Frank Lawrence "Lefty" Rosenthal was a professional sports bettor, former Las Vegas casino executive, and organized crime associate. Martin Scorsese's film Casino is based on his career in Las Vegas.
Early years
Illinois
Rosenthal was born in Chicago in a Jewish family and grew up in the city's West Side. As a youth, Rosenthal learned sports betting in the bleachers of Wrigley Field and would often skip classes to attend Chicago sporting events. His father also owned racehorses whereby he became familiar with betting odds and percentages at a young age. By the mid-1950s, Rosenthal was working with the Chicago Outfit. Chosen for his expert odds-making ability, Rosenthal ran the biggest illegal bookmaking office in the U.S. on behalf of the Mafia—specifically, 'the Outfit'. Based in Cicero, Illinois, under the guise of the Cicero Home Improvement company, the Outfit and Rosenthal bought "contracts" from sports bribers to fix sporting events.
After being indicted as a conspirator on multiple sports bribery charges, Rosenthal moved the operation to North Bay Village in Miami, to avoid attention. By 1961, Rosenthal had acquired a national reputation as a sports bettor, oddsmaker, and handicapper, and was frequently seen in the company of prominent Chicago Outfit members Jackie Cerone and Fiore Buccieri while living in Miami. At this time Rosenthal was issued with a subpoena to appear before U.S. Senator John McClellan's subcommittee on Gambling and Organized Crime, accused of match fixing. He invoked the Fifth Amendment 37 times and was never charged. Due to this, he was barred from racing establishments in Florida. Despite his frequent arrests for illegal gambling and bookmaking, Rosenthal was convicted only once, after pleading no contest in 1963 to allegedly bribing a New York University player to shave points for a college basketball game in North Carolina. Rosenthal was also a suspect in multiple business and car bombings in the greater Miami area during the 1960s. It was at this time the Federal Bureau of Investigation opened an ongoing case file on Rosenthal which amassed 300 pages. Once again to escape police attention, Rosenthal moved to Las Vegas in 1968.
Las Vegas career
A big promoter of sports gambling, Rosenthal secretly ran the Stardust, Fremont, Marina, and Hacienda casinos when they were controlled by the Chicago Outfit. He also created the first sports book that operated from within a casino, making the Stardust one of the world's leading centers for sports gambling. Another Rosenthal innovation was hiring more female Las Vegas blackjack dealers, which in one year helped double the Stardust's income. In 1976 when FBI and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department authorities discovered that Rosenthal was secretly running four large casinos without obtaining a Nevada gaming license, they held a hearing to determine his legal ability to obtain a license. The hearing was headed by Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Harry Reid. Rosenthal was denied a license because of his arrest record, and his documented reputation as an organized crime associate, particularly because of his boyhood friendship with Chicago mobster Anthony Spilotro. Rosenthal married Geri McGee on May 4, 1969. McGee already had a daughter, Robin L. Marmor, from a previous marriage with ex-husband Lenny Marmor. Rosenthal and McGee later had two children together, Steven and Stephanie. There were infidelities on both sides, with McGee secretly having an affair with Anthony Spilotro, a mob enforcer in Las Vegas, and a married friend of Rosenthal. The marriage ended in divorce in 1981, with Rosenthal attributing the failure primarily to McGee's inability to escape her alcohol and drug addictions. After leaving Rosenthal and stealing a portion of their savings, McGee died at a motel in Los Angeles on November 9, 1982, at age 46, of an apparent drug overdose. Her death was ruled accidental, from a combination of Valium, cocaine, and alcohol.
Later years and death
Rosenthal survived a Monday, October 4, 1982 assassination attempt in Las Vegas, Nevada, in which a bomb attached to the gasoline tank was detonated when he started his 1981 Cadillac. Rosenthal had dined at the Tony Roma's restaurant at 602 E. Sahara Ave. in Las Vegas. While he was dining, a person or persons unknown placed the bomb in his car. Rosenthal likely survived because of a manufacturing device unique to his particular model car : a stout metal plate under the driver's seat, installed by General Motor on all El Dorado models to correct a balancing problem. This plate shielded Rosenthal's body from most of the explosion's force. Although no one was ever charged for this murder attempt, Milwaukee mob boss Frank Balistrieri was possibly responsible. Balistrieri, who was known as the "Mad Bomber" to law enforcement, was heard blaming Rosenthal for the legal problems the mob-controlled casinos were suffering. Similarly, just weeks before the bombing, Balistrieri told his sons he intended to get "full satisfaction" for Rosenthal's perceived wrongdoing. Other likely suspects include Kansas City mob bosses, who were recorded on a FBI wiretap tape calling Rosenthal, "crazy", Anthony Spilotro, and outlaw bikers who were friends of Rosenthal's ex-wife, Geri McGee. Rosenthal left Las Vegas about six months later, and moved to Laguna Niguel, California. Rosenthal focused on raising his children, who were both accomplished youth swimmers. He was later formally banned from Las Vegas casinos in 1987, when he was placed in "the Black Book", making him persona non grata—unable to work in, or even enter, any Nevada casino because of his alleged ties to organized crime. However in June 1990, Rosenthal won an unprecedented court ruling to have his name removed. He was represented in the hearing by future Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. Goodman and Rosenthal lost, however, in the Nevada Supreme Court in 1991, and Rosenthal's ban was reinstated. Rosenthal later moved from Laguna Niguel to Boca Raton, Florida, where he ran a sports bar called "Croc's" and finally, Miami Beach, where he ran a sports betting website and worked as a consultant for several offshore sports betting companies. Rosenthal died on October 13, 2008, at the age of 79, of an apparent heart attack. After his death, it was disclosed by Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jane Ann Morrison that Rosenthal had been a top echelon informant for the FBI, and his wife Geri was also an FBI informant.
In popular culture
The film Casino, directed by Martin Scorsese with a screenplay co-written by Nicholas Pileggi from his biography , is largely based on Rosenthal's time in Las Vegas. The film takes some creative license with the facts and timeline, but is broadly accurate to Rosenthal's story and his relationship with Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro, on which the character Nicky Santoro is based. Rosenthal is represented by the character Sam "Ace" Rothstein. The character of Ginger McKenna Rothstein, his wife in the film, is based on Geri McGee, Rosenthal's wife in real life. In an interview about the movie, Rosenthal stated that his character portrayed by Robert De Niro was quite but not fully similar to him, namely "7 on a scale of 1 to 10", and when asked about Stone’s portrayal of his wife, he stated “I really wouldn't want get into that area. It's an area that is distasteful and brings back bad memories. I wouldn't be willing to dispute what you just said, but I certainly wouldn't confirm it.”
