February 13, 2016 Saturday
What a treat! I had lunch with Suzanne Dalitz, daughter of
gangster Moe Dalitz. As I described in "30 Illegal Years To The Strip",
he was one of the top three fine-liquor importers during Prohibition, then he
operated illegal casinos throughout the Midwest, before going on to build two
of the greatest resort casino operations on the Las Vegas Strip. His Desert Inn
was the first high-rolling casino, and his Stardust was the largest hotel and
biggest casino in the world. Between the two casinos, he catered to every
economic level. He taught the rest of us in the industry the best way to
design, operate, and market casinos to every income demographic.
This lunch was special for me because Moe Dalitz had a great
impact on my research, career, and becoming a man. He and all of his top
executives each spent an enormous number of hours teaching me how they operated
and the histories of Moe's hotel-casinos. As I point out in the Introduction to
"30 Illegal Years To The Strip," it was references by the two most
notorious gangsters to ever settle in Las Vegas, Moe Dalitz and Benny Binion, which
got me the job as President of both the Castaways and Silver Slipper on the
Strip for Howard Hughes' corporation Summa. I am still the only person to ever
manage two Strip casinos simultaneously.
I told Suzanne the impact her father and his key executives
had on my research and my personal values. Moe Dalitz was the epitome of
integrity. His word was absolute. I learned in my dealings with him what great
lengths he would go to in order to make sure he kept his word to every last
detail.
Suzanne shared the strengths and weaknesses Moe Dalitz had
as a father. Like all of us dads, he was imperfect, but she brought home the humanness
of her dad in ways I did not expect. Some aspects touched me deeply about a man
for whom I have so much respect. I and Moe always talked to each other from our
adult and never exposed our inner child to each other. Suzanne, thank you for
sharing the man at home and in activities with the people he loved!
