Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Nicholas Pileggi (Author), Joe Grifasi (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1995

Love, greed and betrayal in the Las Vegas mob. From Nicholas Pileggi, author of the bestselling "Wiseguy" -- the #1 bestseller that later became the hit movie "Goodfellas" -- comes this brilliantly told tale of love, marriage, adultery, murder and revenge Mafia-style, the true story of how the mob finally lost its stranglehold over the multi-billion-dollar casino gambling industry of Las Vegas. No one knew more about casinos than Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, the gambling mastermind who, with his best friend and partner Anthony Spilotro virtually "ran" Las Vegas for the mob. For years it was the perfect arrangement -- Lefty provided the smarts and obsessive attention to detail, while Tony made sure the bosses stayed happy with their weekly suitcases filled with millions of dollars in skimmed cash. It was so sweet it should have lasted forever, but Lefty's obsession with running the town -- and Tony's obsession with Lefty's beautiful showgirl wife Geri -- eventually led to the betrayals and investigations that exploded into one of the greatest debacles in the mob's history. A real-life story of love and betrayal set in America's favorite playground, "Casino" is a Mafia tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions, as well as the inside account of just how the mob lost control of the neon money-making machine it created.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The author of the best-selling Wiseguy gives us this true and brilliantly-told story of love, marriage, adultery, murder, revenge, and how it led to the Mafia's finally losing its stranglehold on the Las Vegas casinos. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

The basis for the Martin Scorsese movie of the same name, Pileggi's true-crime account charts the rise and fall of a pair of Vegas hoods.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Audioworks; Abridged edition (November 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671534564
• ISBN-13: 978-0671534561
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,561,254 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #84 in Books > Books on Cassette > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > General
  • #91 in Books > Books on Cassette > Nonfiction > Social Sciences > Sociology

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great piece on the mob and its Vegas heyday, May 21, 2006

By 

Scott Hedegard "Scott" (Fayetteville, AR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas (Hardcover)

Perhaps a little more well known for "Wiseguys", the book that became the movie "Goodfellas", Nicholas Pileggi is as good as they get when it comes to writing about the Mafia, its people and the drama of living the life. It is unfortunate that he doesn't work very fast - more books would be welcome.
"Casino" is the true story of Vegas in its heyday prior to the mega resort/casinos we see today, like Excalibur, New York New York, The Luxor, etc. Before large corporations turned Las Vegas into a theme park with casinos, the Chicago mob pretty much controlled the then famous casinos of the day, like the Stardust, where the movie "Casino" disguises it with the fictional name of The Tangier. Skimming the profits was the mob's business. Perhaps the greatest handicapper of all time, Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, ran three major casinos and ran them well. Chicago sent out the legendary Tony Spilotro to keep an eye on "Lefty" and protect him and the moolah. Spilotro, however, had ideas of his own and soon became mired in a horrendous mess, dragging Rosenthal and eventually all the mob controlled casinos to their demise with him. Rosenthal still lives, and even has a web site, but Spilotro at books' end learns the hard way that being insubordinate to the mob and skimming their skim has dire consequences.
Pileggi is a master at showing a picture of the lives of these people, the shady deals, the threats from every corner, from the state, other criminals and the Mob, and how difficult life is for those who choose the gambling scene as a way of life.
It's morbid but fascinating reading. A must for fans of organized crime books.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Could have benefitted from Pesci voiceover, March 2, 2005

By 

N. P. Stathoulopoulos "nick9155" (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas (Hardcover)

Note this book is not fiction, nor a novelization of the film Casino. Like Wiseguy, it's the real account that Scorsese fashioned into a film (with Pileggi's help again).

Casino tells the story of the Chicago mob's major role in running Las Vegas, how it happened, and how it more or less ended (or appeared to) in the 1980s. Instead, corporations (institutionalized gangsters) took over, and now we're to assume that gambling is a respectable, fine industry. It's hard to cheer for the state 'gaming' officials as they pursue mobsters who are skimming a casino, of all places. A character in the film says it best when he exclaims, 'You mean the money we're robbing is bein' robbed?!'

A good read before or after the excellent film. Readers will note that the basis for the Frank Vincent character (Frank Marino in the film, Frank Cullotta in real life) provides much of the info here, certainly on Tony 'the Ant' Spillotro, the basis for the Pesci character. There's quite a bit of detail as far shady business dealings, politics, and mob bosses go, but less of the nitty gritty mobster detail from Wiseguy.

Hard to know whether to weep for the old or new Las Vegas. While it was mobbed-up in the past, it's now a neutralized Disneyworld and a respectable holiday destination for families. One wonders who the real greedheads are.

A good, if overlong account.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Olsen Reviewer is incorrect, May 28, 2004

By 

Michael L Klimek (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas (Hardcover)

This book IS NOT fiction. It is the true story that the movie Casino was based on.

In the book, the names have not been changed and there are a few more details than in the movie.

If you like the movie, I suggest reading the book to get the whole picture of what went down.