Casino Movie Length
Ace Rothstein (Robert De Niro) is surrounded by the press at a Nevada Gaming Commission meeting portrayed in Casino. Rothstein’s lawyer, Oscar Goodman (played by Goodman himself), stands by his side. Photo courtesy of Oscar Goodman.
Casino Royale, novel by British writer Ian Fleming, published in 1953, which is the first of his 12 blockbuster novels about the suave and supercompetent British spy James Bond. The book is packed with violent action, hairbreadth escapes, international espionage, and clever spy gadgets. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.
Though the movie Casino was released more than 22 years ago, it still serves as a reference point for those hoping to understand what real Las Vegas mobsters were like when they were a sinister fixture in the news.
But most movies based on true stories, including Casino, twist the facts for dramatic effect and to compress long histories into a watchable timeframe.
What you see in Casino isn’t exactly the way things were. Case in point: the death of the Spilotro brothers, two mobsters originally from Chicago.
The way the movie portrays it, the brothers — or at least the fictional characters representing Anthony and Michael Spilotro — are beaten with baseball bats in a cornfield and shoved into a shallow grave while still alive.
Not true.
In his 2009 book Family Secrets: The Case That Crippled the Chicago Mob, journalist Jeff Coen details what really happened. Coen covered the Family Secrets trial for the Chicago Tribune. That 2007 trial resulted in convictions and revealed details that weren’t publicly known when the movie came out more than a decade earlier.
In the 1995 movie, it was baseball bats in a cornfield. But according to trial testimony, the Spilotros were lured to a residence near O’Hare International Airport in Bensenville, a subdivision of “modest homes,” and were beaten to death in the basement. (At the trial, one of the killers, Mob turncoat Nick Calabrese, said he could not recall which house it was.)
Anthony and his brother, Michael, a part-time actor and owner of the Chicago restaurant and Mob hangout Hoagie’s, went to the home in June 1986 believing they were to be promoted within the Outfit.
Although the brothers were suspicious, refusing to go was unthinkable.
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When the Spilotros got to the basement, about 15 mobsters pounced on them. Michael had brought a pocket-sized .22-caliber handgun but could not get to it. Anthony was heard asking if he could say a prayer but was swarmed.
In addition to breaking Michael’s nose, the attackers inflicted blunt force injuries over his entire body. They severely bruised Anthony’s face, left temple and chest.
Anthony, 48, had blood in his trachea, lungs and nasal passages and hemorrhaging in the muscles of the larynx. The 41-year-old Michael had a fractured Adam’s apple.
Neither man’s skin was broken, indicating the killers did not use a heavy object such as a baseball bat. The brothers were beaten with fists, knees and feet, according to a pathologist at the trial.
The Spilotros were dead when buried in an Enos, Indiana, cornfield about 100 miles south of the murder house. The brothers were placed in a five-foot grave in only their underwear, one on top of the other.
The cornfield is near land that Outfit boss Joseph “Joey Doves” Aiuppa used for hunting, according to Coen. A farmer discovered the grave, thinking someone had buried a deer. The Spilotros were identified by dental X-rays provided by a third bother, Patrick Spilotro, a dentist.
Why did this happen to Anthony and Michael Spilotro? Mob higher-ups felt the two had to be silenced.
Since the early 1970s, Anthony Spilotro had overseen street rackets in Las Vegas for the Chicago Outfit. He also was keeping an eye on Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal, a Chicago bookie handling the skim in Las Vegas for Midwestern Mob bosses.
Ultimately, though, news stories about Spilotro’s violent criminal activities, and his affair with Rosenthal’s wife, a former showgirl at the Tropicana hotel-casino, led to the gruesome outcome in that Bensenville basement.
Anthony Spilotro’s high-profile legal problems were jeopardizing the Outfit’s Las Vegas cash cow, prompting Aiuppa to order him “knocked down.” Michael Spilotro, facing a trial on extortion charges, had to go, too.
That terrifying outcome is not the only place where Casino misses the mark factually. In another example among many from the film, an animated Kansas City mobster pops off in an Italian grocery about the Las Vegas skim while federal authorities listen to his profanity-laced rant through a bug planted in a vent.
In reality, law enforcement authorities learned about the Las Vegas skim while eavesdropping on a conversation between members of the Civella crime family at a bugged back table in Kansas City’s Villa Capri pizzeria. Unlike the movie, there was no humorous scolding mom at the now-demolished Villa Capri nagging her mobster son about his vulgar language.
The only ones at the table were sinister Mob figures, behaving like real-life conspiratorial gangsters, not colorful movie characters.
Larry Henry is a veteran print and broadcast journalist. He served as press secretary for Nevada Governor Bob Miller, and was political editor at the Las Vegas Sun and managing editor at KFSM-TV, the CBS affiliate in Northwest Arkansas. Henry taught journalism at Haas Hall Academy in Bentonville, Arkansas, and now is the headmaster at the school’s campus in Rogers, Arkansas. The Mob in Pop Culture blog appears monthly.
