more, more History, from JM
RussGe...@aol.com
1986
Karen Morrow went up there in the 80's several times before Jimmy went
up there. Puggy went up there to Alaska one time to play in Perry's
poker game.
When Karen brought Jimmy Shehady up to Anchorage in 1986, they bought
(or used a house that Perry Green owned) a house and built an extra
room on so they could install a camera. Perry Green was Jimmy's
partner. A camera was installed in the ventilation duct and they used
an earpiece. Jim Ward, who was in the auction business in Anchorage
lost about 300K at Jimmy's house. Karen told me about what happened
later.
Later in 1986 when Jimmy Shehady and Karen Morrow were scamming
someone, Jimmy's earpiece fell inside his ear. It was stuck and they
couldn't get it out. Perry drove Jimmy to an emergency room 150 miles
away so no one in that area would know they were cheating.
I haven't seen Karen in many years, as far as I know Karen is still in
Alaska [According to Perry Green, morrow now lives in Canada.]
The Game Never Changes- Don Zewin
When I met Don Zewin in the 80s, he was playing 10/20 at the Golden
Nugget and at the Stardust. He was never a high stakes player in the
day, but recently has been playing on the WTP and other big tournies.
[Dan Harrington survived his all in attempt and Don Zewin was
eliminated in 4th place at the Doyle Brunson North American Poker
Championship (WPT); He won $189,630. Zewin, admits to being bewildered
-- but pleased -- by the poker craze.
"Everything has changed," said Zewin, 53, a native of Niagara Falls,
N.Y. "Nobody could have seen this coming. If somebody said 20 years ago
that all this would be happening, you would have thought he was nuts."]
He played at the Horseshoe in the big side games on Doyle's team. He
was called by Chip and Doyle to play but only in the games at the WSOP
at the Horseshoe. They needed another player to bankroll for the big
games.
You could have taken a picture 20 years ago and every year since then
and it would not have changed except for the one live player. They've
had the same guys in the same seats for 20 years!
1987 Miami Incident with Doyle and Jimmy Shehady- Jimmy Gets Busted
In 1987, before the Mirage opened, Jimmy Shehady and Doyle were
introduced to a big drug dealer from Miami that like to play
high-stakes poker. The dealer had his drugs stored in Hanes City, Fla.
So Jimmy, Doyle and I think Dewey Tomko, because Dewey knew this also.
I'm pretty sure it was Dewey.
They went to Miami and played him four-handed. Not only did they win
about a million dollars of his money but they won kilos of cocaine.
Mike O'Connor sent Rich Fran and Dave, another crack-head, to pick up
the kilos in Florida and drive them back to Las Vegas. Rich and Dave
were mules for O'Connor from way back. The drove it back and it was
distributed in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
They won so much cocaine, that Jimmy and the dealer just sat around
doing coke. Jimmy decided to come back and play the guy head's-up.
While Jimmy was there the FBI raided the place. They busted Jimmy and
it cost Jimmy $40,000 on lawyers fees to get out of it. The dealer got
life in prison.
Another mob guy Dominic was in on this action. He was a mob Italian guy
from Miami got a piece also. He went to the Dunes friends of Nick
Vacciano.
The Dunes after Spilotro in 1987
After Spilotro got killed, Mike O'Connor was still extorting money from
Chip Reese and Doyle. They were terrified of him. He (O'Conner) 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'Connor was bluffing them.
Chris Petti, a San Diego mob guy, took over for the Chicago office when
Spilotro was hit. Chris Petti is a convicted bookmaker and card cheater
and has been in the NGC Black Book since 1987. At the time Petti was
aslo trying to gain control of the Rincon Indian casino in California.
He later got busted along with five Las Vegas gamblers he was extorting
money from.
Funds Are Mishandled at the WSOP in the 80s
Eric Drache ran the WSOP from 70s until 1988. 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.
