A “compulsive lottery player” pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing a staggering $2.3 million from Manhattan condo and co-op buildings he managed in order to feed his gambling addiction. Richard Bassick, 67, now faces 5 to 15 years behind bars (the Post offered this cringeworthy lede: “His unlucky numbers turned out to be 5 and 15”). Bassick apparently had an obsessive drive to play the lottery, as “almost all” of the stolen money he collected from January 2005 to August 2009 went to games in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. “It was a weekly ritual for him,” defense attorney Michael Soshnick said, “He didn’t have any viable defense.” Soshnick went on to get somewhat hostile in speculating on Bassick’s future: “I hope when he gets out, it’ll be on his own two feet and not in a pine box that would be a particularly pathetic way to pass into the next world.”
Manhattan man pleads guilty to stealing to feed his lottery habit [NYP]
