Off-topic Reports

[PsyberZombie]

From the Las Vegas Business Press:

Harrah's Entertainment has put radio frequency tracking tags on its cocktail waitresses at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino in what it calls an effort to improve customer service.... In what it refers to as a "pilot program," the casino is using the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, which send out signals that are tracked through readers installed at various locations.

Heck , they're already starting to use these RFID gadgets on fricken Casino Chips

See = http://*******.com/c8r2a

This actually isn't a completely bad thing , be·cause my game is dice and now there'll be no more guess·work in figuring out my rating since the chip·reader will keep track of every single bet and win / loss

OTOH , I'll now have to remember to only pay my Week·End Warrior with *cash*

[Wastrel]

From the Las Vegas Business Press:

Harrah's Entertainment has put radio frequency tracking tags on its cocktail waitresses at the Rio All-Suites Hotel & Casino in what it calls an effort to improve customer service. However, the gaming giant's use of the technology on its employees is raising some questions.

In what it refers to as a "pilot program," the casino is using the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, which send out signals that are tracked through readers installed at various locations. Harrah's has placed the readers on tables and bars in the beverage and gaming areas to determine how long it takes cocktail waitresses to serve customers, Harrah's Entertainment Chief Information Officer Tim Stanley said. "It just looks at the cycle time between service," he explained.

"We are taking some of that technology and attaching it to the beverage servers on the casino floor," Stanley added...

Complete article at: http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/artic...ews/news01.txt

I wonder if proximity to a mass of silicone would tend to interfere with the RF transmissions?

[Ricksone]

All this about Crazy Horse is simply the reason I have never gone there. If you want a strip club experience, there are lots of clubs without taking the risk that can come with this club.

R

[PsyberZombie]

Crazy Horse bouncer reported dead

Maurice "Mo" McKenna

A reliable source reports that long time Crazy Horse Too topless bar bouncer Maurice "Mo" McKenna has died.

McKenna, 45, was expected to be a witness in the upcoming OPERATION CRAZY HORSE racketeering trial.

The 300-pound, 6' 1" bouncer was named in an Incident Report but not taken into custody on May 30, 2002, for the alleged beating of Scottsdale, Arizona tourist Michael Silverman. This was not the first time McKenna was accused of beating Crazy Horse Too patrons.

McKenna was also identified as the bouncer who allegedly assaulted Glendale, California tourist Chris Johnson on Monday, October 21, 2002. Johnson in a police report stated that a Crazy Horse bouncer pushed him into the street where he fell twisting his ankle. Johnson said the man who pushed him weighed over 300 pounds and matched McKenna's description.

The obvious implication here is that 'Mo' got 'whacked' by the Mob before he could 'sing'

.... and that's exactly what yet another CH·2 patron who got assaulted by Mo and who then gathered up a few of his buds and a fire·arm and ambushed Mo and got permanent Revenge , *wants* you to think

A word of Advice to all 6'1" 300 lb bouncers who get their jollies beating up customers =

" God didn't create All Men Equal..... Smith & Wesson did "

[Wastrel]

This is from Steve Miller, a guy who runs an online news site tracking 'connections' (to put it mildly) between the mob and the Las Vegas political establishment, law enforcement, and judicial officials. With that little hobby he's a busy man. He's also a former Las Vegas City Councilman. He posted this yesterday, but the local press did not:

Crazy Horse bouncer reported dead

Maurice "Mo" McKenna

A reliable source reports that long time Crazy Horse Too topless bar bouncer Maurice "Mo" McKenna has died.

McKenna, 45, was expected to be a witness in the upcoming OPERATION CRAZY HORSE racketeering trial.

The 300-pound, 6' 1" bouncer was named in an Incident Report but not taken into custody on May 30, 2002, for the alleged beating of Scottsdale, Arizona tourist Michael Silverman. This was not the first time McKenna was accused of beating Crazy Horse Too patrons.

McKenna was also identified as the bouncer who allegedly assaulted Glendale, California tourist Chris Johnson on Monday, October 21, 2002. Johnson in a police report stated that a Crazy Horse bouncer pushed him into the street where he fell twisting his ankle. Johnson said the man who pushed him weighed over 300 pounds and matched McKenna's description.

Since his election in 2003, current Clark County District Attorney David Roger has refused to prosecute any employee of the Crazy Horse Too.

On August 4, 1995, California trucker Scott David Fau was found beaten to death next to railroad tracks behind the Crazy Horse Too. A witness reported seeing Fau being severely beaten by Crazy Horse employees in the parking lot after he was ejected from the bar. According to the witness, one of the men who was reportedly observed kicking Fau in the head was named "Mo."

In a taped statement, the witness described two men who he said worked as bouncers at the club. "Yeah, they're the ones that beat up this Hawaiian guy out there that was just - the poor guy wasn't even moving, and they were kicking him, and um, at that point that's all. They were just kicking him around, jumping on him, stomping on his arm. They stomped his leg. Kicked him in the stomach. They kept - Mo was kicking him in the head, and you just watched his head wiggle around."

Former District Attorney Stu Bell refused to prosecute anyone in the Fau case, so on January 16, 2003, eight years after her husband's death and after several dismissals of her case, Scott Fau's widow Camille sued the Crazy Horse in Clark County District Court. When the purported eyewitness did not appear in court, Judge Nancy M. Saitta refused to allow his taped testimony to be heard by the jury. Subsequently, Fau lost her case.

