An Investigation of Bingo Operations in New York State : a Report by the New York State Commission of Investigation
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University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Alberta Gambling Research Institute Alberta Gambling Research Institute 1961-12 An investigation of bingo operations in New York State : a report by the New York State Commission of Investigation New York State Commission of Investigation New York State Commission of Investigation http://hdl.handle.net/1880/41348 technical report Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca lew York (State) Temporary State Commission] of Investigation! An investigation of bingo operations in New York State HV 6721 N52 A56 •'..- • '.3 An Investigation of B 4 20 5 72 8 I 9 47 1O 14 26 N 2 58 i9 30 61 G 7 3 4^ 16 19 O • New York State A report by the New York State Commission of Investigation December 1961 AN INVESTIGATION OF BINGO OPERATIONS IN NEW YORK STATE A REPORT BY THE NEW YORK STATE COMMISSION OF INVESTIGATION December 1961 ". the commission shall keep the public informed as to the operations of organized crime and problems of criminal law en- forcement in the state." Section 2(10), Chapter 989, Laws of 1958, the Act establishing the Commission of Investigation. 1 0 0 310 THE TEMPORARY COMMISSION OF INVESTIGATION OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK Commissioners JACOB GRUMET JOHN W. RYAN, JR. MYLES J. LANE GOODMAN A. SARACHAN NATHAN SKOLNIK CARL A. VERGARI Deputy Commissioner Chief Counsel Assistant Counsel JOSEPH FISCH JOSHUA OKUN JAMES V. HALLISEY JOSEPH N. TAUBER* ELLIOTT L. HOFFMAN* ARNOLD M. WEISS WARREN E. DOWNING Executive Assistant JOSEPH D. MILENKY ALBERT SOHN Chief Investigator Chief Accountant Commission Offices 270 Broadway State Office Building New York 7, N. Y. Buffalo, New York ' Resigned Dei-ember, 1961 TABLE OF CONTENTS Section Page Foreword .......................................... 9 I. INTRODUCTION ............................. 11 A. The Game of Bingo .......................... 11 B. Pre-Legalization Bingo ....................... 12 C. Bingo Legalized ............................. 13 D. The Bingo Control Laws ...................... 14 II. BINGO LICENSING AND CONTROL ........... 17 A. The Lottery Commission ..................... 17 B. The Duties of Local Authorities ................ 18 C. Bingo—Big Business ......................... 19 III. THE HISTORY OF THE INVESTIGATION 21 A. William P. Buckner ................... 21 B. The Investigation Proceeds .................... 22 C. The Public Hearing .......................... 22 IV. THE BUCKNER OPERATIONS ................ 25 A. The Gamblers' Lobby for Legalization ........... 25 B. Methods of Bingo Operations Prior to Legalization 28 C. The Racketeers' Operation in Legalized Bingo Gambling ....................... 30 D. The Corporate Cover ........................ 30 E. The Buckner Organization's Bingo Games ....... 31 1. The Army-Navy Union, Garrison 94 33 2. Major F. H. LaGuardia Chapter 116, D.A.V. 40 3. Tuckahoe Post 52, American Veterans of World War II ................................ 46 4. The Paid Workers ........................ 56 5. Housewives Claim Their Privilege ............ 58 6. Misappropriation of Bingo Profits ............. 58 Section Page V. PROFESSIONAL BINGO IN OTHER AREAS OF THE STATE ............................... 61 A. Utica, New York ........................... 61 1. The Michael Wynn Operation ............... 61 2. The Milo Merrill Operation ................. 62 B. Investigation in Bronx County .................. 64 VI. COMMERCIAL LESSORS ................ : .... 69 VII. BREAKDOWN IN THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE BINGO CONTROL LAWS 71 A. The Lottery Commission Investigative Staff ...... 72 1. Staff Composition and Organization ........... 73 2. Staff Supervision .......................... 74 3. Corruption of Investigative Staff Members 77 B. Local Licensing and Enforcement ............... 88 1. The City Clerk of Yonkers, New York ......... 89 2. The City Clerk's Personal Relationship with Buckner ................... 92 C. Department of Licenses, City of New York . 97 1. Buckner's Influence with the License Department 99 2. Strengthening of Enforcement ..... ... 102 VIII. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS ....................... 105 A. Moreland Act Commission Appointed ...... 105 B. Regulations Promulgated by the New York State Lottery Commission ....................... 106 C. Revocation of Licenses ........................ 109 IX. RECOMMENDATIONS ........................ Ill A. Licensing .................... Ill B. Disposition of Bingo Proceeds ............. 113 C. Municipal Enforcement .................. 115 D. The New York State Lottery Control Commission 116 E. Miscellaneous ............................... 118 CONCLUSION ................................ 