Updated: 12 07, 08 Tales of Toledo: Polished gambler gave sparkle to city's sordid past From the deep dark recesses of a long forgotten second floor loft, across the street from Toledo's red-light district, laughter mingled with the sounds of a slightly out of tune piano. The music drifting across the wet snowflakes fused together to obscure the shadows that played obliquely on the gritty windows.

Updated: 8:00 am
Part 2: Boody House car service driver built gambling empire in Toledo
Asked to leave Cleveland's Irish neighborhood, Gerald Jimmy Hayes arrived in Toledo a little north of the turn of the century and several steps ahead of the law. Aligned with his boyhood friend Ed Warnke, they promptly entered the Boody House's horse-drawn carriage service and the lucrative night life that Toledo offered.

Updated: 7:35 am
Part 3: Hayes becomes the target of hitmen
Along with Jimmy Hayes' business sense, the decade of the twenties brought order and consolidation to organized gambling in the Toledo area. Operating without interference in Toledo and surrounding areas, Hayes opened his latest gambling establishment catering to the high rollers just over the state line in Michigan.

Updated: 7:44 am
Part 4: Hayes' Willow Beach becomes the place to be
Located just north of the Casino in Point Place, Willow Beach was nestled along the tree lined shallow bay adjacent to Summit Street. During the long hot summers, Toledoans relaxed in the tree lined grove and refreshed themselves in the cool waters of the Maumee Bay.

Updated: 7:46 am
Part 5: Licavolis' River Gang makes its move from Detroit to Toledo
The Motor City was just a short hour's drive north of Toledo, and it was often said of its cousin to the south that when Detroit caught a cold, Toledo caught pneumonia. Consequently, when Detroit had a criminal crisis, Toledo suffered the retribution.

Updated: 7:49 am
Part 6: Police raids help Hayes crush gambling rival
Prior to the introduction of Yonnie Licavoli into the Toledo area, there were four major players in the gambling enterprises that serviced the greater Toledo Metropolitan area. They were Jimmy Hayes together with Ed Warnke, the Fretti Brothers, Benny Aronoff and Benny Harris with Abe Joffa's horse book.

Updated: 7:52 am
Part 7: Yonnie Licavoli attempts to grab Showboat Lounge
Frustrated, and with his reputation badly bruised in his attempt to add the Licavoli management style to the Point's Golden Rose Supper Club, Yonnie Licavoli looked around for a cash rich business without political and police safeguards. After conferring with Firetop Sulkin, Yonnie decided to go after Chet Marks and his partner Lou Greiner.

Updated: 7:56 am
Part 8: Police put heat on gambling house owner
By the middle of June 1932 the police had changed their tactics in response to Benny Harris. With Alfred B. Sharp acting as the complainant, accompanied by nine arrest warrants, and orders from Acting Inspector Ray Allen and Sergeant Matthews, two detectives and fifteen patrolmen using a sledge hammer and axe busted down the door of Harris's Monroe Street Cigar Store.

Updated: 6:23 am
Part 9: Jack Kennedy's death brings crackdown on crime
With the end to prohibition in sight, 1933 brought more violence and murder to the streets of Toledo, culminating with the brutal murder of Jack Kennedy on the streets of Point Place. Shielding the city from the relentless onslaught of the Licavoli gang was Jack Kennedy, the vanguard of Toledo's defense and courage of the city.

Updated: 8:35 am
Part 10: Toledo gambling boss shot dead in Detroit
All of the Toledo and Detroit papers had the same headline on October 4, 1934, and it wasn't about the opening game of the World Series - HAYES SLAIN IN DETROIT. Toledoans who didn't gamble or hang around the numerous cigar stores downtown wondered who Gerald Jimmy Hayes was.

Updated: 6:17 am
Part 11: In Toledo, J. Edgar Hoover nabs No. 1 criminal on FBI's list
With the Licavoli Gang in jail or in hiding, 1936 came with a relative calm or fog that had settled over Toledo. Gambling had returned by popular demand and the police just winked at what they considered a victimless crime.

Updated: 3:58 am
Part 12: No. 915 nearly calculates end to number banks
Benny Aronoff and Benny Harris, two of Toledo's largest number banks, came real close to bankruptcy in early 1938 when the number 915 came up a winner on February 1st. The winning number in the Toledo area was determined from the New York closing stock market totals.

Updated: 3:46 am
Part 13: Games of chance thrive during war years
With the arrival of the decade of the Forties, Toledo found itself immersed in the events that were rapidly unfolding throughout war-ravaged Europe.

Updated: 7:26 am
Part 14: Public's distaste brought era to end
The world was rapidly changing and the irony was that Benny Aronoff didn't realize that gambling was slowly becoming distasteful to the majority of Toledoans. Like it did with the bootleggers of Prohibition, the public was little by little changing its perception or attitude towards gambling from one of amusement to distaste, and Benny never saw it coming.