The Great Stardust Skim by Stephen Fischer

This is such a wonderful American success story. In 1976 the president of the Stardust Hotel was 34-year old Allan Glick. Seemingly out of nowhere, this nice clean-cut young man and head of the secured a Teamsters loan for about $146 million that enabled him to take over the Stardust Hotel and . The ARGENT name was an abbreviation of Allan R. Glick Enterprises.

The timing on this loan was very important. By 1976, many of the casino “cash cows” the Mob throughout the country depended on were beginning to dry up. Stardust 1975 Between the Federal Government How much more profitable would Then the hotel owner could find a and the state of , it was it be if the US Government and nice corner on a hot-looking craps becoming more and more difficult for Nevada State Revenue people just table, call Tony D., the pit boss there a mobster to make a decent living. didn’t know how much money the at craps pit 3, have Tony D. bring him The Outfit still had control Stardust and the other hotels had a marker for “10 large,” and get over the Stardust, Marina, Fremont actually made? (“Wow! What a good $10,000 in chips. He’d play a few and , but it became neces- idea! That way, we could get to keep minutes, lose a couple of thousand, sary to increase the size of the skim a lot more money, right boss?”) scoop up the remaining 8 G’s in to make up for other lost business. chips, take them over to the cashier In the old days in Las Vegas this and cash out. Let’s take a moment to discuss the was pretty easy to do. A casino owner meaning of the word “skim”. It isn’t could wander into the “soft count When his signed marker arrived in stealing in the usual sense. It isn’t room” where the bills were counted, the accounting department, his girl- taking money that belongs to some- take a few handfuls of the big ones, friend, Lola, would take the $10,000 one else. Skimming is hiding money put them in his pocket and then go marker and put it in her pocket. from Uncle Sam. Every time a dollar have a cup of coffee and a Danish.. (“Honest, she’s not my girlfriend, would come into the casino, it had to Who was going to stop him? He sweetheart, I hardly know the be reported to the government. So at owned the place. This was his money. woman”). And that was that. No the end of the year, when the Stardust He wasn’t stealing. He just wanted to marker means no money owed the would do its 1040-EZ or whichever take a few thousand bucks as “walk- casino, right? It’s his money anyway, form they used, they would have to ing around money.” What Uncle Sam right? Who is he stealing from – him- pay income tax on every penny the doesn’t know ain’t gonna’ hurt him, self? casino took in.

90 CASINO CHIP AND TOKEN NEWS | Summer 2005 Believe it or not, this very simple and shot him six times in the mouth, method of taking a few million dol- Joey Aiuppa became capo of the lars out of the Las Vegas hotels would . work, year after year after year. Then the Nevada Tax and the Gaming No such things as a “honeymoon Commission boys set down some period” for Joey Aiuppa either. The rules. Damn spoilsports Feds and the Nevada State Gaming Commission, who were both develop- Rule Number 1 – An owner is ing real power in Nevada, were never allowed in a counting room. beginning to make daily visits and Rule Number 2 – An owner is never phone calls to Aiuppa. It seems all allowed to play at his own hotel. they wanted to talk about was the Rule Number 3 – All money that Stardust. The question of real owner- comes into a casino. I reiterate, ship of the Stardust, which had been 100% of the money, has to be report- hidden for many years, was beginning ed as income. to bubble to the surface.

