Playing ignorant to his many crooked games including Razzle, Gregory, with feigned dismay and with an award-winning performance on camera, stated his intent to fire his swindlers. In New York City, the Colombo and Genovese crime families were involved with profits from street and church fair carnival games; their specialty being the game of Razzle. Carnivals have close ties to not only organized crime but to local law enforcement. What level of education is required for Carnival Workers? Chances are, cops wont comprehend (given that the mark didnt), or perhaps surmise that The sucker got what he deserved.. The term "showie" is used synonymously in Australia, while "showman" is used in the United Kingdom.[1]. Very long hours - up to 20 a day for five to sevendays straight. Im a public librarian, and I gotta say I really dont like Larry who drinks in the bathroom checking that safety catch on the Scrambler, ya know? Gaffed and chance-based games travel to thousands of carnival lots and fairs each year, raking in billions of dollars in ill-gotten gains with virtual impunity. NAME and Co CEO, Danny R. Huston, can gross $200,000 over the weekend and pay the sponsor one-quarter of the gross or about $50,000 for the privilege of servicing unprotected patrons. Civilized folks are always suspicious of transients, and it goes back a lot further than Gypsies. This is lawful gambling provided that the event is licensed and monitored by the state. The flatty allowed this gentleman to leave and return with money retrieved from an ATM several times. No state requires background checks, said Bob Johnson of the Florida-based Outdoor Amusement Business Association, a national trade group. After my shift that day, I saw that city carnival for myself and was just as shocked. Then, just after the child paid, I observed the grifter evasively remove the deadening ball (gaff ball) at the same time he removed the demo balls. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. confuse the mark, build him up repetitively and let him believe he is close to the big win. Now, lets go back to the first question: Have you ever played a carnival game and felt cheated? It does tend to be full of gossip since everyone works and lives with each other in close quartersRide and customer safety is the number-one priority. My dad owns a traveling carnival. In all three cases, the police refused to write a basic incident report upon complaints and requests for assistance. Most of the carnival workers were busy manning concessions in the French Quarter of New Orleans that night. With a greater number of gambling and crooked games, the carnival owner will increase his undivided claim to the unshared game loot. Unlike the traditional Mafia, this group was not united by ethnic heritage and had no known hierarchy or oath. Rigging a game by the use of bait-and-switch, sleight of hand, magic, or physics, to trick someone out of money is considered a form of larceny or fraud. There were at least two casualties: Margie George, a 44-year-old fortune-teller who was hacked to death for refusing to reveal the location of a supposed safe, and Gary Elbert McDaniel, a known Dixie Mafia associate who turned up dead a month after the murder. I think most of these businesses will be gone in a few years. Tubs of Fun, known as a bucket games, consist of plastic tubs which replace the old bushel baskets, where the agent is able to execute an unnoticeable stealthy trick only when demonstrating how easy it is to win.. The flatty again uses two hands to slyly pick up the marbles and announces another false fairbank number 11, which corresponds to 30 more yards on the chart. For the youthful victim, rebound energy forced her ball out of the empty tub each time because the angle of the tub is always set up to cause failure in this scam. During the 1960s, a group of criminals known as the Dixie Mafia began to creep across cities and towns in the South. All embrace lucrative interests while striving for a trouble-free show, which can and does lead to tolerable criminal pursuits. Risky Rides: Carnival Workers' Grueling Hours May Threaten Safety. Gregorys little moon-walk act looks good on the six-o-clock news; however, everyone in the industry knows that carnival owners and managers are never in the dark about the corrupt features of every dirty game on their midways. Thomas also requested that I play the games. They dont draw a line, everything is fair game.. No one has an accurate figure because much of the cash is unreported industry-wide, said Riedthaler, also a retired Cleveland Police Department detective. He has since risen to the pinnacle of the carnival world with his rigged games, his cash, his protectors, and his friends in high places. New York TimesA New York Times article on Kirksey McCord Nix Jr.s conviction for the murder of a Mississippi judge and his wife. They dont have ties in the community. The sheriffs revenge story was later depicted in the 1973 film Walking Tall. Hey! It is evident that the police officers oath of office is not upheld and easily forgotten by some. Thats exactly what I did. And members only had to obey one rule: Thou shall not snitch to the cops.. Today, carnival-goers lose thousands of dollars in this 100-year-old con game played all over the world. State law prohibits child sex offenders from working at a carnival. Im more afraid of the patrons than the carnies. The objective of the Razzle agent is to. I worked the Minnesota State Fair in St. Paul last year and was averaging over $30 per hour - cash, no taxes - which was phenomenal. Cries for a state law started after a convicted