Judge refuses to release suspect in alleged slot scam

Bill Gang

Tuesday, June 16, 1998 | 10:48 a.m.

The purported leader of a slot machine cheating ring that is alleged to have milked millions from machines in Las Vegas and, perhaps, across the country, is going to stay in jail until his trial.

But two others charged in the scam that stretched over 13 months were allowed Monday by U.S. Magistrate Robert Johnston to remain free. A fourth defendant had been freed from custody last week.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Dam argued that Dennis Nikrasch, 56, who has a long criminal history, likely would flee if released from custody pending the trial in U.S. District Court.

"He didn't learn anything from his prior 10 convictions ... parole or probation," Dam said.

Dam added that Nikrasch, who is said to have a dozen aliases, told friends his goal was to win the Megabucks slot jackpot, now at more than $17 million, and move to France.

Defense attorney Oscar Goodman said there is no proof of that and scoffed at contentions by federal authorities that Nikrasch was hiding large quantities of money at his home to facilitate flight. A search of a safe at the defendant's home, Goodman said, turned up only 10 $100 bills.

Goodman suggested house arrest as an alternative for jail, but Johnston wouldn't go along, noting that Nikrasch was a federal fugitive for five years in the 1980s.

Several jackpots alleged to have been manipulated involved luxury cars as prizes, although cash usually was taken in lieu of the vehicles. But the biggest jackpot was for $3.7 million at Harrah's hotel-casino in July. A $1.7 million jackpot was hit at the Luxor hotel-casino in November.

While Nikrasch will sit in jail, Eugene Bulgarino, 65, an alleged key player in the operation, was allowed to go free until trial so long as he stays in Clark County and out of casinos.

Bulgarino's 66-year-old wife, Joan, already had been released without bail on charges she acted as a lookout while slot machines were being manipulated to pay off large jackpots.

The fourth defendant, Ronnie Gale McElveen, 59, was arrested at his Modesto, Calif., home, but he traveled to Las Vegas for Monday's hearing that resulted in his being released without bail.

The federal complaint tells a story of an organized group that would carefully select vulnerable machines, screen the manipulations from security cameras and guards and bring in outsiders to win the bogus jackpots without drawing suspicion. The "winners" took a slice of the proceeds -- sometimes thousands of dollars -- in exchange for a few minutes work.

Court documents allege that Nikrasch "is a computer expert who actually opens the slot machines and uses a hand-held concealed computer or device to program the slot machine to win."