Dino Cellini
Encyclopedia
Dino Cellini, ran casinos for New York mobster Meyer Lansky
in Havana, Cuba during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Cellini later ran casinos in the Bahamas and the United Kingdom
.
during the Depression
years. As a youngster, Cellini worked at Rex's Cigar Store as a dice/craps casino dealer and croupier
with singer Dean Martin
, then known as Dean (Dino) Crocetti.
workers from Steubenville and nearby Youngstown, Ohio
would frequent these stores after their shifts, spending their meager paychecks for this entertainment. Craps
and Barboot, a Greek
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 lots of 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
, Cellini ran the mob-backed Riviera Casino and Tropicana Club
in Havana, Cuba. In 1959, the Cuban Revolution
overthrew the Batista
regime. The new Cuban president, Fidel Castro
, closed all the casinos and forced the American mobsters, including Cellini, to leave the country.
and London
. Along with the Ayoub Brothers from Steubenville, Cellini ran a croupier
's school in the United Kingdom
. 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
and organized crime to assassinate Cuban president Fidel Castro
.
In the early 1970s, Cellini had ties to Mary Carter Paints in the Bahamas. He also became involved in Resorts International in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first legal casino in the U.S. outside of Nevada
. During this same period, Cellini was involved with swindler Robert Vesco
in the embezzlement
of over $240 million from the mutual fund Investors Overseas Service
.
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, Hamburg's red-light district
. German Police suggest that Schulz and the American mobsters worked together for years.
In the late 80's, there were unsubstantiated reports that Cellini and his brother Eddie had dealings with Nathan Landow, a top Democratic fundraiser for Democratic politician Al Gore
's Presidential bid in 2000.
In March 2010, there were reports that actor Robert DeNiro and director Martin Scorsese
were developing a film biography of Cellini. However, neither DeNiro or Scorsese have confirmed these reports.
Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky , known as the "Mob's Accountant", was a Polish-born American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States...
in Havana, Cuba during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Cellini later ran casinos in the Bahamas and the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Early years
Dino Vicente Cellini, is the son of an Italian barber who immigrated to the U.S. Cellini had two brothers, Edward and Goffredo, and a sister Julia. Cellini grew up in the steel mill town of Steubenville, OhioSteubenville, Ohio
Steubenville is a city located along the Ohio River in Jefferson County, Ohio on the Ohio-West Virginia border in the United States. It is the political county seat of Jefferson County. It is also a principal city of the Weirton–Steubenville, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area...
during the Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
years. As a youngster, Cellini worked at Rex's Cigar Store as a dice/craps casino dealer and croupier
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:...
with singer Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
, then known as Dean (Dino) Crocetti.
Career in Gambling
During this era, many cigar stores in Steubenville were fronts for mob rackets; bookmaking, numbers, pool, illegal drinking, and illegal gambling rackets. Steel millSteel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel.Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon. It is produced in a two-stage process. First, iron ore is reduced or smelted with coke and limestone in a blast furnace, producing molten iron which is either cast into pig iron or...
workers from Steubenville and nearby Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
would frequent these stores after their shifts, spending their meager paychecks for this entertainment. Craps
Craps
Craps is a dice game in which players place wagers on the outcome of the roll, or a series of rolls, of a pair of dice. Players may wager money against each other or a bank...
and Barboot, a Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
dice
Dice
A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...
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 lots of 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.
Santo Trafficante, Sr.
Santo Trafficante, Sr. was a Sicilian-born mobster, and father of the powerful mobster Santo Trafficante, Jr.-Early life:...
and Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky
Meyer Lansky , known as the "Mob's Accountant", was a Polish-born American organized crime figure who, along with his associate Charles "Lucky" Luciano, was instrumental in the development of the "National Crime Syndicate" in the United States...
