Evening star., 1949-10-30

LIE AOL HldCHlueS aDOuQOlng IN
Prince Georges County supposedly
do not pay of but business ap-
parently Is good enough to attract
outsiders" from New York.
And the outsiders-one of them
In particular-are resented, &C
cording to Fred F. Monaghan,
president Of the county's Hotel
and Restaurant Owners Associa-
tion and one Of the guiding spir-
its In the campaign to legalize
cash pay-offs of slot machines.
Some Of the outsiders ventured
into the county last spring, shortly
after the State Legislature legal
lied pay-offs, subject to a refer
endum. In June, the county
voters approved the measure and
all was smooth sailing for a few
weeks-until the law was declared
unconstitutional.
Since then the machines have
continued to operate on an even
larger scale. There's nothing IL
legal about operating them, so
long as they don't pay off in cash.
Why the machines would be
heavily patronized with free
games as the only attraction is
one Of those little mysteries of
Prince Georges County.
Operator Limitation Out.
The loss of the law meant some
thing more to the operators than
losing the attraction of the cash
pay-offs. The law had limited slot
machine operation to county resi-
dents-voters and property owners
OF two years standing. That limi-
tation went out with the law, max
Ing it unnecessary for the outsiders
even to bother with the formality
Of front men.
The association, says Mooney
ham, wants to limit the for
amusement only" slot machines to
county men. The organization in
cludes approximately 1873 regular
members-many Of them keeping
slot machines in their taverns-
and 40 associate members, among
whom are some Of the slot ma
chine distributors.
The outsider whose business is
particularly resented is one Sam
1.ano. who came into the county
about six months ago.
Lano has been the favorite sub
ject OF some Of the fanciest rumors
county gossips have dispensed in
years. Most of the rumors allege
that he is connected with the
Frank Costello gang of New York.
Lano Under Indictment.
This, Lano and his helpers flatly
deny. They say he used to live in
New York but spent a year in
Miami before coming to Prince
Georges County. The automobiles
outside his Office door in the 1900
block OF Rhode Island avenue in
Brentwood have New York license
tags.
At the moment. Lano is under
indictment on q seldom-used
charge. The two-count indict-
ment charges that in August he
threatened to accuse John c.
Duffy Of having obtained money
on false pretenses. Duffy is CO.
owner of Duffy's Tavern, in the
same block as Lano's headquarters.
The indictment was returned
October q, the day after Duffy
appeared before the grand Jury,
1t climaxed what Duffy described
as a misunderstanding" that
wound up by focusing attention
on Lano.
Most Of this involved shufling
slot machines in Dufiy's Tavern.
According to Duffy, when he
bought the tavern last May he
had a slot machine owned by an
other operator, Hal B. Bell. At
lano's insistence, he said, he had
the Bell machine taken out and
put in two of Lano's. In August
he threw out the Lano machines
and installed two of Bells.
Pressure Tactics" Denied.
At that point, according to the
story Duffy tells-and Lano's aides
deny-Lano threatened to block
Duffy's application for transfer of
a liquor license from the previous
tavern owners to Duffy. Duffy
said he put Lano's machines back
IN, had the Bell machines taken
out and got the liquor license.
Last step in the slot machine
shufhing came the day Duffy ap-
peared before the grand jury. He
came home and told Lano to take
his machines out of the place.
The next day-the day of the
Lano indictment-Bell's machines
were reinstalled.
Lano's lieutenant, Silvio Ma
rlno, who gave a New York ad-
nrpcC UhayH