Andy Thibault's Blog, page 5
January 6, 2022
National Podcast Vegas Never Sleeps Dives in to Louis the Coin’s Place in History Including Big Las Vegas Hauls
Episode Featuring Cop Who Arrested Louis – Jerry Longo –
And #COINMAN Screenwriter Jack Chaucer Airs This Weekend
Louis the Coin was a genius in metallurgy whose estimated haul from producing counterfeit slot tokens and chips easily exceeded $3 to $4 Million from casinos around the country. Some casinos admitted it, and many, most of which were in Nevada didn't.
He sat at the right hand of New England Mob Boss Raymond Patriarca – one of the most powerful gangsters in U.S. history – with direct access to his family members. Louis was a friend of theirs and talent, not a made man.
Louis was neither your average jeweler nor your average mob associate. He began his criminal career as a teenager and went on to earn a business degree from Providence College. In the years before his death, Louis attended community college in Rhode Island because he loved learning.
His expertise ranged from making jewelry and fixing printing presses to orthotics and of course, counterfeiting slot machine tokens and currency.
Colavecchio could duplicate or create almost anything made out of precious metals or stones. All he needed was a sample. The samples were analyzed professionally for content, weight and availability.
Foxwoods had been booming for about five years when Colavecchio set his sights on Connecticut; Mohegan Sun had just opened.
Colavecchio never talked about his friends – at least to police. But one of the important numbers in his personal phone directory was for Louis “Baby Shacks” Manocchio, then the reputed Mafia boss of Rhode Island. Manocchio lived in Providence’s Federal Hill neighborhood, where he once operated the Café Verdi restaurant. He was convicted of a mob hit in 1968, but that was overturned by the Rhode Island Supreme Court. In 2015 Manocchio was released from federal prison to a halfway house after serving five years for his role in an extortion plot.
Before Colavecchio could move on the casinos, he needed to do some homework. He also needed some serious equipment. Colavecchio's expert analysis revealed he needed the following: precious metals including copper, zinc and nickel; a 150-ton press from Italy; and laser-cutting tools to cut, shape and create dies to stamp out the coins. The coins were tokens, to be used in Las Vegas, Loughlin, Atlantic City and the Tribal Casinos in Connecticut.
When state police brought a sample of Colavecchio’s product to Foxwoods, the experts did not believe it was counterfeit. Some called it a masterpiece. State police advised the casino to keep track of inventory; the token counts were bound to be off because of the surplus. Meanwhile, the inventories at Atlantic City casinos were multiplying like rabbits.
“We know that he hit Vegas hard,” an investigator said. “But since many of the directors of security there were former FBI agents, they denied it. The problem did not exist. It never happened.”
Evidence mounted. A surveillance team comprised of detectives from Las Vegas, New Jersey and Connecticut waited for Colavecchio to hit New Jersey or Connecticut again. He chose New Jersey. This time he used only $100 tokens. It was easy. There were fewer machines to watch.
Colavecchio was arrested in Atlantic City in late December 1996. The pinch did not make the papers for about a week. In his car, Colavecchio had 750 pounds of counterfeit tokens, a fake police ID, disguises, a handgun, maps of casinos and various casino documents.
The FBI, Secret Service, three state police agencies and Providence police took inventory at Colavecchio’s Providence operation. The government had to rent two storage facilities to store all the loot that was seized.
Everyone took their turn arresting Colavecchio. He hired a former Rhode Island attorney general and a respected New London attorney as his lawyers.
Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun acknowledged finding a total of at least $50,000 in fake tokens. Investigators borrowed microscopes from local high schools to inspect mounds of tokens. It took them weeks just to determine that Colavecchio hit one Mohegan Sun jackpot for $2,000.
