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RIZINAdmin- Posts : 569
Join date : 2011-11-12 
HOW FRANK JUNIOR BUILT THE FERTITTA MAFIA EMPIRE IN LAS VEGAS
Thu Dec 31, 2020 4:36 pm
Credit to Rich Bergeron and xyiencesucks.com
When Frank Fertitta, Jr. came to Las Vegas from Galveston, Texas in 1960, he quickly found work as a bellboy at the Tropicana. Fertitta’s Texas-bred “family” history included decades of successful casino operations in Las Vegas that some experts say was the original model for Vegas. Fertitta—just a 20-something visionary at the time with both smart business sense and shady, underworld connections—fit right into the landscape. Frank’s rise to owning his own casino would only take him 16 years.
Fertitta graduated through the ranks quickly and gained respect from the Kansas City Civella crime family. Fertitta ascended to a position as a blackjack dealer and worked up to management while making friendships with very influential Vegas movers and shakers.
In 1969, Nick Civella was identified by a Senate committee as being a principal member of the Kansas City Crime Family. During a 10-day period in mid-January 1970, the FBI picked up information through listening devices to indict Civella and several others on gambling conspiracy charges involving the recent Super Bowl between Kansas City and Minnesota. The Civellas were caught up in a criminal probe in 1970 after Civella was taped discussing that year’s impending Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings.
Eventually the Super Bowl tapes would convict Civella of gambling charges, which resulted in a 20-month imprisonment that he began serving in 1977. Though Civella would only do short time and get out early for cancer surgery, the informant who testified to send him to the Big House ended up suffering a far worse fate. Sol Landie was viciously murdered by four black men who first took turns sexually abusing his wife while he was forced to watch. Though he was never convicted for ordering the hit, the Karma for that killing caught up with Civella a few years later when he wound up spending most of the last days of his life behind bars.
In February 1983, Civella, who had been at the federal medical facility in Springfield, was transferred back to Leavenworth so he could be closer to his attorneys. Four days after the transfer he was returned to Springfield for treatment. Federal authorities released him to his family on March 1 and Civella was quickly admitted to the Menorah Medical Center in Kansas City where he died on March 12, 1983.
These were the kinds of associates Frank Fertitta, Jr. would find himself haunted by over the next few decades as he built his "family" interest in Vegas. Still, he and his sons transformed his original stake in “The Casino” in Vegas from virtually nothing into one of the largest gaming empires on the planet. Though he eventually had to cede the control of the business to his sons, his fatherly guidance behind-the-scenes has no doubt helped shape the business through its most tumultuous times.
The following video clips explain a bit about general Vegas history and the evolution of the early “skim.” Though I doubt anyone in Vegas truly believes organized crime no longer exists there, the acceptance and open reign of known Mobsters in Vegas was once accepted and understood as the way things were. People always seemed willing to look the other way when it was convenient and everyone was getting a bonus for it. Over the last few decades as Vegas became a boom town people flocked to in droves, the Mafia influence has been pushed further and further underground. As reporter George Knapp explains in one of these clips, the concern in more recent years is that organized crime’s tendrils have become more sophisticated, much less obvious, and more focused on so-called “clean money.” Ruthless business deals in Vegas now may be metaphorically cut-throat, but they don’t usually involve so much actual murder and mayhem anymore. A look back at the city’s rocky history and corrupt underbelly reveals a great deal about why it seems to stand so hopelessly idle today. Greed kills:
The Las Vegas I recently visited is in a seemingly perpetual state of construction, and ravaged real estate markets there from the boom gone bust have left the area wanting and needing more and more tourist dollars every year just to keep afloat. Call it Karma, call it divine providence, but it certainly appears as if the appeal and allure of “Glitter Gulch” may have run its course with an American population that is finding it harder and harder to generate enough expendable income to make the pilgrimage to Sin City. It is a far cry from the Las Vegas Frank Fertitta, Jr. once knew.
Frank Junior got his big break in 1976 when he bought a place aptly named “The Casino” (quickly re-named Bingo Palace) with a partner, Carl Thomas. The Bingo Palace later became known as Palace Station. Thomas was at that time already the chief executive officer of four casinos owned by the Argent Corporation. The movie “Casino” starring Joe Pesci (playing Tony “The Ant” Spilotro) and Robert Deniro (playing Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal) is one of the best illustrations of the skimming operation Thomas masterminded for the Mafia.
COUNT ROOM VIDEOS:
Rosenthal would later report, “Carl [Thomas] introduced me to Frank Fertitta, as ‘my main guy,’ and his right-hand man. Frank became the President of Allen Glick’s Fremont Hotel Casino at the recommendation of Carl Thomas during my temporary absence from the industry while I was awaiting the outcome my appeal versus the Nevada Gaming Commission. When I regained my former position as the CEO of all properties under the “Argent” (Allen R. Glick Enterprises) umbrella, Frank and I became more interactive. Frank had gained a solid reputation as a top-notch casino executive who understood the games with a high degree of professionalism. After several private meetings and close personal observation I too agreed that Frank was well suited to operate the second largest Casino in the downtown area.”
Carl Thomas’ criminal coming out party took place in Chicago in 1963 while Thomas was celebrating at friend Allen Dorfman’s 40th birthday bash. Thomas had already learned the ropes of skimming in his early days at the still-standing Circus Circus Casino in Las Vegas:
Thomas, also a former blackjack dealer like Frank Junior, was the general manager of the Circus Circus when he came to the Dorfman birthday party, and he’d impressed the guest of honor enough to warrant an introduction to another party guest: Kansas City Crime Boss Nick Civella. That connection would pave the way for Thomas to become the ultimate Las Vegas skimming mastermind. He would help reap millions upon millions of illegitimate income for organized crime interests, choking it all out of the desert with expert ease and relying on a “connected” network of loyal associates to get the job done and keep quiet about it.
Carl Thomas brought Frank Fertitta, Jr. in to be general manager of the Argent-owned Fremont. Frank Junior’s gaming career would forever have a dark cloud hanging over it after federal agents finally sniffed out the massive skimming enterprise. However, even before the FBI fully infiltrated Vegas’ best kept secret in the mid-80s, the Allen Glick-run Argent had some sketchy dealings related to a slot machine scam.
Allen R. Glick was what is most often referred to in real estate as a “straw man.” Famous and/or privacy minded folks, and especially criminal folks like Mafioso often resort to having lesser known and more inconspicuous individuals buy their businesses and other property to avoid investigation of their assets or to avoid the prying eyes of the press and/or Papa Razzi. Glick was just one of many in a long line of Mafia straw men who populated Vegas in the pioneering days when the Mafia’s Teamster connections gave the country’s organized crime families a virtual monopoly in town.
According to Glick, he was told by Civella after getting the Teamster loan that gave him his Vegas start, "Cling to every word I say … if it would be my choice, you wouldn’t leave this room alive. You owe us $1.2 million. I want that paid. In addition, we own part of your corporation, and you are to do nothing to interfere with it … We will let Mr. Rosenthal continue with the casinos, and you are not to interfere."
Thomas had much more sinister partners than Frank Fertitta, Jr. during the Argent days, and they’d already managed to get themselves black booked in town as charter members of the infamous list of Vegas outcasts. Thomas, Rosenthal and Glick were subordinate to Giuseppe Nicoli "Mr. Nick" Civella and Carl "the Cork" Civella, brothers and bosses of the La Cosa Nostra chapter in Kansas City at the time. After the Texas boom busted for the Fertitta family, Kansas City quickly became Grand Central for Vegas Mafia interests. The key was the Teamster loans Mafioso so easily influenced. Moe Dalitz got one to build Vegas' first ever Casino: The Desert Inn, but that was back in the heady Maceo era, and Sam Maceo himself reportedly pulled all the right Strings to get Dalitz his first Vegas loans.
The Fertitta and Thomas partnership was later detailed by Nicholas Pileggi, who authored the book “Casino.” The movie of the same name is based on Pileggi's book. Here is an excerpt from the book regarding a Nov. 28, 1978 FBI recording in which Frank Junior’s name surfaced in relation to his role in the skim:
“Carl Thomas: ... Me and Frank (Fertitta) and (Don) Shepard and my bookkeeper, my comptroller, who is one thousand percent, they're with me for fifteen years, have sat around in my kitchen thinking. For six hours, thinking of ways to beat these joints `cause (I or I'd) like to take money out of them. ...”
Federal agents launched operations called Strawman I and Strawman II to attack organized crime interests in Vegas in the late 70s and early 80s and figured out that Thomas, the Civellas and others conspired to conduct the skim at all the Argent casinos for the benefit of several Mafia families. A dozen associates were eventually convicted in Kansas City in a 1985 trial that resulted from the federal probes. Thomas—already stewing in jail on a 15-year sentence for a skimming conviction—gave up the ghost. He testified against his former partners in return for immunity from prosecution and somehow miraculously avoided the same agonizing fate of Sol Landie.
Thomas never did implicate Frank Fertitta. Instead, Frank bought out Carl’s interest in the Bingo Palace when the skimming charges first surfaced. The asking price was more fitting for a bid on The Price is Right game show than it was for an established Vegas Casino. Legend has it that Frank Junior acquired full ownership and control over the Bingo Palace for just one dollar.
Fertitta has consistently denied any involvement, and he never was indicted or charged in the Argent skimming. He would not fully shake the charges against him in his adopted home state until 1989 when he was cleared in a Nevada Gaming Control Board probe. The investigation centered on whether or not Frank Junior lied about his role in the Argent skimming when he received his Nevada gaming license. To nab him, the board would have to rely on damning testimony from one of Carl Thomas’ former skimming security agents: Harry McBride.
Cold feet fueled by fears that his account of the skimming days would never trump Fertitta’s political connections in Nevada led McBride to tank his own testimony before the Gaming Control Board. McBride previously testified in court that he ran counter-surveillance against law enforcement for Thomas at the Argent properties. McBride had already detailed under oath how “Frank” ran the skimming operation in the Fremont Casino’s count room, yet it was apparently not enough for Nevada gaming officials to act on without McBride actually appearing before the commission and telling his full story. The four-year probe by the commission ended with a 2-1 decision to take no action taken against Frank Junior.
Frank Fertitta, Jr. was recorded in a 1979 FBI wiretap as part of the Strawman probes as he spoke with Carl Thomas and Tropicana Hotel Manager Don Shepard about one particular scheme to alter the weighing of the take to facilitate more skimming. Casino managers altered the scales so they read only a third of the actual weight of the coins. Even with what seem like extremely incriminating statements made on tape and McBride’s on-the-record court testimony about Frank’s part in the skim, Fertitta somehow escaped indictment:
FBI Wiretap of the Bingo Palace Casino, Las Vegas, Nev. Feb 7, 1979.
9.00pm outgoing call:
Frank Fertitta Jr, Carl Thomas voices heard, inaudible conversation takes place between them as the number 9739-2222 is dialed from The Bingo Palace.
FEMALE OPERATOR: Tropicana
FERTITTA: Don Shepard, please (casino manager)
FERTITTA: Hello Shep.
SHEPARD: Yeah.
FERTITTA: Frank.
SHEPARD: What are you doing?
FERTITTA: I’m sitting here having a glass of wine with Mr. Thomas.
SHEPARD: Oh, good.
FERTITTA: He’s telling me how smart he is and, I’m sitting here listening to him like an idiot.
SHEPARD: Yeah.
FERTITTA: Yeah.
SHEPARD: If you need anybody to tell you how dumb you are come on over, I’m pretty good at that.
FERTITTA: (Laugh)
SHEPARD: Ah, this, listen this conversation isn’t being recorded is it?
FERTITTA: I, I really couldn’t tell ya.
SHEPARD: Yeah. Ask, ask, a ask Carl if anybody’s going to go boogie-ing tonight. I’m ready to boogie, do a little YMCA number.
FERTITTA: You’re ready?
SHEPARD: Oh, yeah, shit, yeah.
FERTITTA: Jesus Christ, I don’t believe this.
SHEPARD: I’m just sitting here, my legs are twitching. I can hardly wait to dance.
FERTITTA: We, were just talking about going out of town or something.
SHEPARD: Oh, yeah, well actually I should go out of town to dance.
INTERUPTION OF RECORDING
SHEPARD: Did you see me?
FERTITTA: I didn’t see you.
SHEPARD: Oh?
FERTITTA: No.
SHEPARD: A quarter of it whatever.
FERTITTA: Right, so if these coins cost us say $20,000, we got $150,000 on, you know, we’re going to have like $130,000 in excess cash.
SHEPARD: Yeah.
FERTITTA: You know.
SHEPARD: Yeah. We don’t have that problem over here.
FERTITTA: Well, yea, you…well I don’t mean excess cash, but I mean more cash than they have so, I don’t think its funny here.
SHEPARD: We’ve got. I’ve got about like $80,000 stock piled.
FERTITTA: Yeah.
SHEPARD: You know or something, we, we haven’t felt any crunch or anything I was just curious if you’re, you know.
FERTITTA: Well we had $50,000 see, but I didn’t want to make the change over here until we got them all cause $50,000 wouldn’t, you know, we couldn’t make the change with 50, so, ah, we need like 150.
SHEPARD: When are you going to switch your tokens?
FERTITTA: As soon as I get them all.
SHEPARD: Yeah.
FERTITTA: I’ll switch in fact I think we’re supposed to have them all. Oh, Jimmy gave me a date today, but I’ve forgot what it was. Ah, now maybe next week or something, then I’ll probably just go ahead and switch over.
SHEPARD: Okay, well listen I’ll talk to you.
FERTITTA: OK
Fertitta’s good fortune would not last, and the skimming suspicions would resurface later on. Yet, with the statute of limitations up on potential criminal charges and the 4-year gaming control board probe dead in the water Frank Junior was free to begin setting the stage for the Fertitta Family empire in Vegas. By then, the old Bingo Palace had made its transformation into Palace Station and Frank Junior hired son Frank Fertitta III to be the General Manager in 1985.
Both of Frank Junior’s sons were well educated and groomed to operate successful businesses from a very young age. Dinner table conversation often revolved around business in their younger days, and the brothers proved to be excellent students who heeded their father’s lessons. They had plenty of business to discuss as the 80s saw 13 expansion projects for the original Fertitta property.
Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta would not completely take over the reigns of the family casino business until 1993 when Frank Junior officially retired, relegating himself to more of an observer and advisor role and elevating Frank III to the official owner title. Looking back, it seems to have been more of a symbolic move on the elder Fertitta’s part designed to appease the Nevada Gaming Control Board. A 90s boom period under the official supervision of the sons saw 8 different casino interests added to the Vegas family empire between 1994 and 2001. That same kind of acquisition rate might have been impossible as long as Frank Jr.’s past could be brought up to shed a bad light on future gaming license applications.
It appears that a 1992 foray for the family into Missouri may have been what finally forced the father’s hand to sign Station Casinos over to his son Frank III. State gaming regulators swooped in and demanded answers to the skimming allegations against the father, and the Fertitta family would find almost nothing but misery in Missouri until an old associate’s untimely death in late 1993 cleared the way for their casinos to come to town.
Frank Junior’s influence and his intricate history of Mob ties have remained hidden and unexplored of late. Maybe because of the new “clean money” mantra the sons maintain in the public eye today. Maybe because not enough people care to look deep enough or far enough back to understand it all. Whatever the reason, by shedding the weight of their father’s tainted reputation and scratching his name from the company’s deeds, the sons blazed a new era that eventually landed the brothers on the Forbes 500 list.
When Frank Fertitta, Jr. came to Las Vegas from Galveston, Texas in 1960, he quickly found work as a bellboy at the Tropicana. Fertitta’s Texas-bred “family” history included decades of successful casino operations in Las Vegas that some experts say was the original model for Vegas. Fertitta—just a 20-something visionary at the time with both smart business sense and shady, underworld connections—fit right into the landscape. Frank’s rise to owning his own casino would only take him 16 years.
Fertitta graduated through the ranks quickly and gained respect from the Kansas City Civella crime family. Fertitta ascended to a position as a blackjack dealer and worked up to management while making friendships with very influential Vegas movers and shakers.
In 1969, Nick Civella was identified by a Senate committee as being a principal member of the Kansas City Crime Family. During a 10-day period in mid-January 1970, the FBI picked up information through listening devices to indict Civella and several others on gambling conspiracy charges involving the recent Super Bowl between Kansas City and Minnesota. The Civellas were caught up in a criminal probe in 1970 after Civella was taped discussing that year’s impending Super Bowl between the Kansas City Chiefs and Minnesota Vikings.
Eventually the Super Bowl tapes would convict Civella of gambling charges, which resulted in a 20-month imprisonment that he began serving in 1977. Though Civella would only do short time and get out early for cancer surgery, the informant who testified to send him to the Big House ended up suffering a far worse fate. Sol Landie was viciously murdered by four black men who first took turns sexually abusing his wife while he was forced to watch. Though he was never convicted for ordering the hit, the Karma for that killing caught up with Civella a few years later when he wound up spending most of the last days of his life behind bars.
In February 1983, Civella, who had been at the federal medical facility in Springfield, was transferred back to Leavenworth so he could be closer to his attorneys. Four days after the transfer he was returned to Springfield for treatment. Federal authorities released him to his family on March 1 and Civella was quickly admitted to the Menorah Medical Center in Kansas City where he died on March 12, 1983.
These were the kinds of associates Frank Fertitta, Jr. would find himself haunted by over the next few decades as he built his "family" interest in Vegas. Still, he and his sons transformed his original stake in “The Casino” in Vegas from virtually nothing into one of the largest gaming empires on the planet. Though he eventually had to cede the control of the business to his sons, his fatherly guidance behind-the-scenes has no doubt helped shape the business through its most tumultuous times.
