Carnivals/fairs are a lot of hard work. LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Rather the way they interact with the public is a large part of what makes them different. "We did find a large number of them had criminal records," said sheriff's office spokesman Bill Cunningham. The itinerant carnival owner pays the festival sponsor a fee or percentage of the take for the privilege of servicing the towns carnival-goers. The law dictates that police officers are required to take enforcement action when criminal activity is observed or reported. The owner, manager, or patch of a carnival who pays police security, either directly or indirectly through a third party, with the expectation of having police-protected illegal games, would be in violation of the federal RICO Act (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) U.S. Code, Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 11, section 201, Bribery of public officials. Gifts and gratuities handed out for the same purpose also amount to bribery. The carnies of Reddit have answered some questions about what lifes really like when theyre on the road.. The mark must accumulate 100 yards (or over) to win that X-Box or HD TV. Friendly associations are formed by acquainted individuals over several years. I disagree. My dad built his own candy apple stand when he was in college and stayed in the business for over 30 years. On Sunday, prosecutors said someone driving through Almeda Malls parking lot became the victim of a hate crime when he was attacked by a group of carnival workers. They dont have ties in the community. There's always tons of drama between all kinds of people. Because of the mixture of carnival-related contract money and politics, the unwritten rule in Dearborn and other towns figures to be: No enforcement of midway games!, NAME also had a contract to pay off-duty Joliet, Illinois, police officers an hourly rate of $49.92 to work security at a weekend shopping mall carnival. the truth is, there is little money in it, and the rides seem to be falling apart. These hardworking people are young and old, from all walks of life. A loud bell should sound when it is known that itinerant serial criminals are targeting members of the U.S. military and children with impunity. But at least half the time, itd backfire, and Id have guys my grandpas age trying to convince me that since I said anything in the truck, and I was standing in the truck, that meant when they won I was gonna give them the night of their life. There seems to be this very strong stereotype of carnival workers as being shady, creepy, untrustworthy, scary, or somehow deviant in some other way. Carnivals have close ties to not only organized crime but to local law enforcement. Aside from being an illegal chance-based game, it teaches kids how much fun it is to wager bets several years before they can gamble legally. You see these guys when they beak up the show and leave-their trucks are all blowing blue smoke and look like they are ready for the junkyeard. Back on topic, I never did carnivals, but I have worked a freak show / side show. What the Greatest Showman Got Totally Wrong, The Bittersweet Story of Jumbo the Elephant, Carnival Workers Describe What The Life Is Really Like. New York Cemetery Worker Buried Alive After Grave He Was Digging Collapses On Him, The Horrific Story Of William Calley And The My Lai Massacre, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. As for the OP, I second WhyNot. For example, this letter - from someone actually defending carnies and who says theyre much-maligned and decent people, acknowledges obviously rigged games as a given. Combined with the fact that fair season didn't line up well with my school's almost year-round schedule, they thought it best to quit the business. Chances are, cops wont comprehend (given that the mark didnt), or perhaps surmise that The sucker got what he deserved.. Aww, you almost had it that time! OK, you GOTTA give us details! Repeat for nine months. ". NAME actually had company shirts available for their carny-cops, stating SECURITY., While working the security detail on that NAME midway, are the Joliet cops supposed to protect and serve carnival-goers, or just the carnies? Really scary people, actually. Authorities initially speculated that the gang members had killed McDaniel because they were afraid that he was an informant, but others suspected that he was actually taken out by Pusser. Most carnies are just people with nowhere else to go - usually no family to speak of or In the carnival business, the slang synonymous with rig or trick is gaff; i.e., The game is gaffed. Most operators of gaffed games combine gambling with the gaff in order to pinch as much money as possible from the unwitting customer. Furthermore, Lovett was convicted on two charges of extortion and two more charges of making false statements to the FBI. Ignoring it, wont make it go away. They live on the road throughout the summerand fall, setting up and tearing down rides, or hosting games to bilk people out of their money (unless you know the secrets to beating their tricks). In addition to carny jargon, some carnival workers used a special infix ("earz" or "eez" or "iz") to render regular language unintelligible to outsiders. Carnival game players lose 95 percent of the time says a carnival game enforcement specialist, Corporal Glenn Hester of the Glynn County Police