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BY SCOOP MCTROLL
Before reading any further, please read our disclaimer first.In the January of
2001 the ailing reality fighting contest known as
The Ultimate Fighting Championship, was purchased from its founder, the
SEG CORPORATION by
ZUFFA LLC. Three men,
Frank Fertitta III, his younger brother
Lorenzo Fertitta and their
brother in law, the low profile but nonetheless powerful,
Blake Sartini, are the owners of
ZUFFA LLC. Sartini has since resigned from Station Casino's however and his current role in ZUFFA is unknown to this reporter.
Frank III (left) and Lorenzo (right).The
Fertitta brothers
Frank III and
Lorenzo, take the limelight in this
partnership and have recently become known to millions of people through the reality television show
'American Casino'. As the
CEO and
President respectively, of the Station Casinos Empire, they appear on the surface to be amiable and successful young businessmen.
Las Vegas residents may know of Frank through his involvement in many charities and community projects, including Catholic Charities, Opportunity Village and the Las Vegas Chapter of the I Have A Dream Foundation. They may know of
Lorenzo Fertitta from his time on the board of the
Nevada State Athletic Commission, or as the chairman of the
Nevada Resort Association. The two brothers donate
hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to the
Republican Party and they are an integral part of the
Las Vegas A-list social scene. Many people have wondered just
how they came to be so
successful at such relatively young ages and where they came from. Our in depth report
'The Z-Files' will explore these issues and attempt to throw some light on the
history of the
family behind
The Ultimate Fighting Championship. I hope you enjoy reading
The Z-Files; it is the result of several months of research.
Part II
In 1960
Las Vegas was a sleazy paradise for the
scum of society,
the mob was heavily invested in Vegas, through both the covert ownership of Casinos and in the
skimming scam that earned them
millions of dollars. Guiseppi 'Nick'
Civella was the head of the
Kansas City mob and along with his brother, Carl 'The Cork', had been making a fortune through illicit means in Vegas casinos. They received a setback however when they became charter members of the infamous
Nevada "Black Book", which banned them from all Vegas gaming venues for life. Their nephew, Anthony Civella would soon become the third family member to end up in the black book. This meant that they needed to find another way of getting some of the money being splashed around Vegas.
Frank Fertitta jr. arrived in Vegas in the same year and his family's reputation appeared to open many doors for him. He
immediately got work in one of the Casino's and his official job was that of a
bellboy. In a remarkable rate of success, Frank soon became a
Blackjack dealer and then worked his way into
management. Throughout the 1960's
Frank Fertitta jr gained a reputation for being a
street smart operator who understood the business as well as anyone could. Not bad for a guy who arrived in town a few years prior with little more than the shirt on his back, or so the story goes.
Nick's nephew Anthony Civella, another Black Book member.
The infamous Nevada Gaming Commission Black BookDuring this same period, the
Kansas City mob were eager to get their claws back into some of the Vegas revenue. In 1970 the
FBI ran surveillance on
Nick Civella through the use of wire taps and acquired enough evidence to arrest him and several other mobsters for fixing the
Superbowl between Kansas and Minnesota. An associate of
Civella's named
Sol Landie was given immunity in return for testifying against
Civella. In November that same year,
Landie's home was invaded by
4 black men who forced him to watch as they
stripped his wife naked and
forced her to commit
felatio on each one of them. Then they took turns at
savagely raping and
sodomizing her while forcing
Landie to watch the entire ordeal. Once they had
finished with his
wife, they
murdered Landie. Before they left, they arranged the room to look as though it was a
botched robbery attempt. A few days later the 4 men were arrested and they
admitted that they had been paid to
kill Landie because of his
testimony. Eventually,
Nick Civella would serve 20 months for his part in the
Superbowl scam.
By the early 1970's the
Kansas City mob had struck up an association with a high profile Vegas Casino star named
Carl Thomas. Thomas was soon taken under the wing of the
Kansas City mob and he was used by them as a front man, a respectable cover for the mob. The
Kansas City mob controlled the notorious
Teamsters Union and they had been using the Teamster union
members fund money for several years to fund illegal activities. Using Teamsters Union money, the mob purchased several casinos in
Las Vegas, the most famous one being the
Stardust. Through a
strawman named Alan
Glick, the
Kansas City mob also purchased and sold The Fremont, the Tropicana, the Hacienda and the Marina during the 1970's.
Carl Thomas had been made the Chief Executive Officer of Glick's casinos and he quickly recommended his friend
Frank Fertitta jr for a President's position. The
one time bellboy was now the
President of the
Fremont and worked directly under the mob
stooge, Alan
Glick. Many of you may remember Glick's
thinly diguised character
'Mr Green' in the Martin Scorcese movie
'Casino' starring Robert De Niro. 'Casino' was based on the true story of the mafia casino skimming operations at Glick's casinos. Skimming operations that, according to FBI wiretap transcripts, Frank Fertitta was involved in.
