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In the movie, Robert De Niro plays a Rosenthal-inspired character, with Sharon Stone as his wife. Joe Pesci portrays a character based on Spilotro.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Rosenthal oversaw the Stardust and three other Las Vegas casinos for Midwestern crime families. He survived a car bombing in 1982 outside a Las Vegas Tony Roma\u2019s restaurant and later moved to South Florida. He died of a heart attack in Florida in 2008 at age 79.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nA month after the car bombing, Geri Rosenthal died in Southern California at age 46 of an apparent overdose.<\/p>\n
The Mystery Wire<\/i> site also includes video of the 2007 Stardust implosion. That location on the Strip now is occupied by the under-construction Resorts World Las Vegas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nGaming Commission Spat<\/h2>\n
In his original reporting, Knapp notes that Rosenthal did not speculate about who might have blown up his car, other than to say it was not the Boy Scouts of America. No one has ever been held criminally responsible for the bombing.<\/p>\n
A sit-down interview that an unnamed reporter conducted in Florida with Rosenthal also is on the Mystery Wire<\/i> site. In that interview, Rosenthal says organized crime existed in Las Vegas when he was there. He adds that he knew who those approximately 20 people were.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were comprised of the Gaming Control Board, the Gaming Commission, all appointed officials, maybe one or two county commissioners, maybe two local judges, and possibly one Supreme Court justice,\u201d Rosenthal says.<\/p>\n
He says those people \u201ccontrolled everything that went on within that state.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThat\u2019s what I consider to be the real organized crime element,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Rosenthal\u2019s battles with gaming regulators included a public confrontation with former US Sen. Harry Reid (D), who was Gaming Commission chairman at the time. That incident was dramatized in the movie.<\/p>\n