VEGAS MYTHS BUSTED: Lefty’s Life-Saving Steel Cadillac Plate

Move over, Mirage’s gold-glazed windows — here’s another myth we feel horrible for spreading ourselves…

For decades, the story went like this: mobster Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal survived the October 4, 1982 bombing of his car because of a factory‑installed steel plate beneath the driver’s seat of his 1981 Cadillac Eldorado. The plate deflected the blast downward instead of up through the cabin. According to the story, GM added the plate only to the 1981 Eldorado to correct a balancing issue.

That detail — born from early investigator speculation — was immortalized by Nicholas Pileggi’s book Casino and the 1995 Scorsese film based on it, which opens with the explosion. Both credited Lefty’s survival to that mysterious steel plate. (De Niro portrayed a character based on Lefty in the movie.)

Still reeling from his Mirage windows disillusionment, Vital Vegas — now questioning every fact he thought he knew about Las Vegas — ran this story by the AI that he knows will eventually replace him, this column, and all news reporting.

And Grok had a real shocker to report.

The claim of Lefty’s life-saving steel plate was tested and busted five years ago by Motor MythBusters, a streaming series whose existence you are not alone in being entirely unaware of. After a single season running solely on the MotorTrend app, it was canceled due to lack of interest.

Old footage now streaming on HBO Max shows the team testing Lefty’s exact car model — a 1981 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz, the top-trim version — to see if a plate underneath the driver’s seat could withstand a car bomb.

They stripped the car down.
They searched for the plate.
They found nothing.

Of course, they blew the car up anyway, because that’s the only thing their reportedly insufficient number of viewers wanted to see.

They also checked GM’s production records for that model year and confirmed that no such plate was ever installed — not for balancing, not for car-bomb safety, not for anything.

Our Myth Stake

We really hate being beaten to busting any Vegas myth. But when you add in being so oblivious to having been beaten to a busting that an AI program has to break the news … to a colleague who happened to even think to question a well-reported fact? There are no words.

Except to say that we really should have had a clue. Contemporary news from 1982 made no mention of a steel plate and already pointed to the real reason Rosenthal survived: he wasn’t fully inside the car.

Lefty was halfway out the driver’s door, with one foot and one hand inside, when the bomb detonated. The blast blew him clear of the vehicle, and he rolled on the pavement to extinguish his burning clothes.

Mobsters of the era, ever wary of car bombs, routinely reached in to start their cars from outside before sitting down.

Two bystanders also reportedly contributed to Lefty’s survival by dragging him away from the burning car moments before its gas tank ignited.

This second explosion launched the 4,000‑pound Eldorado several feet into the air, sent flames two stories high, and blew out the rear windows of both Tony Roma’s — where Lefty had parked to grab some takeout — and Marie Callender’s.

We weren’t alone in perpetuating this myth instead of identifying it. It appeared absolutely everywhere — though we’ll refrain from naming other news outlets because busting myths is the only thing we supposedly do.

Authorities never identified who planted the bomb, though theories abound. Many center on Lefty’s relationship with volatile mob enforcer Anthony “Tony the Ant” Spilotro, who was having an affair with Lefty’s wife, Geri.

Rosenthal, who suffered only burns to his legs and face, lived until October 2008, when he succumbed to a heart attack at his Miami Beach home. He was 79.

Maybe we should start including the following disclaimer at the end of this column every week…

We cannot guarantee that any of the information you just read won’t eventually be disproven. 

Look for “Vegas Myths Busted” every Monday on Casino.org. To read previously busted Vegas myths, visit VegasMythsBusted.com. Got a suggestion for a Vegas myth that needs busting? Email corey@casino.org.