Casino scammers in Black Book plead guilty to cheating slots

By Tiffany Gibson

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009 | 5:51 p.m.

Two casino cheats listed in Nevada's Black Book and a woman who was their accomplice in a 2006 crime pleaded guilty Tuesday in District Court for their roles in a slot machine-cheating scheme they used at several Las Vegas casinos.

William Cushing and Michael McNeive pleaded guilty to the use of a cheating device in a slot machine, and Susan Lewanda pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cheat at gambling. The trio used the scam at several Las Vegas casinos, including Boulder Station and Fiesta Rancho, in 2006.

The three are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 5, 2010.

Police reports indicate surveillance videos show Cushing and Lewanda would stand watch at slot machines while McNeive inserted $1 bills and forged them as $100 bills using the cheating device.

Cushing and McNeive are in Nevada's List of Excluded Persons, otherwise known as the Black Book, and are barred from the state's casinos.

According to Gaming Control Board records, Cushing, 57, was first arrested in 1984 and has been arrested numerous times for gaming crimes in Nevada and other states. McNeive, 68, was first arrested by the Nevada Gaming Control Board in 1996 and also has been arrested for gaming-related crimes numerous times, including cheating slot machines.

McNeive, who was added to the Black Book in August, was convicted of trying to cheat a slot machine at a Rite Aid drugstore in 2003. He is the 36th person entered into the list.

The Black Book was created in 1960 to battle organized crime in Nevada casinos. People can only be removed from the list if they die or if the commission determines that they shouldn’t have been listed. Anyone on the list who enters a casino or any casino that knowingly allows an excluded person to enter can face gross misdemeanor charges.