Saturday, September 25, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Two more people added to state Black Book

The Nevada Gaming Commission expanded its infamous Black Book Friday by adding the names of two men involved in a sophisticated slot-cheating scam that cost casinos millions of dollars.

The commission's five members voted unanimously to add the names of Dennis McAndrew, who has been imprisoned twice for schemes that netted about $16 million, and Eugene Bulgarino, a member of McAndrew's ring.

Deputy Attorney General Darlene Caruso told the commission that both men pose a threat to the state and its gambling industry.

Neither McAndrew nor Bulgarino were at the hearing. Their lawyers also didn't attend.

McAndrew, who changed his last name from Nikrasch, was first convicted in a $10 million slot scheme in 1986 and served five years in prison before being paroled in 1991. He was sentenced in 1998 to 7 1/2 years in prison for his role in setting up another scam that cost six Las Vegas resorts a total of $6 million.

Prosecutors said 10 rigged jackpots were involved, ranging from one for $30,000 at the Rio to others for $1.7 million at the Luxor and $3.7 million at Harrah's.

Bulgarino received a nearly four-year prison sentence for his involvement in the $6 million scheme. In all, 13 defendants were indicted in the case.

The Black Book is actually a silver-colored album of mug shots, officially called the "List of Excluded Persons." With the two additions, there are now 39 people on the list who are banned for life from entering Nevada casinos.

Regulators say the book has helped maintain the integrity of the state and Nevada's gambling industry. Critics say the process unfairly protects the industry at the expense of individual rights.

Nominations to the book are made by the Gaming Control Board, whose staff prepares background investigations, sometimes with the assistance of the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies.