CASINO (FILM)

'''Casino''' is a 1995 film directed by Martin Scorsese, based on the book of the same name by Nicholas Pileggi and Larry Shandling. Robert De Niro stars as Sam "Ace" Rothstein, a top gambling handicapper who is called by the Mob to oversee the day-to-day operations at the fictional Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas. The story is based on Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, who ran the Stardust, Fremont and the Hacienda casinos in Las Vegas for The Mob from the 1970s until the early 1980s.
Joe Pesci plays Nicky Santoro, based on the real-life Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro, an intimidating enforcer and psychopath. Santoro is sent by the Chicago Outfit to Vegas to make sure that money from the Tangiers is skimmed off the top and that the casinos and mobsters in Vegas are kept in line. Sharon Stone plays Rothstein's wife, the self-obsessed, spoiled, devious and sly Ginger, a role that earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

Contents

Plot

Vegas

Enter Ginger

Fall from Power

Differences between fact and fiction

Cast

Trivia

External links

Plot

Vegas

Spanning over a decade in Las Vegas, the film is the adaptation of ''Casino'', the true-crime account of the lives of mob associates Frank Rosenthal (renamed Sam "Ace" Rothstein for the movie), Tony "The Ant" Spilotro (renamed Nicholas "Nicky" Santoro), Joseph Aiuppa (Remo Gaggi) and Frank Culotta (Frank Marino). Rothstein, Santoro and Marino narrate the film.
Ace is entrusted by the leaders of the Chicago Outfit, led by Gaggi from Chicago, Illinois, to manage a Las Vegas casino (the Tangiers) they have financed via the Teamsters' Pension Fund and send them skimmed profits. Ace's friend Nicky shows up later (he was first sent to Vegas by Gaggi to keep an eye on Ace and to, more or less, "protect" him) and starts working for himself. While Ace appears to be a kind-hearted gentleman, Nicky is the polar opposite: an amoral psychopath who will not hesitate to kill anyone he sees as a threat. In one scene, after Nicky is asked by Gaggi to protect Ace, Nicky stabs a man in the throat with a pen multiple times solely for insulting Ace then mocks the man's whimpers. His cruelty also comes to the surface at another point when he takes his anger out on the casino manager, Billy Sherbert (Don Rickles) and hits him in the face with a telephone, calling him a "Jew fuck". Ace's gangster side is also shown in a few scenes, especially in one where he spots two cheaters and has the security guards brutally punish one of them by breaking his right hand with a hammer.

Enter Ginger

Ace and Nicky's relationship meets its biggest test when a woman named Ginger McKenna (based on Geraldine McGee) comes into Ace's life. After dating for a few months they have a daughter, Amy, and get married, Ace having bought her a mound of jewelery and insisted on having the child first to ensure Ginger's commitment to him. All seems well until Ace catches Ginger sneaking around with her old pimp boyfriend, Lester Diamond (based on Lenny Marmor). Ginger's relationship with Lester goes back to when she was age 14. Ace and Nicky have their men beat Lester, but it only strains Ace and Ginger's relationship. Ginger, slowly starting to grow bored and upset with Ace's lifestyle and authority, files for a divorce, only to learn that Ace is no longer willing to allow her to leave with her money and jewelry under the fear that she will squander and waste it all.
However, things also start to take a turn for the worse for Ace and Nicky. Ace meets up with Senator Harrison Roberts at dinner and discusses the subject of getting a gambling license. Roberts agrees to give Ace a fair hearing, but Ace's friendship with Nicky and his mafia background get in the way. Despite the efforts of Oscar Goodman (Ace's lawyer) to show some documents clearing Ace, Roberts refuses Ace a fair hearing, and as a result, a furious Ace is rejected a license.
Ginger eventually goes as far as to kidnap Amy and flee for Los Angeles with Lester, making plans to escape to Europe (presumably to the UK) and hold her ransom. However, Ace and Nicky track them down and convince Ginger to bring Amy back home. Upon their return, Ginger has drastically changed: she now has shorter hair, breast implants, and is heavily addicted to cocaine. Lester finally leaves Ginger and Ace alone.
Though not satisfied, Ace accepts Ginger back inside the house, and quietly lashes at her in a restaurant about how he should have killed Lester the first time and would have killed the both of them had he tracked them down in Europe. That night, he catches Ginger speaking on the phone, asking someone to assassinate her husband. Furious, Ace hangs the phone up and literally throws her out of the house with one suitcase of money and clothes. She returns later on, but Ace has an even harder time accepting her back. His narration states that he allowed her back in the house particularly for being the mother of his daughter, someone whom he needed.
Still wanting to leave Rothstein with her money and jewellery, Ginger seduces the one man who will help her: Nicky. They begin an affair, which could land them all killed by Gaggi (Nicky is a made-man, and sleeping with an associate's wife is against the made-man code). At one point, Gaggi asks Nicky's right-hand man, Frankie Marino, about the rumours of the affair, but Marino deliberately lies to Gaggi to protect Nicky, despite knowing that his discretion could get him killed too. Ace also starts to hear of the rumours of the affair, and Ginger states that she'll just back Nicky off, although she and Nicky frequently make love in secret.

