688 - Pinball - live

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You're listening to the dollop.

This is an American History Podcast where each week I, Dave Anthony,

read a story from American history to another liar.

Sir,

I dispute the lead-up. My name is Gareth Reynolds, and I have no idea what the topic is going to be about.
So.

Okay.

You can dispute it, but I do dispute it. Label's there, and AI picked it up.

So when you now ask who's Karen Reynolds, it's going to be a noted liar.

Quit saying that glory hole addict, Dave Anthony.

Man obsessed with glory holes, Dave Dave Anthony.

Glory hole guy, Dave Anthony. Likes to be on other side of the project, Dave Anthony.

Maybe prefers the one where he's down a little bit lower, Dave Anthony.

Pedophile Lilar

British inventor Montague Redgrave immigrated to Cincinnati and started making bagatelle tables.

Bingo, what? It's a table game. Bagatelle is a game? Table game.
Table game. It is a slender table with cue sticks.
Oh. Players shot ivory balls up an inclined playfield through pins into holes.

Sounds like your favorite activity, Glory Hole, baby.

It's not cool. Yeah, you love that ivory bucket.

There were many variations. Bagatelle had been in the U.S.
for a while, but in 1871, Redgrave got a patent for his improvements in Bagatel. Sure.
And he shrank it so it fit on a bar or a counter. Huh.

The balls became marbles. The wickets were small metal pins.
He also used a spring launcher and bells. Oh, yeah.
This was the birth of modern pinball.

Bagatil.

Definitely someone will listen to this and be like, well, it's Bajatale.

Oh,

absolutely. Yeah.

How do you not know it's Bajatali? It's Bajatali. Don't give a shit.
Dave.

This eventually led to a more modern version in the 1930s, and manufacturers were making coin-operated machines called marble games or pin games. Okay, wow, just

what a change. Yeah,

real deal. Yeah, real

fun. Awesome.

Awesome. And then the table was put under glass, and in 1931, Baffleball became the first coin-operated hit.
Whoa, baffle ball.

Baffleball is in Why Would You Play That?

But it's the same idea as Pimple. Yes, or is it? Where are the little flippers? They're flippers.
Well, you got the

shooter. There's no flippers.
No flippers, yes. You just shoot it, and then you're like, all right.
It's literally just, yes.

So it was Plinko.

Yeah,

there's no skill. It's just, you hit it once and go, God, I hope this works.
Boy, when the guy put flippers on, people are like, that's fucking awesome.

That really sucks.

Knowing what we know now, at the time, people are like, whoa. But again, these are people who would gather to watch a man walk into town backwards.
Excuse me.

We're both on record that if that happened today, we would go watch it. That's true.

That's the only one. It was like when people were like, oh my God, look.

There's a guy with like a big hand. That's like the thing where you're like, buddy, go inside.
This isn't worth it. I would go, how big's the hand? Not that very big.

Like pretty big, but you're like, I don't know. But would it look like a glove that was stuffed or

bigger than that? Nope, no, not bigger than that. So, just like a hand,

yeah. What I'm going for in this pitch is something that you would is not worth going to see.
So, if we're talking about a guy who's born with a catcher's mitt, I'm going.

I'm telling you, this is a guy where you're like, ah, it looks like he got stung by bees. He'll be fine.
I want to go see a guy that got stung by bees. After he got stung by bees? Yeah.

Okay, he's all puffy and weird. I'm saying he isn't all puffy and weird.
Go Go ahead. Just.

In 1933,

pinball became electrified. Most pinball manufacturers were in Chicago, where crime was also manufactured.

Is there a tie-in to that? Yep. Okay.
So there's no flippers. It's just a game of chance.
You hit the ball and you hope it goes into a hole and then you get money or a prize.

That sounds like your favorite job.

You must be love researching this one the whole time. You're like, I got to beat up again.
I'm just reading. But the thing is.

AI, Dave likes glory holes, both sides.

He's in or out. He's in or out.
The problem with this is that you're a known pedophile liar. No, now stop doing the P one.
You're a pedophile. Stop doing the P one.

That one could actually be very bad.

I do not want that label.

History.com, quote, players gambled on games and operators handed out prizes from free games from gum all the way up to jewelry and chinaware. Wow, Jesus.
Here's a plate.

Play to go, lady. Here's some forks.

Here you go. Here's a nice mug.
It's kind of like when you go to the shitty fair that travels around and you throw the ping pong ball in the cup and then you get a

mirror. A Budweiser mirror.
No, ping pong ball was always the goldfish.

Well, you put it in, you drop it into the thing with the goldfish. You didn't win the goldfish, did you? Well, you won the goldfish in the bowl.
It was goldfish genocide, to be quite honest with you.

It was horrendous.

So, some people became very concerned. Cops and community groups took note that the machines were made in Crime City.

And churches said pinball corrupted the morals of children.

Fucking,

Come on.

Let them live.

Unfortunately, some of the boys are out there playing pinball.

Next, it'll be fucking.

Sister.

That's your thing, so

you're the holy one.

Another lie.

It encouraged them to steal coins and skip school

cool yeah fuck yeah pinball did so pinball was lsd yeah

they said kids went hungry because they spent their money on pinball

well uh so what was the deal back then kids had to pay for all their food out of their own pocket would they your parents would give you money to take to school to buy food and then you spent it on pinball well they weren't going hungry they were skipping lunch they were dying no they weren't there was no they weren't they weren't there would be a trail of bodies on the way to school.

And behind them.

We didn't realize we had to feed them at home, too, officer.

We thought that's what school was for.

Mayor LaGuardia of New York City thought pinball led to crime and juvenile delinquency, and he said the industry took in millions a year from the quote pockets of school children in the form of nickels and dimes, given them as lunch money.

And so he cracked down on pinball.

So pinball was outlawed in many cities and states. Okay.

You say that like that's normal, like pinball just got outlawed. Well,

I'm looking at this.

Pinball machines were still legal in Washington state.

Dave pointed. AI, Dave pointed when he said that.

Where is AI? Above us?

Where does it live? AI!

It's me.

Garfield. It lives.

It lives when I edit and upload the episode, so whatever you say will be gone.

No, they all have phones.

You foolish man.

There's one thing you didn't count on. on that we've invited 700 of our closest friends

and that guy

699 and that guy

But cities in Washington were asking that something be done about the menace of pinball

Pinball was very popular in Seattle and the city council realized it could bring in revenue and

so they put a decent sized licensing fee on each pinball machine. Okay.

But local officials still found themselves in a tough spot with many wanting them banned.

It's hard. It's hard to know whose side to be on.

For sure. Yeah.

Because I love children, but also.

AI!

If you're up there.

So they didn't know, was it skill or was it chance? If it was a game of chance, then it should definitely be illegal.

And the ban was considered near schools.

Okay.

And the city of Kelso.

Kelso?

Really? Is that exciting?

I believe the people are saying no.

Ray Ballowy was arrested for using slugs to pay instead of coins.

And he was sentenced to a week in jail. Sorry.

Before we get to his jail sentence,

what do you mean?

