Nevada’s Golden Age of Gambling
By Al W Moe
Smashwords Edition
Copyright 2012 By Al W Moe
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Introduction
During the course of the last century, Nevada has transformed itself from a simple water-stop along a dry, barren stretch of open land to the greatest gambling center in the world. Now, whether you head for the unbelievable spectacle of Las Vegas with its choreographed headliner shows, megawatt neon signs and 5,000-room hotel casinos, or stroll through the more sedate streets of Reno with its backdrop of snowcapped mountains and ski resorts, you will find yourself surrounded by the very casinos that changed the face of gambling, not just in Nevada, but across the United States. Although some of the names have changed over the years, the indomitable spirit of those who offered games of chance and settled in Nevada has not. By the 1950’s, Harold’s Club of Reno had become the most successful casino in the world.
It was not until this time that the larger casinos in Nevada began to surpass the income produced by the more successful illegal clubs operated in Florida, Arkansas, Ohio and Kentucky. Meyer Lansky had a financial interest in several successful clubs in the 1930’s and 1940’s, each making a significant amount of money. Moe Dalitz and his Mayfield Road Gang also ran successful clubs such as the Thomas Club and Ohio Villa, which the FBI regarded as “Swank night clubs, both notorious gambling resorts located near Cleveland in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.” In a 1939 memorandum for the director of the FBI, John Edgar Hoover, it was noted that both of Dalitz’ clubs had been “Entirely renovated in order to provide additional space and facilities for its patrons, including the installation of a cooling system at the Durham Road location of the Thomas Club, Maple Heights, Ohio.”
Hoover’s memo continued by pointing out that “Moe Davis (Dalitz) has been indicated as a close and intimate associate of Louis Buchalter. This same gang is said to be in control of gambling, policy and other rackets in Cuyahoga and adjacent counties and in other cities, including Miami, Florida, where the Frolics Club is operated during the winter season.
Thomas McGinty is another member of the “Cleveland Syndicate” who owned a gambling casino in Miami, Florida, in 1939 named Carter’s Casino, and the Fairgrounds Race Track in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1945, he was a director of the Arena in Cleveland, a professional sports and special events center. He was one of the owners of the Mounds Club in Lake County, Ohio and had an interest in the Beverly Hills Country Club in Newport, Kentucky. In 1945, he operated slot machines on an excursion boat off Cleveland. He was also a partner in the Desert Inn in Las Vegas.”
Clubs in Chicago also provided more income than their counterparts of 1930’s Nevada, although Al Capone didn’t need a huge income from gambling, he had Prohibition. Once the 18th Amendment, which authorized prohibition, was repealed and he lost his ability to sell bootleg liquor, his prime source of income was gone. Capone was soon to be indicted for income tax evasion, and Frank Nitti would take over for the next 11 years. Nitti held a meeting when he took over operations, and Charlie Fischetti was given control of the nightclubs and gambling casinos.
The clubs operated openly with the cooperation of the police (as long as they got their weekly payoffs), and with so many in operation they drew a tremendous income. Tony Accardo, who would rise to the top of the Chicago crime family and rule for nearly forty years, was only a captain, or “capo” in the “regime” at this time.
When the greatest gamblers in early Nevada history arrived in the state they were more interested in a “safe haven” than in creating untold wealth. “Pappy” and Harold Smith, and Bill Harrah are probably the best-known casino owners of Nevada’s golden age of gambling (1931 to 1981). Their casinos in Reno were well established before Las Vegas boomed in the 1950’s.
Nevada in the 1940’s provided good income for Meyer Lansky and his associates in New York and Florida, and his front man at the time was “Bugsy” Siegel. By the 1950’s, Nevada would become the “last resort” for many gamblers who had been forced to testify during the Kefauver hearings. Senator Estes Kefauver was the chairman of a Special Committee of the United States Senate that had been appointed to investigate organized crime in the United States. Many remember this Committee as a “gambling investigation,” but that was not the original intent of this 1950 group.
However, it became apparent during the early months of investigations that the major income of “organized crime” was gambling. As a result, some clubs were actually shutdown, and many “gamblers” headed for the safety of Nevada, which initially welcomed them with open arms.
Their amazing stories of early casino operations, along with a history of early Nevada gamblers like Nick Abelman, Bill Graham, James McKay, John Petricciani, Newt Crumley, Jim Young and many more pioneers are found in the following chapters.
