Sentenced to Penitentiary in Race Swindle Attempt: John W. McMillan Gets New York Jail Term after Long Investigation, Daily Racing Form, 1953-05-21

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Sentenced to Penitentiary In Race Swindle Attempt John W. McMillan Gets New York Jail Term After Long Investigation JAMAICA, L. I., N. Y., May 20.— John W. McMillan, 48, of 37-11 73rd Street, Jackson Heights, who was arrested November 6, 1952, outside Jamaica race track following an investigation by New York City detectives and special agents of Pin-kertons New York racing service, into an attempted racing swindle, has been sentenced by Judge Peter Farrell in Queens County court to serve an indeterminate sentence in the New York City penitentary. Jerry OGrady, in charge of the Pinker-tons at the New York race tracks, said yesterday that the sentence of McMillan marked the end to a six months investigation which exposed the efforts of a group of racing touts to victimize patrons of the sport in New York and New Jersey. McMillan was arrested with Peter Harmon, 51, also of 37-11 73rd Street, Jackson Heights, and Alexander Karczewski, 65, of 103 West 56th Street, Manhattan, after a Paterson, N. J., butcher advised OGrady of negotiations by these men to get him to bet on an alleged fixed race. At the time of their arrest, the props used by the trio in the tout scheme, namely, a hypodermic syringe, vials of benzedrine sulphate, and a crude device represented as an electric stimujator, were found in McMillans car. Charges against Harmon and Karczewski were later dropped, but McMillan pleaded guilty to possession of the hypodermic syringe, in violation of the sanitary code. The investigation developed that McMillan had posed as a "Dr. West," a race track veterinarian. According to OGrady, McMillan in 1947 was accused by Walter A. Johnson, a Navy disabled war veteran, of fleecing him of ,500 by inducing him to advance the money for an interest in the horse "Little Tuffy," which was not eligible to race. A grand jury later cleared him of the charge, but he was barred from all New York tracks. "The investigation of McMillans activities highlights the fact that most of the stories of so-called evils in racing emanate from touts and others having no legitimate connection with the sport," OGrady said.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1950s/drf1953052101/drf1953052101_46_3
Local Identifier: drf1953052101_46_3
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800