Download or read book The Dunes Hotel and Casino The Mob the connections the stories written by Geno Munari and published by TrineDay. This book was released on 2022-04-07 with total page 605 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The intent behind this book is to record classic Las Vegas history that would be lost forever if not memorialized." The Dunes operation was a spectrum of information that is intricate and mysterious at times, protected by a shroud of secrecy and intrigue that is virtually impossible to decipher. It featured different operators and Mob characters who, at various times in the history of the hotel, were involved in various ventures, including gambling, bookmaking, real estate investment, and many other business arrangements. There are more than 390 footnotes and an index. I have been working on this book for almost four years, which included many hours of research and the development of a timeline. My research helped bring forth answers to questions regarding notable gambling operators, Mafia chiefs, U.S. Senators, Governors, and memorable events. One such event solves a mystery of a bomb assassination plot and a shooting; politicians were compromised, Hoffa pulled strings, and there are heretofore undisclosed facts that involve President Kennedy's assassination. I never dreamed these details would ever be uncovered.
Download or read book Annual Conference the Dunes Hotel and Casino Las Vegas Nevada April 29 1965 written by Motor Carrier Lawyers Association and published by . This book was released on 1965* with total page 51 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Lost Las Vegas written by Jeff Burbank and published by Rizzoli Publications. This book was released on 2014-05-01 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lost Las Vegas traces the cherished places in the city that time and the brutal forces of economics have swept aside before the National Register of Historic Places could save them from the wrecker's ball or, in the case of Las Vegas, before the Neon Boneyard can claim them.Organised chronologically starting with the earliest losses and ending with the latest, the book details the many hotels and casinos that failed to move with the times and got swept away for something bigger, better and brighter.Legendary names in the field of entertainment have come and gone - the Sands hotel featured many of the rapack in residence, but the casino is long gone. Howard Hughes and the mob featured heavily in Vegas history but neither could sustain their success for very long. Today, it is the showgirl who is under threat. That Vegas institution is under threat from the big setpiece shows such as Cirque du Soleil.Losses include: Arizona Club, El Portal Theater, Clark County Courthouse, Hotel Nevada, First State Bank, Las Vegas Rail depot, El Dorado Club, Old Ice House, Atomic Tourism, Helldorado on Fremont Street, The Green Shack, El Rancho Vegas, Hotel Last Frontier, Desert Inn, Sands, Sahara, The Thunderbird, The Mint, Royal Nevada, Stardust, Showboat, Hotel Biltmore, Dunes, Hacienda, Moulin Rouge, Tally Ho, Paddlewheel/Debby Reynold’s. Silver Slipper, Tam O’Shanter, Bonanza, Boardwalk Casino, Old Las Vegas Convention Center, Landmark Hotel, Aladdin, La Concha, Westward Ho!, Castaways
Download or read book Cult Vegas written by Mike Weatherford and published by Huntington Press Inc. This book was released on 2001 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mike Weatherford resurrects the mystique of Vegas's Golden Age--the '60s of history and legend--bringing the hipster legacy to new Vegasphiles. Meet '50s and '60s lounge greats the Treniers, the Mary Kaye Trio, and Louis Prima and Keely Smith; comedy legends Joe E. Lewis, Shecky Greene, and Don Rickles; and Vegas babes Vampira, Lili St. Cyr, Ann-Margret, and Tempest Storm. Weatherford also covers nearly every offbeat movie ever made about Las Vegas, as well as Elvis and Frank's impact on the town. This gorgeous entertainment retrospective is packed with showroom esoterica, descriptions of near-forgotten corners of Vegas cult musicology, odd trivia, and unsung heroes of a bygone era. Cult Vegas chronicles the major moments--the camp, the extreme, the awful--in short, the magic of Las Vegas' half-century run as an entertainment mecca.
