Well, I suppose we should open this by filling ya in on some stuff as most of you

readers dont know of me from ADAM huh? I was the oldest child of three, born to an
only daughter. My Mothers father was Richard Ogden, he was in fact the illegitimate son
of one of two brothers owning The Pullman Railroad Car Company. Some of my distant
family had even jumped to their deaths on BLACK MONDAY, when the plummet in
stock had jeopardized their dynasty. Although many things the family had done were
great charity, the dark deeds of the Pullman people were greater!
I had picked up the Las Vegas Review Journal one day and there it was, an article in the
Sunday Interest Section Titled: The Final Days of The Pullman! The article was actually
an interview with a guy whom had been an employee of the Company in its final days of
glory! But alas the actual article indicated that the company owners had been some of the
last people in America whom had owned and used SLAVES. Statements had even been
made that they were used as servants on the luxury cars well into the 1900s and were
regularly beaten in public and forced to live in the coal cars, as the trains traveled about
the United States.
Now lets get something straight right off the bat! I had no idea that my relatives were in
fact the Devils on earth that they actually were, in fact the only research I had made was
when some curiosity peeked and I was staying at my Grandparents condominium in
Colorado I ran across some old newspaper articles from back east, about the suicides on
Black Monday and another about a jewelry theft where it was stated that the New York
P.D had recovered jewelry from a robbery of a prominent New York family and the
recovered jewelry was donated to a charity of some sort.
So started my inquiries, the only person who would talk about it was my Fathers Mother
and my dad (when the liquor loosened him up) he stated to me that my Grandfathers
Mother had in fact been a black maid working in the rich guys household,(his Mistress)
and that trusts had been established to take care of my grandfather throughout his lifetime
and had led to a lavish playboy lifestyle, truly a spectacular drunken party life that came
to a crashing halt when my Grandmother (his personal nurse after a sanitarium stay)
became pregnant with my mother and he was forced into normalcy.
So there, thats the meat of the family dirt folks, but far from all of ittrust me!
Apparently my grandfather (having worn out his New York party venues and partners)
was taking time in Europe, when all his drinking caused him to lose his memory
substantially, and he got lost in the landscape wandering about England for several years.
The rich family figured their dark secret was now safe, and never made any further
inquiries, but the best was still to come!
Once upon a time a famous American Boxer named Jack Dempsey was vacationing in
London after one of his fights and came across a man passed out in the streets wearing
$1000 custom shoes, upon wakening the man it was quite obvious that he was a well
educated American and was very confused. The decision was to travel the man back to
America, to Dempseys Chicago Training camp, where his memory was to shortly return
and his family was notified. Lo and behold the dark secret of the Pullman family was
BACK! Shortly after this event Ogden was hospitalized for his Alcoholism and to attend
to the multiple Strokes that he had suffered. It was there that he met my Grandmother,
Then Marion Braun (German decent) soon to become Marion Ogden after an unplanned
knock up, which was in fact my Grandmothers real plan. She was the best of Gold
diggers, with the best of intentions, her plan was to tame this rich wild child and have a
life of leisure. But the Pullman people had other plans!
Richard Ogden was cut off from his trust accounts and the court battle was on! The final
result was the revoked trust was restored, but not until the death of my Grandfathers
father was the Living Trust Account transferred to him, and my Grandparents then had
the benefits of the money, until then my Grandfather toiled away at The Standard Oil
Company in the mail room as an assistant, and obtained his full retirement at that job.
Close to the passing of my grandfather, I actually found out that he was forever pissed off
at being placed into that situation and had quite a lifelong hatred of my grandmother
throughout his life, from being taken off the market in such a manner and he was secretly
a spoiled no good sunofa bitch who took every opportunity to lie and cheat on her with
no conscience!
In fact, yearly trips to Las Vegas under the guise of escaping the cold winters back east
and later Colorado winters were in fact a cheat mission where my Grandmother was left
in the Desert Inn Slot area with an endless bankroll, while he engaged drunken parties
with high dollar Call Girls in a second room, that were reserved for him, by upper
management that he was tight with! I truly believe that my grandmother was not naive,
and knew everything, but accepted it as part of the deal, and an endless round of
Brunches, Buffets and front seats at literally all Las Vegas Shows along with the
occasional Mink or Beaver full length Coat, Cadillac or Corvette seemed to cushion the
reality!
Now on to my mothers part in this obviously TWISTED little family tree! Of course
she had the best of educations with private schooling and lavish personal indulgences to
include private English Horse riding schoolings, which led to a major hobby of Showing
English Saddle Horses semi-professionally. It was during the regular search to purchase
Horses, that she met my Father, he was selling a horse that she intended to buy (my father
used to joke that he married the bitch to get his great horse back, but I dont think he was
kidding in the slightest) and after a short courtship a well planned knock-up (that would
be Baby Me folks) was the end result, the Golden Goose was captured!
I dont think that the marriage was quite what my father bargained for; he was a very
talented Art Student and eventually went on to work for Westinghouse Company in the
Art Department at The Pan Am building in New York City, and a position my Great
Uncle Bill used his substantial influence to obtain. You see, Uncle Bill was in charge of
International Warehousing for the company, a very powerful position in the day. If the
Mayor of New York wanted a new refrigerator he had to talk to Uncle Bill, if the head of
the Mafia wanted a new air conditioner he had to talk to Uncle Bill and I actually think
that my great Uncle Bill was in charge of the disbursement of practically ALL
Technology in the ENTIRE FREE WORLD for more than a couple of Decades!
So you probably think that my Uncle Bill was a tough guy huhwrong! My fathers
Aunt Mary was tougher! Having provided Aunt Mary with 12 Children his primary
function was exhausted and Uncle Bill was banished from the house resigned to living on
the porch of whatever house they owned. Now these were great porches with a sofa,
refrigerator, and a Westinghouse T.V. and I can honestly state here that I never in my
lifetime saw Uncle Bill inside a house, although he owned many of them! My Father
eventually advanced to the Head of International Display Division inside Westinghouse,
which was a position that allowed him to travel internationally setting up displays
highlighting Westinghouse Products (I remember him sitting up all one night gluing
needles on the tips of little yellow light bulbs and using a black magic marker to make
them look like bees for a forest display where everything in the scene was a light bulb!
Im sure it drew great attention once completed!)
Some of my Fathers displays were even set up at the World Fairs, which were the
venue for Technology in the era! Eventually my Fathers talents were noticed by a Super
Advertising Agency on Wall Street and he Quit Westinghouse and went to work there.
By this time my younger Brother and Sister were on the scene and with all my energy
and superior asshole genetics, I tried to take out the competition, but their staying power
was too good for my young assassin skills! So I was stuck with 2 snotty nosed attention
grabbing rats that werent going anywhere and had to learn to live with that fact. My
father was a great amateur photographer and took every opportunity to capture their
cuteness; while most photos of me Im doing something UN- CUTE!
