Follow Up to Halloween Post

I've told several of my former casino scamming cohorts to check out this blog. One friend of mine, Bats, who was nicknamed that to go along with his buddy Balls (my teammate from AMERICAN ROULETTE), also ran into the Italian team mentioned in my earlier Halloween blog entry. However, Bats and his crew saw the Italians on the Saturday night before Halloween.

After spotting the Italians, Bats, like all good cheaters who are worth their salt, swiftly moved to the next casino on his list of marks for the night.

Bad things can happen when two meticulously choreographed cheating teams run into one another. The teams' rhythms can get side tracked, setting off casino “steam” (unwanted negative attention from casino surveillance). When a team attracts its own steam, it is usually not too difficult to detect and deal with. But, when unwanted attention develops because of someone else's actions, matters are much more dangerous. Sometimes a mad dash out of the casino floor is the only way out. Whenever two teams are working in close proximity to one another, it is always a good idea for them to give each other a wide berth. There are enough casinos to go around. Bats wisely respected this unwritten rule of respect among worthy thieves.

Gambling Book’s Secrets Revealed

In today’s New York Times, Edward Wyatt has a story about an upcoming book, "The Smart Money: How the World's Best Sports Bettors Beat the Bookies Out of Millions."

The book, which Simon & Schuster will publish next year, tells the true story of “The Brain Trust,” a group of professional gamblers that bets hundreds of thousands in Las Vegas each week on college and professional football. Together “The Brain Trust” acts as one of the most influential forces in the gambling world.

The Times goes on to disclose the name of the anonymous author, identified in the book proposal only as “44” so as to protect the privacy of the participants in the gambling ring. 44, a participant in the group for seven years, as a courier betting the syndicate's money, then as the operator of his own affiliated gambling ring, is outed as Michael Konik. Konik’s previous literary works include THE MAN WITH THE $100,000 BREASTS AND OTHER GAMBLING STORIES, as well as the following praise for my memoir AMERICAN ROULETTE:

"American Roulette provides the titillating thrill of being welcomed inside a forbidden world… Marcus and his gang of thieves have a brazen ingenuity, and enterprising criminal spirit that’s hard to resist. AMERICAN ROULETTE is as fun as it is revealing."
- Michael Konik

Although I have more than dabbled in sports gambling, and know a bit about groups such as “The Brain Trust,” I’ll leave my insights into that world to myself for now. Rest assured when 44/Michael tells the tales of the super analytical high-dollar sports bettors, it will be required reading for anyone who even casually bets on their NFL, or alma mater, football team. And, as 44’s own gambling ring is said to include several as-yet-unidentified celebrities, it will likely draw in many more non-sports gambling readers.

We are sure to hear more about this book before it hits the shelves. I look forward to it.

Writing My Book

The recent attack on my credibility by Brian Hever, had me thinking about all of the hours I devoted to writing my memoirs. By and large, reliving my experiences as I wrote AMERICAN ROULETTE was great fun. As with any task that requires a serious devotion of time and energy, there were times of frustration, especially when I had to deal with technical parts of cheating moves in ways that those without intimate knowledge of casino gambling could understand. After writing the book, going through a detailed editing process, and all of the requisite vetting and other business matters surrounding the book, I couldn’t help but be a little upset when someone accused me of having no authority on the subject, someone telling me experiences that I lived out were all bullshit.

But, then an old friend reminded me that such criticism is inevitable. An attorney, his book about real estate while somewhat technical was for layman readers, similar to those “For Dummies” books. He too received criticism from folks who didn’t know nearly as much or have anywhere near the amount of success in real estate dealings. All he was trying to do was pass along some helpful advice, lord knows he didn’t make nearly as much writing the book as he did in real estate.

As difficult as it is to let criticism roll off of my back, when I reflected on the attack leveled against me and my book, I soon recalled the many, many people who wrote to tell me how much they’ve enjoyed my book. Professional reviewers liked it. The many radio hostswho interviewed me liked it. And, the producers at Entertainment Tonight and MSNBC liked it enough to have me on their shows. Soon, an entire hour will be devoted to my stories on The History Channel, and I can’t wait to see the guy they hired to play me.

The many positive responses are the main reason I wanted to start writing this blog, to be able to tell more stories from the strange casino world in which I lived.

So, on it goes. I’m now running the site solo. The guys who helped me set it up have taken the training wheels off. Now that I know how to run the damn thing, I hope to update it more frequently, with updates from Pat, Balls, Bats and others. It should be fun. I hope readers think so.

Drawing Fire from a Sub-Par "Surveillance Consultant”

I received the following email about an earlier post.

Subject: You're nicked, me old beauty!
From: "LDPrograms" ldprograms@yahoo.com
To: richard@richardmarcusbooks.com


On your blog you wrote:

"I present the following photograph. Taken of me as I
was detained in a particular casino's backroom after
they suspected me of pulling off 'moves' in their
casino. I later received it from an insider informant
who I payed off to keep me apprised of my status
within casino security circles."

The photo you present is from the Griffen book. Can we
chalk this up as your first lie - you'll grant that
what you wrote was less than truthful. The Griffen
photo is a police mugshot - that means you were caught
cheating at some point, probably in the U.S. Another
lie? That claim of yours that you retired "clean as a
whistle"?

yours skeptically,

Brian


The photo IS from a surveillance record book. It was taken in a casino backroom -- not a police mugshot. As I stated in my book, I’ve been in casino backrooms on more than one occasion. Although it rarely occurred over my twenty five year professional career (perhaps a dozen times), being backroomed is part of the business. The fact remains, they were NEVER able to prosecute me, and when they were forced to let me go I walked away WITH their money.

This skepticism is not a surprise to me anymore, as too many people simply love to believe that the major casinos’ security measures are unbeatable. This guy should know better though. I asked around a bit and I found out that he is in the casino surveillance business. His name is Brian Hever and he runs a casino consultancy service out of Mexico.

That he never heard of me is either testament to my teams’ effectiveness, or to his incompetence (maybe both). I must humbly admit though that this guy's inattentiveness to the details in my blog and in my book is amazing, indicating he probably never caught anyone but the most dimwitted amateur cheat.

Before my book was published several folks in the publishing business independently checked up on me within the gambling industry, all of the prominent surveillance professionals in Las Vegas with whom they checked confirmed my professional cheating credentials, even if it was done so with some ill will. Even more surveillance professionals have contacted me since the book was published, ones savvy enough to read and explore an inside perspective from their enemy. However, I have answered their inquiries with a refusal to become a crossroader by helping them spot cheats.

I’d feel bad for this Hever guy’s consulting clients, paying for services that probably aren’t worth shit, except that the clients he’s short changing are casinos (who deserve being ripped off). So I suppose he’s just a guy scamming casinos out of their winnings just like I did. More power to him.

BTW, here is the text from the surveillance book that accompanies the earlier picture post, names shaded to protect my teammates.