Interview with Cynthia Cicero, Tina Boag, Betty Brown and Jan Ravetti

INTERVIEW WITH CYNTHIA CICERO, TINA BOAG, BETTY BROWN AND JAN RAVETTI

MARCH 28, 2014

An Oral History Conducted by Claytee D. White

West Charleston Neighborhoods: An Oral History Project of Ward 1

Oral History Research Center at UNLV University Libraries University of Nevada Las Vegas

©The West Charleston Neighborhoods: An Oral History Project of Ward 1 University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2014

Produced by: The Oral History Research Center at UNLV – University Libraries Director: Claytee D. White Project Managers: Claytee D. White, Barbara Tabach Transcriber: Kristin Hicks Editors: Stefani Evans, Pat Holland, Maggie Lopes, Barbara Tabach Interviewers: Claytee D. White, Barbara Tabach, Shirley Emerson, Lois Goodall, Judy Harrell, Anna Huddleston, Linda McSweeney, Wendy Starkweather

The recorded interview and transcript have been made possible through the generosity of

Dr. Harold Boyer. The Oral History Research Center enables students and staff to work together with community members to generate this selection of first-person narratives. The participants in this project thank the university for the support given that allowed an idea the opportunity to flourish.

The transcript received minimal editing that includes the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader’s understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. In several cases photographic sources accompany the individual interviews.

The following interview is part of a series of interviews conducted under the auspices of the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project.

Claytee D. White, Project Director Director, Oral History Research Center University Libraries University Nevada, Las Vegas

iii

PREFACE

Four women, Cynthia Cicero, Betty Brown, Tina Boag, and Jan Ravetti, recall coming to Las Vegas to obtain jobs during the period of mob ownership in the Las Vegas hotels. Each had a different reason for coming. A recession in Buffalo, New York, brought Cynthia and her husband to Las Vegas to obtain employment; Jan Ravetti’s family moved from Pennsylvania due to her father’s illness and possible employment; parents of Tina Boag, who was born in Paris, were entertainers who travelled and performed extensively; and Milton Prell, opening the Aladdin Hotel and Casino, encouraged Californian Betty Brown to work for him. Cynthia Cicero obtained a job with the City of Las Vegas, but the other three worked on the Strip in the casinos. Their experiences in the hotels show the differences between mob and corporate management since they were working there before and after Howard Hughes purchased six of the large Vegas hotels.

The four ladies tell about their work on the Strip from Betty’s experience as a genie at the Aladdin to Tina’s position as a twenty-one dealer. They were acquainted with the casino owners and managers, entertainers like Sammy Davis, Jr. and Dean Martin, and show girls. They also knew first-hand the interactions between mobsters and the public. Food, for example, was a giveaway, an enticement for people to come into the hotel to gamble. They also knew stories about high rollers, the robbery of the baccarat tables at Caesars Palace, and the importance of “taking a fall” including the rewards attached.

The ladies describe the shops on downtown Fremont Street and the Strip such as Nina Clark’s, Ronzones, Dillards and Chic Hecht’s as well as Penneys and Sears. A young woman shopped at Suzie Cream Cheese, for example, for the right outfit to wear to Pussy Cat A Go-Go, the rock and roll club on the Strip. Las Vegas also had many good gourmet and ethnic restaurants, piano bars, hotel lounges, and pubs with excellent entertainment. The ladies also describe the difference in the treatment of women during the 1960s and 1970s by men in clubs. Women rarely bought drinks nor did they pay for dinners when with gentlemen.

Finally, the ladies compare areas where they lived including McNeil Estates, Heritage Square and the Chisholm-built homes in the Jones-Vegas Drive area. Not to be forgotten, however, are the terrible rain storms that flood streets and the Strip. Serious gamblers in the casinos refused to leave the tables while drenching rains washed cars from the hotel parking lots during the 1970s. Neither did they leave the MGM casino when the hotel caught on fire in1980.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Interview with Cynthia Cicero, Tina Boag, Betty Brown and Jan Ravetti March 28, 2014 in Las Vegas, Nevada Conducted by Claytee D. White

Preface…………………………………………………………………………………………..iv Cynthia Cicero recalls her family background in Buffalo, New York; father , Joseph Taibi, worked for Bethlehem Steel, Lackawanna, New York. Tina Boag, New York City, New York; recalls family background; mother, Gabrielle Sirocky, and father, Magdoub Hanafi (Luxor Gali- Gali) entertainers. Father, hired to perform in “Hallelujah Hollywood”, was responsible for bringing Siegfried and Roy to Las Vegas.……………………….……………………………...1-3

Betty Brown grew up in Westwood, California; foster parents, father (Robert Long), worked for Western Electric; mother, Mary C. Walline. Betty went to University High School, worked for Bank of American and United California Bank, came to Las Vegas, and worked at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino for Milton Prell, Sahara Corporation. Jan Ravetti recalls growing up in Meadville, Pennsylvania; mother, Mona Cenname; and father, Louis J. Cenname, worked at various enterprises………………………………..…...... 3-5

Cynthia describes coming to Las Vegas; husband, Philip Cicero was employed with the Tropicana in 1977 during Buffalo recession. She met Bill and Lesley Barr, bowled at the Showboat, lived at the Spanish Oaks Apartments on Valley View, and found employment with the City of Las Vegas………………………………………………..…………………………4-6

Tina’s father bought apartment buildings behind Vegas World in “the Naked City” area, occupants included Victor Mature, choreographers and dancers. Meanwhile she went to boarding school in Gainesville, Georgia and Loveland, Colorado but returned to Las Vegas to work for Jack Entratter at the Sands Hotel………………………………………………………………6-7

Betty describes her advertising job at the Aladdin as a genie in the casino and at McCarron Airport. Jan describes moving to Las Vegas; uncle was casino manager at the Hacienda , the Old Frontier, and New Frontier. She attended Las Vegas High School……………………………7-13

The four ladies describe the hotel people and entertainers they knew: John Houssels (El Cortez, Showboat), Jack Entratter (Sands); Ronald and Fred Doumani (Tropicana); Jackie Gaughan (bought El Cortez from Houssels); the differences between mob ownership and Howard Hughes’ corporate ownership; Robert Maheu; Sammy Davis, Jr.; Danny Thomas; and the Copa Girls (Sands Hotel)…………………………………………………………………………………14-18

The ladies tell stories about working in the casinos: the baccarat robbery at Caesars Palace, the split of tips from big gamblers, complicity of individuals taking “the fall by going to prison and the rewards.” Frank Fertitta, Sr., baccarat dealer at Sahara, went to prison, returned with money, bought Bingo Palace, and start the Las Vegas valley’s Station Casinos………………….…18-19

Describes events about owners and managers: Jake Gottlieb (mob manager) comps dinner at the “Top of the Strip” at Dunes; Charles Rich or “Q. P. Rich” (mob name); Sid Wyman; skimming; Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel; Tony “Tony T” Torcasio; “comps”, show ‘line passes’; bellmen; high rollers, brothels and tokes…………………………………………………………………….19-27

Describes Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal; the “Frank Rosenthal Show”; became Room, Food, and Beverage Director; first to hire black men in baccarat pit; car blew up in an attempted assassination; and Rosenthal left town. Frank Rosenthal liked to gamble on horses...... 28-32

Remembers the types of shops people frequented in Las Vegas: I Magnum’s, Ronzone’s on Fremont Street, (now Dillards), Diamonds, Suzie Cream Cheese for disco clothes for Pussy Cat A Go-Go (rock and roll club), Lands’ Originals, Nina Clark’s, Her Highness, Sears, Penneys, Chic Hecht’s, Harris and Frank’s, and Silverwoods…………………………………………37-41

Talks about fun places and restaurants that were popular: Pinch Dotty, The Fog Cutter, Starboard Tack, the Sands Hotel’s Copo Lounge, Tower of Pizza, the Peppermill, Plush Horse on Sahara, Joe Pignatello’s Villa D’Este, The Golden Steer, Four Fountains , Black Forest (piano bar), Caesars’ Palace Court, Alpine Village, and Desert Inn’s “The Little Spot”……………35-44

Tina recalls living in McNeil Estates and the difference between McNeil and Scotch 80s, Fourth of July party, heavy rain in Las Vegas, and some of the neighbors: Steve Wynn, George Duckworth, Tony Torcasio, Q. P. Rich’s step-son, Sid Wyman, Tom Brummett , Morris Shenker, and Chris Giuchigliani, county commissioner. ………………..…………………..44-46

Jan lived in various parts of Las Vegas but remembers Twin Lakes Park when she was in high school. Cynthia lived in Heritage Square near Mohave and Karen but moved to Vegas Drive and Jones (Chisholm Homes) while working at the airport in Disadvantaged Minority Business program before moving to Spring Valley…………………………………………..……….46-52

Explains the impact of the IRS on gambling and tokes today, a grandfather license, necessity of paying in cash, Frank Fertitta, Bingo Palace, Dean Martin, dealing at the Golden Nugget, the Plush Horse, Jerry Moffett, The Flame Restaurant, Villa D’este, the Village Pub, Felicia Atkins, Mandalay Bay, and the difference in treatment of women and gambling then and now.….. 52-66

Index…………………………………………………………………………………………67-70

So this is Claytee White. It is March 28, 2014. We are in Summerlin this afternoon and I

am talking with four beautiful ladies.

Ladies, how are you tonight?

ALL: We're wonderful. Thank you. Oh, we're super.

Fantastic. Starting here with Cynthia, can you go around and just give me your name and

how to spell it?

Yes. I'm Cynthia Cicero, C-I-C-E-R-O.

Tina Boag. And that's B, as in boy, B-O-A-G.

And Tina is our hostess this evening. We're in her home.

My name is Betty Brown, B-R-O-W-N.

And I'm Jan Ravetti, R-A-V, as in Victor, E-T-T-I.

Wonderful. So what I'd like to do is I want you to give me just a little overview of your early life, where you were born. Tell me a little about your family. How many kids? What your parents did for a living? It doesn't have to be a parent. It can be the person that you consider your parent. And we can start anyplace you like.

CYNTHIA: Okay. Well, I'm Cynthia Cicero. I was born in Buffalo, New York City, born and raised. I grew up on the west side of Buffalo, which is an Italian ethnic, blue collar neighborhood. My father [Joseph Taibi (father)] worked at Bethlehem Steel plant (1940s this was the largest steel mill in the United States, but it closed in 1982). I have one brother who's five years older. He had polio as a child, so he kind of had some challenges growing up. I just always had a lot of friends and we always went out and got in a lot of trouble and did a lot of crazy things.

What kind of work did your father do?

CYNTHIA: My father worked at Bethlehem Steel in Lackawanna. He operated the charger car,

which means—I know he was up on a crane, way up high, and he fed the blast furnace, the iron

or whatever needed to keep going. He worked there for, I don't know, however many years,

thirty-something years. His parents were immigrants. He didn't graduate high school. So this

was the best thing he could do for us. He was a wonderful man. Everybody respected him.

Everyone in the family...he was the role model. And it's like you couldn't ask more than that.

Fantastic. Tina?

TINA: Yes. I'm from New York—

Tell me about your childhood.

TINA: Well, I'm from New York City, New York, was born there. My mother [Gabrielle

Sirocky (mother)] was born in Paris, France; my father in Port Said, Egypt. My mom [Gabrielle

Sirocky (mother)] was an actress and a dancer, part of a dance team act in France. My dad

[Maghoub Hanafi (father)] was a magician. He was a magician from the time he was seven

years old, doing his tricks on the port of Port Said, Egypt. He was discovered by the merchants

as he got older and they took him on the ships. And so he did his trade on the ships to all the

tourists and eventually came to the United States. Well, went to Europe, all over Europe and

then to the United States (became an American citizen in 1944). Performed in Las Vegas for

years and years, but in every major city in the United States and most countries in the world.

And what is his name?

Luxor Gali-Gali [1902-1984]. He was in The House of Magic. His history is there in Los

Angeles, [California]. Yes, he was very, very good in his day. He was responsible for bringing

Siegfried [Fischbacher]and Roy [Horn] here from Czechoslovakia. He was supposed to take the

MGM Hollywood—what was that called?—”Hallelujah Hollywood.” That was supposed to be his. But they wouldn't break his contract in Reno, [Nevada Magic]. So he said I know these

young men and they're in Czechoslovakia and they're a fabulous act. He knew them well and he

recommended them and the rest is history for them.

So if I wanted to interview them, you would be able to set it up.

TINA: Unless I was able to do it through his aunt; she's a medium. [Laughing] We might be

able to get that on.

JAN: Or did you mean Siegfried [Fischbacher] and Roy [Horn]?

Yes.

TINA: Oh, Fried and Roy. Not my father [Hanafi, Maghoub (father)], my parents [Sirocky,

Gabrielle, and Hanafi, Maghoub]. [All laughing] So we could do the other, too. You know what I mean?

This is going to be wonderful. So Betty, if you could just tell me a little about your early life, where you grew up and what your parents did for a living?