The only satisfying time of my life, is they both cried for Santa Claus Lap photos! (See
insertjust kidding) In actuality I was the Great Protector of all throughout their lives!
My sister once told her only husband my brother really likes you to which he
repliedHow can you tell? She stated youre the only one he let live! (This was closer
to the truth than most know!) I had caught a guy trying to sneak in the window at 2:00 am
when she was 13 years old, and when he was halfway in, I let him have it with a ball bat
in the forehead! Several hours later as I went to work I noticed that he was still laid out
unconscious on the lawn with the sprinklers on! He never came around the house again!
Years later I saw him when a Casino Owner approached me and asked me to unlock a
door for a High Roller who had locked his keys in the car, but when the guy saw me his
drunken ass ran like hell never to be seen by me again. The car had to be towed out of its
spot in Valet Parking.
So yeah, I did have to work for some of the Casinos in Las Vegas during my life, but
only after I managed to go completely in the toilet financially after doing a lifetime of
freebees for the meek and unwilling to pay tightwads in Las Vegas. It is a really rotten
town for a real Private Investigator to survive in and I feel sorry for any of my Colleagues
(most of whom are ex Attorneys or Police) who havent found that out yet! You see, the
bread and butter of our business used to be prescreening with Polygraph for money
handling jobs in the Casinos, but a change in the laws took probably over half the money
out of our pockets! The next thing to change was the courts allowing No Fault Divorces!
Before this you used to have some sort of Evidence of Infidelity or some serious
dishonesty to have a divorce granted, there went the majority of the rest of our cash flow!
But in all honesty a lot of P.I.s would set some sucker up with a hooker or some kind of
animal for a picture that made its way to court. Although I was never personally involved
in such an episode, it was common knowledge that this was done! This basically resolved
a lot of Investigators to walk a fine line with the law to survive! And their exploits live in
infamy!
I am sure that many persons are asking themselves how and why Private Investigators
were involved in the now famous Binion Murder Trial, and the answer is actually a
simple one! When Benny Binion was alive he used to coddle the Local Private Eyes to
death, he really loved us all and was available for anybody who had personal financial
problems and even set up a booth in the Horseshoe Casino Coffee shop with phones all
around, so we could do our business while eating usually for free!
Although I never personally asked him why he doted over us so, I assume that he felt
some kind of an old west attachment to us and our business. He was a great man and a
pioneer and I miss him greatly! It is mostly out of respect for Benny that we all kind of
keep an eye on his family still and we are trained to notice the UNNOTICEABLE of
things, arent we? In fact I need to state here that the removal of Benny Binions statue
from the downtown area to the South Point Casino really SUCKS, and it should be
returned with the utmost of haste(so take that Oscar Goodman aka Mayor and Planning
GOD) in fact, I want the Downtown Area restored to its original Glory and Fuck You All,
this was the most photographed and Filmed Location on the PLANET before the changes
and its just a high tech mall at this point and nothing really represents the actual past
there, a little neon sign here or there, I think NOT!
Now the Mayor (who is an ex? mob Attorney wishes to glorify the Mafia in a Museum
restoring a Historic Post Office for the purpose (I wonder how many times his photo will
be displayed there?)
Now dont get me wrong! Im all for the benefit and advancement of the Old City area
and Im in fact in AWE of the progress there, but this last ditch effort in the Name of
Nostalgia misses the mark with me. If you want to see a tribute to the mob just go to the
Graveyard where their victims are! In the late seventies and early eighties I personally
witnessed at least 10 corpses left out in the Streets of Las Vegas by the mob and saw at
least two actual Murders in progress that were attributed to them. I dont care to describe
this any further, but it all still sticks in my craw!
In a Dedication to the project, Goodman actually stated the project was not to glorify
the mob and their antics, but would stand as a tribute to their eradication from the City
(not with the help of Goodman, HE WAS THEIR DEFENSE ATTORNEY!) The Idiots
that actually believe this shit should be rounded up and ran out of town on a rail, and it
reeks of self centered blatant profiteering to me!
Im actually living in fear of loosing the place I live in (an old pretty much unchanged
area of downtown) to this frivolous endeavor and I cant afford to live anywhere else!
Im in fact pretty much wheelchair bound due to my lifelong heroic and foolish defense
of Las Vegas residents! And I suppose after this little book is published they will track
me down and wheel me out of town anyway! Am I the only one to point out that Las
Vegas is trading one evil for another?
The current average residential property in the original city and county areas is (in
majority), property owned by a resident alien with no less than 3-5 ILLEGAL relatives
helping them with the renovation of property and financial input! The last census I heard
of was so off base in its figures I wanted to cry! Its an absolute fact; I live in the middle
of these areas! The Police Department seems to have assumed a Policy of not even
pulling over Hispanic Drivers for fear of it becoming a deportation issue and tying them
up with paperwork, dont get me wrong here I applaud the great job that the gallant and
hard working Members of the Metropolitan Police Dept do, many of the negative
conducts and actions of other high density urban area depts. seem to have never landed
in this Police organization, it is at face value a well oiled machine with good consistent
actions throughout the decades that I have been here in the Valley! Except for the
following issue... I see many obviously Hispanic drivers getting away with literally
everything from racing their cars at 3-5 time the speed limit, to not stopping at required
crosswalks (Ive been hit 4 times in the last 6 years in crosswalks by Hispanic drivers!)
not one of them actually stopped; in fact one left the car parked on me until his drunk
passenger told him youre parked on a dude! to which the driver actually backed over
me again! No Police car was dispatched even after I called twice!
It is as if Las Vegas has become the most desirable location in America other than L.A.
for undocumented residents and their antics!
Now Im not prejudiced in the slightest, Ive had long term live in relationships with a
lot of different delightful ladies of all persuasions and as a former world traveler
actually am a tremendous fan of racial diversity, but this situation is truly beyond
annoying, and in whats supposed to be my mid life mark, forces me to speak of this,
both sides of this issue know that I am right, and screw politically correct!
I think the next Census should include a house search to count the five undocumented
people living in the back room! The people who built and worked in Las Vegas putting
this pinball arcade on the map deserve much better, and the public resources are straining
at the seams from this situation.
So about now you probably really want to move into Las Vegas, right? WRONG!
Housing is much cheaper anywhere else and if the economy sucks there, well start an
Internet business! In about 10 or so years all the substandard housing will fall apart here
and you can build what you want!
Well enough of the future folks, my next chapter will deal with the past and stuff that
everyone seems to have missed SO ONWARD TO THE PRESENT.NOT!
Well, as you can guess we never made it to a new chapter because theres a lot to talk
about in the prior writing that connects to the present. After the financial decline of my
Private Investigator business, I was forced to find employment in the Private Security
Field which led to work in the Casinos. At this point in time the Profession did not have
the best of reputations in the town, and the rest of the country was aware that cheaters and
thieves were routinely taken out the back door of a Casino and given a proper beating
after pulling some shenanigans on the Casino property! All fails to include that the
Casino Supervisors and Owners actually order this action! Yep, that nice guy in the suit
that makes sure you have your brand of cigarettes, booze and a free dinner or Show comp
while gambling away your life savings is actually the bad guy here, hard to believe huh!
