Maybe lost a one pocket players for 10 years

gulfportdoc

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Oh man, I just can't believe this! I didn't know Tony was into that crap. I never thought he used drugs. Maybe he was just a dealer. I don't think he even has a record. Supposedly he comes from a good family. Well, I hope he straightens himself out.

Doc
 

gbru

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mobile al
gulfportdoc said:
Oh man, I just can't believe this! I didn't know Tony was into that crap. I never thought he used drugs. Maybe he was just a dealer. I don't think he even has a record. Supposedly he comes from a good family. Well, I hope he straightens himself out.

Doc

It's hard to tell who's doing what Doc.....I have been totally shocked more than a few times to learn of someone I thought I knew only to find later they were doing the wrong thing.

For me.... I'm into the nutrition thing.....and thanks to you and your wife Kitty....in particular the: "Doctor's Nutrition" thing.

thanks...george

PS...sorry to hear about Chohan... he is a good guy at heart.....wish the best for him.
 

usblues

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Outlaws

Outlaws

Pool players,that is about 85% of them are outlaws.Crane,Miz being exceptions.Theirs lots of others also.Im also not talking about most of the dinosurs on this website and you know who you are.Your all too feeble even to think about one of the worlds oldest professions even when you were young.Fear is a force were all aware of.Men are like water,the easiest path will do.The point is pot should be legal and coke should be best left alone.If he has no priors and gets a decent mouthpiece he'll be just fine especially if its Federal and no weapons were involved.I didnt read the article and dont have to.This has been my life since 68[Nam] and it would be best to leave this alone regardless of your feelings/passion.Nobodys walkin in his mocs except for him.Or as we said in the jungle,stay high keep low.Now back to the table,adieu,Bob
 

Fatboy

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he is up on $$ laundering charges in addition to the 2 counts of drug trafficing. Its bad real bad. No prior history is good, but that wont save him. Its Fed time too so 85%. Sadly I think all things considered 20 years will be his sentance. I hate to put a o/u line on it, but Tony likes to gamble so I will put the line at 20yrs. Thats a terrible thing to say, but i will stand by it. I hope he gets off but i doubt it, he will taake a deal. He has no choice there is no reasonable doubt he sold it to a Fed-it dosent get worse(unless he had a gun) which he didnt, so they will drop half the charges and he will serve 85% on what ever they make stick. If he can flip a few people he might get 10, but that can be dangerous. I dont know him well enough to know anything about what was going on.


I like Tony alot and was shocked to see this, i've took chances to make $$$ when I was 27 myself but I didnt do anything that would have ended up more than 2-3 years. So I understand his state of mind-it was worth a shot, now at 42 I take ZERO chances. I'm square as a box the past 12 years. I would eat dirt before doing anything wrong nowdays-I got lucky. Most pool players have a checkered past from my experience.
 

vapros

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Fatboy, thanks for that insight, and I think you are probably right about pool players. Also, I think this is the main reason why the game has not moved much in a very long time.

It seems that some cleaner young guys are coming to pool today, and that's good. I don't know if there will ever be a good enough pro tour for more than a handful of players to make a good living at it, but that's the nature of the game. More public interest would have to be promoted. And sadly, one-pocket will never draw a crowd beyond the hard core devotees.

It's truly a shame about Chohan, but it was certainly a high-risk errand he was on, and he had to know it. Some surprising people are being busted for related offenses, but in my old age I would rather be sentenced to death than ten years. Be well.
 

NH Steve

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Quite a few players over the years have spent time behind bars. You could assemble a pretty good all-time team :)

Sonny Springer
Clem
Rodney Morris
Dennis Hatch

just for starters

An interesting thing to note is how many of them come out of their time as better players than they went in -- even though there often was no pool table available. I have a theory about that, gathered from hearing or reading comments that those players made afterwords. If Tony does time, he should take note of this...

Some of these guys have been very successful at quietly practicing solely in their minds -- visualizing the table, the patterns, the shots, the position -- all in as much detail as possible.This kind of intensely focused imaginary practice has been proven to actually improve one's game. (You don't even have to go to prison to do this, of course :) :) )
 

usblues

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hard,soft parts

hard,soft parts

The 85% is a pain but state time is brutal where federal is called Club Fed for a reason.I did 22 months for 150 LBs in 93-5.Gyms,tennis,handball,leather classes, pooltables,big screen TV,fresh air.Cakewalk even compared to reform school in 67.He'll be OK and on to his next part to play.Always best to stick to the mota.Your shot,Bob
 

Grady

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Simple

Simple

Look, this is simple. Anybody with as much talent as he has and does something that stupid-deserves everything he gets.
Have you ever heard the story about Ronnie, the capable and much loved houseman at "The Rack" in Detroit? As it happened Ronnie was a drug addict but a drug addict who didn't sell and completely minded his own business. He didn't get high except at home. Ronnie's neighborhood was dangerous;so he carried a gun for protection. One night he got rousted by the cops and subsequently busted. He had his weapon on him and less than a felony amount of drugs.
Michigan had just passed a very strict law for having drugs and any type of weapon on your person. The upshot is that Ronnie got life in prison without parole. Carla, a local female pool player and attorney tried for years to get Ronnie out, to no avail. He may still be in jail, for all I know.
I and I suspect most of the players from my generation had lots of opportunities to do wrong and get rich easily. Personally, I always loved being a pool player and loved our great sport too much to risk everything to be a criminal. I further am angry beyond description for the Tony Chohans of the billiard community for further giving our troubled sport more black eyes.
I have no sympathy at all for him.
 

