The Pecan Park Eagle

“I am shocked to find that gambling is going on in Casablanca – and that it may have been going on at some point in the history of Galveston!” – Capt. Louis Renault

An Article From the Galveston Daily News, January 16, 1953, Page 7 ~

MACEOS AREN’T CONNECTED WITH GAMBLING, SAYS SERIO

If there’s any professional gambling going on in Galveston now, the name of Maceo is not involved, Sam Serio, secretary-treasurer, of Maceo & Co. and long time associate of the Maceos said Thursday.

The original partnership of Maceo & Co. – which reputedly made millions in the hey-day of big time gambling here –  has gone out of business, Serio said.

Only four of the original 14 members of the organization are still associated with the company, which is now involved in “strictly legitimate business” with Rose Maceo as president, Serio asserted.

He said that Maceo &  Co., owner of the Balinese Room on the beach front, the Western Room in the downtown Turf building, and the Kemah Club in Kemah, has leased these places to Galveston men who are strictly “on their own.”

The Murdoch bathhouse bingo parlor, formerly operated by the Maceos, and all other concessions in the Turf building, including the former Studio Lounge, Turf Grill, and the Turf Tap Room have been leased out to Galvestonians, Serio said.

He would not divulge the names of any of the lessees, saying only “there’s not a Maceo in the lot.”

Maceo & Co. is parent company of Gulf Properties, listed as owners of land and buildings and of the furnishings of some of the Maceo-owned buildings. Maceo & Co. will still operate the Stewart Beach Catering Co., the Beach Amusement Park, Murdoch’s bathhouse proper, and will operate in oil and real estate.

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