The Battle for Las Vegas: The Law vs. The Mob (6 page)

Gatewood’s friend told him he’d retired from the Marine Corps and taken a new job as a bodyguard for Allen Glick, who had a residence in an exclusive area south of Newport Beach. The ex-Marine had come to the conclusion that his new employer had some very shady associates and was probably involved in something illegal. He felt morally obligated to do something about it, but wasn’t sure exactly what.

Due to his work in intelligence, Gatewood was familiar with Glick and his reported ties to organized crime and the Teamsters Pension Fund. During the discussion, Glick’s bodyguard revealed that his position required that he accompany Glick on trips and at social gatherings, as well as receive a copy of the guest list to every event hosted by his boss. The former Marine agreed to provide information regarding Glick’s activities and acquaintances, but only to Gatewood.

After the phone call, Sgt. Gatewood entered the information into the database of the national Organized Crime Intelligence Unit. He was soon receiving calls from agencies across the country, including the Nevada Gaming Control Board and, later, Las Vegas law enforcement.

For the next two years, the informant fed information to Bob Gatewood, who in turn passed it on to Nevada authorities. During that time the bodyguard became increasingly concerned for his personal safety and that of his family. He had his home checked for bugs and wiretaps. Sergeant Gatewood advised his friend that he could terminate his cooperation whenever he felt the situation had become too dangerous, but the flow of information continued until the informant switched jobs. He has since passed away from natural causes.

Bob Gatewood was never told exactly how the information his friend provided was used, but he believes it was instrumental in facilitating the investigations into Glick’s involvement with organized crime.

Other Endeavors

In addition to loansharking, Tony had other money-producing irons in the fire, burglary and fencing stolen property chief among them. Burglars working for Spilotro eventually earned the nickname the Hole in the Wall Gang (HITWG). This handle resulted from their method of gaining entry into commercial buildings by making a hole in the wall or roof. But the thieves didn’t limit themselves to breaking into businesses; they stole from private residences and hotel rooms with equal zeal. Jewelry and cash were prime targets.

The size of the burglary crew fluctuated depending on the nature of the job. Some small capers might require only one or two men, while a major heist could need six or seven. In the latter case, extra help was sometimes imported from Chicago or elsewhere.

The proceeds from a job were split among Spilotro and the burglars. For a big haul, Tony was obliged to send some of the profit to his Chicago bosses. He also had to pay a certain amount of overhead. Valets, maids, desk clerks, and others who provided information regarding the value and activities of potential victims were compensated for passing on the information.

One of these scams was operated out of two locations, a major Strip property and a popular restaurant, and involved valet parkers. The valets identified affluent guests and struck up conversations to obtain additional information about the guest’s plans. For locals, valets could usually find address information with the registration papers in the vehicle. In the case of visitors, the name of their hotel was extracted during seemingly idle chitchat. Then, indicating long and short-term parking areas, the valet inquired as to how long the guest would be leaving their car. If the answer reflected a lengthy stay, the valet turned over the car to a burglar who, armed with keys to the residence, could conduct a leisurely burglary, using the victim’s own vehicle to transport the booty. For out-of-towners, a friendly desk clerk at their hotel was contacted for specific room information. If the target’s plans didn’t allow the time for an immediate theft, the information was filed away for possible future use.

So, depending on the size of the score and the number of ways the loot had to be split, an individual burglar might earn enough money from a job to be able to take a few weeks off and live it up. However, if through faulty intelligence or bad luck, the break-ins weren’t profitable, the thieves might be forced to strike again quickly just to maintain a basic standard of living.

Well, maybe “forced” is too strong a word. As a retired detective familiar with Spilotro’s burglars told me: “Those guys loved to steal. It was what they did. They could be sitting in a restaurant with ten grand in their pockets and they’d go across the street to a convenience store to steal a pack of gum. They wanted the big money, sure. But stealing, in and of itself, was a necessity for them. They were addicted to it.”