Download or read book The Strip written by Stefan Al and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2017-03-03 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The transformations of the Strip—from the fake Wild West to neon signs twenty stories high to “starchitecture”—and how they mirror America itself. The Las Vegas Strip has impersonated the Wild West, with saloon doors and wagon wheels; it has decked itself out in midcentury modern sleekness. It has illuminated itself with twenty-story-high neon signs, then junked them. After that came Disney-like theme parks featuring castles and pirates, followed by replicas of Venetian canals, New York skyscrapers, and the Eiffel Tower. (It might be noted that forty-two million people visited Las Vegas in 2015—ten million more than visited the real Paris.) More recently, the Strip decided to get classy, with casinos designed by famous architects and zillion-dollar collections of art. Las Vegas became the “implosion capital of the world” as developers, driven by competition, got rid of the old to make way for the new—offering a non-metaphorical definition of “creative destruction.” In The Strip, Stefan Al examines the many transformations of the Las Vegas Strip, arguing that they mirror transformations in America itself. The Strip is not, as popularly supposed, a display of architectural freaks but representative of architectural trends and a record of social, cultural, and economic change. Al tells two parallel stories. He describes the feverish competition of Las Vegas developers to build the snazziest, most tourist-grabbing casinos and resorts—with a cast of characters including the mobster Bugsy Siegel, the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes, and the would-be political kingmaker Sheldon Adelson. And he views the Strip in a larger social context, showing that it has not only reflected trends but also magnified them and sometimes even initiated them. Generously illustrated with stunning color images throughout, The Strip traces the many metamorphoses of a city that offers a vivid projection of the American dream.
Download or read book At the Sands The Casino That Shaped Classic Las Vegas Brought the Rat Pack Together and Went Out With a Bang written by David G. Schwartz and published by . This book was released on 2020-08-26 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The lights are coming down. Frank, Dean, and Sammy are about to take the stage. This is the moment we remember, when Las Vegas became classic. And it was at the Sands. Built in 1952 over the ashes of Hollywood Reporter publisher Billy Wilkerson's last chance in Las Vegas, the Sands was a collective effort. Underworld figures like Meyer Lansky, Doc Stacher, and Frank Costello provided the cash. Beloved Texas gambler Jake Freedman was the public face. Manhattan nightclub king Jack Entratter kept the Copa Room filled and made the party happen, every night. Carl Cohen, esteemed as the greatest casino manager in the history of the business, made the team complete.No matter how well your casino is run, you need a good hook to get the gamblers through the door. Casino owners were learning that entertainment was a pretty fair hook. Entratter, who broke into the entertainment business as a bouncer at the Stork Club, had risen to become manager of the Copacabana, one of Manhattan's hottest hot spots, before heading to Las Vegas. At the Sands, "Mr. Entertainment" brought many of the brightest stars of the day to the casino's showroom, named the Copa Room. The Copa was the hottest ticket in America and, for performers, one of the most coveted stages in the nation. Headlining at the Sands-or even opening there-meant that you had made it.For gamblers, the Sands was paradise. For tourists, it was a chance to see some sophistication-and maybe run into a famous singer or actor. The resort itself became a celebrity. Early on, the Sands hosted numerous radio and television broadcasts, bringing the casino into American households coast to coast when gambling was still not entirely reputable. Las Vegas is a city built on public relations, and the Sands' Al Freeman was one of its early masters.The Sands did more than showcase stars: it made them shine brighter. In 1960, while filming Ocean's 11, the Rat Pack (though they were never called that in those days) came together onstage at the Sands, creating a cultural icon that would define the era. Behind the scenes, Davis and Sinatra resisted the prevailing segregationist mindset of Las Vegas and helped to overturn Jim Crow on the Strip. With Sinatra as its star, the Sands reached its highest point, hosting everyone from John F. Kennedy to Texas oilmen to Miami bookmakers.Yet the Sands wasn't all comps and curtain calls. Behind the scenes, the casino's connection with reputed mobsters made it a target. For years, the FBI tried to penetrate the casino, including a disastrous wiretapping operation that turned into a public embarrassment for the Bureau. And Frank Sinatra-at one point a 10 percent owner of the Sands-would divest his interests after a highly-publicized feud with Nevada gaming regulators over his friendship with alleged Chicago mob kingpin Sam Giancana.thanksAfter Howard Hughes bought the Sands in 1967 (with Frank Sinatra explosively departing soon after) the Sands lost some of its allure, but the casino soldiered on under Hughes and other owners before being sold to Sheldon Adelson, who