Peter Joseph Simone (June 14, 1945 – June 12, 2025) was an American organized crime figure from

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, who was thought to be involved in running illegal gambling activities. In April 1992, Simone was convicted of

money laundering Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...

in a

video poker Video poker is a casino game based on five-card draw poker. It is played on a computerized console similar in size to a slot machine. History Video poker first became commercially viable when it became economical to combine a television-like mo ...

scam and sentenced to four years' imprisonment. Simone was released in 1996 and placed on three years'

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offence (law), offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incar ...

. In May 1997, Simone was listed in the

Missouri Gaming Commission The Missouri Gaming Commission regulates riverboat casinos, charitable bingo, and fantasy sports contests in Missouri. It is headquartered in Jefferson City, Missouri, Jefferson City. History The Missouri Gaming Commission was established in 19 ...

" Black Book", which bars undesirables from entering

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

casinos. On January 2, 1999, only two months before the end of his probation period, Simone was caught playing

craps Craps is a dice game in which players gambling, bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, " ...

at Harrah's North Kansas City Hotel & Casino. Although sentenced to spend one day in jail, Simone's probation period was extended 12 months with four months of electronically monitored

house arrest House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...

. Later in 1999, Simone violated probation again as

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI) agents observed him at a

strip club A strip club (also known as a strip joint, striptease bar, peeler bar, gentlemen's club, among others) is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease and other erotic dances including lap dances. St ...

for over three hours. This time, Simone went back to prison. On February 29, 2000, Simone was released from federal custody. He was thought by the FBI to be the underboss of the

Kansas City crime family The Kansas City crime family, also known as the Civella crime family or the Kansas City Mafia or the Clique, is an Italian Americans, Italian American American Mafia, Mafia crime family based in Kansas City, Missouri, and throughout the Greater ...

. Simone died on June 12, 2025, at the age of 79.

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Further reading