Frank Rosenthal Casino
The history of Las Vegas is filled with colorful characters. One of the most intriguing was Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, a former casino executive and organized crime associate. Yes, “Lefty” was the ultimate multi-tasker.
Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal is one of the more famous of Sin City’s mobsters thanks to the 1995 film, “Casino,” based upon Rosenthal’s career in Vegas.
Rosenthal: We had four properties: four casinos, three hotels that were under an umbrella of the corporation. Our command post was the Star Dust Hotel, Fremont Hotel and Casino, Hacienda, and the. By Ed Koch, Mary Manning. 16, 2008 2 a.m. Near the end of the 1995 Martin Scorsese film “Casino,” the Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal character, portrayed by Robert DeNiro. Built in the 1970s, the 3,266-square-foot, three-bedroom, 2.5-bathroom property was the abode of Rosenthal—a former casino owner and organized-crime figure whose life inspired the film “Casino. Frank's Gallery For much of his professional life, the Chicago-born and casino-bred, Rosenthal has been the country's top handicapper. He was one of a handful of men who literally set the line for thousands of bookmakers from coast to coast. Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, represented in Casino as Robert De Niro’s Sam “Ace” Rothstein, was a gambling mastermind. Numbers, odds, and betting lines populated his mind that same way.
Here are 12 things we find fascinating about this man whose accomplishments included creating the first sports book operating inside a casino in Las Vegas.
1. Frank Lawrence “Lefty” Rosenthal was the first to bring sports betting into a U.S. casino, in 1976, at the Stardust.
2. Rosenthal was the first casino operator in Las Vegas to have female blackjack dealers. This casino “innovation” doubled the Stardust’s income in one year.
Nobody who knew mobster Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal called him “Lefty.”
3. Rosenthal once ran the Stardust, Hacienda, Marina and Fremont casinos for the Chicago Mafia, also known as the “Outfit.” He did this without the benefit of a Nevada gaming license. (He was denied a license because of, in good part, his lifelong friendship with Chicago hitman Anthony “The Ant” Spilotro. Bonus trivia: After “Tony the Ant” came to Las Vegas, the murder rate went up 70%.)
Frank Rosenthal Las Vegas
4. When Rosenthal was denied a gaming license, he got into a confrontation with the chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The chairman was none other than U.S. Senator Harry Reid. Rosenthal was added to the infamous casino “black book” in 1988, barring him from casinos for life.
5. Rosenthal was big into clothes and is rumored to have owned 200 pairs of pants. That’s nearly 1,000 in today’s pants.
6. Rosenthal was called “one of the greatest living experts on sports gambling” by Sports Illustrated.
7. At one time, “Lefty” worked as a gossip columnist for the Las Vegas Sun. The New York Times called his column “subliterate.”
8. “Lefty” Rosenthal had a TV show. The show’s first guest was Frank Sinatra. Other celebrity guests included Bob Hope, Wayne Newton, Liberace and multiple murderer O.J. Simpson.
Frank Rosenthal was not a big believer in keeping things on the down-low.
9. Rosenthal’s attention to detail included making sure all muffins served in his hotel had at least 10 blueberries each.
10. Rosenthal’s nickname came from the fact he was left-handed. Some romantically claim he got the nickname when, in 1961, he appeared before a Senate hearing on organized crime and invoked the Fifth Amendment 37 times, keeping his left hand in the air while doing so.
11. In the movie “Casino,” Rosenthal survives an attempt on his life when his car exploded. That incident actually took place, and Rosenthal survived because of a manufacturing irregularity in his 1981 Cadillac Eldorado.
Frank Rosenthal Children
Frank Rosenthal Casino
12. Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal died of a heart attack at age 79 in Miami Beach in 2008. After his death, it was revealed Rosenthal had been, talk about multi-tasking, an FBI informant. His FBI code name was “Achilles.”
Frank Rosenthal Casino Movie
Frank Rosenthal remains one of the most riveting figures in the formative years of Las Vegas. He seems to have had as many admirers as critics, and helped shape Las Vegas casinos as we know them today. If he hadn’t started the whole female dealer thing, we might not have go-go dealers today, a practice which also has as many admirers as critics. Ah, the circularity of the universe.