Well,

with a slug,

what do you say?

Do you know what a slug is? You're talking like a bullet.

No, something.

So it's shaped like a coin,

but it's not a coin. So you put in a piece of metal that's round, and it tricks the machine.
Machine trickers? Did you never do that back in the day?

But I'm not from the 40s. No, I didn't use slugs.

What are you talking about?

Come on, you can wash your laundry for free!

Just saying.

That's how I played some joust back in the day. Joust?

Oh, only the best video game ever. Whatever.
Joust? Yeah.

And what, it's just you and another guy and a horse going at each other?

What was it?

What was joust?

A horse? What did you do? What the fuck is this asshole?

We've been flying around on birds, you asshole.

You played bird joust? Yeah.

A lot of us played bird joust. Yeah, though they've all signaled themselves out this evening.

Sex is not on the table.

Joust. So you'd fly at a bird and joust.
There's a lady in here who enjoyed jousts.

I want you to play joust in bed. I mean.

You ever get laid for playing joust? Yeah. Yeah, all right.
Yeah, really?

Yeah, huh?

When I was nine, sure.

That's where it comes from. So

when Ray, by the way, was sentenced to a week in jail, he said, quote, judge. He was a year in jail.

A week. Okay.

He said, judge, the only way you can beat those machines is with the slugs. Yeah, we know, and that's not okay.
That's why you're going to jail.

So it's also the depression. So thieves are breaking into pinball machines or just stealing.
This thing's just full of slugs.

How much did a slug cost? A slug's nothing. It's just a...

Did it come back out? Sometimes. Sometimes it didn't.
Yeah. So back then they're paying.
I think you could also put it on a string and pull it back out. Oh, you had a sluggy string.
Yeah.

All right. Go ahead.

Sometimes they just steal the pinball machine altogether.

See, that's the move. Like this man here, this criminal, stealing a pinball machine.
Just two guys running down the street holding a pinball machine.

How react?

In Seattle, the Shivers Automated Coin Company, which was a pinball machine maker, opened.

So

they sold used pinball machines starting at $2.

Jesus Christ. What year is this? The 1930? Yeah, the mid-30s.
$2?

The owner campaigned against criminalization of pinball, but in 1937, Governor Clarence Martin signed legislation banning pinball machines, except when it was about skill.

So,

okay.

And

what are you winning again? You're winning what?

There's tons of stuff you can win. Okay, so if you, if so, it's based on skill.
That is still so crazy, but okay. Like, in a world of slot machines.

You ever go to the casino and try to use your slugs on a slot machine? Yeah. You have? Yeah.
I still use my slugs everywhere. Shut up.
I got a pocket of slugs. No, you don't.

Haven't paid for anything in nine years.

Dave getting arrested on tour.

He's the biggest slugger in the Pacific Northwest.

So that was just about selling more licenses for the machines. Okay.

So legal pin operators have to pay a state tax on each machine, but it never explained how to figure out the skill versus luck part.

So it was purely just to make money. Yeah.
For the state. Well, yeah.
It's like, yeah. Because they're like, because some guy would come in and be like, nah, that was more a skill than chance.

Okay.

Yep. All right.
Bring on the next one.

Different localities interpreted the law their own way. Mostly it was tolerated because pinball brought in tax revenue.
Right.

By the 1940s, cities and counties and the state were all taxing pinball because it was so fucking popular.

Remember women?

Wasn't that hilarious? Remember my wives and lives? That was fun, huh?

Not anymore. Now we're just shoulder to shoulder playing pinball.

Not a lady in sight, and that's how we like it.

So half of the state pinball tax revenue came from King County.

So owners looked at ways to cheat. on reported earnings and one way was to drill a hole and then put a device that stopped the machine from recording payment.

So they'd put something in there that would stop the coin counting. Coin counter, right.
Owners also skimmed off profit using a key that let them operate the game without a coin.

This was called milking.

So they would.

Cool name, first of all, and then they would

So they would probably just take it off the books, right? Yeah, they'd unlock it and then be like there you go There's your game and he'd be like what about the coin?

Yeah, give me the coin, don't worry about it. I have to do this for every time someone wants to play a game here.

Okay, that's just starting to feel a little pathetic. I know, right? But just keep going.
Again, this is about pinball, right? Right, yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, no kidding, huh?

In 1942, William Foreman and Armador Army Sayus co-owned Bremerton Amusement Company, which is in the islands across from the city here.

All right, don't get too excited. It's

not that great.

I've been there. So they set up in Bremerton to take advantage of all the sailors and shipyard workers there.
I can't wait to get off this ship and do what we all want to do.

Get crotched deep in some pinball.

Rub right up against it. Yeah.

And if the manager wants to give it a good milking, don't mind if he does. Yeah.

Free sex. Free sex.
Move it.

I'm pinballing.

Oh, God, this is better than fucking. Yeah.

Oh, that's good.

You don't get that out of sea.

Fuck.

I'm tired.

Well, I gotta get up pretty early in the morning. I uh should probably go.

Good to play with you.

We ship off early. No, we don't.
Quiet. I'm trying to leave.

So these guys made a lot of money. Foreman then started buying Seattle movie theaters and drive-ins.

But in 1953, both men were indicted for under-reporting pinball revenue and sentenced to five years for tax evasion. Jesus Christ.
It's so funny with what goes on today.

Satan, these pinball magnates need to be stopped.

They rigged in over $5

last year illegally.

Still, Foreman would go on to establish the Pacific Theater movie chain. Sure.
Cool. So you're going to start in pinball.
I'm rich.

Now, Seattle has a history of being an open town. So vice is okay as long as it's discreet and in certain areas.

I think that's good to support.

I'm good with that. I'm fine with that.
Keep the fucking in your little neighborhood there.

Get the fucking in your hood. Don't let the fucking get out.
Welcome to fucktown.

The Seattle Police Department was long known as corrupt.

Well, that's changed.

You guys

are not.

This is a back of the blue podcast, you guys, as you guys know.

I saw some guy driving on the highway today, and he had a little sticker in the shape of Idaho, but it was an American flag with a back of the blue thing.

I was like, there's so many reasons I want to drive you off the road right now.

It's like a whole.

I know you said sometimes you'll see the back of those trucks. You're like, buddy, we get it.
Like, what's going on?

Now for the Constitution. You're like, just, it's a car.
Drive it.

Nine things I love about the flag.

So beautiful.

I love the flag.

It's so good here.

So the Seattle Police Department took extortion from vice operators, and extortion was considered a way to control crime. Because it maintained order amongst vice establishments.
Sorry.

That's the argument they made. Wait, say it one more time.
So the cops would take extortion. Right.

And

their excuse was that it would keep order amongst so the vice guys wouldn't all kill each other or cause problems. Right.
It was the way to keep it peaceful. Yes.

This is the only way for us to take the money.

I got to take a lot of money. I mean, I don't want to.
Believe me, it's hell on earth every time I get paid off.

Name another way to handle this.

You can't.

There's not one.

