You’re probably referring to an inside story of the scandal that brought down the company of the same name – as told from the perspective of Frank Romano. Romano was a partner in American Coin with Randolph LaVecchia and his son, Rudy. The case’s infamy stems from the murder of Larry Volk, the prototypical "man who knew too much."
At the bidding of American Coin’s owners, Volk "gaffed" the computer chips on 500 or more of the company’s video poker and video keno machines. This prevented jackpots from being awarded when players bet maximum coin-in on the devices. The chip gaffing "resulted in $17 million in fraud," according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal and went unnoticed from 1986 until 1989.
When the gaffed chips were finally brought to the attention of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, it had already been running a sting on American Coin for committing illegal interstate sales of slot machines. Chips were then pulled from American Coin devices in six Las Vegas bars and regulators found that they didn’t match the "master" chips that American Coin kept on file with the state. However, it didn’t look like the NGCB could make a case – until Larry Volk rolled on his employers, the LaVecchias and Romano.
The immediate consequence was that American Coin went out of business. In February 1990, the owners surrendered their gaming licenses and promised to pay a $1 million fine. Volk, however, was complaining of death threats. In late summer, an attempt to bomb his mobile home, at 5514 Petaca Rd. in northeastern Las Vegas, was unsuccessful. (Mr. and Mrs. Volk were out of the state when it occurred.) The lead chapter of Jeff Burbank’s book License to Steal tells what happened next: "At 7:50 p.m. on October 1, 1990, Larry Volk, a 49-year-old former computer programmer for the American Coin Company, was working on his car in the covered carport of his modest mobile home … A bullet from a gun fired from behind a wooden fence in Volk’s backyard slammed into the top of his head and exited through the rear of his skull." Volk died at the scene.
Volk’s killer wasn’t hard to find. He’d already had two run-ins with Las Vegas Metro. Convicted felons Vito Bruno (aka John Sipes) and David Lemons had been seen casing Volk’s home on two previous occasions. The second time, the cops found an unregistered handgun in their car. Both men were arrested on weapons charges. On the eve of Volk’s murder, Lemons was not only back in the area but he was riding an unregistered motorcycle and racked up no fewer than three traffic citations.
Arraigned on Sept. 9, 1992, Lemons beat the rap at trial. The District Attorney’s case was circumstantial. Anthony Sgro, Lemons’ attorney, succeeded in casting suspicion on other potential suspects. Lemons wasn’t a free man for long, however. Within a few weeks, this three-time loser was nabbed for burglary. He was convicted and doing a long stretch in the Nevada state penetentiary, in Jean, when he experienced a jailhouse conversion, in 1997. Lemons contacted authorities and confessed to killing Volk. He fingered not only Bruno but also the latter’s aunt, LaVecchia family friend Soni Beckman, as his accomplices. He alleged that she and Bruno also discussed bumping off Frank Romano.
Beckman was arrested in Helendale, Calif., in November 1997. Bruno was busted a week later, in Phoenix. There was no tearful jailhouse reunion, though: Beckman was released on bail, while Bruno’s bail request was denied. Former prosecutor Mel Harmon, who had unsuccessfully prosecuted Lemons, emerged from retirement to handle the Beckman and Bruno cases.
On Sept. 23, 1999, Beckman pleaded out to one count of conspiracy. Bruno also pleaded to conspiracy, as well as solicitation to commit murder. Beckman – who’d been able to afford a private attorney – received probation and a $5,000 fine. Bruno had to use a public defender. He landed parallel sentences of six and 10 years in the big house. Neither was compelled to testify against other potential co-conspirators, because under Nevada law it is difficult to use accomplice testimony without supporting evidence.
In a Nov. 11, 1999 interview with ZDNet US, an anonymous Metro detective called the American Coin case "a frustrating situation. We thought the LaVeccchias were involved, but we could never build a case against then." For evidence, there was little more than some blank checks, signed by Mrs. LaVecchia, which were found in Beckman’s home, plus a fax transmission from the Beckman home to a LaVecchia-registered phone in Hawaii on the night of Larry Volk’s murder.
The LaVecchias weren’t completely out of the woods, though. Rudolph and Rudy had neglected to keep their promise to pay the Gaming Control Board that million dollars. On Jan. 15, 2001, then-District Court Judge Nancy Saitta handed down a $1.24 judgment against the twosome, effective closing the book (pardon the pun) on the American Coin case.