Department of Brunswick, Georgia. You have to be clean-shaven, no tattoos (if you do, you have tocover them), and wear clean uniforms. This is the little-known story of the Cornbread Cosa Nostra.. The fair is an extension of her; it is her identity and passion. Theft, fraud, and sexual misconduct are all examples of these crimes. My dad owns a traveling carnival. Do a little googling on carnies and carnival workers and youll find thats a common assessment. We only do a handful of large events each season, generally for a month at a time. He would come up to my Moms (his sisters) house and stay while he would talk to the lawyers and go to court and stuff. Drift along, into the next jurisdiction to start it all over. They collected roughly $12,000, although the victims may have underreported the theft to avoid tax troubles. In 2003, Frank popped for another $5,000 for the campaign of New Mexico Democrat governor-elect, Bill Richardson. Well, up until this year the State Fair would hire a lot of day workers from the local homeless population. But the carnival I work forhas spent a long time building their image up to try to distance themselves from the stigma. William A. Riedthaler, renowned games enforcement expert, informed me that the total figure might be as high as $40 billion. Most carnival game agents, these days, would rather design and display attractive child-luring games that would serve to mark thousands of young teens for their allowance or grass-cutting money. Therefore theres a psychological disconnect created by the incongruity of the bright flashy lights and colorful displays and cheesy music and rides, and the down-trodden, rough-necked cigarette smoking laborers who set it all up and keep it running. By the time all is said and done, it's usually about a 20- to 24-hour shift of hard physical labor, depending on how smoothly things go. At large expositions, such as a state fair, the money is massive and the split is different. No one has an accurate figure because much of the cash is unreported industry-wide, said Riedthaler, also a retired Cleveland Police Department detective. Arrive at location in the afternoon, after working the last spot all night. It was adopted after a stabbing by a carnival worker in 2001. Other blue collar labor force workers generally have a predictable place to spend the night, if only because they need to be at work the next day. Jeff Blomsness of South Barrington-based All Star Amusements Co. said his company conducts background checks and drug tests on workers. Carnival workers have also said they were forced to live in filthy trailers or bunkhouses. I had alienated some ranking officers because I thought my job in law enforcement was to protect festivalgoers and to crack down on the crooks. Its a mix. Human flotsam. For a carnival owner or manager to deny responsibility is like saying I didnt run you over, my car did! When it comes to interviews, carnival owners and managers will act outraged while feigning ignorance about the rigged game and its perpetrator. Any reported unfavorable incident during the annual festival would create bad press and taint sponsors as well as all involved, in addition to a loss of future revenue and visitors. Are the officers who wear NAME shirts really policing officers or just bouncers with the job of protecting games and ridding the midway of sore losers?. One guy in Kansas mortgaged his house and sent $30,000 to the scammers over a period of months. To make matters worse, some of the prisoners eventually confessed the scheme to victims and threatened to out them if they told anyone. But it was getting harder and harder to make money, with each fairground becoming more of a bureaucratic morass every year. "I think it definitely warrants another look," said Rep. Kevin Joyce (D-Chicago), who has sponsored a bill requiring background checks that was killed in past sessions. An Arizona man has been charged with human trafficking for allegedly holding Mexican workers hostage to staff his traveling carnival. The ongoing investigation comes as police officials and some lawmakers are calling for legislation that would require background checks for carnival workers, a measure they say is vital to protecting children from transient workers with sordid pasts. That occurred even though state police checked carnival workers' backgrounds. The FBI and game enforcement experts are available to present seminars to police departments. The mark will pay $4 for the next play, than $8, then $16, then $32, and so, every time 29 is tallied. On November 29, 2002, Frank peeled off $5,000 in the same Florida account only days after Jeb Bush was reelected to governor. For 15 years, his city has required carnival companies to submit employees' names--since a 10-year-old boy was sexually molested by a carnival worker who had just been released from prison for a similar offense. To address the puzzling doggedness of plain-sight crooked carnival games, one has to first take a look at the history, criminalities, winks and nods of police, and the behind-the-scenes components enabling and perpetuating this century-old system of corruption. CBS News exposed a carnival company which was cheating soldiers and their families out of money at the 2011 Fourth of July Freedom Fest at Fort Hood, Texas, the largest military base in the country. advance man - person who takes care of details that need to be handled in advance