Terry Shaffer’s new book, Illegal Gambling Clubs of Toledo: The Chips, The Dice, The Places and Faces, thoroughly details the city’s forgotten battle with an acclaimed string of gamblers and gangsters equivalent to Capone. The book is available for purchase at www.amazon.com.
The information you gathered for this book was derived from 15 years of research?
Yes. I was originally a casino chip collector, which led me to memorabilia like match books and dice from numerous illegal clubs going back to the turn of the century. Once I dove in, it became an obsession.
The characters are what stick out. People are always attracted to the anti-hero. After researching these men, did you find they were only filling the ‘bad guy’ niche?
There were two sides: businessmen and the mob. The former consisted of, for example, the Aronoff Family or the Fretti Brothers. They were after money and influence. The latter was Yonnie Licavoli and the ruthless Purple Gang (originally the River Gang). They ran Toledo, Detroit and Cleveland in the early 30s. Bootlegging. Extortion. Murder. 18 murders were attributed to them in one year.
After all of your research, do you find yourself a proponent of gambling?
If the games are clean, if you have responsible players and the stigma of ‘gambling as sin’ is removed, then gambling is beneficial. Communities benefit from the taxed revenue cycling through the system. Numerous people benefit from being employed in the various areas needed to operate a casino, from servers to dealers to security.
Terry Shaffer’s new book, Illegal Gambling Clubs of Toledo: The Chips, The Dice, The Places and Faces, thoroughly details the city’s forgotten battle with an acclaimed string of gamblers and gangsters equivalent to Capone. The book is available for purchase at www.amazon.com.
The information you gathered for this book was derived from 15 years of research?
Yes. I was originally a casino chip collector, which led me to memorabilia like match books and dice from numerous illegal clubs going back to the turn of the century. Once I dove in, it became an obsession.
The characters are what stick out. People are always attracted to the anti-hero. After researching these men, did you find they were only filling the ‘bad guy’ niche?
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There were two sides: businessmen and the mob. The former consisted of, for example, the Aronoff Family or the Fretti Brothers. They were after money and influence. The latter was Yonnie Licavoli and the ruthless Purple Gang (originally the River Gang). They ran Toledo, Detroit and Cleveland in the early 30s. Bootlegging. Extortion. Murder. 18 murders were attributed to them in one year.
After all of your research, do you find yourself a proponent of gambling?
If the games are clean, if you have responsible players and the stigma of ‘gambling as sin’ is removed, then gambling is beneficial. Communities benefit from the taxed revenue cycling through the system. Numerous people benefit from being employed in the various areas needed to operate a casino, from servers to dealers to security.