Worked out by Connecticut based Detectives, Secret Service and prosecutors, Colavecchio ended up in a conference room and getting VIP treatment at Mohegan Sun. His lawyers had worked out a deal. Colavecchio showed law enforcement how he did the job, and promised to help the casino tribes and the state ward off any future raids. They say he was a hero in Providence as well. Colavecchio served a relatively short federal sentence at Fort Dix in New Jersey and did not “rat out” any of his friends.
The New York Times and Providence Journal also reported Louis was hired by the U.S. Mint upon his release from federal prison for the token scheme a couple decades ago. That was because his dies in coins were of better quality than government production. The U.S. government paid Louis about $18,000 as a consultant.
Louis died on July 6, 2020 at his daughter’s home in Cranston, RI. He had gained a compassionate release from federal prison weeks earlier after serving time for counterfeiting $100 bills. He was 78, as noted in his New York Times obituary. He counted among his friends the detective who arrested him in Connecticut.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/13/us/louis-colavecchio-dead.html
The Connecticut State Police Museum, in cooperation with The Mob Museum in Las Vegas, is developing a Louis the Coin exhibit. A detailed announcement about the exhibit is anticipated later this year.
https://vegasneversleeps.com/affiliates/
Cool Justice Blog
November 20, 2021
Louis the Coin exhibit advances on The Mob Museum agenda #Providence #YouThoughtItWasMore
- PHOTO by BOB THIESFIELD
LAS VEGAS – The Mob Museum’s VP Exhibits/ Programs Geoff Schumacher, 11-18-21 (R): “This is a story that deserves to be told and we would be happy to be part of it.” [No timetable set as the planning process continues.] Shaking hands with Schumacher is Andy Thibault (L), liaison from the Connecticut State Police Museum to The Mob Museum.
CT State Police Det. Sgt. Jerry Longo, Retired, Chairman of the Connecticut State Police Museum, talks about his relationship with Louis the Coin on the Ray Dunaway Show, WTIC 1080.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AXSkXuBmYo
- PHOTO by BOB THIESFIELD
Jerry and Louis at The Hartford Club, 1-15-10
BACKGROUND:
http://cooljustice.blogspot.com/2021/09/will-cosmic-slot-machines-pay-out.html
Cool Justice BlogSeptember 25, 2021
Will the cosmic slot machines pay out?
Will the cosmic slot machines pay out?
[with] lurid, astonishing, confounding stories, leaving us /
richly barren, forever dreaming /
of a time there will be more –
https://prisonist.org/poem-louis-the-coin-by-ravi-shankar/
We’ve got a song, we’ve got a poem, we’ve got an exhibit, we’ve got photos and video and we’ve got a book.
And, oh yeah, we’ve got a screenplay: You Thought It Was More …
[Louis] produced perfect tokens/
that allowed him to bilk /
the ultimate swindlers,
the casinos for four years … /
… Lavish Louis in his loafers /
On a yacht flying one sail: /
LLO ladies love outlaws. /
Even in prison, he laughed … /
… I don’t know how /
He weathered hypertension, /
Wardens, dementia, chronic /
Obstructive pulmonary disease, /
Correctional officers, chaplains /
And loneliness those last months … /
https://louisthecoinbook.com/
2019 Sentencing Memo Affirms & Documents Book, w/ Footnotes
https://louisthecoinbook.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/memo.pdf
Louis the Coin’s Garage of Magic,
As seen by poet Ravi Shankar:
… It was like the enchanted inside /
Of a sorcerer’s workshop … /
https://www.poetravishankar.com/
https://twitter.com/jackchaucer?lang=en
Cool Justice Blog
July 24, 2021
Mad Dog Tape Preservation, Analysis Under Way
Working diligently on these sensitive materials are Sgt. Ken Barton (CSP retired) and ESPN alumni / retired Auxiliary Trooper Dave Overson.
Via Jerry Longo, Connecticut State Police Museum
In May of 1960 the last person to be electrocuted in CT was Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky. He and his accomplice Arthur Columbe murdered at least six people during a robbery and killing spree in 1956 and 1957.
