Part II, Chapters 8-10 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 8: Boardwalk Blues

The federal government was determined to prove that the Golden Nugget was operating as a money laundromat for the mafia and drug traffickers. The network of those criminals began to open up into a "world-wide puzzle" involving countries from the US to Europe and beyond. "In the early 1980s, Atlantic City gained a reputation as a Mafia laundromat of illicit cash. Dozens of members and associates of La Cosa Nostra were spotted inside casinos playing with large sums of cash and on credit" (p. 141).

Most of the chapter is devoted to the story of Anthony "Tony Cakes" Castelbuono. In 1982, Tony Cakes found himself in a bit of a jam. Castelbuono was a die hard gambler who had recently run afoul of some of his Sicilian contacts. To get back in their good...