Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1952-01-04


selves drain from the public
tourists, either.
Furthermore, Las Vegas, Reno
and other gambling centers have
become headquarters for some of
the nations worst mobsters. A
sample was the late Buggy Siegel,
formerly a director of New York s
Murder, Inc. He became the gam
bling boss in Las Vegas until he
was murdered in his mistress
home in California in l947.
Another is Lester Benny Bin
ion currently alive), who in 1896
was run out of Dallas, where he
bossed a acknowledgements pol
icy racket. Binion still has a hand
in running the Texas racket by re-
mote control from Las Vegas, &C.
cording to Dallas police.
In fact, he carried on a lurid
feud with Harold Noble. the Dali
las gambler who had been shot at
SO often (nine at the time) that he
was known in the underworld as
1.-THE Cat" But after Mobiles wife
was blown up in a dynamite ex-
plosion, Binion quietly sent an
emissary to Dallas to assure Noble
that he was not behind the trouble.
Binion and the Nevada mob were
unhappy over the bad publicity
which was indirectly hurting bust
ness in the Nevada casinos.
Studying what happens when a
state or community is "Siegelized"
or "Binionized," my own opposi-
ton to legalized gambling has be-
come firm. The casino type of op-
Grafton is more often crooked than
not-and legalizing it will not make
it less so. The fascination of gam
bling to many people is so strong
that it would be complete folly to
make the facilities more available
Employees of a magnesium plant
near Las Vegas were paid extreme
ly high wages and should have been
prosperous. Yet, when the plant
had to be moved several hundred
miles, many of the employees simply
did not have the money to move
their families TO the new locations;
their earnings had gone into the
convenient slot machines and gam
bling dens. There is more than an
abundance of evidence that when
gambling is minimized, legitimate
business fiourishes. Sen. Lester c.
Hunt, a member of the committee,
told US of his experiences as gov
ernor of Wyoming. When gambling
was outlawed in his state, business
increased tremendously and sales
tax revenue to the state immedi-
ately scared.
Nevada's gambling laws nave
been subject to periodic alterations.
The latest took effect in 1949. 1t re-
CURED that persons engaging in
gambling operations must be H.
censed by the state. county. and
city. Such license power is vested
in the Nevada state tax commits
sion.
Ironically. the tax commission
member appointed to represent
business" is William ]. Moore. him.
self engaged in a gambling opera
ton as part owner of the Last
Frontier Hotel. The lanky, drawl.
ing Commissioner Moore addressed
everyone DIS fellow" the
dignified Sen. Charles W Tobey of
New Hampshire
AS part of the same reform"
in Nevada's gambling laws. there
is supposed to be an Impartial"
distribution to all licensed book
makers of the race news wire serv-
ice. the lie blood of gambling The
tax commission is authorized to fix
rates for this service and. in gen
eral. supervise its operation The
same Mr. Moore told US he recent
ly made deal for wire service for
his own hotel at a rate which IN the
expressed opinion of the commit
tee. gives him a considerable Fl.
nancial advantage over his com
petitors"
The driving force behind the re
forms" was the frightening fact
that the out-of-state hoodlums and
killers who invaded Nevada had be.
come so greedy and. vio'ent thai,
an outbreak of gang warfare was
feared. BY licensing" them. the
state hoped to stabilize the industry
Yet the tax commission promptly
granted licenses to the same hood
lumS.
This, as the dual-roled Mr.. Moore
explained. was a sort of "grand,
daddy clause" to protect the geo
pie who were in the business when
the law was passed When Counsel