Charlie Samuels Suspended

[Guest Edgy DC]

He clearly is talking.

That's 34 years of Met employment --- 500 or so Mets he's come into contact with.

[Willets Point]

But it could be better. After all, when the Mets are in town he's too busy washing uniforms and shit. But when the Mets are on the road he hangs out with his gambling buddies Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera.

[stevejrogers]

Wasn't there some disgruntled ex-Met employee some time ago that was seemingly blathering about something was brewing in the Met organization? Something that would have been on this kind of level?

[metirish]

NYT reports that K-Rod lived with Samuels after the judge barred him from his family home.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Willets Point wrote: metsmarathon wrote: i wonder how many mets fans are hoping to learn that oliver perez is somehow involved? Or K-Rod.

metirish wrote: NYT reports that K-Rod lived with Samuels after the judge barred him from his family home.

Well, we're at the "strange as fiction" level now. "Stranger still" yet appraoches.

[A Boy Named Seo]

metirish wrote: NYT reports that K-Rod lived with Samuels after the judge barred him from his family home.

NYTimes

I remember the really young girl at the nightclub. I remember the PED stuff. But I didn't remember this bit about LoDuca.

The team has had to deal with similar revelations over the past decade relating to gambling and organized crime. In 2006, Major League Baseball investigated allegations that a man reportedly stood behind home plate at Shea Stadium during batting practice and yelled at catcher Paul Lo Duca about the gambling debts Lo Duca supposedly owed him. Lo Duca was not disciplined in that matter.

Wish I could party w/ PLD.

[Guest Kong76]

It's gonna take some time for this to unravel and it's already
a giant cluster fuck of story. This could get ugly(ier). It would be
funny if Jeffie is mixed up in some shenanigans, but I guess that
would be asking for too much drama.

[Guest Edgy DC]

It will get uglier.

[metirish]

Kong76 wrote: It's gonna take some time for this to unravel and it's already a giant cluster fuck of story. This could get ugly(ier). It would be funny if Jeffie is mixed up in some shenanigans, but I guess that would be asking for too much drama.

I don't doubt this at all, more to come.

[ashie62]

Seo beat me to the possible Loduca connection. Again, Citifield was built on an Indian burial ground.

Samuels was "borrowing" money from team accounts and the restoring it. Who the hell is the team accountant? The same guy that signed up Madoff? Geezuz.

[G-Fafif]

Man, does the Post ever know how to write to titillate.

Gambling Mets clubhouse manager comped mob bookies with Citi seats By LARRY CELONA, IKIMULISA LIVINGSTON and DAN MANGAN Last Updated: 9:48 PM, November 5, 2010 Disgraced Met clubhouse manager Charlie Samuels, who has confessed to betting on baseball games, comped his mobbed-up bookies prime $400 seats at Citi Field, sources told The Post. Samuels� shameless actions, which led to his unpaid suspension and a criminal probe, came to light yesterday as The Post learned he had been playing house with another troubled Met figure � pitcher Francisco "K-Rod" Rodriguez. The reliever, who faces his own criminal charges for attacking his girlfriend�s dad in the clubhouse in August, has been crashing at Samuels� home in the Rockaways while under a restraining order, the sources said. Samuels, 53, is likely to be canned from his $80,000-a-year post for his gambling, which was captured on wiretaps. Samuels placed wagers ranging from several hundred dollars to $5,000 on horse races and NFL games and has admitted betting on baseball games, the sources said. Probers are looking into whether he gave mobbed-up associates dope about the team or they were able to glean useful info from his wagers. Photos show Samuels gave some of those bookies � Gambino crime-family associates from Howard Beach � comped seats at Citi Field that normally sell for $400 each, sources said. "I�m shocked," one Met player said today. Another player said, "If anything happened, it was pretty stealthy." Samuels has worked for the Mets since 1976 and has been the clubhouse manager for 27 seasons. He is also associate travel director and equipment manager. On other teams, several individuals usually hold those posts. Major League Baseball began eyeing Samuels last season after getting a tip that he was gambling with illegal bookies. MLB soon notified the Mets, telling the team that it should audit its financial records because Samuels� several jobs gave him control over large amounts of money, a source said. The Mets, who refused to comment yesterday, suspended Samuels indefinitely without pay on Oct. 27. Neither Samuels nor K-Rod emerged yesterday from Samuels� Queens townhouse, where a Mercedes SUV and a Range Rover registered to the 28-year-old fireballer were parked outside. Samuels� ex-wife, Charlene, yesterday said, "I don�t believe" the allegations. "His job at the Mets means everything to him," Charlene said. "I don�t think he would ever take a chance on jeopardizing that. He would never, ever bet on baseball."