Chapter 1
Gambling is Nevada. Always was, and always will be. From the Native Americans that lived in its high country, and fished its prehistoric lakes, life in the desert was both a struggle, and a gamble. Summer sunshine parched the land, and brutal cold could strand travelers in their tracks. The Donner Party learned the hard way about the region’s merciless snow.
Nevada was established in 1850 as a part of the Utah Territory. Over a seventeen-year period, from 1841 to 1857, over 150,000 hardy souls took the long arduous trek across the Midwest to California. The families that made the trip were looking for a new and better life. The many miners that came from the East were looking for instant wealth. Some homesteaded in the more hospitable locations along the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Near the Sierra foothills, new residents in the town of Genoa demanded self-government. Being so many miles from Salt Lake City, they believed they should be allowed to govern themselves. That spirit lives on today!
On March 2, 1861, President Buchanan signed an act establishing the Territory of Nevada. Less than four years later, on October 17, 1864, President Lincoln signed Nevada’s proclamation of statehood. Things move quickly in Nevada, and from that date on, the state would see many changes. Towns sprang up around gold and silver strikes, only to disappear just as fast when the veins ran out.
Walking into a hard rock mine is no small gamble. Miners risked their very lives in that magical and all compelling search for silver and gold. Virginia City, site of the rich Comstock Lode, was the new states largest city. Named after James Finney, (nicknamed Old Virginney), the city sprang up around the first great bonanza, the Ophir. Ore was located at 160 feet, and a great rush to the area ensued.
A German immigrant, Philip Deidesheimer, invented square set timbering, which allowed mining at great depths, even in loose ground. Miners were paid up to $4 per day, and worked at levels never before reached. At such great depths, the miners were able to work only fifteen minutes at a time. They were repeatedly lowered down thousands of feet, only to be brought back up a quarter of an hour later. Ice, taken from nearby lakes during winter, was brought-in to cool the miners. The underground heat was the same all year.
By the time Nevada became a state, Virginia City was in full swing. The Wells Fargo Company was just one of the seven daily stage lines that made trips to the town. The city boasted three theaters, and had a newspaper, The Territorial Enterprise, where Mark Twain made a name for himself as a flamboyant and imaginative columnist. The town also had four churches, and six police stations, but even that was not enough to stop the tide of liquor flowing from the 150 saloons in operation. Drinking and gambling were a miner’s best friends, next to the occasional bath and some pleasant company.
Gambling was a fact of life in mining towns, and in Carson City, 36 delegates to the Constitutional Convention drafted a bill allowing all forms of wagering except lotteries. It was several years before the legislators were able to override Governor Blasdel’s veto of the bill, but it was eventually accomplished. For another 38 years, the regulations changed often. However, by 1910, the AntiGambling League of Reno (led by the Women’s Civic League) had forced the legislators to once again outlaw games of chance. The games continued of course.
It was just a matter of using the basement or a nice second floor to offer the customers a little excitement. Aside from the “offensive habit” of law enforcement looking the other way, a substantial amount of untaxed revenue was also going into the pockets of the many businessmen engaged in offering these games. In 1930, a 29-year old Republican State assemblyman named Phil Tobin took a chance of his own.
Using a failed 1929 bill, the Winnemucca rancher (with some help from local gamblers and Humboldt District Attorney Merwyn Grown) put together a new bill for the legalization of gambling. Plenty of influence was brought by the likes of Reno banker (and owner of the Riverside) George Wingfield, and he certainly helped it pass in the Nevada State Assembly and senate. Governor Fred Balzar was quick to sign the bill into law on March 19th, 1931.
Tobin continued on to the State Senate in 1932, and then quietly returned to ranching in the Winnemucca area after his term ended in 1936. He had originally become an assemblyman to help out his fellow cowboys, but the idea of taxing gambling seemed like a good idea too. The quiet rancher could never in his wildest dreams have guessed how much tax income the state would someday collect.
In downtown Las Vegas, the Northern Club got underway immediately. Licensed by the Sheriff’s Department, the partners Morgan and Stocker were legal on 3-20-31. The Boulder Club and Las Vegas Club joined the Northern on Fremont St. by getting licensed on the 31st of the month. Also licensed was the Exchange Club at 123 S. 1st.
On the outskirts of town were to come two other early licensees: the Meadows in Meadow Acres (licensed on 5-2-31) and the Pair-O-Dice on Highway 91 (licensed on 7-4-31). Clubs across Nevada brought their gambling tables into full view and paid for their licenses. Half a dozen towns had clubs get their licenses and gambling underway by the end of the month. In Ely, the Capitol Club was suddenly respectable, and down the street, so was the Miners Club. In Winnemucca it was the Central Club. In Elko, Newt Crumley licensed the Commercial Hotel just one day after the law was passed. Yerington had (and still has) the L & L Bar. The Owl Club at 50 S. Main Street in Fallon was licensed on the 21st, and the Tonopah Club was legal by the 23rd of March.
