Old Vegas, to be in Poker Mafia, LONG---Russ G
RussGe...@aol.com
The following testimony from is a series of taped interviews with John
Martino (6-27-45) done in October 2005. The taped interviews were done
in five segments beginning on 10-15-05. Following the taped
interviews, many hours of follow-up phone sessions (also in October
of 2005) were done with Martino to corroborate his taped interviews
and get details that were missing from his taped interviews.
Much of the information is first-hand testimony . Some of it is second-
hand information from an insider who was in-the-know with many people
and has a intimate knowledge about the inner workings of the Las Vegas
scene from the late 1960’s to today.
Many of the second-hand events Martino heard about came from credible
inside sources. The same events are known to be credible by other
Vegas insiders and have been passed by oral tradition.
Martino had throat cancer and is under treatment. He went through
chemotherapy and is waiting to see if it is in remission.
This is John Martino’s testimony:
Early Years
I grew up in a small town (Morgantown) in West Virginia where there
were a lot of backroom poker games, and dice games. Some of the games
were crooked and I learned how to protect myself. I‘ve been dealing
cards since I was six or seven years old.
Moves to Vegas- Dealer at The Fremont Hotel- Snatch Games
I moved to Las Vegas on Easter Sunday of 1966 before I turned 21. When
I first move to Vegas I figured everything was going to be honest, I
couldn’t believe how corrupt it was. The people I knew said, ‘You
should have seen it in the 50’s if you think it’s bad now.’
There wasn’t even Hold ‘Em at that time. About a half dozen or so
people came from Dallas and would play 10/20 Hold ‘Em at the Golden
Nugget, which was a brand new game back then, at different hotels.
Everybody was playing 5 card stud, 7 card stud or draw poker.
Every hotel had poker and there were a lot of them back then. A dealer
would rake maybe 30, 40 or even 50% of the pot for the house- they
were called snatch games, mainly for the tourists. A snatch game is a
game in which the dealer takes more than he is supposed to or as much
as he can get away with, where a rake game is money (chips) taken by
the house which is usually a percentage of the pot. A standard rake
today would be around 10% of the pot. Because of the high percentage
of the rake in snatch games it would be impossible to win at a snatch
game table over a period of time.
Around six months after I got to Vegas I got a job as a dealer at the
Fremont Hotel. They had four tables and all the games were snatch
games. The Fremont wasn’t a high stakes game like some of the other
hotels. In the Fremont like the other hotels everything was
dishonest.
"Dutch Boyd wrote about being a prop player in a casino. He was
rotated to varied games by the floor boss. Boyd surveyed the other
prop players and found that none of them won in the lowest limit games
because of the rake. That's why they call them "snatch games." When I
first went to work shilling at the Golden Nuggett for Bill Boyd, the
rake was so massive that nobody won but for one razz game." Johnny
Hughes-Poker Forum
I excelled at snatch games, where I would steal as many chips as I
could from the pot for the house and drop it down the slot without
causing any attention. While I was ‘dealing and stealing’ for the
house, some of the extra money I would split with the floorman. I
didn’t drop all the chips down the slot, I’d take extra chips out of
the pot and put them in the rack. Everybody was supposed to have $200
in their racks and I’d have $250 or $300. The floor man would take the
extra out and we’d split it later. Other dealers got jealous because I
was making so much and one of them reported to the pit boss that we
taking money out.
I had been working at the Fremont for about a year when I was fired
along with the floorman Pat Paffano. The other one involved was the
owner’s brother, Paul Wireman, who didn‘t get fired. Even though I got
caught stealing money from the house, the cheating never went on my
record because the dealers weren’t supposed to be snatching that much
money from the public for the house and the owners brother was also
involved- so they kept it quiet.
Besides the dealers snatching chips from the pot from players for the
house, organized crime and mobsters got their cut. Myron Freedman, who
was one of the biggest bookmakers in Vegas, had a piece of the
action. He was in mob out of Philadelphia. They put the muscle on the
Freemont. He was one of the casino managers. Lenny D. Michelle, a
dealer at the Fremont-Freedman’s right hand man- was also a loan
shark. He (Lenny D. Michelle) later went with Doyle to San Diego (Del
Mar).
After the Fremont I played cards for a living. I worked with one or
two partners and there were private games late at night at the Plush
Horse Bar on Harrah Avenue. We played Sunday and Wednesday nights
around 1:00 in the morning until dawn.
Dealer at the Mint Hotel- WSOP
After two years I go another job dealing at the Mint Hotel which was
the second half of the Horseshoe Hotel in the early 70‘s. It was two
hotels at the time. Benny Binion was the owner of the Horseshoe at the
time. His sons Jack and Ted ran it for him. The Mint had small limit
games. I was taking about 35% average out of the pot. To qualify for
the job you had to be good at taking chips out of the pot. I was good
at doing that. I’d been dealing and playing poker since I was 7 years
old in Morgantown, WV.
I also worked (dealt) at the Horseshoe two different times at the
World Series of Poker around 1973. It was small back then. [In 1970,
Johnny Moss was voted the winner after the first World Series of
Poker. Crandall Addington, Doyle Brunson, Carl Cannon, Thomas
"Amarillo Slim" Preston Jr., Walter "Puggy" Pearson, and Brian
"Sailor" Roberts elected him champion. Johnny once explained that the
vote wasn‘t necessary, since he had played in five different games
and, in his words, "won them all," defeating the players and taking
their money along the way. Moss did not receive prize money only a
silver cup.]
