The district attorney's office says that Bumb attorney Ron Werner turned the letter over to authorities immediately after it came in the mail. The couple even had a purchase contract for a $850,000 house on Golf Links Road. "My wife broke the code," he says, "and I supported her." They recorded the conversation. And that ain't happening because I can't afford it." She recalled that she was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt covered by a blanket. Tim and George Jr. worried that pressuring state and city officials to deal Jeff back in at Bay 101 would backfire and authorities would close down the card room. Along the way, Jeff raised the ante, hiring Frank Ubhaus, a lawyer who represented Garden City card club, Bay 101's crosstown rival. Eight months later, the frame of the weapon was found in a Salinas pond near Venzon's home with the barrel and slide missing. attorney Frank Ubhaus asked the Bumb patriarch. "My issue with [George Bumb Sr.]," Jeff Bumb complains about his father, "was his control of where you lived, what kind of house you bought, where your children went to school, who your friends are, whether your children went to college, who they would marry, what kind of wedding they would have." "What am I going to say to the vice president?" In a statement to police, Jeff's daughter recounted how the first incident had happened the year before on the Fourth of July at a family beach house near Santa Cruz when the older boy allegedly started fondling her while she was asleep on the living room couch. After learning of the incident, Jeff and wife Elizabeth did not report the matter to police immediately. In February 1994, nearly one year after the San Jose City Council gave Bay 101 its blessing, the state denied the Bumbs and their partners' gaming license application. Tim, the second youngest of George Bumb's four boys, was already running the family toy business, Fact Games, and Premium Pet Stores. Deputy chief Tom Wheatley says that police wondered if Venzon, or someone, destroyed the barrel to prevent a ballistics test from tracing a fired bullet to the gun. Toward the end of the call, things got heated. Snow White or Cinderella? Originally he was scheduled for questioning on March 10, 1997, but the old man's lawyers explained that their client was extremely ill, suffering from "severe life-threatening conditions," practically on his death bed. During his long tenure at the Flea Market, Venzon apparently developed a close relationship with George Bumb Sr. You know the school we went to?" Hamilton, where Latin mass is conducted on a regular basis. The couple even had a purchase contract for a $850,000 house on Golf Links Road. And as with any divorce, embarrassing private details about the family and its businesses made their way into the public record. In February 1994, nearly one year after the San Jose City Council gave Bay 101 its blessing, the state denied the Bumbs and their partners' gaming license application. Today, Bumb family enterprises include the local Premium Pet Stores chain, Air One Helicopters and, of course, Bay 101. The couple even had a purchase contract for a $850,000 house on Golf Links Road. Matthew Bumb's attorney argued that the relationship was consensual. "Jeff is a wheeler and dealer," explained his Uncle John, the Flea Market's executive vice president and owner of the Skeeball Arcade. On Nov. 8, 1995, attorney Albin Danell, Elizabeth's brother-in-law, contacted the police, apparently after consulting with Elizabeth. EIGHT MONTHS AFTER its approval by the City Council, the peach-colored Bay 101 held its "grand opening." The gambling palace Jeff Bumb--the oldest son who is often described as the most entrepreneurial of the four brothers--had in mind was going to take a lot of effort and political skill. "I'm a big boy." "My wife broke the code," he says, "and I supported her." Jeff tells the story differently: "Matthew was my godson. Within weeks, Jeff says, his six-month-old dog was dead, his cat was dead and the tires of a family car were slashed. In a fit, he took the paper he was writing on, crumpled it up and threw it out the office door. But Jeff says that privately he and his brothers had an oral agreement--which Tim Bumb now corroborates--that would one day let him repurchase his shares and become a partner in Bay 101 again. It's very tightknit," says Bryant, adding that the senior Bumb doesn't give interviews--ever. You think this didn't break my heart?" Near the end Venzon writes, "They want to bring up the 'murder-for-hire' investigation again. He demanded $10 million from his brothers to compensate him for violating the purported secret Bay 101 deal. Matthew is the kind of guy a relative described to police as "polite," the guy parents wanted their daughters to date. "It made you tough, made you get a thick skin." Ultimately, the charges against the older Bumb were reduced to a misdemeanor. But Jeff and his family started hearing that instead of showing concern and support for his daughter, George Bumb Sr. and others in the family were blaming his freshman daughter for the incident and not her adult-age cousin. Along the way, Jeff raised the ante, hiring Frank Ubhaus, a lawyer who represented Garden City card club, Bay 101's crosstown rival. She told police about at least seven other sexual encounters she had with her cousin after that. Or at least he thought he didn't. He asked longtime family attorney Ron Werner if his brothers could write a recommendation letter for him, something state