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| He
was known as Karajian, or at least that was the name he went by. To say
that he was a wheeler-dealer would only describe a fragment of his personality-“manipulator”
would be the more appropriate description. Yes, in hindsight, it would
indeed seem that he wore the label well.
Those with any appreciable contact with him could attest to the fact that he was a schemer-a man of unusual talents, big ideas, and risky plans. But Karajian was also a gambler and, perhaps, that single facet of his being was the genesis of what would later be known as the Great Las Vegas Heist. It had come to him so suddenly, so spontaneously one evening in the casino that he’d been caught off guard. It was simple, so ingeniously simple that he was forced on more than one occasion to question why it had not been tried before. Oh, he had a plan all right, and for anyone not in tune with his thinking and motivation, it would sound idiotic. But Karajian’s plan was not idiotic. As he unfolded it before his confederates, the more certain he became of its workability. He would eventually involve four others in the heist but only he would know every detail, every step, every contingency. He knew his confederates more intimately then they knew themselves as he skillfully moved them like pawns on a chessboard. When their contribution to his ends was firmly implemented, it would become clear that they functioned as no more than mere extensions of his personality. |
The
four months Karajian needed to plan the operation became two, then one,
and finally it was time. He made the last trip and finalized his preparations;
now he was ready for the assault.
To Karajian, Las Vegas was a giant bank with twenty-four hour window service, his scheme nothing more than the usual procedure required for making a withdrawal. But he would not be using a checkbook this time. Instead he had carefully developed a scheme whereby to win, he would have to lose. He would have to lose six million dollars at fifteen casinos over a period of seventy-two hours-without getting caught. Bizarre? Yes. Unrealistic? No. Workable? For Karajian, very. Just pick a card-any card-and wait for the call…”a card for the players!” |
