Tommy Glenn Carmichael A "top-bottom joint" was the ultimate slot machine cheating tool during the 1960's, this is the original tool used by Tommy Glenn Carmichael to cheat a slot machine that his friend Ray Ming had shown him. The accomplishment of cheating his first slot machine encouraged Carmichael to close his TV shop and head for the bright lights of Las Vegas. Carmichael’s first score was $35 from a casino on the Las Vegas strip however the luck at cheating didn’t last long. On July the 4th 1985 Carmichael was playing a slot machine at a local shop when police stop and searched him. The top-bottom device was found in his possession which ultimately led to his first cheating offence on his rap sheet and five years worth of jail time. In the penitentiary Carmichael met fellow inmate Mike Balsamo who helped further his slots cheating education. Mike and Tommy agreed to join forces upon release, unfortunately for them they found that the slot machine technology has changed due to the use of microprocessors. The changes to the machine ultimately made it harder to cheat as the basic slugs and strings methods became outdated. Carmichael bought one of the latest video poker machines in order to educate himself on defeat the new machine, this tinkering help him invent and perfect the monkey paw (slider). The slider followed a simple plan of snaking its way through the payout chute and releasing the switch holding the money. In 1991 the technology changed again, this time outdating the monkey paw. Carmichael followed the proven path of success and bought one of the popular machines on the market. At a trade show one of the engineers actually answered all the technical question asked and even showed Carmichael the innards of the machine. Carmichael was so confident he felt he could beat the machine without any problems and it seems as he was correct as the light wand was invented a few days later. The light wand shone a bright light thereby blinding a sensor that caused the release of coins. The light wand became a widely used device and Carmichael was making thousands by selling the device to other slot machine cheats. The device helped some of the cheaters to get away with over $10,000 a day. The manufactures and Carmichael were now in a battle, they hit back with the Actuator Arm, while Carmichael replied with the 'the hanger" which foiled the newest slot machine safety device. In 1995 Carmichael took seven cruises in six months, and just happened to earn thousands a day from the ships' slots. After the cruise Balsamo, Carmichael and Ramon Pereira joined forces, each working with "blockers" or "shades", who kept lookout while the cheating was performed. Then everything changed. On 4th of October 1996, Carmichael was under casino surveillance as his movements had raised Suspicions. Carmichael became alert to the danger and attempted to outrun the security, in doing so he dropped his cheating device. He was charged with possession and manufacturing a cheating device, these charges were later dropped. It seems that Carmichael did not learn from this arrest as he was arrested in 1998 and 1999, this time Carmichael admitted running an illegal gambling enterprise. On Sept 7, 2001, Carmichael was sentenced to time served (326 days) and given three years probation. He lost both homes and has been ordered to stay out of Casinos. |
Black Book 
