I was discharged from the Navy in 1956, my wife and daughter were living here, so I ended up in Reno. Saw an ad in the paper, “Dealer Trainees” … answered the ad.
My knees were shaking, I was scared to death. So many people told me about the Nevada Club ….. And FITZ …. Purple Gang, Chesterfield Club, in Detroit, mob hit on Fitz.
I entered the club, around 1 pm, noise everywhere, a totally different atmosphere than I was used to. Found the “cage” … an elderly white haired man was behind the grillwork. I don’t know what I said. He asked a few questions. From where, married, children, education …. “Take this to the police station, get fingerprinted, and come back here.” That was the response I got.
I did as told, and when finished, went back to THE CLUB …. As I recall, Fitz made a phone call, looked at me and said, “Be here at 3 in the morning, wear a white shirt and tie.”
I left, still scared to death, probably now more so. I think I had a job, didn’t know what it would be, but I started in the morning … at 3.
Went home, ironed a shirt, tried to get some sleep, couldn’t … got ready about 2 and headed for The Nevada Club, in my white shirt, and with a tie.
2:45 AM walked back up to the cage, Fitz was still there … “Go to the post and tell Mark you are starting.” Fortunately, he pointed to a post in the middle of some 21 tables, so I knew where to go.
Mark … “Did you ever deal before?”
“No,” I replied.
“Ever shill”?
“No”
He handed me a handful of silver dollars and told me to go to table 3, he pointed to it, so I knew where to go.
There were two women dealers on that table …. Thelma Ganz and Bettye Johnson, two extremely attractive women. They asked if I knew anything about what I was doing. I replied no.
“Stand over there, put a dollar on this line, and throw the dice … all the way down and half way back. And, pay attention to what we do.”
I did this for an hour, threw the dice, made my dollar bets, learned when I won and when I lost, listened to them do their “spiel” when they had the stick, and absorbed a little of what they were doing.
After an hour of this, Mark came over and told me to take a 30 minute break, and then come back to the “post.”
On that break I had my first taste of Fitz’s food. Open faced prime rib on a French roll … a big French roll … with lots of Prime Rib…. And juice …. And fries … and, I think it was $1.95. A heck of a meal. And, here was I, Joe Dooley, from Dayton, Ohio, working in a Gambling Hall in Reno, Nevada, in my white shirt … with French Cuffs and gold cuff links. I was extremely impressed. Even got a few “glances and comments” from tourists … “I think he is a DEALER, they could tell by my little green apron.”
Went back to the post, Mark told me to go upstairs and report to Bettye and Thelma.
The second floor was empty .. 4:30 AM … slow weekday evening, we had it all to ourselves.
They put me BEHIND the table … handed me the stick … and told me to DEAL….
Ugh …. "Coming out" …. I clumsily handed one of them the dice … called out a number when they stopped …. Took some dollars … spilled some dollars … paid a bet … totally at a loss… ….
CALM DOWN … First roll of the dice … the customer winds on 7 and 11 … you win on 2, 3 and 12 ….. Any other number … put that marker on it …. Learn how to handle that silver … do this … do that …. This way …..
We did this for an hour or so …. Went by fast … but got another break .. This time, I went with Thelma and Bettye … WOW …. I really am a dealer ….
In those days, the girls wore western pants, but with Nevada Club blouses.
Thelma was TALL …. Slim, and in those pants ….. Great … Bettye was smaller, 5’6”.. Blonde, classy, gorgeous. I’m in heaven
The rest of the night went that way …. Working with the silver dollars, learning how to “call” on the stick … when I win … and when I lose…. The time flew by. At 11 AM, they told me to report to Mark for my schedule …. I passed my first night. I was exhausted, went home and fell asleep … slept all day and evening …..
Day 2 … same basic program, but with other people, and started learning some of the payoffs, and shortcuts on payoffs, more work on handling SILVER … .
This went on for about two weeks. A LOT of learning, so many bets … odds, 5 to 6, 2 to 1, 3 to 2 …. Hard ways, elevens, craps, big six and eight … propositions, wow, soooo many … eleven is time and a half … what does that mean. … OH … bet and half the bet and add a zero.. OK. Bet is 6 dollars … pays 15 to 1 …. Six and 3 is 9, add a 0 … bet gets 90 dollars. That’s easy enough. Or, a stack and half a stack ….
Thelma taught me how to handle the silver dollars. Get used to holding about 20 or so in your hands … drop five …. Drop five …. Drop five …. Learn to drop five … get that index finger moving smoother …. Too much noise … smooth …. Easy …. Soft … drop five … Now, learn how to do it with BOTH hands … no thumbs ...NO thumb jamming.. Straight out …
NO ONE could handle silver like Thelma … she had long tapered fingers, and she caressed the silver dollars … it was almost a sensual experience watching her with the silver dollars … at times I would forget what I was supposed to be learning … she was good. Dealers used to stop and watch her when she was on the wheel. Her movements were beautiful and smooth. She was good.
If anyone finds this site, I would love to hear from any “old” …. “clerks” as we were called in those days. IRS had no place for us …. So we were clerks. Often heard the expression, “He’s a good clerk.”
Many good memories of Reno. It was a great city then. A few blocks of gambling, and then a pretty normal city. I think they used to say that there were more churches per capita in Reno than anywhere else in the country.
I put some fotos up, not sure if this will work or not. Below is the link, copy and drop in your address line.
http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/joedooley/slideshow?&.dir=/5306&.src=ph
Some old fotos on the site. Fit's backdoor on the alley. The one in the club looks to be early 50's. The one of the man in the white work suit .. a policeman ... this is the spot where Fitz was shot, allegedly by a member of the old Purple Gang, a reminder that he owed then money. He lived, but was pretty well banged up from the waist down. I think this was in the late 40's.
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