Argent Corporation was a company in Las Vegas that at one time controlled the Hacienda Hotel/Casino, the Stardust Resort & Casino, the Fremont Hotel and Casino and the casino in the Marina Hotel. The company was owned by Allen R. Glick, a San Diego real estate investor. The name Argent came from the three initials of his name, combined with the first three letters of the word "Enterprises". Over a few years, federal, state and local gaming officials in Nevada confirmed that these casinos were controlled by organized crime families in the Midwest and that a huge skimming operation was conducted within the casinos.
Argent purchased the Hacienda in 1974 and obtained a Nevada gaming license. Argent then purchased the Recrion Corporation, which owned the Stardust and Fremont. The purchase was financed by a loan from the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund. After Argent purchased the Stardust, Frank Rosenthal was installed as a manager, although he did not have a Nevada gaming license. The Nevada Gaming Commission refused to license Rosenthal because of his past criminal convictions, and Rosenthal began changing job titles to positions that did not require state licensing. Rosenthal's story was fictionalized in the movie, Casino , where he is played by Robert De Niro. During the time that Argent owned the four casinos, between $7 million and $15 million is estimated to have been skimmed from the casinos and sent to organized crime members in Chicago, Milwaukee, and Kansas City. Argent was forced out of the casino industry in the late 1970s. Glick denied any wrongdoing and was never charged with a crime. He became a cooperating witness, immunized from prosecution in a criminal case in 1983 against 15 individuals charged in the skimming operation. The 15 individuals indicted included many people in the top echelon of organized crime: Joseph Aiuppa, Jackie Cerone, Joseph Lombardo and Anthony Spilotro from the Chicago Outfit; Frank Balistrieri and his two sons from the Milwaukee crime family; and Carl Civella from the Kansas City crime family. [1] [2] [3] [4]
In 1975, two people with business connections to Allen Glick were shot and killed. Tamara Rand lent $500,000 to Glick to help fund his purchase of the Recrion Corporation. She later claimed that this entitled her to a 5% ownership share in Argent. On November 9, 1975, Rand was shot five times with a silencer-equipped .22 caliber gun at her home in San Diego. [5] [6] Edward (Marty) Buccieri was a pit boss at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas who had connections with a number of mobsters. In May 1975, he was found dead in a car after being shot in the head with a .25 caliber gun. Buccieri had demanded a $30,000 finders fee from Glick for his help in obtaining the loan from the Teamsters Pension Fund, and had reportedly physically threatened Glick. [7] Neither homicide was solved.
Boyd Gaming Corporation is an American gaming and hospitality company based in Paradise, Nevada. The company continues to be run by founder Sam Boyd's family under the management of Sam's son, Bill Boyd, who currently serves as the company's executive chairman after retiring as CEO in January 2008.
Casino is a 1995 American epic crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Barbara De Fina and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is based on the 1995 nonfiction book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Scorsese. It stars Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, Don Rickles, Kevin Pollak and James Woods. The film marks the eighth collaboration between director Scorsese and De Niro.
Frank Lawrence Rosenthal, also known as "Lefty" Rosenthal, was an American professional sports bettor, former Las Vegas casino executive, and organized crime associate. Rosenthal, who was once called "the greatest living expert on sports gambling" by Sports Illustrated, is credited with bringing increased exposure to sports betting to Las Vegas in the '70s.
The Stardust Resort and Casino was a casino resort located on 60 acres (24 ha) along the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. The Stardust was conceived by Tony Cornero, and construction began in 1954. Cornero died in 1955, and the project was taken over by his brother. The Stardust had numerous creditors, and construction was stopped in 1956, when the project ran out of money.
The Hacienda was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, that operated from 1956 to 1996. It was opened by Warren Bayley, who owned other Hacienda properties in California as well. Bayley opened the hotel portion in June 1956, although the opening of the casino was delayed as the Nevada Gaming Control Board objected to his choice of casino manager, Jake Kozloff. The casino portion eventually opened on October 17, 1956. The $6 million property had 266 rooms and the largest pool on the Las Vegas Strip. Like its sister properties in California, the resort included a neon sign that depicted a cowboy riding a palomino horse.
