Early gaming figure Marku dies at 92

Monday, Jan. 12, 2004 | 9:47 a.m.

When Jack Marku came to Las Vegas in the mid-1960s to work in the gaming industry, he already had 35 years' experience under his belt.

As a teenager, he went to work for the Mills Slot Machine Co. in Chicago, installing and providing maintenance for some of the first reel slots.

During Prohibition Marku repaired slot machines in the mob-controlled speakeasies, and in -- of all places -- churches. His machines, installed discretely behind curtains at festivals on church grounds, were credited with getting a parish out of the red, said Marku's friend Jim Barrows, former Sun assistant managing editor.

John Paul "Jack" Marku, who for several years worked as a runner for Bob Stupak's Vegas World on the site where the Stratosphere now stands, died in Las Vegas Tuesday of complications of old age. He was 92.

"He was a little guy -- barely 100 pounds -- and the casino management figured who'd pay attention to this little old man carrying the day's casino receipts to the bank?" Barrows said.

"What I found fascinating about Jack was that he had so much history in him. He wouldn't say whether he knew Al Capone. But if he didn't do work for Capone, he did work for one of Capone's men in those speakeasies."

Barrows, who worked for the Sun from 1965 to 1992, wrote a feature story on Marku last year for the local monthly Italian-American periodical "La Voce."

"He was just one of those old Las Vegas characters," Barrows said of Marku, who in his later years frequented the Decatur Liquors bar, spinning yarns about gambling.

Born June 29, 1911, about two years after his family immigrated to the United States from Italy, Marku graduated from from Lakeview High School in Chicago.

At age 18 began working in the Mills slot factory, first as an accountant and later in the mail room before going into sales.

Drafted during World War II, he served stateside as an accountant in the Army. After the war he married Maria "Babe" Monti, a beauty shop operator in St. Louis, Mo.

After selling her business, the couple moved to Las Vegas where she opened a beauty salon at West Charleston Boulevard and Torrey Pines Drive and he worked for casinos, including Vegas World. He retired about the time ground was broken on the Stratosphere in the early 1990s.

No services are planned for Marku, who leaves as his only survivors, a companion and a son. Davis Paradise Valley Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.