s demotion, Accardo has the chance to get in tighter with the boss.
• An interview on TV turns Sally on to a baggage handler at the airport who worked Underhill’s chartered flight. The man complained about Underhill’s treatment of the staff and just might have had a reason to take her down.

Since Agent Price is on the job, we know a few things Sally doesn’t:

• Swiss Zinczenko is coming out of retirement and he’s looking to do it big. Hurting Caccamo’s business would be a step in the right direction.
• Price’s task force partner, TSA agent Juanita Navar, is caught in an explosion aimed at Sally. Navar rambled about horse race betting and Sally Bones, including threats, pointing, and blame.

Who does Sally Bones really have to blame for his financial ruin and demotion?

ABOUT Race Fixing

Google search on “race fixing” and you find a lot of horse stories. From History.com comes 10 famous horse fixing scandals. Yes, there is the basic “take bribes to slow a horse”, although the scale of Anthony “Big Tony” Ciulla’s bribe scheme in the early 1970s was truly impressive (every state except CA.) Let’s touch on a few…

• 1974, an Irish millionaire named Tony Murphy attempted a horse swap. He had a lack-luster horse trained under the name Gay Future, and then attempted to switch him with the real Gay Future. He had an elaborate plan involving entering other horses, including the real Gay Future in other races. A reporter figured out the scheme and brought it down.

• 1984, John Gillespie was planning a horse swap when his ringer was injured in a kangaroo related incident. Gillespie pivoted and brought in another ringer, but it looked nothing like the registered horse. First, they tried hair dye, but it turned the horse orange. Next, they tried spray paint. The horse raced and won…but the scheme was discovered when the painted white “socks” were running in the winners circle.

• In March 2020, Jack and I were dropping the first episodes of our new podcast, federal prosecutors indicted 27 trainers, vets, and drug distributors for doping. Drugs including some known as red acid, bleeder, and frozen pain, were “designed to secretly and dangerously enhance the racing performance of horses beyond their natural ability, a dishonest practice that places the lives of affected animals at risk.”

https://www.history.com/articles/horse-racing-scandals-list

ABOUT Ken Harris

Ken Harris retired from the FBI, after thirty-two years, as a cybersecurity executive. With over three decades writing intelligence products for senior Government officials, Ken provides unique perspectives on the conventional fast-paced crime thriller. Ken previously participated in Mysteries to Die For seasons 5 & 6. He is the author of the “From the Case Files of Steve Rockfish” series. He spends days with his wife Nicolita, and two Labradors, Shady and Chalupa Batman. Evenings are spent playing Walkabout Mini Golf and cheering on Philadelphia sports. Ken firmly believes Pink Floyd, Irish whiskey and a Montecristo cigar are the only muses necessary. He is a native of New Jersey and currently resides in Virginia’s Northern Neck.

https://kenharrisfiction.com/

WRAP UP

That wraps this episode of Mysteries to Die For. Support our show by subscribing, telling a mystery lover about us, and giving us a five-star review. Check out our NEW website m2d4podcast.com for links to this season’s authors.

Mysteries to Die For is hosted by TG Wolff and Jack Wolff. The Butterfly Stroke Effect was written by Ken Harris. Music and production are by Jack Wolff. Episode art is by TG Wolff. Join us next week for a Toe Tag, which is the first chapter from a fresh release in the mystery, crime, or thriller genre. Then come back in two weeks for our next original story where recipe theft is the featured murderless crime. It’s The Bounty Hunger by Karina Bartow