Much-loved Montreal-based pro wrestler Sailor White was known for doing odd jobs around town while off duty from his wrestling tours.
Edward John "Sailor" White worked as doorman at Pegs, occasionally worked as a hired tough-guy for gangsters to scare people and sold cocaine in bars.
One night found White with a big pile of the white powder sitting on a table in an illegal after-hours bar, Mama's Deli in LaSalle, near where he lived.
The cocaine was ready to be snorted by the select company that the affable White had at his table.
The after hours place, like many Montreal establishments at the time, illegally sold coffee with cognac all night while customers would sniff or purchase cocaine with varying degrees of discretion.
The massive White wasn't much to look at, as his head featured years of accumulated scars from his habit of slicing his skin with a razor blade, as White firmly believed that audiences liked to see him bleed from the head while in the ring, so he would inflict tiny slices on his skin before and during matches.
Occasionally he'd offer friends or acquaintances impromptu wrestling matches in which he'd invite his would-be rival to slice himself along with him. Few bit at the offer.
On this night, the circle at the table included a couple of loose-women he was trying to impress as well as the usual lunkheads and lost souls.
On the outside of the circle was Bobby Cartman, a wiry guy with a great deal of energy.
Cartman was friends with Roddy Diamond and was present with him at the Dauphin Bar in LaSalle in August 1983 when their pal Gary Dalgleish was shot dead by a Dubois-gang hitman.
Cartman found himself craving the white powdery cocaine in front of White on the table.
Everybody in those circles consumed cocaine during those years, so Cartman's desire didn't make him different from anybody else around.
But the verdict was that Cartman did not merit a taste of the famous wrestler's cocaine.
Cartman, informed of the rejection, had a furtive strategy to get what he wanted that involved stealthy distraction.
Cartman noticed a cockroach running up the wall and made a point of quickly grabbing the fast-running tan-coloured six-legger in his hand.
The others around were impressed by Cartman's dexterity and speed of hand.
But they they reeled in shock as Cartman popped the vile insect into his mouth and swallowed it whole.
As onlookers contemplated Cartman's unexpected display of conspicuous entomophagy, Cartman suddenly made his move, diving headfirst towards the table and inhaling as much cocaine powder as he could until he was pushed away.
The ravenous Cartman needed a few seconds to make a big dent in the large pile before he was pushed away without any further punishment.
Cartman later died of lung cancer.
White was later arrested and convicted of a variety of minor crimes and he got clean but his career staggered along with the ever-declining fortunes of pro wrestling.
He died in 2005 in Newfoundland.
Nobody in Montreal seems to have a bad thing to say about Sailor White.
**
White's equally-large brother Jimmy, however, had a reputation for doing unsavory things unkind to vulnerable people. We cannot confirm whether this reputation was warranted.
Jimmy White's alleged misdeeds included a home invasion on a locally-loved wheelchair-bound man known as Rollie, aka Mr. Rollerskate, a title he earned by doing fancy rollerskating tricks to amuse his fellow residents of Point St. Charles.
Rollie's rollerskating ways ended after diabetes claimed his legs. He would invite people to come see his stamp collection at his apartment on Charron.
One day a thief broke into Rollie's place on Charron and stole the stamps, which were valued at about $400.
The intruder dumped Rollie's wheelchair on top of him before leaving.
Another well-liked local character in the Point was robbed soon after, with the assailant cutting his face with a razor.
One local tough guy concluded that Jimmy White was responsible for both thefts and concocted a plan to enact extrajudicial justice.
The vigilante first asked around to see if Jimmy White was respected by anybody with any clout. He was not.
So the would-be vengeance-seeker purchased an elaborate facial disguise from Charlie Brown's theatre store downtown and grabbed a baseball bat and made his way to Ash Street to Jimmy White's girlfriend's place.
The vigilante waited five minutes until after the lights went out and broke in and found Jimmy White. He hacked away at White in the narrow hallway, swinging up and down, as the hallway was too narrow to swing horizontally, baseball-style.
Jimmy White would alternate arms over his head to block the baseball bat blows to the head.
Eventually the badly-bruised Jimmy White hobbled off to a taxi.
Jimmy White couldn't contact police, as police had a warrant out for his arrest. He took refuge with an uncle but the attacker phoned anonymously and warned him not to harbour Jimmy White. The uncle recognized the vigilante's voice but nothing came of it until St. Patrick's Day when the vigilante and Jimmy White squared off at the annual parade down St. Catherine Street.
That battle ended fast as well, with White once again taking the worst of the affair.
What became of Jimmy White, or even if he was to blame for the crimes attributed to him, remains unknown.
One version has Jimmy White dying in prison but we see no proof of that, so we're wary of suggesting that to be true.
**
Coolopolis loves nothing more than a story about a pro wrestler or boxer hired by the mob to work in the criminal life. For decades gifted Montreal fighters including Charlie Chase, Lionel Deare, Davey Hilton and countless others found employ as mob muscle, including Sailor White's contemporary, pro wrestler George MacArthur, aka Crybaby Cannon.
Crybaby grew up at Canning and St. Antoine and spent part of his youth in a fearsome tandem with giant local bartender Jimmy Boyle, an avid burner of businesses, before going legit.
