Mobsters / Gangsters / Syndicate Members (Alleged)

Murder on a Gambling Ship on the High Seas

1932 “There are no dull moments on the Rose Isle,” the invitation to prospective customers for dinner and dancing on the Southern California gambling ship read. Apparently, the excitement also included murder. The Crime And…

Gambler Adds Device to Get Roulette, Craps Defined as Slot Machines

1937 After Florida legalized slot machines in 1935, casino operator Myrton “Mert” Wertheimer, 53, devised a way to also get craps and roulette, unlawful at the time, allowed under the new rule. (Previously, only dog…

3 Brothers Build Legacy in 20th Century U.S. Gambling

1907-1958 Wertheimer was their name. Three of these four Michigan-born brothers became full-fledged, successful gambling operators in the first half of the 1900s, their reach spanning five states: Michigan, Ohio, Florida, California and Nevada. “As…

Mobsters Horn in on Northern Nevada Gambling Clubs

Ad in the Nevada State Journal, June 26, 1935 1929-1941 In the early decades of legal gambling in Nevada, Reno’s McKay/Graham combine expropriated legitimate business owners’ casinos in Washoe County. The local Mob, headed by…

10 Intriguing Facts About Gambling Kingpin "Bones" Remmer

An unpleasant, self-described “big gun,” Elmer “Bones” F. Remmer was “once one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s flashiest and most successful gambling czars,” having owned numerous clubs in which he offered illegal games of…

Surprise Event at Incline Village Casino Threatens Its Success

This is the last of a series of posts related to and leading up to the release on Dec. 6 of A Bold Gamble at Lake Tahoe: Crime and Corruption in a Casino’s Evolution by…

Law Enforcement on High Alert During Mob Boss’ Lake Tahoe Vacation

This is the second of a series of posts related to and leading up to the release on Dec. 6 of A Bold Gamble at Lake Tahoe: Crime and Corruption in a Casino’s Evolution by…

Quick Fact – Bugsy Borrows Benjamins

1938, 1946 Notorious mobster, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, borrowed money several times from his friend, actor George Raft, according to the biography George Raft, for which author Lewis Yablonsky interviewed the subject on numerous occasions. Siegel…

Hollywood Actor Turns Casino Host for U.S. Crime Syndicate

1958-1959, 1966-1967 Having grown up in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen with various mobsters-to-be — Meyer Lansky, Joe Adonis, Frank Costello and others — he remained cordial with them throughout adulthood. He had deeper relationships with…

Mobster Ties: Blessing and Curse for Gambling Conglomerate

1963-1970s With assorted help from Mobsters starting in 1963, a small Chicago, Illinois-based pinball game maker, which had begun as Lion Manufacturing Co. in the 1920s, grew into the world’s largest slot machine developer, Bally…

10 Intriguing Facts About Mobster/Gambler Allen Smiley

Allen Smiley “was one of the most powerful gangsters in [California],” wrote author Gerald Horne in Class Struggle in Hollywood, 1930-1950. He was Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel’s partner and best friend and subsequently, Johnny Rosselli’s* right-hand…

Gambling History Tidbit

This week, Nevada gambling regulators removed New York mobster, Charles “Charlie Moose” Joseph Panarella, from their List of Excluded Persons. Formerly the Black Book, this compilation contains the names, photos and criminal records of personas…