Horse Painting and Racetrack Corruption in the Early Depression-Era War on Crime
Notorious horse painter Paddy Barrie worked for betting rings and Prohibition-era gangsters in North America and eluded capture by the Pinkertons for several years.
Paddy Barrie was a lesser-known racetrack fraudster and swindler who skilfully altered the colours and markings of thoroughbred horses. Fast-paced winners were disguised as plodders to ensure illegal betting rings won both prizes and long betting odds.
Scots-born Barrie was a self-made career criminal working for major gangster and organised crime figures in Prohibition-era America. The Pinkertons took three years to capture and deport Barrie.
This essay underlines how important gambling was to organised crime in this period, that elite racetracks were entwined with racketeering, and that “organised” criminal enterprises were much more multi-layered, diverse, and unstable than stereotypes suggest.
Read the essay
Published: December 2021
Journal of American Studies
Gangsters, swindlers, elite thoroughbreds, the glamour of the racetracks, and a long-forgotten criminal celebrity from the Prohibition era – this project was hard to ignore.
As a successful racetrack swindler in Britain and North America, Barrie was at the forefront of a vibrant criminal Atlantic in the early 20th century.
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Photo credits
These images are reproduced with thanks to the State Archives of Florida and Newspapers.com.
Romer, G. W.(Gleason Waite), 1887-1971. Group of flamingos at beautiful Hialeah race course - Hialeah, Florida. 1934 (circa). State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory.
Romer, G. W.(Gleason Waite), 1887-1971. Grandstand from the paddock, Miami Jockey Club. 1933. State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory.