Diamond Jim Moran

Jimmy Brocato, aka Diamond Jim Moran, was a well known figure at his famous La Louisiane Restaurant in the French Quarter. That was the least of it. Up until his passing from a heart attack at his restaurant in 1958, Diamond Jim was one of those characters who seemed to be everywhere, and into everything. He was also one of the first people involved in slot machines in New Orleans.

He hung around with movie stars and mobsters, and fit in everywhere he went. He was buddies with Charles “Lucky” Luciano, and Luciano tapped Diamond Jim to move slot machines into the Greater New Orleans area. Once the slot machines started moving in, they went like hotcakes. They were everywhere, just like video poker machines are today. They paid off everyone they had to, and by 1935, the Indian Chief slot machine was a major addiction throughout New Orleans.

The police supposedly tried everything they could to stop the illegal slot machine gambling, but the public wanted the slot machines in town. Preachers would complain to the police about the slot machines, and the police would make a big show of throwing the slot machines off boats into the water, or hacking them away with axes. The slot machines would be ones that had been confiscated, and were more often than not – barely working. They had already been replaced by new slot machines that worked better.

Some people said that he took money from the poor by putting in all those slot machines, but just as many of the poor have a story of how he helped them out, especially during the depression. He was responsible for the beginnings of slot machines the way they are now in New Orleans.

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