Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal - The Las Vegas Gambling Master-Mind

A Guaranteed Winning Gambler With Mafia Ties
Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal proved over-and-over again that his business sense and gambling abilities would always keep money rolling in for his bosses in the Chicago and other Italian mafia connected families.

He was the first to bring sports gambling to the casinos, he was the first to bring women dealers to the tables – he basically used his marketing genius skills to revolutionize Las Vegas into a gold mine for underworld organized crime families.

Rosenthal had control of four different hotels on the Las Vegas strip and despite who was the front-man of the operations, he was the true man behind closed doors that always ran the show.

His rise to being one of the most powerful people in Las Vegas during the 1970's was cut short after 14 years due to numerous problems.

His gangster pal Nicky "The Ant" Spilotro, who was sent out to Vegas by the mob to watch his back, was having an affair with his wife, showgirl, Geri McGee. And the fact that Spilotro was constantly in the news for illegal activities – Rosenthal association with Spilotro would haunt him throughout his Vegas career.

Rosenthal's wife had drug and alcohol problems that constantly interfered with his ability to stay completely focused on casino operations. They also had problems staying faithful to each other and had problems raising their one and only child because Rosenthal could not trust that his wife would take care of the child in a sober civil manner when he was not around.

Also plaguing his ability to run the casinos and hotels the way he wanted to was the Las Vegas Gaming Commission. They were always on his back about not having a gaming license, even though Rosenthal claimed his responsibilities at the casinos and hotels were so low on the totem pole that they did not require him to have a license – the Gaming Commission knew different and was dead set on having him removed from Las Vegas.

The whole reason Rosenthal was sent out to Vegas was because he was so good at every aspect of gambling he could easily double the profits of the Casinos, in turn, leaving more money on the table for the Mafia to profit from. The Mafia was skimming money off the top of profits of casinos that they controlled, illegally, but as long as Rosenthal was in control, the profits would stay large and the skim would easily go unnoticed.

In A Place Like Las Vegas, You Can't Stay At The Top Forever
Rosenthal really wanted to get his Gambling License so he could run the casinos and hotels legally as an acting boss. But due to his mafia connections and illegal gambling past the board wanted no part of letting him have any such power in Vegas. In an attempt to fight back against the commission that would not give him a fair hearing in a court of law, Rosenthal created his own T.V. talk show to expose the corruption and bias he was facing.

Rosenthal's show invited celebrities like O.J. Simpson, Wayne Newton, Frank Sinatra and many others on the set. But secretly he was looking to use the talk show to fire back against the Gaming Commission for strong-arming him on his Gaming License. The talk show also gave him a job title within the casino that did not require him to obtain any casino licensing - two birds with one stone - plenty of marketing for his hotels and casinos and lots of bad mouthing the Gaming Commission and calling them out for unfair use of their power.

But the Talk show brought on a lot of bad publicity and the Mafia was not happy with this exposure that Rosenthal was creating. The bosses back home asked Rosenthal many times to knock the antics off for it was bringing too much-unneeded attention to the very thing they were trying to protect, "The Skim".

Not only was the Mafia getting fed up with his antics, so was law enforcement. With the now exposed "casino-skim", the Mafia connections and the robbing, stealing, corruption and loan sharking that was ripping apart the city, courtesy of the "The Whole in the Wall Gang" and Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, the FBI stepped in to take down the whole Mafia empire that turned into a mess. After 14 years of being on top, Rosenthal would finally be muscled out of what he once called paradise, Las Vegas.

On the evening of Oct. 4, 1982, Lefty Rosenthal, the talented mob-connected professional gambler, walked out of Tony Roma’s restaurant on East Sahara Avenue to his Cadillac. His car was bugged with a bomb, and when Rosenthal started the vehicle the bomb exploded with him in it. Although he survived, the message was sent, get out-of-town.

"Lefty", retired to Miami where he continued his career as a gambler. No one was ever prosecuted on the bombing, but it's widely speculated who was behind it, The Mafia.

