The lights of the Las Vegas Strip dimmed briefly as the Tropicana, the oldest true mob building, met its demise in a grand implosion. The 1957 hotel and casino, a former haunt of the Rat Pack and a symbol of the city’s flashy past, was reduced to rubble in a carefully choreographed demolition. The event marked the first major implosion in nine years, and the last of its kind on the strip, allowing for the construction of a new $1.5 billion baseball stadium for the Oakland Athletics.
Geoff Schumacher, historian and vice president of exhibits and programs at the Mob Museum, noted that Las Vegas has made demolition a part of its identity, and the city has come to expect elaborate spectacles. The implosion was the latest in a long line of demolition events that have redefined the city’s skyline over the years.
The Tropicana’s history was marked by ties to organized crime, particularly through reputed mobster Frank Costello. The casino’s grand opening in 1957 was shrouded in behind-the-scenes dealings, and an investigation into Costello’s activities led to the discovery of the mob’s involvement in the Tropicana’s operations. By the 1970s, federal authorities had charged more than a dozen operatives with conspiring to skim millions of dollars in gambling revenue from Las Vegas casinos, including the Tropicana, leading to five convictions.
Las Vegas Tropicana (Image via Getty)
As the city looked to rebrand itself as a sports hub, the Tropicana’s fate was sealed. The implosion cleared land for the new baseball stadium, leaving the Flamingo as the last remaining structure from the city’s mob era. However, according to Schumacher, the Flamingo’s original structures are long gone, having been completely rebuilt in the 1990s.
Fans of the Tropicana bid farewell to the casino in April, with some, like teary-eyed New Jersey resident Joe Zappulla, lamenting the loss of “Old Vegas”. As the city looks to the future, the Tropicana’s legacy remains, a reminder of the glamour and notoriety of Sin City’s past. The opulent stained glass ceiling, which cost a million dollars in 1979, was a token of the casino’s former glory, and its destruction marked the end of an era for the city.
