Casino mogul Steve Wynn has slapped a lofty $135 million price tag on his palatial Beverly Hills estate.
Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn got his start in the hotel and gaming industry with the help of the Detroit mafia. The 76-year old Wynn, who has been the corporate face of Sin City since 1990s, personally responsible for much of the New Millennium makeover on The Strip, was in the news this week after the Wall Street Journal published an investigative piece concentrating on years of alleged sexual misconduct he reportedly inflicted on his employees.
His entrée into Las Vegas was paved by deceased Detroit mob underboss Anthony (Tony Z) Zerilli back in the late 1960s. Zerilli and his wiseguy pals from the Midwest controlled the Frontier Hotel and Casino through a hidden ownership stake, using a West Coast land developer and promoter named Maurice Friedman as their front man.
Prior to 2018, Steve Wynn Was A Titan In The Casino Industry In 1989, Steve Wynn opened his first casino on the Las Vegas Strip: the Mirage Resort & Casino. At the time, a new casino hadn’t been opened on the strip in two decades, and Wynn intended to bring something different to Sin City: a level of glamour and prestige that had normally. Steve Wynn no longer has any stock in Wynn Resorts after selling on Thursday the remainder of his stake in the company he founded in 2002 and with which he built opulent casino-resorts in the. Wynn played an important role in the rise of the Las Vegas Strip. He is responsible for resorts as The Bellagio, and The Mirage. And the casino resort The Golden Nugget and Wynn and Encore. Inherited a Bingo Business. When Wynn’s father died in 1963 he inherited his bingo business. Which he developed into a hotel and casino company. Steve Wynn sold 4.1 million shares on Wednesday, then followed that selloff by ridding himself of the remaining 8 million shares of Wynn stock he owned on Thursday. Thus, Wynn Resorts and Steve Wynn no longer have any connection whatsoever. The only Wynn who owns company stock anymore is Elaine Wynn, the former casino executive’s estranged.
Friedman knew Wynn through a friendship with Wynn’s dad, Mike, owner of a series of bingo halls in Maryland, and introduced him to Zerilli. Shortly following the introduction, Wynn was hired as the Frontier’s slot-machine manager and purchased a 5% interest in the hotel and casino for $45,000. He’s now worth billions.
“I put Steve Wynn in business, there’d be no Steve Wynn without me,” an aging Zerilli said in an interview in the weeks before he died of natural causes in 2015. “The guy took that job we gave him and that investment we allowed him to buy into and parlayed it into an empire. We legitimized him though. People knew he was suddenly a player because he had our backing to start.”
Zerilli’s dad, Joseph (Joe Uno) Zerilli served as the Godfather of the mob in Detroit for more than 40 years without ever doing a night behind bars. He was one of the only non-New York dons to hold a seat on the Commission, the mafia’s national board of directors.
When the government began breathing down his neck shortly thereafter, the younger Zerilli was forced to sell the Frontier to reclusive millionaire Howard Hughes, a man Wynn himself did future business with. The Frontier was torn down in 2008. Today, Wynn owns the property the casino once stood on.
Tony Zerilli
In 1971, Zerilli and several other Midwest mafia figures were federally indicted for skimming $6,000,000 from the Frontier. Friedman was the star witness at their trial in which they were convicted and all sentenced to five years in prison.
Following Zerilli being swept out of Las Vegas and the Frontier changing hands, Wynn turned his attention to the Golden Nugget, purchasing the iconic gambling palace and using it to transform the city’s then- downtrodden downtown area with mass renovations and a successful rebranding effort. By the early 1980s, the Golden Nugget was the most profitable casino in Las Vegas. Later in the decade, he changed gears and began a building campaign to rejuvenate the Strip, spearheaded by his construction of the Mirage and Treasure Island. The 1990s brought his opening of the opulent Bellagio, setting a trend for the long line of ultra-luxurious hotels and casinos you see dotting the Strip today.
Wynn has been hounded with rumors of mafia ties dating back decades. New York mob figure Anthony (Tony Cakes) Castelbouno was busted for laundering narcotics proceeds through a Wynn casino in Atlantic City 35 years ago. A conversation between former Genovese crime family street boss Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno and one-time Cleveland mafia consigliere John (Peanuts) Tronolone was intercepted by an FBI wire planted in Salerno’s East Harlem headquarters in 1982 where Tronolone requested Salerno use his sway with Wynn to “rein him in,” and aid in sale negotiations related to a piece of property Wynn owned on the Strip. More recently, Boston Goodfellas Darin (Nino) Buffalino and Charles (Good Time Charlie) Lightbody were overheard on a wire talking about how they had Wynn “on their side,” in Las Vegas.
