I think that the holidays feel like frozen noses. I love walking with the dog for long periods of time.

Hopefully it's snowing and you've got to wrap up warm. So I think a frozen nose is a sweaty armpit

because your wrapped up so warm but then you're climbing hamps and heath and you get to the top

and you're like, and then you can see the breath but then your nose is still freezing to touch.

Joy in every sip with red cups now back at Starbucks.

This show contains strong language and descriptions of violent acts.

Listener discretion is advised.

Today we're going deep on something we touched on in episode 1 but felt there was more to explore.

Don King and the numbers gain.

Don's past as a numbers running kingpin was just as big a part of his story as his work in the fight game

and the media made sure we all knew.

He was the biggest numbers boss in Cleveland and was grossing $15,000 a day.

This former numbers racketeer now runs a vast corporation with an estimated worth of $100 million.

Don King the numbers barren, the numbers are the numbers kingpin.

The numbers game or number racket was an unofficial form of the lottery system

that successfully ran through our low income black communities in the mid-20th century.

How was it played?

Well, someone would drop by a busy spot where folks hung out like a barber shop or the neighborhood bar.

They placed a three-digit bet on a slip with a bookie.

From there, a runner, someone like Don, would carry the betting slips in the cash between the location and the numbers bank.

One lucky person with the winnie three digits would collect all the cash, you know, like the lottery.

The runner's got to cut from the winner for their services.

...