casino Archives

Gambling Harvey A. Gross It Really Happened Stateline--Nevada Wagon Wheel Saloon and Gambling Hall / Harvey's Wagon Wheel / Harvey's Resort Hotel (Stateline, NV)

Bomb Extortion Plan Blows Up

1980 Thirty-five years ago, on August 27, an intricate bomb blasted a chasm that spanned six of the 11 floors of Harvey’s Resort Hotel. The explosion hadn’t been intentional but, rather, the result of the…

"Pop Goes the Weasel (Lady Cocoa)" Did You Know? Nevada Quick Facts

Quick Fact – Lady Cocoa

1975 The blaxploitation thriller, Lady Cocoa (also titled Pop Goes the Weasel), was filmed in Northern Nevada. It starred singer-dancer Lola Folana, former San Francisco 49er Gene Washington and former Pittsburgh Steeler Joe Green, The…

Bernard "Mooney" Einstoss Casino: Financings: Reconstruction Finance Corporation It Really Happened Louis "Lou" J. Wertheimer Mapes (Reno, NV) Nevada United States

Was The Mapes’ Financing Unethical?

1947 The United States’ Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) co-financed construction of a gambling enterprise via its $975,000 loan for the Mapes hotel-casino in Reno, Nevada in 1947. Under Attack Three years later, Senators William Fulbright…

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel California Crimes / Violence / Punishments: Murder Frank Nitti It Really Happened Meyer Lansky Mobsters / Gangsters / Syndicate Members (Alleged) Movies / Movie Stars / Entertainers / Celebrities

Movie Starlet Murdered by Mobster?

1934-1935 Today, 80 years later, the circumstances of actress Thelma Todd’s death remain a mystery, and the case still is one of Hollywood’s infamous unsolveds. A deep cover-up precluded the truth about the incident from…

Did You Know? Nevada Quick Facts

Quick Fact – Dice Mice

Early 1900s In The Silver State (Nevada), casinos hired men for the sole job of picking up dice that rolled off the game tables. Only these workers were allowed to touch the cubes to keep cheaters…

Casino: Takeovers China Did You Know? Quick Facts

Quick Fact – Hankow Fire

1928 Countless people died and an estimated 10,000 people lost their homes due to a ferocious fire started in a gambling den that razed a major street in the heavily populated city of Hankow, China.…

Governing / Regulatory Bodies: Internal Revenue Service It Really Happened Nevada

Hey, IRS, Give ‘Em Back!

1961 It was hot inside and outside Harolds Club in Reno, Nevada on a Wednesday afternoon in the early summer of 1961. Indoors, people gathered around to watch high-roller Lonnie Joe Chadwick on a winning…

Ghost Casino (Rhyolite, NV) It Really Happened Norman C. Westmoreland Rhyolite--Nevada

The Ghost Casino’s Disappearance

1937-1947 The bustle and liveliness of the Ghost Casino have long been dead. All that remains is a specter of the club’s former self in the form of a rundown, abandoned building — a state…

Did You Know? Nevada Quick Facts

Quick Fact – Gambling Hours

1889 Nevada passed a law mandating that gambling houses couldn’t open any earlier than 6 a.m. and couldn’t close any later than midnight. The sentence for violation was a $200 to $500 fine and/or 30…

Gambling License Games / Races: Roulette It Really Happened John Petricciani Nevada

Gambling License Fees: No Joke

1935 In 1934, John Petricciani regained use of his Reno, Nevada, property he’d owned for 10 years and first licensed his saloon, the Palace Bar, for roulette and 21 games, one apiece. Prior, he’d leased…

Did You Know? Gambling Nevada Quick Facts

Quick Fact – WPA Mandate

1937 The director of the Works Progress Administration, the New Deal agency that employed individuals to construct public works projects, informed all Nevada workers that it wouldn’t tolerate “gambling, drinking or other unnecessary expenditure” and…

Espanol Hotel (Reno, NV) Felix Turillas Sr. It Really Happened Nevada Prohibition

Who To Believe In The Wild West

1920 Some shady business went down between Felix Turillas, Sr., who owned Reno’s Espanol hotel and who went on to own several Northern Nevada casinos, and two men, Joe Musso and Joe Stropin. According to…