a paint can a half-hour after the on-air drawing was done. Drawing Perry was the host of The Daily Number on April 24, 1980, when the drawing produced the number "666" for a then-record payout of $3.5 million ($ today) — including $1.18 million ($ today) that went to eight people in on the scam, while six million Pennsylvanians watched that night never knowing that the fix was in. Lottery authorities and local bookmakers became suspicious when they noticed that a large number of tickets were purchased for the eight possible combinations, and a handful of players came forward to claim approximately $1.8 million ($ today) of the then-record $3.5 million payout ($ today). On the date of the drawing, the Maragos brothers traveled around Pennsylvania buying large quantities of tickets containing the eight possible numbers. The investigation was broken open when an anonymous tip led to a bar near Philadelphia where the brothers had bought a large number of lottery tickets. An employee remembered the brothers coming into the bar with a platinum-blonde woman and laying down a large amount of cash to buy lottery tickets, all on the eight specific numbers. The employee recalled that while he printed the tickets, one of the brothers made a pay phone call, spoke in a foreign language, and held up the phone so the listener could hear the lottery machine printing the tickets. Investigators pulled the phone records and traced the call to the WTAE-TV announcer's booth in the studio where the drawing was done. This strongly implicated Perry, and Maragos confirmed under questioning that the conversation had been with Perry (in Greek). Further investigation and questioning of the Maragos brothers eventually implicated the rest of the conspirators. William Moran of Fairmont, West Virginia, organized the out-of-state buying of additional lottery tickets for a numbers-running scam. It was later revealed that the Maragos brothers also placed bets on the eight numbers with local bookmakers who had illegal numbers games that used the lottery drawing as the winning result. The brothers also told friends and family which numbers to play. All of this may have contributed to the conspiracy's downfall, with the greater influx of slanted bets. Aftermath A grand jury was assembled and charges were leveled against all seven men. Plevel was convicted and spent two years in prison. Bock, Luman, and Moran pleaded guilty in exchange for lighter sentences. The