Underground Gambling: the Mob's Lifeblood
National Geographic aired a documentary that purported to take viewers inside the world of underground gambling.
I mean, does anyone really think one man could hold his own regular card game, no-limit hold-em, with up to 22 players and $45Gs on the table on any given night, in the nooks and crannies of places like Brooklyn, Staten Island and Manhattan, without either the protection or at least the approval of the mob?
If logic is not enough, consider that Mikey is also a loanshark, although on the show he operates more like a friend who loans money to his gamers, no mention of juice.
Even Mikey's waxed eyebrows are a signal -- a common preening and primping habit of guys who live in certain parts of New York (to me, they give a man a rather bizarre appearance).
One guy who is into Mikey for eight large -- Joey Mush, they call him -- admits to the camera in a likely unguarded moment that the money he owe's Mike is "not really Mike's money." So whose money is it? Interestingly, Mush tells the camera this in a cutaway following a scene in which Mikey has grabbed him by the throat to emphasize his frustration with Mush's excuses for not paying up. Mush is actually trying to defend Mikey, like any good customer, but later on, Mush is not too happy when Mikey tells him to go to --and, in the process, steal some players from -- a rival poker game, always a dangerous endeavor.
"You could lose your teeth," says John the Banker, another regular in the group, about Mikey's mission for Mush. The Banker must be one of Mikey's favorite players. A high-level Wall Streeter who gets his hair cut in his office and has a woman sitting near him answering his personal cellphone, this dude can probably blow thousands every night of the week and not even feel it.
Another player -- and the best player in the game, all the players would agree -- is Breezy and he "knows what your cards are like he's reading your mind," Mikey says of him. While a lot of great players tend to be tight, Breezy is "aggressive," Mikey says, which no doubt probably helps Mikey earn his keep off the game, though he tells the camera that his revenue is limited to players' tips. Again, 50 shades of gray, here.
Breezy provides a good tip. Upon first meeting a new player, Breezy says he'll ask them something innocuous, like who won the Knicks game. "Now that's their tone of voice when telling the truth [when they say who won the game]. So now when I ask you later 'do you have a Jack,' and if you're stupid enough to answer the question, and I don't hear the same tone of voice that I heard earlier, you're lying to me."
We see the full spectrum of players -- from the Mush to the Breezy types, and the "social butterflies," as one player calls them, in between -- and we also see the kinds of venues these guys play in. From shitty, stinky backdoor holes, complete with wobbly tables and chairs, to a high-end hotel suite-type room where players are served sushi and a hottie in a full-body leather catsuit works her way around the table doling out muscle-melting neck and upper back massages.
I could not find the exact date the show first aired, but I have a feeling it was filmed after the "$50 million betting ring" was busted up. Breezy mentions there had been a recent bust in the area, which he described as consisting of "a lot of little card games." If we're talking about the same bust, the Feds described it differently, as a "sports betting ring that stretched from New York to California."
Mikey protects his game with top-of-the-line surveillance: video cameras; a security guard or two who frisk every player walking in, no matter what they are wearing; and of course there is Mikey Tatts himself, who stands quietly in a corner or silently encircles the table, a predator, big arms folded across his bulging chest as he watches players move cards around, toss chips into the pot, tell jokes, argue.
Mikey is not afraid to be out in front of things, especially when there is danger, as his players' safety is the first thing on his mind. Guys won't come back to a game if it's been robbed, he notes at one point.[This, by the way, is a major plot point in the now playing "Killing Them Softly."]
Around 4 am one morning, with a game in full swing, Mikey is quick to drag into the darkness a stranger caught on camera speaking into a cellphone right outside the building in which the players are gambling. Mikey calls him "bro" in the process.
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| Just guys gambling for money.... |
The hourlong episode focused on Mikey Tatts, who claims to run his own game -- and while trying to eke out a living from his entrepreneurship, constantly sought to upgrade his players' venues, as well as add to his regular roster more and better players.
The drag in Mikey's sails: "Cops wanna bust me and gangsters wanna rob me..." He adds, "It's not like the old days," meaning back when cops took payoffs or just looked the other way, considering gambling a harmless vice.
But as we see, it's not so harmless when you are a gambling addict and can't win, so you keep borrowing more cash from a loan shark, who usually is a mobster or related to some other crime ring.
It's historically been held that the "small" traditional street crimes -- underground gambling, escort services and loansharking, which are thought of as basically "victimless" crimes -- give the mob the assets to make the big business moves, such as buying mega-quantities of drugs, and bribing union and political figures, etc.
