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New Book Reveals the Inside Story of the Law's
Battle to Remove the Influence and Corruption of Organized Crime
from Sin City's Streets and Casinos
During the 1970s and through the mid-1980s, the dominant organized
crime family operating in Las Vegas was the Chicago Outfit. To
protect their interests, the Windy City bosses sent an enforcer to
Vegas. He had the reputation of doing whatever it took to get a job
done. His name was Tony Spilotro.
Las Vegas, NV -- In 1971, the Chicago mob, known as the Outfit,
sent an enforcer to Las Vegas to keep an eye on its casino
interests. When he wasn’t busy taking action against threats to
their cash-skimming activities, he ran lucrative street rackets that
included loan sharking, robbery, burglary, and fencing stolen goods.
For the next 15 years nothing happened in the Las Vegas
underworld without his knowledge and approval. His name was Tony
Spilotro. In the 1995 movie Casino, Joe Pesci played a character
based on Spilotro.This book tells the real story of Tony’s time in
Sin City and the law’s efforts to remove him. It was compiled from
many sources, including books, public records, and newspaper
archives. But in large part it is told by the former Las Vegas
Metropolitan Police Department detectives and FBI agents themselves;
the men that actually conducted the investigations, and the current
and former reporters who covered the organized crime beat.
In the pages of this book, the commander of Metro’s Intelligence
Bureau tells what strategies were put in place to combat Spilotro
and his ruthless gang. The reader rides along with a pair of Metro
detectives as an evening of routine surveillance turns violent and
deadly, and joins FBI agents as they track bags full of unreported
cash from mob-controlled casinos in Vegas to the crime families in
Chicago, Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Kansas City. It contains the
inside details of the night Spilotro’s burglary crew broke into a
business expecting a $1 million score, but instead walked into a
joint Metro and FBI ambush.
It also explains why one of Tony’s once-trusted lieutenants
switched sides, sending shockwaves through organized crime families
nationwide. The adulterous relationship between Spilotro and the
wife of his long-time pal and mob associate, Lefty Rosenthal is
delved into. Rosenthal was considered to be a sports betting genius,
and had been a major power in the Vegas gaming business until Tony
arrived in town. After that, what could have been a panacea for both
men turned into a nightmare. The affair between Tony and Geri
Rosenthal was more than likely a contributing factor in the Outfit’s
decision that Tony was expendable, resulting in his being beaten to
death and buried in an Indiana cornfield in 1986.
An intriguing mix of people are unveiled as the author takes his
readers back in time to the mob days in Vegas : Lawmen that were
heroes, and other cops that were rogues. There are gangsters who
robbed and murdered; rats and informants who played both sides,
crooked hotel and casino employees, dedicated prosecutors, and
journalists that had to walk a fine line to maintain credibility
with both the lawmen and the mobsters. The Battle for Las Vegas —
The Law versus the Mob will be released nationally on July1. ISBN #
0-929712-37-4 # # #
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