It was no surprise that so many clubs were ready to get licensed. They had the tables, they had the clientele, and now it was al legal, without the need for under-the-table payoffs to local politicians and deputy sheriffs. Now the fees were paid above board, but still to the sheriff’s departments. Since that meant no extra cash for the deputies, you can bet that all the clubs thought twice about operating without a license!
In Reno, just one day after the bill passed, the Bank Club was in the midst of enlarging. The sound of construction, including a cement mixer, continued into the night. When construction was done, the club had a frontage of 55 feet, and a depth of more than 150 feet. Housed inside were the games of chance: three Faro tables, six craps tables, draw and stud poker, roulette wheels, chuck-a-luck, razzle-dazzle, hazard, wheels of fortune and a few slots. Base pay for the many dealers (all men) was $15 per day. Most of the table games had been brought up from the basement. Patrons would no longer have to make the trip downstairs to play a little craps.
By 1931, the bulk of the gambling business in Northern Nevada had fallen into the hands of a syndicate composed of a handful of powerful men. The most powerful was George Wingfield, who had grown to prominence through the sale of mining claims in towns like Tonopah and Goldfield.
He was a ruthless businessman, and invested his time and money in buildings, casinos and prostitution. If it made money, he was in it. By the early 1900’s he was one of the most powerful men in Nevada, and by the 1920’s he ran Reno. He controlled the flow of liquor and set-up his own banks. His most powerful allies were James “Jimmie” McKay, and William “Bill” Graham. The two were old-time boss gamblers who learned the ropes while working for Nick Abelman when he ran the Tonopah “Big Casino” and other spots where Wingfield was the landlord.
They moved to Reno soon afterwards and had a financial interest in the Reno Social Club, Bank Club, the red light district, and also ran the illegal gambling concession for George Wingfield in the Golden Hotel adjacent to the Bank Club. Soon the Golden Hotel would also be licensed. For most of this period, Ray Kindle was also an investor, but he acted only as a silent partner in the club. Other casinos to come under the groups’ control were the Wine House, the Rex Club, the Country Club and the Gay 90’s.
The finest gambling house in the area was the “Willows.” Opened first by Rick DeBernardi, he had a little trouble keeping the property open. After coming to Reno, Graham and McKay took an interest. After some renovation, the club reopened with the new name. A sumptuous restaurant was added and the club was a hit!
After a six-year period from 1939 to 1945 that saw Graham and McKay sent to prison for mail fraud and the club run by Jack Sullivan, George Wingfield decided to sell the Golden Hotel, where the Bank Club was located. The two old-time partners retained the gaming lease until their partnership ended in May of 1952 when Graham became the sole lessee of the Bank Club until selling to Bill and James Tomerlin in 1955.
It cost the Tomerlin’s $425,000 to buy the lease for the casino, but they were only able to use it until 1962. On April 3rd a fire destroyed the Golden Hotel. By the following year, the New Golden Hotel was opened, and it ran from July 3, 1963 until Bill Harrah purchased it on March 29, 1966. Harrah promptly shut the property down and soon had plans drawn for his Reno hotel.
Chapter 2
The Random House Dictionary defines desert as “a region so arid that it supports only sparse vegetation or none at all.” That definition fit much of Nevada at the turn of the 20th century. Lake Tahoe and Reno in the north do accumulate enough rainfall to grow beautiful pines, and there is plenty of vegetation in the eastern part of the state. Copper Basin near Jarbidge in Elko County is a hidden mountain garden, but the area is still considered a high desert. To the south, a little town called Las Vegas really was in the middle of the desert.
Surrounded by dry, parched hills, Las Vegas was, nonetheless, a necessary campsite for caravans making their way from Santa Fe to California. Dating back to approximately 1830, the good water and grassland was an oasis along the Old Spanish Trail. A way station on the mail route in 1851, the area was to become a Mormon mission in 1855. William Bringhurst had his small group build a sprawling ranch, which included irrigation ditches for crops and livestock. Although later abandoned, the fort, built on the ranch for protection against Indians, was to be acquired by Octavius D. Gass, whom later sold-out to Archibald Stewart in 1882.
