The mysterious death of Sonny Liston.

[BattlingNelson]

A brilliant story of the death and career of Sonny Liston.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/boxing/48974341

Recommended reading for these boxingless corona times.

[QueensburyRules]

- -Moral of the story is don't suddenly die in Vegas.

[billeau2]

- -Moral of the story is don't suddenly die in Vegas.

Or how about.... "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?"

Sorry Sonny you were one of my favorites excuse the levity.

[JAB5239]

A brilliant story of the death and career of Sonny Liston.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/boxing/48974341

Recommended reading for these boxingless corona times.

Great article!!

[billeau2]

A brilliant story of the death and career of Sonny Liston.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/boxing/48974341

Recommended reading for these boxingless corona times.

Thank you Batts!

I didn't realize this was so recently written. I don't want to sound like a jerk but this article did little more than reference some main points that have been dealt with a lot more extensively in books and other articles. But I for one am glad Listen is getting some looks. It makes me very angry and sad to see the situation with Night Train.

Basically he was a guy that if you showed some gumption, love and respect for, would respond in spades. He was not really a bad, or evil man. Considering what he put up with as a kid, and the fact that he was illiterate but an intelligent guy, it is kind of shameful how he was exploited.

When people write articles like this they often do so not understanding certain things. For example, there are many Heroin addicts whom one could ask about Heroin. One would find out that Heroin, which has been getting stronger and stronger since Sonny's days, can be smoked, snorted, and even used as a suppository. Thats right! One does not have to shoot heroin to use heroin.

many part time users combine it with other drugs as well. Sonny could have been doing speedballs, or freebasing, or snorting both cocaine and heroin. So there are no need to look only for track marks to make assumptions about Sonny and his drug use.

AS far as the mob... It really does count for a lot that the mob does not usually hot shot people for a contract killing. If they wanted Sonny dead they would have probably sent a message... You always want to kill two birds with one stone. Liston, as a part time user may well have gotten his proportions wrong, or tried shooting and did too much. It happens a lot more than a mo guy, figuring out how to get a hot shot delivered...how to make sure Sonny does it, making sure it is concocted so it looks normal....

Lets use a bit of Ockham's razor here. So I go to Lefty the lug and say "Heeey Leffty we need Sonny wacked, take care of it, and don't make a lot of noise. So lefty goes to his team in the streets and?

1) tells them to figure out when Sonny is in a buying mood, or get a hold of his dealer, set up a hot shot so Sony will take the stuff and die.

2) Or? You send a guy over to watch, when Sonny is alone, you go in there and shoot him.

See where I am going? and hear about the Polish contract killer? very unsuccesful... Would go to the intended victim and for some reason none of them would sign a contract to let him do his job.

Sonny probably was doing what many of us do regularly: worrying. How he was going to keep his house, how he was going to earn moving forwards, etc. He decided he did not want to worry so much and was careless.

[Willie Pep 229]

Frankie Carbo

By 1959, Carbo and his partner Blinky Palermo owned a majority interest in the contract of heavyweight boxer Sonny Liston, . . . Liston fought 12 fights under the control of Carbo and Palermo.

Arrested for ‘39 Slaying

On Thanksgiving eve in 1939, somebody shot Harry (Big Greenie) Greenberg, a mobster who was reportedly “singing” to the police on the West Coast. Nearly two years later, Mr. Carbo was arrested for that killing.

Two Brooklyn hoodlums, Abe (Kid Twist) Reles and Allie (Tick Tock) Tannenbaum, were ready to testify that Mr. Carbo shot Mr. Greenberg. But Mr. Reles, under police guard at the Half Moon Hotel on Coney Island, somehow managed to fall out of a window and was killed. Mr. Tannenbaum's testimony was uncorroborated and Mr. Carbo was set free again.

There is something Hollywood romantic about the, hotel name, it's location, and the method of execution. But it does suck to be Mr. Reles.

Of course Carbo and Palermo were both incarcerated by the time of Liston's death, but the the people they represented were still about.

[The Old LefHook]

Juice cannot explain Sonny's giant mitts.

[Rusty Tromboni]

Liston had been said to be partying before losing to Ali.

The rematch was a fiasco.

You can't blame stupid on the mob.

The dude clearly had lost it, and wanted out.

Simplest explanation.