The Chicago Outfit had its own interests in many gambling operations around the U.S. together with gangsters from New York,Cleveland,Los Angeles,St.Louis,Kansas and others.They inflitrated many racing tracks,gambling joints and clubs and also casinos. In the 20’s and 30’s,the Outfit for example mostly operated gambling in Reno,Nevada and Hurley,Wisconsin,after that in the 40’s untill the 80’s the mob “owned” Las Vegas. The mob even managed to operate outside the U.S.,like Cuba.Outfit boss Sam Giancana allegedly operated on gambling cruise ships and also casinos in Mexico and Iran.Ive managed to gather information on some(like i said,just a tip of the iceberg)of the gambling operations and locals(clubs,casinos) that were spreaded around the country and beyond.
1.Chicago
The Owl Club-Gambling joint
Frontmen:Peter Basile,John Perry
Mob Connection:James Catuara,Frank LaPorte,Tony Accardo
Story:Very famous place for gangsters and one of the most notorious clubs in Chicago.
Club Palace-Gambling joint
Frontmen:Frank LaPorte
Mob Connection:Frank LaPorte,Tony Accardo,Paul Ricca
Story:During the 50's the Club Palace was also a very famous plave for the Chicago Outfit.It was places on the border of Chicago in a villiage callled Calumet City.Ententainer Jimmy Durante was a constant guest at the club.
The Villa Venice Supper Club-Gambling joint
Frontmen:Leo Olsen
Mob Connection:Sam Giancana
Story:During the early 1960's,besides being a gambling spot, it was also a place for private functions,weddings, bar mitzvahs and retirement parties.
Frolics Club-Gambling joint
Frontmen:Dennis Cooney
Mob Connecction:Tony Accardo,Sam Giancana,Joey Aiuppa
Story:The club was know as a gambling spot,strip club and brothel for many years.In the 1920's it was a considerable competition of the infamous Four Deuces.One 1954 Chicago Tribune article is reported that Aiuppa was arrested at the Frolics nightclub in a gambling raid, and that he described himself as the manager of the club.
2.Reno,Nevada
The Mapes Hotel and casino
Frontmen: George Wingfield,Bil Graham,Lou Wertheimer
Chicago Mob Connection:Al Capone,Murray Humphries
Other Mob Connection:Tony Zerilli,Meyer Lansky,Lucky Luciano
Story:Lou Wertheimer,formerly part of the Detroit Mob and the Chicago Outfit,ran the Mapes casino in the 1940’s.In the 50’s Time Magazine reported that The Mapes Hotel was one the best in Reno.
The Riverside Hotel and Casino
Frontmen: George Wingfield ,Bil Graham,Mert Wertheimer
Chicago Mob Connection:Tony Accardo,Murray Humphries
Other Mob Connection:Meyer Lansky,Frank Costello
Story:Mert Wertheimer worked for Meyer Lansky and was the brother of the mob connected Lou Wertheimer
The Bank Club
Frontmen: George Wingfield,Bil Graham,William Harrah
Chicago Mob Connection:Al Capone,Ralph Capone, John Drew
Story:The Bank Club was Reno's largest casino in the 1930's and 1940's. Opened in 1931, it merged with the Golden Hotel and became the Golden Bank Club in 1952. John Drew, a familiar face in Chicago, represented the Chicago syndicate and came from the Bank Club casino in Reno, which the Chicago mob took over in the early 30’s.
The Wilows
Frontmen: James McKay,Tex Hall
Chicago Mob Connection:Al Capone,Ralph Capone
Story:The Willows offered some of the finest liquor available in the nation. Graham and McKay could always get liquor from their suppliers in San Francisco, or their friend, bootlegger Cal Custer and ofcourse Al Capone from Chicago.James McKay took 20 percent of everything.