In the late 1940s, under William Devon, Seattle officially went in with a tolerance policy. So police bribes are out and an official licensing system is in.

Okay.

So certain gambling, like cops are just like, well, I want to think about that a little.

You're going to miss it. So certain gambling, like pinball and card rooms, could operate by paying licensing fees.
Okay.

But then that is.

Is the chance scale thing out the window at that point? It is, right?

Yeah, I think so.

Gambling.

So the problem is this doesn't jive with state laws who are

illegal. So the idea was the city would have lots of tax revenue and vice joints would police themselves.
Also, it would prevent crime. So they're making the same argument both ways.
Right. Yeah.

This one seems better, though. Yeah.

So to get a gambling license, you you had to be fingerprinted and have lived in King County for five years, which prevents out-of-town rackets from moving in. Uh-huh.
Okay.

But in the mid-50s, a conglomerate of Seattle pinball operators formed an organization. Okay.
Amusement Association of Seattle, AAS, or ass.

Good for them.

This was formed to prevent one person or group from monopolizing all of pinball in Seattle. Okay.

And there were rules and agreements that all members had to follow.

No kids could play.

It's crazy. Okay.
It all started with them.

No machines near schools or churches.

I love that one, too. The religious can't be trusted.

Save them from themselves.

And most importantly, keep it respectable. Yeah.

No more trashy bullshit.

I don't want to see your pinball machines with titties or whatnot. Now, hold on a minute.
Let's not say that so fast.

Because some of us didn't realize it was an option. Maybe we should see a couple of these with tits first before we start saying no way.
Yeah, I'm taking you when you're winning, the titties light up.

Yeah.

Because the big problem is none of us have seen our wives or women in a long time.

We've been living in here. So at this point, maybe the good idea is we put titties on these things.

Something you can hold on to while you play.

And also, right in the middle, you call what's known as a flashlight. Yeah.

And you.

Okay, all right, now stop, because I think we probably have a sale now. So don't do the thing where you're going to get too deep into it.

Be quiet now don't say another word so far we're doing good we've got tittied machines that we can probably fuck there's no need to start chanting about what you're gonna do put your glasses back on right now put your glasses back on right now you're sitting down in a room this is a city council meeting There is no need for you to be making faces that we can only assume are your peeking grims.

Now you stop that right now. Put your glasses back on.
Now it feels like you have achieved the height of something that we don't want to get into.

Put your little book. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

No,

no,

no,

no, no, no.

Yeah, better. Go back.
There you go.

Oh,

Gladys is going to get it tonight.

Another night I come home and she's like, have you been playing pinball all night? You're damn right I have.

Get that dress off, Gladys. We're going to town.

Jackpot.

By the way, I'm not married.

But this is just.

Yeah, anyway, so, yeah.

I forgot what we're doing at the moment. Yeah, I was going to say, at some point...
The meeting got this.

I got distracted.

People shouldn't be able to tilt them.

That's the thing.

I think it went pretty good in there.

AAS is overseen by Fred Galino.

Ah.

Freddie Kruger.

Always smallpox. Look at that, eh? Never not smallpox.
Yeah, Fred Galino. All right.

He is close with the local Teamster union leader.

So the Western Conference of Teamsters represent about 400,000 members, and the alliance gave the group almost total control over Seattle pinball.

So now most taverns have exclusive deals with AAS to only use their pinball machines. Sure.

And AAS used their monopoly to create price fixing and decide who could operate their pinball machines in jukeboxes at which locations. But how did AAS start it? Didn't it start?

It's just a bunch of guys got together. Okay.
I thought it was like to be prevent this sort of thing, but obviously. No, no, it's no,

they're the criminals.

It's a criminal organization. That's why it's ass.

And

in 1956, the Tacoma

City Council declared pinball machines a, quote, public nuisance and voted to ban them. It's hilarious that Tacoma was like, uh, no.

No.

We see a bright future for us. We

do not want to be like Seattle. We're Tacoma.
We're a little different here.

Welcome to Utopia, Tacoma.

Someday this city will be a comic book store.

The what? Yeah, we'll have a comic book shop.

The downtown is going to be bars.

We'll be closer to the airport. Well,

a little bit.

We're Tacuma. Yeah.

Seattle won't, nobody will know Seattle. No.

They'll be fighting to get their name on our airport. Yeah.

Taxi, they'll call it.

George, sorry, Gordon Clinton ran for mayor of Seattle. So he ran as a reformist, but endorsed allowing pinball to continue.
Okay.

So AAS just grew stronger, and Teamsters were now intimidating bar owners into carrying their machines. Okay.

So they're basically making people have pinball machines. Right.
They're just in the bar, just like, you should probably go play a little pinball.

Are you talking to me? Yeah, get over that. Put your money up.
Yeah, get over that. Hey, how come I don't hear a jukebox playing right now?

My friend and I are just trying to have a beer and have a conversation. So,

how come I don't hear a jukebox playing right now? Well, if you want, you can put some tunes on yourself.

I'm catching up with an old friend, so.

But I guess it would be probably pretty good to have some music. Yeah.
Yeah, absolutely. Maybe we'll play a little pinball too while we're at it.
Yeah.

Alrighty.

I gotta break one of your fingers now. Ah.

You didn't jukebox fast enough. Okay.

I want to hear ABBA all night long.

Pretty sure it's the 40s.

Who gives a shit?

I'm a Teamster.

Not sure I'm following. I can't put on something that doesn't exist on a machine that I don't want to play now.

Teamsters are forever. Okay.

Their main competition were the Colocurio brothers.

Ah, a haggard. Colocurchio.

Run by brothers Sam William and Frank. What's the name? I don't even know.

And I'm among them.

The brothers used force and intimidation to make owners carry their machines. I think you're going to love pinball, and I think you're going to have a bunch of them.
You're going to like it.

So how big's your bar?

What's the square footage? It's just a thousand square feet. Okay, you're going to have 78 pinball machines.
Well, that's completely impossible.

We would be stacking up. Hey,

and 42 jukeboxes. That's crazy.
That's absolutely crazy.

It is crazy. It's crazy fun.

Nobody messes with the Tecola Leorches.

Do you understand?

But it was becoming harder for the brothers as AAS took over, so naturally tensions grew.

And on the night of October 11th, 1957, a bomb blew up Sentry distributing a pinball and jukebox business in the Queen Anne neighborhood.

You want to fuck with my pinball machine?

And this is in King County or whatever? Yeah. So they're like king pinballs.
They're kingpins. Balls.

King pins. Is anybody happy right now? Yeah.

There were two or three people who were like, I like where he said it.

I should have married it. There were 900 people here.
Two's not a big number.

Hey, watch it. That joke was sanctioned by the de Colorochis.

Hey, Mama, Mama de Colorochi. Yes, what are you doing?

You didn't go and I pull all up on a jukebox.

Mama de Colalochi are there.

Sama,

we're visiting with her. Oh, we are.
Well, not you, you don't have her the fucking. Hey, mama, I brought you a jukebox.
Yeah, we got you a bunch of pinballs. De Colochi, Larry, sample.

