{"id":119231,"date":"2019-11-07T17:49:38","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T01:49:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=119231"},"modified":"2019-11-07T17:49:38","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T01:49:38","slug":"vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Vegas Man Pardoned Over 1974 Murder of Wife of Caesars Palace Executive"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Las Vegas casino worker who spent decades in prison after being convicted of hiring a hitman to murder the wife of a Caesars Palace<\/a> executive has been officially pardoned by the State of Nevada.<\/p>\n

\"Frank
Frank LaPena always refused to plead guilty, even when doing so would have made him a free man. (Image: Las Vegas Review-Journal)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Former Hacienda bell captain Frank LaPena always protested his innocence in the shocking 1974 slaying of Hilda Krause, the wife of Marvin Krause, who managed the slots for Caesars Palace.<\/p>\n

The Krauses were attacked in their home in the walled Las Vegas Country Club community in the early morning of January 14, 1974 in an apparent robbery.<\/p>\n

Marvin Krause later told police he had been set upon by two Caucasian men after he opened his garage door as he prepared to go to work. He was forced into the house and knocked unconscious with the butt of a pistol.<\/p>\n

When he came to, he found the body of his wife tied to a chair. She had been beaten, strangled, stabbed, and her throat had been slit.<\/p>\n

Marvin Krause died a year later from unrelated causes.<\/p>\n

Murderer Names LaPena<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Acting on a tipoff, police arrested Gerald Weakland who confessed to the murder but claimed he had been hired by LaPena and his girlfriend, Rosalie Maxwell, to kill Hilda Krause for $10,000.<\/p>\n

Maxwell, a cocktail waitress at Caesars Palace, was having an affair with Marvin Krause. The prosecution believed LaPena concocted the plan to kill Hilda Krause so that Maxwell could marry Marvin Krause for his money, which would in turn go to LaPena.<\/p>\n

\n

Despite admitting to slitting Hilda Krause\u2019s throat, Weakland was permitted to plead guilty to second degree murder in return for testifying against LaPena. He served five years in prison.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Maxwell was acquitted but, in 1977, LaPena was found guilty of first-degree murder and robbery and sentenced to life in prison without parole.<\/p>\n

Despite serious doubts over the years about LaPena\u2019s culpability, his name was never cleared.<\/p>\n

In 1982, the conviction was thrown out on the basis that Weakland\u2019s testimony was unreliable and a retrial was ordered. LaPena was a free man for seven years as the case moved slowly through the legal system.<\/p>\n

Before the new trial, he was offered a deal to be released on time served if he pleaded guilty, but he refused. He was once again found guilty and sent back to prison.<\/p>\n

His conviction was quashed again in 1997 and a new trial ordered, but that decision was overturned in the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Goodman Defends<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One of his many defense lawyers had been Oscar Goodman, later Mayor of Las Vegas, who recalled LePena had been in Mexico when the decision was reversed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe could have kept on going south or stayed in Mexico. They would’ve never gotten him back here,” Goodman told Thrillist<\/em> in 2017.<\/p>\n

But still insisting his innocence, added Goodman “\u2026[LaPena] went to the police station and knocked on the door at 10 o’clock at night and said ‘I hear you’re looking for me.’ They said, ‘Who are you?’ He said ‘Frank LaPena. I hear the Supreme Court reversed my case and I have to go back to the maximum.’ They said. ‘We don’t have anything. Come back tomorrow morning.’ So Frank went home, got a good night’s sleep, came back the next day, and went to max.”<\/p>\n

LaPena, now 81, was finally released in 2005. He since has worked as a paralegal and as an award-winning tour guide for Las Vegas\u2019 Mob Museum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Pardon Board — which is chaired by the governor and includes the attorney general and the justices of the state Supreme Court — voted unanimously and without question to end LaPena\u2019s parole and fully reinstate his civil liberties.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A former Las Vegas casino worker who spent decades in prison after being convicted of hiring a hitman to murder the wife of a Caesars Palace executive has been officially pardoned by the State of Nevada. Former Hacienda bell captain Frank LaPena always protested his innocence in the shocking 1974 slaying of Hilda Krause, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":119232,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVegas Man Pardoned Over 1974 Murder of Wife of Caesars Palace Exec<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Hacienda worker Frank LaPena pardoned 45 years after he was convicted of arranging the murder of Hilda Krause, wife of Caesars Palace exec.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vegas Man Pardoned Over 1974 Murder of Wife of Caesars Palace Exec\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Hacienda worker Frank LaPena pardoned 45 years after he was convicted of arranging the murder of Hilda Krause, wife of Caesars Palace exec.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-08T01:49:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/frank.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/\",\"name\":\"Vegas Man Pardoned Over 1974 Murder of Wife of Caesars Palace Exec\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/frank.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-08T01:49:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-08T01:49:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Former Hacienda worker Frank LaPena pardoned 45 years after he was convicted of arranging the murder of Hilda Krause, wife of Caesars Palace exec.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/frank.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/frank.jpg\",\"width\":1050,\"height\":700,\"caption\":\"Frank LaPena always refused to plead guilty, even when doing so would have made him a free man. (Image: Las Vegas Review-Journal)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Las Vegas Man Pardoned Over 1974 Murder of Wife of Caesars Palace Executive\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Vegas Man Pardoned Over 1974 Murder of Wife of Caesars Palace Exec","description":"Former Hacienda worker Frank LaPena pardoned 45 years after he was convicted of arranging the murder of Hilda Krause, wife of Caesars Palace exec.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Vegas Man Pardoned Over 1974 Murder of Wife of Caesars Palace Exec","og_description":"Former Hacienda worker Frank LaPena pardoned 45 years after he was convicted of arranging the murder of Hilda Krause, wife of Caesars Palace exec.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-11-08T01:49:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1050,"height":700,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/frank.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/","name":"Vegas Man Pardoned Over 1974 Murder of Wife of Caesars Palace Exec","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/frank.jpg","datePublished":"2019-11-08T01:49:38+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-08T01:49:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Former Hacienda worker Frank LaPena pardoned 45 years after he was convicted of arranging the murder of Hilda Krause, wife of Caesars Palace exec.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/frank.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/frank.jpg","width":1050,"height":700,"caption":"Frank LaPena always refused to plead guilty, even when doing so would have made him a free man. (Image: Las Vegas Review-Journal)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-man-pardoned-over-1974-murder-of-wife-of-caesars-palace-exec\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Las Vegas Man Pardoned Over 1974 Murder of Wife of Caesars Palace Executive"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119231"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}