The real activities for the day had actually started an hour before the Farmer's Bank in Sacramento opened. The bank manager had just turned the lock on the front door when six men in dark suits got out of a black Suburban and surrounded him.
“Are you Arthur DeFlower, the manager here?”
Arthur spun around very surprised and squeaked “Yes, who are you?”
The lead man pulled out his leather cased badge and flipped it open. “I am Special Agent Waters of the US Secret Service. May we come into the bank?” Arthur inspected the badge closely and satisfied himself it was at least a good fake I.D.
Arthur led them into the lobby and locked the door behind them. They all followed him to his desk, watched him put down his case and he asked the lead man “What is this all about, gentlemen?”
Agent Waters responded “We have to come to understand that you took custody of a large amount of cash last night from a depositor named James Wix from Century Concessions.”
“That is correct, I was the one that received the deposit. He routinely makes deposits of that nature.”
“We would like to inspect the bills now.” Agent Waters was all business. He said it reasonably but there was solid steel behind the words. No was not a possible response.
Arthur DeFlower was concerned but not overly so. He went about opening the vault and orchestrated the task for the somber group.
A few hours later, the same scenario was played out in the back vault room at the casino. An identical group of dark suited men performed the same inspection quietly, out of the view of the gambling patrons on the casino floor.