Cut Numbers

{{short description|1988 novel by Nick Tosches}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}

{{infobox book |

| name = Cut Numbers

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image = Cut Numbers.jpg

| author = Nick Tosches

| cover_artist =

| country = United States

| language = English

| series =

| genre = Novel

| publisher = Harmony (USA)

| release_date = June 15, 1988 (USA)

| media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)

| pages = 233 pp (hardback first edition)

| isbn = 0-517-56870-5

| dewey= 813/.54 19

| congress= PS3570.O74 C88 1988

| preceded_by =

| followed_by =

}}

Cut Numbers is the first novel by Nick Tosches.{{cite news |last=Probst |first=Bethami |title=Loan Shark Blues |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/10/16/books/loan-shark-blues.html |work=The New York Times |date=October 16, 1988 |accessdate=November 9, 2009 }}{{cite news |last=Dretzka |first=Gary |title=Two Perfectly Seedy Setups for Novels of Urban Crime |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24813757.html?dids=24813757:24813757&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+31%2C+1988&author=Reviewed+by+Gary+Dretzka%2C+A+Tribune+features+editor&pub=Chicago+Tribune+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&desc=TWO+PERFECTLY+SEEDY+SETUPS+FOR+NOVELS+OF+URBAN+CRIME&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023131914/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/24813757.html?dids=24813757:24813757&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+31,+1988&author=Reviewed+by+Gary+Dretzka,+A+Tribune+features+editor&pub=Chicago+Tribune+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&desc=TWO+PERFECTLY+SEEDY+SETUPS+FOR+NOVELS+OF+URBAN+CRIME&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 23, 2012 |work=Chicago Tribune |date=July 31, 1988 |accessdate=November 9, 2009 }} It involves small-time criminals struggling to maintain the financial viability of their cut numbers game after the implementation of the New York Lottery. They establish an elaborate scheme to fix the legitimate state lottery. The main character is Louie Brunellesches, who also appears in Tosches' novel In the Hand of Dante.