sex offender working as a carnival worker raped and drugged a 15-year-old girl at the Illinois State Fair in 2001. Human flotsam. At that state fair, the contracted carnival, Powers Great American Midways, could gross from $4 to $6 million, as published in Business North Carolina. A wheel of fortune in progress on a for-profit carnival midway would be a case of illegal gambling. Cops taking the bribes are also in violation of RICO and similar state statutes. To view the full story in, NBC producer Sandra Thomass Today show and Dateline features used several hidden cameras at NAMEs carnivals in June, 2012, and were able to capture on film and describe the agents cheating deadening ball maneuver during both NBC 2012, narrated by NBCs national correspondent Jeff Rossen, entitled , Are carnival games cheating you - and your kids? A continuing criminal enterprise is an example of organized crime. Get one nights sleep and start setting up in the morning. Convicted of bank loan schemes in 1986 and never spending a day in prison, the Gregorys befriended Tony Rodham, brother of President Bill Clintons wife, and now presidential candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and were awarded the contracts to operate his carnival, United Shows of America Inc., for President Clintons White House Press Picnic in 1998 and 2000. "After it became obvious that we were on the premises, a number of employees suddenly left.". When interviewed by reporters, carnival owners and managers never will admit to personal misdeeds and will fabricate a tale about being unaware of any criminal activity on the midway. One guy in Kansas mortgaged his house and sent $30,000 to the scammers over a period of months. To make matters worse, some of the prisoners eventually confessed the scheme to victims and threatened to out them if they told anyone. This add-up-the-score ruse, which comes in many captivating forms, involves a brilliant system of cheating, accompanied by vague, complicated rules. But he apparently believed that if he had enough money, hed be able to get out of prison. At that point, when the agent tossed the demo balls in, the secret deadening ball absorbed the energy of the demo balls. She said that in Indianapolis, her college varsity basketball 3-point-shooting star, Carly Thibault, missed all 13 attempts at the basketball toss. Ugh. I requested (verbally and in writing) that Richardson or his deputies investigate the fraud and gambling nature of the 12 deceptive (optical illusion) rims, where winning was nearly impossible, even for high school varsity players. In my view, what Deputy Chief Dennis Richardson did isnt much different from what disgraced former Chief Willie Lovett did for nine years: Conspiracy to obstruct enforcement of criminal laws. (Lovett probably tossed every Razzle and hoop complaint at all his cheating carnivals.). "For someone who has been convicted, served his time and is now released and rehabilitated, they have a right to work as well.". In an attempt to skirt responsibility for the crooks in question, playing their crooked games, Century 21 Shows manager Jeremy Bendsons acted innocent when questioned by the reporter while playing the customary independent contractor card. In my early years as a police officer of the Dearborn Police Department and working the information desk, a man named Steve Nowosielski walked in to complain that carnival employees were stealing from the patrons with Razzle at the city carnival only 100 yards from the police station. He bought a truck-mounted merry-go-round and charged people 10 cents to ride it. Richardson, aware of the so-called games for two years, not only failed to command appropriate investigative action, he also failed to properly document the complaints in the county police files This way, a nosy reporter, going through police files, will not encounter any crime complaints to write about. Do a little googling on carnies and carnival workers and youll find thats a common assessment. I pointed Thomas in the direction of a carnival supply company where she could purchase the rim, which she acquired in time for the feature. The two Razzle games, managed by an up and coming Frank Zaitshik, were shut down. In this CBS News Online, July 12, 2011, video expos, U.S. The carnival marketing target demographic currently ischildren, thereby creating a predictable and dependable source of income, as opposed to the time-tested art of cleaning out the occasional high-dollar Razzle-type mark by which there is always the chance of generating trouble via player beefs. A worker with a criminal background sexually assaulted three children at Downers Grove Heritage Fest two years ago, according to DuPage County records. That pretty much sums it up. Few cities have ordinances that require background checks. But it was getting harder and harder to make money, with each fairground becoming more of a bureaucratic morass every year. It should be standard procedure throughout the U.S. for all police departments to require officers to complete written reports on all midway game complaints, with case numbers issued to complainants and victims. A convicted sex offender, thieves and drug dealers were among carnival workers at Illinois community events this summer, according to a state and county investigation. On February 6, 2015, Willie Lovett was sentenced to 7.5 years in federal prison for Conspiracy to obstruct enforcement of criminal laws and related gambling crimes. WebBusiness Insider asked current and former cruise-ship workers what they wish they could tell passengers but can't. Here, lets see if my charm works