Dino Cellini, (November 19, 1914 – November 2, 1978) ran casinos for New York mobster
Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the ...
in
Havana, Cuba during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Cellini later ran casinos in the
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...
and the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
Early years
Dino Vicente Cellini, is the son of an Italian barber who immigrated to the U.S. Cellini had three brothers, Edward, Goffredo & Bobby, and a sister Julia. Cellini grew up in the steel mill town of
Steubenville, Ohio
Steubenville is a city in and the county seat of Jefferson County, Ohio, United States. Located along the Ohio River 33 miles west of Pittsburgh, it had a population of 18,161 at the 2020 census. The city's name is derived from Fort Steuben, a ...
during the
Depression years. As a youngster, Cellini worked at Rex's Cigar Store as a dice/craps casino dealer and
croupier
A croupier or dealer is someone appointed at a gambling table to assist in the conduct of the game, especially in the distribution of bets and payouts. Croupiers are typically employed by casinos.
Origin of the word
Originally a "croupier" meant ...
with singer
Dean Martin, then known as Dean (Dino) Crocetti.
Career in Gambling
During this era, many cigar stores in Steubenville were fronts for mob rackets;
bookmaking
A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds.
History
The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795.
Range of events
Bookm ...
, numbers, pool, illegal drinking, and
illegal gambling
Gaming law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law, ...
rackets.
Steel mill workers from Steubenville and nearby
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County. At the 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of the Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area, whi ...
would frequent these stores after their shifts, spending their meager paychecks for this entertainment.
Craps
Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street ...
and Barboot, a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
dice game, were the games of choice at these places. The gambling halls would hire "mechanics", specialists in manipulating the dice and cheating, to police their craps games. The mechanic would ward off undesirable customers, break winning streaks of lucky customers, and hustle those with much money to lose. Cellini was known for his talent with dice and eventually became the youngest "bust out" man in Steubenville.
As a later associate of
Santo Trafficante, Sr. and
Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky (born Maier Suchowljansky; July 4, 1902 – January 15, 1983), known as the "Mob's Accountant", was an American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the ...
, Cellini ran the mob-backed Riviera Casino and
Tropicana Club
El Tropicana Night Club in Havana, Cuba located in a lush, six-acre (24,000 m²) estate tropical garden opened on December 30, 1939 at the Villa Mina in Marianao. It is located next door to the old Colegio de Belen, presently, the Instituto Técni ...
in
Havana, Cuba. In 1959, the
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in co ...
overthrew the
Batista
Batista is a Spanish or Portuguese surname. Notable persons with the name include:
* Batista (footballer, born 1955), Brazilian football player
* Dave Bautista, American actor and professional wrestler, also known as Batista
* Edina Alves Batis ...
regime. The new Cuban president,
Fidel Castro, closed all the casinos and forced the American mobsters, including Cellini, to leave the country.
Later years
During the 1960s, after leaving Cuba, Cellini first ran casinos in the Bahamas for Lansky. However, he and brother Eddie were eventually deported. Cellini then headed to Europe to run gambling operations in
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
and
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. Along with the Ayoub Brothers from Steubenville, Cellini ran a
croupier
A croupier or dealer is someone appointed at a gambling table to assist in the conduct of the game, especially in the distribution of bets and payouts. Croupiers are typically employed by casinos.
Origin of the word
Originally a "croupier" meant ...
's school in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. He also helped manage the
Colony Sports Club casino in London with actor
George Raft. However, an investigation by
Scotland Yard soon uncovered evidence of links between New York mob figures and British casinos. Cellini and Raft were barred from participating in legalized gambling establishments in the United Kingdom. Early in the 60's, Cellini was reportedly involved in the
Cuban Project, also called Operation Mongoose, an abortive joint operation by the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
and organized crime to assassinate Cuban president
Fidel Castro.
In the early 1970s, Cellini had ties to ''Mary Carter Paints'' (precursor of ''
Resorts International
Resorts International was a hotel and casino company. From its origins as a paint company, it moved into the resort business in the 1960s with the development of Paradise Island in the Bahamas, and then expanded to Atlantic City, New Jersey with ...
'') in the
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...
. He also became involved in
Resorts International
Resorts International was a hotel and casino company. From its origins as a paint company, it moved into the resort business in the 1960s with the development of Paradise Island in the Bahamas, and then expanded to Atlantic City, New Jersey with ...
in
Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first legal casino in the U.S. outside of
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
. During this same period, Cellini was involved with swindler
Robert Vesco
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
in the
embezzlement of over $240 million from the mutual fund
Investors Overseas Service Investors Overseas Services, Ltd. (IOS) was founded in 1955 by financier Bernard Cornfeld. The company was incorporated outside the United States with funds in Canada and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
In the 1960s, the company employed 2 ...
.
In 1976, Cellini appeared in
Hamburg, Germany with Freddy Ajoub and Joseph Nesline, having contact with Wilfrid "Frieda" Schulz. Schulz was the self-proclaimed king of
Sankt Pauli
St. Pauli (Sankt Pauli; ) is a quarter of the city of Hamburg belonging to the centrally located Hamburg-Mitte borough. Situated on the right bank of the Elbe river, the nearby Landungsbrücken is a northern part of the port of Hamburg. St. Paul ...
, Hamburg
red-light district. The Hamburg Police suggest that Schulz and the American mobsters worked together for years.
In the late 1980s, there were unsubstantiated reports that Cellini and his brother Eddie had dealings with
Nathan Landow, a top Democratic fundraiser for Democratic politician
Al Gore
Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic no ...
's Presidential bid in 2000.
In March 2010, there were reports that actor
Robert De Niro and director
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of many major accolades, inclu ...
were developing a film biography of Cellini. However, neither De Niro or Scorsese have confirmed these reports.
'Martin Scorsese & Robert DeNiro's Next Mob Movie Is Said To Be "Dino Cellini!"'
Press Release website. March 2, 2010. Retrieved December 20, 2018.
References
Further reading
*Hougan, Jim. ''Spooks: The Haunting of America—The Private Use of Secret Agents''. New York: Bantam Books, 1979.
*Hutchison, Robert A. ''Vesco''. New York: Avon Books, 1976.
*Lacey, Robert. ''Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life''. London: Century, 1991.
*Messick, Hank. ''Lansky''. London: Robert Hale & Company, 1973.
*Morrow, Robert D. ''First Hand Knowledge: How I Participated in the CIA-Mafia Murder of President Kennedy''. New York: S.P.I. Books (Shapolsky Publishers), 1992.
*Scott, Peter Dale. ''Deep Politics and the Death of JFK''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.
*Summers, Anthony. ''The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon''. New York: Viking, 2000.
*Rebaschus, Matthias. "Als die Mafia nach Hamburg kam - Interview with Kriminaloberrat Wolfgang Sielaff". Abendblatt: 29.6.2007, Hamburg
1914 births
American gangsters of Italian descent
1978 deaths
People from Steubenville, Ohio
{{American Mafia