3.Vegas
The Pair-O-Dice Club
Frontmen: Frank Detra
Chicago Mob Connection:Ralph Capone
Story:It was Ralph Capone’s first "upscale" casino on the Strip
The Flamingo
Frontmen: Samuel Cohen, Morris Lansburgh,Daniel Lifter, Gus Greenbaum
Chicago Mob Connection: Paul Ricca,Tony Accardo,The Fischetti brothers, William Alderman
Other Mob Connecion:Bugsy Siegel,Meyer Lansky,Lucky Luciano,Frank Costello
Story:After Bugsy’s death, Gus Greenbaum of the Chicago Outfit took over the Flamingo with Moe Sedway.
Funding for the final construction of the Flamingo was provided by several Mob groups, including Tony Accardo and Paul Ricca from Chicago.
In 1951 Anthony Brancato, a hitman for the mob, and fellow criminal Tony Trombino robbed $3,500 from the Flamingo, was found shot to death later that summer in a car parked in Hollywood.
Later the casino was purchased by the Hilton Hotel Corporation in 1971, who had a consulting contract with Mob lawyer Sidney Korshak.
The Stardust
Frontmen:Tony Cornero,Jake Factor,Robert Stella Sr.Hyman Goldbaum ,Morris Kleinman,Allen Glick,Frank Rosenthal,Steve Wynn
Chicago Mob Connection:Tony Accardo,Joey Aiuppa, John Drew,Jackie Cerone,Angelo LaPietra,Phil Ponto
Other Mob Connection: Moshe Rockman,Moe Dalitz,Nick Civella,Frank Balistrieri,Tony Salerno,Carl DeLuna
Story: Tony Accardo and Paul Ricca took at least five points each, a point being valued at $125,000.00.During the 70's and early 80's Joey Aiuppa had interests in the Stardust.
Nick Civella got $60,000 a month out of the deal.
Also the Kansas City family put $1.2 million assistance in getting approval of the $62.7 million Teamsters Central States Pension Fund loan to buy the Stardust.
In 1984 The Nevada Gaming Commission fined Stardust owners Allan Sachs and Herb Tobman $3 million for failing to stop alleged mob skimming at the hotel and removed them from ownership, even though neither were accused of participating in the scheme.
Circus Circus Casino.
Frontmen: Jay Sarno
Chicago Mob Connection:Tony Accardo,Joey Aiuppa,Tony Spilotro
Other Mob Connection: Frank Balistreri
Story:With a loan from the Teamsters Union Central States Pension Fund, it was spent $15 million for developing the Circus Circus and another loan of $43 million in 1972.Also Tony Spilotro had a gift shop in the casino.
The Sahara
Frontmen:Jimmy Jacobsen,Milton Prell, Jacob “Jake” Lansky
Chicago Mob Connection:Tony Accardo,Sam Giancana
Other Mob Connection:Moe Dalitz,Jack Dragna,Meyer Lansky
Story:Milton Prell was a jewelry-store owner and supplier from Los Angeles.Allegedly the mob skimmed over $25,000 a week per person.
The Hacienda
Frontman: Allen Glick, Paul Lowden,Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal
Chicago Mob Connection:Tony Accardo,Joey Aiuppa
Other Mob Connection:Nick Civella,Frank Balistrieri
Story: The Hacienda opened on October 17, 1956 at a cost of $6 million, with 266 rooms and the largest swimming pool on the Strip
The Fremont
Frontmen: Allen Glick, Frank Rosenthal, Jay VanDermark,Steve Wynn
Chicago Mob Connection:Tony Accardo,Joey Aiuppa,Jackie Cerone,Angelo LaPietra
Other Mob Connection:Nick Civella,Carl DeLuna,Frank Balistrieri,Tony Salerno,Anthony Chiavola Sr
Story:The Mob skimmed over $2 million in unreported income from the Fremont Hotel and Casino. Jay VanDermark was extremely valuable because he allegedly set up the entire skim operation there.
