THE LEGEND OF CHUNKY O'FARRELL

It must have been fifteen years since I heard the name Chunky O'Farrell. Bobby "Chunky" O'Farrell, was a legend in the casinos since the 60's. He first surfaced as a body guard for Major Riddle, who owned the Desert Inn in it's hey days. On New Year's Eve, 1966, one of the guests of the casino was Howard Hughs. He occupied the entire top floor high roller (the bum never gambled a dime) suites for two weeks through New Years Eve. After the first week, it was apparent to Riddle, that Hughs just meant to take up precious space, and he and his "guests" had not gamble a cent, at least not in his casino.

As New Years Eve drew near, Riddle had more and more requests for rooms from his best gamblers dying to be in Vegas for the New Year celebration. So he sent Chunky and 2 other bodyguards up to Hughs's room to throw him and his enterage out. Chunky didn't hesitate, when Hughs' bodyguards went up against Chunky, it was no contest, Hughs outraged bodyguards backed down, packed up and left the Desert Inn and 20 of it's choice rooms. He was angry as hell, but he wasn't willing to stand up for a fight with Chunky. He promptly came back a week later, and bought the Desert Inn from Riddle for $8 million more than the place was worth. Riddle was hot, but he wasn't crazy, and for $8 million, he'd keep his mouth shut and hand over the keys.

Hugh's first move was to fire his bodyguards and hire Chunky , who he'd only call Robert. But since Chunky liked to drink and gamble and play with the ladies, he didn't last long with Hughs. A week after his hire, he was found in a compromising position in the back seat of one of Hugh's limousines, sipping on his 25 yr. old Scotch, smoking his Havana cigars, and bopping the shorthand secretary.

Bobby O'Farrell was a big Irishman. Standing almost 6 feet tall and weighing in at close to 300 pounds, his presence would scare anyone but Dick Butkus. He loved to drink, and he loved to eat, but more, he loved to gamble. He got the nickname "Chunky" not by his size, but the way he'd always make a bet. He'd hold a stack of chips in both hands and slam the chunks of chips on the table, as he'd call out his bet.

"CHUNKY CALLS $50 AND RAISES YA $50!!" he'd scream out, bend into the table, push it 3 feet in one direction, slam down 2 stacks of $50, and the dealer would push the table back, and place the bet for him since he usually couldn't reach the middle of the poker table anyways.

His favorite drink was a boilermaker, a shot of Irish whiskey dropped into a mug of beer. The more he drank, the higher he'd drop the shot of whiskey until by the 5th or 6th,he'd be dropping it from 2 feet and by then, the cocktail waitresses, tired of cleaning up after him, but not wanting to spoil their big tipper, would just leave a towel on the poker table under his beer. He'd toast the table, drop the shot of whiskey in the beer, slug it down, wipe himself, the dealer, and anyone sitting next to him off, give the dealer $5, the player $5, the cocktail waitress $5, and order another round.

When Chunky would walk into the poker room at the Stardust, the brush girl would clear him 2 seats at a $3-$6 Hold-'Em game. One day Chunky won over $500, unheard of for Chunky. He gives the brush girl a tip, and she moves him to the holy "POT LIMIT" game. A shrine at the time at the Stardust, known worldwide as the wildest pot limit Texas Hold-'Em game in Las Vegas. Chunky sits at the head of the table, orders a boilermaker, and puts his racks of chips on the table. He drops the shot glass in the beer and announces to the Stardust poker room "CHUNKY'S HERE!" while beating his chest like the gorilla he was.

By the end of the first hand, Chunky's a winner, up over $2,000, drinks another boilermaker and crumbles up a $100 bill, and tosses it into the "low limit" area. Well the place comes apart. Poker players are diving for the bill when he crumbles up another one and tosses it in another direction, and poker players are diving the other way, and bodies are flying, Chunky's cracking up, crumbling up $20's and $50's and tossing them everywhere. Now the blackjack players and passers by are diving in too, security comes running in and starts separating bodies. Everyone's blood is on everyone else, and everyone is laughing. Chunky's having a heart attack he's laughing so hard and shaking the table. So once the pandemonium quiets down, the shift boss asks Chunky to quit throwing bills, he can stay, but quit throwing bills. Chunky agrees, and finally quiets down. Security goes back to their boredom, when Chunky slugs down another boilermaker, screams out "CHUNKY'S BACK!!" and starts tossing $25 chips into the poker room and the diving for dollars starts all over again. Security comes running back. Now the shift boss decides to throw Chunky out of the casino, and tells the head of security to escort him off the property. So this guy, probably in his 50's, maybe 5"9' and maybe 175 pounds tells Chunky he's gotta go. Chunky hands the brush girl his remaining chips, tells her to cash him out. She pays him, he turns to walk out, screams out "CHUNKY'S COMING BACK!" and throws a few bills over his shoulder as he walks out, and the riot starts all over.

He was especially well known at the Horseshoe poker room where he was a familiar sight in the 80's. He would come to the back bar and buy 75 cent drinks for everyone until his name was called at the poker room, then take his usual place at the $3-$6 Texas Hold-'Em table where he'd usually sit until dawn. He was such a big guy they'd need a corner seat to fit him in, but he was content to wait at the bar and drop boilermakers and razz the dealers on the blackjack tables next to the bar.

He once saved Benny Binion's life when Benny was attacked by a knife wielding crack head at the parking lot entrance at the Horseshoe. Chunky was making a phone call on a pay phone (remember those?) in the lobby next to the parking lot entrance. Seeing the knifeman facing Benny as opened the car door, the security guard ran out of the hotel along with Chunky, but froze when he saw the knife, Chunky never hesitated and threw a flying tackle bouncing the guys head off Benny's car and breaking off his side view mirror with the guys face. He gladly dropped the knife, tried to run and passed out on 3rd street. The paramedics put him and Chunky both in the same ambulance (a big mistake) and by the time they got to UMC, Chunky hopped out of the ambulance feeling just fine, the crack head wasn't so lucky, (I heard the doctor ran out of thread halfway through the stitching) charges were never filed for what happened in the ambulance.

Benny immediately hired Chunky as his personal "assistant", a week later Chunky was seen sitting in the back of Benny Binion's limousine, sipping his 25 yr. old Scotch, smoking his Havana cigars, and having an "intimate conversation" with Benny's shorthand secretary. Chunky soon found himself on unemployment.

Chunky disappeared after that, I heard everything from him running a numbers racket out of a pizzeria in the Bronx (if you phone in the bet, extra anchovies means you want to bet the Dolphins, extra cheese means you want to bet the Packers) to booking seats for Cuban boat people on rafts out of Havana (I wonder if you can choose an inside cabin or outside cabin? All the fish you can eat?). Some friends were sitting at the back bar at the Horseshoe and I got a call to join them, we had a few drinks and I suddenly remembered Chunky, I ordered a large beer and a shot of Irish Whiskey for the five guys and myself, we all poured a little beer and a little whiskey on the floor and toasted Chunky wherever he is, dropped the whiskey from a few inches into the beer and we all slugged down the boilermakers, then I said "Boys, we better get some bar towels, I got a feeling after a few more of these we're gonna need them."

Well wherever Chunky is, you can be sure he's sitting in the back of someone's car getting drunk, smoking good cigars, and dictating letters to some poor guys shorthand secretary 'till he gets caught.

-Ken Pearlman