The US Government trained its At the same time, Allan Glick, eyes on the casino business through who had just turned 32, was begin- the Commission, ning to make quite a few bucks at the the Kefauver Committee and, later, Hacienda. He decided he wanted to Allan Glick the Church Committee. Despite all make even more money if he could only figure out a way to do it. Talk the Fed’s money spent on all the in Cleveland, and to Frank Balistieri about a fortuitous set of circum- investigations of the Las Vegas hotels of the Mafia. Both stances. Here were the owners of the and their owners, the only thing they Cleveland and Milwaukee in the mid- Stardust being told to get out or lose could get the owners on was good old 1970s were subsidiaries of the their license, and here was Allan tax evasion. Skimming money means Chicago Outfit, which was run by Glick, a nice, clean cut young man, taking money from the pot before Joey Aiuppa. Uncle Sam has a chance to count it who wanted desperately to get into the big time. and tell you how much tax you owe Right up until June 19, 1975 Sam on it. If the money can’t be accounted “Momo” Giancana had run Chicago. So Allan let it be known all over for, it can’t be taxed, plain and simple. However, Momo wasn’t the best of Las Vegas that he wanted to buy the bosses of the Chicago Outfit. He was Stardust. His big problem was that he The Chicago Outfit was faced with very high visibility, with his flamboy- didn’t have the money to buy it. But a cash flow problem. The answer pre- ant personality, and his highly publi- he let it be known, “If anyone wants sented itself in the Stardust, and Allan cized affair with Phyllis McGuire. Glick. Nice, clean-cut Allan Glick to lend me the $100 million dollars to buy it, I wouldn’t say no.” and his partner, Gene Frisch, were Then there was his friendship with both young men who were making a Frank Sinatra, and with Judy So one day, Alan got a phone call pretty fair living owning the Campbell, and with the Rat Pack … at his Hacienda office from Del Hacienda. Everything was above he was just too visible for the old Coleman, the largest stockholder in board and going along well until a school dons. On top of everything the RECRION Corporation. Coleman, company called RECRION, that then else, their money stream, Las Vegas, besides his RECRION affiliation, was owned the Stardust, got into trouble. became delivering less and less also the unofficial representative of money. Enough was enough. Without going into the personali- the Teamsters Union and the Chicago Outfit in Las Vegas. That meant ties of RECRION, the company was In the basement of his Oak Park, watched over their business affairs. being forced to sell the Stardust. mansion, Momo made himself Del Coleman said, “Allan, we got There was some silliness about a before bedtime snack of Italian somebody you should meet,” and money from the Stardust Hotel find- sausage and peppers … and he died. Allan was introduced to the boss of ing its way on a weekly basis to Joey After his snack, at the top of the the Milwaukee Mob, Frank Balistieri. Aiuppa of the Chicago Outfit, Moshe stairs, a gunman was waiting for him, Rockman of the Mayfield Road Gang

CASINO CHIP AND TOKEN NEWS | Summer 2005 91 Balistieri said he could help Glick get the four hotels. He packed his bags a loan. A friend of his was an official and moved from the Hacienda to the at the Teamsters Central States Presidents Suite at the Stardust. On Pension Fund. Sam Giancana had his first day at his new job, Glick called Balistieri and told him to help hired -dealmaker-odds- Glick get the money he needed to buy maker Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal to be the Stardust. his assistant at a salary of “250 large,” Two Hundred & Fifty Thou A Then Glick starting getting calls Year! from some of the other Mob families, all wanting to be helpful to Glick in That same day, Lefty replaced getting the Stardust loan. One call Bobby Strella, who was a pretty good came from Kansas City. Glick was casino boss at the Stardust, with a told the caller knew another Central fella’ whose previous job experience States Teamsters official who could was owner-operator of the gift shop at help arrange the loan. Then more Circus Circus, which he purchased for calls came into Allan Glick’s office peanuts. The gift shop at Circus from very well-connected and very Circus was given as a favor to one of friendly men from Cleveland and Momo Giancana’s friends from Chicago. And believe it or not, just Chicago at a “friends and family” like in the movies, the money started price of $70,000. It was worth over coming in. $2 Million. It was purchased by known associate of the Mob and had Momo’s friend Tony. a conviction on his police record for Before long, our hero, Allan Glick, fixing a basketball game some years had enough money to buy the When Tony was at Circus Circus, earlier. Rosenthal’s conviction, how- RECRION Corporation along with all he was Tony Stewart, but when he ever, was conveniently removed from of its assets including the giant moved to the Stardust he went back the record before he arrived in Las Stardust Hotel. And all for next to no to Tony Spilotro. Spilotro was a hit Vegas. But the guys who made up the money out of his own pocket! Nearly man, a street-enforcer and Mob killer knew $140 million dollars was raised to who worked for the Chicago Outfit. gambling and gamblers, and Lefty install this nice young man as owner Rosenthal had a widely known repu- of the Stardust. What a wonderful He had been sent to Las Vegas a tation. country we live in! few years earlier by Sam Giancana to learn the city and to watch out for On the second day of Rosenthal’s Glick’s predecessor at the Stardust Chicago’s interests there. The movie new job at the Stardust, the gaming was a man named Al Sachs. During Casino starring as the Tony authorities called Allan Glick and the changeover, Sachs went to Paris Spilotro character and advised him that Lefty was never to renew the contract on the amazing- as Lefty Rosenthal was one of the going to be given the “key employee” ly successful Lido de Paris show. He better Las Vegas mob movies. designation – ever. By the mid-1970s got the new contract signed, but the Nevada Gaming Commission, returned to find his office furniture in OK, RECRION was out as owners commonly referred to as the NGC, the hall. The transition was now com- of the Stardust. They were bought said that every employee who worked plete. (This is a bit of an oversimplifi- out, not kicked out, and they were in a key position within a casino that cation on how Allan Glick, at the ripe pretty happy with their $30 million or had a gambling license was going to old age of 34, actually got control of so of profit. Sure, a few of them had be called a key employee. As a key the ARGENT Corporation and the to go to prison, but overall, it was a employee, they, too, had to have a Stardust Hotel. But actually, that’s pretty good ownership transition. gambling license. pretty damn close to exactly how it did happen). But then there was a problem with Allan Glick had to tell this news to Rosenthal’s position as Stardust gen- Rosenthal. Glick was perfectly aware With Chicago’s assistance, Glick eral manager. that Lefty was fully running the became the new president of the Stardust, even though he’d only been ARGENT Corporation and owner of Lefty had a “past.” He was a on the job for two days. Glick ran

