The High Roller Heist

In the early morning hours of December 14th, 2010, Anthony “Tony” Carleo will walk into the Bellagio Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip adorned in a full motorcycle jumpsuit, gloves and helmet and pull a pistol, robbing a high stakes craps table of 1.5 million dollars in casino chips. This is the wild, “only in Vegas” true story of the guy who robbed the house, returned to the house and began living in it, like a king, for free.

Anthony Michael Carleo is an Italian kid from Pueblo, Colorado who grew up living fast and loose with few consequences. Carleo soon finds himself in tens of thousands of dollars in debt and considering a truly crazy solution to his financial problems: robbing a casino. 

Having decided that robbing a casino is the best, easy solution to freeing himself from his gambling debts, Carleo decides on a smaller, unglamorous casino on the outskirts of Sin City: The Suncoast. With everything in place, Carleo will ride to the Suncoast casino and rob it, becoming The Biker Bandit.

After robbing the Suncoast Casino and getting away, Carleo decides he needs to go bigger and sets his sights on the Bellagio, a crown jewel on the Las Vegas Strip. Five days later in the early morning hours, Carleo will rob a high stakes craps table of $1.5 million in chips, becoming the most wanted man in Las Vegas.

When a casino like the Bellagio is robbed in Las Vegas, it’s a big deal for law enforcement. Little do they know,  the robber himself has returned to the casino less than 24 hours later to begin casually playing poker and cashing in his stolen chips.

With the Bellagio robbery making news around the world, Las Vegas Metro Police Department lead detective Sam Smith is beginning to feel the pressure – especially since there are virtually no leads in the case. Meanwhile, Tony is comped a high roller suite by the Bellagio, living like a king in the hotel he just robbed.

After returning to Pueblo for the holidays, Tony is desperate to return to Las Vegas for New Years Eve at the Bellagio, with a close friend in tow. Meanwhile, Las Vegas investigators have their first real break in the case, one which takes them to Pueblo to interview a suspected accomplice.

Having blown through his lower denomination chips, Tony now must somehow move the illicit $25k Cranberry chips he has stolen, which will soon be discontinued by the Bellagio. Meanwhile, detectives have their own plan to catch Tony, proving he is The Biker Bandit.

The walls close in on Tony and he is arrested in the LVMPD sting operation. However, his trial, sentencing and time in prison come with their own dramas...

In the early morning hours of November 2, 2007, Justin Gaines walked out of a popular nightclub on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia and was never seen again. The investigation into Gaines' disappearance quickly went cold and remained so until 2015, when a man confessed to taking part in his murder. Though this detailed confession described what happened to Justin Gaines, who was involved, and where his body was placed, no arrest has ever been made. Host Sean Kipe digs into this story to find out what really happened to Justin Gaines and tries to make sense of the still ongoing investigation. But as Sean gets deeper, he finds himself in an underworld of drugs, money, and murder. Episodes of Drowning Creek are released every Friday and you can listen wherever you get your podcasts.