Las Vegas Poker Player Survives Savage Attack

The Duke of Fremont took one of the worst beats of his life this June. (Photo: AllVegasPoker.com)

59-year-old Ron Wall has been a fixture of downtown Las Vegas poker for years, though most people there know him as The Duke of Fremont because of his colorful get-up. Dressed in hand-designed suits, fedoras, scarves and pinky rings, Wall plays up his character while he’s fleecing players at Fremont Street poker rooms – but he almost didn’t make it back to Fremont to keep playing after a vicious attack when he went to buy gold and silver at a Primm, Nev., casino in June.

Wall visited Whiskey Pete’s casino in Primm on June 26 with $137,000 in cash to buy gold and silver from a man he had dealt with before. But upon entering the hotel room he was immediately attacked by the man and a woman, who beat him severely for 20 minutes with anything they could get their hands on, breaking his ribs, cheekbones and nose. Despite a concussion, Wall managed to stay conscious while he was beaten, stabbed and later tied up with phone cords and duct tape; during a lull he made his escape from the room and got to the hotel’s registration desk, where police were called to the scene.

Three days later Wall picked Edmond Price out of a police lineup, and he was also able to identify Victoria Elizabeth Edelman, Price’s girlfriend, as the woman who attacked him in the hotel room. Edelman is now being held in the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas on $2 million bail, while Price remains in a California jail. The two are suspected of using Wall’s cash from the incident to hire their defense attorneys.

The longtime poker player, meanwhile, continues to attend physical therapy sessions after undergoing surgery for his numerous wounds. He is now back at the tables in downtown Las Vegas entertaining poker rooms as The Duke of Fremont.