As Tony’s status grew, additional sources of income materialized, too. The Ant and his gang weren’t the only street criminals in Las Vegas. Other crooks, not mob-connected, wanted to share in the bounty and there was more than enough to go around. But Tony was running his budding underworld empire like a business. Legitimate entrepreneurs are required to get business licenses and pay related fees; if they’re caught operating without the necessary permissions, they’re subject to sanctions. Enterprising criminals wanting to get, or stay, in business also had to follow a certain protocol. They needed to get Tony’s blessing and pay him a share of their profits, known in gangland parlance as a “street tax.”

And it wasn’t wise to think you could simply ignore Tony and go about your business without his finding out about it. He knew everything that went on within the Las Vegas criminal element. No one did anything—from contract killings to burglaries, robberies, fencing stolen property, or loansharking—without his approval and without paying him a monetary tribute where appropriate. And the sanctions for violating Tony’s procedures could be much more severe than those imposed by a governmental licensing agency.

Tony Spilotro was becoming ever more powerful, and his organization was growing.

The Dunes

By 1975, Tony’s entourage had increased dramatically with the arrival of his brother John and an influx of bookies, loansharks, burglars, and other heavies from Chicago. He decided to switch his base of operations to the Dunes, another Strip hotel-casino financed with Teamster money. This time he didn’t open a shop; he used the card room of the casino as his office. Tony carried around a wad of money so he could accommodate those in need of loans. When he wasn’t conducting business, he enjoyed fleecing suckers at the poker table or trying his hand at sports betting.

Major Riddle and Morris Shenker owned the Dunes. Riddle was one of Spilotro’s favorite victims in the poker games. Tony and a couple of his cronies engaged in a “three-pluck-one” scam, where Riddle or some other naïve gambler sometimes lost thousands of dollars at a sitting. The Ant also had things his way when it came to sports wagering. Betting through illegal bookies, Tony made his picks, but didn’t tender any cash. If he won, he expected to be paid. If he lost, no money changed hands. The bookies had little choice but to take their lumps. As one retired FBI agent told me: “Who in the hell was going to refuse Tony’s action, or try to collect from him?”

Tony’s presence at the Dunes didn’t escape the attention of the Gaming Control Board. Their first effort to address the problem was by privately notifying Riddle and Shenker. The owners talked things over with Tony and he agreed to make himself scarce. The very next night, brother John Spilotro showed up in the card room. Answering phone pages as John Adams, he conducted business in Tony’s stead. In a few weeks, Tony himself returned and it was back to business as usual.

The following year, the gaming regulators made another, more formal, effort to get Spilotro out of the casino. Riddle and Shenker were summoned to testify at a private hearing as to why Tony was being allowed to operate out of their card room.

Appearing first, Riddle said that until recently he didn’t even know who Spilotro was, much less that he had Mafia connections. He claimed to have known Spilotro only as Tony and had never heard his last name. After learning Spilotro’s identity, he asked Tony if he was lending money and using the Dunes as an office. Spilotro admitted making loans, but said they were interest-free. Riddle accepted that explanation as the truth. He concluded that Spilotro was “simply a good-hearted person.” Riddle added, “I wouldn’t want to talk to anybody nicer than Tony.”

Next up was Morris Shenker. Not some run-of-the-mill novice when it came to legal proceedings, Shenker was a highly successful criminal defense attorney. He represented many of the nation’s top criminals before the Kefauver Committee in the 1950s and was Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa’s chief defense lawyer in the ’60s.

Like Riddle, Shenker claimed to have been ignorant of Spilotro’s identity until recently. Now that he’d been made aware of who Tony was and his criminal associations, he vowed to take immediate action to remove the undesirable gangster from the Dunes.

But Tony wasn’t waiting around to be ousted. He’d already found greener pastures.

Moving On Up

The Las Vegas Country Club and Estates, an exclusive walled community located near the Strip with guard posts at the entrance, was considered the place to belong in Las Vegas. Founded by former Cleveland bootlegger Moe Dalitz, its members included bankers, lawyers, doctors, and casino bosses. Initially, Tony and his associates gained access to the club through the memberships of his friends, such as Lefty Rosenthal. Since only members could sign for food, drinks, and tennis and golf fees, this arrangement proved awkward. Tony decided the only thing to do was join the club himself. He tried, but the membership committee rejected his application in June 1976.

