“The Commission is responsible for administering regulations, granting licenses, and ruling on disciplinary matters brought before it by the Gaming Control Board. It has five members appointed by the governor. Meadows is a member of the Commission, and each commissioner serves a four-year term in a part-time capacity. One member acts as chair. Meadows is the current chair. The Commission is the final authority on licensing matters, having the ability to approve, restrict, limit, condition, deny, revoke, or suspend any gaming license.

“The Commission is also charged with the responsibility of adopting regulations to implement and enforce the state laws governing gambling based on recommendations from the Control Board.

“When the Board believes discipline against a gaming license is appropriate, it acts as prosecutor, while the Commission acts as judge and jury to determine whether any sanctions should be imposed. Cosmo, as a lawyer and former federal prosecutor—like you, Jack—wears two hats.”

“Thanks for the tutorial, Dennis, but what does all that mean?” Jack demanded.

“I have no clue, Jack. Maybe Meadows and Cosmo had a falling out over something gambling related. On one hand, since the two of them jointly own the property, he would seem to be on good terms with Cosmo, or at least was on good terms. But on the other hand, professionally speaking, he’s chair of the Commission, meaning that he serves as judge and jury when the Control Board prosecutes casinos and the like for infractions of the rules. So you tell me. The guy can’t be that busy that he can’t return phone calls.”

“What about a personal relationship between the two of them? Did anything show up?” Charles asked.

“Aside from their being business partners in Happy Village, I can’t find out anything about their personal relationship. I think we’ll have to ask Lizzie, but I’m betting she’ll say that’s Cosmo’s business and doesn’t carry into their personal lives. We already know that while the Crickets routinely attend celebrations at Happy Village, Meadows doesn’t. That certainly makes it sound as if they don’t hang out together. Meadows is not married and has no family, as far as I can tell.”

“Who is more important? Who carries the most weight in Las Vegas, Cosmo or Meadows?” Fergus asked.

“I would say Cosmo. Cosmo was born and raised here. Vegas takes care of its own, you know that. Meadows came here about eighteen years ago. He’s originally from Tennessee. Cosmo was already established and has been honored as Lawyer of the Year for seven straight years. The guy is rock solid and sterling, as they say.