of a carnival This contract arrangement locks the carny-cops in as quasi-employees of the carnival or carnival sponsor and shares carnival profits in the form of pay. So, the grifter swiftly adds up the total with sleight of hand (two hands at a time), and announces a false (fairbank) number, 44, which corresponds to 50 yards on the puzzling conversion chart. Cops are discouraged from arresting the dishonest carny for two obvious reasons: money and politics. New York TimesA New York Times article on Kirksey McCord Nix Jr.s conviction for the murder of a Mississippi judge and his wife. All embrace lucrative interests while striving for a trouble-free show, which can and does lead to tolerable criminal pursuits. While planning for a San Antonio, Texas, state fair, Wade Shows carnival owner Frank Zaitshik stated that it costs him $100,000 to hire off-duty police officers. Some of the cash generated from Franks games should easily cover the overtime pay for carny-cops and perhaps some gratuity items such as free corn-dogs and Winnie the Pooh bears. To view the full story in Dearborn Patch, search the Net for St Anselms festival carnival contained scammers victimizing children at the games.. Also zeroed in as targets, are members of the U.S. military. Police officers patrolling midways are evidently being paid in whole or in part with carnival money in the form of contracts from the carnival company or carnival sponsor. Sponsors, and especially church festival committees, likely make the mistake of trusting carny-managers under the ill-judged impression that they (sponsors) share game profits. From his prison cell in the Louisiana State Penitentiary, Nix created a lonely hearts scam that targeted innocent gay men. There was no chance they would win at some of the games, said Keteyian. Yes, they are scraping by and yes they are poor, but labor ready hires anyone who is there to work at 6am in the morning . Police officials in Wayne County and the City of Dearborn have been allowing known rigged games at their carnivals for the last decade while patrons were under the impression they were being protected by cops seen patrolling the midway. Patrick Jane, the title character of the CBS crime drama The Here is the story of Edgar Allen Gregory Jr., who in 1993, was captured on film during a Dateline NBC hidden camera investigation for operating a racket-show while displaying several big-dollar-fraudulent gambling games on his mobile carnival midway at the North Tennessee State Fair. Because the job is so transient, some unscrupulous carnival workers have been known to commit minor or even major crimes while working in a town In an attempt to skirt responsibility for the crooks in question, playing their crooked games, Century 21 Shows manager Jeremy Bendsons acted innocent when questioned by the reporter while playing the customary independent contractor card. Carny is thought to have become popularized around 1931 in North America, when it was first colloquially used to describe one who works at a carnival. By maintaining two sets of books, the carnival can cheat the charity out of a large amount of revenue for their purposes.. So, they either rent or default on thier sub-prime mortgage. WebCarny allowed the carnival workers to hide the truth of their activities from the populace. Carnival owners, workers, and agents, known as carnies, who own, manage, or operate these chance-based games and share in the take, are conspiring to promote gambling. Im more afraid of the patrons than the carnies. The British form of fairground cant is called "polari". Kirksey McCord Nix Jr., one of the lead figures of the Dixie Mafia, was suspected to be one of the men behind the hit. Halat was released from prison in 2012, while Nix continues serving a life sentence. To top it all, the presence of uniformed police foot patrols on the midway creates imagined credibility and an erroneous impression of a safe and secure ambiance; a thriving situation and safeguard for migrating grifters (carnival jargon for swindlers). 15.5% of Carnival Workers are Hispanic or Latino, 8.1% of Carnival Workers are Black or African American, 5.4% of Carnival Workers are Asian, 4.5% of Carnival Workers are Unknown, and 0.1% of Carnival Workers are American Indian and Alaska Native. After the mob apparently ordered a hit on the judge, Sherry and his wife were murdered in their Mississippi home in 1987. In reach of the big payoff at 95 yards but broke, the mark is encouraged by the slick talking flatty to go to the automatic teller machine (ATM) and return with more money stating: You need just a few more yards to win a thousand dollars for each hundred you invested. According to law enforcement sources, the outdoor amusement industry is at least a $10 billion-per-year business in North America, mostly a cash-based trade. Exclusive to Razzle is its signature conversion chart.. For decades, this gang operated lawlessly and targeted anyone who stood in their way. "I hope we get through this without somebody being killed or getting raped," said Rep. Bill Black (R-Danville), who also has sponsored a failed bill. ", In this CBS News Online, July 12, 2011, video. Marcello tolerated the Dixie Mafias presence as long as they played by his rules and paid for his hospitality. Ward Hall? Thomas did not get the opportunity to measure the elliptical rims as hoped. Convicted of bank loan schemes in 1986 and never spending a