Inside the Star-Studded, Mob-Run Poker Games That Allegedly Steal Millions From Players

The role of the host in these games can be quite fulfilling.

“When you’re talking about home games, the phrase ‘absolute power corrupts’ applies here,” Barkey insists. “Because you’re completely in the hands of whoever’s hosting the game … they’re in control of the dealers, they’re in control of the deck, they’re in control of the tables, the shuffle machines.”

They are in charge of the books and this is where the drama often begins.

These are not casinos with cages, cameras and fully monitored deposit and withdrawal systems. Credit is used regularly, both to satisfy the players and to avoid the problem of traceable movement of large cash sums.

“People don’t always pay,” Barkey said. “And when that becomes a problem, now it’s the host’s job to make good on the books in some capacity, or they’ll lose all their clients.”

Enter the Mafia, who, in addition to running some poker games, often fulfill a role for which they are best known in popular culture: settling debts.

“Say you have someone who loses a lot of money,” says Jack Jensen, a content developer and mafia expert. The Mob Museum in Las Vegas. “If they have to pay, mobs can come in and do that. Extortion, intimidation and violence too.”

As Jensen explains, the crowd may not be anywhere near the size or strength it once was. It operates in a more under-the-radar manner today. But it is still very active in many of its old tricks, and illegal gambling remains a large part of the picture.

In fact, at least one name that appears in the Billups indictment has roots in the Mafia’s glory days.

“There’s an Angelo Ruggiero Jr. listed there,” Jensen said. “His father, Angelo Ruggiero, also known as ‘Quack Quack,’ was a close friend of John Gotti and part of his crew.”