BETTY: I grew up in Westwood, California. I grew up with foster parents. My foster father worked for Western Electric, which I believe was part of the telephone system. My foster mother [Mary C. Walline] didn't work. I graduated high school from University High School

[Westwood/Los Angeles, California] and I went to work for Bank of America and then United

California Bank. The Sahara Hotel had their business offices upstairs from the bank. At that time everybody kind of went to their own banking person. Milton Prell and some of the other people from Sahara Corporation came to me and struck up a relationship. Mr.[Milton] Prell said,

I'm opening up the Aladdin Hotel; would you like to come work for me? At the time I was going through a divorce. So I thought, sure, why not?

Wonderful. I want to stop it right there. Perfect. Jan.

JAN: I'm from Pennsylvania. I was born in Meadville, [Pennsylvania] a small town south of

Erie, [Pennsylvania]. I lived there till I was about five and then we moved to

Pittsburgh,[Pennsylvania] which was fascinating from a small town to go to a big town with high-rises and stuff. I used to fall over backwards standing in front of my mom [Mona Cenname

(mother)] looking at the tops of buildings.

My dad [Louis J. Cenname (father)] was an executive with Fort Pitt Packaging Company.

He traveled a lot. He was gone all week and then he'd come home on the weekends. He went to

Greenland and various places. He and my mom also owned a bar. They managed a hotel. Then he became a car salesman. By the time we moved to Las Vegas [in 1963] he was not well.

I have three sisters. My brother is the oldest. He's nine years older than me. I'm second from the youngest in that group. My little sister has Down's. She's the focus of the family. I was a lucky kid.

Wonderful. So now, we're just going to start going around one more time. Then after that it's going to be a free for all.

CYNTHIA: Oh, boy.

So Cynthia, this question is: How did you get to Las Vegas? And if it means that you married someone, tell me about that marriage. Tell me about what happened to bring you to Las Vegas.

So Cynthia, we'll go around and then we'll talk about how you got to Las Vegas.

CYNTHIA: Okay. My husband [Philip Cicero (husband)] and I had been dating for a while. He wanted to get married. So I said okay. There was a recession in Buffalo, [New York] as there usually is, and he had an opportunity for a job at the Tropicana [Hotel and Casino].

How? How did he get that job?

CYNTHIA: His cousin had been out here and his cousin had a connection with the casino manager and he wanted to come back, but he wanted someone with him. So he invited my husband [Philip Cicero] to go with him. So I said, well, go, you're not working, give it a shot and if it works out, we'll get married. So he came out in January.

Of which year?

CYNTHIA: Of 1976. By August of 1976, he had a job dealing at the Tropicana [Hotel and

Casino]. So he came back to Buffalo, [New York]. We got married in Buffalo, [New York].

The next day we came out here. By the time we got here it was August 23rd.

Tell me the difference and what you felt when you first saw Las Vegas in 1976.

CYNTHIA: It was hot. [Laughing] I just felt like I was in those old western movies where all they show is the sun. I have to say I was happy to come because I really always wanted to leave

Buffalo, [New York]. I needed something bigger and different. So I was happy to come. But it took me awhile to adjust because I didn't have any friends. I didn't know anybody. You grow up with the same people; my friends I grew up with my whole life. Until I got a job, then I started making my own friends. So he [Philip Cicero (husband)] would invite me to the casino and have lunch. Then we met a couple that were married that were our friends, were Bill and Lesley Barr.

We used to hang around with them. I was on bowling league at the Showboat [Hotel and

Casino] during the day with Lesley [Barr] and her mom and I can't remember who else.

Where did you live?

CYNTHIA: We lived in Spanish Oaks Apartments on Valley View Boulevard and Sahara,

[Avenue] Apartment D-13. Orange shag carpet. It was furnished.

BETTY: I think mine was green. Yellow green, right?

CYNTHIA: And then Buffalo, [New York] had the blizzard of 1977, and I said I'm not

homesick anymore.

That's wonderful.

CYNTHIA: But then I got a job for the city, the city of Las Vegas.

And I want to know more about that work, but we're going to go around and find out how everybody got here. Then we're going to start talking about those experiences.

So, Tina?

TINA: Yes.

I want you to tell the story behind your coming to Las Vegas.

TINA: All right. Well, as I told you, my father was in show business and did a lot in Las Vegas.

So we bought apartment buildings here. So as a teenager I was here because they had apartment buildings, which is right now behind the [Robert]Stupak [Vegas World Hotel and Casino], but was very nice at that time.

So the Naked City?

TINA: Naked City, yes. And at that time, my goodness, Victor Mature lived in our apartments

and choreographers and the dancers. The chuck wagon at the El Rancho [Hotel and Casino].

Anyway, I went away to school. So I would go to boarding school, come back on

vacations. Then eventually left Las Vegas and I never came back for a very long, not until 1969.

At that time I came because I had been in a very bad marriage. I had married a fellow when I

was 17 years old. He was schizophrenic and we were married for a while and couldn't get

around that. So I divorced and moved here to [Las] Vegas. I knew a gentleman by the name of

Jack Entratter, who was well known at the Sands [Hotel and Casino], through my father

[Maghoub Hanafi], and he got me a job at the Sands [Hotel and Casino]. So that's how I came

here the second time around as an adult. But I was here, my goodness, when I was 14 years old.

What did it look like when you first came?

TINA: Oh, my goodness, it was amazing.

So at 14—you want to tell me which year it was?

TINA: Well, of course. Is this going on television or—

Nobody will ever hear this.

TINA: I will be seventy-four March 31st.

So when I came it was very small. As I told you, I'd go to boarding school and I'd fly home for vacations. I always knew when I came to Vegas because there was that little, small strip of lights. Oh, there's Vegas. It was the Strip, which was not very big. That's all the lights we would see. About 54,000 people when I first came here.

Oh, amazing. Thank you so much for that story. Where was boarding school located?

TINA: I went to Campion Academy in Loveland, Colorado—or, excuse me. The first two years

I went to Brenau Academy in Gainesville, Georgia, for two years there. That was an experience

back then. I was like 14, 15 years old, from New York, [New York] and I'd always been

traveling. So that was quite an experience in those days, as you can well imagine.

Yes, I can imagine.

TINA: Yes.

Betty, tell me the story about your migration to Las Vegas.

BETTY: As I had said a little earlier, I was working for United California Bank and the Sahara

Hotel [and Casino] had their corporate offices a few floors above our bank. And I got to know

Milton Prell and a few of the salesmen that they had working there. Milton Prell asked me one

day, he said, you know what? He says, I'm going to open up the Aladdin Hotel and Casino.

How would you like to come and work for me?

At the time I was going through a divorce and I thought, wow, I've never really been anywhere, sure, why not? So basically, that's how I came to Las Vegas. I worked for the

Aladdin Hotel and Casino and I was a genie, when it opened up.

Oh, my. So which year?

Nineteen sixty-five.

Nineteen sixty-five, and you were a genie. Tell me about that. Describe that costume for us.

BETTY: Okay. [Laughing] It was a little strange. There was a television show way back when in California and it was called the “[Mark Wilson’s Magic] World of Allakazam.” It was “Mark

[Wilson’s] ‘Wonderful World of Allakazam,”’ [Mark Wilson’s “Worlderful World of

Allakazam”] and he was a magician.

So when they opened up the Aladdin Hotel, in the casino and then it was also down the escalator, there were these two big boxes. There was a little door that opened up in the back of the box. It was probably one of Las Vegas' best-kept secrets because everybody wondered, is that a mannequin or is it a real person? And we would go behind this big, enormous box and literally crawl into this huge box because it looked like nobody could fit in it the way they had designed it. Then we would crawl straight up. We had a plastic chest plate, a full mask, just with the eyes out of it.

What kind of mask?

BETTY: Plastic, plastic mask, plastic chest plate.

CYNTHIA: What color?

BETTY: It was skin color—no, there was a bra on it. We looked like a genie. There was a veil

over the mask. We could only see through the little holes, though.

Why a mask if you're going to have the veil?

BETTY: They didn't want anybody seeing your eyes blink. There was a hairpiece on it. There

was a hat. We were all covered up and we wore gloves. We would open up these doors. And

you have to understand everything had to be perfect because we had such limitations on how we

could move. So we would open up these doors and we would bring them back to about right

here because this is about as far as you could see, right? So we could grab them. There was a

recorder down underneath us that advertised the Aladdin Hotel. It was at the time Jackie Mason

was performing at the hotel. We had this little magic trick. It was a little frame and it was full of

sand and we'd flip it over and it would say, “Jackie Mason.” But we had to keep it right here.

We had to keep everything so close because we had such a limitation of how we could see. We could see right in front of us and all the people. So we had to be very careful that everything was perfect. So when the recording was playing, we were doing what we were supposed to do.

When the recording stopped, we had to grab the little handles on these doors and bring them back and close them and then wait for this stupid recording to go back on again and we did the same damn thing all over again.

Oh, my goodness.

BETTY: People would be out there watching.

CYNTHIA: Were you in the lobby?

BETTY: Right out in front of us, yes, just as you walk up the stairs.

So these were in the—

BETTY: Right in the casino. As you walked in the front door of the casino, it was right up the steps. There was an escalator that went down to the parking lot. There was one there, too. And

there also was one out at the airport, out at McCarran Airport, which I hated to have to go out

there. I hated it. But people would stand there and they would watch and they would watch over

and over again. And they'd say, is she real? So they'd all look for little differences. Oh, I saw

her breathing. Oh, I saw her eyes blink. Well, you couldn't see our eyes blink. But you very

well could see our diaphragm moving. Or, no, she didn't do that quite that way. No, last time

she did it another way. It was like that.

Oh, what amazing things.

BETTY: And it was a big thing. What was the name of that little book that it used to come out

and it would tell you everything that was going on?

“Fabulous Las Vegas.”

BETTY: Was that it, the “Fabulous Las Vegas?”

CYNTHIA: Probably, yes.

BETTY: It was in there, like, is she real; isn't she real? This was Las Vegas' best-kept secret. Is she real or not? One of these things.

CYNTHIA: How much did they pay you for that?

BETTY: We got paid really, really good.

So Cynthia, would you ask that question a little louder?

CYNTHIA: How much did you get paid?

BETTY: I don't remember exactly, but it was kind of also it didn't last a really long time. One time I was out at the airport. It was two o'clock in the morning. And they would have stanchions around so nobody could get real-real close to it. It was about two o'clock in the morning. And there was supposed to be security, but there never was. These two guys come up and they'd been drinking. You could tell they've been drinking from wherever they came from.

And I'm doing my thing and I know right away I'm in trouble. One of them says, that's a mannequin; let's take her. I can hear them. And I'm like, oh, what do I do now?

They climbed over the stanchions and they started climbing over the box, because anybody could have climbed over the front of the box and, if they thought it was a mannequin, could have taken it out of there. Well, at that point I picked up my magic trick. It was heavy because it was full of sand. It was about that thick. I just took it and threw it at them.

TINA: Oh, you scared them. Well, they scared you.

BETTY: I start screaming, hold on. And they just took off. I closed the doors, and said I'm never going back to the airport.

TINA: Oh, how perfect.

Oh, that is wonderful.

BETTY: I had somebody throw—a guy obviously was gambling one night. I was downstairs on the escalator at the hotel. This guy comes by and I'm doing my stupid little magic trick. He's got a drink in his hand and he threw it right at me.

CYNTHIA: Oh, my god. I'm glad they paid you well.

Yes, yes. What kind of contract did you have? Were you with the union?

BETTY: I didn't have any kind of a contract. I didn't have anything. This was back in 1965.

You know what? It didn't last.

CYNTHIA: How long did it last about?

Oh, but that's wonderful.

BETTY: I really don't remember.

We want more of those stories in just a little while.

BETTY: Months, yes, months.

CYNTHIA: I know. Isn't it fabulous?

Yes. Jan, tell me that story of you coming to Las Vegas.

JAN: We came to Las Vegas—as I said, I have three sisters and one brother. My brother was in the service. My dad [Louis J. Cenname (father)] was not well, but his brother was out here and he was casino manager at the Hacienda [Hotel and Casino] and the Frontier [Hotel and Casino].

So he told us to come out. We moved into—what's the area behind the Boulevard Mall?

Paradise Palms. Paradise Palms; that was it. So we lived over there for a while.

Casino manager of which hotels?

JAN: Hacienda [Hotel and Casino] and the Frontier [Hotel and Casino]. That was in between the Old Frontier [Hotel and Casino], the New Frontier [Hotel and Casino].

BETTY: I worked there.

JAN: Yes? You may have known my Aunt Maclava [Ann Cenname]. My aunt was a cocktail waitress there and her two daughters were five and seven, and so we all became this little tribe. I was 15, went to Las Vegas High School, which architecturally is a great, great old school. It's just wainscoting and the whole routine, it was just a gas. I really enjoyed it.

But we arrived on August 12th, 1963, and flew in. They opened the doors and it was like standing in front of a blast furnace. It was like, ugh.

BETTY: It literally singed your lungs.

JAN: In my uncle's sense of humor, he told us, the air conditioner isn't working and he drove us home with the windows down. It's like you're still in front of the furnace. So it was a pretty remarkable stay. Then we were so pleased because we could swim, coming from Pennsylvania, we could swim until late in the year. My dad [Louis J. Cenname (father)] kept going, “You can't swim after Labor Day.” We'd go, “Yes, we can. Everybody would let us swim.” But Dad

would go, “Well, it's the end of summer; they can't do that.” “Yes, we can.” [Laughing]

Oh, that's great. So now, I want you to tell me about some of the early people you met. I want to hear about Milton Prell, Tropicana [Hotel and Casino]. Who was at the

Tropicana?

TINA: I was.

Did you know Houssels?

TINA: Yes. No, I know of the Houssels [John Kell]. My father [Hanafi, Maghoub (magician)] worked for the Houssels (John Kell Houssels 1895-1979, at one time owned the El Cortez,

Showboat and Tropicana).

Jack Entratter.

TINA: Yes, Sands [Hotel and Casino].

Someone mentioned that name.

TINA: The Doumani brothers [Ronald and Fred] at the Tropicana [Hotel and Casino].

CYNTHIA: She knew all the top echelon people. We just know a little of it.

So I want all of you to talk about those top echelon people that you knew and just tell me about them and how you knew them. I want to know how they interacted with their customers. We just lost Gaughan [Jackie] the other day.

JAN: Yes, Jackie [John Davis] Gaughan.

TINA: Yes, [John Davis (Jackie)] Gaughan.

He was the master—

TINA: Yes. My father worked for him.

—of running a casino and dealing with the public.

TINA: Absolutely.

So I want you to tell me about those early people and what you heard about them and how

they interacted with their customers.

TINA: Well, I worked at the Sands. I started off...Jack Entratter put me in cocktails just at the

time that [Howard] Hughes was just coming in and the bean counters were coming in. So

everything was kind of taking—it was different. He was under a lot of pressure. [Robert]

Maheu had just come to town and now became his boss. He took me to the office. He said, you

know, I'm having a problem; [Robert] Maheu wants to bring in his girls; right now will you go to the showroom? Well, of course, I would go anywhere. I needed a job. So I worked in the

showroom where I got to meet Sammy Davis Junior, Danny Thomas. All of these people were

absolutely lovely. Who else? Well, there were a lot of stars. Whoever worked there, I was there

and met a lot of them.

The bosses, the maître d's were—back then it's how much money a customer gave them

as to where they sat. There were always those wonderful booth seats in the front of the

showroom that stayed empty until the very, very last and then how much you gave them would

get you there, but they always waited for the stars to come in, and they did.

So was this the Copa Room?

TINA: Yes, the Copa Room.

Tell me about the women who danced there.

TINA: Oh, the Copa Girls [Copa Girls (showgirls at the Sands Hotel)]. They were great. The

Copa Girls were very glamorous. They all had a lot of stories of their own. They made a lot of

money. They met a lot of rich men. I knew one of them. I don't even remember her name. I

really didn't have a lot to do with them, but they were beautiful, beautiful showgirls. It took a lot

to wear those headdresses and they did it beautifully.

So anyone else knew any of the owners, managers and saw them at work?

BETTY: I worked at the Frontier Hotel, the New Frontier Hotel [and Casino]. This was before

Howard Hughes came into town. It was owned and run by the mob.

How did you know that?

BETTY: It was just common knowledge.

JAN: Everybody just knew.

So how would people in the industry talk about that?

CYNTHIA: They loved it.

BETTY: They loved it, yes.

I know, but...so tell me.

BETTY: It's not like we really talked about it. It wasn't like, what did he do? I was a cashier on

the front desk. I have to say they were wonderful. I don't remember the names, but some of

them lived in the hotel. One gentleman would come down every morning and would say, ‘Hi,

Betty, how are things going?” It was great. And he would say, “Any problems anywhere? No,

no problems.” He might come back a little bit later and say, “Betty, we need somebody to do the

count in the casino cage, we're short a staff, could you come do that for us?” Sure. “Of course, you do that, right?”

So explain to me what the count is.

BETTY: Oh, well, the money that was dropped in the casino, security would pick up the boxes.

They'd take it to a count room in back of the cage and they would count the money. Well, it took more than one person to do that. They'd say, “Could you help us out?” And I'd say, “Certainly not a problem.” And my boss...it was like, sure, not a problem. I'd go help them out and they'd say, “Come on, let's go to lunch.” We'd go to the coffee shop and they'd buy me lunch.

But every day they were perfect gentlemen. Everybody was very happy. I didn't work

for tips. But people that did, they made a lot of money. Everybody was very, very happy. Then

when Howard Hughes came to town, it all changed.

TINA: It really did.

BETTY: It all became corporate. I was there the day that the Hughes people came into the

Frontier Hotel [and Casino] and they pointed their fingers and said, “You're fired, you're fired,

you're fired.” And they went through the whole casino and all the other departments and did exactly the same thing.

How did they know who to fire?

BETTY: They knew. I don't know how they knew, but they knew. They came to the front desk cashiers where I was. At that time we had big, huge NCR machines is how we worked. It was before computers. We had buckets of all the guests in the hotels. We would post the charges that they made to the rooms and so on. They came. They confiscated it. Never said a word to

us. Went into a back room. Kept it there for eight hours. We could absolutely do nothing. We

couldn't check anybody out of the hotel because we didn't have the paperwork. They never said

a word to us. Then when they were done, they brought them back and that was it.

So if somebody would have left during this—

BETTY: Bye. That's it, bye.

So anyone else?

TINA: One of the most impressive things that I saw when I came to Vegas as an adult—I never noticed or paid attention when I was younger—were the baccarat games. Oh, my gosh, the money, all hundreds and thousand-dollar bills that they played, no chips. That was all, of course, before the Hughes organization came in. That was amazing to me, all this cash on the tables.

JAN: What changed that was the robbery at Caesars Palace.

TINA: Was the robbery at Caesars? How did that occur, Jan?

JAN: They hit the baccarat table and they took—

CYNTHIA: When was that?

JAN: Oh, god, it had to be in the 1970s, like 1971 and 1972.

TINA: Really?

JAN: Yes, it was a big deal. They marched into Caesars Palace, took all the cash off the table, and were gone in no time. That was a big hit, all the cash. Between the bank and what was on the table, it was a nice haul. That's when they changed to chips.

TINA: Wow. And Betty's husband worked as a baccarat dealer at Caesars [Palace Hotel and

Casino].

BETTY: He was a baccarat dealer at the Dunes Hotel first. Then he was a baccarat dealer at

Caesars. Then he became a floor man.

What did he tell you about baccarat? What kinds of stories did he tell?

TINA: When he was talking to you.

BETTY: Way back when there was a huge gambler that would come into town. Not only the

Dunes or Caesars Palace, all the hotels knew when he came to town. He was from Australia.

So he was a whale.

BETTY: Oh, major, major, major whale. This was also part of the time before the IRS got involved with everybody, too. One time he came home and—they split the tokes differently then, too. Baccarat was baccarat; that was it; they were separate from anybody. The baccarat dealers, the baccarat floor men, they were part of the tips. That wasn't necessarily the case in twenty-one or craps.

Once when this gentleman was in town, one night he came home with $25,000. Now, that was just him.

CYNTHIA: Your husband. That was just Tom.

BETTY: So he split. So everybody got 25,000.

CYNTHIA: Yeah, tax free.

BETTY: Tax free.

CYNTHIA: Cash.

BETTY: The next day he came in with another 25,000.

JAN: Oh, wow. Oh, jiminy.

BETTY: They made huge amounts of money, huge amounts of money. I'll tell you what—and I don't know the names, and so I can't say the names. But there was a dealer took a fall for somebody and ended up in prison and the baccarat dealers took care of his family the whole time he was in prison.

TINA: Well, you know the Stations Casino [ten gambling establishments founded by the

Fertittas], right?

BETTY: Yes.

TINA: Well, Frank Fertitta, Sr., that's how he got his start. He took the fall for someone.

Tell that—start at the beginning.

TINA: Well, all right. This is a hearsay. I mean it's true, it's a true story. He was a baccarat dealer, I believe, at the Sahara when Hank was working there.

Who?

CYNTHIA: Hank is her ex-husband.

TINA: My ex-husband. And Frank Fertitta is the one that owned all the Station Casinos and his

children do now. He was nothing more than a dealer in baccarat at the Sahara. And there was a mob situation and he took the fall and he went to prison and he kept his mouth shut. When he got out, they had promised him so much and he opened the Bingo Palace. And that Bingo Palace opened and was so small at first. As he grew, he'd add a little bit more. I worked there as a dealer, so I know. Yes, I was a twenty-one dealer there. I was a dealer. [Laughing] They made fun of me.

BETTY: We have a hard time believing that.

TINA: That's why tease me about that. But I would watch that hotel grow little by little. As they made money, they'd expand and like on and on. Yes, there are so many stories like that in this town.

JAN: I have a little story about owners and managers. I worked at the Dunes. I was a bell dispatcher, which means I worked at the bell desk. When they called in, I would tell them where to pick up and whatnot. I was 19 and it was fascinating to me because all the things that go on in a casino, number one. But Jake Gottlieb was the manager for the mob. Everybody knew that, too. It was just known. So Jake [Gottlieb] flew in from Chicago every weekend. And there wasn't a nicer guy around.

BETTY: Oh, yes, they were great.

JAN: Oh, he would go to the gourmet rooms and send dinner over to the bell staff. I had made reservations—my sister was getting married and I made reservations for the Top of the Strip.

When we got there, the whole thing was comped.

What is the Top of the Strip?

JAN: The Top of the Strip was a gourmet room. It was on the top of the Dunes. You could see all around town.

BETTY: It was beautiful. It was a beautiful room, beautiful.

JAN: It was a great place to hear music, just great dining.

So pretend I don't know anything when you're talking.

JAN: Okay. So one of the guys, one of the casino people was Q.P. Rich. Charlie Rich is his real name; Q.P. Rich is his gang or mob name. So you know when somebody came in and wanted to speak to Q.P. Rich, you were really nice. [Laughing] Steve (Sid) Wyman was another

guy who was strongly connected.

BETTY: Sid Wyman (co-owner of several Las Vegas hotels).

JAN: What did I say?

TINA: Sid Wyman . You said, “Steve.” Sid was Kentucky. No, he wasn't.

JAN: Well, he was part of it, yes, along with Charlie [Rich].

BETTY: My father-in-law was very close to him.

JAN: Sid [Wyman]was a delightful man. He was a delightful man.

TINA: He was a very generous man, right?

JAN: Oh, he was extremely generous.

TINA: Very generous.

JAN: One Christmas he came and he gave me a hundred-dollar gift. After he left I walked over to a friend of mine and I said, Sid just gave me a hundred dollars. They go, “Yes, Sid's a hell of

a guy.” I said, “Does he want anything?” [Laughing] I was 19. I wanted to make sure. But they said, “No, Sid's a heck of a guy.”

But we had a player who played for days and he just cleaned the place up big time. They had a hotel for the—they had a plane for the hotel. So they made this big scene. From room service came carts of food and carafes of anything you could think of to drink. And they load it

in the car and they take it out and they load it on the plane. Then it comes back and they pick up

the guy. They bring the limo up front. And Sid’s walking out with him. We got you, everything's taken care of, don't worry about a thing, come on, I'll ride with you out to the plane.

They get to the plane and the plane has difficulties. So they unload the plane, bring it back, and hope that he loses his money before he leaves town. [Laughing] But it was so, so funny to watch, the big parade of gifts coming. It was good . Nice people. Good to us locals. For years you could not go to a show in this town—and I was nobody—but you couldn't go to a show in this town that somebody didn't come out and comp [give something away free] you. Come here.

You'd be walking from the front door to the showroom and they'd, come here.

So at that age, during those years when you said everybody knew, when someone would use the word mob, Mafia [originally a Sicilian word, refers to an organized crime syndicate],

what did it mean to you?

BETTY: Nobody used that word back then.

JAN: Well, actually, we didn't use that term.

What term did you use?

JAN: They were just the bosses.

BETTY: They were just bosses.

JAN: We just knew the town was—The Green Felt Jungle (by Gerald E. Huber) had come out.

My dad read that before we came. He wouldn't let us play in the yard. He was afraid we'd dig

somebody up. [Laughing] It's true. Don't do that. Get in the house.

BETTY: Nobody would make a comment like, oh, well, he's connected or he's part of—nobody

did that.

CYNTHIA: Then how did you know?

BETTY: Everybody just knew. They just knew.

JAN: You just knew.

TINA: I mean it wasn't open conversation.

JAN: No, it wasn't.

So what I'm trying to get at is—today we think of the mob as those guys who ran Las

Vegas' casinos, who did all kinds of good things in the city—they built a hospital; they did all of that.

JAN: Right. And they did.

They were also skimming and we hear about bodies in the desert.

CYNTHIA: They used to skim, sure.

And we hear about the bodies in the desert. So what did you think of those kinds of things?

Did you hear anything about the bodies in the desert?

BETTY: No, no.

JAN: You heard about them through the books and whatnot. But truthfully there wasn't a lot of crime in Las Vegas because nobody wanted to mess around with the mob. And that's how the mob wanted it.

