Last Tuesday Son Hong Johnson pleaded guilty in San Diego, California to conspiring to participate in a racketeering enterprise. The "Tran Organization" ran a scheme in casinos across the USA, cheating casinos out of millions of dollars. Johnson also pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit theft from the Emerald Queen Casino, an Indian tribal gaming establishment near Tacoma, Washington.

According to a three-count indictment, Johnson and 13 others were charged with one count of conspiracy to participate in the affairs of a racketeering enterprise; one count of conspiracy to commit several offences against the U.S., including conspiracy to steal money and other property from Indian tribal casinos; and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. As part of his plea agreement, Johnson agreed to have a separate indictment against him transferred to San Diego for plea purposes.

The separate indictment, returned on May 24, 2007, in the Western District of Washington, charged Johnson and seven others for alleged violations related to card-cheating activity at the Emerald Queen Casino. In this plea agreement, Johnson admitted that on numerous occasions between approximately March 2003 and July 2006, he participated in gambling scams together with other alleged members of the Tran Organization at casinos such as: Emerald Queen Casino; Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun Resort Casino in Connecticut, East Chicago Hotel and Casino, and Horseshoe Casino in Mississippi.

Johnson admitted that he and his co-conspirators unlawfully obtained up to US$7 million during card cheats, by means of a "false shuffle" cheating scheme at the casinos during blackjack and mini-baccarat games, where he and his accomplices bribed casino card dealers and supervisors to fix deck shuffles using "slugs", which are batches of unshuffled cards. During the fixed card games, Tran Organization members repeatedly won thousands of dollars, including one session, where they netted up to US$868,000.

In most US casinos the position of casino tables’ supervisors is done on a communal basis, with one person in charge of a number of tables at any one time. In operations like these, slugs are the easiest way for criminals to cheat casinos. With the rapid expansion of gaming worldwide, casino operators are relying more on CCTV 'supervision' and leaving table games in the hands of inexperienced personnel. Gangs like the Tran Organization only need to find the weak link in order to drive a train through the security system of a casino operation. (S-07.03.08)

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