I bought 6 different hubs from Lee Weaver a couple months ago. They were taken by cops in raids in St Joseph, MO. The original seller sent Lee this email.

"Hi Lee, my father was a detective on the St. Joseph , Mo. Police Dept. Around 1952 he busted underground casinos in St. Joe and back then, cops got to keep the confiscated items. My parents were avid card players. Every weekend they would go to someone's house to play Michigan poker or sometimes the men would play poker. I was allowed to play with the chips, so they are good memories to me. I didn't get sentimental till I got to the UPS . Thank you for the interest and best of luck to you in your findings. Sharon I will send them out tomorrow."

I emailed the seller for more info. No reply. Ok let's see what we can come up with.

KC
Fontelelle Tavern
Saxon Road
St Joseph, MO
100 each 9 colors – 8/31/33
OK we have 1 Club name on the Mason record out of the 6 different chips I bought.

FTL
Wm Leach
St. Joseph, MO
1932 – 900 chips
Phantom die line on L
OK here we go!
Used at the Fontenelle Tavern after research.

Enter our "Friend Of The Hobby."

The FTL hub was delivered to Charles William Leach at St. Joseph, Missouri in 1932. Leach, a native of the St. Joe area, was involved with the operation of taverns and night clubs in that area during the 1930-1940’s. Not sure exactly what he was doing when he ordered the chips. It’s possible that the FTL on the chips is a contraction of the word Fontenelle. The FTL chips were found with KC hubs which were delivered to the Fontenelle Tavern in 1933.

My note: Not 100% sure on this one but in Ed and my opinions it is close to a good ID, maybe 90%. The C on the KC chips could be for Charles.

The Fontenelle was a roadhouse located outside St. Joe’s southeast border on Saxton/Easton Road, just east of Highway 169 (the area is within the city limits today). The Fontenelle was described as “one of the largest night clubs in rural Buchanan County” and “one of the largest taverns around St. Joseph.” The place was still operating into the 1950’s.

My note: Ed found this article from 1941, 9 years after the FTL and 8 years after the KC chips. There is a new operator or at least a partner in the operation. It appears he was a little hot headed.

My note: Ted Rogers also bought hub chips from Mason in 1937. We don't know at this time if he was at the Fontenelle when he bought the chips.
TED’ with denom's on reverse.
Hubs delivered to 409 Illinois
St Joseph. MO
1937
No other info. Has anyone ever seen them? We want one. Cough them up if you have traders.

Around 1949 Leach left St. Joe for Las Vegas where in 1950 he was given a gambling license to operate the Monte Carlo Club on Fremont St. Leach was also part owner of the Monte Carlo.

My note. One more time we see operators from the "Era Of the Illegals" migrating to Nevada to take part in what Las Vegas and Nevada was to become. Their footprints are all over the state.

As soon as they invent the time machine, I am going back and walk Fremont Street in the 1950's. I want to see the history as it happens. I bet Pam will go with me. I know there are still plenty of ash trays she needs.

Snip from the June 19th 1956 minutes of the Nevada Gaming Control Board available at PreservingGamingHistory.com:

Leach died at Las Vegas in 1969, age 74.

Side note:
August 8th 1950:

My note: Hard to believe the cops left it in the hallway. Even harder to believe 3 people put money in it. Who did they think was going to pay off a jackpot?

ROY
Roy Burson
Delivered to Drummer Cigar Store
St Joseph, MO
1936 – 1000 chips
Used at Belvedere Tavern after research.

Enter Ed Hertel:

Roy Burson (Drummer Cigar Store, St Jospeh, MO, 1936)
This is going to be our bread and butter here. The obvious is he owned the Drummer Cigar store (located at 410 Francis St), but I'm not sure if this is the gambling spot. Burson was indicted in 1938 when county police raided eight roadhouses (attached). It doesn't name his roadhouse, but later that month Roy was busted again for liquor violations at the "Belvidere". Further research shows he co-owned the "Belvedere Tavern" on Rochester Rd, north of St. Joseph, with Ned Jordan, who was also indicated in the original article. It's safe to say that the Belvedere Tavern was one of the eight roadhouses raided earlier in the month.

Since these all came from the same source, it's tempting to think some of the others might have come from same 1938 roadhouse raids. The William Leach, Roy Burson, and Fontelelle Tavern chips were also St Joseph and the Tom Gibson from Nevada, Mo, isn't too far away. The timing of the chip orders are nicely clustered together so it's tough to not believe they are all somehow associated with each other.

My note: We now have Club names for 3 out of the 6 hubs purchased from Lee. 3 down and 3 to go. We are still working on another Missouri chip and 2 from across state lines in Louisiana and Texas. If the original seller is right the other 2 migrated to the St Joseph area. We'll see as the Texas research is in the works.

Anyone out there with any info, feel free to jump in.

IGI
Tom Gibson
Nevada, MO
1937 – 850 chips
_______________

NJD yellow (a card for NJO says ‘mono void, see NJD’)

N J Dreyfus
Waterproof, LA
1935 – 200 chips
_______________
MD (yellow)

A.J. Meador
General Delivery
San Antonio, TX
1936 – 600 chips

Waterproof, LA. Surly they jest! I've been all over Louisiana, never seen a part that wasn't under water at one time or another.