Few bookies have ever had a better cover for their activities than Martin Wanzig, 42, of Chicago. Judged by the standards of his high-paying profession, his average under-the-counter traffic was modest: seldom over $35 a day. But his clientele was loyal and steady. As a patient-orderly at Chicago State Hospital, a 385-acre mental institution, Wanzig enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the betting of 5,000-odd potential horse players.
Patient Wanzig (diagnosis: schizophrenic with suicidal tendencies) operated with remarkable freedom until last month, when police discovered that a nurse at Chicago State had killed...