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FREE APPRAISAL. To buy, auction, sell or consign your Casino movie prop that is for sale, please email your description and photos to [email protected] of Nate D. Sanders Auctions (http://www.NateDSanders.com).
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Casino is a 1995 American epic crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Barbara De Fina and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film is based on the nonfiction book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas by Nicholas Pileggi, who also co-wrote the screenplay for the film with Scorsese. It stars Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, Don Rickles, Kevin Pollak and James Woods. The film marks the eighth collaboration between director Scorsese and De Niro.
Below is a recent realized price for a Casino movie prop. We at Nate D. Sanders Auctions can obtain up to this amount or more for you:
Casino Movie Prop. Sold for over $10,000.
Nate D. Sanders Auctions has sold the following film memorabilia:
Bruce Lee owned and used heavy bag. Beige canvas heavy bag used in Lee’s revolutionary martial arts practice is stamped with brand name Atlas. Measures 39” high with a 14” diameter. Weighs 69 pounds. Moisture staining around the bottom quarter, else near fine. From the collection of Herb Jackson, whose well-documented friendship with Lee began while he trained in Jeet Kune Do at Lee’s Los Angeles martial arts academy in Chinatown. Lee, impressed with Jackson’s background in street fighting, in time befriended his student and invited him to train at his home. Just before his fateful move to Hong Kong, Lee gifted many pieces of his martial arts equipment to Jackson. With a COA from Herb Jackson’s son. Sold for $33,901.
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Kurt Russell lot of screen-used items from from his critically-acclaimed role as wild west lawman Wyatt Earp in ”Tombstone”. Includes: (1) Non-firing replica Winchester rifle was presumably used in one of the film’s famous shootouts, including the famed Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The Winchester was one of the earliest repeat-fire rifles known as the ”Gun that Won the West.” Metal gun with wooden base measures 38” x 4” base with some minor tarnishing. (2) Replica Waltham pocket watch and chain. Watch measures 2” in diameter with a 13” chain. (3) Replica non-firing Schofield pistol with a wooden butt measures 13.5” x 5.5”. (4) Black felt hat with large rim. With ”Mr. Russell” written by hand to inside of hat. Measures 16” including rim x 6” and a 7 and 3/8 diameter. (5) White button-down ”Harry Fitzgerald” shirt measures 16” shoulder to shoulder and 34” in length. Overall near fine condition. Includes original prop tag notating the rifle, film, and Kurt Russell. Sold for $4,160.
Mark Hamill Signed Lightsaber
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Mark Richard Hamill (ˈhæmɪl/; born September 25, 1951) is an American actor, voice actor, and writer. He is best known for playing Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars film series. His other notable film appearances include Corvette Summer (1978) and The Big Red One (1980). Hamill has also appeared on stage in several theater productions, primarily during the 1980s.
Luke Skywalker is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the original film trilogy of the Star Wars franchise created by George Lucas. Portrayed by Mark Hamill, Luke first appeared in Star Wars (1977), and he returned in The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). Three decades later, he portrayed the character in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, appearing in all three films: The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019).
Mark Hamill signed lightsaber, a perfect 1:1 scale replica of the elegant Jedi weapon used by Hamill as Luke Skywalker in ”Star Wars”. Signed by Hamill in black felt-tip on the white blade portion, dramatic lightsaber measures 43” long and approximately 6.75” in diameter at the handle. Near fine condition, ideal for display. Accompanied with a display stand, and with COA from Celebrity Authentics. Sold for $3,500.
Sword prop procured for use by Hollywood legend Ingrid Bergman in the title role in “Joan of Arc”. Solid metal prop sword is painted to appear housed in its scabbard, made to look like wood with metal bindings and red decoration. Measures 42″ in length. Scattered chipping to paint, else near fine. Provenance from the Butterfield & Butterfield auction of Entertainment Memorabilia, held 26-27 June 1995, lot 495, and with a copy of the auction listing. Sold for $3,125.
Mel Gibson’s Braveheart Prop Weapon — Used in Onscreen Slayings of English Soldiers
Mel Gibson’s prop weapon from the Academy Award-winning 1995 historical film ”Braveheart.” Gibson directed and starred as William Wallace in the 13th century drama, which was loosely based on the Scottish War of Independence from King Edward I’s England. Gibson as Wallace slayed a handful of English soldiers with this piece during the war epic’s first battle scene. ”Braveheart” won Best Picture and Gibson won Best Director at the 1996 Oscars. Features silver-painted rubber affixed to a wooden handle. Measures 25” tall x 10.25” across at the widest point. Near fine. With provenance from Profiles in History. Sold for $2,520.
FREE VALUATION. To buy, auction, sell or consign your Casino movie prop that is for sale, please email your description and photos to [email protected] of Nate D. Sanders Auctions (http://www.NateDSanders.com).
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