Battle for Las Vegas

By: Dennis N. Griffin

Narrated by: Michael Taylor

In the 1970s and thru the mid-1980s, the Chicago Outfit was the dominant organized crime family in Las Vegas, with business interests in several casinos. During those years the Outfit and its colleagues in Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Cleveland were using Sin City as a cash cow. Commonly referred to as the “skim,” unreported revenue from Outfit-controlled casinos was making its way out of Vegas by the bag full and ending up in the coffers of the crime bosses in those four locations.

The skim involved large amounts of money. The operation had to be properly set up and well managed to ensure a smooth cash flow. To accomplish that goal, the gangsters brought in a front man with no criminal record to purchase several casinos. Allen R. Glick, doing business as the Argent Corporation (Allen R. Glick Enterprises) purchased the Stardust, Fremont, Hacienda, and Marina. They next installed Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal as their inside man, and the real boss of the casino operations. Rosenthal was a Chicago native and considered to be a genius when it came to odds-making and sports betting. Under Lefty’s supervision the casino count rooms were accessible to mob.

©2008 Books In Motion (P)2008 Books In Motion

Too short

Great content; however, I wish there was more content. being raised in Las Vegas I remember a lot of these events. My family spent a lot of time at the Stardust [and at the homes of many of the bosses] in the very early 80's [back when the Silver Slipper was next door]. My mother worked there as a pit boss, i would be in the arcade and men in suits would just bring me buckets of quarters to play games and my Godfather played professional poker there until Wynn opened the Mirage. The stories I have heard about those days would make me think there is so much more that could have been covered in this book. overall it was good, left me wanting more ....... just too short.

Narrator has a harsh voice

makes it hard to listen to with that harsh voice. Didn't enjoy as much as others I've listened to.

vegas's golden age!

What did you like best about Battle for Las Vegas? What did you like least?

BEST: Inside info.
LEAST: Nothing in particular was a turn off;

What other book might you compare Battle for Las Vegas to and why?

No comment

Which scene was your favorite?

No one scene in particular;

Do you think Battle for Las Vegas needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

no

Any additional comments?

Great story and easy to relate to if you visited VEGAS in the mob dominated period. Like it or not...VEGAS was a better place when the mob was running things.

Great Story

I love hearing about Vegas and it's hay day. Story was good and in depth. Performance lacked. Worth the buy overall.

Great Book

I highly recommend this book. Appears the author did his research. On thing that stuck out was when Tony Spilotros voice was read to me it was hilarious. You'll see what I mean when you hear it.

Just ok

This really is surface level stories with a time line that jumps around so there is no sense of flow. Many characters get five minutes or more of back story about birth and growing up to only be mentioned in the actual story for less than a minute. The book feels like you are getting a bunch of individual short stories tied together with some Wikipedia knowledge. The Skim , Spilotro, and Rosenthal all seem like minor characters in this book. It’s hard to explain but a trailer for the movie Casino would give you more pertinent information than this book.