Story
The Great Pinball Machine Bust
In 1935, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia ordered for the seizure of all pinball machines. They were considered gambling machines, like slots or roulette, which had been made illegal the year prior. Pinball was supposedly a culprit in corrupting the morals of America's youth.
651 Atlantic Avenue
Pinball, roulette, and slot machines were seized by the NYPD between 1935 and 1942.
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Bush Terminal
Almost two-thousand games were confiscated in a single raid.
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Bush Terminal
Games were siezed all over the city and stockpiled at a warehouse in Brooklyn.
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Bush Terminal
Destroyed machines were picked clean for scrap, which was then resold to support the war effort.
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Bush Terminal
The Brooklyn Eagle wrote: "In these days, the banishment of gambling devices, innocent in appearance yet thorough in thievery, is really an aid to national defense."
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Bush Terminal Piers
The rest of the machines were sailed off on barges and dumped into the Long Island Sound.
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