Coin Slot

Coin Slot Magazine - #057 - 1979 - November [International Arcade Museum]
ness for the weekend but he was unsuccessful. He
claimed that his water taxis were engaged in
COAST GUARD SEIZES THE LUX
foreign commerce and thus outside Los Angeles
The
County jurisdiction.
operation
of
the
LUX continued unob
structed for over two weeks when suddenly the
The following week, with the water taxis still
impounded,
Tony
explored
people out to the LUX.
other
ways
to
get
He approached the owners
federal government took the action it had promised
Governor Warren over six weeks earlier.
Without
any violence, resistance or destruction, Coast Guard
of the historic Schooner BOUNTY with the pro
cutters HERMES and YANKTON pulled up along
position
the
side the LUX on Tuesday, September 17, at 10:07
BOUNTY to go fishing; since out at sea, water
AM Comdr. Chester M. Anderson quietly boarded
taxis would transport people between the BOUN
via the accomodation ladder and told Cornero that
of
having
TY and the LUX.
his
patrons embark
on
Thus the water taxis would
his ship was impounded and the Coast Guard was
never touch shore and would be outside the law's
taking over.
jurisdiction.
the Federal Government and 70 Coast Guardsmen
The owner of the BUNTYO wanted
The LUX was seized in the name of
no part of this scheme. Tony also considered mov
boarded to take command.
ing
was stopped, stranding 200 patrons.
The bar was
padlocked and
so the cust-
the
ship
to other coastal
locations,
municipalities he contacted warned
but all
him to stay
The water taxi service
all gambling halted,
tomers spent the rest of the day dancing, eating,
away.
and waiting to get ashore.
This same week the State Railroad Commission
Within four hours the
LUX was towed to an anchorage a mile off Rain
joined the fight against Cornero, stating that the
bow
water taxis must comply with the State Public
officials boarded and took charge.
Utilities Act and obtain the necessary licenses and
were then taken ashore.
Pier
in
Long
Beach,
where
U.S.
Customs
The patrons
certificates, a process requiring lengthy hearings. ,
The federal government charged that the ship
The court battle to free the water taxis contin
was licensed for coastwise trade but instead oper
ued, with postponements, for two more weeks.
ated as a gambling barge, making no port-to-port
All this time the LUX sat patronless out at sea.
calls.
Finally on Thursday August 29, the judge released
operates in an employment other than that for
the
taxis but denied a restraining order against
interference
from the State,
and stated that if
A federal statute states that any vessel which
which it was licensed is automatically forfeited to
the government.
water taxi service to the LUX resumed, the taxi
operators could again be arrested and their crafts
The Customs officials turned the LUX over to
Despite this warning, :the water taxis
the U.S. Marshall, and an inventory of the liquor
resumed service to the LUX and Cornero was back
and money aboard was undertaken, and everything
impounded.
in business for the weekend customers.
impounded. Over 50,000silver dollars were aboard
and were locked in a bank vault.
Throughout the entire LUX venture, Cornero
had union trouble from the AFL affiliated Union
of
the
Inland
Pacific,
because
Boatmen's
Union
he had hired
rival
CIO
personnel.
With
the
Cornero's attorney Sam Rummell said they'll
fight
in court to the utmost, but he hand't yet
decided how. A U.S. Attorney filed a libel seeking
m
.co the
ship's condemnation because of misuse of li
m
:
u
m
e were cense, and the LUX was transferred to the juris
o
s
to the water taxis.
Eight-inch
long tacks
r
u
f
ed in a Long
e-m
d Street
strewn on West Eighth
Beach, the
diction of the U.S. District Court.
d
a
o
l
c
ar with his attor
.
access road to
the n taxis. w
Cornero,
w
o
D
ww
/ personally
ney Sam Rummell,
went out with a big
/
After months of legal battle, the court decided
:
p
t
ht away the nails. He also hired a that the LUX be forfeited to the government; it
broom to sweep
LUX's reopening, the AFL picketed the auto route
private police force to guard the parking lot for
was consigned to wreckers and destroyed. Cornero
his patron's cars.
had lost another round, but this time it took the
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