119 INDEX OF SCHEDULES Schedule No. Page I. Key Statutory Provisions and Regulations for the Preven- tion of Commercialization and Professionalism in Legal- ized Bingo Gambling .......................... 15 II. Bingo Financial Statistics ......................... 19 III. William P. Buckner Known Bingo Operations .... 32 IV. Misappropriation of Bingo Profits—Analysis of Financial Operations of a Typical Bingo Session—N. Y. Garrison No. 94, Army and Navy Union, U.S.A. 41 V. Estimated Misappropriation of Bingo Profits—William P. Buckner's Bingo Operations ..................... 59 INDEX OF APPENDICES Appendix A. Statement of Chairman on Behalf of the New York State Commission of Investigation at the Commencement of the Public Hearing Concerning Bingo Operations in New York State ............................... 120 B. Statement of Chairman on Behalf of the New York State Commission of Investigation, at the Conclusion of the Public Hearing Concerning Bingo Operations in New York State .................................. 122 FOREWORD Since its organization in 1958, the Commission of Investigation, in addition to several major investigations in other fields, and in keeping with its statutory duties, has been persistent in its efforts against organized crime and racketeering. Inevitably, the main front of the battle centered in the area of gambling, the principal source of organized criminal power and finances. Investigations of illegal gambling conducted in Ithaca, Buffalo and throughout central New York against the gambling rackets resulted in major crackdowns, numerous prosecutions, increased public awareness and, in some cases, revitalization of local law enforcement efforts.* In all of these investigations one fact became eminently clear. Lucrative proceeds of gambling filled the treasury which fed the underworld. This report is an account of another of the Commission's investigations into racketeering in gambling—in this case a form of legalized gambling—bingo. The Commission believes this report to be significant in two respects. First, it presents a history of the investigation itself; second, it is a study of the evils that attend an attempt by the community to legalize and control a gambling activity. As the report will demon- strate, racketeers and professional gamblers who operated bingo in violation of the law prior to legalization, continued to enjoy these gambling profits after legalization, using techniques of deception, fraud and corruption of public officials. i * See: Reports of the Commission of Investigation on Professional Gambling and Law Enforcement in the City of Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York (1959); An Investigation of Law Enforcement in, Buffalo (January, 1961); Syndicated Gambling in New York State (February, 1961). INTRODUCTION In order to place the investigation and the facts uncovered by it in a proper frame of reference, brief explanation of certain salient facts are necessary. These include bingo as a big money producing form of gambling, racket operations in bingo prior to legalization, the climate in which legalization was achieved and the laws and enforcement machinery which were devised to provide proper control. The first part of this report will be devoted to these subjects. In subsequent sections of the report, the evidence obtained in the investigation and presented at the public hearing will be detailed. This will be followed by recommendations which it is hoped will result in elimination of abuses, strengthening of the law and genu- ine improvement in the quality of enforcement at both local and State levels. A. The Game of Bingo Simple, uncomplicated and obviously designed for mass partici- pation, the game of bingo enjoys wide acceptance as an outlet for the urge to gamble. The amendment to the Constitution of the State of New York which legalized the game defines bingo as a game of chance "in which prizes are awarded on the basis of designated numbers or symbols on a card conforming to numbers and symbols selected at random."* This bare statutory description does not adequately describe the game as it was observed played in the large bingo halls. There it took on a unique and distinct atmosphere and flavor closely akin to the gambling houses of Las Vegas or the betting windows at a racetrack. Members of the Commission staff who attended bingo games at various halls as part of the investigation observed elaborate devices * Article I, Section 9, Subdivision 2, of the Constitution of the State of New York, eff, January 1, 1958. 11 in use. Pingpong ball markers in large glass hoppers were stirred on fountains of blowing air. Electrically operated flash boards gleamed brightly with called numbers. Packed tightly at long tables, row upon row of grimly intent players bent over their cards, heads bobbing in unison to the drone of the caller's voice, eagerly search- ing for that one more number among the many cards in