The really ugly hookers were routinely rounded up and dropped miles outside of town
without their shoes and were warned against returning to the scene, while the bed worthy
ones were placed into an on site photo book (usually kept by the pit boss, Baccarat room
manager or poker room manager) to be summoned at the whim of some big spender (or
High roller if you please).
The Bell Captains also have their choice Service Girls to be summoned for a tasty three
figure or better tip! A lot of the older properties even kept a couple of Pit Rooms that
housed a favored Prostitute full time on the premises! I remember when a Casino owners
wife (Roberta Gaughan) found out that such a room existed inside The El Cortez Hotel
and Casino in the Downtown area, and that her husband was completely aware of its
existence! Bertie stomped up to the room in a fury and dragged the poor girl out into the
downtown streets where she pummeled her almost into unconsciousness, and let her lay
there in an expensive evening gown.
For the next several years Bertie posted herself in front of the Sports book entrance
nightly, as if waiting for the girl to reappear and go back to her room! I used to tell her I
thought it was dangerous for her to be so close to the outside door with all her diamond
jewelry and all, but she would only say Fuck You Ill sit anywhere I want in this joint!
She was a delightful Lady and had a great morale compass!
Another place I know that used to keep an active pit room hooker was the Sahara Hotel. I
know this first hand because my now EX-Wife used to work in the place and she would
tell me all the crazy crap that went on in that joint. Ah, but nothing could replace the
nostalgia and ambiance of the original downtown Area!
Now, I promised myself that I would only speak ill of the dead! But some jerks deeds
should follow them in life and Jackie Gaughan is one of these guys! Most will say that
Gaughan is a good guy and a great Humanitarian, but they have never seen Gaughan
come onto the Casino floor and punch the living daylights out of a smaller business
partner while throwing a personal check on their face( to buy out their part of the Casino)
I witnessed this several times in my tenure there! I was actually fired from there because I
stated my mind about the bullshit that Gaughan pulled with the employees profit sharing
fund administered by him! Gaughan actually had the audacity to invest from his
employees profit sharing accounts into the Union Plaza Hotel (now just The Plaza)
which was another Casino he had a controlling interest in! (Conflict of interest you
think?) The funds were used in a renovation and the Security Department at the Plaza and
the Security Department even received new equipment at the expense of the El Cortez
Employees, as the profit statement from the property totally sucked at the time, the fund
would not see a profit from the ill investment for 20 years or so (I received 7,700 dollars
for my seven year investment of work in the property). I was told by old timers that they
had close to 100,000 dollars for prior terms of that length; it was one of my reasons for
staying in that shitty little joint so long! Gaughan was actually investigated for indictment
in the action, but I never heard what happen to him, AS I WAS LOSING MY HOUSE
AT THE TIME! So there, Gaughan, this is your life, hows it look?
I even gave Gaughan a chance to redeem himself in my eyes by begging for a 1,000
dollar personal loan to save my house, offering him a piece of artwork from my
Grandmothers Estate valued at 5,500 dollars(an original Freddy the Freeloader by Red
Skelton), but was hastily escorted from the office and the premises by Security!
I am so sad for Jackie, that he finds it necessary to treat a 7 year Veteran of his loyal and
Brave Security Dept., and in fact one of the most decorated, dedicated and praised
members in all his organizations history, a person who nightly dealt with persons that had
communicable disease(Aids, emphatago, Hong Kong Flu and worse), and hardened
criminals(Pimps, Robbers and Killers), and whom was certifiably and directly
responsible for the savings of Life(via CPR and medical intervention),on numerous
occasions, and the rescue of numerous persons from disaster and fire(remember the
arsoned motel behind your Hotel?)With such distasteful actions and dishonesty just
for stating the TRUTH! Still employed members of Security Dept., lied in a Hearing for
approval of my Unemployment Benefits stating that I had QUIT by my action of NO
SHOW, NO CALL! And their testimony cost me my right to the benefits. Now, you
know I was in fact on my(approved 1 year in advance) VACATION, when the pink slip
was issued, and I believe these individuals lied under duress for their job security; in fact
one of the involved parties stated so to me several years ago!
One thing Jackie did not know of my past, was that I had been invited to apply to the
State of Nevada as a Gaming Control Agent on numerous occasions throughout my
employment at his Casino, and had turned down the invites to the still young and
Growing Agency, with the belief that the Casino position would resolve to a good
Supervisory Position and that his organization promoted from within, as the handbooks
and policies stated, all of which I know to be a FALSEHOOD at this point. Agents were
in contact with me after the bogus Employment termination with many questions of
Licensee Conduct to include rechipping of winning machinery on the Casino floor and
actual replacement of prior winning machinery on the floor (switching of machine
numbers) and I was happy to set them on the right path!
It was my decision never to work for a Casino in this town again after such a positive
experience at this one, but I must fairly state that most of the towns casinos and
organizations are not operated in this heavy wallet owner manner! I just could never
stand to take a chance that another job I dearly loved and looked forward to daily might
end with a similar result!
And about that cash dollar that is forthcoming to park in your garage structure (which can
be recovered if you remember to present your parking ticket at the Casino cage, but most
forget!)Does this represent a slush fund that perhaps the Internal Revenue Service should
look into, Jackie? Im sure you kept track of every dime and did not take it on your yearly
Switzerland oops Alaska Vacation, in a dark valise, huh?
This would be a good time to give you my take on the business of gambling folks,
because Gaughan is probably stomping down the street as I now type, to punch my
crippled ass out!
While I believe that some may enjoy gambling as a controllable recreation, most CAN
NOT control their gambling and it eventually leads to the loss of everything valuable in
their lives, to include their self respect, their relationships and jobs. I actually have more
respect for a DRUG ADDICT or ALCOHOLIC because at least they are actually buying
something with the money!
In past years friends and such would approach me to obtain a personal loan necessary
because they had LOST THEIR MONEY IN A CASINO. To this I state NOTHING
WAS LOST, THEY GAVE IT AWAY!!
I have seen a starving man in the streets mooch $5 from a passerby then put it into a slot
machine rather than go to a market with some sort of a food/survival plan, and it
personally makes me sick! And the only attempt at a cure that anyone might see in place
here is a little holder with brochures about gambling addictions atop the slot machine
bank in some 7-11 stores!
Yes folks, a great empire has been built in Las Vegas (and other places in all fairness),
whos only function is to take your last dime away and leave you with NOTHING but
anger from a bunch of property owners who were either stranded here first, and managed
to pull themselves together to a lifes property stake. or retired here after a lifetime in the
services industry or construction of aforementioned industry, or possibly retired Armed
Forces Persons, who thought that little acre was a good place to drop a doublewide
Mobile Home, because you couldnt see another neighbor for miles!
