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Video: Tropicana implosion brings down iconic Vegas hotel and casino
The Tropicana was a frequent hang out of the legendary Rat Pack and its past under the mob has long cemented its place in Las Vegas lore. The implosion brought it down on Oct. 9, 2024.
LAS VEGAS - In true Las Vegas fashion, Sin City gave an iconic goodbye to the famous Tropicana hotel and casino early on Wednesday morning in an elaborate implosion and fireworks show.
The Tropicana's hotel towers, which have been closed since April, were the last true mob buildings on the Las Vegas Strip. It was the first implosion in nearly a decade for a city that loves fresh starts and that has made casino implosions as much a part of its identity as gambling itself.
The implosion cleared land for a $1.5 billion baseball stadium for the relocating Oakland Athletics, part of the city's latest rebrand into a sports hub.
History of the Tropicana hotel
FILE - An exterior view shows the Tropicana Las Vegas on April 13, 2021, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The Tropicana, the third-oldest casino on the Strip, welcomed guests for 67 years.
It was once known as the "Tiffany of the Strip" for its opulence and was a frequent hangout of the legendary Rat Pack. Its past under the mob has also long cemented its place in Las Vegas lore.
It opened in 1957 with three stories and 300 hotel rooms split into two wings.
As Las Vegas rapidly evolved in the following decades, including a building boom of Strip megaresorts in the 1990s, the Tropicana also underwent major changes. Two hotel towers were added in later years. In 1979, the casino’s beloved $1 million green-and-amber stained-glass ceiling was installed above the casino floor.
The Tropicana's original low-rise hotel wings survived the many renovations, however, making it the last true mob structure on the Strip.
Behind the scenes of the casino’s grand opening, the Tropicana had ties to organized crime, largely through reputed mobster Frank Costello.
Costello was shot in the head in New York weeks after the Tropicana’s debut. He survived, but the investigation led the police to a piece of paper in his coat pocket with the Tropicana's exact earnings figure, revealing the mob's stake in the casino.
By the 1970s, federal authorities investigating mobsters in Kansas City charged more than a dozen operatives with conspiring to skim $2 million in gambling revenue from Las Vegas casinos, including the Tropicana.
Charges connected to the Tropicana alone resulted in five convictions.
The iconic resort was used as Michael Corleone’s Las Vegas casino business in the 1972 film "The Godfather." It also hosted James Bond in 1971’s "Diamonds Are Forever."