Now, a young man who would have been a key witness for federal prosecutors is reportedly dead.

[END QUOTE]

P.S. For those who aren't aware of it, the official "owner" of the joint, Rick Rizzolo, is the Mayor's buddy, and his unofficial boss, Joey "The Clown" Lombardo, head of the Chicago mob who's currently under indictment for 18 murders, is a longtime indirect business associate of Hizzoner, making him rich through his clients. I wouldn't care to run up a big bar tab in this place, and wouldn't expect a very thorough local police investigation if it ended badly.

[Cienega32]

"Flag Luxury Riv LLC, Rivacq LLC and
High Desert Gaming LLC, disclosed a
joint bidding agreement to acquire the
Riviera. No plans for the hotel or
for the valuable adjoining real estate
were announced."

[Wastrel]

Nice little funny/sad piece in the RJ:

JANE ANN MORRISON: One person's Stardust memories only skim surface of decades gone by

The weeping and wailing over the recent closing of the Boardwalk seemed a bit excessive. The implosion of the Castaways (aka the Showboat) didn't call for any gnashing of teeth and tearing of garments.

But the loss of the Stardust is a piece of history that I hate to see go...

<SNIP>

One of my favorite Stardust skimming memories was the time the FBI had been watching two men they thought were couriers exchanging the money skimmed from the hotel. Month after month outside a grocery store, a package is exchanged. Somehow, the one time the FBI obtains a warrant and moves in to seize the package supposedly containing thousands of dollars, the package contained: just cookies.

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_ho...s/5372667.html

[Wastrel]

Those who missed the event can catch the pictures of it at:
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_ho...s/5303102.html

Or see video of it from several viewpoints at:
http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4344457
The "Crackdale" SW & tweaker apartments are behind the tower in the background of what is described as the "helicopter view" (third in the series on the clip) in this TV station coverage.

The dust cloud lasted for hours, so some Boulder/Fremont pedestrians are looking more filthy than usual right about now. The sound of two-hundred thousand car alarms going off in the morning has fortunately subsided.

[Cienega32]

Gee Cienega, seems like ur the only one posting on this thread for the past week. Nothing to report except.....*watches tumbleweed blow past*

Wish I knew what time they were imploding the Castaways. Would have woke up just to see that.

I had cruised down The Rock the other nite and it looked like they were setting up for implosion, with the "Street Closed on..." signs. I was going to post it but didn't have time. Next thing I know I wake up, turn on the news and there all standing around talking about the implosion. I wanted to watch it myself. I swear I think I felt/heard it way over here on the west side of the valley. Maybe it was a dream.


I've been slowly packing up things and I keep coming across old stuff that vaults me down Memory Lane and then they implode the old SHowboat which has the same effect. It's just one big sad process for me, after living here for so long. knowing that I'm leaving. I sit upstairs at my desk and can see the south end of the strip, 10 miles away and it saddens me. Don't know why as the move is strictly by choice but it's been a great ride for 25 years.

If Harrah's buys the Imperial Palace, like I've heard some time ago, it really will be the end of an era for me. I remember the property line wars between those two years ago. Which is why they built add-ons so close to each other - you kill my view/I kill your view, etc.

And speaking of tumbleweed, does anyone remember when - ... aw, nevermind


Just to revive a link that I know someone (probably our beloved Wastrel) posted a while back:

http://www.jetcafe.org/~npc/gambling...ath_watch.html

A nice text overview of progress in Las Vegas.

[Cienega32]

The only Key Largo I know of is the one that was at Paradise & Flamingo that closed last year. It used to be called the Ambassador back in the day.

[ClitCommander]

Gee Cienega, seems like ur the only one posting on this thread for the past week. Nothing to report except.....*watches tumbleweed blow past*

Wish I knew what time they were imploding the Castaways. Would have woke up just to see that.

[Cienega32]

That's the way we do it in Las Vegas.

The old Showboat, which was renamed The Castaways, was imploded this morning into a nice & neat little pile of rubble.

I hit my very first straight flush (King high, of course) in December of 1981 at that joint.

I never did like the fact that they renamed it "The Castaways". It always felt like some kid on the Yankees was wearing number "7". Some things should just be retired out of respect and the "Castaways" name should've been one of them.

But, alas, yet another change to our metamorphic skyline.

[Ricksone]

I know there is a Key Largo Hotel on E. Flamingo, but wasn't there another one that had closed down?

I'd like to find out where it was, so if anyone has any info. I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

R

[Cienega32]

Off Koval, behind the Imperial Palace, there used to be car races. Not the kind like they had at Caesars, mind you. These were provided by Mother Nature.

All one had to do was pick a car - any car - and wait to see which one would end up in the intersection first.

This wasn't at the peak of activity - the levels rose to be over the windshields and there are no drivers in the 2nd pic.

[Cienega32]

Thinking back to the old Holiday south (Boardwalk), I was thinking back to the Holiday Center Strip and came across an old pic (1982) of it. The view is looking over the Gran Prix track at Caesars, which was basically a bunch of "K walls" placed around the parking lot (now called the Forum Shops).