There was collusion in the side games during the WSOP. Puggy Pearson
and Jim Casella, a mob guy from Detroit whose brother was one of the
guys who got shot in the barber chair, would team up and play partners
in side games against the other players. You can see Jimmy Casella in
the pictures of the first two WSOP sitting next to Puggy. Johnny
Moss, who won the first World Series hold ‘em event, had the poker
room at the Horseshoe back then. Even Johnny Moss was a sucker (easy
mark) because he had a lot of money at the time. He was a good poker
player on the square (without cheating). He never knew it. They
(Puggy and Jim) would team up on him and play three handed on the same
bankroll. They were playing big stakes like $500/$1000. They didn’t
trust each other so they would wait for him (Johnny) to leave and
split the money at the table. They beat him out of $200,000- which was
a lot of money back then.
I first met Jimmy Shahady at the Horseshoe in 73 when I dealt at the
WSOP. Shahady was out of Pittsburg Pa., his family an had oriental rug
business there. He played gin rummy, 7 card rummy and a game called
bridge turnover. He had marked cards too at that time. He taught a
lot of players the tricks of the trade. He was one of the most devious
cheaters in Las Vegas, he tried to get over on every person he knew.
Also around that time (1973-75), Johnny Moss also had a poker room at
the Flamingo. I used to go over the Flamingo and watch the high stakes
games. At the time I didn’t play high limit games. Pete Criss, who was
a shill for Spilotro, was there- so was Rod Pardee, a professional
bowler. They would also bet on fixed horse races.
That was about the time Chip Reese came to town. Chip and Danny
Robison were partners when he first came to town. I lost the some
money playing and betting on sports so I borrowed $2,000 from Chip
Reese. I gave him a one-carat diamond ring as collateral. Later when I
went to pay him back Chip said he lost the ring.
Dealer at the Dunes in 1974
"Then Danny (Robison) went up to the Dunes, and played some guy heads
up. Lowball. Got cheated. And we lost all the money," Chip Reese (from
Bad Bet by Timothy O‘Brien).
Al Silvers (Albert Sierra) got me a job dealing at the Dunes. They
needed somebody on the graveyard shift. Al Silvers was a well-rounded
cheat, he cheated every game in Las Vegas. He worked with the floor
men, Doug Dalton and Harry Wogie.
Al Silvers wasn’t a dealer, just a high stakes player. He showed me
some tricks manipulating cards, like how I could control a slug (6 to
8 cards) of cards. This was very important in short handed. In seven
card stud lowball (razz) you would know all the players hole cards.
The prop player would take six cards from his last hand and you’d
shuffle and deal those cards on the next hand. We cheated for
Spilotro’s props mainly with card manipulation and marked cards.
A lot of the owners like to play late at night for high stakes. They’d
play shorthanded (heads up or against two other players). Major
Riddle, who was part owner, Charlie Rich (Cupie Rich), Todd Durlacher,
and Julie Winethroth, he brought in the high rollers from NY would all
play. They beat him (Cupie) and his step-son George Duckworth and
Charlie Catts, a very wealthy Jewish guy from Miami. They played razz
(7 card stud lowball) and draw lowball. It was like a circus.
Tony Spilotro At the Dunes in 1974-75
Tony Spilotro, the mob figure played by Joe Pepsi in Casino, came in
and took over the Dunes. He muscled himself into many cardrooms.
[Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro was a member of the Chicago mob family, La
Costra Nostra. In 1964 he went to Miami to run sports betting with
Lefty Rosenthal. He moved back to Chicago but was assigned to Las
Vegas in 1971. He set up in the Circus Circus Casino and ran the
business out of a gift shop operating under the name Anthony Stuart.
Spilotro worked closely with his friend Lefty Rosenthal who ran the
Stardust Hotel. Spilotro was murdered in 1986.]
Al Pierro was the card room manager in 1974. He didn’t know what was
going on at the beginning. He was like a live shill at the end…like a
puppet. He was a big a razz player. Pierro’s son was another floorman,
later on they had a percentage of the take too. Spilotro would give
the floormen envelopes of money.
There was another owner named the Nick "Shoeshine" Simpson (Shoeshine
Nick), who was a very wealthy Greek from California. He ran a cardroom
in Capizon before he was at the Dunes. Simpson got his nickname from
running shoeshine stands in LA. He was even more diabolical and
manipulative than Mike O’Conners. He would play eight handed games
with six players in the game on his team. They were both high limit
players that set up games. When Spilotro came they merged but Spilotro
got the biggest share.
Soon Mike O’Connors became Spilotro’s right hand man at the Dunes
replacing Nick. He was a high limit poker player who was good at
scamming and putting people together. He went to school to be a lawyer
but he saw how much money he could make cheating and stealing in Las
Vegas.
When I was dealing at the Dunes in 1974 and 75- no one knew me. I was
working for Spilotro and the props he would bring in to play. As a
center dealer I would bring in coolers ( a prearranged deck) and I
would run up (deal good and bad cards to different players) hands.
When I’d bring a cold deck (a prearranged deck) in , it would look
like I was shuffling but I wasn’t, I was false shuffling.
Spilotro Pays Martino at a Vegas Bar
So I would deal for Spilotro’s props and after we took a sucker I’d
get a percentage of the take (money we‘d get from cheating a player).
