Poker Machines actually were always legal as long as you did not make a pay out to someone if they won. So, if there was no payout, hardly anyone would ever play the machine. The Poker machine racket in Chicago works like this: 1) Bar owner agrees to do business with the Outfit somewhere on the South side. A couple machines are placed in the establishment. Bar owner agrees to make pay offs to winners but is told to 'get to know the player as much as possible before payouts are made'. 3) Each week a Soldier/Associate collects. He makes sure the machines have not been damaged, does a reading on the machine to verify gross income and winnings. 4) Bar owner receives 50% of net income from the machine.
Again, How long do you think it's going to take before the Feds send in one of their own agents who becomes friendly with the Tavern owner, starts receiving payouts, and then begins building his case. The Bar owner then will be approached by the Feds at a later point and he will become so scared that he will cooperate because he really has NO FEAR of the Outfit. He FEARS the Feds a lot more. The largest number of Informants in these cases are the Street/Associates (Bar owners, street bookies etc.) who easily cooperate with information or they wear a wire. Then, the Feds approach the Soldier/Collector who actually belongs to the Crew. Hopefully they will scare him enough into cooperating enough so they can go after the Made guy or guys & The Crew Boss. Sometimes the Soldier/Associate will cooperate rather than go to prison because there's a good chance the Outfit won't pay his wife any money when he's gone. Plus that, He doesn't fear his superiors the way these guys used to fear them in the old days, especially when he sees guys like Frank Calabrese Jr. & Frank Cullotta walking around untouched. It's all really a sign of weakness on the part of the Outfit if you really stop and think about it.