All who would wish you to SHUT UP AND MOVE ON DOWN THE ROAD AND
STOP YOUR WHINING, SO US PERMANENT CAPTIVES CAN HAVE SOME
PEACE!! And that is probably pretty sound advice in my opinion, as it is apparent to me
that anybody living their life in this scenario should not be around any sort of gambling
establishments and especially should not be around The Shangri-La model for such
dens. So GO HOME, or have your relatives rescue you out of here, you will probably
have to haul bricks in your Uncle Teds Construction Company just outside of
Hoboken for a long time to pay for their additional expenses put to your rescue, but it
sure beats living out the days of your life in one of the hottest most unforgiving hell on
earth deserts, where you will pray for 10 minutes of air conditioning everyday for the rest
of your life!!(Most of these people will never afford this book, so its up to you readers to
give them a clue).
Well, I think we have covered the positive aspects of gambling and the ramifications of
SUCKING AT IT! and should indulge ourselves in some stuff that is not real obvious
about Las Vegas and there is a reason that it is not real obvious, therefore this next
Chapter is appropriately titled as more of a question, than a statement, because the
climate of politics and control changes here faster than a whore wearing boosted gift shop
tee-shirts on Ogden Street! And year after year I continue to face myself with the same
question and I must now thrust it upon you....
WHO IS RUNNING THIS POPCORN STAND AND WHY DOESNT THE SALT
STICK!
Ok, here it is in a nutshell readers! Somebody needs to kill the guy who invented the
Popcorn Hot Air Popper or Pump as it is sometime referred to, the process leaves NO
MOISTURE, so the obvious and mostly required ration of salt to make it palatable, will
stick to the corn, following as you eat!
 But nooooo, this process leaves the product without the slightest fractional hint of
moisture and therefore a second preparation is necessary to obtain the proper corn to salt
ratio completely disarming the efficiency of the supposed Miracle appliance!
So if you havent been following me thus far, the political structures rising to the top of
the heap in Las Vegas has left plenty of Popcorn (I mean WE THE PEOPLE!) without
the required ration of Salt (peaceful enjoyment of the fruit of our labors in this Desert
hell for half a lifetime) with no excuses or apologies whatsoever, primarily in the pursuit
of OPM (Thats other peoples MONEY) FOR YOU NEWBEES! But the transitional
nature of this place is also to blame!!
So the new come in and make the money and the rules, and leave the wasteland for us
The Lifelong Tenants!. Until the next Miracle Master Plan is thrust upon us and trust
me, most of us are not lazy or apathetic by any means; we in our infinite personal plans
merely lack the duckets to make a difference, and so on and so forth!
I am sure most Nevada Natives of 20 years or more will agree with me completely, that
the fastest growing place in the country is growing right over us! O Well, I suppose thats
what happens when you work hard and have confidence in your continued peaceful
existence! Somebody builds fucking Disneyland in your sandbox and hires you to keep
the shitter clean, huh! Then in their well financed enthusiasm you get flushed right down
the shitter without so much as a salute!
And if you see where I am going with this, you are absolutely right! It is time to discuss
one of the most addressed issues that you are probably aware of from media coverage
about Las Vegas and that is, THE HOMELESS POPULATION ISSUE!! Or as certainly
not necessary to repeat his name current Mayor would call itThe Homeless
PROBLEM. As in Las Vegas does not have a homeless problem;
Las Vegas has Homeless PROBLEMS! It is a multitude of both common and
diversely unique situations that cause this situation! Categorically I see the following;
former blue collar residents rendered to the streets either by gambling, drugs, relationship
failures, financial woes, disability or crime victims(all situations that other cities see),
transient population seasonal workers(who linger rather than moving to greener pastures),
Follow the Yellow Brick Road people(who think or thought that it is the land of get
rich quick and loose money, but were wrong and got stranded), and the lazy, thieving or
mooching crew(usually targeting tourist thick areas) and lets not forget the short distant
Transient( normally has worn out welcome in Ca., Az., or one of the outlaying states) and
not to exclude the wont pay child support and is hiding out for 18 years people and
actual criminals hoping to hide out in the anonymity of the place (soon to be found),
cause none of the former is true.
A casual perusal of just these categories should make my next statement obvious! The
imported Homeless Burdens are causing the needy Residential Homeless a lot of grief by
impairing their access to needed help! I must defend the RESIDENTS adamantly by
saying Tourists go home but, leave your Daughters!
It may seem hateful of me to say such a thing, but I truly believe in the need for each
category of Homeless to have a different fix! Renting a system of buses and shipping
most of these yayhoos to the closest living relative is a real fix for a lot of this homeless
shit, and that would take care of the National Homeless Coalitions claim that Las Vegas
is the #1 homeless unfriendly city in America, cause where else would they ship your
stupid ass home for free in America?
Surely the expense of invoking this kind of an operation would be much less than the
cost incurred by the residents in criminal damages, housing, feeding, Medical and other
expenses from maintaining the non residential populations presence in the City and
County, as various consolidation and housing experiments run their course towards
failure and routine tactics such as sweeps to evict them from establishing visible sidewalk
communities for safety purposes and access to food and other resources are cut off. The
result is an expected loud resistance by both this population and its advocates, which
actually is( in my opinion) a calculated and deliberate ruse to invoke the residential
citizenry into choosing sides automatically placing a white good guy hat on their grand
protector politicians, this is such a blatant self serving plot. I cant believe that intelligent
grown adults actually fall for it and are on their knees praising the actions on their
behalf fucking UNREAL!!
At this point I would expect most of you reading this to consider me overly opinionated
on the subjects covered to this point, and in fact I might be some kind of NUT or
FANATIC! but in my personal defense I submit that I am free of personal agendas with
Las Vegas, I neither own property there, nor am I involved with any business or business
relationships that would benefit from me making these strong statements to ANYBODY.
I have formulated these opinions from almost 40 years of Nevada residency and
casual observation of most that is described above. I will however state for the record
that were I to conduct a full professional investigation of the depth and quality that I
provided clientele most of my life I am sure that ALL THE TRUTH WOULD BE
REVEALED of these events and the laundry would be much dirtier than I am describing
in this little book!!
Also a statement of personal fact, my track record for acting on behalf of clients and
employers as an Investigator, Agent, or Witness is PERFECT. Yep, you read it right
folks; I have never ever lost a legal case or issue as a Protection Professional in my entire
life! Not many in this town or the entire world can truthfully state the same! I hope this
record stands as testimony to this collection of Las Vegas Histories here in this
document!
Now, I am sure that in making that statement, some person or persons will be rendered
to muttering under their breath the wordsno way!, and will try to prove different; I
expect this! But with all due respect to liability and such, I make this truthful statement
and challenge the Bad guys to PROVE DIFFERENT, and this will not happen unless
something is manufactured! Also this action would obviously be made to shift the
attention from some Bullshit that I let out of the bag about this little Desert watering hole
or one of its supposed prominent inhabitants!
