Sin City bid farewell to the Tropicana before dawn on Wednesday, marking the end of an era with an elaborate implosion that reduced one of the last true mob buildings on the Las Vegas Strip to rubble.
The implosion, complemented by a dazzling fireworks display, saw the Tropicana’s hotel towers crumble in a grand spectacle. It was the first such implosion in nearly a decade for a city renowned for its love of fresh starts, where casino demolitions have become symbolic of its perpetual reinvention.
“What Las Vegas has done, in classic Las Vegas style, is turned many of these implosions into spectacles,” remarked Geoff Schumacher, historian and vice president of exhibits and programs at the Mob Museum.
The disappearance of the Tropicana was especially unique, representing a flamboyant departure that included a fireworks extravaganza. The casino’s demolition is part of Las Vegas’s ongoing evolution, making way for a $1.5 billion baseball stadium as the Oakland Athletics prepare to make the city their new home, thereby enhancing Las Vegas’s burgeoning identity as a sports hub.
This significant event leaves the Flamingo as the only remaining reminder of the Strip’s mob-drenched past. However, Schumacher notes that the Flamingo’s original structures were replaced in the 1990s, leaving the Tropicana as the last genuine vestige of the era.
The Tropicana, which closed its doors in April after 67 years of operation, was known in its heyday as the “Tiffany of the Strip,” celebrated for its luxury and frequented by iconic Rat Pack figures. Its history under mob influence has only added to its legendary status in Las Vegas lore.
Opening in 1957, the Tropicana began with three stories featuring 300 hotel rooms divided into two wings. As Las Vegas transformed and megaresorts emerged during the building boom of the 1990s, the Tropicana kept pace with significant improvements, including the addition of two hotel towers and the introduction of the casino’s beloved $1 million green-and-amber stained glass ceiling in 1979. Remarkably, the original low-rise wings endured through these numerous renovations, preserving its status as the last authentic mob structure on the Strip.
Behind its opulent façade, the Tropicana harbored significant ties to organized crime. Frank Costello, a reputed mobster, had connections to the casino, an association thrust into the spotlight following an attempt on his life in New York weeks after the Tropicana’s grand opening. His survival led to the discovery of a paper in his coat pocket detailing the casino’s exact earnings, exposing the mob’s financial interests.
By the 1970s, federal investigations into Kansas City mobsters unveiled a conspiracy to skim $2 million from Las Vegas casinos, including the Tropicana. This probe culminated in more than a dozen indictments and five convictions specifically linked to the Tropicana.
For dedicated fans, the spectacle of the implosion was bittersweet. As Joe Zappulla, a tearful New Jersey resident, poignantly expressed during a final visit in April, “Old Vegas, it’s going,” encapsulating the sentiment felt by many as they watched the end of an era in Las Vegas history.