[Ceetar]

Ashie62 wrote: Seo beat me to the possible Loduca connection. Again, Citifield was built on an Indian burial ground. Samuels was "borrowing" money from team accounts and the restoring it. Who the hell is the team accountant? The same guy that signed up Madoff? Geezuz.

What, the books are off every month? eh, It's less than Alex Cora makes anyway, probably just petty cash.

[ashie62]

Ceetar wrote: Ashie62 wrote: Seo beat me to the possible Loduca connection. Again, Citifield was built on an Indian burial ground. Samuels was "borrowing" money from team accounts and the restoring it. Who the hell is the team accountant? The same guy that signed up Madoff? Geezuz. What, the books are off every month? eh, It's less than Alex Cora makes anyway, probably just petty cash.

I assume you are taking the piss...right??

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

FWIW (and it ain't W all that much, I suppose), my father-in-law spends his weekends at the Race Palace OTB in Plainview (yeah, he spends EVERY WEEKEND there), and he's been seeing LoDuca there since 06.

[Valadius]

Lo Duca became an analyst for the horse racing network TVG in 2009, if you can believe it. He must really love the ponies.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Good news: this story didn't get worse today. Love those weekends.

[G-Fafif]

Matt Artus of Always Amazin' follows Charlie through the years. Like mining the subconscious of the Mets fan who reads the "notes" portions of spring training stories.

[G-Fafif]

More flattering stuff on Charlie, his empire, his seaside mansion, his connection (real estate, not gambling) to two Mets of recent vintage (one current), his informant ways and his chokehold on the Metsmorablia market in the News here.

[Guest Edgy DC]

That's impressive that two of the three guys associated with him in recent years are felonious relievers.

Some guys just know how to make themselves a flame to the moths.

[G-Fafif]

And Feliciano makes an appearance in this story because Feliciano always makes an appearance.

[metirish]

What a mess he is in , after Pedro and K-Rod's appearance we need someone for mob up duty.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

metirish wrote: What a mess he is in , after Pedro and K-Rod's appearance we need someone for mob up duty.

What's Johnny F. up to, again?

[Valadius]

As I said at the start of this little saga, there's no way John Franco didn't know what was going on.

[metirish]

Valadius wrote: As I said at the start of this little saga, there's no way John Franco didn't know what was going on.

Elaborate please

Pizza and his dad were tight with Samuels IIRC, in fact there was a time that Vince Piazza enticed Samuels to lose weight by offering to buy him a fancy car of he reached a goal weight , he reached it and got the car.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Well, the Piazza family wasn't exactly squeaky.

I forget the details, but MLB rejected Vince Piazza's bid to buy the Marlins because owners didn't like Piazza's background.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I understand being suspicious of Franco, but there's no cause to jump ahead from suspicion to certainty.

The details suggest that his chums tended to be relievers. I wonder if the clubbies have more access to them because of their surfeit of down time while most of the coaches' eyes and minds are elsewhere.

That whole arrangement where the clubbies are in the clubhouse but don't answer to the manager --- that has to be generally problematic, no?

[seawolf17]

Valadius wrote: As I said at the start of this little saga, there's no way John Franco didn't know what was going on.

Because he's Italian, and therefore a mob guy.

[Valadius]

seawolf17 wrote: Valadius wrote: As I said at the start of this little saga, there's no way John Franco didn't know what was going on. Because he's Italian, and therefore a mob guy.

No, because he was in that clubhouse for a decade and a half. How the hell could he not have known something?

[metirish]

The prosecution now calls Peter Flynn.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Valadius wrote: Valadius wrote: As I said at the start of this little saga, there's no way John Franco didn't know what was going on. Because he's Italian, and therefore a mob guy. No, because he was in that clubhouse for a decade and a half. How the hell could he not have known something?

I don't know. But how many years does it take to count as unimpeachable evidence? Because we and the organization are in dangerous territory right now.