numbers racket

He’s the kind of guy who keeps a secret telephone in a locked desk drawer because he’s fronting for the mob as it attempts to turn the numbers racket into a legitimate lottery.

Whatever nostalgic qualities the film has are undercut by the added perspective of Harold, a Black affiliate of the crew who is allowed to run, and violently enforce, the numbers racket in the Black neighborhoods.

Simkins first came to the attention of police in the 1940s, when he ran a numbers racket out of the Georgia Avenue NW home of his girlfriend, Sarah “Dimples” Mears Hall.

Shorto awkwardly dances around his grandfather’s story, giving us some fascinating history on the numbers racket, the Johnstown flood, Prohibition, his Sicilian roots and the songs of Frank Sinatra.

There’s gorgeous depth to many of the songs, like “Gamblin’ Town,” which has a whining steel guitar and folk influences as the lyrics cleverly equate the music industry to a numbers racket.