The following video clips explain a bit about general Vegas history and the evolution of the early “skim.” Though I doubt anyone in Vegas truly believes organized crime no longer exists there, the acceptance and open reign of known Mobsters in Vegas was once accepted and understood as the way things were. People always seemed willing to look the other way when it was convenient and everyone was getting a bonus for it. Over the last few decades as Vegas became a boom town people flocked to in droves, the Mafia influence has been pushed further and further underground. As reporter George Knapp explains in one of these clips, the concern in more recent years is that organized crime’s tendrils have become more sophisticated, much less obvious, and more focused on so-called “clean money.” Ruthless business deals in Vegas now may be metaphorically cut-throat, but they don’t usually involve so much actual murder and mayhem anymore. A look back at the city’s rocky history and corrupt underbelly reveals a great deal about why it seems to stand so hopelessly idle today. Greed kills:
The Las Vegas I recently visited is in a seemingly perpetual state of construction, and ravaged real estate markets there from the boom gone bust have left the area wanting and needing more and more tourist dollars every year just to keep afloat. Call it Karma, call it divine providence, but it certainly appears as if the appeal and allure of “Glitter Gulch” may have run its course with an American population that is finding it harder and harder to generate enough expendable income to make the pilgrimage to Sin City. It is a far cry from the Las Vegas Frank Fertitta, Jr. once knew.
Frank Junior got his big break in 1976 when he bought a place aptly named “The Casino” (quickly re-named Bingo Palace) with a partner, Carl Thomas. The Bingo Palace later became known as Palace Station. Thomas was at that time already the chief executive officer of four casinos owned by the Argent Corporation. The movie “Casino” starring Joe Pesci (playing Tony “The Ant” Spilotro) and Robert Deniro (playing Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal) is one of the best illustrations of the skimming operation Thomas masterminded for the Mafia.
COUNT ROOM VIDEOS:
Rosenthal would later report, “Carl [Thomas] introduced me to Frank Fertitta, as ‘my main guy,’ and his right-hand man. Frank became the President of Allen Glick’s Fremont Hotel Casino at the recommendation of Carl Thomas during my temporary absence from the industry while I was awaiting the outcome my appeal versus the Nevada Gaming Commission. When I regained my former position as the CEO of all properties under the “Argent” (Allen R. Glick Enterprises) umbrella, Frank and I became more interactive. Frank had gained a solid reputation as a top-notch casino executive who understood the games with a high degree of professionalism. After several private meetings and close personal observation I too agreed that Frank was well suited to operate the second largest Casino in the downtown area.”
Carl Thomas’ criminal coming out party took place in Chicago in 1963 while Thomas was celebrating at friend Allen Dorfman’s 40th birthday bash. Thomas had already learned the ropes of skimming in his early days at the still-standing Circus Circus Casino in Las Vegas:
Thomas, also a former blackjack dealer like Frank Junior, was the general manager of the Circus Circus when he came to the Dorfman birthday party, and he’d impressed the guest of honor enough to warrant an introduction to another party guest: Kansas City Crime Boss Nick Civella. That connection would pave the way for Thomas to become the ultimate Las Vegas skimming mastermind. He would help reap millions upon millions of illegitimate income for organized crime interests, choking it all out of the desert with expert ease and relying on a “connected” network of loyal associates to get the job done and keep quiet about it.
Carl Thomas brought Frank Fertitta, Jr. in to be general manager of the Argent-owned Fremont. Frank Junior’s gaming career would forever have a dark cloud hanging over it after federal agents finally sniffed out the massive skimming enterprise. However, even before the FBI fully infiltrated Vegas’ best kept secret in the mid-80s, the Allen Glick-run Argent had some sketchy dealings related to a slot machine scam.
Allen R. Glick was what is most often referred to in real estate as a “straw man.” Famous and/or privacy minded folks, and especially criminal folks like Mafioso often resort to having lesser known and more inconspicuous individuals buy their businesses and other property to avoid investigation of their assets or to avoid the prying eyes of the press and/or Papa Razzi. Glick was just one of many in a long line of Mafia straw men who populated Vegas in the pioneering days when the Mafia’s Teamster connections gave the country’s organized crime families a virtual monopoly in town.
According to Glick, he was told by Civella after getting the Teamster loan that gave him his Vegas start, "Cling to every word I say … if it would be my choice, you wouldn’t leave this room alive. You owe us $1.2 million. I want that paid. In addition, we own part of your corporation, and you are to do nothing to interfere with it … We will let Mr. Rosenthal continue with the casinos, and you are not to interfere."
Thomas had much more sinister partners than Frank Fertitta, Jr. during the Argent days, and they’d already managed to get themselves black booked in town as charter members of the infamous list of Vegas outcasts. Thomas, Rosenthal and Glick were subordinate to Giuseppe Nicoli "Mr. Nick" Civella and Carl "the Cork" Civella, brothers and bosses of the La Cosa Nostra chapter in Kansas City at the time. After the Texas boom busted for the Fertitta family, Kansas City quickly became Grand Central for Vegas Mafia interests. The key was the Teamster loans Mafioso so easily influenced. Moe Dalitz got one to build Vegas' first ever Casino: The Desert Inn, but that was back in the heady Maceo era, and Sam Maceo himself reportedly pulled all the right Strings to get Dalitz his first Vegas loans.
The Fertitta and Thomas partnership was later detailed by Nicholas Pileggi, who authored the book “Casino.” The movie of the same name is based on Pileggi's book. Here is an excerpt from the book regarding a Nov. 28, 1978 FBI recording in which Frank Junior’s name surfaced in relation to his role in the skim:
“Carl Thomas: ... Me and Frank (Fertitta) and (Don) Shepard and my bookkeeper, my comptroller, who is one thousand percent, they're with me for fifteen years, have sat around in my kitchen thinking. For six hours, thinking of ways to beat these joints `cause (I or I'd) like to take money out of them. ...”
Federal agents launched operations called Strawman I and Strawman II to attack organized crime interests in Vegas in the late 70s and early 80s and figured out that Thomas, the Civellas and others conspired to conduct the skim at all the Argent casinos for the benefit of several Mafia families. A dozen associates were eventually convicted in Kansas City in a 1985 trial that resulted from the federal probes. Thomas—already stewing in jail on a 15-year sentence for a skimming conviction—gave up the ghost. He testified against his former partners in return for immunity from prosecution and somehow miraculously avoided the same agonizing fate of Sol Landie.
Thomas never did implicate Frank Fertitta. Instead, Frank bought out Carl’s interest in the Bingo Palace when the skimming charges first surfaced. The asking price was more fitting for a bid on The Price is Right game show than it was for an established Vegas Casino. Legend has it that Frank Junior acquired full ownership and control over the Bingo Palace for just one dollar.
Fertitta has consistently denied any involvement, and he never was indicted or charged in the Argent skimming. He would not fully shake the charges against him in his adopted home state until 1989 when he was cleared in a Nevada Gaming Control Board probe. The investigation centered on whether or not Frank Junior lied about his role in the Argent skimming when he received his Nevada gaming license. To nab him, the board would have to rely on damning testimony from one of Carl Thomas’ former skimming security agents: Harry McBride.
Cold feet fueled by fears that his account of the skimming days would never trump Fertitta’s political connections in Nevada led McBride to tank his own testimony before the Gaming Control Board. McBride previously testified in court that he ran counter-surveillance against law enforcement for Thomas at the Argent properties. McBride had already detailed under oath how “Frank” ran the skimming operation in the Fremont Casino’s count room, yet it was apparently not enough for Nevada gaming officials to act on without McBride actually appearing before the commission and telling his full story. The four-year probe by the commission ended with a 2-1 decision to take no action taken against Frank Junior.
Frank Fertitta, Jr. was recorded in a 1979 FBI wiretap as part of the Strawman probes as he spoke with Carl Thomas and Tropicana Hotel Manager Don Shepard about one particular scheme to alter the weighing of the take to facilitate more skimming. Casino managers altered the scales so they read only a third of the actual weight of the coins. Even with what seem like extremely incriminating statements made on tape and McBride’s on-the-record court testimony about Frank’s part in the skim, Fertitta somehow escaped indictment:
FBI Wiretap of the Bingo Palace Casino, Las Vegas, Nev. Feb 7, 1979.
9.00pm outgoing call:
Frank Fertitta Jr, Carl Thomas voices heard, inaudible conversation takes place between them as the number 9739-2222 is dialed from The Bingo Palace.
FEMALE OPERATOR: Tropicana
FERTITTA: Don Shepard, please (casino manager)
FERTITTA: Hello Shep.
SHEPARD: Yeah.
FERTITTA: Frank.
SHEPARD: What are you doing?
FERTITTA: I’m sitting here having a glass of wine with Mr. Thomas.
SHEPARD: Oh, good.
FERTITTA: He’s telling me how smart he is and, I’m sitting here listening to him like an idiot.