I would meet Spilotro at a topless bar called Marker Down on Flamingo
St. and have a drink with him. He’d pay me a percentage of the take
for the day depending on what was involved. It was usually about 25%.
On my best nights I’d make $8,000. Spilotro lived in a house nearby.
I’d meet him two or three times a week. He was very quiet guy.
We also met a few times at the Flame Restaurant with Spilotro. Harry
Wogie went sometimes- so did Nick Simpson. That’s why Harry wanted a
cut- he knew how much I was making from Spilotro. Everybody wanted a
cut of your action. Harry got greedy with me cause I was making so
much money and asked me for 5%. I said ‘No.’ Nick Simpson even gave
me a dune buggy because I was making him so much money. Nick would
invite me over to his house sometimes.
I met Bill Nirdlinger in 1974 when he was dealer at the Dunes. We
became friends and I taught him some tricks and other people taught
him. He was a quick learner. He also met with Spilotro, sometimes
we’d both meet him.
I also became good friends with Nick Vacchiano, who was a prop for
Spilotro. Nick played with Puggy Pearson. Nick Vacchiano, he was from
Philadelphia, a lot people didn’t know about this guy, he was
connected at the Dunes. He was a world class pool player and also a
card mechanic and cheat. He was also connected to the 500 Club in
Atlantic City- which had all of Frank Sinatra’s friends. He was a big
sports better when I met him at the Dunes in the 70’s. I used him as a
shill, when I dealt he made a lot of money and we made a lot of money
together.
Doyle Brunson Plays at the Dunes in 1974
Doyle Brunson mainly played at the Horseshoe in 1974. Sometimes he’d
play at the Dunes with some of his partners. When Doyle played in
dunes he used white flash (cards marked with white flash). The
floorman Harry Wogie would bring in the cards for his team. I remember
one game I was dealing where Doyle had white flash at the game- Kenny
Bundy, Chip Reese and him were playing draw lowball with 200/400
blinds. It was a seven handed game. I put a cooler (prearranged deck)
in for Nick Vacchiano against Doyle and he didn’t even know it. We
were cheating the cheaters.
Doug Dalton who runs the Bellagio now, was floor man at the Dunes in
1973, when Al Pierro was manager. He would put a marked deck in for
100$. We called him a $100 man, it was like a joke- he was like a $100
whore. I even gave him 100$ a couple times. When Doyle and Chip moved
down to Del Mar, where there was a small cardroom, Dalton left and
went with them. They couldn’t get the high rollers like in Las Vegas.
He (Doug) stuck with them through thick and thin.
Different Types of Cheating at the Dunes
We also used shaved cards which were "marked cards you feel". We
could feel the cards when we dealt them. It made it easy to run up
hands because we knew what the cards were by touch. In the 70’s it
was like a candy store, all these big casino hotels with all this
cheating going on.
Short handed was lot less work and made quite a bit easier to cheat.
They make the stakes so high that isolation becomes easy. No one can
afford to play this high, except for the cheats and a "live one". This
is the intention. The game is roped off. This is to keep the other
cheats and players from seeing what was going on. I would signal the
"scammers" what kind of hand the "live one had". The chips in our
dealing racks were arranged in a certain order. The chips would go
from the smallest denomination to the
largest. A rack of chips for the dealer would contain $1’s $5’s $25’s
and $100’s. We would signal the strength of the "live ones" hand by
keeping our dealing hand over the denomination of the chips
in the racks. A hand over the $1’s would be a weak hand while one over
the $100’s would be a strong hand.
Some owners would buy in for 10 or 15 thousand, and they would lose 50
thousand. It depended on how many people were involved but sometimes
I’d be getting around 20% to 30% of the take. We were taking the
owners, their friends and the high rollers that would come in on
junkets. I’d be putting in pre-fixed decks, called a cold deck, and
putting hands out (dealing good or bad hands).
Martin Carson Cheating Technology Specialist Comes to Vegas
I even got cheated at the Dunes when I played cause I didn’t know
Marty Carson was the eye in the sky. Marty Carson was an electronics
specialist. He did everything from marked cards to ear pieces. He was
from Hawii and someone from the Texas group knew him. Around 1973 they
moved him to Vegas. At that time he had the best technology there was.
He had the best ear receiver piece and it would travel a long
distance. With his technology he would see the cards and send the info
to Spilotro’s props. They had earpieces in their ears. For marked
cards he sometimes used a camera with a filter for surveillance .
The favorite high stakes game was lowball (razz). They’d mark the face
of the card and you’d use signals, there were three signals I‘d use.
Marty Carson was involved supplying people with marked cards and the
electronics. He was working the eye in the sky on me and I didn’t even
know this at the time.
Caught Cheating the Owner’s Friend in 1975
One of the people who was working for Spilotro started talking, human
nature, and he opened his mouth about how much he was winning and it
got back to Sid Wineman, who was one of the owners. We beat him (Sid)
and he was one of the nicest guy’s in town. We also beat Todd
Durlacher, one of his friends, who was a high roller who like to play
lowball. We beat him for six or seven months straight. Sid Wineman
found out we were beating his friend. I was on break and he came over.
He said, ‘I heard you were beating my friend, I’d rather you not be
here.’ I didn’t have to leave but I decide to get out of the Dunes
before something happened.
