 Fiorella LaGuardia is kind of the villain of the piece. Why did LaGuardia ban Pinball? Yeah, LaGuardia came in definitely on a crusade to stop organized crime, which I think was a lot of a goal. But it was very hard to do, and it's very hard to show people that he was succeeding. In 1933, Fiorella LaGuardia ran for mayor, promising to rid New York City of corruption and organized crime. Pinball, he said, was gamble, ruled by the mob, a racket to steal lunch money. So he banned it, you know, for the children. And it wasn't just a ban. It was a public relations crusade. Major raids throughout the city squads of police swarming into bowling alleys, bars, anywhere they could find them.