Desert Inn
Frontmen: Wilbur Clark,Allard Roen, Morris Kleinman, Ruby Kolod
Chicago Mob Connection:Johnny Roselli, John Louis Battaglia
Other Mob Connection:Moe Dalitz,Jack Dragna
Story:Desert Inn Casino opened in 1950, managed by Moe Dalitz and his Cleveland Mayfield Road Gang, including Morris Kleinman, Sam Tucker and Lou Rothkopf.The Chicago and the Cleveland syndicates acquired over 59 percent of this gambling enterprise.
The Riviera
Frontmen:Jerome Mack,Gus Greenbaum,Ross Miller,Bernie Nemerov
Chicago Mob Connection:Paul Ricca,Tony Accardo,Sam Giancana,Fischetto Brothers,Marshall Caifano
Other Mob Connection:Raymond Patriarca,Moe Dalitz,Tony Salerno
Story:In 1955 The Riviera opened and quickly established mob links. The Riviera was allegedly a group of Miami investors headed by Florida businessman Sam Cohen.
Past owners included Harpo (Arthur) Marx, movie star, comedian and his brother, Gummo (Milton) Marx
The Riviera, which opened in 1955, had lost money consistently for three months. Accardo, the de facto owner, knew that if a casino loses money for 90 straight days something more than bad luck was going on.
He gave the official on-site owners 15 minutes to leave. Then Accardo asked Gus Greenbaum, retired president of the Flamingo, who was living in Scottsdale, Ariz., to return to Las Vegas and save the Riviera. Greenbaum declined.
A few nights later, Greenbaum’s sister-in-law was murdered in her bed. Gus changed his mind and came to Las Vegas to work for Accardo.
On Dec. 3, 1958, a maid found the bodies of Gus and Shirley Greenbaum in their Phoenix home. Marshal Caifano orchastrated the murder of Greenbaum
Caesars Palace
Frontmen: Jay Sarno, Nate Jacobson
Chicago Mob Connection:Tony Accardo,Sam Giancana,Fiori Buccieri,Marty Buccieri,Tony Spilotro
Other Mob Connection:Raymond Patriarca,Jimmy Alo,Jerry Catena, Moe Dalitz
Story: The Teamsters Union’s pension fund,with at least $10 million sunk into the Palace (and another $40 million sprinkled around town).The money was in the form of “permanent” loans and undoubtedly contributed to the retirement of more aging mafiosi than over-the-highway truckers
Marty Buccieri was a pit boss at Caesars Palace and a distant relative of Chicago underboss Fiori "Fifi" Buccieri. He reportedly had connections to most of the Vegas crime figures worth knowing, the Las Vegas Sun reported in 1975
Fiori "Fifi" Buccieri demanded a $30,000 finder’s fee for his help in obtaining the loans.
After Accardo gained an interest in the under-construction Caesars Palace in 1965, he sent Tony Spilotro to Las Vegas to watch out for Chicago’s interests.
The Sands
Frontmen: Jack Entratter,Carl Cohen,Ed Levinson,Frank Sinatra
Chicago Mob Connection:Tony Accardo,Sam Giancana
Other Mob Connection:Meyer Lansky,Moe Dalitz,Frank Costello, Joseph "Doc" Stacher
Story:In 1952 the resort, made famous as a hangout for Frank Sinatra and fellow Rat Pack members, was one of several Strip resorts that reportedly ran cash-skimming operations for the mob.
Sam and Accardo were hidden owners of the Sands in the early 1960s.
Frank Sinatra, well-connected to Mob friends in Chicago and New York, was given 2-percent in the club and his license was approved. Over the years, his salary grew from $15,000 a week to appear in the showroom to $100,000.
In the 1967 it was purchased in by billionaire Howard Hughes, when it allegedly became "legitimate."