"Lefty" died on October 13, 2008, at the age of 79. 

As for the Mafia's skim and the power they had in Las Vegas

By 1980, law enforcement would have them pretty much ran out of town. Although in a place like Las Vegas, there will always be some illegal activity, but the pull that the Mafia used to have in Vegas has now dwindled down to nothing. Pimps, small-time drug peddlers and college card counters probably have more pull.

"Lefty" was a legend and will always be remembered for his ability to pick the winners in any sport. He knew how to run a successful casino/hotel operation like a scientist - he loved showgirls and topless dancers, and his deep Mafia ties made him extremely powerful and dangerous.

Danny Greene: The Irish Mobster

Unlike most mobsters, Danny Greene did not start out in organized crime. In fact, he started out as a longshoremen working on the docks of Cleveland's lucrative transport/export industry. He earned a repetition of a tough guy who had no problem with roughing up some people for whatever the reason.

After a lot of hard work and gained respect from his work ethic and attitude - Greene became a union organizer and eventually when the union boss job title was available - he was a shoe in.

After becoming the union boss, he gained great respect from people in higher societies including government officials, rich business owners and also interested mobsters.


But it was the time that he spent with corrupt mobsters that influenced him the most. Greene liked the money that he saw and decided to take some plays out of the mobs playbook. He starting renovating the whole union office. The only problem was a lot of the money he was receiving for renovation and other projects were going right into his own pocket. Even when the renovation were over he kept receiving money for them and kept stuffing the money right into his pockets. He also ran many other rackets on the docks that were illegal with no real worry of being caught or brought up on charges - it was said he was so confident he never even really tried to hide it.
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He gained so much confidence because of something he called the grievance comity. A bunch of tough roughneck deckhand workers that would visit you if you had a problem with the way Greene was running things. These were not people you wanted to see unless you wanted to take a beating until you decided your problem was solved.

Eventually, this activity would earn him an investigation. With the way he carelessly embezzled his money, it was not that hard to indict Greene and convict him of the crimes. But Greene received nothing more than a slap on the wrist. A $10,000 fine and a loss of his job would be the only penalties he would receive for his corruption.

After that, it was not hard for Greene to find work. One of the most powerful mobster in Cleveland, Alex "Shondor" Birns, approached him and asked him to be his muscle. Greene already liking what he had seen from the mob so far, agreed. After a while of doing work for the mob - Birns approached Greene and asked him to do his first murder. Greene agreed and suggested to use a bomb. A bomb would take care of the evidence and would surely get the job done. Birns liked the idea and okayed Greene to move forward.

The only problem was Greene botched the bombing and nearly blew himself up by accidentally letting the bomb blow up in his car. When questioned by authorities, he said someone just came by and threw a bomb in the window of his parked car - he shrugged it off and told authorities, he survived because "It's the luck of the Irish".

After the botched attempt, there was still more work for Greene, including using his muscle to influence the Cleveland garbage system in the mobs favor. But there was one job that Greene was asked to do that would change his relationship with the mob forever.

He was asked to work with a partner that Birns had set up for him - Greene obliged. The only problem was the partner turned out to be a drug dealer. Birns fronted over $70,000.00 dollars for a job, but the drug dealer spent the money on cocaine to double the profit of the job. Unfortunately, cops would raid the apartment of the drug dealer and the partner ended up dumping the coke and losing Birns' money and the profit.


This issue put Greene in a sticky situation. Birns wanted Greene to pay back the $70,000.00 since the partner and the money was unreachable. Greene reluctantly refused because he believed since the drug dealer was Brims' guy, it should be Brims' loss. In the underworld - a situation like this only ends in one or two ways - someone pays or someone dies.

Birns put a $25,000.00 hit on Greene's head and gave the contract to whoever wanted to take it.

This would ignite a war between the mob and Greene and his group of Irish pals he put together called the Celtic Club. The club was mainly made up of Irish gangsters standing their ground and standing proud for their Irish heritage. Greene would have several attempts made on his life which he survived - always saying "It's the luck of the Irish".

A bloody war would erupt between the two groups; bombs were frequently used for a means of murder. But one of the most important bombs took place in 1975, right outside of Birns' favorite bar and across the street from a church. After finishing a drink, Birns walked to his car and started it up - Birns' car blew up in the streets of Cleveland on the eve of Easter. One of Cleveland's biggest mob/underworld figures was dead.

This only promoted the war between the mob and Greene - more bombs and more murders ensued. Everyone wanted Greene to tell his crew to stand-down, even his investigating detective asked him to stand-down for his own safety because the mob was known for never backing down and he was sure to find himself blown up as well. But Greene had no interest, he said he would never back down to the mob and said he was hell-bent on running the mob out of Cleveland.

After more bloodshed and the bombing and murder of Greene's number two-man,  Greene was still not deterred. Greene often stood out in the open perhaps taunting his enemies. He never really laid low and even was brought up on manslaughter charges after being shot at and returning fire killing the would-be assassin - charges were later dropped. His place where he lived was blown up while he was in it - again he escaped using the old saying "it's the luck of the Irish".


But the luck would run out. As Greene walked to his car October 6, 1977, in Lyndhurst, Ohio, a bomb was set off and the green light on Greene's head was finally over (the Irishman was dead.)


In the wake of Greene's death, his wish final came true. He went to war to get the mob out of Cleveland so he could have the turf; he may have never got the Cleveland turf, but for the most part neither did the mob. Thanks to the apprehension and corporation of an out-of-town mobster, Ray Ferritto, who placed the bomb in Greene's car and set it off - because of his testimony, roughly 22 Cleveland organized crime figures were convicted and sent to prison. Since then Cleveland has been a much quieter place.

The Real Sopranos vs. T.V. Sopranos (DeCavalcante Family)

The real New Jersey Mob is the DeCavalcante family, but what we see on t.v., about the luxurious, prestigious life of crime promoted by well connected people (as seen on T.V. by The Sopranos) is often embellished.

In the case of this "Real Sopranos" documentary, it shows some of the funny but sometimes sad similarities between the real life New Jersey Mob and the HBO hit series "The Sopranos" that we all came to know and love.

• A boss dieing of Stomach Cancer -- like in the first season
• A high ranking mafia member killed for being homosexual -- like Vito
• Fighting for New York's approval -- always
• Running a strip club for legitimate income -- like Tony Soprano 
• Robbing the World Trade Center and getting caught -- not a well thought out plan
• How fast your so called family will turn and rat
• How fast your family will expect you of ratting

The Commission: The Mafia's Original Seven

The head of the Mafia Families and which families they spoke for.

Charles "Lucky" Luciano

Philadelphia

Cleveland

Pittsburgh





Joseph "Bannanas" Bananno
Bananno Family
Colorado
Dallas

Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano

Soon to be the Luchesse Family

New Orleans

Vincent Mangano

Soon to become The Gambino

New Jersey

New England

Guiseppe "Joe" Profaci

Soon to become the Colombo Family

Tampa

Stafano Maggadino

Buffalo

Al "Scareface" Capone

Chicago Outfit

Los Angeles

San Jose

San Francisco

Milwaukee 

Italian Mafia Drug Raid: 24 Arrested in U.S. and Italy

A major Trans-Atlantic Italian Mafia drug smuggling operation was raided early Tuesday morning. The raid targeted both New York members and Italy members. Right after mid-night on Monday or (Tues morning) undercover agents raided locations in Brooklyn, while undercover agents across the ocean raided locations in Italy.

In all, 24 men were arrested, some were even said to be the head of the powerful U.S. Mafia Family, the Gambinos.

The Calabria based 'Ndrangheta Mafia which is much like the Sicilian Mafia, the Cosa Nostra, has been bridging an alliance in America with U.S. mafias to traffic drugs and guns into the U.S.using such avenues like South America.

