The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [30]
This “Policy” is informally enforced & has the implicit approval of the Las Vegas political machine & the LVPD & Sheriff’s Dept. One goal is to enforce ad hoc segregation in the “Strip” hotel-casinos (e.g., admit Negro celebrities or perceived “High Class” Negroes & refuse admittance to all others) & to isolate Negro housing in the slum area of West Las Vegas. (Restrictive real-estate covenants are widely observed by Las Vegas–based realtors.) A key “Policy” dictate is the “No Narcotics” rule. This rule applies specifically to heroin. The selling of heroin is forbidden & is punishable by death. The rule is enforced to limit the number of narcotics addicts, specifically those who might support their addiction by means of robbery, burglary, “flim-flam” or other criminal activities that would sully the reputation of Las Vegas & thus discourage tourism. Numerous heroin pushers have been the victims of unsolved homicides & numerous others have disappeared & are presumed to have been killed per the aforementioned policy (see Addendum File #B-3 for partial list). The last homicide occurred on 4/12/60 & there appears to be no heroin traffic in Las Vegas as of this date. It is fair to conclude that the aforementioned deaths have served as a deterrent.
Dalitz is a close associate of Teamster President James Riddle Hoffa (b. 1914) & has secured large loans from the Teamsters’ Central States Pension Fund that have covered the cost of hotel-casino improvements. The Fund (estimated assets 1.6 billion dollars) is a “Watering Hole” that organized-crime factions borrow from routinely. Dubious organized-crime-connected “Businessmen” also borrow from the Fund at usurious interest rates that often result in the forfeiture of their businesses. It is rumored that a second set of Pension Fund financial books exists (one that is hidden from government subpoena & thus official audit). These books allegedly list a more accurate accounting of Pension Fund assets & detail the illegal & quasi-legal loans & repayment schedules.
Many of the “Strip” hotel-casinos routinely hide a large portion of their assets. (See the attached IRS-filed table-by-table profit accountings for all craps, roulette, blackjack, poker, loball, keno, fan-tan & baccarat tables, broken down by hotel.) These reported accountings are generally considered to be only 70–80% accurate. (It is very difficult to detect sustained underestimation of taxable income in large cash-base businesses.) Underestimated table profits are estimated to amount to untaxed revenue of over $105,000,000 per year (’62 fiscal estimate). This practice is called the “Skim.”
Cash receipts are taken directly from casino counting rooms and dispersed to couriers who messenger the money to prearranged spots. Large-denomination bills are substituted for slot-machine coins & daily accountings are fraudulently tallied inside the counting rooms proper. Casino “Skim” is virtually impossible to detect. Most hotel-casino employees subsist on low wages & untaxed cash gratuities & would never report irregularities. This endemic corruption extends to the labor unions who supply the major hotel-casinos with workers.
The Dealers and Croupiers Local #117 is a Chicago Crime Cartel front. Its members are paid a low hourly wage & are given play chips & (presumably stolen) merchandise as bonuses. All chapters of this union are rigidly segregated. The Lounge Entertainers Local #41 is a Detroit Crime Cartel front. Its members are well-paid, but pay weekly kickbacks to crew stewards. This union is nominally integrated. Negro lounge entertainers are “discouraged” from patronizing the hotel-casinos they work in & from fraternizing with white patrons. The four building & building-supply locals who service the “Strip” hotels are Cleveland Crime Cartel fronts & work exclusively with organized-crime-connected contracting firms. The all-female Chambermaids Local #16 is a Florida Crime Cartel front. Many of