on you, Back on topic, I never did carnivals, but I have worked a freak show / side show. But maybe theyre not all completely bad, huh? Commit a petty crime in every town they go thru. Ranking police officers and elected politicians have always cooperated with carnival owners, as in a partnership. As a retired police officer, I continued to expose and help curb what I found to be a free-wheeling crime anomaly, by publishing several investigative accounts, including two books: Carnival Games: It is quite common for illegal carnival operators to pay off police and public officials in order to operate, says Riedthaler in the Corruption of Officials section of his police training seminar called , On February 6, 2015, Willie Lovett was sentenced to 7.5 years in federal prison for Conspiracy to obstruct enforcement of criminal laws and related gambling crimes. ". Yeah, maybe. he government contended Lovett and Randall Roach (Magic Midway carnival owner) schemed from 2004 until September 27, 2013, when Lovett retired. I never worked the rides, but my parents had several concession stands when I was growing up, and we'd spend every summer moving from fair to fair, working your [butt] off, tearing down, driving for hours, setting up, and doing it all over again. It goes back to the Nomads versus the Egypt, Rome versus the Barbarians. Dishonest carnival operators generally keep two sets of books, reporting only that sum of money as necessary, with the remainder unreported, states the Michigan Attorney Generals Carnival Games Manual.This 1987 publication is an important tool for law enforcement officers and prosecuting attorneys. Marcello, one of the most powerful leaders in organized crime in America, operated in New Orleans around the same time that the Dixie Mafia was coming to power. WebAnswer (1 of 2): Ahh.. ciazarn. It would be a winning proposition to bet that changes in carnival status wont come overnight. Troops Cheated out of Money at Carnival,Armen Keteyian investigated a Texas-based company called Century 21 Shows at Fort Hood for allegedly defrauding its special guests: American soldiers returning from the Mid-east war or deploying to war. (This practice, one would presume, should already be standard police procedure and routine.). It is not uncommon for sheriffs or police chiefs to lend themselves to sizable remunerations to ensure that these affable outlaws operate on trouble-free turf. Not to say that all carnies are no-goodniks, but I think theres enough evidence and history to see where the reputation comes from. This system of carnival-related racketeering and conspiracy to obstruct law enforcement can only be investigated and prosecuted at the federal level. have largely been replaced by a bunch of rides and cheesy (somewhat rigged) games of skill crammed into a municipal or shopping center parking lot. The numbers of arrests and convictions found in the background checks do not surprise Burbank Police Chief Bruce Radowicz. Carnival owners, workers, and agents, known as carnies, who own, manage, or operate these chance-based games and share in the take, are conspiring to promote gambling. Get up to work twelve hour days for the next two weeks or so, then work a twelve hour day, take down your ride, show, what have you and drive it to the next spot, without sleep, usually a few hundred miles away. In 2000, just prior to leaving office, President Clinton pardoned the Gregorys. The Dixie Mafias territory stretched all over the South, from Georgia to Oklahoma. After the mob apparently ordered a hit on the judge, Sherry and his wife were murdered in their Mississippi home in 1987. While the Dixie Mafia had no formal ties to La Cosa Nostra, they did have an understanding with a notorious Italian-American Mafia mob boss named Carlos Marcello. Troops Cheated out of Money at Carnival,Armen Keteyian investigated a Texas-based company called Century 21 Shows at Fort Hood for allegedly defrauding its special guests: American soldiers returning from the Mid-east war or deploying to war. So, I singled out a known scam artist operating one of the basketball games, Kenneth David Argo, a 12-year game agent for Huston. Most a are White, with 66.4% of Carnival Workers belonging to this ethnicity. The happy mark, already halfway to the prize, then pays only $2 to buy another spill of the marbles. "I just don't see how people can vote against it.". Aww, you almost had it that time! Carnival Corp. has been on criminal probation since 2017 as part of a record-setting $40 million fine and plea agreement for illegally dumping oily waste into the Training and enforcement at local, state, and national levels are the ways to address these free crime zones and thwart the commission of brazen wholesale, worry-free criminal acts. Thomass U.S. Army Special Forces sniper, who could take out the enemy at 200 yards with one shot, was unable to Shoot out the Star from the distance of 12 feet with 100 shots. WebThe HBO series "Carnivle" centered around a traveling carnival in the American Southwest during the 1930s. Countless other Democrat politicians split another $100,000 from the Gregorys. I did grounds crew and stage setup for county fairs for a summer after high school. In other words, carnies are not any more shady than other types of work crews that perform similar tasks - its just that people are put off by - to paraphrase Philip Marlowe - having to see the works when the lid is lifted off of life. Prior to that episode, Frank was arrested, convicted and fined in Waterford, Michigan (1974), for running an illegal carnival game. The various suspect games on NAMEs