CASINO [Paperback]

The author of the best-selling Wiseguy gives us this true and brilliantly-told story of love, marriage, adultery, murder, revenge, and how it led to the Mafia's finally losing its stranglehold on the Las Vegas casinos. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The basis for the Martin Scorsese movie of the same name, Pileggi's true-crime account charts the rise and fall of a pair of Vegas hoods.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The author of Wiseguy (LJ 2/1/86) (filmed as Goodfellas) serves up another colorful tale of Mafia misdeeds. Pileggi's primary source is gambler Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal (who luckily survived a car bomb), and the focus is on the mob takeovers of the Stardust and Tropicana casinos, using Teamster pension funds, in the 1970s. Mafia infighting between the Chicago and Kansas City factions, coupled with court convictions, effectively halted organized crime's Las Vegas gold mine in the 1980s. Published to coincide with the release of the Martin Scorsese film, starring Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, and Joe Pesci, this episodic, lively book is likely to be a hit movie. Recommended for popular collections.
--Gregor A. Preston, Univ. of California Lib., Davis
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Pileggi, author of the best-selling Wiseguys (1986), which was filmed by Martin Scorsese as Goodfellas, unravels another fascinating true-crime Mob story. Through interviews with Mafia big shots from all over the country, Pileggi tells the extraordinary tale of how a team of Chicago mobsters headed west to conquer Vegas. Leading the pack was Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, who learned his bookmaking trade early, ditching school to go to the track. His interest in sports of all kinds blossomed as he realized that the more he knew about a sport and its players, the more accurate his numbers. Local bookies soon saw the value in Lefty's knowledge, and eventually he landed in Vegas. Like Henry Hill in Wiseguys, Lefty tells Pileggi the story of his career in no-holds-barred fashion, exposing the rampant, multileveled corruption in extensive detail--the skimming, the bribing of authorities, the inside dealing. He also explains what brought the Mob's Vegas house down--his personal squabble with former best friend Tony "the Art" Spilotro, who supplied the muscle behind Lefty's brains. With nonfiction page-turners like the kind Pileggi writes, who needs crime fiction? Expect heavy demand with the simultaneous release of Casino the book and the movie, again directed by Scorsese and starring Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Sharon Stone. Mary Frances Wilkens --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

A riveting if not uplifting look at the gaming industry's inside games during the mob's heyday in Las Vegas. With the cooperation of Frank (a.k.a. Lefty) Rosenthal, one of Chicago's top men in the Nevada pleasure domes, Pileggi (Wiseguy, 1986, etc.) offers a blow-by-blow account of how organized crime looted the casinos they controlled as silent but deadly partners during the 1970s. A wizard of odds whose handicapping talents made him a legend in the Windy City's underworld, the devoutly nonviolent Rosenthal went West in 1968 (at age 38) in search of a fresh start. He subsequently married a gorgeous but unstable showgirl and at her behest took a day job at the Stardust. Although his rap sheet and gangland ties made him impossible to license, Rosenthal effectively ran the show on behalf of absentee owners who regularly collected millions in skimmed cash. In the meantime, the FBI had been keeping a close eye on dozens of top racketeers, including the late Tony Spilotro, a street thug with influential friends. The diminutive Spilotro (known as the Ant, short for pissant) caused considerable mischief for his distant masters, first by conducting an open affair with Rosenthal's alcoholic wife and then confirming for the FBI longsuspected connections when summoned back East to explain his betrayal. Withal, the biggest break came when the Feds obtained the notes of a lower-echelon hoodlum who kept meticulous records of all meetings he attended to ensure reimbursement of his expenses. The heads of a half dozen major crime families were convicted on conspiracy charges, along with scores of smaller fry. Spilotro wound up five feet under in an Indiana cornfield, and an anything-goes era passed into Nevada history. Rosenthal (whose role in the endgame remains unclear) retired to Florida, where he lives on a horse farm. A cautionary tale of what passes for honor among thieves. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Exposes the secrets behind Las Vegas's multi-billion-dollar gambling industry, profiling the figures of Lefty Rosenthal, a mafioso superbrain; Tony Spilotro, Lefty's brawny partner; and Geri, Lefty's showgirl wife. Reprint. NYT. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.