Abraham B. Sarkis (December 9, 1914 – June 5, 1991) was an American

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...

who oversaw

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

numbers racket The numbers game, also known as the numbers racket, the Italian lottery, Mafia lottery, or the daily number, is a form of illegal gambling or illegal lottery played mostly in poor and working-class neighborhoods in the United States, wherein a ...

for the

Patriarca crime family The Patriarca crime family (, ), also known as the New England Mafia, the Boston Mafia, the Providence Mafia, the Boston–Providence Mafia,

Early life

Abraham Bashara Sarkis was born on December 9, 1914 to Bashara Sarkis and Mrs. Hamama, Melkite Catholic immigrants from

Aammiq Aammiq is a village in the Western Beqaa District in Lebanon. It is also the name of an archaeological site. Archaeology Aamiq or Aammiq II is an archaeological site southwest of Zahle in the Aammiq Wetland, Beqaa Valley, Lebanon. It was first ...

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. He attended Everett High School, where he was a member of the school's baseball team. He and his wife, Dorothy, had two children –

Charles Sarkis Charles Frederick Sarkis (January 30, 1940 – March 11, 2018) was an American restaurateur and dog racetrack owner who founded the Back Bay Restaurant Group and owned Wonderland Greyhound Park. Early life Sarkis was raised in Milton, Massachuse ...

and Dorothy Morkis. In 1940, Sarkis suffered severe cuts when a plate glass window shattered during a two-alarm fire in his apartment building.

Criminal activity

Sarkis' first arrest for bookmaking came in 1935. In 1944, he and nine other were arrested in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest List of municipalities in Massachusetts, municipality in Massachusetts, United States, and the largest city in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line ...

for betting on a licensed boxing exhibition. In 1955, he was summoned to appear before the Massachusetts Crime Commission, but refused to testify. By 1967, Sarkis was supervising

in partnership with Patriarca underboss Gennaro Angiulo. That year, he and his brother, Charles, were arrested on gambling charges at the 411 Lounge, which was managed by Sarkis. In 1968, Sarkis pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to nine months in jail. In 1977, he pleaded guilty to bookmaking and was fined $30,000 and sentenced to three years probation. As a condition of his parole, Sarkis was required to work 60 hours a week at the

Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center The Walter E. Fernald State School, later the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center, was the Western hemisphere's oldest publicly funded institution serving people with developmental disabilities. Under its third superintendent, Walter Fernal ...

. Following his guilty plea, deputy assistant attorney general Jack Keeney described Sarkis as "one of Boston's largest and most senior gambling ring operators" during a

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...

hearing. The following year, Sarkis was arrested for possession of a handgun. He was given a one-year suspended sentence and two additional years of probation. In 1980, he was arrested for illegal use of a gaming apparatus to register bets. The complaint was dismissed by Judge John A. Pino on the grounds that the prosecution was unprepared to present its case. Later that year, Sarkis, Ilario "Larry Baione" Zannino, Richard Assad, and Edward Lewis were arrested for allegedly running a three-county gambling ring. In 1990, Sarkis and Wonderland Greyhound Park general manager and former

Massachusetts State Police The Massachusetts State Police (MSP) is an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, responsible for law enforcement and vehicle regulation across the state. As of 2024, it has 2,500 sworn troop ...

head Americo Sousa were indicted for running an illegal bookmaking operation that allegedly took in $100,000 a day in bets on races at the track, which was owned by Sarkis' son. Sarkis died before the case against him could be resolved.

Attempts on Sarkis' life

In 1960, two men, one dressed as priest, arrived at Sarkis' home. His wife saw that one of the men had a gun and alerted her husband, who escaped by jumping out of a second story window. The hit was reportedly ordered by Zannin

In 1979, he was shot in the shoulder by a masked gunman who entered his home through a bedroom window.

Death

Sarkis died on June 5, 1991 at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, New England Deaconess Hospital. His funeral service was held at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Annunciation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarkis, Abe 1914 births 1991 deaths Bookmakers Criminals from Massachusetts American gangsters of the interwar period American people of Lebanese descent Lebanese Melkite Greek Catholics