February 1, 2005
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Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
JOHN L. SMITH: Store’s destruction recalls era when mob held sway in Las Vegas
Las Vegas gets criticized for imploding buildings of cultural significance, but not a peep of protest went up when a wrecking ball recently flattened a historical landmark.
The two-story building on West Sahara Avenue wasn’t much to look at, but there was a time in the early 1980s that all eyes were on the Gold Rush Ltd. jewelry store.
The Gold Rush wasn’t just any jewelry store. It was also the headquarters of the infamous Tony Spilotro, the Chicago Outfit’s Las Vegas street enforcer. On the first floor, patrons could buy a wide variety of rings, watches, bracelets and necklaces at affordable prices. You think Wal-Mart has low prices: Tony could sell his goods for less than wholesale any time he wanted.
On the second floor, which was off-limits to shoppers and coppers, Spilotro set up a series of radio scanners and electronic surveillance equipment that for a short time kept his criminal crew ahead of the heat. Scanners were set to pick up radio transmissions from Metro Intelligence detectives, FBI agents in their cars and Gaming Control Board investigators. Spilotro was slick, and he received help from Metro Intelligence Detective Joe Blasko, who smuggled sensitive investigative information and documents.
Documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act describe the FBI’s focus on the Gold Rush as the center of Spilotro’s universe. “The investigation showed the wholesale usage of the Gold Rush Ltd. … as a conduit for jewels stolen in major burglaries,” agents wrote. By one informed estimate, at least 70 percent of the jewelry on display at the Gold Rush had been heisted in burglaries and robberies across the country. It was a national clearinghouse for hot gold and diamonds.
“He alarmed the front door and hired a private security firm to monitor the building at all times,” former FBI agent Bill Roemer wrote in “The Enforcer,” his biography of Spilotro. “They also constantly swept the building for bugs.”
They needed to. The FBI managed to wire the place for sound and introduce undercover agent Rick Baken to Spilotro’s crew as a jewelry expert.
As Spilotro’s criminal defense attorney, Oscar Goodman dropped by the Gold Rush on a regular basis. Instead of sitting down with the proprietor for an attorney-client discussion, Goodman would accompany Spilotro for leisurely walks around the building outside the reach of planted listening devices.
More than two decades later, Mayor Goodman now laughs at the scene. Little did he know the FBI was also using a parabolic microphone that picked up their private conversations outdoors, too.
“It was a building where I believe every conversation I had was recorded,” Goodman recalled. “We walked around the block in 125-degree heat rather than stay in the building.”
Looking at the skyline of corporate Las Vegas today, it’s hard to imagine such a homely little store playing a significant role in our collective story. For his part, back then, Goodman believed he would continue to fight on Spilotro’s behalf for many years to come and that the makeup of the town wouldn’t change.
“I saw no end in sight,” Goodman said in a voice that made me wonder whether he missed those bare-knuckle good old, bad old days.
It was probably fitting last week that the former mouthpiece turned hit man on Spilotro’s headquarters. In a ceremony to mark the groundbreaking for the Chicago-based Fifield Companies’ 40-story Allure Towers condominium project, Goodman was at the controls of the heavy equipment as it began to clear the area of buildings that housed the India Oven, Sushi House and a wedding chapel.
It’s noteworthy that any sentiment former mob mouthpiece Goodman might have been feeling didn’t prevent him from whacking the Gold Rush.
Hey, business is business.
Spilotro and brother Michael were murdered in June 1986. Joe Blasko died of a heart attack in November 2002. Goodman represents Las Vegas full time as mayor.
And the Gold Rush finally went the way of less notorious buildings that had witnessed so much Las Vegas history.
Then again, maybe some history is better left in the past.
John L. Smith’s column appears Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0295.
