5 Mobster-Gamblers Do Time in Alcatraz Prison

In addition to Alphonse (“Al”/”Scarface”) Capone, a handful of men separately involved in illegal gambling in the States wound up confined in the United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island for another crime. The maximum security, federal prison opened in 1934 on Alcatraz Island, 1.25 miles from the coast of San Francisco, California. The facility housed 1,576…

Quick Fact – Beano v. Bingo

1944 “Are you in favor of banning beano when played for prizes?” This was one of Massachusetts’ 1944 ballot questions. By the 1940s, beano — played with beans as markers, hence the name, and popular on the carnival circuit — had evolved into bingo. How? Brooklynite Edwin S. Lowe, after learning of beano at a Georgia carnival…