Much of the congested city seen in films like “Casino,” director Martin Scorsese’s 1995 gangster film, has imploded and replaced by trendy megastations, but it remains in places.
Here are the five most sensible mob-related spots in Las Vegas, all within walking distance of Allegiant Stadium, the Super Bowl LVIII off-Strip spot between NFC champion San Francisco 49ers and AFC winners Kansas City Chiefs, winners of the last Super Bowl of the year.
1. The Tropicana Hotel-Casino, opened in 1957, for years a tourist complex related to the mafia.
In the 1970s, the Fremont in downtown Las Vegas, one of four casinos in the valley, along with the Stardust, operated through Chicago gambler Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal for Midwestern mob families. In the movie “Casino,” Robert De Niro plays a character founded on Rosenthal.
In 2021, Resorts World Las Vegas first opened on the west side of the Strip, where the now-demolished Stardust once stood.
Speaking of Rosenthal, he survived an explosion in October 1982 in the parking lot of a Tony Roma restaurant on East Sahara Avenue. Rosenthal left Las Vegas shortly thereafter and ended up in South Florida for the rest of his life.
4. Al the other side of the Strip, Golden Steer Steakhouse in Western Sahara is a landmark of the Rat Pack era, artists, athletes and gangsters, plus locals and tourists, over the years. Array is still active.
When Chicago gangster Frank Cullotta arrived in the 1970s, he met Tony “The Ant” Spilotro of the Chicago Outfit on the Golden Steer under his marching orders.
5. Au Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas, you can see original afterlife artifacts from the area’s gangsters, including handcuffs used in Spilotro’s arrest, some of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel’s private belongings, and more.
The museum, which was once a courthouse and hosted a Senate hearing, spoke about organized crime through U. S. Sen. Estes Kefauver, D-Tenn. Today, in the basement of the Mafia Museum there is a popular speakeasy.