Oct 16 2008
‘Casino’ Gambling Legend Dies
Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, the legendary Las Vegas gaming tycoon whose life inspired the Martin Scorsese film Casino, has died aged 79.
Officials in Florida said he died from a heart attack in his Miami Beach home.
Rosenthal, who had close links to the Chicago mafia and who once survived a car bombing, ran the Stardust, Fremont, Hacienda and Marina casinos in Las Vegas through the 1970s and into the mid-1980s.
Although Sports Illustrated once crowned him as the greatest living expert on sports handicapping, Rosenthal eventually wound up being listed in Nevada’s “black book” of unsavoury characters banned from the state’s casinos because of his ties with the mob.
Nicholas Pileggi, the author and screenwriter of Casino, said: “He’s one of the originals.
“When Lefty went down, the new Las Vegas emerged. The corporate Las Vegas.”
Robert De Niro played a character based on Rosenthal in Scorsese’s 1995 film version of Casino.
The film documents his dramatic rise as a gambling executive in Vegas, his tumultuous marriage to drug-addicted former showgirl Geraldine McGee – portrayed as Ginger by Sharon Stone – and his dangerous friendship with the Chicago mafia.
Rosenthal, who was born in Chicago, was one of the pioneers of sports gambling in the United States.
While in Vegas he also had his own TV show, which attracted guests including Frank Sinatra.
He is said to have acquired the nickname “Lefty” after refusing to answer no fewer than 37 questions in court during one of the hearings into the gambling empire he was running for the Mafia – including whether or not he was left-handed.
After leaving Vegas he retired to Miami Beach where he ran a gambling website.
‘Casino’ Gambling Legend Dies – 12:39am UK, Thursday October 16, 2008 – Sky – This story was found at: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Frank-Left-Rosenthal-Gambling-Executive-Who-Inspired-Martin-Scorcese-Film-Casino-Dies-Aged-79/Article/200810315121962?lpos=World_News_News_Your_Way_Region_9&lid=NewsYourWay_ARTICLE_15121962_Frank_Left_Rosenthal%2C_Gambling_Executive_Who_Inspired_Martin_Scorcese_Film_Casino%2C_Dies_Aged_79
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