Fast forward to today: The nephew of tireless investigator Major (then a detective) Sam Rome – who interviewed many in the Mad Dog case – came forth with some startling materials.
Ken Kurland delivered a scrapbook, newspaper clippings and reel to reel audio tapes of several of Sam Rome's interviews regarding this murder spree. They are being analyzed at the CSP Museum in a very exciting project. So stay tuned as they slowly process approximately 29 hours of tape.
Of note: The tapes might cover at least one other significant case.
BACKGROUND:
State Police Museum http://www.cspmuseum.org/ Appeals for Help To Retrieve Audio From Mad Dog Killer Confession
http://cooljustice.blogspot.com/2021/06/state-police-museum-httpwwwcspmuseumorg.htmlCool Justice Blog
July 6, 2021
BOB THIESFIELD Video: CT State Police Museum Chairman Jerry Longo Talks About 118 Years of History, Laments, "I Kinda Miss" Louis the Coin
More Museum News:
State Police Museum http://www.cspmuseum.org/ Appeals for Help To Retrieve Audio From Mad Dog Killer Confession
https://cooljustice.blogspot.com/2021/06/state-police-museum-httpwwwcspmuseumorg.html
Louis the Coin was banned from all casinos in the U.S., right?
https://cooljustice.blogspot.com/2021/05/louis-coin-was-banned-from-all-casinos.html
https://louisthecoinbook.com/
Louis died on this date in 2020, while being cared for by his daughter Susan
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/13/us/louis-colavecchio-dead.html Cool Justice Blog
June 23, 2021
Douche Bags of America Struck Down by Supremes/ Cheerleader Prevails in Free Speech Case / Ruling Makes It Tougher for ���Educators��� To Shout Disruption When There Is None
Story via Reuters
Various Highlights, #FamousDoucheBagCase
http://cooljustice.blogspot.com/2021/06/that-time-louis-coin-colavecchio-joined.html
Douche Bags of America Struck Down by Supremes/ Cheerleader Prevails in Free Speech Case / Ruling Makes It Tougher for ‘Educators’ To Shout Disruption When There Is None
Story via Reuters
Various Highlights, #FamousDoucheBagCase
http://cooljustice.blogspot.com/2021/06/that-time-louis-coin-colavecchio-joined.html
June 18, 2021
State Police Museum http://www.cspmuseum.org/ Appeals for Help To Retrieve Audio From Mad Dog Killer Confession
Jerry Longo, chairman, Connecticut State Police Alumni Association Museum and Educational Center, displays new acquisition. - BOB THIESFIELD PHOTO
By JERRY LONGO
Joseph "Mad Dog" Taborsky was a serial killer who was sentenced to death after a string of robberies and murders in Connecticut during the 1950s. Approximately six people were killed during these events, which became known as the "Mad Dog Killings."
A number of others were shot, beaten, or pistol-whipped but survived. There was a great book written about this crime called Ten Weeks of Terror.
Taborsky was the only inmate in our CT history who was placed on death row, not once but twice. He was electrocuted in 1960.
One of the main investigators of these crimes was Major Sam Rome. His nephew Ken Kurland has donated to the State Police Museum many of Sam's remembrances of his career including reel to reel tapes of confessions (this crime and several others) news clippings and magazine articles. He also gave us the reel to reel recorder, and we are hopeful we can get it running so we can transcribe and or reduce these tapes to a current and usable format.
If anyone has a functioning old timey reel to reel that we can use in the mean time so we can listen to and use a tape recorder with, let us know. Either way, this is a sad piece of history but a great find for a police museum.
WHEN `MAD DOG' WAS PUT TO DEATH - Hartford Courant
https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2005-01-02-0501020480-story.html
The Mad Dog Killer
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/mad-dog-killer-article-1.422375
CSP MUSEUMhttp://www.cspmuseum.org/ Cool Justice Blog
