He claimed Ryan had used a shortwave radio to learn what cards Dandolos had either from someone who could see them somehow via a set of mirrors or from someone on the roof with a telescope (again, reports varied). The supposed debt, Dandolos said, had stemmed from an August 1949, lowball poker game by the pool at the Flamingo or the Thunderbird in Las Vegas (reports differed on this point), during which Ryan allegedly had cheated him out of $550,000 ($5.8 million today). attorney in charge of the criminal division for Southern California, prosecuting the case.ĭandolos, 81, testified that he and Ryan had known one another for 32 years and often had played cards together, for as long as five consecutive weeks at a time, with some games lasting five or more hours. The oil tycoon made a run for it, shielded himself behind a full luggage rack, got to the lobby and had a security guard contact the authorities.Ĭaifano/Marshall and Delmonico’s trial began in Los Angeles in January 1964, with Thomas Sheridan, assistant U.S. The mobster forced Ryan into the hallway, where he spotted Delmonico and Dandolos. On May 1, in Ryan’s Desert Inn hotel room, Caifano/Marshall told Ryan they were going for a ride in the desert because Ryan hadn’t forked over any cash. Eventually, though, they let him go because he had a flight scheduled later that day to Las Vegas. Yet Ryan said he wouldn’t give them any money, and they argued. The annual $60,000 was protection money, as the Outfit had averted Ryan getting kidnapped in the past, for free, it claimed, but not anymore.ĭelmonico hit Ryan in the chest to emphasize the mobsters’ message. Dandolos resulting from a poker game Dandolos and Ryan had played 15 years before, in 1949. The first amount was to settle a supposed debt to high roller Nicholas “Nick the Greek” A. In the back seat with Ryan, Caifano/Marshall demanded he pay him $15,000 and $60,000 in short order and then $60,000 each subsequent year.
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