Gambling

Lake Mead Didn't Become State Park Due to Gambling

1939 With the recent discoveries of dead bodies there, Lake Mead in Southern Nevada has been in the news. The 1.5 million acres encompassing this water body and its environs have been a designated national…

AG Heads Protection Racket for Disallowed Gambling

1947-1950 Starting in 1947, Wiley “Buck” H. Cadell used his governmental position to build a statewide system of protection for illegal gambling operations in California, the first such concerted effort of this kind in the…

10 Intriguing Facts About Mob Tied Gambler Sam Termini

1928-1972 Samuel “Sam” F. Termini (1903-1972) was known as a small-time racketeer who worked at and operated gambling enterprises mostly for others. Here are 10 interesting tidbits about him and his life: Gambling History 1)…

Hate When That Happens

1934 A man named Hans Brucksmer played about $15 worth of nickels (about $300 today) in a slot machine at a place of business in Seattle, Washington and got only four coins back. He lifted…

Mobster Avoids Trial With Clever Scheme

1943-1944 Had it not been for a shifty plan Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo and/or his attorney, George Bieber dreamed up, the Mobster might’ve gone to prison at age 37, in 1944, for illegal gambling. Cigar Store…

Illegal Bookmaking Enterprise Flourishes in the City of Souls

1949-1950 During the Prohibition years in California, 1919 to 1934, San Mateo County was a hotbed for illegal vices — gambling, prostitution and drinking. Even a Mobster, Hillsborough-based Sam Termini, said the county was the…

It Really Happened! Investigates: Who is "Johnny Ox?"

1903 “Accommodation for Johnny Ox,” a gambling-related headline in the Nevada State Journal, March 17, 1903, puzzled us. Curious (read: obsessive), we set out to decipher it. The brief news item relayed two gambling saloons…

Female Axe Murderer Gets Results

1937-1939 In 1937, an Alton, Illinois woman took on the local gambling-Mobsters and the political machine … with an axe. Motivating Factors In Irene Kite‘s county of Madison, gambling was illegal, yet law enforcement and…

Paintings of Canine Gamblers Still Ring True 100 Years Later

1894-Today In his paintings depicting dogs as humans, Cassius “Kash” Marcellus Coolidge (1844-1934) brilliantly captured the nuances of poker playing and gambling. The dogs’ expressions are spot on and the details, comedic. Perhaps Coolidge himself…

Extreme and Dangerous: One Gambling Cheat and His Career

1886-1910 The Harmony Kid made his living as a traveling gambling cheat in the U.S. and was known from coast to coast. While primarily a card and dice sharp, Lawrence Varner (1865-1933) also perpetrated swindles…

5 Mobster-Gamblers Do Time in Alcatraz Prison

In addition to Alphonse (“Al”/”Scarface”) Capone, a handful of men separately involved in illegal gambling in the States wound up confined in the United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island for another crime. The maximum security, federal…

Games of Chance: Panguingue Demystified

Though its popularity declined since its heyday, panguingue rightfully earned a place in United States gambling history. Great, but what the heck is it? Panguingue, or pan for short, is a rummy-type gambling card game.…