A South Philadelphia numbers racket was the subject of an investigative report issued by Philadelphia Police Commissioner Thomas J. Gibbons in June 1956. The South Philly area was a bastion for gambler/boxing promoter Frank "Blinky" Palermo, who controlled such fighters as Ike Williams and Charles "Sonny" Liston. This was an era when Angelo Bruno had just succeeded Marco Reginelli as crime boss in Philadelphia. A Philadelphia Inquirer story of June 15th revealed that police had taken payoffs from gamblers like Palermo and Michael George Switz.