officials had told him he would need to be considered eligible for a gaming license. Tim now runs Bay 101, which he says is no easy task. But Jeff says the loan dispute screwed up their moving plans. "My wife broke the code," he says, "and I supported her." Werner said no. "And I told you that I loved you and you are like a father to me. He followed that with suits alleging breach of contract, wrongful termination and misrepresentation. According to Werner, molestation of his daughter became part of a laundry list of damning things Jeff threatened to disclose if his buy-out demands weren't met. But Jeff says the loan dispute screwed up their moving plans. When he was jailed, the desperate cop wrote a 15-page handwritten letter in pencil to George Bumb in May 1997 asking the Flea Market owner to bail him out. In response to Jeff's legal attacks, George Bumb Sr. and Bumb & Associates filed two separate suits of their own to collect nearly $1 million in loans and interest they claimed Jeff never paid. One wag refers to them as "the Beverly Hillbillies of San Jose." Tim and George Jr. worried that pressuring state and city officials to deal Jeff back in at Bay 101 would backfire and authorities would close down the card room. Jeff tells the story differently: "Matthew was my godson. In response to Jeff's legal attacks, George Bumb Sr. and Bumb & Associates filed two separate suits of their own to collect nearly $1 million in loans and interest they claimed Jeff never paid. And Jeff himself had been playing poker since he was 12. `He drives by every day on his way to his Maverick Consulting development business in Mountain View, but he never gets off the Brokaw/First Street exit to pay a visit. He wanted to relocate and expand Sutter's Place in Alviso from a five-table card room to a 40-table one, matching the size of Northern California's largest card room, Garden City in San Jose. Tim now runs Bay 101, which he says is no easy task. If all this weren't enough, a sexual relationship between his 14-year-old daughter and a 19-year-old Bumb cousin was reported to police, slicing the family's cherished privacy wide open for the world to see. Jeff Bumb later explained to the press that they didn't know partnerships were required to file such reports, and they paid the state a $1,250 fine. On Nov. 8, 1995, attorney Albin Danell, Elizabeth's brother-in-law, contacted the police, apparently after consulting with Elizabeth. Jeff was also getting word from his nieces and nephews that his father said at a family poker game: "If it was up to him, all the grandchildren would marry each other." Deputy chief Tom Wheatley says that police wondered if Venzon, or someone, destroyed the barrel to prevent a ballistics test from tracing a fired bullet to the gun. It wasn't the money, either. Christopher Gardner Even though all the lights were out, she told police that she knew it was Matthew "because the moonlight shined into the room through the large windows that faced the ocean." The elder Bumb may not have been feeling well, but he wasn't too sick to remember who was boss in this family. In a fit, he took the paper he was writing on, crumpled it up and threw it out the office door. Jeff Bumb remembers that when he was going to school at Bellarmine in the '60s, the other kids would call him things like "Bumbsy" or "Bumbo." OK--we didn't get out--OK? But he didn't cash out. Soon after his confession, the word started spreading in the family about what happened. Other members of the Bumb family own vendor stalls, work at food carts, and have managerial positions within the flea market. "I'm a big boy." That promised to be a hard sell to the San Jose City Council, which would have to authorize both the new site and the expansion. But Jeff says the loan dispute screwed up their moving plans. Still Standing: Jeff Bumb, Bay 101's ostracized founder, boasts that despite various local, state and federal investigations over the years he has emerged squeaky clean. The card club has done more than bring unwanted public scrutiny to this insular group. George Bumb Sr.'s loan-repayment demands came in July 1996, just as his oldest son and his wife were about to move to Los Gatos and break away from the family and its eastside enclave. "I mean," Jeff later said at a deposition, "it was a time of hurt and heartache for us--and not my father, not my mother, not my brother George, not my brother Tim, not Brian could care less." In a statement to police, Jeff's daughter recounted how the first incident had happened the year before on the Fourth of July at a family beach house near Santa Cruz when the older boy allegedly started fondling her while she was asleep on the living room couch. "They didn't teach anything about this. Jeff entertained offers to buy the club, the highest bid, he recalls, coming in at $40 million. The two, she said, never talked about what was going on while it was happening. I'm on the hook for $15 million. One month later, the state attorney general's office made a devastating announcement: Authorities had come across issues of "such magnitude" and "concern" that they would need at least another month to decide if gambling should be allowed at Bay 101. In response to Jeff's legal attacks, George Bumb Sr. and Bumb & Associates filed two separate suits of their own to collect nearly $1 million in loans and interest they claimed Jeff never paid. "And when I visited you at your home I told you that other than God you are the only person I've gotten down on my knees for," Venzon