Frank Lawrence "Lefty" Rosenthal

Frank Lawrence "Lefty" Rosenthal

Frank Rosenthal

Frank Lawrence "Lefty" Rosenthal (June 12, 1929 – October 13, 2008) was a professional sports bettor, former Las Vegas casino executive, and organized crime associate. The 1995 Martin Scorsese film Casino is based on his career in Las Vegas.

A pioneer of sports gambling, Rosenthal secretly ran the Stardust, Fremont, Marina and Hacienda casinos when they were controlled by the Chicago Outfit.[6] He also created the first sports book that operated from within a casino,[6] making the Stardust one of the world's leading centers for sports gambling. Another Rosenthal innovation was to allow female blackjack dealers, which in one year doubled the Stardust's income.[3]

In 1976, when authorities discovered that Rosenthal was secretly running casinos without a Nevada gaming license, they held a hearing to determine his legal ability to obtain one. Rosenthal was quickly denied a license because of his unsavory reputation as an organized crime associate,[3] particularly because of his boyhood friendship with Chicago hitman Anthony Spilotro.[3]

Rosenthal married Geraldine "Geri" McGee on May 4, 1969. She had a daughter, Robin L. Marmor, prior to their marriage (fathered by Lenny Marmor), and Frank and Geri had two children together, Steven and Stephanie. The marriage ended in divorce, with Rosenthal's attributing the failure primarily to McGee's inability to escape her alcohol and drug addictions. After leaving Rosenthal and stealing a significant portion of his savings, Geri died at a motel in Los Angeles on November 9, 1982, at age 46, of an apparent drug overdose. Her death was ruled accidental, from a combination of Valium, cocaine, and alcohol