The undercover operation used wire taps, computer e-mails, and undercover agents to infiltrate the mafia group that were using fruit companies as a cover to smuggle drugs into Italy and back out to America.



In the process of the undercover operation coded "Operation New Bridge" they were tracking plans that the 'Ndrangheta mafia had to smuggle in 500kg of cocaine from Guyana to Italy to be cut distributed to different customers including ones in the U.S.


The value of the 500kg or 1000 pounds would of had an estimated street value, after being cut, of about $1 billion.

U.S. attorney Marshall Miller said, "The raid struck at the heart of the Italian Mafia Crime Syndicate."

Philly Mob Boss (Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi) Acquitted

Uncle Joe, the reputed Philadelphia mob boss, beat the rap for a second time Friday at his retrial on gambling and racketeering charges that stem from a long-time FBI investigation.

A jury acquitted 74-year -old Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi of witness tampering, but deadlocked on three other charges. It's not clear if prosecutors will try him a third time on the 2009 indictments.

Mob turncoats and other government witnesses painted Ligambi as the head of a fading La Cosa Nostra crime family in Philadelphia. The FBI has been investigating him for more than a decade, since he allegedly took over when Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino went to prison.

The Ligambi case largely involves the collection of small gambling debts and loans, and the operation of video poker machines at neighborhood bars.

The retrial was a pared-down version of last year's trial, when Ligambi's reputed underboss, enforcer and several associates were convicted. Underboss Joseph "Mousie" Massimino ended up with a 15-year-sentence, while the enforcer got 11 years.

That jury acquitted Ligambi of five counts, while deadlocking on four.

"Now we've won a sixth of nine counts," defense lawyer Ed Jacobs told reporters after Friday's verdict. "Both times the jury was unable or unwilling to accept the government's theories on racketeering conspiracy and gambling."

He's called the case a witch hunt, and pointed out the lack of bloodshed. However, prosecutors pointed to the alleged threats and tough talk heard on FBI tapes to argue that the group remains dangerous.

The jury on Friday also acquitted Ligambi's nephew, 50-year-old George Borgesi, of racketeering conspiracy. He was being released after 13 years in prison from an earlier mob case.

Both juries deliberated for several weeks.

Sourced from ABC News

The "Lufthansa Heist": Five Mobsters Indicted in the 30 Year Old Crime

"Vincent Asaro" Originally the first person to be arrested in the Heist

Vincent Asaro, a high-ranking capo in the Bonnano Crime Family, his son Jerome Asaro, Jack Bonventre, Thomas "Tommy D" Fiore and John "Bazoo" Ragano were all indicted on Thursday in a Federal New York Court.

Charges that make the big news is the link to the 1978 "Lufthansa Hiest".

Famed in the movie "The Goodfellas", the heist was the biggest heist in US history, said to bring in around 6 million dollars or 20 million in todays money.

Jimmy Burke, (played by Robert DeNiro in the Goodfellas) the mastermind behind the heist, was convicted on a parole violation in 1982 and while in prison he was convicted on a murder charge of a drug dealer and sentenced to a much longer term that keep him in prison till 1996 when he died of lung cancer.

FBI descended on Burke's properties in June in New York, including his home where the expected planning of the heist took place and the "Robert's Lounge" that he owned and operated and was said to use it as his own personal cemetery.

The excavating of his Lounge brought up remains of human bones identified as Paul Katz (Burke's associate) and other evidence that gave FBI enough for arrests and indictments of the above mentioned five mobsters. Charges included: racketeering linked to the heist, extortion, consparicy, and murder for the high-ranking Vincent Asaro in connection to Katz's murder.

It will be interesting to see how these charges stick, stature of limitation should already long be over with, outside of the murder charge.

In any event, the crime was more then 30 years ago, the money is gone, the mastermind is dead and the mastermind pretty much murdered all other people involved. Should the FBI really be wasting time on criminal charges linked to this heist?

Murder charges I can see, but giving these old geezers a tax paying free retirement home may not be good money spent by the FBI and the judicial system.