McAfee began his career as a firefighter in Los Angeles, California.[3] He subsequently served as the head of the vice squad of the Los Angeles Police Department.[2] At the same time, he was the owner of gambling "saloons and brothels had ties to organized crime."[2] He was also the manager of the Clover Club, an upmarket club on the Sunset Strip.[3] He became known as the "Capone of LA".[4] When Judge Fletcher Bowron was elected as the 38th Mayor of Los Angeles on a platform to rid Los Angeles of gambling and narcotics in 1938,[2] McAfee moved to Las Vegas, Nevada within a year.[5][6]

The Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In 1939, McAfee acquired the Pair O'Dice Club on Highway 91 (the future Las Vegas Boulevard) and renamed it the 91 Club,[3] and the Frontier Club,[7][8] downtown Las Vegas. Meanwhile, with Milton B. Page, McAfee managed the El Rancho, another casino.[9] He was a co-founder of the Pioneer Club in 1942. Three years later he announced plans to build the Golden Nugget, downtown Las Vegas, which opened in 1946. McAfee was president of Golden Nugget from 1952 until his retirement in 1960.[10]
McAfee was also a real estate investor in California. For example, he was the co-proprietor of the Chapman Building in Fullerton, California alongside N. Morty Bernstein in 1949, which he leased to the American Red Cross.[11]
With Jake Kozloff and Beldon Katleman, McAfee acquired the Frontier Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in 1951.[12][13] They acquired it from Bill Moore for US$5.5 million.[14]
McAfee named the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas after the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles.[2][15][16]
McAfee was a co-founder of the unincorporated place of Paradise, Nevada near Las Vegas.[2] It was established as a tax shelter for casinos.[2]