Frank Rosenthal
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Frank Lawrence "Lefty" Rosenthal (June 12, 1929 – October 13, 2008) was an American sports handicapper and a former Las Vegas casino executive. He also hosted a television talk show in Las Vegas during the late 1970s.
The 1995 Martin Scorsese film Casino, based on the book by Nicholas Pileggi, was inspired by Rosenthal's career in Las Vegas. Rosenthal (re-named "Sam 'Ace' Rothstein") was played by Robert De Niro, and his Mafia associate Anthony Spilotro (re-named "Nicky Santoro") was played by Joe Pesci.[1]
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[edit] Biography
Rosenthal was born in Chicago, Illinois, growing up in the Grand and Ogden neighbourhood in the city's West Side, where he developed a close friendship with Anthony Spilotro. As a youth, Rosenthal would often skip class to attend local Chicago sporting events. In 1961, he was banned from race tracks in Florida, following an indictment for attempting to bribe Oregon University Half-back Mickey Bruce, to throw Oregon's 2nd game of the 1960 season against Michigan. Despite his frequent arrests for illegal gambling and bookmaking, Rosenthal was convicted only once, in 1963, for attempting to fix the outcome of a college basketball game in North Carolina.
A pioneer of sports gambling, Rosenthal secretly ran the Stardust, Fremont, Marina and Hacienda casinos when they were controlled by the Mafia.[1] He was the first to operate a sports book from within a casino[1] (previously, the inefficient norm had been to do the opposite), making the Stardust one of the world's leading centers for sports gambling. Another Rosenthal innovation was to allow female blackjack dealers; in just one year, this doubled the Stardust's income.
In 1976, when authorities discovered that Rosenthal was secretly running casinos without the Nevada license needed to officially do so, they held a hearing to determine his legal ability to obtain a gaming license. The board's decision: Rosenthal was denied a license as a key employee in a casino. However, he later succeeded in an appeal before Judge Joseph Pavlikowski (who had been given a write off of $2,800—the cost of his daughter's wedding two years earlier—at the same hotel at which Rosenthal had been working as a publicity director). An effort to have Rosenthal's name included in the Black Book (which would have banned him from being in or near any casino in Nevada, and could cause any casino he was found in to lose its license), was temporarily thwarted in 1988 by Judge Pavlikowski, but his decision was ultimately overruled.
It has been said that Rosenthal was nicknamed "Lefty" because, during a Congressional subcommittee hearing, he invoked the Fifth Amendment 37 times, not even answering the question of whether or not he was left-handed. In fact, however, he had the nickname from childhood, simply because he was left-handed.[2]
Rosenthal married Geraldine McGee, and while she had a daughter, Robin L. Marmor, prior to their marriage (fathered by Lenny Marmor), Frank and Geri had two children together, Steven and Stephanie. The marriage ultimately ended in divorce, with Rosenthal attributing the failure primarily to McGee's inability to escape her alcohol and drug addictions. After leaving Rosenthal and stealing a significant portion of his savings, Geri died at a motel in Los Angeles on November 9, 1982, at age 46, of an apparent drug overdose. Her death was ruled accidental, from a combination of Valium, cocaine and Jack Daniel's whiskey.
Rosenthal survived an assassination attempt in October of 1982 after his car was rigged with explosives.[1] Many people[who?] state that it was pure luck that he survived because his car was a 1981 Cadillac Eldorado which had a metal plate under the driver's seat (GM installed it to correct a balancing problem); it was the only thing that saved his life. The person or persons behind the attempt have never been positively identified. Possible suspects include Spilotro, Milwaukee Mafia boss Frank Balistrieri, and outlaw bikers who were associates of Geri Rosenthal.
Rosenthal subsequently was forced out of Las Vegas in 1988 when he was placed in "the Black Book," making him persona non grata -- and unhireable—in every Nevada casino because of his alleged ties with organized crime. He retired to Laguna Niguel, California, then to Boca Raton, Florida, and then to Miami Beach, where he ran his website, http://frankrosenthal.com. Rosenthal stated in an interview that he sneaked in and out of Las Vegas all the time under disguises such as a wig or fake beard.
Rosenthal died of a heart attack in his Miami Beach, Florida home on October 13, 2008.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Morrison, Jane Ann (2008-10-18). "JANE ANN MORRISON: Spilotro was merely a killer; Lefty mastered the more frightening Glare". http://www.lvrj.com/news/31224079.html. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
- ^ a b Weber, Bruce (October 18, 2008). "Lefty Rosenthal, Kingpin in Las Vegas, Dies at 79". The New York Times.
[edit] Sources
- Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas by Nicholas Pileggi ISBN 0-684-80832-3
- High Rollers: A History of Gambling DVD by History.com
- The Enforcer: Spilotro-The Chicago Mob's Man in Las Vegas by William F. Roemer, Jr. ISBN 0-8041-1310-6
- The Battle for Las Vegas : The Law Vs. the Mob by Dennis N Griffin ( Huntington Press: 2006. ISBN 0929712374)
- Cullotta - The Life of a Chicago Criminal, Las Vegas Mobster, and Government Witness by Dennis N. Griffin ( Huntington Press: 2007. ISBN 0929712455)
