01/17/2023
Mr. Joseph sat down across the desk from me and casually pulled out a deck of cards from an inner pocket
of his suitcoat and began shuffling and cutting the cards, his gaze steadily on my face. George Joseph
stood a little over six ft tall, much over six if you counted his hair, it stood three inches high in a stylish
pompadour. He was a handsome man, steel-gray eyes under bushy, dark brown eyebrows, the same color
as his hair. His dark complexion suggested a Middle Eastern lineage, as did his prominent nose and slightly
sunken cheeks. He was wearing a European designed three-piece suit and matching Italian loafers. His
long fingers manipulated the cards and it appeared to be an acquired habit.
“Did you notice anything while I shuffled these?”, he asked, placing the deck between us.
“No sir, I did not.”, I replied.
“I see the military is still in your system but save that for elsewhere. You can call me George.”, east coast
accent, but not New York or Boston, probably midwestern. I had met people from all fifty states during
my Air Force career, and it became a habit to locate people by their speech.
“Cut the deck please.”, he asked.
I cut the deck and watched as he quickly picked it up and dealt five hands. The first hand was two pair,
jacks and fives, the next had three of a kind sixes, the third was a low straight 4 through 8, followed by a
full house for the fourth, a losing hand to the Royal Flush in the fifth seat.
“Wow!”, was all I could say. I am not totally sure what’s going on at this point. Everyone had been nothing
but polite so far, nothing was making any sense. Maybe they wanted to get my prints on cards to have
them on record. No, the casinos and the Gaming Control Board had prints of all employees.
Mr. Joseph picked up the deck again, telling me to get closer and pay attention to what he was doing.
With my eyes glued to his every move, he repeated the trick. As he shuffled the cards he began
talking. This time he dealt five hands with ascending four -of-a -kinds from tens to aces.
“I see you’re from Youngstown, I grew up outside of Cleveland. A year and a half at Carnegie-Mellon,
impressive. Eight years in the Air Force before ending your career on the list for promotion to Technical
Sgt. Worked at the Circus-Circus and graduated from Slot Mechanic school, while attending classes at the

university. Married but separated from your wife, who works at the Sahara.” All this was without the
the benefit of any notes.
“That’s not on my application.”, I said.
“No Barron, it’s not.”, he smiled.
“So, what’s this all about?”, no sense in prolonging the inevitable.
“Slot operations are becoming a larger part of the gaming industry and are poised to become even larger
in the near future. This is an area of concern for our department, and it is an area where we don’t have
anyone with experience. We have been looking for someone who knows the machines and is familiar with
slot operations. Your attention to duty last week with the slot cheat, your recognizing his play and
apprehending him, put you at the top of the list.”
“You want me to train you guys?
“No, we want you to join our team in the surveillance room. How much do you know about the table
games?
“Wait a minute, you’re asking if I want to work up here? I asked.
“Yes, you will have to go to a dealer’s school, Candace will make the arrangements. You will need to turn
your jacket and keys over to the Slot Department. We will do a polygraph this Friday and hopefully start
you on the cameras Monday. Candace will give you the necessary paperwork to get you a new ID, keys,
and our training manuals. You were going to say yes, right?”
“Yes sir, I mean yes Mr. uuuhhh George. Thank you very much.”
He stood up and gave me the deck of cards while shaking my hand and leading me back to Candace’s
desk.
“He’s all yours! You can cancel the remainder of the interviews, after his poly.”
Candace was all smiles as she took over. She handed me a large portfolio, which included paperwork for the
department, a list of do’s and don’ts for interactions with other Dunes staff, and paperwork for the payroll
and personnel departments. I gathered all my things and followed her into the surveillance room where
she handed over the keys and introduced me to the day shift. As she left she hugged me and whispered in
my ear, “It’s about time they got some more color up in here!”