closed the property in 1996 to make way for the Venetian mega-resort, along the way doing for conventions what Jack Entratter had done for entertainment in Las Vegas four decades earlier.In the end, the Sands went out with a bang-an implosion that brought down its hotel tower. It had a wild 44 year run. Along the way, a host of characters, including the Rat Pack (and their many friends) in all their glory, author Mario Puzo, Apollo astronauts, wealthy arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, and President Ronald Reagan passed through the Sands' doors.At the Sands tells the story of how one of the most fondly remembered classic Las Vegas casinos beat the odds to become a success, staged some of the Strip's most memorable spectaculars, and paved the way for the next generation of Las Vegas resorts. The Sands may be gone, but it did not fade away.
Download or read book Tales from the Pit written by David G. Schwartz and published by Gambling Studies. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dealing in a casino presents challenges and rewards not seen in many workplaces. With hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake every minute, table games pits are high-stress workplaces. Managing a workforce of dealers and attending to the needs of players brings stresses of its own. In 2015, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas's Center for Gaming Research received a grant from the UNLV University Libraries Advisory Board that enabled it to undertake an oral history project intended to capture the stories of table games managers, including both those currently working in the field and those who have retired. Drawn from these interviews, Tales from the Pit provides an overview of how the interviewees felt about a variety of topics, ranging from their experiences breaking in as new dealers to their transitions to management and the changes the industry has seen over their careers. The current and former managers speak candidly about the owners, bosses, dealers, and players who made each day challenging. This book illuminates the past several decades of casino history through the words of those who lived and made it.
Download or read book Gardens in the Dunes written by Leslie Marmon Silko and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-04-30 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping, multifaceted tale of a young Native American pulled between the cherished traditions of a heritage on the brink of extinction and an encroaching white culture, Gardens in the Dunes is the powerful story of one woman’s quest to reconcile two worlds that are diametrically opposed. At the center of this struggle is Indigo, who is ripped from her tribe, the Sand Lizard people, by white soldiers who destroy her home and family. Placed in a government school to learn the ways of a white child, Indigo is rescued by the kind-hearted Hattie and her worldly husband, Edward, who undertake to transform this complex, spirited girl into a “proper” young lady. Bit by bit, and through a wondrous journey that spans the European continent, traipses through the jungles of Brazil, and returns to the rich desert of Southwest America, Indigo bridges the gap between the two forces in her life and teaches her adoptive parents as much as, if not more than, she learns from them.
Download or read book American Casino Guide written by Steve Bourie and published by . This book was released on 2004-11 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published annually since 1992, the 2005 edition of this bestselling guide continues to gain fame as the best available source for information on U.S. casinos. The new 2005 edition lists more than 650 casinos in 35 states and comes complete with maps of all states showing where the casinos are located, plus detailed maps of Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno and the Mississippi gambling resort towns of Biloxi and Tunica.
Download or read book Casino Capitalism Society and Politics in China s Macau written by Sonny Shiu-Hing Lo and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2020-07-20 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the characteristics of casino capitalism in Macau under Chinese sovereignty and administration. It argues that casino capitalism propelled the region’s economic prosperity and social stability in the period starting from the internationalization of the casino industry in 2002 to the end of 2019. However, casino capitalism also exacerbated the income gap between the rich and the poor. To tackle income inequality, the Macau developmental state combined casino capitalism with social welfarism. The region’s developmental state has been characterized by its relatively decisive leadership, its autonomy from the capitalist and working classes, and a comparatively weak civil society. China has encouraged Macau to shift from its overdependence on casino capitalism to economic diversification and integration with the Greater Bay Area. However, given Macau’s long-standing and profound dependence on casino capitalism, the path of economic diversification is destined to be long and difficult. As this book also argues, the Macau model of “one country, two systems” is a unique one which cannot be easily transplanted to Hong Kong, where the overdeveloped politics and assertive civil society are a far cry from Macau’s frozen politics and quiescent society.
