Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas
Written: Sep 27 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Captivating story about Vegas in the late 70's
Cons: Different Points of View make it hard for the reader to distinguish what actually happened
The Bottom Line: Casino provides an account of Frank Rosenthal's turbulent life with help of several people. Casino is an excellent view of mob ruled Las Vegas.
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| tiffy0380's Full Review: Casino Books |
*I read the version that Nicholas Pileggi wrote solely and since there is no choice on Epinions I placed it here.*
It should have been paradise and we f****** it all up."
Hence Frank Cullotta ends his interview with Nicholas Pileggi at the end of the book, Casino. He sums up what eventually was the demise of mob rule over Las Vegas and the west in general. Casino is based on the real life of Frank Rosenthal, who is considered the best handicapper in the US. In the 70's he went from a gambler with mob ties to a powerful man who ran four casinos and had a beautiful wife on his arm. His sense of paradise ended when he was run out of Vegas and placed on the notorious Black Book list of "indesireables" and banned from ever stepping inside a Vegas casino again.
Nicholas Pileggi's Casino gets most of his bulk from interviews with Frank Rosenthal himself and several federal agents, friends and family members. Very little information is given in the beginning as to how Frank Rosenthal became involved with mob bosses in Chicago. His bets always won so the reader can conclude that because he made a lot of money gambling, he attracted the attention of several bosses. The bosses financed the building of several casinos in Vegas and therefore needed someone to go and run them. They chose Rosenthal because of his fondness for gaming and because he was perfectionist. At 15 Frank Rosenthal made his first bet and he won. He has spent the rest of his life betting on anything related to sports, making himself and alot of other people a significant amount of money.
Once in Las Vegas he is introduced to a beautiful hustler Geri McGee. Smart, vibrant and money hungry Geri befriends high rollers and always gets her cut of their money regardless if they win or lose. Her weaknessess (hidden yet still there) are her love for alcohol and drugs and her old flame Lenny Marmor. Geri is a working girl, with a daughter and Frank reveals that when he first met her she was bringing home $500,000 a year just hustling and dancing topless at the Tropicana. He speaks often lovingly about her so its interesting when later the reader finds out that she made his life unstable and dangerous. Frank also recounts a story of when he went to go see how she hustled, Geri was throwing dice for a rich Texan. He noted how she was also grabbing chips and tucking them in her purse when the Texan wasn't looking. After crapping out she asked for her cut the Texan answered that she could have whatever she had taken to begin with. With that Geri grabbed his trays of chips and flung them in the air. Frank states that while everyone in the casino was on the floor grabbing chips, he and Geri were the only ones standing, he fell in love.
Around the same time the mob bosses decide to send hot headed Tony Spilotro to Vegas to set up shop. Vicious yet genius when it came to crime, Tony arrived in Vegas and saw dollar signs. He began shaking down all of the dealers, pimps, bookies that had established themselves in Vegas. He built up a crew that included Frank Cullotta (Pileggi bases alot of Tony's personality on his recollections) and wrecked havoc on the Las Vegas police.
Frank Rosenthal and Geri decide to marry and Frank puts money and jewlery away for Geri if anything ever happens to him. In interviews Frank Rosenthal says that while there were problems in the marriage, he cared for her deeply and tried to make things work. Pileggi interviews Geri's sister who states that Frank cheated on Geri and forced her to have a second child. Wide range accounts view Geri as drug and alcohol dependent, and disassociated from her second child with Frank. She made scenes in public places, threatens to go to the FBI and also to have Frank killed. Their relationship began to deteriorate even more when Frank found out Geri was having an affair with Tony.
When inquiries began coming to Frank about his gaming license (which he didn't have) he switched to "Entertainment" supervisor of the Stardust and had his own show. Rosenthal fondly accounts the sports figures and celebrities that he hosted at the Stardust and you get a sense of nostalgia reading his interviews in the book. Things go downhill in a matter of three years as Federal agents, determined to get Spilotro and his gang place bugs, phone taps and follow Spilotro around everywhere. Frank Cullotta says that they were all hauled in and placed under arrest for murder robbery, drugs and loads of other charges. While Cullotta turned states evidence, other members of the crew were either executed or did the same.
A few months after Geri and Frank finally divorced, a bomb went off under Rosenthals car in the parking lot of a local Tony Roma's. While Frank managed to get away with minor cuts and bruises he decides to leave Vegas to raise his two children in Southern California. Geri Rosenthal collapsed outside of a Beverly Hills hotel, November 6,1982. She was put on life support and then removed by Robin Marmor, her daughter with Lenny. Out of about two million in cash and jewels the police found $12,000 left in mint coins. Tony Spilotro and his brother were murdered and buried in a corn field in Indiana. They were made examples of by the mob bosses who were eventually taken down by federal agents.
Casino is an excellent adaptation that uses interviews from people who were in Vegas the time that the mob ruled. Love, betrayal and violence are intertwined to make a fascinating story. I felt that there were too many versions of different stories in the book. The author switches from one account to another and its hard to get a straight story. Still, as Pileggi writes you hear the love, anger and pain in Rosenthal's voice, as he goes from the top of the world to the bottom. Frank Rosenthal is still picking winners and lives in Boca Raton Florida.
FYI
*There is an adaptation in the form of a movie directed by Martin Scorsesee.
*Frank Rosenthal runs his own website and detailed accounts of each Geri and Tony can be found here.
Recommended:
Yes
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