Cards, Knives and Backpacks
A roundup of bizarre casino crimes, from loyalty card fraud and sportsbook robbery to a Las Vegas purse-bait sting.
Remember that scene in Donnie Brasco where Al Pacino, as mob associate Lefty Ruggiero, is in the social club pounding on a heisted parking meter with a hammer, trying to crack it open?
Well, mobsters have become more sophisticated in their moneymaking techniques since then. They now pound on casino loyalty cards. A MassLive story from Springfield, Massachusetts reports that several associates of the “Springfield Crew,” reputed to be aligned with the Genovese crime family, have been arrested for cheating casinos.
They did so by manipulating the player’s club with fraudulent cards and free play, cycled through the system over and over. In all, they allegedly cycled around $630,000 through the slots over 116 days, and generated more than $1.15 million in winnings.
Police say Giuseppe “Little Joe” Manzi, aka “Joe Polozzo,” 51, a reputed associate of the Springfield Crew, hatched the scam along with five accomplices—Antonio Capua, Claudio Cardaropoli, Alfonso B. Lalli, Salvatore Fusco, and Franco “Frankie” Fusco, all from the Springfield area.
(I remember Frankie Fusco from up the block.)
It wasn’t the first dance for Little Joe. Manzi served three years in federal prison on racketeering charges in the early 2000s, and was tangled up in an illegal gambling ring along with his father, Carmine “The Barber” Manzi. (I remember The Barber. Stand-up guy.)
You know why they got caught? Because they won.
It’s one thing cycling through free play, but generating $1.15 million in winnings? On slot machines? In Massachusetts? They should have known that would raise some red flags.
In fact, the article quoted a casino official as saying, “After reviewing Manzi’s slot play totals, it was statistically impossible for Manzi to nearly double his money on such a consistent basis without some type of casino cheating taking place.”
See? They didn’t even know how the guy was cheating, but he won, so he must have been cheating!
Wow, “statistically impossible?” Maybe in Massachusetts. But in any event, it alerted the authorities, and the scheme unraveled. Thank goodness for tight slots.
How about that Little Joe, though? I always knew he was smart.
Not so with our next casino crime contestant. The sportsbook at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas hired a guy who, among his first actions upon being hired, put on a mask and robbed the joint. But numbskullery would ultimately get in the way of profit.
According to an item in Casino.org, the new sportsbook employee put on a mask and wielded a knife to threaten coworkers at the sportsbook counter. Somehow, he got away with $28,000 in cash. He was arrested shortly thereafter, mainly due to flaws in the diabolical heist plan he had conceived.
Before the robbery, he figured he’d use the restroom to put on his mask. No cameras in there, right? Well, he forgot that there are cameras everywhere else, including in front of the restroom door. Surveillance video showed him entering the restroom as himself and quickly exiting as the masked avenger witnesses remembered.
But there’s more. The next day, he shows up at work at the sportsbook counter, carrying a backpack. In the backpack was the knife he had used, along with the mask and most of the cash he had stolen.
You know, sometimes the word “stupid” is just not strong enough to describe a person. “Idiot,” “knucklehead,” even “chucklehead” doesn’t suffice. We need a new word for this guy. He’s… nincompoopalooza. Or in Latin, doofus maximus totalis.
The story didn’t say what kind of mask the guy used. Popeye Halloween mask? Spider-Man? Ronald Reagan?
I know. Had to be Bozo the Clown.
Moving on, there have been lots of purse-snatching incidents along the Las Vegas Strip, so the Las Vegas Metro Police set up a “purse bait” operation at the Paris Casino. They made a big catch.
The Purse Squad set out a pink-and-purple purse on the casino floor, and watched a man and a woman, later identified as Betty Luke, grab the purse and stuff it into a black backpack. They walked outside and were met by the cops. According to KLAS Vegas:
“Metro searched Luke’s backpack and found a ‘meth pipe,’ methamphetamine, 10 credit/debit cards, two social security cards, five IDs, 44 room key cards, and 19 casino rewards cards. Luke told police she found all the cards but kept them because she talked to a guy that she contacts and gives all the card information to, so she could either obtain weed, meth, or a hotel room, police said.”
Ah, weed, meth and a hotel room. The trifecta of casino industry entertainment!
They should do Body Cam episodes of the Metro Las Vegas Purse Squad in action.
“Purse Squad: Follow the tale of the purse-bait enforcers, tracking down lowlifes dealing in weed, meth and hotel rooms!”
Hey, I’d watch it.
Well, unless a ballgame was on.
