Just Games: Cincinnati

This seedy and short-lived pinball parlor of the mid-70’s was infamous for an attempted murder of its owner-operator and being a den of drugs and iniquity that local kids were urged to stay away from. It opened in June 1976 and closed just four months later after the owner, William O’Callaghan was nearly killed by a group of 5 local teenagers. They believed he was a police informant. He was not.

It turns out O’Callaghan was not an informant, but a criminal himself. Less than a year later, in June 1977, he and his sister plead guilty to stealing over $250,000 in checks from Consolidated Rail Corporation. Was his death plot perhaps staged, in an attempt to throw the police off his trail? It is a strange coincidence that it happened during the same period where he was stealing checks.

References

Attempted murder at Just Games; The Cincinnati Post, Oct 1, 1976

Arcade closes after attempted murder; The Cincinnati Post, Oct 2, 1976

Brother and sister plead guilty to stolen check charges; The Cincinnati Post June 20, 1977