day in prison, the Gregorys befriended Tony Rodham, brother of President Bill Clintons wife, and now presidential candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and were awarded the contracts to operate his carnival, United Shows of America Inc., for President Clintons White House Press Picnic in 1998 and 2000. This particular con links fraud and gambling together with a smooth-talking con artist (agent) who bedazzles his mark, and wins every time. I had observed the tub agent cheating the youngster with a deep-rooted bait-and-switch, shenanigan, called the deadening-ball trick, a slick maneuver to covertly conceal a gaff ball at the bottom of the angled tub prior to his demonstration. I hope I have answered it for you. With the recent publicity on the ills of Tubs of Fun, chances are that the carnies will re-package the scam with a different look until the heat dies down; perhaps bring back the old wooden bushel-baskets instead of plastic laundry tubs and eliminate the deadening ball for one year. Ive seen horror shows and Ive seen highschool kids. Most carnies are just people with nowhere else to go - usually no family to speak of orskills to get them a career. This game is not only fraudulent, (deception for money), it is much worse when adults steal from young kids. In many ways, Biloxi was an ideal place for the Dixie Mafias stomping grounds. When interviewed by reporters, carnival owners and managers never will admit to personal misdeeds and will fabricate a tale about being unaware of any criminal activity on the midway. In 2014, a Razzle victim wrote to me about being fleeced for $7,000 at a festival in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. He begins to search for a sympathetic police officer for help. U.S. Some Dixie Mafia members were allegedly hired to collect debts and carry out hits for him. (If it isnt documented, it didnt happen.), A police officer refusing to properly address or document a crime-in-progress complaint is tantamount to constructively playing into the hands of organized crime. But maybe theyre not all completely bad, huh? Huston, vice president of Operations at Pugh Shows at the time, was present when Argo was arrested. [2] The word carnival, originally meaning a "time of merrymaking before Lent" and referring to a time denoted by lawlessness (often ritualised under a lord of misrule figure and intended to show the consequences of social chaos), came into use around 1549. A wheel of fortune, seen at a nonprofit fundraiser is an example of a legal form of gambling. Twenty-four others, mostly women and children, had stayed behind at the campsite. On the night of November 29, 1988, near the impoverished Marlborough neighborhood in south Kansas City, an explosion at a construction site killed six of the citys firefighters. The assailants who were masked and armed ambushed the camp and used chains and padlocks to restrain their victims. Carny life is not an easy one. After my shift that day, I saw that city carnival for myself and was just as shocked. (AP) Three carnival workers have been charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of a couple at a Kansas fair whose bodies were found days later in shallow graves in a national forest in Arkansas. [citation needed] Most carnies no longer use cant, but some owners/operators and "old-timers" ("half yarders") still use some of the classic terms. The Outdoor Amusement Business Association advocates for carnival companies to conduct background checks and wants to work with legislators to draft a law that can be fair to companies, Johnson said. NBC producer Sandra Thomass Today show and Dateline features used several hidden cameras at NAMEs carnivals in June, 2012, and were able to capture on film and describe the agents cheating deadening ball maneuver during both NBC 2012 exposs narrated by NBCs national correspondent Jeff Rossen, entitled Rossen Reports: Are carnival games cheating you - and your kids?". State law prohibits child sex offenders from working at a carnival. For example, according to campaign contribution records, Frank Zaitshik, Wade Shows owner, his wife Melissa, and son Garrington, contributed a combined total of $11,500 to the Michigan Democratic Central Committee on September 5, 2002, one month before Democrat Jennifer Granholm was elected governor of Michigan. ;)) He was a fun drunk, too! At that point, when the agent tossed the demo balls in, the secret deadening ball absorbed the energy of the demo balls. Cops who protect illegal games would be in violation (federally) of the anti-corruption legislation under 18 U.S. Code, Part 1, Chapter 73, section 1511 of RICO Act: Obstruction of State and local law enforcement.. FacebookKirksey McCord Nix Jr., one of the notorious leaders of the Dixie Mafia. The cost of play builds exponentially. (No, not that Cecil. In running background checks at five events, the Illinois attorney general's office and Cook County sheriff's department found that among 179 carnival employees, In all three cases, the police refused to write a basic incident report upon complaints and requests for assistance. We have a lot of interesting family friends from the fair business. It is not uncommon for sheriffs or police chiefs to lend themselves to sizable remunerations to ensure that these affable outlaws operate on trouble-free turf. The total is then added up. 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