Greetings,

Mark Lighterman, in his great first book on Florida chips (and maybe the second but I haven't seen that one), says that the famous illegal casino Greenacres only had an open (or money) crap game and so no chips were used. I wasn't sure about that. I had a nagging suspoicion I had seen somewhere that other games were offered.

I think I have found the answer. I recently bought two volumes of the original Kefauver Hearings. This is not "Crime in America," Kefauver's book, nor is it the slim summary published by Arco. These are the green paperbound actual transcripts of testimony. They are a wealth of info on illegal gambling in Miami and Tampa. Mostly bookmaking and Bolita, but quite a lot on the casinos as well.

Ben Eisen was the bookkeeper for the Greenacres, as well as several other illegal Miami area clubs such as the Colonial Inn and Club Boheme, in the 1940s.

He and his brother Seymour were subpoened and brought records including cash books, ledgers, payroll records, etc. from the Greenacres and Boheme. They also testified.

He testified that the Greenacres was run in two different parts--the restaurant/club and the "big crap game." The "big crap game" was a partnership between William Bischoff (better known as Lefty Clark), Joe Massei and the Greenacres, with Bischoff taking 60 percent and the club taking 40 percent. There was also another crap game for smaller stakes.

But, he testified, the restaurant also had roulette and Big 6 and that was entirely owned by the club and accounted seperately. It wasn't part of the craps operation.

So there may be Greenacres chips out there somewhere. I think the confusion over what the club offered is due to separate nature of the crap games and the separate records that were kept.

I would be happy to hear if anyone has any info to corroborate this testimony or any that would contradict it.

Cheers,
Russ