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Gardena Poker Clubs
9781467136716
Regular price $21.99 Sale price $16.49 Save 25%
Even in the midst of the Great Depression, gamblers flocked to Gardena. Colorful individuals like Ernie Primm fought for the legalization of commercial draw poker and established six iconic card clubs that thrived for generations. Russ Miller worked his way from Edgemont Club bouncer to owner of the Normandie Club. A criminal group called the Ver-Crans Corporation controlled the Horseshoe Club before being run out of town, selling its interest to Bow Herbert. Rival factions in the city waged war in the courts and the street over the coveted seventh card club license. And Larry Flynt bid his way to owning the Eldorado Club, which he rebuilt as the Hustler Casino. Author Max Votolato reveals the high-stakes stories behind Gardena's famous poker rooms.
Montana's Dimple Knees Sex Scandal
9781467139182
Regular price $21.99 Sale price $16.49 Save 25%
Beverly Snodgrass made a lot of poor choices. Once a prostitute in the old mining town of Butte, she later became a madam running two of the most popular brothels. She fell deeply in love with a crooked politician, whom she nicknamed Dimple Knees. When corrupt cops in uniform came to her businesses, it usually wasn't to serve and protect but rather to collect payoffs. Butte is sometimes described as a town that drinks her liquor straight, but things never were the same after Beverly told her story to a newspaper reporter. That reporter, John Kuglin, recounts the scandal that rocked The Richest Hill on Earth and for a time made Dimple Knees the most famous name in Montana.
New Castle's Las Vegas Guys
9781467170345
Regular price $24.99 Sale price $18.74 Save 25%Revel at the tales of these locals boys from Southwestern Pennsylvania going west to seek their Sin City dreams.
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As turmoil rocked New Castle in the 1970s, a group of young men completed their military service and came home to a bleak future. Without college degrees or marketable skills, they found few options in Western Pennsylvania. Looking for a better life, they turned their eyes west.
Las Vegas promised women, gambling, excitement, and the chance to make a buck. Over their decades on the floors of Sin City’s casinos, they would rub shoulders with gangsters and stars and keep a sharp eye out for opportunity—and for card counters.
Based on hours of exclusive interviews, author Dale Perelman unfolds this cavalier group’s frolicking adventures as they navigated their way from the belly of the downtown Golden Gate to some of the Strip’s premier casinos, all while teetering along the right side of the law.
Bare Knuckles & Saratoga Racing
9781467135580
Regular price $21.99 Sale price $16.49 Save 25%Chronicling the incomparable life of boxing and Saratoga Race Course legend John Morrissey.
John Old Smoke Morrissey was one of the most dynamic characters of his time. He went from a career as an undefeated bare-knuckle boxer, founded the Saratoga Race Course and eventually won elections to Congress and the New York State Senate. A poor, uneducated Irish immigrant, Morrissey became a leader in the Dead Rabbits street gang. He won fame as a fighter and fortune as the operator of a string of successful gambling houses.
Morrissey then took Saratoga Springs by storm, improbably resurrecting thoroughbred racing during the Civil War and opening his famous Club House, which was the most glamorous casino the country had ever seen. Author and National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame director of communications Brien Bouyea takes you on this fascinating journey and shows just how Morrissey did it all.
