Ginger Casino Real Life

By David Amoruso

The Real Ginger From Casino
Ginger Casino Real Life

Pesci’s Nicky Santoro’s real-life counterpart was mafia tough guy and jewelry heist man Anthony “The Ant” Spilotro. And Sharon Stone’s ill-fated Ginger McKenna was based on Las Vegas showgirl Geri McGee, who was married to Rosenthal and sadly died of a drug overdose in 1982. In addition, the car bombing, casino skimming, and hammer-to. Ginger McKenna is the secondary antagonist of the 1995 Martin Scorsese film, Casino. She is based on the real life Las Vegas socialite, showgirl, and model, the late Geraldine 'Geri' McGee. In Casino, Sharon Stone plays the McGee-inspired dancer Ginger McKenna and she’s rather true to life. Loose cannon Ginger McKenna was a close depiction of Rosenthal’s girl Geri McGee. The Rosenthals’ relationship soon soured, though. The plot was inspired by the real-life events of Frank Rosenthal who managed three casinos in Las Vegas for the Chicago mob in the 1970s and 1980s. Casino was directed by none other than Martin Scorsese, the mastermind behind plenty of other mafia-related movie productions, and stars actors such as Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, and James Woods.

Hollywood loves gangsters. Not because film makers condone their crimes, but because their stories make them lots of money. It’s difficult to name any other genre that has so many titles based on a true story. Yet, despite this label, the true story often gets twisted to fit the silver screen. That is why Gangsters Inc. shares its knowledge of the facts and truth behind these blockbuster gangster flicks.

When it comes to epic mob movies director Martin Scorsese outdid himself with Casino. It tells the true story of Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal and Anthony “The Ant” Spilotro and how the Chicago Outfit dominated gambling in Las Vegas and is based on the research and eventual book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas by Nicholas Pileggi.

In the movie the names have been changed. Lefty Rosenthal turned into Sam “Ace” Rothstein while Spilotro was now named Nicky Santoro. Thankfully their actions remained the same and the acting of Robert De Niro as Rothstein and Joe Pesci as Santoro is, as you can expect from these two stars, top notch.

Where Scorsese had shown the gritty streets of New York City mob life in Goodfellas, in Casino he upped the ante and showed us the glamorous lives of the men who controlled a billion dollar industry. And, “how [they] messed it all up.”

The true story of Casino was featured in several Gangsters Inc. stories. Most dealing with the individual players or certain incidents more than with the exact plot of the movie. The men responsible for the Las Vegas skim and the money from the Teamsters were bosses Antonino “Joe Batters” Accardo and Joseph Aiuppa, while capo Joseph “The Clown” Lombardo saw to it their orders were carried out as commanded. We have profiled them all.

Spilotro was sent to Vegas to oversee the skim at the casino. He had made a name for himself back in Chicago after learning the ropes from “Mad Sam” DeStefano, one of the most evil mobsters ever to walk the streets of Chi Town.

The Real Ginger From Casino

All in all the violence portrayed in Casino did a good job at showing the capabilities of the group of stone cold killers the real Chicago Outfit had at its disposal. Like when Chicago boss Antonino Accardo needed to send a message to some guys wo burglarized his home.

In the movie Scorsese even cast real mob killer Frank Cullotta to play, essentially, himself as he shoots his way through the final scenes of the movie.

More on Casino:

Mafia hitman Frank Cullotta on movie 'Casino', Tony Spilotro, Killing Informants, Cooperating with FBI
The lucrative and violent years of Las Vegas mobster Tony Spilotro’s infamous Hole in the Wall gang
The story behind the documentary: Back Home, Years Ago: The Real Casino

Get the latest on organized crime and the Mafia at Gangsters Inc.'s news section.

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