After his death, his widow remained at the site until 1903. She then sold some 1800 acres to the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad Co. The Railroad Co. developed the Las Vegas town site and sold lots in May of 1905. By the time of the auction, several businessmen were ready to purchase lots in the new business district along the railroad tracks. One such “free thinker” was
C. P. “Pop” Squires. Squires had recently moved to Las Vegas from Los Angeles. Seeing the area as a fine place for a home, “Pop” arranged for the purchase of a number of businesses. Through the Las Vegas Trading Company, he and several friends bought what they could. When the town site auction came on May 15th, his group purchased the entire block on Fremont Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets. They also purchased as many other smaller lots as their $25,000 bankroll could handle.
Over the next few years, Squires organized the Las Vegas Artesian Water Company, and helped organize the Southwest Power and Telephone Company. By 1908, the small town was struggling to keep its residents. It was at this time that he purchased the Las Vegas Age newspaper. Through the newspaper, “Pop” was able to urge the remaining residents to drill wells for home and irrigation use. He also urged business owners to build better shops in the downtown area. This would of course attract tourists, and also a somewhat more respectable class of ladies to the area. What could be wrong, the paper suggested, if the trains that stopped at the end of Fremont Street were to rest just a little longer? This would allow time for travelers’ to sample the local hospitality. Evidently they liked what they saw, and have been visiting ever since.
The town “Pop” left, Los Angeles, had the film industry and a growing population. Southern California needed more water, it was the early 1920’s and the Colorado River was soon to be tamed by a new dam. Originally planned for a site along Boulder Canyon, upstream from the dam’s actual location at Black Canyon, and taking its first name from that site, the present day Hoover Dam brought Nevada into the public eye.
Although Las Vegas was not much more than a rail center for supplies and the influx of laborers, the building of a massive dam was just what the small town of 5,100 needed. As 3.5 million yards of concrete filled the dam site at Black Canyon, massive amounts of earth were moved. The workers and money that the government put to work just 30 miles from Las Vegas helped the town grow and prosper, while most of the nation struggled. By the time wide-open gambling was legalized (just a year after funds were dedicated for construction), thousands of technicians and laborers were looking for somewhere to spend their hard-earned cash.
Huge payrolls of more than $500,000 per month caused more than a few problems at Boulder Dam. A private police force was hired to keep supplies from disappearing, men from fighting, and cash from drifting from its rightful owners. Being out in the middle of the desert for months and months of backbreaking work was akin to serving a prison sentence. The unbelievable 120-degree heat, hard work, and no alcohol on a government-owned project were some tough things to ask from the workforce.
Getting the 5,000 workers to the site turned out to be quite a task in itself. Not that there weren’t plenty of applicants, there just were not enough roads. Much had to be done before the first drop of cement was poured. First came the living quarters. Not exactly the Ritz-Carlton, they were no more than dorms or barracks. Mess halls, garages, warehouses and machine shops had to go in next. Two concrete mixing facilities were soon dedicated.
Sections of pipe were made in a new and nearby plant. The enormous size of pipe used to receive water from the intake towers made their manufacture at the site a necessity. At over 150 tons per section, they were too heavy to be moved by rail.
Chief engineer Frank T. Crowe was eventually able to begin the actual pouring of concrete. Huge cranes were used to pour 15-ton canisters of concrete. Crane operators were so high up the canyon walls that signalmen with phones had to be employed to let the operators know where they were lowering their payloads.
As the concrete was set in each section, the newly completed refrigeration plant went to work. Without its help, it would have taken years for the concrete to dry. Pouring went on nearly 24 hours a day, with a new canister dumped every 60 seconds. After some 22 months of pouring, the dam rose to its final height, taller than a 60-story building.
Some 96 men died during construction of the dam. Heat alone killed over a dozen. The machine shops also took their toll, but none fell into the “wet concrete below.”
It was over five years from start to finish before the dam was dedicated on September 30, 1935. During those years the town of Boulder City was built. Just eight miles from the dam, Boulder City sprang up as a carefully planned government town. When it was built, it was a “dry” town with no gambling. Prohibition was eventually repealed, but the gambling remains outside of town.
To gamble and blow off steam, workers had to travel to Las Vegas. And travel they did! By bus and private car, the workers joined with local hard-rock miners and cowboys in the small town. Vegas was alive and rocking. On April st, 1931 the Boulder Club opened at 118 E. Fremont St. in downtown Las Vegas. Aptly named, the club was organized by a half dozen partners. Joe and Jack Murphy, Clyde Hatch, Walt Watson, “Pros” Goumond and A. B. Witcher put up a few dollars and brought a downtown bar into the gambling age.
