Not far from here, just around the dark corner that stretches beyond this life, there's a place I've heard of called Runyon's Place.

It's a meeting spot for members of the sporting crowd who have cashed their last ticket, folded their final hand and realized the ultimate truth in Damon Runyon's line that "life is 6-to-5 against."

These days you'll find Runyon's Place packed with late great characters from Las Vegas Past. Right about now they're stepping aside and telling Ash Resnick and Liver Lips Gordon to make room for Willie Cohen.

Cohen, whose world stretched from Broadway to the Strip, died Sunday in Las Vegas at age 98.

His many friends ranked Cohen among the greats from Las Vegas history. Law enforcement, not noted for its sense of humor and appreciation for colorful characters, spent most of his lifetime observing his proximity to mobsters from New York and Chicago. Willie also knew boxers and ballplayers, politicians and jockeys. In short, he was acquainted with the entire sporting crowd. Willie was around when the ink was still drying on Murder Inc.'s letters of incorporation.

For the record, some investigative sticklers considered him a bagman for the Genovese family and specifically for Anthony Salerno, not that Willie Cohen ever sweated his status.

In New York, his drugstore stood near Champ Segal's restaurant and Lindy's and was a popular place. It also was under constant surveillance. In an era when Estes Kefauver and his allies were busy making lists of mobsters, racketeers and gamblers, Willie was well-known.

A boxer in his youth, Willie later managed champion Tony Canzoneri and was a partner in Tony Canzoneri's Paddock Bar and Grill on Broadway near 50th in New York City.

Cohen was an old-school survivor, a soft-spoken man who had the respect of peers from all walks of life.

"He outlived all of his friends," Mayor Oscar Goodman said after Thursday's funeral. "That's what happens when you're 98, almost 99."

Goodman recalled first meeting Cohen in 1972 in the company of casino man Jay Sarno and mobster Tony Spilotro. Goodman defended Spilotro and Sarno in criminal matters. Cohen operated a spa and wedding chapel at Circus Circus.

In those days, health spas and chapels in casinos were novel ideas. Willie was among the first to combine the businesses successfully inside the resorts. He also owned a percentage of some of the midway games at Circus Circus with Jack Gordon, who later became LaToya Jackson's husband and manager.

When not working, Cohen often dined with pals such as Jackie Leonard and Yale Cohen, men who helped put the dots on the dice in this community.

"I knew Willie back in New York," gambler Lem Banker said after the service. "I was a wannabe hanging around with Ash Resnick and guys with nicknames like Post Office Joe, Nick the Bum, Crooked Dollar and Baby Osborne, and everyone knew Willie Cohen's drugstore. Willie was a good guy who knew people."

And if Willie Cohen was a patch between the heavy mob bosses and the Vegas casino guys, he didn't live to be 98 by admitting it.

And if he knew where the bodies were buried and got a little dirt on his shoes himself, he didn't say.

Right about now, just beyond the dark corner that leads to the next life, the tough little guy's back is being patted, and glasses are being raised in his honor.

I am sure Willie Cohen won a bet on life expectancy and is at Runyon's Place this minute attempting to collect.

ON THE BOULEVARD: Norman P. "Monte" Money, a Tonopah native and 55-year casino employee, died Wednesday at 85. Around the Municipal Golf Course, Monte was known as the face that launched a thousand chips and putts. He created mini-tournaments and kept things lively around the starter shack. ... A television documentary on the life and times of Hank Greenspun is in the works. ... My interviews with Democratic gubernatorial contenders Dina Titus and Jim Gibson are set to begin at 6 p.m. Monday on KVBC-TV, Channel 3.

Have an item for the Bard of the Boulevard? E-mail comments and contributions to Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.