Fantastic

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2016)

In 1973, sports handicapper and mafia associate Sam "Ace" Rothstein is sent to Las Vegas to run the Teamsters Union-funded Tangiers Casino on behalf of the Chicago Outfit, which secretly controls the Teamsters, while Philip Green serves as the mob's frontman. Taking advantage of gaming laws that allow him to work in a casino while his gaming licence is pending, Sam doubles the casino's profits, which are skimmed by the mafia before they are reported to income tax agencies. Impressed with his work, mafia boss Remo Gaggi, sends Sam's childhood friend and mob enforcer Nicholas "Nicky" Santoro and his associate Frank "Frankie" Marino to protect Sam and the whole operation. Nicky's volatile temper soon gets him banned from every casino in Las Vegas, so he gathers his own crew and engages in independent shakedowns and burglaries instead.