Frank Palermo

Frank "Blinky" Palermo (1905–1996) was an organized crime figure who surreptitiously owned prize-fighters and fixed fights; he was best known for fixing the Jake LaMotta-Billy Fox fight in 1947. An associate of the Philadelphia crime family, Palermo also ran the City of Brotherly Love's biggest numbers racket.

Blinky's partner was Mafioso Frankie Carbo, a soldier in New York's Lucchese Family who had been a gunman with Murder, Inc.

In addition to Billy Fox, the professional fighters that Palermo owned outright or under the table included World Welterweight champion Virgil Akins, number three-ranked heavyweight contender Clarence Henry, World Welterweight Champion Johnny Saxton, heavyweight contender Coley Wallace, and Lightweight Champion Ike Williams.

Palermo would cheat members of his stable out of their share of the purses of their fights.

Known as "Blackjack", Fox started off his career in a fashion reminiscent of the rise of heavweight champ Primo Carnera (owned by mobster Owney Madden) and of future welterweight champ Johnny Saxton (whose contract was owned by Palermo) by winning 36 consecutive fights, all by knockout, before he was knocked out by Gus Lesnevich for the world light heavyweight title. He would rack up seven more wins, including a win in a notorious bout allegedly thrown by Jake LaMotta. The LaMotta fight was fixed by Palermo, who owned Fox under the table.

Many boxing aficionados did not consider Fox a fighter talented enough to have obtained his lofty ranking without the help of Palermo. After the LaMotta debacle, which was immortalized in Martin Scorsese's movie Raging Bull, Fox lost to Red Willis Applegate and Gus Lesnevich, to whom he lost in the first round by a knockout in 1:58 seconds.

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