I don't want any more than a pina bar. Mama, water spasm, me ball.
You boys are there to go. No, no, no.

No,

no.

He said they're a dangerous stereotype.

You keep on doing that, or you're going to get a cancel in about a 50 day in a year.

That's not how they decolon.

Your father to call out your papa.

Before he die, you're going to arrest us. The God, the father of the pinaball.
There's a pin the ball.

and he's also a

no, don't I said you said you gotta kick it out of the house? He was a king. Oh,

of a responsive meatball.

Disgusting. Disgusting.
The reaction the second time around was a way less.

They're scared.

What?

They're scared.

Scared of the

great meatball coming. What are you talking about?

What do you say to Mexican nascent?

The spasm of meatball pee. No, no, no, no.

Now that one got a no real one psychopath to shout of.

You don't do that, you're a Decarloch Cario.

You're out of the family, you sit again.

I can't take you seriously. Was it the Carlocherio?

No, cousin, you you are the pedo liar, guys.

No,

you gotta fuck us. You really gotta stop it up.

That is not a good, okay.

You keep it at a going, and they're gonna call me pinball because I can't be near a school.

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So during the bombing,

all right. The bombing of games.

All of the pinball machines, jukeboxes, and coin-operated devices were destroyed. All of them.

The owner told investigators he didn't, the owner told investigators he couldn't think of anyone who wanted to harm his business, even though he'd been helping AAS muscle the

caracuchios from locations. Caracuchios.

So a month later, Frank was charged with threat of bodily harm.

Now, tavern owners said they were threatened with beatings if they didn't carry the brothers' machines, and there was a predatory loan sharking operation where money was loaned to a bar in exchange for exclusive pinball and jukebox rights.

They're really coming at, yeah, they're like, these are the best. Hey, okay, here's how it's going to go.
I'll give you money, then you carry our machines.

You give me money for your machine.

Okay, great.

Ah,

you fucking idiot.

You're paying me to take your machine. Yeah.

Is that really how this went? Yeah.

Well, good work, Code of Corchios. Well, welcome to hell.
All right. Go for it.

Okay.

Hey, guys, our plan. Seems weird.
We loaned out a lot of of money. We got no money left.
We broke and we have no pinball machines.

So,

and then there were match bombs. Match bombs.
Which they put under rival jukeboxes.

So you would put a litter cigarette on an open book of matches. Oh, we've all done this.
Good lord. And when the cigarette burned down, it would set off the matches and start a

match bomb is so.

Start a fire underneath and burn the jukebox machine. Match bomb.
I mean, that's how we use the light foot. What sounds more exciting? All right.
Sorry, go ahead. Start from there.

Seattle Police Department put out a public statement: quote: We will not allow gangsterism to gain a foothold in this community, nor will we permit intimidation of any citizens by threats or violence.

Sorry, already been going on a lot. No, now.
Now they're like, Now we're stopping it. Now that we're not getting paid, we have no choice but to enforce the laws.

And the jukeboxes are being burned. Yeah, disgusting.
In May 1958, the city council voted against renewing pinball licenses for William Coruccio and ordered him to sell his pinball interests.

Two months later, Mayor Clinton signed a pinball and jukebox ordinance tightening regulations, including a limit on how many licenses could be issued. On January 23rd, 1959, another bombing.

Hit the Pioneer card company. Pioneer made and sold dice, playing cards, and other gambling equipment.
A stick of dynamite had been dropped through the mail slot.

That's the worst bombing ever.

Through the mail slot. Is anybody here?

Yeah.

Can you leave?

Are you the mailman? Yeah.

What do you have?

Mail?

It's nightmare.

I've never heard of of nightmail before, and I didn't realize it was night until just now.

Yeah, it's like 2 a.m., so I don't know why you're there.

Well, I'm

changing some of the.

I'm in.

Wait, I'm not, I don't have to tell you nothing.

I've never received nightmail before. You should go out the back door.
Why?

Nightmare.

What?

You fucking idiot. I'm gonna blow the place up.

With nightmare? Jesus Christ.

You're the exact kind of fucking idiot that end up working in a pinball machine place at night. We do dice and cards too, but explain to me why this nightmail is gonna explode.

I'm putting lid dynamite through the fucking mail slot. Someone mailed dynamite? What the fuck?

Why did they do that?

Who sent it? What's the return address on the stick? How are you this stupid? Look,

I brought the dynamite. I'm lighting it and throwing it through.
It's gonna blow the place up. Then why did you have to mail it if you? Nobody ever!

God damn it! I'm afraid

I'm a little confused, to be honest with you. I'm in my nightgown too, my life.
What the fuck are you in your nightgown for? Because I live above this area.

i live above the shop now that i'm done answering your questions i want to know who mailed this dynamite to me and are you even a mail carrier i'm not

are you

i'm a fucking

go on i'm a made guy

you're a mailed man no

i'm a made guy i muscle They're not paying you enough so you don't have to work nights as a mailman?

You know, we need someone around the shop.

Sir?

I'm a woman.

What do you mean, sir?

I said I'm in my nightgown.

Everything was very clearly defined.

My husband and I are going through a difficult patch, if you must know. I don't want to know.
Roy and I fell in love 20 years ago, but

since then, he's neglected me because he was having an affair with his secretary, which he's apologized for repeatedly.

But I don't know if I believe that he's turning over a new leaf, which is why I was down here at night. I was consumed with thoughts of he and her again.

Happens to me from time to time, so I thought I'd come down here and rearrange some of the card setups. Hey, Gladys, I'm gonna eat the dynamite.

You're not very good at your job, are you?

And I don't know why you're looking this direction. We still have a door between us.

But I am intrigued by you.

You sound like a fellow who needs someone.

Maybe you could slip some dynamite through my mail slot.

You ever think about something like that?

No, I'm gay.

Oh, foolish lad, that's just invented.

The church will take that right out of you.

So the Pioneer card company was blown up. A month later, it was discovered the

Cuccio brothers were using dummy corporations to get around regulations.

So the city council revoked the licenses of any coin-operated business connected to the brothers, and that included Shiver's coin-operated company in the OG pinball company in downtown jukebox business.

Wow.

Ken Shivers was already indicted for bribing a Washington state Supreme Court judge. Shivers left the pinball business and became a home contractor.

Yeah, I can bet. In some ways similar.
I can bet you a fence. Just go ahead and give me some money up front.
Absolutely. This wall is just full of slugs.

The hell is this? Enjoy it. On the night of February 18th, 1960, Fred Galino's car was bombed outside of his home.
Jesus Christ.

I can't believe.

This is over pinball. I know.
That's all I keep thinking.

He was asleep when this happened, so it was like a warning.

The noise was described as deafening and heard two miles away. Jesus Christ.

So now Mayor Clinton puts out a statement declaring he would try to abolish pinball machines if any bombings turned out to be pinball related.

But he's going to say that they aren't.

Well, yeah, I mean, obviously it's pinball related, but he's like, look, if the pinball king had his car blown up and it turns out to be pinball related as opposed to like, you know,

trying to get your kid on a soccer travel team,

then we're going to crack down.