The movie 'Casino' was based on the skimming of the Fremont Casino, when Frank Fertitta jr was it's President.In 1976 the
Kansas City mobster Carl
Thomas formed a partnership with
Frank Fertitta jr and they started a 5000 square foot gaming venue aptly named
'The Casino', the name would later be changed to
'The Bingo Palace' and eventually
'Palace Station'. Now, Vegas executives did get paid decent salaries even in those days, but it's difficult to believe the official version that together they "scraped together" the money to start 'The Casino'. For one thing,
Carl Thomas was owned by the
Kansas City mob and anything he was involved in,
they were involved in. There is little doubt that at least Thomas's share of 'The Casino' was
backed by mob money, namely that of the
Civella Brothers and their
La Cosa Nostra mafia chapter in Kansas City.
Oddly,
Fertitta and
Thomas continued to work for the other casinos, despite now owning one themselves. As a mafia
strawman, Glick was pushed to one side by the mob and they put their own guys in to run the casinos.
Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal and
Tony "The Ant" Spilotro, made millions for the mob by skimming the slot machine takings at the casinos. Rosenthal, who was played by the actor Robert de Niro in the movie 'Casino' (Tony "The Ant" Spilotro was played by Joe Pesci), was officially known as Glick's entertainment director and he allegedly reported to the
mafia bosses in
Kansas and
Chicago, who between them had financed Glick with
$62 million in loans from the
Teamsters Union.
The real Frank 'Lefty' RosenthalThe
FBI had long suspected an elaborate
skimming operation was taking place at some of the four Glick owned casinos and launched 'Operation Strawman', which was a massive
surveillance operation that included telephone
wiretaps. It is in one of these wiretaps that
Frank Fertitta jr becomes implicated in the skimming operation. In this particular scam, the management rigged the scales to make them read only a third of the actual weight of the coins. The
extra money was
skimmed and set aside, later being converted into paper bills. The skimming was taking place at
The Tropicana and at the
Fremont, where
Frank Ferttita jr was the
President.
The Fremont Hotel, where the mob made a killing during Frank Fertitta jr's reign.
The Tropicana Hotel, another victim of the mob's skimming.Below is the transcript of the
FBI wiretap involving
Frank Fertitta jr, Tropicana Manager Don Shepard and Kansas City mobster
Carl Thomas.
FBI Wiretap of the Bingo Palace Casino, Las Vegas, Nev. Feb 7, 1979.9.00pm outgoing call:
Frank Fertitta Jr, Carl Thomas voices heard, inaudible conversation takes place between them as the number 9739-2222 is dialled from The Bingo Palace.
FEMALE OPERATOR: Tropicana
FERTITTA: Don Shepard, please (casino manager)
FERTITTA: Hello Shep.
SHEPARD: Yeah.
FERTITTA: Frank.
SHEPARD: What are you doing?
FERTITTA: I'm sitting here having a glass of wine with Mr. Thomas.
SHEPARD: Oh, good.
FERTITTA: He's telling me how smart he is and, im sitting here listening to him like an idiot.
SHEPARD: Yeah.
FERTITTA: Yeah.
SHEPARD: If you need anybody to tell you how dumb you are come on over, im pretty good at that.
FERTITTA: (Laugh)
SHEPARD: Ah, this, listen this conversation isn't being recorded is it?
FERTITTA: I, I really couldn't tell ya.
SHEPARD: Yeah. Ask, ask, a ask Carl if anybody's going to go boogie-ing tonight. I'm ready to boogie, do a little YMCA number.
FERTITTA: You're ready?
SHEPARD: Oh, yeah, shit, yeah.
FERTITTA: Jesus Christ, I don't believe this.
SHEPARD: I'm just sitting here, my legs are twitching. I can hardly wait to dance.
FERTITTA: We, were just talking about going out of town or something.
SHEPARD: Oh, yeah, well actually I should go out of town to dance.
INTERUPTION OF RECORDING
SHEPARD: Did you see me?
FERTITTA: I didn't see you.
SHEPARD: Oh?
FERTITTA: No.
SHEPARD: A quarter of it whatever.
FERTITTA: Right, so if these coins cost us say $20,000, we got $150,000 on, you know, we're going to have like $130,000 in excess cash.
SHEPARD: Yeah.
FERTITTA: You know.
SHEPARD: Yeah. We don't have that problem over here.
