The classic film Casino celebrated its 30th anniversary last year and offers a deep look at how the mob ran Las Vegas in the 1960s through the ‘80s. The Martin Scorsese-directed film is inspired by real events and features superb performances by Joe Pesci, Robert De Niro, and Sharon Stone.
In the movie, De Niro plays Sam “Ace” Rothstein (based on the real-life Lefty Rosenthal), a mobster chosen to run a Mafia-controlled Las Vegas casino in the 1970s. Like Rosenthal, the fictional Rothstein runs the casino without a Nevada gaming license.
The Black Book is Real
In the world of gambling, that’s a major no-no and eventually came with some serious repercussions for the real-life Lefty. An associate of the Chicago Outfit organized crime group, Rosenthal was eventually added to the Nevada Gaming Commission’s List of Excluded Persons– aka the “Black Book.”
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This infamous list includes an interesting assortment of mobsters, cheaters, and scammers, with all barred from working or even entering one of the state’s numerous casinos.
Because of his ties to organized crime and unlicensed management of the Stardust, Fremont, and Hacienda casinos, Rosenthal’s name was added in 1988. A look at the Black Book offers some interesting characters and insight into the casino industry’s past association with organized crime and the cheaters who seek to beat the house through underhanded means.
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How To Get on the Nevada Black Book
The Nevada gambling industry began in March 1960 under the Gaming Control Act, which had been passed a year earlier. The law was meant to help the state take more control of the industry and to root out organized crime.
The Black Book was focused on excluding individuals with “notorious or unsavory reputations.” That description may be in the eye of the beholder, but gaming regulators were hoping to purge the industry of mobsters, racketeers, hitmen, and other criminal elements. Some of the factors taken into consideration for the list include:
Prior conviction of a felony in Nevada, a crime involving moral turpitude, or a violation of state gaming laws.
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Failure to disclose an interest in a gaming operation for which a person must obtain a license or willful evasion of gaming fees or taxes.
Notorious or unsavory reputation, which would adversely affect public confidence and trust that the gaming industry is free from criminal or corruptive elements
Written order issued by a governmental agency that authorizes the exclusion or ejection of a person from a gambling establishment.
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The first list featured 11 names, including an enforcer for the Chicago Outfit, the boss of a Los Angeles crime family, and other mob bosses and associates. For example, Michael Coppola was an inaugural member of the club.
The New York mob enforcer and bagman was also involved in murder, burglary, assault, drug dealing, and was known as a violent gunman during Prohibition, certainly befitting his nickname – “Trigger Mike.” Beyond his more violent pursuits, his forays into gambling through illegal bookmaking and running numbers rackets no doubt helped put him in the crosshairs of Nevada gaming regulators.
How the Exclusion Process Works
Getting listed in the Black Book isn’t quite like getting voted best dressed in your high school yearbook. A person’s inclusion hints at an unsavory character or suggests that they have been involved in or associated with crime at some point.
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For those who might work in the industry, this can mean seeing a career cut short. And getting removed from the list certainly isn’t easy.
Frankie Citro had his name added in 1990 after serving two years in prison for illegal bookmaking and loan sharking. The 80-year-old reformed gangster is much different from the man he was back then, and has actually petitioned the Nevada Gaming Commission to have his name removed.
The doo-wop entertainer hoped to perform at casinos in the state, but whether that happens depends on how commissioners vote. Removing someone’s name isn’t something the commission usually does, and commissioners ultimately voted unanimously in April to keep Citro a member.
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“The only way that anybody has gotten off the list – that I’m aware of – is through passing away,” former Nevada Gaming Control Board Chief of Enforcement Jerry Markling noted in 2013.
Mobsters, & More Cheaters
A quick scan of the Excluded List reveals a range of characters allegedly involved in crimes from gruesome to more mundane offenses involving casinos. For example, John Joseph Conti was fingered by law enforcement agencies as being a soldier in the Luchese organized crime family, and that was also revealed in a 1988 Senate subcommittee hearing.
With a criminal record dating back to 1960, Conti pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and conspiracy for scheming to defraud the former Maxim casino out of $5,000 in 1993. He was sentenced to 11 months in prison after copping to filing a false credit application with an undercover FBI agent at the casino.
Dominic Anthony Spinale earned his spot on the list for two bookmaking convictions and alleged ties to northeastern organized crime groups. He was convicted on federal racketeering charges in 2000, along with members of a Los Angeles organized crime family, for a failed scheme to sell fake diamonds.
Beyond organized crime, attempting to beat the house via cheating may also come with being eighty-sixed from the state’s casinos. Michael Joseph Balsamo was inducted into the Hall of Shame in 1999 after being found to have a criminal background that included cheating at slot machines. He later pleaded guilty to the same crimes in New Jersey and was also banned from Garden State casinos in 1984.
A Family Tradition
Balsamo began rigging the games in the 1970s using a “yo-yo” technique that involved a coin with a string attached to retrigger free spins. He later served time for his cheating ways in the 1980s. His interest in slot mechanics became a family affair, and his wife, her son, and mother-in-law were also eventually indicted along with him for using another device to cheat on one-armed bandits.
“It’s not every day we catch three generations working together,” Markling told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
In one case, those familial dynamics carry over to the exclusion list. Douglas Joseph Barr was added to the black book in 1990 at age 31 for “gambling-related offenses” following about 30 arrests, according to the Nevada Gaming Commission. His father, Douglas Barr Sr., was also placed on the list in 1994 for repeated criminal activity tied to gaming operations. The penchant for casino-related crime seemed to run in the family.
While the List of Excluded Persons is mostly a boys’ club, there is one female member. Sandra Kay Vaccaro is the only woman making the cut, inducted in 1986 for organized crime associations impacting casinos, and for also being part of a larger group that used cheating devices.
New Addition
Many people continue to see casinos as a way to make a fast buck or launder money obtained through other illicit means. These types continue to be the targets of the Gaming Commission. Illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer is one of those and became the latest addition to the state’s black book of gamblers in April.
Bowyer has an interesting background in gambling, but made major headlines in 2024 as the bookie for Ippei Mizuhara. The Japanese interpreter for Shohei Ohtani stole millions of dollars from the Los Angeles Dodgers star pitcher, using the funds to make about 19,000 bets with Bowyer for a total of $40 million over a two-year period. Mizuhara eventually pleaded guilty and was given almost five years in prison.
However, Bowyer’s activities in Las Vegas really raised red flags among Nevada gaming regulators. He was found to have made “cash front” deposits totaling millions of dollars, according to the Gaming Commission, leading to fines of millions of dollars for several properties over money laundering allegations.
In 2024, Bowyer pleaded guilty to several gambling-related crimes, including money laundering and filing a false tax return, and served a year in prison and was ordered to pay $1.6 million in restitution to the IRS. The commission unanimously added the bookmaker to the list.
Modern Day Mobsters
“Over the course of at least nine years, from 2014 to 2023, Mr. Bowyer took tens of millions of dollars in illegal wagers from at least 700 bettors,” Nona Lawrence, an attorney with the Nevada Attorney General’s Office, told the NGC. “Further, Mr. Bowyer frequented Las Vegas casinos and used illicit proceeds from his illegal bookmaking business to gamble and pay off casino markers.
“Mr. Bowyer also solicited new customers from casino marketing hosts at the casinos he frequented, including offering a commission or gratuity for customer referrals. Mr. Bowyer admitted that he also solicited valets and other casino employees to feed him clients in return for a fee.”
It’s a good bet Bowyer won’t be the last to run afoul of the Nevada gaming police.