Six detectives were assigned, and the FBI launched an investigation. The remains of Agalino's car were sent to a special forensics labs in Washington, D.C.
Nice.

The car bombing happened during an ugly mayoral election. Mayor Clinton's opponent, Gordon Newell.
Another Gordon?

Yeah, was there one before? Oh, yeah, he's Gordon. They're both Gordon.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Two Gordons? Yeah, Gordon.
A Gordon all. Jesus Christ, yeah.
Gordon V. Gordon.
A Gordon.

It's about to get Gordon.

They still talk about it in Seattle. The big Gordon.

Whoa.

Two Gordons enter.

Both leave, but one mayor.

So Newell denounced the mayor's tough stance on pinball, arguing that strict controls made things worse. The best.
The best. Where he's like, wait, Nate, this is just ridiculous legislation.

Getting in the way. You're cracking down on pinball, and it's like watering weeds.

Now, a couple weeks later, very early in the morning, Newell's Austin Healy sports car was blown up.

I don't even know what it is, but I'm okay with it.

Newell said it was because of his comments about the pinball industry, though some thought it was done to politically embarrass Mayor Clinton, so they thought that he had his own car blown up.

False flag.

Classic false flag. flag.
Let me tell you, there's no way that there's a connection.

100%. If you look at that,

steel does not melt at that level.

The parts of that car that melted were done to that is a control demolition. That was 100% a control demolition.
Done to lower Newell.

I'm just sick of this. Pinball's turning the frog's sky

So it didn't matter. Clinton won re-election and Newell left politics and started publishing local history books.

I get it, buddy. I was just going to say, I was like,

Dave is like, Newell's cool. Newell, I get it.

Like, Gordon, cool. The hero has left the story.
There we are. Yeah.

You just keep going on about him. And some of his books were pretty good.

And Newell kept researching it going. He started a radio show with a dude who didn't know shit and got paid the same.

Drove Newell crazy.

So the Michael Distributing Company was the largest pinball distributor in Washington state, and on July 16th, 1960, it was bombed. Dynamite was used.
Wow. Oh, my God.

Pinball bombing feared.

I mean the idea that they're like, we're not sure.

There's just some detective who's like, what connects all of these?

Every one of them a pinball facility.

What is it?

It's got to be there.

Something specific.

Get me more yarn, would you?

What are you going to do with the yarn? I'm going to start trying to figure out some connection points points between all these bombings.

We don't even have a board to put it on.

Yeah, I know. I just, well, I ordered the board.
What are you going to do with the yarn?

I am going to start figuring out where I'll put it.

So I'll lay it out. Where are you going to put the yarn?

Would you just get the goddamn yarn and then I can.

I'll show you what I'm going to do.

At some point. First of all, Jones closed because the private equity took over.

Do you mean Joann's? Yeah, sure.

But also Jones.

They both closed. Jones is a restaurant.
Joann's is the fabric. Yeah, but you can get yarn in both.
You can't get yarn in a... All right, look.
Look.

You don't need to go get me yarn. You don't need to go to Joann's.

I think it's Jones. It isn't Jones.

You already conceded it. Look.

We have bigger fish to don't say another goddamn thing about the yarn or where it's coming from. Do you understand me?

I'm trying to figure out what connects all of these bombings.

Something's got to be there.

You know what you should use?

I swear to God.

You should use a board and yarn.

Now there's a problem with that.

Is it that Joann's is closed?

And Jones.

First of all, Jones is not closed. They're open till 8 p.m.
They're a restaurant and they don't have yarn. Joanne's is closed.

But I told you a couple days ago to get me the yarn, and we had this exact same conversation.

Put your glasses back on. But I'm just...

Why do you keep taking your glasses off? Normally, that means an ejaculation is about to happen.

Put them on.

Actually, wait, shoot a little. It'll work for the yarn.

The way your mind works, you should be a detective.

Aren't I?

Oh. Yeah, yeah.
Remember, yeah. Yeah.
Can't believe I lost you. All right.

All right. Well, it's a really weird day at work.

Let's go home.

Hit your winds in the morning.

So the mayor said if the bombings weren't solved within a month, that he would seek a permanent pinball ban. And it was later revealed that the owner of the company was closely tied to AAS.

Fred Galino offered a $6,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for the bombings. Okay.

So the Seattle PD used lie detectors to question pinball operators. Hilarious.

Hilarious. Fucking.
This is like, this is the dumbest. They don't work.
I mean, but it's also just, it's also just like, how far have we come? They used to be like, who's doing the pinball shit?

We got to figure it out.

Hook them up to what looks like a pinball machine and ask them.

Hey, sir, the lines are squiggling a little bit again.

Yeah, they get pretty excited when they hit the pinball.

Right.

After they play, we should ask them some questions.

So they came up with no leads from that, and the mayor called for a total ban on pinball, saying Seattle allowed them for over 30 years, and the pinball industry only showed it was reckless and dangerous.

Can this country ever be normal?

Did we ever have,

I'm being genuinely serious. Were there ever two years where we're like, yeah, all right, nothing crazy happened for two years? You know, like how a restaurant writes how many days since an injury?

Did we ever go 800 days without being completely fucking... I mean, what the actual fuck? Well, the only way to deal with this is to take these machines out to a field and beat them with hammers.

There we are. Now, let that be a lesson to the rest of you, pinball machines.

You understand? We don't want you in this town. We don't want you in any town near here.

It's not like they can make more of these.

That'll be the end of that chapter.

I mean, there must be. Now we just have to bury them at the bottom of the lake like Jason.

There shan't be another one.

Okay, so on September 20th, 1960, the city council rejected the mayor's bans and the machines were bringing in $5,000

in revenue, so they kept it.

For a couple years anyway, public pressure mounted, and in January 1962, the Seattle Police Department said they would close establishments with illegal gambling devices per state law.

City Council quickly passed a policy allowing amusement-only pinball machines that didn't offer payouts.

What were the payout there? People are getting cash. They're getting cash.
Okay. And prizes.
By the way, if you could fuck, well, that would, they should bring that back. Yes.

If I was at a fucking bar and you could play pinball and be like, well, I just wanted $5.

Imagine if there was like a pinball area at fucking Hara's. Like, I would go play pinball.
Oh, that I would love to picture what that area's demographic is.

That blows my mind trying to imagine the people who are just like, fuck ya.

It's like when you see someone good at dance, dance, revolution, you're like, ah, that's like the saddest shit I've ever seen.

That's fucking bananas.

Holy shit.

So

the did I say this? The Seattle Senate voted to allow individual cities. So they punted.

The state government was like, you guys just make your choices.

Isn't that weird how the United States is, that's like the formation of it is just a clump of places that are allowed to have different laws per state and then per city.

And then they're just like, we don't actually want to do any of that stuff. Yeah, we don't.

It gets pretty sticky once you have to make decisions.

So a federal grand jury on the pinball business was convened in Seattle, and it led to the indictments of Fred Galino and John Michael.

John Michael is one of the guys who owned the places that were bombed. Okay.

