Al Capone Trial (1931)
  Excerpts from the Trial Transcript: Milton Held (bookie)


Direct examination by Mr. Fink:

Fink: Have you had any transactions with the defendant, Alphonse Capone?
Held: Yes, while I was taking oral bets at Hawthorne in 1924 and 1925. I would take a bet and settle the next day.
 
Fink: Did he win or did you?
Held: He lost, I judge, about $12,000.
Fink: When you say you judge, does that mean to the best of your recollection?
Held: It does.

 
Cross-examination by Mr. Green:

Green: What was your first transaction with the defendant?
Held: At Hawthorn in 1924.
 
Green: Name the first horse he bet on.
Held:
I can’t do that.  
Green: Name any horse he ever bet on with you.
Held: I am not able to do that.  
Green: How did you arrive at the amount of $12,000 which you say he lost?
Held: That’s just an estimate.  
Green: Are you positive he lost?
Held: Absolutely.  
Green: How much did Capone bet at a time?
Held: Three or four hundred dollars.  
Green: How many customers did you have who bet that much?
Held: Two or three.  
Green: Did he have much of a roll when he paid you?
Held: Yes, he usually had quite a lot of money, mostly in hundred dollar bills.  Sometimes in five hundred dollar bills.  
Green: Who refreshed your recollection as to the losses sustained by the defendant?
Held: Attorney Fisk asked me and that’s what I told him.  
Green: Where did you discuss your testimony first?
Held: At the Lexington Hotel, Monday night.  Somebody called me and I went there.  Mr. Fink, Mr. Capone, Mr. Ahern and a lot of bookmakers were there.
Green: Who rang you up?
Held: I don’t know.  One of Al’s boys.
Green: Did you discuss the case again?
Held: Well, I went back last night at 8 o’clock and Al asked me if I’d be here that morning at 10 o’clock.  
Green: Did you treat that as a demand?
Held: I don’t think so.   
Green: Who are some of Al’s boys?
Held: I don’t know....