| Chapter 5: | The Racketeers |
Street. The guys had never seen so much money in their lives.
Felix the Cat liked to arrange special events at the poolroom. The most memorable billiard match commissioned by Felix brought to East Harlem the Masked Marvel, the legendary billiards player from Brooklyn. The Masked Marvel never removed his mask when performing at a billiards table. He was challenged that Summer night of 1945 by our local champion Marrione. Marrione had played billiards as a child standing on a box in his father’s small poolroom several blocks away from Wabs’ establishment. Marrione had never been beaten in major events against local talent. Cary Grant collected the bets and turned the purse over to Wabs. Felix the Cat nodded. That meant the game could begin. The game the Masked Marvel and Marrione were about to play was continuous pocket billiards. The winning score established by the contestants was one hundred and fifty points. The Masked Marvel won the lag, so Marrione was stuck with the break. Marrione set the cue ball. Using right-hand English, Marrione tried to clip just a piece of the ball in the rear right-hand corner of the triangle. Unfortunately for Marrione, he left the Masked Marvel an opening. The Brooklyn champion electrified all of us by making one shot after another without missing. Everything was working for the Masked Marvel: his follow through, his draw shot, his left-hand English, his right-hand English. He cleared away the trouble balls first, balls which were clustered together near the rails or away from the rack at the foot of the table. He set up ideal breaks, shots in which the