Lou Axler from Canada was one of the main shills for Spilotro that
took Major Riddle at the Dunes. Jack Perkins could palm a card. He
had a coat on and he could put a card up his sleeve, called a hold
out. Whenever he wanted that card he could switch it. Ken Bundy from
California and Pete Criss, also a Greek, were at the Dunes. Jim
Cleavis was another guy who was there.
Spilotro would make people partners. He’s ask players for a cut of
their takes. You couldn’t say no. Sarge Fred Ferris, a Spilotro’s
partner, was used to scam Bill Boyd. It was the cheaters cheating the
cheaters.
Moves to Alaska in 1976
After Sid Wineman got tipped off we were cheating Todd Durancher at
the Dunes, I got an offer to run a crooked game in a small casino in
Alaska, so I moved. I say ‘casino’ but they were really just backrooms
at bars set up by the Teamsters. That’s where the money was because
of the pipeline they were building. I dealt and played there for about
4 years. I had a piece of two of the so called casinos in Anchorage.
They’d bring the people and I’d get a percentage of the take.
Every three or four months I’d come back. After they found out I was
cheating them, and I beat a lot of them (Doyle’s group) there was big
dislike of me. Cause they knew I knew that they were cheating.
Dunes in 1977
After I left the Dunes, this was around 1977, Chip Reese was the
manager. Spilotro was paying them 300$ a day, which was nothing, for
the concessions at the Dunes. They took it because they didn’t have a
choice. He made millions through the dealers and the props. He also
got money through Chip Reese and Johnny Moss, through the managers.
Chip Reese was basically just a front-man for Spilotro. Randy Ricter
who was a great card mechanic, was a dealer then. Perhaps the best
dealer at that time was Rod "the Hop" who was busted for drugs and was
on federal probation. Rod eventually moved to Costa Rico with Mike
O’Conner and dealt for him there.
Corporations, Teams and Cheating Groups- Doyle Brunson and Jack
Binion
There were three or four partnerships at that time and Doyle’s was one
of the biggest. Doyle and Jack Binion controlled the whole group, it
was like a corporation. Jack and Doyle were buddies from way back when
they lived in Texas. They even went to school together. No wonder Jack
was Doyle’s main backer and partner. They were like brothers.
Jack’s father Benny owned the Horseshoe so Jack had the money and ran
the Horseshoe while Doyle was the high stakes gambler. When Benny left
Texas and opened up a casino, Sailor Roberts, Amarillo Slim, and
Doyle naturally followed him to Vegas where the big money games were.
[Benny Binion 1904-1989 moved to Las Vegas in 1946 to escape problems
in Texas. In 1951 he opened Binion’s Horseshoe. After serving time in
jail for tax evasion, he couldn’t hold a gaming license so his sons
Jack and Ted became president and manager, respectively in 1964.]
Here’s how they get other players in the corporation- they’d break a
player. They’d get the player in high stakes games and break them.
After they go broke they would stake them and they’d be props for
them. They’d be in the team or partnership. Nothing was on the up and
up.
I’ll give you an example of one of the many prop players that were
"recruited" into Doyle’s group- Pat Callahan from Texas. He did some
time for drugs- he had money when he got out of jail in 1976-77. He
went there, they broke him. After they broke him they used him. Later
when the Mirage opened they (Bobby Baldwin, Eric Drache and Doyle)
gave him one table, it was no limit and pot limit hold ‘em. There were
many, many shills that Doyle’s group used like Pete Criss, Lou Axler,
and CK Richard Swartz.
Jimmy Shahady taught most of the those people (like Doyle and Chan)
how to cheat. He made some money off of Doyle. Jimmy Shahady had two
brother-in-laws named Billy Incardone and Frank Incardone, who was a
card mechanic. In fact, Billy about a year and a half ago, Billy ran
an illegal booking and betting agency for Doyle in Las Vegas. Billy
was a world class pool player when he was younger. He’s my age-
around 60.
Most of the older famous poker players have either cheated or known
about cheating and let it happen. That’s the way it was. It shouldn’t
be the Poker Hall of Fame it should be the Poker Hall of Shame.
I used to watch Doyle play. People that don’t know cheating didn’t
realize how crude they were in the early days, I’m talking about the
early seventies. Even in the early 90’s when the Mirage opened and
all the mob people were gone, they had marked card made by an oriental
guy from LA named. You’re playing high stakes poker with the vice-
president (Bobby Baldwin) and all these celebrity players. They had
marked cards that were so crude you could see them a table away. Here
you are playing in a multimillion dollar casino with the vice-
president of the casino, people just didn’t know.
It’s like a corporation, that’s what I’d call it. In the last twenty
years- they’d just follow the money, where the high action games were,
that’s where they’d be.
The 1980’s
After living in Alaska for four years I moved back to Vegas about
1980. It was cold in Alaska and I didn’t really like it there.
After they found out I was cheating them, and I had beaten a lot of
them (Doyle’s group) dealing, there was a big dislike of me. They knew
I’d witnessed all the cheating that was going on.
In the early 80’s I’d meet people and play stupid with them to try and
get them into private games heads-up. I played poker in different
casinos and private games.
Eric Drache was the cardroom manager at the Golden Nugget since 1982
He knew everyone and everyone knew him. In 1988, Steve Wynn closed the
poker room at the Golden Nugget as part of the hotel's expansion. Bill
Boyd was a good card player, he worked the original Golden Nugget. He
was smarter about the marked cards than Johnny Moss.
