Frank Sinatra’s Cal-Neva Lodge by Steve Fischer Bones Renner was an old time gangster from San Francisco who owned the Cal-Neva Lodge at Crystal Bay on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe. But Bones also owed the IRS $800,000 in back taxes. So Bones asked his friend Wingy Grober if he could pass the ownership of the Cal- Neva, who also, as a result of his sud- den and unexplainable ownership of a casino, ended up with his own set of tax problems. With the IRS after him, Wingy Grober put the Cal-Neva Lodge up for sale. Cal-Neva in the 1930’s On July 13, 1960, the day John F. What also didn’t make the news- Cal-Neva, he really was. Deano was Kennedy won the democratic nomina- papers about the deal, was the FBI an original owner until he found out tion in Los Angeles, it was announced assumption that Sinatra was nothing that Giancana was involved in the that Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, more than a front in the Cal-Neva for joint – then he bailed. Hank Sincola and Sinatra’s old friend New York’s mob boss “Fat Tony” and business partner from New Salerno. Deano put up his 33 1/3% and it Jersey, Skinny D’Amato made appli- was bought by Sandy Waterrman. cation to the state of Nevada to pur- As for Giancana’s interest in the chase the Cal-Neva. money-losing casino, he was proba- As of Aug. 15, 1961, Nevada bly only in the deal to keep next to records show that Frank owned thir- What wasn’t announced in the Sinatra, who was trying, desperately, ty-six and six-tenths percentage of the papers, was that Sam Giancana to keep next to Kennedy, which Cal-Neva. By May 15, 1962, Frank’s owned Wingy Grober, Wingy was everybody in the Chicago Outfit interest rose to fifty percent. into Giancana for a lot of money. So wanted. Wingy and Sam made a idea. If Sinatra was convinced that the Wingy Grober sold the Cal-Neva at a Before the deal was signed, Dean Cal-Neva, a seasonal place, could be reasonable price to some friends of Martin became aware of the mob’s turned around, that it could produce a Giancana, Wingy was off the hook for interests in the casino and pulled out hefty profit, even with the mob con- the money that was owned Giancana. of the deal. In 1960, Frank Sinatra nected pit bosses stealing the place was able to purchase the Cal-Neva blind. He told Giancana that with the The reasonable price turned out to along with his partners Dean Martin right investment that the place could be very reasonable. The Cal-Neva and Hank Sanicola. become a year-round operation. To Lodge was sold in 1960 to Frank draw attention to the place, on open- Sinatra and Associates for $250,000. For the historians out there who ing night, Sinatra’s guests included Everything – the whole place – for are jumping up and down, saying that Marilyn Monroe, Joe Kennedy and 250 Large! Dean Martin was not an owner of the his son John F. Kennedy. Also there 66 CASINO CHIP AND TOKEN NEWS | Spring 2005 Sinatra played the Cal-Neva Celebrity Showroom the first week of June for the 3 years he owned the place! Then Sinatra installed the tunnels. One tunnel was installed between the showroom and Cabin Number 5, Frank’s Cabin, and another between Cabin Number 3 and Cabin Number 5! Tunnel between cabin 5 and cabin 3. John F. Kennedy and Frank Sinatra To quote Skinny D’Amato again, “Cabin 3 was for the Broads, 4 was JFK was reported to be in Frank that weekend was Johnny Roselli and for the Pals, and 5 was Frank’s”. Sinatra’s Cabin Number 5, or Marilyn Sam “Momo” GIiancana. Uninvited There were three small cabins at the was reported to be in Cabin 3 while and hiding up in the hills around the Cal-Neva, 3, 4 and 5, all next to each Bobby Kennedy was reported to be in casino lodge, was an FBI surveillance other, all commanding the premier Frank Sinatra’s Cabin 5. Or Marilyn team with long range lenses. view of the Crystal Bay portion of was reported to be in Cabin 3 while Lake Tahoe. When Sinatra came in he Frank Sinatra was reported to be in What the agents couldn’t see was made a rule, Cabin 5 was his, 4 and 3 Frank Sinatra’s Cabin 5. what went on inside the Cal-Neva’s and cabin 5 would never be rented secluded bungalows after the opening out, period! night party had ended. Momo Lots of FBI and news reports on Marilyn’s comings and