Always a workingman’s club, the small casino did more than its share of business in the downtown area. Manager A. B. Witcher, a banker from Ely, was a driving force in running the club, and always an easy touch for the dam-builder down on his luck, Witcher gave away “one last drink” to thousands of workers. They repaid the favor by returning on their weekends to once more fight the one-armed bandits, and to “Buck the Tiger,” a euphemism for playing Faro Bank.
Partners came and went, but an up and coming Faro dealer was to become the final owner of the Boulder Club. Jim Young came to Las Vegas in 1932 as a skillful poker player. However, since most of the poker in town was for very small stakes, he took to running his own game. Often that meant he simply leased a space and set up a table. Because of his ability to also deal Faro, Jim was given a space and job at the Boulder Club. Soon Jim was dealing every game in the house, from 21, to roulette and craps.
When employees rose above the level of dealer, many clubs in Nevada offered them points. With 100 points totaling all the gambling action, a valued employee might thus become a partner by being given or buying a few points. In the case of the Boulder Club, there was just “one” business -everything under the roof.
As a valued worker, Jim Young soon came to own a piece of the Boulder. With his extra income from his points and his poker winnings, Jim was able to invest in other clubs downtown. Around the corner was the Silver Club, which had opened in January of 1932 (at 108 N. 1st. Street), and needed a face-lift. Jim’s extra cash and know-how built up the club. Although there was no bar, Joe Morgan’s Golden Camel Bar was next door. Soon the liquor flowed through a swinging door and the club’s fortunes increased greatly.
In fact, the club was so valuable that Jim had to “repurchase” it. With the onset of World War II, Jim hoped for enrollment in Officer’s Candidate School. To allow him time away from the club, he struck a deal with Joe Morgan next door. Morgan had unsuccessfully tried his luck a few years earlier with some table games. The bar was originally licensed in 1931 for gambling, and had gone through a number of owners before Morgan took over in 1937. He purchased his license in 1938 and ran two 21 games, a tub craps game and four slot machines. He was more than happy to look after the Silver Club for Jim Young.
When Young was unable to enter OCS months later, he returned to Las Vegas. Since his deal had been that he would be back after the war, Morgan refused to give up the Silver Club, but again, a deal was arrived at and Jim repurchased the Silver Club.
While several clubs on Fremont Street were going through new owners with ties to Chicago, Cleveland and New York, Jim was able to hold his ownership this time. Several clubs came and went, with Jim’s involvement anywhere from simple investor to general manager. The Saddle Club and Zanzibar were clubs where Jim was an investor and partner, but most of his time was spent working at the Boulder Club.
When the Monte Carlo became available, he was again an investor. This time however, Jim spent a little more time around the property. Just down the street from the Boulder Club, the Monte Carlo was purchased and remodeled by Wilbur Clark.
The early days of gambling in Nevada involved mostly smaller clubs. Often the owners were working on short bankrolls and clubs changed hands at the turn of a card. In one of the strange twists of fate, Wilbur Clark took-over the Northern Club on Fremont Street. He constructed a European style “salon” instead of just an American “saloon,” and, he changed the name from the Northern, to the Monte Carlo.
Clark had just returned from Reno, where he was running a small club called the Bonanza. Wilbur held the license from April of 1944 to April of 1945. Strangely enough, prior to it being the Bonanza, that casino, at 207 N. Center Street, was also called the Northern.
The club in Reno was in the lobby of the Commercial Hotel. Having gone through several licensees, Wilbur learned what the others had: the property was too small. Clark was interested in having a larger and more beautiful casino. Soon, a hotel would not be out of the question for him.
As for Jim Young, his career continued on through the 1970’s. After a few good years at the Monte Carlo, he sold his interest in the club in 1949. Now his main emphasis was again the Boulder Club.
For another 11 years, the Boulder Club thrived along Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas. “Solid as the dam it was named after” is how the club was run. Young continued the club’s history of taking care of busted gamblers, whether it was a last drink, or a few bucks to head on down the road. Faro was dealt at the Boulder Club until it closed in 1960, and a favorite player was Nick “The Greek.” While Jim Young had made a name for himself as both a Faro dealer and teacher, he never did deal to “The Greek.” However, he did spend some 30 hours dealing craps to the legendary gambler.