Since sexual assault allegations in 2018, Steve Wynn retired from the gambling industry. Now, regulates in Nevada dispute if they have the right to ban him. In fact, the Nevada Gaming Control Board has been attempting to ban Wynn from further casino-related business in Nevada since October of 2019. In a recent court decision in November 2020, a state judge determined that the NGCB no longer has the right to make such decisions over Wynn.
A Nevada judge has ruled that Steve Wynn cannot be banned from the state’s gambling industry. ©quinntheislander/Pixabay
Prior to 2018, Steve Wynn Was A Titan In The Casino Industry
Steve Wynn Vancouver Casino News
In 1989, Steve Wynn opened his first casino on the Las Vegas Strip: the Mirage Resort & Casino. At the time, a new casino hadn’t been opened on the strip in two decades, and Wynn intended to bring something different to Sin City: a level of glamour and prestige that had normally been left out of Las Vegas casino architecture.
The success of Wynn’s Mirage location led to the development of a number of other Wynn-branded properties, first around the US — in Atlantic City — and then abroad, as Wynn expanded his empire into Asian gambling capital Macau. By January 2018, Wynn was a powerful billionaire, with a prominent role in the Republican National Committee.
Then, Things Change
At the end of January in 2018, The Wall Street Journal — a leading American newspaper — published an alarming expose revealing decades of sexual misconduct allegations from both Wynn and Wynn Las Vegas President, Maurice Wooden. According to these claims, lawsuits had been filed and settled, often for millions of dollars.
According to the reports, an overwhelming number of female employees at the Wynn Las Vegas, largely working in the salon and spa, had faced sexual misconduct from Wynn. At least 13 women came forward stating that they had been sexually harassed and/or assaulted by Wynn, and had been aggressively discouraged from speaking out.
The Fallout Is Swift
Within a number of days, Steve Wynn had resigned his post as chair of the Republican National Committee, and Wynn stocks fall precipitously in the New York Stock Exchange. Just four days after the expose, the Nevada Gaming Control Board announced that it was beginning a comprehensive investigation into Wynn’s misconduct.
Ten days after the expose was published, Steve Wynn retired from his namesake brand. Despite Wynn’s resignation, the ensuing months — and now, years — see a number of lawsuits filed against Wynn, alleging breaches from insider trading to further allegations of violent sexual assault.
In October of 2019, the class action lawsuit against Wynn was underway. The main plaintiff in the case was Breanna Schrader, a massage therapist who had been employed by Wynn, who alleged that the company had a culture stemming from the very top of permitting sexual misconduct against female employees and silencing them from speaking out.
Steve Wynn Vancouver Casino Hotel
Nevada Gaming Control Board Has Been On It From The Jump
Since just four days after the initial assault allegations were reported in The Wall Street Journal in 2018, the Nevada Gaming Control Board has closely followed, investigated, and at times, prosecuted Wynn for his misconduct. This has spanned the last several years almost without cease.
In late November 2019, the Nevada Gaming Control Board brought its investigation to Elaine Wynn, the ex-wife of the former Vegas tycoon. According to their reports, Ms. Wynn had intentionally withheld critical information about her then-husband’s alleged misconduct to members of the Wynn Resorts board.
Since Fall 2019, Attempts To Ban Wynn Outright
The most dramatic step taken by the Nevada Gaming Control Board began in October 2019, when the regulatory body announced that it was seeking to wholly ban the gambling magnate from ever working in the Nevada gambling industry again. The commission also levied a significant fine against Wynn, filing a 23-page complaint.
Included in the complaint were five central infractions the Nevada Gaming Commission believed had been perpetrated by Wynn, including his refusal to appear in person at an important investigatory hearing in September 2019. The complaint offered a scathing indictment of Wynn, declaring that he demonstrated dishonesty and a lack of integrity.
The Latest Development: Nevada Judge Rules Ban Impossible
Now, more than a year after the Nevada regulatory body first filed a motion to ban Wynn from further business in the state, a state judge has determined that such a ban is not possible. According to Clark County District Judge Adriana Escobar, the Nevada Gaming Commission does not have the right to make such a decision.
According to Judge Escobar’s decision, Steve Wynn has decisively retired from the gambling industry, and has effectively withdrawn any involvement he has with any gambling companies. As such, Wynn is not conducting business in Nevada and will not do so in the future, and the NGCB cannot ban him from the state.
Steve Wynn Vancouver Casino Opening
Steve Wynn used to reside at his Las Vegas property, which could have made this kind of action legally viable. Since the allegations in 2018, however, Wynn has moved out of Nevada. The fact that he no longer lives in the state is a central reason why the local gambling commission no longer has jurisdiction over his future business decisions.
Nevada Gaming Commission Could Appeal This Decision
According to reports about Judge Escobar’s ruling on the attempted ban, the regulatory body could still seek to overturn the decision by bringing the case to the Nevada State Supreme Court. It is not clear at this time whether the NGCB will continue to pursue this extreme, and perhaps final, step of their investigation.