So the movie is kinda told through 2 different perspectives. Tony and Lefty each believed them to be the ones doing things as they were meant to be done. Tony figured they were there to rob the town, and Lefty was more playing the long game being mostly legit and doing the skim. Their actions obviously set in motion some big things, but with the movie montage, a lot of the details would obviously be left out. Anyone who knows about Chicago, do you guys have any insight on the real goings-on of the Vegas thing and the dynamic between Lefty and Tony? Did the midwest families want Tony out of the picture to keep things going with Lefty, or was Tony actually more valuable to them? The movie obviously shows a better light on Lefty, but who knows the more real story?

Blacksheep, you should read "The Black Book and the Mob," by Ronald A. Farrell and Carole Case, which is the definitive book about the Mafia and Vegas. It has lots of stuff about Spilotro and Rosenthal, and everyone else in OC involved in Vegas.

Pesci deserved an Oscar for both Goodfellas and Casino.

This was one of the best scenes in the movie.

Lefty Rosenthal was a gangster to the core, meaning he wasnt some weak frontman like Glick. In fact, Rosenthal belonged to the David Yaras/Lenny Patrick crew. Before going to Vegas, Rosenthal was in Miami together with Yaras and they were involved in numerous bombings in that same area, including many gambling and loan sharking operations. Another of Rosenthal's alleged mentors was also old time Outfit "member" Les Kruse.

So many Jewish gangsters from Chicago probably even more as NYC lol.

That's interesting. I always assumed he was sort of a weak front man.

Lefty had a record so he definitely wasn’t some squeaky clean front man.

@H...and the thing was that those same Chicago Jewish mobsters were with the Outfit for 50 or 60 years and thats why some of them exercised a lot of power, authority and respect among the Italian membership, meaning they were part of the family and they were all one clique.




@dixiemafia I agree.




@BigTuna here are few examples from my old Lenny Patrick article regarding the Miami situation...Rosenthal was one of Yaras' “students” in the bookmaking business down in Miami. They constantly met to talk business at the Miami Beach Bayshore Country Club, which was Yaras' headquarters. Rosenthal was Yaras' overseer at the Multiple Sports News Service, which provided the “line” for bookmakers of sport events on national level. During June and July of 1967, on the orders of Yaras, Rosenthal purchased explosives, detonators, guns and ammunition so it can be used against rival bookmakers. For example, Alfie Mart was a Miami bookmaker and his headquarters got blown up for resisting the services of Rosenthal’s company. Also the automobile of Irving “Mickey” Zion, another Miami bookmaker, was blown to pieces. Next, the cleaning shop of another Miami bookmaker Jack “Chappie” Rand was bombed and totally destroyed.

I think that the portrait the movie made of Rosenthal is different from real life.
Lefty wasnt a killer but he was a smart bussiness man and grown in the same streets than Spilotro.
The Outfit wouldn't give the control of the 3 most profitable casinos to a weak man.
He has significantly increased the profits of the casinos and if it hadn't been for his junkie wife he would have continued even after Spilotro's death.

Great stuff, guys. Thank you. I've always wondered too, if Geri McGee was as awful as Sharon Stone portrayed her in the movie. Now i want to watch Casino.

Same here and Im going to watch it tonight Lol

Interesting to note is that back during the 40's and 50's, the Chicago Outfit was known for killing junkie relatives even of simple associates who were also somehow connected to the mob, and so Lefty's wife probably knew at least something about his connections and so I always wondered on why the mob never went after her. Who knows, maybe one of their guys gave her the last "hot" dose? I mean the Chi boys never had problems with killing women, so again, I wonder what happened? Maybe Lefty kept the whole "junkie" thing in secret...

I believe that a relative of hers, or perhaps a friend of hers once stated that she believed the outfit was responsible for her death, but I sincerely doubt it. She was just a bad junkie who let that shit catch up with her.

I agree. Heroin addicts are most "adventurous" junkies and easy targets on all fields, and so you can never tell for sure on what really went on...

Yea, no way the Outfit was worried about her lol

McGee died from an overdose. Dont believe the mob was involved. For years up to her death her so called friends and associates were stilling what she had when she departed from Lefty. She even sold some of her jewelry a few times to get her fix.

Lefty would never get a gaming license as he was not squeaky clean. I wish the movie had dived more into the senator and the gaming commission.

Both Lefty and Tony brought a lot of heat to Vegas especially in the later years. Tony started up the Hole in Wall gang back in 1971, not really an issue for Chicago as Joey Doves was getting his cut from the heists, it was the other bosses and families that were upset, especially Kansas City and Milwaukee, finally Detroit and Cleveland when the feds were putting a lot of pressure on their associates in LV when gang went after every score it could get, before that Tony's crew was selective. Spilotro was only a minor nuisance for the family compared to Lefty.
With Lefty it was doomed as Lefty was an informant. Lefty was supposed to be behind the scenes, after the article was published, he put himself in the limelight because of his ego, now lefty was hell of a good handicapper which saved his life as he was still a tremendous earner for Chicago. If lefty had just dropped that article after it was published and not make a circus, and if Spilotro was on a tighter lease that the Clown and Dove put on him, it would not have gone so bad. The Kansas City wiretap would have still done damage but the families would have scavenged what they could. If the mob had found out Lefty was an informant they would have killed him already. Even with the FBI surveillance and wiretaps, they would have never had gotten to the key people they did, and someone was feeding them information, which is why I suspect left was still informing after relocating to LV.

