planned to rip off Galaxy’s casino was a tall order, but he was willing to give it a try, for no other reason than to buy himself precious time.
“I need to look at his personal belongings, see if he took down any notes,” he said. “That should point me in the right direction.”
“You think you can dope out the scam by looking at his things?” she asked.
“You bet.”
She shoved the director’s chair in front of him.
“Let’s get started,” she said.
ELEVEN
The Gypsies’ story was known to every cheater in Vegas. They’d immigrated to the Midwest in the 1960s, where they’d made their living boosting furniture from department stores in the Chicago area. Boosting furniture wasn’t easy, and the Gypsies had used a ploy called the Dazzle to get the job done.
The family would enter a department store and stand next to the desired item. Dad would give a signal, and the kids would start moving around the floor as if doing a square dance, their movements choreographed to mesmerize any onlookers into looking the wrong way. At the same time, two sons would pick up the item and brazenly walk out the front door.
All scams eventually ran their course. Seeking greener pastures, the Gypsies had moved to Nevada in the 1990s and hit the casinos. Using the same ploys, they’d attacked the blackjack tables and switched the dealing shoes with dealing shoes containing stacked decks of cards. Other scams involving dice, roulette, and rigging slot machines soon followed.
Decades later, they were still going strong.
Billy sat in the director’s chair and tried to avoid looking at Ricky’s corpse. Shaz handed him three items off the night table: an iPhone, a light meter, and a small notepad.
“Those are his things,” she said. “Now tell me what the little fucker was up to.”
He examined the iPhone first. There were no text or voice messages, just an e-mail from JetBlue confirming a flight out of town departing Saturday night. He now knew something important: the Gypsies were planning to scam Galaxy’s casino on Saturday afternoon. Cheaters always left town a few hours after ripping off a casino.
The notepad was next, its pages filled with cryptic notations and measurements. When he looked up, Shaz was burning a hole in him.
“Explain the notes,” she said.
“Ricky was measuring the distances to the exits, in case his family needed to beat an escape. Later, he was going to draw everything out, like a blueprint.”
“A blueprint for what?”
“His family practices their scams in a fake casino. They try to duplicate the conditions inside your casino to see what problems might come up.”
“How does the light meter play into this?”
“Ricky was measuring the light inside the casino so his family could duplicate it inside the fake casino. The family videotapes their practice sessions, and later critiques the tapes. It lets them see what the surveillance cameras see.”
The answer seemed to satisfy her. She pulled up a chair, and sat in it backward so she faced him. “You’re a clever guy, aren’t you?”
“If I was so clever, you wouldn’t have caught me.”
“I hear you went to MIT and blew everyone out of the water.”
He stiffened, not knowing what to say.
“I also hear you’ve banged half the beautiful women in Las Vegas. You’re a regular love machine, is what I hear.”
The punishers laughed under their breath.
“It’s why you’re so successful,” she went on. “The girls you recruit won’t give you up, even if they get caught. They’re in love with you.”
The things she had said only a handful of people knew. No one had ever ratted him out before, and he didn’t have a clue who was behind this betrayal.
“So what’s the Gypsies’ scam? You must have figured it out by now,” she said.
She was right. He had figured it out, or at least enough to catch them.
The scam would occur between 3:55 p.m. and 4:05 p.m. Saturday afternoon, right as the day shift ended and the
“I need to look at his personal belongings, see if he took down any notes,” he said. “That should point me in the right direction.”
“You think you can dope out the scam by looking at his things?” she asked.
“You bet.”
She shoved the director’s chair in front of him.
“Let’s get started,” she said.
ELEVEN
The Gypsies’ story was known to every cheater in Vegas. They’d immigrated to the Midwest in the 1960s, where they’d made their living boosting furniture from department stores in the Chicago area. Boosting furniture wasn’t easy, and the Gypsies had used a ploy called the Dazzle to get the job done.
The family would enter a department store and stand next to the desired item. Dad would give a signal, and the kids would start moving around the floor as if doing a square dance, their movements choreographed to mesmerize any onlookers into looking the wrong way. At the same time, two sons would pick up the item and brazenly walk out the front door.
All scams eventually ran their course. Seeking greener pastures, the Gypsies had moved to Nevada in the 1990s and hit the casinos. Using the same ploys, they’d attacked the blackjack tables and switched the dealing shoes with dealing shoes containing stacked decks of cards. Other scams involving dice, roulette, and rigging slot machines soon followed.
Decades later, they were still going strong.
Billy sat in the director’s chair and tried to avoid looking at Ricky’s corpse. Shaz handed him three items off the night table: an iPhone, a light meter, and a small notepad.
“Those are his things,” she said. “Now tell me what the little fucker was up to.”
He examined the iPhone first. There were no text or voice messages, just an e-mail from JetBlue confirming a flight out of town departing Saturday night. He now knew something important: the Gypsies were planning to scam Galaxy’s casino on Saturday afternoon. Cheaters always left town a few hours after ripping off a casino.
The notepad was next, its pages filled with cryptic notations and measurements. When he looked up, Shaz was burning a hole in him.
“Explain the notes,” she said.
“Ricky was measuring the distances to the exits, in case his family needed to beat an escape. Later, he was going to draw everything out, like a blueprint.”
“A blueprint for what?”
“His family practices their scams in a fake casino. They try to duplicate the conditions inside your casino to see what problems might come up.”
“How does the light meter play into this?”
“Ricky was measuring the light inside the casino so his family could duplicate it inside the fake casino. The family videotapes their practice sessions, and later critiques the tapes. It lets them see what the surveillance cameras see.”
The answer seemed to satisfy her. She pulled up a chair, and sat in it backward so she faced him. “You’re a clever guy, aren’t you?”
“If I was so clever, you wouldn’t have caught me.”
“I hear you went to MIT and blew everyone out of the water.”
He stiffened, not knowing what to say.
“I also hear you’ve banged half the beautiful women in Las Vegas. You’re a regular love machine, is what I hear.”
The punishers laughed under their breath.
“It’s why you’re so successful,” she went on. “The girls you recruit won’t give you up, even if they get caught. They’re in love with you.”
The things she had said only a handful of people knew. No one had ever ratted him out before, and he didn’t have a clue who was behind this betrayal.
“So what’s the Gypsies’ scam? You must have figured it out by now,” she said.
She was right. He had figured it out, or at least enough to catch them.
The scam would occur between 3:55 p.m. and 4:05 p.m. Saturday afternoon, right as the day shift ended and the
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