[The seven-card stud player has had some financial ups and downs. "I
gave up craps 12 or 13 years ago, I gave up sports betting more than
three years ago," he said. "I can't do it small. I'm not into betting
$1,000 on a game." Eric Drache in Jane Morrisons Review/Journal article
2004.]
Jack Binion dismissed Eric Drache from running the WSOP after Eric sold
about 20 seats in advance for a discounted price. He sold the $10,000
seats for $8,000 cash in advance of the tournament so he could cover
his heavy sports and horse betting loses. Since he lost the money to
about twenty seats Jack Binion had to step in and cover most of the
shortage in the prize pool. Eric Drache was no longer in charge of the
WSOP.
[Regarding the World Series of Poker, I was the tournament director
from approximately 1972 until 1988. During these 16 or so years, I
developed what I thought was a very good relationship with many of the
players. I guess I took advantage of some of these relationships when I
started losing consistently and started borrowing from many of these
people. I always managed to either win it back or pay it back someway.
Sometimes I borrowed from some people to pay other people, but this was
no secret. Although it's something that I'm not proud of, it became a
habit. Even I felt bad about borrowing so often, so I offered to pay
interest. For several WSOPs I borrowed $9,000 (sometimes $8,000) from
players and said I would give them $10,000 at the World Series, which
several people said they would use for their buy-in.
Sometimes I borrowed at far as six months away from the event, and
those were the times I would give $10,000 for $8,000. Jack Binion knew
about this and players knew that if I couldn't come up with it, Jack
would. One year, he loaned me $50,000 to help me repay my debts.
Response by Eric Drache on RGP]
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 re-buy tournaments cause no one could
keep track of the money. Back then 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.
[But, there is a long and glorious history of tournament directors
skimming buy-in money, especially from rebuy tournaments. You know
that. Don't pretend you don't. Gary Carson- Poker Author, Post on RGP
2005]
Jimmy Shehady and Doyle Brunson in Branson Missouri 1988
Doyle knew someone that played high stakes gin rummy in Branson. Jimmy
Shehady and Doyle went to Branson Missouri right before the Mirage
opened. They won a bunch of money playing gin rummy and poker.
1988- 1990's Las Vegas Country Club- Las Vegas Hilton Super Sports Book
They had a big sports betting operation across the street from where I
lived called the Las Vegas Hilton Super Sports Book. I lived in the Las
Vegas Country Club from 1988-92. Freddy Siufy (Jimmy's cousin) would
met me there and we'd meet people and get into heads-up games. I would
always cheat no matter what game I'd play. Freddie would introduce me
to people to play and I'd give him a cut.
Mark Shore and Charlie Meyerson would watch Monday night football at
the Las Vegas Hilton. They'd bet on horses. Yale Cohen, who was one of
the people that had a management position at the Stardust and Yale
Cohen Jr., his son, were there. Mark Shore and Meyerson worked with
Steve Wynn and Jack Zwerner.
Las Vegas Country Club was an exclusive place to live. Kirk Kirkorian
lived there. John and Vince Spilotro live on Spanish Trail Country Club
on West Tropicana Lane; they got some of Tony's money where he was hit.
They both still live in Vegas.
Jim Albrecht
[Jim was Dec. 9, 1949 and died Oct. 16, 2003. He lived in Las Vegas for
31 years and was the Tournament Director of the World Series of Poker
for ten years. He manager the poker room at the Mint when Binion's
Horseshoe bought it. He worked closely with Bill Boyd and Eric Drache.]
In the late 70's Jim Albrecht and Mike George switched a blackjack shoe
at Caesar's Palace Casino in Las Vegas. They would put a cold deck shoe
(prefixed cards) in the blackjack pit. They'd been setting this up for
a month. After they won about 80K, the two of them left Las Vegas for
a few months until things cooled down. I found this out from Mike
George, who was one of my best friends at this time. Caesar's Palace
suspected they had been cheated, but did not prosecute. Mike George's
cousin, Vince Burgio, who writes for card player, knew about this and
about them cheating Larry Flynt in the 80's.
