The Battle for Las Vegas: The Law vs. The Mob by Dennis Griffin Page B

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