And so this must go…
Over the last two years I have had several near misses with illegal poker games. Two illegal home games I played in regularly were raided, and a third one I played in whenever I was in New York was raided as a part of the latest crackdown. In one case I simply decided not to go to the game after losing $100 at another game, and drove home instead of driving into a SWAT team raid that would surely have earned me a misdemeanor and a lighter wallet.
A fourth game I played in shut down before getting raided. That game was populated by 15 and 16 year olds betting $200 and $300 each. It would have most certainly resulted in an aggressive prosecution.
In the wake of these raids I began writing and interviewing the defendants and produced an article. However as an accord to one of the defendants I held off on my article until it was no longer newsworthy. Nevertheless I submitted it unsuccessfully to several publications. Receiving no answer back, I have concluded that it’s time to let go of this project that hangs over me like an albatross.
Off it goes. If you cooperated with me in writing it, I thank you. Your secrets are safe with me.
Sorry to hear about your troubles with the story on illegal games. I know that you invested a lot of time and effort into researching and writing the piece over the past two years. I can imagine that it’s not easy to “let it go.”