MOB TOWN: 'SMALDONES THREATEND MY LIFE ONCE'

After police raided his fashionable Grant Street apartment in October 1951, veteran bookie Lester Laughlin, 75, boasted how he scammed Denver's top mobsters - the Smaldone brothers.

Clyde and Checkers Smaldone were muscling Laughlin out of their bookmaking wire operation at Midwest Brokerage Co. at 5900 North Federal Boulevard in Adams County. They had brought him into it in 1949.

Laughlin - who once worked for racing biggies Moe Annenberg and Jimmy Ragan - retained solid contacts in the east and used a "tip" to trick the Smaldones.

He urged the brothers to bet on a 12-1 shot in a fixed race at a track in New Jersey - without telling them that the race was fixed. They bit, they bet - and they lost $1,200, according to the Rocky Mountain News.

They had no idea they had been the victims of a flim-flam.

The Smaldone's wire room took wagers from 30 or 40 more bookies operating from a variety of venues across the Denver area - from bars to hotels and clubs.

Back on his own, Laughlin did well. He booked about $600 to $1,000 on a typical day from his Camellia House apartment at 1235 Grant Street - equipped with seven telephone lines.

His old employers envied his success. Laughlin - according to Grand Jury Investigator Jack Gilmore - said “the Smaldones threatened my life once, but I'm not afraid of them.”

Laughlin pleaded guilty to gambling charges, paid a $150 fine - and presumably left town. “There must have been payoffs to officials in Denver because you can't operate that widely without it,” he said of the Smaldone operation.