Johnny Moss wouldn’t stay in one place very long. He managed a lot of
different cardrooms in the 70’s and 80’s. He made a lot of money from
the snatch games and the cheating. This was before Spilotro and when
the mob guys still had the upper hand in Vegas.
Marker Scam in the Golden Nugget in 1985
In 1985 Eric Drache managed the Golden Nugget. Jimmy Shahady was his
right hand man and Doyle had some of his team was there too. Bobby
Baldwin took a job with Steve Wynn at the Golden Nugget in 1982. He
fixed up the card room, and became President of the Golden Nugget in
1984.
This was the greatest marker scam that ever happened in Las Vegas.
This was at the crap table in the dice pit. What happened was the pit
supervisor, Bill Shepard, told his girlfriend and the word got out-
that’s how we got caught. Shepard was used by Spilotro later for
scams, he was also a high limit poker player. Shepard had a pit boss
named Bill Kadie. There was a pit clerk that got caught too- her name
was Janet or something.
Shepard would give names and credit lines of people. I’d go to the
crap table ask for a marker and he would come over and give me a name
for the afternoon. So he have like $10,000 for say John Smith. He
balanced the cash out and he’d write payback slips, like somebody paid
their marker with cash. He would know how much cash went into the box
so he’d keep the money. He had 15 people as well as myself doing the
same thing. I’d get 25% of the money I’d make for him. Frenchy LaRue
was another person that cheated with Sheppard. It started in 1983 and
continued until 1985 when we got caught.
They busted Sheppard and Bill Kadie. All the top people knew about it-
Steve Winn, Bobby Baldwin, and Mark Shore. The management team found
out from Sheppard’s girlfriend and called in the gaming commission.
The commission serveilled the pit for 30 days then busted Sheppard and
Katy.
After the bust I went to Harry Bruder, a close friend of Bobby
Baldwin’s, who was a drug dealer from NY. I was buying cocaine from
Harry at the time. I said to Harry, listen , I need some help. The
word is out about the marker scam and I’m afraid I’ll get in trouble.
I had a bunch of money and didn’t want to risk anything.
I went to a meeting in Bobby Baldwin’s office with Harry Bruder. He
said knew someone on the Gaming commission that was crooked. He said
if I paid him (Bruder) $50,000, they’d get me out of this. He told me
I’d never go to court and I’d never be bothered for the money.
Sheppard was out on bail, the gaming commission wanted his voice
implicating him in the incident. They asked me how long it went and
other details about the other people involved. I had to wear a wire- I
met Bill Shepard at a restaurant and asked him for money and tried to
get him to talk. He told me to ‘get lost.’
I met Sheppard 1968 at Cesar’s Palace, he was an accountant. Me, Bill
Shepard and Tom Huffnagel would play poker. Around 84, Tom was drunk
at the Sahara motel in the dice pit. He used Tony’s (Spilotro) name
after they pulled him off the floor. Tom warned them that Tony would
get them. Tony was furious that Tom used Tony’s name to threaten other
people.
The gaming commission had me surveilled for 30 days. I had to wear a
wire one time. Later I found out later that I didn’t need to pay him.
They made it seem like I blew the whole thing up. I looked like a
stool pigeon because I had to testify. They asked me one question and
that was it.
Cheating at the Golden Nugget in the 80’s
Head of security at the Golden Nuggets was Steve Keonig, who was the
eye in the sky. He would scam for certain players. One time Jimmy
Shahady was playing six card rummy head up with Johnny Joseph. They
were playing 1,000 and 2,000 a game. Jimmy beat him outta 75,000.
Jimmy was playing the light (using a small mirror about the size of a
dime that’s glued to your little finger, to see the cards as they
were being dealt) on Joseph. In rummy there’s no dealer so when ever
Jimmy dealt he knew the cards.
The only table they could play on was in the middle of the casino.
Eric Drache had two security guards standing behind him so nobody
could see the light (mirror).
Dunes After Spilotro in 1987
After Spilotro got killed, Mike O’Connors was still extorting money
from Chip Reese and Doyle. They were terrified of him. He (O’Conners)
wasn’t a killer but he was with Spilotro and he had the association
and they (Doyle’s group) would give him bags of money. Here’s how they
would pay him. They would be scared to meet him alone so they would
drive by a spot and throw money out the window- it would be like
$80,000 or $100,000. He was still be extorting them after Spilotro!
He didn’t have the control, he just liked to be a tough guy. After a
while Doyle, Eric Drache, Bobby Baldwin and Chip Reese took back
control when they realized O‘Connors was bluffing them.
Tournaments-WSOP in the 80’s
Eric Dasche ran the WSOP. He was the best money manipulator in Las
Vegas. The problem with Eric is he’s a degenerate gambler. He was
always borrowing money to pay off his gambling debts.
In the 80’s Jim McCellan worked as the tournament director in the
Bellagio. People could buy extra chips from the tournaments. They
would make millions of dollars from the rebuy tournaments cause no one
could keep track of the money. Back they’d put the money in a box,
they wouldn’t have documentation. He’d (McCellan) take the money in
the back room and do the counting and figure out the payoffs. It was
a joke.
Jimmy Shahady and Doyle Brunson in Branson Missouri 1988
Jimmy Shahady and Doyle went to Branson Missouri right before the
Mirage opened. They won a bunch of money playing rummy and poker.
