https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/...0190330-duslx46eevhr3cbfnm3fmaqtpu-story.html
Craig Carton waits to learn his fate while the thrill of sports gambling continues to dominate the airwaves
By BOB RAISSMAN
| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
Craig Carton, who makes his living talking, will be listening carefully next Friday.
That’s when he is scheduled to stand before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in a Manhattan Federal courtroom and be sentenced for his role in a Ponzi scheme that defrauded millions of dollars from people who thought they were investing in a ticket resale business. He could get up to 45 years in prison. Sentencing guidelines suggest he will do far less time. Prosecutors have said Carton should serve at least five years.
That does not make Carton’s situation any less troublesome. His case goes back to 2017, when the Feds cold-busted him during an early morning raid on his downtown Manhattan residence. After his arrest, Carton would never return to his highly rated WFAN morning-drive show with Norman Julius Esiason. Like him, love him, or loath him, Carton’s act was tailor made for the Valley of the Stupid. He was a ratings magnet, the King of Sting who turned Mike (Sports Pope) Francesa into his personal pin cushion.
Carton was always cracking wise, always yakking on the edge.
Then his life fell out a skyscraper window. Judging from all the letters of support sent to Judge McMahon, even his close associates, like Esiason and Al Dukes, the show’s producer, didn’t know Carton’s gambling habit was not a punch line – it was an addiction.
“But why (did this happen)?” Christopher Oliviero asked in his letter to the court. Oliviero grew up in the business with Carton and rose to the executive level. He’s known Carton for 20 years.
“This is the question I became fixated on — why?” Oliviero asked. “Why would someone who had a storybook life with a loving wife, four adoring children and a career at the pinnacle of his industry with all the wealth and trappings that come along with it risk it all?”
Oliviero’s concluded his friend was an “out of control” gambler. “He was unable to set limits and unable to walk away,” Oliviero wrote.
Indeed, in a recent memo filed in Federal court, Carton sought leniency because of a gambling addiction and “repeated instances of childhood rape and other childhood trauma.”
It’s stunning neither FanDuel, Draft Kings, or any casinos are posting odds on the sentence Judge McMahon will hand Carton. This is not an attempt at humor. There is nothing funny about this. This is the sick reality of an economy creating more gambling junkies and a media spinning tales about the “hardship” of New Yorkers who are “forced” to travel to New Jersey to place a legal bet.
Yes, step right up, give us your money because it’s legal. And if you can’t pay the mortgage or the rent and your wife and kids leave you, that’s cool too because you lost all your dough LEGALLY. And besides, didn’t you listen to our “warning” tag-line about our 800-number for people with “gambling problems?”
See, no matter the sentence Carton receives, he will eventually return to the microphone. And when he does, he will enter a media world already making big bucks selling “legalized” gambling. On radio and TV, voices are barking harder than dope dealers or big pharmaceutical companies who push opioids. It’s not in any these Gasbags interest to play Scared Straight with their listeners. Instead, they read commercials and make their picks.
When he’s standing in front of the judge on Friday it’s not likely Carton will be thinking about any of this. At some point he will.
When he eventually serves his time and makes good with the people he ripped off, Carton’s story will resonate. It will not just be a cautionary tale, it will be a life changing experience.
Craig Carton is a symbol-in-waiting. Out of self-imposed darkness he can spread the light.
And a harsh reality.
Craig Carton waits to learn his fate while the thrill of sports gambling continues to dominate the airwaves
By BOB RAISSMAN
| NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
Craig Carton, who makes his living talking, will be listening carefully next Friday.
That’s when he is scheduled to stand before U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon in a Manhattan Federal courtroom and be sentenced for his role in a Ponzi scheme that defrauded millions of dollars from people who thought they were investing in a ticket resale business. He could get up to 45 years in prison. Sentencing guidelines suggest he will do far less time. Prosecutors have said Carton should serve at least five years.
That does not make Carton’s situation any less troublesome. His case goes back to 2017, when the Feds cold-busted him during an early morning raid on his downtown Manhattan residence. After his arrest, Carton would never return to his highly rated WFAN morning-drive show with Norman Julius Esiason. Like him, love him, or loath him, Carton’s act was tailor made for the Valley of the Stupid. He was a ratings magnet, the King of Sting who turned Mike (Sports Pope) Francesa into his personal pin cushion.
Carton was always cracking wise, always yakking on the edge.
Then his life fell out a skyscraper window. Judging from all the letters of support sent to Judge McMahon, even his close associates, like Esiason and Al Dukes, the show’s producer, didn’t know Carton’s gambling habit was not a punch line – it was an addiction.
“But why (did this happen)?” Christopher Oliviero asked in his letter to the court. Oliviero grew up in the business with Carton and rose to the executive level. He’s known Carton for 20 years.
“This is the question I became fixated on — why?” Oliviero asked. “Why would someone who had a storybook life with a loving wife, four adoring children and a career at the pinnacle of his industry with all the wealth and trappings that come along with it risk it all?”
Oliviero’s concluded his friend was an “out of control” gambler. “He was unable to set limits and unable to walk away,” Oliviero wrote.
Indeed, in a recent memo filed in Federal court, Carton sought leniency because of a gambling addiction and “repeated instances of childhood rape and other childhood trauma.”
It’s stunning neither FanDuel, Draft Kings, or any casinos are posting odds on the sentence Judge McMahon will hand Carton. This is not an attempt at humor. There is nothing funny about this. This is the sick reality of an economy creating more gambling junkies and a media spinning tales about the “hardship” of New Yorkers who are “forced” to travel to New Jersey to place a legal bet.
Yes, step right up, give us your money because it’s legal. And if you can’t pay the mortgage or the rent and your wife and kids leave you, that’s cool too because you lost all your dough LEGALLY. And besides, didn’t you listen to our “warning” tag-line about our 800-number for people with “gambling problems?”
See, no matter the sentence Carton receives, he will eventually return to the microphone. And when he does, he will enter a media world already making big bucks selling “legalized” gambling. On radio and TV, voices are barking harder than dope dealers or big pharmaceutical companies who push opioids. It’s not in any these Gasbags interest to play Scared Straight with their listeners. Instead, they read commercials and make their picks.
When he’s standing in front of the judge on Friday it’s not likely Carton will be thinking about any of this. At some point he will.
When he eventually serves his time and makes good with the people he ripped off, Carton’s story will resonate. It will not just be a cautionary tale, it will be a life changing experience.
Craig Carton is a symbol-in-waiting. Out of self-imposed darkness he can spread the light.
And a harsh reality.