The breaking point occurs when Ace and Nicky have a falling out over Nicky's reckless criminal activities and the unwanted attention they receive from the police. Worried for his friend, Ace tries to convince Nicky to keep a lower profile, but he will not listen. It is only after Nicky threatens a stock market manager that Ace realizes Nicky's true goal: to take over the casino empire by overthrowing Remo Gaggi.
Ace returns home one night to find his daughter Amy tied to the bedposts - by Ginger. Ace then receives a call from Nicky, who claims that Ginger is at his restaurant (''The Leaning Tower'') with him. Furious upon realizing this, Ace rushes to the restaurant, pushes Nicky aside and confronts Ginger, warning her that should she ever abuse their daughter again, he will murder her. Ace forces her out, but she angrily goes back to the restaurant after they get home.
Ginger blames Nicky for the mess, while Nicky tells her it is she who is at fault. Ginger begs Nicky to kill Ace, but Nicky angrily refuses, having been Ace's best friend for 35 years. When Nicky tells Ginger that he won't be able to get her money now, Ginger attacks Nicky. Nicky then shows his brutal nature and mercilessly throws her out of the restaurant with help from Marino.
The next day, Ginger goes to Ace's home and demands that he give her the share of the money and her jewellery. When she arrives, she repeatedly smashes her car into Ace's car several times, prompting nearby neighbors to call the police. Ginger causes a scene in front of Ace's house and when the police arrive, she demands that they help her enter the house. Ace says he will permit her inside for a few moments to gather some clothes. Ginger sneaks into Ace's office and breaks into his desk, stealing the key to the safe deposit box where most of their cash is stored. At the bank, Ginger collects a large amount of cash from the box and drives off, where FBI agents then follow and pull her over and she is arrested on charges of aiding and abetting.

Fall from Power

Ginger's arrest begins the gradual crumbling of the casino empire, and the bosses are arrested and taken to court, although they hold a private meeting in the back room to decide which witnesses they should get rid of as soon as possible. As a result of said meeting, they kill an associate, Andy Stone (head of the Central States Teamsters Union Pension Fund), two casino executives, a casino count room clerk, and the money courier John Nance who was hiding out in Costa Rica. (Nance's son was already in trouble with the FBI on drug charges; the bosses decided to execute Nance to prevent his potentially testifying in court to protect his son.) Returning to the opening scene of the film, Ace himself is nearly killed by a car bomb, but he suspects the attempt on his life was not ordered by the bosses, instead suspecting Nicky to be the culprit.
But Nicky himself is killed before Ace can find and interrogate him: Nicky and his brother Dominick are severely beaten with bats and buried alive in a cornfield in Indiana. By this time the bosses have had enough of Nicky, so states Ace while narrating, as both are buried while they are still breathing. Marino, apparently having been granted clemency by Gaggi, participates in the beating of the Santoro brothers, claiming to have had enough of their dirty work. This is the scene in which Nicky's narration ceases for good, as Nicky is hit in the back by Marino. Ginger sinks deeper into drug addiction, hooks up with lowlives, bikers, junkies and pimps, and eventually dies from a drug overdose, alone and destitute. In his narration, Ace states that he had a private autopsy performed on her, and it is also revealed that all that remained of Ginger's money was "$3,600 in mint condition coins."
The film finishes with a voiceover by Ace explaining that the Tangiers is demolished, along with all the older, classic casinos and are replaced with bigger, modern, junk bond-funded, corporate-run affairs. Ace also explains that the quaint, friendly feeling of Las Vegas has been replaced by a greedier, more apathetic one. Ace returns to his work as a sports handicapper for the mob, as he can still pick winners.

Differences between fact and fiction

★ The character of Frank Marino (played by Frank Vincent and based on Frank Cullotta) participates in the killing of the Santoro brothers. In reality, Frank Cullotta was not present and played no part in the beating of the Spilotro brothers (on whom the Santoro brothers were based), and only betrayed them by testifying against them about the M & M murders when Anthony Spilotro ordered him killed over the phone.

★ The character of John Nance, based on George Vandermark, is murdered in the film with two gunshots to the stomach and one to the head and left in open view. The real George Vandermark was murdered along with his drug addict son, Jeffrey, but his body was never found.

★ In the film, Artie Piscano (based on Carl A. "Tuffy" DeLuna) dies of a heart attack during an FBI raid on his home. In reality, DeLuna was arrested and tried, and is still alive as of 2007.

