Archive for the ‘Max Steingrout’ Category

Icarus

Thursday, March 26th, 2020
Max Steingrout

Man out of Time, Max Steingrout, like Icarus, flew too close to the sun.

The Nevada Gaming Commission believed him to be the mob-connected lynchpin responsible for manipulating the outcome of hundreds, if not thousands, of college and professional basketball games.

In reality, the mob rode Steingrout like a painted show pony.

Although too much drinking, smoking, drugging, and whoring had taken their toll, he could still read the writing on the wall.

He fled south of the border.

Upon his return to Las Vegas, Max the Junkie had lost his nerve, his mind, and his soul.

He became the mark for the tourists, junkies, pimps and prostitutes he once so proudly preyed upon.

Faces were the same but the names had changed, perhaps to protect the innocent.

Max knew there were no innocents.

For money, he wandered The Strip in a methadone fog forcing escort brochures into the hands of unsuspecting old ladies and wide-eyed children.

Pschedelic Circus

Thursday, January 2nd, 2020
Jake Fizzario

July, 1986-

In Las Vegas, there is no shade for the weary, weak or broken.

Ghosts haunt The Strip like the junkies haunt the Mission’s methadone clinic.

Farm fresh off Grateful Dead tour, The Fizz beamed.

The psychedelic circus had derailed when Jerry collapsed into a diabetic coma. Refugees like Jake “The Fizz” Fizzario were left to fend for themselves.

Surprisingly nimble for his size, barefoot Fizz grilled cheese sandwiches on the sizzling Strip.

2 for $5.

The grilling was good, sales were not.

Max invited him to put on some shoes and come into the casino …

The System

Thursday, December 26th, 2019

Las Vegas, NV-

By 1987, Jake Fizzario & Max Steingrout had The System well in place and they were cleaning up.

High on acid, The Fizz  would handicap the games based on some sort of psychedelic spiritual guidance.

Max, geeked on crack cocaine, would handicap based on his obsession with all things NBA. 

They would then compare picks and bet the common games.

It was crazy. It was mad.

It worked. 

In less than six weeks they turned Max’s last $15 into $1.5 million and became Las Vegas Legends.

The Fizz knew nothing about basketball, Max knew nothing about God.

El Perozoso: The Fast Picker

Thursday, December 26th, 2019

Tijuana, Mexico – 1992

After his inglorious expulsion from Las Vegas, Max disappeared south of the border.

The US dollar was strong and, for a while, he lived like a king. He immersed himself in the culture.

He drank, drugged, smoked, whored & gambled on cock fights.

He became one with the Mexican people & they became one with him.

He learned the language.

After the money was gone, during the day, he picked fruit with the small children and old women.

They called him El Perezoso which means: “The Fast Picker.”

At night he would pick the fruits of Tijuana’s daughters.

Later, the fathers, pimps or young Mexican suitors would pick fights with him.

The Black Book

Tuesday, October 15th, 2019
the Las Vegas Black Book

Mike Rhumbolz was district attorney with political ambitions. He was in the Las Vegas corporate bag. He was feeling the heat, the Gaming Commission wanted results. They wanted names for their black book.

In 1988, under pressure from the Department of Tourism, the Nevada Gaming Control Board made an expanded effort to add more names to The Vegas Black Book.

After a three year investigation the Vegas Metropolitan Police Department submitted 55 names and profiles – reputed organized crime associates and suspected gaming cheaters, many from Las Vegas – to the board in 1991.

Board Chairman Mike Rumbolz, was convinced that Max Steingrout was the mob-connected lynchpin degenerate responsible for controlling the outcome of dozens, if not hundreds, of professional and collegiate basketball games.

Rumbolz believed that Steingrout, AKA- The Chickenhawk, was the cold-blooded mastermind behind the biggest sports gaming conspiracy Las Vegas had ever seen.

In reality, the mob rode Max Steingrout like a show pony.

They waged big numbers on his picks &, after the lines changed, hedged their bets with even more money. Often winning both sides.

It was as if everyone & anyone knew his picks. It got so, it wasn’t so much who he picked but who he didn’t pick.

It was a setup. Max was the patsy.

The corporate gangsters were not going to allow their mafiosa counterparts control the game. They weren’t going to be pushed around any longer.