What is interesting about this show, to this blogger anyway, is how the participants -- and NatGeo, either knowingly or unknowingly -- likely hid the hand of the Mafia in this card game operation, though there are small hints here and there.
The drag in Mikey's sails: "Cops wanna bust me and gangsters wanna rob me..." He adds, "It's not like the old days," meaning back when cops took payoffs or just looked the other way, considering gambling a harmless vice.
But as we see, it's not so harmless when you are a gambling addict and can't win, so you keep borrowing more cash from a loan shark, who usually is a mobster or related to some other crime ring.
It's historically been held that the "small" traditional street crimes -- underground gambling, escort services and loansharking, which are thought of as basically "victimless" crimes -- give the mob the assets to make the big business moves, such as buying mega-quantities of drugs, and bribing union and political figures, etc.
What is interesting about this show, to this blogger anyway, is how the participants -- and NatGeo, either knowingly or unknowingly -- likely hid the hand of the Mafia in this card game operation, though there are small hints here and there.
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"Mikey Tatts" runs a regular card game -- and helps players
who tap out but want to keep their seat at the table.
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If logic is not enough, consider that Mikey is also a loanshark, although on the show he operates more like a friend who loans money to his gamers, no mention of juice.
Mikey, who comes across as very charming and likable, calling everyone "bro," looks like the epitome of the stony-eyed modern gangster, beefy arms covered in ink and just the right touch of bling to grab attention; he looks exactly like the gangsters and associates I have met in recent years, who wear jeans and black muscle shirts instead of expensive suits and ties.
Even Mikey's waxed eyebrows are a signal -- a common preening and primping habit of guys who live in certain parts of New York (to me, they give a man a rather bizarre appearance).
One guy who is into Mikey for eight large -- Joey Mush, they call him -- admits to the camera in a likely unguarded moment that the money he owe's Mike is "not really Mike's money." So whose money is it? Interestingly, Mush tells the camera this in a cutaway following a scene in which Mikey has grabbed him by the throat to emphasize his frustration with Mush's excuses for not paying up. Mush is actually trying to defend Mikey, like any good customer, but later on, Mush is not too happy when Mikey tells him to go to --and, in the process, steal some players from -- a rival poker game, always a dangerous endeavor.
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John the Banker, left, who can afford to lose, and Joey Mush,
who can't. He's into Mikey Tatts for $8,000.
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"You could lose your teeth," says John the Banker, another regular in the group, about Mikey's mission for Mush. The Banker must be one of Mikey's favorite players. A high-level Wall Streeter who gets his hair cut in his office and has a woman sitting near him answering his personal cellphone, this dude can probably blow thousands every night of the week and not even feel it.
Another player -- and the best player in the game, all the players would agree -- is Breezy and he "knows what your cards are like he's reading your mind," Mikey says of him. While a lot of great players tend to be tight, Breezy is "aggressive," Mikey says, which no doubt probably helps Mikey earn his keep off the game, though he tells the camera that his revenue is limited to players' tips. Again, 50 shades of gray, here.
Breezy provides a good tip. Upon first meeting a new player, Breezy says he'll ask them something innocuous, like who won the Knicks game. "Now that's their tone of voice when telling the truth [when they say who won the game]. So now when I ask you later 'do you have a Jack,' and if you're stupid enough to answer the question, and I don't hear the same tone of voice that I heard earlier, you're lying to me."
We see the full spectrum of players -- from the Mush to the Breezy types, and the "social butterflies," as one player calls them, in between -- and we also see the kinds of venues these guys play in. From shitty, stinky backdoor holes, complete with wobbly tables and chairs, to a high-end hotel suite-type room where players are served sushi and a hottie in a full-body leather catsuit works her way around the table doling out muscle-melting neck and upper back massages.
Mikey protects his game with top-of-the-line surveillance: video cameras; a security guard or two who frisk every player walking in, no matter what they are wearing; and of course there is Mikey Tatts himself, who stands quietly in a corner or silently encircles the table, a predator, big arms folded across his bulging chest as he watches players move cards around, toss chips into the pot, tell jokes, argue.
Mikey is not afraid to be out in front of things, especially when there is danger, as his players' safety is the first thing on his mind. Guys won't come back to a game if it's been robbed, he notes at one point.[This, by the way, is a major plot point in the now playing "Killing Them Softly."]
Around 4 am one morning, with a game in full swing, Mikey is quick to drag into the darkness a stranger caught on camera speaking into a cellphone right outside the building in which the players are gambling. Mikey calls him "bro" in the process.