92 CASINO CHIP AND TOKEN NEWS | Summer 2005 around until he found Lefty and told place during this story and the first him the news. What’s in a title, right? one happens right about here. There Lefty gave up his position as general was a friend of ours from the Chicago manager/casino manager and became Outfit named Marty Buccieri, who the Stardust Hotel’s poker room coor- worked as a Casino Boss at Caesars dinator. As a lowly poker room coor- Palace. Marty had been instrumental dinator, chances are he wouldn’t have at the beginning of Allan Glick’s to get that stupid key employee desig- money search by introducing Allan to nation from the Gaming Commission. some of his friends in Chicago.

He was still making his $250,000 Just a quick aside here. 25 years and he still absolutely oversaw every ago casino bosses on the Las Vegas single detail at the Stardust. Just to Strip all dressed in the same uniform. make it look even more presentable to It didn’t matter if they worked at the gaming guys, Rosenthal took over Caesars or the Hacienda, casino boss- one of the poker tables as his perma- es always wore black silk suits, white nent office. No one else sat there. It on white shirts with either solid white was in the back of the poker room or solid black silk ties, high polished with a phone on the table, and he black shoes and big gold cufflinks. worked there right in the open. The Just one of those Las Vegas “things” Nevada Gaming Commission then –- it’s the way things were done. told him that he couldn’t be the poker Tony Spilotro room coordinator, either. It seems the Anyway, one day Buccieri showed NGC had just made Las Vegas poker up at the Stardust looking for Allan time Las Vegas hood named Horton room coordinators key employees as Glick. Marty was told that Allan was arrested for the murder, he said well. probably was down in the coffee that he shot Buccieri because he shop, or maybe still in San Diego, or “wised off at me” however, word on Not to be outdone, Lefty became “you might want to try the health the street has always been that it was the assistant entertainment director of club”. Buccieri found Glick in the because of the pressure he was trying the hotel for a while, and when those steam room and told him that he owes to put on ARGENT through Alan bureaucrats at the NGC said “no” to him money – a finder’s fee. He said Glick for a finder’s fee. that, he became the assistant market- something like: “I put you together ing manager. When that was stopped, with my boss, and look at you now. Now, with Stardust completely in he began broadcasting a nightly show You own this joint. It was me who control of the ARGENT Corporation, from the Stardust interviewing got you the $100 million and I want it was time to institute The Great celebrities on Las Vegas television my piece. And I want it by next week, Stardust Skim. Here’s how it worked. channel. This ploy of musical jobs capice?” There was so much money coming really did work for quite a few years. into the “hard count” room every Glick found Lefty Rosenthal, night, where the nickels, dimes and Lefty Rosenthal was running the which wasn’t all that hard to do. quarters were counted, that it was Stardust Hotel, Tony Spilotro was Lefty had taken over Glick’s office in practically impossible to tally them taking care of the casino and any the executive suite. Glick told him even with the fastest change-counting other problems that might arise, and about the meeting he just had in the machines in the world. The coins Allan Glick was off playing golf Stardust health club with Marty and might not be totally counted, but they down at La Costa on the all the noise Buccieri was making. A certainly could be weighed. coast. Everyone seemed to be in week later, Buccieri was found sitting place. Rosenthal had understood from in the front seat of his car in the The purchased supersensi- day one what was expected of him. parking lot. tive scales that could weigh these Chicago was deadly serious about coins very accurately. A thousand dol- making the Stardust and their other He had just left work, and some- lars in nickels, 20,000 nickels, could Las Vegas properties more profitable. one was waiting in the back seat of be weighed and the scale would regis- his car, and popped him twice in the ter plus or minus two nickels. If the There are two murders that take head with a 22-caliber pistol. A small scales, however, were adjusted just a