SHEPARD: Yeah.
FERTITTA: Yeah.
SHEPARD: If you need anybody to tell you how dumb you are come on over, I’m pretty good at that.
FERTITTA: (Laugh)
SHEPARD: Ah, this, listen this conversation isn’t being recorded is it?
FERTITTA: I, I really couldn’t tell ya.
SHEPARD: Yeah. Ask, ask, a ask Carl if anybody’s going to go boogie-ing tonight. I’m ready to boogie, do a little YMCA number.
FERTITTA: You’re ready?
SHEPARD: Oh, yeah, shit, yeah.
FERTITTA: Jesus Christ, I don’t believe this.
SHEPARD: I’m just sitting here, my legs are twitching. I can hardly wait to dance.
FERTITTA: We, were just talking about going out of town or something.
SHEPARD: Oh, yeah, well actually I should go out of town to dance.
INTERUPTION OF RECORDING
SHEPARD: Did you see me?
FERTITTA: I didn’t see you.
SHEPARD: Oh?
FERTITTA: No.
SHEPARD: A quarter of it whatever.
FERTITTA: Right, so if these coins cost us say $20,000, we got $150,000 on, you know, we’re going to have like $130,000 in excess cash.
SHEPARD: Yeah.
FERTITTA: You know.
SHEPARD: Yeah. We don’t have that problem over here.
FERTITTA: Well, yea, you…well I don’t mean excess cash, but I mean more cash than they have so, I don’t think its funny here.
SHEPARD: We’ve got. I’ve got about like $80,000 stock piled.
FERTITTA: Yeah.
SHEPARD: You know or something, we, we haven’t felt any crunch or anything I was just curious if you’re, you know.
FERTITTA: Well we had $50,000 see, but I didn’t want to make the change over here until we got them all cause $50,000 wouldn’t, you know, we couldn’t make the change with 50, so, ah, we need like 150.
SHEPARD: When are you going to switch your tokens?
FERTITTA: As soon as I get them all.
SHEPARD: Yeah.
FERTITTA: I’ll switch in fact I think we’re supposed to have them all. Oh, Jimmy gave me a date today, but I’ve forgot what it was. Ah, now maybe next week or something, then I’ll probably just go ahead and switch over.
SHEPARD: Okay, well listen I’ll talk to you.
FERTITTA: OK
Fertitta’s good fortune would not last, and the skimming suspicions would resurface later on. Yet, with the statute of limitations up on potential criminal charges and the 4-year gaming control board probe dead in the water Frank Junior was free to begin setting the stage for the Fertitta Family empire in Vegas. By then, the old Bingo Palace had made its transformation into Palace Station and Frank Junior hired son Frank Fertitta III to be the General Manager in 1985.
Both of Frank Junior’s sons were well educated and groomed to operate successful businesses from a very young age. Dinner table conversation often revolved around business in their younger days, and the brothers proved to be excellent students who heeded their father’s lessons. They had plenty of business to discuss as the 80s saw 13 expansion projects for the original Fertitta property.
Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta would not completely take over the reigns of the family casino business until 1993 when Frank Junior officially retired, relegating himself to more of an observer and advisor role and elevating Frank III to the official owner title. Looking back, it seems to have been more of a symbolic move on the elder Fertitta’s part designed to appease the Nevada Gaming Control Board. A 90s boom period under the official supervision of the sons saw 8 different casino interests added to the Vegas family empire between 1994 and 2001. That same kind of acquisition rate might have been impossible as long as Frank Jr.’s past could be brought up to shed a bad light on future gaming license applications.
It appears that a 1992 foray for the family into Missouri may have been what finally forced the father’s hand to sign Station Casinos over to his son Frank III. State gaming regulators swooped in and demanded answers to the skimming allegations against the father, and the Fertitta family would find almost nothing but misery in Missouri until an old associate’s untimely death in late 1993 cleared the way for their casinos to come to town.
Frank Junior’s influence and his intricate history of Mob ties have remained hidden and unexplored of late. Maybe because of the new “clean money” mantra the sons maintain in the public eye today. Maybe because not enough people care to look deep enough or far enough back to understand it all. Whatever the reason, by shedding the weight of their father’s tainted reputation and scratching his name from the company’s deeds, the sons blazed a new era that eventually landed the brothers on the Forbes 500 list.
Dagwood- Location : Canada
Age : 59
Posts : 4205
Join date : 2011-11-14
Re: HOW FRANK JUNIOR BUILT THE FERTITTA MAFIA EMPIRE IN LAS VEGAS
Thu Jan 14, 2021 7:52 am
Dagwood wrote:All information in this thread has been compiled by long-time MMA forum poster Dagwood
From L to R: Blake Sartini Jr., Blake Sartini (brother in law), Dana White, Frank Fertitta II (father), Lorezo Fertitta, Frank Fertitta III
Lorenzo Fertitta >> Frank Fertitta III >> Frank Fertitta II (father) >> Fertitta's Grandfather to Fertitta's Uncles >> Fertitta's Cousins >> Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal (subject of movie Casino at the Freemont hotel/casino who worked for Fertitta's dad there) >> Sam Maceo >> Rosario Maceo to Palermo Sicily (home of the Mafia)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Frank & Lorenzo's family includes Sam Maceo & Rosario Maceo
Sam Maceo - Godfather Maceo-Fertitta Organized Crime Family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Maceo
Rosario Maceo - co-Godfather Maceo-Fertitta Organized Crime Family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosario_Maceo
Salvatore Maceo, also known as Sam Maceo, and Rosario Maceo were businessman, community leaders, and organized crime bosses in Galveston, Texas in the United States. Because of his efforts Galveston Island became a nationally known resort town during the early and mid 20th century, a period known as Galveston's Open Era. They who rose from humble beginnings to become prominent in Galveston's notorious nightlife scene in the mid-1900s before branching out to Las Vegas, Nevada.
He and his brother, both Sicilian immigrants, owned numerous restaurant and casino venues including the now-vanished Hollywood Dinner Club and the Balinese Room. Sometimes known as the "Velvet Glove," Sam's smooth style and ability to influence people were legendary. He was able to wield influence comparable to an elected official and he held relationships with celebrities and politicians throughout Texas and the United States. During his lifetime he and his island home were known nationwide.
The culture and economy Sam & Rosario's Maceo/Fertitta crime syndicate helped create on the island engendered the nickname "Free State of Galveston." They were also involved in the development of the Las Vegas Strip during the late 1940s, particularly the establishment of the Desert Inn.
The Fertitta family and the Maceo family considered each other kin because of the marriage of Joseph Frances Fertitta to Sam's sister Olivia Maceo. The Fertittas became involved in the Maceo businesses due to this relationship.
Frank Fertitta II, Frank & Lorenzo's father was founder & former chairman of Station Casinos. Federal investigations linked him to a mob money-skimming operation in 1985 when he was caught on an FBI wire tap stating so, though he was never charged or sanctioned.
Nonetheless, Missouri gaming officials in 1992 refused to issue a gambling permit to Station unless the company guaranteed Fertitta would have no part in its management, according to published reports. This is when Frank III took over the business reigns from his father.
Both Frank III & Lorenzo were working for the family business during the time that their father was caught on FBI wire-taps implicating himself in the illegal skimming operation at the Fremont Hotel/Casino working together with known organized crime members. The FBI wire-tap transcripts were released to the media. This caused a lot of controversy in Las Vegas and the media there reported closely on it.
It was well known by longtime Las Vegas residents that the Fertitta family was involved in organized crime. It would have been hard to keep this away from the students at Bishop Gorman High School where the Fertitta brothers attended and met Dana White. There is little chance this wasn't public knowledge there too.
Station Casino execs drive spike to begin construction of 587-room/22-story tower - 07/09/90
L to R: Frank Fertitta Jr/father (CEO), Glen Christensen, Joe Canfora, Jim Faso, Lorenzo Fertitta (VP), Frank Fertitta III (Pres.) & Blake Sartini/cousin (Dir. Ops)
*A whole lot of very Sicilian Italian names running the show at Station Casinos
Tilman J. Fertitta (Lorenzo & Frank's 1st cousin)
His family includes Sam and Rosario Maceo who rose from humble beginnings to become prominent in Galveston's notorious nightlife scene in the mid-1900s before branching out to Las Vegas, Nevada. His cousins are Station Casinos owners Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta. Tilman Fertitta recently joined the ranks of casino owners himself when Landry's purchased the historic Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas as well as the location in Laughlin, Nevada. He has two brothers Victor Fertitta and Todd Fertitta. Both work for Landry's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilman_J._Fertitta
Sam Maceo - Godfather Maceo-Fertitta Organized Crime Family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Maceo
Rosario Maceo - co-Godfather Maceo-Fertitta Organized Crime Family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosario_Maceo
http://unlimitedfightnews.com/wordpress/?p=2457
Maceo mafia family bosses.. Frank J. Fertitta I (Frank III & Lorenzo's grandfather), Victor J. & Anthony J. Fertitta (great-uncles) took control over the Maceo Family mafia organization in the 1950's. Godfather's Sam & Rosario Maceo handed control over to the newly-minted "Fertitta Organized Crime Family".