goings includ- Giancana reportedly told his brother Cabin 3 is probably best known as ing her very last visit, July 27 through that he had been present at a Kennedy Marilyn Monroe’s cabin. Though July 29, 1962. brothers slumber party that night at there were many the Cal-Neva Casino. “The men,” he many women who She overdosed on pills while in said, “had sex with prostitutes, some- stayed in Cabin 3 Cabin 3, but managed to call the times two or more at a time, in bath- as Frank reception desk. Rescue personnel tubs, hallways, closets, on floors, Sinatra’s personal reached her in time, her stomach was almost everywhere but the bed.” guests, Marilyn’s pumped, and she survived. She was (From the FBI Frank Sinatra files). frequent visits there there that weekend with the have been pretty well documented. The Cal-Neva was open only from Lawfords, Peter and his wife Pat, and possibly Bobby Kennedy though I June through Labor Day weekend in Over the 3 years that Frank Sinatra don’t even want to go into that specu- September, but Sinatra wanted to was in charge of Cal-Neva, Marilyn lation. That’s never been proven! make it a year-round operation. It was was reported to be in Cabin 3 while one of the reasons that he put in the heliport! (No, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me either but he was quoted a number of times as saying the heli- port wasn’t just for his buddies, it was for guests, too!) The Showroom at the Cal-Neva was called the Celebrity Showroom, Sinatra knew acoustics. He had the showroom enlarged to seat 350 and had it built so he could perform with- out the need for a microphone. Apparently the sound quality in the Celebrity Showroom was as near perfect as you can get in a cabaret. Cal-Neva in the 1940’s CASINO CHIP AND TOKEN NEWS | Spring 2005 67 Ten days later on August 5, 1962, under surveillance Marilyn Monroe died. and considered him to be a top mob hit Cabin 3 was “for the broads” said man and enforcer for Skinny D’Amato, and looking again hire. at that list of women who it’s said to have spent at least one night with Roselli told Frank Sinatra, well, you get the drift McWillie that Chicago wanted him Cabin 4 was “for the pals”. out at Sinatra’s Cal- Though Cabin 4 was used by Deano Neva Lodge to keep and Sammy and Vic Damone and an eye on their Milton Berle and Don Rickles, what investment in the Skinny D’Amato meant by Pals place. To watch over where “Friends Of Ours”. Sinatra and report Cabin No. 3 his activities back to Johnny Roselli stayed in Cabin 4, over Frank Sinatra because the boys Roselli (At this time Roselli was liv- Ray Patriarca had a key to 4, Jimmy had decided that Sinatra was much to ing at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas, Hoffa loved the place, but didn’t want enamored with the Kennedys and running among other things a busi- to be seen there, so did Carlo wasn’t thinking straight anymore. ness called the “Monte Presser Talent Gambino and Paul Costellano and Agency”. I’m going to hold the Aniello Dellacroce and lots of other When Roselli returned to the West Monte Presser story for another time, friends. Men who wanted nothing Coast he called a hood named Lou it’s just too long to go into here). more than to be able get away from McWillie, whom he had first met the office for a few days, out in the back in 1938, when Roselli did a McWillie did as he was told, and country where you can think. Frank short stint as the Chicago representa- created a job for himself at Sinatra’s Sinatra’s Cal-Neva was perfect. tive to the Sans Souci Casino in casino, working under the title of “Pit Havana. Boss.” In 1961 a Chicago hood named Crackers Mendino died of a McWillie had worked in Cuba for After only two years, the Cal-Neva heart attack. Over the years, mostly for Meyer Lansky. was starting to sour on Sinatra and years, he had worked McWillie was never clear to anyone only added to the miseries he was under everyone from on exactly what it was he did for having in the summer of 1963. On Torrio to Giancana in Lansky, telling the Warren June 30, 1962, an intoxicated Chuckie the juke box, pinball Commission only that he was a “key English, a Giancana hood, staggered and gambling end of man” at Lansky’s Tropicana Casino out of the Armory lounge and the business.