Casino

Starred review from October 15, 1995
The author of Wiseguy (LJ 2/1/86) (filmed as Goodfellas) serves up another colorful tale of Mafia misdeeds. Pileggi's primary source is gambler Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal (who luckily survived a car bomb), and the focus is on the mob takeovers of the Stardust and Tropicana casinos, using Teamster pension funds, in the 1970s. Mafia infighting between the Chicago and Kansas City factions, coupled with court convictions, effectively halted organized crime's Las Vegas gold mine in the 1980s. Published to coincide with the release of the Martin Scorsese film, starring Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, and Joe Pesci, this episodic, lively book is likely to be a hit movie. Recommended for popular collections. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/95.]-Gregor A. Preston, Univ. of California Lib., Davis

Starred review from September 1, 1995
Pileggi, author of the best-selling "Wiseguys" (1986), which was filmed by Martin Scorsese as "Goodfellas," unravels another fascinating true-crime Mob story. Through interviews with Mafia big shots from all over the country, Pileggi tells the extraordinary tale of how a team of Chicago mobsters headed west to conquer Vegas. Leading the pack was Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, who learned his bookmaking trade early, ditching school to go to the track. His interest in sports of all kinds blossomed as he realized that the more he knew about a sport and its players, the more accurate his numbers. Local bookies soon saw the value in Lefty's knowledge, and eventually he landed in Vegas. Like Henry Hill in "Wiseguys," Lefty tells Pileggi the story of his career in no-holds-barred fashion, exposing the rampant, multileveled corruption in extensive detail--the skimming, the bribing of authorities, the inside dealing. He also explains what brought the Mob's Vegas house down--his personal squabble with former best friend Tony "the Art" Spilotro, who supplied the muscle behind Lefty's brains. With nonfiction page-turners like the kind Pileggi writes, who needs crime fiction? Expect heavy demand with the simultaneous release of "Casino" the book and the movie, again directed by Scorsese and starring Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, and Sharon Stone. ((Reviewed Sept. 1, 1995))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1995, American Library Association.)