It may not be well known, but “Casino”, the 1995 film directed by Martin Scorsese, is inspired by the book “Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas” by journalist and novelist Nicholas Pileggi (who also co-wrote the screenplay) and is based on the very real characters Frank Rosenthal, Geri McGee and Tony Spilotro.
The film may rename them respectively Sam “Ace” Rothstein (played by Robert de Niro), Ginger McKenna (played by Sharon Stone) and Nicky Santoro (played by Joe Pesci), but it does indeed evoke Frank Rosenthal’s irresistible rise during the 70s to the leadership of several Las Vegas casinos under the aegis of the Chicago mafia – the Outfit, his love at first sight for Geri McGee whom he will marry and who will cheat on him with another mobster, Tony Spilotro – which will lead to a car bomb attack, a death by overdose, two bodies buried in a grave dug in a cornfield, and a withdrawal of the Outfit from the Las Vegas.
In the early 1970s, Sam “Ace” Rothstein is sent by the Chicago mafia to Las Vegas to run the Tangiers casino, which is financed and secretly siphoned off by the truckers’ union that serves as a front for the mob. Under Sam’s watchful eye, Tangiers becomes one of the most profitable casinos in Las Vegas and the skimming operations go pretty well.
The arrival of his childhood friend, Nicky Santoro – also under the orders of the Outfit – will turn everything upside down: violent, uncontrollable, the latter’s criminal actions begin to tarnish Sam’s reputation and hinder his actions.
At the same time, another upheaval takes place. Sam meets Ginger. Ginger is a prostitute, Ginger is a con artist, Ginger is under the influence of her ex-boyfriend and occasional pimp Lester Diamond (played by James Woods) but nevertheless, Franck falls madly in love with Ginger and marries her. Their relationship turns out to be like Las Vegas, sparkling on the surface, but the reality is that Sam is possessive and Ginger, who survives on alcohol and drugs, is not in love with her husband.
Frightened by her husband’s jealous outbursts, Ginger soon throws herself into the arms of Nicky Santoro. But the mafia’s code of honor dictates that you don’t touch the wife of a mafia brother.
The spouses’ divorce is violent – which unfortunately can happen. It has other consequences, including murder.
Nicky is beaten with a baseball bat before being buried alive – with his brother – during a meeting between mafiosi in a cornfield. Sam is the victim of a car bomb attack. Ginger dies of an overdose that is not accidental.
The film may be literally breathtaking even though it lasts three hours, Sharon Stone may have received – rightly so – a Golden Globe for best actress in a drama film, De Niro and Pesci may have played together three times under Scorsese’s direction, “Casino” may mark Robert De Niro’s eighth collaboration with Scorsese, the truth is that reality is for once bigger than the movie.
Scorsese changes the real-life characters’ names because the inspiration for his main character – Frank Rosenthal – is still alive (he dies in 2008).
In real life, while Sam only runs one casino, Frank runs four, the Stardust, the Fremont, the Hacienda and the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City. He is the first to introduce sports bets into a casino and to allow female dealers at the blackjack tables, which allows him to double the Stardust’s revenue in just one year.
When he meets Geri McGee, she is independent and earns a very good living.
This was not always the case: Geri grew up in poverty and began working at a young age to help her parents make ends meet. At school, one of Geri’s classmates may be Robert Redford, but it’s another young man who catches her attention: Lenny Larmor, whom she starts dating when she’s only 15. They soon have a daughter, Robin, but Geri leaves alone with her daughter around 1960 for Las Vegas. She becomes a dancer at the Tropicana but it’s mainly her side activities as a con artist, escort girl and prostitute that allow her to support herself, her daughter and her sister who comes to live with her.
She meets the powerful Frank Rosenthal in 1968 and they get married the following year at Caesar Palace, which has a chapel built for the occasion and where the five hundred guests enjoy lobster and caviar.
If Frank falls in love with Geri at first sight, the feeling is not the same for Geri and Frank is perfectly aware of it. Despite the birth of their son Steven, the marriage is not very happy: infidelity and violence are regular – on both sides.
Geri sinks into alcohol and drugs. Franck into jealousy.
He threatens to divorce her but she is afraid of losing everything and ending up on the street: she accepts the odious blackmail of her husband who makes the birth of a second child a condition for the survival of the marriage. Obviously, the arrival of their daughter Stephanie does not save the marriage.
She begins an affair with Tony Spilotro, who is a childhood friend of Franck and who works alongside him. Very quickly, the affair becomes the worst kept secret in Las Vegas: the FBI – who is on the trail of Franck and Tony – knows about it and makes sure that the Chicago mafia knows about it too, hoping that the imminent scandal will allow a few would-be repentants to snitch.
In September 1980, during an argument, Geri brandishes a gun at her husband in front of their house. She is pinned to the ground by her friend – and also wife of Geri’s lover, Tony – in front of the astonished eyes of the helpless police officers present on the scene.
Franck files for divorce and obtains custody of the two children they had together. Exfiltrated from Las Vegas by the mafia because of the excessive media exposure he attracted, he moves to California and then to Florida.
Geri dies of an overdose in a motel in Los Angeles on November 9, 1982 at only 46 years old. Her death is declared accidental, the lethal hot shot cocktail including Valium, cocaine and whiskey. Rosenthal has a counter-expert opinion carried out at his own expense which also concludes that it was an accident.
Tony Spilotro and his brother Michael are beaten to death by the mob and found buried in a cornfield in their underwear.
According to Deborah Richard, the first female FBI agent in Las Vegas in 1977, Frank Rosenthal was actually a high-level FBI informant. Geri was not aware, even though she was an FBI source herself, which Frank didn’t know either.
What a story.
Vintage dress – Sergio Rossi heels – YSL fur
March 21, 2025
