Nevada's Golden Age of Gambling

Nevada’s Golden Age of Gambling

1931-1981

By Al W Moe

Smashwords Edition

Copyright  2013 by Al W Moe

All rights reserved

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Reno 2000 Left to right: William Pettite, Fran Pettite, Al W Moe, Sil Petricciani

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1 From the Second Floor

Chapter 2 Desert - Not Wasteland

Chapter 3 Hell, the worst I can get is life!

Chapter 4 Bug Meyer

Chapter 5 Las Vegas Expands

Chapter 6 Once Around the Block

Chapter 7 25 Years Ahead of His Time

Chapter 8 A Magic Word: Stateline

Chapter 9 Ta Neva Ho

Chapter 10 South Shore

Chapter 11 North Shore

Chapter 12 I'm stationed where?

Chapter 13 Elko

Chapter 14 Winnemucca

Chapter 15 Sparks

Chapter 16 The Greeks

Chapter 17 Carson City

Chapter 18 The Riverside

Chapter 19 Pappy

Chapter 20 I want it perfect!

Chapter 21 Just Gambling

Chapter 22 The Mapes

Chapter 23 Across the Line

Chapter 24 Just Around the Corner

Chapter 25 Palace Club

Epilogue

Bibliography

Reno Arch circa 1955

Introduction

Life is at best, a gamble.

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.

Las Vegas circa 1950’s - Thunderbird Casino

Tonopah circa 1905 - The Big Casino

Chapter 1 From the Second Floor

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 Anti-Gambling 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.

Reno 1952 Palace Club - Bob Davis with cigar

Gardnerville circa 1980’s - Sharkey’s Casino

Chapter 2 Desert - Not Wasteland

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