http://www.acy.digex.net/~acpress/8_29rimm.html
By RAY ROBINSON
The Press of Atlantic City Online
Marty Rimm, author of a widely publicized study of pornography on computer
networks, was suspected by state investigators of pulling two creative --
and potentially expensive -- pranks on the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in
1990, according to documents reviewed by The Press.
Rimm, a Longport native and 1983 graduate of Atlantic City High School, is
now a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. His study,
which was published in June, purported to show that computer networks --
including the worldwide Internet -- were major distributors of pornography.
The study was an instant media sensation, featured in a Time magazine cover
story, on ABC News "Nightline" and on CNN's "Crossfire."
It was lauded by the Christian Coalition and fueled a drive in Congress for
government regulation of the material available on the Internet.
The study has since been widely criticized by experts. And Carnegie Mellon
University has taken the extraordinary step of appointing a panel of
professors to investigate Rimm's research.
Five years ago, while working in Atlantic City casinos, Rimm was under
investigation by another body: the New Jersey Division of Gaming
Enforcement, which polices the Atlantic City casino industry.
The investigation centered on a collection of short stories titled, "An
American Playground," which Rimm self-published in 1990.
The book portrays the seamier side of the casino industry through the eyes
of a teenage artist, and pays particular attention to gaming halls owned by
Donald Trump.
Publicity gimmick sparks probe
On June 22, 1990, a Taj Mahal employee noticed fliers on the windshields of
cars at a Northfield shopping center announcing that anyone who bought the
book and presented it at the Taj Mahal would receive $25 in coins.
The flier was printed on a Taj Mahal letterhead, and had Trump himself
hailing the publication of Rimm's book as "one of the most phenomenal
literary events of the 90s."
None of it was true. Taj Mahal officials notified the Division of Gaming
Enforcement, which launched an investigation.
According to reports prepared by DGE agents, the investigation focused
almost immediately on Rimm, who was then licensed to work in casinos and had
been employed at the Taj Mahal as a security officer for several weeks that
year.
The reports were prepared by agent John McLaughlin, a 15-year veteran of the
agency who retired earlier this year. McLaughlin refused to comment on the
case, except to verify that he prepared the reports.
"I conducted that investigation. The reports are accurate. That much I can
say," McLaughlin said. "I can't tell you anything else."
DGE officials also refused to comment on the case, but said they had begun
an investigation of how The Press obtained the information on it.
"It was a violation of division policy to have the information released,"
DGE spokesman Jack Mozloom said. "I can't comment on the substance of the
investigation. You have it."
Rimm reneges on Press request
Rimm, 31, originally agreed to provide The Press with written answers to
questions about the investigation.
But a week after receiving the questions, Rimm said in an electronic mail
message to the newspaper that he was "swamped with urgent matters" and would
be unable to respond until Sept. 4.
Rimm's book was on sale at Encore Books, which was then located at the
Northfield shopping center.
The manager of the store told agents that Rimm had called three days earlier
to ask how the book was selling, and said he was preparing a major effort to
promote it.
The agents questioned Rimm about the incident and reported that they weren't
satisfied with the answers they got.
"During the entire interview, Martin Rimm was evasive, gave only incomplete
responses to questions and continuously responded with vague and indefinite
answers," McLaughlin reported.
Rimm, according to the reports, denied any responsibility for the fliers.
But he admitted he had seen them several weeks earlier and did nothing,
saying he "didn't want to cause any undue publicity so he just kept quiet."
Second hoax at the Taj
Two months later, while Rimm was still under investigation in connection
with the fliers, the Taj Mahal was the target of a much more elaborate hoax.
For its grand opening earlier that year, the casino had sponsored a contest
called "Raja's Riches."
Customers who filled out a card were eligible to win prizes such as a Rolls
Royce Silver Spur car or $10,000 in cash.
In August, the casino was deluged with calls from people who had received
letters informing them that they had won the car, the cash or other prizes.
Some had been told they had won the Taj Mahal itself.
Like the fliers, the contest letters were printed on Taj Mahal stationery
and looked like the real thing. But they were bogus.
