Tom Keen's murder was never solved

Keen was deeply involved in the gambling scene in San Mateo County. He was connected to East Coast mobsters and was supposed to have been an associate of Al Capone. He had been one of the organizers of Bayshore City, a community that was created to maintain a dog-racing track near Daly City in 1934. Bayshore City ceased to exist in 1940 after the race track closed. Keen was also involved in building dog tracks in Illinois and Belmont. His owned a Belmont company that manufactured racetrack tote boards.

Among the other gambling entities in the north county was Olmo’s Stables in Colma. As the name implies, this was a stable. It was the stable, in fact, where Sheriff McGrath kept his posse’s horses. It was also a bookie operation. In the late ’40s, $200,000 per day was bet nationwide through the telephones there. The corrupt Sheriff, James J. McGrath, was involved in shielding the operation. Local gambling kingpin Emilio Georgetti and political boss Artie Samish were also involved.

Samish was a legend in his own time. He was a lobbyist, but he was more powerful than anyone in Sacramento, including the governor. Among his clients were the beer, liquor, cigarette, racetrack, bank and mortgage firms. At one time he was said to "own” 30 of the state’s 80 legislators. He was also said to have selected the Assembly speakers and membership of certain legislative committees.

The secret to his power was that his clients represented interest groups that could deliver large numbers of votes. They also gave Samish control over huge sums of "slush fund” money that he could spend at his discretion. His success depended largely on a vast intelligence network in government and a keen understanding of just how the system works.

Samish was so notorious that he finally came to the attention of the U.S. Senate Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce. This committee, headed by Estes Kefauver, found that the slush funds constituted income to Samish and he was convicted of income tax evasion in 1953. After serving a term of 26 months, Samish retired from politics.

Emilio "Gamba” Georgetti was called the "Gambling King of San Mateo County.” He controlled slot machine distribution and operated several gambling establishments in the north end of the county. He was closely associated with Sheriff James J. McGrath, and was also said to have connections to the East Coast mobs. His Willow Tree Inn was supposed to be the largest and most luxurious gambling club west of the Mississippi, although Sheriff McGrath seemed unaware of its existence. Pressured by public complaints, the Sheriff’s Office finally raided it, but found the place empty. Georgetti testified in the early ’50s to that Senate committee that he and McGrath had helped Keen to cover his bets at Olmo’s.

Tom Keen came out of his home on Palm Avenue in San Mateo February 1952, and was blown up by dynamite under the floorboard of his green Cadillac Fleetwood sedan when he pushed the starter. The state concluded he was killed for failing to pay off his debts at Olmo’s. A nationwide investigation followed, but the murder was never solved.

Rediscovering the Peninsula appears in the Monday edition of the Daily Journal. For more information on this or related topics, visit the San Mateo County History Museum, 2200 Broadway, Redwood City.