Cowboy Dennis

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Grady said:
Look, this is simple. Anybody with as much talent as he has and does something that stupid-deserves everything he gets.
Have you ever heard the story about Ronnie, the capable and much loved houseman at "The Rack" in Detroit? As it happened Ronnie was a drug addict but a drug addict who didn't sell and completely minded his own business. He didn't get high except at home. Ronnie's neighborhood was dangerous;so he carried a gun for protection. One night he got rousted by the cops and subsequently busted. He had his weapon on him and less than a felony amount of drugs.
Michigan had just passed a very strict law for having drugs and any type of weapon on your person. The upshot is that Ronnie got life in prison without parole. Carla, a local female pool player and attorney tried for years to get Ronnie out, to no avail. He may still be in jail, for all I know.
I and I suspect most of the players from my generation had lots of opportunities to do wrong and get rich easily. Personally, I always loved being a pool player and loved our great sport too much to risk everything to be a criminal. I further am angry beyond description for the Tony Chohans of the billiard community for further giving our troubled sport more black eyes.
I have no sympathy at all for him.


Grady,

I could be wrong but I think Ronnie Harmelin got out on parole, (or somehow), and died within a year of being out. I'm sure Carla Johnson or Steve Lomako could correct me if I'm wrong. And he had no previous criminal record, but did get caught with 672 grams of coke. That is over a pound. He also was not rousted by the cops. He was pulled over for running a red light. And a gun is not mentioned in any of the online stories I'm reading about the case. The life/without parole was for 650 or more grams of coke. The so-called Michigan Lifer Law. According to the case histories that I've read, part of Ronnies defense was to claim that he was just a 'mule'. So he was running drugs for other people.
 
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Fatboy

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vapros said:
Fatboy, thanks for that insight, and I think you are probably right about pool players. Also, I think this is the main reason why the game has not moved much in a very long time.

It seems that some cleaner young guys are coming to pool today, and that's good. I don't know if there will ever be a good enough pro tour for more than a handful of players to make a good living at it, but that's the nature of the game. More public interest would have to be promoted. And sadly, one-pocket will never draw a crowd beyond the hard core devotees.

It's truly a shame about Chohan, but it was certainly a high-risk errand he was on, and he had to know it. Some surprising people are being busted for related offenses, but in my old age I would rather be sentenced to death than ten years. Be well.


Futhermore he aint a real high up the ladder guy, he had possession of the drugs, he was the mule.
 

Grady

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Thanks

Thanks

I'm not surprised that the facts were changed and misrepresented to me, especially after the passage of much time. Thank you for your info.
I have tried to help drug addict and alcoholic friends of mine over the years but in retrospect I don't think I was able to assist any of them. Now that I'm older I give up. I still like such friends of mine but I mind my own business and don't have financial dealings with them.
 

demonrho

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Cowboy Dennis said:
..I could be wrong but I think Ronnie Harmelin got out on parole, (or somehow), and died within a year of being out...

He was sentenced by the Feds to life without parole but Carla went to the United States Supreme Court in post-conviction litigation and got him life with parole. He got out after thirteen years and died of a heart attack a year and a half later.
 
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Cowboy Dennis

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demonrho said:
He was sentenced by the Feds to life without parole but Carla went to the United States Supreme Court in post-conviction litigation and got him life with parole. He got out after thirteen years and died of a heart attack a year and a half later.


Mostly correct. He died 6 months after getting out. Bad news all around.
 

Grady

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One more

One more

You forgot Jerry Brock. One day he was working for Meucci and playing pool, the next the Feds were after him. It took years but they finally caught him. He's out now, living somewhere in NC.
 

SJDinPHX

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Grady said:
You forgot Jerry Brock. One day he was working for Meucci and playing pool, the next the Feds were after him. It took years but they finally caught him. He's out now, living somewhere in NC.

Yes Grady, I knew Jerry well. He was not so much hooked on drugs as he was on the money to be made from them.
Sounds like that may have been Tony's downfall. Big $$$$ can become an even worse addiction.
J.B. did some serious time...twice.

Dick
 
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usblues

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know what I mean

know what I mean

So the real good guys,Willie,Ralph,Artie,Grady,Billy,Ronnie had a choice around their 16-17 birthday.Take that day job or sleep in and play/work at the pool hall at night making 3 times as much the way they want to live[gamblin].Cool.Now the tournaments come and in the 80's when most of this shit started only the top 5-6 guys can make a livin.I heard Jimmy Reid call it chemical warfare.If 50 guys are playing nine -ball,I'm pretty sure 25 are gonna lose for starters if my math is correct. So what do the other 25 guys do?Give up their game?Quit?Get a job?Nope,their outlaws too and their gonna gamble another way,so they look around and see one of the worlds oldest professions right there for the takin.Hard to change ways after 20-30 years of hustlin at night right?So of course some are gonna lose and some are gonna win like any game.Everyone here can judge a mans game,but no one here can judge his lifestyle.Just be glad who you are and know theres lots of guys doing better than you and lots of guys doing time and lots of guys should be doing time and aren't.Aint nothin wrong with Bob Mitchum,John DeLorean David Crosby or the above mentioned that we cant say a good word about.Lots of parts to play on this stage we call home.Welcome,take off yer shoes,showando as Louie would say,cheers,Bob
 
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