Poker Cruise in 1989
I went on this a poker cruise, this was right before the Mirage opened
in 1989. Bob Thompson, who was the best snatch dealer the Stardust
ever had in 1966 and 67, ran the cruise- it was a week cruise. He also
would bring in coolers back then. Donna Harris, who runs the Bellagio,
also went as a dealer.
Donna started at the Golden Nugget under Eric Drache. Harris did
whatever Eric wanted. Eric was always losing money at the crap tables.
There were guys Eric would borrow money from that wanted a girl, he
would sometimes set her up with them. There was one guy from Canada,
Frank Watson, that she’s spend a week with at a time.
Jimmy Shahady called me and said I got some cards in (marked cards),
why don’t you come with me on this cruise. So Jimmy also invited Ralph
Levine, who at one time was one of the biggest porno kings that come
out of NY. Jimmy beat him (Levine) for about six months when Eric had
the poker room at the Golden Nugget. After he beat him they became
friends and then Jimmy used Ralph to play in his games with him.
The cruise was $1900 which was a lot of money for me at that time, but
Jimmy said to me, ‘Me you and Ralph will go and we’ll make a bunch of
money playing as a team of three.’ I paid the money and went on the
cruise.
So they had marked cards with white flash and Donna and Bob would put
them in- they were both in on it. Jimmy was acting weird and he would
not talk to me the whole cruise. Him and Ralph won all the money in
the larger games- they were playing 150-200, 300 and 400. They were
kittying and carding out and they wouldn’t even talk to me.
Maybe Jimmy’s not even dead, nobody really even knows. He might be
hiding out somewhere.
The Mirage Opens in November 1989
There were bad feelings about me from the Dunes (when they found out
we were cheating) and he got me barred from the mirage. They knew I
knew what was going on so Eric Drache came to me and said I was
barred. I wasn’t doing anything. He said it wasn’t him it was somebody
higher up and you’re not allowed in here.
Doyle didn’t have a lot of money in the last 14 years when the Mirage
opened. Bobby Baldwin was Vice president of the Mirage. Steve Winn was
the owner.
Jimmy Shahady Runs Table at the Mirage
Jimmy Shahady came from Pittsburg PA. He was card mechanic like
myself. He got in with Doyle, Jack Binion, and Chip Reese- he got in
with all the right people. He’s suppose to be dead right now. He was
in control of one main team at the Mirage. He would come every night
at 7:00 until early morning and play with his team at a certain table.
He was a high limit player. Eric Drache I assume would get percentage
of the take but I wasn’t in on that.
Jimmy Shahady had his own pot limit razz table. It was a 25K minimum
game downstairs in the Mirage. Eric Drache was card room manager at
the time. It was the most rank cheating you ever saw. Jimmy had a big
pad were he wrote down who owed what.
Vince Musso, Davey Singer prop players for Jimmy. Everybody had to
count their money at the table and Jimy wrote it down. Cindy
Violette’s husband Jeff was one of the players taken. David Grey was
taken there also. Later they used him as a shill. Amad Hassem was in
the Mirage then. He played for them after they broke them.
Incident with Jimmy Shahady- Contract Put Out On Me in 1989
The first contract that was put on me was in 1989 by Jimmy Shahady. I
did business with Jimmy when I worked at the dunes, I had met him
earlier at the WSOP. We had been running private games for over 15
years. About that time when the Mirage opened, there was a sports
tout (sports betting) service run by Tommy Jenkins. I gave Jimmy some
names from a friend, sports leads for the tout service, that Jimmy
would give to Tommy. When we went to see Tommy, Jimmy started playing
the Jenkins head-ups in poker and after he had him about $15,000, he
(Jenkins) asked me to leave. Before I left, Jimmy told me that he
would give me 20% of the take from the game.
Jimmy thought he could stiff me and get away with it. I got someone to
try and muscle Jimmy to collect the money that he owed me, which was a
mistake. So he hired a hitman named Larry Colbert (AKA Little Larry)
to get rid of me. He was a known guy that did things for the Binions.
He’s still alive. He has a car lot in Dallas. Larry was also the guy
who came after me in Costa Rico in 2001.
When I found out about it I filled a police report against him to try
and keep him away from me.
1990 London Junket
Mike Snyberg was center dealer and card mechanic- good at giving out
pairs in hole. Mike went to London in 1990 with Eric Drache, Chip
Reese, Vince Musso, Johnny Chan and Jimmy Shahady. They made two or
three trips. They get suckers to go their suite and Mike would deal.
It was a private game.
On one trip I called us customs and alerted them that they would be
bringing undisclosed cash across the border into the US. Customs
confiscated money from Jimmy, I think it was around $90,000. I got
$5,000 from customs for reporting it.
Doyle also went and played in the London game once. Jack Binion
bankrolled the whole London trip, I think he went over there too.
When they went to London they recruited people to go back to the
Mirage and play.
Barred from the Horseshoe
Doyle and Jack Binion got me barred from the Horseshoe. Gene
McCarley, the baccarat manager, who went college with Jack Binion,
talked them into letting me play there again. McCarley was on the
square (didn’t cheat) and later started river boat gambling on the
Mississippi.
Incident with Jimmy Shahady and the Gaming Commission in 1991
Fred Syufi was Jimmy’s cousin and he did sports betting with Jimmy
Shahady. Freddie’s wife cleaned Jimmy’s house, so I asked Freddie if
I could go to Jimmy’s house when he wasn’t home. I wanted to get some
of his marked cards when his wife was working. Jimmy was in LA so
early one morning I went to Jimmy’s house and Freddie’s wife let me
in. I found a box of marked cards which I took and later gave to
gaming commission. They did nothing- not a thing.
