JC / Railbird

Gangsters and Bookies

Depression-era horse racing in Cuba:

Like scenes out of an Ernest Hemingway novel, gunfire mingled with mariachi music near the betting ring.

It was an open secret that when track-backed bookmakers thought they were going to lose money on a heavily bet horse, they would call up to the stewards’ stand. Using a system nicknamed “window washing,” the stewards would raise and lower a window shade corresponding to the number of the horse they wanted “protected.” It was the starter’s job to watch for this signal, and to make sure the hot horse was at a disadvantage when the starting tape sprang up.