CHS received a phone call today from a man who claims to have been a frequent patron of The Yard, the speakeasy and card room raided by SWAT and FBI officers early Thursday morning. Like the man who claimed to be a former employee of the casino, the caller also would only speak to CHS if he could remain anonymous so, as zeebleoop reminds, take his words with a grain of salt.

Unlike the former employee, today’s caller, the gambler, provided us with a phone number to reach Richard W. Wilson, or, as people call him, Rick. CHS reached Rick’s voicemail. This is Rick. Here comes the beep. BEEP.

Rick Wilson is the man federal prosecutors say operated the speakeasy and was entangled in a drug distribution scheme involving thousands of dollars worth of cocaine and meth, guns, Honduran drug dealers, and a tricked out Honda Acura with a secret compartment for smuggling.

The gambler told CHS that he doesn’t believe Rick is tangled up in something the scale of what is alleged in the charges presented in U.S. District Court. “He was about the games,” the caller said. “Yes, there was pot going around in a little tupperware container but I never saw heavier stuff there.”

“He smoked pot, had a goatee but, no, you didn’t look at Rick and think ‘cocaine dealer.'”

The gambler is in his late 30s. He is a blue collar worker. He was introduced to The Yard by a friend. It wasn’t about rich brats playing gangster, he says. The speakeasy and the casino were Rick’s business — not drugs. “He did it for the money. The house took a share.” He also said the stakes in the games were small and that going to The Yard was as much about hanging out and partying as it was about gambling.

“If the bust had happened just a little bit later, like 3:30 after the bars had closed, so many more people would have been caught,” the gambler said. He added that there were sometimes more than 30 people at the establishment which had two gaming tables in action when it was busy.