THE BIGGEST MOB HIT IN YEARS

and investigation of organized crime hidden
interest and “skimming” in Nevada’s casinos.
In 1971, a new governor was elected to
run the Silver State of Nevada. Governor
O’Callaghan was the dark-horse candidate;
he won on a fluke with no backing from the
casino industry. The newly elected Governor
was a tough crusty ex-boxer, and a war hero
with a wooden leg. Immediately following
O’Callaghan’s appointment, he personally
hired Gomes at just 27 years old.
It’s no secret that the mob built Las Vegas
and owned it well into the 1970s. However,
in 1971, O’Callaghan wanted to change this
and charged Gomes with this task. Within
months of being hired, Gomes whipped a
ragtag group of auditors into hardened, gunslinging
investigators, and shattered clichés
about milquetoast accountant cops. Coming
within a hair’s breadth of death more than
once, Gomes capped off his tenure with
the famous bust of the Stardust skim,
portrayed in the book and movie Casino.
During this period, there was enough
action to fill a dozen Scorsese films—
midnight raids, heart-rending showgirl
romances, and deadly double-crosses. And
the cast of characters reads like a roll call
of gangster lore. But no matter how much
evidence Gomes uncovered, or how many
witnesses and informants were bloodied,
Gomes was swept aside by a political
system that was dirty to its core. This is
the story told in Hit Me! Fighting the Las
Vegas Mob by the Numbers by Danielle
Gomes and Jay Bonansinga. Although Hit
Me will be published May 7, 2013 by Lyons
Press, it was forty years in the making.
When the political corruption eventually
became insurmountable, Gomes left his
post in law enforcement and entered
48 | The Boardwalk Journal | May 2013
the casino business, where he was able to
clean up the industry from the inside. Gomes
worked at dozens of casinos throughout the
country. Success in business was Gomes’
answer to the corrupt politicians that ran
him out of law enforcement. Gomes went
on to work for the gaming greats—Barron
Hilton, Steve Wynn, and Donald Trump before
striking out on his own. Gomes became
an icon in the gaming industry, known
for his wacky but
brilliant marketing
techniques—like
playing tic-tac-toe
against a chicken.
And, chances are, if
you’re reading this
article, this is the
Dennis Gomes you’re
most familiar with.
However, I’ve always
Dennis with the famous
Tic Tac Toe Playing Chicken
Dennis and his executive martial arts students