Lawrence Crowe

What is life? To Lawrence, it is simply a game, and one he intends to win. As the owner of a thriving casino, he spends his days dealing cards and playing games with customers who are often too drunk to notice when the odds have been tilted in his favor. Money is all that matters to him. He has little concern for where it comes from, so long as it eventually finds its way into his pockets, or those of the people he chooses to associate with.

Lawrence is a cold, calculating, and thoroughly malevolent man. His employees know better than to mistake his charm for kindness. Behind the polished facade of a casino owner lies someone perfectly willing to manipulate and rig games whenever it benefits the House. He has little sympathy for those who lose their money under his watch, viewing their misfortune as simply another part of the game. To Lawrence, everyone who walks through his doors is a player, and he intends to make sure the House always wins.

When Lawrence Crowe opened his casino back in 1965, all he really had to work with were some borrowed buildings and a collection of tables. But what he didn’t have were many things, including money. So how could a guy open up a casino with nothing?

It turned out that Lawrence was one hell of a gambler himself and within a few short years, the place became a regular hangout for all sorts of folks - politicians, businessmen, gamblers, even those whose name might have been better off staying out of the newspaper.

He knew everyone coming through his doors and what they wanted. He made them feel right at home and soon, it looked like Lawrence’s casino would be around forever. It was then, however, that people started disappearing…

First there was a regular gambler who came down with quite a bit of debt on his hands. The man said he just upped-and-left town once he lost everything. A businessman disappeared shortly thereafter. Then a young woman working as one of the dealers disappeared from her job after she threatened to spill secrets about the casino’s books.

But for all the weirdness happening inside, Lawrence stayed remarkably calm about the whole thing. Rumors spread on staff about certain rooms being kept permanently locked up, security footage mysteriously vanishing during certain nights, dealers having instructions to tweak their records without explanation. Lawrence would occasionally receive visitors post-hours who’d never be spotted coming through the front door at opening time.

An investigator started digging into these disappearances by early 1971, spending months interviewing former employees before piecing together the casino’s records. Every one of the people going missing had visited Lawrence within days of their disappearance. After confronting Lawrence himself with his findings, the man offered him a simple ultimatum: I have all the evidence you need to bring this whole operation down.

Two days after, he mysteriously vanished. Eventually his stuff was discovered in the basement of the Casino nicely arranged next to a card-table that Lawrence swore never existed.

And henceforth this investigation came to its end.

Lawrence continues to run the casino as if nothing has happened.