1941

Nevada casinos are known for their big-name entertainment, and it all started in the city of Elko.

In spring 1941, Newton Crumley, the owner of the Commercial Hotel and its Monte Carlo Casino, engaged Ted Lewis, bandleader / singer / entertainer / popular radio star, to perform there for a week for $12,000 (about $196,000 today). Other stars who followed included Sophie Tucker, Lawrence Welk, Chico Marx, The Andrews Sisters and Paul Whiteman.

Photo from The New York Public Library Digital Collections, Billy Rose Theatre Division: Ted Lewis Act

1954

Late on a Saturday night in 1954, during the peak of business, an unemployed, 27-year-old railroad hand entered the Stockmen’s Hotel, in Elko, Nevada, where townspeople, miners, ranchers and tourists congregated to socialize, drink and gamble.

Silvus Armandus approached the casino cashier’s cage and demanded: “Hand over your money and don’t make a sound.”

The pit boss, D.E. Pierce, asked him to repeat what he’d said, and he did, gesturing with one of his hands in his pocket that he had a gun. Pierce, who thought Armandus was joking, began walking away. Armandus yelled, “I’ll kill the [expletive*],” while shooting at him twice, both bullets missing Pierce.

Another casino employee, Jack Brady, tackled the scoundrel to the ground and while wrestling with him, the gun fired two more times, injuring Brady in the stomach. Other employees joined the fracas, creating a body pile. When all the staff members stood, Armandus remained on the floor, unconscious.

During the melee, most of the casino’s 100 patrons just kept gambling.

Armandus was jailed for assault with a deadly weapon. When he subsequently appeared in court, the revised charge was attempted robbery. He pled guilty and said he couldn’t remember the incident at all. The judge sentenced him to 2.5 to 5 years in the Nevada State Prison.

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* The expletive wasn’t printed in the original newspaper source

Sources