Do you ever publish surveillance photographs of yourself if you happen to obtain them semi-legally from casino insiders with access to Griffin or SIN materials?

No. Publishing stolen intellectual property is semi-legal at best, even if that property was itself created unlawfully or designed to be used in an illegal way.

Let’s say I’m in possession of some really great Josh Axelrad shots. You’re sure you don’t want them?

No interest.

If I did have some shots, and I wanted to email them to you without exposing myself to legal risk, is there a way I could do that?

Sure. Hop onto Hotmail or Gmail or Yahoo Mail and create a dummy account for yourself using a fake name. The safest approach is probably to create this account from a rented computer in an Internet cafe where you pay cash, leaving no credit card record. Then you would just send the pictures.

Where to?

You can reach me at josh [at] axelrad.net.

If I just said to hell with it and decided to send some juicy surveillance pictures from my normal email address, would you protect my identity?

Yes. I’ve corresponded with a few individuals on the other side of the table and they haven’t regretted their trust.

Aside from using a fake email account, if I’m sending you stuff, is there anything else I should do to keep from getting in trouble with my employer?

Some of my sources want the background in the pictures blurred out. That makes it harder to tell where they were taken. Also, cropping out or blurring the readout at the bottom of the screen with the timestamp and camera number may be a prudent idea. If you’d like, I can do those things for you.

What kind of shots would you want most?

If I were looking for memorabilia I’d probably be most enthusiastic about clear, large images of myself (and my teammates!) gussied up as crazily as possible in those theatrical disguises for which we were renowned. Wigs. Cowboy hats. Turbans. Bandannas hiding our eyebrows. Fake teeth. Viking helmets, I don’t know, like with Mardi Gras beads hanging down from one horn.

You played blackjack like that?

In a pinch.

Christ, where?

Toilets, mostly. Bellagio. Mirage. The Venetian. Mandalay let us get down all the time…

Those are some higher-end properties, man. I wouldn’t call them toilets.

A shithole is a shithole is a shithole. And the same is, of course, true of us. A card counter under a wig under a Viking helmet under shiny plastic jewelry is a counter all the same. Now how ’bout those pictures?