CYNTHIA: That's true.

BETTY: Right, right.

JAN: When they wanted to kill [Benjamin] (Bugsy) Siegel, they waited until he went to L.A.

They didn't want it in Vegas.

CYNTHIA: I think where they came from—now, when my husband worked at the Tropicana

[Hotel and Casino], Tony Torcasio was the casino manager and he was from Steubenville, Ohio.

And Steubenville, Ohio, is just known—

JAN: Yes, known to the mob.

CYNTHIA: —home to the mob. So you didn't have to say it; you just knew it. But we never

paid for anything. We got comped everywhere. We didn't go to a show that we didn't get

comped.

BETTY: No.

JAN: Never.

CYNTHIA: And if you couldn't get a comp, you'd get a line pass, the next best thing.

BETTY: Line what?

CYNTHIA: Line pass. You just walked around. You didn't have to wait in line. You just

walked right in.

JAN: You don't stand in line. You just walk right in and you're VIPs.

Where did you get it? Who gave it to you?

JAN: Somebody would find you in the casino and you'd stop and say hi and they'd give it to

you.

CYNTHIA: My husband would get it. Donna was the casino manager's secretary. She'd give it

to him. The host would give you or the shift boss would give it to you or anybody, pretty much

anyone.

BETTY: You know what? At that particular time you know who really ran the casinos? It was

the bellmen.

Explain that.

BETTY: It was the bellmen. The bellmen had their hands in everything, everything. When I

first came here to Vegas, I stayed at the Thunderbird Hotel. I stayed there about a month and a

half. When I checked out of that hotel, they said, you don't owe us anything. They would help

you. If you were struggling—

CYNTHIA: All these old-timers have safety deposit boxes.

BETTY: —they would help you. They took care of you. Honestly, they did. If you were a good person, they took care of you.

CYNTHIA: I don't know how they made money.

BETTY: They all made—

JAN: They skimmed, so they didn't pay taxes.

TINA: Oh, they made so much money.

CYNTHIA: I mean how the casino—because they did, they took care of everybody.

TINA: But that was the locals, the ones they liked.

BETTY: The bellmen had the cab drivers. They had the hookers. Right? Whatever you want, I can get you. What do you want? They got a cut from the bellmen. They got a cut from the hookers. They got a cut from this. They got a cut from that.

CYNTHIA: What about the valet?

BETTY: Valet, too. Valet, too.

So we talk about...they didn't have to make profit on the food and on the entertainment.

TINA: No, that's right.

There were other ways for them to get—

TINA: Gambling.

BETTY: Food was a giveaway.

CYNTHIA: Nobody cared about that.

BETTY: Nobody cared about the food.

CYNTHIA: It was all the tables.

But there were other ways for them to get cuts.

JAN: Oh, for the employees. For the locals.

A few minutes ago you said that they got a cut of the bellmen.

BETTY: No. I said the bellmen.

CYNTHIA: The bellmen got a cut.

BETTY: The bell captains almost ran the hotels.

Right. I understand that.

BETTY: Because everything went through the bell captains. They got a cut from the cab drivers.

Who got a cut?

BETTY: The bellmen.

Ah, I see what you're saying, okay.

BETTY: The valet guys, they would get a cut from the cab drivers or hookers or whatever.

Maybe there was some high rollers that came in and they wanted to go out to Bonnie Springs— not Bonnie Springs, but—

JAN: Bunny Farm.

BETTY: The whorehouse.

CYNTHIA: In Pahrump.

BETTY: In Pahrump.

CYNTHIA: No, the place in Pahrump.

BETTY: No, the place in Pahrump.

JAN: Bunny...

CYNTHIA: No, it's not bunny Ranch.

BETTY: It's still there [Chicken Ranch]. But there were [and still are] a few of them around.

So maybe the bell captain and the valet, they would get a limo and send them out there, but they

would get a cut of it. The cab driver would give them a cut of what he charged them to take

them all the way to Pahrump and stay there until they played their games and came back.

JAN: And the bosses and owners were never unhappy to see the employees make money.

BETTY: No, no.

CYNTHIA: They were making so much money themselves that—

JAN: There was even a time when somebody came in, they hit the table pretty good, and he

stiffed the dealers. Once he walked, the floor man went over, got into the rack, and gave money

to the dealers. It happened. It was all—working in a hotel was a dream.

CYNTHIA: They cared about how—

JAN: They did. They wanted you to be happy and well.

CYNTHIA: They took care of people. They did.

BETTY: Absolutely. Took care of everybody. So when Howard Hughes came in and all that

changed—

CYNTHIA: And it did.

BETTY: —drastically changed, nobody was happy. Nobody was happy.

JAN: Because it all became bean counters.

BETTY: Right. It all became corporate.

JAN: And they were unhappy when you made a toke.

CYNTHIA: My husband [Cicero, Philip (husband)] was a foreman at the time and he and his

buddy were standing there, Steve Parlack, who does our taxes now. But they were standing

shoulder to shoulder facing opposite directions. The tables were dead and they're standing with

their arms folded, how you had to stand, and they were talking to each other. They both got

called in and got reprimanded for talking. I mean, come on? What is this, kindergarten? It was

ridiculous. Just totally ridiculous.

JAN: And what did it hurt?

CYNTHIA: Yes. Before nobody cared. They wanted you to talk to the people.

JAN: They wanted you to be comfortable and happy.

CYNTHIA: They wanted you comfortable, happy. They didn't care. It was ridiculous. My

husband got one time, though—[laughing]. When he was first in, they wore the white shirts and

the black pants. He was just going on his shift and he worked days. He started like at ten or

whatever. This woman was walking by him and she tripped or something and she spilled a

bloody Mary all over his shirt. And she looks at him and she goes, “Good for you.” So he calls

me up at home because I wasn't working yet. “Bring me a new white shirt.” He was so mad. I said, “Well, she must have been losing.” He was furious. [Laughing]

JAN: Oh, yes. I also dealt twenty-one and you had to let the player put the tip in your pocket.

So as a girl you would pull the pocket open so that—somebody could not move in and camped

out. It was such a nice group of people who were laughing and having fun. And then this guy

comes and he tips me and he had extraordinary aim. And he didn't move out; he was just in

there. I banged his arm out and the guy looked at me. He says, he didn't mean it. I said, “Well, let him put the toke in your wife's pocket and we'll see if he means it.” [Laughing]

TINA: I love it.

CYNTHIA: Where were you working?

JAN: Stardust. That was the Stardust.

So tell me more about the Stardust. That was—

JAN: Ah, yes. Frank [Rosenthal (Lefty)].

TINA: Frankie Rosenthal.

JAN: Frank Rosenthal, yes, that was during his reign.

TINA: Lefty.

So tell me about Frank Rosenthal. Did you get to know him at all?

JAN: Personally, no, but certainly he was around the casino all the time.

CYNTHIA: Remember he had that stupid TV show?

JAN: When they wouldn't let him be part of the casino, they made him R, F and B, room, food

and beverage director. Then he had the show starring Frank Sinatra. I really don't remember

how many shows. There were a few.

CYNTHIA: It was “The Frank Rosenthal Show” and he looked like a corpse.

JAN: Yes, it was terrible. Oh, he was.

CYNTHIA: No personality.

JAN: Yes, he is very dry and flat.

You're talking about the television show?

JAN: Yes, yes.

CYNTHIA: It was like about 15 minutes.

JAN: He had it in the casino. It was just—to the gaming commission so that he could show he had the power. And he had this show in the middle of the casino on a Friday night. It was bizarre. He got the hair transplant, the little plugs. And he made everybody wear a hat. So

Frank Sinatra was on that night and he wore a hat. Everybody wore a hat during the show so that

Frank [Sinatra] wasn't standing out. And everybody knew he had the plugs. It was hysterical.

Yeah, he was scary.

Before I came into work one morning was Anthony Spilotro playing, Tony Spilotro playing in the pit when he was black listed. And he was calling all kinds of names and terrorizing the dealer. We dealt 45 minutes on and 15 minutes off. He made the dealer stay there forever. And he was losing to the dealer. You dirty mother grabber; you this, you that; you know what I'll do to your wife? And I was, oh, wow. So we were about to come on shift and we were all standing white faced at attendance. Luckily, they got him out of there just before day shift came on. So we didn't have to deal to him. But it was frightening as hell.

Frank Rosenthal was one of the first people to hire black men in the baccarat pit.

TINA: Really?

Do you remember those?

JAN: I remember black guys in the pit. I mean I didn't know that it was unique. I was too young to know. I didn't pay any attention. I know that Las Vegas was called, what, the

Mississippi of the West? Pretty sad.

TINA: Well, Betty introduced me to a fellow that I dated for a little while. Ends up that this fellow is a hit man. Yes. And Frankie Rosenthal's car was blown up. And shortly after that, this fellow left town and never came back. It was an unsaid known thing that he was the one that did that.

BETTY: I introduced her to him.

JAN: Aren't you a good girl?

[Laughing] And you're still friends?

TINA: We have no idea. And we're still friends.

BETTY: Then I introduced her to her ex-husband.

TINA: Yes.

JAN: Batting a thousand.

BETTY: Then more recently I introduced her to somebody else that was just a real user of

women.

TINA: As a dating coordinator I would say she's not it. [Laughing]

BETTY: But we're still friends.

So Betty, I'd like to meet someone, but I don't know if I want you. [All laughing]

TINA: We owned a deli and a restaurant here in town. Tony Spilotro used to come in there.

Where was this? Tell me the layout of the restaurant.

TINA: All right. It was a Von T. It was on Valley View [Avenue] between Spring Mountain

[Road] and Sahara [Avenue]. We started that off from nowhere. I mean it was just a blank, open building. We had a partner named Neal Skello. He was fairly connected with a lot of people that knew quite a bit around—you know that name. It's familiar to you. Uh-huh, very well could be.

BETTY: He's written a few books.

TINA: He's written a few books on poker, for sure and gambling. Very sharp guy. Anyway, we were partners with him. He was very good friends with Anthony Spilotro and his brother

(Spilotro had four brothers involved in crime: John, Vincent, Victor, and Michael. The fifth brother, Pasquale, is a respected Chicago oral surgeon). For a while we would go to their parties. They were very glamorous and very, very opulent. Then Hank, my ex-husband, was going to go to [Atlantic City],New Jersey to work for Resorts International and had to apply for a gaming license. He was told no more parties, no more being seen with [Anthony] Spilotro. So all that stopped. It never really did happen. He was working for Steve Wynn at the time at the

Golden Nugget. Hank's hard headed. Of course, Steve [Wynn] was boss. So they parted ways

and it never happened.

But Tony Spilotro was lovely to us in a deli restaurant where he was a big man. He was

very soft and he was very gentle. When he was intimidated or needed to show he was a big man,

he was treacherous. That's just about what it was.

So do you think he had something to do with this turning point?

TINA: Yes.

Even people who admired the gentleman that you've been telling me about—

TINA: Right. He was a murderer.

Spilotro was a different kind of person.

JAN: No. And afraid.

BETTY: Well, he caused trouble.

TINA: Oh, yes, very much so.

BETTY: He caused trouble for everybody.

TINA: The mob included.

BETTY: The mob included, yes.

JAN: Right. He came out to back up Frank Rosenthal.

BETTY: That's why he ended up the way he end up.

TINA: Yes.

JAN: But he did. He was somebody they all tried to control. But Frank Rosenthal was no class

act. He was a race and sports guy.

BETTY: No, but he wasn't in your face.

JAN: No, no. I mean the other guys, the other people, Milton Prell, all the people from around

the Strip were gentlemen.

BETTY: Yes, yes.

So tell me about Frank Rosenthal.

BETTY: Rough around the edges?

JAN: Yeah, he came out of a racetrack. Check out somebody who's come with a sports coat.

And the look of, you know, I got the horse right here; his name is Paul Revere. [Laughing] He came out of that. He was great at booking the odds. This was before sports books were legitimate, although he brought the sports books to the Stardust and I think that's why he came.

[Pause in recording]

Let's start off with something fun. I want to know as young women in Las Vegas, I want to know where you did your shopping. I want you to talk about all those places.

BETTY: It was really very limited.

TINA: It was limited. But I. Magnum’s was fun and Ronzone.

BETTY: I. Magnum's was here.

JAN: Ronzone was on Fremont Street.

BETTY: Which is now Dillard's.

TINA: It was Diamonds, then Ronzones. Diamonds and then Dillards, right. So we shopped there. Of course, Suzie Cream Cheese.

BETTY: Oh, you know what else was there, too? A Lands' Originals.

TINA: Ooh, Lands' [Originals].

BETTY: Because I used to shop in Lands' [Originals] in Beverly Hills, [California] and there was a Lands' Originals here, too.

CYNTHIA: Where was that?

BETTY: It was on the Strip.

CYNTHIA: Where?

BETTY: Real close to I. Magnum's on Las Vegas Boulevard.

CYNTHIA: And?

BETTY: Las Vegas Boulevard. I don't know.

CYNTHIA: Near what hotel?

JAN: Near the Desert Inn if you're talking about nearer to Diamonds.

BETTY: Yeah, between the Desert Inn and the Sands Hotel.