Tropicana
Frontmen: Ben Jaffe,Lou Lederer,Kell Houssels Sr
Chicago Mob Connection:Sam Giancana, Paul Ricca,Murray Humphries
Other Mob Connection:Frank Costello, Morris Mac Schwabel,Joseph Jacob Frankel,Meyer Lansky,Carlos Marcello,Dandy Phil Kastel,Nick Civella,Carl Civella,Joe Agosto,Anthony Chiavola Sr
Story:Managed by Frank Costello and the front man there was Lou Lederer, who represented Chicago mobsters. Lederer was the man sent to scout out the Dominican Republican in 1963 for Sam Giancana.
Nearly 30 percent of all the profits were cut-up and sent to the New York mob
In 1957 key player in the construction of the Tropicana, which opened that year, was Johnny Rosselli, who represented Chicago and Los Angeles mob interests in Las Vegas.
In 1975 Joe Agosto, representing the Kansas City mob in Las Vegas, became part owner of the Tropicana and later pleaded guilty to skimming money from the hotel. Other top Kansas City mobsters were also convicted in connection with the scheme.
In reality, the Tropicana was first controlled by Frank Costello and later by the Kansas City crime family.
The Dunes
Frontmen: Morris Shenker(Chicago,St. Louis and Kansas City,New England mafia),Jerome Mack(New England mafia),Major Riddle(Chicago Outfit)
Chicago Mob Connections:Tony Accardo,Sam Giancana
Other Mob Connection:Raymond Patriarca,Nick Civella,Meyer Lansky, Anthony Giordano
Story:The Dunes Casino opened in 1955.In 1961 it was one of the finest and largest hotels on the Strip. Together with the Sand and Desert Inn hotels, it was known as one of the three Kings of Las Vegas. The South Tower was added in 1979. The hotel was built in part with financing from movie mogul Al Gottesman and the Teamsters Pension Fund. The major investors were Sidney Wyman,Joseph Sullivan, Alfred Gottesman and Bob Rice. (It was later believed that Raymond Patriarca, the head of a Providence, Rhode Island crime family was the source of Sullivan's investment.) The resort soon ran into financial difficulties and the casino closed after a year. The resort was purchased in 1956 by two businessmen, Major A. Riddle and Jake Gottlieb, who had dealings with the Chicago Outfit.Many long-time residents knew the Dunes was controlled by the mafia, having been first built with money from it and the mob-controlled pension funds of the Teamsters and Pipefitters unions. The demolition signaled the end of significant mafia control and influence in Las Vegas. For many years, the hotel was owned by Major Riddle from the "Chicago Outfit" and later sold in part to Morris Shenker, an "attorney associated with the St. Louis Mafia, Meyer Lansky, Jimmy Hoffa, and Frank Foster, owner of Athony Alarm.
Royal Nevada
Frontmen: Albert B. Moll, Herman E. Kohen, Joe Leibman and Sid Wyman
Chicago Mob Connection:Johnny Roselli
Other Mob Connection:Moe Dalitz
Story:By early 1957 Rosselli was told to pack up and move to Las Vegas.Within a year, he got construction financing for the Royal Nevada. The money came from the Teamsters Central States Pension Fund, controlled at the time by Chicago mobster Paul "Red" Dorfman, and later by his son, Allen.
El Rancho
Frontmen:Wilbur Clark,William Wilkerson
Chicago Mob Connection:Johnny Roselli,Marshal Caifano
Other Mob Connection:Meyer Lansky,Frank Costello
Story:On April 3, 1941, the El Rancho opened on 57 acres of land with a simple sign lifted on stone pillars advertising the new resort.Johnny Roselli,Chicagos Bugsy Siegel,had interests in this casino.In 1960 fire burned down El Rancho Vegas.