[Russell Georgiev: Hal Walling knows about this (switching the
blackjack shoe) because he mentioned it. He mentioned it and he was
surprised that we knew about it but believe me, we know about
everything. And if this segment of the branch doesn't know about it,
our second segment knows about it. The Cheating Tapes-2003]
[Mike was not a cousin by blood, it is complicated and I won't go
through it but although no blood relation we always considered
ourselves cousins," explains Vince Burgio. "I knew him almost
exclusively as a kid. Once we got older I went to Seattle and
California and he went to Vegas. We met after about 30 years of not
seeing each other in Vegas in 1988 or so. We had a few dinners together
on subsequent visits of mine to Vegas. I think he dealt poker and
worked the floor before 1988, after that when I would see him he was
always in between jobs. I staked him in a few poker games when I would
come to town. Then he got sick and basically never recovered, I was
shocked when he died. Vince Burgio Interview 2005]
When Binions bought the Mint, Jim Albrecht was a poker dealer at The
Horseshoe in 1985 and became floorman for Eric Drache. He put in cold
decks. Eric had big games with Jerry Buss that Jim put in cold decks.
In 1989 at the WSOP, Jim was cardroom manager at the Horseshoe and also
the tourney director for the WSOP. Jim's wife worked there too, she had
an office job. During the 1989 WSOP they (Chip Reese, Doyle Brunson
and Jack Strauss) worked the big money side games. ["While Jim
Albrecht had control of the World Series of Poker, Jack Zwerner and
myself, John Martino, played many of the side games. We always used
marked cards which were put into play for us. Jack Zwerner and I were
pretty good friends and cheated many a game in those days with marked
cards put into play by management. Guess who Jack Zwerners cousin is?
It happens to be Jim Albrecht." Russ Georgiev Post on RGP]
After all Jim Albrecht did for the Binions when he needed a liver
transplant- he called Jack to see if he would help pay for it. Jack
Binion wouldn't return Jim's calls.
Eric Drache Is the Ultimate Con Artist 1987
[On the more serious side, there used to be a great poker tournament in
Lafayette, Louisiana, in the late '80s called the Cajun Cup, which ran
for three years with no problem. But in the fourth year, the organizers
were forced to close it down about halfway through it, because
otherwise there was going to be a raid by federal agents. Bob Ciaffone
Card Player Magazine Volume 18, No. 3]
This was the last year the tourney ran in Lafayette, Louisiana. I went
down to hustle the side games and Eric Drache was there. He was doing
cocaine himself at that time. I watched a game that Eric was playing.
This was a big game, they were playing 200/400 with a $50 ante. You
needed 10K to play in that game and Eric didn't have 10K so he borrowed
2K from somebody that wasn't playing. He sat next to AJ Meyers (WSOP 7
Card Stud winner in 81) who he knew he could borrow money from. AJ
Meyers (WSOP 7 Card Stud winner in 81), who was originally from NY, was
one of the take off people for Marty that made a lot of money with the
camera and the peep holes.
There were six people playing, it was 7 card stud. Eric still didn't
have enough money to play in the game. He piled his borrowed 2,000 on
the table and nobody said a thing, after all he was the cardroom
manager at the Golden Nugget! He waited until he was head's up with the
player he could borrow money from. He would ante and fold. Finally he
got head's up wit his friend- no matter whether he won or lost he'd
have money. If he lost he'd say, 'I owe you 3K we'll make it 10K,' then
Eric would have 7K to play with. If he won then he have the guy's
money.
Two bookmakers he had never seen before came in and started playing at
his table. Eric introduced himself and told them he was the cardroom
manager at Golden Nugget. He told them to come to Vegas and he'd take
care of them. Within four hours he had borrowed $10,000 off both of
them. He had such great charisma.
Jimmy Knight
Jimmy Knight worked with Eric Drache from the beginning. When Eric got
his first position as the cardroom manager in 1977 at the Silverbird.
Guess who was the casino manager? Jimmy Knight. When Eric went to the
Golden Nugget in the 80's Jimmy Knight was the casino manager. When
Eric went to The Mirage in 1989, Jimmy Knight was a shift manager. In
1993 after the kidnapping incident with Mike O'Connor, Eric left the
Mirage and couldn't work for Steve Wynn again. Doug Dalton eventually
took Eric's place at the Mirage. Jimmy Knight went to Treasure Island
when it opened.
Doyle, Eric, Jimmy, Chip and Danny were past posting sports bets at the
Silverbird. They were robbing Major Riddle with a pencil.
When Jimmy Hughes used the computer, Jimmy Knight's wife was an Asian
girl that played on Hughes team when they won millions. The won Gold
Coast for 385,000, Barbary Coast in baccarat 250K, they worked in
Caesars Palace in private high roller room, who knows how much they won
there. This in 70's early 80's.
One of the first people to use the computer was Albert Perez who did
the Green Goods game. Albert was a high limit player and jewelry
salesman. He cheated casinos at blackjack with the computer before
Jimmy Hughes did.
Jimmy Knight, had an oriental wife that worked with Jimmy Hughes. He
was one of the main persons who got a cut at the Silverbird. His wife
was a poker player and cheated blackjack with Jimmy Hughes 1991. Lady
Luck, Caesars, Barbary Coast, Gold Coast. They had a dealer that would
not suffle 50 to 70 cards and they beat the game with the computer.
They used another oriental girl also. She had a little note book at the
table she'd get write down the cards and then go to the phone. They
didn't notice she was, they were recording it and going to the phone.
They would deal slow so the person could easily record it. Use a mini
recorder and take it to the phone. They'd get a response in one second
and write on their hand or on a hundred-dollar bill. I would work for
between 20 and 30 bets.
Dan Harrington
In 1989 Dan Harrington was in Doyle's team, he was playing with them.
Dan Harrington started playing on Doyle's team back about 20 years ago.
I'm talking about when he played with Doyle in the private games in the
corner of the Horseshoe when Marty Carson had the eye-in-the sky. Since
they were cheating it was impossible to win in the long run unless you
were in with them. Since Dan was playing that game, I assume he was on
the bankroll.
Blacky Blackburn- 1987
[In 1983, at Blacky Blackburn's Stairway to the Stars poker tournament
at the Stardust Hotel, the game of pot-limit Omaha was introduced. The
action was terrific, with those of us who take to a new poker form
rapidly becoming big winners. Jack fell in love with Omaha, and quickly
became an outstanding player. In 1984, the year Jack (Keller) became
the poker world champion, he went to Europe, partly to promote
pot-limit Omaha over there. The Brits and other European players loved
the game, and Omaha quickly became the favorite poker form "across the
pond." Card Player Magazine Volume 17, No. 5]
Blacky Blackburn was friends with all the Texas guys. He was the
cardroom manager at The Stardust before Don Williams. He ran a big
tourney out of the Stardust called Stairway to the Stars. [Blacky
Blackburn helped to form an association of poker players in 1987.] [I
am good friends with Blacky Blackburn, who I believe used to run the
Stardust room and either ran the room or hosted at the Nugget before
the room moved across the street. Anyway, he is back here in Oklahoma
right now and I play poker with him frequently. He told us all that he
actually took Omaha to Vegas. Said he stole it out of a whore house in
Shawnee Oklahoma. TJ RGP Post 2003]
Blacky wanted me to go to Macau (Eastern Asia, bordering the South
China Sea and China) with him to cheat at blackjack. I didn't really
trust him so I told him, 'No.' Blacky took Jimmy Shehady over to Macau
instead. [Even in Macau the connections in Vegas remain; this one is
from father to son. "Sources tell us Steve Wynn has hired Paul
Weintraub to work in his planned Macau casino. Weintraub is the son of
late junket king "Big Julie" Weintraub, a Las Vegas legend." George
Knapp]
Blacky had a concession in Crystal Park, ran two tables. He did some
crude stuff, they would play three or four in a game with one sucker.
He and an another player on his team would raise and re-raise the
sucker in the game. It looked bad; it was crude cheating. You can beat
somebody without doing that.
Blacky would brag about the people he would beat; he had a big mouth. I
used to go visit him there because he would set up private games for me
to play. I went 4 or 5 times to play. Blacky was at Crystal Park when
they had the camera. I borrowed money from and I couldn't pay him back
when I left. I knew he was mad at me so I never called him again; never
paid him back.
Tommy Hufnagel
[Schwenksville, Pennsylvania's Tommy Hufnagle came to Las Vegas seven
years ago and progressed to the point of being one of the best limit
Hold-Em players in town. He ventured into the Horseshoe Casino for the
World Series for the first time last year and proved his skill by
finishing third. His reputation as one of the world's best all-around
poker players derives from his talent as a very high limit player, and
if he were to concentrate on no-limit playing, he could very well be
number one in the World Series.
The handsome, 34-year-old Hufnagle enjoys water skiing, boating and
weight-lifting. He's a health-conscious nonsmoker. 1978 WSOP Notes]
Bill Sheppard grew up in Pottstown, Pa. and Tommy Hufnagel was from and
Schwenksville, Pa. They were buddies from the same area that came to
Vegas together like Chip Reese and Danny Robison.
Becky was Tommy's his first wife. She was a poker addict and would play
poker all the time. After they spilt up, Becky would play days at a
time at the Golden Nugget where she would later become a dealer. She
was such a big poker addict she couldn't take care of her baby--she
sold the baby to another poker player so she could continue playing
poker all the time!
When Karen Morrow, who was from Canada, was Tommy's second wife. Karen
had a daughter Christine and a son Danny Morrow from a previous
marriage in Canada. Karen also dated Frank Watson when she lived in
Canada. Later she dated Jimmy Shehady and me. I was married to her for
about four months when she was at the Silverbird in 1980.
Debbie Hufnagel was Tommy's third wife. She was 100% gypsy, very
beautiful girl, she also knew Tommy Thompson. I dated her after she
broke up with Hufnagel and later Tommy dated her.
Then Tommy's fourth wife was Christine Morrow who was his second wife
Karen's daughter that Hufnagel raised since Christine was a little
girl. He had a son with her too.
Christine would turn tricks for $1,000 to $5,000 for her mother Karen
when she was thirteen years old back when they lived at the Silverbird.
They had suites at the Silverbird complimentary of Eric Drache, who was
the cardroom manager. Christine was a very beautiful girl. She had a
friend Katrina who was twelve. They were both very mature looking. When
someone wanted a girl Eric would call Karen and she would set up the
tricks. Karen's other son Danny had a underwater diving show on TV in
the US.
Tommy moved to Arizona and married his fifth wife, Rosemary, who was
Judge Clayborne's mistress. Judge Harry Claiborne (recently deceased),
was one of the crookedest judge's was involved with the Aladdin Hotel
reopening in 1979. [In 1980, the FBI got a tip from fugitive brothel
baron Joe Conforte, then on the lam in Brazil. He offered to serve up
Claiborne on a silver platter. Conforte told the feds he paid 30 grand
in bribes to Claiborne, but the judge stiffed him. Claiborne was tried
for bribery but the jury didn't believe Conforte about the bribes. A
second trial resulted in a conviction for tax evasion. Claiborne and
his supporters fought on, but the judge was impeached and went to
prison. George Knapp]
Rosemary was married Mike Aikens who was a blackjack cheater with John
Olejack and Mike Murray. They had a cheating team that used Ray
Carson's cheating shoe. Charles Waterman, was a lawyer, who was a
friend of Harry Claiborne that Rosemary would go to get them out of
trouble. She had an in with judge, she was his mistress. [Chief Joe
Yablonsky, who was amazed that a judge was so close to the likes of
once ruthless casino boss Benny Binion. "I was told Claiborne had lunch
four or five times a week with Binion. In no other place in the country
would a federal judge be best friends with a convicted murderer,"
Yablonsky said.]
Tommy Hufnagel would play on the square when he had money, but when he
was broke he would cheat. [William Nirdlinger: If he has money, he
doesn't even want to think or care about cheating. But as soon as he's
broke, he wants to cheat. The Cheating Tapes 2003] He had a bad
drinking problem too.
Around 1984, Tommy 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 the floormen that Tony would get them. Tony was furious that Tom
used Tony's name to threaten other people.
Tommy was an alcohol and a smoked a lot of crack, but that didn't
bother me about him. What bothered me is that he beat up women. I was
involved with both Karen Morrow and Debbie his third wife. I know what
he did. He was arrested three times for spousal abuse when he was in
Vegas. I think he was arrested two more times for beating Rosemary in
Arizona.
He had children with three of his five wives and rarely ever visited
them. He didn't send them child support, it was sad.
Incident with Dave Smith, Mike Snyberg, and Jeff Wiseman- Late 80s
Dave Smith, was an antique car auctioneer in the 80s, he owned the
Cruise Antique Car Dealership. Dave was a heavyset guy and drank a lot.
Was living in Indiana, would come to Vegas. He was a big time gambler,
a very high-stakes player, who loved to play poker, blackjack and
baccarat. Mike Snyberg took Jeff Wiseman, the coin flipper went to
Indiana and played with Dave. They flipped coins and Mike dealt for
Jeff and Dave. They won 2 Rolls Royce's and about 100K cash. Dave ran
through his money and by the 90s got broke. Bob Stupak liked Dave and
bought him a car dealership.
David Sklansky
David Sklansky worked in telemarketing for Bob Stupak, with Jack
Zwerner. When he was there Marty Carson worked for Stupak. David was a
team player for Spilotro and Chip in the Dunes in 1977 and 1978. [Of
course I know Marty Carson. We have quite a few mutual friends
including Bob Stupak (who he worked for as a security advisor). And
yes, much of my cheating knowledge especially regarding electronics,
comes from what Bob or others told me he told them. We have never
discussed it directly. I have also never been involved either directly
or indirectly with any cheating gambling using his
devices. Ask him. David Sklansky RGP Post]
Sklansky also was a team player for Mike O'Connor and Spilotro. On the
Cheating Tapes Bill Nirdlinger talks about how Sklansky was trying to
improve the take on the games he played by getting rid of Tommy
Hufnagle. Even though Tommy wasn't playing up to David's standard,
Tommy was on a rush and winning all the money.
[William Nirdlinger: David Sklansky and Tommy Hufnagle were all playing
teams for Spilotro and Mike O'Connor. They were a part of the team.
Sklansky used to help them with better playing. The Cheating Tapes
2001]
[William Nirdlinger: Sklansky called Mike O'Connor and Spilotro up and
told them that Tommy was drunk and that his play you know and some of
the mistakes that he made is costing him 1.3% of the play and that they
should get Tommy out of the game. And you know, Tommy was having a rush
of cards
and was winning all the money. The Cheating Tapes 2001]
Late 80's Bicycle Club
Korean guy was the bost of the eye-in-the-sky and Harry was Chinese guy
from LA was the guy that made cards for Jimmy Shehady. Had the camera
in two times. Harry moved to Las Vegas in 1989 when the Mirage opend to
supplied cards for Jimmy.
Gary Young had the exact same color (cobalt blue) contact lenses that
Doyle had. They beat the Lady Luck Casino for 7 or 8 years with
Olejack, Silvers, Freddy Parrent, Archie Karas, Mike Murray. Jack
Zwerener had a pair and developed every better glasses was barred.
Friend of Marty's from Seattle that everyone got the glasses and
contact lenses.