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\n\tBernie Sindler<\/p>\n
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\n\tBernie Sindler<\/p>\n
\tBy David G. Schwartz, Green Felt Journal, Vegas Seven<\/p>\n
\tWhen card games were dealt in clubs and private homes, when the mob ran most American gambling and when Las Vegas was barely an idea, Bernie Sindler was there.<\/p>\n
\tSindler, a former affiliate of Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel, comes from a generation when those who knew didn\u2019t speak. Talking freely about inside business wasn\u2019t just bad form; at a time when most gambling business was illegal, it could get someone arrested\u2014or worse.<\/p>\n
\tBut most of the people who might have gone to jail for secrets revealed are long gone. Being one of the last men standing affords Sindler a measure of freedom. So he has written a book, The Bernie Sindler Story: Life With Lansky, Siegel, and the Mob (Seven Wives Press, $23), sharing his unique insights into the days when the mob\u2014if it didn\u2019t exactly run Vegas\u2014certainly made money here.<\/p>\n
\tSindler came to Las Vegas after a remarkable sequence of events. A chance late-1944 meeting with Lansky on a Miami-bound train led to the influential underworld financier taking the 20-year-old Sindler under his wing. At Lansky\u2019s behest, Sindler came to Las Vegas in late 1946 to scope out the town and troubleshoot the games at the soon-to-open Flamingo. Aside from stints in Los Angeles and London, Sindler has called the city home ever since.<\/p>\n
\tSindler had a ringside seat for some of the city\u2019s most historic moments: the still-unsolved murder of Siegel; the opening of the Frontier and its quick sale to Howard Hughes; the Rancho Circle murders; and the 1980 MGM Grand fire. He claims to be pretty sure who really killed Siegel and has hunches about a few other Vegas mysteries.<\/p>\n
\tAdd in a series of romances (Sindler has been married seven times), jet-setting travels and some good old-fashioned card tricks (Sindler first caught Lansky\u2019s eye while practicing his sleight of hand), and you\u2019ve got a made-for-Hollywood script. Above all, Sindler provides a unique perspective on one of the city\u2019s most colorful eras.<\/p>\n
\tContent to deal cards, host players and invest, Sindler never wanted to call the shots. Lansky deliberately kept him in the dark about many of his dealings, ensuring that while Sindler rubbed elbows with the mob guys, he never became one of them. That might be why Sindler, in his 90s, is here to share his story.<\/p>\n
\tBut why now?<\/p>\n
\tSindler didn\u2019t set out to write a book\u2014at least not at first.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSeven or eight years ago, I thought about my life, and I started writing things down. I found I enjoyed it,\u201d he says. \u201cI thought I\u2019d leave something for my kids\u2014I never thought it would turn into a book. I just wanted something for them to remember me by.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tTalking with friends, Sindler began to realize that there was a broader hunger for stories of old Las Vegas. After working on his life story for several years, Sindler turned to Gamblers Book Store owner Avery Cardoza for advice and, with the help of Cardoza and editor Dana Smith, worked his manuscript into its current form. That\u2019s why now it\u2019s not just his children and grandchildren who will be able to look back on his remarkable life, but anyone who wants to learn more about some of the stories behind the stories that made Las Vegas. The success of the Mob Museum (where Sindler will be signing books from 1-5 p.m. on December 11) demonstrates the abiding interest the public has in our city\u2019s past.<\/p>\n
\tIf Sindler\u2019s journey\u2014from his nurturing by Lansky to his incredible run in Las Vegas\u2014seems like too much, Sindler is just as surprised as you. More than 70 years after that fateful train ride, he still looks back in awe.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSo many things shouldn\u2019t happen to one person,\u201d he laughs. \u201cI\u2019m like Forrest Gump!\u201d<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bernie Sindler By David G. Schwartz, Green Felt Journal, Vegas Seven When card games were dealt in clubs and private homes, when the mob ran most American gambling and when Las Vegas was barely an idea, Bernie Sindler was there….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9230\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}