Casino

By Nicholas Pileggi
  • Biographies & Memoirs
  • Biography
  • Crime
  • Non-Fiction

Las Vegas, Nevada was a dusty desert backwater until in 1931 the state legalised gambling. Eventually several Mafia controlled casinos appeared on the famous strip funded by the notorious Teamsters union which were illegally skimmed by the Chicago Outfit.

After moving to Vegas in 1968 Jewish bookie Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal was put in charge of the famous Stardust and other establishments without having a gaming license. The mafia operation was protected by mobster Anthony Spiltora on behalf of the mafia bosses who both oversaw the skim and policed the criminal underworld of Vegas with a regime of extreme violence and murder. As their extraordinary power and extravagant wealth grew the increasingly arrogant pair who were friends since boyhood experienced a spectacular fall from grace.

Rosenthal's high profile drew public and political attention prompting the federal government to begin investigating mafia involvement in the gambling industry while Spiltora and his crew formed the Hold In The Wall Gang who committed robberies that also drew attention from law enforcement. Spiltora's ill-advised affair with his friend's wife Geri McGee, a model and showgirl, further ensured their doom.

Based on fascinating interviews and extensive research Pileggi's book charts the staggering vanity hubris and corruption of 1970s and 1980s Las Vegas when the glittering lights of the desert city were a beacon for sordid criminality and greed governed by naked brutality.

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