FERTITTA: Well, yea, you...well I don't mean excess cash, but I mean more cash than they have so, I don't think its funny here.
SHEPARD: We've got…I've got about like $80,000 stock piled.
FERTITTA: Yeah.
SHEPARD: You know or something, we, we haven't felt any crunch or anything I was just curious if you're, you know.
FERTITTA: Well we had $50,000 see, but I didn't want to make the change over here until we got them all cause $50,000 wouldn't, you know, we couldn’t make the change with 50, so, ah, we need like 150.
SHEPARD: When are you going to switch your tokens?
FERTITTA: As soon as I get them all.
SHEPARD: Yeah.
FERTITTA: I'll switch in fact I think we're supposed to have them all. Oh, Jimmy gave me a date today, but I've forgot what it was. Ah, now maybe next week or something, then I'll probably just go ahead and switch over.
SHEPARD: Okay, well listen I'll talk to you.
FERTITTA: OK
The
FBI swooped on Glick's strawman empire in 1979 and arrested
Fertitta's partner Carl Thomas, Glick, the
Civello Brothers and about a dozen others. Despite the seemingly incriminating wiretap transcript, the FBI could not get enough substantial evidence to charge
Fertitta. Despite the testimony of former
Fremont Security Chief, Harold
McBride, where he swore under oath that
Frank Fertitta jr had been
involved in the
skimming operation at the
Fremont, and wiretap evidence of the
Civella's and
Thomas that implicated him,
Fertitta was never charged with the
skimming at
Fremont casino where he presided.
Amazingly, when Thomas first became implicated by the FBI, the
ownership of
The Bingo Palace was transferred solely to
Frank Fertitta jr. Did this mean that Frank Fertitta was now a front man for the
Kansas City mob, or are we to believe that they happily sold him
Thomas's share of the casino and wished him well? It's a tough call, I know.
In 1979 the Nevada Gaming Control board
ordered Glick to
sell up and he did, to associates of
Moe Dalitz, the man that Frank's relative,
Sam Maceo had helped to get started all those years ago.
Glick sold for $2 million in cash, the assumption of $92 million in debts and with another $66 million to be paid from the casino's earnings by 1991.
Although he was one of the few to escape prison,
Frank Fertitta jr did not go completely
unscathed in the aftermath of the skimming scandal.
Fertitta was the target of a four year
investigation by the Nevada Control Board but in 1989 they voted 2-1 not to initiate disciplinary action against him.
Despite this decision,
Fertitta's reputation had been
damaged. Some sources claim that
Frank Fertitta jr knew that his
mob connections could hamper any future applications for gaming licences. Whatever the actual reasons, in 1993
Frank Fertitta jr officially stepped down as the Chairman of the board and handed over to his son,
Frank Fertitta III, or 'Frankie Three Sticks', as he is known in some circles. The company then became public. Station Casino's then applied for licences with the
Missouri Gaming Commission to run casinos in
Missouri. Many would ask if it's possible for a business that was believed to be built on mob money and mob connections to become
squeaky clean simply by changing the name of the Chairman.
In
1993 the
Missouri Gaming Commission called on
Frank Fertitta's former employer and business partner, the convicted casino skimmer
Carl Thomas. They requested information from
Thomas about
Frank Fertitta jr, Thomas agreed to attend an inquiry with them. Before he did this however, Thomas drove to Vegas from his home in Oregon and met with
Station executives to discuss his testimony with them. Noone really knows exactly how that meeting went down or what transpired. The people that do know, arent talking. He then left Vegas to return to Oregon before heading to meet with the
Missouri Gaming Commission. Before he could attend that meeting and give
testimony on
Frank Fertitta's background, Thomas was
killed in a bizarre single car accident, it was a
clear night and the road was in good condition.
Thomas knew the area well. Due to Thomas's untimely death, the Missouri Gaming Commission were
unable to complete their inquiry into Frank Fertitta jr and they
granted licences to Station Casinos.
A Palace Station Frank Fertitta Anniversary Gaming Chip(Above)
A recent photo of Frank Fertitta (Left)Today,
Frank Fertitta jr keeps busy with his finance company, Frank Fertitta Enterprises and with his many positions in the community, including being on the board of Trustees of the University of Las Vegas and a member of the
Bishop Gorman High School Development Corporation.
These days Frank Fertitta jr mixes with the
Governor of Nevada and is a respected member of the Las Vegas community.
