On 11/4/11 I posted “Illegal Of the Day” for this LV hub chip. The story was 3 guys Kurt, Ted, and Kenny were running a roaming poker and blackjack game. I spoke to 2 of them.

Kurt Connors
141 Winston Drive
Battle Creek, MI 49015
100 blue, 200 green
6/4/76

Mike Vuolo had found the chips. While looking through them he found 1 chip with a different font LV. We both assumed it was just a reorder. NOT!

I called Kurt again as he was the one that bought the bigger LV font. He never heard of Frank Amari nor never played at the Hart Motor in. What are the odds of two people buying chips with the same initials, in the same city, within 9 months of each other, and not having a connection? To add to the odds both fonts of the LV chip were bought in one lot on Ebay.

Enough of that:

Michigan:

Frank Amari
Hart Motor Inn
138 Pleasant Ave
Battle Creek, MI 49015
3/5/75 - 100 each brown, blue, lavender
9/8/75 he had 200 yellow shipped to him at
Hart Motor Inn
30 N Washington
Battle Creek, MI 49017

I sent off an email to our “Friend Of The Hobby.”

“I want to talk to Frank Amari.”

Here is his reply:

Gene, you can’t talk to Amari—at least hopefully not anytime soon—he’s dead. Frank Joseph Amari died at Battle Creek in 2003 age 69. Amari grew-up in Chicago and moved to Battle Creek with his wife in the early 60’s where they raised 6 daughters.

My note: At least he has a good excuse for not talking to me.

Amari was an avid poker player and loved Las Vegas (see obit below). Amari’s uncle Joseph (1915-1995) was a known Chicago gambler—he was arrested for taking bets on Rush St. when Frank was in high school and in the mid 60’s he was associated with a high stakes mob run gambling operation on North Clark St.

My note: We have seen “Illegal Of The Day” posts with chips used on both N&S Clark and Rush streets. Once again we tie in Chicago, Rush St, North Clark St, the Chicago mob, etc, etc, etc.

pic of Frank:

The second chip delivery was sent to this building which was originally the Kellogg Hotel, then Hart Hotel, then in 1970 became Hart Motor Inn—the structure is directly across the street from the Battle Creek Federal Center, where Amari worked at the time:

Description from 1974:

Nice obit from 2003; Frank’s wife died in 2009; I could get some contact info on his daughters if you’re interested:

My note: He retired after 23 years as the President of The American Federation of Government Employees local union. He was also an avid gambler and poker player. It looks like he had games at the Hart Motor Inn on the side. Maybe he was catering to some of his union boys.