The Fremont Hotel & Casino is located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, on the Fremont Street Experience. The casino is operated by the Boyd Gaming Corporation.
Riviera was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada, which operated from April 1955 to May 2015. It was last owned by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which decided to demolish it to make way for the Las Vegas Global Business District.
The settlement of Las Vegas, Nevada was founded in 1905 after the opening of a railroad that linked Los Angeles and Salt Lake City. The stopover attracted some farmers to the area, and fresh water was piped in to the settlement. In 1911, the town was incorporated as part of the newly founded Clark County. Urbanization took off in 1931 when work started on the Boulder Dam, bringing a huge influx of young male workers, for whom theaters and casinos were built, largely by the Mafia. Electricity from the dam also enabled the building of many new hotels along the Strip. The arrival of Howard Hughes in 1966 did much to offset mob influence and helped turn Las Vegas into more of a family tourist center, now classified as a Mega resort.
Nicholas Civella was an American mobster who became a prominent leader of the Kansas City crime family.
Frank Peter Balistrieri was the crime boss of the Milwaukee crime family from 1961 to 1993. He was a central figure in the skimming of Las Vegas casinos during the 1970s and 1980s, and served several prison sentences.
Anthony Thomas "Tony Ripe" Civella was an American mobster who was head of the Kansas City crime family.
Anthony Cornero Stralla also known as "the Admiral" and "Tony the Hat" was a bootlegger and gambling entrepreneur in Southern California from the 1920s through the 1950s. During his varied career, he bootlegged liquor into Los Angeles, ran legal gambling ships in international waters, and legally operated casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The D Las Vegas Casino Hotel is a 34-story, 639-room hotel and casino in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, owned and operated by Derek and Greg Stevens. The D Las Vegas also consists of a dinner theater called Showroom at the D.
Allen Melnick Dorfman was an American insurance agency owner and a consultant to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) Central States Pension Fund. He was a close associate of longtime IBT President Jimmy Hoffa and associated with organized crime via the Chicago Outfit. Dorfman was convicted on several felony counts and was murdered in 1983.
The 1950s was a time of considerable change for Las Vegas. By the 1950s, there were 44,600 living in the Las Vegas Valley. Over 8 million people were visiting Las Vegas annually in 1954, pumping $200 million into casinos, which consolidated its image as "wild, full of late-night, exotic entertainment". The population grew dramatically from 8,422 during World War II to over 45,000. From 1952 to 1957, through money and institutional lending provided by the Teamsters Union and some Mormon bankers they built the Sahara, the Sands, the New Frontier, the Royal Nevada, the Showboat, the Riviera, the Fremont, Binion's Horseshoe, and finally the Tropicana. Gambling was no longer the only attraction by the 1950s; the biggest stars of films and music like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, Andy Williams, Liberace, Bing Crosby, Carol Channing, and others performed in intimate settings and brought a whole new brigade of Hollywood film stars and others in the entertainment business to the city. In 1957, the first topless show "Minsky's Follies" was started here.
Robert Lloyd "Bob" Brown was an American publisher of the Las Vegas Valley Times from 1973 to 1984. Prior to this, he had served as a correspondent in Asia for the United Press and as a journalist in Alaska and Arkansas. He was also editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a speech-writer for Paul Laxalt, editor of the Tucson Daily American, editor and publisher of the Lacey Leader and chairman of the Nevada State Tax Commission.
The Valley Times was a daily newspaper based in North Las Vegas, Nevada.
Edward Levinson was an American criminal and gambling operator.
The Meadows Casino & Hotel was the first resort hotel-casino in the Las Vegas area, opening in 1931. The Meadows was located at Fremont Street and East Charleston Boulevard near the Boulder Highway, and outside the Las Vegas city limits. Its location was designed to attract workers and tourists from the Hoover Dam. The hotel had 30 to 50 rooms. The hotel-casino operated a nightclub, featuring the Meadows Revue and the Meadow Larks band. It also had a landing strip for small airplanes.