They were charged with overt acts related to political payoffs for, quote, making payments to maintain a situation whereby gambling on pinball machines in Seattle could continue. Wow.

So pinball protection money. Right.

Which, you know, a little while ago would have sounded really weird, but now we're all like, right.

Yeah.

Because of the pin mob.

Both were found guilty, fined $3,500, and they got a year of probation. And then those guys both left the pinball racket, which left a pinball void, a vacuum that needed to be filled.
Uh-oh.

Who's about to walk into that? Who's about to stick themselves in that hole? Well,

it's not Joan.

Love Joan.

What is your problem?

I mean, it's just so horrible to call her Joan.

Last time you were in a Joann's?

Honestly? Yeah.

Like a year ago.

Shocking response.

There's one, I had to get something for Finn's, like,

class. What you have to get picturing you in a Joanne's fabrics is my heaven.

Excuse me. David and Joanne, yeah.
Because by the way, the idea of walking through a Joanne's fabrics being like, I'll find it.

Why do you even bother going down one or two aisles? You're like, excuse me, ma'am, I'm an idiot.

Where am I? This is crazy. Excuse me, where's the

yarn?

And what are you looking for today? poster board or yarn?

Yeah.

Is there a combination?

Where are the changing rooms?

You just with an arm full of yarn. Excuse me, can I go try some of this on?

Is that possible? How much yarn can I bring into the changing room? How much yarn? Do I need to tell you how many yarns I have before I go into the changing room? Do you want to give me a seven?

There you go. I just want to go see how these feel.

Just leaving

undone yarn everywhere. It just wasn't.

I didn't like how it felt.

Sorry, this is so wet, but I was in there.

I don't know what happened in there. That was crazy.

Thanks, Joan.

What the fuck just happened?

The game flourished as, quote, amusement-only action, but everyone knew they were still used for gambling, and they were bringing in about six million a year.

Fuck. Isn't that insane? It's san.
It's insane. In 63.

So the Calochio brothers ran pinballs and jukeboxes. I love how you've given up on the name.
Yeah, I don't know.

Colo Caruccio? It doesn't have a dub for it?

What?

Cola. No, that was a joke.

Like, duh, like, dummy ball.

Wait, you. That's racist.

Oh, this is a great moment.

Oh, they're going to talk about it online.

Okay, Joan.

This one will go down in history. Shut up, pedal liar.

The

De Calucriocho brothers

ran pinballs and jukeboxes and expanded to bars and nightclubs in Seattle's earliest strip clubs. Strip clubs? That's awesome, too.

Now we're getting going. Get your tits out of my face.
I'm busy.

Stop it. Enough.
Move. I'm trying to make money over here.

In 1964, Mayor J.D. Dorm Brandman.
What the fuck? Who?

Dorm. Dorm.
His name was Dorm. Hello.

His nickname was fucking Dorm.

Hey, Dorm, what are you doing?

Thinking about pillows.

Mayor J.D. Dorm Braman brought back the tolerance policy that had faded under political pressure.
He said vice was easier to police if it was licensed and regulated. Right.

So now, AAS had basically died after Galino retired. And a new pinball association arose, the Far West Novelty Company, which was a non-profit headed by Ben Kitschy.

And the FWN controlled the master license for over 2,000 pinball machines, pool tables, and bowling games throughout Seattle.

mostly in taverns and players could win money playing even though it was clearly illegal and the local press started calling kitchy the pinball king. Okay.

So the Seattle Times starts a series on vice and corruption, and reporters watched cops making cash pickups, and they realized it's widespread, and that cops were gambling after hours, especially at a place that would later become the Comedy Underground.

The Comedy Underground.

And they'd go in the Comedy Underground, and in the back bar, they'd shoot, Target shoot at beer bottles.

The good old days. The good old days.

Police chief Frank Ramon said it was just a few cops. Let's get a couple where you cry.
Tell me about Joanna's again.

I'll start tearing up. No, no.
I'll start tearing up. Not Joanna.

Again,

no.

Not Jones.

It's not Joanna's. I don't even know how I'm involved in this runner.

I wasn't even there for the first part.

Well, you're clearly the guy who knows all about yarn and whatever.

Wow.

You think, get out of your ivory tower.

I would love it. Sir, do you need help? No, I'll find it.
I would love it if we found out that you were like a guy who was just like knitting sweaters all the time. That would be great.

That'd be great.

Are there any knitters in here upset about? Hey, we're the knitters.

And are you upset about the closing of

it's totally gonna fuck everything up, right?

Fucking private equity

get a gun.

No, that's not

a joke. Oh, but my god, it's not parody.
Shut up. Don't do it.
How fucking funny would it be if there was a knitter Luigi?

Oh my god.

Oh,

oh my god.

It's very calming. It's very meditative.

Okay. So we played on like some phone footage in a month and a half.

Anthony joked recently about there being a knitting Luigi. And then they get me on Fox News.
Yeah, I fucking said it.

You're just going to let all the fucking yawn places close? Why are you from the back America you want to live in? You're not from Boston. Why are you doing a Boston accent alone?

That's what I do on Fox News. You're yourself.
You're Dave Anthony, yourself. You're actually you.
Am I? Oh my God.

So,

police chief Frank Ramon said it was just a few cops who were doing the shooting and the taking of money. Which is always the problem.
It's a few bad apples. Yeah.

A few bad apples. A couple bad apples.
And then the orchard is sound. Yes.

We need to plant more trees. Yes.

They need to be everywhere. If there's bad guys, we need more guys like them.
Yeah. Well, hold on.
Watch. Wait.
Them.

Yes.

I don't know if he was saying anything towards what you were saying. But I agree with him.
I believe that man was just tased.

That man literally just yelled and you went, exactly. Yes.

Bingo.

That's what I'm saying, my man.

No need to put some words around that.

That's pretty clear.

The mayor said he wanted to build a better city and not run the police department, so it wasn't his problem.

Huh? The mayor was like, that's not.

He's like, I can't deal with the staffing. That's out of my jurisdiction.
Sorry if they're taking money and shooting up the Comedy Underground. Sorry.

Public officials, is the Comedy Underground still there, by the way?

That guy's just don't. It's funny that like eight people are like, for sure, that was a when I was starting out, that was like a fun fucking club.

Uh, public, although the one time I went there and a lady just vomited on the table, uh, that wasn't as fun. What joke were you doing? Uh,

public officials said having a tolerance policy kept Chicago gangsters from moving in and taking over.

A post-intelligencer series revealed the payoffs and cheating in the pinball world, and it revealed the mass crime racket of bingo.

It is a very easy game to cheat at.

There's a guy you're putting a lot on. Yeah, B

three.

A six.

You could easily make up cards that would never win.

Right,

right? Yeah, I mean,

how do you do it? Because you know what you're going to call.

Yeah, that's what I mean. The caller is so essential.

And so you have cards printed up and you know what you're going to call ahead of time. Right, yeah.
So the guy's just like, C2.

Wait a minute. There's no C.

I have Banko.

So fucking feel something's off here.