The DGE began a new investigation, and again focused on Rimm.
Because the letters went only to people who had entered the contest, the
hoaxer had to have access to the cards they filled out or the casino's
mailing lists.
Rimm had worked at the Taj Mahal. And while he had left by the grand
opening, DGE agents found no record that he had returned his employee
identification.
The bogus letters had a design similar to the fliers promoting Rimm's book.
And they claimed that at the award ceremony, Trump would give a speech
titled "Whorehouses of Emotion," outlining his vision for Atlantic City.
One of the stories in Rimm's book has the same title. In it, a character
patterned after Rimm gives a speech about Atlantic City's future.
'Winner' remembers 'Taj letter'
William Iles, a retiree from Elmer, remembers the bogus letter as if it
arrived yesterday.
"It looks official. It says 'Taj Mahal' right on it," Iles said. "So I'm
reading it. It's looking good. I was excited."
Then Iles came to the "Whorehouses of Emotion" speech by Trump. "I thought
'Oops.' This is a hoax."
Iles said he called the Taj Mahal, more for fun than anything else, and
asked when he could pick up his Rolls Royce.
He was switched to the legal department and told that as he suspected, the
letter was a hoax.
Iles, 61, still has the letter hanging on his wall.
"I figured, 'What the hell?' " he said. "I never won anything in my life. I
got a kick out of it."
For the Taj Mahal, it wasn't so amusing.
By the following month, the casino had been contacted by 408 people who had
received letters informing them that they'd won the car, the cash or other
prizes.
Even after the casino publicly announced that it had been the victim of a
hoax, there were threatening letters from lawyers representing recipients of
the letters.
The casino was also contacted by consumer fraud investigators in the home
states of some of the would-be winners.
The casino is still reluctant to discuss the incident, or the headaches it
caused.
"The Division of Gaming Enforcement investigated. The results were
inconclusive. That's all we've got to say," said Taj Mahal spokesman Steve
Sless.
"As far as anything between us and Marty Rimm, there's just nothing we can
say," Sless added.
No other suspects in hoaxes
The reports of the investigation make it clear, however, that Rimm was the
only suspect in the case.
In addition to the "Whorehouses of Emotion" passage in the flier, McLaughlin
noted that the Trump Organization was the only casino company mentioned by
name in Rimm's book.
"It would appear that the author, Martin Rimm ... has an obsession with the
Trump Organization," McLaughlin reported.
By then, Rimm was working as a craps dealer at Bally's Park Place.
After several interviews with Rimm, the DGE ordered him to appear for a
formal deposition, where he would be questioned by lawyers for the agency.
On Oct. 17, according to DGE reports, Rimm appeared at the agency's office
and read a formal statement denying responsibility for the hoaxes.
But he refused to answer any questions.
Under New Jersey's gaming law, that refusal appeared to give the DGE grounds
to ask the Casino Control Commission to revoke Rimm's casino license.
That would have created a public record of the two hoaxes and Rimm's
suspected involvement.
Joanne Cocchiola, a deputy attorney general assigned to the DGE, wouldn't
discuss the Rimm case directly.
But she noted that the law requires licensees to cooperate in DGE
investigations and states that their licenses can be revoked if they refuse.
The DGE, however, never took formal action against Rimm. Officials refused
to say why they didn't petition the commission to revoke his license.
One DGE source, who requested anonymity, said it could have been a matter of
timing and expediency.
Rimm's license was set to expire four months later, and he had put the DGE
on notice that he didn't intend to apply for renewal.
Rimm's casino career ends
In November 1990, a month after refusing to give the deposition, Rimm left
his job at Bally's Park Place. He hasn't worked in the casino industry
since.
According to DGE reports, agents also found that Rimm had falsified
employment applications.
Rimm had stated on his Taj Mahal application that he had never worked for a
Trump property.
In fact, he had worked for the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino and been fired
for failing to appear for work, according to the reports.
