Lamar Fike was a long-time friend of Elvis’ and in charge of his security. Lamar said;

“One night in Vegas, between Elvis’ shows, I was at the crap tables. I was up $60,000. I was running the crap table crazy. And then Col. Tom (Elvis’ manager) came up to me, took all my chips and put them on ‘Don’t Pass’.

NOTE: $60,000 in 1970 is $395,000 of purchasing power today.

"I rolled the dice and threw a seven and lost it all in one pop. I felt sick to my stomach. I said to the Colonel, 'Jesus, I worked my butt off to make this money'.”

The Colonel said, 'How much did you start off with?'

I said, 'I started off with two-thousand dollars.'

He reached into his pocket, pulled out a wad of cash, counted out two-thousand dollars and said, 'Here. Now you're even'.”

NOTE: If anyone had put my $395,000 on a crap table bet, I would have called out 'No bet', and not thrown the dice. If the Colonel pushed me and made a scene, I would have the pit boss and security on my side. Lamar was employed by Elvis, not the Colonel. But this shows the power the Colonel had over Elvis and his men.

Also, the Colonel wouldn’t want any of his or Elvis’ employees to have that much purchasing power in his pocket or bank. Their salary was $150 a week.

Of course, their real pay was the prestige and the perks: image, making movies, hanging out with stars and of course, girls, girls, girls. 

The others on Elvis' security team would probably be envious with one of their co-workers suddenly having $400,000 of purchasing power.  And most important, Elvis was the breadwinner and bread-giver. I'm sure that Tom Parker didn't want that being unbalanced.

Back to the Colonel’s gambling, Lamar said;

"The Colonel was the most degenerate gambler I have ever seen. Once I witnessed him lose a million and half dollars at craps. Larry saw him lose a million and a quarter on the big wheel. And Sonny saw the Colonel lose half a million dollars waiting for the casino manager to fetch him his free Thanksgiving turkey.”

With Tom Parkers gambling loses and Elvis' spending money on giving away cars and jewelry (he traveled with a jeweler who carried a briefcase full of items for Elvis to buy and give away.), it's easy to see why both of them had to keep the grueling concert schedule going during their final years together.

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 2018 - Forbidden Power wins Best Picture out of 1,000 entries at the Hollywood BITB International Film Festival. 

2019 - Best Science Fiction Feature Film - Oklahoma BB Film Festival. 

2019 - Best Thriller - London Flicks Film Festival.

2019 - Best Original Screenplay - Florence Film Awards Italy.

2019 - Best Feature Film - New York Cinematography Awards.

After a one-night affair with a mysterious woman, a young man wakes up alone with sexually transmitted powers and enhanced sexual power.

He searches for the woman to find out the source of her power and why he was chosen.