Thought I'd scan this puppy, being an election year and all. Ralph Lamb...not a simple story. The LVRJ First 100 puts up a pretty glossy bio on the guy. Hmmm, Democrat, Sheriff, big newspaper = Juice. Here in Portland, OR. that means you're so wired into the Machine that the lights all over town blink when you, the sheriff, sneezes.

Sorry for the poor portrait scan on the book, should have used the "Descreen" command. Ralph worked the town for a long time before he became sheriff. A cop for a while, up to detective. Did some work for Howard Hughes although Robt. Maheau doesn't mention him in his book. Lamb was the guy that established the Metro Police Force that settled the juristictional confusion between the county and city. A cheerleader for Vegas for sure but when it came to the mobsters wandering around town, Sheriff Lamb would advise you to keep moving, "Nothing to see here, Bub." Not really Shocked! to find the mob guys, in fact, Lamb knew exactly Who was Where, doing What and that's just the way he liked it. On Binion, he made Green Felt Jungle with the sentiment that well, Benny may have been on the outs back home but we've got different laws out here. Oh yeah and Vegas wouldn't even be Vegas without these people!

Take a look at that Sheriff face there. This guy would shoot at you no problem but if'n you turned and ran you wouldn't catch one in the back. No sir, this guy would chase you down and beat you into "compliance". Turned out Lamb was a real inspiration to the two fisted types in his command so you'd better behave when dealing with Lamb's men if you liked your face and all. Johnny Rosselli was once disrepectful to one of Lamb's deputies. Once. Seems Lamb didn't like Rosselli much. Rosselli was the "inside guy" represnting the Chicago mob in LV. Came up under Capone and folks could dissappear under Johnny's whim. Finally Lamb got tired of Rosselli around town and sent a deputy to fetch him downtown for a chat. So Rosselli's sitting there in the Desert Inn having dinner with Moe Dalitz and the boys and told the officer to get lost, he was busy. Before dinner was officially over, Lamb had dragged Rosselli by his necktie out of his seat, over the table and into the back of the deputy's prowler. After Johnny bailed out, freshly de-loused, he left town. "Lefty" Roesnthal tells a similar story but his interview "request" and arrest happened his first few minutes in Las Vegas. Somehow Lefty managed to hang on for years in Las Vegas. Wonder how. Lefty is pretty smart though. Guess he figured it out. Your guess how. BTW, Lamb beat the '77 tax evasion rap, there was a judge who sez that gifts really aren't subject to taxation. "Many fringe benefits come to a public official which may be accepted along with the honest discharge of duty." Don't try this at home kids.

Our Sheriff here is "retiring". Bernie "P*rno Pants" Guisto. Young Bernie was a State Cop who got the assignment of chauffering the then governor, Neal Goldsmidt. Bernie was pretty good at keeping secrets. Being a cop, he was also a trained observer. Parlayed that into a pretty well known fling with the Gov's wife. What did the Governor do? Told folks to shut up and quit bothering him with that news. Goldsmidt then ruled the state for the next quarter century with his machine. If you guessed Democrat, sorry no credit for the only correct answer. Finally an alternately weekly paper with ethics won a Pulitzer for exposing the absolutly disgusting secret from Goldsmidt's days of Portland Mayor. Our city daily paper put up a job on Neal similar to what LVJR did for Ralph. Sigh, suckers everywhere, right?

I was going to talk about this cool Caesars matchbook I got last year. More stories from the blackjack tables there but it's getting kind of late. I would urge you though to grab something when you visit casinos. We'll never get to return to the Stardust or the Ho or the Desert Inn or Sundowner or ...