Vintage Dayton: Jan. 10, 2025

Former Dayton police Detective Dennis Haller’s career spanned a dark time for the Dayton Police Department.

He had a front-row seat to the city’s criminal networks and questionable law enforcement tactics.

Haller was a source for Dayton Daily News reporter Wes Hills, who retired in 2004 after 30 years at the paper, and agreed to share information with Hills on the condition it stay confidential until Haller’s death, which happened in 2023.

Now, we bring you Gem City Gamble, a series that uses Hills’ interviews and notes to shed new light on the largest police corruption scandal in city history and how police wiretapping and a spurned bookie may have contributed to the downfall of baseball legend Pete Rose.

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For this edition of Vintage Dayton, we highlight a project that has been decades in the making and tells one of the greatest stories in Dayton history.

Our Gem City Gamble series:

» Part 1: The Dayton cop

» Part 2: The Pete Rose tapes

» Part 3: The gambling Dayton industrialist

» Part 4: The Dayton bookie

» Part 5: The gangs of Dayton

» Part 6: The Rose investigation