Credit: Dayton Daily News
The recording was made from a concealed microphone using 1980s technology, so parts are hard to hear. But you can discern Skinner pressing Rose for his unpaid debts, and Rose admit he was gambling with another bookmaker.
Dayton Police Detective Sgt. Dennis K. Haller told Hills before Haller’s death that he believed Skinner was an FBI informant — whom the feds went to great lengths to protect — and the exposure of Rose’s gambling could be traced back to his failure to pay Skinner.
This story is part of a series Gem City Gamble: Dayton’s history of police corruption, organized crime and the downfall of Pete Rose. The series is based heavily on Hills’ notes and interviews with Haller, which Haller asked to not be reported until after he died, which happened in 2023.
GEM CITY GAMBLE
A project from the Dayton Daily News
Former Dayton police Detective Dennis Haller’s career spanned a dark time for the Dayton Police Department. Haller was a source for Dayton Daily News reporter Wes Hills, who retired in 2004 after 30 years at the paper, and agreed to share information with Hills on the condition it stay confidential until Haller’s death, which happened in 2023.
Now, we bring you Gem City Gamble, a series that uses Hills’ interviews and notes to shed new light on the largest police corruption scandal in city history and how police wiretapping and a spurned bookie may have contributed to the downfall of baseball legend Pete Rose.
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