Midwest Illegal Gambling

Ten Men Taken In Raid At Hotel

Ten Alleged Gamblers and Gangmen Held In Columbus

100 Men and Women Routed in N. Y. Raid

Havard Club Reopens After Gambling Raids

Five Arrested In 400 Club Raid Plead Guilty

Six Gunmen Get $35,000 In Holdup

June 19, 1935

Five Arrested In 400 Club Raid Plead Guilty

Pleas of guilty to promoting games of chance and selling race horse  pools were enteredby the five persons arrested several days ago at the 400 Club on Oberlin avenue in a surprise raid conducted by Sheriff Clarence W. Dick when they were arraigned before Judge Guy B. Findley this morning.

Fines of $200 and costs were assessed against Joseph (Chicken Doc) Yankowski and Tony Ferrara, a fine of $75 was assessed against Sidney Leavit, and fines of $50 and cost were assessed each against William O'Conner and J. V. McMannus.

A considerable amount of gambling equipment, including two gambling tables, printed forms and a ticker machine was confiscated.

March 16,1929

TEN ALLEGED GAMBLERS AND GANGMEN

HELD IN COLUMBUS

Raid in Columbus Hotel Apprehends Men, and Nets “Arsenal” and Gambling Devices

GAMING RESORT BLAMED

Follows Complaint That Zanesville Man Lost $100,000 at “Monte Carlo”

COLUMBUS, O. ; March 16 – Ten alleged gamblers and gunmen from Detroit, Cleveland and Columbus were under arrest today, guns, ammunition, bombs and gambling devices were in possession of authorities and another chapter was written in the history of the Southern Club, Pickway co.’s supposed “Monte Carlo”, near here, following a quiet raid on a fashionable downtown hotel here late yesterday.

The raid and arrest followed a complaint made to police here that a Zanesville physician had lost $100,000 at the Southern Club. According to raiders, all of the men admitted having some connection with the Southern Club or the Western Club, the latter an alleged gaming resort on the outskirts of the city here.

This is not the first time that large amounts of money were said to have been lost at the Pickway co. club, situated about 18 miles south of here. A Columbus girl recently charged that she lost $7,000 at the club, and two well-known actors, refilling an engagement at a local theatre here, are said to have lost $100,000 in one night at the club.

District Attorney W. B. Bartels here has notified Pickway co. authorities that gambling has been going on at the club, but subsequent raids revealed no law violations.

March 14,1929

100 Men and Women Routed in N. Y. Raid

AKRON March 14 - - The Little York Club and alleged gambling resort at Northfield near here, was under surveillance by county authorities today following a raid late yesterday when four deputies routed about 100 men and women from the place with teargas.

The deputies lead by Chief John Sellars of the county vice squad were breaking into the place, the front of which is a barbecue stand, when a door opened leading into the back room.

As Sellars and his men started to enter the men and women attempted to rush them. The deputies donned their gas masks and brought their tear gas guns into play.. The patrons rushed outside breaking one door from its hinges.

Then they set about disabling the deputies’ automobile slashing and puncturing the tires. Stones were thrown at newspapermen in another car and the reporters drove away and telephoned the sheriff’s office for more deputies who were slow in arriving.

Residents of Northfield have threatened to ask the governor to intercede unless county authorities close the alleged gambling house. No arrests were made yesterday and the deputies said they could find no evidence of gambling other than a number of blackboards.

February 17,1936

HARVARD CLUB REOPENS AFTER GAMBLING RAIDS

CLEVELAND – The Harvard Club, closed a month ago by Cleveland police who invaded the suburban gambling house in the capacity of “vigilantes”, was doing business again last night, but not at the same old stand.

The club, which abandoned hippodrome-like quarters when Cleveland Safety Director Eliot Ness raided out of his bailiwick, has reopened at the rear of a café, the scene of its first operations, newspapers charged.

Revelation that big-scale gambling had been resumed in Cuyahoga county followed a series of fitful raids in downtown Cleveland which netted charges against only one man.

The HARVARD CLUB (1930-41) of Cleveland was one of the largest gambling operations between New York and Chicago during the 1930s. The movable gambling casino, located at various addresses on Harvard Ave. in Newburgh Heights, accommodated 500-1,000 gamblers a night from all over the country who came to shoot craps and to play the slot machines, roulette, and all-night poker. Originally operated by Wm. Fergus and later by Frank Joiner, the club, then located at 3111 Harvard Ave., was taken over in 1933 by Jas. "Shimmy" Patton, Arthur Hebebrand, and Daniel T. Gallagher. Although a celebrated raid, led by Safety Director Eliot Ness, closed the Harvard club 10 Jan. 1936, it reopened at 4209 Harvard Ave. the next month with expanded gambling facilities and a fleet of limousines for free customer pickup from downtown Cleveland. The club continued operation in spite of scandals, police raids, grand jury investigations, and ownership changes until 1941 when Judge Frank J. Lausche ordered it closed. The judge's order was defied until Lausche constituted Det. Capt. Michael Blackwell an officer of the court, a position which allowed him and his squad of Cleveland police to finally close the club in April.

June 19, 1935

Five Arrested In 400 Club Raid Plead Guilty

Pleas of guilty to promoting games of chance and selling race horse  pools were enteredby the five persons arrested several days ago at the 400 Club on Oberlin avenue in a surprise raid conducted by Sheriff Clarence W. Dick when they were arraigned before Judge Guy B. Findley this morning.

Fines of $200 and costs were assessed against Joseph (Chicken Doc) Yankowski and Tony Ferrara, a fine of $75 was assessed against Sidney Leavit, and fines of $50 and cost were assessed each against William O'Conner and J. V. McMannus.

A considerable amount of gambling equipment, including two gambling tables, printed forms and a ticker machine was confiscated.

The (Newark, OH) Advocate

January 24, 1948

Columbus (AP) – Six gunmen cleaned out the Ritz Club – and its customers – late yesterday and took an estimated $35,000 from the gambling establishment.

Sheriff Ralph J. Paul estimated “about 40” customers were engaged at the gambling devices when the bandits walked in and began a systematic “shake-down” of the place.

While the leader stood at a door and directed operations, his companions lined up the patrons at a wall and made them throw their purses, wallets and jewelry on a table. The money was then dumped into a sack.

“Shoot anyone who moves” the leader ordered.

Men were prodded with pistols and when a woman protested she couldn’t get her ring off, the gang leader snapped to an aide, “shoot it off.” The aide didn’t.

The gunmen continually razzed the women: “You dames should be taking care of your homes.”

The gunmen consumed at least 20 minutes in the holdup. After that they fled in an automobile.