https://www.legendsofamerica.com/hot-springs-arkansas-gangsters/

Though visitors of Hot Springs, Arkansas, today don’t see the gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, and gangsters that were once rampant in the spa city, these operations had a strong foothold for decades, especially in the 1930s.

Between 1927 and 1967, Hot Springs operated the most considerable illegal gambling racket in the country. In the 1930s, over a million baths a year were given, and Hot Springs became America’s first resort.

Alvin “Creepy” Karpis, America’s last official Public Enemy No. 1, often made Hot Springs his hideout.

However, gangster activity and other illegal activities in Hot Springs came to an end in the 1960s due to a federal crackdown on what the government called “the site of the largest illegal gambling operation in the U.S.”

In 1967, two Republican officeholders, Governor Winthrop Rockefeller and Circuit Judge Henry M. Britt, began to enforce the existing state laws and eliminate the gambling laws made legal in Hot Springs. The governor sent a company of state troopers to shutter the casinos and burn their gaming equipment.

Rockefeller only began enforcing state law because the feds kept cracking down on the place and it got too "hot". They just moved where the criminals met to a new location. This was just driving them out of a place with too much heat.

The criminal activity was driven out in 1967.

Bill Clinton spent his childhood there from 1954-1961. He grew up in mob grand central when all the big crime bosses, sports stars, radio stars, and celebs went there to do "business" and relax at the bathhouses.

Easy place for Clinton to make big connections with the "right" people.

Clinton's half-brother, Roger, was obviously a connection to the mafia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Clinton_Jr.

He became a musician and formed a rock band named "Dealer's Choice."

His first album, Nothing Good Comes Easy, was released in September 1993 on the Pyramid/Atlantic/Rhino label. In December 1999, Clinton and his band paid a visit to Pyongyang, performing alongside North and South Korean musical acts

During his brother's presidential campaign and subsequent administration, Clinton was given the codename "Headache" by the Secret Service due to his controversial behavior.[7] Clinton attracted negative media attention in 2001 when it was revealed that he had accepted $50,000 and a Rolex watch in 1999 from the children of Sicilian mobster Rosario Gambino, a convicted narcotics trafficker and Gambino crime family member serving a 49-year sentence, in exchange for lobbying his brother to pardon Gambino. Clinton repeatedly visited the federal parole commission headquarters to advocate for Gambino.

Durham was the prosecutor famous for bringing down the Gambino family.

Clinton's half-brother was the go-between for Clinton and the Gambinos.

https://we-ha.com/renowned-mob-prosecutor-speak-university-saint-joseph-west-hartford/

Durham led a task force to go after Hartford street gangs in 1992. He spearheaded mob prosecutions of the Gambino, Genovese and Patriarca crime families.

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/hot-springs-arkansas-gangsters/

Though visitors of Hot Springs, Arkansas, today don’t see the gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, and gangsters that were once rampant in the spa city, these operations had a strong foothold for decades, especially in the 1930s.

Between 1927 and 1967, Hot Springs operated the most considerable illegal gambling racket in the country. In the 1930s, over a million baths a year were given, and Hot Springs became America’s first resort.

Alvin “Creepy” Karpis, America’s last official Public Enemy No. 1, often made Hot Springs his hideout.

However, gangster activity and other illegal activities in Hot Springs came to an end in the 1960s due to a federal crackdown on what the government called “the site of the largest illegal gambling operation in the U.S.”

In 1967, two Republican officeholders, Governor Winthrop Rockefeller and Circuit Judge Henry M. Britt, began to enforce the existing state laws and eliminate the gambling laws made legal in Hot Springs. The governor sent a company of state troopers to shutter the casinos and burn their gaming equipment.

Rockefeller only began enforcing state law because the feds kept cracking down on the place and it got too "hot". They just moved where the criminals met to a new location. This was just driving them out of a place with too much heat.

The criminal activity was driven out in 1967.

Bill Clinton spent his childhood there from 1954-1961. He grew up in mob grand central when all the big crime bosses, sports stars, radio stars, and celebs went there to do "business" and relax at the bathhouses.

Easy place for Clinton to make big connections with the "right" people.

Clinton's half-brother, Roger, was obviously a connection to the mafia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Clinton_Jr.

He became a musician and formed a rock band named "Dealer's Choice."

His first album, Nothing Good Comes Easy, was released in September 1993 on the Pyramid/Atlantic/Rhino label. In December 1999, Clinton and his band paid a visit to Pyongyang, performing alongside North and South Korean musical acts

During his brother's presidential campaign and subsequent administration, Clinton was given the codename "Headache" by the Secret Service due to his controversial behavior.[7] Clinton attracted negative media attention in 2001 when it was revealed that he had accepted $50,000 and a Rolex watch in 1999 from the children of Sicilian mobster Rosario Gambino, a convicted narcotics trafficker and Gambino crime family member serving a 49-year sentence, in exchange for lobbying his brother to pardon Gambino. Clinton repeatedly visited the federal parole commission headquarters to advocate for Gambino.

Durham was the prosecutor famous for bringing down the Gambino family.

Clinton's half-brother was the go-between.

https://we-ha.com/renowned-mob-prosecutor-speak-university-saint-joseph-west-hartford/

Durham led a task force to go after Hartford street gangs in 1992. He spearheaded mob prosecutions of the Gambino, Genovese and Patriarca crime families.

https://www.legendsofamerica.com/hot-springs-arkansas-gangsters/

Though visitors of Hot Springs, Arkansas, today don’t see the gambling, prostitution, bootlegging, and gangsters that were once rampant in the spa city, these operations had a strong foothold for decades, especially in the 1930s.

Between 1927 and 1967, Hot Springs operated the most considerable illegal gambling racket in the country. In the 1930s, over a million baths a year were given, and Hot Springs became America’s first resort.

Alvin “Creepy” Karpis, America’s last official Public Enemy No. 1, often made Hot Springs his hideout.

However, gangster activity and other illegal activities in Hot Springs came to an end in the 1960s due to a federal crackdown on what the government called “the site of the largest illegal gambling operation in the U.S.”

In 1967, two Republican officeholders, Governor Winthrop Rockefeller and Circuit Judge Henry M. Britt, began to enforce the existing state laws and eliminate the gambling laws made legal in Hot Springs. The governor sent a company of state troopers to shutter the casinos and burn their gaming equipment.

Rockefeller only began enforcing state law because the feds kept cracking down on the place and it got too "hot". They just moved where the criminals met to a new location. This was just driving them out of a place with too much heat.

The criminal activity was driven out in 1967.

Bill Clinton spent his childhood there from 1954-1961. He grew up in mob grand central when all the big crime bosses, sports stars, radio stars, and celebs went there to do "business" and relax at the bathhouses.

Easy place for Clinton to make big connections with the "right" people.