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II. Summary of Report

As detailed more extensively herein, Pete Rose has denied under oath ever betting on Major League Baseball or associating with anyone who bet on Major League Baseball. However, the investigation has developed information to the contrary. the testimony and the documentary evidence gathered in the course of the investigation demonstrated that Pete Rose bet on baseball, and in particular, on games of the Cincinnati Reds Baseball Club during the 1985, 1986, and 1987 seasons. [ 3 ]

The evidence showed that with few exceptions, Rose did not deal directly with bookmakers but rather placed his bets through others. As discussed in Section III, during the 1985 and 1986 seasons, Rose placed bets on baseball with Ron Peters, a bookmaker in Franklin, Ohio. Although Rose placed his bets with Peters primarily through Tommy Gioiosa, on several occasions Rose placed bets on baseball games, including Cincinnati Reds games, directly with Peters. Rose's dealings with Gioiosa, and ultimately with Peters, are corroborated by the testimony of others and by Rose's own financial records as well. Rose admitted placing bets with Gioiosa on football and basketball games, but denied placing any bets on baseball games.

The evidence also showed that Rose placed bets through another friend, Michael Bertolini. Bertolini, in turn, placed bets on Rose's behalf with an unidentified bookmaker in New York City. One source of this information is a 1988 tape recorded conversation between Bertolini and another of Rose's associates, Paul Janszen. During that conversation, Bertolini mentioned, among other things, that Rose had incurred substantial debts to Bertolini and the New York bookmaker and that Rose had given Bertolini personal checks which Bertolini had had cashed and the proceeds sent to the New York bookmaker. Rose's financial records reveal checks in the amounts described by Bertolini, made out by Rose to fictitious payees. Rose denied placing bets with Bertolini and denied owing anyone money. Rose acknowledged sending eleven $8,000 checks to Bertolini made out to fictitious payees but said that these check were loans to Bertolini to be used as payments to athletes for baseball card shows.

During the 1987 baseball season, Rose utilized Paul Janszen to place his baseball bets after Rose and Gioiosa had a falling out in the spring of 1987. Janszen relayed Rose's baseball bets to an acquaintance of Rose, Steve Chevashore, who in turn placed Rose's bets with a bookmaker in Staten Island, New York, identified only as "Val." Rose's betting on professional baseball, including Reds games, was testified to by Janszen and his girlfriend, Danita Marcum, and was discussed during a taped telephone conversation between Janszen and Chevashore. Rose's betting on baseball is further corroborated by betting records from Rose's home which have been identified by an expert as being in Rose's handwriting. Rose has denied ever placing any bets with Janszen at any time.

In May, 1987, "Val" refused to accept bets on behalf of Rose due to Rose's failure to pay his gambling debts. Thereafter, Rose's baseball bets were again placed with Ron Peters. However, instead of being placed by Gioiosa, Rose's bets were placed with Peters by Janszen. Between May and July 1987, Rose bet with Peters $2,000 per game on baseball, including Reds games. Rose's betting on baseball was also witnessed by Jim Procter and Dave Bernstein who were acquaintances of Janszen.

Section IV analyzes the documentary evidence, including Pete Rose's betting sheets, the betting notebook maintained by Paul Janszen, and the betting records of Ron Peters. These documents have been analyzed by an expert in gambling investigations who has verified that they reflect actual games played and actual betting lines.

Finally, Section V summarizes the 1987 betting activity, incorporating information from the betting sheets and telephone traffic between Rose, Janszen, Chevashore, "Val" and Peters between April 8, 1987 and July 5, 1987. As stated by the gambling expert, telephone records indicating short but frequent telephone calls to and from bettors, and to bookmakers, are indicative of professional betting activity. In addition, the timing of the calls lends further corroboration to the statements of the witnesses questioned during the investigation.

Thus, in sum, the accumulated testimony of witnesses, together with the documentary evidence and telephone records reveal extensive betting activity by Pete Rose in connection with professional baseball and, in particular, Cincinnati Reds games, during the 1985, 1986, and 1987 baseball seasons.

Footnotes:

3) No evidence was discovered that Rose bet against the Cincinnati Reds.

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