The rest of the day was a blur. In addition to Tom, who went by Mac, there was Jim, the dayshift
supervisor, and Chris, who previously was the last hire. The room had three school desks that faced a wall
of monitors, five rows high and ten rows across. Each desk held a phone and a small metallic box which
controlled camera selection. The screens showed the highest action on the blackjack and craps tables, the
roulette wheel, and the baccarat school. Others recorded action in the slot areas, the casino cage, front
desk, and hallways. There were over 350 cameras throughout the hotel and casino areas. Jim
demonstrated how a person could enter the front doors and be tracked everywhere they went, using
joystick controls to pan and tilt the cameras. Additional, fixed cameras, covered every register, the casino
cage, the count room, hallways, and the outside areas, I was impressed at how easy it was for him to call
out camera numbers to Mac and Craig, so they could position the next cameras needed. Sixteen reel -to
– reel tape machines recorded overall operations at the resort, and tapes often made a difference when
the need came to review discrepancies or disputes. The tapes were changed at the end of each shift. They
were saved for forty- eight hours before they were rotated back. Surveillance operators worked
independently in choosing what was recorded unless the pit called for a particular game or a patron bore
watching. I was bubbling over with excitement and longed to have someone to share the moment with
me. I asked the guys how they felt during the lie detector exam and received mixed comments. They were
probably all honest men who never thought of taking something that was not theirs. I, on the other hand,
had guilt that was freshly earned. New Mexico is the only state in the country, to allow polygraph results
in court proceedings. This would suggest that the test could be defeated with a strong mind and a weak
conscience, and I had both. The shift ended and I was introduced to the two swing shift operators, Kenny,
the supervisor, and Lou. Kenny was short and balding, and a flashy dresser. Lou was straight from the
Bronx, a huge guy , he was dressed in a jogging suit and tennis shoes. We conducted an informal change
of shift report to alert them to the heavy action on the floor and went to the elevators. The door to one
of them opened and Lucille stepped out. She motioned for me to wait a minute and exchanged lewd
remarks with Jim and Craig before dragging me to the break room. Ms. Brown began her career in
housekeeping over thirty years ago. The last twenty-five had been with Dunes and she had managed the
Executive Suite of Offices for the past fifteen years. She sat at one of the tables and pulled out a pack of
Kool’s, offering one to me. She let out a plume of smoke while asking,
“Where ya’ll from and how you manage to work your way up here so fast?”

“Well, I got out of the service at Nellis and decided to stay here, I like it. As far as getting the job, it was a
little bit of luck and being in the right place.”, I replied.
“Don’t go selling yourself short. I can’t imagine any of these guys up here chasing anyone across the street.
That took some nerve.”
“It probably wasn’t very smart; anyone could have been waiting for me with a weapon. I just got caught
up in the moment and my adrenaline did the rest.”
“Mr. Joseph and Ms. Candace are happy to have you. I never seen him so excited over a new hire. I just
wanted to congratulate you and welcome you to the floor. If you ever need anything, you just let ole
Lucille know. It’s good to see colored folk in high positions in this place. You got a family?”
“It’s complicated Lucille but thank you for the smoke. I need to catch up to someone, so see you
tomorrow? “
“Yessir, Mr. Barron, every day ‘cept Saturday and Sunday, you have a good night.”
Candace had explained the dining privileges that was one of the perks of working in the department., and
I was anxious to take advantage of it. I sauntered into the Sultans Table restaurant, for my comped meal
for the day, conscious of the stares from those who knew me from the slots as I assumed a position at the
counter and flashed my newly – minted Executive ID badge to the surprised waitress , and ordered the
Prime Rib. I was a generous tipper so she would embellish the story of the black, slots floorman, that made
it to the penthouse. By the time the swing shift completed its night, everyone would have heard the news.
I had to give up my position on the bowling team because of my promotion and I needed to get word to
someone so they could tell Maggie to meet me at the apartment. I tried Nola’s home number, no success,
she was dropping the kids at the sitter by now. Bob was always early, but I wasn’t supposed to go back to
the floor of the casino. It was moronic to think that the identities of the people in the surveillance
department were secret. Tom was a former Security Officer and Jim and Craig were both recruited from
the table games. I felt like I was wearing a flashing neon sign that told the world about my new job.

One of the cocktail waitresses I knew because she would score cocaine for us occasionally, was heading in my
direction so I told her to let Nola know what was going on. Yamika agreed to do so and moved closer and
slipped a small glass vial into my hand saying,
‘This for your promotion, and you tell me when security look at me, ok?”
I smiled in agreement and left to head for the apartment. The prime rib dinner had filled me up and I
went to the bedroom, put the tv on ESPN and fell asleep. At ten o’clock, I was awakened by the sound of
the front door opening. I struggled getting out of bed and before I could make it to the living room, I heard
another sound that would become very familiar, a baby crying. Maggie was carrying the adjustable car
seat/carrier and inside was a precious cargo that would become a very important part of my life, Adam
Torres. He was not just crying, but screaming at the top of his lungs. He immediately stopped when Maggie
reached for the diaper bag, retrieved his bottle and shoved it in his mouth. A smile replaced his angry face
as he held the bottle with two hands and filled his cheeks with the fluid. He stared at his Mom when she
grabbed my face and began kissing me. I kissed her back and held her close to me when she melted in my
embrace. We hurried to the bedroom and after putting Adam to bed, we disrobed and fell onto the bed
together. We made love and I told her everything that had happened while she was gone. Adam woke us up promptly at 7 o’clock the next morning.

To be continued………

Barron Broomfield