Former Las Vegas casino executive and mob-connected sports handicapper Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal has died at his Florida home at age 79.Rosenthal had been living in Miami Beach and died of a heart attack Monday. No funeral services have been scheduled.A sports gambling pioneer, Rosenthal at one time ran the Stardust, Fremont and Hacienda hotel-casinos secretly.In 1976 when Nevada authorities discovered that Rosenthal was running casinos without a state license needed to do so, the Nevada Gaming Control Commission held a hearing to determine Rosenthal's legal ability to obtain a gaming license.The board decided to deny Rosenthal a license as a casino employee.Later Rosenthal appealed the state's decision to Judge Joseph Pavlikowski and succeeded.Ultimately, the judge's ruling was trumped by the state when Nevada placed him in the notorious Black Book, which banned him from being in or near any casino in Nevada in 1988.In 1982 Rosenthal survived a car bombing of his 1981 Cadillac Eldorado outside a Marie Callender's restaurant in Las Vegas.Rosenthal was taken to a local hospital with minor burns on both legs, his left arm and on the left side of his face.Police at the scene of the car bombing said Rosenthal refused to sign a crime report or discuss the matter with investigators.Born June 12, 1929, in Chicago, Rosenthal developed a close friendship with Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro, who was found shot to death with his brother Michael in a cornfield.In the 1995 Martin Scorsese film, "Casino," Rosenthal, renamed "Sam 'Ace' Rothstein," was played by Robert De Niro and his mob associate Spilotro, renamed "Nicky Santoro," was played by Joe Pesci.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Post new comment