Frank Rosenthal

Frank Lawrence Rosenthal
Born (1929-06-12)June 12, 1929
Chicago, Illinois
Died October 13, 2008(2008-10-13) (aged 79)
Miami Beach, Florida
Spouse(s)
Geri McGee
(m. 1969; div. 1981)

Frank Lawrence "Lefty" Rosenthal (June 12, 1929 – October 13, 2008) was a professional sports bettor, former Las Vegas casino executive, and organized crime associate. Martin Scorsese's film Casino (1995) is based on his career in Las Vegas.

Early years

Illinois

Rosenthal, was born in Chicago in a Jewish family and grew up in the city's West Side. As a youth, Rosenthal learned sports betting in the bleachers of Wrigley Field and would often skip classes to attend Chicago sporting events.[1] His father also owned racehorses-he became familiar with betting odds and percentages at a young age. By the mid-1950s, Rosenthal was working with the Chicago Outfit. Chosen for his expert odds making ability, Rosenthal ran the biggest illegal bookmaking office in the U.S. on behalf of the American Mafia. Based in Cicero, Illinois, under the guise of the Cicero Home Improvement company, the Outfit and Rosenthal bought "contracts" from sports bribers to fix sporting events.[2]

Miami

After being indicted as a conspirator on multiple sports bribery charges, Rosenthal moved the operation to North Bay Village in Miami, to avoid attention.[3]

By 1961, Rosenthal had acquired a national reputation as a sports bettor, oddsmaker, and handicapper, and was frequently seen in the company of prominent Chicago Outfit members Jackie Cerone and Fiore Buccieri while living in Miami.[4] At this time Rosenthal was issued with a subpoena to appear before U.S. Senator John McClellan's subcommittee on Gambling and Organized Crime, accused of match fixing. He invoked the Fifth Amendment 37 times and was never charged. Due to this, he was barred from racing establishments in Florida.

Despite his frequent arrests for illegal gambling and bookmaking, Rosenthal was convicted only once, after pleading no contest in 1963 to allegedly bribing a New York University player to shave points for a college basketball game in North Carolina. Rosenthal was also a suspect in multiple business and car bombings in the greater Miami area during the 1960s. It was at this time the FBI opened an ongoing case file on Rosenthal which amassed 300 pages.[5] Once again to escape police attention, Rosenthal moved to Las Vegas in 1968.[6]

Las Vegas career

A big promoter of sports gambling, Rosenthal also secretly ran the Stardust, Fremont, Marina, and Hacienda casinos when they were controlled by the Chicago Outfit.[7] He also created the first sports book that operated from within a casino,[7] making the Stardust one of the world's leading centers for sports gambling. Another Rosenthal innovation was hiring more female Las Vegas blackjack dealers, which in one year helped double the Stardust's income.[8]

In 1976 FBI and Las Vegas Metro authorities discovered that Frank Rosenthal was secretly running 4 large casinos without obtaining a Nevada gaming license, they held a hearing to determine his legal ability to obtain a license. This hearing was headed by Nevada Gaming Board Chairman (and future U.S. Senator) Harry Reid. Rosenthal was denied a license because of his arrest record, and his documented reputation as an organized crime associate,[9] particularly because of his boyhood friendship with Chicago mobster Anthony Spilotro.[10]

Frank Rosenthal married Geri McGee on May 4, 1969. McGee already had a daughter, Robin L. Marmor, from a previous marriage with ex-husband Lenny Marmor. Rosenthal and Geri later had two children together, Steven and Stephanie. The marriage ended in divorce in 1981, with Rosenthal attributing the failure primarily to McGee's inability to escape her alcohol and drug addictions. After leaving Rosenthal and stealing a portion of their savings, McGee 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 alcohol.[1]

Later years and death

Rosenthal survived an October 4, 1982 assassination attempt in Las Vegas at the Tony Roma's restaurant located at 602 East Sahara Ave, in which a car bomb attached to the gasoline tank was detonated when he started his car.[7] Rosenthal likely survived because of a manufacturing device unique to his particular car (a 1981 Cadillac Eldorado). General Motors had added a stout metal plate under the driver's seat. This plate was installed on all El Dorado models to correct a balancing problem. This plate shielded Rosenthal's body from most of the explosion's force. Although no one was ever charged for this murder attempt, Milwaukee mob boss Frank Balistrieri was most likely responsible. Balistrieri, who was known as the "Mad Bomber" to law enforcement, was heard (via wiretap) blaming Rosenthal for the legal problems the mob-controlled casinos were suffering. Similarly, just weeks before the bombing, Balistrieri told his sons he intended to get "full satisfaction" for Rosenthal's perceived wrongdoing.[11] Other less likely suspects included Anthony Spilotro (either acting with others and on behalf of the Chicago Outfit), and outlaw bikers who were friends of Rosenthal's ex-wife, Geri. Rosenthal's car was parked only 50 feet from the front door of Tony Roma's, so whoever planted the car bomb was an experienced expert at bomb building.

Rosenthal left Las Vegas about six months later and moved to Laguna Niguel, California. Rosenthal focused on raising his children, who were both accomplished youth swimmers. He was later formally banned from Las Vegas casinos in 1987, when he was placed in "the Black Book," making him persona non grata – unable to work in, or even enter, any Nevada casino because of his alleged ties to organized crime.[12] Rosenthal later moved from Laguna Niguel, Calif. to Boca Raton, Florida, and finally, Miami Beach, where he ran a sports betting website and worked as a consultant for several offshore sports betting companies.[13]

Rosenthal died on October 13, 2008, at the age of 79, of an apparent heart attack.[14]

The film Casino (1995), directed by Martin Scorsese with a screenplay co-written by Nicholas Pileggi from his biography "Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas", is largely based on Rosenthal's time in Las Vegas. The film takes some creative license with the facts and timeline, but is broadly accurate to Rosenthal's story and his relationship with Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro, on which the character Nicky Santoro (played by Joe Pesci) is based. Rosenthal is represented by the character Sam "Ace" Rothstein (played by Robert De Niro). The character of Ginger McKenna Rothstein, his wife in the film (played by Sharon Stone), is based on Geri McGee, Rosenthal's wife in real life. In an interview about the movie, Rosenthal stated that his character portrayed by Robert De Niro was quite but not fully similar to him, namely "7 on a scale of 1 to 10", and that he would neither "dispute" nor "confirm" whether Sharon Stone accurately portrayed his wife because he found that aspect of the movie to be "distasteful" and bringing back "bad memories".[15]

References

  1. 1 2 Pileggi, Nicholas (1995). Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas. pp. 24–25, 65, 69–70, 97–100, 175, 195–197, 348. ISBN 0-684-80832-3.
  2. ↑ Rosen, Charley (2001). The Wizard Of Odds: How Jack Molinas almost destroyed the game of basketball. pp. 162–233.
  3. ↑ Rosen 2001, pp. 162–233.
  4. ↑ Pileggi 2001, p. 65.
  5. ↑ "Frank Rosenthal FBI File". FBI Vault. FBI. 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-21.
  6. ↑ Pileggi 2001, pp. 69–70.
  7. 1 2 3 Morrison, Jane Ann (2008-10-18). "Jane Anne Morrison: Spilotro was merely a killer; Lefty mastered the more frightening Glare". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved 2008-10-18.
  8. ↑ Pileggi 2001, p. 175.
  9. ↑ Pileggi 2001, pp. 97–100.
  10. ↑ Pileggi 2001, pp. 195–197.
  11. ↑ Smith, John L. (2003). Of Rats and Men: Oscar Goodman's Life from Mob Mouthpiece to Mayor of Las Vegas. p. 147.
  12. ↑ Pileggi 2001, p. 6348.
  13. ↑ Santiago, Roberto (2008-02-11). "Roberto Santiago: Player Interview: Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal". FrankRosenthal.com. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
  14. ↑ "Las Vegas Review-Journal". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Interview with Frank Rosenthal, a Casino Legend in Vegas". CasinoDiscussion.com. Retrieved March 8, 2018.
  • Frank Rosenthal on IMDb
  • Official website
  • Nevada Gaming Commission's List of Excluded Persons now-defunct listing at the Wayback Machine (archived April 23, 2007)
  • "Frank Rosenthal". Find a Grave. Retrieved June 14, 2013.
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