Molly Bloom: Mobsters, Poker, and a Narrow Escape from Prison

Molly Bloom, of Molly’s Game fame, was visited by a mobster who threatened her after she refused to pay a slice of the profits from her poker games. The 45-year-old was a guest on the YouTube channel Diary of a CEO and gave some revealing insights into what went on during the high stakes games that had A-List celebs such as Ben Affleck and Tobey Maguire attending.

Some unsavoury characters did manage to get into the games, in particular some with ties to the Russian mob, including a few that were involved in running their own illegal gambling ring and the largest insurance fraud scheme in New York history. Eventually, the Italian mafia in New York heard about Bloom’s games and demanded tribute for operating on their patch. A menacing phone call set Bloom straight about where she stood but, incredibly, she refused to agree to hand over any of the profits.

They sent this terrifying guy to my apartment that put a gun in my mouth, something that you just never forget, and he beat the hell outta me and took everything in my safe, including photographs, a couple things that I had from my grandmother. Molly Bloom was soon facing a 10-year stretch in a federal prison. Fortunately, she found herself in front of a sympathetic judge who felt that while she had knowingly broken the law, it wasn’t a crime deserving of prison, preferring to sentence her to probation.