JAN: Yes.

So there was a store you named earlier that sounded like—

ALL: Suzie Cream Cheese.

Tell me what that is.

JAN: Oh, most creative.

BETTY: She was down past—she was between Sahara [Avenue] and Charleston [Boulevard] or past Charleston [Boulevard]?

JAN: I remember her at the corner of Maryland Parkway and Sahara.

BETTY: She was on the Strip.

JAN: Oh, yeah, later.

CYNTHIA: She was on the Strip, too, like further down towards—

JAN: She was at the Aladdin at one point, also.

TINA: She was across the street from the Boulevard Mall.

CYNTHIA: But she was in Henderson, [Nevada] too.

BETTY: I don't remember her being across the street from the Boulevard Mall.

TINA: We shopped there.

BETTY: Suzie Cream Cheese had the in clothes.

TINA: Very disco.

BETTY: You would say, yes, the disco. You would maybe say the club clothes now.

TINA: Yes, but disco-disco.

BETTY: She had love beads. She had big bell-bottom pants.

CYNTHIA: And very short-short shorts.

BETTY: And short, short skirts. You bet.

TINA: And high boots.

BETTY: If you were going to go to the Pussy Cat (first rock and roll club), you would be going to Suzie Cream Cheese to get your outfit.

CYNTHIA: Now, where was the Pussy Cat?

BETTY: The Pussy Cat A Go-Go?

JAN: On the Strip.

BETTY: Right on the Strip. You went there to dance.

CYNTHIA: Where was it?

TINA: She doesn't know.

BETTY: Oh, I'm sorry.

TINA: It was on Las Vegas Boulevard and—

BETTY: Twain? [The Pussy Cat A Go-Go was located at 3255 South Las Vegas Boulevard between 1964-1971].

TINA: Twain [Avenue] or DI [Desert Inn Road], like right in that area. The first hottest night spot for disco dancing. I'd get off work at two in the morning, head over there.

JAN: You couldn't talk to anybody because it was so loud. The music was so loud. But you

danced all the night. You never talked to anybody.

TINA: You'd leave when it was daybreak.

Did you dance alone or did you have to wait until a man asked?

JAN: No. It seems like we were always asked. I don't think there was any question as to

whether you were going to dance. If you went, you would dance.

CYNTHIA: Did you dance like two girls together?

JAN: Not that I remember.

TINA: No, I don't think so. I don't believe so.

CYNTHIA: And when was this, what years, like around?

TINA: Oh, 1969, 1970. [The club opened in 1964 and closed in 1971]

JAN: Yeah, 1970, 1968, 1969, yes.

So Cynthia, you're getting ready to do something about clothing. Do you want to ask more questions about where they shopped?

CYNTHIA: Well, your favorite places to shop. Do you remember Nina Clark? Nina Clark had

an article in the paper where she would talk about the latest fashions. She was downtown.

TINA: Her Highness was never a favorite of mine. I know you loved it.

BETTY: Not for years and years later.

CYNTHIA: Gayla liked Her Highness.

BETTY: I did, too, but not when there was disco around, not then.

JAN: Well, they're mentioning all the really upscale places that have great clothes.

CYNTHIA: These were on Fremont Street.

JAN: But the regular people would shop on Fremont Street. There was Sears and Penney's and

Ronzone's and Chic Hecht's had two little stores, but they had fashion.

BETTY: Wasn't there a Harris and Frank's there, too?

JAN: Oh, Harris and Frank was a great men's store. They carried nice stuff.

CYNTHIA: Silverwood's, do you remember Silverwood's?

TINA: Pinch Dotty.

JAN: Pinch Dotty? Oh, no pinch.

TINA: So yes, it was fun in those early days. We would have different pubs that we would go to. The Fog Cutter was one of them.

JAN: Oh, yeah.

BETTY: Starboard Tack.

TINA: Starboard Tack. But Copa Lounge was the best. The Copa Lounge was on Las Vegas

Boulevard and Convention Center, on the corner of Convention Center and Las Vegas

Boulevard.

BETTY: Tina and I used to go there.

JAN: Everybody went there.

BETTY: We went there for dinner. We went there for drinks. Let me tell you something about

Tina.

TINA: Al Arkanian owned that. All right. Al Arkanian. Remember his name?

JAN: Yeah.

TINA: He was the owner. He'd fix Caesars salad right there at the table and was very

good-looking and very flirty and very cute, which, of course, brought us all there all the more.

BETTY: Great chicken Angelo.

TINA: Oh, the best chicken Angelo.

BETTY: Great pizzas.

TINA: The pizza was over the top.

BETTY: She'd get pizzas and shove them under her bed.

TINA: I'd bring them home after work and eat them in bed.

BETTY: Tower of Pizza.

CUYNTHIA: Oh, yeah. They had the best rolls, the best rolls.

What about the Peppermill?

BETTY: Eh, that was all right.

TINA: The Peppermill was more commercial. I almost think it was more commercial than

local.

CYNTHIA: It was more touristy.

TINA: Yes, it's been there for years and years. However, it was in more of a commercial spot.

BETTY: It was unique when they put in the fire pit.

JAN: Yes, the fire pit, that drew you.

BETTY: But you know what? I worked at—we used to go to the Plush Horse. We went to

Michon's or Chateau Vegas, which was that later. We went to the Villa D'Este.

JAN: What was the other one?

TINA: The Golden Steer.

What is Villa D'Este? Tell me about that.

BETTY: Villa D'Este, it was owned by Joe Pignatello. It was one of the nicest Italian restaurants. It was right off Paradise [Road] and Convention Center Drive. I worked there.

They had a regular cocktail waitress and she wasn't—

TINA: Well, Villa D'este, isn't that now Pierro's?

JAN: Yes.

TINA: Of course, it's now Pierro's, the Villa D'est. We went there and wrecked the place one night.

JAN: You wrecked the place?

What does that mean, Tina?

TINA: Wrecked the place?

Yes.

BETTY: You want to know the true story? You really want to know the true story?

CYNTHIA: Yes.

BETTY: Tina and I were living together at that particular time and we were broke. We wanted to go out and we wanted to have a drink, but we didn't have any money. I think we had enough money for a drink apiece or something like that. Well, nobody ever just had a drink. But what we did have, we had a little medical marijuana. [Laughing]

TINA: These weren't big smokers then.

BETTY: No, we weren't. We didn't really know how to roll a joint, right? So I said, oh, I know how they do it. They open up a magazine, they put the paper in, and then they put the pot in there, and then they roll it up.

TINA: It looked like a cigar when she was through with it.

BETTY: It looked like about this big. [Laughing] So because we didn't have a lot of money, we thought, well, we'll get a little stoned before we go and then one drink will do it, right? So we smoked this joint. Now, it was Christmastime.

TINA: It was. We didn't like the decorations that he had.

BETTY: So we went to the Villa D'este to have the drink, right? We could afford a drink, right?

So we go into the Villa D'este—

TINA: So we redecorated

BETTY: —and they had some really chintzy decorations on the front of the bar and so on.

TINA: We could have done so much better. We became very wise.

BETTY: We decided we didn't like it and we started tearing it all down.

TINA: We were going to change it around.

BETTY: We were going to fix it.

TINA: Well, we did know the bartender.

BETTY: We did know the bartender.

TINA: He was a leprechaun.

BETTY: He was all right with it. Now, at the time I was dating off and on Billy Brown. So

who comes into the bar? Billy Brown.

TINA: Oh, dear, and the fun was over.

BETTY: Right. Now, he looks at us like we are just so disgusting. And who could get more out

of line than Billy Brown?

JAN: I was just going to say off all the people on earth.

BETTY: This is kind of the pot calling the kettle black. We got very indignant.

TINA: We did, believe me.

So tell about dating. During those years where were some of the places that you would go

on a date? Would you go to a show in a casino? What would you do?

BETTY: I never really went to any—well, he used to take me to the Four Fountains. That was

one of my favorite—

CYNTHIA: The what? The where?

BETTY: The Four Fountains.

Tell me about that. Tell me what that is.

BETTY: It was on Las Vegas Boulevard. It was really close the Sands.

JAN: Before Charleston [Avenue]. Oh, was it?

BETTY: No, it was really close to the Sands.

So what was it?

JAN: It was a gourmet restaurant.

BETTY: There was a Black Forest right next to it.

JAN: Yes, okay.

BETTY: Really close to the Sands Hotel.

TINA: I remember the Black Forest.

BETTY: And they had a great piano—the Black Forest was another restaurant. They were some

of the nicer restaurants here in Vegas if you didn't want to go to a hotel. They had a really nice

piano bar in there and it was just very quiet, very romantic.

TINA: There was no piano bar.

BETTY: There was a piano bar at the Four Fountains.

TINA: There was no piano bar like the piano bar at Caesars in the Palace Court.

JAN: Oh, yes.

CYNTHIA: Oh, and now she's just talking about the quality of the piano bar. But they had a

piano bar.

BETTY: The piano bar at the Four Fountains, the guy was great.

TINA: They had David Osborne then.

BETTY: Maybe not.

TINA: No, I don't think so. [Laughing] I fell in love. My husband [Hank Boag] and I—I fell in

love with David Osborne. This was after we were married, actually, or maybe dating; I'm not

sure. But the Palace Court had a bar. It was upstairs in Caesars, one of their restaurants upstairs,

beautiful. It had a bar and then behind the bar was a stage. There was this Steinway piano, baby

grand piano. He would sit up there like a god and play the most beautiful—I still have his—we listen to him when I do facials. I just love him. He's so good. Then the restaurant was all white glove service. It was wonderful.

BETTY: But that was a hotel.

TINA: Yes.

BETTY: But I mean outside of a hotel.

TINA: You dated outside the hotels; I dated inside them.

BETTY: Whatever.

TINA: I'm just saying. [Laughing]

BETTY: The Golden Steer, which is still here, is very old Vegas. It had great Caesars salads, made them right at the table.

TINA: Oh, and the baked potatoes. They were noted for their baked potatoes.

CYNTHIA: Because?

TINA: Because their baked potatoes were the largest you could possibly find. And today they still—that's their trademark. Remember?

JAN: Yes.

BETTY: And the Alpine Village.

JAN: Oh, Alpine Village was way cool.

CYNTHIA: Alpine Village. Oh, my god, their soup.

JAN: That was a German-style restaurant.

TINA: On Paradise [Road] and Sahara [Avenue].

BETTY: I have the recipe for that soup.

CYNTHIA: They were fantastic.

TINA: Well, The Alpine Village had this restaurant up on top, but then you'd go down to the

Rathskeller. That's what it was called. It was just like, what?

BETTY: Oompa.

JAN: It was like a German chalet; that was the design. There were model trains that went

around the room.

CYNTHIA: That's right. They had the little things on the...

TINA: Oh, yes, really cute, very cool.

CYNTHIA: They had this soup that was to die for.

JAN: Oh, my god.

BETTY: It was owned by—he was a senator or congressman?

JAN: I don't know who owned it, tell you the truth.

BETTY: It's not Stewart. Shoot, I can't remember his name. I can't remember his name.

TINA: But it was; it was so good.

JAN: Well, for the not dating crowd, there was a lot of going on in the way of like the Pussy Cat

A Go-Go, but the Flamingo also had a great room to dance. The Little Spot above the marquee at the Desert Inn. There was also like a three-piece jazz crew playing. It was a small room, but a nice little dance floor, bar, and, what, six tables? It was small, but, oh, my god, it was beautiful.

And the Desert Inn always had a lot of class.

TINA: You know what? You never went into a bar and bought a drink, ever, ever.

JAN: A girl never did.

TINA: We were treated like—because we were ladies. We were young ladies. And we were

treated that way, with respect. The bartenders took care of us.

JAN: Oh, yes.

TINA: They made sure you wanted a drink. This guy wants to buy you drink. If we didn't want

it, we never got it. And we knew a lot—

BETTY: We didn't go to bars where we weren't known to the bartender. So we knew the bartender would make sure that he wouldn't just plop a drink around us and say so-and-so just bought a drink.

TINA: But you never bought a drink.

BETTY: Because it was just an invitation to go out with him.

TINA: And go out to dinner...we'd never dream of picking up a check.

JAN: No.

TINA: That was one of the hardest thing that I had to adjust to in single life.

So even if you went out to dinner, if two of you would go out to dinner alone together—

TINA: Oh, no, no. We'd pick up our own check, of course, unless somebody paid—

Oh, I see what you mean now.

TINA: What I'm saying is that one of the hardest things for me to adjust to—I was married for

32 years. So then I went back into the dating arena and life has changed. We became liberated.

And that had its good point and not always such good.

BETTY: Bartenders don't buy a drink anymore.

JAN: No.

TINA: And neither do these fellows sitting at the bar. You buy your own drinks and pay your own tab.

CYNTHIA: The thing is like forty years has passed.

TINA: It's just different. It's not that we didn't have the money to buy our own. It's just that it

just didn't seem right. Our generation, it was different, is all.

CYNTHIA: It was a different culture, too.

TINA: Different culture.