The Golden Nugget
Frontmen:Steve Wynn,Mel Harris(son of a notorious Miami-based mob bookmaker)
Chicago Mob Connection:Joey Aiuppa,Jack Cerone
Other Mob Connection:Tony Salerno,Sammy Spiegel,John 'Peanuts' Tronolone
Story:The Golden Nugget was originally built in 1946, making it one of the oldest casinos in the city. Jackie Gaughan at one time owned a stake in the hotel as part of his many downtown properties.Steve Wynn bought a stake in the Nugget, which he increased so that, in 1973, he became the majority shareholder, and the youngest casino owner in Las Vegas.Allegedly Wynn had some connections and pressure from Tronolone(Chicago) and Salerno(NY).
Binion's Horseshoe Casino
Frontmen: Benny Binion, Ted Binion
Chicago Mob Connection: Joey Aiuppa,Herbert (Fat Herbie) Blitzstein, Anthony (Tony the Ant) Spilotro
Story:Binion was a former bootlegger and knew few mob guys,allegedly a close associate of Meyer Lansky.Benny Binion showed up in Las Vegas in 1946 with $2 million in cash in two suitcases, a step ahead of the Dallas lawmen. That may or may not be true, but it is a fact that the late Binion built one of the longest-running gambling dynasties in town before he died in 1989.It was roumored that his son Ted a casino executive,was a heroin addict and had connections with Chicago gangsters.
The Sundance Hotel
Frontmen:Al Sachs,Herb Tobman
Chicago Mob Connection:Joey Aiuppa,Jack Cerone
Other Mob Connection:Moe Dalitz, Angelo "Big Ange" Lonardo,John Tronolone
Story:n 1983,Sachs and Tobman faced suspension of their gaming licenses due to charges of skimming. Dalitz applied to manage the Sundance himself, but the Gaming Commission stalled on his application, until July 1984, when he agreed to surrender management to Jackie Gaughan until the casino could be sold.
4.Lake Tahoe,Sierra Nevada
The Cal-Neva Lodge
Frontmen:Frank Sinatra
Chicago Mob Connection:Sam Giancana,Johnny Roselli,Chuckie English
Other Mob Connection;Skinny D'Amato
Story:On opening night at the Cal-Neva Lodge, Sinatra's guests included Marilyn Monroe, Joe Kennedy and his son, John F. Kennedy.
Giancana’s ownership of the Cal-Neva was confirmed by the FBI, which recorded a conversation between Giancana and Johnny Rosselli in which Giancana said, "I am going to get my money out of that joint (Cal-Neva)."
Skinny D'Amato, was running a state wide prostitution ring out of the place.
5.Havana
Capri Hotel Casino
Frontmen:Nicholas Di Costanzo,Charles Turin aka Charlie Blade
Chicago Mob Connection:Tony Accardo,Paul Ricca,Sam Giancana,Fischetti Brothers
Other Mob Connection:Meyer Lansky,Santo Trafficante
Story:The Casino was operated by the Chicago outfit.It was believed that George Raft,the movie star,also had his own share in this casino.
The Riviera Casino
Frontmen:Frank Erickson,Giordano Cellini, Ed Levinson
Chicago Mob Connection:Sam Giancana
Other Mob Connection:Meyer Lansky,Santo Trafficante,Frank Costello
Story:The Riviera resort and casino became a favorite retreat for Chicago mobsters and the Hollywood faces.The Riviera Casino was one of the more honest gambling casinos in Havana.Meyer Lansky was one of the main players in this casino.
Hotel/Casino Sevilla Biltmore
Frontmen:Amletto Battisti
Chicago Mob Connection:Fischetti Brothers,Tony Accardo
Other Mob Connection:Meyer Lansky,Frank Costello,Lucky Luciano
Story:During the late 1920s and 30s, the Hotel Sevilla Biltmore, close to Cuba's presidential palace, was a home away from home for Chicago mob boss Al Capone, whose pictures still adorn the lobby and who to this day has a suite named for him tucked away at the end of a 6th floor labyrinth. It is marked by a plaque citing Capone as an "Italian American famous gangster."
If any1 found some errors or misinformation in this article,please contribute.This article is completed from various sources and infos that can be found on the internet.
