Las Vegas Mob classic ‘Casino’ celebrates 30th anniversary
Three decades after Casino was released in November 1995, screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi says the nearly three-hour film portrays the end of an era in Las Vegas when mobsters controlled casinos. That era ran from the 1940s into the ’80s, but the movie focuses on a period during the ’70s and early ’80s when Chicago’s Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal and Tony “The Ant” Spilotro were active in Las Vegas. During a recent telephone interview, Pileggi said the movie and his related book, Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas, are “really about the end of the Mob” in Las Vegas and “the taking over of Las Vegas ...
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FBI indictments link New York mobsters, professional athletes in two cheating schemes
If you thought the traditional Mob was dead, think again. The FBI on Thursday announced sweeping indictments implicating members of…
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‘Beer Baron’ Dutch Schultz gunned down 90 years ago
On October 23, 1935, Dutch Schultz was shot in a Newark restaurant along with three of his associates. In the…
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Mathew Bowyer, bookie for baseball star Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, vows to turn his life around
As he prepared to begin serving a federal prison sentence for booking sports bets illegally, Mathew Bowyer pledged never to…
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The long con of underworld grifter ‘Count’ Victor Lustig
The sensational exploits of Depression-era con artist Victor Lustig are now underworld legend. But many oft-told tales overlook his surprising…
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Alleged former Philadelphia Mafia boss Joey Merlino rebrands himself as restaurant owner
Joey Merlino, a 63-year-old convicted felon and reputed former Philadelphia Mafia boss, has become a social media personality while also…
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Grounded in history, ‘Mafia: The Old Country’ is a game you can’t refuse
The Mob movie may be experiencing a lull, evident by the lukewarm receptions to this year’s The Alto Knights and Mob Cops,…
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Owen Hanson goes from cartel kingpin to selling frozen protein bars
At one time Owen Hanson, a former University of Southern California national championship football player, was making millions as a…
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