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Las Vegas Not Mob-Free20 March 2002LAS VEGAS, Nevada –As reported by UPI: “The first great article of faith in Vegas proclaimed by every good corporate citizen but not entirely accurate, is: `organized crime has left the building.’ ”…But just because Anthony `The Ant’ turned up dead in a wheat field in 1986 doesn't mean that wise guys with bankrolls aren't still attracted to the desert. Just as Vegas turned international in the late 1970s, so did crime itself. ”Of the 800 `whales’ in the world--gamblers who spend a million bucks at every session -- very few are American, mainly because this country's tax laws penalize a heavy winner. ”…`In the 60s they were all Americans,’ recalls Wayne Newton, who has met just about every whale in the world. ”...`And then the Internal Revenue Service became very active here, and it was no longer a safe place for Americans to gamble large sums in cash. They didn't want to arrive with cash, and they didn't want the IRS to see them leaving with cash. And overnight those guys were gone. The market became foreigners.’ ”The reason the preferred high-roller game today is baccarat is that 80 percent of the whales are from Asia. ”…Baccarat is a game of pure chance. It can be played with lightning speed, and is so simple that you make one decision and then simply watch the cards unfold. ”But that's not the way it's played in Las Vegas. Baccarat has such a highly stylized ritual that hands are drawn out forever, with a complicated method of shuffling and burning, with the actual dealing of the cards done by the players, with traditions like bending certain cards for luck, and it's all done in an elegant room that is raised above the casino floor and designed somewhat like a temple. ”…Ironically, given the attitude of Las Vegas toward the Mafia, many of these men are criminals. The Japanese Yakuza love Vegas. So does the Russian mafia. ”…There are Colombians and Mexicans whose principal income probably doesn't come from coffee plantations. An elderly Macao gambler named Yip Pon, with ties to Chinese organized crime, has been seen in several casinos. Former leaders of the Hong Kong mob have been spotted at the tables. ”…Adnan Khashoggi, the Middle Eastern businessman with a $30 million line of credit, once booked an entire floor of a Strip hotel to provide individual rooms for all the women he brought with his entourage. The women spent so much on jewelry and furs in casino-owned shops that the host discounted his gambling tab a record 75 per cent. ”The famous Black Book, whose sole purpose is to keep people with criminal reputations out of casinos, doesn't list any of these guys. ”…Organized crime has not left the building. It's just moved to the other side of the table and acquired an accent.” |