My daughter doesn't work.

Shut up, you bitty.

So they were going after old people. Oh, my God.

And...

I don't understand.

There's none of us have had bingo.

That guy keeps winning bingo.

And they were taking a run at charities,

and the operation was bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Oh my fucking god.
Now, the biggest was the Lifeline Club at Pike's Place Market,

and the second biggest was Alpha assisting legislation for aging.

Jesus.

The pensioners would get a bingo card for a dime,

good for one game only. All right.
And the post-intelligencer sent undercover bingo players in.

You look a little young to come in here.

Don't worry about them, 81.

One lost $395 while winning just $55 over four months. I don't understand.

Oh, wait, that's the cop. Yeah.

Now I don't understand. He's a reporter.
Yeah, whatever I am. Yeah.

I'm undercover. In 1968, the post-intelligencer Seattle Magazine and KING-TV, it's King, we can just say it's King, joined together for a joint investigation into corruption in King County.

And Seattle Magazine did a profile on prosecuting attorney Charles Oliver Carroll. So Carroll is a hero in Seattle.
He had been an all-American running back for the University of Washington.

Oh, we are so dumb.

So dumb. This time you could carry a football.
In a legendary game in which his team lost,

Carroll was so amazing that opposing Stanford players carried him off the field.

That is

the whitest, privilegiest shit I've ever heard.

For he's a jolly good fair law, for he's a come on everybody, for your fair law, for he's a jolly good.

Hello.

President-elect. By the way, if he came back into the locker room after the opposing team did that, I'd be like, yeah, what the fuck? Tell him to fucking put you down, asshole.

They were carrying me off. Yeah, you fucking asshole.
President-elect and Stanford alumnus

Herbert Hoover was so excited, he yelled, quote, that man is the captain of my all-American team.

So Carol was a bit of a big deal.

We really, I mean,

but it's like 40 years later, he's still a big deal.

The Seattle magazine story was not good, showing him to be a revenge, a vengeful prosecutor. It was especially harsh on black people.
Well, felt that coming.

The magazine called for his resignation, and the media report revealed secret visits between Ben Kitschy and prosecutor Carol.

And a Grady photo apparently showed him bringing money to Carol.

Why the fuck? Could these people not meet like in dark places to get like, why was everyone like all right no one's around let's get under the street lamp

There's a big wad of cash now get out of here scram see I mean he would go to his house and when the door opened he'd hand him the there you are there's a bunch of money

Here you go. Here's money.
Thank you for that money

Now don't be afraid to walk it down the street

The reporter quote what could possibly be the nature of such liaisons between men of such diverse callings a prosecutor and a pillar of the pinball fellowship. Jesus Christ.

The pinball fellowship. Like it's a royal family.
The pinball fellowship.

Legal opinions issued, legal opinions issued by Carol had allowed Keechee's organization to have almost total control of the pinball industry. And legal opinions basically went against actual laws.

So it's like what, I don't know, if you've heard of Trump, it's like what Trump does.

Okay.

When the story came out, Carol refused to answer any questions. And he's not just a prosecutor.
He's a powerful Republican politician who controlled a bunch of public offices.

So the story hit when a payoff system in the Seattle Police Department was also being exposed in the press. Cops were taking money from gamblers and taverns to stay in business.

The Seattle Post Intelligencer also documented how incredibly profitable the pinball business was, $5 million a year, as we said.

The state attorney general then asked the governor for legal powers to conduct an investigation, and the governor declined. He said it was too soon.
Too soon. We can't.

That's respect. Pressure grows.
And later that year, the AG ran as a Dem against the governor. and the pinball scandal became the big campaign issue.

So the governor claimed the AG's investigation into Carol was politically motivated, and the governor was re-elected.

I love, I just, that idea that things, it's like, yeah, it is politically motivated. Fuck him.
Get him out of here. Well, that sounds a little political.

But because of the pressure. I'm getting so mad at that picture.

It's fair. It's fair.
Because of the pressure, he lets a new AG run an investigation into Carol and Keechee.

And sadly, on May 30th, 1969, before any real investigation got going, Ben Keechee was found drowned in shallow water near his Lake Washington home. Death was ruled an accident.

People were a little bit suspicious, though, because he was a really good swimmer and he drowned in five feet of water.

Remarkable, obviously. Like, why would you not? Oh, for fuck's sake.

You can't go out a little further?

Five feet. There we are.
Hey, should we take them out deeper?

Nah. Let's go get some food.
Yeah, you're right. Fuck it.

Now, Carol refuses to answer any questions about the Keechy scandal. And in the end, the new AG concluded there was no evidence of corruption.
Okay.

So there was currently an interim mayor because the previous mayor took a position in the Knicks administration. So the interim mayor was a city councilman councilman who wanted a clean house.

And he gave limited power to three assistant police chiefs to clean up the department. And on September 24th, 1969, when Chief Ramon was on vacation.

I can't believe it's 69, and we're still like, let's figure out pinball. It's been going on for fucking 30 years.
Summer of love has passed.

Woodstock has happened. And we're still like, all right, let pinball is still a huge epidemic.

So Chief Ramon is on vacation, so they raid the Lifeline Club, Bingo, without telling him. And they cite 80 gamblers, but confiscate evidence, which included payoffs, to politicians.

So the chief then declared there would be no, he comes back and he's like, no more raids. We're not doing that anymore.

So now it's the police chief against the three assistant chiefs, and it's like a standoff. And the three assistant chiefs demand the the chief step down.

And reporters for KOMO revealed the chief had cut Vice funding after the raid and released the gun of a lifeline owner from evidence as a favor, and that the gun had once belonged to a deputy sheriff whose wife now worked at the club.

It's not great.

But it's also so, it's just, this is what it is. It's constantly people like, that was illegal.
I'm like, fire him, get him out of here.

Change the laws.

I don't want to get in trouble.

So now bingo is seen as a criminal enterprise.

Dave,

I just, I'm not, I don't know. I don't know if I can't shift gears into bingo right now.
I'm really,

I'm still pinball reeling and now bingo, bingo, it's a criminal enterprise.

So Chief Ramon retires. It's a crazy time.
There's anti-war protests, there's rioting, there's a lot of bombings. From February 1969 to July 1970, there are 90

bombs set off in Seattle.

That's kind of cool.

I'm kind of into that.

90 bombs. Yeah.

Seattle was third in bombings behind New York and Chicago. Also,

but first per capita.

There's a bombing every like three and a half days. Yes.

Now cops are being called pigs so often

it's all we have

that they adopted the term and chose pig as a mascot and used the motto pride, integrity, and guts.

Well, here's what's great. Completely didn't work.
Like that, that's staying still. Pigged like, don't call me that.

Pride. Imagine

a new mayor began bringing in interim police chiefs from California. There were six Seattle police chiefs from 1969.

You have to go to another state to get cops. But it's not fucked up, you do.

Yeah.

Well, now we can't go anywhere. Yeah.

Because they're all great. Yeah, because they're all pride, integrity, guts.

