1946

Two brothers — Edward P. and George Jones — freely controlled Chicago, Illinois’ policy* racket for 25 years, beginning in the 1920s.

As a result, the two raked in money, $10 to $30 million per year, in nickels and dimes, primarily from the Caucasians and African Americans living in slums, which turned the siblings into multimillionaires. In one year alone, income from their operation, that spanned from Ohio to Idaho, was an estimated $4.5 million ($45 million today)!

On a Monday in May 1946, Edward Jones’ chauffeur drove him and his wife and cashier, Frances Myles, to Myles’ home. When the limousine arrived there, two masked men carrying submachine guns appeared, hit and grabbed Jones and tried to capture Myles, but she broke free and ran into her house. The abductors forced Jones in their car and sped away. Jones’ chauffeur and wife followed and a few blocks away, alerted police who then pursued and fired two bullets at the criminals. The gunmen fired back, shattering the squad car’s front window, injuring an officer and, ultimately, getting away.

Days passed.

Some underworld members speculated the kidnappers would hold Jones until he relinquished control of his policy business in the Windy City, or if he refused, murder him. In agreement with that motive, police theorized former Al Capone minions had taken Jones.

Their other hypothesis was that ex-cons who’d done time in federal prison with Jones (he served a couple of years for income tax evasion) had snatched him for ransom money. (Jones had been kidnapped twice before but hadn’t reported the incidents to law enforcement officers.)

Five days later, Jones was released. He said he’d been blindfolded while held but had been treated well, hadn’t spoken to his captors and couldn’t identify them.

A rumor then spread that Jones’ mother and sister had paid $100,000 ($1.2 million today) to free him.

Case Turns Cold

Police, as part of their crime investigation, tried to round up and question the usual suspects, 100 of them including former Capone associates, but the big-time players had disappeared. They included:

• Matt Capone (Al’s brother)
• Ralph “Bottles” Capone (Al’s brother)
• Sam “Golf Bag” Hunt
• Murray “The Camel” Humphreys
• Edward “Red” Meehan
• Anthony “Tough Tony” Capezzio
• Tony “Joe Batters” Accardo

Nothing came of the detectives’ efforts.

After the kidnapping, Jones moved into a 12-room mansion in Mexico City, Mexico, from where he continued to oversee his multistate policy enterprise.

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*In policy, also called numbers, players bet on a number they predicted would appear in a specific source on a given day. Originally, operators obtained the winning numbers through lottery drawings but that evolved into using baseball scores, pari-mutuel totals, cattle receipts and other combinations of figures that routinely appeared in the newspaper. Because players could wager nickels and dimes, even those who couldn’t afford even part of a lottery ticket could participate. Therefore, the game became prevalent in poor U.S. neighborhoods.

Sources

Photo from Pond5: “”The Road From Coins” by dbrus

1947-1979

“Neat appearing girls from 21 to 25 to shill and learn to deal games at Rolo Casino, 14 E. Commercial Row,” read a Help Wanted ad in the Nevada State Journal (June 6, 1947).

A shill, as later defined by the Nevada gaming authorities, is: “an employee engaged and financed by the [gambling] licensee as a player for the purpose of starting and/or maintaining a sufficient number of players in a card game” (Regulation 23).

Another type of decoy is a proposition player — “a person paid a fixed sum by the licensee for the specific purpose of playing in a card game who uses his own funds and who retains his winnings and absorbs his losses.”

During the mid-1900s in the Silver State, a shill’s purpose was twofold: to entice others to play by making it appear winning was more likely than it truly was and to spur or keep action alive at game tables. In 1954, the pay for such a job in Reno was $5 a day.

In Northern Nevada, shills most often were female. Oftentimes, they were married, residing in Reno for the requisite six weeks to be awarded a divorce and wanting to earn some money in the meantime.

Occasionally, though, they were male.

“Once in a while to liven things up, a gambling house will employ a man shill and give him $10,000. With this bundle, the man shill will up and roar and scatter large bets,” wrote columnist Stan Delaplane about Reno casinos (Reno Evening Gazette, May 6, 1957).

Casino management worried shills would succumb to temptation and steal money, so they enforced strict rules to prevent theft.

“You can tell a shill by the way she stacks her silver dollars,” Delaplane added. “They stack them five on edge, five flat and so on, so the pit boss can see exactly how much money she has at a glance. The lady shill is told to play only $1 at a time. If the game is dice, she must play only the Do Pass line.”

Female shills were prohibited from carrying a purse or wearing clothing with pockets. When reaching for a cigarette or handkerchief on their person, they had to rub their open palms together first to show they were empty.

Reeled Them In

Later, in 1979, the Silver State instituted Regulation 23, mandates with respect to gambling decoys, the use of which remains legal today (unlike in most other states). They are:

• No more than two proposition players or a combination of four shills and proposition players may play in a card game.

• Shills may only wager chips or coins.

• All of a shill’s winnings must be wagered or turned in to the card room bank at the end of play.

• When asked, casinos must identify the shills and/or proposition players on the floor.

• Casinos must display a sign saying Nevada casinos allow the use of shills and proposition players.

• Shills cannot play in such a way that disadvantages the other players.

• Gambling licensees must maintain employee records on all of their shills/proposition players.

Stakes players — “a person financed by the licensee to participate in a game under an arrangement or understanding where by such person is entitled to retain all or any portion of his winnings” — are prohibited.

Sources

Illustration: by Gil Elvgren

1965

The U.S. suffered a shortage of coins in 1965. And that led to decreased business for Nevada’s largest industry — gambling. Usage of half-dollars, common in casinos then for table games and one-armed bandits, experienced the biggest hit.

That year, silver supply was scarce and its price high, at $1.29 per ounce. At $1.38, it would’ve become profitable to melt coins for their silver content, a situation the U.S. Treasury feared. Another concern was running out of the metal for currency. To counteract these problems, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed The Coinage Act, which reduced the 90 percent silver content of three national coins:

• New dimes and quarters were to contain 0 percent
• New half-dollars were to contain 40 percent
• Pennies, nickels and dollars would remain the same; production of dollars would cease

Consequently, people hoarded the coins. This, along with the growth in vending machines, collecting and economic activity, led to the shortage. Half-dollars were affected significantly, as often they were needed for juke boxes, newspaper stands, Laundromats, parking lot ticket machines, parking meters, payphones and bus fare. Additionally, many Americans desired to own the commemorative half-dollar showcasing President John F. Kennedy, minting of which had begun the prior year.

Desperate Measures

Nevada had to take action quickly to ensure gambling stayed as busy as possible. So the legislature approved a law allowing for use of Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC)-approved tokens in casinos. Then the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) drafted regulations and requested their passage “under emergency provisions for the immediate preservation of the good order and general welfare of the state and the gaming industry,” as noted in the Reno Evening Gazette (Aug. 18, 1965).

The NGC approved those rules, allowing casino patrons to use metal tokens in slot machines and plastic or paper chips of less than $1 value on gambling tables. The tokens, however, had to be:

• Approved first by the NGCB
• Clearly identified by the casino that issued them
• Colored differently than white metal
• Sold only upon request of patrons

Also, casinos couldn’t redeem tokens that weren’t their own unless a player received them from a payout on their property.

With those changes, stability soon returned to the Silver State’s gaming sector.

Sources