I made an appointment to see Steve Koenig, head of security at the
Mirage, after I gave the marked cards to the gaming commission.
Since I was barred 14 moths after the Mirage opened I wanted to see if
they‘d let me back in.
Archie Karas in 1992
Before going on his million dollar rush at the crap tables at
Binion’s, Archie Karas was broke. He borrowed $500 from Bill
Nordlinger to play in the pan game at the Commerce. Bill also game
him 10 cards he could use from the casino to cheat. Archie took the
cards and the money and won $2,000. He never paid Bill back- he
stiffed him.
Lewis Olajack, (alias Lou Banyon) who was Bobby Baldwin’s drug dealer,
was also a friend of Karas. Bobby did a lot of coke (cocaine) back
then. When he played cards he’d be running to the bathroom between
hands to do coke. Archie Karas never did drugs, he was a health
nut.
So Archie went to Vegas where he had his buddy, Lou Banyon set up a
pool game with a coked up Bobby Baldwin. Lou and Archie agreed to
split the money they won from Bobby who was all drugged up on cocaine
and wouldn’t be playing his best game.
Archie couldn’t cover the first match if he lost. Archie beat Baldwin
for close to 80K that first day.
Bobby set up a rematch for the next day and decided to not be coked
up for this match. Lou Banyon backed out- he thought Archie would lose
if Bobby wasn’t coked out. Archie paid Banyon his half and then beat
Bobby out of almost a million.
Archie then headed to Binion's and won every $5,000 chip in the place
at the crap tables. When the rush was over he won around 31 million.
He was broke again before the year was over.
Incident with Jack Binion in 1995
Around 1995 at the Santa Fe Hotel in Vegas, Jimmy Shahady checked
into the hotel under an alias name Freddy Parrent. This was when Jimmy
he started using crystal meth heavily. He brought with him the
contacts lens he could see dab (the dab on marked cards) with that he
bought from Doyle. Jimmy had used the lens in Alaska the year before.
Shahady was so high on crystal meth that lost 40K of his own money in
a game he was cheating! He went to Doyle and asked him to borrow
money but Doyle wouldn’t give him any. So he borrowed 20K from Jack
Binion- Jack had to sign for it so I‘m sure there’s a record of it
somewhere.
1995 Mirage Incident
Mike O’Connor went to jail for extort money. When he got out, he came
back to Vegas looking for way to make money. Mike went to Eric and
asked him who had money. Howard Mann was a high roller at the Mirage
and had just lost 220-300K to Jimmy Shahady so Eric told Mike about
Howard.
So Mike figured he could get a bunch of money if he kidnapped Howard’s
sons. I remember Mike driving a green Pinto at the time.
I was good friends with Howard Mann. His father made a bunch of money
by inventing the pacemaker. I got a call from Howard- he told me to
met him at his house that it was very important. So I went to his
house and the FBI was there.
The FBI found out about the kidnapping plot because one of the two
other people that was going to do the kidnapping with Mike got
arrested for robbing a 7 11 store in LA. The other kidnapper made a
deal so he told the police about Mike and the kidnapping scheme.
The FBI wanted to catch Mike in the act but Howard called me and asked
me if I could make it go away. I told Mike the FBI had pictures, and
they were waiting for him. So Mike left. He’s in Costa Rico now
running Casinos there.
Rick Fran was involved. He was a helper of Mike‘s. Rick was involved
with Mike back in the 70’s when I worked at the Dunes.
Larry Flint in 1997
One time (around 1997) they (Eric Drache) flew Donna Harris to LA to
do a high stakes game with Larry Flynt. This was Eric and Larry’s
game. Donna Harris and Lou Camerato were dealing the game at Beverly
Wiltshire Hotel in Los Angeles. They had a camera in the ceiling on
the game that Marty Carson was running. You have to deal a certain way
so that the camera could pick up the cards.
Lou Camarado was a snatch dealer and card mechanic from the Stardust.
He got fired for selling comps at the Mirage. floor man at the mirage.
After he worked the game two months, he went out and bought a brand
new card.
They had some high rollers like Jerry Buss of the Lakers and Frank
Watson, he also played in that game. They would alternate people there
people, Chip Reese played. I don’t think Doyle ever played in that
game.
Ten years earlier they had the camera on him (Flynt) and he didn’t
know it. He’s got cheated before.
Stu Ungar (Dies Nov. 22, 1998)
I bought Stu Ungar to West Virginia and to Pittsburgh, Pa. to play gin
rummy before he went to Las Vegas. I met Stuey through Bill
Nordlinger. Stuey had a big ego but his mind was like a computer. He
was the best there was when he wasn’t messed up on drugs. He would
smoke crack and do other drugs.
In Stu's final years, Stuey was kept furnished with packages money
with between $1,000 and $3,000 to supply him with drugs. The people
supplying him with this money were Doyle and Chip Reese through Donna
Harris who arranged the pickups for them. I picked up money for Suey
at least 80 times at the Mirage Valet because I was barred from
Mirage, Bellagio. Most of the time Donna Harris was on the shift. Stu
Unger would trust me to pick it up for him. I would sign a voucher for
the money. Stuey used this money for drugs. He told me, ‘why do I have
to play, when they ( Chip Reese and Doyle Bruson’s group) pay me to
keep quiet and stay away.’