, Cellini ran the mob-backed Riviera Casino and Tropicana Club
Tropicana Club
Tropicana is a world known cabaret and club in Havana, Cuba. It was launched in 1939 at Villa Mina, a six-acre suburban estate with lush tropical gardens in Havana's Marianao neighborhood.-Influence:...
in Havana, Cuba. In 1959, the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
overthrew the Batista
Fulgencio Batista
Fulgencio Batista y Zaldívar was the United States-aligned Cuban President, dictator and military leader who served as the leader of Cuba from 1933 to 1944 and from 1952 to 1959, before being overthrown as a result of the Cuban Revolution....
regime. The new Cuban president, Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
, 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 RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Along with the Ayoub Brothers from Steubenville, Cellini ran a croupier
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:...
's school in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He also helped manage the Colony Sports Club
Colony Sports Club
The Colony Sports Club was a London gambling casino operated by American Cosa Nostra mobsters Meyer Lansky and Philadelphia crime family boss Angelo Bruno, through front man George Raft,and low level English Gambler Alfred Salkin, who Cellini had met at another large London Casino,and was used as...
casino in London with actor George Raft
George Raft
George Raft was an American film actor and dancer identified with portrayals of gangsters in crime melodramas of the 1930s and 1940s...
. However, an investigation by Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
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
Cuban Project
The Cuban Project was a program of Central Intelligence Agency covert operations developed during the early years of the administration of President of the United States John F. Kennedy...
, also called Operation Mongoose, an abortive joint operation by the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
and organized crime to assassinate Cuban president Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz is a Cuban revolutionary and politician, having held the position of Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and then President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from the party's foundation in 1961 until 2011...
.
In the early 1970s, Cellini had ties to Mary Carter Paints in the Bahamas. He also became involved in Resorts International in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first legal casino in the U.S. outside of Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
. During this same period, Cellini was involved with swindler Robert Vesco
Robert Vesco
Robert Lee Vesco was a fugitive United States financier. After several years of high stakes investments and seedy credit dealings, Vesco was alleged guilty of securities fraud. He immediately fled the ensuing U.S...
in the embezzlement
Embezzlement
Embezzlement is the act of dishonestly appropriating or secreting assets by one or more individuals to whom such assets have been entrusted....
of over $240 million from the mutual fund Investors Overseas Service
Investors Overseas Service
Investors Overseas Services, Ltd. 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 25,000 people who sold 18 different mutual funds...
.
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, Hamburg's red-light district
Red-light district
A red-light district is a part of an urban area where there is a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, adult theaters, etc...
. German Police suggest that Schulz and the American mobsters worked together for years.
In the late 80's, there were unsubstantiated reports that Cellini and his brother Eddie had dealings with Nathan Landow, a top Democratic fundraiser for Democratic politician Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
's Presidential bid in 2000.
In March 2010, there were reports that actor Robert DeNiro and director Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
were developing a film biography of Cellini. However, neither DeNiro or Scorsese have confirmed these reports.
Further reading
- EIR. Dope, Inc.: The Book That Drove Kissinger Crazy. Washington DC: Executive Intelligence Review, 1992. ISBN 0-943235-02-2
- Hougan, Jim. Spooks: The Haunting of America—The Private Use of Secret Agents. New York: Bantam Books, 1979. ISBN 0-553-13118-4
- Hutchison, Robert A. Vesco. New York: Avon Books, 1976. ISBN 0-380-00526-3
- Lacey, Robert. Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life. London: Century, 1991. ISBN 0-7126-2426-0
- Messick, Hank. Lansky. London: Robert Hale & Company, 1973. ISBN 0-7091-3966-7
- 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. ISBN 1-56171-179-9
- Scott, Peter Dale. Deep Politics and the Death of JFK. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993. ISBN 0-520-08410-1
- Summers, Anthony. The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon. New York: Viking, 2000. ISBN 0-670-87151-6
- Rebaschus, Matthias. " Als die Mafia nach Hamburg kam - Interview with Kriminaloberrat Wolfgang Sielaff ". Abendblatt: 29.6.2007, Hamburg