Lefty Rosenthal’s ‘Casino’ Car-Bombing Site Sold

• Sixth & Sahara, the shopping center where Lefty Rosenthal survived a 1982 car bombing, has been sold
• The new owner vows to fix up the minimall, which has fallen into disrepair and hosts and sex-toys shop and an abandoned former Marie Callender’s
• Rosenthal survived the blast, but who planted the bomb, and why, are still officially a mystery

The Las Vegas mini mall where Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal nearly lost his life to a car bomb 43 years ago has been sold, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The bombing, almost certainly an attempted mob hit, became part of popular culture when it was re-enacted in the opening scene of the 1995 Martin Scorsese film “Casino.”

The buyer of the Sixth & Sahara Center is Roi Zalach, former owner of the Gold & Beyond pawn shop in Las Vegas. According to the R-J, Zalach sold Gold & Beyond to FirstCash Holdings, a Texas pawn-shop franchise owner, last year. He then paid $4.95 million for the 2.6-acre property in a sale that closed on December 31.

Who Was Lefty Rosenthal?

Rosenthal was a former illegal bookie and sports fixer who, in 1975, launched the first modern race and sportsbook inside a Strip casino at the Stardust. He initially worked without a Nevada gaming license. (His application was then rejected twice by the Nevada Gaming Commission after it learned of his long history of arrests.)

From 1974-79, Rosenthal  oversaw operations at the Stardust, Fremont, Hacienda and Marina casinos. He allowed the Chicago Outfit’s skim crews to quietly remove untaxed cash from count rooms and slot drop collections while keeping casino paperwork, staffing, and surveillance practices aligned with the mob’s needs rather than Nevada regulators’.

By the time of the bombing, he was no longer in the casino business and made a living as a sports-betting consultant.

Authorities never identified who planted the bomb underneath Lefty’s car, though there are plenty of theories. Many focus on his turbulent relationship with volatile mob street boss Anthony “Tony the Ant” Spilotro, known to have had an affair with Rosenthal’s wife, Geri.

In addition, though not publicly known until 2008, Rosenthal had been an FBI informant for years by then.

What We Know For Sure

After Rosenthal started the ignition of his 1981 Cadillac Eldorado, flames shot out through the defroster vents.

He is believed to have survived for two reasons:

1) His driver’s side door was still open, so the explosion blew him out of his car and onto the pavement, on which he rolled to extinguish his burning clothes. Many speculate this was because mobsters, out of an abundance of caution, frequently reach in from outside their vehicles to start them before sitting down

2) two bystanders helped pull him away from the car moments before its gas tank ignited, a second explosion that launched the 4,000-pound vehicle several feet into the air, sent flames two stories high, and blew out the rear windows of both Tony Roma’s and Marie Callender’s.

Rosenthal lived until October 2008, when he died of a heart attack at his Miami Beach home. He was 79.