BETTY: Oh, yes. I had a friend way back and she said if you go in a bar and you've got to buy

the first drink, you're in the wrong bar. [Laughing]

TINA: That's exactly right.

BETTY: But today it certainly isn't that way.

So during your marriage you lived in an area of town called McNeil [Estates].

TINA: Yes, I did.

Tell me a little about that area, what the houses were like, and could you describe where you lived?

TINA: I lived on the corner of Bryant[Avenue] and Cahlan [Drive], which was between Oakey

Boulevard and Charleston Boulevard. It was a very, very nice neighborhood. Today it's still a nice neighborhood. We bought that house in 1980. Kimmy, my daughter was five years old, yes, so 1980. It was a lovely neighborhood. It was I would say average to above-average homes in there.

BETTY: Above average.

CYNTHIA: Above average.

TINA: Slightly above average.

JAN: It was always a nice neighborhood.

TINA: Always a very nice neighborhood. They were one-story homes. We lived in an

adobe-type house that was on the corner. But each house was a little bit different. We had a lot

of lawn in the back and we had in front, also. We had a pool. I think we spent—gosh, I'm trying

to think. Oh, boy, 1980. I think we spent about a hundred and twenty-five on that house and we

sold it—

CYNTHIA: That was pretty significant.

TINA: Huh?

CYNTHIA: That was a pretty good price.

TINA: Yes, yes, about a hundred and twenty-five. And I think we sold it for two something whenever we finally sold it. We built two houses in town, as well, in Section 11, which is up

Sahara [Avenue] around Torrey Pines [Drive] and Jones [Boulevard], Section 11. At that time it was a dirt road. Rainbow [Boulevard] was not even—Rainbow [Boulevard] was there, but they knew we wouldn't get water up that far. [Laughing] Yes, that was quite an adventure, too.

CYNTHIA: If it were a big rain, you'd go to like Jones [Boulevard], Charleston [Boulevard] and

Jones [Boulevard] and it would all flood and you'd kind of go out there.

TINA: Right.

JAN: It was the Charleston [Boulevard] underpass and the Bonanza [Road] underpass.

CYNTHIA: Oh, the Charleston [Boulevard] underpass, forget it. You would drown in there.

JAN: It's where you would find cars floating after a rain.

CYNTHIA: Yes, the floods.

JAN: Because the water—they [streets] dipped way down. Somebody who maybe had too much to drink or had never driven that road before, I don't know—

CYNTHIA: Or never been here, yes.

JAN: But they tried to drive through this. So the water is down here and you go and there's a car

bobbing along.

TINA: That would happen a lot. Caesars Palace [Hotel and Casino] had—remember the flood in Caesars?

JAN: Yes, and that was in the late 1970s.

CYNTHIA: Yes. And nobody would leave. They didn't leave the MGM when the fire started, either. They didn't want to leave.

JAN: No. That's right.

TINA: I was having my hair done that day.

So Bally's?

CYNTHIA: Bally's now, but it was the MGM at the time, right.

BETTY: It was the MGM when the fire started.

CYNTHIA: 1981.

Where Bally's is located now?

CYNTHIA: Yes, where Bally's is now, correct.

TINA: Across the street was the Maxim Hotel and I would get my hair done there. I was getting my hair [done] when that fire started.

CYNTHIA: I remember I had just started working at the airport and I remember driving because

I lived on Vegas Drive and Jones and driving on the freeway and I saw the smoke and I thought it was the airport. I thought, oh, my god.

TINA: I know, it was horrible.

CYNTHIA: People were out in the terminal in their pajamas.

TINA: I know a fellow; he was a security guard. And he had gotten away with several stacks of chips that had melted together. And Hank has a set of these, yes, he gave to Hank. It was

horrible. But they were tokens, nothing you could do with them. But it was just unbelievable.

JAN: Yeah, that was extremely sad. Frightening.

So getting back to McNeil, describe to me—and you can talk about your neighborhoods, as well, describe community to me. How did the people in the neighborhood—

TINA: We had community. We had a block party every year and it was wonderful. We actually would get the streets closed off and our children would get together right in front of my house and Linda's house. My friend Linda and I lived directly across the street from each other.

We would have Fourth of July. We would close the block off and have fireworks that you know hit the roofs. They weren't penny ones. But it was very nice. We knew our neighbors and they were lovely people. Now, Steve Wynn lived just a short ways from us. He was in Scotch 80s. It was doctors, anesthesiologists, some lawyers, casino people like my husband was, and it was just a really nice area to live in. Schools were good. There were several robberies in that area because the houses were nicer, but not so nice that a lot of them didn't have alarm systems back then. Bigger houses did; Scotch 80s did. They were all protected and gated and all of this.

Well, ours weren't so much so. It was easier to break into them and they figured they could get some stuff. And they did, many times.

BETTY: Where were the Scotch 80s?

TINA: Scotch 80s is on the other side of Rancho [Drive].

BETTY: See, I was thinking the Scotch 80s was down farther like on 16th Street.

TINA: Oh, no, no, no.

BETTY: Okay. So the mayor still lives in the Scotch 80s.

Exactly.

CYNTHIA: Bannies Lane, Edgewood [Avenue].

BETTY: All right. Evergreen [Avenue]. Evergreen [Avenue], that street?

CYNTHIA: Edgewood [Avenue].

BETTY: Edgewood [Avenue].

TINA: [George] Duckworth lived in the Scotch 80s, which was a casino mogul and he was a casino boss (George Duckworth invested at different times in the Sands, Riviera, Royal Nevada and the Dunes).

CYNTHIA: Who?

TINA: [George] Duckworth. His name was [George] Duckworth.

CYNTHIA: Oh, Tony Torcasio lived in the Scotch 80s.

BETTY: George Duckworth.

TINA: Yeah, George Duckworth from the Dunes, big boss.

JAN: Who was Q.P. Rich's step-son from the Dunes.

TINA: Oh, was he? Ah, okay.

BETTY: My father-in-law lived right there on Alta [Drive] and Campbell [Drive].

TINA: Oh, he did? My goodness, well, he was like a neighbor. He was like Margie's.

BETTY: They were five houses west of Our Lady [of Las Vegas Catholic Church].

TINA: Okay, all right.

BETTY: He worked at the Dunes. He was very close to Sid Wyman.

TINA: Who? Tom Brummett?

BETTY: His father, Harvey Brummett. They used to call him “The Rhino.”

TINA: He looked like a rhino.

BETTY: He was from Toledo, Ohio. Sid Wyman would use him [Harvey Brummett, hotel

executive] to go and collect some bad debts. They called him “The Rhino.”

CYNTHIA: Okay, enough said. [Laughing]

BETTY: He was with Sid Wyman the day he died. When I went to that luncheon you invited me to and what's his face was there—

CYNTHIA: The media group, when Morris Shenker’s son spoke.

BETTY: Morris Shenker (Morris Shenker was an American lawyer who represented underworld figures in the Kefauver hearings during the early 1950s, allegedly controlled the 700 million

Teamster’s Pension Fund and its investments in Las Vegas, and once part owner of the Dunes).

Yes, yes.

BETTY: And I sat there listening to his son. And I remember my ex-husband and father-in-law saying—they weren't a big fan of Morris Shenker.

JAN: Now, I heard Morris Shenker took everything Wyman had when he died.

CYNTHIA: Really?

JAN: That's what I heard. That he somehow took it all.

So Tina, you would be happy to know that in McNeil [Estates] they still have the street parties for the kids.

TINA: Do they? I'm so glad to hear that.

They still have that community that you described.

TINA: Now, you know a congress—not a congress—but she's in town here. Chris what's her name? Chris...

CYNTHIA: Chris Giunchigliani, [Clark County Commissioner]?

TINA: Yes, she was a neighbor of ours. I met Chris, oh, about two years ago. She was running for mayor, of course. Met her. And I didn't think for a million years she'd remember me. She said, “Tina, how are you?” She remembered the house I lived in. That's how—you talk about a

lady that really is involved with community. She impressed the socks off with. You were with

me. Yes, that's right. Just amazed by her. But yes, there was community there. I'm so glad to

hear it still exists. Such a good little neighborhood.

Exactly.

CYNTHIA: Jan, where did you live?

JAN: Where did I live? Gosh, I lived all over town. I think the most fun place I lived was on a

street right behind Twin Lakes Park.[Twin Lakes Park is now called Lorenzi Park.]

TINA: I lived there, too.

JAN: Yes, I was in high school then. It was really a beautiful ranch-style house, but it was right

across the street. They had an Olympic-size pool there and it was pretty much open to the public. In the early days there was—it looked like a movie set. There was a patio that came out to the pool and behind it was an open like a “shack on the beach” bar. Right in the middle of the bar a tree came up through the middle and went out through the roof. It was so cool. I wanted to be 21 years old so I can go in there. And they tore it down before I became 21. But they had two ponds. You could rent a boat and go wander the lake. They rented horses. It was a great spot. I guess it was originally a dude ranch for divorcees. They'd come to Las Vegas and want to get their six weeks in. So they'd stay there.

TINA: Yes, that was a big thing.

JAN: That was one of the fun houses.

So they just renovated the park and reopened it.

JAN: They changed it a lot. There's no big pool. There's a lot of nice—there's tennis courts and things going on over there that are great, but kind of ruined the old park. It had a lot of old trees and beautiful—

TINA: Tennis courts, great tennis courts. I play tennis there a lot.

JAN: Yes. And they have fishing at the lake now and that's kind of cute.

TINA: Yes, that's fun.

CYNTHIA: After we were married where did you live?

JAN: We lived in Heritage Square down near Mohave Street and Karen [Avenue]. That was a

great neighborhood. That was really nice. It was a condominium, but there was a lot of grass.

BETTY: Heritage Square was wonderful.

JAN: Yes. And the rooms were big and light and lovely. I loved that house.

BETTY: I thought Heritage Square was great.

JAN: There was an enclosed patio with a sunroof and all this. It was just great.

Cynthia, where did you live when you were working at the airport [McCarron Airport]?

CYNTHIA: First we lived on Vegas Drive and Jones [Boulevard] in Chisholm Homes.

Actually, that was our first house the year after we came here. It wasn't the house I wanted. But

that's when the mortgage interest rates went up to 15 percent. So we stayed there for a while.

JAN: I remember.

CYNTHIA: Then we ended up moving to Spring Valley in the 80s. That's where we've been

ever since. I really like the area because it's close to everything. It still has the bigger lots.

We're pretty much 20 minutes from everywhere.

Tell me about working at the airport [McCarron Airport] and some of the programs you

worked with and how that all came together to be connected with the airport.

CYNTHIA: When I first started working at the airport, I was hired for the McCarran 2000

expansion. We were in the construction and there were three people—the director, the

administrative assistance, who is (Menyon Fostic) who actually recommended my hire, and then

I was the secretary. Then I kind of worked my way up and I ended up taking care of the—I was

in the business office and I did the concession lease, some of the airport concession leases, but I

also oversaw the Disadvantaged Minority Business program. I did that for about 15 years.

Anytime you got federal money, which most airports did, it was kind of part of the grant

assurances that you had to have a minority business program. It was something that I just really

loved doing.

So many people we'd have to—you'd have to do a certification then you'd have to see where did your money come from? So many people were old Las Vegas people, we'd say, well,

where did you get the capital to start the business? And so many would go, well, we have this

safety deposit box. [Laughing] So it was like really difficult to document where the money

came from. But having been in Las Vegas for a long time, I understood what it meant and we

had a consultant who worked with us who were kind of like taking it back. It's like, no, no, you

don't understand, a lot of people in this town have safety deposit boxes.

But we're helping minorities and women own businesses into the airport. A lot of people

did really well and I was really happy to be a part of that and kind of help them.

JAN: I found when I was a dealer—I dealt twenty-one—that there were two kinds of dealers.

One wore everything they earned. They had gold out the kazoo and dressed to the nines. And the others had a safety deposit box. There were two ways to do it. You either snorted and wore your fortune, or you stashed it so you had a future.

So you never thought about depositing it in a regular bank account?

JAN: No.

BETTY: Well, you had to hide everything from the IRS.

I see. I see.

BETTY: You paid cash for everything.

JAN: Everything, yes.

BETTY: If a dealer went out and charged something and if he told anybody, they were all mad

at him for doing it.

CYNTHIA: They did take care of their tokes. My husband worked at The Tropicana. He was a

dealer and the IRS came in and audited all of the receipts. I used to tell him all the time you

guys should get together and decide on an amount. But they never did that.

BETTY: You can't get ten dealers together to agree on anything.

CYNTHIA: No. And some dealers would declare nothing and some dealers would declare

everything. So the IRS came in and they said this is the number and this is what you owe. We

ended up owing $5,000. Some dealers owed more. I worked with some people at the airport,

some women whose husbands were dealers, and they owed like ten and 20. They were into the

IRS for big, big money.

BETTY: Mine was in for well over a hundred.

JAN: Whoa.

CYNTHIA: Yes, yes. I mean we were fortunate. And I said, get on the floor [management].

And he did.

You said what?

CYNTHIA: I told him go on the floor.

BETTY: Like a floor job.

Management.

JAN: Management, yes.