Frank Rosenthal (Left), pictured with Frank Sinatra, says Thomas could have been bumped.(See below)
When asked about his former associates
Frank Fertitta jr and
Carl Thomas, the infamous criminal
Frank 'Lefty' Rosenthal, recollects;
"Carl introduced me to Frank Fertitta, as "my main guy", and his right-hand man. Frank became the President of Allen Glick's Fremont Hotel Casino at the recommendation of Carl Thomas during my temporary absence from the industry while I was awaiting the outcome my appeal versus the Nevada Gaming Commission. When I regained my former position as the CEO of all properties under the "Argent" (Allen R. Glick Enterprises) umbrella Frank and I became more interactive. Frank had gained a solid reputation as a topnotch casino executive who understood the games with a high degree of professionalism. After several private meetings and close personal observation I too agreed that Frank was well suited to operate the second largest Casino in the downtown area.
During the course of the next several years Frank with assistance from Carl Thomas forged an imposing empire. Soon thereafter Carl Thomas died when his car ran off a winding road in the mountains of Oregon, I think he could have been bumped! In 1976 Frank opened the Bingo Palace, ultimately renamed Palace Station. Next came Boulder Station, then Texas Station, Barley's and Sunset Station.
Frank was driving hard on course to become a behemoth within the gaming industry. In 1998 he purchased King 8, renaming it The Wild, Wild West. Next came the Santa Fe and Fiesta casinos. Frank acquired 49 acres near Jackie Gaughn's Suncoast, with future plans to build on other parcels at Craig Ranch Station and Martin Luther King Road. Frank decided he had enough and retired into the sunset. Some guys always seem to windup with all the dirty work. Estimated wealth $1 Billion" - Frank 'Lefty' Rosenthal.Coming soon in the Z-files III. Frank Fertitta jr and his son "Frankie Three Sticks" set their sights on Missouri. 'Lucky' Lorenzo joins the family business and the brothers sign up for Boxercise classes. Watch this space for the Z-Files III.Discuss this at Fightsport.com
Vanderlei Silva after successfully defending his PRIDE belt by brutally knocking out Quinton Jackson for a second time in his career.Commentary by
'Theaxemurderer'Welcome to the latest edition of
'The Chopping Block', a place where I will air out all my thoughts about MMA.
Let's get started...
Quinton Rampage Jackson has often been quoted as saying that he is being "Fed To the Dogs" by DSE/PRIDE... But this time around he seems to be getting a relative mismatch in his next fight, in the opening round of this year's PRIDE middlewight GP, against "Hollywood" Dan Henderson.
This is a great matchup of the smallest light heavyweight in PRIDE vs. perhaps the biggest light heavyweight on the planet. Dan is a fierce competitor, but this match looks like it will be an uphill climb for him, wrestling a much huger opponent who throws bombs and has a chin of steel isn't going to be easy, and taking it to the ground will likely cause greater injury to Dan than if he simply works from the clinch.
No matter how you look at it, though, this is clearly "Rampage's fight to lose"
Both men clearly want a shot at Vanderlei, and want to win the GP since it is alot of cash... although this may not be the same motivation that it used to be for Rampage before his "born again episode".
I still think that the black man(well this black man at least) has a primal urge to get paid, which drives him to do what it takes.
The most dangerous man on the planet, Vanderlei Silva, is getting a chance to demolish yet another Japanese judo player in a rematch to one of the most exciting matches I've ever seen, where someone chose to wear a Gi... That of course being Vanderlei Silva vs. Hidehiko Yoshida.
Yoshida is a guy who clearly has alot of heart, but I would not be suprised to see Silva counter a takedown attempt of Yoshida's, get the reversal, mounting Yoshida in the process, and just pounding him out, similiar to how he pounded out Ikuhisa Minowa with a few punches that connected brilliantly.
Silva will get to the next round and will most likely fight Sakuraba (since the two rounds will spare Saku a long drawn out beating).
I am also excited that Mauricio "Shogun" Rua may, if all goes to plan, end up fighting Vanderlei Silva in the GP finals. While both fighters are obviously close friends, and in all likelihood don't want to fight each other, they will nonetheless do just that if that is the way the tourney plays out...
I think Shogun will be beat, but I think he will show alot of heart and seriously make it one of the best fights ever... The kind of fight that everyone will compare every fight to in the future, in terms of brutality and explosive striking.
here's how I think the matchups for opening round of the PRIDE GP should ideally be...
Vanderlei Silva vs. Hidehiko Yoshida
Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua vs. Yuki Kondo
Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson vs. Dan Henderson
Antonio 'Elvis' Schembri vs. Stephan Leko
Rogerio 'Minotoro' Nogueira vs. Kazushi Sakuraba
Alistair Overeem vs. Kiyoshi Tamura
Vitor Belfort vs. Igor Vovchanchyn
Tito Ortiz vs. Paulo Filho, Ricardo Arona, Mario Sperry, or Murilo Bustamante
Discuss this at Fightsport.com
