A century old, the FBI changed our desert den of sin forever

The FBI has had a long fascination with Las Vegas.

Years before the valley's population was large enough to justify it, the bureau had Sin City staked out. The federal law enforcement agency tried to keep an eye on the phenomenal flow of cash and characters through the casino subculture.

Whether you're a gambler or a G-man, Las Vegas has always been in the middle of the action.

Outside Chicago and New York, I'll wager no American city has been changed more by the FBI than Las Vegas. I'd even argue the Las Vegas we know today wouldn't exist without the bureau's occasionally controversial efforts.

The FBI marks its 100th anniversary on Saturday. Offices across the country have been celebrating in the bureau's typically square fashion with speeches from special agents in charge and respectful proclamations from local, state, and federal politicians. During the recent local celebration, Las Vegas FBI Special Agent in Charge Steven Martinez gave the crowd a lesson in bureau history that skipped across the decades like a stone across water. Although he might have orated for hours on some of the intriguing cases the office has investigated, he focused on an example most Americans know best as depicted by director Martin Scorsese and author Nicholas Pileggi -- the bloody story of Anthony Spilotro and Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal and the mob's hidden ownership of the Stardust, Tropicana, and other casinos.

Casino skimming investigations, conducted in at times testy conjunction with Metro police and the state Gaming Control Board, not only identified organized crime's hidden ownership in Strip gambling resorts, but eventually crushed the leadership of Midwestern mob families.

In his own street savvy way, Spilotro soldier-turned-government witness Frank Cullotta captured the essence of the traditional mob's grand misstep in Pileggi's "Casino" when he said, "It should have been paradise and we (expletive) it all up."

The mob lost paradise thanks to the efforts of the FBI and others who doggedly pursued the skim. Cleaning up the casino business helped make the corporate gambling era possible.

As Las Vegas has evolved, so has the FBI. What was once a paradise for traditional wiseguys now attracts organized crime with an international flavor. After Sept. 11, the FBI has focused its resources on homeland security and anti-terrorism intelligence gathering.

"We don't want to wait for the next terrorist strike," Martinez said.

His simple sentence masks a complex, multi-agency approach to the issue.

That spirit of cooperation is without precedent. The FBI has long guarded its image as law enforcement's elite, lead dog. For decades the local office and Metro regarded each other with suspicion and resentment. Agents and detectives occasionally managed to set aside their differences, but often as not they butted heads.

"Sharing is just a part of our nature now," Martinez said. "It's a tribute to all our partners that sharing works as well as it does."

His statement would have been laughable if spoken just a decade ago. Now, the Joint Terrorism Task Force is one of numerous multi-agency approaches to crime fighting. Whether it's human trafficking, money laundering, or mortgage fraud, there's strength in numbers.

As I scanned the crowd, I noticed several former agents who had returned to take part in the program. There was Dennis Arnoldy, who helped turn mob hoodlum Cullotta into a federal witness against Spilotro. There was Robert Rea, the background specialist, and Bill Scobie, who logged three decades for the bureau.

And there was 30-year FBI veteran Terry Hulse, who recalled his 13 years in Las Vegas as more challenging than any of the five larger cities where he worked cases.

"What I liked about Las Vegas at the time is that it was a very small-sized office, but we had big-office casework," Hulse said.

One of his last cases was the investigation of political corruption inside Clark County government that resulted in prison sentences for four former commissioners.

For Martinez, Las Vegas offers an elusive allure for tourists and criminals.

"Las Vegas is a place where people think they can come and interact with some anonymity, and bad guys think that as well," he said.

Through the years the FBI has seen to it that what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas, and in doing so has changed our notorious Sodom on a sea of sand forever.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295.