Coolopolis aims to tell all the stories.
Edward John "Sailor" White worked as doorman at Pegs, occasionally worked as a hired tough-guy for gangsters to scare people and sold cocaine in bars.One night found White with a big pile of the white powder sitting on a table in an illegal after-hours bar, Mama's Deli in LaSalle, near where he lived.
The cocaine was ready to be snorted by the select company that the affable White had at his table.
The after hours place, like many Montreal establishments at the time, illegally sold coffee with cognac all night while customers would sniff or purchase cocaine with varying degrees of discretion.
The massive White wasn't much to look at, as his head featured years of accumulated scars from his habit of slicing his skin with a razor blade, as White firmly believed that audiences liked to see him bleed from the head while in the ring, so he would inflict tiny slices on his skin before and during matches.
Occasionally he'd offer friends or acquaintances impromptu wrestling matches in which he'd invite his would-be rival to slice himself along with him. Few bit at the offer.
On this night, the circle at the table included a couple of loose-women he was trying to impress as well as the usual lunkheads and lost souls.
On the outside of the circle was Bobby Cartman, a wiry guy with a great deal of energy.
Cartman was friends with Roddy Diamond and was present with him at the Dauphin Bar in LaSalle in August 1983 when their pal Gary Dalgleish was shot dead by a Dubois-gang hitman.
Cartman found himself craving the white powdery cocaine in front of White on the table.
Everybody in those circles consumed cocaine during those years, so Cartman's desire didn't make him different from anybody else around.
But the verdict was that Cartman did not merit a taste of the famous wrestler's cocaine.
Cartman, informed of the rejection, had a furtive strategy to get what he wanted that involved stealthy distraction.
Cartman noticed a cockroach running up the wall and made a point of quickly grabbing the fast-running tan-coloured six-legger in his hand.
The others around were impressed by Cartman's dexterity and speed of hand.But they they reeled in shock as Cartman popped the vile insect into his mouth and swallowed it whole.
As onlookers contemplated Cartman's unexpected display of conspicuous entomophagy, Cartman suddenly made his move, diving headfirst towards the table and inhaling as much cocaine powder as he could until he was pushed away.
The ravenous Cartman needed a few seconds to make a big dent in the large pile before he was pushed away without any further punishment.
Cartman later died of lung cancer.
White was later arrested and convicted of a variety of minor crimes and he got clean but his career staggered along with the ever-declining fortunes of pro wrestling.
He died in 2005 in Newfoundland.
Nobody in Montreal seems to have a bad thing to say about Sailor White.
**
White's equally-large brother Jimmy, however, had a reputation for doing unsavory things unkind to vulnerable people. We cannot confirm whether this reputation was warranted.
Jimmy White's alleged misdeeds included a home invasion on a locally-loved wheelchair-bound man known as Rollie, aka Mr. Rollerskate, a title he earned by doing fancy rollerskating tricks to amuse his fellow residents of Point St. Charles.
Rollie's rollerskating ways ended after diabetes claimed his legs. He would invite people to come see his stamp collection at his apartment on Charron.
One day a thief broke into Rollie's place on Charron and stole the stamps, which were valued at about $400.
The intruder dumped Rollie's wheelchair on top of him before leaving.
Another well-liked local character in the Point was robbed soon after, with the assailant cutting his face with a razor.
One local tough guy concluded that Jimmy White was responsible for both thefts and concocted a plan to enact extrajudicial justice.
The vigilante first asked around to see if Jimmy White was respected by anybody with any clout. He was not.
So the would-be vengeance-seeker purchased an elaborate facial disguise from Charlie Brown's theatre store downtown and grabbed a baseball bat and made his way to Ash Street to Jimmy White's girlfriend's place.
The vigilante waited five minutes until after the lights went out and broke in and found Jimmy White. He hacked away at White in the narrow hallway, swinging up and down, as the hallway was too narrow to swing horizontally, baseball-style.
Jimmy White would alternate arms over his head to block the baseball bat blows to the head.
Eventually the badly-bruised Jimmy White hobbled off to a taxi.
Jimmy White couldn't contact police, as police had a warrant out for his arrest. He took refuge with an uncle but the attacker phoned anonymously and warned him not to harbour Jimmy White. The uncle recognized the vigilante's voice but nothing came of it until St. Patrick's Day when the vigilante and Jimmy White squared off at the annual parade down St. Catherine Street.
That battle ended fast as well, with White once again taking the worst of the affair.
What became of Jimmy White, or even if he was to blame for the crimes attributed to him, remains unknown.
One version has Jimmy White dying in prison but we see no proof of that, so we're wary of suggesting that to be true.
**
Coolopolis loves nothing more than a story about a pro wrestler or boxer hired by the mob to work in the criminal life. For decades gifted Montreal fighters including Charlie Chase, Lionel Deare, Davey Hilton and countless others found employ as mob muscle, including Sailor White's contemporary, pro wrestler George MacArthur, aka Crybaby Cannon.
Crybaby grew up at Canning and St. Antoine and spent part of his youth in a fearsome tandem with giant local bartender Jimmy Boyle, an avid burner of businesses, before going legit.
Coolopolis aims to tell all the stories.
Sailor scared timid people, but he never scared me..
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