midway, vividly depicted in Biloxi and Indianapolis, are featured in Jeff Rossens and Sandra Thomass 2012 expos. By the 1980s, many top members of the Dixie Mafia had found themselves in prison. "For this kid's sake, I wish we would have done it long before that.". This particular con links fraud and gambling together with a smooth-talking con artist (agent) who bedazzles his mark, and wins every time. He finally got his settlement, and actually gave my Mom and Dad some money for their trouble. As for my petty crime, I smoked a lot of pot. advance man - person who takes care of details that need to be handled in advance of a carnival For example, according to campaign contribution records, Frank Zaitshik, Wade Shows owner, his wife Melissa, and son Garrington, contributed a combined total of $11,500 to the Michigan Democratic Central Committee on September 5, 2002, one month before Democrat Jennifer Granholm was elected governor of Michigan. It was a clear case of arson, and five people from Marlborough were duly convicted of the crime. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The mark will often return and become heavily invested, as the doubling effect will drain his bank account before reaching the goal line. These hardworking people are young and old, from all walks of life. Carnival midways are the only venues in the United States where local police departments allow carnival lots to be free crime zones for illegal gambling, larceny, and fraud. Even today, this is still pretty prevalent on the smaller shows. For money, the sheriff and officers loyal to him would release prisoners from the county jail, safeguard drug shipments, and hide fugitives. So - I dont know how that applies to all carny workers. Carny is thought to have become popularized around 1931 in North America, when it was first colloquially used to describe one who works at a carnival. Its a fundamental divide in human society, and the sedentary city-folks have mostly won. They collected roughly $12,000, although the victims may have underreported the theft to avoid tax troubles. Carnival-related bribes and illegal transactions pave the way for the crooked migratory hustlers to trailer into your neighborhood for a weekend each year, never having a need to worry about arrest. It was a really good business for a long time, though. Carnys got nothin! Because of the mixture of carnival-related contract money and politics, the unwritten rule in Dearborn and other towns figures to be: No enforcement of midway games!, NAME also had a contract to pay off-duty Joliet, Illinois, police officers an hourly rate of $49.92 to work security at a weekend shopping mall carnival. Lots of hard work, but I got to meet some great people - especially the bands we set up for. Gaffed and chance-based games travel to thousands of carnival lots and fairs each year, raking in billions of dollars in ill-gotten gains with virtual impunity. The Outdoor Amusement Business Association advocates for carnival companies to conduct background checks and wants to work with legislators to draft a law that can be fair to companies, Johnson said. Go to work at 6 am;go to bed at 2 am the next day. Its not a gig where they ask too many questions about your personal or employment history or your plans for the future. But for veteran crime writer and crusading editor J. Patrick OConnor, the factsor a lack of themdidnt add up. I was just a kid, so I dont know what all kinds of things he did, but I do know he had a few brushes with the law. The mark will pay $4 for the next play, than $8, then $16, then $32, and so, every time 29 is tallied. Youths risk developing a gambling problem at the rate of two to three times that of adult onset. Griffin is one of at least three traveling carnival workers who have been arrested in Bucks County since 2013 with criminal records one of them for crimes David Malhalab, also with me at the time, phoned in a request for service to the Dearborn Heights police, asking them to respond to investigate this larceny with the 13-year-old victim waiting and with the perpetrator still operating the game in question. According to information from a Dearborn police officer, in confidence, the police department security hired to patrol Dearborns Arab International Festival is annually awarded a $10,000 contract by festival sponsor, American Arab Chamber of Commerce, to pay overtime for the services of off-duty police officers who patrol the four-day event. The old classic carnivals with geeks & shows of dubious morality etc. I got into the life through family, and though I'm in college now, I will likely go out again next season. These are people that would otherwise be homeless if not for the ability to count to 2 with both hands. The cost of play builds exponentially. Either way, you can generally find them within a few miles of where they need to show up for work the next day. (AP) Three carnival workers have been charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of a couple at a Kansas fair whose bodies were Patrick Jane, the title character of the CBS crime drama The These small carnys get seedier every year. FacebookKirksey McCord Nix Jr., one of the notorious leaders of the Dixie Mafia. Youll also find quite a few references to various arrests, some of which are for rape and murder. Volume rip-offs against vulnerable teens are an almost complaint-free luxury. The flatty totally controls this game. No roots, no stability. NBC News; NBC News.com Today show 7/13/2012 (and also aired on Dateline 8/19/12). I had observed the tub agent cheating the youngster with a deep-rooted bait-and-switch, shenanigan, called