From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Manny Kimmel
Manny Kimmel
Kimmel,
Manny Kimmel, born Emmanuel Kimmel was a notable mel should not be credited with any inventions in the
underworld figure between the 1930s and 1960s. Founder field of mathematical gambling, that honor goes to Man-
of the Kinney Parking Company, a chain of parking lots ny’s nephew Seymour Lubetkin, a brilliant mathemati-
and garages. According to Connie Bruck,[1] he cooperated cian in his own right and a graduate of the Newark Col-
with the major racketeer and bootlegger in Newark, Abn- lege of Engineering (today the New Jersey Institute of
er Zwillman, leasing his garages for storage of liquor dur- Technology where there is a Lubetkin Field donated by
ing the Prohibition Era. FBI kept tabs on him for his busi- he and his brothers), who determined the secret to be in
ness dealings with known mafia figures, and compelled 10’s which contradicted the work of Edward O. Thorp and
to testify in the trials of two of them, Abner Zwillman and Jess Marcum.
Joe Adonis.[1] An illegal bookie in his early years, running Manny took the information from Seymour and trav-
the numbers game and other illicit gambling bookmaking eled to MIT to meet with Thorp whom had theorized the
activities in New Jersey. Perhaps the biggest horseracing secret to be with 5’s. Manny used Seymour’s math to take
bookmaker in New York at one time, and owner of sev- all of the matchsticks Thorp had in a simulated game pri-
eral racing horses himself. He is also known for his early or to the two men agreeing to head to Reno to try out the
forays into card counting in blackjack in the early fifties more successful of the two theories (Seymour’s 10’s the-
as the Mr. X in the classic book on card counting, Beat the ory).
Dealer by Edward O. Thorp.[2]
He is mentioned in at least two other historical books
(according to Amazon), including the Master of the Game:
References
Steve Ross and the Creation of Time Warner by Connie [1] ^ [1]Master of the Game: Steve Ross and the Creation of
Bruck.[1] In this well-known book, the multi-year evo- Time Warner by Connie Bruck, pp.29-30
lution of the company Kimmel founded, Kinney Parking [2] Pogue, David. "Wanna Bet?", The New York Times,
Company, into Time Warner of today is described. The September 25, 2005. Accessed September 28, 2008.
second book in which Kimmel prominently figures, For- [3] Fortune’s Formula: The Untold Story of the Scientific
tune’s Formula: The Untold Story of the Scientific Betting Sys- Betting System That Beat the Casinos and Wall Street by
tem That Beat the Casinos and Wall Street by William Pound- William Poundstone
stone[3] has a less scholarly quality, and in any case Kim-
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Manny_Kimmel&oldid=457714977"
Categories:
• American gamblers
• Bookmakers
• People from Newark, New Jersey
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