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| Carleo/Assad |
On December 8th, 2010, Anthony M. Carleo, the twenty-nine-year-old son of Las Vegas Municipal Court Judge George Assad, allegedly walked into the Bellagio Hotel at three-thirty in the morning brandishing a handgun and wearing a jumpsuit and motorcycle helmet. He proceeded to rob a craps table near the exit of $1.5 million in gaming chips, which was always a stupid crime because gaming chips are not like cash; they have to be redeemed for cash at the casino cage of the casino. Carleo, who made his first court appearance under the name of Anthony M. Assad (I feel sorry for the judge), probably underestimated the problems he would have turning his booty into cash.
He decided to look for help, the way art thieves look to sell very valuable hot paintings. Only problem is that the inexperienced chip thief ended up trying to sell the chips to undercover Las Vegas cops. Now he will be playing poker (or craps) in a Nevada prison casino for at least five years.
Evidently, Carleo was living it up at the Bellagio, gambling and partying with Vegas hookers. I wonder if he gambled at the same table he robbed at gunpoint? That would take some balls, right?
The cops searched the poor judge's home where Carleo lived and found evidence that his son was also involved in narcotics trafficking, for which he was also charged.
My take: Well, I always knew this was a stupid crime even though it made headlines and got glitzy comparisons with the "Ocean Eleven" casino-heist movie starring George Clooney, which was filmed at the Bellagio. The golden rule in all criminal activity, especially in robberies, is that once you get away from the crime scene with the loot, you should be home-free and never be caught. But when you heist something that is extremely difficult to turn into cash, you can almost never accomplish that.
Stupidity for the robber and tough luck for the judge.
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