I was there several times when Stuey would call Doug Dalton (Doyle)
and then would head for the Mirage where Donna Harris would arrange
for a security guard to meet me in the parking lot to deliver the
money to Stuey.
Stuey was very generous and would tip me for bringing him money to
buy drugs. Mike Sexton and others also checked Stuey into hotel rooms
and brought him money before he died. All he did with the money is buy
more drugs. I guess they also got the money from Doyle’s group.
You have to understand that even though Stuey cheated with Doyle,
Chip, Eric, Bobby Baldwin he didn‘t like it. He knew he was a better
player and wanted to play on the square. But he couldn't play in the
games there with out being part of the teams. After all, they were
using marked cards.
They paid for his drugs to keep him from ‘screaming about the
cheating.’ Stuey to keep quiet and stay out of the way of the
cheating. It was a big relief for them when Stu Unger died.
Incident in Costra Rico with Bill Nirdlinger in 2001
Four years ago (in 2001) Bill Nirdlinger was paid 30,000 to bring me
to Coast Rica to be killed. I found this out, this is 100%, from a big
bookmaker who I played high poker with named Fred White. He (Fred)
runs a big offshore betting ring. They have there customers call an
800 number in Costa Rico. He knew Bill was a poker dealer and was a
friend of mine. They (Mike O’Conner and friends) got to Bill all the
way. I really shouldn’t be here right now.
Bill told me to come down to the Casino in Costa Rico that they had
some high rollers here. I went to Costa Rico, it was beautiful but
there were no high stakes rollers so I wondered what was going on. I
stayed there a few days hanging out. The fourth day when I called the
Casino the bartender told me, ‘I can’t get a hold of Mike O’Connor.
For about 10 hours these people, he mentioned Little Larry (from
Dallas), are here at the hotel looking for him.’ I knew Larry was a
hit man for Binion in the early days. So I left Costa Rico
immediately.
Bill was working for Mike O’Conner’s who still runs the Casino in
Costa Rico. The bookmaker Fred White gave Bill the 30,000 to take
back to California.
I was with Marty Carson in Costa Rico when he called Doug Dalton. You
couldn’t just call and get through to Doug Dalton. But Marty got right
through. He (Doug) didn’t know I was in the room at the time.
Recant of First Taped Interview with Mike Caro in 2005
I did the recant because I got mad at Russ for giving out the tapes
and Mike Caro did the same thing. Mike made a copy and gave it to
Barry Shulman. Mike Caro wasn’t supposed to give the tape to anybody.
I was promised by both Mike and Russ that the tape wouldn’t come out.
I was afraid people would come after me.
They (Doyle and Eric) wanted me to recant what I said on the first
cheating tape with Russ (Georgiev) and Bill (Nirdlinger). They offered
me a lot, a chunk of money and be able to go back in the Mirage
(which he was banned from). To be able to go back in the Mirage was
worth more to me than the 15K.
They would call me everyday to make the recant against Russ
(Georgiev). They knew I had a falling out with Russ. CK Richard Swartz
who was a close with Eric Drache, keep calling me for about a month to
make the recant. I asked Eric to give me 15K to do the recant. Eric
said after I’d do the recant I’d be taken care of. They never gave me
a dime.
I met Doyle and Eric at a bar at the corner of Spring Mountain St.
and Decater St. Doyle said, ‘If you do this recant it will put you in
good standing with a lot of people.’ Eric said he didn’t want his
daughter seeing that he was a cheat on the internet.
Doyle bought the equipment for Razzo to do the recant. In the recant
I told Razzo, ‘I just assumed it.’ After I did the recant they would
never answer the phone when I called.
Recent High Stakes Games
It’s like they did with Andy Beal. It leaked out about Andy Beal that
one of the dealers didn’t get paid. What that means is, one of the
dealers didn’t get paid the amount he though he should make so he
complained and it got out.
This still goes on today. In the last thirty days I think I told you
that I heard Doyle, Lyle Burman, who is a very wealthy guy, and Ted
Forrest got caught cheating and were escorted out of one of the major
hotels in Las Vegas. So this is going on today.
The casinos don’t want the publicity. When the Mirage opened they
closed down many of the small casinos. Now every casino has poker.
It’s like a poker rush right now.
RazzO
I used my own camera, Russ. I was paid to do the interview, publish it,
and space on the Internet site.
On Aug 20 2008 10:18 PM, RussGe...@aol.com wrote:
> John Martino Interviews Complete
>
> Doyle bought the equipment for Razzo to do the recant. In the recant
> I told Razzo, ‘I just assumed it.’ After I did the recant they would
> never answer the phone when I called.
>
RazzO
"Your all is idiots!" - Mike Matusow
______________________________________________________________________
RecGroups : the community-oriented newsreader : www.recgroups.com
RussGe...@aol.com
> Russ, it's Darryl Phillips, BTW.
> I used my own camera, Russ. I was paid to do the interview, publish it,
> and space on the Internet site.
>
Razz0, realize I didn't write what I posted. Blew a ton, didn't like
the writing/writer. I knew you were paid, paid all the time. Funny
that they'd want recants from someone no one knows Nirdlinger/Martino
against someone else know one knows, Russ G:). Plus, none of us had
any credibility. They sure went a long way to discredit a person with
no credibility:).
Russ Georgiev
www.pokermafia.com
www.pokerunchecked.com
www.russgeorgiev.com