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LAKE TAHOE ADVENTURE
by Vinny DeCarlo
The following article is from Vinny DeCarlo, who passed away last year. I received this article from Vinny just prior to his passing. As a tribute to Vinny, I've decided to publish it in BJI.
Note: As many long-time BJI subscribers know, Vinny was often very critical about how casinos ran their operations (especially their surveillance and security departments) and he wasn't afraid to say so in the true stories he wrote in the BJI. Vinny DeCarlo is also the author of the ground-breaking book for card counters,
How to Beat Casino Surveillance - Insider's Secrets for Card Counters, which we published. What follows is another of Vinny's adventures while working in the casino industry.It was back in the late 1990's when I was a floor Supervisor, Casino Shift Manager back up, and finally, Surveillance Director at a casino at Lake Tahoe. Here's what happened.
Lost and Found (L&F)
Most casinos have a lost and found policy that goes something like this. If you find something, such as money, clothing, shavers (left in the hotel rooms), caps, pens, money, chips, etc., the person (usually a casino security guard) that turned it in could claim it after 30 days (if a customer didn't claim it). I remember one Security Director that actually donated all L&F items to charity just before Christmas. He was a decent guy and a hell of a security director.
Lake Tahoe, the Land of Skiers, Snow, Subarus and even a Mayor that was Busted for Snow (i.e., Cocaine)
I was working swing shift late one Saturday night as the CSM and it was busy. This is referred to as a full spread (all tables open). I had 12 pits to watch and let me tell you, it had to have been a full moon that night.
It all started when a young, very pretty, sexy girl jumped on top of BJ Table 69 (no joke) and stripped naked. I called surveillance right away and asked "Are you watching this girl?" Their reply was "Hell yes." I told them that they should be watching every other table in that pit except table 69 because something was going down and if/when I checked the VCR tapes, there better not be any close up footage of the girl rather than footage of the tables around her table.
I walked up to the table, stuck my hand out, she grabbed it and I helped her get down off the table and advised her that though she was not in trouble, and we were glad that she was having a good time, I could not and would not tolerate such actions on my watch. She wasn't loaded; she had just got a snapper (natural blackjack) with $4000 in her circle and was just celebrating. She promised to curtail such actions in the future. I later found out (by reviewing tapes) that she was creating a distraction for her friend at BJ 67 to add cheques to her winning hand.
I Find a Satchel Under a Table; Can I Claim It?
As the night started to slow down, I started closing pits as they started falling off. My old habit is to push all the chairs in after all the floats (dealers cheque trays) were secured and noticed what appeared to be a tanker's tool bag (a bag with two carry handles that could hold about four six-packs of beer). A security guard was walking by and I pointed it out to him. He advised me to check it for ID then turn it in and I could claim it after 30 days. He then went on to say if there's no ID in the bag, whoever claims it needs to describe what's in the bag and if they don't or can't, it's yours. I thanked him and threw the bag on the podium and went to pit 11, 10, and 9 and started pushing dealers out (relieving them of duty) and closed the pits. My relief was coming in so I went back to pit 12 to get the float count-down sheet and remembered the brown bag. I called security and asked if anyone had reported a brown bag missing and was advised that no such call was made.
My relief showed up and I grabbed the bag after counting down the tables and took it to the security office where nobody was present so I asked a guard if he would place the bag into L&F. He told me that I would have to do it and told me to just take it home and bring it back tomorrow when the L&F agent was on duty. So, I did.
I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!
Later that night when I got home, I threw the bag on the sofa and took a shower. Afterwards I sat down and had a beer when I noticed the bag and decided to open it. I pulled the zipper open and then spread the case open. Inside (as I later learned) was...
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