“The Greek” had just spent 40 hours playing Faro Bank up the street. Now he decided to walk the 100 steps to the Boulder Club. His urge switched from Faro to the long green felt of the craps table. Nick was known to spend days-on-end gambling without so much as a catnap. Today was no different. The dice were hot from the start, and “The Greek” stacked-up a mountain of chips. Eventually the dice turned, and for Nick, it was like somebody had opened a vein. His chips bled back onto the table, and there was no doctor in sight. After his pockets lost their bulge, Nick trudged out the door, once again in search of a hot Faro game. Jim Young headed out the door after 30 long hours, in search of a bed.
Chapter 3
While Las Vegas grew from a Union Pacific stopover in the desert, those that would soon control it were growing up too. Ben Siegel was busy working the “Bug-Meyer” gang with Meyer Lansky. Jack Dragna was working for Al Capone, and Moe Sedway was doing the bidding of Frank Costello.
Clubs in Las Vegas were small and huddled around the railroad station downtown. Gambling was greater in other areas of the country. In those areas, crime figures were just trying to make a buck. Prohibition had produced many groups of well-financed criminals, but there were other ways of making money. Dave Berman was just trying to work his way up the ladder.
Dave (Dave the Jew/David) Berman was raised on the frigid and wind swept plains of Ashley, North Dakota. The hostile living conditions turned Dave into a tough young man, just as the tough neighborhoods of Brooklyn had turned Ben Siegel tough. At the age of five, Dave changed his name; he felt his given name of “Donald” was a sissy’s name!
At the tender age of eight, Dave took to the frozen streets to sell newspapers. With the best of intentions, he helped support his family. As time went on, he learned to gamble, and to steal. Raiding poker games became a profitable pastime, and soon banks and post offices would fear his presence.
Dave was soon working for associates in Chicago. In May of 1927, he headed to New York to do a little kidnapping. Armed with machine guns, hand grenades and tear bombs, he and a group of three other “thugs” went in search of Abraham Scharlin. Scharlin, a local bootlegger, was just the type of “businessman” the mob liked to kidnap. Who would someone like Scharlin complain to? Scharlin was picked up and held in Brooklyn while the $20,000 ransom demand was sent to his partners. However, the police had been watching Berman and one of the kidnappers, Joseph Marcus. While they stood outside a shop on West 66th Street, two detectives tried to arrest them. In the ensuing scuffle, Marcus was shot dead, and Berman was knocked to the pavement. His pistol was removed from his waistband and he was arrested.
Berman was taken to a local precinct, but refused to tell investigators where the kidnap victim was being held. The Daily News termed his crime, “The most sinister plan of a gigantic kidnapping trust whose activities are aimed at underworld overlords.” As more investigators were brought in to question him, Berman steadfastly refused to divulge anything about the kidnapping plot. He then made his famous comment, “Hell, the worst I can get is life.” That was enough to send the police into fits of rage, and people in bars all over New York repeating the phrase.
At 25, Berman was eventually jailed for attempted felonious assault and violation of the Sullivan Law. Seven and a half years later, Berman walked out of Sing-Sing a free man. He never “ratted out his partners” and they were grateful. The week he got out of prison he took up with Moe Sedway and began meeting more of his like.
He frequented the floating crap game at 8th Avenue and 15th Street run by Joe Adonis. Dinner guests included Meyer Lansky, and Dave decided to join up with Ben Siegel and the others connected to Murder, Inc. It was now 1934, and the slot machines found all over New York were in danger of being destroyed by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia. Barges containing all types of coin-operated “gaming” and “non-gaming” devices were being hauled out to sea and dumped. It was a good time to move elsewhere.
Meyer Lansky had already taken over some local gambling joints and would soon head to Florida and Cuba. Ben Siegel was heading back to Los Angeles to set up a race service. At the time, the number one news service was the Continental Press Service. James Ragen ran the service and collected a minimum of $100 per week from each bookie involved. It was a lot of money, and you can’t blame a rival for wanting to get in on the action. Capone sent Ben and Jack Dragna to direct the western operations. Mickey Cohen went along as a salesman with an attitude: Buy or die.
While the new Trans-America race grew larger in power everyday, groups in Detroit, Cleveland, Minneapolis and New Jersey continued their search for new income.
Dave Berman was rewarded for his time in prison with an offer of up to one million dollars. Frank Costello presented the money in an open safe, and Dave was told to take as much as he wanted. Berman, a “stand-up-guy” till the end, asked only for a few thousand to get back to Minneapolis (where his brother “Chickie” had set up local gambling and race booking while he was in Sing-Sing). He also asked permission to run Minneapolis “for the group’s gambling interests.” Permission was granted.