The Martin Scorsese movie Casino is based on the true story of an influential figure in the late 1970s and early 1980s Las Vegas casino scene, Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal. Rosenthal was born in Chicago in 1929 and had a troubled childhood. His father died when he was nine, and his mother abandoned him soon afterwards. He ended up living in foster homes and running with street gangs.
When he was in his twenties, Rosenthal began working as a bookie for the Chicago Outfit, which was run by the infamous mobster Tony “The Ant” Spilotro. In 1968, Rosenthal moved to Las Vegas to become the sports book director for the Stardust casino. He quickly rose through the ranks of the casino industry, and by 1977 he was running four casinos for the Outfit: the Stardust, the Fremont, the Hacienda, and the Marina.
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Rosenthal was known for his flamboyant style and for always being impeccably dressed. He was also known for being a master of deception. He was very good at concealing his true identity from both the casino bosses and the gaming regulators.
For example, he used to wear a toupee and glasses when he worked at the casinos so that people would not recognize him. He also had plastic surgery to change his appearance.
Despite his success in running the casinos, Rosenthal always had problems with the law. In 1974, he was indicted on charges of skimming money from the Stardust casino.
He was acquitted of those charges, but in 1978 he was arrested for trying to bribe a state senator. He served two years in prison as a result of that conviction.
After he was released from prison, Rosenthal tried to stay out of trouble but he eventually got involved with drug dealers and loan sharks. In 1982, he was shot in the head outside his home in Miami Beach after losing a large sum of money to a Colombian drug lord.
He survived that attack but it effectively ended his career in organized crime.
So is Casino based on a true story? Yes, it is based on Frank Rosenthal’s life in Las Vegas during the 1970s and 1980s. However, there are some significant differences between Rosenthal’s real life and Scorsese’s movie version of events.
For example, in real life Rosenthal did not have an affair with Ginger McKenna (played by Sharon Stone in Casino), and she was not killed by her ex-husband Lester Diamond (played by James Woods). Additionally, while Rosenthal did tolerate violence within his casinos as long as it did not affect business, he was not nearly as involved with it as portrayed in Casino.