Download or read book The Prince of Providence written by Mike Stanton and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2004-07-13 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: COP: “Buddy, I think this is a whorehouse.” BUDDY CIANCI: “Now I know why they made you a detective.” Welcome to Providence, Rhode Island, where corruption is entertainment and Mayor Buddy Cianci presided over the longest-running lounge act in American politics. In The Prince of Providence, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Mike Stanton tells a classic story of wiseguys, feds, and politicians on a carousel of crime and redemption. Buddy Cianci was part urban visionary, part Tony Soprano—a flawed political genius in the mold of Huey Long and James Michael Curley. His lust for power cost him his marriage, his family, and close friendships. Yet he also revitalized the city of Providence, where ethnic factions jostle with old-moneyed New Englanders and black-clad artists from the Rhode Island School of Design rub shoulders with scam artists from City Hall. For nearly a quarter of a century, Cianci dominated this uneasy melting pot. During his first administration, twenty-two political insiders were convicted of corruption. In 1984, Cianci resigned after pleading guilty to felony assault, for torturing a man he suspected of sleeping with his estranged wife. In 1990, in a remarkable comeback, Cianci was elected mayor once again; he went on to win national acclaim for transforming a dying industrial city into a trendy arts and tourism mecca. But in 2001, a federal corruption probe dubbed Operation Plunder Dome threatened to bring the curtain down on Cianci once and for all. Mike Stanton takes readers on a remarkable journey through the underside of city life, into the bizarre world of the mayor and his supporting cast, including: • “Buckles” Melise, the city official in charge of vermin control, who bought Providence twice as much rat poison as the city of Cleveland, which was at the time four times as large, and wound up increasing Providence’s rat population. During a garbage strike, Buckles sledgehammered one city employee and stuck his thumb in another’s eye. Cianci would later describe this as “great public policy.” • Anthony “the Saint” St. Laurent, a major Rhode Island bookmaker and loan shark, who tried to avoid prison by citing his medical need for forty bowel irrigations a day, thus earning himself the nickname “Public Enema Number One.” • Dennis Aiken, a celebrated FBI agent and public corruption expert, who asked to be sent to “the Louisiana of the North,” where he enlisted an undercover businessman to expose the corrupt secrets of Cianci’s City Hall. The Prince of Providence is a colorful and engrossing account of one of the most tragicomic figures in modern American life—and the city he transformed.
Download or read book Las Vegas Then and Now written by Su Kim Chung and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2022-11-24 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Las Vegas Then and Now pairs vintage shots from 100 years of the city's history with the same view today.
Download or read book A Bold Gamble at Lake Tahoe written by Doresa Banning and published by . This book was released on 2019-12-03 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: GAMBLERS, RACKETEERS, CELEBRITIES: MOST HERE DIDN'T PLAY BY THE RULES. THEIR M.O.? SLIPSHOD STRATEGIES AND ILLEGAL MOVES.Their new, nature-inspired hotel stood amid a Northern Nevada township of more trees than people. The raw beauty of that lakeside spot on the cusp of development portended enormous getaway potential. The owners, legitimate businessmen, strove to add a casino, but no one would finance it.Then Jimmy Hoffa's Teamsters pension fund wormed its way in. The locals objected to a gambling house in their neighborhood. Shady characters usurped the enterprise. Lives were threatened. State agents witnessed an employed stickman using misspot dice. Felonious crimes occurred on the property, allegedly. Lawsuits by and against a later proprietor crept into the double digits. And those events were just a handful of a mounting pile of troubles.This is the story of a gambling business' journey from concept to stability during the 1960s and '70s, a time when the industry was Mob infiltrated, often volatile, theft and cheating prone, and unpredictably policed.Today, that once fledgling inn is the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino in Incline Village, Nevada.