CYNTHIA: Floor man. And that 's what he did. Then it's more salary than if you did get a

piece of the tokes.

TINA: But it was cash. It was under the table.

CYNTHIA: But when the IRS—it was all corporate, when the corporations came in. When the

IRS came in, it was like forget it.

JAN: My husband and I bought a small bar. It had an unrestricted gaming license. So we had

an in-depth review.

CYNTHIA: Which means? Unrestricted means?

JAN: Means you could run any games, anything.

TINA: It was a grandfather license, it's called.

So table games, as well as the slot machines?

CYNTHIA: You could do anything if you want to.

JAN: You could. We only ran slots. But we had the gaming commission in everything. The guy went through our checkbook check by check. And he looked and he said, “I never see a

check written for groceries or gas or anything.” And we went, “no.” Because we always paid cash. We were dealers. We paid cash. You never wrote a check for anything. You never went to a grocery store and didn't use cash. That would be dumb.

CYNTHIA: We had these little envelopes. My husband would bring the tokes and we had these little—rent, groceries, this, whatever.

JAN: Exactly. Then there was the play envelope. Jack [Ravetti, Jack D. ( husband)] and bar owner)] had a system that, well, this is for the bills and that's covered, and then there's an envelope that's just for fooling around, if we go on vacation or whatnot, there's an envelope for his gaming, there is an envelope for—I mean, I don't know. It was all broken up into different areas. You just could do anything, but it was all set out so you didn't get ahead of yourself; you

just worked off the money you had.

CYNTHIA: Then, too, like at Christmastime in December, it was dead here at the time. It's not like now where NFR [National Finals Rodeo]. You could shoot a cannon down the Strip[Las

Vegas Boulevard]. He'd be lucky if he came home with $20 in tokes because it was really the tokes. It wasn't the paycheck. It wasn't the salary. It was the tokes.

JAN: Oh, no. Twenty-eight dollars a day wasn't going to get you much.

CYNTHIA: Yes, the salary was like minimum, it was like minimum wage. It was all on the tokes. So if there was no action...so you kind of had to plan for that.

So Tina, would you please tell me about the Bingo Palace?

TINA: Oh, the Bingo Palace. Well, Frank Fertitta owned the Bingo Palace. You don't want me to repeat myself again, do you, from the earlier?

No. You were married to him and...

TINA: No. I was married at the time and became a dealer there. Actually, I was a dealer prior to that. We had built a house in Section 11. My husband [Boag, Hank (ex-husband)] and I were separated. My children were very, very little. And I was living in a trailer while we were building our house on the property because lots of us did that at that time. I had to do something.

So I had some friends in the casino business. Mike Von Vigglio was a Steubenville fellow.

Mike Von Vigglio was a host at the Desert Inn, a very well-known man in Las Vegas, by the way. Story about him...he and three other fellows from Steubenville, [Ohio], bought Dean

Martin his first suit for his first audition. And he used to laugh and talk about that. His place had pictures of all these stars all over, signed, because he was wonderful.

But anyway, I went down to the Golden Nugget. Mike [Von Vigglio] got me a job at the

Golden Nugget [Hotel and Casino] dealing, a live game, just a dealer behind standing behind.

That's how I learned how to deal. I know. So I didn't have any instruction of any kind other than

in my trailer a friend of mine had a layout and I dealt to the kids, around an ironing board.

[Laughing]

CYNTHIA: Did you deal from a shoe or did you pitch?

TINA: Oh, no, I'd pitch. Then we had a shoe, too. I did the shoe, as well. So it was fun. I did,

I learned how to deal and I dealt down there. Before long I didn't have anyone behind me and it

was good.

CYNTHIA: How long did you deal?

TINA: There about a year. Then, of course, my husband came back and I quit and that was the

end of that until the Bingo Palace and then I dealt again.

Earlier when we had the camera off, you mentioned how the Bingo Palace expanded.

TINA: It did. It was wonderful. The way Frank Fertitta built the Bingo Palace and Palace

Station [Hotel and Casino], also—different now—but when he had it, it was a small, little place.

As they grew, they'd expand a little bit more. Do you remember, Jan?

JAN: Yes.

TINA: Then they'd fill that to capacity and they'd go a little further. Then they built the tower. I mean they built it up in such—he never overextended himself at that hotel.

Wonderful.

TINA: And that was his kids' example.

JAN: That's a smart move, yes.

TINA: He was incredibly smart, good man, very well loved in the community. He went to the church that I went to, which was—I don't know if you want to say this.

CYNTHIA: Our Lady [of Las Vegas Catholic Church].

TINA: And some of his kids today are friends with my children, daughters. Of course, they're in

town. They're incredible.

So ladies, this is wonderful. I want to know if anyone has one more story, a memory that

you have that you—

CYNTHIA: Just talk about the Plush Horse a little bit.

JAN: Oh, okay. The Plush Horse came to be in about 1964. It opened. It had a gourmet

restaurant with it originally, but they were ripped off entirely by the chefs. So they had to

readjust. But it was cozy.

CYNTHIA: Where was it?

JAN: It was on Sahara [Avenue] about three blocks off of the Strip [Las Vegas Boulevard]. It

wasn't very far.

CYNTHIA: East, west?

BETTY: East of the Strip [Las Vegas Boulevard].

JAN: You could walk in there at four o'clock in the afternoon and you would find businessmen,

dealers, other bartenders, car dealership—you'd find somebody from every walk of life. It was

fascinating. And if you got there at five thirty, you wouldn't get a seat until eight o'clock. It was

packed. It was just a great place. I had more long-time friends come out of that place.

BETTY: I was a cocktail waitress there.

TINA: And I met you there.

BETTY: I met Tina there. I worked with her husband [Boag, Hank] and father [Hanafi,

Magdoub (Luxor Gali-Gali)].

TINA: Oh, he was one of my dearest friends.

CYNTHIA: Well, Tina would walk in with a date and he would shake his head yes or no.

Who would shake his head?

JAN: My husband [Boag, Hank]. He wasn't my husband at the time.

TINA: He wasn't her husband at the time. Like we said, the bartender—Junior, Jack [Ravetti].

JAN: Jack Ravetti.

TINA: I called him Junior. I would walk in with someone and I'd just look at him and he'd go

[demonstrating]. [Laughing]

BETTY: He always had an opinion.

TINA: Whether you wanted it or not.

BETTY: No matter what it was, he had an opinion about it.

TINA: Then I met Hank [Boag], which happened to be a buddy of his. I sat there and he went

[demonstrating].

BETTY: I introduced her to him.

So that was a good relationship?

TINA: For 32 years.

BETTY: You know what? I love her ex-husband. I do. There was a group of about five or six

other guys that were all dealers at the Sahara Hotel [and Casino] and they all came in after work

every single night without fail.

TINA: Every night.

BETTY: And sit there all night long and just get drunk off their butts and stupid. Everybody

had a good time. The owner of the place—or the landlord of the place used to come. He was a

prominent architect here in town. He would come down.

JAN: Yeah, Jerry Moffet.

BETTY: He would come down and drink and so on. Good Mormon man. Good Mormon

family, married man.

TINA: He was, he was, he was.

BETTY: When it was too bad, Tina and I would take him home and drop him off, right?

Another dear friend of ours, Hans got in a bad accident and we picked him up. One time Hans

was so drunk he fell asleep. He ordered chipped beef on toast and he passed out in the middle of

it. Picked him up so he didn't drown in it. Got in an accident. He was all bandaged up.

TINA: He couldn't go home because he was living with his parents. I can't let them see me like

this. He was a grown man.

BETTY: So we go see the “Love Story.” [Laughing]

TINA: We are going to a movie. Now, you can come with us or...I'll go with you. Here he had this tourniquet around his arm. Didn't wash his shirt.

JAN: The nicest guy. Just the nicest man.

BETTY: And you know what? We're all still friends.

TINA: We're all friends, yes. This gang really stuck together throughout all these years.

Wow. So today do we have that same kind of atmosphere someplace here in the city that you've just described at the Plush Horse?

TINA: No.

Where is that place today?

JAN: Sahara [Avenue] and Sixth [Street]. Oh, where is somewhere like it?

TINA: Or something similar today with that atmosphere.

Where is today's Plush Horse?

JAN: I'm sure they're there for the younger crowd.

CYNTHIA: But this is a different generation.

TINA: It's such a different generation. The clubs are different.

BETTY: You know what? They all grew up.

CYNTHIA: They grew up together.

BETTY: The town is not the same.

TINA: Not at all. It's progressed.

BETTY: We were here when the mob was here. We were here when corporate took over. But the difference is that corporate kept on going and going and going until today. So anybody that's in that situation today in the casinos, they don't have a clue what it was like before.

JAN: It's the difference between a small town and a big town now.

BETTY: We used to follow bartenders around. If you loved a bartender, you would follow that bartender. If that bartender—I'll tell you what. I worked at the Plush Horse. My first job I worked at the Flame Restaurant, which was another very famous restaurant.

TINA: That was another one.

BETTY: Another very famous restaurant right off the Strip [Las Vegas Boulevard]. Every

Sunday they had free spaghetti and meatballs and garlic bread and salad. One Sunday they would have it for all the entertainers on the Strip [Las Vegas Boulevard]. Another Sunday they would have it for all the bartenders and all the cocktail waitresses on the Strip. Yes, they did it every single Sunday. But I worked there. I worked at the Villa D'este. I filled in at the Villa

D'este. I filled in there because she broke her ankle. But I worked at the Plush Horse and so on.

But when I left the Plush Horse, I went to work at another very popular restaurant, which was called The Village Pub. Frank Ellis owned The Village Pub. It was behind Bally's. It was not what it is today. It was a very small bar and restaurant. It's not what it is today. I worked there.

I said you guys got to come in and make me look good. You know what? All the guys from the

Plush Horse, they would come in. They would sit at the bar. I was a cocktail waitress. I didn't wait on them. But they'd just throw money on my tray and they'd throw money to the bartender.

If they ate something, they made me look good.

Wow.

TINA: Felicia Atkins, that's a name you haven't thought of in years, right?

BETTY: Oh, yes, wow.

TINA: Felicia Atkins was a Copa Girl.

BETTY: Oh, I thought she worked at the Trop.

TINA: I'm sorry. She did. She was not a Copa Girl, [Sands Hotel and Casino]. She was a

showgirl at the Trop.

CYNTHIA: In the Folies?

TINA: Yes. One New Year's Eve I sat there with her and we both cried in each other's beer, I

guess, or whatever we were drinking, Crown Royal and waters. Yeah, it was all night long. You

were working somewhere. I was in there with her all night, Felicia Atkins. I remember that

name. A beautiful girl, dark, beautiful hair.

Why were you crying?

BETTY: They were alone and unhappy.

CYNTHIA: Didn't have a date for New Year's, boo-hoo.

TINA: No. I left my date, actually. That was my first clue I should never have married Hank

[Boag]. [Laughing] But, no. I'll tell you a really funny story that happened today. Then we can

close it up if you want to.

Okay.

TINA: I have another very good girlfriend and her name is Alice Codius. We're talking today

and I'm telling Alice [Codius]—because I had a very interesting story happen to me regarding

my brother who passed away two years ago. So I'm telling her my intuition just seems to be

kicking in so much more these days. I find that I just feel things and they occur. It happens

around me. She says to me, Tina, that's because the veil is thinning. I said, oh, great, have you

seen my X-rays? [Laughing] The veil is thinning?

CYNTHIA: What does that mean?

TINA: It means I don't think she thinks I have a lot of time. [Laughing] I got so tickled.

CYNTHIA: Oh, my god.

TINA: From nowhere. Oh, my god. The veil is thinning. Okay.

CYNTHIA: Did you hang up on her?

[All laughing]

Oh, wow.

BETTY: But you know what? I don't know anybody now whether they're my age or younger, especially younger, that they go to a certain bar, that they know the bartender by name, that maybe they would go and have a drink with a bartender or something like that.

TINA: Well, Betty should know.

BETTY: I don't think those relationships even exist.

TINA: Betty's daughter is in charge of all of the nightlife at the Mandalay Bay [Hotel and

Casino]. So there are a lot of hot clubs at the Mandalay Bay.

CYNTHIA: That's more tourist than local, isn't it?

TINA: Not really.

JAN: I don't think so.

BETTY: I don't think she—I'm not saying that she doesn't because I don't know. I know she

knows the chef at the sushi restaurant.

TINA: What does that have to do with people coming to the same bar?

BETTY: It doesn't have anything to do. But what I'm saying is I doubt very much that she even

knows who any of the bartenders are.

TINA: Oh, right. Yes.

BETTY: I don't think she does.

TINA: It's not the same type of—

BETTY: It's not the same. Way back then you could build a relationship with a bartender in a restaurant. Well, like I said, we would go only to places where we knew the bartenders and we knew that they would protect us. We knew that. But I don't think the bartenders today are really

even quite like that. As I said, you can go in a bar today, you could sit there all night long and

buy drinks. They would not buy you a drink. I have even gone—I've had enough to drink and said, “You can't buy me a drink?” I'm in here. What is it with you? You can't buy a drink anymore?

TINA: They're going to think we're alcoholics with this conversation. I can't believe it.

