Pete Rose's former associate Tommy Gioiosa said in an interview Tuesday with ESPN he was not paid for his comments in the upcoming issue of Vanity Fair magazine and hopes the article will help some people.
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Who is Tommy Gioiosa?
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What was Tommy Gioiosa's involvement with Pete Rose?
The two met in 1978 at spring training in Florida, where Gioiosa, from New Bedford, Mass., was playing in a community college baseball tournament.
Over the next few years, Gioiosa became a constant companion and runner for Rose, moving in with Rose and his family in 1978. After Rose's divorce in 1980, Gioiosa shared a condo with Rose.
Gioiosa and Don Stenger, an invester in a Cincinnati gym, started bringing Rose to the gym in the fall of 1984. According to evidence, Gioiosa started running bets for Rose around that time. Around February of 1985, Gioiosa took over as manager of the gym.
The only person with whom Rose acknowledged making bets was Gioiosa, with whom Rose said he placed bets on pro football and college and pro basketball games from 1984-88.
Gioiosa was convicted in September of 1989 in federal court in Cincinnati. He was sentenced to five years in federal prision and served a little over three years.
Convicted for taking part in a conspiracy that sold 110 pounds of cocaine in the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana area.
Convicted for lying when he claimed the entire $47,646 Pik-Six win at nearby Turfway Park on his 1987 taxes.
Convicted for conspiring to defraud the government by hiding all of the owners of the Pik-Six, including Rose.
-- Source: ESPN.com news services and the Dowd Report.
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In the article, which will be available nationally Aug. 14, Gioiosa alleges that Rose bet on baseball while he was manager of the Cincinnati Reds, used a corked bat, invested money in a cocaine deal and taught him to forge Rose's signature on memorabilia.
"I've been living, watching programs portraying me as a thug, as a gorilla," Gioiosa told ESPN. "I was the one guy that was willing to put 38 years of my life on the line and go to trial, out of loyalty to Pete Rose, and not cooperate with the government or the baseball investigation.
"If Pete Rose would have said 'thank you, Tommy, for my loyalty, and I appreciate it,' we wouldn't be here today, I would have taken it to my grave."
Gioiosa met Rose in 1978 during spring training in Florida. He moved in with Rose and his family in later 1978 and the two shared a condo after Rose's divorce in 1980.
Rose emphatically denied all the allegations in an interview with ESPN.com's Jayson Stark. "I could care less about it," said Rose, referring to the Vanity Fair article.
Baseball's all-time hits leader also claimed that Gioiosa was paid by Vanity Fair. The author of the Vanity Fair story, Buzz Bissinger, denied the allegation.
"Of course, the guy's going to say he didn't pay Gioiosa no money," Rose told ESPN.com "But he (Gioiosa) was in Cincinnati, bragging that they paid him $75,000."
Gioiosa, who went to jail in 1990 after refusing to cooperate with a Rose investigation, answered critics who have question his motives and credibility saying he has no reason to lie.
"The fact that I didn't cooperate, the fact that I stayed loyal with Pete, the fact that I lived with Pete Rose, for many years. ... I just think that my credibility is there for coming out with it now," Gioiosa said. "For me to say that Pete bet on baseball is not easy for me.
"Pete had a gambling addiction, and if he was betting on basketball and football, why not baseball? He knew baseball best."
Gioiosa said he doesn't have any documents corroborating story.
Among other topics Gioiosa addressed in his interview with ESPN:
On Rose's gambling addiction: "I really don't believe Pete Rose did this to hurt the game of baseball, I think the addiction took over and he just ran with it thinking he was above the game." (Note: Gioiosa says his role was to either collect or pay bookies $1,000 bets on games from Rose.
On betting on the Reds: "It was just another number on the page, that's what it was, if it was number four on the page, and it said Reds, playing Montreal or whatever it was, it was just another number."
On Rose corking his bat: "Pete was losing the snap in his bat and was hunting down the 4,191 (hits) record of Ty Cobb and he showed it to me in laughter. I asked him what would happen if it cracked and he said "there'd be cork all over the (expletive) field."
On forging Rose's signature for memorabilia: "I practiced and I got very good at it, and at his request, I signed 'em. ... I thought if Pete Rose said it was OK, then it was OK."
On Rose investing in cocaine: "Pete was gambling large sums of money and the people that I worked out with, they were friends of mine, they were cocaine dealers and they had plenty of cash and Pete needed cash. ... Pete said 'Get me involved in this kilo stuff.' I've never seen Pete use cocaine or deal cocaine. He made an investment to help cover his gambling."
On Rose hiding cash: "He'd open up the freezer and there'd be maybe $100,000 in stacks of $10,000 in the refrigerator. Then he got it out of the refrigerator and thought of a great idea of hiding it in the drop ceiling down the steps into our basement. One time I found a stack when changing light bulb that he thought he'd lost (at track).
Gioiosa said he hopes the Vanity Fair article will help some people. He also said hasn't talked to Rose in 12 years.
"I think if I would've spoken out earlier, I think Pete Rose may have went to prison for a little longer time than he thought," Gioiosa said.
Not so Rosey allegations
