Las Vegas–Nevada

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…

3 Guys Draw Attention to Reliable Way to Beat the Slots

1950-1952 The Rhythm Boys were all about patterns of sound and movement but in relation to slot machines, not music. Danny Foster, Johnny Pugh and Robert E. Black made $1,000 (about $11,800 today) from playing…

Bosa Bros.' Mobster Great Grandfather Involved in Gambling

1935-1965 Tony Accardo, né Antonino Leonardo Accardo (1906-1992), is credited with reviving and expanding the Chicago Outfit’s gambling business in the 1940s after the organization’s head Paul “The Waiter” Ricca named him underboss. Accardo himself…

A Legal Battle: Card Counters vs. Nevada Casinos

1977-1979 As Mark Estes, 28, played blackjack at a table in Nevada’s Las Vegas Hilton casino one day, he counted the cards. This involved remembering the cards dealt during each game and using a mathematical…

2 Nevadans Build International Gambling Empire

1958-1962 With their involvement in Nevada casinos behind them, Silver State residents, Clifford “Cliff” A. Jones and Jacob “Jake” Kozloff, together accrued a string of gambling enterprises in and around South America. Who They Were…

New Game of Chance Hits Popularity Jackpot in 1930s Nevada

1936-1950s The Palace Club introduced a new casino game to Nevada’s “Biggest Little City” on May 1, 1936. Renoites quickly discovered it, and its popularity soared, leading to a solid run over about a decade.…

The Dice Fall Where They May in FBI Gambling Probe, Part II

1965-1969 The Red Carpet in Biloxi was cheating its craps players by using a “juice joint,” a two-ton electromagnet that controlled metal-containing dice on a game table, in 1965. At the time, Mississippi prohibited all…

The Dice Fall Where They May in FBI Gambling Probe, Part I

1965-1969  In its July 1966 raid of Kress Manufacturing Co. in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents seized a treasure trove of crooked gambling equipment that seemed headed to various Nevada casinos. The…

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 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…

"Bugsy's" Death Affects Granting of Nevada Gambling Licenses

1947 “The Flamingo Hotel, one of the nation’s most elaborate establishments, was [Benjamin] Siegel’s baby and was set to be the operating headquarters for his syndicate which embarked on a program to control gambling in…