Frank and Lorenzo's father Frank II was a known member of his family's 100+ year old Maceo-Fertitta organized crime organization.
http://www.americanmafia.com/Inside_Vegas/5-12-08_Inside_Vegas.html
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/119377-the-real-story-behind-the-ufcs-royal-family
Frank III & Lorenzo's father Frank Fertitta Jr. was caught on FBI wire-taps incriminating himself in an illegal casino skimming operation along with known organized crime members that lasted for years. This had been well documented in the Las Vegas media at the time.
Many in the Las Vegas community where aware of the (Palace) Station Casinos' Fertitta family and their reported ties to organized crime.
http://writingfortruth.blogspot.com/2010/07/from-bellboy-to-gambling-tycoon-how.html
USGov vs MMA's Fertittas: NV's Biggest Unfair Labor Practice Case
by dagwood » Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:49 pm
This has been going on for a while but I think it is pertinent to how MMA's dominant player's history has been with their Casino employees and the National Labor Relations Board.
As things moves forward with the StrikeForce merger and the new position major league/top-tier fighters are in as a result... it would be good to get some perspective on MMA's Fertittas and their labor-relations history.
The case below is ongoing and a decision by the federal government won't be brought down until later this year. The Frank Fertitta III-run & Fertitta family-owned Station Casinos is now facing 197 charges by the National Labor Relations Board which is a record for any Nevada owned company. The charges include: illegally using... threats, intimidation, interrogation, surveillance, bribery, discouragement, discrimination, discipline and physical assault against employees engaged in lawfully protected union activities.
This situation is also having a huge impact on MMA being sanctioned in the state of New York. It seems this is not only coming up to bite the Fertitta's in the butt... but it is affecting all fans, promotions and fighters in New York as well as the national scene.
See the Oct. 2010 & June 2011 Culinary Worker's Union press releases and Las Vegas Hispanic TV station video below...
US Gov. vs Fertittas: NV's Biggest Unfair Labor Practice Case
The National Labor Relations Board Complaint vs Station Casinos Contains over 165 Charges, says Culinary Workers Union Local 226
October 26, 2010
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) begins to prosecute its Unfair Labor Practice case against Station Casinos, Inc. in front of Administrative Law Judge Geoffrey Carter. The NLRB’s complaint against the dominant Las Vegas locals casino operator and the third-largest private employer in Las Vegas has grown to include more than 165 charges, the most ever against a Nevada gaming company. The NLRB alleges that, from February 19 through August 31, the company has illegally used threats, intimidation, interrogation, surveillance, bribery, discouragement, discrimination, discipline and physical assault against employees engaged in lawfully protected union activities. The hearing is expected to last several weeks as Station workers testify in the government's case against the company.
“We certainly hope Station Casinos will not retaliate against any of the workers who are brave enough to testify against the company during the NLRB hearing”
“People will see clearly now that Station is a very anti-union company that is trying to do everything it can to stop us from having a voice on the job and winning a better life for our families,” said Norma Flores, a food runner at Fiesta Henderson and one of the Station Casinos Organizing Committee members who will testify as a government witness in the hearing.
“We certainly hope Station Casinos will not retaliate against any of the workers who are brave enough to testify against the company during the NLRB hearing,” said Geoconda Arguello-Kline, President of the Culinary Union Local 226. “It is bad enough that Station is running an aggressive anti-union campaign, which has led to this massive NLRB complaint. It will be adding insult to injury if it punishes workers further for speaking out against allegedly illegal behavior by their supervisors and managers.”
In February 2010, workers from Station Casinos’ ten major properties in the Las Vegas area formed the Station Casinos Organizing Committee to demand that the company allow Station workers to exercise their right to decide whether to unionize.
The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 is the largest local affiliate of UNITE HERE, which represents more than 250,000 workers throughout the U.S. and Canada who work in the hospitality, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, laundry, and airport industries.
Contacts
Culinary Workers Union Local 226
Ken Liu, 702-387-7001
kliu@culinaryunion226.org
Press Conference: U.S. Government Issues Massive Complaint Against Station Casinos
Longtime Fan wrote:
There could be endless debate on the subject of whether the Zuffa-owning Fertitta sons could possibly be made men even despite all the oversight and regulation involved in the gaming industry. So, is it conceivable Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta might still be doing the bidding of the same kind of ruthless folks their father worked for when he made all his initial inroads in Las Vegas?
As far as being bosses of a crime family, the two brothers don't fit the stereotypical Mafia Don profile at all, though Frank III has been referred to as Frankie Three Sticks before. Yet, blending into the mainstream business world would be perfect cover if these two brothers are indeed somehow carrying on the old family traditions and associations. If the influence is more subtle, less pronounced, harder to track, and hardly ever talked about, everybody wins.
An investigation into the familys recent business activity from A to Zuffa reveals that even if the mafia stigma is no longer a factor, certain moves made by all the associated Fertitta businesses resemble financial hits or shakedowns , like the one they did on Pride to capture and disassemble their top competitor.
No other Fertitta business move in relation to MMA has been more infamous than the assassination of PRIDE, at one point the greatest and only major threatening competition the UFC faced. Yet, long before PRIDE was on the Zuffa purchasing radar the Fertitta-led Zuffa team muscled in on other promoters and made the whole industry fit their needs. The process seemed to favor them every step of the way, and it is no surprise that they gained quick sanctioning and respectability in Nevada because of the Fertitta endorsement (he used to be part of the athletic comission) and the familys power base there.
I stated in my last thread how Lorenzo Fertitta joined the N.S.A.C and the interesting chain of events that immediately unfolded: a commissioner changes his mind to later become owner of the SAME ORGANIZATION HE DENIED EVENTS TO.
Racketeering , lobbying and financial hostile takeovers are illegal according to the law , that is unless you can manage to control the law in Your state.
A notorious move made by zuffa early on was to trademark the word Octagon. There is a California promoter named Kazja (who happened to post on the sherdog forum too) who was using that term and an octagon cage long before the UFC made it famous. Kazja is a very intriguing character, and he can recite the detailed history of MMA's rise in California and the political machinations that culminated recently in the disgraced exodus of California State Athletic Commission Armando Garcia. People like Kazja and Ron Kort have been screaming from the rooftops for years about how the UFC is allegedly complicit in much of the corruption involved in California MMA circles.
There are folks out there , along with Kazja who have been trying to show for years that the Fertittas, Dana White, and Zuffa as a whole started out by stealing whatever they could get away with to build what has since become the WWE of MMA. Its well known that nice guys finish last and the business world can certainly be a cruel and brutal atmosphere at times, but some would argue the UFCs approach to business has been excessively and increasingly ruthless.
There are even allegations that the folks behind the UFC stole the concept for one of the most popular UFC offshoots: The Ultimate Fighter reality TV franchise. Chris Champagne told us back in 2007 about a TUF-like show called The Quest he allegedly pitched to Dana White (who at first wasnt fond of the idea but was later covinced by the fertittas), only to have it snatched from him without getting any credit or payment whatsoever.
So, as far as rackets the Fertittas have still got robbery going for them in at least a figurative business sense. The latest cases of the Xyience bankruptcy and the Station Casinos looming bankruptcy debacle represent an extension of what looks to me like a sophisticated new legal corporate theft ring. The Fertittas have also recently personally extended an offering of $244 million in cash to bankrupt Station casinos smoothly and wipe out much of the vaulting debt that hangs over the company while under the Chapter 11 blanket.
It appears that they might have been using the Xyience bankruptcy as a trial run to see if they could handle such a process and if it would be beneficial. So, the recent family history details a penchant for adapting old school mafia thinking into new-school shady business dealing. The new rules of engagement may all be legal but they are no less dangerous and disturbing to the victims on the other end of the shaft. Whats more concerning is that we dont get to see the illegal side of it because they are perfect criminals just like the rest of the elitist monopolizing banking cartels that are the companies that form part of the n.w.o.
The only actual murder thought to be possibly connected in any way to the Fertitta Family in recent years is that of casino skimmer Carl Thomas, and because of the mysterious circumstances there isnt any actual evidence that it even was a murder. Thomas was killed in a one car accident in Oregon shortly after talking to Frank Fertitta, Jr. about testimony Thomas was supposed to give in relation to the Fertitta family's gaming interests. He died before he could give that testimony, and the crash was ruled an accident. Thomas and Fertitta had a long history together, some of which is illustrated in the Nicholas Pilleggi book that spawned the movie Casino. This whole thing went down eerily similar to how the C.I.A and the joint chiefs of staff assassinated J.F.Kennedy. A perfect cover up .
If Thomas was murdered, the execution was perfectly planned and orchestrated. The Fertittas have an uncanny history of avoiding the long arm of the law. Even in the days when many Fertitta family members were known organized crime associates running rackets in Texas they were able to avoid convictions. The family has mastered the art of not getting caught in the act and covering up their transgressions and their past family history. This is usually accomplished by paying the police to look the other way through bribery and extends to judges and officials.
This kind of ruthless criminal genius may just be passed down from generation to generation through genetics, and the latest crop of Fertitta brothers may very well be the most sophisticated and slick businessmen to ever come from the Fertitta bloodline. After all, under their tenure as Zuffa owners they have been able to corner the MMA market and remain on the top of the heap of competing leagues.
The corporate murder of the Japanese based PRIDE organization is still lamented by hard core MMA fans who miss the PRIDE format and unique rules. The UFC would eventually acquire all the PRIDE assets by promising to continue to run and cultivate PRIDE as a going concern. Instead, Zuffa simply dismantled their competition piece by piece. The PRIDE and Xyience cases overlap in some respects, but until now I have devoted little research to the history of PRIDE itself and the deal that resulted in that organizations ultimate death. The gist of the Xyience connection is that the strength of the Xyience sponsorship was touted as one of the justifications for the $350 million financing package related to the PRIDE purchase that was procured by Zuffa. I lay out the whole senior secured credit facility scheme here: XYIENCE: THE ENRON OF MMA.
The Fertittas bought into Xyience just in time to prop it up and make it look viable for the PRIDE financing to go through. It appears to me that the UFCs acquisition of PRIDE was never designed to keep both organizations alive and thriving. The UFC has been steadily losing the most money on overseas shows since it is headquartered in Las Vegas and naturally holds many of its events there or in the continental United States. The logistics and the costs skyrocket when you have to take the whole operation to the other side of the world for a major event. To operate PRIDE in Japan would have been a logistical nightmare for the Fertittas without relying heavily on those already running the company there. Its pretty obvious to me that the UFC had this in mind all along when they set about destroying the PRIDE brand after purchasing the company. From what I know about Zuffa and the Fertittas, they dont like working with any other promotion if they dont absolutely have to. So I wonder why would they agree to work with PRIDEs assistance at all.
The Fertittas and Zuffa lawyers made sure all agreements with PRIDEs owners had an easy way out (loophole) . If they could prove a technicality to back out of any contract they signed with PRIDE, it would be a perfect arrangement for them to feign interest in maintaining the league until they could find a way to destroy it. If they intended to work with PRIDE to continue the organization, the agreements they signed would seem to be along those lines. However, if they only intended to lie to PRIDE officials just long enough to acquire the company and all the assets, the language and the fine print of those agreements would be naturally written with escape clauses.
The covenants of the $350 million senior secured credit facility Zuffa used to buy PRIDE and its assets may contain some hints to this scandal if they are ever made public or acquired by PRIDEs legal team. If the Fertittas indeed intended to cultivate the PRIDE brand according to their promises to PRIDE officials, those covenants should say something about that business plan.
Not surprisingly, Zuffas defense was a good offense, as they filed the first legal bullet against Pride in this ongoing saga. Reports first surfaced about the lawsuit in early February of 2008. The suit claimed that Zuffas bargain basement PRIDE buyout was nothing of the sort and that the UFC was actually the victim in the whole deal. This Sherdog article describes how the initially rosy PRIDE/UFC conglomeration developed and then dissolved into litigation over the course of about a year after the UFC bought the league.
The UFC suit focused on background checks supposedly required on the PRIDE deal due to the Fertitta connection to Station Casinos and the Nevada Gaming Commission. This is a puzzling since naturally the Fertittas have to keep their gaming interests and the UFC operations wholly separate from each other. For instance, UFC bets are not taken at Station Casinos properties, and UFC events are not held at any Station Casinos property. Also, it doesnt appear any background checks were done on some of the individuals associated with the Xyience bankruptcy and my initial Xyience reports.
PRIDEs legal team responded with a countersuit. They just filed this amended counterclaim pleading that describes a devious plan to allegedly kill PRIDE voiced by none other than Dana White himself. PRIDE contends that Zuffa officials breached their contracts and pumped up the glorified tabloid stories of PRIDEs associations with Yakuza crime families in Japan that were printed in a Japanese publication called Shukan Gendai. The publication is no stranger to stirring worldwide scandal and regularly publishes controversial nude photos.
The magazine is probably best known outside Japan for its role in the scandal which led to Romanian gymnasts Corina Ungureanu, Lavinia Milosovici and Claudia Presecan being banned from competing or coaching in their home country for five years, as it was the first to publish images from their nude photobook and DVDs, which controversially featured the gymnasts wearing their official leotards.
Considering the 90% owners of the UFC come from a long line of notorious made men these Yakuza allegations against Dream Stage Entertainment owners are a bit hypocritical. They played the character assasination card here against Pride , first attacking their integrity and later disasembling the company.
A hard look must be taken at the Senior Secured Credit Facility which was used to buy PRIDE and allow the principal Zuffa owners to pocket huge dividends. These same loan instruments on a much larger scale were taken out by Station Casinos in amounts of nearly a billion dollars in each instance over the last few years, which obviously resulted in a lot of overhead costs and interest payments combined with a ton of debt that crash landed and exploded due to the ongoing recession. The Fertittas went about a campaign of ruthless and relentless acquisitions and expansion to get themselves in their current Station Casinos situation, and they pinballed the company from Public to Private status to find a way to make the whole thing appear profitable despite the billions in debt they were in officially.
Suddenly they have $244 million in the pocket of an old pair of jeans to throw into reorganizing Station Casinos, but they couldnt revamp PRIDE when that organization showed signs that the going may be difficult? It doesnt seem plausible when considering the less than $70 million cost of PRIDE compared to the dividends pocketed by Dana White and the Fertittas through that $350 million credit facility that paid for PRIDE. That instrument could have and should have given all of Zuffas owners enough money to solve any looming problem with promoting and re-creating the PRIDE brand in their image. That is, IF they ever actually intended to keep PRIDE in operation.
Of course, there is not really any dispute as to who murdered PRIDE. The UFC terminated the league without a doubt, and the blood of PRIDE is certainly all over their hands.
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Re: HOW FRANK JUNIOR BUILT THE FERTITTA MAFIA EMPIRE IN LAS VEGAS
Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:43 am
- Megatherium
- Location : Horseshoe Bay BC
Posts : 16
Join date : 2016-07-16
Re: HOW FRANK JUNIOR BUILT THE FERTITTA MAFIA EMPIRE IN LAS VEGAS
Fri Mar 12, 2021 1:44 am
Dagwood wrote:Dagwood wrote:All information in this thread has been compiled by long-time MMA forum poster Dagwood
From L to R: Blake Sartini Jr., Blake Sartini (brother in law), Dana White, Frank Fertitta II (father), Lorezo Fertitta, Frank Fertitta III
Lorenzo Fertitta >> Frank Fertitta III >> Frank Fertitta II (father) >> Fertitta's Grandfather to Fertitta's Uncles >> Fertitta's Cousins >> Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal (subject of movie Casino at the Freemont hotel/casino who worked for Fertitta's dad there) >> Sam Maceo >> Rosario Maceo to Palermo Sicily (home of the Mafia)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Frank & Lorenzo's family includes Sam Maceo & Rosario Maceo
Sam Maceo - Godfather Maceo-Fertitta Organized Crime Family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Maceo
Rosario Maceo - co-Godfather Maceo-Fertitta Organized Crime Family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosario_Maceo
Salvatore Maceo, also known as Sam Maceo, and Rosario Maceo were businessman, community leaders, and organized crime bosses in Galveston, Texas in the United States. Because of his efforts Galveston Island became a nationally known resort town during the early and mid 20th century, a period known as Galveston's Open Era. They who rose from humble beginnings to become prominent in Galveston's notorious nightlife scene in the mid-1900s before branching out to Las Vegas, Nevada.
He and his brother, both Sicilian immigrants, owned numerous restaurant and casino venues including the now-vanished Hollywood Dinner Club and the Balinese Room. Sometimes known as the "Velvet Glove," Sam's smooth style and ability to influence people were legendary. He was able to wield influence comparable to an elected official and he held relationships with celebrities and politicians throughout Texas and the United States. During his lifetime he and his island home were known nationwide.
The culture and economy Sam & Rosario's Maceo/Fertitta crime syndicate helped create on the island engendered the nickname "Free State of Galveston." They were also involved in the development of the Las Vegas Strip during the late 1940s, particularly the establishment of the Desert Inn.
The Fertitta family and the Maceo family considered each other kin because of the marriage of Joseph Frances Fertitta to Sam's sister Olivia Maceo. The Fertittas became involved in the Maceo businesses due to this relationship.
Frank Fertitta II, Frank & Lorenzo's father was founder & former chairman of Station Casinos. Federal investigations linked him to a mob money-skimming operation in 1985 when he was caught on an FBI wire tap stating so, though he was never charged or sanctioned.
