Excerpt from Butch's life story:
Butch's first trip to A.C. useing his credit line
1980 - My life seemed to be going nowhere quick. Paul left me with the paper bag business; it still wasn't making money, in favor of opening up a bagel store with Larry on Long Island, I was very unhappy with my marriage, and felt trapped. My credit was triple AAA, since the age of 21; I was never late with a payment, not even once. A friend of mine who was doing real well in the construction business, (ever since he got involved with the boys) was telling me about some guys he new that were ripping off the casinos with credit lines they were obtaining from some inside people that were being paid off. He asked if I wanted to get involved on a 50/50 split basis. I thought about it, I could really use the bread. I told him I didn't want to be involved with these guys, my credit was excellent, I felt I could do it all on my own.

  He didn't think I could pull it off, but was willing to help me anyway; he deposited 30 thousand dollars in my checking account. The money was needed to get the type of credit lines I would be applying for. What he didn't know was that I had enough confidence in myself that I could beat the casinos legitimately and had no intentions of ripping them off.

 I called my first casino and applied for credit over the phone, at the same time I made reservations for Thursday through Sunday of that week. Larry was going to come with me but couldn't leave until Friday, I was anxious to get there, I was on a real high, and so I left him my car and took the bus on Thursday. As the bus was pulling into A.C. I felt great, there's nothing like the anticipation of four days of unlimited gambling, I'd show everyone what I was capable of, completely on my own. My friend Bob also gave me 10 grand to put on deposit in the cage, he said it should help me get a bigger line from the get go. I checked in, went to my room, took a shower and changed cloths. I was milking the moment for all it was worth, I was bathing in the atmosphere of my casino room and loving it.

   I was actually glad to have this first day all to myself, it felt great, and I was walking on air. I go downstairs, deposit the cash and go to the credit dept. To my dismay, they only give me a twenty five hundred dollar line. I was very disappointed but said to myself, fuck it, it'll just take a longer to build up my lines. I had all the confidence in the world that I could hold my own with the best of them. I sat down to play some black jack for $25 a card, the real gambling would start the next day when Larry got there. If need be, we would bet a few hundred a roll opposite each in craps, just to make it look good. I ordered Haig n Haig on the rocks (my first big mistake) and started playing. After four hours of drinking and playing, my bet never went past fifty, I was ahead about three hundred ahead and feeling real good.

   It was about 9 PM; I took a break and called my wife. After I spoke to her, the strangest feeling came over my body, the liquor started going to my head and I was in a cold sweat, I made the mistake (my second one) of going back to the black jack table. To this day I can't figure out what happened, it was like something took over my brain and I had no control over it. I sat down and asked for a five thousand dollar marker off the 10 grand I had on deposit. I bet a thousand dollars and lost five hands in a row. I asked for the remaining five and lost that to. Ten loosing hands in a row hands at a grand each. I walked up to my room in a daze, total disbelieve, it had to be a bad nightmare, and this couldn't be for real. I never felt so sick in my live. I sat on the edge of the bed, the whole room was spinning, I actually would of welcomed death, that's how bad and fucked up I felt. How did this happen, one minute I'm feeling great, I have life by the balls and loving it. The minute, or so it seemed, total disaster, how is this possible. Never in all my years of gambling had I ever done something so stupid, all my friends had, many times, but not me. After about an hour of hell, I remembered I still had the twenty five hundred dollar line of credit. I walked out of my room like a zombie (my third mistake - three strikes and your out) and went back down to the casino, drew out the balance of my credit line and lost two more hands, I was completely broke. Somehow I had the common sense to ask the pit boss to comp my stay, he did.

   When Larry arrived the next day, he took one look at me and said, you look worse than a bad shit that died, and he couldn't believe how I fucked up. I couldn't go home, I had to figure out what to tell Bob, we stayed until Sunday, and I was a total Zombie the whole time. I came up with a good story along with borrowing some money from my brother on the way home from A.C.

   Over the next couple of months, I managed to dig my self out of the hole. I actually had one six month period of going down every other week for two or three days at a time without a loosing trip, the worst I did was break even, good money management and a plan, you need it to win. I had gone back to my conservative basics. My biggest hit in that period was 18 grand. I was getting credit lines at all the casinos. Two years later I had a total of two hundred thousand in credit lines. Everything was going great, I started to truly believe this could go on forever, why not. I was living like a king, the best suites, limos, great food and front row seats for the best shows, what could be better, everything was comped and I really had life by the balls. I was gambling for more money than I had ever before, and all I had to do was sign for it, absurd. Every other day I was getting invitations to Vegas, the Caribbean, all over the world, credit lines approved in advance and everything totally free. As usual, fighting with my wife fucked it all up. I went down one week with the wrong head, dropped 10 grand, and decided to put it all on hold until I could get my head straightened out. I wasn't about to make the same mistake as the last time.