Red Carpet Biloxi, MS

Below record is from The Jones Brothers Large Square mold records.
See all Jones Brothers records here.
http://www.preservinggaminghistory.com/

Exerpt from my series of 3 articles on Biloxi, MS Illegals. See all 3 articles here.
http://www.marlowcasinochips.com/links/genetrimble/genetrimble.htm
The Red Carpet was one of a few that lasted after "The Era Of The Illegals"

The Discovery Channel has had shows on the "Dixie Maffia."

The Red Carpet Club was also on the beach in Biloxi. This should not be confused with the Red Carpet Club listed in the Gaming table as Slidel La. Slidel is 50 miles from Biloxi and Rip has no knowledge of a Red Carpet there. The Red Carpet was in Rip's language a "Juice Joint." This was the 1st time I had heard this term used in years. A juice joint has crooked gambling. The term pertains mostly to craps. A large electro magnet is placed in the floor under the table. The dice will do what the operator wants them to do, when a pocket switch is activated. This is activated when a shooter is on a hot roll of the dice and the layout is full of chips. Walla, instant 7! An old timer from KY once told me he could make the dice jump right off the table, out the window, into the middle of the street and come up 7. I suspect he was exaggerating a little but maybe not much. Another old timer told me he had a "crap joint" that could be worn around the waist. An agent would wear it and sit around a bar pretending to be drunk. The old timer would then proceed to hustle a crap game among the other patrons. I never did figure out why crap shooters think 7 is a lucky number. The last time I shot craps was in the middle 80's and I never wanted to see a 7. Rip tells me the magnet was found when the Red Carpet was tore down. If you think the odds on gambling are tough to beat today, what do you think your chances were back then? Legalized gaming and Gaming Commissions have put the makers of such devices out of business.

The owners of the Red Carpet were Harry Bennett and Dewey De'Angelo. The "Juice" was brought to Biloxi from Oklahoma by Jimmy James and installed in 1960. The Red Carpet closed in 1965. All three men involved met untimely deaths. Harry was shot down in front of his apartment right on the beach. Dewey was found in the trunk of his car also with gunshot wounds but I doubt he died a quick death. His ear had been cut off and stuffed in his mouth. My guess is Dewey was bending the wrong ears with too much information. Jimmy also met an assassin's bullet. The deaths are well documented in the Biloxi papers and had more to do with drugs than the ripping off of a few crap shooters at the Red Carpet. There is a lot of speculation on whether the Dixie Maffia did in fact exist, as an entity. If there was such a thing as the Dixie Maffia it was not very forgiving in 1960's, per the newspapers of the day.

I first met Rip Polous in 1998 at Bob Gabel's Biloxi chip show. It was the best chip show I ever attened outside the convention. I have fond memories of that show. The casino's were chipper friendly, the people of Biloxi welcomed us southern style. Several "Old Timers" from the "Era Of The Illegals" showed up including Rip.

Greg Susong organized a roulette harvesting raid on a couple casino's. 7 guys bought in on roulette tables and each bought a different color.

Rip and I became friends. He is a poker player and we had lunch when he came to LV for tournaments. He brought me the Red Carpet chips in 1999, we had lunch at the Orleans. I also visited him in Biloxi twice. He was in his 70's last time I spoke to him.

He is The Southern version of the "Dapper Don."
Worked and owned illegals in Biloxi for years. Only went to jail once over dice being sent to a drug store in Biloxi from Pat Sullivan of Christy Jones in LV.
That story is in my Biloxi articles.

Rip gave me 5 colors of his chips.

He used them at Gus Steven’s Night Club and The Porterhouse in Biloxi.
You might recognize the name Gus Steven’s Night Club. Jane Mansfield appeared there one night, probably lost some on the crap table and literally lost her head on the way home.

Rip, Gene, and Genny, Rips lovely wife. I think this was taken in 2003 at Casino Magic where Genny was an executive. I booked a room there real cheap. When I checked in I was in what appeared to be "The Owners Suite." This was a dream suite!