LOST VEGAS: That Time Caesars Ent. Almost Brought the Mob Back

Posted on: March 17, 2025, 01:59h. 

Last updated on: March 17, 2025, 03:49h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.
  • The Caesars-owned Cromwell Hotel on the Vegas Strip will soon be rebranded as the Vanderpump Hotel
  • The property, previously Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall & Saloon, was almost rebranded in 2014 as Gansevoort Las Vegas
  • The deal fell through when Caesars’ proposed partner was found to have mob ties in Europe

Caesars Entertainment announced last week that it’s partnering with its favorite reality star to rebrand the Cromwell into the future Vanderpump Hotel. They’re probably hoping no one remembers the last time they entered into a partnership to transform the very same hotel. And we’re here to prevent that.

A rendering of the ill-fated Gansevoort Las Vegas shows it would have looked almost exactly like the Cromwell, which Caesars built instead — including Drai’s placement up top. (Image: Caesars Entertainment)

Organized crime was scrubbed clean from Las Vegas casino ownership by the ’80s, with the last known mob skim occurring in 1988 at the Hotel Continental. A few characters with underworld ties remained but operated in the lower realms of strip clubs, illegal prostitution, and street drugs.

That nearly changed in March 2013, when Caesars announced it had partnered with a New York-based company known for its luxury boutique hotels, for a $185 million remodel of Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall & Saloon. The budget-friendly joint was opened by Caesars (then called Harrah’s) in 2007 as a rebrand of the Barbary Coast, which Michael Gaughan opened in 1979.

The Gansevoortex

In April 2014, Caesars and the Gansevoort Hotel Group were to have renovated and reopened the property as Gansevoort Las Vegas.

That never happened, though, because of a probe launched by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC), which was looking into Caesars as a potential partner for the Suffolk Downs horse track in East Boston. The two companies planned to build a $1 billion Caesars-branded casino resort at the 163-acre site.

That never happened, either.

One of the problems the MGC found was that Gansevoort investor Arik Kislin “was identified in German court filings as allegedly having ties to organized crime in Russia,” according to a New York Post report at the time.

The tabloid quoted court records and law enforcement officials implicating Kislin as the treasurer of Trenton Business, a Liechtenstein-based company that served as a front for the Ismailovskaya organized crime group. The other two people involved in the operation were Anton Malevsky, whom the Post called the mob group’s “godfather,” and Malevsky’s brother, Andrei.

The war chest of the [mob] organization was the Trenton Business Corporation,” according to a German court ruling issued in a 2010 money-laundering trial obtained by the Post. “Today, the gang is engaged in robberies, extortion shakedowns, drug and weapons dealing, as well as illegal prostitution and money-laundering.”

Caesars dissolved its partnership with Gansevoort in October 2013, opting instead to open the Cromwell.

Mob Scene

The 2013 press release announcing the Gansevoort partnership quoted former Caesars Entertainment CEO Gary Loveman as enthusing: “Partnering with Gansevoort Hotel Group … allows us to bring a fresh perspective to the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. This project underscores our commitment to evolving our portfolio with exciting brands that enhance the customer experience.”

To be fair, according to a lot of old-time Vegas tourists, the mafia did do the Vegas customer experience better than today’s casino corporations.

At least they did for customers who didn’t cheat or otherwise interfere in their business and find themselves beaten with a tire iron in a casino back room. Or much worse.

“Lost Vegas” is an occasional Casino.org series spotlighting Las Vegas’ forgotten history. Click here to read other entries in the series. Think you know a good Vegas story lost to history? Email corey@casino.org.