says on page 7. The elder Bumb may not have been feeling well, but he wasn't too sick to remember who was boss in this family. ALL TOGETHER, the intrafamily litigation has spanned nearly three years. At the time, San Jose, like cities throughout the state, was strapped for cash, looking at an $11 million budget shortfall. Jeff tells the story differently: "Matthew was my godson. "I'm a big boy." Soon after his confession, the word started spreading in the family about what happened. I'm on the hook for $15 million. As a compromise of sorts, he was debating whether he should apply for a license as a gaming-club manager instead of as an owner. One of George Bumb Sr.'s granddaughters explained to police that her family was very old-fashioned: "The woman gets the short end of the deal; she is a whore. On Nov. 8, 1995, attorney Albin Danell, Elizabeth's brother-in-law, contacted the police, apparently after consulting with Elizabeth. Finally, in July 1994, the state cleared Tim and George and gave them a conditional OK to let the games begin. she said, referring to the family-run Catholic school at the Flea Market. But he didn't cash out. AN ATTORNEY involved likened the whole contentious affair to a divorce. But Jeff was confident. So Jeff, Brian and the remaining non-family partners backed out of Bay 101, handing everything over to Tim and George Jr. He started telling people around the office that he wanted out of the family business. George Bumb Jr., the quiet one with a flair for things mechanical, was already at the controls of Air One Helicopter. At the time, Jeff was in the midst of negotiating an arrangement to be bought out of the family businesses. EVERY DAY THE CLUB stayed closed, the Bumbs lost more money. Realizing that, Jeff offered to pay higher card-room taxes (next year the city expects to collect $4.5 million from Bay 101) and pick up the tab for security. Unlike other partners, neither Jeff nor Brian had buyback provisions in their written agreements, an intentional omission meant to appease state gaming officials who wanted them out of the picture. In response to Jeff's legal attacks, George Bumb Sr. and Bumb & Associates filed two separate suits of their own to collect nearly $1 million in loans and interest they claimed Jeff never paid. Though authorities were never able to prove a paid snuff plot, Jeff Bumb believes the allegations were a factor contributing to authorities' mistrust of him. And that ain't happening because I can't afford it." George Bumb Sr.'s loan-repayment demands came in July 1996, just as his oldest son and his wife were about to move to Los Gatos and break away from the family and its eastside enclave. Don't Shoot: George Bumb Sr., the publicity-shy patriarch of the Bumb family and creator of the Flea Market, in a rare photo which appeared in California Today magazine in 1980. She recalled that she was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt covered by a blanket. George Bumb Jr., the quiet one with a flair for things mechanical, was already at the controls of Air One Helicopter. Toward the end of the call, things got heated. Police reports would suggest she had, "for about a year," been giving "blow jobs" to 19-year-old Matthew Bumb, son of George Bumb Jr. She recalled that she was dressed in shorts and a T-shirt covered by a blanket. Jeff Bumb later explained to the press that they didn't know partnerships were required to file such reports, and they paid the state a $1,250 fine. Don't Shoot: George Bumb Sr., the publicity-shy patriarch of the Bumb family and creator of the Flea Market, in a rare photo which appeared in California Today magazine in 1980. Ultimately, Jeff says with resignation, he hopes I find the truth, "not my truth, not their truth, just the truth." And that ain't happening because I can't afford it." The only reason we are driving around in his Lexus today is because he knows I have read the bizarre and bitter contents of a 2-foot-high stack of documents down at the Santa Clara County Superior Courthouse. Snow White or Cinderella? Over the years, he had developed working relationships with the city's politicians and bureaucrats. They recorded the conversation. Almost four months later, on July 21, 1998, George Bumb Sr. appeared in the downtown offices of Berliner Cohen to have his deposition taken. attorney Frank Ubhaus asked the Bumb patriarch. Preventive Medicine: George Bumb Jr. is a co-owner of Bay 101, where a snakebite kit is kept on-hand as a family joke. Timothy has many family members and associates who include Gregory Bumb, Michael Bumb, Julianna Johnson, Andrew Bumb and Bonnie Bumb. "He worked for me." FROM THE START, Jeff's three brothers and father didn't share his enthusiasm for opening a lavish gaming house. Whenever trouble arose at the Flea Market with city code or building inspectors, the Bumbs sent Jeff to settle things. "My issue with [George Bumb Sr.]," Jeff Bumb complains about his father, "was his control of where you lived, what kind of house you bought, where your children went to school, who your friends are, whether your children went to college, who they would marry, what kind of wedding they would have." At one point in the investigation, sheriff's detectives had Jeff's daughter call Matthew while he was working at the Flea Market to confirm the sexual activities. The elder Bumb may not have been feeling well, but he wasn't too sick to remember who was boss in this family. His crimes included taking valuables from the bereaved family members of dead crime