Spilotro was furious. He complained to Rosenthal and others, demanding reconsideration. Under pressure, the membership committee realized the error of its ways and admitted the Ant. He was soon holding court in the card room, conducting meetings in the dining room, and playing gin rummy with some of the town’s leading citizens. His wife Nancy learned to play tennis and became a regular on the courts. Even with all this going for him, it wasn’t long before Tony found an even better deal.

Gold Rush

To accommodate the growing inventory of loot from his thriving burglary ring, Tony decided to open another jewelry store called the Gold Rush in a two-story building located on West Sahara, just off the Strip. It had a front door that could be operated by a buzzer located behind the counter; a private security company regularly swept the building for electronic bugs and monitored the building’s alarm system. The second floor housed communications equipment, including two radio transmitters and receivers and five scanners that monitored police and FBI activities. Gang members with binoculars were sometimes stationed on the roof or parked on the street looking for signs of law-enforcement surveillance operations.

Tony, his brother John, and Herbert “Fat Herbie” Blitzstein, a 300-pound convicted bookie from Chicago, operated the store itself. A loaded 9mm semi-automatic pistol and a .45 revolver were kept behind the counter, should anyone be foolish enough to try to rob the robbers.

Tony’s store was staffed and equipped to make it difficult, if not impossible, to be breached by the law or other potential adversaries. But like any good businessman, Spilotro didn’t place all his eggs in one basket. He took other precautions.

Intelligence

For centuries, countries have sought to spy on one another through the use of covert actions and, more recently, advancements in technology. When at war, it’s critical for a nation’s civilian and military leaders to know what their enemies are doing. With the right information, they can initiate defensive actions and countermeasures to prevent an enemy from successfully carrying out his plans.

Even in times of peace, intelligence-gathering activities are a critical piece of the foreign-policy puzzle. The main targets of these efforts are potential adversaries, but cases of friends caught spying on friends aren’t unusual. Spies can be homegrown agents assigned to infiltrate targets or recruited from people already occupying sensitive positions within the opposition government. Over the years, money, blackmail, and sex have proved to be effective recruitment tools.

Intelligence-gathering efforts aren’t limited to the international arena, however. Domestically, business competitors often engage in similar activities. And for years, the law has used undercover operations and informants in their investigations of crime. Being resourceful foes, the criminals also attempt to gain inside information about the law’s plans and strategies. Additionally, they sometimes manipulate the legal system by corrupting lawyers, judges, jurors, and witnesses, usually via financial payoffs. When an offer of money doesn’t do the trick, intimidation and violence, including murder, can be used to achieve the desired results.

The importance of good intelligence wasn’t lost on Tony Spilotro. He and the other organized-crime families operating in Las Vegas took steps to keep up to speed on the law’s movements.

Rogues, Bugs, Taps, and Raids

In the mid-1970s, Joe Blasko was a detective and Phil Leone a sergeant in the police department’s anti-crime unit; they reported directly to Sheriff Ralph Lamb. On the side, they also provided information to Spilotro and other Las Vegas mobsters.

Blasko had been in trouble previously. In 1966, he and his partner were charged with murder, regarding the death of a cab driver they arrested. A coroner’s inquest determined the man’s death was the result of the use of excessive force by the arresting officers. The charges were later dismissed when a judge ruled the evidence was insufficient to warrant prosecution.

By March 1978, the FBI had developed sufficient probable cause to obtain warrants authorizing them to monitor the activities of Spilotro and other mobsters through the use of wiretaps and electronic eavesdropping. In addition, the feds had managed to infiltrate the Spilotro operation via an undercover agent. Posing as a diamond fence named Rick Calise, agent Rick Baken was busy getting the scoop about what was going on inside the Gold Rush. Overcoming the best efforts of Tony and his security company, agents were able to bug the store and tap its telephones.