"We Was Robbed!"

The Friday night crowd at Long Island's Roosevelt Raceway was in a festive mood. In the grandstand, beer cans rattled and pari-mutuel machines beat a steady thunk, thunk, thunk. In the Cloud Casino, champagne corks popped and waiters served steaks. For some, it was just a night at the races. But most were drawn there by a fantasy of instant wealth.

Just two nights before, Joseph Mariano, 39, a Waterbury, Conn., bartender, had made an alltime record killing $79,660.30 on a $2 ticket--by picking four straight winners in Roosevelt's "twin double." Now, as eight pacers raced toward the finish of the sixth race, 23,127 fans clutched their own twin doubles (85,574 of them) and prayed for Lady Luck to come through again.

In the back stretch, one pacer stepped into the wheel of an opponent's sulky, stumbled--and in an instant the track was littered with horses and drivers. Only two entries managed to skirt the pile-up and keep going. The crowd sat stunned as attendants rushed onto the track to administer to the writhing animals and cart an injured driver off to the hospital. But when the track paid off on the two that finished and voided tickets on the six fallen horses--all legitimate according to the rules--horror turned to unreasoning anger.

"We was robbed!" came the battle cry. A youth hurdled a 3 1/2-ft. fence onto the track, brandished a fist--and hundreds swarmed after him. They attacked the judge's booth at the finish line, injuring John DeMatteo, who was pinned inside. They threw bottles at the infield tote board until the lights that indicate the amount of money bet finally winked out. They pulled a sulky from the paddock and set it afire. Bands of vandals dashed wildly through the stands, breaking windows, lighting bonfires, ripping program booths apart.

Within minutes, 150 police converged on the track in 50 radio cars Frenzied rioters beat one patrolman nearly to death. Conrad Rothengast 65, Roosevelt's security chief and onetime chief of New York City's 20,000 uniformed police, dropped dead of a heart attack. For more than an hour the battle raged on. When it was finally quelled, 35 people were injured, 15 fans were arrested, and damage to Roosevelt Raceway was estimated at more than $15,000.

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