American Coin was a slot route operator in the 1980's. They had about 1000 machines in the neighborhood bars in Las Vegas. These bars were restricted to about 15 machines each. By the late eighties American Coin had been under investigation for a host of crimes for quite awhile. The investigation was started because of a certain unnamed informant. But Larry Volk, a former computer programmer for American Coin, put on the hot seat by the control board, admitted that he gaffed about 500 machines under orders of two of the owners, both named Rudolph LeVecchia, father and son. Volk told the board that a jackpot blocking device would cancel the draw of a certain number of royal flushes when there were five coins bet. Volk also used this technique in video keno machines.
The board had determined that the cheating went on for three years without detection. It was estimated that the gaff had blocked somewhere between 10 million and 20 millions dollars worth of jackpots. Volk was going to be the key witness against the Levecchia's in the criminal proceedings. In 1989 the board revoked American Coin's gaming license and fined them 1 million dollars. They went out of business and filed for bankruptcy.
The Attorney General's office was proceeding with criminal charges. Larry Volk was shot and killed while working on his car in his carport in February 1990. This severely handicapped the state's case. Two years later, David Lemons was charged with the crime. He beat the rap.
In 1997, while doing time for a burglary charge, David Lemons confessed to killing Volk. He also implicated Vito Bruno, and Bruno's aunt, Soni Beckman, a longtime Levecchia family friend, as accomplices. Bruno got a ten year sentence. Beckman was let off with a fine and probation. The Levecchia's went scott free. Lemons couldn't be charged again because of double jeopardy.
Ironically, Ronald Dale Harris was one of the investigators for the control board on the American Coin case. Just a few years later Harris would be convicted of gaffing slot machines and electronic keno to pay out large sums of money.
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Posted by: mickeycrimm@yahoo.com
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