I am also quite aware of opinions and statements that have been made about me and have
been cited for being Heavy Handed. One such incident comes to mind.
While working for the casino, I had received a phone call from Metro Police Dept. that
a robbery suspect from an incident less than 1 block away had just entered the buildings
west door, I proceeded to the area and found the suspect (as description provided) in
the sports book area of the casino. I approached that suspect and asked him to provide an
I.D. to me as a stall tactic until assistance could arrive, and that suspect stated I aint got
none and I aint gotta give you anything! on my approach I had managed a glance down
into the suspects parachute pants pocket and had already seen a picture I.D. of some sort,
and also had seen that the suspect was Armed!
 A vigorous struggle ensued when I asked the suspect to turn around and place hands on
his head, and aware that my life was in jeopardy, I knocked the dog crap out of that guy
and struggled him into a pair of handcuffs, all the while the suspect screamed that he was
going to fucking cut my throat and kill me! It was some time before assistance arrived;
all the time the suspect hurling death threats at me, witnessed by many! The suspect was
turned over to the Police Department.
Several hours later, the responding police officer from that incident came back to the
casino for his lunch break, and informed me that I was a lucky Sonofabitch to tangle
with the guy, as it was found that he was wanted on three outstanding warrants for
Murder in the Chicago area! And also was suspect in two Las Vegas Homicides of the
same M.O. (slit throats with a knife).
The following morning I received a call from the acting head of Security stating that I
should not come in to work my next shift, as THREE ARMED SUSPECTS had forced
their way into the Security Office and said they were associates of that suspect and were
intent on killing yours truly! To which I stated (not being shy to armed confrontations or
gunplay) let them come! Upon return to my next shift I was told that a derogatory write
up/warning was placed into my personnel folder for using Heavy Handed methods and
Derogatory Language during my confrontation with that suspect! Fucking Unreal huh?
So the lesson to be learned here is; use proper and polite English when dealing with F.B.I
Ten Most Wanted Suspects, as you would not care to offend them!
For the next two years of my shifts there, Mel Woods (The Sports Book Manager)
yelled glad to see youre not wearing that Colombian Necktie tonight.I would just
grin and wave back! (Honestly, I dont think I ever wore a tie again after that, should I
see a Shrink for Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome?)..hehehe, yeah RIGHT!
Another factor in my being referred to with that particular description is the fact that I
was one of Nevadas most active professional Bounty Hunters for most of a decade and
had a reputation for getting the dangerous ones off the streets, sometimes in the most
adverse of conditions! No, it isnt as you see on TV folks, and not only was I a great
hunter; I worked for The Insurance Bonding Company in Las Vegas that was surety for
all but four of the numerous Agencies (aprox. 30 licensed Agencies). This in short meant
that I was a very busy man indeed! Add to this fact that many of the Agencies were
screwed up writing Bonds without the proper regard to employment and /or residential
history, proper collateral, full background disclosures, next of kin info, etc. and I will
bet you would agree that The Las Vegas suspects were some of the most treacherous, and
traveling to escape prosecution persons known to mankind and my job was dangerous
and difficult! In fact almost all returns to custody were preceded by physical
confrontation, and obstacles that would warp anyones mind!
I rarely, if ever, took on return papers for traffic and misdemeanor issues, and did mostly
Dangerous Felon Bounties the entire time leaving the safe pickups to a guy named
Reggie, or the other hunter in town named Maurice (he lost his license to operate after
attempting to gain possession of an owner retained collateral car, by jumping in at an
intersection and placing a 44 Magnum Handgun in the ear of the driver!) NOW THAT IS
HOW YOU GET THE CAR FOLKS!!!!(And they call me heavy handed).
Prior to my offering this service to my clients, most bail surrenders and such were
conducted by unskilled personnel of the Bail Bondsman if not the Bondsman themselves,
or in many cases anybody who could convince the Bondsman to transfer rights to them as
per the Taylor vs.Tainter amendment (basically Bondsman and/or his assigned Agent
reserves the right to return to custody document) that was put into effect by Edwin
Mease. Some times these forms were handed out to multiple hunters causing conflict and
actual physical battles over custodied suspects (as in the Movie Midnight Run with
DeNiro). In one such scuffle I was forced to actually knock a guy out who tried to
commandeer my suspect! (and actually my car too). A simplistic remedy for this would
have been to only provide one certified copy of the Bail Bond to satisfy the presentation
of a Taylor/Taintor assignment, but this suggestion was denied and touted as burdensome
to the already overwhelmed Court officials! (What? adding a sticker or check boxed
option to the court folder housing the document, that an in force copy was issued, is too
much ink?) Thank you from the bottom of my heart, City and County Courts, for taking
action to protect my rights and person!! All this gallant decision making in not only the
Criminal Court system, but in the county Codes and other Government tentacles is for
sure the reason a person might get Heavy Handed, dont you think?
And while we are on this subject, during this period of time it was very probable that the
multi jurisdictional Court system was going to release a suspect, even though he or she
was wanted in another court system physically, only several blocks away! For many
years after the incorporation of the Las Vegas City and County regions this was true, and
many a day was spent running between the three Las Vegas courts and jails, North Las
Vegas and Henderson in desperate attempt to gain custody of one (or more) of my
subjects. To further the difficulty with this business Felony crime conducted in the City
jurisdictions are generally prosecuted by the Clark County Prosecutors Office and
persons sentenced for felony are housed by the Clark County Detention Center or
forwarded to several of the State prisons but, in many cases persons awaiting felony
could easily be housed in a City facility due to additional charges collected during the
initial arrest that in (many instances) are disposed of first. So in short if I received info
whether it is provided by my numerous snitches or a court system, that one of my felony
people was arrested on another charge, physically locating them was sometimes quite a
task. In actual defense of the jail systems, a backdoor phone line number provided to
assist bail bondsmen in completing their paperwork was a LIFESAVER and many times
information on charges in adjoining jurisdictions could be obtained from the operator on
that line but, not always. To supplement this info system I found it necessary to increase
my network by dating, bribing or just generally schmoozing my way to obtain a direct
line and obtain the accurate information necessary to make my life easier.
And yes, I must also confess that I am the bounty hunter that forced the Sands Hotel
into a temporary closure one time by Attacking the Hotel area with Tear Gas Grenades!
It was one summer, and on a weekend if my memory serves me correctly that I received a
call from Richard McGuire Sr., the Owner and Bondsman of A-OK Bail Bonds located at
that time on Las Vegas Blvd.(across from the Federal Courthouse). When I answered on
my cell phone McGuire told me to get to the office IMEDIATELY, he had received an
order from an indemnident to withdraw security on a Bond. This act meant only one
thing, the person whom the bond was filed for had to be returned to Jail Custody. I was
handed the file and was placed on the hunt.
