The Secret Casino at Red Men’s Hall
by
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The driver, a huge fellow in a business suit, had gotten out and walked around the front of the car. Nodding to Sal, he opened the back door, and an older gentleman emerged. Dressed in a white suit with white shirt and white silk tie and shoes, he had a deep tan. His hair was also stark white; he was an imposing figure.
“Who the hell is that?” Tuck asked Louie.
“Don’t you know him?” Louie responded, “That’s Sam the Plumber, Sam DeCalvacante, the Godfather.” …
“I don’t believe it!” Dotti said.
“You’d better believe it,” Louie said, “you’re gonna’ have to pay your respects.”
Sam the Plumber had disappeared into the back door of Josie’s house, and a line soon formed at the door. Dotti declined, but Tuck followed Louie into the line.
The godfather was seated in a kitchen chair with his back to the sink, the table in front of him. Sal sat on his right and his bodyguard and driver were standing behind him and to each side. Tuck watched as his cousins, aunts and uncles filed into the kitchen, were introduced by Sal, and then shook the godfather’s hand.
The godfather offered a little pleasantry with each handshake. Tuck’s family, without exception, fawned on his every word. It was as though they were meeting the president or some internationally famous film star!
“And what line of work are you in?” Sam the Plumber asked Tuck, after the handshake.
“I’m a school teacher,” Tuck said.
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About the Book
The sleepy town of Mt. Holly, New Jersey, was more than it seemed. In the unsettled years following the Great Depression, it hosted the Secret Casino at Red Men’s Hall, an underground playground that attracted Mafia bosses and players alike. Under the watchful and protective eye of author Samuel Valenza Jr.’s father, the casino was a thriving den for craps, roulette, poker, and slots players. The continuing cooperation of local law enforcement was assured each Saturday morning, when Officer Bucky Squires made his pickup of payoff money held for him in Mom’s icebox. Growing up in this environment, the author’s young life was scarred with violence, fear, hunger, betrayal, and homelessness, while his father enjoyed the high life with his powerful gangster associates. The author was just six years old when Frank “Paulie” Carbo, a prolific Murder, Inc. assassin, raided the casino and slaughtered his uncle, the casino handyman and ‘gofer’—as a warning. The murder was the beginning of the end at Red Men’s Hall, which fell under intense scrutiny from the authorities. Using the narrative style of a crime novel, Valenza recalls the intimate and often dangerous days of a life lived in the shadow of the Mafia.
About the Author
Samuel W. Valenza Jr. grew up in shadows of World War II and amid the burgeoning Mafia presence in his native New Jersey. He served in the US Marines and at the US Naval Academy before earning his BA in math from Rutgers. In 1980 he created Lottery Player’s Magazine, which became the largest paid circulation magazine in the gaming industry and eventually evolved into Lottery and Gaming News. He and his wife, Dorothy, live in Evesham Township, New Jersey, in an historic 171 year-old farmhouse.