DAILY BUZZ: Poker Convictions, Poker Murders, Poker Robberies

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DAILY BUZZ: Poker Convictions, Poker Murders, Poker Robberies

Jason Kirk | October 28, 2009

Welcome to the BLUFF Daily Buzz, where we scour the entire internet for all the latest news in and around the world of poker. If it involves chips and cards, or people known to associate with chips and cards, we’re there.

Denver underground poker room owner faces 24 years in prison

Jeffrey Castardi, the owner and operator of an underground Denver poker club whose operations drove two men to suicide, pleaded guilty this week to one charge of racketeering under the Colorado Organized Crime Control Act. Castardi, 48, will face up to 24 years in jail when he is sentenced on December 14th.

Jeff Castardi faces 24 years in jail for running an underground poker room

According to Colorado authorities, the Gin Rummy Club operated as a social club but made as much as $750,000 in a single year over the course of its five years of existence by running poker games. There was no limit on the stakes in Castardi’s club, as opposed to the legal casinos in Colorado which had a $5 betting limit; unsurprisingly he drew some well-known clientele, including athletes and celebrities. Players played on the book and settled up with the house after the game, and Castardi also offered credit at five percent per week to players who couldn’t afford to pay up at the end of the night. He also hounded his indebted players mercilessly, driving one player, Eric Cox, to kill himself over the debts.

None of the gamblers who played at the Gin Rummy Club were arrested, as the state considered them witnesses. Among those who named by the Denver Post as players at the club were former Denver Broncos players Rod Bernstine and Reggie Rivers and 2007 WSOP bracelet winner Francois Safieddine.

The Denver Post featured a full story on Castardi and the Gin Rummy Club when his indictment was handed down back in March.

(Jeffrey Castardi, head of Gin Rummy Club, pleads guilty - Denver Post)

Pokerati poker murders update

Sticking with today’s poker crime theme, Pokerati.com rounded up new information on three different poker-related murder cases from around the world into a single post today.

Paroled cop killer and former one-time Dallas underground poker room operator James McDaniel was sentenced to life in prison for his role today in the drug overdose death of Southern Methodist University student Meagan Bosch. McDaniel delayed getting a nearly-comatose Bosch medical treatment after she had overdosed on cocaine and then dumped her body in a portable toilet at a construction site outside Waco, Tex.

Meanwhile an Australian poker player convicted of manslaughter for killing a fellow player with a single punch after an altercation at the table is going to get a new trial, and police in Sweden have concluded that the murder of PokerListings founder Andreas Oscarsson was a methodically planned, professionally executed hit.

(Poker Homicide Updates - Pokerati.com)

Cleveland home game robbed for $11,000

A private poker game among friends unexpectedly turned into a half-naked robbery last night in Cleveland, Ohio.

At about 11:20 p.m. on Monday night one of the game’s seven players stepped outside to have a cigarette only to have a gun pointed at his head. He led the gunman and the gunman’s accomplices to the door, and when another player opened the door the robbers forced their way inside. There they stripped all the players to their pants, doused them with pepper spray, and robbed of their clothes, their wallets, and $11,000 in cash.

If you ever feel like you run bad, consider the situation of one of the players at the Cleveland game who was also present at another poker game robbery six months ago in Solon, Ohio, where men with assault rifles made away with more than $70,000. According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

A player from Monday night was at the Solon game and said he couldn’t believe he was once again staring at robbers with more assault rifles. Monday’s game was listed on a Web site dedicated to local poker games, and the man said he visited the host before the game to warn him about security and urge him not to advertise the location of the game.

“I thought I learned my lesson,” he said. “I thought, ‘Here we go again.’ It’s been quite the months I’m having.”

The host of the game declined to comment. Card games are legal in Ohio as long as the host doesn’t charge a fee or keep a percentage of the payout.”

(Gunmen with assault rifles get $11,000 from poker game - Cleveland Plain Dealer)

Police foil would-be poker robber

Police in Cornelius, N.C., stopped Terry Lynn Adkins from pulling off a poker robbery of his own thanks to a tip from a confidential informant.

On Monday night Adkins met up with two accomplices outside of town and then began casing the target house, where a home game was going on. Adkins thought the game was going to have large sums of money, though neighbors say the penny-ante game wouldn’t have been worth much to the would-be robber. Before he could pull off the heist, police pulled him over and were able to charge him with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and armed career criminal.

It seems like poker robbery was just a side game for Adkins: the investigation that led to his arrest involved other violent crimes and marijuana and cocaine smuggling.

(Police thwart alleged thief targeting home poker games - WCNC.com)

Jay Busbee wrote about poker robberies in the August 2006 issue of Bluff.

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