With the help of local, Clark County law enforcement and FBI agents, Rhumbolz was determined to bring the gangsters to their knees.

google.com, pub-1784296464172595, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0

Steingrout

Tuesday, September 24th, 2019


-Stein:  from the Norse ’sten’- a stone,

-Grout:  from the Old Norse “grautr”, or the Old English pre 7th Century “Grut”, an early nickname for a person considered by neighbors to be a bit wild, rough around the edges, and someone not to be associated with. 

As far as the family name, there are not many of us left. Killed off by plague, pestilence, Huns and holocaust, geneological research reveals:

The earliest recording of the name includes Steingrautr and Stengrut of Yorkshire (personal names only) in the 1086 Domesday Book.

Banished from Las Vegas by way of entrance into The Black Book in 1991, 34 year old junkie Max Steingrout needed a fix.



The Chickenhawk

Saturday, September 21st, 2019
Lefty Rosenthal The Chickenhawk

By 1987 Max Steingrout was a Las Vegas lifer. A hanger on, a degenerate, a chain smoker, a drunk, a drug addict and most important, to the establishment which allowed him to exist in the first place, a gambling addict.

He lost more than he won.

In spite of the smell, the sports books tolerated Max, as long as it wasn’t convention season & as long as he wasn’t bothering the girls.

In 1987, for the first time in his sordid gambling career, Max Steingrout started to win & win big.

Simultaneously, the Las Vegas Corporate Takeover had began.

Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal was the target of FBI & Las Vegas Gaming Commission investigations.

In a last ditch effort to avoid indictment, & potential entry into The Black Book, Lefty Rosenthal looked at long time associate, Dick Wheeler, pointed at Max and said: ”Make that fucking prick The Chickenhawk.”

Arigoto

Thursday, September 19th, 2019

November 4, 1979 –

Iranian students loyal to the Ayatollah stormed the US Embassy taking 52 American hostages.

Like the economy, Max Steingrout’s gambling career had hit the skids.

For income, he resorted to pay phone coin returns and offering tourists an array of services & goods.

Neither proud nor afraid of a little pain, Max found himself somewhat of a niche marketplace in Sin City.

The yen was doing well against the dollar and Las Vegas became the #1 Asian destination resort.

Girls with big, American breasts were flown in nightly for Japanese playboy perversions.

He’d target Asians, his best customers: polite & loaded, they’d often pay him just to go away.

Desperate times required desperate measures.

Arigato.

Circus Circus

Thursday, September 19th, 2019

True story:  In 1979, beleaguered  22 year old, professional sports bettor, Max Steingrout took a job at Circus Circus in Las Vegas, NV.

Opened by Jay Sarno in 1968 with mob money, Circus Circus was designed to allow families to enjoy the wholesomeness of a Circus (Circus), while Dad drank martinis, gambled the mortgage, and cavorted with prostitutes in casino men’s rooms.

At the time, Max was doing too much crank and his betting career had hit the skids.

He blamed the losing streak on the point guard, the quarterback, the bounce or the fumble. Never on himself.

Part of Max’s duties at Circus Circus included circus animal cleanup and clown support.

As part of the Clown Crew, he would help with wardrobe, makeup & costume changes.

Max didn’t get along with the clowns. They viewed him as an outsider with no clown credentials. They reported numerous, imagined violations to management and got him fired after only two weeks.

The clowns took their job very seriously.

No clowning around.

Bobo

Friday, September 13th, 2019
Bobo

Las Vegas, NV –  1976.

Happy Bicentennial Birthday America, Happy Birthday Bobo.

Ceasars Palace’s Bobo the Famous Handicapping Chimp turned five and was coming off an 8-4 NFL weekend spiriting his winning percentage to over .600.  Vegas partied like it was 1999. Don’t ask me how, Bobo knew how to pick the winners.

Bobo made regular appearances on the Lefty Rosenthal Show, opposite old Blue Eyes himself. Some maintain, Bobo stole the show. Bobo, was more a member of the Rat Pack than Peter Lawford and it was unanimous: Vegas loved Bobo & Bobo loved Vegas!

Unfortunately, Bobo also loved the sweet, banana nectar of Jack Daniels. Disillusioned by the late nights, cigarettes, booze and strippers, Bobo lashed out at his fans. He ripped off his diaper and threw feces at Caesars’ patrons. Bad Bobo.

One night, long after his Las Vegas bright lights were turned off, Bobo finished off a quart of JD, took a handful of sleeping pills, choked on his vomit and died in his inebriated sleep.