Download or read book LIFE written by and published by . This book was released on 1970-05-29 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: LIFE Magazine is the treasured photographic magazine that chronicled the 20th Century. It now lives on at LIFE.com, the largest, most amazing collection of professional photography on the internet. Users can browse, search and view photos of today’s people and events. They have free access to share, print and post images for personal use.
Download or read book Defunct Casinos in Las Vegas written by Source Wikipedia and published by University-Press.org. This book was released on 2013-09 with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 22. Chapters: Stardust Resort & Casino, Moulin Rouge Hotel, Binion's Horseshoe, The Landmark Hotel and Casino, New Frontier Hotel and Casino, Desert Inn, Sahara Hotel and Casino, Sands Hotel, Dunes, Lady Luck Hotel & Casino, Westward Ho Hotel and Casino, Barbary Coast Hotel and Casino, Hacienda, El Rancho Vegas, Boardwalk Hotel and Casino, Silver Slipper, Castaways Hotel and Casino, Thunderbird, Klondike Hotel & Casino, The Mint Las Vegas, Silver City Casino, Bourbon Street Hotel and Casino, Vegas World, Holiday Casino, Hotel San Remo. Excerpt: The Stardust Resort & Casino was a casino resort located on 63 acres (25 ha) along the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. The Stardust opened in 1958, although most of the modern casino complex (including the main 32-story tower) was built in 1991. At its March 13, 2007 demolition it was the youngest undamaged high-rise building to ever be demolished. The Stardust officially closed at 12:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) on November 1, 2006 after operating continuously for 48 years. It was imploded on March 13, 2007, around 2:33 A.M. In 2007, construction began on Echelon Place, which was planned to replace The Stardust. Construction on the Echelon development was suspended in 2008, and remains suspended as of March 2011. The famed Stardust sign became a symbol of Las Vegas. Young Electric Sign Company was hired to fabricate the sign. Kermit Wayne's design was selected for both the facade and the roadside signs. Although Moe Dalitz, who took over from original developer Tony Cornero upon his death, said it was from his original plans, the sign was really part of Cornero's original concept. The Stardust sign gave visitors a panoramic view of the solar system. At the sign's center sat a 16-foot (4.9 m) diameter plastic model of the Earth. Cosmic rays of neon and electric light bulbs beamed from...
Download or read book The Battle for Las Vegas written by Dennis N. Griffin and published by Huntington Press Inc. This book was released on 2006-04-25 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the 1970s through the mid-1980s, the Chicago Outfit dominated organized crime in Las Vegas. To ensure the smooth flow of cash, the gangsters installed a front man with no criminal background, Allen R. Glick, as the casino owner of record, Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal as the real boss of casino operations, and Tony Spilotro as the ultimate enforcer, who’d do whatever it took to protect their interests. It wasn’t long before Spilotro, also in charge of Vegas street crime, was known as the “King of the Strip.” Federal and local law enforcement, recognizing the need to rid the casinos of the mob and shut down Spilotro’s rackets, declared war on organized crime. The Battle for Las Vegas relates the story of the fight between the tough guys on both sides, told in large part by the agents and detectives who knew they had to win.
Download or read book Haunted Nevada written by Janice Oberding and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2013-08-11 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Silver State's most bizarre and creepy stories of paranormal activity, including . . . The Lost City outside Las Vegas Lynching apparitions on downtown Reno's Wedding Ring Bridge The haunted Goldfield Hotel The cursed airbase in Tonopah Apparitions of celebrities at Cal Neva Resort in Lake Tahoe, including Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and gangster Sam Giancana