the deadening-ball trick, a slick maneuver to covertly conceal a gaff ball at the bottom of the angled tub prior to his demonstration. They will always refer to any bad guys as independent contractors and not employees of the carnival even when they are paying the carnival owner for the privilege of occupying cheating space. It seems to me youre putting a lot of mental effort into coming up with a high-falutin intellectual explanation, when its simpler and more accurate to say the stereotype stems from carnies who are indeed shady. Meanwhile, the Dixie Mafia received hundreds of thousands of dollars during this time. By maintaining two sets of books, the carnival can cheat the charity out of a large amount of revenue for their purposes.. Richardson was aware that I had been police trained and experienced in enforcement of carnival games. The average carnival worker salary is $27,198. Step right on up! As for the coworkers I got along with, I never asked them about their criminal background, so I couldnt tell you. From his prison cell in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, Nix created a lonely hearts scam that targeted innocent gay men. This mirror serves the rich and powerful while it shapes a negative and distorted view of the poor minority. A loud bell should sound when it is known that itinerant serial criminals are targeting members of the U.S. military and children with impunity. To top it all, the presence of uniformed police foot patrols on the midway creates imagined credibility and an erroneous impression of a safe and secure ambiance; a thriving situation and safeguard for migrating grifters (carnival jargon for swindlers). "For small fairs, it's very hard to even have a carnival," Ostermeier said. They dont! As a career police officer with the Dearborn Police Department (Michigan) and trained in enforcement of carnival games, I became concerned about this unique brand of plain view criminal activity. That occurred even though state police checked carnival workers' backgrounds. With the recent publicity on the ills of Tubs of Fun, chances are that the carnies will re-package the scam with a different look until the heat dies down; perhaps bring back the old wooden bushel-baskets instead of plastic laundry tubs and eliminate the deadening ball for one year. [3] As words are assimilated into the culture at large, they lose their function and are replaced by more obscure or insular terms. It is only through undercover surveillance, search warrants, raids, arrests, Freedom of Information Act requests, and prosecutions by trained law enforcement agents that carnival owners and their representatives will get the message to start following local, state, and federal laws. After a fruitful investigation, Thomas phoned to say that many of the games appeared to be rigged, based on results. So this is a fair one to assume. "Some of them, you wonder why they are not in jail," Radowicz said. On November 29, 2002, Frank peeled off $5,000 in the same Florida account only days after Jeb Bush was reelected to governor. Their goal was to cover all aspects of true crime: Read More, Contents Copyright 1998-2020 by Crime Magazine | J. Patrick O'Connor Editor | E-mail CrimeMagazine.com, Designed by Orman. All states will allow honest games of chance at not-for-profit fundraisers, such as raffles or millionaire parties for charitable organizations and churches. My parents sold the business when I was still young, and I hated them for it because to a young kid, it was so much fun! In the 1960s, the Dixie Mafia emerged as a loose confederation of crooks and con artists based in Biloxi, Mississippi. YouTubePete Halat, Kirksey McCord Nixs former lawyer who once served as the mayor of Biloxi. NAME actually had company shirts available for their carny-cops, stating SECURITY., While working the security detail on that NAME midway, are the Joliet cops supposed to protect and serve carnival-goers, or just the carnies? Knowing I was on firm ground, and having experienced a pattern of these intimidation tactics, arrest threats, and failed defamation suits on other occasions, I was wondering if these irritated cops wouldnt chance trumping up an arrest with creative writing. But I dont have any illusions that this is the end of the Dixie Mafia., After reading about the Dixie Mafia, meet Joe Valachi, the first mobster to expose the Mafias darkest secrets, and Frank Lucas, the real-life heroin kingpin who inspired the film American Gangster., The Little-Known Story Of The Dixie Mafia, The Cornbread Cosa Nostra Of The South. Pre-teens are allowed to play a classic gambling game called Crazy Ball at most festivals and fairs. Police departments must take appropriate action to guarantee that all midway games are skill-based, checked, and rechecked by valid security, thus reducing the chances of illegally obtained cash laundered via middlemen (sponsors), to pay the contract for midway security. Smaller shows carnival workers ' Grueling hours May Threaten Safety businesses will be gone in a.. They go thru will be gone in a partnership and Dad some money their..., her college varsity basketball 3-point-shooting star, Carly Thibault, missed all 13 attempts the! Will drain his bank account before reaching the goal line to play a classic game! The 1980s, many top members of the Dixie Mafia allowed to play a classic gambling called! Home in 1987 number of employees suddenly left. `` at a carnival, '' Ostermeier said involves a system... By ethnic heritage and had no known hierarchy or oath and history see. 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