Anthony Veranis
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Anthony Veranis, also known as "Mickey White" and "Tony" (June 15, 1938 – April 25, 1966) was an associate of the Winter Hill Gang and a professional welterweight boxer.
Biography
Early life
Veranis was born in
When he was young his parents would take him to the
' younger brother James.He attended public high school in Boston and was considered by officials in the Massachusetts correctional system to be a "persistent delinquent" when he was prepubescent to the time of a teenager. As Veranis was incarcerated in 1950 at Lyman Correctional School, he was anonymously involved in the Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency (UJD) study conducted by Harvard University professors Sheldon Glueck and Eleanor (Touroff) Glueck, discovering the causes of juvenile delinquency and adult crime and assessing the overall effectiveness of correctional treatment in controlling criminal careers.
Boxing career
As a teenager he was sent to the Lyman Correction School (now the Lyman School for Boys), the United States' first reform school located in Westborough, Massachusetts. While serving time there, infamous boxer and fight manager Clement Stein Jr. saw him in bouts and got him enlisted in an amateur boxing league when he was released. He boxed with an orthodox stance. In 1957, at the age of eighteen he became a professional welterweight boxer. During his professional boxing career he was sponsored by the boxing equipment and sportswear company Ben Lee. Friends later said that he was quiet, polite and anxious to do well.
On December 8, 1956, he fought against Al Pepin in
When boxing against Bobby Murphy on December 3, 1957, he dropped Murphy in the seventh round. Murphy rose up off the ring floor but was badly battered when referee Eddie Curley called a stop to the match. On December 17, 1957, he fought against Barry Allison, who at the time was the New England Middleweight champion. His middleweight title was not at stake though, and Veranis was disqualified. On February 13, 1958, Veranis knocked out Silby Ford for a mandatory eight count in the fifth round. He broke Ford's jaw and dislodged several teeth that sent him down. Ford was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital following Anthony's victory. On March 1, 1958, he fought for the New England Middleweight Champion title against Barry Allison whose title was up for grabs and lost. On March 17, 1958, he fought his last professional match against Joe Devlin.
Suffering from blackouts
After boxing Gunboat Steeves (he had previously boxed against him on February 28, 1957) in Holyoke, Massachusetts, he started to suffer from severe headaches. He was knocked out by Joe Devlin in every round. After the fight he passed out and was taken to Boston City Hospital where he remained in a coma until June 1958. This was his last professional boxing match.
In September 1964 after returning to the ring and fighting Pineapple Stevenson, he blacked out while fighting, and woke up in the hospital again. During that match he had put Pineapple Stevenson in a coma. Anthony himself started to suffer from extremely bad migraines, nausea, blurry vision with the inability to focus, and temporary mood swings that changed his behavior. It is unknown if he sought professional rehabilitation at a hospital to help these symptoms that plagued him. He told to a friend, "I thought my life was over when I couldn't fight anymore. I was filled with self-pity, I started drinking again and I got into trouble." It is also thought that not being able to box anymore caused him severe depression which brought him to start drinking heavily and becoming incapacitated with alcohol on a regular basis.
Out of 29 matches he won 25, although never was able to obtain the welterweight championship belt as it was not available to him the first time and lost it in 1958, lost two matches and was disqualified from one.
Criminal career
He was arrested for an unidentified crime on December 23, 1963, and sent to
Death and afterward
On April 25, 1966, a month after his release from prison
References
- "Veranis Found Self- Too Late", The Massachusetts Globe, by Bud Collins April 27, 1965
- Crime in the Making: Pathways and Turning Points through Life by Robert J. Sampson and John L. Laub
- https://web.archive.org/web/20080513042605/http://thebrothersbulger.com/Anthony%20%28Tony%29%20Veranis.htm