Good points al across the thread. In addition to the vast real estate holdings in New York, as well as the Vegas Casinos,the Corleones were in on the ground floor fo the subsidized redevelopment of Atlantic City into an erstwhile East Coase gambling mecca. Although Atlantic City never lived up to its promise (ask Donald Trump) lots of people made lots of money developing those casinos. THis was going on when Vegas was just beginning to undergo the vast changes from the days of the rat pack to the way vegas is now. Mike had to have made a fortune selling all that Vegas and redeceloped Atlantic City property alone. Keep in mind there is an allusion to this when Michael has the meeting with the coission during which he announces he is cutting through all the red tape and handing out returns on investments. All the investors are telling Michael that he is a genius, that he is "blessed" and the only ones with regrets are Zasa who got nothing, and the guy who got a low return because he made a low investment.