COVertNKY
@covertnky.com
Exploring Northern Kentucky’s hidden, forgotten, and erased stories. YouTube: @COVertNKY
Reposted by COVertNKY
How naive I was to be astonished by Pgh. madam Mae Scheible's audacity running a brothel across the street from the county courthouse. Covington gamblers did something similar & fire insurance maps labeled the casinos, including one marked "gambling 2d [floor]." Jail "rock breaking yard" a bonus!
December 26, 2025 at 1:32 PM
How naive I was to be astonished by Pgh. madam Mae Scheible's audacity running a brothel across the street from the county courthouse. Covington gamblers did something similar & fire insurance maps labeled the casinos, including one marked "gambling 2d [floor]." Jail "rock breaking yard" a bonus!
Assembling sites for new crime history tours in 2026. One site that should be on the bike tour but won't b/c it's too far afield is this brick building (left). It has ties to the birth of syndicated horse race betting, Churchill Downs, and key Cincy area casinos. If only its walls could talk!
December 26, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Assembling sites for new crime history tours in 2026. One site that should be on the bike tour but won't b/c it's too far afield is this brick building (left). It has ties to the birth of syndicated horse race betting, Churchill Downs, and key Cincy area casinos. If only its walls could talk!
In December 1935, racketeers cooked up an audacious scheme to use a Depression-era federal work program to hire bookies to take bets in Covington, Kentucky. Did they get away with it? 🗃️ youtu.be/x7ji5ez3kDc
COVertNKY Presents: The Great Numbers Phone Book Caper of 1935
YouTube video by COVertNKY
youtu.be
December 9, 2025 at 12:42 PM
In December 1935, racketeers cooked up an audacious scheme to use a Depression-era federal work program to hire bookies to take bets in Covington, Kentucky. Did they get away with it? 🗃️ youtu.be/x7ji5ez3kDc
How much more criminally corrupt was Northern Kentucky than Pittsburgh? Where do you see "Pittsburgh" in this 1985 graphic?
December 8, 2025 at 8:24 PM
How much more criminally corrupt was Northern Kentucky than Pittsburgh? Where do you see "Pittsburgh" in this 1985 graphic?
Did Jakie Lerner ever gamble in Northern Kentucky? He was friends with and did "business" with many of the region's big-name racketeers, including Moe Dalitz & the Lookout House's Sam "Gameboy" Miller. Are we going to find his footprints here? pittsburghquarterly.com/articles/fin...
Finding Jakie Lerner - Pittsburgh Quarterly
“805 was a burner. where the hell is Jakie Lerner?” That was former racketeer Sam Solomon’s recollection of Aug. 5, 1930, the day when seemingly all of Pittsburgh bet on a single number: 805. When 805...
pittsburghquarterly.com
December 8, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Did Jakie Lerner ever gamble in Northern Kentucky? He was friends with and did "business" with many of the region's big-name racketeers, including Moe Dalitz & the Lookout House's Sam "Gameboy" Miller. Are we going to find his footprints here? pittsburghquarterly.com/articles/fin...
Reposted by COVertNKY
Ever wonder how bookies working inside taverns & casinos got their "dope" — early intel on horses, jockeys, tracks & race results? I explored some of the architectural aspects of this information network in a new Vernacular Architecture Forum newsletter article. 🗃️ www.vafweb.org/resources/Do...
December 8, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Ever wonder how bookies working inside taverns & casinos got their "dope" — early intel on horses, jockeys, tracks & race results? I explored some of the architectural aspects of this information network in a new Vernacular Architecture Forum newsletter article. 🗃️ www.vafweb.org/resources/Do...
As you get to know COVertNKY, you can either blame or thank Hank Messick for its arrival.
Blame Hank Messick
As you get to know COVertNKY, you can either blame or thank Hank Messick for its arrival.
covertnky.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:52 PM
As you get to know COVertNKY, you can either blame or thank Hank Messick for its arrival.
The largest urban redevelopment project in the Midwest is underway in Covington, Ky. The city is transforming an IRS processing facility built in the 1960s into a mixed-use development. I wonder if folks see the irony in the IRS locating there & the many IRS gambling busts, 1950-1980s? 🗃️
December 2, 2025 at 12:35 PM
The largest urban redevelopment project in the Midwest is underway in Covington, Ky. The city is transforming an IRS processing facility built in the 1960s into a mixed-use development. I wonder if folks see the irony in the IRS locating there & the many IRS gambling busts, 1950-1980s? 🗃️
Did you know that in 1950, Covington had the most (legal, sort of) slot machines in all of Kentucky? Starting in the 1940s, the IRS required gamblers to buy licenses for coin-operated vending machines that paid cash prizes or tokens redeemable for cash. Covington had more than Newport!
November 23, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Did you know that in 1950, Covington had the most (legal, sort of) slot machines in all of Kentucky? Starting in the 1940s, the IRS required gamblers to buy licenses for coin-operated vending machines that paid cash prizes or tokens redeemable for cash. Covington had more than Newport!