Customers who were caught cheating the casinos met different faiths, depending on whom they had plucked and for how much. "At my place on the Strip, we didn't go for the rough stuff," Mickey said. "You might miss a guy up a little and he comes back later with a gun or goes to the cops or the Gaming Control Board. The main concern was recovering our money and making sure the cheater knew he wasn't welcome back. But the cheats didn't know that when they got hustled off to the back room. I'm sure a lot of them thought they'd never be seen again. "Usually they'd offer to give it up [the money]," Mickey continued with a smile. "They weren't very wise-assed or resistant at that stage of the game.

But sometimes we make them lose it back. I remember this one guy who'd taken us for ten grand. We told him he could resolve the matter by going to a roulette table and staying there until he lost every dime. It was made clear to him that we'd be watching. After he'd lost his winnings he was to get out and never come back, not even to use the restroom. The guy couldn't agree fast enough. He dropped the money he owed us, and a thousand of his own for good measure. We never saw him again.

" Sammy's experience with cheaters at a downtown casino is slightly different. "If it was only nickel-and-dime stuff, we just toss them. But if they took us for anything substantial, they be in a cast or on crutches for a while." None of the roughed-up cheaters ever returned looking for revenge, either. "Before we turned them loose, they understood we what would happen if we ever saw them around again.".