Scenes from Martin Scorsese’s Casino that really happened

In Martin Scorsese’s classic, Casino, we got a window into the past and what it was like in the 1970s when the mob were working to get a foothold in Las Vegas and the casino business.

The gambling landscape has changed a lot since then with the advent of legalised gambling across a whole host of places and the introduction of places where you could play in a casino online to offer you an easier way to play the games without as much expense (definitely cheaper on the travel).

While the movie is a classic, it might surprise you to know that the events within it are closely based on real life. For example, the main character, Sam (played by Robert De Niro) is modelled on the real-life Frank Rosenthal, who did just about everything his movie counterpart did, including insisting on every blueberry muffin served in his casino having the same number of blueberries, and surviving an attempted assignation by car-bomb in Tony Roma’s restaurant car park!

Frank Rosenthal is a former Las Vegas casino executive and organised crime associate and his wife Ginger (played by Sharon Stone, in a Golden Globe-winning performance) was modelled on Rosenthal’s wife Geri. In the film. his childhood friend Nicky (Joe Pesci) is modelled on real-life gangster Anthony Spilotro, who, along with his brother Michael, met with much the same fate as Nicky and his brother Dominic.

Most of the story itself is based on Rosenthal’s actual activities in Las Vegas around this time and on the mob’s activities too, just about every murder seen is inspired by real events. Here’s a short slideshow of some of the more surprising scenes: