Before the Incident, Life was Good!

This is how the story went.

IN 1985 THE CITY WAS AT ITS peak. It was all about money, preferably cash. No one was expecting this type of money to come into Atlantic City, and if they didn’t come to Atlantic City on their own, we went and picked them up from different states or countries. We called them junkets, if you had enough people to fill up an airplane, we would provide the airplane. If you have enough people to fill up a bus, we will provide the bus. All we asked was to show us that you had some money or collateral like a business, a house, a building, a baseball team, a basketball team, or a football team. Who cares where you got the money from, you just couldn’t go over $9,999.99 in cash without involving paperwork? This made my job was simple. Dice was my game, I didn’t want any other games I just had to be the best at, I didn’t need anything else, just dice. My crew, I used to roll with was the Steubenville Ohio Boys, ninety percent of them were Italian, but they made sure that the rest of the crew was very versatile. We had farmers, teachers, every kind of ethnic background and color you could think of, but it seemed like everyone was learning from the Italians. Some things became habit-forming, you could find yourself saying Italian phrases easy. John Sasini and the Rotundo brothers, it was all about fashion, and the exclamation mark was the knot in your tie.

The Florio brothers, I really admired them, Tommy and Jerry, their uncle was the governor of New Jersey Tom Florio, that didn’t hurt. They took dressing and fashion to a whole other level, from the suits to the shirts, shoes, and most of all ties. Once I became a manager on the craps table, it was time to step up my game.

I couldn’t pick a better role model to show me how to dress or talk to clients and walk the walk and talk the talk better than Tommy D, he was the man. He was the dude straight out of GQ magazine, but he was always cracking jokes, I recall asking

Tommy,

“How do I make a knot that small in a tie like that?”

“Do you know how you normally tie your ties?”

“Yeah!”

“Well, the next time you make a knot in your tie, put your foot against the bathroom sink and pull that shit until it’s a small knot or until you turn blue in the face and pass the fuck out.” I called him a smart ass because he was a jokester on the casino floor.

“But the only true way to achieve that look is to go to Eleganza Menswear.”

“They’re on Atlantic Avenue across from the old Pep

Boys in Atlantic City, right?”

“No, that’s where they used to be, now they’re in the casino, but they’re moving to the Ocean Club soon. Ask for Larry, Gino or the old man, tell him Tommy D sent you to buy a tie, so you can start your tie collection.” So, I did. My father used to always say, “I want you to learn how to tie a tie just like Kojak or Ronald Reagan.” I just couldn’t tell my wife how much I paid for the ties, or suits, he even had a lay-away plan just for me and at that time, I became one of the biggest Giorgio Armani and Versace fans in the city. Gino would sell me the winter suits in the spring, the spring suits, he would sell them to me in the fall with a small Vig on them.

The main thing that the casino crew strove for was to keep our clients here at our joint. We made the clients feel that when they came down to our joint in Atlantic City, they know they’re going to have a great time and be treated like a king.

All my clients were different, some were lawyers, some were doctors, some have businesses, some own franchises, baseball teams, football teams, we didn’t discriminate. We would fly you in from wherever you wanted to come from and fly your ass back home. You knew when you left our casino you were completely satisfied, and you enjoyed yourself fully. That’s how we built our reputation.

A lot of it started with the Steve Wynn organization, he set new standards and expectations. I had a little brown book with all my high rollers’ personal information including phone numbers.

I could tell you what my players drink, how many drinks it takes to get them drunk, the names of the restaurants they like, clubs they enjoy, who was the wife and who was the side piece without the embarrassment, what their average bets and buy-ins were. My main objective was to keep my clients at the crap table for as long as possible. We could talk about anything you want it didn’t matter. Some of my clients would ask the casino managers when I was working, or I was requested by a player to handle their table.

Most of the time they had to convince us they were broke and hungry to feed them. We had real loan sharks on the casino floor daily who would not hesitate to give a player a loan with 45 to 65 percent interest rates.

Atlantic City had more little gangsters than big mobsters, most of the big mob bosses out of New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia were on a ban list from the casinos. If they did come in, they kept it moving, most of my clients came to play, not to stay.

They could pull out a lump of cash, $40,000 to $140,000 or more, at any given moment. You could hear someone callout, “$26,000 across buy the 4 and 10.” and 7 out the next roll, we had real gamblers with real gangster money.

I had one high roller who was real racist. I dealt with

him because he didn’t hide it, we used to call him Alabama. He was about 4'4" and weighed about 350 pounds. He would look for me even when I was just a dealer because my crap games always sounded real, like you were playing cello or street dice, he loved me on the stick calling the dice. Always a perfect gentleman until he’s had five drinks in him, he then became the KKK. Alabama would get right next to me when I was on stick and whispers, “Boy, what’s my point? The gun is loaded, and I got the sheet in the car!” If the dice landed on 11, I would whisper back to him, “Yo lev yo lev, yo momma!” He would come back again with, “Boy, what’s my point? The gun is loaded, and I got the sheet in the car!” My next call would be, “Outttt 7.”

I had no problem with taking his money, once I became a manager he would still look for me because he knew that I knew, that he didn’t mean any harm on the table besides, he would be the first one to tell you that he’s a piece of shit and burp in your face, sometimes we had to wheel his fat ass up to a room just to let him sober up a little, you had to have tough skin in this industry.

Another high roller I recall starting my shift at ten in the morning when the casinos would open back up for the day. My client bought in for $80,000 in cash and got a marker for a hundred thousand dollars more, he always made it obvious that he came to play, not to stay.

By one-thirty in the afternoon, my table was up, and I had him stuck for $580,000. We were having fun. What a great afternoon. However, at 5:30 p.m. he had my crap table stuck for $1,150,000. Hey, let the chips fall where they may. He gave it all back that night except for $250,000. As long as he gives the house a chance to win back their money, we're good, the rush is only temporary. The key is to make them feel comfortable enough to stay at that table and gamble.

After a lot of the big action always meeting new people, I made it a point to make my reputation known to interested high rollers. We can talk about anything you want to or just gamble. Ninety-nine-point nine percent of the time my table would go up in limits just because of the action on my game, dealers were happy to work on my games. It seemed like it was one big party my game was always loaded with action that’s how the day would move right along. Always the main objective of the table games manager is to watch the money, then watch the bank and most of all, watch your dice.

As a manager they teach you to trust no one, because everyone has an angel and most of all, protect our money. Which was cool, I’ll watch your money and count your money, but I’m not going to fight or die for your money! That’s what you have security for.

I recall watching a little old man take the dice and hold them in the air as he shook them, he stopped with his hand in the air and looked to the left of him toward his friend and said that he felt faint, he fell straight back on the floor with the dice in his hand. Although I did summon for help, I had to keep my eyes on his hand with my dice in them.

So, I told my box man to watch the bank I had to keep my eyes on my dice no matter what, not to mention the dealer’s, even your friends will set you up. Trust them as far as you can throw their ass. When it comes down to your job and money, trust no one! Finally, security showed up.

Once they gave me back my dice, everyone was afraid to touch these dice, the table got quiet, the dice were cold, the man was cold, the players called them killer dice. We replaced them with new ones, and that quick, the table got hot again. You never know what someone else’s issues are until that moment.

As a matter of fact, I had a good friend, well I thought he was a good friend, until he tried to pass chips on my game when I used to sit box on the crap table. This man I knew for years, I’ve even lent him money before, he had real fast hands, but fortunately, I was good at my job and my game. Knowing how to use the mirrors on the crap table, I could look in one direction while talking to someone and see everything that was going on behind me through my mirrors. It is a very effective technique.

It would only take me...