Black Book nominee arrested in Arizona

Jace Radke

Thursday, Sept. 23, 1999 | 10:41 a.m.

A man arrested by the FBI in Arizona could have the honor of being the 50th name ever entered into Nevada's Black Book, a list of those barred from casinos.

Michael Joseph Balsamo was indicted by a Las Vegas federal grand jury in July on charges of being involved with nine others in rigging slot machines to pay out millions of dollars in casinos across the country.

"Balsamo was the last of the people in that group that was still outstanding," said Gary Orton, deputy chief of the Nevada Gaming Commission's enforcement division. "Most investigators consider him to be one of the masterminds of a conglomerate that was cheating slots and developing new cheating devices and techniques.

"He was known as a cheater in Nevada and throughout the country."

Balsamo, 40, was arrested Tuesday at the Candlewood Suites hotel in Tempe, Ariz., after Federal Bureau of Investigation agents got a tip that he was at the hotel.

Balsamo apparently overheard an FBI agent speaking with a hotel employee and ran from the hotel, Las Vegas FBI spokesman Kevin Caudle said. Balsamo was found hiding in nearby bushes by a K-9 unit, and a search of Balsamo's room discovered $6,000 in cash and about an ounce of marijuana.

Authorities believe Balsamo fled Las Vegas after learning he had been indicted on charges of interstate travel in aid of racketeering, interstate transportation of stolen property and money laundering.

Balsamo was nominated for Nevada's List of Excluded Persons, or the Black Book, in August, but since he was a fugitive at the time authorities have not been able to serve him, Deputy Attorney General Keith Kizer said.

"He was nominated for consideration, and since he was on the lam the nomination was posted in the newspapers," Kizer said. "He may request a hearing, but the Gaming Commission will likely take action on the nomination at its November meeting."

Balsamo has been in the Black Book in New Jersey since 1984, and he has a laundry list of cheating convictions in Clark County, Douglas County and New Jersey, Kizer said.