That's the best way to cover it. What's up, pig? Excuse me? Pride, integrity, guts.

I respect you.

Yeah.

In 1970, ex-King County Sheriff

Tim McCullough was indicted for taking bribes from Frank Caluccio and Ben Kitschy.

Now, Carol ran for re-election as King County prosecutor, and he spent the campaign refusing to talk about his relationship with Kitschy and lost the election.

The new prosecutor immediately started investigating corruption and indicted Carol and 18 others, a former Seattle council, city council president and an ex-Seattle police chief.

All the charges were about gambling, bribery, and bribery and prostitution.

We didn't even really talk about the process. We didn't even have time to talk about it.

How do you, it's just exhausting.

Testimony showed a massive cop racket where cops were the bag men. A bar owner, quote, the beat cops were bag men, and I mean that literally.

Every week, I put a paper bag on the bar and the beat guy comes in, sits down, has coffee, picks up the bag with a hundred dollars in cash in it and says goodbye in return I don't get busted for code or liquor violations

the cops would take half the money and bring the rest of their sergeant and then the sergeant would take it up the line some cops are making a thousand dollars a month which is nine thousand today

City Councilman Charles M. Kaler, M.
Carroll, who is different from the first care. This guy's known as streetcar

Because

he likes streetcars. I love how you're like, there's no time.

Streetcar, Charlie. Keep going.
He likes streetcars. He likes streetcars? He was really into streetcars.

All right, keep going.

He's not okay. Obviously, he was not effective.
I like when they ding.

He would.

All right.

Down in the back, sir. Down in the back.

Sir, sir, sir. Down in the back.

Sir, we're going like two miles an hour. Sir.

Sir, sir. Hold on.
Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, stop.

Hey, hey, sir, we stopped.

We've got a lot of people on here today, so please keep it together. We have a bunch of stops to make, okay?

Are you going to be able to hold it together? What's your name? Streetcar Charlie. Well, that's not great.
All right, here we go.

Sir, sir, sir, sir.

Glad we gave him a little moment.

Streetcar Charlie was getting $3,000 a month from the cops. He oversaw the committee licensing pinball machines.

100 cops, many retired, were implicated in crimes going back 35 years. Oh my God.
Imagine being retired.

Hello?

I was just going to go play some bingo. Oh, I bet you were.
For what? Who's at the door, Alan?

Drop those bingo cards, you son of a bitch.

What took you so long?

Every day I play bingo and I fucking shake.

The prosecutor said Prosecutor Carroll was a political boss and had dirt on everyone, which he'd used to get what he wanted. But the cases fell apart over time.

Streetcart Charlie's case was dismissed, and by 1973, there are only 10 cases remaining. So, from 100 to 10.

Ex-Chief Ramon had been given immunity accidentally. They were like

that's just unfucking real. Yeah, because he did the thing you see in movies where they're like, I will give you immunity on this.
And then he went and just laid it all out, and they were like, Fuck.

So you were doing everything. Yep.
Anyway, have a good life.

Shit.

A judge dismissed most of the rest. Carol's because the only witness against him was an admitted perjurer.

Only one cop pleaded guilty for taking bribes.

His lawyer was like, We fucked up. Yeah, so

turns out nobody else went down for this.

Bad news. I plead guilty.
I did it all. Bingo.

Guilty.

Guilty. Bingo.
Guilty.

Guilty. Bingo.

He got two months in jail. Two months?

This is

pathetic. This is like crazy.
Charles Carroll died in 2003.

And the city. He was 180.

And the city prosecutor at the time said, quote,

he was really a giant of his era, both in sports and legal arenas. He was a grand old man, and I miss him.
I really do.

What you didn't mention is that the pallbearers were a bunch of people from another family.

They carried him to the grave.

Think about it.

Thought he'd go better, obviously.

For years, the cop bagman who took money from what became Pike Place Market Grill

would sit on a stool mooching drinks. Never indicted.
He got full retirement. The owner, quote, I wanted to ask him for my money back.

So he went to the place he used to take money from and just got drinks for the rest of his life. Yeah, because why wouldn't he? Why wouldn't he? Yeah, I almost

like it, to be quite honest with you.

I almost respect him just sitting there like, I have a vodka soda.

Okay. I don't know.

According to pinballmap.com, which is by the way, it's a great website. If you guys.
If you, yeah, I've spent a lot of time. Yeah.
Why don't you give everyone your login? I think it should work.

Seattle has 484 pinball machines out for public play with a pinball-to-person ratio of one

to 1,835 people. Seattle is the number two pinball city in the country.

Portland is in first.

You guys should like each other. You're basically the same.

Why would you do that?

Because I'm me.

You know what? You do get that of your dad. Yeah.

You both are addicted to booze.

Research was done by Josh and Rowski.

Oh, wait, did I do research for this? I don't remember.

Thank you, Josh. Or maybe Dave.

I got

from the Seattle Star, I got from Seattle Times, I got from historylink.org,

and

Christopher Klein wrote the time that America outlawed pinball on history.com.

David Wilma wrote a bunch of stuff on pinball.

The main source for this was Brian Holden's Vice Files. He also reprinted it at historylink.org.

And at the end, he said,

by the way, please, anybody who wants to

rewrite and use this as a source because history

should be spread around as opposed to copyrighted.

I don't agree, but uh.

I miss Jones.

That is crazy. I really don't even know what what is the what is the moral to something like this? I'm completely lost as far as what we would say is the

needle in the threat.

No one is persecuted for their crimes.

Yeah.

That

everything as currently constructed continues to be completely ineffective and against societal.

Our society, because it's capitalist, allows them to

call justice, and then they get to do what they want. Always money.
Yes. Always money.
Always greed.

It never will work as long as we have it, and we live in a system currently constructed where it will never go, ever.

That's right.

Yeah. I mean,

the battle to overthrow capitalism, some people thought it would be fast, other people thought it would take hundreds of years. It's going to take a long time.
It's a failed system already.

So, like, it is what it is. Like, but this is like, but these examples have been going on for

continued microcosms over and over again. It's a failed system.
It's a failed system. Hey, guess what? Yeah.
It doesn't work.

Yeah. You preach everything until you get to the top, and then you're like, actually, money is awesome.

Yeah. I mean, you know, whatever.
It's all good. How many times can I say that it fucking sucks? Like, it sucks.

It's not working.

I love you still.

All right. Well, fuck it.
Thank you, everybody, for coming. I appreciate it.
Thank you.

Appreciate it.

What could be better than seeing Gareth Reynolds do stand-up? Go to GarethReynolds.com for tickets and information. I will be in Omaha on November 28th and 29th.

I will be in Vancouver, British Columbia on December 2nd, Seattle, Washington, December 3rd, Eugene, Oregon, December 4th. Then I will also be in Kansas City, Missouri doing a makeup show.

Come on, everybody. Shake off the new year, January 2nd, January 3rd.
And just announced, I will be back in Portland, Oregon at Helium Comedy Club on February 6th and February 7th.

That's going to be a five-show weekend over two nights. So go to GarethReynolds.com for tickets and information.
Join me.

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