Red's show bar in Houston - When Efren was Caesar Morales
I was there at Red's too, and watched “Caesar Morales” (that was the alias Efren used to get into the USA) dismantle that tough field like it was a joke. I foolishly bet on Wade Crane getting three games on the wire in the finals. It wasn’t close. At that same time, he offered our reigning Rotation champion, Allen Hopkins, the 15 ball—and Hopkins refused it. Efren's loss to Buddy made no sense to me either.
Efren's coterie at Red's was about fifteen to twenty Filipinos. Efren was only in for about 10% of whatever he would win. The idea that they would give back $10,000 just to cool people out is absolutely ridiculous. They were all gangsters themselves, and I don’t think they would give anybody the sweat off their nuts. If heist-men had come in with shotguns, I don’t believe those Filipinos would have given up the cash. Where on earth did that story originate?
Speaking from personal experience -- I was there from start to finish – I want to make note that Red's was a very, very large place. It contained a large disco, snack bar, many tables, etc. It would have taken a platoon of Navy SEALs to stick the joint up. There were hundreds of people in there 24 hours a day. Plus, probably 20% of everyone in there also had a gun. - Freddy 'the Beard' Bentivegna, The Encyclopedia of Pool Hustlers