Editing Don King (section)

=== Bookmaking and killings ===
Beginning in 1951, King ran an illegal [[Bookmaker|bookmaking]] operation out of the basement of a record store on [[Kinsman Road]], earning the byname "The Kid", as well as the nicknames "Kingpin" and "the Numbers Czar".<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Machado Zotti |first=Priscilla H. |title=Injustice for All: "Mapp vs. Ohio and the Fourth Amendment |date=January 31, 2005 |publisher=Peter Lang Publishing Inc. |isbn=978-0820472676 |pages=8–10 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Donald |first=McRae |title=Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing |date=June 5, 2014 |publisher=Simon & Schuster UK |isbn=978-1471135385}}</ref> During this time, King was charged with killing two men in incidents 13 years apart. On  December 2, 1954, King fatally shot Hillary Brown in the back while he and two accomplices were attempting to rob one of King's gambling houses on East 123rd Street. This first killing was determined to be [[justifiable homicide]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kang |first=Jay Caspian |date=April 4, 2013 |title=The End and Don King |url=https://grantland.com/features/don-king-faces-end-career/ |access-date= |website=Grantland |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 8, 2009 |title=Don King: Monarch of mayhem is loud and proud as lord of the rings |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/others/don-king-monarch-of-mayhem-is-loud-and-proud-as-lord-of-the-rings-1639702.html |website=The Independent}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1995-10-15 |title=Sports of The Times;'Trickeration' Trial Of Promoter Don King (Published 1995) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/15/sports/sports-of-the-times-trickeration-trial-of-promoter-don-king.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240619052849/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/15/sports/sports-of-the-times-trickeration-trial-of-promoter-don-king.html |archive-date=June 19, 2024 |access-date= |work=The New York Times |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref>

On April 20, 1966, King killed an employee, 34-year-old Sam Garrett, in an open street in front of several witnesses, for owing $600 in debt. King beat and kicked Garrett and held a [[.357 Magnum|.357 magnum]] revolver to his head; Garrett never regained consciousness and died of severe head trauma on April 24.<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=April 25, 1966 |title=Gambling Figure Dies Of Beating |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HsVOAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA30 |work=Toledo Blade |pages=30}}</ref> King claimed self-defense, while the prosecution, supported by witness testimony, including that of arresting police officer Bob Tonne, argued that Garrett was attacked by King, with Garrett's last words being quoted as "Don, I'll pay you the money."<ref name=":4" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Matthews |first=David |title=Looking for a Fight |year=2000 |isbn=978-0747214397 |pages=131 |publisher=Headline |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Newsfield |first=Jack |title=The Life and Crimes of Don King: The Shame of Boxing in America |date=December 1, 2003 |isbn=978-0974020105 |pages=29 |publisher=UNET 2 Corporation |language=en}}</ref> He was convicted of [[First degree murder in the United States|second-degree murder]] for the second killing in 1967 and sentenced to one-to-twenty years imprisonment.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=ESPN Classic - Only in America |url=http://www.espn.com/classic/biography/s/King_Don.html |access-date=2023-04-03 |website=www.espn.com}}</ref> While he served his term at the [[Marion Correctional Institution (Ohio)|Marion Correctional Institution]],<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 27, 1977 |title=Don King's Bouts Shift To Texas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/27/archives/don-kings-bouts-shift-to-texas.html |work=The New York Times |pages=175}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1975-06-30 |title=Sport: From Killer to King |url=https://time.com/archive/6851358/sport-from-killer-to-king/ |access-date= |magazine=Time |language=en}}</ref> he began self-education; according to his own words, he read everything in the [[prison library]] he could get his hands on.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHf458Xs9W8&t=144s METV Special Report Don King]. Quote: "I learned this here, ... in the penitentiary, in reading everything that I can find my hands on, and didn't living the life that I live before I got to the penitentiary. That gave me an Enlightenment on life that don't get mad, get smart. That's why I want other kids to educate themselves, put it in their brain, they can't take that away."</ref>
<blockquote>I learned this here, in the ... penitentiary, in reading everything that I can find my hands on, and didn't living the life that I live before I got to the penitentiary. That gave me an enlightenment on life that "don't get mad, get smart." That's why I want other kids to educate themselves, put it in their brain, they can't take that away.</blockquote>

In 1972 after serving three years and eleven months,<ref name="ESPN Classic - Only in America" /> King was released when his attorney got the conviction reduced to manslaughter.<ref name=":4" /> King was pardoned in 1983 by Ohio Governor [[Jim Rhodes]], with letters from [[Jesse Jackson]], [[Coretta Scott King]], [[George Voinovich]], [[Art Modell]], and [[Gabe Paul]], among others, being written in support of King.<ref name="nytimes pardoned">[https://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/05/sports/sports-people-don-king-pardoned.html "SPORTS PEOPLE; Don King Pardoned"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', January 5, 1983. Accessed May 29, 2011.</ref>