1952-1968 Soon after two new federal taxes — the tax on wagers and the wagering occupational tax — went into effect in late 1951, problems with them arose. (See Part I for a description of and impetus behind the taxes.) First Complication to Arise The constitutionality of the occupational tax was called into question. In…
1951 Gambling is the lifeblood of organized crime. This was U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver’s conclusion after the Special Committee on Organized Crime in Interstate Commerce, which he headed, concluded its investigation. The Kefauver Committee’s work, in part, involved conducting hearings in 14 U.S. cities, during which they grilled (sometimes, unsuccessfully) about 600 witnesses, including big-time…
The colorful career of San Francisco-born Joseph Zemansky (1877-1953) spanned three industries and two countries. After childhood in Sacramento, he spent several decades in California before settling in Nevada. Here are 10 highlights of Zemansky’s professional life and experiences: Gambling 1) Zemansky helped establish and operate the immensely popular Agua Caliente Casino and Hotel in…
1940-1953 In 1946, Pat Mooney, chief field deputy of the Nevada Internal Revenue (IR) Bureau office, made gambler-Mobster Elmer “Bones” F. Remmer* an offer he couldn’t refuse. If the gambling club owner purchased $52,400 ($699,000 today) worth of shares in the Mountain City Consolidated Copper Co. (MCCCC) then his 1945 federal tax debt in that…
1955-1956 At 9:15 a.m. on Friday, November 11, 1955, eight U.S. IRS agents entered the Club Cal-Neva in Reno, Nevada, demanding payment of $65,000 (about $600,000 today) in overdue withholding and excise taxes. When the money couldn’t be proffered, the feds wired shut the casino doors and emptied all of the tables, cashier cages and…
1957-1960 In June 1957, a federal grand jury secretly indicted the owners of the Wagon Wheel Saloon and Gambling Hall (Harvey’s today) at Lake Tahoe in Stateline, Nevada — Harvey A. Gross, and his wife, Llewellyn — for failing to pay more than $45,400 (about $395,500 today) in joint income taxes over a three-year period. [table…
1970-1975 In a massive, coordinated effort, federal agents raided illegal bookmaking operations throughout the U.S. with ties to organized crime. On December 12, 1970, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents struck in 11 states and 26 cities, including Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Detroit, Miami Beach, six in Ohio…
1964 The Dunes in Las Vegas, Nevada switched from writing off unpaid IOUs to claiming them as income, allegedly to keep Internal Revenue Service agents from harassing its customers — asking guests in the hotel if they paid what they owed. On its fiscal 1965 income tax return, the hotel-casino reported as income $1.3 million…
1945-1955 In the late 1940s, three bookies — or commissioners, as they preferred to be called — operated on California’s Sunset Strip in West Hollywood under the name, Golden News Service. Hy Goldbaum, George Capri and Edward Cooke, all in their late 40s or early 50s at the time, specialized in assuming large bets that…
1961 It was hot inside and outside Harolds Club in Reno, Nevada on a Wednesday afternoon in the early summer of 1961. Indoors, people gathered around to watch high-roller Lonnie Joe Chadwick on a winning streak. In his two-day spree playing 21, he already had cashed in about $30,000 to $50,000 ($239,000 to $398,000 today)…