Casino History

Nevada: "Gambling and Prostitution Should Not Go Hand in Hand"

1954 Two gambling-related issues — cheating by operators and prostitution — in Nevada’s town of Searchlight came to a head at the July meeting of the state tax commission, then responsible for overseeing gaming. Regarding…

West Coast IRS Men Bribe Gamblers

  1940-1953 In 1946, Pat Mooney, chief field deputy of the Nevada Internal Revenue (IR) Bureau office, made gambler-Mobster Elmer “Bones” F. Remmer* an offer he couldn’t refuse. If the gambling club owner purchased $52,400…

U.S. Prohibits Gambling on Domestic Election Results

1919-Today The now infamous Joseph “Joe” Conforte, known for having owned the Mustang Ranch brothel and having fought for the legalization of prostitution, both in Nevada, found himself behind bars there in fall 1960. The…

Wacky Gambling News From the 1930s, 1940s

“Pigeon Jailed for Gambling” New York, May 29, 1941 Two New York Police Department plainclothesmen arrested a pigeon that then was forced to spend the night in the Bronx police station. Five other such birds,…

Man Who Inspired Casino Moniker Can't (or Won't) Rest in Peace

The ghost of an elderly man, most likely the property’s namesake, is said to haunt Whiskey Pete’s Hotel and Casino in State Line (now Primm), Nevada, Janice Oberding, paranormal enthusiast and investigator, wrote in Haunted…

ICU Nurses Gamble on What Day Critical Patients Will Die

1980 Certain Intensive Care Unit (ICU) employees at a Las Vegas, Nevada hospital were putting money down on the date the critically ill people under their care would die, and some wagerers were ensuring they’d…

Casino Dice Designed to Thwart Customer Cheating

“Dice are the most ancient gambling implements known to man, and the most universal, having been known in nearly all parts of the world since earliest times.” —Hoyle’s Rules of Games From size to spot…

Casino Dealer, Accomplice Execute Elaborate Crime in Las Vegas, Part II

In case you missed it, Part I is available here. 1978-1984 Paul Michael Kodelja, who was about to stand trial on January 4, 1978 for his role in the kidnapping of Reno and Polly Fruzza…

Casino Dealer, Accomplice Execute Elaborate Crime in Las Vegas, Part I

1977 The couple’s harrowing experience started at their Las Vegas home. Two men disguised with faux facial hair and odd outfits nabbed First National Bank of Nevada executive Reno N. Fruzza as he entered his…

Funny Business at Beverly Hills Card Club Spans Years

1962-1969 The Friars Club in Beverly Hills had been a favorite haunt of Hollywood celebrities and the area’s wealthy since 1946, but something underhanded began happening there in the 1960s, unbeknownst to most of its…

Reno Mobsters Aid Gangster From Chicago, Raising Suspicions

1936 A man walked into the Greenleaf & Crosby jewelry store in New York’s Rockefeller Center at about 11 a.m. on Monday, January 6. Two others followed through the other entrance. “This is a stickup,”…

Mobster-Gambler Frank Frost Leaves Crime Trail in Chicago, Los Angeles, Reno

1906-1967 Frank “Frankie” Frost (1898-1967) spent about two decades working in Reno’s gambling scene and had close relationships with those in power locally, including gambler-Mobsters William “Bill/Curly” Graham and James “Jim/Cinch” McKay and banker and…