Winning Time: Who Killed Vic Weiss In Real Life?

Winning Time episode 3 has a cliffhanger ending revolving around the murder of Vic Weiss. Here's what is known about who killed him in real life.

Vic Weiss' murder is the cliffhanger of HBO's Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty episode 3, but it doesn't reveal who killed Jerry Tarkanian's associate. The majority of the third episode revolves around the Los Angeles Lakers searching for a new head coach after Winning Time episode 2 saw Jerry West quit. Jerry Buss quickly zeroes in on his favorite candidate, controversial college coach Jerry Tarkanian. It is through the pursuit of the NCAA coach that Vic Weiss enters Winning Time episode 3's story, and he ultimately plays a major role.

As the longtime associate of Jerry Tarkanian, Vic Weiss is with the coach throughout his meetings with Jerry Buss. However, he goes missing towards Winning Time episode 3's ending, only for his body to be found in the trunk of his car. The series gets most of the facts about this moment right, even down to the yellow blanket that Vic Weiss' body is wrapped in, and that his car is found in a parking garage after a few days. The 2022 HBO Max show doesn't get into details about who killed Jerry Tarkanian's right-hand man, though.

The decision for Winning Time episode 3 to not even show Vic Weiss' death but instead reveal his fate at the end was done on purpose. After the police found the body, an investigation began to learn who killed Vic Weiss. He was killed with two gunshots to the head and found dead on June 17, 1979. Despite digging deep into Vic Weiss' life and any potential evidence found in his Rolls-Royce, the police were never able to pin the murder on anyone. His murder remains unsolved more than forty years later, although that hasn't stopped some theories from surfacing.

The prevailing theory for who killed Vic Weiss is that the mob whacked him. Weiss was a frequent sports gambler and often found himself in debt to various mobsters. He even worked for some of them, but skimmed money off the top of money-laundering operations for himself. It is presumed that Vic Weiss' inability to pay back the money he owed is ultimately what caused his demise. Winning Time episode 3 even teases this moment, as unspecified mobsters are shown at the same restaurant Weiss and Tarkanian meet Jerry Buss. The meeting ends before Buss hires Tarkanian to be the Los Angeles Lakers' next coach because Weiss and him feel threatened.

As for the individual or individuals responsible for killing Vic Weiss, Detective Leroy Orozco's only real lead was a witness of a tall blonde man and another unidentified murder suspect getting in Weiss' car earlier the day he went missing. The police were never able to identify either man, although they attempted to connect various low-level criminals to the case. All of their attempts proved unsuccessful, as the tall blonde mystery suspect was never identified. Not only did these leave Vic Weiss' family without any closure, but his death also caused Jerry Tarkanian to reconsider coaching the Lakers and ultimately passing on the job, leading to the murder eventually appearing in Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.

More: Why Winning Time Breaks The Fourth Wall So Much

New episodes of Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty release every Sunday on HBO/HBO Max at 9pm EST.