I had been on the road for about 15 minutes when I got another call from McGuire and he
said get to the Sand Hotel pronto! It turned out that my suspect was in fact the Son of a
30 year Veteran Pit Boss at the Sands and was registered into the Hotel there.
Upon arrival at the hotel, I proceeded to the Security podium inside the Casino area and
made contact with the on duty Security Supervisor. And after I presented my paperwork
to him, I ordered him to obtain a master key to the third floor Suite that the suspect was
registered in. The Security guy refused stating that he had orders from the Shift Casino
Manager not to cooperate with me unless the Pit Boss Father was involved, to which I
stated great, go get the guy! Well long story short was nothing was gonna get done, and
at this point my phone rang, and McGuire screamed at me You got that asshole yet; he
just called and THREATENED MY LIFE!
All my patience lost at this point, and I said to the Security guy well if ya aint got that
key yet it is just a shame, cause I am gonna kick your fucking Hotel Suite door open and
get this prick!
At this point I exited the rear door of the Casino into the parking lot and went to my car
where I retrieved two CS Grenades from the trunk of my Camaro and proceeded up the
south outside stairway up to the third floor of the Hotel. As I was locating the room, the
Security guys showed up, and guess what? He had the Master key card for the Hotel
floor! But, after we applied the card to the reader, it was apparent that the Suspect was
barricaded in the room, placing all the furniture against the door!
After voicing my apparent dismay at the fact that the suspect had been notified of my
approach to the room, I went back to my car where I got my Auto Body man Hydraulic
ram toolbox, and returned to the room door where I applied the ram in a cross hall
configuration thus forcing a 2 foot gap in the doorway. Inside I could hear the suspect
screaming out I am gonna kill you fuckers! so I ordered all present to step back, I then
pulled the pin on a Grenade and tossed it into the room.and opened the valve on the
ram closing the door fully!
After about 5 minutes, I could no longer hear coughing in the room, and figured all was
safe to enter, with the help of some of the now many present Security Dept the door was
forced open, and a clothing dresser was removed from the path. The suspect was still on
his feet! And was screaming at me that he was going to kill me, but after a more direct
application of CS from my personal cartridge and a brief struggle, the suspect was forced
into handcuffs.
Whew BOY, WAS THAT A STRUGGLE! This guy was about 6ft.8 inches tall. With no
fat on him! It was then that I heard it! A cough and FEMININE! This dirt bag was holed
up in this hotel room doing DRUGS and DRINKING WITH A GIRL! And if that was
not enoughTHE GIRL WAS AT LEAST 7 MONTHS PREGNANT!!! What a day!
It was then that it happened! In my effort to custody this Jolly Green Giant I had
managed to work up quite a SWEAT, but when I went to wipe my brow, I added teargas
to the mix, and was now BLINDED MYSELF! Along with most of the Security Dept.
and at least 50 residents from the third floor..OOPS! And to add insult to injury the
dudes father and some other executives were now on the scene screaming at me!
After putting my face in the toilet and flushing it several times, I was able to see abit, so I
grabbed the Green Giant and away to jail we went, all the while this once gonna kill
everybody guy is wining how he is gonna have to sleep on a concrete floor at Clark
County Detention Center (was common in the day due to tremendous overcrowding). But
to this I told the guy BULLSHIT, the second the staff realize that he was Tear gassed he
would go STRAIGHT TO THE SHOWERS AND THEN TO A BED! And he infact
owed me a world of gratitude for that fact, and the fact that he was lucky a SWAT TEAM
DID NOT ARRIVE on the scene because him and that girl, would have surely been shot
during the entry!
And (a lot of ands in this tale) when I returned to the Bail office, the Pit boss father was
there rebailing the Giant back out..WITH CASH!
So two steps ahead and three steps back for the good guys! Kind of made me happy I
Tear gassed the fuckin place! (And) yep, the suspect made it to a bed loooong before I
did that day!
Another incident worthy of adding here is a hunt for a female Narcotics suspect that had
led me to the Las Vegas Culinary Union Office, and after a bit of schmoozing with
personal, I was allowed to have a meeting with the then President of the Union in his
office. The meeting was quite successful as I managed to pull off a deal where the Union
members would be given a PRIORITY to obtain Bail bonds from several of the
Bondsmen offices that I represented in exchange for the Union cooperating in disclosure
of their records on the employee! YIPPEE! This little agreement allowed me to use the
unions employee records for years to come, when a member had to be recustodied!
Every little thing like that was a helper, boy I would have given my eye teeth for a Hunter
job, where all the suspects were on an island! Hahahaha! (Personal apologies to;
Dwayne Dog Chapman, just being honest and trying to make a buck here doggy!)
Several years before that the Sheriffs Department got it in there little heads that Private
Eyes should be proving their worth to the police agency by physically making the
primary licensee and his personnel be at the ready and available for undercover and
snitch duty! If a licensee was uncooperative, his license in the City and County would not
be subject to renewal!
So the licensee with his mega expensive privileged Licencenow had to risk his ass on
behalf of the whims of the Clark County Sheriffs Office in drug and vice stings AND
providing Intel on the numerous Resident Mafia Associates in Las Vegas! I used to have
to keep a log book in my car, that would be used to log my recognition of mob guys cars
and notations of their location and time of day, etcI was required to turn this in to the
Metro Intelligence Division monthly, but the urgency for logs of this type seemed to
simmer down as the city headed into the late 1980s.it is my personal belief that some
Legal Eagle in the Department thought that generating a letter demanding licensees to
keep and produce such a record might be interpreted as COHERSION OR BLACKMAIL
of the Licensee, by the Police Dept. WHAT DO YOU READERS THINK?
It certainly kept many Licensees from wanting to develop good relations with the
department for many years to come and most felt as though we were being treated
criminal by this requirement.
Another thing that changed during my time as a P.I was in regards to the carrying of
personal firearms while engaged in Private Eye type conduct. Most of the licensees were
used to carrying their guns without restriction, as the licensee was retired Law
Enforcement persons or similar type of person, and the carrying of a weapon was covered
by a general CCW permit and a licensee was allowed three such permits under their
license. Then we all got the letter.. Licensees and their personnel who wished to
continue carrying a firearm were now required to complete qualification as an N.R.A
Instructor along with the added expense of maintaining that status, it seemed to be just
another unnecessary hoop for licensees to jump through. But, the greatest change that led
to the end of our private Eye license was the multi Jurisdictional requirement for
licensing and that expense. It is a very unfair deal in Nevada, to need license fees to be
paid for no less than 5 separate entities that all reside in the same triangular shaped 10
mile widest point valley. I give way to the need for all persons to qualify and pay for a
license under the State of Nevada, and even a license requirement for a business license
in the County where you base your service, but add the duplicate need for 3 additional
City Licenses in the valley, and you better be making cash 24/7 to pay for all that shit!