victims while pretending to console them. In February 1994, nearly one year after the San Jose City Council gave Bay 101 its blessing, the state denied the Bumbs and their partners' gaming license application. "He worked for me." When family patriarch and Flea Market mastermind George Bumb Sr. was invited to attend a party with President Clinton in San Francisco a couple of years ago, he refused to go and sent his community relations specialist, Betsy Bryant, instead. Almost four months later, on July 21, 1998, George Bumb Sr. appeared in the downtown offices of Berliner Cohen to have his deposition taken. Initially, police filed felony charges against Matthew Bumb for having oral sex with a minor and penetrating her with his fingers. A FEW DAYS AFTER returning from his son's Oct. 13, 1995, military graduation in San Diego, Jeff and his wife, Elizabeth, got some appalling news: Their 14-year-old daughter had been involved in a sexual relationship with an older male cousin. It's like we had no life except for the family." When family patriarch and Flea Market mastermind George Bumb Sr. was invited to attend a party with President Clinton in San Francisco a couple of years ago, he refused to go and sent his community relations specialist, Betsy Bryant, instead. Within weeks, Jeff says, his six-month-old dog was dead, his cat was dead and the tires of a family car were slashed. Over the years, he had developed working relationships with the city's politicians and bureaucrats. But there was no gambling done that night. Before the end of the month, the Flea Market laid off Jeff's daughters Anne and Rebecca. The elder Bumb may not have been feeling well, but he wasn't too sick to remember who was boss in this family. Initially, police filed felony charges against Matthew Bumb for having oral sex with a minor and penetrating her with his fingers. A blue knit polo shirt covers his stocky 52-year-old frame. Eight months later, the frame of the weapon was found in a Salinas pond near Venzon's home with the barrel and slide missing. Earlier this year, a month before Venzon was sentenced to 14 years in prison, district attorney investigator Michael Schembri closed out the Venzon case, noting in a court filing, "No new information has been uncovered relating to the murder for hire case [at the Flea Market] which our department investigated several years ago." And for nearly a month, they did. He also disputes that such a letter was even necessary for Jeff to get licensed. ALL TOGETHER, the intrafamily litigation has spanned nearly three years. And for nearly a month, they did. The guy doesn't get a slap on the hand." The elder Bumb may not have been feeling well, but he wasn't too sick to remember who was boss in this family. But Jeff was confident. "We made it very clear to Jeff and everybody else concerned," Tim says, "that I'm not going to stick my neck on the line here. Along the way, Jeff raised the ante, hiring Frank Ubhaus, a lawyer who represented Garden City card club, Bay 101's crosstown rival. Matthew Bumb's attorney argued that the relationship was consensual. Jeff entertained offers to buy the club, the highest bid, he recalls, coming in at $40 million. In fact, on the day he was arrested, records show that Venzon pawned a 14-karat-gold diamond cluster ring and a ladies' gold tennis bracelet for a total of $298 at American Precious Metals, a jewelry store at the Flea Market run by Joseph Bumb. At the time, Jeff was in the midst of negotiating an arrangement to be bought out of the family businesses. Behind the scenes, the Bumbs suspected their potential gambling competitors and a disgruntled former Flea Market employee of giving investigators unsubstantiated material to use against them. "We made it very clear to Jeff and everybody else concerned," Tim says, "that I'm not going to stick my neck on the line here. "I'm a big boy." Don't Shoot: George Bumb Sr., the publicity-shy patriarch of the Bumb family and creator of the Flea Market, in a rare photo which appeared in California Today magazine in 1980. Finally, in July 1994, the state cleared Tim and George and gave them a conditional OK to let the games begin. His crimes included taking valuables from the bereaved family members of dead crime victims while pretending to console them. President Biden nominates California's Julie Su as U.S. labor secretary,Californian headed state labor agency during pandemic chaos He also disputes that such a letter was even necessary for Jeff to get licensed. George Bumb Sr.'s loan-repayment demands came in July 1996, just as his oldest son and his wife were about to move to Los Gatos and break away from the family and its eastside enclave. A FEW DAYS AFTER returning from his son's Oct. 13, 1995, military graduation in San Diego, Jeff and his wife, Elizabeth, got some appalling news: Their 14-year-old daughter had been involved in a sexual relationship with an older male cousin. Other allegations were more dubious: Investigators chased after a tip that the Bumbs were skimming cash from the Flea Market parking lot, an accusation that was never proven. Meanwhile, Jeff and his lawyers spent 15 months trying get his father to appear at a deposition. (In one case, George Bumb Sr. loaned Jeff $31,250 in 1992 for his son to invest in Bay 101.) attorney Frank Ubhaus asked the Bumb patriarch. You think this didn't break my heart?" When he was jailed, the desperate cop wrote a 15-page handwritten letter in pencil to George Bumb in May 1997 asking the Flea Market owner to bail him out.