Satan's Playground: Mobsters and Movie Stars at America's Greatest Gaming Resort (review)

This fascinating work provides a detailed look at the development and operation of a luxurious resort, horse-racing operation, and casino, Agua Caliente, in Tijuana, Baja California, just inside Mexico and across the border from San Diego. Run and initially financed by three U.S. businessmen, designated by Vanderwood as the "border barons," it made enormous profits in its eight and a half years of operation (June 23, 1928-December 18, 1937) before its lavish premises were closed and expropriated by president Lázaro Cárdenas. Prohibition in the United States was the major spur to its founding and the key to its success. Still, its existence was possible only so long as Mexico's political leaders acquiesced in providing a playground for Californians and their compatriots deprived of legal alcohol, gambling, horse racing, and other pursuits on the U.S. side of the border. By the time Agua Caliente closed, Cárdenas had been trying for two years to bring it under control. Yet, in its heyday, it was the major employer in the dusty border town. It brought moguls and stars south from Hollywood and sporting enthusiasts from all over the United States to visit its luxurious premises. A center of vice, luxury, elegance, and entertainment, Agua Caliente turned Tijuana into a destination for Americans seeking high-class thrills.

The story that Vanderwood tells is a complicated one, involving owners, entertainers, and thieves, as well as mobsters, politicians, and law-enforcement officials on both sides of the international frontier. He handles all of these elements with care, providing a tale full of fascinating details but based on a sound understanding of the historical circumstances that made such a place possible. Not only did Prohibition and a general atmosphere of reform have to push through the legislation that made drinking and sporting illegal (either nationally or on a state-by-state basis in the United States), but Mexico's political leaders had to be on board for the transfer of these activities to Mexico. Despite the political and military victory of the constitutionalists in the Mexican Revolution, by 1917 Baja California was still controlled by a regional strongman, Esteban Cantú. His vice- and corruption-ridden governorship provided the right climate for activities forbidden in the United States until 1920 when he was finally deposed by a contingent of forces sent from the neighboring (and more puritanical) state of Sonora. The governorship then passed to Abelardo Rodríguez, a supporter of President Alvaro Obregón, but the fun continued—rather surprisingly, given that the presidency passed in 1924 to Plutarco Elías Calles, who had instituted a draconian anti-vice regime in Sonora prior to 1920. The answer to his acquiescence, perhaps, lies in the support for Calles and Obregón by Rodríguez in their initial struggle against a rebellion in 1924 and in subsequent challenges from the U.S. side of the border.

Rodríguez became an unofficial partner of the three U.S. citizens, Wirt Bowman, James Crofton, and Baron Long, who were putting the resort of Agua Caliente together. His help led significantly to his own enrichment, and at the same time he became one of Calles's closest associates, eventually ascending briefly to the Mexican presidency himself with Calles's backing. U.S. politicians were involved as well; rumors have it that the stateside tax problems of the border barons were resolved by political contributions to U.S. political parties, and Bowman even became a Democratic National committeeman from Arizona.

Agua Caliente attracted the attention of criminals, petty and otherwise, who sought to compete with its in-house criminals, steal its profits, or to emulate its success. Among the notable results was Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel's development of Las Vegas a few years after the Mexican resort was closed. A happier circumstance was the use of its lavish premises as a set for Hollywood movies, most...