CYNTHIA: No, no, no. But you know what? It was because it was the same way in Buffalo,

[New York] too with the bars that we used to go and we knew—

BETTY: Even in the deli. How many times have we been into the Sienna Deli? I mean come on? How many times?

TINA: They don't even know us.

BETTY: They act like they don't even know us. And buy us a drink? Are you kidding? They wouldn't even do that.

So are they allowed today?

BETTY: I never asked if they were allowed. But you know what? I'll tell you what. If I were a

bartender, and if I wanted to get—

TINA: And if you were an owner of a bar—

CYNTHIA: Or just a bartender.

BETTY: And I don't know what the rules are. But I know good and well if I was a bartender, I would have no problem giving a good customer a drink now and then. How many times did we tip the bartender 20, 30, 40 bucks?

TINA: Of course, sure.

BETTY: All the time. Because you know what? Unless they're a union bartender, they're not making much money, either. They're working for the tips, too. If you want to build a following, aren't you going to be nice and aren't you going to give them a drink?

TINA: And of course, you have to think about—again, like I say, the owner should—a good bartender would be told you could give so much. If it's a good customer and they come in, you should be—

JAN: No, we did. We did.

BETTY: Oh, come on?

JAN: That's what we did.

CYNTHIA: They just rip off the owners, anyway. Come on. They know how to ring up—they can do that.

TINA: If you give them permission, they end up doing less.

JAN: Depends on the person, yes. But yes, we had that setup. People who were gaming drank for free.

TINA: Of course, they do that today.

JAN: But if you have a steady customer, you've got to buy them a drink. Usually I would come out of the office and buy a drink, but I know my bartenders bought drinks in between.

CYNTHIA: Goodwill.

JAN: Yes.

BETTY: Hey, and if you want a nice looking lady to sit at the bar, too, aren't you going to buy her a drink? But isn't she going to attract somebody? Sure, she is. You never know. You never know.

So did they ever have women in the casino to attract gamblers?

TINA: Oh, of course. They were called shills [encourages gamblers].

BETTY: Oh, of course, they had shills.

Tell me about them. How would that work?

BETTY: They had shills on the baccarat tables all the time.

CYNTHIA: They would just sit there and play.

TINA: Well, they would play. But not only that, they'd win a lot.

BETTY: They were dressed attractive.

CYNTHIA: They played with the house money.

TINA: They did, they played with the house money.

BETTY: And they played with the house money. And they would just sit there and share the table.

TINA: Rocco's wife was.

CYNTHIA: Look at Aerial Vincent.

JAN: But especially in baccarat because you want to have a game going. On twenty-one one a person can sit down and have a game. But on baccarat you need a crowd. So they have several

well dressed, really dressed to the nines come in and sit at the table. When somebody sits down,

they'd fill out the game. If more players came, they would step back. But yes, they did. But not generally in the rest of the place. I think shills were in poker room and then baccarat and that was about it.

TINA: And on twenty-one.

JAN: I don't think so.

BETTY: I don't think so because you could have an empty—you could have one person play

twenty-one.

CYNTHIA: Maybe in the high stakes table, but not too much in the twenty-one. Mostly baccarat.

BETTY: Mostly baccarat they had them.

JAN: And poker.

BETTY: And poker.

Wonderful. This is amazing.

TINA: It was fun.

I appreciate this so very much.

TINA: Thank you.

JAN: It was fun. Yes, thank you.

TINA: You're a wonderful listener. [Laughing]

CYNTHIA: Now you have to come for part two. [Laughing]

[End of recorded interview

Campion Academy, 7 Index Cenname, Ann (aunt), 12 Cenname, Louis J. (father), 4, 12 Cenname, Mona (mother), 4 Charleston Avenue, 40 Charleston Boulevard, 33, 44, 45 A Charleston Boulevard underpass, 45 Chic Hecht's (dress shop), 35 Chicken Ranch (brothel), 26 Alpine Village (Bavarian restaurant), 41, 42 Chisholm Homes, 51 Alpine Village, Rathskeller, 41, 42 Cicero, Philip (husband), 4, 5, 26 Alta Drive, 48 Codius, Alice, 61, 62 Arkanian, Al, 36 comp (give away something free), 21, 23 Atkins, Felicia (showgirl), 61 Convention Center (Drive), 36, 37 Copa Girl (Sands Hotel and Casino), 14, 61 B Copa Lounge (food, dancing, music, bar), 36 Copa Room, Sands Hotel, 14

Czechoslovakia, 3 baccarat games, 16, 17 Bally's Hotel and Casino, 46, 60 Bank of America, 3 D Bannies Lane, (Scotch 80s), 47 Davis, Sammy, Jr. (singer), 14 Barr, Bill and Lesley, 5 dealer (twenty-one usually), 53 bell captains, 25 Desert Inn Hotel and Casino, 33, 42, 55 bellmen, 23, 24, 25 Desert Inn Road (DI), 34 Bethlehem Steel, Lackawanna, New York, 1, 2 Diamonds (department store), 32, 33 Beverly Hills, California, 32 Dillard's (department store), 32 Bingo Palace, 19, 55, 56 Disadvantaged Minority Business program, 52 Bingo Palace expansion, 56 Doumani Brothers, Ronald and Fred, 13 Black Forest (restaurant and piano bar), 40 Duckworth, George (hotel investor), 48 Boag, Hank (husband), 18, 30, 40, 46, 55. 57, 58, 61 Dunes Hotel and Casino, 17, 19, 48 Bonanza Road underpass, 45 Bonnie Springs, 25 Boulevard Mall, 12, 33 E Brenau Academy, 7 Edgewood Avenue (Scotch 80s), 47, 48 Brown, Billy, 39 Egypt, Port Said, 2 Brummett, Harvey ("The Rhino"), 48 El Rancho Hotel and Casino, 6 Brummett, Thomas J., 17, 18, 48 Ellis, Frank, 60 Bryant Avenue, 44 Entratter, Jack, 6, 13, 14 Buffalo, New York, 1. 4, 5, 6, 63 Evergreen Avenue (Scotch 80s), 48 Bunny Ranch (brothel), 25 F C "Fabulous Las Vegas," (book), 10 Fertita, Frank, Sr. and family, 18 Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino, 17, 41, 46 Fertitta, Frank, 55, 56 Cahlan Drive, 44 Fischbacher, Siegfried, 2, 3 California, Westwood, 3 Flame Restaurant, 60 Campbell Drive, 48 Flamingo Hotel and Casino, 42

floor (management), 53 L Folies (show at Tropicana Hotel and Casino), 61 Fort Pitt Packaging Company, 4 Lands' Originals (shop), 32 Fostic, Menyon, 51 Las Vegas Boulevard (The Strip), 33, 34, 36, 40 Four Fountains (restaurant and piano bar), 39, 40 Las Vegas High School, 12 France, Paris, 2 line pass (would not stand in line), 23 Fremont Street, 32, 35 Los Angels (L. A.), California, 22 Frontier Hotel and Casino, 12, 16 Loveland, Colorado, 7 "Love Story" (movie), 59 G M Gainesville, Georgia, 7 Gaughan, John Davis (Jackie), 13 Mafia, 21 Giunchigliani, Chris (Clark Co. Commissioner), 49 Maheu, Robert (1917-2008), 14 Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino, 30, 55 Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, 62 Golden Steer (restaurant), 37, 41 marijuana, 38 Gottlieb, Jake, 19 Mark Wilson’s ‘Magic World of Allakazam’, 8 grandfather license (the license was attained before the Martin, Dean (singer and actor), 55 law went into effect), 54 Maryland Parkway, 33 Greenland, 4 Mason, Jackie (comedian), 9 Mature, Victor (actor), 6 H Maxim Hotel, 46 McCarron Airport, 51 Hacienda Hotel and Casino, 12 McNeil Estates, 44, 49 "Hallelujah Hollywood", 3 MGM Hotel and Casino, 46 Hanafi, Magdoub (Luxor Gali-Gali) (father),2, 3, 6. 57 Michon's (restaurant), 37 Harris and Frank's (men's store), 36 "Mississippi of the West," 29 Henderson, Nevada, 33 Moffet, Jerry (architect), 58 Her Highness (dress shop), 35 Mohave Street, 51 Heritage Square, 51 high rollers, 25 N Hookers (prostitutes), 24 Horn, Roy, 2, 3 Naked City (area behind the Stratosphere), 6 House of Magic, 2 Nevada, Reno, 3 Houssels, John Kell, 13 New Frontier Hotel and Casino, 12, 15 Huber, Gerald E., The Green Felt Jungle, 21 New Jersey, Atlantic City, 30 Hughes, Howard, 14, 15, 16, 26 New York, New York City, 2, 7 NFR (National Finals Rodeo), 55 I Nina Clark (dress shop), 35 O I. Magnum's (department store), 32, 33 integration, 29 Oakey Boulevard, 44 IRS (Internal Revenue Service), 17, 52, 53, 54 Ohio, Steubenville, 22 Old Frontier Hotel and Casino, 12 J Osborne, David (musician), 40, 41 Our Lady of Las Vegas Catholic Church, 48, 56 Jones Boulevard, 45, 46, 51 P K Pahrump, Nevada, 25 Karen Avenue, 51 Palace Court, Caesars Palace, 40, 41 68

Palace Station Hotel and Casino, 56 Spring Mountain Road, 30 Paradise Palms, 12 Spring Valley, 51 Paradise Road, 37, 42 Starboard Tack (restaurant and bar), 36 Parlack, Steve (tax preparer), 26 Stardust Hotel and Casino, 27, 32 Penneys (department store), 35 Steubenville, Ohio, 55 Pennsylvania, Erie, 4 stiffed (did not tip), 26 Pennsylvania, Meadville, 4 Stupak, Robert (Bob), 6 Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, 4 Sunrise Hospital, 22 Peppermill (restaurant and bar), 37 Suzie Cream Cheese (disco clothes), 32, 33, 34 Pierro's (Italian restaurant), 37 Pignatello, Joe, 37 T Plush Horse (restaurant and bar), 37, 57, 59, 60, 61 Prell, Milton, 3, 7, 13, 31 Taibbi, Joseph (father), 1 Pussy Cat A Go-Go (rock and roll bar),34. 42 terminal (McCarron Airport), 46 The Fog Cutter (pub), 36 "The Frank Rosenthal Show", (1977), 28 R The Little Spot, Desert Inn Hotel and Casino, 42 The Strip (Las Vegas Boulevard), 7, 31,32, 33, 34, 55, 57, 60 Rainbow Boulevard, 45 The Village Pub, 60 Ravetti, Jack D. (husband and bar owner), 54, 58 Thomas, Danny (singer/actor), 14 Resorts International, 30 Thunderbird Hotel and Casino, 23 Revere, Paul (alleged name of horse), 32 tokes (tips), 53, 54 Rich, Charles (Q. P.), 20 "Top of the Strip," Dunes Hotel, 19 Ronzones (department store), 32, 35 Torcasio, Anthony T. (Tony T.), 22, 48 Room, Food, Beverage director (RFB), 28 Torrey Pines Drive, 45 Rosenthal, Frank (Lefty), 28, 29, 31, 32 Tower of Pizza, 37 Rosenthal, Frankie (attempted assassination), 29 Tropicana Hotel and Casino, 4, 5, 13, 22, 53, 61 Twain Avenue, 34 S twenty-one (dealer), 52 twenty-one (poker game), 27 Sahara Avenue, 5, 30, 33, 42, 45, 57, 59 Twin Lakes Park, 50 Sahara Corporation, 3 Sahara Hotel and Casino, 3, 6, 7, 13, 14, 18, 19, 33, 40 58 U Sears (department store), 35 Shenker, Morris, 49 United California Bank, 3, 7 Shill (person gambling), 65 University High School, Westwood/Los Angeles, California, Showboat Hotel and Casino, 5 3 Siegel, Benjamin (Bugsy), 22 Unrestricted (all gambling allowed), 54 Sinatra, Frank, 28 Sinatra, Frank (singer), 28 V Sirocky, Gabrielle (mother), 2 Sirocky, Gabrielle and Hanafi, Maghoub (parents), 3 Valley View Boulevard, 5 Sixth Street, 59 Vegas Drive, 46, 51 Skello, Neal, 30 Vegas World Hotel and Casino, 6 skim (divert money in order to avoid paying taxes), 22 Villa D'este (Italian restaurant), 37, 38, 60 Spanish Oaks Apartments, 5 Vincent, Aerial (a shill), 65 Spilotrao, Anthony ("the Ant"), 29 VIP (Very Important People), 23 Spilotro, Anthony ("The Ant"), 30, 31 Von T (restaurant), 30 Spilotro, Anthony (”the Ant, 29 Von Vigglio, Mike, 55 Spilotro, Athony ("The Ant"), 30 Von Vigglio, Mike (host at Desert Inn), 55 Spilotro, Tony ("the Ant"), 30

W Whale (high stakes gambler), 17 Wyman, Sidney (Sid), 20, 21, 48, 49 Walline, Mary C. (foster mother), 3 Wynn, Steve, 30, 47 Western Electric, 3