Lakers coaching contract vanishes after suspected Mob hit on Jerry Tarkanian's agent

In June 1979, Victor J. Weiss, a 51-year-old sports promoter and longtime friend of basketball coach Jerry Tarkanian, was murdered in Los Angeles, a killing that remains unsolved. Weiss had been negotiating a deal for Tarkanian to become head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, but the contract paperwork disappeared with him. The murder bore the hallmarks of a Mafia hit: Weiss was found shot twice in the back of the head, hands tied, wrapped in a blanket in the trunk of his Rolls-Royce at a hotel in North Hollywood. Author Dan Moldea, who has investigated the case, suspects Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, the Chicago Outfit's enforcer in Las Vegas, was responsible. Weiss had accumulated gambling debts and was allegedly skimming money from mobsters. After Weiss's death, Tarkanian withdrew his candidacy, and the Lakers hired Jack McKinney instead. The case has been revisited in Michael Connelly's writings and the HBO series "Winning Time." Tarkanian remained at UNLV, later winning a national title in 1990 and being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. He died in 2015. The Mob Museum plans a panel discussion on the case this fall.