★ The Tangiers Casino, based on the Stardust Resort & Casino, is shown to be demolished at the end of the movie, whereas in real life, the Stardust Casino was not demolished until March 2007.

★ According to Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal's official website (The man which the film is based on), he never juggled on television, even though Robert De Niro's character does.

★ The character Bernie Blue is murdered by the Las Vegas police during a bungled arrest. In real life, Blitzstein was murdered by local mob members and found dead in his Las Vegas townhome in January 1997.

Cast

Actor	Role	Based on
Robert De Niro	Sam "Ace" Rothstein	Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal
Joe Pesci	Nicky "The Ant" Santoro	Tony "The Ant" Spilotro
Sharon Stone	Ginger McKenna Rothstein	Geraldine McGee Rosenthal
Frank Vincent	Frankie Marino	Frank Cullotta
Don Rickles	Billy Sherbert	Robert Stella Senior
Pasquale Cajano	Remo Gaggi	Joseph Aiuppa
James Woods	Lester Diamond	Leonard Marmor-McGee
Kevin Pollak	Philip Green	Allen Glick
Alan King	Andy Stone	Allen Dorfman
Bill Allison	John Nance	George Vandermark
Philip Suriano	Dominick Santoro	Michael Spilotro
Carl Ciarfalio	Tony Dogs	Charles "Charlie M" McCarthy
Vinny Vella	Artie Piscano	Carl DeLuna
Nobu Matsuhisa	K. K. Ichikawa	Akio Kashiwagi
Ffiolliott Le Coque	Anna Scott	Tamara Rand
Bret McCormick	Bernie Blue	"Fat Herbie" Blitzstein
Richard Riehle	Charlie "Clean Face" Clark	William Graham
Dick Smothers	Nevada State Senator Harrison Roberts	US Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)
Oscar Goodman	Himself	Himself

Trivia

★ Tony and Michael Spilotro were re-named 'Nicky Santoro' and 'Dominick Santoro', respectively. This is an obvious reference to two gangsters indicted for the Spilotros' murder, namely Nicky Guzzino and Dominick Palermo.

★ The movie is notable for the "revenge" Frank Vincent gets on Joe Pesci. In ''Goodfellas'', Pesci's character, Tommy DeVito, kills Vincent's character, Billy Batts. As well as in ''Raging Bull'', where Joey Lamotta, played by Pesci, gives a severe beating to the Vincent character, Salvy Batts. However, the fortune is reversed in ''Casino'' as Vincent's character, Frank Marino helps kill Pesci's character Nicky Santoro; ironically, by beating him with a bat.

★ The real Frank Cullotta, who plays the character of Curly, appears in the scene where John Nance, the money courier, is murdered in Costa Rica. Frank Cullotta apparently asks Nance "Where're you going, Jag-Off?" before shooting him in the head. Frank Cullotta and Bill Allison (who played Nance) both served as technical advisors for the movie as well as making cameo appearances.

★ The film holds the third highest total of most uses of the word "fuck" (398) in a feature length film, but had the highest in history upon its release.

★ Madonna was strongly considered for the female lead in the film and took the producers to dinner at a well-known "mafia hangout" to help her secure the part. She was passed over for the role in favor of Sharon Stone.

★ In the scene with Nicky Santoro (Pesci) drunkenly playing blackjack, he says to Billy Sherbert (Don Rickles) "What are you staring at, you bald-headed Jew Prick?" This is one of Don Rickles' trademark insults, although Joe Pesci is the one who says it in the film.

★ The Tangiers Casino is based on The Stardust Resort & Casino, which closed forever on November 1, 2006. Snippets of Hoagy Carmichael's composition ''Stardust'' in the soundtrack give a subtle hint as to the casino's true identity.

★ Sam Rothstein's lawyer in the film is played by Oscar Goodman, Lefty's real lawyer and mayor of Las Vegas.

★ Ray Liotta was considered for the roles of both Phillp Green and Lester Diamond.

★ Lester Diamond was reportedly going to be murdered and buried by Nicky and his crew in an early draft of the script, but this idea was changed under the fear of a lawsuit by Lenny Marmor, who is still living to this day.

★ Rappers Jay-Z and The Notorious B.I.G. make reference to Sam Rothstein in their songs Lost One and "Another". The Notorious B.I.G. also references Nicky on his song "Your Nobody 'Till Somebody Kills You," saying "watch Casino, I'm the hip-hop version of Nicky Tarantino," where he likely changed the name to fit the rhyme.

External links

★

★

★

★ Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal Official Website

★ Anthony "Tony The Ant" Spilotoro's FBI File(pdf format 5.6 MB file size)

★

★ DeLuna released from prison after serving 14 years - April 22, 1998.