Just one of many examples of the unfairness of circumstances in Nevada! My personal
opinion of this situation is that a simple valid I.D. check can verify the validity of a
person sitting in a car watching a subject within 4 or 5 miles of his own office, by
checking with local sheriff dept. or calling the 800 number for the private investigators
licensing board in the State of Nevada. And I dont see where a general Yellow Pages ad
could be interpreted as a solicitation in another town included in that listing book, it
seems the only thing served here is the ongoing government money monster, that drained
me into bankruptcy.I suppose the next step by good ol Big Brother is require I have
Licensing in the origin region ofMY CLIENT, who is requesting services in the Las
Vegas area.
I am so sad of all this crap, and like many of my business associates, friends and
neighbors, it makes me ache inside because, WE ALL REALLY WANT TO LOVE LAS
VEGAS!! But the powers that be are making it near impossible..
I am convinced that persons not agreeing with all this stuff I am writing about will be in
the exact same boat in 5-8 years as they stand there wondering how come the salt is not
sticking to THEIR POPCORN!
Hey, you can pack all your fine china in the stuff for a safe MOVE! If you cant get
along by being an advocate against stuff that unfairly affects your lesser
neighbors..catch my drift? I hear that property is real cheap in New Orleans; ooooh
didnt hear that they had a little hurricane? I DID, even with my limited disabled funds I
managed to donate to the attempt to help my neighbors. Now I know that no effort of
mine will GUILT the masses into performing acts of charity and humanity for their
fellow mankind because, times ARE REALLY TOUGH!
BUT IN MY HEART I AM HOPEFUL.
AND the very next person that tells me they are taking no action out of TOUGH
LOVE, I am going to shoot..right in the fucking NUTSACK!!! And guess what?
We are kind of done in the chapterSO ONWARD IN OUR MISSION!
This next group of gripes grumps and glimpses is titled..Congratulations!
(Ok, this writer is a freaking nut, what is up with a chapter titled congratulations?
Well I dont know, but I paid to read this so let him continue.
NO I THINK NOT! I am going to stop reading RIGHT HERE AND CUT MY
LOSSES...Losses? You ALREADY PAID FOR IT!
So I guess that you are of the opinion that there is nothing to gain from this point
on...YEP!)
WELL, nothing could be further from the truth.

DangI am so happy you made it here! On the packaging for this book I made
comment of my search for the truth..And I have found a lot of it if, you are now at
this point in my works SO CONGRATULATIONS!
If you have made it here in one of the most dodgy written works to cross the land thus
far and are still exited to hear what I have to sayI commend and compliment you!
You are the type of soul that I have hoped to connect with in this bookHOW GRAND
and wonderful it is to at least understand a persons point of view, even if you do not
agree with all of it!
On the other hand if you are here because of a continuing hateful revenge plot on me for
my truthful and honest statements WellCONGRATULATIONS to you as well!
Because so many times the TRUTH HURTS AND MAYBE YOU ARE THINKING I
HURT YOU IN SOME WAY.
The best advise I will give to people in that category is dont miss a single line that I will
write in the rest of this book, cause I truly believe in saving the bestFOR LAST! Or if
you prefer..IT AINT OVER TIL THE FAT LADY SINGS?
(I ACTUALLY RESPECTFULLY PREFER THE FIRST OPTION, CAUSE DEALING
WITH WORKING FAT PEOPLE CAN ADD A LOT OF STRAIN TO YOUR
REFRIDGERATOR BUDGET!)
Now, take a breath and LAUGH, that was my sad attempt at a comical interlude
AND once again it seems I am making enemies.
UNLESSyou are ALREADY. an ENEMY.AND ARE FAT!
In that case take a chill pill (I wasnt expecting a fucking Christmas card anyway)
So far I am convinced of some real truths that will come out of this book likeMr.
Gaughan will never go on vacation with a black colored Valise ..again, and my calls
for police help will never go un answered after having an Illegal Mexican park his car
ON ME!......Yeah..RIGHT!
So here is the real truth..it seems that I am cursed and fucked no matter WHAT I
write here. So I intend to continue in a manner to which you have now grown accustomed
commenting on simple realities in my Las Vegas Life. I also realize that up to this point I
have failed to produce the promised underground notes of affair with the Mob and Mafia
presence in Las Vegas, but that is all coming as promised.
I felt that I should establish a shoulder to shoulder relationship with the readers so, my
mindset and actions will be understood. Very few written descriptions of this type have
been written from a first person perspective and are believable. So I hope I have
established an almost environmental perspective as to the truths that I am preparing to
discuss in this further text, many things I am preparing to describe still fail to bring a chill
to my spine as things of this unnatural and truly dangerous should. You see it was so fully
integrated into my adrenaline chasing lifestyle that I fail to be emotional about these
things, and I feel truly in full possession of one of the most foolish past conduct records
that anybody would ever believe (and many have not) and much of this seems almost to
be part of somebody elses past and not mine.
But I once again focus you on the FACT.I DO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE! I AM
NOT DILUSIONAL, AND A LOT OF INNER SEARCHING HAS ME ASKING
MYSELF.just WTF (ask the kids what this means; I am through using profanity
for creative purposes here) was I thinking in casually involving myself in these things and
would I do it again?
This question I cannot answer, because it depends on the circumstances and the moment
they occur. But not to second guess myself I honestly feel the answer would and should
be yes
So onward we trudge towards my confession of involvement with some of the most
invisible, yet substantial forces to operate in Las Vegas.EVER!

THE CLYDE EDWARDS GANG

One of the most invisible forces to operate in Nevada and other gaming licensed areas
throughout the WORLDwas the Clyde Edwards gang; I was a second tier member of
this group. The gang was specialized in all the methods of cheating at gambling and gang
membership included many prominent Nevada family members throughout the years and
even included key members of National and Local Civic Organizations such as The
Nevada Jaycees, Culinary Union Members and too numerous to mention inside
confederates employed in and about gaming areas throughout the state.
The Brainchild of organizer Clyde Edwards, a onetime employee of numerous slot
machine Manufacturers and a security and subversion EXPERT, Clyde had become
bored on the slot machine assembly line, and started to daydream about how to get the
machines to payout for HIM at some future date, and developed a method of subverting
slot machines into MAXIMUM JACKPOT PAYOUT, thus making an actual theft of the
machine to obtain its content coinage or other blatant theft scheme unnecessary! In fact
the method involved manipulating the machine to read as a maximum hand pay jackpot
which a confederate would stay and collect as a legitimate jackpot!
The original concept was a brilliant concept. It was based on using magnets to take hold
of internal machine component (an indexing timer motor) stalling out the machine
locking the reels and making them spin freely so that they could be lined up into the 777
and locked in that position by removing the influence to the timer at the precise moment
of the alignment! The method was dependant on the fact that a fan attached to the timer
motor was made of steel and spun at strength similar to a music box fan and was easily
interrupted. Further fact that the reel assembly was ALSO MADE MOSTLY OF STEEL
furthered the methods success, all that remained was to insure that the 7s plastic insert
was assembled onto the reel in perfect alignment with a steel spoke of the assembly, thus
allowing a very powerful magnet outside the machine case to grab it and pull it into the
jackpot alignment.
A perfect method! And entering the machine secretly was not necessary! Clyde insured
that all assemblers of machines followed the 7 insert alignment rule, and literally
hundreds of thousands of machines were produced with this usable feature to assist his
perfect scheme.
Well, almost perfect.how to pull off setting up the machine to jackpot in a public area
posed a different problem. It took a great deal of skill and patience to handle the magnets
and cause this setup, and it was not quite a consistent act to invoke this on all machines,
actually the procedure could go off in as little as 20-30 seconds or could require as much
as 3-5 MINUTES depending on the skill and patience of the Mechanic causing the
setup!
So it was decided that the actions needed to be concealed from prying eyes until
completion, for this part in the scheme methods that served professional pickpocket
teams were adapted. The Mechanic did not go to work until a Jackpot collector/player
and several Blockers were in place, the blockers also served as security for the
Mechanic, so he would not get caught with the tools of the scam inside the venue and
orchestrated other players in the area in the event that a hard turn(misdirection or
distraction) was needed to pull the event off.
The weak spot to the scam was when the timer was set into play again, the very loud and
noticeable JACKPOT BELL rang immediately and a swift exit had to be made by all
players leaving the collector standing there with a great big smile from his great
gambling LUCK!
Another weak point was that fresh collectors were needed constantly as the Coin
companies in Las Vegas that responded to hand pay large max jackpots only had a few
people assigned to that duty and recognition of the collector in multiple locations would
cause suspicions to ariseEven rotating the collectors to other shift activities was not a
sure thing, as the personal could easily work overtime in the coin Companies, and you
were burned!
The scam played well otherwise and only soft targets were set usually (7-11 and
convenience stores were a biggy, also neighborhood bars were great! The roar of the
drunks covered a lot, and the teams could slim down as little as 5 persons to conduct the
scam (7-11 and heavy traffic targets required usually a full team of ten confederates to
pull off!) as the scam money was split EVENLY WITH ALL PARTICIPANTS, a greater
profit could result in softer targets.But back in the day, even Casino targets were
worked because they had not installed slot player area surveillance yet, in fact the only
CAMERAS were installed in money handler areas to watch their employees, and any
supervisory observation could be misdirected using the same pickpocket techniques that
were successful in other heavy traffic areas that were worked. And Grocery Stores such
as Safeway, Luckys, were also great targets due to the Immediate customer turnover at
the check stands, and checkers were way to busy inputting purchase(before scanners) to
notice anything.
Even the Laundromats had a slot machine Bank, and it usually was a progressive bank
topping out at a $5,000 payout. Due to the heavy manpower necessary to conduct the
scam, progressive jackpots topped out $5,000 or better were usually desirable, but many
times a $1,000 or $500 was hit just because a soft target was not available and it beat just
sitting around until the team leaders had cased another location.
At the time I was solicited into a team, the gang had undergone a division of primary
players and they were operating as totally detached gangs from the original gang. It is my
belief that there was distrust amongst the members of the original team due to a series of
never ending Mechanic captures, and security upgrades constantly occurring to the slot
machines seemed to indicate that one of the main inside men was talking to someone and
countermeasures were being added to the machine designs like clockwork, magnetic
compatible components were replaced in the machines but this only thwarted scamming
for about a week. Several alternative methods were structured to compensate the loss of
magnetized hardware, and the machines were now being entered with tools in the space
between the door and machine body, and through the coin input slot. All effective
methods, but requiring even more skill than before from the Mechanic involved.
It was then I became aware of the increasing use of inside man techniques, it was a
tidy above normal tip night if a graveyard bartender could put us on a jackpot in his slow
or empty Bar or lounge, and we could work the set up game without the use of blockers
and diversionary tactics. Many times I was in on a three man set of jobs like this
throughout a weekday graveyard shift, only slowing when an unexpected regular showed
up or a drinker lingered too long and many times if he was a good customer on the
Bartenders shift he was made aware of the scam and compensated!
Seems like most of the townsfolk turned another cheek about the scam, and actually
thought it was a good thing to get something out of those machines even if it was a
crooked deal! This is testament that even the locals held gambling equipment owners in
contempt!
They dont call them thingsOne Armed Banditsjust for any reason, I guess the
method of the scam in its intelligence led to this reasoning as well, because the machine
was not being burglarized for its contents, and only the service company was being
cheatedand a common habit of graveyard bartenders gambling on the machines when
the bar was empty, made befriending the gang a good financial catch up technique.
Sure beat telling your ol lady that you gambled off the weeks tips out of sheer boredom!
At the time that I was involved with this, we were also equipped with a traveling
locksmith and key shop outfitted into a van, the reason for this was simple, if a Casino
floor man was approached by a member and was convinced to give up his Machine key
set for a few minutes, while taking his lunch or Coffee break a set of the keys could be
duplicated in minutes time, and the floor man would be compensated $500 per valid
Machine key. The gang could then enter the Casino and with the aid of a nameplate and
white shirt(floor man attire) could blatantly just open the machine up, in spite of its now
equipped entry/door open alarm and do the dirty work!
This method of the scam and its success is the primary reason that nowadays a Slot
Mechanic/Slot floor person keys are shared and always with the on duty personnelat
the END OF A BUNGY CORD NO LESS! I continued to work with the gang and profit
from its actions for close to 10 years and gang members went from criminal associate
status to the roll of personal friends in my life.
Our lives were so connected that we shared weekend Bar-BQs with our families and if
employed in another business full time, members found themselves in companionship
with each other in the days off. It has been stated that there is no honor amongst thieves,
but in this situation there was honor AND TRUST. It is the reason it was one of the
longest ongoing and most profitable scams ever conducted anywhere or any time
The nature of myself and most of my confederates was such that we had good lives from
the added income, and to my knowledge only two of us were smart enough to sock away
any dough for the future, one bought a lodge complex out of state, and the other invested
in his real estate company, another had several Bars, and one former gang member is now
a cheating consultant for a chain of hotel Casinos.
The end of gang association occurred when gang members were caught in Reno Nevada
in an attempt to cheat a Casino out of a bonus jackpot on a bank of slots.A
DELOREAN CAR WAS THE TARGETED PRIZE! Several key players were caught
and prosecuted on that deal.
Though I have not had contact with any of my gang associates for many years
now.were we to happen upon each other by accident, there would be a lot of hugging
and reminiscing of the times that we spent taking on the greedy gambling systems
throughout Nevada and other parts of the world..and the little guy WON!
( I contacted several surviving members of my former gang and asked them if they
wished to be mentioned by name in this book as sort of a living Legacy.
There were two nawww never mind thats..and one dont you DARE.I will blow
yer fuckin head off)
So THAT is why I have written this Chapter in this manner..and I suppose there
will be no more BarBQ weekends for us