Nonetheless, Missouri gaming officials in 1992 refused to issue a gambling permit to Station unless the company guaranteed Fertitta would have no part in its management, according to published reports. This is when Frank III took over the business reigns from his father.
Both Frank III & Lorenzo were working for the family business during the time that their father was caught on FBI wire-taps implicating himself in the illegal skimming operation at the Fremont Hotel/Casino working together with known organized crime members. The FBI wire-tap transcripts were released to the media. This caused a lot of controversy in Las Vegas and the media there reported closely on it.
It was well known by longtime Las Vegas residents that the Fertitta family was involved in organized crime. It would have been hard to keep this away from the students at Bishop Gorman High School where the Fertitta brothers attended and met Dana White. There is little chance this wasn't public knowledge there too.
Station Casino execs drive spike to begin construction of 587-room/22-story tower - 07/09/90
L to R: Frank Fertitta Jr/father (CEO), Glen Christensen, Joe Canfora, Jim Faso, Lorenzo Fertitta (VP), Frank Fertitta III (Pres.) & Blake Sartini/cousin (Dir. Ops)
*A whole lot of very Sicilian Italian names running the show at Station Casinos
Tilman J. Fertitta (Lorenzo & Frank's 1st cousin)
His family includes Sam and Rosario Maceo who rose from humble beginnings to become prominent in Galveston's notorious nightlife scene in the mid-1900s before branching out to Las Vegas, Nevada. His cousins are Station Casinos owners Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta. Tilman Fertitta recently joined the ranks of casino owners himself when Landry's purchased the historic Golden Nugget in downtown Las Vegas as well as the location in Laughlin, Nevada. He has two brothers Victor Fertitta and Todd Fertitta. Both work for Landry's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilman_J._Fertitta
Sam Maceo - Godfather Maceo-Fertitta Organized Crime Family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Maceo
Rosario Maceo - co-Godfather Maceo-Fertitta Organized Crime Family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosario_Maceo
http://unlimitedfightnews.com/wordpress/?p=2457
Maceo mafia family bosses.. Frank J. Fertitta I (Frank III & Lorenzo's grandfather), Victor J. & Anthony J. Fertitta (great-uncles) took control over the Maceo Family mafia organization in the 1950's. Godfather's Sam & Rosario Maceo handed control over to the newly-minted "Fertitta Organized Crime Family".
Frank and Lorenzo's father Frank II was a known member of his family's 100+ year old Maceo-Fertitta organized crime organization.
http://www.americanmafia.com/Inside_Vegas/5-12-08_Inside_Vegas.html
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/119377-the-real-story-behind-the-ufcs-royal-family
Frank III & Lorenzo's father Frank Fertitta Jr. was caught on FBI wire-taps incriminating himself in an illegal casino skimming operation along with known organized crime members that lasted for years. This had been well documented in the Las Vegas media at the time.
Many in the Las Vegas community where aware of the (Palace) Station Casinos' Fertitta family and their reported ties to organized crime.
http://writingfortruth.blogspot.com/2010/07/from-bellboy-to-gambling-tycoon-how.html
USGov vs MMA's Fertittas: NV's Biggest Unfair Labor Practice Case
by dagwood » Tue Jun 21, 2011 10:49 pm
This has been going on for a while but I think it is pertinent to how MMA's dominant player's history has been with their Casino employees and the National Labor Relations Board.
As things moves forward with the StrikeForce merger and the new position major league/top-tier fighters are in as a result... it would be good to get some perspective on MMA's Fertittas and their labor-relations history.
The case below is ongoing and a decision by the federal government won't be brought down until later this year. The Frank Fertitta III-run & Fertitta family-owned Station Casinos is now facing 197 charges by the National Labor Relations Board which is a record for any Nevada owned company. The charges include: illegally using... threats, intimidation, interrogation, surveillance, bribery, discouragement, discrimination, discipline and physical assault against employees engaged in lawfully protected union activities.
This situation is also having a huge impact on MMA being sanctioned in the state of New York. It seems this is not only coming up to bite the Fertitta's in the butt... but it is affecting all fans, promotions and fighters in New York as well as the national scene.
See the Oct. 2010 & June 2011 Culinary Worker's Union press releases and Las Vegas Hispanic TV station video below...
US Gov. vs Fertittas: NV's Biggest Unfair Labor Practice Case
The National Labor Relations Board Complaint vs Station Casinos Contains over 165 Charges, says Culinary Workers Union Local 226
October 26, 2010
LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) begins to prosecute its Unfair Labor Practice case against Station Casinos, Inc. in front of Administrative Law Judge Geoffrey Carter. The NLRB’s complaint against the dominant Las Vegas locals casino operator and the third-largest private employer in Las Vegas has grown to include more than 165 charges, the most ever against a Nevada gaming company. The NLRB alleges that, from February 19 through August 31, the company has illegally used threats, intimidation, interrogation, surveillance, bribery, discouragement, discrimination, discipline and physical assault against employees engaged in lawfully protected union activities. The hearing is expected to last several weeks as Station workers testify in the government's case against the company.
“We certainly hope Station Casinos will not retaliate against any of the workers who are brave enough to testify against the company during the NLRB hearing”
“People will see clearly now that Station is a very anti-union company that is trying to do everything it can to stop us from having a voice on the job and winning a better life for our families,” said Norma Flores, a food runner at Fiesta Henderson and one of the Station Casinos Organizing Committee members who will testify as a government witness in the hearing.
“We certainly hope Station Casinos will not retaliate against any of the workers who are brave enough to testify against the company during the NLRB hearing,” said Geoconda Arguello-Kline, President of the Culinary Union Local 226. “It is bad enough that Station is running an aggressive anti-union campaign, which has led to this massive NLRB complaint. It will be adding insult to injury if it punishes workers further for speaking out against allegedly illegal behavior by their supervisors and managers.”
In February 2010, workers from Station Casinos’ ten major properties in the Las Vegas area formed the Station Casinos Organizing Committee to demand that the company allow Station workers to exercise their right to decide whether to unionize.
The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 is the largest local affiliate of UNITE HERE, which represents more than 250,000 workers throughout the U.S. and Canada who work in the hospitality, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, laundry, and airport industries.
Contacts
Culinary Workers Union Local 226
Ken Liu, 702-387-7001
kliu@culinaryunion226.org
Press Conference: U.S. Government Issues Massive Complaint Against Station Casinos
Longtime Fan wrote:
There could be endless debate on the subject of whether the Zuffa-owning Fertitta sons could possibly be made men even despite all the oversight and regulation involved in the gaming industry. So, is it conceivable Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta might still be doing the bidding of the same kind of ruthless folks their father worked for when he made all his initial inroads in Las Vegas?
As far as being bosses of a crime family, the two brothers don't fit the stereotypical Mafia Don profile at all, though Frank III has been referred to as Frankie Three Sticks before. Yet, blending into the mainstream business world would be perfect cover if these two brothers are indeed somehow carrying on the old family traditions and associations. If the influence is more subtle, less pronounced, harder to track, and hardly ever talked about, everybody wins.
An investigation into the familys recent business activity from A to Zuffa reveals that even if the mafia stigma is no longer a factor, certain moves made by all the associated Fertitta businesses resemble financial hits or shakedowns , like the one they did on Pride to capture and disassemble their top competitor.
No other Fertitta business move in relation to MMA has been more infamous than the assassination of PRIDE, at one point the greatest and only major threatening competition the UFC faced. Yet, long before PRIDE was on the Zuffa purchasing radar the Fertitta-led Zuffa team muscled in on other promoters and made the whole industry fit their needs. The process seemed to favor them every step of the way, and it is no surprise that they gained quick sanctioning and respectability in Nevada because of the Fertitta endorsement (he used to be part of the athletic comission) and the familys power base there.
I stated in my last thread how Lorenzo Fertitta joined the N.S.A.C and the interesting chain of events that immediately unfolded: a commissioner changes his mind to later become owner of the SAME ORGANIZATION HE DENIED EVENTS TO.
Racketeering , lobbying and financial hostile takeovers are illegal according to the law , that is unless you can manage to control the law in Your state.
A notorious move made by zuffa early on was to trademark the word Octagon. There is a California promoter named Kazja (who happened to post on the sherdog forum too) who was using that term and an octagon cage long before the UFC made it famous. Kazja is a very intriguing character, and he can recite the detailed history of MMA's rise in California and the political machinations that culminated recently in the disgraced exodus of California State Athletic Commission Armando Garcia. People like Kazja and Ron Kort have been screaming from the rooftops for years about how the UFC is allegedly complicit in much of the corruption involved in California MMA circles.
There are folks out there , along with Kazja who have been trying to show for years that the Fertittas, Dana White, and Zuffa as a whole started out by stealing whatever they could get away with to build what has since become the WWE of MMA. Its well known that nice guys finish last and the business world can certainly be a cruel and brutal atmosphere at times, but some would argue the UFCs approach to business has been excessively and increasingly ruthless.
