The Nevada State Gaming Contol Board's "List of Excluded Persons" was first inititated in 1960 as part of the clampdown on organized crime in the casino business, with the first 11 names added all belonging to reputed mobsters, of whom the best-known was Sam Giancana.
In 1978, Tony "the Ant" Spilotro joined the ranks of excluded persons followed, finally, in 1989 by Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, after years of successfully evading its clutches.
By this time, the emphasis had shifted from organized crime and was beginning to focus more on cheats, while the attrition of passing years meant that many former members were deceased and their names removed; hence, Lefty was in an exclusive club of only 14 remaining members upon his admission to this dubious pantheon.
In recent years, as far as well-known names are concerned, perhaps the most notorious on the current list is that of former Huntington Press employee Ron Harris, the Gaming Control Board tech wiz who "went bad" and ended up serving time for rigging slot machines back in 1997. There was something of a flurry that year, in fact, with eight new names being added -- the most in a twelve-month period since the list was begun.
The only other well-known name currently on the list is that of Richie "the Fixer" Perry, who Anthony Curtis recalls from his early days in Vegas and who was at the center of the college-basketball controversy that ultimately took down UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian (see QoD 6/5/2008). Here's a link to the current rogue's gallery.
