Until casinos legalization in 1977 Atlantic City was a city in decline,the hotel and the nightclubs was old and in ruin,maybe Bruno don't banished Scarfo to AC but be transfered by philly to AC doesn't sound like a promotion.
That's what people say ! But the fact is that there was more going on before casino gambling as far as individual bars and restaurants and nightclubs social clubs etc. in the city , there were hundreds of them after casino gambling it was nothing like it was before no illegal bars and restaurants back room card games etc because the casino control Commission (CCC) was very hands on even down to who delivered towels !!!
So actually there was more going on in that world before casino gambling then after . Then after it came what was there was obviously more profitable but very far in between.
I was here for every minute of it and trust me casino gambling is not what it's all wrapped up to be.
Scarfo was going to raise his family here no matter , I am sure Nick jockeyed for the spot Atlantic City before casino gambling was a great place to raise a family and have a business don't believe what you hear and if any of what they say is true they are talking about big" business and big business is not good for the mob just look at Vegas !!!!
I'll bet in one block on Georgia ave. Between Artic ave. And Atlantic there was 15 businesses and 1000 people up and down the ally's !!!
Now today there is three businesses and maybe 150 people living in the same footprint.
Nothing what you read has any real affect what was going on here then !
Back then you could not fit on the boardwalk it was shoulder to shoulder and every beach was packed and this goes with every bar and restaurant up and down the streets .
Now you can land a airplane on the boardwalk on a Wednesday and will not hit a human.
When they say it was in decline yes compared to the 20s 30's 40's etc. when there was no air-conditioning and everybody from a 500 mile radius came to the city for the summer for cool air . Totally totally different situation but they still say it was declining, of course it was because every human with a couple dollars could buy an air conditioner and did not have to come to the ocean .
Don't believe everything you hear !! It's 100 times worse now " then it was in 1975 trust me let alone in the 60's when Nick came .
The were some huge Westside skippers here in the 60's and many more were here also don't believe what the papers say they were talking about when A.C. Was the only place to go on the east coast for hundreds of miles with anything to do .
The city's slogan was Americas playground and back in the day there was only one adult and for youth playground and it was" here" unless you went out of the country like Cuba or Monte Carlo etc. or waited till Las Vegas got up and going .
Now you have a thousand places just on the east coast of America to go so it's never going to be like it was , it's just impossible to re-create the circumstance of what happened.