The agents also reported that Rimm admitted he hadn't worked at a casino in
Austria, as he claimed when he applied for work in 1988 at the Tropicana
casino -- now TropWorld Casino and Entertainment Resort.
"He really did not feel like ... it was that important to be complete or
accurate about what the casino wanted to know," the DGE reports state.
In his statement to DGE lawyers, Rimm said: "There were times over the past
several years when I was pressed for work, and as a result exaggerated my
prior employment experience in such a manner as to appear smoother and more
impressive."
In high school, a budding 'star'
Rimm was already a minor celebrity in the Atlantic City area when he came
under the DGE's scrutiny.
In the early 1980s, as a student at Atlantic City High School, he conducted
a controversial study that concluded 64 percent of the school's students had
gambled in casinos.
The study was reported in The Wall Street Journal and prompted state
legislators to raise the minimum age for gambling in Atlantic City gaming
halls from 18 to 21.
After high school, Rimm spent two years at the University of South Florida
in Sarasota before leaving for Europe, where he studied art and writing.
He returned to the U.S. in 1987, graduated from a craps dealers school and
went to work in the city's casino industry the following year.
"An American Playground," the book that resulted from his work in the gaming
halls, in some ways is an autobiography of Rimm rather than a collection of
fiction stories.
The main character in the stories -- a teenage artist named Donald Kaplan --
uses his art to expose the darker side of the gaming industry just as Rimm
did with his writings when he was a teen.
Like Rimm, Kaplan is the son of an insurance executive and member of a
prominent Downbeach political family that includes a respected judge and
city commissioner.
Rimm's 'fiction' has real parallel
Playing pranks on the casino industry, specifically the Trump Organization,
is a theme throughout Rimm's book.
Some of the pranks parallel Rimm's real-life exploits.
Kaplan disguises himself as a wealthy sheik to infiltrate a Trump casino and
finds himself showered with special favors and easy credit.
As a teenager, Rimm did the same thing at the Playboy Hotel and Casino.
Kaplan cracks the computer system at the Trump Plaza and gets himself listed
as a high roller, so he and his girlfriend can enjoy a weekend in a lavish
suite at Trump's expense.
Rimm claimed in a 1990 letter to Valerie Armstrong -- then a member of the
Casino Control Commission -- that he had cracked the computer system at an
unnamed casino and uncovered a pattern of special favors for "prominent
government officials."
"Given my extensive computer expertise, I managed to crack the standard
security codes and access an astonishing amount of information," Rimm
claimed in the letter.
Another prank in the book has Kaplan painting what appears to be a
flattering portrait of Trump.
But on closer examination, the likeness is of a wax Trump, with its nose
beginning to melt.
Before the book was published, Rimm was predicting its scathing portrayal of
the gaming industry would create a furor, especially inside the Trump
Organization, said Nat Ginsberg, an old friend of Rimm's.
"He told me Donald Trump would have a fit over the book," Ginsberg said. "I
think he thought he'd dug up something big on Trump and put it in the book.
"I told him I didn't think Donald Trump was even going to notice the book,"
Ginsberg said.
Bogus fliers fuel book interest
In fact, there's no indication that anyone in the Trump Organization noticed
the book until the bogus fliers appeared on cars at the Northfield shopping
center.
At the time, Ginsberg recalled, Rimm was living in a closed synagogue on
Pacific Avenue in Atlantic City.
DGE investigators, according to their reports, learned that he was using the
home of one of his high school teachers as a mailing address.
"You know, Marty didn't really earn a living. I guess you could say like all
artists, he was starving and needed a place to stay," Ginsberg said.
"He was kind of a rebellious kid. He liked to sleep all day and write all
night."
But Ginsberg, whose son attended school with Rimm, said he had never known
Rimm to do anything dishonest.
"Marty to me was always a muckraker," Ginsberg said. "I know he likes to
look for things under the carpets. But I never knew him to make anything
up."
Sol Goodman, owner of a Margate photography shop that Rimm frequented,
agreed.
"I know he comes from a very fine family," Goodman said. "He's honest and
smart and he perseveres. He's smart enough to understand what's going on in
the world."
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