Super Bowl Fans Can Visit These Las Vegas Mob Sites
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Fans attending the Super Bowl in Las Vegas on Sunday still can sample some of the area’s sinister past, a vanishing but alluring aspect of Sin CIty’s rough-and-tumble earlier years.
Much of the mobbed-up city seen in movies such as director Martin Scorsese’s 1995 gangster film “Casino” has been imploded and replaced by modern megaresorts — but is hanging on in some places.
Best Mob Locations
Here are the Top 5 Mob-related Las Vegas locations, all a short distance from Allegiant Stadium, the off-Strip site of Super Bowl LVIII between the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers and AFC’s Kansas City Chiefs, last year's Super Bowl winner.
1. The Tropicana hotel-casino, which first opened in 1957, was a Mob-connected resort for years.
At one time the Kansas City crime family led by Nick Civella oversaw a skimming pipeline that sent untaxed gaming revenue from the Tropicana to Missouri. This is the same Nick Civella who was snared in a 1970 scandal involving illegal bets placed on the Super Bowl game betwen the Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings.
The Tropicana is closing April 2, a date that gives Super Bowl fans a chance this weekend to see what Old Vegas was like. The site will be cleared to make way for a ballpark that the Oakland A’s plan to move into in time for the 2028 season.
2. During the 1970s, the Fremont in downtown Las Vegas was one of four casinos in the valley, most notably the Stardust, operated by Chicago oddsmaker Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal for Midwestern Mob families. In the movie “Casino,” Robert De Niro portrays a character based on Rosenthal.
These days, the Fremont is operated by publicly traded Boyd Gaming and houses FanDuel’s first physical presence in Nevada — a sportsbook near the slot machines and table games.
In 2021, Resorts World Las Vegas was first opened on the west side of the Strip where the now-demolished Stardust once stood.
3. Speaking of Rosenthal, he survived a car explosion in October 1982 on the parking lot of a Tony Roma’s restaurant on East Sahara Avenue. Rosenthal moved away from Las Vegas not long afterward, ending up in South Florida for the rest of his life.
The bombing has never been solved. A Hustler Hollywood store selling adult novelties later opened in the building that once housed the Tony Roma’s restaurant.
4. On the opposite side of the Strip, the Golden Steer Steakhouse on West Sahara is a Rat Pack-era landmark, hosting entertainers, athletes and mobsters over the years, in addition to locals and tourists. It is still in operation.
When Chicago gangster Frank Cullotta arrived in the 1970s, he met with the Chicago Outfit’s Tony “The Ant” Spilotro at the Golden Steer to receive his marching orders.
In “Casino,” Joe Pesci plays a character modeled after Spilotro, while Frank Vincent portrays a Cullotta-like sidekick. The real Frank Cullotta appears in the film as a hitman.
5. At The Mob Museum in downtown Las Vegas, visitors can view authentic items from the area's gangster past, including the handcuffs used in arresting Spilotro, some of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel’s personal belongings and much more.
The museum, once a courthouse, was the site of a Senate hearing, led by U.S. Sen. Estes Kefauver, D-Tenn., into organized crime. Nowadays, a popular speakeasy is located in The Mob Museum basement.
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