Benny Binion: Blood Aces

[JimmyG_415]

The new Benny Binion book is so much better than that I was expecting, I just can't do this book justice,

http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Aces-Bin.../dp/0670026034

Pre-Vegas read much like a lot of gangster stories from NY, only it was in Dallas.
He was a bootlegger, first, then ran numbers and all the dice houses in Dallas.
1930's Texas, was as bad as 1960's Mississippi for blacks, he is on record for killing 2 people, (I think both were black, one was for sure), anyway, 0 jail time...................Later for tax evasion, he got 4 years.
Left town in the 1940's in the middle of the night, w/a million in cash, and 2 cars equipped w/Tommy guns, escorting him.

The first 10 years in Vegas, he spent dealing w/Dallas brass and the taxes from his dice games. So that was actually boring, but the stories about Vegas were great.

* Vegas needed these guys in the 1940's, because essentially if you had casino experience at that time, you had to be a criminal. Plus, they could line up financing that normal companies couldn't get. Benny came to town, and # 1 paid top wages, # 2 gave free drinks to low rollers, and # 3 had a no limit craps table, (the limit was your first bet). At that time free drinks were for high rollers only.
* He was in w/all the big gangsters, including Bugsy Seigel.
In fact, later, Meyer Lanksy was unofficially a part-owner of the horseshoe. He needed cash for his IRS problems, so he sold off parts of the casino, at times he only had 2-3 % of the horseshoe. The main reason Benny was able to buy them all out was because Howard Hughes came to town, the town was going legit, and the gangsters wanted their name off of ownership.
* There is a department at the LVPD, where casinos report thefts. 1986-1996 LV casino's reported an avg of 10 thefts per year, the Binions reported no thefts for those 10 years. They handled them in-house, and w/brute force.
One guy won a 700k civil lawsuit for getting back roomed. But on the criminal side of same case, all the security guards, including one of his grandsons, got a mistrial. When re tried, they all lost, but later the judge threw out the verdicts.
*Doyle went to him for help when Tony Spilotoro (the guy Pesci played in "Casino") was strong arming him into cheating other poker players.
*The oldest daughter was a junkie, had a new BF who they thought was giving her drugs. One day they kick him out of the casino, Ted Binion tells people he is going to kill him, the next day he is found in the desert. No charges,
*A "pit boss" killed a guy who was cheating, they had chased him outside, and per most witnesses it was Ted who fired the gun, but the 24 yr old pit boss took the wrap, (0 jail time of course) and the author thought was well compensated.


I'll repeat, I can't do this book justice, the Binions simply owned Vegas for a time.
If you like gambling stories, mob stories, and old Las Vegas stories, w/ a wild wild west twist, you will not be disappointed. Doyle had some stories about 1960's Texas poker scene, it was rough.

It seems like everyone that met Benny Binion, loved him, though. He was illiterate, he never had a casino license, so he set up camp at the restaurant downstairs, and that became the political hang out. Mayor Oscar Goodman ate lunch there everyday, among other lawyers and judges.

Seemed like if you stayed on his good side, he was great, but you if got on his bad side, got in his way of making money, or threatened him or his family, you died.

[sonatine]

do they mention The Phantom Gambler? the dude who would wander in with 1m in a suitcase and lay it on a roulette color once every few years or so? (until he lost...)

[sonatine]

fuck it, bought. time will tell.

[Hockey Guy]

Looks like a good book & 1 I'll be picking up at some point.

[YUUP]

Going to order.Thanks for the heads up.

[sonatine]

actually bought and read this.

I was with it until the Herb Noble parts. Blowing up that dudes wife then pretty much skating on consequences, thats ... ugh.

One thing I wish they had done which would have really fixed that for me is if they made the book about the Binion bloodline. His children were such thoroughbred fuckups that had they included their stories with appropriate weight/detail, it would have felt more like karma. Balances being righted and all that.

I get that its not about that, its just the facts, but it would have made it a more enjoyable experience for me, thats all.

Still and all, pretty fucking appropriate book-of-the-month material for this site imo. Good call JimmyG.

[Benford]

do they mention The Phantom Gambler? the dude who would wander in with 1m in a suitcase and lay it on a roulette color once every few years or so? (until he lost...)

Even though you asked this a long while back, I just saw this and I can provide a little info. Back in the late 90's before the federal marshals raided the place & Harrah's took over Binion's , I played the single-deck blackjack

games there on occasion and I asked about this very topic with one of the older dealers there ("Vegas, born and raised", he claimed). He explained it was a guy who liked to place the first big bet on the craps table, coming in

once a year or so. The gambler won the first 1-2 years, but he lost the third year and the dealer explained to me in a very hush-hush tone that the gambler committed suicide afterwards.

[sonatine]

do they mention The Phantom Gambler? the dude who would wander in with 1m in a suitcase and lay it on a roulette color once every few years or so? (until he lost...)

Even though you asked this a long while back, I just saw this and I can provide a little info. Back in the late 90's before the federal marshals raided the place & Harrah's took over Binion's , I played the single-deck blackjack

games there on occasion and I asked about this very topic with one of the older dealers there ("Vegas, born and raised", he claimed). He explained it was a guy who liked to place the first big bet on the craps table, coming in

once a year or so. The gambler won the first 1-2 years, but he lost the third year and the dealer explained to me in a very hush-hush tone that the gambler committed suicide afterwards.

This is like 1/20th of the story, sadly.

I got a meeting in a few minutes but I'll backfill later because its basically the most Vegas story in this history of this planet or any other.

[adamantium]

fuck just got it too

[limitles]

This is also just out.

[sonatine]

So, phantom gambler:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lee_Bergstrom

A few more details:
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-02-...1_suicide-note

There was a really good definitive writeup about it someplace that included some really fascinating details straight from Binion's mouth, I wish I could find it again...

[Sanlmar]

Phantom Gambler bet the dark side and went dark. Was The Phantom the shooter? Can you imagine rolling the dice and another guy bets $1m don't pass.... and you roll 7 or 11?

What did The Phantom tip the shooter if he didn't roll the first two times?


That one story makes me want to read the book. Read a lot of Binions stories over the years but time to revisit. Old school casino proprietor books any bet for any size if this is your first bet.

Casino manager Ted Binion, who had befriended Bergstrom after he won $777,000 and $538,000 at the Horseshoe with single rolls of the dice in the last four years, said he spoke with the gambler Sunday night.

Lol, anybody who is holding $777k of my money is automatically a friend.

Benny Binion vs Gary Loveman. Why hasn't Loveman killed himself.

[Tellafriend]

I recently read Blood Aces. I thought it was good, but too many names no one has ever heard of from time in Texas almost 100 years ago. Anyway, on the scale of 1-10 of good gambling related books it is about a 5.

If you like the subject, the following books are far better:

Grandissimo, which is about Jay Sarno who started Caesars and CC. http://www.grandissimobook.com/

I also liked Double or Nothing about the guys who bought the GN http://www.harpercollins.com/9780060...ble-or-nothing

The book on Titanic Thompson was interesting as well. http://titanicthompson.tumblr.com/

Lastly, Amarillo Slim's book. http://www.amarilloslim.com/book.php

[sonatine]

I recently read Blood Aces. I thought it was good, but too many names no one has ever heard of from time in Texas almost 100 years ago. Anyway, on the scale of 1-10 of good gambling related books it is about a 5.

its a history book with a peculiar affectation. i cant fault it for being completist.