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!984 Top of the bill: Diana Ross

     At the end of a visit to Las Vegas in 1984, my taxi was making its way up the Strip heading to the airport, on the radio they announced the death of a man acknowledged as one of the pioneer developers of Las Vegas. Who was he? - the driver didn't catch the name. Of course there was no internet then, but not to worry, it will be in the papers tomorrow. But 'tomorrow' was in San Francisco and I could not see any reports in the papers there.

Taxi outside Caesars 1984 with Irish Showband advert.

     Last week I got an press release announcing the 50th anniversary of Caesars Palace (www.caesars.com) in Las Vegas and of the man who built that iconic Las Vegas resort, the man whose death was reported on the radio of that taxi all those years ago.
     He was Jay Sarno, the founder of both Caesars Palace and Circus Circus. He had died in a suite at Caesars, unexpectedly of a heart attack on July 21, 1984. He was 62, he had become addicted to gambling and was apparently on a gambling spree at the very hotel he had sold in 1969 for 60 million dollars. According to his biographer David G. Schwartz (Grandissimo: The First Emperor of Las Vegas: How Jay Sarno Won a Casino Empire, Lost It, and Inspired Modern Las Vegas), he was with another gambler, a woman 30 years his junior.

1984: rain approaching Caesars

      Jay Sarno, while not a member of Cosa Nostra, was connected to the Mob and a long-standing FBI suspect. They were investigating his long association with Jimmy Hoffa and the the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union. The FBI discovered that the money borrowed from the Teamsters Pension Fund ended up financing the construction of Caesars Palace and Circus Circus.
Despite all this skullduggery and questionable behavior, Sarno is credited with repositioning Las Vegas from a place for high-stakes’ gambling to a resort combining adult entertainment with family appeal.  Circus Circus was first to offer entertainment for the whole family, circus acts, bowling and other non-gaming entertainments.



    Another irony from all those years ago, as I left Vegas in my taxi, I had about $100 in my pocket, won on the slots. Jay Sarno left owing $1,000,000 in back taxes to the federal government.


The video shows of the children of Caesars Palace founder Jay Sarno talking about their legendary dad with more a degree of admiration than of fondness. In the video: brothers Freddie and Jay Sarno, Jr. and sisters September and Heidi Sarno-Strauss talking about their memories their dad and of the man who built the iconic Las Vegas resort.