There are even allegations that the folks behind the UFC stole the concept for one of the most popular UFC offshoots: The Ultimate Fighter reality TV franchise. Chris Champagne told us back in 2007 about a TUF-like show called The Quest he allegedly pitched to Dana White (who at first wasnt fond of the idea but was later covinced by the fertittas), only to have it snatched from him without getting any credit or payment whatsoever.
So, as far as rackets the Fertittas have still got robbery going for them in at least a figurative business sense. The latest cases of the Xyience bankruptcy and the Station Casinos looming bankruptcy debacle represent an extension of what looks to me like a sophisticated new legal corporate theft ring. The Fertittas have also recently personally extended an offering of $244 million in cash to bankrupt Station casinos smoothly and wipe out much of the vaulting debt that hangs over the company while under the Chapter 11 blanket.
It appears that they might have been using the Xyience bankruptcy as a trial run to see if they could handle such a process and if it would be beneficial. So, the recent family history details a penchant for adapting old school mafia thinking into new-school shady business dealing. The new rules of engagement may all be legal but they are no less dangerous and disturbing to the victims on the other end of the shaft. Whats more concerning is that we dont get to see the illegal side of it because they are perfect criminals just like the rest of the elitist monopolizing banking cartels that are the companies that form part of the n.w.o.
The only actual murder thought to be possibly connected in any way to the Fertitta Family in recent years is that of casino skimmer Carl Thomas, and because of the mysterious circumstances there isnt any actual evidence that it even was a murder. Thomas was killed in a one car accident in Oregon shortly after talking to Frank Fertitta, Jr. about testimony Thomas was supposed to give in relation to the Fertitta family's gaming interests. He died before he could give that testimony, and the crash was ruled an accident. Thomas and Fertitta had a long history together, some of which is illustrated in the Nicholas Pilleggi book that spawned the movie Casino. This whole thing went down eerily similar to how the C.I.A and the joint chiefs of staff assassinated J.F.Kennedy. A perfect cover up .
If Thomas was murdered, the execution was perfectly planned and orchestrated. The Fertittas have an uncanny history of avoiding the long arm of the law. Even in the days when many Fertitta family members were known organized crime associates running rackets in Texas they were able to avoid convictions. The family has mastered the art of not getting caught in the act and covering up their transgressions and their past family history. This is usually accomplished by paying the police to look the other way through bribery and extends to judges and officials.
This kind of ruthless criminal genius may just be passed down from generation to generation through genetics, and the latest crop of Fertitta brothers may very well be the most sophisticated and slick businessmen to ever come from the Fertitta bloodline. After all, under their tenure as Zuffa owners they have been able to corner the MMA market and remain on the top of the heap of competing leagues.
The corporate murder of the Japanese based PRIDE organization is still lamented by hard core MMA fans who miss the PRIDE format and unique rules. The UFC would eventually acquire all the PRIDE assets by promising to continue to run and cultivate PRIDE as a going concern. Instead, Zuffa simply dismantled their competition piece by piece. The PRIDE and Xyience cases overlap in some respects, but until now I have devoted little research to the history of PRIDE itself and the deal that resulted in that organizations ultimate death. The gist of the Xyience connection is that the strength of the Xyience sponsorship was touted as one of the justifications for the $350 million financing package related to the PRIDE purchase that was procured by Zuffa. I lay out the whole senior secured credit facility scheme here: XYIENCE: THE ENRON OF MMA.
The Fertittas bought into Xyience just in time to prop it up and make it look viable for the PRIDE financing to go through. It appears to me that the UFCs acquisition of PRIDE was never designed to keep both organizations alive and thriving. The UFC has been steadily losing the most money on overseas shows since it is headquartered in Las Vegas and naturally holds many of its events there or in the continental United States. The logistics and the costs skyrocket when you have to take the whole operation to the other side of the world for a major event. To operate PRIDE in Japan would have been a logistical nightmare for the Fertittas without relying heavily on those already running the company there. Its pretty obvious to me that the UFC had this in mind all along when they set about destroying the PRIDE brand after purchasing the company. From what I know about Zuffa and the Fertittas, they dont like working with any other promotion if they dont absolutely have to. So I wonder why would they agree to work with PRIDEs assistance at all.
The Fertittas and Zuffa lawyers made sure all agreements with PRIDEs owners had an easy way out (loophole) . If they could prove a technicality to back out of any contract they signed with PRIDE, it would be a perfect arrangement for them to feign interest in maintaining the league until they could find a way to destroy it. If they intended to work with PRIDE to continue the organization, the agreements they signed would seem to be along those lines. However, if they only intended to lie to PRIDE officials just long enough to acquire the company and all the assets, the language and the fine print of those agreements would be naturally written with escape clauses.
The covenants of the $350 million senior secured credit facility Zuffa used to buy PRIDE and its assets may contain some hints to this scandal if they are ever made public or acquired by PRIDEs legal team. If the Fertittas indeed intended to cultivate the PRIDE brand according to their promises to PRIDE officials, those covenants should say something about that business plan.
Not surprisingly, Zuffas defense was a good offense, as they filed the first legal bullet against Pride in this ongoing saga. Reports first surfaced about the lawsuit in early February of 2008. The suit claimed that Zuffas bargain basement PRIDE buyout was nothing of the sort and that the UFC was actually the victim in the whole deal. This Sherdog article describes how the initially rosy PRIDE/UFC conglomeration developed and then dissolved into litigation over the course of about a year after the UFC bought the league.
The UFC suit focused on background checks supposedly required on the PRIDE deal due to the Fertitta connection to Station Casinos and the Nevada Gaming Commission. This is a puzzling since naturally the Fertittas have to keep their gaming interests and the UFC operations wholly separate from each other. For instance, UFC bets are not taken at Station Casinos properties, and UFC events are not held at any Station Casinos property. Also, it doesnt appear any background checks were done on some of the individuals associated with the Xyience bankruptcy and my initial Xyience reports.
PRIDEs legal team responded with a countersuit. They just filed this amended counterclaim pleading that describes a devious plan to allegedly kill PRIDE voiced by none other than Dana White himself. PRIDE contends that Zuffa officials breached their contracts and pumped up the glorified tabloid stories of PRIDEs associations with Yakuza crime families in Japan that were printed in a Japanese publication called Shukan Gendai. The publication is no stranger to stirring worldwide scandal and regularly publishes controversial nude photos.
The magazine is probably best known outside Japan for its role in the scandal which led to Romanian gymnasts Corina Ungureanu, Lavinia Milosovici and Claudia Presecan being banned from competing or coaching in their home country for five years, as it was the first to publish images from their nude photobook and DVDs, which controversially featured the gymnasts wearing their official leotards.
Considering the 90% owners of the UFC come from a long line of notorious made men these Yakuza allegations against Dream Stage Entertainment owners are a bit hypocritical. They played the character assasination card here against Pride , first attacking their integrity and later disasembling the company.
A hard look must be taken at the Senior Secured Credit Facility which was used to buy PRIDE and allow the principal Zuffa owners to pocket huge dividends. These same loan instruments on a much larger scale were taken out by Station Casinos in amounts of nearly a billion dollars in each instance over the last few years, which obviously resulted in a lot of overhead costs and interest payments combined with a ton of debt that crash landed and exploded due to the ongoing recession. The Fertittas went about a campaign of ruthless and relentless acquisitions and expansion to get themselves in their current Station Casinos situation, and they pinballed the company from Public to Private status to find a way to make the whole thing appear profitable despite the billions in debt they were in officially.
Suddenly they have $244 million in the pocket of an old pair of jeans to throw into reorganizing Station Casinos, but they couldnt revamp PRIDE when that organization showed signs that the going may be difficult? It doesnt seem plausible when considering the less than $70 million cost of PRIDE compared to the dividends pocketed by Dana White and the Fertittas through that $350 million credit facility that paid for PRIDE. That instrument could have and should have given all of Zuffas owners enough money to solve any looming problem with promoting and re-creating the PRIDE brand in their image. That is, IF they ever actually intended to keep PRIDE in operation.
Of course, there is not really any dispute as to who murdered PRIDE. The UFC terminated the league without a doubt, and the blood of PRIDE is certainly all over their hands.
Hey Dagwood
lamarclark09- Posts : 166
Join date : 2022-10-20
Re: HOW FRANK JUNIOR BUILT THE FERTITTA MAFIA EMPIRE IN LAS VEGAS
Fri Jun 16, 2023 4:46 am
A long news and a very long article. Can someone please summarise this one.
- UFC trying to obtain naming rights for their new vegas arena being built
- Proof Fertitta Family is 100 yr. old Mafia Family (not just ties)
- Proof Fertitta Family is 100 yr. old Mafia Family (not just ties)
- Proof Fertitta Family is 100 yr. old Mafia Family (not just ties)
- Proof Fertitta Family is 100 yr. old Mafia Family (not just ties)
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