Before Vegas, Spilotro and the Indian Schiro also had a burglary crew in AZ. One of their main targets was systematic diversion of gold which was used for electronics in the Motorola plants, obviously in large quantity. My point is that they rarely brought attention at the time and were still untouchable, while stealing lots of gold and cash, dealing narcotics and also killing people.

Also as GV said, Lefty was an informant. In fact, it seems that Lefty was somehow Spilotros downfall.

The Gaming Board in 1988 phut Rosenthal in the "Black Book," a list of people who could be barred from even entering a casino, much less owning, operaating or having a license for a "key" job in a casino.
The Board cited: "His 1963 felony conviction for conspiring to bribe a New York University basketball plalyer; his notorious and unsavory reputation in regard to gaming; his criminal associations, especially with Spilotro;his exclusion from Florida racetracks; and references to his activities in th Chicago Crime Commission and federal congsressional reports."

@TB thats right, although I think they shouldve placed him in the black book decades before that since the government already had information regarding Rosenthal being, not just connected, but a real mobster. In my previous post I showed you that both Yaras and Lefty were involved in numerous bombings around the Miami area.

Heres some additional and different info...

Sure, TD. All that bad stuff was on the record way before 1988; the Board would have denied him a license if he'd applied for one as a "key employee," like credit manager or casino manager. But I don't think he ever applied for one--I think he might have officially been carried as the "public relations director" or the "food and beverage director." But, you can be put in the Black Book if you have an "unsavvory reputation," which means whaterver the Board thinks applies to you.

@TB thanks again. The Outfit had big problems with the black book. I mean Marshall Caifano was also placed there and literally fucked up his job. The same thing happened to Spilotro. Although I dont remember if Roselli was also on the list...i think he was but im not 100% sure. All three guys were the Outfits overseers in Vegas.

Roselli was not in the Black Book. Caifano and Murray Humphries werre in the original group of 11 put in the Black Book. Caifano mounted an extended legal campaign against the Gaming Board, claiming that his 14th Amendment "rights"were violated. A Federal appellate court, in a landmark decision, ruled that entry into casinos was a "privilege" conferred by the state of Nevada, not a Constitutionally protected "right."

Rosenthal’s FBI code name was "Achilles"
Sure beat the code name his mob buddies used when discussing him — "Crazy." lol.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/news-columns/jane-ann-morrison/lefty-rosenthal-was-an-fbi-snitch/

Thanks again both @TB and @H.

Caifano already became famous when his old brother Fat Lenny Caifano (former capo for Giancanas Taylor St crew) was killed by Teddy Roe. From that point on he was constantly on the government's radar and his presence in Vegas was also somehow his "sanctuary" from all of the heat back home in Chicago. But as usual, his reputation quickly reached the west coast too and so by the late 1950s (i think) he was replaced by Roselli.

Heres one interesting convo between the Outfits top advisor and also representative for the Outfit's non-Italian faction and "connection guys", Murray Humphreys, and Marshall Caifano regarding Caifano's ban from Las Vegas, Nevada. Humphreys is literally schooling Caifano on what he should do or not, meaning this is just one of the hundreds of evidences regarding some of the non-Italian bosses having a higher stature and influence over the many Italian made guys.

Also this same report shows us that after being banned from Vegas, Caifano was literally broke and asked for money. From the days of Jake Guzik to Humphreys, the non-Italian faction also acted as treasurers for the whole organization and often gave loans to many crews, such as the Daddono crew or in this case to Caifano who in turn belonged to the Battaglia "outfit".

Every single thing I read about Caifano whether its just a story or an actual transcript, it seems like the guy was always getting shit on.

I agree @Big T. Caifano wasn’t a smart racketeer and if it wasn’t for his old friends like Battaglia and Louie Fratto, Caifano wasn’t going to make any money, but on the other hand he was a professional killer and allegedly executed lots of contracts for the Outfit. Although his prime time didn’t last long and was already replaced with Roselli, besides Caifano still trying to remove his name from the black book. That’s why later Battaglia turned his back at him and also turned a blind eye when Caifano’s fellow crew members Alderisio, Nicoletti and Frabotta took over many of Caifanos deals, and again old man Humphrey had to solve the problem, as the Outfits main arbiter and advisor, mainly because the boss Sam Giancana didnt care about anything because he was in love at the time and wasnt around, constantly.

Murray Humphries is absolutely fascinating. I never really gave him his credit as he wasnt italian, so i always doubted his stature in the organization. As I've spent more time on this forum, I must say Sam Giancana is so intriguing. That guys life was something else.

If it wasnt for Humphreys, there wasnt going to be any Bruno Roti Sr or Frank Ferraro or Gus Alex. We have info regarding Humphreys "bashing" some high level CN members like Cerone or Skids Caruso. He was their main "teacher". The Outfits non-Italian crew was something else, and they had a official seat on Chicago's round table with their own vote, even regarding on who was going to be the new CN Chi boss.

As for Giancana...he was more Americanized than Capone and didnt care much about the Italian stuff. Or as Angelo Bruno once said that Giancana worked with everyone and also made money for everyone. And again as a reminder, Giancana didnt understand Italian and was making faces during commission meetings. Again, Giancana is the main example of a completely Americanized Italian mobster and thats why he and his predecessors never had a problem with the non-Italians having a seat on their own "commission".

Since Casino is the subject, the guy in the grocery store always batching about keeping records of his expenses cracks me up every time.

I'll hit da two of em in da backada head wid a fuckin shovel. Ma! I'm sorry