Nevada Regulators Could Throw ‘Black Book’ at Serial Casino Sex Trafficker

Posted on: August 24, 2022, 07:32h. 

Last updated on: August 26, 2022, 02:27h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

A new type of criminal profile could soon make its way into Nevada gaming regulators’ infamous “Black Book” of excluded persons: the casino-based sex trafficker.

Kendrick Laronte Weatherspoon
Sickening rap sheet: Kendrick Laronte Weatherspoon, pictured, could become the first sex trafficker to go in Nevada’s Black Book, which is normally reserved for Mafiosi and casino cheaters. (Image: Mohave Valley Daily News)

On Thursday, the Nevada Gaming Commission will meet to decide whether to include prolific pimp Kendrick Laronte Weatherspoon on its list of persona non grata, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

The Black Book has previously been reserved for those caught cheating multiple times at casinos or individuals suspected of having, or known to have, links to organized crime. But sex trafficking is becoming an increasing problem in Las Vegas casinos. If the commission wants to make an example of someone, Weatherspoon – who has a sickening rap sheet – is a prime candidate.

The 44-year-old has a history of violence against women and of forcing women into prostitution at Las Vegas casinos.

Weatherspoon has 30 cases in the Las Vegas Justice Court from 2000 to 2021. They are on charges that include drug dealing, impaired driving, burglary, domestic battery, sex trafficking of an adult, battery by strangulation, sexual assault, kidnapping, and accepting the proceeds of prostitution.

Violent Abuser

Weatherspoon has been removed from at least five Las Vegas casinos for his activities, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

On one occasion, Weatherspoon instructed a sex worker to meet a customer in Paris. Weatherspoon failed to turn up. When she returned home, Weatherspoon was waiting for her to “batter her and sexually assault her,” according to a police report. In another instance, a woman who tried to quit working as a prostitute was choked and raped by Weatherspoon after he showed up at her apartment.

During January’s control board meeting, chairman Brin Gibson said it was important to send a message to criminals who wanted to use Nevada’s casinos as a base for sex trafficking.

“We’re not going to go out and exclude every felon in the state,” he said. “I mean, in this case, I guess, for my part, legal and highly regulated gaming cannot be associated with human trafficking, period, and that is the threat to the reputation of the state.”

Hoods and Cardsharps

The Black Book exists to blackball individuals with “a notorious or unsavory reputation that would adversely affect public confidence and trust that the gaming industry is free from criminal or corrupt developments.”

It was created in 1960 to reassure tourists that Vegas casinos were not run by the mob, which wasn’t strictly true. The legendary gambler Archie Karas and Chicago crime boss Sam “The Cigar” Giancana are among the assorted cardsharps and hoods gracing its pages.

Weatherspoon will become the 36th entry in the book and the first in almost four years if the commission decides to act. The last to grab that dubious honor were the four members of a craps cheating team that attempted to bilk the Bellagio out of $1.2 million.

The only way to remove your name from the book is to die, as Giancana discovered upon his 1975 assassination.