The SLIM and BUGGS chips were obtained from an ebay auction several months ago. A friend bought them and sent them to me. Sorry, no traders. I held off posting them in hopes the 3rd chip you will read about below showed up. The 3rd chip is a TH hub and has the initials for the Traux Hotel on them. Hopefully some day, it will show up.

The story documents another long history of illegal/legal booze and illegal gambling. This is my 2nd attribution of chips from Syracuse, NY. IMO the 1st one is an iffy attribution, so will not include it in this post.

Enough of that:

Syracuse, New York:

SLIM

George DiGiacomo
Truax Hotel
Syracuse, NY
6/24/36 - 200 black $1
7/3/36 - 150 black $1
8/13/36 - 40 white $5
8/18/36 - 40 white $5

Same day as “Slim” above

Frank Bagozzi
c/o Greenways Brewing Co Inc
1925 Park Street
Syracuse, NY
6/24/36 100 blue $5

Note on BUGGS card says 'see TH also'

TH-Hub Mold-Sorry no scan.

George DiGiacomo & Frank Bagozzi
Truax Hotel
Syracuse, NY
13/9/36
500 black $1-200 white $5

I NEED THE TH CHIP! Cough it up if you have a trader.

George DiGiacomo was a son of Italian immigrants and a native of Utica, NY. Prior to WWI DiGiacomo worked at a popular newsstand in downtown Utica. In 1919, after service in the ambulance corps in Europe during the war, DiGiacomo was elected Supervisor of Utica’s 1st Ward (re-elected in 1921). In 1923 he was fined for gambling along with 14 others when Utica police raided a downtown crap game. A few years later he moved to Syracuse where the SLIM chips were delivered to him in 1936.

My note: What a surprise! A Utica Ward Supervisor arrested for Illegal gambling.

DiGiacomo was arrested a couple of times in the 1950’s when Syracuse police raided craps games at Windy Hill Billiards, 309 Pond St.and the Italian-Americans Veterans Club, 230 N. Salina. DiGiacomo died at Syracuse in Dec.1963, age 72.

My note: IMO it is a stretch to think the chips were used at Windy Hills Billiards or the Italian-Americans Veterans Club, some 14 years later, but possible.

Frank Dominic Bagozzi was raised in a west side suburb of Syracuse called Solvay where his Austrian born father operated a saloon. Bagozzi worked at his dad’s place as a teen and during prohibition was arrested when an employee was caught unloading a freight car full of barrels of beer onto a truck for Frank. In 1930 the Bagozzi’s hid their speak-easy by having an entrance in the rear while the store front resembled a vacant building for rent.

Bagozzi’s first arrest on a gambling charge was in 1930 when police raided a gambling house he was operating in Syracuse. Over the next 40 years he would be arrested numerous times—mostly on gambling charges. In 1951 a raid of a place run by Bagozzi made headlines when a police photographer snapped a pic of the illegal gambling in progress from a skylight in the roof—through which the police then dropped down, according to Bagozzi, “like bat men”:

My note: Dropped in “like bat men” Today the reporter might think it was “Like Seal Team 6.” If so, I bet BO would take the credit! OK OK, it was a joke not a political statement.

Interesting that the 1st cop that came down the rope landed in the middle of the crap table. I wonder if the stick man yelled “Seven and out!” or “No Roll!”

By the 1960’s the sports car & Cadillac driving Bagozzi was well known in Syracuse and referred to as a “dapper gambler.” On Feb. 28th 1981 he died at Syracuse at the age of 75.

My note: “dapper gambler:” How many times have seen that phrase in an “Illegal Of The Day” post?

So what were DiGiacomo and Bagozzi up to when the SLIM, BUGGS & TH chips were delivered to them in 1936? Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find anything definitive but my guess is that they were running games at the Truax Hotel. I base this guess on the fact that we know hotels were common venues for illegal gambling at that time and that the final chip order is hot-stamped TH, which could possibly stand for Truax Hotel. This guess is tempered somewhat by the fact that at the time of the chip orders DiGiacomo was a resident of the Truax Hotel and so it’s possible the chips were merely delivered to his place of abode. It should also be mentioned that a few months prior to the chip orders Bagozzi was arrested when police raided a poker game taking place at a billiard hall called the Venetian Gardens—Bagozzi was listed as a participant, not the proprietor.

The 54 room Truax Hotel was located on the northeast corner of Harrison and S. Warren, directly across the street from Syracuse’s finest hotel at the time, the Syracuse Hotel (the structure which housed the Truax has been replaced by a parking garage).

The only chip order not sent to the Truax was the BUGGS chip. It was sent to the Greenway Brewery Company. I’m not sure what Bagozzi’s association was with Greenway but I think it probably had to do with distribution of their product. In 1933, during the same week that the State of New York legalized 3.2% beer, a business calling itself the Syracuse Beverage Co. filed papers of incorporation. The company described itself as “the largest distributor of beer in central New York” and its president was Bagozzi, who for many years during the 1920’s and 1930’s listed his occupation as “truckman.” I’m assuming Bagozzi was trucking illegal beer during prohibition and turned his business legit when it became legal. One of the incorporators of the Syracuse Beverage Co. was a next door neighbor of Bagozzi named Sylvio Santorum--he became an executive with Greenway in the late 1930’s.

During the Summer of 1936 when the chip orders were being delivered, Bagozzi was also involved in an enterprise to bring dog racing to central NY. Bagozzi was an incorporator and secretary-treasurer of a concern named the Salt City Kennel Club.

The SCKC had its opening day of racing on August 13th 1936 (same day as one of the chip orders sent to DiGiacomo). Local authorities warned that any track betting would be illegal, but the operators felt they could legally provide patrons with a form of wagering called “option betting.” This disagreement made its way to Albany where the Governor and AG got involved and the issue landed in the courts. 2 1/2 weeks after SCKC’s opening day a NY Supreme Court justice appointed a “referee” to decide the legality of option betting at the SCKC’s track:

And that was the end of that.

Also, another interesting tidbit that takes us into Bagozzi’s world in 1936 is that on July 3rd of that year he purchased a Colt .38 “banker’s special” from a pawn shop in Syracuse (this is the same date as one of DiGiacomo’s chip orders). This hand gun, with its short 2 inch barrel, was advertised by Colt to be “conveniently carried and quickly drawn from the pocket.”

Here’s a couple of ads for places run by Bagozzi in the 1940’s: