Do you know anyone who has been shot?

[Awsi Dooger]

114. I lived in some of the weekly joints when I moved to town

Back in the mid '80s. Let's see, they were called Paradise Resort Inn, Tropicana Inn and Airport Inn. They were convenient and fairly cheap. The going rate at that point was roughly $100 per week but the manager at Paradise Resort Inn agreed to $80 per week if I paid for a month in advance.

Yes, people living on the edge is a good description. My room was broken into once while I was half asleep. Fortunately the guy was startled when someone was inside and he darted away. That was within my first months in town so I learned to be careful

I stayed at Airport Inn the longest. It was somewhat isolated so you basically needed a car and that seemed to raise the level of tenant somewhat.

We warned Larry about bragging about his bankroll. Didn't help. Months before he was killed he was robbed by a hooker outside the CVS on the Strip across from Stardust. She obviously knew he had money because she feigned a hug and then grabbed the roll of 100s out of Larry's pocket. She dashed to a nearby car waiting to take off on the Strip. Larry followed and grabbed the door of the car. He ended up being dragged and badly scratched up, before letting go.

All of us hoped that would be a lesson but all Larry did was switch his money location from top pocket to his socks. Then he would tell people he had switched to his socks. When tap outs asked him for a small loan Larry would hoist his leg on a chair, grab the roll of bills and peel off some cash for the tap out.

Obviously that was stupid but none of us thought it would turn out the way it did. We didn't even know Larry had been murdered for about 6 weeks. This was in spring. Larry was a football bettor but not basketball. It wasn't surprising not to see him at that time of year. He had talked about returning to Suniland Park near the Texas/New Mexico border, as he did the prior spring. They had a casino with favorable bonus machines, and also supposedly you could count cards in blackjack and not be thrown out, or at least not quickly.

After the Missing Person flyer came out I showed it to one friend after another and nobody seemed concerned. "He's at Suniland Park." That was conventional wisdom. Even when the Homicide poster came out asking for information on a couple of people who were pictured on the flyer I still had friends wave it off and insist Larry was fine, that he was still at Suniland Park.

Apparently there was some type of lead regarding jewelry. Months later I got a call from the homicide detective asking about what type of jewelry Larry wore, and specifically a prominent ring. I was embarrassed that I really didn't know. I guess I don't observe that type of thing. But it led me to believe that maybe someone had pawned some jewelry that might be connected to Larry.