Robert Angleton
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Robert Nicholas Angleton (born 1948) is an infamous bookmaker in Houston, Texas.
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[edit] Family and Childhood
Robert Angleton's father was Nicholas Angleton. Before moving to America, the Greek cabin boy jumped ship at Port Lavaca, Texas in the 1920s. He moved to the East Coast, married, and worked a construction job building barracks in World War II. After the war, Nicholas Angleton started building garden apartments.
Robert, or Bob, Angleton was born in 1948. Robert's brother, Roger Nicholas Angleton was born in 1942. They were born into a wealthy family, and Nicholas took the boys to Greece frequently.
[edit] Education
Robert shaped himself into an obedient, sophisticated, and controlling person. He majored in the arts and sciences at Syracuse University, and moved to Florida in the late 1970s with his brother. Robert married an airline stewardess named Lollie. The brothers had a restaurant which later went under.
[edit] Career
In the late seventies, the brothers Angleton moved to Houston, Texas. Roger entered into real estate while Bob sold used cars. At first, Roger was more successful than his brother.
[edit] Bookmaking
Spurred by his rivalry with his brother, Robert became a bookmaker. The used car business went bankrupt and Bob became a full time bookmaker.
Sometime in the late 1970s or early 1980s, Robert fell in love with Doris McGowen Beck. Doris was married to a man named William Beck. Robert and Doris divorced their spouses and were married shortly after (1982). On August 1, 1984, Doris gave birth to Nicole Angleton and Alessandra Angleton, their two twin girls. They had settled into Bellaire, Texas by the early 1980s.
Robert fired his brother Roger Angleton from his betting operations in August 1990. Roger had been committing extortion against Bob. He demanded money that he felt that Bob owed him, and threatened many punishments, including ratting Bob out.
Robert Angleton cornered the Houston sports betting market by ratting out his smaller rivals to the Houston Police Department, and in agreement, they never arrested him. Some estimates said that he brought in more than $1 million (United States dollars) per year. Robert eventually grew so rich that he moved his family to River Oaks. Doris and Robert had very different personalities; Doris was warm and sociable, thus winning many friends.
[edit] Coaching
Part-time he was the coach of his daughter's softball team, who were unaware of his nefarious affairs until the murder of his wife. His daughters played second base and catcher. The team's name was The Magic.
[edit] Exposure
Doris Angleton was murdered on April 16, 1997, which helped expose Bob's bookmaking. Roger Angleton committed the crime. Robert was 48 years old at the time his wife was murdered. The state of Texas believed that Robert and Roger had a blood contract. Since Doris was divorcing Robert, she would have taken a share of his profits, and she would have exposed his bookmaking scheme.
When Roger committed suicide in jail, he left a note admitting his guilt but exonerating his brother Robert. In that note he claimed that the evidence against Robert has been manufactured so that he could blackmail his brother.
The state of Texas found him innocent on the charge that he murdered his wife, but the state fined him because of his bookmaking.
However, the United States Department of Justice decided to indict him on January 24, 2002, for conspiring to murder his wife, which is a different charge than the crime with which the Texas court charged him. He was supposed to keep an ankle bracelet on. However, he fled the country on June 12, 2003, with three false passports. He was supposed to be at the trial five days later, on June 17.
He was arrested the same day for passport fraud in the Netherlands, and could have been sent back to the United States. He had carried $135,000 worth of cash and jewelry.
The Dutch had scheduled an extradition hearing in January 2004. He was also charged on passport fraud (he used false identification under the name Alan Edward August) and bail evasion. His $300,000 bail was withdrawn. A man named Lorenzo Sarinas was accused of obtaining the false passports for Robert Angleton.
A Dutch court ruled that the Dutch extradition treaty forbids him from being sent to the U.S. to be tried for her murder, because of the Texas verdict. He was eventually extradited after a U.S. Federal Court ruled that, if extradited, he could not be tried Federally for murder due to the treaty. He was subsequently convicted of tax evasion and passport fraud, and he was sentenced to twelve years in prison. Angleton may be released as early as 2014.
The murder of Doris Angleton was featured in a 48 Hours Mystery television episode originally airing on CBS in June 2002. There was also an update to the story which aired on March 11, 2006. A show summary is available at Texas Confidential: Who Killed the Bookies Wife?