CASINO CHIP AND TOKEN NEWS | Summer 2005 93 little, let’s say 10% light, the number ed onto the floor for resale and replay What they were taking was the of unaccounted-for nickels, dimes and or were placed in the Stardust’s bank 10% residue from the hard count quarters, to say nothing of the $1 account. But what do you do with the room. Those coins that were not tokens in the same size and weight as dollar coins and tokens? A few silver weighed by the ultra-sensitive scales, silver dollars, would add up pretty dollars can be passed at the grocery the one-dollar coins, were being quickly. store to pay your bill, but not in great turned back into foldable cash quantity. But try to spend one-dollar through this elegant little system of Money from the slot machines tokens from the Stardust that have the washing tons and tons of quarters and were emptied into bags, placed in Stardust logo on them. There’s not a dollars. And there were literally tons steel cages and rolled into the hard lot of place anywhere except the of them. It was not unusual for one of count room. You’ve probably seen Stardust that will take them from you. these illegal coin boxes on the floor those cages rolling around the casino So what the heck are you going to do to have $10,000 in bills in it each attended by armed guards. They look with all those tokens? evening when it was emptied. like they are carrying a ton of money, which is pretty close. As money from Back in 1975, in every casino in Additionally, an “extra” change the slots rolled into the count room, Las Vegas with the exception of the booth was set up on the Stardust the ultra-sensitive scales were put to Stardust, if you wanted change from floor. For quite a few years it was work. After the weigh-in, a small por- the “change girls,” they would sell it never noticed by the State, like a toll tion of the coins were recycled back to you. Then they’d take your $20 booth set up on a stretch of two-lane onto the casino floor as rolls of coins dollar bill, along with all the other road in the dead of night. It looked that players could buy. The rest of the bills, to the cashiers cage “employees and operated just like all the other coins were put loose into bags for only” window. They’d hand over the change booths, get in line and change armored transport to the bank. bills and get more rolls of coins in your bills into coins, get on line and return. This was the standard way of change your coins into bills. Except It’s here where the scheme begins. dispensing coins in a casino. this change booth wasn’t registered with any governmental authority. One hun- ARGENT owned four hotels: the The Stardust, however, told their dred percent of the money that came in Stardust, the Marina, the Fremont and change girls that instead of going to went directly to the coffers of Momo the Hacienda. Each day the coins the cashier’s cage, they were to go to Giancana and the Chicago Outfit. from the Fremont would be put into a few locked coin cabinets placed coin bags and taken by armored car to against the walls around the casino. These coin cabinets around the the Stardust. Coin bags from the With a key to the cabinet, they’d take casino and the extra change booth Hacienda would also arrive at the the bills and dollar tokens, put them worked for nearly five years. It finally Stardust by armored car. The bags in the drop box inside the cabinet, came out in the 1979 and 1980 trials would be opened and poured through take the correct number of rolls, and that the quarter and dollar skim was chutes directly into hoppers located get back to work. The change girls so successful at the ARGENT proper- atop big scales. ARGENT hired a knew damn well that the “honor sys- ties that the Chicago Mob was receiv- scale mechanic who would recalibrate tem” required them to take the correct ing $15 million per year for each of these scales perfectly so when four number of rolls each time. They also five years. That’s $75 million in skim thousand quarters ($1,000) where knew the cameras were watching money shipped to the Mob without placed in the hopper, it only regis- them. To try to swipe a roll of coins any tax being paid on it! tered as nine hundred dollars. It was was absurd, and they all knew it. simple enough, $1,000 input and As an aside to this story, there was $900 output. “All right, if it’s work- What they didn’t know was this a very sharp slot department manager ing so well on the quarters, lets recali- cabinet situation was the backbone of working at the Fremont Hotel down- brate those machines over there that a multimillion dollar skim, the largest town. His name was Jay VanDermark. weigh the dollar tokens”. casino skim ever uncovered in Las He was extremely valuable because Vegas. And it only involved slot he allegedly set up the entire skim The $900 in silver coins and dollar machines. Dozens of times a day, operation there. All the little things tokens was handled exactly by the each change girl would open one of necessary to take $300,000 per week book. Each roll was inspected and ini- the coin cabinets with her key, deposit out of the ARGENT properties were tialed by a Stardust employee as to her money into the slot and take the allegedly designed and implemented accuracy. The tokens were recirculat- right amount of wrapped coins. by VanDermark.

94 CASINO CHIP AND TOKEN NEWS | Summer 2005 One of the first things Lefty over the day-to-day operation of the the beach in Mazatlan, and all the Rosenthal did after he was brought in skim. loose ends were now tied up. was to move VanDermark from the Fremont to the flagship of ARGENT As a special “thank you,” Jay was It’s so nice when a plan works. Corporation, the giant Stardust. given an all-expense paid trip to VanDermark came in, managed the Mazatlan in Mexico. His head was Copyright© 2005 by Steve Fischer. entire slot department, and watched bashed in while he was sunbathing on All Rights Reserved.

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