Mobsters marked the original 11 names on Nevada’s ‘Black Book’

They had nicknames like “Tony the Ant” and “Fat Herbie,” and they ran with a rough crowd.

Nevada’s so-called “Black Book” originally consisted of 11 names, all believed to be associated with organized crime in cities across the United States, and others with mob ties joined their ranks over the years.

One of the reasons the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s List of Excluded Persons came into existence is that Nevada regulators wanted to kick out mob influence and encourage corporate ownership of casinos. Lawmakers in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s viewed the presence of gangsters as detrimental to the state’s reputation.

There are 37 names in today’s Black Book. Nevada regulators have tried to keep the number manageable because it’s the responsibility of the casinos to prevent people on the list from entering their businesses.

Usually, the only way a name is removed from the list is if the person dies.

Dozens of people with a notorious past have been stricken from the list over the years, including all the mobsters who were named in that first class of inductees on June 13, 1960. Some of them, like Anthony Joseph “Tony the Ant” Spilotro and Herbert “Fat Herbie” Blitzstein, met their demise in violent ways.

After that first list of 11 was established, the Gaming Control Board didn’t nominate anyone to the Black Book for five years. But throughout the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, others linked to organized crime were added, including Frank Larry “Lefty” Rosenthal, inducted Nov. 30, 1988, and removed Jan. 27, 2009.

Rosenthal’s story was fictionalized in the 1995 Martin Scorsese film “Casino” as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, portrayed by Robert De Niro.

‘Tangiers Casino’

While “Casino” was fiction based on fact — the subject Tangiers Casino on the Strip was a portrayal of the real-life Stardust where Rosenthal was an unlicensed behind-the-scenes operator — how the mob skimmed and scammed Las Vegas has been clearly documented by author and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi in his multiple writings about mob life.

Rosenthal and Spilotro, his best friend and associate, are probably the most famous mobsters who have been on the list. Spilotro was inducted Dec. 2, 1978, and removed Oct. 21, 1986.

In “Casino,” the Spilotro character was portrayed by Joe Pesci as Nicky Santoro. Spilotro was a Chicago mob enforcer in Las Vegas whose badly beaten body was found in an Indiana cornfield in 1986, which also was dramatized in “Casino.”

Spilotro was defended in court by Las Vegas attorney Oscar Goodman, a Black Book critic who portrayed himself in “Casino.” Goodman went on to become mayor of Las Vegas.

Other mobsters

Other mob associates have found their way into the List of Excluded Persons. They include:

Sam Giancana, one of the original 11 nominees, who was removed Dec. 19, 1975. The Chicago mob boss had CIA ties and gained control of many Las Vegas casinos in the 1950s and 1960s. Skimming at the Sands, Riviera and Desert Inn generated $2 billion a year for the mob, according to the FBI. He also was linked to the 1960 presidential election of John F. Kennedy and to a 1963 CIA plot to assassinate Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. He was assassinated in his home in 1975.

Blitzstein, who was inducted Jan. 7, 1997, and removed May 22, 1997. A lieutenant to Spilotro, Blitzstein was found dead in his Las Vegas home in January 1997 from a gunshot wound to the base of his skull that some believed to be an organized crime hit. Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German, who was murdered in 2022, wrote frequently about Blitzstein throughout his career.

Carl James Civella, who was inducted June 13, 1960, and removed Dec. 19, 1996, and Nicholas Civella, who was inducted June 13, 1960, and removed April 18, 1983. The two brothers were among the original 11 inductees and were Kansas City, Missouri, mob bosses convicted of skimming and hiding ownership interests in the Tropicana.

Murray Lewellyn Humphreys, another of the original 11, who was removed Jan. 23, 1975. He worked with Giancana and was an alleged lieutenant of Chicago mobster Al Capone.

Michael Coppola, an original inductee who was removed Jan. 13, 1975. He was a New York mob enforcer involved in drug trafficking who moved to Miami.

Louis Tom Dragna, an original inductee who was removed May 22, 2014. Nevada gaming commissioners said he “was considered to be the boss of the Los Angeles organized crime family with an arrest record dating back to 1946.”

The end of the mob era brought lasting change to Las Vegas. It’s probably best described by “Ace” Rothstein’s closing monologue in “Casino.”

“The town will never be the same,” De Niro’s “Casino” character says. “After the Tangiers, the big corporations took it all over. Today, it looks like Disneyland. And while the kids play cardboard pirates, Mommy and Daddy drop the house payments and Junior’s college money on the poker slots.”

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.