Louis Abraham Simon, Gambler’s Gambler

Louis A. Simon (1899-1976) was an well-known jewish bookmaker who ran a race wire service in Milwaukee. Louis was born on Sep 03, 1899 in ether Milwaukee or Romania. According to newspaper articles it stated that Simon was a colorful figure who operated the Badger News Service (A horse racing results sheet) in Milwaukee for more than 15 years until 1951. According to FBI files it stated that in the 1940s Milwaukee mafia boss Sam Ferrara was muscled into a share of Simon bookmaking operation. He then reach out to his connections in the Chicago Outfit because he had a race wire connections their and seemed to be in good status with them, but Chicago told him to cooperate with Ferrara.

During a 1954 hearing in Washington, D.C. internal Revenue Service agents claimed that Simon took bets totaling nearly $2 million in a Chicago gambling operation between 1947 and 1950. In 1956, Simon was fined $3,000 and given a three month suspended sentence for violation of federal gambling laws. He had been convicted of running a gambling operation in a Milwaukee hotel.

Due to his conviction led to what he described as an exile to Las Vegas. While living in Las Vegas Simon had became a floor manager at the Fremont Hotel for 20 years. On Dec 1976 at the age of 77 Simon died in a Las Vegas hospital. He was laid to rest at the Palm Desert Memorial in Las Vegas, Clark County, Nevada. He was survived by his wife Helen.